S-Classes That I Raised to Devour - Chapter 53

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 53. Knowledge Alone Is Not Enough (4)
Rije’s dimensional vault was a mill. Small and crude for a treasury befitting a queen who ruled a nation, but its six contents were the real deal.
「Relic — Rije’s Diary」
• A log kept by Rije, once a headstrong princess and the Guardian Queen. Much of it has been lost and redacted.
「Relic — Eternal Mandrake」
• A parasitic plant, the Mandrake. Over ten thousand years, it has absorbed and concentrated the earth’s vitality and magical power.
「Relic — Golden Arrow Fragment」
• One fragment of a broken arrow. If the other half is found, it may be possible to restore it.
「Relic — Yellow Dragon Scale (S)」
• A single scale from Lodmoor, the Yellow Dragon. Weapons crafted from this scale ignore enemy defense entirely, while armor forged from it gains the attribute of absolute penetration.
「Equipment — Benometric Amulet」
Rarity Grade: Legend-grade
Quality Grade: A
An amulet imbued with the semi-infinite power technology of the ancient magical empire.
• Restores 100 magical power per minute
• Magic defense +315
• Maximum magical power +27
• All attribute resistance +16
• All status abnormality resistance +15
• Cannot be nullified
• Cannot be destroyed
「Equipment — Shadow Bag」
Rarity Grade: Legend-grade
Quality Grade: E
A bag crafted from the horn of the Shadow Spirit King. Despite appearing as a small pouch, its interior can accommodate an entire house.
• You can store and retrieve the bag from your own shadow.
• Items stored within the bag enter a state of suspension, unaffected by the passage of time.
“Damn, this is insane!”
The exclamation escaped as a curse. Legend-grade equipment, and three relics on top of that.
Legend-grade equipment and above are treated as strategic weapons. There’s even a saying that equipping six Legend-grade pieces makes you an S-rank Hunter.
Converted to currency, that’s a minimum of 100 billion. If you were to trade for Unique equipment one-for-one, you’d need to give fifty pieces — such is the weight of Legend-grade.
Naturally I wanted to take everything with me, but the system didn’t allow it.
[System: Per contract, half the ownership of this dimensional vault belongs to
REDACTED
. Player Chae Mujin, you may take a maximum of three items.]
[System: Furthermore, the moment you leave this place, everything you have seen and felt here will be redacted.]
[System: There is no time limit.]
Only three of six items. And once I chose and left, I would forget everything that had been here.
“There’s no problem with just looking, right?”
Silence was assent.
I picked up the diary.
If a mere diary had been classified as a relic, there was a high probability that enormous information or a skill lay hidden within.
Of course, the system had already warned me that I would forget everything I saw here, but I pushed the thought aside.
The moment I opened the diary without hesitation, images began playing in Chae Mujin’s mind.
* * *
Illunia — a world of sword and magic that had fought monsters since the beginning of time.
Within it stood the Merchen Kingdom, the smallest but safest nation, which possessed a sacred relic passed down through generations: the Golden Arrow.
More precisely, it was the arrowhead itself, not meant to shoot at enemies.
“Are you prepared?”
At the words of an old priestess in ceremonial robes, the bound man nodded.
He was the Empire’s youngest Sword Master, but he had challenged the Golden Arrow Trial in pursuit of a higher realm.
Thud!
The trial was simple: pierce the chest shallowly with the arrowhead.
But the moment the man was pierced, he let out a bestial scream.
“Aaaahhhhhhh!”
The man thrashed with such violence that ordinary rope would have snapped long ago, yet soon he was bleeding from every opening in his body as he breathed his last.
The old priestess released a heavy sigh.
“How many times is this now?”
Those who overcame the trial were granted transcendent power that surpassed even Sword Masters, and they were called Warriors.
In the past, anyone could pass the trial, but a hundred years had made the arrow finicky — it rarely granted a successor.
The king trembled with fury at the report that even the youngest Sword Master had perished.
“With only a month left, how am I to stop the Monster Wave!”
Every year, monsters surged in like a tidal wave.
The Minister of War reported grimly.
“…Currently, only eight Warriors remain, Your Majesty. Four others deserted and could not endure; two of them died during capture.”
He could not bring himself to add that thousands of soldiers had died alongside them.
Before his silent vassals, the king announced an extraordinary measure.
“Let anyone, regardless of status, attempt the trial! Whoever becomes a Warrior shall be married to my daughter!”
Though he had declared he would mingle commoner blood with the royal line, his vassals praised him as an enlightened ruler.
