SSS-Class Sui**de Hunter - Chapter 122
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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 122. Utopia (1)
1
My favorite skill. The precise mechanics of Hundred Ghost Resurrection work like this.
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[Hundred Ghost Resurrection]
Rank: SSS
Effect: Summons those you have directly killed. The deceased do not inherit their antemortem abilities. However, should you wish it, the deceased may inherit their antemortem memories and appearance. Should you wish otherwise, they are summoned merely as monsters.
※Limited to one summoning per week.
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There is one crucial point here.
That part where “should I wish it, the deceased inherit their antemortem memories and appearance.”
Which means, should I wish otherwise, they are summoned only as monsters stripped of both memory and form.
Precisely like now.
-Skreeeeeeee!
My shadow spread outward. From the darkness pooled like a floor, white bones rose skyward. Five thousand skeletons. I hadn’t seen them in ages, and yet there was no warmth in my chest at their return—they were nothing but monuments to my deaths, after all.
‘But I need them now.’
Apostles following the Eternal Joy Apostle converged upon us, singing in unison.
-Ra. Lura, lu.
-Lara.
The melody they sang was one that forcibly drowns listeners in memories of happiness—an attack even martial masters who had cultivated spiritual discipline would struggle to resist. Members of the Demonic Sect had collapsed like flies in the wedding hall, after all.
But.
-Skraoooooooo!
The skeletons roared without a care, perfectly intact.
Merely five thousand skeletons charged forward. They threw themselves savagely at tens of millions strong—not because the skeletons were uniquely brave, nor because they possessed particular resistance to mental attack.
-Ah, indeed.
Backhoe Spirit spoke from beside me.
-Those creatures possess no ‘memory’ whatsoever, so mental attacks don’t touch them.
That was true.
The song sung by the Eternal Joy Apostle’s followers was certainly formidable. Yet this formidability could only affect humans who possessed memories; to summoned creatures bearing no memory at all, it was nothing but ordinary song.
-Ra…….
-Screee! Screee!
And ordinary song held no destructive power whatsoever.
The skeletons slaughtered the apostles. They drove short daggers downward, tore with fangs, raked with bone claws. With each blow, the apostles were hurled aside. In terms of physical offense, the apostles were utterly helpless.
-Tsk.
The Constellation watching the battle from midair bit his lip. Melody poured in from all directions, yet each word the Constellation uttered fell clearly into my ears—likely Transmission of Sound ringing directly in my mind.
-Pointless resistance! We will crush you beneath sheer numbers alone!
I granted him the acknowledgment.
“True enough. You’ve got a point.”
No matter how lacking in physical might, a hundred thousand is a hundred thousand, a million is a million. Mere numbers wield formidable violence in themselves. That was why the Eternal Joy Apostle had struck so confidently.
“But you’ve already shown me how to break it.”
-What?
Perhaps he read my lips from a distance. The Constellation reacted.
“Numbers are secondary. Every army has its weakness. The moment it was revealed that you neither know pain nor spread anything but happiness…….”
The skeletons were being overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Yet they had not been suppressed—not yet. For just a few moments more, they would hold for at least one to two minutes.
And we required only those precious moments.
“The method to break you is already laid bare.”
I gripped the Holy Sword tightly.
“Black Dragon Lord.”
“Speak louder! I can’t hear you over the singing!”
“Please scatter the mirrors.”
I amplified my voice with Aura. The Black Dragon Lord moved to my side at once. Upon hearing my request, she had already deployed six mirrors about us.
“Done. But what are you planning with the mirrors?”
“Do you remember when we fought the Autumn Rain Demon King? How whenever he fired beams, you reflected them through the mirrors multiple times to weaken them? And strengthened our own attacks in turn? We’re deploying the exact same tactic now.”
The Black Dragon Lord understood my intention.
“You mean to fire your Aura like a beam? It could work, but do you have confidence you can output power on the scale of the Autumn Rain Demon King? Unless it’s formidable enough, my mirrors won’t be of use no matter how many times I reflect it.”
“Don’t worry about output. Just concentrate on spreading the reflection as widely as possible.”
