SSS-Class Revival Hunter

Chapter 125: The Demonic Realm (1)

Kim ■ remembered the day he had fallen into another world.

—Congratulations. You were chosen as the warrior who will save this world.

A dazzlingly beautiful woman smiled at him. ■ was dumbfounded and blankly stared at the angel in front of him. Although he had seen many celebrities on the Internet and the news, he was just an ordinary high school student. It was his first time meeting a beautiful woman who seemed to brighten the world just by smiling.

He couldn’t help but stammer, “Excuse me... Miss Angel? Where are we?”

“No need to rush, Hero. I am the Goddess of Protection, the Constellation that will protect and guide you from now on. You may not know much now, but you will discover a lot.”

She was a goddess, not an angel? ■ felt his mind turn blank for some reason.

“But I was on the school rooftop just a moment ago... I’m sure of it...”

The goddess calmly clasped her hands together. “You were a victim of bullying while in school. Young humans sometimes resemble animals. Their malicious deeds are done out of pure ignorance. Unfortunately, you fell prey to these animals and jumped off from the rooftop because you couldn’t endure it anymore.”

“Jumped...”

—Yes, if I were to add to that, you fell to your death.

It was only after hearing the goddess’s words that ■ remembered the iron door leading to the school rooftop was tightly locked.

When he saw the doorknob tightly tied with chains, ■ felt rather spiteful, so he opened the window of a fifth-floor classroom to climb up the pipe to the rooftop.

It was crazy. However, as he climbed up the pipe, ■ felt alive for the first time in his life. He thought to himself how ridiculous everything was. For the first time in his life, he crawled out a window, climbed up a pipe, and got to the school rooftop.

When he tried to stay alive, he never felt this way, but as he was about to throw his life away, he couldn’t have felt more alive.

The sky he could see from the rooftop was red. ■ was grateful that the sky always turned red once a day. For the first time in his life, he thanked the sky. Its red shade made it seem a little warmer than when it was blue, making him want to dive into the warm color.

He took off his school indoor shoes and placed them neatly on the ground. The soles inside the shoes were scribbled with a black oil-based marker. That was certainly not his doing.

■ looked down at the ground. The schoolyard under the sunset was red like the Sahara. He heard that if a person jumped to their death, they would regret it as soon as they started to plunge. He wondered if he would regret it too.

The schoolyard became noisy. Some students were playing soccer before starting their self-study session of the night, but they pointed at the rooftop from below. Several of them were familiar faces.

■ quietly pressed his thumb on the SEND button. Thirty-seven students would receive the same will that he had prepared in advance.

—You’re the ones who killed me. Don’t forget that you did this to me.

After a moment, he received a notification that the text messages had been sent. It was done. Feeling refreshed, ■ threw his cell phone. It crash-landed in the schoolyard, shocking the students below. Some students’ faces turned white, probably because they just received his will. He hoped their lives would be ruined forever.

■ fell into the red desert, thinking that a fall was just a failed attempt to fly.

“My name is the Goddess of Protection.”

And then he came here.

“I have many abilities. Idol, Sympathy, Prayer, Sacrifice, Salvation. If you borrow my power, you can do anything, become anything. What do you want to become, Hero?”

Kim ■ remembered the day he had fallen into another world. A dazzlingly beautiful woman smiled at him.

***

When I opened my eyes, I heard a voice inside my head.

[You have entered the fiftieth floor using the unauthorized route.]

[The Indoor Librarian’s blessings have been removed.]

[Beginner protection measures have been suspended.]

[Beginner privileges have been suspended.]

I smiled bitterly. That is one bone-chilling warning.

I looked around. The first thing I noticed was the spires soaring into the sky. Five rickety towers stood in the distance, like a giant’s fingers reaching into the sky. It was strange that they didn’t collapse right away.

—Wow, man. It’s been forever since I’ve been here. I think it’s been over one hundred and fifty years at least.

Fortunately, I had a guide by my side—Sword Emperor. The Guardian had once climbed up to the ninety-ninth floor of the Tower, so of course he had also been on the fiftieth floor.

—I see that nothing has changed.

The Guardian looked around the fiftieth floor with disgust rather than nostalgia.

“What are those towers?”

—They make up the Magic Tower. Some guys have confined themselves there for over a thousand years. Instead of climbing the Tower, they decided to just settle down on the fiftieth floor...

A thousand years...

