SSS-Class Sui**de Hunter - Chapter 33

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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 33. The Crimson Blade (3)
4
Rain fell.
Though a wildfire might sweep across a vast plain and burn it whole, it must first kindle from a single spark; though a flood might rush forth and submerge the very belly of heaven, it must begin with a single drop.
I could not claim to be that wildfire, but I had become at least a single spark—and though I could not say I was that flood, I had surely become a single drop.
“Mmm.”
Rain fell.
An old man stood in the midst of the flowing water.
The old man gave me a slight nod.
“Fight with me, young one.”
Hunter Ranking, first place.
Geom Seong.
Commander of the Imperial Knights.
Confluence.
“…Ahahaha!”
Rain fell.
“My apologies for my lateness!”
Splash. The sound of laughter arrived, footsteps breaking through puddles.
“I could have come sooner, but leading an entire regiment is not quite as simple as one might think!”
The source of that laughter, reflected in the water’s surface, was a one-armed man. Where the Red Beam had swept through and obliterated everything, where only puddles now remained, the one-armed priest stood tall.
“My gratitude, Kim Gongja.”
The Inquisitor adjusted his hat with his remaining hand.
Rain fell.
Behind the Inquisitor, blurred by the downpour, something came rushing. A mass of somethings cut through the rain and surged forward.
“The time you have bought us—we shall carry that forward now.”
Thousands of soldiers.
Skirting collapsed buildings, leaping over ravines, wading through puddles—the Empire’s soldiers poured forward. But among them were those who were not soldiers at all. Civilians without armor, Imperial subjects without helmets. They came in their bare flesh, joining the tide.
“This is the command of the Supreme Commander,” said the Inquisitor.
The Inquisitor smiled broadly.
Thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of common folk cried out.
“Slaughter those wretches who have bared their fangs at the Empire.”
Hunter Ranking, fourth place.
Sang Ryeon Ju, the Inquisitor.
Supreme Commander of the Empire.
Reinforcement.
“Uoooooo!”
Rain fell.
Bells became water, flowing in torrents.
The terrible surge of monsters that had pressed forward like a tidal wave now stalled. Like a tide at its peak and then ceased, the monsters hesitated before the Castle Gate. The turn. The tide of battle had shifted, the flood became an ebb, and where the gate had fallen, the waters began to flow backward.
“The Divine One stands with us!”
Rain fell.
“Long live the Aikim Empire!”
Rain fell.
‘Ah.’
I did not know when I had been swept up in the rainwater. Perhaps time had slowed. Before I knew it, I had become the first drop of that overflowing current, running headlong.
To my left, a refugee from some distant minor kingdom wielded a spear. To my right, a farmer who had once tilled the lands of the now-ruined Imperial town swung his hoe. Behind me, a Hunter who looked not so different from myself raised his blade.
They continued to say something,
“…….”
“……!”
but I could not hear it.
Was it the sound of the rain? The roar of the people’s war cry? Or the shriek of the monsters? Was it time that had slowed? Or had I already become merely a single drop, swept along with them? Or was it because I was swinging my blade?
Onward.
“……!”
Forward.
“…….”
Ever forward.
Until the wildfire burned every plain and the flood drowned every corner.
For now, just a little further ahead.
“…Hey.”
Thud.
Something touched me. It brushed my shoulder. Through tens of thousands of voices and billions of raindrops, that something spoke to me. It wore an eye patch—a single eye beneath cloth.
“Well done. You should’ve come a bit sooner. Tch! We were delayed rounding up not just our guard but guild members too. But don’t worry. Now I’ll show you exactly why we’re called the Cheonmun…….”
It stopped.
…….
Suddenly, it fell silent. What was wrong? It ceased speaking and instead studied my face intently with its solitary eye.
“Not listening, are you? Immersed? You rascal. I like your spirit.”
It laughed softly.
