WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The S-Classes That I Raised ◈

Chapter 104: Master of the Cursed Poison Dragons (1)

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“Even if you glare at me like that, what can you do?”

The dragonkin sneered. It pierced me like a needle. Fuck, it wasn’t wrong. On my own, I’d struggle even in an F-Class dungeon.

“I could beat the shit out of two of your pets, at least. That fat lizard with three useless heads, I sliced it into sashimi. Did you see? And that lizard that walked around on two legs like it came from a circus. I skewered it right through the head and roasted it whole to a golden brown. There should still be some left, so why don’t you go have a taste?”

Now selling giant lizard cold cuts and whole roast, to rave reviews. If I could have brought them with me, I sincerely regretted not being able to personally deliver them right to this bastard’s mouth.

“You are bold.”

“I’m facing the owner of the fucking lizard that bit my brother to death. This is me being damn calm. So calm it pisses me off.”

Why was I weak? It was pathetic that, even with the bastard responsible for my brother’s death right in front of me, all I could do was talk.

This was why Yoohyun couldn’t tell me anything.

I ground my teeth hard. No. It wasn’t time to scrape bottom. I’d spent the past few years digging enough to make my own grave. Forget it for now.

“If you care so much about your younger brother, why are you still alive?”

A hand with scales scattered across the skin grabbed the wrist holding its collar. My wrist twisted as though it would break, but the pain felt distant. Instead, the dragonkin’s voice rang clearly in my ears.

“If only you had not existed, Han Yoohyun could have been free. He could have accepted or rejected our offer based entirely on his own interests, without worrying in the slightest about a weak blood relative.”

Seong Hyeonje suddenly came to mind. Then Riette.

Compared to those two, Yoohyun... I couldn’t deny that he looked much less free. The way he looked at me with worry. The anger, impatience, and anxiety, things I’d never seen in the other two.

...That bastard really knew exactly where it hurt.

“Yeah. That’s what having an F-Class older brother is like. I really was wrong to stay alive and well.”

I nodded, acknowledging that it was true.

“But you got held back twice by an F-Class who isn’t worth the air he breathes. Your grade dropped, and you still seem to be around SSS-Class. Were you L-Class originally? And you’re still floundering because of an F-Class. At least my grade is low. You’re the one who doesn’t live up to your grade anywhere near as well as I do. The air you waste is a far bigger shame than mine.”

Thud!

I was kicked and sent rolling. The parts of me that struck the floor ached dully. My twisted wrist throbbed as well. This wasn’t even my real body, but it felt painfully real.

“Didn’t Seong Hyeonje scam you too?”

I propped myself up with one hand and sneered. At Seong Hyeonje’s name, the dragonkin’s face visibly stiffened. My respects to Mr. Hyeonje before the regression. I had no idea what he did, but he definitely did well.

“Looks like you gave him everything, only for him to take it and run. Then, when time rolled back, you thought it was your chance and came on to him like an ex-boyfriend at two in the morning and got stripped clean. Aren’t you a complete sucker? Why not change your species from dragonkin to suckerkin while you’re at it?”

“...Seong Hyeonje was unexpected. I never thought someone who valued himself above all else would betray us based on an uncertain future.”

“What is it with you always saying you never expected this or that? How many innate S-Classes are there that you got every single one wrong? You couldn’t even draw Riette in properly. You’d have a better success rate tossing a coin to decide.”

“Riette.”

Golden eyes narrowed viciously. The dragonkin approached me, then bent down to look at me.

“How did you release the command given to Dio Valshecis?”

...These bastards definitely had less information than the system creators. They clearly didn’t know about my skills or title.

“And how did you survive against Raucitas? Did the unfilial bastards cooperate with you?”

“Unfilial bastards?”

“The ones who create and manage the system.”

Why were they unfilial bastards too? Was Seong Hyeonje right? Did they have parents whose wish was the end of the world, and now the children were taking sides and fighting among themselves? Don’t drag someone else’s family into your family feud, you fucking bastards.

“I thought you couldn’t mention each other.”

“Outside, that is true. But this is inside my consciousness. There is no restriction even on thoughts I have alone. More precisely, my consciousness currently overlaps with yours.”

So this wasn’t real after all. Some kind of powerful lucid dream? I knew it was a mental skill and that my real body was fine, but the pain in my wrist didn’t fade easily. I’d seen it twist with my own eyes and believed it was injured.

