SSS-Class Revival Hunter

Chapter 154: Shine (3)

Of course, I was the only one who had my eyes on Terras, also known as goblins. My other colleagues had various reactions as they looked through the list.

“After all, dragons are the best species. These guys, the Subdracons, would certainly be the best choice.”

“Look at the illustration. They just look like wyverns. Do they even know how to speak?”

“There are so many intelligent species...”

“Oh, I see. Whoa...”

The Countess was fervently going through the list as if she was choosing the freshest apples at an open market. Meanwhile, the Black Witch had her eyebrows narrowed as if slightly fed up with all this.

The Inquisitor’s eyes sparkled. “Princess, I have a question!”

“I like students who don’t hesitate to ask me questions. It gives me a chance to show off for free. Inquisy, I’ll gladly answer your question just so I can show off.”

“Are we going to pick the species together?”

The Mirage-Walking Princess buried her face in the pillow and laughed. “Good question. That’s your choice too.”

“Oh, what do you mean it’s our choice?”

“I’m going to give you, the top seven Hunters, gifts.”

[The Mirage-Walking Princess has handed out your starting subsidies.]

[700 species points in total will be distributed among the top seven Hunters!]

[You now have 100 species points.]

I had never received a reward like this before the regression. As the princess said, this was the privilege given only to the top seven Hunters. In the past, when I didn’t even have a title, it was something I couldn’t even dream of getting.

“Now, Swordy has to choose since he’s Rank 1!”

This bonus would technically be distributed to seven of us. We didn’t have it yet.

“A total of ten disasters will befall you from the thirty-first to the fortieth floor. All of them are terrible! Your primary goal is to survive and make your civilization prosper. Well, it depends on Swordy’s choice... Do you want to go all in? Or do you want to make diversified investments?”

The Sword Star frowned. “Go all in? What do you mean?”

The princess smiled. “I mean it literally. You can pick just one species and spend all seven hundred points on that one. Or the top seven Hunters can each choose a species. In this case, you’ll start with one hundred points each. If you spend points on getting just one species, it’ll give you a head start, but it’s also more risky. If it goes extinct, all of you will fail the stages. On the other hand...”

“If we each choose a species, the risk won’t be so high. Even if one species becomes extinct, the remaining six will still live on.”

“Yup! I like that you guys catch on quickly.”

The Sword Star stroked his chin and narrowed his eyes. In the past, the Fire Emperor, the Rank 1 Hunter at the time, had chosen to go all in without a second thought. He controlled the elves as he pleased, completely ignoring the opinions of the other Hunters and guild leaders. But the Sword Star was different. He was sophisticated.

“Evolution is the art of diversity and chance. The environmental changes that a species has to go through can be anything. To survive in a cruel world, species diversity should be secured first. I don’t know how great an asset seven hundred points is, but it’s hard to see it being worth more than choosing seven different species.”

The princess looked amused.

“We will choose to make a distributed investment, Princess,” the Sword Star said.

“Really? If you select seven species, you’ll compete against each other. One person may betray all of you.”

“In the larger sense, conflict is part of competition. Those who have no rivals will most likely fall behind eventually,” the Sword Star said calmly.

The old gentleman glanced back at me. No words were exchanged, but we could see in each other’s eyes that we were thinking of the sparring we had not too long ago. I nodded at him.

The Sword Star nodded back. “I’ll say it again. Our Tower will choose to make distributed investments.”

“Okay!”

[The Mirage-Walking Princess welcomes your choice.]

The princess took a seat on a nearby cafe chair. “Then please take turns choosing the species you will rule over! By the way, guys, multiple choices aren’t allowed, and the person after you can’t select a species that someone else already took.”

Hamustra quickly served her coffee smoothie. While taking a sip of the smoothie filled with chocolate chips, the princess winked at us. “You can take one hundred and twenty years to make your decision. There is no particular time limit on species selection either.”

It was really unnecessary to ponder on the decision for that long.

The Sword Star chose his species first. “I will choose Purens.”

“Oh...”

Other Hunters sighed. Purens were humans like us. The species had no unique characteristics, but we knew it very well. It seemed quite a few Hunters had their eye on Purens.

“Well, it’s a safe choice. What will you choose, Death King?” the princess asked after turning in my direction.

My colleagues also turned to me, looking forward to my choice.

The Guardian was the only one who covered his face in frustration.

—Zombie... Pick zombies instead... Zombies are better... Wait, what about elves? Those guys have good potential. They look cool, have a long lifespan, and a lot of mana. Let’s go with elves. Elves!