“Listen—my name is Lyao Pan. Doesn’t matter if you can’t hear me anyway. …Back there in the Audience Chamber, you saved my life. How could a master of Cheonmun simply bury such a debt? You keep your eyes forward and charge. The left flank is mine. A tremendous privilege, I assure you.”
It drew its blade.
“Not a single man who’s stood to my right has ever fallen. Not once.”
Rain poured down.
“Go, New Star.”
I swung my sword.
“I’ll protect you.”
The current grew fiercer.
It rushed and raged.
“My apologies for the delay! I was busy hunting down the Empire’s Emperor. Found him eventually, but he’d already drunk poison and taken his own life. It won’t be easy to rally military forces using his authority now. Forgive me.”
“Never mind that. There’s no need to gather more forces here. Besides, Holy Knight—do join us in the fight.”
“Of course. Hm? But why isn’t Hunter Kim Gongja…….”
“Don’t interrupt him now.”
Rain fell.
“He’s savoring this golden moment.”
Rain fell.
—Wretched creatures.
—Did you think that because time was granted, it would be yours alone?
—The very power of the Goddess who watched over you has withered. There is no divinity in the Empire now. What will you lean upon? Will you prove yourselves alone? Then show me.
Mockery flowed with the rain.
—Show me.
Red light.
But there were things blocking my path.
Many of them.
“Witch! Raise the Mirror, now!”
“I know. I let it slip once, but I won’t let it slide a second time.”
“Old man! When the Witch scatters the beam, you and I will cut it down!”
“I need no assistance.”
“They’re coming in now, everyone!”
Rain fell.
“…Let it scatter.”
Six beams of light flashed. Mirror light. The Red Beam struck the Mirror and skidded. Crash! The first Mirror shattered, the second shattered, the third shattered. But the fourth Mirror held firm, letting the Red Beam slip through whole.
“Geom Seong! Venom Snake Technique!”
Something cried out.
“Breathe in.”
There came the sound of an indrawn breath.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
There came the sound of an exhaled breath.
The sky split open.
Between two breaths—in and out—the sky tore asunder. Even the Red Beam was cloven in two. It was as if a vast sea opened on both sides.
A path of water spread wide.
Five voices chattered in unison.
“Look! Look! I’m nowhere near finished yet!”
“How shameless and reckless.”
“This is our chance!”
One voice whispered among them.
“I’ll Teleport you straight to the Demon King. Everyone, stay close!”
“Hurry! If the Demon King summons more Monsters, we’re finished!”
Five voices layered one upon another.
They converged as one.
And then.
“Kim Gongja!”
Someone reached out a hand.
Rain streamed down the figure’s face.
“Grab my hand!”
“…….”
“There’s no time—come on!”
In that instant.
The eternal moment broke free.
I saw the people around me.
I heard the sounds of the battlefield.
But it was more than that. Where I was, how I’d come to be here—all of it rushed back into memory at once.
I stood in the heart of war.
The Empire’s forces and soldiers were now plainly pushing the Monsters back. Hunters poured endlessly through the shattered Castle Gate. Reinforcements. At last, those who had grasped the situation on the 12th Floor Stage had thrown themselves into battle.
“Hunter Kim Gongja!”
With countless humans at our backs, we stood at the front lines.
The Demon King’s red strike had torn through, grinding Monsters to dust as it came—leaving a straight, empty path from here to where he stood. Soon Monsters would flood in, but not yet.
“Hurry!”
The Hunters had gathered in one place.
It was, in a way, a little ridiculous.
The Inquisitor was being carried on Geom Seong’s back. Geom Seong grimaced fiercely, gripping Geom Seong’s forearm. Geom Seong scowled even deeper, his hand on the Holy Knight’s shoulder. The Holy Knight, unperturbed, grasped the Witch’s left hand.
‘…If I took a picture of this and posted it online, it’d break the internet.’
It was a horrifying sight—the kind that sparked absurd thoughts.
While I was lost in that ridiculous daydream, the Witch cried out.
