WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 69: 69

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To them, I was nothing but prey.

Those treasures wanted only to stuff other lives into their own bodies. That was the reason they existed.

But in here, they had not eaten for a very long time. Judging from the traces I had found so far, the last living thing had vanished at least several hundred years ago.

So that was why they were wandering around in search of me. I was prey that could satisfy their long hunger.

I gripped the key in my hand. The energy flowing from it reassured me. This was why I had stepped forward with such confidence. As long as I had this, I would not die.

At that moment, something stabbed into my body. It was hook-like magical power. Before I even noticed it, it had already wrapped around me.

Since I had suffered from it once before, I knew right away whose magical power it was. It belonged to the eyeball. As expected, it appeared first. It must have been circling around us this whole time, so that was only natural.

The magical power began pulling me in. At the source of that magical power was a huge eyeball. The eye, lying where the ground had split open, stared at me while giving off a strange glow.

The key pushed back against that magical power and shone. Under that light, the eye’s magical power was gradually forced away. But I suppressed it for a moment. It was not time yet.

Then the eye’s magical power pulled me in hard. I did not resist and let my body follow that force. The eye began drawing closer.

Seen up close, the eye was enormous. It was large enough to hold even my turtle. The surface of that eye flashed with a strange light.

I examined it closely and was a little surprised. The inside of the eye was endlessly clear. It even felt like pure water.

Inside it, strange things flowed as they looked at me. Sometimes they had human faces, sometimes they took the form of magical beasts, and sometimes they appeared in shapes I did not recognize.

Those translucent things formed a steady flow, creating a single pupil. The moment I met their gazes, dizziness welled up in me.

The magical power dropped me straight into the eye. Only after sinking inside it did I realize the truth. This thing looked like an eye, but it could not be called part of someone’s body.

It was closer to a kind of natural object. A lake made of enormous magical power. That magical power sensed me and began churning violently.

Inside that magical power, my mind slowly began to melt. My body was the same. This strange magical power was trying to digest me quickly.

Once that digestion was complete, I would become like the beings forming that pupil. Just another part of the enormous flow inside this lake.

As I melted away, I began to feel many things about this lake. I also understood why Professor had called it an eye severed from a star.

A star, whether small or large, could be called a world of its own. Being inside it, I could feel the will of such a star. A faint desire to become perfect was contained within it.

I also understood why this thing tried to devour life. It had been captured by Professor and reconstructed into a treasure. It had lost its perfection and fallen into something incomplete.

To fill that incompleteness, it was eating lives like this. It wanted to fill every gap and one day be reborn as a perfect star.

The feeling of my soul cracking and my mind melting was very strange. But it was also somewhat familiar. I had experienced the pain of having my soul pulled out several times before.

Yes, this was enough. I gripped the key tightly. Then I poured my will and magical power into it. The key gave off golden light and began pushing away the eye’s magical power.

But the process was not as easy as before. The magical power had already occupied at least part of my body. Because of that, the key began binding it tightly so it could not dig any deeper.

Like that, the eye’s magical power slowly struggled against the key and embedded itself firmly in my body. The key was blocking it, but it was already quite late. At this rate, I was clearly going to be eaten.

This was exactly the situation I wanted. A faint smile rose to my lips.

I could not escape from it. But if I thought of it the other way around, that also meant it was bound to me.

The key was already holding the thing’s magical power firmly. Unless it gave up that magical power, it could never escape from the key.

Of course, this was a fairly serious situation. I could no longer escape from it on my own. But it was not the only thing I had called.

Soon, horrible magical power attacked the eye. Because of that, I felt the powerful flow forming the lake break apart. I also managed to regain a little freedom inside it.

That magical power was like a patchwork rag. A grotesque nature lurked within it, born from countless strands of magical power forcibly stitched together.

I opened my eyes slightly. Through my blurry vision, I saw a giant hand. It was tearing the eye apart and forcing itself inside. Naturally, the fingertips were pointed at me.

