SSS-Class Revival Hunter - Chapter 309

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 309: Floor by Floor (2)

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It took ten days for me to get discharged from the hospital.

Even ten days was pushing it considerably, to be honest.

"Mr. Gong-Ja, there's no such thing as complete recovery in this world."

The Apothecary said while checking my bandages.

"You may look fully healed, but your body always loses something... always."

"But I feel perfectly fine now?"

"That's precisely the illusion."

Apothecary sighed.

"For instance, you use Aura to power your muscles and blood circulation. That makes your muscles extraordinarily efficient, which may seem entirely beneficial, but conversely, it means you would become terribly weak if you could no longer use Aura."

"Well, it probably doesn't matter much, does it?"

I shrugged.

"I'm quite skilled with Aura, after all."

"If this were the outside world, you would have died instantly, Mr. Gong-Ja. There is neither Aura nor mana out there."

I fell silent.

Apothecary continued wrapping the bandage expressionlessly.

"Yes. We cannot return to the outside world anyway. But even if you did return now, you could no longer survive there. You understand, right? Your body has not received benefits alone... It has adapted to a specific environment and can survive only within that environment."

"......"

"Alright. That's done."

Apothecary finished bandaging me tightly.

"Fighting isn't romantic, and wounds aren't medals of honor. At least not to people like me... Please resolve conflicts with words rather than your body whenever possible."

"I can't promise I won't get hurt again in the future."

“But,” I said.

"But I'll keep in mind your advice to resolve issues with words as much as possible."

And so, as soon as I was discharged, I found myself standing before the five spires that served as the Magic Tower's headquarters.

To resolve things with words.

"Ah. Ah. Mic test, mic test."

Wheeeing-

Following the Apothecary's advice to refrain from using Aura for a while, I did not use voice transmission. Instead, I brought a magical voice amplifier to my lips. It was not as clear as voice transmission, but it still carried my voice quite well.

"Ah, ah. Can everyone at the Magic Tower hear me-?"

-.......

It was silent.

There were no windows in the spires.

Just walls gleaming black like obsidian.

Even if we couldn't see them, the spiders inside must have all pricked up their ears. Of course, our side, the members of the Anti-Magic Alliance, were also intently focusing on every word I said.

"You no longer have a chance of winning."

In the midst of thousands of spiders and thousands of followers at a standoff, I spoke leisurely.

"The Grey Spider was defeated and captured by me. The guerrilla force you trusted as your last hope failed to conquer our world and was instead captured in its entirety. Frankly, your chances of winning are zero."

I turned my head and gestured with my eyes.

"Ugor."

Uburka, who had been waiting behind me, nodded. He brought over the prepared bundles and stacked them neatly in front of the spire.

The spiders of the Magic Tower rolled up in blankets.

These were the prisoners who had invaded our world and were captured.

"Damn it!"

"Untie me! Untie me, you bastard! Untie me!"

"Don't scream... It's just more embarrassing......"

The spiders wriggled with only their heads poking out of the blankets. From a distance, they probably looked like bagworms.

I comfortably sat on top of the prisoners' bodies.

"Ouch!"

"Hey, you're heavy!"

"As you can see, all the commanders of your esteemed guerrilla force have been captured. Not to mention, we've also captured hundreds of regular spiders. In a nutshell, your hopes have been thoroughly crushed."

At that moment.

-We surrender!

From one of the five spires, a voice rang out.

-Our Magic Tower's 5th Branch has long admired the King of Death! We had already been discussing surrender among ourselves, and only now have we managed to say so! We are ashamed! We apologize! Please show us mercy, Your Majesty the King of Death! If you order us to bow our heads, we will bounce all the way from here to you on our heads! If you order us to roll like dogs, we will roll! No, we are already dogs! Woof! Woooof! Long live the King of Death!

Hmm.

Impressive.

"No, no, you don't have to go that far..."

-You traitors from the 5th Branch!!

A furious voice erupted from another spire.