I solemnly said, “I’ll choose Terras.”

—Ah! You nuthead! AAAAAAH!!! You and your screws!!!

The Guardian rolled around in the air.

Meanwhile, my fellow Hunters had confused looks on their faces. On their behalf, the Black Witch asked, “Terras? What are those?”

“If you look at the list, they’re number 103.”

“Uh.... Number 103? Does such a number even exist...”

Each colleague scrolled down the list. After a few seconds, silence enveloped the room.

“Huh?” The Black Witch rubbed her eyes, as if they were deceiving her.

But it was okay. She definitely see what I was seeing, and vice versa.

Terra

Extinction risk level: A

Motto: “Kerr! Gorrr!”

Description: A species whose every ability is at the lower end of a bell curve. Their intelligence is lower than that of Purens, their combat prowess is lower than that of Skians, and their magic power is lower than that of Bloodborns.

It’s amazing! No matter what species you choose to compare, you will always be able to find another one better than Terras!

No species finds Terras beautiful. All species, from Purens to Terras themselves, consider Terras to be ugly.

They’re ugly! Too ugly!

Traits: Species Discrimination Victim, Kinship, Maximum Greed

Evolved Form: Unidentified.

—Terras are capable of two evolutions. To unlock the next evolution, ten thousand species points are required.

Other Names: Goblin, etc.

A single illustration was next to the explanation, very obviously displaying a goblin.

“Uh, um... Death King?”

It was rare for the Black Witch to be at a loss for words like this.

“Yes?”

“Aren’t these goblins? It says so in the other name section.”

“That’s right. They’re goblins.”

She paused briefly before asking, “Are you out of your mind?”

“Haha.” I smiled, confidence written all over my face.

The Black Witch looked at me like I was crazy. It wasn’t just her, but everyone else reacted the same way.

After all, sparrows couldn’t know where a phoenix was headed.[1]

I prayed like a lonely saint. “Everyone, goblins, or Terras based on this list, are the greatest species in this universe.”

The Black Witch’s eyes became slightly plaintive. “Death King... You poor thing... I’m sorry. I’ve been giving you too much work lately, haven’t I? I will be more considerate from now on. I’ll cancel all interviews scheduled for this month.”

“You have to listen to me,” I continued, preaching about the greatness of goblins. “Look at the description. It says ‘No matter what species you choose to compare, you will always be able to find another species better than Terras!’”

“Yeah.”

“In other words, they’re capable of anything, even though their abilities are suboptimal. If a situation arises where intelligence or mana is required, they can deal with it without needing high intelligence or mana.”

“Uh...”

My colleagues became even more confused, wondering if it was really okay to interpret it that way.

“Aside from everything, don’t you feel bad for these guys? Look. It says in the description that all species consider goblins ugly. They’re laughingstocks for their ugliness. It hits very close to home...” I said, smiling sadly. “Everyone belittles and persecutes these guys, always wanting to drive them out. Doesn’t that sound like us, the Tower members?”

Nobody replied to my question, so I added, “That’s right. Goblins actually reflect us Hunters. We’re the ugly ones for belittling goblins, not them for simply existing. Ah, everyone, I’m sad. We all have an ugly goblin’s heart... A goblineart, one may say...”

My colleagues looked at me as if they were wondering if I finally lost it.

Without being swayed by their reaction, I concluded, “Goblins can shine. I’ll make sure to show it. This is their moment to shine. I’m a clairvoyant, remember? Do you not trust me?”

The Black Witch retreated after meeting my intense gaze. “Ah, okay. Okay, okay. Do whatever you want.”

For some reason, I felt like she wanted to avoid being around me as much as possible, but I was sure I was imagining it. My friendship with the Black Witch and I was strong, I was sure of it.

“Hahahaha!” The Mirage-Walking Princess was rolling on the floor, laughing. “Y-yeah. Okay, so your choice is goblins, Death King?”

“Yes. I choose them without a single stain on my heart.”

“Ahhhh, this is why you’re ador— No, no, nothing. Let’s move on.”

The Rank 1 to Rank 7 Hunters finally finished their species selection.

The Sword Star (Rank 1): Puren

—Commonly known name: Human.

The Death King (Rank 2): Terra

—Commonly known name: Goblin.

The Black Witch (Rank 3): Bloodborn

—Commonly known name: Vampire.

The Inquisitor (Rank 4): Shellmount

—Commonly known name: Snail.

