WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 103 - Three Calamities (10)

There was a term in this world called ‘the Royal Road.’

Taken literally, it meant ‘the king’s road,’ but in the world of sports it carried a different meaning.

It described a rookie winning the very first tournament they entered, their debut year.

It had to be international. It had to be the first competition of that year. The details of those criteria varied widely, but in short, it was a term reserved for rookies who put on performances that simply shouldn’t be possible for them.

The problem now was that there was no clear goal like winning.

So instead, my objective became to gather as many rewards as possible.

"How many of those World-Sealing Elixirs do you have?”

"If you mean the ones stored in my swamp, then about 500…”

"What? That’s all?”

I flipped open the book and scanned the missions. The higher-level ones offered far more than a few hundred, so if she only had that much, it pretty much confirmed that I would get shortchanged no matter what.

Seeing me like that, Sunken Mire answered cautiously.

"I’m not the only one acting as a warehouse. They’re split up.”

"...That’s quite the annoying arrangement. Is that to reduce the risk of betrayal?”

"That’s not it.”

She shook her head, her expression showing slight fear.

"Even if we kill each other, none of us can disobey the Upper Tiers. Warehouse or not, betrayal is not possible.”

"...Why?"

Come to think of it, if Sunken Mire truly was a warehouse, she should have been able to pull those World-Sealing Elixirs out of her swamp when she was about to drown, but she didn’t.

The reason was simple.

"Because at that point…dying would be a kinder fate.”

A fear that transcended the fear of death.

I studied the darkened look in her eyes, then turned my gaze back to the book.

I could dig into this later. Right now, there were more pressing matters.

While looking through the mission list, I found one that only allowed two participants, offered a reward of 1500 World-Sealing Elixirs, and yet had no applicants.

The location was close by as well. I showed it to Sunken Mire.

"What’s this? Subjugation of Lemin? It’s in the city right next to us, right? It won’t even take us 10 minutes to get there.”

"Ah, don’t do that one.”

Sunken Mire shook her head.

"This organization called Lemin completely controls the underworld there. They refuse to swear allegiance to Scarlet Abyss, and they kill every envoy sent to negotiate.”

"Hmm, still. Can’t we just take this one?”

After reading through the details, I found out that they were slavers who trafficked natural-borns and murdered commoners as they pleased. They were such vile pieces of trash that the Empire had posted bounties on them.

Killing maggots like that wouldn’t bother me. However, Suken Mire paled and shook her head hard.

"No, you can’t. Lemin’s leader by the same name is a former Knight.”

"Knights are nothing to a Fallen though, right?"

"...To be precise, he was a Knight of Heavenly Retribution. Though he’s much weaker than in his prime.”

"What? How does a Knight of Heavenly Retribution end up as an underworld boss?”

I asked, completely dumbfounded. Weren’t Knights of Heavenly Retribution supposed to be the ones hunting down corrupted Knights? What were they supposed to do if they became corrupted?

"I don’t know the details either… but I heard he earned the princess’ hatred.”

"Aha."

If that was the case, then it made sense. I wrote my name down for the mission and threatened Sunken Mire, who was trying to dissuade me.

"You take your book out and write your name down as well. It says we can start when two people apply.”

Sunken Mire shook her head in shock.

"No, didn’t I just tell you that he’s a Knight of Heavenly Retribution?? That’s not something we can handle. Normally the Upper Tiers would step in, but for some reason they’ve been really busy lately, so the mission has been downgraded… 1500 World-Sealing Elixirs isn’t worth hunting a Knight of Heavenly Retribution. If you have the ability to take on this mission, it would be much more beneficial to take on something easier fir—”

"No."

I shook my head.

In the end, the criteria for rising to the Upper Tier was absurdly vague.

One needed to stand out, complete missions, and get tested… Which meant that clearly missions normally were completely meaningless.

If that was the case, there was no point in me only doing manageable missions and surviving off of World-Sealing Elixirs like all the others were doing.

If I wanted to stand out, I had to walk a path no one else had taken before.

"Just come with me. There’s a reason.”

And more importantly—

"I have a way.”

I’d killed things far worse than a Knight of Heavenly Retribution before.

* * *

'Is this brat insane?’

Watching Jern pull out a mask from his coat and put it on, Sunken Mire couldn’t believe the bewilderment rising up within her.

If he knew what a Knight of Heavenly Retribution was, then he had to know their strength as well.

