Translating Japanese Web Novels to English

SL Chapter 78

Chapter 78: The Sage‘s choice

Translator: Tseirp

 

The battle progressed with Danan holding the advantage.

Shisandan delivered strikes one after the other with his talwar sword but his movements were dull.

The ‘Collapsing Angle Fang’ martial art that Danan released as his surprise attack caused both of Shisandan’s arms to be in a half-paralyzed state.

 

“Ora! You’re open! ‘Rampaging Demonic Kick’!”

 

A strong back kick wrapped in Ki was thrust at Shisandan’s stomach.

Shisandan’s body flew into the air along with the shock from the martial art, slamming into the wall behind him and he supported himself with both his hands as he fell to the floor.

 

“Oraora!!”

 

Danan showed a ferocious grin as he continued his onslaught of violent kicks without giving Shisandan time to stand up.

Shisandan who had collapsed on the ground could not retaliate at all and could only defend one-sidedly.

 

“Ares!”

 

Shisandan called out Ares’ name.

His plea was evident … he was asking for aid.

 

” ……. “

 

Ares did not move.

He was asking him to attack Danan, a member of the Hero party and someone he traveled with?

Impossible, impossible, impossible … Ares’ thoughts were in a mess.

 

“Ares!”

 

Shisandan called out to Ares once again. Ares crouched down and covered his ears. He wanted to forget everything. He didn’t want to think about anything.

 

『Think, act, do not idle, advance, you are the Sage, your choices are always right, precisely because you are the Sage.』

 

Ares’ own emotions were painted over by the impulses from 『Sage』. Ares did not have the freedom to let others choose. He always had to think for himself and act accordingly. Even when his Divine Protection does not tell him which choice to make.

To act like a『Sage』. That Divine Protection called out to Ares.

 

“Ares! Help me!”

 

Shisandan cried out for the third time. He was bathed in countless blows from Danan and was desperately defending as his blood flowed freely.

The battle will come to an end soon. It held the meaning that Ares, who has been banished from the Hero party, would never be able to return to it.

That’s right, so there was no need to think about it after all.

 

“Gargantua Storm Javelin!”

 

Danan is a simple man. Similar to his own experience, Ares was trick by Shisandan as well. That was why, once he knew the true identity of Shisandan, he would naturally be hostile toward Shisandan.

That was all he thought about. Regardless of how much he hated Ares, he believed in the goodness within Ares as a member of the Hero party.

 

“Wha!? Ares! You bastard!?”

 

It was a black cloud spear that was the condensation of a huge storm that could cover an entire country. An advanced spell that only superior spell-user Divine Protections could utilize.

In an instant, Danan, whose reaction was delayed, reflexively bend his body to avoid a direct hit.

However, huge electric shock from the power of the lightning that wrapped around the spear which could rend a hundred-year-old tree ran through Danan’s body.

 

“Ugaaaaaaa!!!!”

 

Danan’s body stiffened from the lightning strike. Danan’s vision blacked out for a brief second from the pain and flash of light.

During that brief moment, fresh blood splattered across the air.

 

“Gu ….”

 

Shisandan’s talwar cut deep into Danan’s flank.

 

“Explode.”

 

When Shisandan muttered that, his talwar exploded.

The explosion ripped the wound open and the heat and shock destroyed Danan’s body from the inside.

 

“I believe even you won’t be able to survive having your insides destroyed.”

 

Nevertheless, Danan did not collapse.

Disregarding the blood that spilled to the floor from his wound, Danan wordlessly ready his clenched left fist.

 

“Humans are so interesting. I have never seen a 『Martial Artist』 such as yourself. Your strength surpasses your Divine Protection.”

 

Shisandan slowly stood up and formed a seal with his left hand. His body swelled greatly and returned to his original large frame of about two and a half meter tall.

Six well-trained arms. His tanned face returned to that of a demon with fangs.

Shisandan drew the five swords he had on his waist one after the other and displayed the original six sword martial art style of the Asura Demon.

 

Danan lowered his posture to meet his attack. His eyes were hollow but he had not lost his will to fight.

The six swords assaulted him consecutively like a tornado. Every single blow was filled with enough power and killing intent to split even a large elephant in half.

However, despite having wounds all over his body and partially losing consciousness, Danan could still respond to the murderous tornado with only his left hand as he broke the swords one by one.

Danan was still able to skillfully execute his martial arts which was said to be able to rend steel with just his fingers even in his current half-dead state.

 

“You martial artist freak. But.”

 

Shisandan’s right feet twisted like a snake.

All of Danan’s efforts were put into defending against the sword strikes so Shisandan’s right feet slammed into Danan’s chest.

 

“Gah, bu ….”

 

Danan felt an intense pain in his chest.

When Shisandan pulled back his right feet, a broken sword tip could be seen protruding from Danan’s chest.

