SSS-Class Suicide Hunter - Chapter 171
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Translator: Seven ED: Sasha
1.
There were people who compared the sight of people losing their lives in war to āflowers blooming beautifullyā. But Iām certain that those people have never been on the battlefield before.
-Ohhhh!
-Push the gate! Push it down!
-Krrng, krrk!
Countless sounds rushed into our ears like the buzzing of mosquitoes. Crack! Right beside us, a huge ax crushed an armored soldier.
The sound of flesh splitting. The screech of iron breaking. The moans and groans of the injured. On this battlefield, lives were extinguished like popping bubbles in a hot swamp.
āāWait a minute. Whatās going on?ā
The Black Dragon Master spoke with a shocked expression. She wasnāt shocked because of the cruelty of the battlefield. She was shocked by the fact that weād suddenly appeared in the center of one.
āMilady, whatās goingā¦ Sheās gone. Did a quest window pop up for anyone?ā
āIt didnāt.ā
āSame here!ā
āHow unkind.ā
The Black Dragon Master clicked her tongue.
āIs she telling us to figure out this situation on our own? Although his personality was a bit strange, [The Librarian] was a kind constellationā¦. Hah. Everyone, letās fly up and check this war situation from the air. That should be better.ā
Taht, the Black Dragon Master tapped on the ground with her foot.
āHuh?ā
However, her body didnāt fly into the air.
The Black Dragon Master furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
āā¦Whatās going on? I canāt fly?ā
It was as she said.
We were able to fly freely in the 31st and 32nd floors. This made it possible for us to observe everything from a birdās eye view. Maybe you could say it felt like weād transcended.
āThe real fight starts now.ā
I understood the meaning behind this surprising situation.
āRather, this is pretty good. Regardless of whether itās a skill or an ability, if you grow too reliant on it, your skill as a hunter would deteriorate. Even if there are any accidents, in the worst case, Iāll just go back in time.ā
I looked around.
Currently, we were still invisible like before. The body parts and blood that flew through the air passed freely through our bodies. Naturally, it wasnāt a pleasant experience to have someoneās bloodied organs flying through our bodies, butā
āItās not just one or two races participating in this battle.ā
If we focused, it was easy for us to observe what was happening around us.
āThe humans, elves, spritesā¦ itās a multi-race alliance. They seem to be fighting against each other, but they also seem to be on the same side. Each race is in charge of a different army branch. The humans form a shield wall and take the position of infantry, while the elves are the archersā¦ the sprites are the cavalry.ā
I narrowed my eyes.
āThe vampires are acting as aerial units. Mm. I canāt see the mermaids, but it seems that all the races that were once enslaved by the snails are a part of this allied army.ā
āThen the enemyā¦.ā
āYes.ā
I nodded.
āThereās a nine out of ten chance that itās the snails.ā
Uohhh!
The allied army gradually pushed forward little by little. It was difficult to understand exactly how the battle was progressing because we were surrounded by soldiers, but we could tell that the situation was gradually changing.
āThis wonāt do. If we stay here, weāll see nothing but corpses.ā
The Black Dragon Master grabbed my hand.
āIāll go scout with the Death King. Itāll be hard to gather together if we all scatter, so you guys wait here. Is that fine with you, Death King?ā
I realized what the Black Dragon Master wanted to do. Space Transfer Technique. The Black Dragon Master intended to scout using her special skill. This skill allowed her to transfer not only herself, but another party. The only limitation was that [the other party had to agree to use the skill].
āYes.ā
āGood.ā
Black aura leaked from the Black Dragon Masterās body and latched onto my wrist.
āTransfer!ā
The next moment, we were in the air, looking down at the thousands of soldiers that crawled beneath us like a swarm of insects. When we began to be dragged down by gravity, the Black Dragon Master used her skill again.
āTransfer!ā
And we stopped falling for a while.
āā¦you donāt intend to use Space Transfer every time weāre about to fall, do you?ā
āWe canāt fly, so I donāt have a choice. Transfer. During my long career as a Hunter, transfer, what I realized was, transfer, a skill is like a muscle, the more you use it, the easier it is. Transfer.ā
āWow, thatās really not coolā¦.ā
āCan being cool feed you? Transfer. Iām busy using my skill, so pay attention to the situation on the ground.ā
āSure.ā
I quickly achieved a state of āempty mindā, and carefully observed the war below.
āHuh.ā
I was immediately struck by a sense of deja vu.
āThis place seems familiarā¦.ā
āRight. I also felt like this place is familiar for some reason.ā
āThis isnāt a civil war, itās a siege.ā
As we expected, the ones fighting the snails were the ones fighting the allied forces. The snails had set up a fortified camp at the entrance of a large cave which seemed to only have a wall and a gate.
āā¦ā¦Isnāt that Rimepolis?ā
The city where the historic slave escape had occurred.
Now, the races that were no longer slaves were attacking.
2.
āThey called it the Holy Land.ā
The Sword Saint said.
We all shared the information we collected.
āI heard the conversation of some soldiers in the humansā barracks. They said that they will definitely take the Holy Land in this expedition. Judging from the fact that they said [this] expedition, I donāt think this is the first time theyāve attack Rimepolis.ā
āAhh. From what Iāve heard, this is the 6th expedition.ā
The Venomous Snake raised his hand.
āThe alliance army was formed hundreds of years ago to deal with the Rime Empire. Most of the empire has already been destroyed, and I heard that Rimepolis is the only base that has yet to fall.ā
āHoly Landā¦. Another annoying phrase.ā
The Black Dragon Master pressed her palm to her forehead, her expression sour.
āIf I had to pick the three words I hate to hear the most in the world, they would be terror, holy land, and heretic. Ahh. In the early days in the Tower, all kinds of heretics went around screaming [The Tower is the Holy Land! It is the Tower of Babel that God gave to us]ā¦.ā
āIt was the [Church of Neo-Babylonians].ā
The Crusader folded her arms.
āIn all honesty, they were just weaklings. I remembered the heretics going crazy and screaming [This place is Rālyeh(1)].ā
I tilted my head to the side.
āRālyeh? Whatās that?ā
āI donāt know the details either. Something about a city that appeared in a novel, but sank into the pacific ocean.ā
āThe Tower isnāt in the pacific ocean, is it?ā
The Tower was everywhere and nowhere.
To put it simply, the tower that was seen from the outside world was more like a miracle.
Regardless of where you were, you would be able to see the shadow of the Tower on the horizon. Regardless of whether you were in Seoul or Busan, Korea or Chile, you could see the Tower anytime, anywhere.
As if it was seducing you to run to it.
āThere are heretics who truly believed the novel. Donāt expect them to think logically. Just so you know, many of those heretics are still active in the Ten Thousand Temple.ā
āEh. Is that really okay? Theyāre all psychopaths.ā
āNow you understand why we entrust the Ten Thousand Temple to the Heretic Questioner. Death King. The only one who can rule over crazy people is someone crazier than them.ā (TL: Pfft)
āIndeedā¦.ā
The Ten Thousand Temple was more impressive than I thought.
The Black Dragon Master sighed.
āThe most efficient method was to leave all of those issues to the Heretic Questionerā¦ Iām sure we suffered a loss by doing this. But in the end, they were useful, but unnecessary.ā
The battle paused for a while.
The battlefield, which was extremely fierce during the day, became quiet as the sun began to set. As a cool night breeze blew over, the multi-race alliance began to prepare their dinner.
āHow could a place like this be considered a Holy Landā¦ā¦.ā
āItās only natural for it to be considered a Holy Land.ā
I said.
āThis is the land where all the guardian deities of the seven races descended. It wouldnāt make sense if they didnāt regard this place as a holy land. From the snails to the humans, mermaids, sprites, and elves. This is a Holy Land for every race.ā
The Sword Saint nodded.
āThe snails are trying to defend this place, and the other races are trying to capture it.ā
āMore importantly, this is the only city that remains of the empireā¦ This makes it difficult for either side to back down.ā
The multi-race alliance had a history of being oppressed as slaves by the snails. So faith, resentment, and politics were all mixed. This was something that could be solved easily.
āUgh.ā
The Black Dragon Master groaned.
āItās strange. I knew something like this would happen, so I constantly reminded those vampire kids. There is no god in this world, and even if there is a god, itās not me. Did they forget my teachingsā¦?ā
āUh. I did something similar.ā
The Black Dragon Masterās words caught my attention.
āWhat did you spend your points on Black Dragon Master?ā
ā[Race Evolution].ā
Huh.
