SSS-Class Sui**de Hunter - Chapter 114

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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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Chapter 114. Holy War (3)
6
The wedding venue had become a cauldron of chaos.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
“By the gods, that is… what in the world…?”
The crimson sky of dusk. A fissure tore open across it.
The red sky shattered like glass—crack-crack-crackle. Through the fissures, blood dripped down. I enhanced my vision with my aura and looked up at the sky.
[An apostle of “The Ox That Reaps the Ruins” has manifested.]
There stood a girl wielding a giant hammer,
[An apostle of “The War-Horse of the Eternal Plains” has manifested.]
and a general astride a pegasus with outstretched wings,
[An apostle of “The Immortal Evangelist of Happiness” has manifested.]
and children holding hands, dancing in an uncanny rhythm.
“This… this cannot be…”
The wedding guests stood transfixed in horror, watching them. The mere sight of the red sky splitting open was already beyond belief. But when unidentifiable entities burst forth from the fissures themselves, their minds simply could not keep pace.
Only three among us.
“They’ve come.”
Rabiel, myself, and the Heresy Inquisitor were prepared for battle. Command fell to Rabiel.
“The Special Operations Unit is to assemble and protect the guests! Those belonging to the Divine Dragon Faction, gather in one place! My retainers, escort the guests to safety!”
My bride and the Duchy’s leading noble, Rabiel, cried out toward the panicked guests—above all, to the Duchy House’s retainers. People’s shoulders tensed.
Calling.
There was something inherently magical about the act of being named—a power that stirred confusion into clarity. All the more so when the one wielding that magic was the second-most noble aristocrat in the Empire.
“The Blue Lion Knights, form ranks!”
“Your Grace, what are those things…?”
“Enough questions. Gather your wits and watch the enemy’s movements carefully. You are the leaders who guide the Empire forward. If you dare show such shameful conduct before me, surrender your titles! Do you understand?”
“Y-yes, ma’am!”
Rabiel had reorganized the hall in moments. Even the military officers and nobles who ordinarily could not have been commanded by her now obeyed her words.
They felt it instinctively—though they could not fathom why the sunset sky had fractured or why these enigmatic apostles had appeared, they knew that only by following Rabiel Ibancia’s voice could they navigate this catastrophe.
“Can you discern their capabilities?”
After issuing her commands, Rabiel turned to the Heresy Inquisitor.
“Yes! Please give me a moment!”
The Heresy Inquisitor formed a hand sign. White light erupted from his palms. The beam shot skyward and in an instant swept over the apostles of the other realm.
“Ahem, analysis complete! The young woman with the giant hammer first is…!”
But the Heresy Inquisitor never finished. Whether his luminous beam served as a provocation, the hammer-wielding apostle leaped from the sky.
The apostle descended with golden hair streaming, bringing the giant hammer crashing down.
Boom!
The earth itself overturned. People screamed.
The hammer’s wind pressure alone spawned a whirlwind. The red and white flowers brought in from the southern Empire to decorate the wedding scattered in disarray. As a hundred blossoms swirled through the air, the apostle’s eyes burned crimson.
-Rabiel Ibancia!
Those eyes and that voice were not unfamiliar.
-I will give you nothing!
Astonishingly, the apostle bore an unmistakable resemblance to Geumsamae Young Lady.
“B-but… that’s Geumsamae…?”
“What is this form…?”
The guests murmured in confusion. Though not as widely known as my fiancée, Geumsamae was still a public figure. Many recognized her face. Several among them looked between the apostle and the Heresy Inquisitor in shock.
“Hmm.”
The Heresy Inquisitor muttered quietly, “This is not good.”
“That is likely the true form of the person known as Geumsamae Young Lady.”
“True form?”
“Simply put, it’s like having one’s soul mortgaged to a demon. In exchange for borrowing a Constellation’s power, one sacrifices everything—abilities, appearance, memories—all of it. Ah. It seems this young woman had a wish she was willing to abandon everything to achieve. Fascinating indeed…!”
The Heresy Inquisitor’s object of interest was now wielding the hammer with full force.
Whoooosh!
People were swept into the air by the hammer’s wind pressure. The knights who had trained in combat gritted their teeth and held their ground. Though their faces still registered confusion, they had grasped one crucial fact: the one who resembled Geumsamae was not their ally.
“Block it!”
“Protect the guests!”
“Respond as ordered!”
The clear emergence of an “enemy” unified the “allies” all the more. The Empire’s finest warriors, whom Rabiel had invited as guests and hired as guards for this occasion, drew their blades and charged forward. Their movements were refined. It was the coordinated assault of elites.
Geumsamae scoffed.
