SSS-Class Sui**de Hunter - Chapter 121
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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 121. Hero (3)
My companions fell silent for a long time after hearing my request. Perhaps they were turning over the half-lives they’d lived, days stained with purges.
“…You’re truly asking us to walk a difficult path.”
After a long pause, the Black Dragon Lord slowly opened her lips.
Her voice carried something like a sigh.
“People can become competent through effort. Through effort, they can become moral people. Through effort, they can become people of power. But competent, moral people in power—that’s nearly impossible. Simply because it’s too difficult. …It’s a difficult path.”
“Someone once told me that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
I extended my hand toward the guild masters.
“Then the road to heaven must be covered with countless acts of malice.”
Countless people will envy us. Many will stir up chaos for amusement. People will come who hunger for power, setting residents against each other and fomenting sedition. Such people exist.
Such people exist.
Many of them.
Malice is poisonous precisely because it is ordinary.
“But that is no reason for us to surrender. To those who abandoned the outside world and fled here, let us show a slightly better one.”
I extended my hand. Not the gesture of a handshake between two people.
A pose for several people to join their hands together at once.
As if teammates in a sport cry out encouragement before a match, I quietly stretched my right hand toward the guild masters.
“…….”
“Ah.”
While the Black Dragon Lord hesitated, the Heresy Inquisitor was the first to place his hand. Gently. His palm overlapped with the back of my hand.
“It makes no difference to me! The moral legitimacy of a regime carries powerful appeal. And the Four Kings are the only person who can gild us with that morality. It would be a shame to miss such an opportunity!”
“Ahem.”
Viper placed her hand.
“Now I’m the heir of the righteous path, aren’t I. That old man keeps nagging me, saying I should always recall the spirit of the righteous path and this and that. Well, I’ll participate thinking of it as showing some filial piety to a hidden master.”
“Mm.”
The Holy Paladin placed his hand.
“I’ve been activating my skill since before the conversation began.”
Lie Detection.
“Not a single person here has spoken falsehood. Above all, Kim Gongja—I know that in The Chronicles of Cheonjma and The Story of Sormuwin Academy, you ran forward with nothing but an upright heart.”
“…….”
“I believe in your sincere attitude, I believe in your genuine love, and above all, I believe in who you are. All revolutions fail. Then let at least our revolution be remembered as the most beautiful failure. I dedicate my life and soul to that.”
“Mm.”
The Count placed his hand.
“I can’t follow the talk of romantics. That’s fine. I simply follow the tide. I only pray that the stocks I’ve bet everything on don’t collapse. Please do your best, gentlemen.”
“…….”
At last.
The Black Dragon Lord hesitated before placing her hand.
“…I cannot promise you much. I cannot guarantee your success. I won’t abandon the methods I’ve used until now. But… yes.”
Her black eyes swept over us.
“If we fail. If a time comes when someone among us must surely die… I will be the first. That much, at least, I promise.”
“Then I’ll make a promise too.”
I smiled.
“I won’t let anyone here die. Wherever, whenever.”
“You’re issuing worthless checks right and left…….”
The Black Dragon Lord laughed bitterly. But she did not withdraw her hand.
We six.
All our hands came together.
“Excellent!”
The Bookworm Librarian laughed, drifting through the void.
“The Four Kings, the Black Dragon Lord, the Heresy Inquisitor, the Count, Viper, and the Holy Paladin. I hereby designate these six as cast members of Me and Our Sacrificial Lamb! When you open your eyes, you will find yourselves in a world where the Apocalypse is in the midst of a serial discontinuation. Be warned. This Apocalypse is quite different from any you have faced before!”
The Bookworm Librarian opened the book. A flash—light poured from the Apocalypse’s pages and fell upon our clasped hands.
“The difficulty of this Apocalypse is A-rank!”
Light enveloped us.
“Unlike last time, I cannot bestow much blessing upon you. This Apocalypse has a Constellation alive in it. Alive and reigning. You will become a kind of invasion force, breaking through into the Apocalypse. Naturally, the Constellation will regard you as enemies.”
The Bookworm Librarian smiled faintly.
“Four Kings, the Constellation will surely view you as an enemy of the highest order!”
‘An enemy?’
Before I could even understand what those words meant, our vision was completely engulfed in light. In truth, there was no need to strain to understand the Bookworm Librarian’s words.
The world turned white, and before we could even open our eyes to greet this new world…….
[The Immortal Happiness Evangelist detects an intrusion.]
