WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Abandoned Tank is a Disaster-class Awakener ◈
Chapter 45
──────
『Kang Seong-un Successfully Clears Russian Abyss, Over 20,000 Isolated Residents Return』
『Following Ceasefire Agreement, He Also Led Rescue Efforts, Russian Government Officially Thanks Kang Seong-un』
Major broadcasters around the world aired the same footage.
The darkness that had swallowed the town lifted, and the severed roads were connected once more.
As rescue vehicles crossed the boundary, people crowded before the cordon.
The cameras focused on Kang Seong-un standing among them.
Dust had settled over his black armor.
He put his greatsword into his inventory and stepped aside for those running toward their families.
A woman stopped in front of him.
Holding the child she had just gotten back in her arms, she bowed again and again.
Kang Seong-un hurriedly reached out and helped her up.
The woman’s crying was broadcast before the interpreter’s voice.
『“I Came Back With My Child,” Survivor Families Give Tearful Thanks』
But a completely different scene followed that footage.
The Ukrainian front line, where the artillery fire had stopped.
Soldiers putting down their guns and calling their families.
Between the two scenes, the broadcasters displayed the terms Kang Seong-un had presented to Russia for his support.
『The Condition for Abyss Rescue Support Was Ceasefire Negotiations, Russia and Ukraine Agree to Temporary Ceasefire』
「On one side, people trapped in the Abyss have returned. On the other, there are fewer vehicles transporting the wounded.」
A field reporter spoke in front of a medical tent.
「Here, Kang Seong-un is known not for his Tower-clearing record, but as the reason the gunfire stopped. As the man who stopped the war.」
Behind him, a soldier was smiling with a phone in hand.
His arm was wrapped in bandages, but his expression was brighter than ever.
* * *
Breaking news arrived from the United Kingdom.
『Kang Seong-un Enters United Kingdom Abyss』
The broadcasters increased their live coverage.
Mobile broadcast vans lined up beside the cameras filming the entrance point.
Journalists preparing for long-term coverage coordinated their shifts, while broadcasting stations gathered experts to analyze the clearing effort.
But the schedule they had prepared was soon revised.
During the live broadcast, the black boundary behind the reporter trembled.
“Just a moment.”
The reporter pressed an earpiece.
“On site right now...”
The enormous curtain split apart from within.
Cheers erupted offscreen.
The camera hurriedly turned, showing the rain-soaked road.
Kang Seong-un was walking out across it.
Water droplets ran down the blade of the Black-Iron Greatsword.
After briefly saying something to an approaching official, he turned to the side.
Soon, rescue workers ran past him and into the Abyss.
The captions at the bottom of the screen changed.
『Breaking News! United Kingdom Abyss Confirmed Gone』
『Kang Seong-un Achieves His Second Overseas Clear Following Russia』
The studio anchor put down the prepared list of questions.
The expert who had been explaining how long the clear would take also fell silent.
「...We will begin with the news that has just come in.」
That day, the United Kingdom’s evening news did not begin with a Tower record.
It began with people reuniting with their families.
A couple who stopped walking because they could not believe what they saw, even after finding each other.
A child clinging to their father’s waist.
An elderly person collapsing after confirming a name on the rescue list.
At the end of the broadcast came a statement from the United Kingdom government.
『United Kingdom Government: “We Will Long Remember the Help That Restored Our Citizens’ Lives”』
Then reports followed, asking what price had been required for that help.
There had been speculation that he would demand enormous quantities of Elixirs and Relics.
But the terms that were made public differed from expectations.
『No Separate Demand for Massive Compensation Beyond Local Clearing Support』
『Requests for Temporary Accompaniment by Some Awakeners, Subject to Their Consent and Guaranteed Return』
* * *
A week after clearing the United Kingdom Abyss, breaking news arrived from France as well.
『Kang Seong-un Completes French Abyss Clear』
『Russia, United Kingdom, and France Cleared in Succession, French Government Says “Words of Thanks Are Not Enough”』
People crowded the airport to see him off.
Along with footage of residents expressing thanks in several languages, the broadcast revealed the terms France had agreed to.
The necessary clearing support, along with temporary accompaniment by Awakeners who consented to it.
There was no demand for enormous compensation or the transfer of Relics.
An international current affairs program placed the terms offered by the three countries side by side.
「Kang Seong-un gained talent and influence as well. But the price he could have demanded was far greater.」
After the analyst’s explanation, footage played of rescued family members embracing each other.
「Yet he reduced his demands and carried out the promised rescues in all three countries. That is why the gratitude being shown now is more than a diplomatic gesture.」
After that, the same question appeared at press conferences held by leaders around the world.
