WeTried Translations

Translator: Nemui

Editor: Nemui

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Scum of the Brave

Chapter 35

──────

Indo, leaning out the window, vanished in an instant.

Spatial transfer, I realized a moment later.

So she could move that way too. Just as I thought that, a fierce collision sounded overhead. Something scraped across the roof. Metallic sounds rang out in succession, shaking our minivan hard. It must have been a fairly intense interception.

I could only recognize sound.

Footsteps kicking the roof. Metal sounds. Impact. More footsteps. Dritt's beast-like roar. Mixed in with it, I faintly heard Indo groan too.

She was something like an animal herself. It almost made me laugh.

But I had no time to split my attention that way.

"Jogamine."

While shouting, I turned the wheel to the right.

"Do it."

Because of the sudden braking, the vehicle slid.

The tires screamed in pain. I turned the body sideways so Jogamine's side would have an easier shot at the sedan.

On the other hand, Tomoe, riding in the rear sedan, hesitated slightly over her aim with the short spear. She probably wavered for a few tenths of a second over whether to aim at me or Jogamine, but that was enough to decide a fight between E3 users.

"Huh?"

Jogamine sounded slightly panicked. She threw the black lump in her hand at bullet speed. It was slightly off from the target I had specified.

Even after I made it easy to hit, what terrible aim. But it produced a result beyond expectations.

The object Jogamine threw did not hit the windshield.

It hit Tomoe's face as she leaned out from the passenger seat. Directly in the face.

"What the, you."

Tomoe might have cursed something. Reflexively, she grabbed the object that had hit her face and tried to pull her body back inside.

Immediately after that, white gas sprayed violently from the object in her hand.

It was a tool I had brought to Hokkaido just in case. A CN gas Smoke Bomb. Tear gas used by Japanese police for riot control, and it worked on people with Ether Perception too. It was a fairly "clean" tool, with an extremely low possibility of leaving aftereffects.

I had thought Jogamine would be able to throw this without resistance.

It worked beautifully.

CN gas filled the inside of the white sedan in the blink of an eye. The body slid, and despite its tiny resistance, the sedan began spinning. For a while, they would not be able to act properly. In the sense of "serves you right," I honked the horn once, hard.

"I am sorry, Master."

Jogamine turned back in terrible panic.

"I missed. I failed to hit the windshield directly. I apologize for not meeting Master's expectations."

"What's with that face?"

I turned the wheel back left and pressed the accelerator.

"That was excellent. Smile. You can even sing."

It was rare for me to feel like praising Jogamine.

There were several reasons. Because Tomoe's face at the moment it hit was very funny. Because I had not taken E3, which induced aggressive impulses. But the biggest reason was that the brilliant plan I had made had worked extremely well.

As I have said many times, I am probably a simple person. When things go the way I want, I am happy, and my mood improves. Seeing the stupid face of someone trying to kill me is especially great. I even started thinking this was turning into a fun drive.

I felt like humming, if only the situation had not abruptly worsened immediately afterward.

"Hey, Teacher!"

First came Sara's warning.

"What are you acting so relaxed for?"

She clicked her tongue and seemed about to say something else, then gave up. Sara's arm grabbed my collar. She shoved me forward. I could not even react.

Just as I was about to curse her without thinking, I heard glass shatter right beside my ear.

"Whoa."

Wind pressure so strong I thought my ears had gone stupid.

It was only for an instant, but I definitely saw it. A black, swollen, deformed arm smashed through the window glass and grazed the back of my head. Naturally, I could not really see what Sara did against it.

"Don't let your guard down."

Spitting that out, she tightened her grip on the hilt of her katana.

"You're our teacher, aren't you?"

A high metallic sound rang out. Later, I realized it must have been a kind of iai.

How did she manage that in such a narrow space? I did not know how or what she did to draw. It was definitely some kind of technique. Maybe in Sara's case, reflexive defensive action brought out her real ability better because she did not think about unnecessary things.

Thinking that extra thought also came later.

In any case, Sara's katana, as it ran from the scabbard, beautifully intercepted the deformed arm thrusting in through the driver's side window. It cut deep around the wrist, almost tearing it off. Scattered blood hit my cheek. The guard and blade made a clear sound near my ear.

With a beast-like scream, the deformed arm withdrew.

Rough footsteps on the roof overhead. Had he stumbled? Indo's groan.

Outside the window, I saw Dritt's face with his right arm grotesquely swollen. A bluish-white face visible through the gaps in the full-face helmet. No expression. Only eyes looking this way.