-How could you humans do this!

-What? Didn't you hear? We're not humans, we're dogs. Dogs. We can do anything as dogs.

-You bastards! Have you forgotten the grace of the Elder? You were even the head spokesperson!

-That Elder has been captured, has she not? Further resistance is meaningless. And speaking of the spokesperson position, it was supposed to rotate weekly from the 2nd through the 5th Branch, was it not? But you have been quietly dumping the job on me for the last five hundred years. Do you know what it feels like to have an unwanted job dumped on you for five hundred years, you bastards?

-Why are you bringing that up now?

-If not now, then when? After you are all dead and sleeping in your graves? Farewell, trash. Meeting you was miserable, and being alive with you was fucking awful. I'm deserting!

Hmm.

It's remarkable, isn't it?

'It's too good to just listen without doing anything.'

As I was silently admiring, another voice started broadcasting from the opposite spire.

-If even the 5th Branch surrenders, won't we lose our last chance...? Let's surrender. Just do it.

-Why are you saying that now!?

-We were in charge of communicating with the guerrilla force until the end... They say that this kid's world is no joke. There are more than two hunters at the level of Constellation Killer. There were even reports that they saw the actual Constellation Killer...

-That must be a lie! You believe that?

-No. I have good instincts... I felt exactly like this when the Sword Emperor wiped out the 6th Branch. My instincts tell me that if we keep holding out, we will not get so much as a scrap...

-Intuition, what intuition! Ah, I'm so frustrated!

-Huh? What? Are the 5th and 3rd Branches leaning towards surrender? Then there's no need to see more. Hello! This is the 2nd Branch! We'll surrender too! But if we raise the white flag now, will you spare our lives?

-Ah, King of Death! Please remember who surrendered first! The 5th Branch! Count to five on your fingers! Remember the 5th Branch!

Okay. Now I get it.

I know exactly what I need to do now.

"Please wait a moment."

I hurriedly ran somewhere, to the building that had served as a temporary treatment center for the past ten days.

Thud.

Pushing open the wooden door, I found the Grey Spider crouching in a corner, holding her head.

“What…?"

Seeing me enter, the Grey Spider lifted her face. Her expression was far more haggard than it had been this morning.

“Why are you here all of a sudden?”

“Ah, don't mind me. It's nothing.”

I took out a high-definition smartphone and took a picture of the Grey Spider.

“I just thought capturing this moment would be a precious memory to tease you with later on.”

“……So, you came all the way here just to enjoy my humiliation? Right now? In the middle of negotiating surrender with my children? Just to make fun of me?”

“Uh….”

I blinked.

“Maybe that’s one way to put it?”

“This crazy ba..."

Thump.

I closed the door again and returned to the siege site. As I was leaving the building, I heard the Grey Spider shouting something from behind, but I couldn't afford to listen. I was in the midst of intense negotiations, after all. There was no time for distractions.

"Mic test. Mic test. Yes, I understand. Of course, we are willing to accept your surrender.”

I spoke earnestly.

"Obviously, we will ensure your lives. If desired, we can even provide you with a place to live. However, you must relinquish the exclusive rights you enjoyed on the 50th floor and free the other worlds you’ve colonized.”

A response came immediately.

-Your Majesty! Such reasonable terms! A new era has dawned after long years of tyranny! Long live the King of Death! Long live! This is the 5th Branch speaking!

-Shut your trap!

-We’re not the ones making this decision. It’s up to the Elder... But we’ll cooperate...

-Yeah, as long as we live, it’s fine.

Voices of various tones responded.

The responses translated into outcomes.

Over the next half-day, one surrender followed another.

“The 5th Branch of the Magic Tower, the Fifth Net, the Net of Fear. All four hundred and eighty-one under its command surrender to His Majesty the King of Death!”

The gates of the spires, previously shut tight like a shark’s teeth, gradually opened one by one.

Even as the gates opened, the followers of the Anti-Magic Alliance remained vigilant. They watched the surrender procession with tense eyes.