“You! If you don’t grab hold right now, I’m leaving you behind!”
The Witch extended her right hand toward me.
‘Ah.’
And I understood.
This scene would vanish soon.
The sharp words Geom Seong and I had exchanged.
How Geom Seong had barely lowered his blade, supported by the Holy Knight’s persuasion.
How he had bowed his head, apologizing to me.
How the Inquisitor had brutally murdered three Hunters.
How we had fought each other.
How we had stopped fighting.
How we had fought together.
‘It will all disappear.’
Everything.
Like rainwater flowing away into nowhere.
‘Those people won’t remember.’
But.
-What are you doing, partner.
That was enough.
-We’ve got to go take down the boss, you fool.
Even if memory fades, that doesn’t mean it disappears.
I have a sword.
Here lies one human who died on the first floor. Here drifts one ghost who died on the ninety-ninth floor. No one knows of their deaths. And yet the two of us made it this far.
“…Understood.”
When I return, nothing will be solved.
Geom Seong will still harbor doubts about me, and when the time comes to choose a Reward, the Hunters will once again suspect each other—or kill one another.
“Let’s go.”
But I am stronger now.
I will not let innocent people die. I will not stand by while Sang Ryeon Ju, the Count, is killed and the link between the outside world and the Tower is severed. I have a sense of who the Traitor is. I’m certain.
I will do better.
“Good!”
The Witch gripped my hand tightly.
“Teleportation!”
The next moment, we leaped from empty air. All five of us landed as one. In a single bound, we crossed the battlefield, and before our eyes stood the aloof Demon King, holding a sword.
-How intriguing.
The Demon King was black.
Like a shadow that had taken human form.
-Servants of the Goddess, are you.
It had a face, but no expression. It had arms, but no hands. It had legs, but no feet, so the Demon King seemed not to be standing upon the earth at all, but rather on the verge of sinking into it, of subsiding into the ground.
And indeed, the Demon King was sinking. His body continued to pour downward like murky sewage—drip, drip, dissolving into the depths. Yet for every part of him that melted away, fresh filth surged up from within his form.
The master of nightmares.
A shadow that moves.
An endless, cascading darkness.
—Heroes, do you know there is a traitor among you? You must know. And yet you desperately cling to trust, folding torn scraps of cloth and stitching them together as if they might become a garment that shields you.
There was no need to listen further.
At least, I saw none.
I gripped my sword and charged.
“Kim Gongja!”
The Holy Knight’s startled cry echoed behind me.
“No! Wait! You can’t charge in alone! We need to work together—all of us combined—”
I’m sorry.
See you in the next life.
You won’t remember any of this.
—Hoh.
The Demon King laughed as I rushed toward him alone.
—How foolish.
It was a strange sound. The Demon King’s face had no eyes, no mouth, so the laughter seemed to flow from his skin itself—each time the murky shadow ebbed and surged, the laugh erupted anew.
—Have you come to kill me, hero?
The Demon King swung his blade.
It was a strike I could never block in my present state.
Just before the blade touched my throat and severed it—
“No.”
I didn’t even pretend to raise my Holy Sword to defend myself.
There was no need.
Instead, I simply raised my middle finger in polite salute.
“I came here to die by your hand, you bastard.”
See you in your next life too.
Brief as it was, I clearly saw the Demon King’s laughter freeze.
“…!”
“…y-…!”
Then everything went silent.
Consciousness receded.
Sight, hearing, touch—all sensation went dark in an instant.
Only the rain falling on my face remained until the very end.
And then—
[You have died.]
A voice spoke.
[Death condition satisfied.]
[Randomly copying Skill from Monster: Demon King of Autumn Rain.]
Well then.
[Skill Card forming.]
Round 2 begins.
SSS-Rank Hunter: Must Die to Live (Serialized)
Author │ Shin No-ah
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Publishing House │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 204, 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Daelung Posttower 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 its contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and 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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