Chapter 364: Episode 68 – Inaudible Words (4)
b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l, I definitely didn’t want to run into that guy here.
I quickly hid behind the mountain of corpses while witnessing the waves of magical energy blowing around like violent storm winds. Not too long afterwards, I heard the voices of those hurriedly running away.
[That crazy monster….!]
[Uwaaaahk!]
The Constellations were crushed mercilessly and were killed off, leaving behind only their death throes. Fables flooded out among the bits of body parts flying about, and the blood shed by the Incarnations dyed the land crimson red.
[Run! Hurry!!]
Right behind them, the slaughterer responsible for this b.l.o.o.d.y spectacle finally arrived on the scene.
I saw the purple-coloured aura bright enough to be visible even from behind the tall mountain of corpses. All I could do was to silently watch the proceedings, unable to even breathe properly.
[The Great Fable, ‘Torch that swallowed the Myth’, is growling.]
[The Great Fable, ‘Demon World’s Spring’, is shrinking back.]
Here came the possessor of the incredible Status that could even negatively affect my Fables.
[Fable, ‘Flame that Annihilates Evil’, has begun its storytelling!]
The ‘Flame that Annihilates Evil’ – one of the Fables that would display the greatest effect when dealing with evil-leaning Constellations. I knew the owner of this Fable really well.
「Flowing locks of platinum-blonde hair, violet-coloured eyes. The radiant wings of an Archangel spreading behind his back.」
He was the sole Archangel among that displayed its hostility towards me.
[Constellation, ‘Saviour of the Corrupted’, has begun its Judgement for Salvation.]
….The ‘Saviour of the Corrupted’, Archangel Michael, a being who possessed the same Modifier words, just like me. (TL: the Korean words for ‘Saviour’ and ‘Salvation’ is different by only one letter. Here, MC is not saying his Modifier has the word ‘Saviour’ in it, but the same first two letters.)
Ku-gugugugu!!
The [Sword of Saviour] held in Archangel Michael’s hands split the world in half. The purple-coloured fog on the blade spread out, and this fog ignited into flames that soon started burning the atmosphere itself. The flames crossed the air in the blink and reached the Constellations trying to escape.
[Aaaahhk!!]
Five or six Constellations running away screamed at the top of their lungs and crumbled to the ground. Fables became ash within the purple-coloured flames and scattered away.
The only things remaining on the spots once occupied by the dead Constellations were ‘Modifier Necklaces’ gleaming in a silvery hue. Michael flew in the air and landed beside them to confirm the dropped loot.
[It’s still not here.]
He seemed to be searching for something. A bizarre light shot out from his eyes as he began observing his surroundings.
[Feels like there’s one more rat hidden somewhere nearby….]
Could I win if I was to fight Michael here?
I grew quite a bit stronger after learning Fable Control, but still, I wasn’t confident of winning against that guy for the time being. Not only was he the strongest battle angel in , he was also infinitely closer to becoming a Myth-grade Constellation, too.
If he decided to go all out, then he’d not be in a disadvantageous position against even Poseidon who fought in ‘Gigantomachia’. Even if I knew all the info on the guy through ‘Ways of Survival’, well….
Gu-ohhhhh!
Silvery light oozed out from Michael’s two eyes. That was [Eye of the Archangel.]
One of the exclusive skills possessed by Archangels that detected the presence of ‘evil’. It seemed that he could use that skill now after the Probability of the 2nd generation had been unlocked.
His eyes, burning like the ghostly flames of Dokkaebi, began scanning his surroundings. The range of his vision slowly s.h.i.+fted and was heading in my direction.
My heart began beating faster bit by bit.
Should I make a run for it?
It was at that moment that the pebble the villagers gave me writhed within my inner pocket.
[Fable, ‘Pebble and I’, has begun its storytelling.]
And something quite unexpected happened next.
[Due to the effect of the Fable, your detectable presence has become similar to that of a ‘pebble’.]
[The demonic energy emitted by you has become a.s.similated to the surrounding nature.]
Michael scanned the mountain of corpses I was hiding behind without much of a reaction, before eventually withdrawing his vision while muttering to himself.
[Was I mistaken?]
He then complained with an unhappy-sounding voice as he rose up in the air.
