WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 839: Episode 44: The Evil Sophist (2)
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What could have happened?
Why was Yu Junghyeok inside the Time Stratum of the 40th round?
No matter how I thought about it, there was no reason for it. The last time I had parted with him was at the entrance to the Fear Realm.
I left him, still not fully recovered, with the Sky-Splitting Sword Saint and fell into the Fear Realm.
Yet he followed me into the Fear Realm, our paths diverged, and he arrived at this Transcendence Alliance before I did.
Then he entered the Time Stratum of the 40th round. Why?
「Yu Junghyeok lost his memories of what happened in the 40th round.」
A thought suddenly occurred to me, and my mouth fell open. Come to think of it, Junghyeok had forgotten most of what happened in the 40th round because of the side effects of Fable Engraving.
What if he had come looking for this stratum to recover those memories?
I felt stifled.
Damn it. Junghyeok, how could you take on a place like this?
Naturally, Junghyeok's Incarnation body would not exist in the 99th Scenario of the 40th round.
According to what I saw through Anna's [past vision], Junghyeok's Incarnation body had been taken down by Inho Cheon before the final Scenario arrived.
If so, there was a good chance that Junghyeok had possessed some unrelated Incarnation body and carried out the Time Stratum's mission.
Damn bastard. He should have challenged that stratum up there instead.
[Round 1,863, Scenario 99].
It was a dizzying number even seeing it again, but the current Junghyeok would have had a better chance of surviving if he challenged that one.
If it was the 99th Scenario of the 1,863rd round, he might have possessed the Junghyeok of the 1,863rd round if he was lucky.
"It seems you can see that stratum."
"Pardon?"
Cheongheo, who had appeared beside me at some point, stroked his beard and muttered.
"Ah, didn't Ryunard tell you? Not just anyone can see that stratum."
Cheongheo continued in a strangely alien voice.
"Only people like me, who came from outside this world, or Recorders who watch worldlines can see it. How curious. No newcomer has ever discovered that stratum before."
Only then did it occur to me that Junghyeok might not have been able to find that stratum.
Perhaps the kinds of strata Incarnations from the worldline of the 41st round could use were predetermined.
Some strata could be seen, while others could not.
Just as one could not experience an event before it happened.
Even so, all those events clearly existed together...
"I'll say it again, you needn't feel burdened. After everything is over, I can simply press the reset button. I've done it several times already."
"No. That's no different from Regression."
"Regression?"
"I don't want to save my companions that way."
"Your companions..."
"They're definitely still alive."
Nothing appeared on the Time Stratum's monitor. Still, I believed in Junghyeok.
He was none other than the Yu Junghyeok of the 41st round. There was no way he had possessed a body in the 40th round without thinking things through.
"And I'm not going in alone. Ms. Kim Anna."
At my call, Anna Croft, who had been quietly trying to slip away behind me, turned around.
"Are you out of your mind?"
"Are you saying you won't come with me?"
"I don't have an Incarnation body in that stratum. If we enter together..."
"We can possess any Incarnation body and use it."
"I'm saying that might not be possible! Didn't you hear the seniors explain? If you recklessly enter a Time Stratum without a suitable body to possess..."
"Our souls might fail to settle and turn into Outer Gods."
I knew.
If things went wrong, Ms. Kim Anna and I might truly be preserved as Catastrophe-grade Fears.
Still, she would not be able to refuse this proposal.
"Aren't you curious about how the 99th Scenario ended?"
"..."
"I'm asking if you aren't curious what I, Inho Cheon, saw at the end of that damned 40th round."
"You really are..."
"Despicable, aren't I? So please fall for that despicableness one more time. I have a feeling I'll need you if I'm going to see how this Time Stratum ends."
"..."
"If we're going to see the end in this round, we must know what happened in the 40th round."
Without a word, I grabbed Anna's wrist. Anna Croft let out a deep sigh and looked at Cheongheo with pleading eyes, as if asking him to save her.