Even if I repeated that it was fake, it was hard to ignore sensations this vivid.

“You really do answer every question nicely. Have you been bored all this time?”

“It is not often that I can connect directly to your world, and there are few people I can truly speak with. So yes, I have been bored. Or perhaps this is mercy for helpless prey that willingly entered a trap.”

Mercy, my ass. Still, I really was helpless, and a sigh slipped out before I knew it.

“You know about the ones who made the system, so you are connected to them after all. But what did you receive for an F-Class to warrant this much?”

What I received? I’d received plenty of skills with names that sounded like jokes.

“I’m not an automatic responder that spits out answers whenever someone presses a button. Do you think I’d tell you?”

“It would be easier for both of us if you answered obediently.”

The dragonkin held out its left palm. One of the three wounds on its palm opened, and something crawled out. Black mud-like matter took shape, gave a small growl, and rapidly increased in size.

Thud!

What landed heavily on the floor was a dragon about twice the size of a wolf. It wasn’t particularly large for a cursed poison dragon species, with four legs, hard scales, spikes, and a long tail. Still, it seemed to be roughly S-Class.

‘Are all those wounds holding cursed poison dragon species?’

There had to be more than ten exposed wounds alone. How many were hidden beneath its clothes? So it really was the master of the Cursed Poison Dragon King. It raised quite a lot besides Raucitas. What a rich pet owner.

“As I said earlier, since this is inside consciousness, I can tear you apart and search through your memories.”

Grrr.

The dragon at its master’s side bared its teeth and growled like a guard dog. I got up and took a couple of steps back, but there was still nothing I could do. I tried to open my inventory just in case, but it was impossible.

“...You took away all my items while facing someone with F-Class stats. And you call yourself L-Class?”

“I had linked my consciousness with Vicus, so I knew you possessed an ability that nullified damage. Since you did not use it from the beginning, it must have been an item. It would have been troublesome if you used such an item, so I placed restrictions on your items and inventory when I deployed my skill. I left your clothes, at least.”

How kind of you.

“Did you receive that item from the unfilial bastards? Still, damage nullification alone could not have killed Raucitas.”

“Think hard about it, you dog bastard.”

Instead of answering, the dragon moved.

Ah, I was really fucked.

* * *

I was sick of the smell of blood. Even more so because it was mine.

As I dyed the floor red, I learned a few more things.

First, if I suffered an impact severe enough to kill me instantly, my real body could die as well. Thanks to that, my torso, especially my head, was mostly unharmed. Though I doubted that would last until the end.

Second, since serious injuries weren’t real, they recovered quickly if I convinced myself properly. Missing limbs were easier to restore than minor injuries, perhaps because they felt less real. If I closed my eyes, thought, There’s no way my arm is gone, then opened them again, even my clothes would be back to normal.

Third, it was impossible to pluck out only the memories he wanted. The first memory that fucking lizard pulled out was when I’d first been attacked by a monster. Then my despair at not getting a skill at level ten, moving because my old home felt too big and empty, my first Christmas spent alone, things like that.

Then it finally found one useful memory, of me using the Wish Stone I got after killing Raucitas.

“A Wish Stone. You even used it to regress. That nearly became troublesome.”

The bastard smiled unpleasantly.

“If your wish was to keep your current state as it is, then it seems you obtained something temporarily. Was it the unfilial bastards’ intervention? Or did Han Yoohyun do something?”

“Maybe the fat lizard got sick of following its master’s commands and begged me to kill it, rolling onto its back and wagging its tail. Even the pet you raised betrayed you. Is betrayal your hobby, ack!”

The foot pinning down my back dug in its claws.

“If a Wish Stone appeared, you must have killed Raucitas directly. The rest must have come as rewards. A title? A higher title connected to the cursed poison dragon species. That must be why Riette, and even Seong Hyeonje after breaking the contract, remained unharmed.”

The dragonkin clicked its tongue with a frown.

“You are still talking perfectly well. A mental resistance skill, and what else?”

“You know I won’t answer, so how many times are you going to ask? You really like wasting effort. Or are you stupid? Like pet, like owner?”

“Such an annoying skill. If you had ordinary F-Class stats, I would have searched through you already.”

“Then you should have blocked my skills, not my items.”

Of course, I would’ve been in trouble if it really had. I’d been stripped clean, and it probably wouldn’t let me go afterward. Damn it. Enduring was still my only answer.

