WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 822: Episode 41: Sophistry (6)
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I ran like mad with Yu Junghyeok on my back. My ragged breaths rose to my chin, and the balls of my feet hurt as they kicked off the dirt.
「There was no need to go this far.」
I knew. What I was doing now was pointless. This scene was nothing but a virtual 40th round staged by "Fear." Whether I saved Junghyeok here or not, the story that had already been decided would be recorded.
But I couldn't shake off a chilling thought.
「Would it really be recorded?」
What if this "Fear" was real?
What if Junghyeok died because I didn't save him now?
What if history changed, just like in the 1,863rd round Kim Dokja had visited?
"There he is! It's him!"
Junghyeok of the 40th round was not fated to die here, at least.
And I was the only one who could save him now.
"Get a grip! Hey! You bastard!"
I shouted at Junghyeok several times, but he didn't respond.
After fleeing for hours, I could feel both my Constitution and Mana gradually running out.
Damn it, had this bastard Inho Cheon not even raised his overall stats properly?
How the hell had he earned nicknames like "Devilish Sophist" and "One Who Deceived the Stars" with a body like this?
"That's far enough."
An enormous storm of Mana swept in from ahead along with a familiar line.
There was no mistaking who it was.
Blood Demon.
A legendary martial artist said to have once fought even the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint alongside the Heavenly Demon stood before me.
An undeniable Transcendent.
An Incarnation with strength approaching, at minimum, that of a Historical-grade Constellation.
I wondered why someone like that had suddenly appeared, but then he spoke.
"Inho Cheon. Why did you suddenly betray us?"
It seemed this important figure knew Inho Cheon.
I hurriedly smiled and opened my mouth.
"I didn't exactly betray you."
"Put down the Supreme King."
"That would be a little difficult. I have a use for this guy."
"You intend to uncover the secret of the Regression Great Art."
Regression Great Art.
It seemed Blood Demon knew that Junghyeok was a regressor.
"We agreed to research the great art together. Was that not so?"
What the hell had this bastard Inho Cheon been doing in the 40th round?
I could roughly guess the situation.
Blood Demon, full of greed, had likely wondered why Junghyeok was so strong. After investigating, he learned Junghyeok was a regressor and set a trap with Inho Cheon to steal that ability.
If so, the line I needed to say was clear.
"I will uncover the Regression Great Art and tell you about it. So please step back for now, Blood Demon."
"How can I trust you?"
"The Supreme King is already on the verge of death. If we leave him like this, he'll regress before we can learn the Regression Great Art."
"..."
"As you know, I have [Incitement]. If I restore Junghyeok a little, then use [Incitement] on him while his Mental Barrier is weakened, we might learn the secret of Regression..."
"I will count to three."
Blood Demon's voice was cold.
"Put down the Supreme King and leave. Then I will spare your life."
As expected, this kind of persuasion wouldn't work.
I compared the Status I felt from Blood Demon's entire body with the power I possessed. No matter how I thought about it, there was no way I could fight Blood Demon with this weak body.
The only way to deal with Blood Demon was to wake Junghyeok, but the chances of someone who had even used [Recovery] waking up were close to zero.
No, why had this bastard come all the way to an area crawling with Blood Cult bastards and made things so complicated...
「Why had Junghyeok come all the way here?」
Sparks flew through my mind.
I carefully moved a hand behind my back and checked a wooden case tucked inside his robes.
The moment I read the raised characters carved into it, I immediately understood why Junghyeok had come here.
「Blood Spirit Pill.」
An elixir on par with Gongcheongseokyu of the Zero Martial World or Ginseng Snow Root.
A legendary divine relic that granted over a hundred years of Mana simply by taking a single pill.
Junghyeok had probably come all the way here to obtain this item.
Why?
I didn't know. He might have intended to take it himself, or he might have been planning to give it to someone.
As I discreetly took the Blood Spirit Pill from the wooden case, Blood Demon smiled.
"Do you think taking that will change the situation?"
I pretended ignorance as I spoke.
"At least I can take the Blood Cult's divine relic. If I consume this, you won't be able to absorb the Blood Spirit Pill's Mana."
The Blood Spirit Pill was a divine relic for the Blood Cult leader, passed down through generations. It was a horrific item created by sacrificing over ten thousand martial arts masters so a mortal human could reach the stars.
As I recalled, Blood Demon, who had killed the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint, had likely absorbed this Blood Spirit Pill as well.
So if I threatened him with this item, then no matter how much of a monster Blood Demon was...
"Try eating it."
I sensed a sinister demonic art rippling in Blood Demon's grasp.
Great Art of Star Absorption.
