S-Classes That I Raised to Devour - Chapter 97

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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 97. The Madman of This Dimension Is Me (5)
The moment the King of Oblivion fully revealed his grotesque presence, Rabbit let out a scream and clutched her head in her hands.
Sparks flew from the Helmet that had been blocking the Authority of Oblivion, and a sound like tearing metal erupted near her ears.
But Chae Mujin had no capacity to help her. Ever since his Regression, the System Window—which had never once responded—began flashing frantically in crimson, drowning his vision in a sea of red warnings.
[System: Intervention of Causality detected.]
[Akashic Record cannot be nullified as it is under the ownership of Censorship.]
[Nullification attempt detected. Blocking.]
[Nullification attempt detected. Blocking. Nullification attempt detected. Blocking. Nullification attempt detected. Blocking…….]
The endless collision between the immense force trying to invade and the System trying to defend ravaged Chae Mujin’s brain. In turn, Mujin himself rolled across the ground, clutching his head.
The King of Oblivion had not launched a physical attack. The mere act of witnessing that Cosmic Horror-like entity with one’s own eyes had driven a living being’s reason to the very brink of collapse.
Then, the Silver-haired Man stepped squarely in front of Chae Mujin and Rabbit.
“Gasp, gasp…….”
A trivially simple act—merely blocking their view.
Yet in that instant, the System Window’s warning that had been tearing through Mujin’s mind fell silent as if it had never been.
Rabbit too ceased her dreadful convulsions, but the air surrounding her had become unmistakably different from before.
“I remember now…. Why I’m here.”
A voice that had always been as measured and rigid as a soldier standing at attention.
But now, streaming from beneath the Helmet, it trembled finely with bitter sorrow and suppressed rage.
“My commanding officer betrayed me. He lied and said this mission was safe. It was a suicide mission, but I trusted him even though I was afraid… Haha.”
“Rabbit.”
Chae Mujin called out, but her unfocused gaze only wandered through empty space.
“You’re not like my commanding officer. He was capable, like you, but he was never someone who would sacrifice himself for me.”
“Are you alright?”
“I’m not alright. I wanted to forget. I was betrayed by the country I was loyal to, by the commander I followed like a father. So I deliberately took off my Helmet and wandered this land. To erase that horrible memory, to become a simpleton instead! I was happy because of it… Why! Why does it come back to me now!”
Rabbit, collapsed on the ground, irritably tore off her Helmet and hurled it away.
Her bare face revealed. Beneath the rough military gear was a girl barely out of her adolescence, weeping uncontrollably.
“King of Oblivion. Please take my memories back. I would rather become a simpleton.”
A frail yet desperate voice echoed through the space. Perhaps the King of Oblivion would grant her wish.
In that moment, viscous tears began dripping from the grotesquely tangled giant eye of the King of Oblivion, forming a small pool at the girl’s feet.
Mujin understood instinctively.
Those tears were none other than the “Waters of Lethe” that Rabbit had been searching for so desperately.
“Ah, thank you so much. Thank you so much…….”
“Wait! No!”
Chae Mujin reached out hurriedly to stop her, but the girl, seized by desperation, was one step faster.
Rabbit clutched the water from the pool and swallowed it in a single gulp.
Thump.
The girl collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
Mujin rushed to her, first placing the discarded Helmet back on her head, then shaking her body—but the girl remained motionless.
‘Thank God she’s not dead.’
Her pulse was irregular, fluttering wildly, but her breathing was still there. If there was breath, there was hope of revival.
‘There’s still a little of the Waters of Lethe left.’
Instinct guided him. From his Shadow Bag, he withdrew an empty Glass Bottle and swept up every last drop of the Waters of Lethe pooled on the ground into it.
Then he staggered to his feet with great effort.
But his gaze did not turn toward the King of Oblivion. His eyes remained fixed solely on the broad shoulders of the Silver-haired Man before him.
The Silver-haired Man, who had been watching this entire commotion with what seemed like amusement, opened his mouth.
“King of Oblivion. I originally came looking for you to crush you, you know? But my mind’s changed.”
The man flicked his thumb backward, gesturing toward Chae Mujin.
“Send Chae Mujin back to his original world. Then I’ll quietly leave this land.”
“One moment, please.”
“What?”
“Since we’re at it, could you also send Rabbit along with him?”
“What? You, you should be grateful I’m saving just one of you, and now you’re asking me to save that lump of dead weight who’s lost her memory?”
The Silver-haired Man scowled.
But Chae Mujin did not back down.
“It’s sympathy.”
“What?”
“I too was betrayed by the person I trusted most and died. But through Regression, I was given a second chance. I wish the same opportunity would be granted to this girl. A chance to take cruel vengeance on the one who trampled on her.”
“Hey, King of Oblivion. He says that. What do you think?”
The King of Oblivion, despite having enormous facial features, did not answer aloud. Yet the Silver-haired Man seemed to have received some clear intention from him.