Facing Cheongheo alongside her, I spoke.
"Please delay the end until I return."
"Wait! Just wait! Inho Cheon! Aah..."
[You have entered Round 40, Scenario 99.]
[This Time Stratum belongs to Devilish Sophist, one of the Recorders of Fear.]
......
[■■-grade Fear, Devilish Sophist, permits entry to you and one other person.]
[The Time Stratum has opened.]
* * *
The two disappeared beyond the swirling door. As Cheongheo silently watched the door close in an instant, someone approached him.
"Sir."
"Carlton."
Carlton, with the heads of Outer Gods threaded onto a silver chain, stood behind him.
"It seems the newcomers went in."
"That's right."
"Why didn't you stop them? That isn't a Time Stratum two newcomers can handle."
"Would anything really change if they stayed here?"
"That stratum belongs to one of the Recorders of Fear. If they are trapped inside, they won't be able to return even if we press the reset button."
"He said he hated Regression."
"Pardon?"
Cheongheo smiled silently, then looked up at the empty sky and spoke again.
"That boy Jaehwan hated Regression to death, too."
Carlton stiffened at the name Jaehwan.
Cheongheo continued.
"He climbed that tall tower to save a single friend."
Carlton also knew well what that tower was. The tower and world they knew had already vanished, but even so, the sight of someone's back as they climbed that tower remained vivid in their memories.
"Even when there was an easy path, he was the kind of boy who kept climbing the hard path no one else would take."
Carlton smiled bitterly.
Longing. In this Fear Realm, it was an endlessly wistful emotion, and stronger than anything else.
"It reminds me of the old days. Do you think the newcomers will succeed?"
"In an End Region where everything is futile, do success and failure really matter so much?"
Waves of Outer Gods gathered like clouds in the sky and surged toward the Transcendents.
Cheongheo quietly drew his sword, smiling as he began cutting through the air.
"I only hope he finds a good story within this clichéd end."
The moment he said that, the Outer Gods all turned their heads somewhere at once.
[The Great King of Fear's gaze shifts.]
The Outer Gods who followed their master were looking in the direction their master watched. Naturally, it was where the Time Stratum of the 40th round stood.
Cheongheo added with a smile.
"Perhaps he has already found one."
* * *
[You have possessed a suitable Incarnation body.]
It was a familiar sensation. The same feeling as when I entered a Fear through a brief nap on the Rush-Hour Subway.
[■■-grade Fear, Devilish Sophist, has begun its final chapter.]
Back then, I had been disguised as a masked member of the Blood Cult pursuing Yu Junghyeok.
But what was this now?
[Warning! Your Incarnation body is in an extremely unstable state!]
I thought I'd possessed Dokja.
Whatever he had done, every fable in this Incarnation body had been utterly shattered. It would not have been strange for it to collapse at any moment.
"Ms. Kim Anna."
I quietly called Anna Croft, but she did not respond.
I briefly mourned Anna Croft, who might by now have become a Catastrophe-grade Fear, then slowly rose to my feet.
Pew!
Something skimmed over my head.
An arrow.
And not just any arrow. It carried a formidable Status.
"He's close! The bastard is nearby!"
Judging by the Lion's Roar I heard, they were Incarnations with tremendous power.
They had to be pursuing Inho Cheon.
I had to escape somehow.
Even if this Incarnation body was in this state, escaping was nothing. After all, this body belonged to Inho Cheon, who had survived all the way to the final Scenario...
Creaaak.
I nearly twisted my ankle and fell.
Why were this bastard's physical stats still so low? Was he really Dokja Ver. 2 or something?
No, but this was already the 99th Scenario. Did it make any sense for his physical stats to be this low?
[Your frailty has increased due to the effect of Exclusive Attribute, Illness Acceleration.]
His overall stats even seemed lower than when I possessed him last time.