A vile demonic art that directly absorbed Mana from another person's body to strengthen one's own inner energy.
Only then did I understand Blood Demon's aim.
The moment I secured Mana with the Blood Spirit Pill, Blood Demon intended to use [Great Art of Star Absorption] to steal it from me.
"Eat it right now."
A curse rose in my mind, but there was no other way now. If I was going to die either way.
"Then I'll enjoy it."
Without hesitation, I tossed the Blood Spirit Pill from the wooden case into my mouth.
Blood Demon's eyes flashed red as he burst into mad laughter.
"Fool. If you eat that directly...!"
I knew. The Blood Spirit Pill had a side effect. The instant someone consumed it, the resentful spirits of the ten thousand people bound inside the pill attacked the consumer's mind at once.
―Hahahahahaha!
―You finally ate it!
―I'm going to kill you, kill you, kill you for good!
―Cult Leader! At last, we repay a hundred years of resentment!
―Ugh...?
[Exclusive Skill, The Fourth Wall has activated!]
The voices of the resentful spirits vanished in an instant.
As Blood Demon widened his eyes in shock, I felt an intense surge of Mana pulsing throughout my body.
[Item, Blood Spirit Pill is resonating with your attributes.]
[You are an evildoer capable of receiving the full effect of Blood Spirit Pill.]
I wondered whether I had only made Inho Cheon stronger for nothing, but I had no choice if I wanted to live.
Blood Demon, barely recovering from his surprise, stammered.
"How?"
"Blood Demon. Have you forgotten who I am?"
"You..."
"I am the Devilish Sophist and One Who Deceived the Stars."
I didn't know whether Inho Cheon was still called that, but I spouted whatever came to mind to draw Blood Demon's guard down.
Blood Demon, horrified, attempted the Great Art of Star Absorption first.
"Die!"
Barely dodging his palm strike, I activated my one and only specialty.
[You have activated Exclusive Skill Incitement Lv.10!]
[The power of Incitement has increased due to the effect of item Blood Spirit Pill!]
It felt entirely different from the [Incitement] I had used before.
Was it because the body I possessed was Inho Cheon's body from the 40th round?
The commands I could issue with [Incitement], and those I couldn't, were being neatly arranged in my mind.
「A command to die is impossible.」
「Use a command that can be used on an opponent with a similar Status first.」
「The key is stacking Incitement.」
「Gradually increase the intensity, beginning with first-stage Incitement.」
It felt as if someone were teaching me how to use [Incitement].
I calmly caught my breath and spoke to Blood Demon.
"Are you perhaps nervous? That I might be stronger than you?"
"Shut up! A bastard like you..."
"Let me tell you one important fact. Even if you obtain the Regression Great Art, you'll never become as strong as the Supreme King."
[Exclusive Skill, Incitement Lv.10 is activating!]
Blood Demon widened his eyes and shouted at me.
"What would a bastard like you know..."
"You came from a lowly third-rate villain's background. On your first journey through the Martial World, you happened to collect the remains of the previous Great Demon and obtained the Blood Spirit Divine Art."
It was Blood Demon's secret history, one that appeared in TWSA as well.
Blood Demon's eyes widened.
"H-how do you know that..."
"You know it too. Your talent cannot even properly master the Blood Spirit Divine Art."
"..."
"You trained for a full hundred years yet could not master that one martial art. You couldn't even endure the Time Stratum and ran from it. How dare you covet another martial art?"
"That is..."
"You dream of Regression with such pathetic willpower?"
[Incitement is being strengthened.]
Blood Demon staggered as he cried out.
"I can do it. If I regress, if I can regress like him..."
"No. You can't. Regression is useless to someone like you, who finds even a mere hundred years unbearable."
"That isn't true. I... I can...!"
Blood Demon's eyes were rapidly clouding over. The inner demon within him had manifested.
Doubt in his talent.
Skepticism toward his will.
Every part of the history that had made him a Transcendent was now attacking his mind as his enemy.
[Incitement is being strengthened.]
"Just as a loach that endures for a hundred years only becomes a loach that has lived a hundred years, not a dragon, you are nothing but a third-rate martial artist no matter how much you struggle. Even if you gain a great martial art or obtain Regression, it will be the same. That is what you were born as. That is how you have lived, with that weak mind of yours."
[Incitement is being strengthened!]
"You don't need to struggle. The sky is high, and the stars are distant. There is no place for you in the Star Stream. You are nothing but a speck of dust, not even capable of becoming a supporting character. Accept that fact. Then you'll be at peace."
"Ah, uh, urgh..."
"Go crawl back to where you lived. And never show your head again."
