SSS-Class Revival Hunter

Chapter 161: The Cave’s Fire (1)

The cave was cold. The goblins sniffed, the mine’s cold vapor clinging to their skin. All of them, roughly a thousand in number, were silent.

“A great warrior died in a sword fight today,” someone finally whispered. “The warrior’s name was Gyari, ker. She was the daughter of Gorhe and Orogan, the warrior chief of the White Mane tribe. She was also a descendant of Gorgir, the great warrior who inherited the marking from the White Lion.”

The speaker didn’t reveal their figure, choosing to remain hidden in the crowd. Leaning against the shadows of their kin and the cave, this goblin held a small speech, despite the lack of a podium.

“She was always prickly, keruk.”

“Since she was a little girl, she beat up other people, but she got herself beaten to death.”

Because it wasn’t really a speech, the goblins chimed in freely, constantly interrupting each other in the dark mine. The fragmented words formed sentences, stringing together the fallen gladiator’s life.

“Gyari didn’t remember who she hit.”

“But she never forgot who hit her, kerrr.”

“She was a girl full of spite. I remember when she was young, Gorhe tried to give her a marking, but she just shook her head and said she would draw it on her own. She actually drew one by looking at others’ markings.”

“Ker, Gyari was always the one who shook her head.”

A thousand people’s short stories made up Gyari’s life story.

This is a funeral.

Gyary was the name of the goblin who died in today’s colosseum match. People who knew her or who had talked with her at least once had gathered to commemorate her.

“For Gyari, shaking her head at someone was the same as slashing at the world.”

“She thought they were the same thing, keruk.”

“That is probably why she became a gladiator.”

The bonfire flames flickered. Thanks to the wavering shadows on the wall, the goblins were indistinguishable—they were one.

Whispering continued among the shadows.

“Thirty-six of our kin died under Gyari’s sword.”

“She was a cruel child.”

“When the Shellmounts gave her the brand of sword slave, Gyari laughed. Kerr, kerrr. She thought it was a great title.”

“She was a scary child.”

“Although she found happiness in swinging the sword, the only battlefield she was allowed to was the colosseum, where she could only fight her own people. Goreuk, how unfortunate that she had to kill her own people.”

“Kerrrreuk.”

“It’s difficult to understand what she went through.”

“She was an unfortunate child.”

“Is Gyari our kin?”

The bonfire flickered. The shadows brought forth multiple answers.

“Gor.”

“Gyari drew markings and sketches. She loved mud and missed the rain.”

“Gyari is us.”

“Gyari will return to Goru,” an old goblin said.

I was familiar with that word. As I watched the goblins’ funeral with anger brewing in my chest, I heard a voice from the Tower.

[You have witnessed Terras’ Goru Doctrine.]

Goru Doctrine

Category: Religion—White Lion Faith.

Origin: Kinship (C)

Description: Goru is the homeland of Terras, the first village founded after the end of the Golden Age, and the country of Terras.

It’s the place where warm streams flow with soft mud. Goru is the land where the White Lion was last seen.

Terras do not separate this world and the afterworld. They only distinguish Goru from the rest of the world. What Terras want from life is rain, mud, plenty of fish, and a comfortable place to sleep. All of the above can be found in this world. Terras find no reason to believe in the afterlife.

They just want to return to Goru, their home.

※As time passes, memories of Goru will become blurry.

※If Terras are left as they are, Goru will turn into an abstract concept and they will forget it was ever a real place.

※It has been a long time since Terras lost Goru! There is a possibility that the Goru Doctrine may change into a doctrine that believes in the afterlife!

I stared blankly at the description window, finding some of the words difficult to understand, but I managed to grasp the overall message. My heart prickled. “I didn’t really give it much thought when I came up with Goru. It became very significant to them.”

I experienced a feeling I had never felt before. It was really strange. I was proud that the goblins had grown up on their own without me, but I was afraid that a single word I had said without any thought had become very meaningful to them. They had been clinging onto my legacy as a white lion. That scared me.

I was worried for them.

“This is what it feels like to see your children grow up.”

Until now, I had never imagined becoming a parent. However, whether I intended for this to happen or not, I ended up becoming a father figure to Terras.

—Is that so? I’m not sure how it feels. I never had a child.

The Guardian just shrugged, but my mind was in turbulence.

“Keruk.”

An old goblin walked toward the bonfire in the middle of the mine cave. The Terras who had been putting together pieces of Gyari’s life fell silent. The old goblin waited until everyone was quiet before putting his hands into the bonfire.

“Huh? Wait a minute. Is he trying to set himself on fire to die?”

—No, look carefully, Zombie. His hands aren’t burning. That guy knows how to use aura.

“What?”

—He’s an aura user. His hands are covered in aura.

The Guardian was right. It was hard to see because the fire obscured the view, but a red aura was visible, though a bit faint, around the goblin’s wrinkled hands.

The old goblin buried his hands in the fire.

Whooosh!

The fire soared, and flames swirled around like mad. With a blank expression, the old goblin used his aura to touch the fire. When he did, flames rose like an ascending dragon, swirled like a whirlpool, and expanded like a flower in full bloom.