Had they requested Kang Seong-un’s support?
When was he coming?
『Governments Worldwide Strive to Secure Kang Seong-un’s Visit Schedule』
Whenever his next destination was announced, local broadcasters sent cameras to the airport.
Governments prepared rescue vehicles, while hospitals secured beds for those who would return.
There was once a time when his name was followed by the description that he was from the Republic of Korea and was a Novice.
But after the French clear, one newspaper printed only a brief headline above his photograph.
『He Is Coming』
In the photograph, people were looking toward the arrivals gate while holding pictures of family members trapped in the Abyss.
* * *
People said I had given up the enormous compensation I could have received.
Given it up?
They had no idea.
I turned my head.
There stood the rewards I had received from three countries.
Olena Kovalenko from Ukraine.
Evelyn Hart from the United Kingdom.
And finally, Claire Dumont from France, all standing side by side in the training room.
I looked at the three of them in turn.
Before my regression, they had been names that never failed to come up when discussing a nation’s strength.
People who would later be called disasters.
Three of them, or four if Hye-won, who stood shyly apart in the distance, was included, were now in my private training room.
I had succeeded in bringing every person I had originally planned to recruit to America.
Of course, not all of them had permanently naturalized.
Except for Olena, who had chosen naturalization after being moved by the ceasefire, Evelyn and Claire had only taken temporary citizenship.
Once their contracts ended, they could return according to their own wishes.
Their home countries had confirmed that condition several times as well.
Even that alone was a considerable achievement.
Normally, they would not have readily allowed it, even if America or I had approached them directly.
But the Abyss had changed everything.
I picked up the contracts on the table.
Confirmation documents stating that their nationality changes and affiliation registrations had been completed were enclosed with them.
The same country was written beneath every name.
America.
Even if it was temporary, that was enough for now.
I put down the contracts and looked at the three of them.
“You must be wondering why I brought you here.”
Evelyn uncrossed her arms.
Claire also raised her eyes from the contracts.
“I plan to work with all of you as one team for the next year. During that time, America will provide the equipment, resources, and conveniences you need for daily life.”
Those were the words I had heard when I first naturalized.
And Miller had kept that promise.
This time, it was my turn to make one.
“And I will help you properly develop the talents you possess.”
Evelyn’s lips moved.
She looked hesitant to speak.
I looked at her and waited.
“...I don’t know about the others.”
Evelyn’s gaze briefly turned to the side before returning.
“But I don’t have as much talent as Mr. Kang thinks I do.”
Her fingertips pressed down on the contract.
“My ability isn’t strong, either. I can only place minor curses...”
She trailed off.
The promise of valuable equipment and resources did not seem entirely welcome to her.
Her face showed that she was already worried about what would happen if she failed to meet expectations.
I shook my head.
“No. You will become strong.”
Everyone looked at me.
“Because I will make it happen.”
It was not hasty consolation.
I knew how strong they could become.
And I knew how to get them there.
“...”
Evelyn could not easily answer.
Claire, who had been listening beside her, quietly studied me too.
Then,
“Y-Yes.”
Hye-won suddenly cut in.
As the three turned their eyes toward her, her shoulders shrank slightly.
But this time, she did not stop speaking.
“Seong-un also said the same thing to me.”
She tightly gripped her staff.
“Back then, I was just someone who made iced coffee. I thought I was useless for anything except making cups cold.”
She opened her palm.
Crack.
A small flower of ice bloomed.
As its thin petals opened one layer at a time, the air around it grew cool.
Hye-won looked down at the flower briefly before looking at Claire.
“But now, I can clear the lower floors by myself.”
Her voice was a little shy.
She glanced at me.
“So all of you can do it too.”
Evelyn stared at the ice flower for a long time.
Then she asked me,
“...What should I do?”
The urgent cases were Evelyn and Claire.
Olena, whom I had recruited with them, had already evolved into a Saintess.
She had gained the foundation of the power for which she had been called a disaster before my regression.
Of course, it would not take long for the other two to undergo Evolutionary Awakening.
I knew the conditions, and I had prepared everything necessary.
I looked at Claire first.
She had been brushing her black hair behind her shoulder, but her hand stopped.
“First, Claire...”
Knock. Knock.
At the same time, someone knocked on the training room door.
It was the sound I had been waiting for.
“Come in.”
When the door opened, well-built Association guards entered.
The first two carried a transport crate between them.
More crates of the same size followed behind them.
Evelyn uncrossed her legs.
“What are all these?”
“Supplies.”
The guards set the transport crates down on the floor.
Thud. Thump.
Heavy vibrations traveled through the thick floor.
