SSS-Class Sui**de Hunter - Chapter 63

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 63. The Righteous-Demonic Great War (2)
The Pharmacist’s face drained of color.
Just as she began to tremble and let out a scream—
“Hee—”
“GRAAAAAAHHHHH!”
A shriek that swallowed the Pharmacist’s cry whole erupted from the Medicine King.
This elderly gentleman, ancient enough to have eaten the Sword Saint and his companion, wielded a voice that made even seasoned warriors sound like mewling kittens.
“Run! Run away! I’ve never seen anything like this even in Silicon Valley! Ahhhhh, annihilation! The world is suffering annihilation!”
“This world has already suffered annihilation!”
I quickly drew the Holy Sword and beheaded the zombie nearest to me. Unlike martial arts novels, I’d actually encountered zombie media fairly often—dramas, films, and direct combat on the thirteenth floor. Thanks to that experience, my blade instinctively severed the zombie’s neck.
—Shrieeeeek!
The zombie’s head flew skyward while still snarling. The headless torso kept flailing its limbs and lunged at me. Damn it. Did I need to destroy the brain itself to stop its movement? This was the worst-case scenario.
“We need to escape this place!”
“Yes—who are you people!”
Finally, the two martial artists noticed our presence. The elderly Orthodox Sect master and the Demon Cult woman turned to look at us, and they recoiled in shock at the sight of our group the same way we’d startled at the zombies.
“…Old fool, it seems my eyes have finally betrayed me. Living humans, and not just one—I count four of them moving about. Is the Lord of the Afterlife calling for me?”
“My eyes see the same. You jested that I’d gone blind, yet it appears I truly have lost my mind.”
“Please, escape quickly!”
I hurriedly hoisted the Pharmacist onto my back.
“While you’re at it, could you tell us where we should escape to?”
The two martial artists exchanged glances.
“Heavens. These truly do seem to be living people, old fool.”
“Could it be that we have already perished and now witness the landscape of the afterlife?”
“Then you and I must have either gone together to the Peach Blossom Spring or fallen together into hell—one or the other.”
“As one who served righteousness and integrity as Lord of the Martial Arts World, I scarcely expect hell. Therefore it must be the Peach Blossom Spring. Yet there are no peach blossoms here, no celestial maidens, only Jiangshi aplenty. And most troubling of all—you are here. This hardly seems like the Immortal Realm.”
“Then perhaps it is no dream but waking life.”
“And these are living people?”
“Their warmth seems genuine enough. They scarcely resemble Jiangshi.”
From the way the two martial artists bantered so calmly, I might have gathered their circumstances, but we were already fleeing through the zombie forest. Viper had taken hold of the Orthodox Sect elder, while I cradled the Demon Cult woman in my arms.
“Where in the world did you come from?”
The Demon Cult woman looked up at me with an air of mystery.
“You possess a curious movement technique. Are you young ones from Beyond the Frontier? Do barbarians yet survive in those distant lands?”
“We are…”
I didn’t understand exactly what Beyond the Frontier meant, but I gathered her meaning well enough—she was asking if we came from outside the Jianghu. I was wrestling with how to answer when a sound cut through my deliberation from behind us.
—Shriek, shriek-shriek!
—Grooooaaan!
The zombies. They’d warmed up properly now and came chasing after us.
Wait, was “chasing” even the right word?
These zombies were unnaturally vigorous, bounding ten meters with each stride. “Chasing” didn’t cut it—they were flying. The sight of hundreds of zombies swarming like a flock of gulls struck fear and shock into my heart.
“What—what is this!”
Viper gasped in horror.
“What zombie flies through the air!”
“It is the Lightness Skill I pioneered. I adapted it from tricks the Kunlun rabble taught me.”
The Demon Cult woman boasted with pride.
“Behold—Tread Snow Without Trace transcended into Soar Through the Void! These are truly the elite disciples of the Demon Cult, trained under my guidance. In death they have not forgotten their martial arts. This is the mark of true practitioners.”
“Wait, hold on just a moment.”
I spoke up. Strange terminology flew about, and though I caught only the rough sense of things, there was something I absolutely could not overlook.
“In death they haven’t forgotten their martial arts?”
“Hmm? Are you youths from Beyond the Frontier so ignorant of such matters?”
In my arms, the Demon Cult woman tilted her head in confusion.
“Jiangshi—the undead—wield martial arts. Is this not common knowledge?”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing in my life!”
Unbelievable. Zombies using martial arts!
If this were a comedy, I could laugh and move on, but this was no comedy—this was genuine wuxia world. This was deadly serious.
“Those ones especially are my finest disciples, trained directly under my tutelage. Once instructed in my teachings, their bodies respond to killing intent even in sleep. Ah, how glorious—these corpses display such exquisite Lightness Skill.”
“They’re catching up! We’re going to be caught, you fool!”
