WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 811: Episode 40: The Reign of Fear (3)
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A light brain fog clouded my head as warning bells rang one after another.
[Fable Heir to an Eternal Name warns you not to entertain foolish thoughts.]
The fable was warning me.
With my current strength, I could not defeat that being.
【stolenteethteethteethteethteethteethstolenteethteethteethstolenstolenstolen】
I quietly hid behind the smaller Yu Junghyeok and thought, Damn it. I felt like it had just looked at me.
Fortunately, Skill [□□] had not activated yet. In other words, there was still no possibility that Junghyeok and I would die in this incident.
At least, not yet.
"F-father! Please save me! Father!"
A desperate scream rang out from the crowd.
When I turned my head, I saw a man reaching toward the platform.
"F-father... FatheriscomingtheGreatRulerofTeethiscoming...."
Outer God fangs were sprouting from the face of a man who had surely once been counted among the most handsome men in the First Martial World.
"No! Myeong! Damn it!"
The Emperor Sword rushed toward the man.
It seemed that young man was Namgung Myeong, the son of Namgung Jincheon, the Emperor Sword, and the Young Clan Head.
As the Emperor Sword's inner energy entered Namgung Myeong's Incarnation body, the fable contamination consuming him gradually began to subside.
"Ah, ahh, ahh-ah..."
However, the situation was not resolved. Namgung Myeong's mental energy could not withstand the shark-headed Outer God's fable contamination. Unless someone defeated that Outer God, the Young Clan Head was finished.
But all the Transcendents capable of stopping the Outer God had fled. Even the masters, including the heads of the Five Great Families, were starting to slip away.
Of course, there were still martial artists who did not run.
The Emperor Sword shouted at one of them.
"Cheon Gae! Please!"
Cheon Gae, the Dragon Head Ark of the Beggars’ Sect, nodded.
[The constellation Last Ark shouts into the air!]
"Get a hold of yourselves. Cover your ears and close your eyes. Do not be swept away by illusions."
The martial artists gathered around Cheon Gae began resisting the Outer God once more.
Cheon Gae knocked aside fangs that burst from the air and shouted loudly.
"Outer God! Return whence you came! This is not your playground!"
Yet the Outer God let out a rattling laugh as if it could not hear Cheon Gae's voice at all. Then massive fangs rained from the shark head's mouth.
Rumble.
Shadows rose from the dusty floor of the martial world.
Shark-Fang Soldiers.
Soldiers made entirely from the Outer God's teeth began indiscriminately stabbing nearby martial artists to death with the sharp fangs that grew in place of their hands.
"Aaaaagh!"
Cheon Gae hurried forward to stop the Shark-Fang Soldiers, but there were too many of them.
Cheon Gae's face turned pale as Cheon Gae shouted.
"Emperor Sword! Evacuate everyone! At this rate, we will all die!"
"Fight! I said fight!"
Instead of evacuating the people, the Emperor Sword screamed.
"If we retreat now, it is over! The martial world will be destroyed!"
Yet his shout only accelerated the masters' departure.
In the end, there was only one person toward whom the Emperor Sword's resentment could turn.
"Sky-Splitting Sword Saint! Why are you just standing there? You came to protect your disciple too, did you not?"
At the question, the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint glanced at Yu Junghyeok.
"That child is not my disciple."
"Do not lie! That boy is your disciple! I already confirmed it through [Lie Detection]! You lied to me. You said you did not accept disciples, but..."
"It has been a long time, child of the Namgung Clan."
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint looked at the Emperor Sword with her usual profound gaze.
The Emperor Sword could not meet her eyes and turned away.
"You have grown much."
"I-I am not here to hear that from you! I am the head of the Namgung Clan!"
"..."
"Even if you are my grand martial uncle, I am the current Clan Head! Before you are the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint, you are the sword of the Namgung Clan! Protect me! Protect my son! Protect this martial world!"
"What is your martial world?"
The Emperor Sword's shoulders flinched at the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's question.
Having read TWSA, I knew why.
Once, the Emperor Sword had received the same question from the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint.
The year of the first Outer God Incident.
In the square of a collapsing martial world, the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint had asked the martial world.
「I ask you. What is the "martial world" you speak of?」
Back then, the martial artists could not give their own answer. So they followed the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's answer.
"A forest."
Fortunately, the Emperor Sword remembered that answer.
This martial world was a forest. A forest where lowly mortals were bound together, gathering to protect one another.
"The martial world is a forest! Damn it! So hurry and save the martial world!"
Perhaps he was proud of himself for recalling the answer even in such a desperate situation. Faint joy colored the Emperor Sword's expression.
However, the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint slowly shook her head.
The Emperor Sword shouted in bewilderment.
"W-why? That was the answer! You saved the martial world when you heard that answer back then!"
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint said nothing.
Perhaps the Emperor Sword's Mana was running out. The Young Clan Head's complexion began turning blue again.
The Emperor Sword clutched his son and shouted.
"Y-you are the god of this martial world. You have a greater duty than anyone to protect it!"
"In your eyes."
Blood flowers bloomed where the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's gaze fell.
Several Transcendents fleeing in the distance had their bodies torn apart by fangs that burst from the air.
Cheon Gae screamed.
The people who had seemed to gather for a moment scattered in all directions again.