Clinging to the roof, peering in at us. Was another strike coming?

"Yukine!"

Jogamine shouted.

"I will support you now. On this sword, I swear."

She was trying to draw the bastard sword. But it did not look like she would make it in time.

Indo's small body flew out and clung to Dritt's neck. Dritt reacted slightly. His gaze wandered, and he tried to turn back. Indo's knife stabbed into the side of his neck.

But it was shallow. From the blade length, it did not have enough force to sever the neck.

That alone could not kill Dritt.

I had been vaguely aware of it, but Dritt was probably a type of Nephilim.

Judging from this thin sense of self, he was not a compatible user, but one step before that. Based on Salt Joe's story, he was probably somewhere between success and failure. You could even infer that from the name Dritt, "Number Three."

"Instructor."

Indo called me in a murmur.

The tension gathered between her brows loosened, and it even looked like she forced herself to smile.

"Thank you for trusting me. Somehow, I..."

Indo pulled the knife from his neck and stabbed it into Dritt's deformed left arm. That was the arm clinging to the roof of our minivan, creaking and trembling with terrifying strength.

"I feel like I can become a little better. I'm killing this thing."

It was a rougher line than usual.

In that instant, I could tell a local force had entered Indo's knife.

It tore.

The knife drove deep into Dritt's left arm, gouging it enough to nearly rip the arm off. That loosened the strength in Dritt's left arm. He let go of the roof. Along with Indo, who was clinging to him, he was shaken off and sent flying according to the laws of physics.

I watched it happen.

Honestly, I could only think I had lost my mind.

If I had E3, if I had more time to think, could I have done something else? Thinking about it now, I still did not really know.

Before I knew it, I had pulled an E3 injector from the pocket of my coat. The last E3. The one I had meant to keep as a trump card.

"Indo."

I could not stop myself from speaking.

My thoughts could not catch up to my actions.

"Beat that thing yourself. You are..."

I have already forgotten what I meant to say after that. Maybe I actually said something out loud, or maybe there was no time. I do not remember.

I threw the precious E3 injector toward Indo.

I think Indo smiled a little and swiftly caught it.

That is all I can remember.

"Damn it."

I cursed with all my strength, with everything I had. Then I pressed the accelerator and sped up.

Indo and Dritt flew far behind us.

Would Indo Yukine manage it? She had her own things she had to overcome. A path she could not avoid. Could she do it alone?

I considered braking and slowing down.

But it was impossible.

"Teacher! This is bad, behind us. Behind."

Sara slapped my shoulder roughly and shouted. She was badly shaken.

"Uaaaah, ah, whoa. Gross."

Several clay lumps that looked very much like dogs were chasing us. There were no fewer than ten. They were nothing but trouble. I had no choice but to keep pressing the accelerator.

Dritt and Indo's figures, tangled together as they flew, vanished beyond the rearview mirror.

"Damn it."

It was already too late to slow down.

I think we passed two or three traffic lights and intersections after that. We also passed a few ordinary passenger cars. Each honked at us and threw curses our way. I understood. My driving was obviously dangerous.

"This isn't good."

I said it out loud.

"This is probably going exactly according to their plan."

"Master!"

Interrupting my whining, Jogamine pointed ahead.

"That is..."

There was a giant, cloudy white humanoid there.

Since it had suddenly disappeared after throwing Dritt, I should have been on guard. The clay giant. I had completely forgotten its existence, but apparently it had moved ahead of us.

It spread both arms and blocked the road in front of us as if playing "you shall not pass."

"Is that not the giant from earlier?"

"No doubt, it's that thing. Teacher!"

The one who answered was not me, but Sara.

With a face paler than usual, she shook my shoulder.

"What do we do? From what I see, it's huge. Super strong too."

"Shut up."

I pressed the accelerator. This was unbearable. I wanted to whine even more.

"We're ditching the car. Damn it. What the hell is this?"

"Ditching it? Hey, h, h, how? We're gonna hit. We're gonna hit, Teacher."

"Master! Here we should openly declare war on the giant."

"We're getting out."

I put my hand on the driver's side door and looked back at Jogamine.

"I can't do this myself, so catch me."

"Wha..."

Jogamine's eyes went round.

"Come on, jump."

I shouted.

Immediately after that, I forced open the driver's side door and jumped from the speeding car. Even without using E3, everything looked like slow motion.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried