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SSS-CLASS HUNTER WHO DIES TO LIVE

Chapter 164: Rain, Mud and Fire (1)

Young members of the Earth Spirit Tribe didn't know what ‘rain’ was.

Only the aged ones, the grandmothers, knew of ‘rain.’ Sometimes, the old Earth Spirits would gather around the campfire and murmur.

-Rain is water that falls from the black sky.

An elderly Earth Spirit drew a picture with charcoal on their nails.

●. It represented the night. Darkness. Since the Earth Spirit Tribe became slaves to the Mountain Calamity Tribe and started living here in the Great Hollow, it became the most familiar character.

-When rain falls, the whole world fills with moisture. You can feel the dampness everywhere without going to a stream or a well.

-All the dry land quickly turns to mush. Becoming mud. When it rains, just walking on the ground gives a pleasant sensation under your toes.

The elders drew ‘●~’ on the ground while narrating.

Rain falling from the dark night sky.

-Goruk.

It sounded like a dream.

Water overturning the sky, mud filling the land.

In the Great Hollow, water and mud were hard to come by. Water was only allowed to be fetched twice a day. The land of the Great Hollow, made of gravel and sand, made it difficult to create mud, no matter how much water was mixed.

-Sometimes, water drips from the cave ceiling, right?

An old Earth Spirit whispered.

-That is rain.

-But the ceiling doesn’t drop enough water to fill the cave?

-It's because the holes in the ceiling are too narrow. Ker. The outside world is different.

-Is there a world outside too?

-This place is a pit. A small pit. A well. Once you leave the cave, the world is so vast, this place is barely a handful in comparison.

-Kerrr. Sounds like a lie.

To the young Earth Spirit, the Great Hollow was the world. The ceiling of the Great Hollow was high, and the depths were profound. It seemed endless no matter how much they dug. Could such a Great Hollow be merely a well?

It was indeed an unbelievable story.

-Someday, the White Lion will return. Gor.

-Once, this world was covered in trees from heaven to earth. We lived in the World Forest. But the wrath of gods struck, and the World Forest went up in flames. The fire never ceased. For 10 days the fire grew, and for 100 days, it burned as it grew. Then the White Lion guided us.

-The White Lion will return and save us from this well.

-Kekkerkeker.

As time passed, the old Earth Spirits died.

All who remembered ‘Guru’ fell.

Now, not even the oldest knew of rain. Occasionally, Earth Spirits who had immersed their noses in overflowing mud appeared, but it was a luxury awarded for risking their lives in the Colosseum. It was not because the ‘rain’ had fallen from the sky.

-Kerkke.

Rain.

-Kerruk.

Mud.

Looking at two jars of water fetched from the stream, the Earth Spirits yearned for rain. Smearing mud, created by mixing water with sand, onto their skin, they nurtured a longing for mud.

Somewhere else, not here.

Another life, not now.

-Guru.

Our homeland.

2.

Limepolis.

Shouts erupted throughout the city, where the Mountain Calamity Tribe had established a dark civilization.

[The Vampire Tribe rebels against the Mountain Calamity Tribe!]

[The Gill Fishes Race rebels against the Mountain Calamity Tribe!]
[The Ghost Tribe rebels against the Mountain Calamity Tribe!]

[The Fairy Tribe rebels against the Mountain Calamity Tribe!]

[The Pure Humans Race rebels against the Mountain Calamity Tribe!]

Each shout, weak on its own, couldn't overpower the trumpeting of the Mountain Calamity Tribe. But it was only a matter of time. Shouts from five locations, engulfing the city, began to surround it.

“Kiiuu.”

The Black Dragon Witch’s divine beast. The Black Swan flapped its wings. I couldn’t understand bird calls, but somehow, I comprehended her message.

‘I’ve come to help, King of Death.’

I nodded my head.

‘With the Black Dragon Witch’s help, the battle will be easier.’

I had collaborated with the Black Dragon Witch several times.

Although she might not remember, during the subjugation of the [Demon King of the Autumn Rain], I became familiar with her combat style over hundreds of repetitions. No hunter could withstand the two of us working in combination.

“Grrruk!”

I roared and charged at the hunting dog. Fwoosh! The Demonic Heavenly God Art erupted, setting the surroundings ablaze. As flames enveloped us from all directions, the hunting dog used its Holy Technique to evade.