—Anyway, don’t get close to them. If possible, don’t even look at them.

“Why is that?”

—If you look at it for more than twenty-three seconds, you will trigger their sensor. In the world they live in, twenty-three has the same meaning as eighteen[1] in your country, Zombie. The alarm system acts as if it’s asking, “What are you looking at, you dimwit?” Damn, isn’t this a great display of their messed-up personality?

I quickly looked away from the Magic Tower. An alarm system that was triggered just by looking at it for more than a certain period of time!

—Ah. right. They originally had six towers, but I knocked down one of them. They’ll probably be thrilled if they find out I came back as a ghost. They’ll also issue a general mobilization order and chase you all the way to hell, so try not to make your visit known.

“...Now I see you’re a troll, not a guide. Shit, I should have known that it would be like this.”

[Void Poison has begun to erode you.]

[Your erosion level is 1.]

“What is this Void Poison? I’m getting messages that it’s eroding me right now.”

The Guardian shrugged as if it was no big deal.

—Oh, yeah. There was that too. Man, I really feel like I’m back at the Tower now. It’s just a type of poison spread throughout the fiftieth floor. Who spread it? There was a guy who was in charge of managing the fiftieth floor, but he played favorites with some Hunters a little too much. Then, something like the Prajna Liberation War broke out and he got killed, or so I heard.

“So?”

—When he died, he just couldn’t be cool with it, so he cursed the world. That curse turned into poison that lingers on this floor.

I blinked. “Uh, that’s totally...”

—Yeah, you remember the zombie virus spread by the Constellation in gangho, right? You can think of this as an enhanced version of that virus.

Dumbfounded, I asked, “There is something as poisonous as that in the air, but people still live here? For over a thousand years? Are they crazy?”

—Yup, totally. But they’ve made it this far, so they have some basic proficiency in aura, magic, Skills, or Constellations’ blessings. Speaking of which, what are you doing, Zombie? Use your aura to protect yourself. Come on.

At the Guardian’s suggestion, I drew up my red aura and covered myself, taking extra precautions to not breathe in any of that poison. Only after I had a moment of relaxation did I look back at the Guardian. “What happens if I don’t protect myself?”

—Uh...

The Guardian was unusually hesitant. He frowned, looking like he was having trouble choosing the right words.

—You transform into something very unique, and your mental state becomes very unusual...

Screeeeeeeeeeee!

—Ah, good. Here’s your example.

I looked back. A monster resembling a toad was crouching there.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

However, the problem was that none of the toads I knew had thirty-six legs or shark teeth. It also seemed to weigh about two tons, too.

“What’s wrong with that guy?!”

—Well, it was probably a human at some point, just like you. A person who ate, pooped, and sometimes talked nonsense... roughly twenty years ago, the Guardian answered leisurely.

The two-ton toad monster leaped high in the air, very clearly heading straight for me. I freaked out and ran away, focusing my aura on my feet.

Baaaaaaaaam!

The earth shook. Considering that a supposedly adorable toad was the source of that noise, it was a little too loud. The ground sank, as if a small meteorite had fallen.

“What the hell...” I took out the holy sword and used the Demonic Heaven Arts.

Slash!

The blow infused with my red aura landed right on the toad monster’s waist, cutting it in half.

Did I kill it?

—Ah, the Guardian cut in. Sorry, Kim Zombie. I didn’t get to warn you, but from the fiftieth floor onward, it’s literally pandemonium. If you make use what you have learned so far, you’ll get fucked a lot of times.

“What are you trying to say?”

Something arose from the cross sections of the toad monster—legs that resembled tentacles. In an instant, dozens of them crawled out, and the toad monster stood tall again.

Screeeee!

Raaargh!

However, there were not one, but two toads this time.

—Yeah, something like that.

“What the fuck?!”

—If you feel like chickening out, keep looking at the Magic Tower for more than twenty-three seconds. If you do that, they will start talking to you. Ask for their help when they quiz you “What are you looking at? Who the hell are you?” and wizards on brooms will come and rescue you. How does that sound? They seem kind, right?

Unless my imagination was playing tricks on me, it seemed that the Guardian had been grinning for a while. This meant that there was a very high chance that he was making fun of me. In other words...

“What do they get in return for saving me?”

—Maaaan. You’re sharp. Am I that obvious? Your next twelve years will be mortgaged, and they’ll suck your soul dry. Zombie, since you have a Class SSS Skill, they’ll love you. Isn’t that great? I envy you!