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but… very well. Give it a try.”
The mirrors launched into the air. East, west, south, north. As light caught one mirror, it bounced to the others in sequence, easily blanketing the entire wasteland.
‘This is enough.’
I nodded. Then I poured Aura into the hilt. Whoooosh! Crimson Aura blazed along the blade like liquid fire.
‘Though I cannot bulldoze through with raw strength like Agui, nor can I perceive the way and divide heaven and earth like my master.’
If these apostles are my enemies.
If these companions are my allies.
Then I can wield an invincible divine power.
『If one can only wield a blade through starvation, what then?』
Because this is the nature of the martial art I inherited.
『I can sever in a single strike one who has never known hunger.』
『And in this way, half of the righteous martial artists shall fall in an instant.』
Only an apostle who knows nothing but ‘happiness’ can never be my rival.
I swung my blade toward the mirror that Black Dragon Lord had lifted into the air.
Demonic Heaven Divine Art.
First form.
Starvation Flow Sword.
The armies split asunder.
Upon a crimson aura, the absolute strike of Demonic Heaven erupted forth. The mirror reflected the divine art back. Once, twice, thrice, four times, five, six. With each reflection, the crimson aura cleaved the wasteland in two.
Shriek!
Compared to the Demon King’s blow, it was hopelessly feeble. Against my master’s strike, it was laughably insignificant. And yet, despite this, the apostles of happiness simply vanished at the merest brush of the crimson aura.
-What…?
The Constellation recoiled in shock, staring down at the plain below.
It was no wonder for him to panic. Thousands—perhaps tens of thousands of apostles had literally evaporated from my single strike. Moments before, the plain had crawled with them, but where the crimson aura had raked across, nothing remained.
“Black Dragon Lord! We continue!”
Of course, I had no intention of stopping after a single attack.
“Keep shifting the mirror positions!”
“My goodness… I see. Your martial art and those servants of that Constellation are completely incompatible!”
Black Dragon Lord, startled though she was, deftly readjusted the mirrors’ positions. She had grasped that regardless of my aura’s output, my attack would annihilate the enemy army with mere contact.
If so, the priority was to reflect my attacks along as many diverse paths as possible.
“Don’t worry about me—keep attacking! Four Kings! I’ll control the mirrors!”
The mirrors whirled chaotically through the air. Black Dragon Lord was someone who made judgments swiftly and acted on them at once.
Shriek!
I trusted her words and unleashed another strike. Employing nothing but the martial art I knew well, tens of thousands of enemy soldiers were swept away. Ranking 2nd and Ranking 3rd. Our combined assault—mine and Black Dragon Lord’s—laid waste to the Constellation’s forces with overwhelming force.
“Aha! Magnificent! What a grand spectacle!”
The Heresy Inquisitor deployed a Holy Formula to shield us from the apostles’ mental attacks.
“Please, do finish this quickly! My emergency reserve fund has already been broken into twice!”
The Count poured astronomical sums of currency to back up the Heresy Inquisitor.
“Viper! Enemies are breaking through on the flank! Deal with them!”
The Holy Paladin issued real-time commands while surveying the battlefield.
“Roger! Damn it, the Demonic Sect gets all the good shots!”
The remnants of the enemy forces that the skeletons failed to contain and broke through were handled by Viper.
‘We can do this.’
Merely six of us.
‘When we join our strength, we are invincible!’
And yet our six stood against an army that rivaled an entire world.
‘Look.’
The residents living in the tower were now gathered in the plaza, witnessing our deeds. They would broadcast this scene or record it and spread it to the outside world.
The sight of merely six defeating a million apostles.
‘Look!’
Exult.
Witness that nothing is impossible within this tower.
See clearly how not the world crushing us, but we overwhelming the world.
And hold fast to hope.
-It.
The Constellation’s face twisted.
-You wicked, lawless heretics! What right have you to invade the utopia I have built? There is no unhappiness in this world! Not even the memory of suffering!
The Constellation swept his hand through the air. A holographic landscape materialized in the sky. There, the forms of the apostles dwelling in this world were displayed.
