SSS-Class Revival Hunter - Chapter 296

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 296: That Guy Is a Legend (1)

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Witness A.

First testimony.

“T-The Sword Emperor? He’s famous, of course…”

The mage boy, with his bangs covering half his face, stuttered.

“I personally saw the Sword Emperor bring down the sixth spire... It was incredible. The Sword Emperor merely swung a sword, and the tower, armored in layer after layer of every kind of magic, came rumbling down... Ah! That was probably the first and last time the Elder ever got so furious. Um... There were lots of people I couldn't stand in the Sixth Branch, and they all died, so it felt really good... Of course, the aftermath wiped out my entire line of masters and fellow disciples, blocked my path to promotion, and left me drifting through dead-end assignments until, decades later, I spent 131 years cleaning sewers. That part was fucking awful...”

Witness B.

Second testimony.

“...I don’t know why you're asking this.”

The librarian with an irritable gaze sighed.

“The Sword Constellation... commonly known as the Sword Emperor, is so famous that it would be strange not to know the name. The Sword Emperor was probably ten times as famous as the current Constellation Killer. In any case, no one else ever climbed beyond the 99th floor. Honestly, I think the Sword Emperor cleared the 100th floor... Huh? Why was a psychopath like that so famous? ...What are you talking about? Why have you looked like you swallowed shit this whole time?”

Witness C.

Third testimony.

-I never really wanted to be a constellation, you know.

The greatest scoundrel under heaven spouted off.

-I don’t know since when, but faith started gathering around me. And somehow, I ended up becoming a constellation. Well, that's a story for later. Anyway. The conclusion is that I’m an incredibly awesome guy. The true savior, you see, zombie. Even without trying, I’m worshiped as a god.

Since the witness is utterly useless, the above testimony is classified as bullshit.

“This world is rotten…!”

“Why have you been like this since a while ago? ...Ah, but you were also personally chosen by the Librarian. It's natural you have some quirks.”

The [Assistant Writer] muttered as I plunged into despair in real-time.

This is the hideout of the Hamusutra disciples.

After descending the underground cave for quite a while, we reached the secret hideout. There were no decent buildings or furniture. Just some mats laid on the cave floor and simple canned food stocked.

But simply arriving here seemed to put the believers at ease. They caused a commotion with cries of “Ah...,” “Thank goodness,” and “Thanks to you, Messenger, we made it back alive from that hell!”

“Thank you so much! Every one of us owes our life to you, Messenger!”

“Ahaha… You’re too kind.”

Normally, I would have calmly accepted their gratitude. But now, an earthquake of magnitude 5 was happening at the corners of my mouth. The Sword Emperor Sect. The fact that a religion worshiping the Sword Emperor existed in this universe shocked and terrified me to the point of nearly losing my sanity.

I barely held onto my sanity and spoke.

“Well, then everyone can return to their own worlds now.”

"......."

The disciples looked at each other at my perfectly normal words.

“Um, Messenger. The thing is...”

“We have no world to return to,” said the Assistant Writer.

“The Magic Tower invaded our worlds and made them colonies. Long ago, rebel armies formed and tried to resist, but that was hundreds of years ago. Now only traitors who cooperate with the Magic Tower to share in its wealth and glory remain. Even if we tried to return... there is no place for us there. We don't want to return either.”

“Wow.”

I was somewhat surprised. A colony.

I had suspected to some extent, but the tower really could conquer the towers of other worlds.

“That’s why people like us can only stay on the 50th floor.”

The Assistant Writer leaned her hand on her forehead and sighed.

“We can't escape to lower floors. There are plenty who would capture us and offer us to the tower. Nor can we advance to higher floors.”

“Why? If you clear the quest, you can go directly to the 51st floor, right?”

“...You really are a newbie who just arrived here.”

The Assistant Writer looked at me as if I was a marvel.

“You really don't know anything. Well, perhaps your acting is simply incredible. Until a moment ago, I thought you were a hidden master who had concealed your identity and descended to the 50th floor.”

What is she talking about?

“Uh, intruder.”

The mage boy spoke from beside me, his face troubled.

Then the boy’s words completely exceeded my expectations.

“Since 150 years ago, there has been no hunter who cleared the 50th floor…”

What?

“Well, to be precise, no hunter not affiliated with the tower. To clear the 50th floor, you must either be a part of the tower or at least not be their enemy.”