A finger lifted my body. The magical power the eye had embedded in me was dragged up with it. The hand tried to forcibly sever those threads, but the eye did not let go of that connection easily.

Within that grasp, I could feel countless fingers moving.

Those fingers began groping over my body, searching me. Then they gripped my hand. A strong pressure began to build there.

This hand was trying to tear off my finger. My face stiffened at the ominous pain that soon followed.

This was not simply stealing my flesh. A strange power lingered in that grip, one that tore away the knowledge, soul, and mind contained within it too.

This thing was the same. Just as I had melted into the eye, if my hand was torn off like this, I would surely join this swarm of giant fingers and become part of one colony.

I quickly focused my will on the key. When the key shone, the fingers were thrown back.

Was this place full of nothing but things like this? I gave a bitter smile as I looked at the enormous swarm of fingers writhing beyond the golden barrier. They were even more bizarre than I had thought.

At that moment, strange magical power began to flow. It was coming from the eye’s pupil. The countless wraiths flowing inside it had slowly begun approaching the hand.

They dug between the fingers and tried to steal me back. The fingers were caught in the eye’s fierce assault and crushed. The sounds of bones breaking and flesh bursting rang out everywhere.

Unable to withstand that power, the hand lost its grip on me. The eye’s magical power wrapped around me again. The smell of blood and magical power filled the air.

The eye swung its magical power irritably. It fell toward the giant hand like a whip. The hand was busy blocking it.

The difference in strength looked clear. At this rate, the eye would take me again.

But suddenly, something else snatched my neck. Something sticky and cold wrapped around it, then began tightening.

It happened in an instant. If the key had not blocked it quickly, my neck might have been torn off. When I looked down, I saw a necklace. It was a necklace made of unknown teeth.

Those teeth scattered pale magical power and chewed at the curtain the key had made. I realized all over again how strange this place was, and how precious the key was too.

Although it could not pierce my curtain, it contained enough power to sever the connection the eye had made. Under those teeth, the eye’s magical power shattered to pieces.

The eye poured wraiths toward that necklace. The necklace turned its teeth in the opposite direction and began cutting through the wraiths.

Like that, they began fighting each other. The eye poured magical power toward the necklace like a waterfall, and the necklace sank its teeth even deeper, biting through it.

The hand did not stay still either. It moved persistently with its reconstructed body and dug between the eye and the necklace.

Like that, each being bit, crushed, and tangled with the others to claim me. The fight gradually grew as other treasures joined in too.

Inside it, I curled up as tightly as I could to protect myself. And I focused entirely on the key. I had to protect at least myself inside this horrible battle.

It would be good if this kind of consumption continued.

But the situation soon changed. The eye began retreating.

The eye slowly withdrew, even giving up the magical power it had embedded in my body. The other treasures did not care about that at all. They simply rushed toward me.

The eye began watching the other treasures fight. The flow of its magical power was perfectly still.

They said this eye had intelligence too, so it was probably planning to come in again after the others had exhausted their strength.

Then I had to stop here. I focused my mind inside my chest. The light opened on the shadow tree responded to my will.

It was the mirror bug I had placed beside the Fog Heart. Receiving my signal, it announced the end of the situation.

Then fog slowly began to bloom. The fog that began covering the battlefield spread over the treasures. And over me inside it too.

As the Fog Heart had promised, that hazy fog began blocking the gazes of the other treasures. They could not properly find where I was and started wandering.

Soon, something slowly approached me through the fog. I saw a face that resembled Professor. It supported my body with a broad smile across its face.

Like that, I was able to leave that place, led by the Fog Heart’s hand. The treasures stirred through the fog wildly, but the Fog Heart avoided them naturally and guided me outside.

Inside that fog, I could feel one gaze.

The eye was looking straight at us. Unless the fog was as strong as before, it seemed impossible to block that gaze. But this much was enough.

It did not attack us. It seemed to be watching the situation. It appeared to know that even if it caught me now, it would only be attacked by the others again.