Fortunately, no mishaps occurred.

“The 3rd Branch... The nest of the Net of Sorrow, containing one thousand three hundred and thirty-three members, we surrender…”

The spiders, lined up in rows, knelt before me and my followers standing behind me.

“The 2nd Branch of the Magic Tower, containing seven hundred and thirty-six members from the nest of the Net of Rage. We surrender peacefully, please just spare our lives!”

Thump. The ordinary spiders took off their robes. Thump. The commanders removed their conical hats and respectfully set them down before their knees. Thump. Thousands of staffs were laid on the ground, regardless of their owners' status.

Thump.

"......."

Thump.

Silently, with lips firmly sealed, the spiders, too, surrendered.

The reign of the Millennium Magic Tower thus came to an end.

"......."

The followers lined up behind me watched the scene in silence.

There were indeed some who bared their teeth and tried to vent their anger at the spiders, and some who wanted to harm the prisoners who had surrendered.

How could there not be?

[The Incarnation of Love and Lust leaves the decision of the prisoners' fate to the King of Death.]

But there were voices that stopped the followers.

[The Warhorse of the Eternal Plains leaves the decision of the prisoners' fate to the King of Death.]

[The Bell That Rouses the Dead leaves the decision of the prisoners' fate to the King of Death.]

[The Eyes Dwelling in the Labyrinth leaves the decision of the prisoners' fate to the King of Death.]

[The Lonely Seeker leaves the decision of the prisoners' fate to the King of Death.]

All the Constellations participating in this war transferred their rights over the prisoners to me.

That was the ‘quest reward’ I had requested from the Constellations.

I had made enormous contributions in this war, indisputably the greatest. I was in a position where I could demand almost anything from the Constellations, and so, I acquired the right to decide the fate of all the prisoners.

“……How can we simply let these people live?”

“Be quiet.”

When the Apostle of [The Warhorse of the Eternal Plains] spoke up, unable to contain their rage, the Apostle of [The Incarnation of Love and Lust] calmly cut them off.

“It’s what the constellations want.”

"......."

“And it’s what I wish too. If it were left to us, what would follow is hell. Torture, interrogation, humiliation, all sorts of vengeance. A bloody festival would commence. It’s better to leave it to an outsider like the King of Death.”

The Apostles fell silent.

I did not expect them to accept this decision deep in their hearts. I would not even entertain the thought.

That is why I planned to take the spiders to the Lion World.

To a continent once dominated by the Earth Spirit Tribe.

‘When people are kept apart, their hearts grow distant too.’

Not much will change from now on.

The only change will be the addition of one new race, the Witch Clan, to the Fire River Council where all the races participate.

As evening approached, the blood that could have stained the ground instead dyed the sky, bringing the sunset.

“In the end, the 1st Branch didn’t surrender.”

[Assistant Writer] muttered.

“What are you going to do, King of Death?”

"......."

The last bastion of the Magic Tower refused to surrender. Even though four out of the five spires had surrendered, the last one adamantly locked its iron doors, insisting on a fight to the death.

The black wall of the tower was illuminated by the red sunset.

“Maybe a scapegoat is needed after all. Look behind you. No one is saying anything, but they’re all seething inside.”

[Assistant Writer] was right.

"......."

The Apostles, including regular followers, glared at the last unyielding spire. Unresolved grievances and anger that may never dissipate were simmering.

Even the spiders who had already surrendered sensed the atmosphere and quietly lowered their heads.

“I understand.”

All the forces on the 50th floor tacitly consented to a massacre.

“You are a hero.”

[Assistant Writer] said.

“A hero who liberated the 50th floor. But above all, a hero must first choose whose side to take. I hope you don’t make a mistake at this point.”

"......."

Just as I was about to open my mouth to object, a voice interrupted me.

“Ugor.”

Thump.

A large hand covered my entire shoulder.

I turned my head to look up at the figure beside me.