She couldn’t understand why he still decided to fight one head-on despite all that.

What made it worse was that he’d threatened to confiscate her World-Sealing Elixirs if she didn’t comply, so she’d been forced to write her name next to his as she shed bitter tears. There was no turning back now.

They had to somehow deal with Lemin. If they didn’t, it would be considered desertion, and she wouldn’t receive any World-Sealing Elixirs for the next month.

Which more or less meant death for her. And obviously, this monster in the form of a child was clearly overestimating his own strength.

In the end, a Fallen could never perfectly control their world. Against enemies below a certain level, they were near invincible, but a Knight of Heavenly Retribution wasn’t just some Knight—

Even the Upper Tiers couldn’t deal with one easily.

"I-it really would be better if you just changed your min—”

Death was the only possible outcome. Trying desperately to make Jern reconsider, Sunken Mire suddenly froze as she saw Jern’s appearance change the instant he put on the mask.

At that moment, all her questions had been answered. Sunken Mire nodded slowly, as if she finally understood.

"...So this is your true form."

Of course. An 11-year-old couldn’t possibly wield their world so perfectly.

This adult form was his real self. He even managed to deceive Decay.

Jern looked at her with a somewhat baffled expression, then slowly nodded.

"Yes. This is the real me. Let’s go.”

With that, he immediately started to descend the mountainside.

Seeing him not even acknowledge her presence, Sunken Mire’s vertical pupils narrowed slightly.

'Should I ambush him?'

Stealing the mission book and forcing the mission to fail was the only way she could survive.

But in the end, her hand fell limply to her side.

'...No, I can’t.'

If he could handle a Great Realm that perfectly, then a half-baked ambush would be nothing short of suicide.

If there was a sin here, it was being deceived by appearances. She should have just given him some vague excuse and fled.

Clutching her tightening chest, Sunken Mire hurried after him, and before she knew it, they had reached the city where Lemin was lurking.

Jern tilted his head, watching the guards act suspiciously.

"What’s with those guys? Are they really allowed to do that?”

"Huh…?”

"That toll’s way too high, right? Twice what the Capital charges. This place doesn’t look…maintained enough to justify that.”

"Y-you heard that?”

The guards were positioned a distance away. Normally, they would be hard to spot, much less overhear their conversation.

Jern shrugged before replying.

"I’ve got good ears. Do you have any money?”

"If you mean regular currency…”

Sunken Mire carefully retrieved several gold bars from her swamp and offered them up.

Jern gingerly touched one of them, seeming doubtful, then gasped.

"Wait, this is real gold.”

"Y-yes?? Yes. They’re made of real gold.”

"Is it really okay for you to just hand these out?”

"Well, they’re…not really valuable."

Sunken Mire answered, looking back at Jern.

No matter what you bought with this money, who you hired, or what you did with it, it all would just be meaningless.

Gold carried no real value in hell.

"I see…”

Jern nodded, then slipped the gold bars into his pocket.

"Still, we can’t give this kind of stuff to the guards. It’d just raise suspicion.”

"Then—”

"Wait a moment.”

Jern stared at the base of the city wall. About five minutes passed like that.

"...There."

Sunken Mire was about to nervously ask why he hadn’t moved at all when Jern spoke up first.

"Found it.”

"Huh?”

"Either they skipped repairs, or they noticed and just left it alone… There’s a backdoor. We’ll go in through there.”

"??"

Sunken Mire wondered if Jern might be suffering from a delirium induced by his burdens.

She only realized that wasn’t the case when she saw it herself. A hole in the wall, large enough for a grown man to easily slip through. Like Jern had said.

"It’s really there…?”

"Looks like a smuggling route. If you go past here, there are traces of people.”

He sounded extremely certain, as if he had already been there.

Sunken Mire finally relaxed.

'Good thing I didn’t try to ambush him…'

If she had, she’d be dead.

Somehow, Jern was able to grasp the details of an area spanning nearly several hundred meters. He’d be able to easily detect a poorly thought-out ambush.

Were all those with Great Realms like that? While Sunken Mire was wondering about that, she found herself frozen in place when she saw him waltzing straight into the city and then heading directly for the back alleys.

"Wh-what are you doing??”

"We need to finish the job quickly. From what I can tell, this city’s security is terrible.”

Jern narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the bleak streets.

“It looks like the City Lord has already been swallowed more or less. This is a bit bad.”