[All because the Scribe issued a time-wasting order….]
His wings spread out widely and his figure disappeared into the distance in an instant. Only after his presence was completely gone did I stand up from my hiding spot, while wiping the cold sweat off my forehead.
[Fable, ‘Pebble and I’, is pestering you for praise.]
“You did well. Thanks.”
[Fable, ‘Pebble and I’, is giggling happily to itself.]
I had no idea that this Fable could help me out in this manner. A Fable that could turn my presence into that of a ‘pebble’….
I did feel a bit mixed about it, but still, it might come in handy later on. I then quickly took a look around the devastated surroundings.
[Number of survivors on ‘Middle Island No.3’ is 224.]
In that brief amount of time, 38 people got slaughtered. Most of them were Incarnations or Constellations only on the level of ‘Historical Figure’-grade, but there were some Fable-grade mixed in among the victims, as well. (TL: The ‘Historical Figure’ grade was first introduced in Ch. 40, but it seems to have been not TLed by the former translator for some reason. Also, previous ‘Narrative-grade’ will change to ‘Fable-grade’, as they both use the exact same Korean spelling.) (ED: Seems like ‘Historical Figure’ grade was TLed as ‘upper’ or ‘great’ grade.)
The sight reminded me of what it’d look like right after a natural disaster swept by.
This was the true power of the Archangels. The high-ranking Demon Kings should also possess a similar level of power, too.
「(Now that was a close shave. If things went wrong, I was planning to use ‘revelation’, even.)」
‘You were watching?’
「(Yes. I was on a break, you see.)」
I recovered a bit of my energy after hearing Yu Sang-Ah’s clear voice. (TL: Yoo Sangah → Yu Sang-Ah)
Right, even if the enemies that I had to fight against were extremely powerful, I too held several hidden cards up my sleeve.
「(….By the way, don’t the conditions of the corpses seem a little odd?)」
I nodded my head and looked down at the sagging corpses. To be more specific, I wasn’t looking at the remains, but their ‘Modifier Necklaces’, which seemed a bit off. Most of those had either disappeared, or a portion of the Modifiers were damaged.
Yu Sang-Ah asked a question.
「(Even if we say that necklaces have disappeared after they were hunted down as targets, but…. Why would only portions of Modifiers disappear like that?)」
[The Ancient □□□]
[The Aged □□□]
[□□ and □□□’s □□]
Several Modifiers were missing words here and there. It was as if someone deliberately stole only certain letters and nothing else.
‘Some people are exploiting the loophole.’
「(Loophole?)」
‘Do you remember the condition to clear this scenario?’
「(Wasn’t it, s.n.a.t.c.h away the ‘Modifier Necklace’ from an opponent designated as your target?)」
‘Correct. But in reality, there’s no reason to hunt down your target, you see. What’s important here is to get your hands on the necklace itself.’
Yu Sang-Ah replied in a surprised voice.
「(Ah, could it be….)」
Just as I nodded my head, a new message entered my ears.
[It is possible to collect ‘Modifier syllables’ in the corresponding area.]
[You can craft a new necklace with the collected syllables.]
‘There are those who steal Modifiers from other Constellations and create the ‘Modifier Necklace’ that their targets are wearing.’
Basically, a ‘Modifier’ was a combination of words.
For instance, my Modifier, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, was made up of the following syllables – [De], [Mon], [King], [Of], [Sal], [Va], and [Tion].
Meaning, as long as you collected those syllables, you didn’t have to s.n.a.t.c.h my necklace away but would still be able to construct the same thing as mine.
「(….Why is the Bureau permitting this kind of shortcut?)」
‘The condition of s.n.a.t.c.hing away the designated target’s necklace can potentially slow down the progress of the scenario, you see. Also, there’s a possibility that your target has already escaped from this scenario too, which will further complicate the situation.’
Constellations hated slow progress, and they really loved the fast-paced action and the continuous rush of that refres.h.i.+ng feeling.
「(Which means, all these people were sacrificed for just a single word….)」
I nodded my head again.
Most likely, powerful Constellations slaughtered the lower-cla.s.sed ones and combined the necessary Modifiers belonging to their targets. Well, that would be a lot quicker than searching for a target that constantly ran away from you, after all.