“He says absolutely not. Just give up.”
“Then I’ll stay here as well.”
“…What, you bastard?”
“You said earlier that Destiny is something that can be twisted and changed as much as one wishes. Since you’re going to wreck Destiny anyway, why not do one more thing spectacular? Change it to save this girl’s life as well.”
“Destiny protecting you doesn’t mean it will definitely keep you safe.”
“Yes. As you say, Destiny may not protect me. So…….”
Taking a deep breath, Chae Mujin met the Silver-haired Man’s gaze directly and spoke.
“I don’t need Destiny. Instead, I’ll trust you, Transcendent. Please keep me safe.”
* * *
A brief silence fell. Then the Silver-haired Man began laughing like a madman.
“Hahaha! Have I ever seen such shameless audacity! Not Destiny, but asking me to protect you? Are you saying I’m stronger than Destiny?”
“There’s a saying that a visible fist is more frightening than an invisible law.”
“That’s a metaphor I like. Yes, you’re a truly entertaining fellow.”
The man’s laughter subsided, and he turned back to the King of Oblivion, arrogantly shrugging his shoulders.
“Hey, King of Oblivion. Send both of them back.”
To Mujin’s ears, the sound of the King of Oblivion’s response was inaudible. But from the terse replies of the Transcendent alone, he could grasp the general situation.
“Absolutely impossible, you say? Where is ‘absolute’ in this world? Or do you want to fight me? Whoever wins gets their way.”
“You’ll kill those two humans, you say? You’ll kill two humans and die yourself—that’s what you call extortion?”
“Why do you need time to think? It’s simple: yes or no. Choose right now.”
The Transcendent was pushing the King of Oblivion toward the edge of a cliff.
Mujin found the entire spectacle grotesquely unreal.
The Silver-haired Man appeared to be a perfectly human form, while the King of Oblivion was unmistakably a divine entity that embodied an entire vast dimension.
Yet a mere human was browbeating this colossal god like a common street thug, and the bizarre dissonance made breathing catch in his throat.
And astoundingly, the god eventually submitted to the human’s coercion.
“Chae Mujin. The King of Oblivion says he’ll send you both back. But a sacrifice is necessary, he says. Even I can’t help with that.”
“A sacrifice, you say?”
“Ask him directly.”
“…Very well.”
Mujin turned away from the Silver-haired Transcendent to face the King of Oblivion directly. Thanks to the Transcendent’s protection, there was no searing pain threatening to split his mind open as before, but he still lacked the nerve to look straight at this Cosmic Horror-like entity.
Soon the King of Oblivion drove a grotesque thought directly into Mujin’s mind.
[Give me the Akashic Record you possess and go.]
When told a sacrifice was needed, he thought it would be his soul. But no. Astoundingly, he wanted a skill.
[Your Akashic Record, which dares scorn the Blessing of Oblivion, is an insult to me.]
“Would nothing else suffice?”
[Everything else about you, a mere insect, holds no value.]
An merciless verdict that permitted no negotiation.
Chae Mujin bit his lip and wrestled with the conflict, but truly there was only one choice.
‘The Akashic Record has protected me until now and kept me alive in this place. But if it’s gone, it doesn’t mean my entire future in this second life will disappear.’
Yet there was one thing he needed to clarify.
“If I offer a sacrifice, does that mean I’ll only forget what happened in this Land of Oblivion? My other memories…….”
[Only the memories and knowledge from this land will be erased.]
Then there was nothing for it but to let go of regret. It was a painful loss, but a skill meant nothing if one’s life wasn’t preserved.
As he was about to swallow his aching heart and give a reluctant acceptance.
“Hey, I can’t allow that.”
The Silver-haired Transcendent, who had been watching with his hands clasped behind his back, interjected in an irreverent tone.
“If that bastard wipes clean his memory of this place, he’ll forget my existence too. Then I’d lose my excuse to go play on Earth.”
“I’m sorry?”
“What are you surprised about? I’m not saving you for free. Give and take. You don’t have that phrase on Earth?”
“We do, but you’re only now mentioning going to Earth.”
“Is that a problem? Me going to Earth?”
“That’s… I’m not sure.”
“It’s fine. I’m a gentleman, after all. Just a bit playful, that’s all.”
The Transcendent, seeing Mujin’s bewilderment, patted his shoulders reassuringly and turned his gaze back toward the King of Oblivion.
“King of Oblivion. I acknowledge that a sacrifice is necessarily required. So I’ll provide an alternative sacrifice.”
[If not the Akashic Record, there is no substitute in all the world that could… huh?]
The King of Oblivion’s eyes began to tremble. He spoke as if in disbelief.
[…Do you truly mean to hand this over to me?]
“Yes. I’ll give it freely.”
[All this for the sake of one lowly human?]
“Not one human. Two, I said.”
[I have long heard rumors that you are mad, but I never knew you were a lunatic so far removed from reason. Very well. I shall gladly accept this as your toll.]