The Medicine King shrieked from Viper’s back. The martial arts-wielding zombies descended from the sky like savage hawks, nearly ripping the medicine king’s hair from his scalp.
“Run faster! Can’t you run any faster! If I get bitten and turn into a zombie, I’ll chew you up first thing!”
“Damn it, who the hell dragged this old bastard into our party!”
Viper wailed out loud.
“Besides, why am I old on both ends, and you—the Medicine King—are both women!”
“Right now I’m about to get my ass kicked by a zombie, and that’s what matters!”
“If you’re about to get your ass kicked, what else could possibly matter!”
The Backhoe Spirit, who’d been watching our rear, let out a shout.
-Zombie! Zombies!
Christ.
“Their weakness!”
I called out to the Heavenly Demon.
“These jiangshi have no weaknesses, sir!”
“Crush their skulls and they stop moving.”
“No, I mean something a bit easier!”
Truth be told, I’d already made my peace with death. Ordinary zombies would be one thing, but if the world was teeming with jiangshi that flew through the air and wielded martial arts, the situation was an entirely different matter. Even gathering an all-star roster—the Sword Saint, the Black Dragon Lord herself, the Heresy Inquisitor—I wasn’t sure we’d have more than an even shot at clearing this.
“Mm.”
The Heavenly Demon nodded.
She raised a finger and pointed past my shoulder.
“They stop when sunlight reaches them.”
“…!”
Of course. It was simple, now that I thought about it.
The shock of seeing those zombies suddenly move, watching them deploy their Qinggong as they flew toward me—it had been too overwhelming to let the obvious sink in.
“Nameless lady! And Pharmacist!”
“Yes?”
“Hmm?”
The Heavenly Demon answered in a calm voice, while the Pharmacist replied with a trembling one. I concentrated my aura into my arms.
“My apologies, but I’m going to throw you both! Please land safely on your own!”
“Yes?”
“…What?”
And then I hurled them both as far as I could manage, one after the other—with the full force of an Olympic javelin thrower.
The woman made no sound as she flew. She simply crashed headfirst into the snow-covered Snowy Plain with a thud. The Pharmacist, by contrast, shrieked all the way down, and where she landed, her body left a deep, sprawling crater in the snow.
“I’m so sorry!”
I offered one final apology and held my ground.
When I turned, hundreds of zombies were charging toward me.
-Graaaagh!
-Keeeee!
-Uoooh! Grooooah!
Every hair on my body stood on end.
I’d faced zombies back on the thirteenth floor too, but these martial-arts-wielding jiangshi descending like a cloud of mosquitoes—that was a different class of horror entirely. And to be honest, it was terrifying.
-Going to die now!
For some reason, the Backhoe Spirit sounded almost gleeful.
-Never thought I’d get to watch a zombie—an actual zombie—die by another zombie’s hand! Ah, this is perfect! Another item checked off my bucket list!
Here was a ghost who’d apparently brought his bucket list with him into the afterlife.
“Not yet.”
Standing in the heart of the Snowy Plain, I faced the horde of zombies.
“I’m not dying here!”
I drew Shu’s Holy Sword from its sheath.
Staring at the teeth now inches from my face, at the chunks of frozen flesh still clinging to those teeth, I spoke urgently to myself.
‘Sparkle!’
[Sparkle responds to the Hero’s call.]
‘Shine!’
Whoooosh!
The Fragment of the Constellation—the Holy Sword of Idol, first among the five sister-blades—erupted with light. The Snowy Plain reflected the sword light, blazing bright as day.
And in that moment, I realized I truly did have a gift for naming things. Calling it Sparkle had been, without question, the right call.
-Uuuuugh!
-Gooooahhh….
Pause.
The zombies caught in the Holy Sword Light froze mid-air all at once. Like insects struck dead by bug spray, they plummeted to the snow-covered ground. Since the zombies hadn’t deployed any falling technique, the white expanse was now pocked with holes like a honeycomb.
“Haaaagh!”
The Medicine King, who’d had his white hair seized by a zombie, let out a groan. The zombie remained locked in place, still gripping his locks.
“A-alive? Did I survive again? Oof, if it weren’t for that Marcus fellow, I never would’ve come to this tower. My wretched fate….”
“Is everyone safe?”
I kept my guard up. This wasn’t over yet. Dark clouds still hung in the sky, and the ground remained shrouded in shadow.
The Holy Sword’s protective light was the only illumination in that darkness.
If the light went out even for a moment, those terrifying martial arts zombies would resume their activity.
“Ugh. Yes, my face hurts a bit, but I’m all right… Thank you for saving me, Medicine King…”
“Damn it, the Sword Saint too, and this old fool as well! I want to live a life where I keep my distance from these ancients, will you?”
The Pharmacist and Viper each signaled their safety in their own way.
I nodded in acknowledgment.
“Leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect. While I’m dealing with the zombies, could I ask you to look after the others?”
“What are you planning to do?”
“I’m going to eliminate them while they’re still immobilized.”
I leveled the Holy Sword at a zombie.
“Since I’ll need to grind out each brain individually, it’ll take some time, but it shouldn’t be difficult…”
“Wait a moment, child of Beyond the Frontier.”
The woman from the Evil Sect rose from the snow.
She brushed the snowflakes clinging to her robe slowly and deliberately.
“First, I must express my gratitude for saving me, a complete stranger. Yet if you mean to execute these Jiangshi, I cannot help but object.”
“What’s your reason?”
All manner of terrible scenarios flooded my mind.
Could there be some peculiar curse on the zombies such that killing them would pass it to us? Truth be told, few monsters have as much variation as Jiangshi. Depending on how a world’s rules are set, they become mere weak monsters or transform into terrifying calamities.
But what the Evil Sect woman told us was completely unexpected.
“They are all disciples of my Evil Sect.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“They are my disciples and subordinates.”
The woman was grave.
“A great war to annihilate the root of the Orthodox Sect’s influence is upon us. We desperately need every master we can muster. Our numbers are already thin; we cannot afford to lose elite warriors here.”
What nonsense was this?
Our group could not understand the woman’s words. A great war? The world of the Records of the Heavenly Demon was already on the brink of complete ruin. There should be neither the forces nor the people left to wage war.
The Librarian had told us this as she guided us into the Apocalypse.
“When you open your eyes, you will find yourselves in a world ten days before the Records of the Heavenly Demon meets its unfortunate, untimely end.”
“I do hope you will show us a splendid conclusion.”
Only ten days remained until complete annihilation.
I did not know how many survivors remained in this world, but regardless—in ten days, all would perish. Neither the Evil Sect woman nor the Orthodox Sect elder could escape this fate.
Whether or not these two martial artists knew of such a future, they remained composed.
“This old fool…”
“The one they call Bu Yuol-seon, leader of the Martial Arts World.”
“…I have been waging a great war against this old man for three years now. Today marks exactly 989 days since the Righteous-Demonic Great War was declared. He and I have sworn an oath upon our names—neither of us can leave this place until one admits defeat.”
The Evil Sect woman spoke with solemn gravity.
“Though they have fallen into Jiangshi form, so long as they wield the martial arts of the Evil Sect, they are Evil Sect disciples still. They are subordinates I must protect. Do not kill them carelessly. If you must slay anyone, choose only those wearing monk’s robes…”
“Preposterous! These are the finest elite warriors of the Orthodox Sect, and we’ve scraped together every one we have!”
The Orthodox Sect elder leaped to his feet.
“Did we not make a pact, Heavenly Demon? That we would not lay hands on the Jiangshi and would see the end of the Righteous-Demonic Great War through between just the two of us!”
“A pact exists to be broken.”
“You wicked woman! Then I will smash in the skulls of every last one of those demon-sect Jiangshi myself!”
“You, the leader of the Orthodox Sect, would break your word! How true to the colors of a false gentleman!”
Like they had before the zombies stirred, the two of them now stood poised as if ready to fight to the death at any moment.
I was utterly dumbfounded.
“So you’re saying… you’re continuing this Righteous-Demonic Great War even though the world has been destroyed?”
“Your order is reversed.”
The woman called the Heavenly Demon shook her head.
“The world collapsed on its own while we were in the midst of our war.”
……
In other words.
The Orthodox Sect elder, the leader of the Martial Arts World, and the Heavenly Demon of the Evil Sect had been locked in a fight to the death. There was nothing wrong with that alone. It was simply that a virus suddenly ravaged the land, transforming all their subordinates into zombies.
Ordinary people would have stopped their war here and either fled or hidden away…
“But once a battle has begun, it cannot simply be postponed!”
Martial artists were not ordinary people.
The leader of the Martial Arts World and the Heavenly Demon did not stop their war even when all their subordinates had become Jiangshi.
More than that—they continued to treat their subordinates, now transformed into Jiangshi, as their subordinates still.
And so, in a world gripped by a zombie apocalypse, they had carried on their Righteous-Demonic Great War for three years.
“I shall not stop until I win victory over that old man. I still command five hundred Jiangshi warriors. With them at my side, I will crush the Orthodox Sect dogs!”
“Those words are mine to speak! Demon woman! Even as vengeful spirits, my fellow martial artists will stand with me against you! I will put an end to this wretched war that has dragged on for 989 days!”
That’s right.
It wasn’t only our expedition that lacked dreams and hope.
This world itself held neither dreams nor hope.
S-rank Hunter Must Die to Live (Serialized)
Author │ Shin Noah
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyeong
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok
Address │ 204 Daelung Posttower 1st Building, 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul, Korea
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Shin Noah 2019
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder, and the contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher and author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————