-La la.
-Loo.
The apostles did not live in houses. There was no need to build cities. Hunger itself did not exist for them. They had no need to harvest resources to sustain their lives. The apostles, taking the form of small children, sang happily at any time and place.
-Shriek!
And yet.
In the heart of this world, an innocent child lay pierced upon a blade.
-Ahhhhh! Ngh, ahhh! Aaahhhhh!
How the screams of an innocent child became a power source—I couldn’t fathom the principle behind it. Perhaps the blade buried in the child’s chest was generating some law unto itself.
-The world I have created is infinitely more merciful than your wretched garbage heap!
The Constellation cried out, leaving the child’s screams in his wake.
-Don’t you dare stand before me spouting hypocrisy, you invaders! I have witnessed countless worlds in the company of Repanta Aigim. In every one, the screams never ceased. Hundreds of thousands! Millions! Tens of millions! Hundreds of millions!
The blade named Sacrifice howled in answer.
-My world, by contrast, demands but one. A single soul! By sacrificing only one, my apostles live free from suffering. If I commit one evil, you turn a blind eye to hundreds of millions. What right have such wretches to desecrate my world?
I understand.
Without doubt, that Constellation reached this device through endless anguish and deliberation. And surely his intent was good.
If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then this world is the hell chosen by the Eternal Blissful Apostle.
‘This world is merely an extreme example.’
The obstacles we shall face as we manage the Tower are no different. When provisions run short. When resources dwindle. As those responsible for the Tower, we too will be forced to sacrifice someone.
-Ha!
Seeing my silence, the Constellation sneered.
-At least you possess enough conscience not to babble nonsense. If you cannot answer, then begone! I shall never acknowledge you as my successor!
“No—I do have an answer.”
I took a step forward.
-An answer? Ha. What answer could someone like you possibly have?
It’s easy to recite moral platitudes: ‘Sacrifice is nonetheless wrong.’
But moral truth is not meant to be spoken aloud. It exists to be lived in the body. Only when you can take responsibility for your own words, when you possess the capability to make them real—only then are they valid.
I have not forgotten this.
“I will kill every one of you.”
-What?
“I will put you all to death and make you into Hundred Ghosts.”
-…….
The Constellation seemed not to comprehend my words.
-What are you saying now…….
“All those who die by my blade are collected as Hundred Ghosts. Whenever I wish, they can be summoned bearing all their living memories intact. I shall slay you all and summon you to live again in this world.”
I raised the Holy Sword.
“You long for eternal happiness, don’t you? I shall grant it. A life without suffering, without remembrance, merely singing as you do now. I shall make it real.”
-…….
“The Hundred Ghosts need not consume anything to survive. I will give you the world you desire.”
It is simple.
Kill every one of the million apostles.
Then summon them again in this world.
Return to them their memories from life.
Nothing changes.
“I speak not to you alone.”
To the dwellers watching us now.
To the countless humans who will witness this, I made my declaration.
“There exist villains beyond redemption. There are sinners whose crimes cannot be undone. There are specters who wish to live again but never shall. From this moment forward, I shall execute judgment upon them with my own hands.”
-Execute……?
“I will slay them and resurrect them as my Hundred Ghosts. They shall be exiled to my shadow and bear their karma for eternity.”
Thump.
The song that had echoed across the horizon fell silent.
The song that shook heaven and earth, by its ceasing, rendered the world mute.
The Constellation stared at me in disbelief.
-A lie… every villain and specter? A mere mortal cannot possibly…….
“Apostle. The utopia you boast of building here—I can create it identically. What’s more, my world requires no screams of innocent children.”
-…….
Before entering this Apocalypse, the Black Dragon Lord asked me a question.
Whether I had the resolve to become a king.
“It is a simple matter.”
Yes.
If every world is hell, then I need only become a greater hell.
“My hell is more righteous than yours.”
This is the Way of the King I have chosen.
SSS-Rank: The Hunter Who Lives by Dying (Serial Publication)
Author │ Shin Noah
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Publisher │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok
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 has been published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher and the author.
Violation of this restriction 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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