WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 780: Episode 36: The Real Kim Dokja (1)
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In the nebula Olympus, there was a kind of secret intelligence agency known to the public as the Hermes System.
The agency had two core duties.
To collect big data and predict “big stories.”
And to detect abnormalities in lower Scenarios in advance, eliminating anything that could threaten Olympus.
[What happened to the Recycling Center?]
At Hermes's question, the intelligence chief, First Hermaphrodite, answered confidently.
[The raid should be over soon.]
[How?]
[We formed a team of Historical-grade Constellations from lower Scenarios.]
Normally, Olympus's lower-ranking Constellations were valuable resources used to offset Scenario Plausibility.
But given the importance of this matter, they had no choice but to expend Historical-grade Constellations.
[The Recycling Center should have entry restrictions based on modifiers.]
[We handled that with a workaround. Please don't worry too much.]
[A workaround...]
[It is only called that. It is a safe method. I swear on my modifier.]
[I understand. We must obtain the Kim Dokja Fragment there. Otherwise, the Recorders will take away our right to record A Single Fable.]
After Hermes vanished with a stern warning, First Hermaphrodite, Hermaphroditus, let out a light sigh and grumbled.
[Damn it, Father. Easier said than done.]
Still, Hermaphroditus wasn't overly worried.
The lineup of the strike team dispatched to the Recycling Center was far from ordinary.
There were famous Constellations from the martial arts world, those who had once crewed the Argo despite not being widely renowned, and even forgotten Greek heroes.
With that much force, they could easily hunt a manifested fabled-grade Constellation.
Whoever was in the Recycling Center, they wouldn't be able to stop them all.
[I don't know who this Kim Dokja is for them to go this far...]
Even Hermaphroditus, the intelligence chief, didn't know much about the name Kim Dokja.
All he knew was that it was the true name of the Oldest Dream.
That he had been broken into fragments and scattered throughout the Scenario areas.
That Olympus had to obtain those fragments before any other nebula.
[An abnormality has occurred in the Hermes System!]
That was when the intelligence agency's emergency lights came on. Hermaphroditus hurried toward the control room and called for his secretary.
[What is happening?]
[I, I... I don't know for certain either!]
Since becoming the proxy of the Hermes System, only three incidents serious enough to activate its emergency lights had occurred.
The first was when Hades, Father of the Rich Night, clashed with Poseidon, Spear That Draws the Boundary of the Sea.
They had argued over whether the night sky reflected on the water's surface should be considered “night” or “sea.” Fortunately, Zeus successfully mediated the dispute.
The second was when Olympus, Veda, and Eden fought over the copyright to the “Fable of Resurrection.”
The conflict nearly escalated into a standoff between Mythical-grade Constellations, but the copyright experts of each nebula appeared and managed to establish a truce.
The third and final incident was when the Oldest Dream broke apart.
Even as intelligence chief, he was permitted to read only part of the report concerning that event.
There was only one fact he knew for certain.
「On that day, the Oldest Dream they had known was discarded.」
The earlier incidents had all been enormous in scale, so Hermaphroditus couldn't help growing tense when the emergency lights came on.
The interval between flashes became shorter depending on the scale of the incident. When the Oldest Dream descended, the lights flashed seven times per second. When Hades and Poseidon clashed, they flashed four times per second.
But this time, they flashed twice per second.
Judging only by the interval, the incident didn't seem as large as the previous ones.
What troubled him was the lights' color.
‘Yellow?’
Hermaphroditus's eyebrows twitched.
A yellow light came on when the Hermes System's intelligence agency itself was in danger.
[Secretary!]
[Chief! Over here!]
Hermaphroditus ran toward the secretary's voice.
[Kueeeek!]
The screams came from an annex of the control room, where the special division assigned to raid the Recycling Center was located.
[What is this...!]
Inside the division, Constellations wearing connecting goggles sat in neat rows, diving into the Recycling Center.
The Recycling Center couldn't be entered without specialized network equipment. There was nothing unusual about Constellations sitting here with goggles over their eyes.
The problem was their condition.
[Kyaaaaaah!]
With terrible screams, fables began to writhe out from the true bodies of the goggle-wearing Constellations.
[What is this? Disconnect their dives! Quickly!]
What was happening?
The dive terminals provided by the intelligence agency were fable equipment that guaranteed the Constellations' safety while infiltrating lower Scenarios.
As long as they wore this fable equipment, the Constellations wouldn't disappear in a lower Scenario, even if they lost fables or their Status was damaged.
And yet.
[The Constellation Immortal's Brother has entered a sudden process of disappearance.]
[The Constellation Forgotten Monster Hunter has entered a sudden process of disappearance.]
Constellations were dying. It was impossible.
They had only been sent into the twentieth Main Scenario. Even if they encountered a fabled-grade monster, there was no reason they should face death.