“Really? ...For 150 years? How is that possible?”

“The tower is blocking the quests.”

The mage boy fiddled with his wand anxiously.

“Every stage you've passed so far probably had someone in charge, an overseeing Constellation... But from the 50th floor onward, there are no helpful guides like that. You must find a Constellation yourself, serve them, earn their recognition, receive a quest from them... and clear it.”

“No, wait. That’s strange.”

I furrowed my brows.

“Then constellations just need to give out quests, right? I received countless whispers from constellations as soon as I arrived on the 50th floor. They all wanted to run quests with me. How can the tower monopolize the quests?”

"......."

The mage boy pulled his hood further over his head. I almost forgot about his dramatic betrayal, but he was also a part of the tower, until just two hours ago.

“Those are minor quests.”

The Assistant Writer answered in place of the mage boy.

“Kill someone. Help someone. Constellations can issue as many quests like those as they want, and offer rewards too. But to construct a quest worthy of recognition as [Clearing the 50th Floor], they cannot bypass the Magic Tower.”

“It's a bit hard to understand, isn't it? Hmm. But you're also a messenger of the Librarian, right?”

The Assistant Writer scratched her cheek.

“First off, whether you like it or not, the tower is the force that rules the 50th floor. You know that, right?”

“Yes. More or less…”

“Then you can understand that it’s tricky to compose a quest that allows bypassing the tower and claiming to have passed the 50th floor, right? It’s like if a novel threw in lots of foreshadowing about the final boss for 497 pages, only to casually dismiss it in the next 3 pages with ‘Actually, it’s not necessary to defeat the final boss’ ‘Yeah, yeah, it's okay to ignore it’ like a comedy sketch. The novel would be trash, right?”

A typical metaphor from a disciple of Hamusutra...

“So even from the Constellations' perspective, any quest for breaking through the 50th floor inevitably has to make use of the [Magic Tower] as part of its story.”

The Assistant Writer spread her fingers.

“First, gain the Magic Tower's recognition. Serve it for a long time, or consistently curry favor with it, until you become [A Member of the Magic Tower] or [An Honorary Member of the Magic Tower]. That lets you accumulate achievements such as [You Have Secured the Firm Support of the Power That Rules the 50th Floor]. ...This is the current [Regular Route]. One or two hunters reliably ascend by this route every year.”

"......."

“Secondly, you directly fight the tower and subdue it. ...This is the [irregular route]."

“And there hasn’t been a hunter who cleared the irregular route in the last 150 years... That’s what you mean.”

I stated, understanding.

The Assistant Writer nodded.

“Yep. It’s not an easy task.”

The Assistant Writer snapped her fingers.

Then, pages appeared out of thin air, rustling. Each page, glowing faintly like fireflies, circled around the Assistant Writer.

“These pages are my skill. [Rejected Contest Entries]."

"......."

“It’s not a name I came up with. Don’t look at me like that. I’ll gouge out your eyes.”

Now this lady's true personality was coming out.

“...Anyway, I can peek at [failed quests] of others with [Rejected Contest Entries]. And these are all traces of those who failed to break the 50th floor through that [irregular route].”

Rustle.

The torn pages fluttered as if they had wings.

I grabbed one of the closest pages and looked at it.

[Liberation War of Poison-Drenched City]

Constellation: Warhorse of the Eternal Plains

Difficulty: SSS

Objective: Warriors! At last, the moment to rise has come. For the past twenty years, the demons of the Magic Tower have tyrannically oppressed Poison-Drenched City. The Guardian of the Sword may have disappeared, but how could there be only one hero in this world? Now it is your turn to take up the sword.

Rise. Fight! Bring down all five remaining fingers of the Magic Tower, rescue the Constellations groaning in its grasp, and march proudly beyond Poison-Drenched City!

Result: Failure

Reason for Rejection: Decisive defeat of the allied forces. Most of the [Warhorse of the Eternal Plains] executives were massacred. The constellation subsequently acknowledged the failure of the quest publicly. A humiliating truce was made, agreeing not to issue quests targeting the tower for the next 100 years.

Flutter.

I caught another piece of paper.

