WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 828: Episode 42: Destination (4)
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* * *
The most memorable line in the description of Paradoxical White Purity, Kyrios Lordgrime, was this.
「The beginning is a single point. The smallest is the greatest.」
There was also this.
「The strongest small person in the world.」
Do you see what keeps repeating?
That’s right.
「Small.」
That was Kyrios’s alpha and omega, his essential element.
A Transcendent from peace land, where only small people lived. A being who had overcome even his complex about being small and reached an exceptionally great enlightenment.
That was the Kyrios I knew.
Then how was I supposed to explain the man standing before me now?
“Disaster-grade Fear... Paradoxical White Purity?”
“Inho Cheon, have you really lost your mind?”
Whatever Anna Croft said, I had no intention of taking back the words I had already spoken.
Because there was no way to explain that as anything other than a Fear.
If the smallest was the greatest, then how was I supposed to interpret Kyrios after he had become a little... no, a lot bigger? Had he become a little less great?
Of course, even if he was a little less great, our master was still great. With his characteristic dignified steps, he was lightly making his way toward me.
―You live long enough, you see all kinds of strange things.
Leaving Dokja behind as he continued making irreverent remarks about my true master, I finally faced Kyrios, who had arrived before me. For some reason, I felt quite tense.
At Seoul Station, I had impersonated Kyrios’s disciple while facing the Dragon Head Ark of the Beggars’ Sect and invoked the name of the White Purity Sect.
Just like Cheok Junkyung, it was possible that Kyrios knew me.
One wrong word could get me killed, but my damned tongue was the only thing I had to work with.
“Are you Paradoxical White Purity, Kyrios Lordgrime?”
“Who are you?”
“Yes. I am...”
What should I say?
Should I call myself Dokja after all?
As I hesitated, Kyrios asked again.
“How do you know that martial art?”
Come to think of it, I was still activating [White Pure Star Energy].
It was already too late to deactivate the skill. Since things had come to this, I had no choice but to use the Dokja Method again.
“My greetings are late. An outer disciple of the White Purity Sect greets a senior of his martial school.”
Kyrios silently looked down at me and said,
“The White Purity Sect has already been destroyed.”
“I know. I was taught by its last survivor.”
It was not exactly a lie.
I had really learned it from someone who had learned [White Pure Star Energy] through a secret manual.
“I have heard much about the sect leader. I had always hoped to greet you properly someday, so it is an honor to meet you like this.”
I thought I had shown sufficient courtesy, but Kyrios’s reaction was strange.
When I glanced to the side, several people who had appeared with Kyrios were whispering.
“The First Battalion Captain is still popular.”
“Is it Kyrios again?”
“I told you. There are especially many bastards who want to become that guy’s disciple.”
There were many people who wanted to become his disciple?
―Damn.
The moment I heard Dokja’s voice, chills ran down my spine.
I was an idiot. How had I failed to consider that?
―Looks like they were here too.
Readers in this world had possessed various people in various places. Wouldn’t there naturally be Readers who had possessed someone near Kyrios?
“Does your name happen to be Kim Dokja as well?”
I gave a bitter smile.
Fortunately, unlike the other Kim Dokjas, I had a way to prove myself.
“You are the first person I have seen who learned [White Pure Star Energy].”
Thinking about it, that was only natural.
In this worldline, only LiteraryGirl64, Chae Yerin, and I had learned [White Pure Star Energy].
―Yerin saved me.
A strange longing rose in me at the thought of her name after so long.
Was Yerin doing well? What had happened to Killer King? What about Ji Eunyoo and Uncle Dansu? And Gyeong Sein...
A voice from behind interrupted my brief thoughts.
“Kyrios. That is enough.”
A man with his upper body bare was walking toward us from afar. It was Cheok Junkyung, Goryeo’s Top Swordsman, who had been fighting The One Who Devours Dreams to the death until just now.
“That pale brat is my disciple. Don’t set your sights on him carelessly.”
“Your disciple?”
At Kyrios’s doubtful question, Cheok Junkyung thumped his chest again.
“That is right. He is this body’s disciple. Judging by your reaction, it seems you too have recognized the brat’s talent.”
“...”
“However, you are too late. He has inherited my sword forms.”
The gazes of the two men became subtly tangled in midair. Just as I wondered what this farce was supposed to be, a deafening noise rose in the distance.
Rumbleee!
Ten Transcendents were attacking The One Who Devours Dreams together.
Each of them possessed strength at least equal to the Master of the Spear.
When they gathered and unleashed a joint technique, even that powerful Outer God staggered back.
It was an unbelievable sight.
No matter how strong Transcendents were, could they really defeat The One Who Devours Dreams?
“Tsk, tsk. That is not how you cut.”
“...”
“Hey! New recruit from Second Battalion! You need to thrust faster! Do you want to get thrown into a Time Stratum for another hundred years?”
“...”
“No, that is not how you use it!”
At some point, a small old man standing right beside me had begun offering advice to them. To me, their martial arts were simply incredible, but they apparently looked wholly inadequate to the old man.
The old man made several more comments about the Transcendents’ combined attack, then suddenly turned toward me.
“Hm? Who are you?”
“Ah, I am...”
“A new recruit?”
There was something familiar about the old man’s hollow chuckle.
How should I put it? He seemed like someone who had long ago transcended this world’s Scenarios.
The old man examined me with deep eyes and let out a faint exclamation.
“There are only a handful of newcomers who have made it up here alone. You are quite capable. What is your name?”
“Kim Dokja.”
At my answer, the old man smiled mysteriously.