A sharp voice cut through our minds.
Like an urgent siren wailing, the voice surged forth in waves.
[The Immortal Happiness Evangelist warns you.]
[The Immortal Happiness Evangelist desires to exterminate the intruders.]
[The Immortal Happiness Evangelist declares war upon you!]
Myself and our scapegoat.
[The Immortal Happiness Evangelist despises ‘you’.]
This fairy tale was a world ruled by a Constellation that had invaded Raviel’s World.
3
In tales of heroes and Demon Kings, the Demon King always grows careless.
The Demon King never reveals his full strength from the start. First, he dispatches weak minions to face the hero. The hero, feeble at the story’s beginning, grows stronger with each battle against increasingly formidable enemies.
Until at last he stands ready to face the Demon King himself.
-I have been waiting for you.
This tale’s Constellation was different.
-You who dare oppose my master!
The Constellation bared its fangs at us from the very start.
The first among our party to sense the danger was none other than my Holy Sword.
[Sparkle detects the presence of a sister blade!]
The hilt trembled at my waist with a low hum. As if to sound an alarm. Before my vision had even fully cleared, Sparkle cried out urgently.
[Confirmed: the nature of the ‘Immortal Happiness Evangelist’ matches the nature of the ‘Sacrifice Sword’!]
[The Immortal Happiness Evangelist is the fourth sister blade left behind by Repenta Aigim — ‘Sacrifice’!]
The moment Sparkle’s warning ended, my vision opened fully.
Blue sky above.
Our party was plummeting through the air. When we were first summoned into this world, we had hung aloft for a moment, so we hadn’t noticed. But our bodies were seized by gravity in an instant.
Ahhhhh!
Wind lashing at my forehead. Blood coursing down my scalp. We were falling headlong.
“Hnn!”
The Heresy Inquisitor grabbed my forearm. As the wind scattered the rest of the party, he held firm to me, moving ahead of all of them.
With nimble skill, the Heresy Inquisitor locked both his legs around my waist. Then he wove a hand seal.
“Four Kings, seize my right foot! Do not let go under any circumstances! Sacred Technique, Divine Transmission!”
I clamped my grip on the Heresy Inquisitor’s right foot as instructed. In the next moment, he teleported to the Black Dragon Lord’s side.
“Black Dragon Lord!”
“Right! Give me your leg!”
The Black Dragon Lord caught the Heresy Inquisitor’s left foot as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “Ahahah,” her laughter mixed into the rushing wind. As I heard that sound, I felt the crushing weight of gravity pressing down upon us grow suddenly lighter.
“Sacred Technique, Divine Transmission!”
The Heresy Inquisitor gathered the Count, the Holy Paladin, and the Viper in turn. We dangled from him like piglets clinging to a sow. The Viper found the situation utterly mortifying and let out a shriek.
“Hey! Why am I last?!”
“Because you are the most expendable among us! Death by Poison! We would suffer no significant loss to our fighting strength by losing you!”
“You damnable fanatic!”
With all five of us clinging to him at once, the Heresy Inquisitor couldn’t even weave a hand seal. There was no space left. No time left either. The ground was drawing ever closer with each passing second.
“Well done, little one!”
Yet the moment we had all gathered, the Black Dragon Lord raised her voice and shouted.
“Everyone agree to my skill! Quickly! Quickly!”
“Yes!” “I consent!” “Understood!” “I agree.” “Damn, I’m in!”
“Teleportation!”
All six of us moved at once. Instant Teleportation. Unlike the Heresy Inquisitor who required hand seals, the Black Dragon Lord’s ability triggered merely through physical contact. The very technique that had saved us when facing the Demon King of Autumn Rain.
And so we landed safely upon the ground.
-I will not let you escape!
But the ground itself was far from safe.
-Sing now, my Apostles!
Tens of thousands, or perhaps hundreds of thousands. Maybe millions.
Stretching beyond the horizon stood beings in the forms of children. Each one shared the exact same nature as the Apostles that had invaded Raviel’s World. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of small children surrounded us in layer upon layer.
-La.
And they began to sing.
-La, la.
-Loo. La-la.
-La.
A million voices in unison wove a melody. Hundreds of thousands of low notes layered with hundreds of thousands of high notes, hundreds of thousands of whistles all intertwining. The children danced in circles with evident joy. With each step they took, the ground trembled gently with a deep rumble. Boom. Thud. Boom.
-La.
This was the Apocalypse measured at difficulty level A-rank.