"Huh?"

"Gangs are actively collecting protection money, and the guards are pretending as if they aren't seeing anything. The fact that they don’t even look uncomfortable doing this tells me those Lemin guys are the real rulers of this city.”

"Th-that’s true.”

"Seeing that there’s still a smuggling hole left in the walls, that means that it’s not completely devoured yet. The Lord’s side must still be struggling with a few countermeasures…”

Frowning, he looked up at the gray sky.

"If we deal with Lemin, will Scarlet Abyss take over the city?”

"I-I suppose so?”

"Then nothing really changes.”

Leaving behind those ominous words, Jern headed deeper into the back alleys between the mansions.

Sunken Mire desperately tried to stop him.

"Even if you really plan to fight Lemin, you have to ambush him! A frontal assault would be—...!”

"I plan to.”

Jern’s footsteps were silent.

And they didn’t come across a single person.

"—Shh."

[Damn it, we still couldn’t meet today’s quota.]

[What do they want us to do when there’s literally nothing left, you bastard…]

Whenever they might run into someone, Jern was able to sense it first and stopped.

After this happened again and again, Sunken Mire had no choice but to reconsider.

'...This is just absurd.'

This wasn’t just seeing or hearing things from far away.

It was as if the world itself was laid out on his palm, and he was reading the events happening on its surface.

Sunken Mire felt as though he was watching her from somewhere high up in the sky.

It was a truly absurd ability. With just that, he’d never have to fear his burdens.

The other members would gladly offer dozens of World-Sealing Elixirs just to borrow Jern’s world for even a single hour.

"Just what is this…”

Sunken Mire couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of world would allow him to do such things.

What frightened her even more was—that she still had no idea what his burdens even were.

"There."

Jern stopped not in front of some dazzling mansion nor a fortress packed with guards, but near a shabby shantytown.

Sunken Mire scanned their surroundings in disbelief.

"Erm, here? You’re saying Lemin’s here? He should be living in unimaginable luxury, though…”

"How many Fallen did you say he killed? Looks like he at least knows Scarlet Abyss is hunting him.”

That was true.

Without Jern, no member would have ever guessed Lemin was hiding in a place like this.

Jern stared at a single house and stopped dead in his tracks.

"He really is a Knight of Heavenly Retribution. I can’t see him clearly.”

"Th-this is already enough.”

Sunken Mire whispered urgently into Jern’s ear, forcing her pounding heart to calm down.

"If we take this information and negotiate properly, we can lure out a Fallen with a world capable of killing the hidden Lemin in one strike. Leave that to me!”

"Then all of this would be meaningless.”

Jern lightly shook his head and raised a hand.

"And that won’t work.”

"Wh-why not?”

"He’s already noticed us.”

"ㅡ"

"Looks like he was waiting. If I stupidly walked in, he’d cut me down instantly and flee—flee? Hah. A Knight of Heavenly Retribution trying to flee. It seems like he’s really weakened considerably.”

Sunken Mire clenched her teeth as she listened to Jern’s mutterings.

She realized that if what he said was true…

'Then we’re dead.'

At this distance from a Knight of Heavenly Retribution, whether there was a flimsy wooden door or not made no difference at all.

It was as if a blade was already resting against their necks. Whether Jern understood that or not, he calmly gave an order.

"Fall back.”

"...N-no.”

"Why?"

There was still some room to struggle.

Sunken Mire hurriedly explained.

"If we retreat without attacking, he’ll realize we’re not an assassination unit but a reconnaissance team. And once he knows that, he’ll immediately rush out to extract the information we have…”

"...Hmm."

Jern nodded.

"That makes sense.”

"So what we should do now is throw out some kind of decoy that looks threatening, buy time while they judge the situation, and then escape as fast as possible… I-If not, then…”

"Okay, let’s see.”

She had been too slow to stop Jern from stepping backward. He made it seem as if he was about to run away.

"Hey, you son of a—"

-Booom!

Before Sunken Mire could even finish her curse, the door exploded.

A middle-aged man, teeth clenched, charged forward, swifter than a hummingbird, wielding a greatsword larger than his own body.

"Hup—!”

There was no battle cry, no anger, and no mockery.

Lemin, without underestimating his opponents in the slightest, directly aimed for Jern’s head with the strongest, fastest strike he could muster.

From Sunken Mire’s perspective, there was only one outcome. Jern’s head bursting like a smashed watermelon, closely followed by her own.