[Love Saves the World]

Constellation: The Incarnation of Love and Lust

Difficulty: SSS

Objective: Are you well, my beloved lovers? I am well. But in Poison-Drenched City, there are also people who are not

It is the ruler of the Magic Tower, the Tower Master,

The Elder has reportedly never opened her heart to another person in the past thousand years. Since the Elder is human too, couldn't she possibly feel lonely? (Curious) I am certain that an extraordinarily beautiful wildflower will bloom on that frozen tundra.

Anyone will do. Please show the Elder the wonder of love and the beauty of the world! It is an extraordinarily difficult task, but if it is you, my wonderful lovers

Result: Failure

Reason for Rejection: Every believer of [The Incarnation of Love and Lust] who approached the Elder was executed. Anyone who touched the Elder's shoulder had their fingers pared away 230 times, while anyone who tried to kiss the Elder had their lips ground into twenty-three pieces. The Constellation subsequently acknowledged the quest's failure in public.

"......."

I flipped through the torn papers.

Some quests were written seriously and others lightly, each bearing its Constellation's distinct voice and tastes. But every one of them invariably contained a single two-syllable word.

Failure.

"......."

[Failure], [Failure], [Failure].

The [Irregular Route Quests], which were actively conducted until 100 years ago, gradually decreased from a certain point. Rather, they drastically decreased. Eventually, they were updated once in 10 years, once in 20 years...

And then they disappeared.

“The last Irregular Route Quest was issued 31 years ago.”

The Assistant Writer snapped her fingers.

Like a lie, the floating pages disappeared into thin air.

“We actively encouraged participation in the quests, but now even that doesn’t work. Since our Librarian disappeared, we've been too busy taking care of our own lives... Now, this city, the 50th stage, is literally a place where time has stagnated.”

“...Why?”

I had to ask.

“Why would the tower do such a thing? What profit do they gain from this?”

“A lot.”

The Assistant Writer replied immediately.

“By enforcing this [Regular Route], the Magic Tower fills the floors beyond the 50th with friendly powers. Control over advancement through the Tower then passes from the Constellations to the Magic Tower. And a monopoly over a port always produces enormous profits.”

“But..."

“You’re right."

Did she understand what I was about to say?

The Assistant Writer nodded silently in agreement.

“It’s boring.”

"......."

“Deadly boring. Boring to death. Tedious. Stale and suffocating.”

Complaining about the so-called regular route, the Assistant Writer sighed.

“Ever since the tower began ruling Monopolized Poisonous City, apart from the brief time when the Sword Emperor wreaked havoc, there’s hardly been any fun. That’s why we librarians resist the tower.”

The Assistant Writer looked around with a bitter smile.

Fewer than ten believers were tending the injuries they had suffered in captivity. Every one of them looked wretched. Relief at having barely survived lingered on their faces.

“...Now ‘we’ is just this much.”

Is that so.

‘I understand.’

I looked up.

To others, it might seem like I’m lamenting at the empty air, but I saw the Guardian Spirit.

‘Why you destroyed the tower.’

-Hmm.

‘It wasn't just for fun to create chaos.’

-Well, seeing the Elder’s face contort was quite fun.

The Guardian Spirit lay horizontally in the air as if the sky was his bed.

-I never imagined that after I disappeared, not a single newcomer capable of beating the Magic Tower would emerge. Then again, I was absurdly far beyond the norm. The absolute best of the best.

‘Why didn’t you destroy everything instead of just one spire?’

-Of course because I'm not a nanny spoon-feeding kids.

The Guardian Spirit spoke nonchalantly.

-If the Magic Tower is a pack of dogs, then what does that make the ones who can't beat those dogs? And what about the ones who become those dogs' dogs, panting at their heels so they can pass the 50th floor?

"......."

-Hey, Kim Zombie. You might not feel it because things are going so well for you, but they're all hunters too. Hunters who climbed to the 50th floor. Strong people. Their beginner days ended a very long time ago. They should be responsible for themselves.

"......."

-I’ve done my duty by just taking down one spire.

Indeed.

That was a very Guardian Spirit-like statement, so I nodded. Perhaps the Guardian Spirit and I were not that different.

Whether to leave them to be responsible for themselves or to help them stand up and take responsibility.

Only that last attitude might be the difference between him and me.

“Assistant Writer.”

"Hmm?"

“I have a favor to ask.”

That one difference made me speak.

“Please call at least one believer from the Sword Emperor Sect and from each of the other Constellations.”

“...That’s something I can do, but why?”