“What a strange name. I like people with strange names.”
For a brief moment, something like longing passed through the old man’s expression.
Then, with a distant rumbblee, The One Who Devours Dreams began to retreat.
When I saw Kyrios and Cheok Junkyung standing at the center of the group, my heart began beating for no reason.
Perhaps there were still many stories in this world that I did not know.
People who, in human bodies, accomplished things that even stars could not.
Watching them, the old man said,
“Kim Dokja. Welcome to the Transcendence Alliance.”
* * *
Transcendence Alliance.
“No, wait a minute!”
The Transcendents suddenly seized me and dragged me straight to the industrial complex.
That building, which I had thought was Dokja’s Big House, was astonishingly their headquarters.
[You have been hospitalized in Disaster-grade Fear, Fear Ward.]
They even dragged me into a hospital room and gave me a transfusion of fable packs.
I looked at Anna Croft, who had been hospitalized beside me, and asked,
“Are you okay?”
“I am. What about you?”
“Do I look okay?”
“I have no idea what is happening.”
It seemed even Anna Croft’s [future vision] had not foreseen this situation. She appeared to be trying to activate [future vision] repeatedly, but things did not seem to be going smoothly.
Perhaps that was only natural.
If I was right, we were very close to Second Kim Dokja now.
So this is the Big House you had in mind, Kim Dokja.
“Why do you think they brought us here?”
“I do not know. Unless they didn’t mistake us for Fears...”
Just then, my smartphone went Bzzz.
When I checked it, the guide had already been updated.
+
* Parts of this document have been modified by SVRP.
SVRP. PW ???.
Natural Disaster-grade Fear: Transcendence Alliance
An alliance of Transcendents residing in the End Region. An organization formed by supremely powerful people, each comparable to a Constellation.
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
Several especially powerful Transcendents are called Captains, and each is known to possess a danger level equivalent to Natural Disaster-grade.
Commander-in-Chief, ■■■■ ■■
Zero Battalion Captain, ■■■■ ■■■.
First Battalion Captain, Paradoxical White Purity Kyrios Lordgrime.
Second Battalion Captain, Sky-Splitting Sword Saint Namgung Minyeong.
Third Battalion Captain, Goryeo’s Top Swordsman Cheok Junkyung.
...
It has been observed that in every round where this organization appeared, they were annihilated while fighting a Great Old One.
+
Honestly, I was shocked as I read the guide’s description.
There were two reasons.
First, people I knew and was glad to see were alive in that terrible End Region.
Second, they would eventually be annihilated by a Great Old One.
Great Old One. Several Outer Gods came to mind, but I had no idea what sort of being they would fight and be annihilated by.
[The effect of Disaster-grade Fear, Fear Ward, has activated.]
My eyes kept slowly closing.
[All your injuries are being restored.]
That seemed to be the effect of this hospital room.
Several times, I heard someone screaming inside my head. I could not tell whether it was my scream, Anna’s scream, or someone else’s.
By the time I opened my eyes again, it was morning.
A large man greeted me.
“Awake, disciple?”
Cheok Junkyung stood there, smiling with his teeth bared.
* * *
I followed Cheok Junkyung as he introduced me to various parts of the Transcendence Alliance.
It appeared that the Transcendence Alliance used only the first floor of the industrial complex.
In an unusually kind tone, Cheok Junkyung carefully explained the building’s sleeping room, restroom, training room, and more.
“And from today onward, you are the youngest member of Third Battalion.”
“Master.”
“What is it?”
“I never said I would join the Transcendence Alliance.”
I could not understand it.
Over the past full day, all that had happened to me was being forcibly hospitalized in the ward.
And now, immediately after being discharged, I had somehow become a member of the Transcendence Alliance by force?
Perhaps my reaction was unexpected. Cheok Junkyung’s lips twitched slightly.
“Disciple. Did you not come here because you wished to become a Transcendent?”
“That is true.”
Becoming a Transcendent was the only way for me to grow stronger now.
But I had not come here to get myself killed as a Transcendent. I did not know when a Great Old One would attack, but if I stayed here, it was only a matter of time before I died alongside them.
“If you work hard here, you can become a Transcendent. Like this body.”
“But are you not a Constellation, Master?”
“When you are as strong as I am, such distinctions do not matter.”
I decided to interpret the situation as positively as possible.
I had to find Second Kim Dokja here anyway, and this was one of the safest places in the End Region.
A Great Old One was going to attack? No, I could just run before it attacked.
And above all else.
“Now, that is it.”
Here, I could use the famed Time Stratum I had only heard about.
“That is the famous Time Stratum.”
Small doors densely covered every direction inside a space wider than a sports field. A small monitor was attached in front of each door, and the rapidly unfolding scenes on the monitors appeared to be footage from inside the Time Strata.
One monitor showed an Incarnation exploring the Dark Fold, while another showed an Incarnation falling from a bridge forever. I could even see a Constellation imprisoned in Tartarus, the prison of the underworld.
Everyone was struggling through different places and different times.
I could also see the numbers written beneath each monitor.
2-2nd round. 4-11th round. 5-33rd round. 6-77th round...
“What are those numbers?”
“Ah, those?”
Cheok Junkyung scratched his cheek before answering.
“I think they might be the order in which the Time Strata were created, though I do not know for certain.”
I examined the scenes on the monitors and fell silent.
Cheok Junkyung’s idea was right in one sense, but inaccurate in another.
And only I understood what those rounds meant.
That was right. Those Time Strata were...
「All of Yu Junghyeok’s Regression rounds.」
Footnotes:
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