WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 810: Episode 40: The Reign of Fear (2)
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Had they never expected the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint to appear at the tournament in person?
The crowd, along with the heads of the Five Great Families, stood frozen in place, looking as though even breathing was difficult.
The Emperor Sword, his face stricken with bewilderment, opened and closed his lips.
"Sky-Splitting Sword Saint. W-why are you..."
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint slowly descended to the platform, passed him leisurely, and set the martial artist she had been holding on the ground. Unable to endure her pressure, the martial artist vomited blood and fainted.
No one on the platform dared meet the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's eyes. Only Yu Junghyeok faced her directly.
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint spoke to Junghyeok.
"What a handsome child."
In the main story, the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint had praised Junghyeok's appearance, too.
「"The look in your eyes burns hot. Are you perhaps in love with me?"」
Her temperament was as unpredictable as a disaster, but she had been endlessly warm toward her disciple Junghyeok. She had beaten him to death once, but that was an exception.
Maybe things would work out like this.
At least, that was what I thought until Junghyeok stared blankly at the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint and said something strange.
"Who are you?"
For a moment, I wondered if I had misheard him.
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint looked down at Junghyeok as if she could not believe it, then answered with a faint smile.
"I'm your master."
"I've never had a master like you."
What the hell was that bastard talking about? Had something been wrong with the dumplings he ate earlier?
This was the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint he had wanted to meet so badly. What kind of manners were those toward his revered master?
He would have to be insane to...
Wait.
Insane?
The moment I saw Junghyeok's stupid expression, something came back to me.
「Memory penalty.」
That crazy regressor had finally forgotten even his master's face.
"My master is only the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint."
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's expression changed at Junghyeok's answer.
I hurriedly activated Midday Tryst.
―Junghyeok! The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint is standing right in front of you!
It felt as though the temperature around us dropped sharply.
Sighs and groans rose from the tournament arena.
At this rate, Junghyeok would get his ass thoroughly beaten again and die.
Then the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint smiled faintly.
"What an interesting child. Just who is this Sky-Splitting Sword Saint you know?"
The situation began developing in an unexpected direction.
Junghyeok answered.
"Master was..."
Junghyeok's eyes, fixed on the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint, grew hazy.
I knew he was climbing back through time. Junghyeok was climbing the broken stairs of his memories one step at a time, searching for old sentences that had fallen between the landings.
"She liked Murim Dumplings."
Someone who liked Murim Dumplings.
"She liked animals more than people."
Someone who liked animals.
"She was someone who would gaze at sunlight falling through the forest, and the shadows of trees that sunlight painted, then lose herself in meditation for a long time."
Everyone in the tournament arena listened to Junghyeok's words. Some trembled at the lips, while others sighed again. One old man was even tearing up for some reason.
After a short silence, the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint asked.
"Who are you, child?"
Instinctively, I realized this was an opportunity.
More precisely, it was our last opportunity.
―Junghyeok! Please deactivate [Mental Barrier]!
This was how Junghyeok in the main story had proven himself to the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint. Maybe we could use that method now.
「The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint possesses Clear Mirror Eyes, which can read the emotions of others.」
With those eyes, she might be able to read Junghyeok's past, just as she had in the main story. Then we could make the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint our ally again.
Fortunately, Junghyeok seemed to understand what I meant.
"Who do I look like to you?"
As Junghyeok released [Mental Barrier], the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's brilliantly shining [Clear Mirror Eyes] came into effect.
It was as if time around us had stopped.
My heart pounded.
If she was the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint I knew, she would never stand by and watch Junghyeok's past. She would never turn away from the memories drawn from those terrible years.
She could not help being that kind of person.
But this plan had a flaw.
「What if Junghyeok had not only forgotten the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's face?」
The worst possibility flashed through my mind.