Lemin saw a similar future.

In other words, Jern was the only one who saw something different.

"The world—”

Sunken Mire heard some words pass by her ear, but the wind was so fierce that she couldn’t make it out.

-Booom!

"!?"

Lemin doubted his own eyes.

The strike that should have landed cleanly cut through empty air.

The unknown assassin moved as if he had seen the future, choosing a path that no sane person should have ever taken.

It was also the only way he could have survived.

"...So you bastards showed up again.”

But encountering strange opponents wasn’t anything new to him.

Rather than feeling threatened, he felt more irritated and annoyed as he swung his sword several more times.

He knew what the Fallen were like. He knew they wielded absurdly dangerous powers.

But in the end, those were nothing more than party tricks before pure violence.

If they were tough, he just had to break them. If they were fast, he just had to be faster. If they attacked, he just had to dodge.

'If I weren’t injured, trash like this would…'

Lemin gritted his teeth and swung his sword again.

Because of the abdominal wound he had sustained while escaping, he couldn’t bring out even half of his true strength, but even so, his prowess as a Knight of Heavenly Retribution was still more than enough to deal with those bugs.

Except this time.

'...What?'

The way this guy perfectly avoided each of his strikes was truly unsettling.

He definitely had cut through him. Decades of killing, decades of living as a Knight, guaranteed that his blade had perfectly cut through his target.

In every exchange, that Fallen should have been split apart and dead.

And yet nothing caught on his blade. Nothing was there.

It felt like—cutting through water bubbles.

"...You bastard!”

Worse still, his opponent was gradually getting faster, and several times at that, mid-combat.

In the midst of all that, Lemin realized something.

'Those Scarlet Abyss bastards are serious…!'

They had finally bared their fangs, showing their intention to devour his kingdom.

He’d been vaguely aware of that ever since the assassins started coming. He’d known it would end up like this someday.

Of course, killing this guy was only a matter of time. No matter how fast he moved, Lemin had successfully driven him into a corner.

He’d absolutely kill him in his next strike. And then…

He’d have to flee.

'It can’t be helped.'

No matter how strong he was, in his injured state he wasn’t all too confident that he could fend off monsters like this if they kept coming at him.

But it was still fine. He would take all the money he had amassed, move to another city, and build a new kingdom while his wounds healed.

'Once I recover, I’ll make sure to repay everything.'

He had the strength to do so. Resolved, Lemin smiled as he looked at Jern, backed up against a wall.

"You sure are timid. Let’s see you dodge this one too.”

"..."

Jern’s expression showed displeasure.

While it showed a negative emotion, this wasn’t the face of someone about to meet his end.

-He had an ally. He briefly glanced back. Sunken Mire stood there, frozen, her mouth agape, just staring blankly at the fight.

He’d first deal with this guy. He could still kill that woman right after. With that thought, Lemin brought his sword down.

"Just what kind of Knight did that Lump bastard use on me before…?”

"...?"

Lemin couldn’t understand Jern’s muttering.

However, that hardly mattered.

Compared to the fact that Jern was standing there muttering at all.

"What...!"

Lemin gasped, genuinely panicked.

Why wouldn’t he die?

He had slashed through him. This time there was no escape route, no blind spot. No matter how fast he was, this should have been a fatal blow.

And yet Jern only looked down at him with an incredulous expression.

"Even an average Knight of Heavenly Retribution wouldn’t last a minute in this.”

Only then did he realize.

The reason Jern hadn’t died was because Lemin’s sword had stopped.

His entire body was seized by an invisible force, frozen as if taxidermied.

"Ghk."

He couldn’t scream—he couldn’t even breathe.

Slowly, his armor and muscles, his skin and bones, and his internal organs—were crushed.

But there was something even worse than the terror of his impending death.

'Wha-what is this…?!’

Alongside the world he knew, another realm became visible to him.

A dark, cold place. A realm where incomprehensible monsters lurked.

An unbearable hell shimmered within his vision.

"Tsk."

"..."

Their gazes met.

Defeat was certain, but that was no longer important to him.

Lemin just wanted to escape this place.

'Please...'

Watching Jern take his sword with what almost looked like pity, Lemin begged.

'...Hurry.'

[------?]

Just let that blade pierce his throat one second faster.

So that his head wouldn’t end up in the maw of that monster, staring at him as if it were licking him with its gaze.

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