The other goblins calmly watched the ever-changing flames in silence, like spectators at a play.

Swish, swoosh!

The cave was huge, but the ceiling was pitch black. Only the fire shone vibrantly, drawing everyone’s attention.

Ah, he’s drawing.

I finally understood that the old man was drawing with fire. The flames flared in different shapes, splitting in two like a wide-open maw, soaring high, all the way to the ceiling.

▲.

This was the symbol for anger. The top of the branching flames hit the ceiling and scattered embers, which fell like flower petals. Slowly, the flames died down, swallowed by the dark cave, leaving behind only darkness.

▼.

This was the symbol for sadness. Flames continued to fly from the bonfire. Little by little, the fire split in five, the same number as the goblin’s five fingers. But the tentacles of fire couldn’t reach the ceiling nor the embers falling from above.

Between the embers falling from the ceiling and the fire rising from the ground, there was a gap.

▼

▲.

This was the funeral held for Gyari. The goblins cried in silence. Anyone who watched the fire knew its meaning. This was their writing system. Even the slightest flicker of the fire that faded away helplessly had a clear meaning to Terras.

The old man let the fire ablaze.

[You witnessed the Terras’ Cavefire.]

Cavefire

Category: Art.

Origin: Primordial Fashionista (E)

Description: Cavefire is an art unique to Terras. After being conquered by Shellmounts and brought to Slimepolis, it became difficult for Terras to obtain mud, so they had no way to write.

“We have to draw. We want to draw.”

However, Terras’ aesthetic sense did not fade away. Instead, they burned with the desire to write. Terras have chosen fire as a substitute for mud. It’s difficult to make out the drawings in a dark mine cave, but when they use fire, the cave’s darkness turns into a giant canvas.

Terras have accepted and adapted to their new life.

“It’s beautiful, gor.”

This species has become fascinated with the art of fire, which they practice in caves. Terras named this Cavefire. With it, they create Cave Paintings. Occasionally, it’s called Blood Painting or Bloodfire, comparing fire to blood.[1]

Fire burns before disappearing, leaving behind no trace. Therefore, it’s a good way to avoid leaving behind proof that the Shellmounts can discover.

The rule is to not make any noise when watching Cavefire so as to not get discovered by Shellmounts.

May luck be with the goblins and their silent fire.

※Only aura users can demonstrate Cavefire.

※Among Terras, very few know how to use aura! Only the high priest uses red aura. If he dies without leaving a successor, the art of Cavefire will decline.

The old goblin waved his hand in the fire.

Swoosh... whoosh... whoosh...

The fire that had been burning fiercely died out little by little. No more flames crushed themselves into the ceiling or howled from the firewood. They quietly subsided and died out without leaving behind a single trace.

●. Night had dawned upon the cave. When the bonfire went out, it enveloped everything in complete darkness. No light was left. The last drawing before the fire was extinguished was ●, representing the dark cave. Upon seeing it, the goblins sobbed.

“Gor...”

No one lit a torch. The goblins accepted that it was ● now. Even though no one ordered them to go back, they left on their own to sleep, making their way back into the tunnels they had come from. They couldn’t see anything because of the ●, but they could still use their sense of smell.

Following their kin’ scents, the goblins returned home in groups. The Terras with the best noses took the lead, and the other goblins followed, holding their hand or their shoulders.

The Guardian and I were left alone with the old high priest goblin at the underground temple in the underground world.

“Ker... Kerrr...”

The old goblin sat on the floor, probably because his strength had waned. This seemed to be his home. Before the goblins left the cave, they left behind a few fish, so the old goblin sat down and ate them.

I stared at him. Here, at this makeshift temple, the children of the earth held funerals and commemorated their kin. I hadn’t taught them about funerals or about how to accept death. What I had taught them was to mark themselves with mud to cover up their bad smell and six symbols to express the world around them. That was it.

Even so, Terras built a temple and found fire on their own.

“I may be some sort of parent for these guys...” I muttered. “But these children aren’t mine.”

They didn’t grow up as I thought they would. They found their way on their own and learned how to accept death. I was proud of them.

“Kerrr...”

I left the old priest behind and went back up to the underground city.

Now I know what to do for them.

What they needed was support and encouragement, not salvation and concern.

My colleagues were back at the huge pillar the Shellmounts had built. It looked like they had all seen how their species had been doing, just like me. The Black Witch looked down at the ground, and the Viper had his arms crossed with a frown.

The Inquisitor waved me over. “Ah, you’re here, Mr. Death King! You’re the last one! Have you made up your mind?”

I nodded. “Yes. I can’t surrender to you. I won’t let the children I looked after lose their writing system or forget their homeland.”

“Aha. Then?”

“I’ll help Terras escape your underground civilization, Inquisitor,” I said. “And I’ll eliminate you from the competition.”

The Inquisitor smiled. “Hahaha. I knew you would say that. Just as expected! Okay, I’ll risk my Shellmounts. Your stake will be Terras. Let’s wage war at the cost of each other’s species!”

That was our declaration of war.

1. It’s the wordplay on how the Korean pronunciations are similar to each other. Cave(穴: 혈) and blood(血: 혈). Drawing(畫: 화) and fire(火: 화). ☜