A world that stands against us, never dropping its guard, bent on annihilating us with full force from the start.
“Ugh!”
The party members scrambled to draw up their Auras. But that alone wasn’t enough. Less than a minute after being transported to the Apocalypse, we came under total assault. A wave of blissful dreams crashed over us with savage force—something no individual Aura could withstand.
“Count!”
The Heresy Inquisitor cried out.
“Give us money!”
“Damn it, I feel like my entire account’s about to crack……!”
“Yes! Better than your skull cracking!”
“Fifteen percent interest! Compound!”
“I won’t accept anything less than profit!”
“What nonsense…….”
“Nisha!”
The Holy Paladin swore. At first I had no idea what “Nisha” meant. But watching the Holy Paladin’s gaze fix on the Count, I understood—Nisha was the Count’s true name.
“Shut up and pull out your wallet! I’m going to kill you!”
“Argh. Damn it! Withdraw, infinite!”
The Count drew a Purse from her breast. A Purse marked with a snail pattern. She loosened the golden cord drawn tight around its mouth. With a soft cascading sound, countless Gold Coins poured across the floor.
“User change! Heresy Inquisitor!”
“Ahaha, thank you!”
The Heresy Inquisitor swiftly wove hand seals.
“Sacred Technique, Divine Offering!”
Light erupted from his palms. White radiance enveloped the heap of Gold Coins, which turned to dust and vanished. In their place, the Aura wrapping around us strengthened beyond all reason.
“Sacred Miracle, Aura Enhancement and Mental Attack Immunity! Enhanced targets: Count, Heresy Inquisitor, Four Kings, Black Dragon Lord, Holy Paladin, Viper. Duration of enhancement: indefinite. Gold shall seize hold of our hands. Ritual complete!”
“Hiiiieeeeeaaah! Hhyak! My money!”
The Count shrieked. Gold Coins streamed ceaselessly from the Purse, transforming into light the instant they fell, vanishing without trace. So startled was she that cat ears suddenly sprang from atop her head.
“My money! Nyaa! Blood-money! More precious than blood itself!”
“Shall I donate blood for you?”
“No need! If I go bankrupt, the Tower goes bankrupt that same day! Understand? If you don’t want to eat dog meat come morning, get on with the conquest already!”
Falling from the sky. A million songs. We managed to slip free from the relentless crises raining down upon us.
Only then could we turn our attention to the primary attacker of our party.
-Tch. Do you possess the strength to devour ideals, pity, and prayers alike? You merely hid your presence and attempted ambush……!
The Constellation hung suspended in mid-air.
Like the Origin Sword, its entire body burned red. But darker than the Origin Sword—a small child wrapped in crimson blood, trembling in the void.
-Yet it matters not! Leader of traitors! My loyalty to Repenta Aigim shall never crumble. I will erase you and yours, removing all obstruction from the Tyrannical Path my master walks!
Indeed.
I grasped the sword’s hilt and drew the Holy Sword.
‘Raviel became a Constellation by piercing her heart with a fragment of the Goddess of Protection.’
Even if merely a fragment, it possessed the latent power to be reborn as a Constellation.
Then it followed that a fragment itself could become a new Constellation.
The Sacrifice Sword had evolved from a fragment of the Goddess of Protection into the Immortal Happiness Evangelist.
-Apostles! Destroy them!
And the Sacrifice Sword remained loyal to Repenta Aigim.
Unlike the other sisters who were helplessly absorbed by me, the Sacrifice Sword had gathered all its strength. It attacked as though it had foreseen my arrival.
This was the full account of the crisis unfolding before us.
…….
I gripped the Holy Sword and fixed my gaze ahead.
From all directions, literally hundreds of thousands of enemy troops were advancing.
The Apostles sang instead of shouting, danced instead of thrusting spears. Yet it was more menacing than any battle cry, more lethal than any blade.
Our forces: six souls.
Enemy forces: countless.
“Count.”
“What?”
“Your wallet still has plenty left, doesn’t it?”
This was my moment to shine.
“What?”
“On this floor, spend generously.”
The instant the Count blinked, I spoke quietly.
“Hundred Ghosts Resurrection.”
SSS-Rank Hunter Who Must Die to Live (Serial Publication)
Author │ Shin Noah
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Publisher │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok
Address │ 204 Daelung Post Tower 1st, 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
© Shin Noah 2019
※This work has been published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder. The content may not be used in any form or by any means without the permission of the company and the author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil 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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