The Countess (Rank 5): Sylvan

—Commonly known name: Elf.

The Viper (Rank 6): Skian.

—Commonly known name: Dokkaebi[2].

The Paladin (Rank 7): Fingill

—Commonly known name: Mermaid.

The Paladin had been Rank 9 for a while, but she quickly rose through the ranks and settled in Rank 7. She had gone through a lot while dismantling the African warlord band. Thanks to her efforts, she was able to participate in this stage.

“Okay, all of you have made your choice. Then, each person gets one hundred points...”

[The Mirage-Walking Princess has distributed the subsidies.]

[You have received 100 species points!]

[You now have 100 species points.]

“Now, shall we get started on the thirty-first floor?”

Whoosh!

The moment the princess put down the glass cup on the cafe table we were enveloped in light. A moment passed, and when I opened my eyes, I was in the sky above a primordial forest.

“This is...”

“This is the world where the species you chose live peacefully. Look down,” the princess instructed.

When I looked down, I saw small creatures moving around in the forest. Each species lived in tribes, and at first glance, the level of their lifestyles seemed primordial.

“Oh, Shellmounts live in swamps!”

“Interesting... Bloodborns live in caves.”

We watched the species like people visiting a museum. It was like we could see everything from an omniscient point of view. We zoomed in and out of the view as we wanted. We even went down to the tribes and walked around among them, but they didn’t notice us at all.

“Kerrr.”

“Kerrr, kerrr.”

The goblins kerred and butchered a giant centipede with stone knives. When a Terra removed and roasted the centipede’s leg, it strangely smelled like fried chicken.

“Kerr!”

The young goblins happily ate the roasted centipede legs.

Centipede chicken?

Could it be that giant centipedes were like chickens here? Then all the legs on the centipede were probably as delicious as chicken legs. If they hunted one centipede, the goblins could get their hands on the equivalent of dozens of chicken legs. What the heck, that was awesome. Maybe this world was a paradise.

“Goblins have a cute side.”

—Are you crazy? Oh, yeah, I forgot, you’ve always been crazy...

The Guardian clicked his tongue. We were mesmerized by the sight of these tiny primordial creatures living together.

Ruummmble.

Unfortunately, the peace didn’t last long. The high mountain in the middle of the primordial forest shook. That was when I realized it was no ordinary mountain, but a volcano. The creatures lived at the foot of the mountain, so they couldn’t see it. However, we were watching from a third-person perspective, so we could clearly see lava bubbling up from the volcano.

“Hmm?”

“Oh.”

“Isn’t that a bit dangerous?”

My colleagues were perplexed. Our instincts were telling us that the volcano was going to erupt soon enough. The lava would mercilessly wipe out all the species living in the forest. Unless we did something, all our species would become extinct.

“Then I’ll give you the first quest on the thirty-first floor!” the princess said. “This is the Great Ocean Forest of Origin where numerous species coexist. But as you can see, the volcano will erupt in a little while, destroying everything!”

A hologram window appeared before our eyes.

[The thirty-first floor quest has been given.]

The End of the Golden Age

Difficulty level: E

Goal: The golden age of all species has come to an end. A nearby volcano will erupt right next to the place where numerous tribes have made their home. Time is of the essence. You must lead the species you’re protecting to the right safe zone!

※If you fail to guide them, your species will become extinct.

Booooom!

Almost immediately after the quest was given, the first explosion erupted from the volcano. As the lava rose, the earth shook. Huge boulders shook, seemingly ready to tumble down at any moment.

The Black Witch said, “Wait a minute. They can’t see or hear us. How are we supposed to get them to a safe area? It’s impossible to talk to them!”

The princess smiled. “You’re right.”

Thuuuud!

The boulders flew across the sky and landed in the middle of the forest.

“Krrrrr?”

“Krrr! Krrr!”

Even the creatures sensed something was off. Some of them quickly climbed the trees and looked at the volcano, which was shaking and spitting out lava.

“But you guys are now their Guardian Constellations. From now on, take care of them yourselves!”

The thirty-first floor was now unlocked.

The goblins were panicking. They couldn’t see me, but I smiled at them.

Don’t worry, guys. From now on, I’ll carry you. [3]

1. The raw is 어찌 붕새의 뜻을 뱁새들이 알겠는가? It’s the idiom about how ordinary people can’t fathom what an extraordinary person is planning. ☜

2. Korean goblins. Image ☜

3. Like gamers say in multiplayer games. “I’ll carry [my team]” = I’ll lead my team to victory. ☜