Soon after, tens of thousands of men challenged the trial. Four became Warriors, and simultaneously, four princesses were given away in marriage.
The fifth princess, Rije, watching this unfold, asked her nursemaid.
“Nursemaid, why does the Golden Arrow Trial accept only men?”
“Because the trial is so agonizing that all women who attempted it have failed — they are inherently too delicate by nature.”
“Failed? So there were women who tried?”
Despite her nursemaid’s dissuasion, Rije dug into the royal family’s secret records. And there, she faced a shocking truth.
The records documented a horrifying human experiment: the royal family had abducted one hundred women — young mothers with children — and forced them to undergo the trial.
“Ugh…”
When she realized that all the luxury and peace she had enjoyed were built upon their blood and screams, nausea seized her.
Yet at the same time, she could not deny it: without the Golden Arrow Trial, this nation would have become monster feed long ago.
‘But… must we live by squeezing the life from others?’
That night, Rije entered the sanctuary alone and grasped the Golden Arrow.
It was not impulse. If she died, it would atone for the royal family’s crimes; if by some miracle she survived—
“I will protect this kingdom. I swear no one will suffer this pain again.”
Thud!
Rije survived. The moment the kingdom’s first female Warrior was born.
But she did not stop there.
“One trial’s strength will not be enough to protect everything.”
Even after experiencing all that agony, she drove the arrow into her chest again. It was a consecutive trial no one in centuries of history had ever succeeded at.
The next morning, Rije swept aside the knights and Warriors blocking the king’s path like autumn leaves and advanced forward.
Even the Aura Blades emanating from the existing Warriors scattered helplessly at a single gesture from her hand.
The king, emerging at the commotion, was aghast.
“You… surely you did not become a Warrior?”
“Father, do not call me by the title ‘Warrior,’ which is only for men.”
Rije placed her hand upon her chest and declared firmly.
“Call me a Magical Girl instead. From now on, I shall be the guardian deity of this realm, and let the Golden Arrow never be used by anyone else again.”
She proved her own power by single-handedly annihilating the incoming Monster Wave.
Yet the following year, an even fiercer monster assault brought her too to her limit.
“Rije, return the arrow now. You cannot do this alone. We need more Warriors and Magical Girls!”
“Have you forgotten? I said I would not burden anyone else. Any weakness in my power… I shall bear it myself.”
Thud.
Before all eyes, Rije drove a third arrow into her chest. The result was success. With overwhelming power, she saved the kingdom once more.
This repeated year after year. Fourth, fifth… endless cycles of stabbing her own body with arrows, again and again, to protect the realm.
When at last she had pierced herself a thousand times, she became an Immortal — never aging, never hungering, never sleeping.
Elevated to Guardian Queen, surpassing the living king, she became an eternal solitary protector of the kingdom.
* * *
When the memory ended, my mouth felt dry. The anguish and suffering she had endured, the eons of battle, seemed to have brushed against my very soul.
[Information on Merchen Rije has been updated.]
[Weakness: First Wound]
Though her body bears the scars of a thousand piercings, the very center of her chest — where the first arrow struck — remains her only vulnerability.
“So that’s how it was.”
The true value of the diary was that it revealed Rije’s weakness and the nature of the Golden Arrow.
“I’m glad I looked.”
I set down the diary and carefully examined the remaining five rewards.
Each was so precious that none could be ranked above the others. But I chose my three without hesitation.
And when I opened my eyes again, it was a barren field.
Back in reality, Chae Mujin found himself laughing. I hadn’t forgotten a single thing.
Not what had been in Rije’s vault, nor the contents of the diary — all of it remained.
「Trait — Akashic Record (EX)」
• Absolutely preserves held memories.
• Stored memories are immune to erasure and manipulation.
• Memories persist even through dimensional and temporal distortion.
• Stored memories can be accessed at any time.
The EX-rank skill Akashic Record, which preserves memories absolutely, possessed power that transcended even the system’s laws.
As a result, I had obtained not three rewards but four — and I could not help but laugh, nor did I try.
“Hahahaha!”
After laughing freely for a time, Chae Mujin’s expression returned to gravity. This was no moment to laugh carelessly.
Rije’s strength exceeded imagination. I had glimpsed it through her diary.
Passing the Golden Arrow Trial even once elevates one to roughly level 200. Yet she had pierced herself a thousand times.
“By crude calculation, that’s level 20,000.”
Of course, she probably wasn’t truly that strong — but it was certain she had become a transcendent being.
“And South Korea rated her as Named-grade?”