Leaving that gaze behind, we slowly escaped the area. I did not know how much time had passed when the Fog Heart released the hand holding me. I collapsed flat onto the ground.

“Hehe, you look terrible.”

The puppet laughed as it looked at me. I gave it a hazy smile.

Perhaps because the puppet had used a little power, there were slight cracks on its body. But those traces soon repaired themselves and disappeared. At that level, it should be able to scatter fog comfortably in the future too.

I checked my condition. The key’s protection was more reliable than I had imagined. Just as Professor had guaranteed, it fully prevented my death.

Of course, that was the only thing it prevented. From the aftermath of that fight, my soul, mind, and body were all half ruined.

But the result was extremely satisfying. As much as I had been hurt, the eye had also been worn down.

I began recovering with magical power. Magical power flowing along the tree spread through my whole body, and my torn, cracked body slowly began regaining its original form.

While doing that, I examined the situation. During our escape, the battlefield had already entered a lull. After realizing I had disappeared, the treasures stopped fighting and were feeling around with magical power to find me.

But I had already left that place. I felt the eye roughly sweep over where we were. For now, I needed to avoid that thing’s gaze too.

“Shall we move a little farther away?”

I said while raising myself. The puppet leisurely nodded.

As we moved farther away like that, the treasures also began slowly widening their distance from one another. The puppet laughed as it watched them.

“I was in that state until recently too. My reason had faded, and I moved only by instinct. They’ll probably forget what they were chasing soon and start wandering this place again.”

It was just as the puppet said. The treasures soon left their positions and scattered in every direction. Among them, the eye sank into the ground again and began chasing after us.

I moved my body for a moment. At least my limbs moved properly. But the fatigue I felt in my mind was quite heavy. It was the result of taking those mighty magical powers with my whole body. I opened my mouth weakly.

“Then I need to imprint myself on them even more. Let’s start again right away. I felt in my bones that this method is effective.”

“Your condition isn’t very good, but you’re moving again right away?”

The puppet tilted its head as it spoke. I gave a bitter smile. I wanted to rest right away too. But I could not. As I walked, I explained why.

“If I rest, they will recover that much magical power too. So I need to keep forcing a war of attrition like this.”

“Mmhm, that’s true. You’ll be suffering a lot from now on too.”

The puppet smiled brightly. It seemed to find watching this situation very entertaining. Like that, I dragged my heavy body toward the place the puppet pointed out. It was not far from the eyeball.

The same situation unfolded again. I leaked magical power, and the eye snatched me. The other treasures followed my magical power and attacked it, and the eye retreated. This process repeated several times.

During that process, the eyeball seemed to notice something strange and no longer chased me. But just because it gave up did not mean I would stop. On the contrary, I jumped into it myself.

It tried to drag me out, but the key blocked that. I forcibly dug into the pupil and laid my body there.

Since I had already grown used to its magical power, riding that flow was very easy. When I grabbed hold of it and endured firmly, the other treasures began rushing in.

In the end, the eye began fighting them. Because I was clinging to it so tightly, it could not easily pull away. Like that, the endless consumption continued.

As much as my body was shaved away, the eye’s power was shaved down too. The other treasures were the same. In fact, they began rampaging even harder.

I blankly watched them cause chaos. I had not expected the other treasures to go this wild. The puppet beside me looked at me and smiled.

“These friends are very excited.”

“They certainly are.”

“Hehe, is it because of this scent after all?”

The puppet came closer and stroked my arm. A scent, huh. I quietly smelled my own body. Only the fishy smell of blood filled the air.

“It isn’t a scent coming simply from your body. There’s a very sweet smell coming from the cracks in your soul. Enough that I want a little taste too.”

The puppet gently licked its lips. A scent coming from my soul, huh. If so, there was a part of this I could understand.

I had been reincarnated. Of course, my previous memories were scattered like fragments, so there were far more parts I could not properly know.

Ojo had said it. A reincarnator’s soul was special, so people even melted the entire person down to make an elixir. Perhaps those things were rampaging like that because such an intense taste was contained inside me.

