WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 26: Infinite Monarch

──────

Bang! Bang! Kabooom!

The fireballs circling in the air fell one after another, sending pillars of flame shooting up like bamboo after rain.

Each tower of fire could have burned down one or two buildings with ease. In an instant, blue flames covered the entire area.

It was a literal hell of explosions.

A space of death where even a person made entirely of iron would be reduced to ashes in moments.

Yet not a single hair on Rimon’s head was singed.

Before the fireballs had even fallen, he had already escaped the flames with agile movements.

It was only natural.

No matter how powerful they were, Rimon was not the sort to stand there dazed and let such obvious attacks hit him.

But Lee Cheon-gi’s attack was not over.

No, it had not even begun.

As if to prove that fact, Lee Cheon-gi lightly snapped his fingers once more and spoke in a low voice.

“『Flame Torrent』.”

Whoooosh!

Did people believe fire was alive?

Any unbeliever who had been here would have come to believe it.

The flames covering the area writhed on their own, then flowed backward across the ground like a river to engulf Rimon. They were living creatures in all but name.

“Didn't your mom ever tell you that playing with fire makes you wet the bed?”

Even so, Rimon did not so much as raise an eyebrow.

He merely snorted, drove his sword into the ground with a thunk, and flicked it.

Ordinarily, it would have been a movement that scattered dirt at most.

But a Sword Master’s technique turned that simple action into a human catapult.

Boom!

A huge crater appeared where he had planted his sword. A house-sized mass of earth shot forward like a shell, piercing through the river of flames and crashing toward Lee Cheon-gi.

The enormous clump of earth fell like a meteor, wrapped in fire.

It was crude compared to modern weaponry, but that was exactly why it carried such primitive brutality.

“『Weapon Manifestation』.”

Kaboom!

Fortunately, the advancement of civilization had not been for nothing.

A self-propelled howitzer rose behind Lee Cheon-gi and spat fire, shattering the primitive weapon into a heap of dirt.

It was the sort of feat that firepower enthusiasts, scientism believers, and military fanatics alike would praise in unison.

Then Lee Cheon-gi added fuel to the fire.

Snap!

Tank guns, cannons, missiles, heavy machine guns, and all manner of weapons appeared at the snap of his fingers.

With enough firepower gathered behind him to surpass an entire army, the great Monarch murmured quietly.

“『Accuracy Correction』, 『Cursed Magic Bullet』, 『Defense Penetration』, 『Destructive Power Enhancement』, 『Launch Acceleration』.”

Light gathered around the weapons with every word.

Before the weapons, now layered in light and shining like rainbows, Lee Cheon-gi swept one hand down gracefully like an orchestra conductor.

“『Concentrated Fire』.”

Kabooom!

What began at once was an art of gunfire.

Countless advanced weapons with entirely different specifications supported one another as if they were a single unit, pouring fire toward their target without the slightest deviation.

Precision that even the Aegis system ought to learn from.

And the power enhanced by all kinds of skills far surpassed the limits of modern weaponry.

“Hmm.”

Even before that baptism of death, Rimon did not retreat.

Instead, as though observing something, he took in the shells, bullets, and missiles flying at him all at once.

Then, once he had finished observing them, Rimon made only three slashes.

With each cut, he caught one of the three foremost bullets on the tip of his sword as though it were a slide, swinging his sword in a circle to double its force and speed before sending it back.

Tididing!

The sight was that of a mantis defying a chariot.

Three bullets making a reckless charge against an innumerable bombardment.

But people did not know.

Mantis Defying a Chariot was not an expression mocking recklessness.

It came from the old tale of a mantis’s courage in charging at a chariot, a spirit so bold that Duke Zhuang of Qi had his chariot turn aside.

And at that moment, the three bullets that struck a single missile at once created that same miracle.

Boom! Kabooom!

The power amplified by skills.

The astonishingly precise and dense barrage.

What should have been an advantage turned poisonous when the missile at the center of the barrage exploded.

Just as a precise machine could easily fail from the slightest twist in a single screw.

The chain of explosions beginning with the missile drew the rest of the barrage in, embroidering the sky with flames.

Tap!

The instant a gap opened in the barrage, Rimon threw himself through it.

Most of the bombardment might have exploded on its own, but half still remained.

Yet there was no hesitation or fear in his golden eyes.

There was only the persistence of a predator charging at its prey.

Lee Cheon-gi did not avoid that gaze.

Instead, he snapped his fingers again.

“『Gravity Manipulation』.”

Tens of tons of weight crushed down on him.

“『Freezing Rain』.”

Rain that froze everything poured down.

“『Dream Labyrinth』.”

A curse that swallowed all things in dreams spread forth.

“『Octagonal Barrier』.”

Eight layers of walls sturdier than bunkers rose up.

Each was a top-tier skill that a high-level Player could use as a mainstay.

To unleash them all in succession within a single breath was a feat beyond even wonder.

It was a terribly perfect chain of skills that no one else could dare imitate, possible only because he was Lee Cheon-gi, the Infinite Monarch.

Even so, Rimon was not shaken.

He merely took three more steps as he charged toward Lee Cheon-gi.