‘Now's the time!’

But the Heretic Inquisitor was not the only hunter capable of spatial teleportation. Flash! The Black Dragon Witch immediately followed him to the place where he had escaped. Driven back by my attack, the Heretic Inquisitor had no chance to watch his rear, and the Black Dragon Witch did not miss the opening.

Crack!

The Black Swan’s sharp talons scratched the hunting dog’s golden fur.

“Kar-!”

The hunting dog bled and screamed. It twisted its neck to bite the Black Swan’s wings. The Black Swan and hunting dog tumbled in the mud, entangled.

This time I saw an opening.

‘Switching offense and defense.’

I leaped and pounced on the hunting dog’s waist. My jaws sunk deep into its tough golden fur. Blood flowed from my mouth, and simultaneously, a scream erupted from the hunting dog.

One-sided domination.

The Earth Spirits cheered as the hunting dog was wounded.

-Kekkerkeker!

-The White Lion defeats the Golden Dog!

-To Guru! Let’s return to our homeland!

As the hunting dog's wounds multiplied, the Earth Spirit Tribe grew more triumphant. The Mountain Calamity Tribe, in contrast, panicked. They had responded swiftly even to the large-scale slave rebellion, but the sight of their divine beast being wounded left them unable to think straight.

[The mining area of Limepolis is liberated.]

The Earth Spirits gradually drove the Mountain Calamity Tribe back.

-When will reinforcements arrive! Lime!

-Everywhere else, slaves are causing disturbances too...

-The horned ones are causing havoc! Laymu! We need support!

-At the docks, the fish are in an uproar!

-Reinforcements are out of the question. It's critical here too!

-Request aid from other Polises...

-How can we request reinforcements when the waterways are blocked! The bat brats have gone crazy too!

The snails desperately resisted.

But the slaves who had placed the snails' civilization on solid foundations now seized their tentacles. The Earth Spirit Tribe on the land roads, the Gill Fishes in the waterways, the Vampires in the air, and the Ghosts, Fairies, and Pure Humans in the streets.

Wherever the snails had enslaved others, flames erupted.

[The entertainment district of Limepolis is liberated.]

[The temple district of Limepolis is liberated.]

The enslaved races, unable to communicate with each other, had never united under the Mountain Calamity Tribe's tentacles. The six races each had their own language. But gods and humans were the same in not understanding each other's words. A revelation far more powerful than words, divine beasts led the races. While the Black Dragon Witch and I cornered the Heretic Inquisitor, other allies stirred up Limepolis as they pleased.

The Mountain Calamity Tribe was losing control of the city.

[The gate district of Limepolis is liberated.]

[The barracks district of Limepolis is liberated.]

The tide turned.

The rebellion that started in the mining district soon spread to the dock area.

Mermaids splashed in the river that connected the inside and outside of the cave. They were fish slaves of the Gill Fishes Race. Breaking the ropes around their necks, the mermaids sunk the ships.

-These! Lowly fish dare!

A Mountain Calamity Tribe overseer raised a tentacle high and brought it down. Slap! A mermaid screamed under the lash and fell beneath the surface. But the overseer was hopelessly outnumbered. Dozens of mermaids held the bottom of the galley and swam, rocking it back and forth.

-Aaah!

The snails slipped off the decks. Splash! The fallen snail was surrounded by mermaids in the water.

-Stay away! Stay away! The fish, aah! Aaah!

Twenty mermaids each took one bite out of the snail, like a school of sharks hunting a penguin. The snail thrashed its tentacles, but it could not drive the mermaids away underwater. Soon, only an empty snail shell remained on the surface.

[The dock district of Limepolis is liberated.]

Crack!

The galleys moored at the vast dock sank. The sacks of salt aboard them went down as well. The pieces of rock salt the Earth Spirit Tribe had spent all night carefully chipping dissolved without a trace as soon as they fell into the river.

The hunting dog watched this scene from the corner of its eye.

"......"

Dozens of galleons collapsed. Amidst the wreckage, a pink dolphin leaped up. It was the divine beast possessed by the Paladin. Whoosh! The dolphin elegantly dived back under the water.

The Gill Fishes cheered and splashed water with their tails.