I was not simple prey. To them, I was an incredible delicacy.

That was actually a good thing. The more wildly they rampaged, the faster the eye would tire too. I raised myself again.

Like that, I kept getting shaved away. The eye was the same.

“Congratulations.”

The puppet clapped. I looked that way with eyes that had gone hazy because they had not fully regenerated yet. My magical power had almost run out too, so it was hard to support my body.

“Thank you.”

Muttering that, I looked down at my hand. An eye the size of my palm was looking up at me from it. It swung magical power around and tried to escape from my hand.

But its power was extremely weak. Countless barriers surrounding it were suppressing its strength. It was a seal I had created with all my heart.

I looked around. I could see the other treasures roaming around in search of me. But hidden by the fog, they could not find me. They had clearly exhausted quite a lot of power too.

I had been able to catch this thing because everyone had combined their strength like this. A very grateful feeling toward them rose in me. It would have been impossible alone.

“Then do we just leave now?”

The puppet asked while leaning against my body. I nodded. Then I brought the key into the air with trembling hands.

In truth, escape had been possible at any time. I simply had not left because I had not caught this thing. Even if I went outside, it would have been impossible to create a better situation than this.

But now everything was over. Though I was a little worried. I checked the treasures staggering around and smiled bitterly. It was a complete mess. I had no idea what Professor would say.

Still, this was the best I could do. Either way, as Professor had said, it was also the result I had obtained after not running away. So she probably would not scold me too harshly.

When the key scattered magical power into the air, a door began to appear. It looked exactly like the door I had entered through.

The key drove itself into that door. Then the seal surrounding the door was released, and it began to open.

“Do I just need to cross this?”

The puppet approached it and reached out a hand. But the door raised a golden curtain and knocked it away. Even in that state, the door was firmly blocking the treasure’s approach.

The puppet rubbed its hand with a regretful expression. Then it looked at me. That face was full of expectation.

“I will keep my promise.”

When I said that, the puppet’s eyes sparkled as it smiled. Beings with one goal like this were easy to steer. It was something I had learned from the others at the auction house before. I had almost been tricked like that myself.

“Not now, next time. I’ll see you again then.”

The puppet’s face went slightly blank. Leaving that dumbfounded expression behind, I quickly ran toward the door. The fog tried to grab me, but the curtain coming from the door knocked it away.

“Wait!”

I heard the puppet shout behind me. I could feel anger and confusion packed into that voice. Smiling bitterly, I did not look back and crossed the door.

Once I crossed it, a familiar sight unfolded. I looked around. A wide hall and countless doors entered my view.

It was the scenery of the sixth floor. As the tension left me, my body staggered. When I looked back, I saw a door where space rippled. It was closing while sealing the inside again.

I could imagine the scene beyond it. The Fog Heart was surely furious and rampaging hard.

I felt the eye wriggling in my hand. If I left this thing as it was, it would recover soon. Before that happened, I needed to hurry and bring it to Professor.

I walked toward the stairs and smiled in satisfaction. It was a perfect plan.

How could I trust that thing? It kept trying to steal my body. For now, we had cooperated with each other to keep our promise, but no one knew what would happen afterward.

That was not something I could tame either. Even if I injected it with plenty of my magical power, the difference was too great, so I could not control it properly. Since it was not a mage either, forming something like a contract was impossible too.

How could I release such an uncontrollable monster? That puppet was a shame, but there was nothing I could do.

I only had one chance to choose a treasure. I could not waste it like this.

Still, there was a small possibility that I might let it out. I would know once I went up.

Like that, I climbed the stairs and headed to Professor’s room.

Then I got hit. I collapsed straight onto the floor.

“No, you can’t do that!”

Professor shouted at me as I lay there.

“Don’t you feel sorry for that thing?”

She pointed at a huge mirror. Inside it, the puppet was visible with a devastated expression. A deep despair was pouring from its entire body.

Somehow, it felt like our eyes met through the mirror. Feeling a prick in my chest, I quietly avoided its gaze.

Footnotes:

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