-Of course. After all, you too obey Rabiel Ibancia’s commands.
Dozens of warriors hurled themselves forward as one.
I’d destroy it all before I let her have it.
Dozens of blades shot forth simultaneously, each trailing Aura, but—clink!—they bounced off Geumsamae’s skin without leaving a mark.
“What…?”
Confused gasps rippled through the crowd. Geumsamae bore not a single wound. Some warriors, undeterred, swung their blades again, but it was futile. Every blade glanced harmlessly off her flesh—though the Auras did manage to scorch her garments.
—O you who reap the ruins!
Geumsamae brought the hammer down.
—Grant me your protection!
Crack! A warrior struck by the hammer burst like overripe fruit. Blood sprayed. Before the droplets had even fallen to the ground, Geumsamae swung again.
“Wait, just wait….”
Another head caved in under the hammer’s arc. Splurt! Splurt! The carnage continued relentlessly. Even as their comrades fell, the warriors fought desperately to find Geumsamae’s weak points, but no blade could so much as scratch her skin.
“Everyone, be careful!”
The Heresy Inquisitor cried out.
“This woman wears one of Mutiah’s blessings—the Flawless Body. She cannot be wounded. To be precise, the effect is this: all physical harm to her is mitigated by 99.9%!”
A body that could not be wounded.
“No meaningful damage can be dealt to her unless the strike is powerful enough to level a mountain itself! Fight with all your might!”
—Rabiel, you treacherous deceiver!
The warriors faltered. Among them stood the Old Nobleman—who had become my stepfather for today—the Imperial Chamberlain and commander of the Special Operations Unit.
The Old Nobleman, who held the Empire’s mightiest position, spoke in disbelief.
“Level a mountain? Who could possibly accomplish such a thing?”
“Indeed. A most difficult task. But if you do not… you all will die!”
The Heresy Inquisitor smiled beautifully, so purely that if someone had captured that smile alone in a photograph, they might have forgotten the people being hammered into fragments and scattered like flesh even as they looked. A madwoman. A psychopath.
“One like that is already a monster.”
Rabiel sighed.
“And now another comes.”
My husband was right. That apostle—whether Geumsamae’s soul or original body, I could not tell—was merely one among many foes we would face. Perhaps even the most manageable of them all.
—Pitiful ones.
A crimson sunset.
A General mounted upon a Pegasus descended slowly, the sky at his back.
—Blame that wretched girl. Blame the one who dwells in her original self. Blame that young man. It is through him that you have fallen beneath our hooves. Sorrow is your due.
The General gazed upon Geumsamae, then the Heresy Inquisitor, and finally upon me. The thick helmet obscured his expression.
—Warriors who follow the steed!
The General raised his banner high. A point of crimson sunset seeped into it.
—Awaken.
In that instant, translucent phantoms materialized around the General. Tens, hundreds, thousands. Perhaps ten thousand spirits in all.
—Guoooooo….
—Ghaaahhh….
Everyone lost their voice.
Even when Geumsamae swung her hammer, even as guests were torn to shreds like paper in that swing, they had kept their wits. They had resisted. They had fought back. But ten thousand strong pouring from the crimson sky…
…were on an entirely different scale.
“R-run….”
Someone whispered hoarsely.
“Run!”
Another took up the cry and shouted.
—Charge.
With a single word, the General silenced their whispers and their shouts.
—Guaaaahhhhh!
—Keeee, keeeeiiiik!
Countless phantoms poured forth. They wore ancient armor like soldiers of old. But the spearheads they thrust were not dulled by age. Thunk! A guest trying desperately to flee had their back pierced through.
“P-please, spare me!”
“Gyaaaaaaah!”
Slaughter.
The guests fell, bleeding. Their blood spilled, and white flowers turned crimson. What was meant to be the Empire’s most magnificent wedding venue had become its most horrific hell.
“…Heresy Inquisitor.”
I opened my mouth. When I spoke, my voice was bitterly cold.
“What is that apostle’s ability?”
“I have just completed my analysis. Hmm. One of Mahos’s blessings is active—the Holy Battlefield.”
The Heresy Inquisitor spoke while forming hand signs. Just as I could see status windows only I could perceive, the Inquisitor seemed to have access to text visible only to them.
“The Holy Battlefield is an area effect. It influences the entire region. And its power is formidable indeed: it locks the summoned ones in their peak condition from life! Each of those phantoms is an elite among elites—the souls of warriors who followed Mahos!”
“…We are outmatched.”
Rabiel set down her fan.
“The numbers are too disparate. Mutia’s Apostle possesses an ability that never falters in one-on-one combat, and Mahos’s Apostle holds overwhelming advantage in group warfare. We’re caught between a rock and a hard place.”