[Disconnect their dives!]
They had to find the cause. And to do that, their first priority was saving the disappearing Constellations.
[Cancel the Recycling Center entry process! Hurry...]
[I, it won't cancel!]
[What?]
[The entire control system is down!]
The Constellations began disappearing one by one.
There were forty Historical-grade Constellations deployed for this operation. Losing them all would not only bring punishment from above but severely damage the intelligence chief's reputation.
But that wasn't where the situation ended.
[The ordinary intelligence agents are also showing abnormalities!]
At the secretary's cry, the surveillance stars located in the regular divisions began to suffer.
[The stars monitoring the Recycling Center are...]
Constellations cried out in pain as fables poured from their noses and mouths.
Hermaphroditus couldn't hide his confusion as he asked,
[What... What is happening? Has the One-Eyed Father appeared? Is someone interfering with the Fate we read?]
Of course, that couldn't be the case.
Even if a Mythical-grade Constellation from another nebula intervened, it couldn't consume the entire Hermes System.
[The data screens! Where are the data screens?]
The screens monitored by the intelligence agency's agents came into view.
On the screen was an Incarnation covered from head to toe in the blood of stars.
Hermaphroditus felt a chill run down his spine.
That “being” was clearly beyond the screen.
In a place where he could never see them.
Yet for some reason, Hermaphroditus felt as though their eyes had met.
In that moment, he recalled a face he had glimpsed while reviewing classified documents long ago.
Kim Dokja.
The Oldest Dream that had dreamed this entire universe.
「The discarded god.」
The god that should have vanished was giving them an order.
「“Explode.”」
* * *
The stars in the night sky were bursting like fireworks.
One, two, three, four.
It was a scene that could only be called a massacre.
Watching it, Teacher Yang, the Demonic Judge of Fire, spoke.
[We can't leave him like that.]
Through the screen in the principal's office, she was witnessing the stars die.
But the dying Constellations were not what worried her.
[He'll die again.]
The white reaper mercilessly slaughtering those Historical-grade Constellations. A man in a fluttering white coat, drenched in the blood of stars. The proxy of the Demon King of Salvation, who wouldn't stop destroying even as blood streamed from his nose and mouth.
[Probably. But there is no one who can stop him now.]
Mass Production Maker watched the screen with sunken eyes.
A man, consumed by fierce rage and grief, walked onward. It was impossible to know what had made him suffer so.
Yet it was clear what story he was trying to tell.
[The fable Heir to an Eternal Name laughs wildly!]
[The fable One Who Rewrites Fate begins its story!]
By all common sense, the miracle being performed by the Demon King of Salvation's proxy was impossible.
Destroying Historical-grade Constellations with a single word in the twentieth Scenario? It made no sense in terms of Plausibility, and it was a power that even Mythical-grade Constellations wouldn't easily attempt.
Yet a mere proxy of a Constellation was violently wielding such absurd power.
「It was only possible because this stage was the Recycling Center.」
Every Constellation that entered the Recycling Center had lowered its Status to the limit.
In particular, the Constellations exploding now had all entered through Olympus's Hermes System.
The Hermes System operated on the fable network of the Master of Skywalk. And Inho Cheon's [Incitement] was a Skill that spread at a devastating speed through a “network.”
「“Explode.”」
The sentence spread through the network like a virus, weaving together countless fables as it traveled and gaining tremendous power.
[The Constellation Demon King of Salvation (proxy) reveals his Status!]
The ultimate [Incitement], combining Inho Cheon's [Incitement] with Christina Page's [Daily Corpse], [hypnosis Incitement], and [Sentence Enhancement].
「“Explode.”」
All Constellations in the Hermes System whose Status was lower than the Demon King of Salvation's proxy were unable to withstand the power of [Incitement] and entered the process of self-destruction.
[All stars of the Twelve Zodiacs cannot look away!]
[All stars of the Gourmet Association open their mouths!]
[Many Constellations are astounded by the authority of Incitement!]
[Constellations belonging to the nebula Olympus cannot hide their shock.]
Stars burst in the distant universe as though a grand feast were being held.
[Olympus will probably never forget that sight.]
Neither Mass Production Maker nor Uriel could take their eyes from it.
[When this Scenario ends, another Great Fable will be born.]
Even knowing that this would ultimately bring about Dokja's ruin, even knowing that every word he uttered was killing him.
As they watched stars perish meaninglessly at a single command, Mass Production Maker and Uriel thought the same thing.
「We will be able to see this story again.」
But regardless of their wishes, the Scenario's end was approaching.
The proxy of the Demon King of Salvation, drunk on madness, staggered down the forest path. He exploded every enemy that stood in his way, continued his merciless destruction, and finally reached the deepest part of the woods.
Mass Production Maker muttered as though sighing.
[Now we will learn who the real Kim Dokja is.]
Footnotes:
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