 

“I specialize in martial arts too. Although you might only see it as acrobatics.”

 

Shisandan said with a laugh. Before he kicked, he grabbed a broken sword tip that was in the air with his toes and thrust it into Danan’s chest using the momentum of his kick.

 

“Na … h … that was … martial arts …”

 

Danan did not seem to care about Ares’ spear as he glared at Shisandan with a slight grin on his lips.

And finally, Danan exhausted his energy and collapsed on the floor.

 

☆☆

 

Ares found that he was surprisingly calm when he saw Danan collapse.

Ares felt that his own psychology was bizarre as he imagined that he would be a lot more shaken and be stricken with guilt for attacking his companion and betraying him.

 

(No, that’s not it, it is because I am used to it. This is not the first time I betray a companion after all.)

 

Gideon’s face appeared in Ares’ head.

 

(We go a long way back.)

 

Ares joined the party when Ruti came to the Imperial Capital. In the current party, he was the most senior member after Gideon. He had also adventured with Gideon the longest if he excluded Ruti.

The two of them survived through life-and-death battles many times and had saved each other from death countless times.

While Ares hated Gideon, he trusted Gideon’s ability. Ares was most probably the person who best understood Gideon’s greatness.

 

(That is precisely why I chased Gideon out.)

 

With Gideon around, Ares can’t be the 『Sage』. Ruti will never trust him and his companions will never rely on him. Even without skills, Gideon was still a lot more sagacious than he was.

Ares finally understood the reason he chased Gideon out.

 

“Ares, thanks.”

 

The huge Asura Demon thanked Ares.

The choice, once made, can never be reversed. Ares chose the path of betrayal to proceed with Shisandan and regain the 『Hero』 that was snatched from him.

 

“Let’s proceed. It is ahead, right? The Hero’s relic.”

“Yes, I believe so.”

 

Ares disregarded the collapsed Danan and continued deeper into the ruin along with Shisandan.

 

☆☆

 

Elaborate traps were set directly in front of the room at the deepest parts of the ruin but they were easily disarmed when Shisandan channeled magical power to the Ancient-Elf control panel next to him.

It was unthinkable that the control panel for such powerful traps could be operated so easily. Just operating the Ancient-Elf ruin control panel required immensely delicate magical power manipulation.

 

However, the items placed within the golden box which was likely made by the Wood-Elves blew all other thoughts from Ares’ mind.

 

“The-these are!?”

 

There were five long swords. Ares recognized those long swords.

 

“The Holy Sword of Demon Vanquishing! Bu-but this.”

 

The artifact-class long sword Ruti held, The Holy Sword of Demon Vanquishing. A sword passed down from God to successive generations of Heroes, a sacred and invincible sword that had slain many Demon Lords.

There were five other such swords even though there should only be one such Holy Sword in the world.

 

“No, that’s not it. These are not Holy Sword of Demon Vanquishing.”

 

Shisandan denied his claim.

 

“The current Holy Sword of Demon Vanquishing is a forgery of the previous generation Hero’s sword that was taken out from his grave. These are the original that were bestowed by God.”

“The-then, these are the real swords?”

“Yes. To differentiate, let’s call them the True Avenger, no, the Sacred Avenger.” (TLN: Holy Sword of Demon Vanquishing = Avenger)

 

Shisandan discarded the empty sheathes on his waist and extracted the Sacred Avengers one by one from the box and hung four of the swords on his waist.

Then, he passed the last one to Ares.

 

“In the first place, the Hero Divine Protection is similar to the Imitation Avenger that the Hero is carrying now. In other words, it is a replica of the first generation Hero’s soul made by God.”

“Soul? Replica?”

“There are two tasks in order to make the current generation Hero become the 『Hero』.”

“Two … “

 

That was Ares’ goal. Ares gripped the handle of the Sacred Avenger.

 

“The first is to pass this Sacred Avenger to this generation’s Hero. The Avenger is similar to the Proof of the Hero in that it has the power to strengthen the Hero’s Divine Protection. Once the Divine Protection is strengthened, the impulses will similarly be strengthened. The impulses weakened by the Devil’s Divine Protection will probably recover as well.”

“Th-then, that means Ruti will return to my side!?”

“No, that alone is not sufficient. Originally, the 『Hero』 is an apparatus that embodies justice. It feels no fear, no confusion, no hesitation. For that sake, it was given a strong impulse that would override the host’s ego.”

“Then what would the second task be?”

“Why is the current generation’s Hero not the 『Hero』 but Ruti? That is because Ruti has feelings that she can’t fulfill. It is because she holds a desire that she wishes to accomplish even at the cost of the pain from the impulses.”

” … In other words, Gideon.”

 

Shisandan heard Ares’ mutter and nodded with satisfaction.