—Leu.
And then.
—Leu, Leu, La. La.
The final Apostle began to move.
—La.
—Leu-Leu, La. La-La. Leu.
—Leu-Leu-Leu. La-La. La. La.
The Apostles, shaped like children, began to sing. Their voices descended from the heavens and reverberated across the earth. Like dancers performing a circle dance, the little ones spun in formation, and as their movements quickened, the song grew fiercer.
—La.
—Leu, La. La-La.
Thud.
The guests who had been fleeing from the phantoms suddenly collapsed. It wasn’t just one or two. Thud, thud. Like puppets with their strings cut, people crumpled where they stood, consciousness stripped away.
“Oh.”
The Heresy Inquisitor swiftly wove a hand sign. Light spilled from his palms, wrapping around Rabiel and me.
“Ah, this is most troubling! I see—a form of mental attack. Exposure to that song forces one into their most cherished memory. Anyone lacking exceptional mental fortitude cannot resist it!”
“…….”
The hammer-wielder’s Apostle, immune to physical blows.
The cavalry commander’s Apostle, specialized in group warfare.
The happiness-bearer’s Apostle, ravaging the mind.
“…Truly. Wickedly varied by type.”
“Indeed! If we faced only an Apostle specialized in single combat, we could manage. Even forced into group warfare, there are countermeasures. If mental attacks were the sole threat, we could field a small elite force of iron will. But conducting three simultaneous battles?” He smiled faintly. “Exceedingly difficult!”
The Heresy Inquisitor laughed softly.
“The Four Kings.”
“Yes.”
“May I trust that the Four Kings shall prevail?”
The wedding venue was already sinking into twilight.
From the heavens, the song rang without cease. On the earth, the dead slaughtered the living.
And then.
Crack!
The head of the Special Operations Unit commander, who had resisted to the end, was crushed.
Geumsamae, the hammer-wielder’s Apostle, stood over the Old Nobleman’s trampled skull and glared at us with fierce intensity.
—Rabiel Ivancia!
“…….”
Rabiel wore a black dress. At first glance, it appeared not a wedding gown but mourning attire. Yet this was according to Imperial Law.
After marriage, whoever shall rule the house wears black; whoever shall not wears white. Thus Rabiel wore her black dress, and I wore my white tuxedo.
“Kim Gongja.”
Rabiel turned to look at me.
“I should have said this sooner.”
“Yes.”
“That tuxedo suits you beautifully.”
“…….”
I smiled. The Constellation Apostles had invaded. All the guests had been slaughtered. And yet in this moment, Rabiel praised my wedding attire. That meant she refused to accept this as our ‘ending’—as the final word.
That was right.
We would never abandon our wedding.
“Rabiel is the most beautiful in all the universe.”
I took my bride’s hand. The soft sensation of lace gloves enveloped my palm.
Thump!
Heavy footfalls echoed. Geumsamae was charging toward us. Soon the hammer would crash down upon us. I felt the earth trembling and spoke.
“We made a promise between ourselves—that I would never end my life without Rabiel’s consent. That even if the moment of death arrived, I would accept it only after exhausting every possibility.”
“True.”
“Will you grant me permission to die now?”
Rabiel smiled.
“I grant it.”
A single word. What rendered me invincible was merely one word from the person I loved.
—Rabiel Ivancia!
The moment Geumsamae swung her hammer, I wrapped myself around Rabiel.
To die a fraction of a second before her.
Rabiel understood my intent and surrendered willingly to my embrace. The two of us locked our fingers together. Then the giant hammer descended upon me.
[You have died.]
The same death as always.
[Recreating the trauma of the enemy who killed you.]
The same scene as always.
[Regression to twenty-four hours prior.]
But.
This regression was not the same as always.
“Gongja.”
When I opened my eyes, Rabiel was there, holding my hand. The moment our gazes met, we understood. There was no need to explain what we had endured. We grasped the truth immediately: we were sharing the same moment in time.
As we had been before death took us, so too did we remain, hand in hand, returned to life.
She and I were no longer solitary regressions, each bearing our burden alone.
“We devise our strategy.”
With two of us, we were invincible.
SSS-rank: The Hunter Who Must Die to Live (Serial Publication)
Author | Shin No-ah
Publisher | Kim Ju-hyung
Published by | J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing | Han Jae-hyuk
Address | 204, 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Daelung Post Tower 1st)
Email | [email protected]
Website | www.jayplemedia.com
© Shin No-ah 2019
This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder and may not be reproduced in any form or by any means without the permission of the publisher and author.
Violation of this may result in civil and criminal legal liability.

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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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