“I would have blocked them if I could.”

The dragonkin sounded regretful. It could remove items and inventory access, but couldn’t touch skills. What was the difference? Were skills more directly attached to me? Something that couldn’t be separated from my body?

No, regardless of the difference.

‘Skills and items aren’t real in the first place. This is inside consciousness, not reality. If this is a dream, shouldn’t they exist if I think they do, and disappear if I think they don’t?’

Just like how my severed arm returned intact when I became certain it was there.

“How exactly did you block them? If I think I have items, shouldn’t they just pop into existence? It’s all in my head anyway, so why am I still weak?”

“It is a kind of powerful suggestion. One that prevents you from escaping the thought that you cannot possess items.”

It really did answer well.

“Even in dreams, flying is impossible the moment you think it is, and you fall. Because the sense of reality is strong, you remain bound by your own preconceptions and cannot do what seems impossible in reality. If those preconceptions are reinforced further, preventing you from using items and inventory is easy enough.”

“You’re so impressive. Put another way, that means I can do anything, right?”

“In theory. But amid sensations indistinguishable from reality, it is impossible to draw out an ability you have never personally experienced. In other words, an F-Class cannot suddenly become S-Class. No matter how vivid your imagination, it has limits. More importantly.”

The dragonkin stroked beneath its chin as it continued.

“It seems this will not end as it is, so I should change direction. For example, to Han Yoohyun’s corpse.”

“...Why that?”

Why bring that up now?

“I know it disappeared when you regressed.”

“Normally, it would have. But as I said, Han Yoohyun had entered a new contract, so interference through that contract remained possible even after death.”

I stared blankly at its casually moving fingertips. Because of the contract, interference was possible...?

“No, it would be more accurate to say I could touch it because he had died. Had he remained alive, he would have merged with the current Han Yoohyun without being cut from this world, leaving no opportunity to interfere. But it was not difficult to acquire a dead corpse bound by contract.”

...I couldn’t immediately understand what I’d heard. So, then.

“You have my brother...?”

“I made the contract, but Star-Counting Bird took him. She took an interest for some reason. I have no interest in corpses.”

The place beneath the claws digging into my back hurt, but deeper inside, something hurt far more. The dragonkin watched my reaction with satisfaction.

“This is much more effective. Shall we talk more about Han Yoohyun?”

“...I don’t want to hear it from you.”

My mind felt slightly numb. Almost as if I were floating.

“Even as you say that, your reaction is...”

“Personal experience, huh.”

Rumble!

Light flashed with the reverberating sound.

Skreeech!

The dragon pinning me down was struck by lightning and leaped away. Its owner also retreated, avoiding the sudden flash.

“This is!”

“I’ve experienced Seong Hyeonje’s skill more than once.”

I rose to my feet as I spoke. Ferocious Kindergarten Teacher. I’d repeatedly experienced the sensations transmitted directly to me. Every movement of the lightning it wielded, the surging mana, the power held by the skill, even its finer details.

I’d felt it as though I were using it myself.

“My head is hot, so being a little dazed makes it easier to use.”

I only had to surrender myself to the sensations from then.

Grrr!

The dragon, nearly half its body burned away, staggered as it rushed at me. I leaped upward and spread wings.

Golden dragon wings. Noah’s.

I had shared the sensation countless times as he practiced flying, both in dragon form and with only his wings manifested. Blue had been the instructor.

Crackle!

Floating in the air, I scattered lightning again. Without chains or long needles, the current spread outward, but its effect was outstanding. The dragon’s scream echoed.

Naturally.

[Veteran F-Class]

[Raucitas’s Natural Enemy]

Twice. Then twice again.

I smiled at that fucking lizard owner.

“Was it SSS-Class? It wouldn’t matter even if you were L-Class.”

I still had one more.

It had only been an hour, but beyond shared sensations, there had been power that had inhabited my own body with perfect clarity.

The blood staining the floor red blackened. Then it became Black Bloodflame, burning with vicious intensity.

Skreeech!

The dragon that had still been breathing turned to ash and disappeared in an instant. Its owner couldn’t endure it either, stumbling back to avoid the flames.

Final Recompense. Doubled again.

“Thank you so much for teaching me how.”

Yoohyun.

“This time, it’s my turn to search through your memories.”

No matter what it took, your older brother would come get you.

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