 

☆☆

 

Around that time, Gideon, or rather Red and his companions were advancing forward to chase after Ares.

 

“I sense somebody battling far away.”

 

Red and party quickened their pace after receiving that warning from Tise.

However, at that time, Red still had no idea that Ares had already chosen a completely different path.

Their confrontation was inevitable.

 

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SL Chapter 77

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SL Chapter 79

33 Comments

  1. ♪:*:・・:*:・♪・:*:・・:*:・♪・:*:・・:*:・♪
    ┏…┓   ∧__∧   Merry
    ┃T├┓ (。・ω・。)  X-Mas
    ┗┬N├┳━〇━〇━┓and a
     ┗┬X┃  NEPU! ┃ Happy
      ┗…┻………━………┛Nepu Year!
    。:+* ゚ ゜゚ *+:。:+* ゚ ゜゚ *+:。:+* ゚ ゜゚ *+:。

  2. Satan

    Kill arse already.

  3. Zero

    Ares become evil? yaa he going to die 😀

    now i really hope Red is not acting like a dumb ass and let Ares life -__-

    • Vivec

      At least there was more nuance to Are than cartoon villain. This is what happens when the impulses of a divine protection go rogue and are against better judgement and a happy ending.

      • Wasn’t the divine protection, he made a choice to spite Gideon for being more sage like.

        • Arienai

          The DP also have a hand on his decision as theSage dp require him to be rely upon inn order to funcetion, but no one in the party rely on him as they already have Gideon.
          Unable to do as his impulse order along with the stress of wanting achievement led to the expulsion of Gideon.

          I think Ares hold only half of the responsible for all the things that he have done.

          • kom24

            nope, don’t blame DP just because he’s a jerk. there is nothing that can justified you to betray u’r companion, moreover if they are good people.

        • An Inconsequential Somebody

          To add onto what Arienai said, Ares had the ability to see everyone’s DP and level while growing up. From what he saw, those that were successful and happy were the ones who followed their DP while the ones who struggled and were miserable went against their DP. This led him to believe that the correct path for everyone was to do what their DP is meant for.

          Combine this with a Sage always choosing the right choice and his belief becomes a fact. Obviously we’ve seen that isn’t actually true, and the only people who said it are Ares himself and Shisandan, both of whom are unreliable. Whether it’s influence from his DP or just everyone around him growing up telling him so leads to the same result.

          Sage is always right>I’m a Sage>I believe X>X is true

          Then comes along Gideon with a “worthless” DP who sticks around long after his part as directed by his DP should be over. The Guide should have been left behind long ago when his power started falling behind everyone else. Instead he makes himself useful by taking care of the miscellaneous tasks that everyone else takes for granted, and by doing so he challenges Ares’ beliefs.

          It’s ironic that other than Ruti and possibly the witch who left the party, Ares is the only one who saw how important Gideon was. Unfortunately, Gideon is proof that he’s wrong and he chose to deny and attack the evidence which actually isn’t too different from what some people in real life do when their beliefs start to come under question.

          Here’s Ares now. His party left him one by one, directly or indirectly due to Gideon, which is probably what’s causing his mental breakdown. Ruti officially kicked him out of the hero party when his DP is supposed to assist the hero. Shisandan muot likely has a very good understanding of how humans think since he gained the memories of anyone he eats, and he’s been putting it to good use manipulating Ares (the development of civilizations speech for instance).

          As for him attacking Dadan; Dadan chose Gideon while Shisandan chose Ares. Gideon is leading the hero away from her correct path while Shisandan is (supposedly) trying to get the hero back on that path. Ares chose to awaken the hero even if he has to attack a former companion because that’s the only choice he has that aligns with his beliefs.

          This one chapter turned Ares from a one-dimensional villain that you hate because he’s trash into a somewhat deeper villain that you hate BECAUSE you can see his reasoning. He may be influenced by his DP, but his decisions are still his own.

          Holy hell this wall of text. Did not plan on this being this long. <_<

          • Ophious

            You might not have planned for it to be that long but I enjoyed reading it, it helped clear up some confusing bits so thank you

  4. Isaac

    I hope Danan isn’t dead

  5. Felipe

    Well, considering that ares just helped a demon and murdered “a member of the hero’s party” (danan) the hero’s divine protection won’t oppose killing ares right now, so regardless if this plan succeeds or not ares is dead

  6. Felipe

    Ares is the dumbest sage I’ve ever seen, he doesn’t realize that regardless if he puts ruti in “hero mode” she will kill him because by murdering danan and Gideon (2 members of the hero’s party) he will be tagged as enemy of the hero

    • J. Random Emailor

      I’m fairly certain he knows that at this point. But the Divine Protection of the Sage won’t let him believe that his actions are incorrect, and that if the results are bad, it’s someone else’s fault. And at this point, regardless of who won the battle, he doesn’t see a path that will let him return to the Hero’s party.