"Does that look like a forest to you?"
Pshhk!
Cheon Gae's abdomen was pierced.
"The Dragon Head Ark has been struck!"
"I-it is over. This martial world is finished!"
"Everyone, run!"
None of them protected each other. Martial artists ran and ran again. Children abandoned on the streets cried.
The Emperor Sword stood with his mouth hanging open, unable to answer.
Perhaps only at this moment did he understand the true nature of the martial world he had protected.
"I... My martial world..."
This martial world was no longer a forest.
Bonds woven together through easily attained martial arts represented by [Skills].
They were together, yet they did not share the same history. They learned the same skills and trained for the same purpose, but the Nine Schools and One Gang and the Five Great Families were no longer what they once had been.
Perhaps the Emperor Sword knew that as well.
"The martial world..."
Their roots were no longer intertwined. No one in this martial world sought chivalry any longer.
The staggering Emperor Sword's hand groped through the air.
He needed the clan elders who could advise him. Yet no one answered. Of course they did not. The elders of the Namgung Clan who had protected the martial world alongside him during the Outer God Incident had all passed away.
The Emperor Sword staggered.
"Why... Why do you always ask something like that? What does it matter what the martial world is?"
The Emperor Sword braced himself on the sword planted in the ground and breathed heavily. Blood vessels filled his eyes as he struggled to keep breathing.
"Do you think your martial world was so great? It was the same then. It was never the forest you spoke of!"
"..."
"You... You made the martial world this way! Because you were so lofty and alone...!"
Blood poured from the Emperor Sword's seven orifices as he growled. He, too, had begun to be infected by the Outer God's fable.
"Do you think a forest that depends on a single tree can be a proper forest? Why do you think we sent people into the Fear Realm? Why do you think we continued this expedition even as so many people died..."
"..."
"This is all because of you! If only you had accepted me as your disciple, if only you had taught the martial artists, none of this would have happened! You made the martial world weak! You are the one who destroyed the martial world! You..."
I struck the Emperor Sword hard on the back of the head.
The Emperor Sword collapsed with a groan and did not rise again.
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint looked down at him for a moment, then turned her back.
"Sky-Splitting Sword Saint."
The god of the martial world had decided to abandon this forest.
Then what would she become now?
"Are you truly leaving like this?"
At my question, the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint slowly turned around.
"You..."
"My name is Kim Dokja."
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint narrowed her eyes.
"You are not qualified to be asked my question."
I thought I vaguely understood why she said that.
Perhaps she had noticed I was not from the martial world. Or perhaps she had recognized the Constellation's fables dwelling within me.
In truth, neither mattered.
"That is true. I still do not have the eyes to read the martial world."
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint hesitated for a moment at my answer.
I continued.
"Unlike you, who have already seen the martial world's destruction hundreds of times beyond the Fear Realm."
"How do you know that?"
An ominous energy began flowing from the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's entire body.
"What I know is not important. What matters is the martial world before your eyes."
"..."
"Is there truly not even one tree left in this martial world that you wish to protect?"
Little Junghyeok grabbed my sleeve.
It was a warning. Do not say any more. If I said the wrong thing here, I would die.
After considering something for a moment, the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint answered.
"One tree cannot become a forest."
"I know. But, Sky-Splitting Sword Saint."
What I was about to say was not my language.
"How many trees have to gather before they become a forest?"
This was the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's language.
I was returning the question that the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint had once asked Kim Dokja.
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint seemed surprised as she blinked her large eyes. Her Clear Mirror Eyes began shining brightly.
I swallowed.
"I do not know what the martial world is."
I supported Cheon Gae's fallen Incarnation body as I spoke.
"However, I know a Constellation born in the martial world. I have survived until now with the martial arts I learned from that Constellation."
[Fable Persistent Martial Arts Master nods hesitantly.]
"Above all, I have a companion who likes this martial world."
"A companion?"
"That bastard cannot stomach food made by anyone else, but he eats the dumplings made here well enough."
[Fable Fragment Man Who Eats Eight Meals a Day nods.]
I looked down at little Junghyeok, who stood there with a stupid expression, and continued.
"Therefore, this martial world cannot be destroyed here."
This martial world was the last "home" remaining for my pitiful regressor companion.
[You have activated Exclusive Skill White Pure Star Energy!]
[The Blade of Faith has activated!]
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint's eyes widened when she recognized the Mana imbued in my blade.
She had probably recognized [White Pure Star Energy].
I had reentered the Scenario, but it had not been long since my Incarnation body was repaired. I still could not fight at one hundred percent of my strength.
Even so, I was Kim Dokja, the Demon King of Salvation. As long as I bore that name, what I had to do here was clear.
"Kim Dokja! Stop!"
Junghyeok staggered over and grabbed my arm.
I released his small hand and grinned.
Even though my Incarnation body had recovered, I could not harm a monster like that in my current state.
I was not Teacher Jaehwan.
But because I was not Teacher Jaehwan, I would not destroy the martial world.
[Fable Fragment Swift Swimming trembles.]
I looked up at the sky.
That Outer God had come all this way by following the Fable Fragment I absorbed.
In other words, there was only one way to save the martial world now.
【teethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteethteeth―】
I threw myself into the entrance leading to the Fear Realm.
Footnotes:
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