“These are items the Association President asked us to deliver.”
As the guard who had set down the crates closed the door, the ones who had entered first released the locks.
Click.
When they opened the lids, stacks of metal items were revealed inside.
Then they tipped over the crates.
Clatterrr!
All sorts of Relics poured out.
The other crates were opened as well.
Clatterrr!
Leather gloves, belts, shields engraved with patterns. Their shapes and materials all varied.
“...Are those all Relics?”
Claire rose from her seat.
“Yes.”
The ones America had gathered, along with the ones received as tolls.
The more thrones there were, the greater the amount that came in.
Once the last crate had been emptied, a heap of Relics covered the floor of the training room.
“...”
Evelyn silently measured the amount with a humorless expression.
Olena could not easily speak, either.
And I was watching Claire.
She had not been able to take her eyes off the Relics since the swords had first poured out.
“Claire.”
She looked at me belatedly.
“...Yes?”
I picked up a glove that had fallen on the floor.
“Let’s start with this.”
Claire’s gaze moved between my face and the glove.
“Surely...?”
“Yes.”
She still seemed unable to accept reality.
I held my hand out a little farther toward her.
“We’re going to replace your summoning mediums with these Relics.”
Claire’s Awakening ability was Puppet Master.
It allowed her to summon dolls through mediums.
And one of the conditions for her Evolutionary Awakening was to summon dolls using one hundred Relics as mediums.
“Are you out of your mind...?”
She spoke sharply in alarm.
It was understandable.
She knew that the one hundred Relics used as mediums would disappear.
“I-I’m sorry.”
Realizing her slip of the tongue, she hurriedly bowed her head.
But her eyes were still full of incomprehension.
“If I summon a doll using a Relic as a medium, these will...”
She trailed off.
She was an Awakener who summoned dolls using mediums.
Use a stone, and she summoned a stone doll.
Use iron, and she summoned an iron doll.
At first glance, it seemed like a useful ability.
Having a summoned creature that could throw itself into danger in her place was reason enough for a Raid Party to welcome her.
The problem was its performance.
The dolls she summoned were slightly smaller than a human and did not possess particularly exceptional combat abilities.
Moreover, she could only summon one at a time.
If she summoned a new doll, the one she had summoned before disappeared.
She could not make up for their lack of strength by increasing their number.
That was why, despite having a valuable summoning-type ability, she had not received proper support.
Of course, the Claire I knew was not an Awakener whose potential ended there.
‘The conditions are a nuisance to fulfill, that’s all.’
The first condition for her Evolutionary Awakening was one hundred summons using Relics as mediums.
But even after pouring in one hundred Relics, only one doll remained.
Without knowing the result of Evolutionary Awakening, who would allow such waste?
I handed the glove in my hand to Claire.
“Try summoning with every Relic here as a medium.”
“No, why on earth...?”
Her gaze turned to the Relics piled at her feet.
“You know the mediums will disappear, right?”
“I won’t take any more questions from now on.”
Claire raised her head.
I looked into her eyes.
“For now, do as I say. I won’t make you pay for the Relics that disappear.”
“But...”
“I brought them to make you stronger, Claire.”
“...”
She closed her mouth.
Claire stared at the glove in her palm for a long time before finally nodding.
“...All right.”
Magic flowed between the fingers wrapped around the glove.
Hummm.
The pattern engraved on its surface brightened and rose above her palm.
Ssshhh.
Its edges softened as if melting, and thin metal strands stretched toward the floor.
The strands intertwined.
Feet and legs formed, then a torso rose above them.
Click.
A doll about a head shorter than Claire stood upright.
Claire touched its shoulder.
“It's sturdier than usual, but...”
I picked up a dagger from beside me and handed it to her.
“Next.”
She accepted the dagger and glanced back at the doll.
She seemed reluctant to part with it, but this time she asked no questions.
Magic flowed from Claire's hand again.
As new metal strands stretched toward the floor, cracks appeared in the first doll.
Crack.
Its body split from head to toe and scattered into light.
In its place stood a doll summoned using the dagger as its medium.
I picked up the next Relic.
That made two.
* * *
By the end of the hundredth summon, Claire had sunk to the floor in exhaustion.
Most of the Relics that had covered the floor were gone.
Hye-won looked from the empty crates to Claire's doll.
Olena and Evelyn had fallen silent midway through and had not said a word since.
It was understandable.
A hundred Relics had vanished before their eyes.
But I, the one who had made her use them, was satisfied.
‘With this, the first condition has been fulfilled.’
Now only the second, and final, condition remained.
“Is it over now...?”
