WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 826: Episode 42: Destination (2)
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I thought for a moment about Second Kim Dokja's tastes.
Severed octopus and squid-like legs wriggled across the ground, while a horde of giant babies smashed through buildings in the west.
To the east, a mad horned boar rampaged, while a horsehair worm Outer God writhed in the south.
I did not even want to say what was in the north.
If this was a "big house," I wanted to live in a small one.
―The north is the worst.
Our First Kim Dokja left a brief review as well.
He was right. Terrible Outer Gods occupied the east, west, and south, but the north was the worst of all.
"That is what I think it is, right?"
―It is.
Dokja's industrial complex was in the north, and to reach it, we had to get past that thing.
―Go ahead if you want to die.
"You should be encouraging me."
―It would be better to wait for Second to come outside.
"Should we call out loudly once?"
―Do you think a shut-in would come out because you called?
For a while, we stood there blankly, looking up at the Outer God blocking the northern path.
The existence of Outer Gods had often been mentioned in the main story.
Among them was one of the most representative, an Old One and the Outer God who had been the librarian of [The Fourth Wall] in the 1,864th round.
Why did that thing have to be here, of all things?
Fortunately, the guide had an entry on it.
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This document has been partially modified by SVRP.
SVRP. PW 01864.
Natural Disaster-grade Fear: The One Who Devours Dreams
One of the primordial Outer Gods belonging to the Old Ones. It craves the dreams of mortals. It is known to occasionally trade rare dreams and knowledge with dream demons from other dimensions.
......
According to the Transcendents, the One Who Devours Dreams appearing in the end region is a shell whose true spirit has departed.
For unknown reasons, only its instinct to crave dreams remains, and it wanders through the northern end region.
......
A mutation related to the Final Wall was reported in a specific round. It has been confirmed that the events of that round affected the other worldlines as well.
There have been no further reports.
......
It has been confirmed to retain its Natural Disaster-grade status even after the loss of its true spirit.
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Did that mean its essence had been absorbed into [The Fourth Wall]?
I blankly looked up at its body, which stretched vertically several kilometers into the sky. It looked slightly smaller than it had been described in the main story, perhaps because it had lost part of its original strength. Even so, it was a Natural Disaster-grade monster more than capable of destroying an entire world.
Interestingly, there were people fighting that Natural Disaster-grade monster.
[Move! Attack its legs first!]
What was even more interesting was that I knew every Constellation controlling those Incarnation bodies.
[The constellation Master of the Spear is furious!]
[The constellation Fist-and-Kick Daoist sheds bloody tears!]
[The constellation Filth Addict spews filth!]
The Fist-and-Kick Daoist, whose Incarnation body burst apart after crashing into the One Who Devours Dreams's leg, howled in pain.
Master of the Spear. Fist-and-Kick Daoist. Filth Addict.
There was no doubt about it. They were all Constellations I had fought at the Recycling Center.
The Constellations who had possessed high-ranking demons and stood in my way.
Some had definitely died at Junghyeok's hands, while I had taken care of others. Still, I had to acknowledge the Constellations' stubborn vitality.
[Dammit, we can't die after getting this far!]
[Master of the Spear! This is different from what we heard. The difficulty is far greater than the end region we know...]
[Find the Time Stratum! Quickly! As long as we enter it...!]
[Where are those bastards from the Transcendence Alliance? Why are things like this wandering around while those assholes are nowhere to be seen?]
[Filth! Fiiiilth!]
Constellation declarations flew back and forth amid the chaos. From what I heard, they had come all this way searching for the Time Stratum.
It was not strange.
Master of the Spear was also a star who had once trained through a Time Stratum.
They had probably drifted here to make up for their defeat at the Recycling Center and carve out a new realm through training.
[Combine our attacks! We'll break through! As long as we reach that industrial complex...]
Unfortunately, their luck seemed to end there.
Oooooooooo.
It was a scream as if an entire world were crying out.
The One Who Devours Dreams moved one of its legs. The leg, raised as though launching a missile, descended mercilessly toward the ground. The ground caved in beneath the movement, which bore a Status greater than mere physical force, and a shockwave exploded outward.
The sound of something being struck. The screams of Constellations. An enormous cloud of dust that blackened even the sky.
Holding Anna Croft close, I flattened myself against the ground.
It took several minutes for the dust to settle. Nothing living remained in the devastated area.
My body slowly began to shake.
This was an Outer God that had reached the Old Ones. Even as a mere shell, its innate Status could not be compared to that of ordinary Constellations.
[We cannot... end like this...]
A faint declaration.
I saw Master of the Spear's Incarnation body hanging limply from a nearby building, deeply embedded in it. The other two had likely been crushed beneath the leg. There was not even a trace of them left.
Carrying Anna Croft on my back, I forced my trembling legs to move.
I had to run. I had to get as far away as possible. But where could I go? Was there anywhere in this end region where I could escape?
Oooooooooo.
The One Who Devours Dreams let out a bizarre cry and writhed.
Was it just my imagination? It felt as though one of its massive legs was slowly moving this way. Had it found me?
Or...
"Inho Cheon, what the..."
"Shh."
Anna Croft had woken up, and I put a finger to her lips.
Of course, merely holding our breath and staying quiet would not keep us hidden.
I could feel it.
That thing would find us eventually. The revolting fables rising from its entire body spread like smoke, searching the area.
After thinking for a moment, I spoke to Dokja.
"Lend me some fables."
―Take them.
[Fable Heir to an Eternal Name responds curtly.]