[Incitement has succeeded!]
A little later, unable to endure his inner demon, Blood Demon lay on the ground and struggled, opening and closing his mouth as if he had truly become a loach.
Even as I watched [Incitement] develop in real time before my eyes, it didn't feel real.
[Incitement], which seized an opponent's weakness and broke down their mind.
Inho Cheon had used that devilish tongue to make countless opponents submit until now.
I looked down at Blood Demon for a moment, then began running again.
The effects of [Incitement] didn't last very long. I had to get as far away from here as possible before it wore off.
"Oh my god! Lord Blood Demon!"
The Blood Cult members had caught up before I knew it.
"Chase him! There he is!"
I ran and ran, but there was nowhere left to escape. A cliff blocked my way.
Standing at its edge, I looked down.
At the end of the sheer precipice flowed a river, rough yet dignified.
There was no longer a choice.
"Hold on tight, Yu Junghyeok."
Grabbing him by the collar, I jumped off the cliff.
This was not Dongho Bridge, and there was no dragon fish to swallow us.
Even so.
I had a feeling we would not die.
It was something like a writer's instinct.
Inho Cheon and Junghyeok would not die here.
And if the two of them survived here...
[You have intervened in SVRP.]
They might become Companions.
[Part of document SVRP 040 is being modified.]
[The owner of Fear approves your Record.]
......
[The Recorders of Fear who wrote the previous Fear approve your edits.]
[Your Fear is recorded in the blank space of the wall.]
A voice I knew very well whispered in my ear.
【Good. This is exactly the story I was expecting, Kim Dokja.】
* * *
Yu Junghyeok was looking up at the Martial World's night sky.
It was a night sky hung with the stars he hated.
How long had he been looking at those stars? Before he knew it, he began counting the stars hanging in the sky.
It was strange. He had never had a habit of counting stars, so why was he counting them now?
「"Hold on tight, Yu Junghyeok."」
A memory suddenly crossed his mind.
A subtle warmth that did not suit his life. A sudden bond that could not possibly exist for him.
"Disciple."
Junghyeok emerged from his thoughts at the voice from behind him.
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint was looking down at him with concern.
Clear Mirror Eyes radiated brilliant light.
At last, the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint recognized her disciple who had reached the 41st round.
"What number is this among the rounds that have passed memories on to me?"
"The 32nd."
"I understand this round is the 41st."
"There were rounds that did not pass on their memories."
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint did not ask why he had not passed memories to her. She only smiled faintly.
"If you passed memories to me, it must mean you had a desperate reason to do so."
Junghyeok's Regression drew in and swallowed everyone around him. It destroyed them. It dismantled their lives and wore away their existence.
Even so, Junghyeok had drawn the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint into that vortex of Regression once more.
"I must become stronger."
"You are already strong enough. Stronger than the previous round, and stronger than the round before that."
"I must become even stronger than that."
"For what reason?"
Junghyeok did not answer, but the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint heard the answer.
Strangely, the two of them were thinking of the same face at that moment.
"How strange."
"I don't quite understand it either."
"Well, even my blunt disciple was bound to make a friend someday."
"That is not the reason."
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint smiled softly at Junghyeok as he shook his head.
Then she abruptly hardened her expression and asked,
"Are you planning to enter the Time Stratum?"
"Yes."
"I know what it means for you to enter a Time Stratum."
For most mortals, a Time Stratum was a worthless darkness where nothing existed.
In a void where only the density of time was concentrated to its limit, mortals tested their limits and challenged Transcendence.
However, some Time Stratums were different. Within them were fables and stories.
They had a far more brutal survival difficulty than Time Stratums filled with nothing but emptiness, but if they could be cleared, they offered unimaginable rewards.
"You must return to the world you failed to protect again."
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint knew whose fable that Time Stratum was.
"The more often you visit that place, the more you will lose your mind. No matter how strong your mind is, you cannot endure repeating such a thing."
"Even so, I must go."
Confirming that her disciple's resolve would not change, the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint asked with a faint sigh.
"All right. Will you go now?"
"Yes."
"Prepare yourself. I will accompany you as far as the entrance to the stratum."
Junghyeok nodded.
The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint asked again.
"Will you use the 32nd stratum this time as well?"
The 32nd stratum was a brutal stratum Junghyeok of the 40th round had once used.
There, Junghyeok gained power capable of bringing down even stars.
"No."
Time slept like fossils buried in layers.
Some Time Stratums held fables even he had not experienced.
After looking up at the sky for a moment, Junghyeok spoke.
"This time, I intend to try entering the 40th stratum."
Footnotes:
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