Rather than praying for the dead’s safe journey to the afterlife, I began rummaging through the discarded necklaces that now resembled corn on the cob missing many of its kernels.
Yu Sang-Ah didn’t say anything.
[You have acquired the Modifier syllable, ‘Of’.]
There were almost no useful words remaining. The majority of them were common adpositions. Without a doubt, all the necessary words had already been collected by other Constellation as the pieces for their puzzle combinations.
I did rummage through the pile of corpses that Michael left behind and found a few useful items, though. As expected, it seemed that a Constellation like Michael wouldn’t hesitate to throw away items that weren’t ‘Star Relics’.
Indeed, his wealth was on another scale. But, besides all that….
“….Why don’t you come out already? Michael is far away by now, you know.”
My voice quietly resounded out in this empty, devastated location. No presence of a person could be felt, but I still spoke up one more time.
“You should come out while I’m still being civil, okay?”
There was one other person hiding within the corpses. This person managed to perfectly hide their presence, but I was pretty sure of them being there. Why? Because I clearly witnessed them going into hiding just as the b.l.o.o.d.y slaughter commenced.
Accompanied by ‘Busuhsuh’ noise, a corner of the corpse pile collapsed and fell, as a certain someone stood up. An Incarnation that somehow managed to avoid the detection of [Eye of the Archangel] revealed themself.
“….Demon King of Salvation.”
A blonde-haired woman full of wounds was glaring straight at me. Blood continued to flow out from both her torn arm and the grievous wound on her stomach. Even at a casual glance, they seemed to be pretty serious injuries.
I spoke while looking back at her. “Looks like things are not going as well as you hoped, Anna Croft.”
*
I recalled the moments when Anna Croft first made her appearance within ‘Ways of Survival’.
The prophet of Asgard and capable of freely using [Precognition] and [Retrocognition], she was the one character that possessed the skills to counter the Regressor, Yu Joong-Hyeok.
Because of that, she became his chief rival in the latter half of ‘Ways of Survival’.
….During the original storyline, that was.
A woman willing to bear any cost for the sake of her great cause. One of the most powerful Incarnations, and a character who’d become the master of ‘Zarathustra’ in the distant future, something that even Constellations feared – such a person was sagging powerlessly right in front of my eyes.
I crushed one of the [Great Return Pills] I bought earlier and shoved it inside her mouth. She opened her eyes around 30 minutes after that.
As soon as she did, she spotted me and while breaking out in a near-convulsion, stood up from the ground in great haste.
“Sit down. Your physical condition is still dangerous.”
She confirmed that her wrists and ankles weren’t bound, and quickly stepped back, still being wary of me. “Why did you save me?”
“I’ve got a few things to ask you.”
“And what makes you think I’ll answer your questions?”
She growled like a wild beast. This was a slightly different appearance from the ‘Prophet’ that I remembered.
“Why are you partic.i.p.ating in the ‘Great War of Saints and Demons’?”
“So I can earn a Great Fable, obviously. Could there be any other reason?”
“But, shouldn’t you be getting ready to tackle a different ‘Great Fable Scenario’ by now? Am I wrong?”
Anna Croft bit her lips after hearing my question.
In the original storyline, she shouldn’t be taking part in the ‘Great War of Saints and Demons’. Because, she was supposed to partic.i.p.ate in another Great Fable Scenario called ‘Ragnarök’, instead.
“That is….”
The light in her eyes shook visibly. And that was the same thing as me hearing her answer.
“You’ve been discarded by the Nebula.”
“This problem doesn’t concern you.”
She began gritting her teeth now. I could easily understand the rage contained within those words, though.
Anna Croft and I clashed against each other a couple of times so far, and that changed the ‘future’ of the original storyline she was supposed to live out.
Back during the ‘Gourmet a.s.sociation’, or back during ‘Gigantomachia’, she didn’t get to achieve any notable feats.
As her repeated failures acc.u.mulated, the Nebula simply chucked her into the midst of the ‘Great War of Saints and Demons’, all by herself, after she was deemed no longer useful.
….Was this because of me?
The future that I changed didn’t just transform the fate of Yu Joong-Hyeok and my companions.
I spoke to Anna Croft as she glared at me with eyes filled with contempt. “What if you get to earn a Myth-grade Fable in this place?”