      So he’s going to do whatever he can rationalize is necessary to make Ruti the True Hero, whatever the cost, regardless of what she wants.

      • Felipe

        My point is that even the hero’s divine protection will see him as enemy due to murder of 2 companions and to work with demons this guy is practically humankind’s enemy at this point, and how the heck is being that arrogant fits into the role of a sage?

        • J. Random Emailor

          To go truly cold-blooded about it, in terms that Ares probably won’t be willing to face up to, but is probably internalizing

          If the plan comes to fruition and the True Hero accepts Ares, then everything he did to bring that about was worth it.

          If the plan comes to fruition, and the True Hero slays Ares, then his death, and the arrival of the True Hero would be his atonement.

          Not that he’s willing to let himself believe that option two is probably the more likely. Or think about why someone apparently went to a fair bit of trouble to ensure that the Hero would not be the True Hero. Either one would require him to consider that his choice of actions might be wrong.

          As far as how such arrogance makes him a better small-s sage…it doesn’t. But my general impression of the Divine Protection system is that it is a system that needs periodic maintenance and steering to do what it was intended to do…And whoever is responsible for that maintenance has not been willing or able to do it for quite some time.

  7. Thanks for the chapter.

    I knew that snake Ares would attack Danan! I CALLED IT!!! Still… I’m sure that Ares won’t have the companion immunity even after Ruti gets a hold of that sword due to the fact that Ares attacked Danan.

  8. kirindas

    Thanks for the new chapter!

  9. Reaper Phoenix

    Thanks 4 the chapter!

    From that conversation, they’re planning to kill Red and hand Ruti the swords, erasing her ego. Turning her into a true “Hero”.
    Even if it does work, what’s stopping the hero from killing Ares. The hero is the embodiment of justice. Ares helped a demon strike down a member of the hero’s party.

  10. Chad Meyer

    I guess what happens here will determine the next arc. If Ruty turns into a real hero next arc will be trying to save her, hopefully they won’t be seen as an enemy by her for that. If they save Ruty then it will likely be living a carefree life while everyone freaks out that the hero is missing.

  11. Ryuu-kun

    From the comments in this chapter, I conclude that Ares is dead either way.
    IDiagnoseYouWithDead.png

  12. Ryune

    Oh noes he attacked Danan. quick guys act surprised

    Seriously this chapter was somehow annoying to read on how obvious it is.

  13. Zax

    Funny how Ares still wants to be a hero after all he’s done. Then again no one else knows…. hmm
    Thanks for the chapter

  14. Cutie Meow

    Thanks~

  15. Kuzo

    Lol this Ares guy just lock his death flag

    Thanks for the chappu~

  16. Kvetha

    Thank you very much for the chapter!

  17. Pathos

    Yeah the walking herb tea brewer,all knowing jackass still had sweet time idling,chatting. ffs move ur ass. poor danan had to work the most and fall alone what a douche

    • Pathos

      The sense of chrisis despite tise announcement that another person is heading deeper is lacking and brewing herb tea??!!…damn it..god damn tea..herb tea at that?tea that smell like incense..how hipster can you be…

  18. Ascending Flame

    Oh noes, Danan has been attacked, yada yada. . .

    Everyone already hashed that above.

    What I would like to point out is how Shisandan mentioned on how the Demon King has a DP, and how the Asura Demons don’t have one. Additionally, the Asura Demons hate that fact, on how the Demon King has a DP, and that he is above them.

    What does Shisandan gain from making Ruti a True Hero, erasing her ego, and making her go kill the Demon King? The liberation of the Asura Demons from out beneath the Demon King, probably. And then, they could probably TRULY wreck havoc on the world. . . or, they could finally leave, and go somewhere else, and establish their own kingdom of DP-less people.

  19. …why weren’t Theodora & Albert near Danan tho ?

    Alas, poor Danan.

  20. kagemao

    The sage DP is the opposite of what I would expect. Making someone impulsively give answers to appear smart. Maybe it can be counteracted by studying, but it seems like it would make you look down on actually learning things because it shows that you don’t know them. I guess that’s the theme with these things, though.

    • SageVII

      The SAGE DP is a double edged sword.
      It provides the ability to be best mage and guide, but at the same time it forces the user to make a decision right now.
      It is the user’s responsibility to learn.
      In Area specific case, he decided early on his life that he everybody was his inferior and that he had nothing to learn from the people around him. So, he devoted his time to learn how to be the best mage.
      When he met Guideon, Area understood that he was not a safe but just a common wizard. His pride blinded him and that is why he removed Guideon from the party.

  21. F234K

    Truthfully, I thought that Gideon is big Idiot, contrary to his character images that author make him “smart”, but the story line alone make him such a big stupid, dumb ass…

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