「What if most of Junghyeok's memories with the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint had been erased?」
Soon, the light of Clear Mirror Eyes faded from the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's pupils. Fortunately, it seemed she had read some kind of memory from Junghyeok.
"You."
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint tilted her head and asked as though she found it strange.
"Why did I spank you?"
Goddammit. Why had she read only that memory?
"I don't know."
Perhaps his mind had become unstable again in front of his master after so long, Junghyeok frowned and added.
"It seems you have that kind of hobby."
"Hmm. I wonder whether you'll still say that after I spank you again."
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's right hand shone a vivid blue.
I could not stay out of this any longer. I had to persuade the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint somehow. All sorts of plans rose and vanished in my mind.
「I'll say that I am Junghyeok and offer her my memories.」
「What about reciting information from TWSA?」
「I'll declare myself a disciple of the White Purity Sect and tell the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint that I know the relationship between her and my master...」
「Then I would die before Junghyeok.」
The moment I hurriedly scrambled onto the tournament platform.
Rumbblee!
I heard the sky of the martial world opening.
The hairs on my arms rose again. My body's reaction was similar to when the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint appeared, but this felt different.
A chill ran down my spine, and my ears began to ring. Somewhere deep inside me, an organ I could not name vibrated.
Fear from something utterly alien.
"G-good heavens!"
"The Fear Realm has opened!"
The Great Hole appeared in the sky. Beyond that distant hole, a pitch-black shadow was crossing over.
The teeth of the guard martial artists who ran onto the platform to stop me chattered.
"T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-teeth..."
A massive maw appeared beyond the Great Hole.
Fangs filled its depths without end.
【T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t】
The fangs were speaking.
【teethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteeth】
The Incarnations around us screamed and collapsed.
"Gh, ah, aaaaaah!"
Teeth were sprouting from the Incarnations' faces. A man with fangs growing from his lips and palate spoke through his torn jaw.
"He's cominghe's comingthe Great Master of Teeth is cominghe's coming to pierce ustear and devour ushe's coming from where fangs and molars meetteethgumsteethgumsthe gap is opening..."
Goosebumps covered my skin.
I realized anew what Outer Gods were. Beings who could collapse a mortal's mind simply by facing them.
The Incarnations infected by the fable of another world writhed as bloody tears streamed down their faces.
My thoughts were a mess.
Why had an Outer God appeared now?
Nothing like this had ever been described in TWSA.
Could an Outer God even cross the Fear Realm now?
Who had provided the Plausibility for that?
[The fable Heir to an Eternal Name growls.]
Fortunately, the Outer God's fable did not seem to affect me.
But the tournament arena was already in complete pandemonium.
"Aaaaaah! I don't want to dieI don't want to dieteethteeththe Master of Teeth is coming..."
Still, not every Incarnation knelt before the Outer God. Some martial artists, including the heads of the Five Great Families, raised their Mana and resisted the Outer God's fable.
"Everyone, get a grip!"
At the Emperor Sword's shout, the martial artists regained their senses and began drawing their weapons.
"Do not worry! We can win! This is not the martial world of old!"
The First Martial World had long prepared for the Fear Realm after the Outer God Incident.
The martial world was different now.
At the very least, masters capable of confronting the Outer God's incomprehensibility were here.
"So that is an Outer God."
A dignified voice came from among the crowd. One of the Top Ten Masters of the current martial world stood there.
"It's Cheon Gahui, the One Sword Soul-Stealer!"
"Dragon Heaven Saber is here too! The Transcendents have come!"
At last, the Transcendents representing the new generation of the martial world had appeared.
When One Sword Soul-Stealer drew a sword, Dragon Heaven Saber also drew his long saber.
"They are making a fuss over nothing."
The momentum pouring from their bodies was enough to support that confidence.
It was not only One Sword Soul-Stealer and Dragon Heaven Saber. The shadows of Transcendents stood on the roofs around the area.
There were more than fifteen at a glance.
They were the Transcendents who had gathered to protect the First Martial World.