“….What did you say?”
“Wouldn’t Asgard have to rea.s.sess you in that case, then?”
The Myth-grade Fable – her irises quaked visibly after hearing that term.
“What are you trying to say here?”
“I can help you.”
“I’m asking you what your motives are.”
“I don’t have any ulterior motives. I only wish for you and ‘Zarathustra’ to grow without any issues. That is all.”
[Character ‘Anna Croft’ has activated ‘Lie Detection Lv.8’.]
[Character ‘Anna Croft’ has confirmed the applicable remark to be true.]
Her expression was dyed in pure astonishment, but it recovered quickly enough. The light in her eyes reverted back to the one belonging to the calm, level-headed Prophet from my memories.
“….And what do you want in return?”
As expected, prophets were quick on the uptake and that made my life easier.
“Lend me your ability for a bit.”
Most likely, Anna Croft had no idea that the first being I met on this ‘Middle Island’ happened to be her, and just how glad I felt about this lucky encounter.
*
Somewhere in the mountainous region of the island. Asmodeus rubbed its chin while looking at the ‘Modifier Necklace’ it ‘earned’ as it stood on top of a tall, ancient tree.
[The Hunter of □dges.]
Now originally, Asmodeus was supposed to target the Modifier [The Hunter of Grudges.]
Unfortunately, other compet.i.tors hunted down its target already, and thanks to that, it was left with a tattered necklace that said [The Hun□ of □□], instead.
“So, I’ve already acquired [Dges] and [Ter]… that means all I need to find is [Gru]….”
The problem was, there weren’t that many Constellations remaining on this island that still possessed the Modifier containing [Gru].
‘The side effect of partic.i.p.ating later because I was taking care of my dependents is fairly large, isn’t it.’
Asmodeus stayed on top of the tree and scanned every corner of the island to search for the remaining Constellations. It was at that point that the Demon King heard the explosions ringing out from the forest up north. Judging from their scale, it could guess who was behind them. Yet another round of ‘clean-up’ had commenced, it seemed.
It’d prove to be entertaining if Asmodeus decided to stick its nose in there, but…
But then, a familiar voice entered its ear ca.n.a.ls.
“….According to [Precognition], it is somewhere nearby.”
“Oh, really?”
Asmodeus’s expression brightened up the instant it heard those voices.
It lightly jumped off from the treetop and arrived before the owner of the voice with a gob-smacking turn of speed.
There they were, a man wearing a white coat and a platinum-blonde woman. Asmodeus smiled brightly.
[‘Demon King of Salvation’, looks like we were fated to cross paths in this manner.]
The Demon King of Salva’tion’. The owner of the syllable it was looking for was now standing right in front of its eyes. However, the man didn’t seem to be fl.u.s.tered at all. (TL: There was a Korean pun at play here which can’t be TLed into English, unfortunately. Grudge is written as “원한” while Salvation is written as “구원”. As you can see, “원” part is the same in both words.)
“I didn’t come here to fight, Asmodeus.”
[That’s not something for you to decide. Because….]
“You need the syllable [Gru], right?”
[….!!]
“Killing me and taking away [Gru] is an option, sure. However, I have a more interesting offer. Do you want to hear it?”
Asmodeus formed a dazed expression for a bit, before making its reply.
[It’s already quite amusing that you are making me an offer, yet it’s also supposed to be interesting, too? Now I want to hear about it more than ever.]
Asmodeus’s voice was thickly dyed in excitement and madness already. It even sported an expression that said it was seriously weighing the pros and cons of devouring the tasty prey right in front of its eyes, or an even more delicious potential prey later on.
It then continued on.
[However, if I don’t find your offer interesting, then you will….]
“I’m not the only one with the syllable [Gru] on this island.”
Another owner of [Gru]?
Asmodeus’s expression s.h.i.+fted once more.
[Could it be…?]
“If we’re partic.i.p.ating in the ‘Great War of Saints and Demons’, we should start acting more seriously now, don’t you agree?”
The reflection of Kim Dok-Ja in the eyes of Asmodeus was grinning like a true Demon King at that moment.
“Are you interested in Archangel hunting?”
< Episode 68: Inaudible Words (4) > Fin.