I was almost certain the Black Dragon Master would act like a squirrel and save all her points.
āYou made a big investment. Iām surprised.ā
āā¦ā¦.ā
The Black Dragon Master stared at my face with a dumbfounded expression before letting out a sigh.
āā¦ā¦I overheard what item you were going to pick.ā
āHuh?ā
āI said I decided to follow your choice. Iām not sure about it, but you chose it. I figured it must be a good item, so I chose the same thing.ā
āEh. But arenāt you copying me too much?ā
āSo noisy. Thereās nothing wrong with using other people for reference.ā
āWow, I admire your shamelessnessā¦ Vampires are basically intelligent bats. I wonder how they changed after they evolved.ā
āI donāt know. Maybe theyāll only change a bit?ā
āShh.ā
The Crusader raised her hand and pointed to one side of the military camp.
āItās getting noisy over there.ā
We shut up immediately. As the Crusader said, there was a commotion in the allied armyās camp. The soldiers, who were happily eating their dinner, quickly swallowed the rest of their bread before rushing over.
āLetās go too.ā
We quickly gathered around the Black Dragon Master as she prepared to transfer. āI feel like Iāve suddenly become a mama pigā¦ā Although she complained, she knew this was the fastest method.
The entrance of the military camp.
Hundreds of warriors were lined up here. They were warriors of a race that didnāt look like the mermaids, vampires, humans, sprites or elves.
The commander of the humans called out.
-Warriors of the Wet Lands. What brings you here? We are allies who made a sacred pact of past resentment. Do not invade this place with swords and spears.
-Ugor.
The leader of the warriors bowed his head slightly.
-I am Gerkesa, a Great Warrior ranked 73rd in the Fire River Council and the leader of this expedition. My ancestors are the ones who dug up rock salt in Rimepolis. You can rest assured, our swords have not yet been pointed at you.
They were goblins.
Riding atop a lion, the leader of the group approached the allied camp.
-Expedition? The people of the Wet Lands declared that they would not participate in this war.
-We said that we would not join your expedition.
The goblin warrior spoke calmly.
-Although a bit late, the council has decided to participate in this war.
-What did you say? War?
-Ugor. As one of the nobles representing the council, I came to inform you of this decision. Let it be known that we have no intention of betraying or surprising you.
Heh.
It was at that moment that I really felt that 600 years had passed.
āTheir way of talking has become very sophisticated.ā
Even in the previous stage, the unique pronunciations of the goblins remained the same. At the end of each sentence, they often said words like āgorkā. However, there were barely any traces of that in the warriorās speech. The pronunciation also became a bit fuller as āgorā became closer to āugorā.
-Noā¦ Is the way they talk really the problem hereā¦?
Bae Hu-ryeong muttered from behind me.
-These guys have really grown a lot!
He was right.
The goblins, who used to be as tall as dwarves, had nearly doubled in size. Now, they were as tall as or even taller than the humans.
ā[Race Evolution] worked well.ā
They were larger than humans but smaller than orcs.
-Krrr.
He even rode on a lion that was larger than him. The lion sniffed and glared at the human commander, causing him to take a step back.
-Donāt worry.
The goblin patted the lionās mane.
-This child is a good friend. Relax.
-Noā¦ what do you mean by participating in a war? Do you mean that you intend to take the side of the snails and fight against our expedition? Make it clear. Are you the envoy who has come to declare war?!
-I swear on the names of Kekerkker and Gorke. I am not.
Even if he swore on Kekerkker, did he have to swear on Gorke too?
Little brat. It seems he became really successful.
-We are only here in the name of god to prevent evil crimes from being committed.
-Crimesā¦? Evil crimes?
-Thatās right. You are all making a mistake. The guardian gods never wanted us to destroy the snail race. In the era of the great escape, the guardians turned away from us when we tried to retaliate against the snails. The meaning of that is clear.
The goblin smiled fiercely.
-A war beyond this is no longer honorable, nor is it sacred. Just as it was wrong of the snails to whip us like that, it is also wrong of us to destroy the snailsā last sanctuary.
-Whatā¦
-In other words, the vengeance for those who were bound in chains has already been dealt with.
The Great Warrior of the goblin race continued.
-Stop the fighting. We are here to end this old war.