A grave misjudgment. Named-grade? She was surely at least Lord-grade, perhaps even Apocalypse-grade.
But that was only if she fought with all her power.
“She’s holding back her strength as much as possible.”
I could not blindly believe that she would do the same when fighting me. Belief without evidence was merely a human weakness — a desire to avoid unpleasant truths.
“Being deceived once and dying is misfortune. Being deceived again and dying is just natural selection.”
I had no intention of being careless like I had been in my past life.
* * *
The next morning, at the breakfast table.
Kim Yeoul set down her spoon and spoke to Chae Mujin with a serious expression.
“Manager, I think Minji is quite ill. She’s only eaten one bowl of rice.”
“That is concerning.”
“What happened in those two weeks?”
“Many things. Did you practice what I taught you well during those two weeks?”
“I did try hard like you showed me, but I’m not sure if I’m doing well.”
“I’ll watch you this afternoon.”
“Yes!”
“Minji, you get ready to go out around two o’clock.”
“Okay…”
Lee Minji’s reply was hollow. Though she had rested for a full day, lost confidence could not be recovered by mere sleep.
When the appointed time arrived, the three of them drove to a location that was, unsurprisingly, in front of a dungeon.
“There are so many people. Is this one of those good-luck dungeons?”
“No. Just an ordinary level-200 dungeon.”
Then a voice came through a loudspeaker.
“Good afternoon, everyone. I am Deadshot, a solo Hunter. Those participating in today’s Boss Raid, please gather by the red flag.”
Chae Mujin was already positioned behind the red flag, so there was no need to move.
Lee Minji, who had been spaced out, snapped to attention at the words “Boss Raid.”
“Are we doing a Boss Raid too?”
“It’s not a particularly dangerous raid. This Boss has already been cleared three times overseas. All patterns are analyzed, so if you don’t make mistakes, there’s no reason to die…”
Chae Mujin trailed off, looking around at the assembled hunters.
“…or so these 200 Hunters here believe.”
Yorick’s Tomb — the dungeon’s name.
The monsters that appear here are Skeleton Knights, and the Boss is a Necromancer named Yorick.
Yorick summons over 100 Skeleton Knights in a single call.
So if more Hunters participate in the raid than the number Yorick summons, Yorick can supposedly be cleared easily.
Even in Malaysia, where Yorick was recently cleared, 300 level-100 Hunters defeated him effortlessly.
This time, Korean Hunters had gathered to employ the same strategy.
But I knew better.
“Yeoul. Minji.”
Calling the two over, Chae Mujin spoke only the bare truth.
“Deadshot and all 200 Hunters leading this raid will be annihilated by the Boss Yorick.”
“…?!”
“Don’t believe me? The 200 out there certainly won’t either. So we have no choice but to go in ourselves.”
Lee Minji shook her head. Not because she disbelieved Chae Mujin’s words.
“Deadshot is one of the people I respect. He’s thorough and quick to adapt. I haven’t just heard it from rumors — I owe my life to him.”
Because she admired Deadshot, she understood the resolve with which he must have committed to leading this raid.
Success probability: 110 percent. That was Deadshot — a man who calculated even the smallest contingencies.
“I don’t know Deadshot. So if you say that, then that’s how it must be. But even a Hunter who appears that perfect can die in a single day in this business.”
Chae Mujin offered no rebuttal, gave no instruction. He simply walked toward the dungeon in silence.
Kim Yeoul began to follow, then paused and looked back.
“Minji, come on.”
“Will my presence even help?”
Deadshot was Lee Minji’s role model. Honestly, he still was. If someone she admired was in danger enough to die, what could she possibly contribute?
At a sight so unlike the usually confident Lee Minji, Kim Yeoul found herself in turmoil.
She didn’t have Chae Mujin’s gift for words. She was afraid that if she spoke carelessly, she might make a mistake.
But for Minji’s sake, she opened her mouth.
“I don’t know what happened in those two weeks, but then is then, and now is now.”
“…”
“Just because egg rolls weren’t served for lunch today doesn’t mean they’ll never be served again. Someday, they’re bound to come back. That’s what I believe, and I’ll wait for it.”
“…Heh.”
“Was my example weird?”
“Idiot. If it were me, I’d just ask for egg rolls tomorrow. Why would you wait?”
“Ah…”
Kim Yeoul, embarrassed, looked away for a moment — and when she turned back, Lee Minji was gone.
“I’m going first. Take your time.”
Lee Minji had already entered the dungeon ahead of her.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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