Claire, who had drunk the Magic Recovery Potion newly made by the Potion Research Institute, rose to her feet.
“No, there is still one left.”
I opened my inventory.
When I pulled out the long handle I had grasped, a heavy axe appeared.
Thud.
I planted the end of its handle on the floor.
A red light flowed over the broad axe blade.
The reward I had obtained after defeating Garkan, the Iron-Blood Emperor.
【Iron-Blood Axe】
Rank: Transcendent
Category: Two-Handed Axe
Effect: As attacks continue without interruption, attack speed increases infinitely.
Strength +50
Agility +50
Vitality -100
“...!”
Claire’s gaze stopped on the axe blade.
“...Transcendent?”
Any Awakener would know about the ranks of Relics.
That was why she immediately understood how high and extraordinary the Transcendent rank was.
That was why Claire stared at me.
But without paying any heed to her gaze, I tilted the axe toward her.
“This is the last one.”
The hand she had been raising to receive it stopped.
Claire looked between the axe and me.
“You don’t mean for me to use this as a medium too, do you?”
“That is correct.”
“It’s Transcendent.”
“Yes. Even though it’s Transcendent rank, it has too many drawbacks to be easy to use.”
“But...”
“It’s an investment in the future. I judged that using this for you, Claire, would be better than its immediate value.”
Of course, I was reluctant to use it this time too.
A Transcendent-rank Relic was not something even I could obtain whenever I wanted.
But this was the second condition for Claire’s Evolutionary Awakening.
After achieving one hundred summons using Relics, she had to summon using a Relic of Transcendent rank or higher as the medium.
That was why, five years from now, when Transcendent rank had become somewhat ordinary, she would fulfill the conditions and become a monster called a disaster.
If I had not regressed, she never would have been able to achieve Evolutionary Awakening now.
I adjusted my grip on the handle and held it out to Claire.
“...”
She looked at me for a while.
Then she slowly accepted the axe with both hands.
Her arms sank from its weight.
I supported the handle until she found her stance, then let go.
And then,
Hummm.
Magic power flowed.
The red glow ran along the handle and spread to the tip of the axe blade.
At that moment, the doll standing beside her collapsed.
It was like the summons I had seen before.
But... what followed was different.
Thud!
The axe shook the floor.
Claire’s hand sprang upward.
When she startled and tried to pull back, the light rising from the axe wrapped around her wrist as if holding it.
“Continue.”
At my words, Claire gritted her teeth.
She pressed her hand down again.
Wooooosh!
The red light traveled up her arm.
It passed over her shoulder and neck, reaching even her eyes.
Claire’s eyes widened as she stared into the air.
“Evolution...”
Her voice trembled.
“It’s an Evolutionary Awakening...”
I knew without hearing the rest.
The Iron-Blood Axe rose into the air.
Its thick blade split apart, and red metal poured from within.
Before reaching the floor, the metal intertwined and formed two legs.
Thump!
Feet landed on the ground.
Its size alone was different from her usual dolls.
A waist rose above the thick legs, followed by a broad chest and shoulders.
As its two arms descended, Evelyn took a step back.
Hissss!
A head formed atop the figure, which rose close to the ceiling.
A protruding lower jaw, two fangs rising from its mouth.
One of them was covered in metal where its tip had broken off.
I recognized that face.
‘...Garkan!’
The light surrounding Claire flowed into the enormous figure.
The red metal surface hardened, revealing the contours of muscles.
The space between its neck and shoulders swelled thickly, and its long fingers curled one at a time.
Finally, an axe formed in its hand.
The Iron-Blood Axe she had just used as a medium.
The golem that gripped it slowly raised its head.
Golden eyes lit up.
I met the eyes of the orc from my memories.
The being that had pointed an axe at me in the temple stood before me exactly as it had been.
But this time, the grain of red metal flowed beneath its skin.
Claire let out a ragged breath.
“It’s... complete.”
She looked down at her hands, then up at the golem.
“My second Awakening...”
Before she could finish, the golem moved.
It set its axe down to the side, then knelt on one knee before Claire.
Thud.
Dust on the floor was pushed outward in a circle.
Unable to move, Claire faced a face larger than her own.
An orc that had subdued more than one hundred tribes and established an empire.
The Iron-Blood Emperor who had defeated the complete Arkelon.
A golem bearing that form was waiting for Claire’s command.
‘It worked!’
That majesty was what made the Golem Master called a disaster before my regression.
A one-person army who traveled with golems that possessed the abilities of a tank, melee fighter, ranged damage dealer, mage, and even healer and supporter.
Through one hundred Relics and one Transcendent-rank Relic, the third disaster had finally opened its eyes.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