Even turning around and fleeing immediately would already have been too late, yet he instead stepped forward head-on. It was the height of foolishness.

But the result was astonishing.

One step.

He evaded the gravity and rain.

Two steps.

He leaped over the walls and barrier.

Three steps.

He thrust his sword at Lee Cheon-gi.

It was a sight beyond all reason, unbelievable even when witnessed.

A fatal strike that would have pierced Lee Cheon-gi if he had not known of it in advance and prepared for it.

“『Space Transfer』, 『Free Flight』.”

But that strike pierced empty air.

As though he had expected this, Lee Cheon-gi vanished through space before Rimon could even take his third step.

Lee Cheon-gi reappeared high in the air, far beyond the sword’s reach. Watching Rimon click his tongue in disappointment, he spoke calmly.

“That is astonishing. How is something like that possible without using a skill?”

“It’s a secret, asshole.”

He had not been especially fast.

He had not stopped time.

He had not crossed space.

Yet he had pierced through every skill and reached him in only three steps.

When Lee Cheon-gi calmly asked how he had done it, Rimon bluntly shot back before asking in return,

“How did you see it coming, anyway? Most people can’t dodge that the first time they see it.”

“I have already been hit by it.”

It was not an answer.

But Rimon understood.

“Ha, 『Precognition』.”

It was the most useful of the countless prophecy-type skills in combat, but equally rare and demanding.

Watching Lee Cheon-gi foresee the future in which he would be stabbed and evade it, Rimon asked mockingly,

“Just how many skills do you even have?”

He had already used well over ten skills in this battle alone.

Many were powerful enough that acquiring just one could make someone a high-level Player.

Lee Cheon-gi could freely wield dozens of such skills. Even by the standards of high-level Players, that was clearly abnormal.

“I do not know myself.”

Lee Cheon-gi calmly accepted the mockery.

Facing Rimon, he spoke in a voice so calm it was cold.

He revealed the unique skill that only he possessed, and the reason he was called the most unfathomable Monarch among the ten great Monarchs.

“After the number of skills I acquired through 『Skill Copying』 exceeded three thousand, I gave up counting.”

* * *

People often said that Common Skills were convenient powers.

Rare Skills were powers that transcended reality.

Unique Skills were miraculous powers.

Of course, that was not absolute.

The better a skill was, the rarer it tended to be, but not every rare skill was necessarily powerful.

Yet no one doubted that logic when it came to the ten Monarchs.

That was why even Players with Unique Skills called the Monarchs’ skills something special.

Absolute Skills.

Or Cheat Skills.

The Monarchs’ skills were so exceptional that they could only be called cheats beyond miracles.

And among the ten Monarchs, the most overpowered was the Infinite Monarch’s Unique Skill, 『Skill Copying』.

In fact, when he first became a Player, Lee Cheon-gi had been greatly underestimated.

At the time, 『Skill Copying』 could only copy Common Skills once every ten days.

Many people mocked him for contracting with a Monarch-class Constellation, only to receive such a dud of a skill.

But Lee Cheon-gi did not give up.

He copied skills, entered Dungeons, and gradually raised his level.

Once he had acquired more than ten skills, Lee Cheon-gi began to stand out.

Once the number exceeded fifty, no one mocked him anymore.

Once it exceeded one hundred and the cooldown of 『Skill Copying』 vanished, he established the Infinity Guild.

And once the number exceeded one thousand and he could copy even Rare Skills, he came to be called a Monarch.

That was how overpowered 『Skill Copying』 was.

By now, Lee Cheon-gi did not even know how many skills he had acquired.

People said that the day Lee Cheon-gi became able to copy Unique Skills, the ten Monarchs would vanish and a single absolute being would be born.

That was why he was called the Infinite Monarch.

He was the strongest Player, known to possess the greatest potential among the Monarchs because he wielded endless skills.

And at that moment, Lee Cheon-gi was displaying that boundless potential against Rimon without holding anything back.

“『Binding Chains』, 『Wave Cannon』, 『Venomous Insect Summoning』, 『Spatial Severance』.”

When Rimon cut apart the chains that suddenly appeared around his ankles, an invisible wave flew at him. As he avoided the swarming venomous insects, space itself split apart.

Rimon narrowly evaded every skill and shouted furiously.

“Hey, take a breath before you use another skill. Don’t you ever get out of breath?”

“Did you not know? If you use 『Skin Respiration』 and 『Oxygen Generation』 together, you do not particularly need to breathe.”

“How the hell would I know that, asshole?!”

Rimon clicked his tongue inwardly.

As a PAB agent, he had experienced countless skills.

But in this brief span of time, he had faced more skills than he had seen in his entire life.

How many skills is this bastard using at once?

He was not just talking about attack skills.

There were thought-type skills such as 『Parallel Thought』 and 『High-Speed Thought』, prophecy-type skills such as 『Precognition』, and auxiliary skills such as 『Free Flight』.

There were more than ten skills he was certain Lee Cheon-gi was using.

To keep all those skills active at once while freely spamming attack skills.

Even Rimon, who considered himself fairly far outside the bounds of humanity, could not help wondering whether that bastard was really human.

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