There was a fable of Dokja's passed on to me through "Heir to an Eternal Name."
Watching me, Anna Croft whispered.
"Inho Cheon. Who were you talking to just now?"
"An older brother I know."
"An older brother?"
Come to think of it, Dokja had used this fable beside Anna Croft in the main story as well. What a strange coincidence.
[Fable Stone and Me begins telling a story!]
"Stone and Me."
A fable Dokja had gained when he visited the Island of Reincarnators.
Its function was simple.
[Due to the fable's effect, your presence becomes similar to a stone.]
[Fable Stone and Me finds Anna Croft's presence strange.]
"Do it for her too."
[Fable Stone and Me looks at you with displeasure, as if asking, "This one again?"]
[Fable Stone and Me has shared its effect with Anna Croft.]
It worked.
Anna Croft and I would now be perceived as little more than rocks lying by the roadside.
Ooooooo...?
Fortunately, the fable seemed to work properly. The One Who Devours Dreams did not find us.
Holding Anna Croft's wrist, I hurried through the ruins.
"Wait, if we go that way..."
"We have to."
Instead of fleeing, we moved closer to the One Who Devours Dreams's main body. It was only possible because our presence had faded.
「We will pass it while the fable lasts and approach the industrial complex.」
A simple but certain plan.
The closer I got to its main body, the colder my guts became, but this was no time to be picky.
As we quickly passed near its enormous body, I felt as though one of its eyes glanced down at me from the distant sky.
―Youngest, I think it spotted you.
Kim Dokja's voice reached my ear.
I reflexively shouted.
"Run!"
At my signal, we began running with all our strength. Feeling [Way of the Wind] wrap around my feet, I immediately asked Dokja.
"Why did it spot us? Did you give me a defective fable?"
―I forgot for a moment, but that fable only works on beings that share the symbolic system of a stone.
Come to think of it, Outer Gods had symbolic systems different from ours from the beginning. Their methods of communication were different, as was the way they gave meaning to this universe.
Wait. If that was true...
―That bastard was never fooled in the first place.
At once, a couple of its tentacles began relentlessly chasing us.
Rrrrrumble!
The shadows of black tentacles fell across the entire area. At this rate, we would be crushed to death before reaching the industrial complex.
"Hyung."
―You only call me hyung at times like this?
"I can use [The Fourth Wall], right?"
There was only one way now.
The method Dokja had used in the main story.
The insane method of deliberately letting that thing eat me, then locking its mental body inside [The Fourth Wall].
―Didn't you read the guide? Its soul is gone. That thing is just a shell. It won't work.
"We won't know unless we try. If it eats me, there might be some way to deal with it."
Anyone listening would have thought this was an insane conversation.
Anna Croft was, in fact, looking at me as if I were insane.
―Even if that method works, there is no guarantee [The Fourth Wall] can accept that thing.
"You just don't want to live with it, do you?"
―Do you know that the Library you created is far more unstable than the original [The Fourth Wall]?
"Is that so?"
I flinched slightly as I asked.
[The Fourth Wall] I had now was somewhat weaker than Dokja's original one. It was because I had not gathered enough Kim Dokja Fragments.
―What do you think will happen if you fail to bring that thing into the wall? Forget about me, what about the other kids in this Library?
Damn it.
I had not thought that far.
Then I had to change the plan.
"Anna! Faster!"
At my shout, Anna snapped out of it and nodded.
The tentacles were now right behind us, and the industrial complex was still far away.
Fortunately, there were several Fears we could use along the way. For example...
[Catastrophe-grade Fear, Alien Traffic Light, has activated.]
[You are using Fable Fragment, Remote Signal Controller.]
As soon as I entered the crosswalk, I changed the signal to green.
Then, the moment the One Who Devours Dreams entered the crosswalk behind us, I swiftly changed it to red.
A moment later, something came racing in and crashed into the tentacles of the One Who Devours Dreams for violating the signal. A dreadful impact echoed, leaving skid marks behind.
Oooooooooo!
How did that taste, bastard? The taste of civilization.
[Disaster-grade Fear, The One Who Devours Dreams, roars!]
Perhaps the rules of the world only worked because civilization existed.
So before a Disaster that destroyed even that civilization, traffic lights and crosswalks were useless.
I cursed at the tentacles chasing us as they devastated everything in their path.
"Follow the signals, bastard!"
"Inho Cheon, were you just talking to that monster?"
"Stop criticizing me and read the future already."
"My [Future Vision] still..."
"Why are you so useless?"
As though she had never heard such abuse before, Anna Croft muttered in confusion.
"[Future Vision] is not my only ability."
"Yes, of course it isn't."
Had my words provoked her?
Anna Croft suddenly turned serious and activated Arch-Demon's Eyeball once more. She was trying [Future Vision] again.
Tzzzzt!
Sparks leaped fiercely.
I was about to tell her not to push herself for no reason, but Anna Croft did not deactivate the skill even as bloody tears ran from her eyes.
The blood, evaporating in real time from the sparks, dried black against her cheeks. Seeing that, I could not help saying something.
"Catastrophe-grade Fear, Anna Croft."
Anna Croft glared at me as if asking whether I could really make that joke right now.
I was about to tell her to stop, but she wiped away her bloody tears and said,
"I saw it."
"What?"
"I saw the future. Only a little."
After hesitating briefly, I asked,
"Did I die?"
"Did you want to see a future like that?"
"No. So I didn't die?"
"Yes."
I grinned.
"That is enough. You did well, Anna."
It meant that the method I was about to use would, at least, not get me killed.
Footnotes:
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