Fuck...

“Hey, y-you over there!”

“Run! Hurry!”

“This way! This way! Come on!”

I heard urgent shouts from behind. When I looked behind me, I saw three old men wearing shabby cloaks gesturing to me. They looked like homeless people with their cloaks covered in stains, but their eyes had a mysterious wisdom behind them. Their offers to help sounded so sincere that I almost turned toward them without realizing it.

—Hehehe.

However, the Guardian’s grin bothered me too much to actually run to them. I instinctively stopped and unleashed my aura to attack them.

“This way!”

“Come this way!”

“Hurry!”

As soon as my attack landed, my jaw dropped to the ground. Something soared from the ground where the old men were standing. It was something that looked somewhat like a hedgehog...

“Hey, y-you over there!”

“Run! Hurry!”

“Come his way!”

Instead of thorns, there were three old men on the back of this apparent hedgehog.

“The hell...”

In short, those weren’t actually living old men. They were just mimicries of the hedgehog monster’s shell. It probably did this to eat the people whom the old men lured toward it.

—Nice job, Kim Zombie. You’re naive, but you do know how to use your brain when it matters most. If you have common sense, there is no way old people would help you in this kind of place without any reason, right?

Screeeeee!

“This way!”

Screeeeee!

“Run! Hurry!”

The toad monsters and the hedgehog monster both charged at me. Dozens of tentacles were writhing on the toad monsters’ skin, and the three old men on the hedgehog monster’s back spoke over each other. Just watching this messed my head. @@novelbin@@

“Is everyone like this here?!”

—There are exceptions, but this is the general vibe. Welcome to the Demonic Realm where cosmic fears dance all around, Zomsparrow. Now do you see how normal and sensible of a Hunter I am?

“Now isn’t the time to say that... !”

An exception the Guardian mentioned soon came into view. However, I wasn’t sure whether this was a good thing or not.

—Duck, stranger. You might get slashed too.

I heard a voice right in my head via Aura Telepathy. I quickly lowered my head like I was told, and right at that moment, a terrifying sword slashed overhead.

Slashhhh!

The two toad monsters were both cut into pieces. I remembered the eerie sight of the toad monster regenerating a little while ago, so I shouted, “No, even if you cut them, they’ll regenerate and multiply...!”

I stopped shouting because the toad monsters didn’t move at all. In other words, they were dead.

What? Does the monster just only multiply once?

—No, that’s not it~ They can multiply endlessly.

Then why did they die?

The Guardian hummed.

—So...

Before the Guardian could explain, someone else did it for him. “To kill a Half-Split Death, you have to split it exactly in half, as the name suggests.”

It was the man who had sent the telepathic message.

Stunned, I looked at the monsters again. He was right. The toad monsters were split exactly in two, and for some reason, that killed them.

“Next.” The man immediately swung his sword at the hedgehog monster.

Boom...!

Every time he struck the monster, an explosion erupted. Despite the formidable amount of aura the attack carried, the hedgehog monster tanked it without a big problem.

I watched the fight intently.

It’s like Lady Goldencup under a blessing...!

However, the man continued to throw aura slashes at the hedgehog monster, which charged in as if it wasn’t taking any damage.

“This way!”

The cry of the old man on the left of the hedgehog’s back was drowned out by the sound of an explosion.

Boom...!

“Come this way!”

Next, the muffled shout of the man on the right could be heard.

Boom...!

“Hurry!”

This time, it was the old man in the middle speaking. Every time the man’s slashes drowned out the old men’s cries, a part of the hedgehog crumbled like sand.

Boom...!

“The true nature of a Screamer lies in its screams, so you have to smother them with something louder than that to kill it.”

Two types of monsters were taken care of in the blink of an eye.

The man had an extensive knowledge of his prey and a peerless level of martial prowess to be able to put this knowledge into practice. I looked at him blankly.

He’s a Hunter...

The Guardian grumbled.

—Ha. Look at that scumbag. He doesn’t even age.

The Hunter was the silver-haired young man I had seen in Shiny’s trauma.

“Lefanta Aegim...” I murmured.

Lefanta Aegim, the Constellation Murderer, tilted his head in confusion as he sheathed his sword. His bright blue eyes, like newborn stars, were on me. “Do you know me?”

1. The Guardian is talking about how similar 씨발(sibal), which means fuck, and eighteen(sibpal) sound in Korean ☜