Chae Mujin was flabbergasted. What on earth had the Silver-haired Man given, that even the stubborn King of Oblivion accepted so readily?
“What exactly… did you give?”
“Carry the burden your whole life. I gave up something precious to save you.”
…….
In Chae Mujin’s life, save for his family, there had never been anyone—not a soul—who would bear such a titanic sacrifice without asking for anything in return.
Yet here it was: a mysterious otherworldly Transcendent he’d met barely an hour ago.
In the face of this overwhelming salvation, Mujin found himself unable to comprehend what expression to wear, what words could express his gratitude.
Thump.
A heavy palm settled atop Mujin’s head as he stood rigidly stunned.
The Silver-haired Man mussed his hair roughly, then whispered in a low, solemn voice.
“Only those who trust their own path can one day shine brilliantly.”
Splash!
The solid ground suddenly became an ocean. Only Chae Mujin and Rabbit sank.
Mujin reached out desperately toward the receding silhouette of the Silver-haired Man above the water’s surface, but both his body and consciousness began sinking endlessly into the deep abyss.
* * *
Late at night on Muui Island.
A taxi came to a stop in front of the entrance to the Daesu Dungeon.
The one who stepped out was a young mage: Kim Yeoul.
A robe crimson on the outside and gleaming silver within, unkempt shaggy hair, and oversized glasses.
Kim Yeoul exhaled a long, trembling breath with a hardened face.
‘Even if I’m alone, I’ll follow after my manager.’
Day three of Chae Mujin’s disappearance.
By now, everyone had accepted it as fact. Chae Mujin’s death.
Kim Yeoul knew it in her mind, but her heart refused. She could not let Chae Mujin die like this.
Even if attempting a Deep Dive through the same Dungeon offered no guarantee of arriving where he was, such probabilities mattered little to Yeoul.
‘I don’t want to give up without even trying.’
This reckless resolve she kept in strict secrecy from the company, from her first-generation cohort Lee Minji and Choi Gang-im, even from her twin, Kim Gyeoul.
‘They’d definitely try to stop me or insist on coming along.’
Charging into danger was something she alone could do.
Besides, she possessed an uncertain but formidable trump card: Yaksha. Even if she couldn’t control it, at a pinch she might unleash it to break through somehow. After all, it had matched that mighty Kraken.
Having steeled herself with such resolve, she was about to turn toward the Daesu entrance when.
Whoosh.
A taxi came speeding from the distance, its headlights flashing, and came to a rough stop at the very spot where Yeoul had just exited.
As the back door swung open, who should tumble out but Lee Minji and Choi Gang-im.
Caught off guard by her unexpected cohort’s arrival, Yeoul went pale and stammered far worse than usual.
“W-w-what?”
“You’ve been wearing a grim expression since morning. How could we not notice? It shows right away.”
Choi Gang-im nodded in agreement.
“Don’t try to play the hero alone, idiot.”
“No, no! It’s better if I go alone. You know how it is. There’s… another me inside.”
Yeoul had yet to fully clarify what the Yaksha inside her was. She regarded it as a kind of sin and a time bomb, something she could not control.
“What’s wrong with that? Isn’t that a good thing?”
“It’s dangerous. Yaksha will kill you all too.”
“Yaksha, huh? That sounds cool.”
“Go back, go back home! I don’t want you all to die too.”
“That’s funny. I’m not planning to die.”
Bang!
Minji let out a cold laugh and manifested a colossal Hammer from thin air, slamming it down menacingly.
“Want to test here whether I’m weak or not?”
Just as the atmosphere seemed to twist into a confrontation.
“You brats. It’s the middle of the night—where are you wandering off to in such a hurry?”
A chilling voice accompanied by billowing shadow as Brian emerged from the darkness like a phantom.
Minji reflexively swung her Hammer toward him.
“If you’ve come to stop us, we won’t go easy like last time.”
“That’s what it looks like. So I’m planning to come along.”
……?
“My contract with Chae Mujin was to protect you lot. I need to fulfill it. A contract is sacred, after all.”
“Y-you’re saying you’ll enter the Deep Dive with us?”
“Why, am I unqualified?”
“That’s not it…….”
“It’s already late, but if it’s Chae Mujin, he’s alive. You believe that too, don’t you?”
At his words, the three first-generation members nodded vigorously in perfect unison.
“So do I. Now let’s go in.”
And so the four of them joined hands with grim faces, about to step solemnly toward the shimmering entrance to the Daesu Dungeon when.
Whoosh.
Suddenly the entrance to the Daesu Dungeon vanished right before their eyes.
Smack!
Lee Minji, who had been showboating at the front, slammed her forehead hard into solid stone instead of the portal and crumpled to the ground.
Minji, clutching her swollen forehead, sat bewildered, while the remaining three stood with their eyes wide, stunned at the bizarre phenomenon before them.
“Ahem, you guys?”
A voice that absolutely should not exist in this world—brazenly familiar and shameless—echoed from behind them.

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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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