"Teethteethteethteeth..."
Martial artists whose hair had been replaced by teeth surrounded One Sword Soul-Stealer and Dragon Heaven Saber.
One Sword Soul-Stealer muttered mockingly at them.
"How pathetic."
Slash!
The heads of the martial artists flew as One Sword Soul-Stealer cut them down. One Sword Soul-Stealer's handling of the infected martial artists was both brutal and clean.
"W-why..."
As if One Sword Soul-Stealer had forgotten that they had been fellow members of the martial world moments ago, One Sword Soul-Stealer's sword strikes annihilated the martial artists in the area in an instant.
Then.
"Did it cross over from the entrance of the Fear Realm?"
"I've seen something similar in a walkthrough. A fish-type Outer God. It is an individual with almost no ego."
Dragon Heaven Saber, observing the Outer God's head, added.
"Its fable is a typical infection type. It is not highly dangerous."
"The two of us will be enough to deal with it."
At those words, the two masters' figures vanished.
Bathed in dazzling sunlight, they rose toward the Great Hole. They seemed to intend to decide the battle in one strike.
Junghyeok, now standing beside me, muttered quietly.
"Idiots."
The moment the two masters moved their swords, the enormous maw in the sky opened as though it would split apart.
【teethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteeth】
The instant a maddening shriek rang out, giant fangs suddenly burst from the empty air.
The fangs tore One Sword Soul-Stealer and Dragon Heaven Saber's torsos in two. They died before they could even scream.
"T-th-that can't be..."
In a single blow, two of the Top Ten Masters the martial world took pride in had vanished.
The despairing martial artists screamed.
"Transcendents! Where are the other Transcendents?"
But no one appeared.
There was no sign at all of the presences that had occupied the rooftops until just moments ago.
I understood the situation.
The Transcendents of the First Martial World had all experienced the Fear Realm.
That meant they had realized the moment they saw that Outer God.
The monster that had descended from the sky was not an enemy they could face.
"Junghyeok."
I turned to Junghyeok.
Even for me, even if Junghyeok regained his strength, fighting that monster would be difficult.
But instead of fleeing, Junghyeok was looking at someone.
Maybe it was not only Junghyeok.
At that moment, everyone in the martial world was looking at the same person.
"Sky-Splitting Sword Saint."
The god of this martial world.
"Sky-Splitting Sword Saint!"
The only Transcendent who could oppose that dreadful Outer God.
"W-why has something like that appeared now..."
"The Scale of Plausibility! The Scale of Plausibility must have moved! Which means..."
"It is because of the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint!"
"Sky-Splitting Sword Saint! That monster must have appeared because of you!"
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's gaze slowly moved. She looked at the helpless crowd, then at Junghyeok.
Finally, her eyes turned toward me.
Why?
Her Clear Mirror Eyes shone brightly. She was clearly looking at me, but her gaze seemed to be searching for something else inside me.
Rumbblee!
The Great Hole stirred again.
Soon, the Outer God's maw emerged completely.
It resembled a shark's.
A warning bell belatedly rang in my mind.
Why did that Outer God look so familiar?
[Fable Fragment Swift Swimming writhes.]
The events of the past ten days passed through my mind.
The days I had traveled through the void of the Star Stream with Teacher Jaehwan.
During that journey, I had absorbed the Fable Fragment of a shark Outer God that Teacher Jaehwan had brutally stabbed to death.
[Fable Fragment Swift Swimming shudders.]
An eye above the maw stared down at the ground.
It was searching for something.
【nifnifnifnifnifnif】
Good heavens. Could it be?
"Sky-Splitting Sword Saint! Take responsibility for the Calamity you brought here!"
"Are you trying to destroy the martial world?"
It was not because of the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint.
That Outer God...
【nifnifnifnifnifnif】
It had crossed the Fear Realm by tracking my scent.
Footnotes:
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