[Your overall stats have been greatly reduced due to the effect of Exclusive Attribute, Frail Tongue.]
My thoughts grew complicated.
No. His base overall stats were already low, but he took the combination of Illness Acceleration and Frail Tongue in his Attribute tree?
Was this guy seriously insane?
[Find him! He's around here...]
Wait. Illness Acceleration and Frail Tongue. Thinking about it, I understood why he chose this tree.
Illness Acceleration was an Attribute that reduced the repeat cooldown of every Attribute to zero in exchange for drastically worsening one's status conditions.
Frail Tongue was an Attribute that increased the speed and power of words-of-power skills in exchange for reducing overall stats to half or less.
Combining the two made so-called Rapid-Fire Magic possible.
But Inho Cheon was not a mage. He was an inciter.
In other words, this Attribute Combination was built to use [Incitement] on an opponent before they could do anything.
I was impressed by Inho Cheon's boldness.
He was using an Attribute Combination like this in the final Scenario, where a single hit could send him to the afterlife.
No matter how I thought about it, no one could use a method like this unless they were as crazy as Kim Dokja.
"There! Over there!"
And I was that crazy Dokja.
"Yes, I'm here."
Even though he was battered beyond recognition, even though his Incarnation body was a mess and his physical stats were at my level, this was the body of the 40th-round Inho Cheon, One Who Deceived the Stars and the Devilish Sophist.
I had [Incitement].
And if it was not just any [Incitement], but the [Incitement] of Inho Cheon, who had reached the end of the Scenario, what could it not do?
Like I had done to the Blood Demon, I just needed to gaslight them all into kneeling, then smash in the backs of their heads.
Thinking that, I pushed myself up.
"At last I've found you, Inho Cheon."
What the hell? The Blood Demon I had met during my last possession was standing there again.
This bastard was still alive?
Naturally, I ignored him and immediately activated [Incitement].
[You have activated the Exclusive Skill Incitement Lv.???!]
Its level was displayed as ???. Just as I was about to marvel at its incredible mastery...
[Your Incarnation body's durability has reached its limit.]
[Your current Incarnation body cannot use this skill.]
I forced a smile and stepped backward.
Damn it, I should have tested this first.
So that was why the Incarnation body was in this state. It seemed he had already been running around enthusiastically using [Incitement] somewhere.
I waved as though greeting an old friend.
"Ah, good to see you, Blood Demon."
"Good to see me?"
The Blood Demon grinned.
"Yes. Good to see you. Inho Cheon, I'm grateful to you for what you did then."
"I don't know what you're grateful for, but I'm glad. Then could you perhaps toss me some spare medicinal herbs? Better yet, I'd appreciate one of those Blood Spirit Pills you gave me before."
The Blood Demon's eyebrows twisted at my words.
"That damned loose tongue of yours. In any case, thanks to you, I've finally come a step closer to the [Regression Great Art]."
"Ah, that pathetic Regression Great Art. Don't tell me you're still researching it."
I cautiously edged backward. But no matter where I looked, in front, behind, left, or right, the Blood Demon's subordinates had already surrounded me.
This was bad.
To think I would die in the final Scenario to someone like the Blood Demon, not Zeus or Poseidon.
"Yes, it's all thanks to you defeating Poseidon."
"Who did I defeat?"
The Blood Demon looked at me as though I were insane.
Only then did I understand why my Incarnation body was in such a state.
Had he fought Poseidon of Olympus in the meantime?
And defeated him?
"I don't know what scheme you're plotting again, but it won't work this time. Leave the item you stole from Olympus and get lost."
An item? Only then did I notice something hanging from the waist of my coat.
"If you hand that over, I'll truly spare your life this time."
I blankly looked down at the item in question.
I thought it might be some secret trick Inho Cheon had left behind, but the moment I checked it, a curse slipped out.
"Goddamn it."
Yu Junghyeok's head was hanging from my waist.
Footnotes:
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