[Limepolis falls to the rebels.]

The hunting dog opened its mouth.

“Karr.”

Perhaps the Heretic Inquisitor laughed, Ahahah.

The underground world he had built over two hundred years was sinking.

“Karruk, Karr.”

The hunting dog stepped back. Drip. With each step, sticky blood trailed. Its beautiful golden fur, already torn by the lion's teeth and the black swan's talons, was bloody.

The same was true for the Mountain Calamity Tribe.

-Lime...

-Lime...

Snails, scared, hid behind the hunting dog. Their shells were indented by the Earth Spirits' stone hammers. Many had their tentacles or feelers cut off.

Snails from all over the city fled towards the hunting dog.

-Grruk.

Naturally, the slave races that drove them there also gathered.

A blood-soaked Ghost Tribe member shouted fiercely.

-Kill those bastards!

-Pay them back for what they did to us!

The Ghost Tribe, resembling dokkaebis, had a single horn on their foreheads. Originally standing tall like a unicorn's, these horns were now broken midway.

A mark of slavery.

The snails broke the horns of the Ghost Tribe, crushing their pride and dignity. A price was paid. Where pride was broken, resentment grew like mold, and where dignity was shattered, poisonous mushrooms of hatred sprouted.

-Fucking bastards...

The same went for other races.

-They fed us dirt, laughing.

-Throw them in the pit and pour salt on them!

The Pure Humans Race growled.

-They captured our children, put them in wells, and called them 'fish tanks.'

-Throw them in the Colosseum and make them fight each other!

The Gill Fishes shouted from the waterside. Curses rippled across the dark water.

-They grabbed our long ears and tore them out.

-Stuff their mouths with their broken feelers.

The Fairy Tribe spoke.

-Blood...

-......

The Vampires hung from the cave and the buildings, silently looking down at the Mountain Calamity Tribe. They said little. They merely flew in from somewhere carrying pieces of animal carcasses and dropped them one after another. They were the heads of the dogs the snails held sacred.

Each of the six races, speaking their own languages, couldn't share their anger. But they knew enough of the Mountain Calamity Tribe's language. Forced to learn their master's language, they understood.

-Kill.

Someone whispered in the Mountain Calamity Tribe's language.

-Kill.

That single word was known to every race. It was always what the snails said to their slaves. The moan that first leaked from the Ghost Tribe quickly became a universal language, echoing throughout the cave.

-Kill!

The Mountain Calamity Tribe trembled with fear.

-Kill! Kill! Kill!

Finally, for the first time since their enslavement, the six races shared a sentiment. Its name was rage.

Everyone was soaked in blood.

And they wanted more.

"......"

I looked around at the snails cornered at the dock.

‘It would be easy to order their massacre.’

Likewise, preventing the massacre would also be simple.

Right now, to the Earth Spirits, I was almost a god. A god's command is absolute. Whether it's massacre or mercy, the Earth Spirits would obey.

‘But, this isn't something for me to command.’

I turned around.

‘You choose.’

And slowly walked towards the exit of the Great Hollow.

-Ker?

-Kekkerker...?

Confused noises from the Earth Spirits echoed behind me.

I didn’t stop. Walking slowly enough for them to follow, yet fast enough to bid farewell. The Ghost Tribe hesitantly made way.

-.......

-.......

Silence flowed among the Earth Spirits. Like followers facing a cryptic oracle, they looked at each other’s faces. As my footsteps grew distant, someone took a step.

-Goruk.

Their direction wasn’t towards the gathered Mountain Calamity Tribe at the dock but towards me.

Dozens of Earth Spirits who had directly received my oracle followed me first.

Then came the young ones. The children preferred chasing their first-seen god over avenging their race.

-Kerr...

-Kekerkker.

As a child followed, the mother chased after.

As the chief followed, other Earth Spirits moved one by one.

The sound of stone hammers dropping echoed here and there. Casting aside the evidence of their slavery, the Earth Spirits followed the lion they revered as a god.

‘Right.’

In the dark underground world, a procession of thousands followed me.

‘Follow if you want.’

We walked towards the only entrance leading outside from the underground city.

No one stopped us.

As I stepped into the bright light at the entrance, the Tower's voice reached me.

[The Earth Spirits start escaping Limepolis.]

Let's go home now.

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