SSS-Class Revival Hunter - Chapter 62

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 62: The Great Orthodox-Demonic War (1)

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I've never read a martial arts novel.

Not only did I lack the habit of reading, but in our generation, [martial arts] was already a declining genre. Occasionally, old martial arts films would pop up on the internet. But due to their crude CG technology, they were nothing more than a source of laughter.

In an era that mocks all seriousness.

There was little room left for martial might and chivalry.

A genre that had declined.

A world that had declined.

Snow was falling there.

"Cold!”

We, the expedition devoid of dreams and hopes, safely entered the world of the Revelations. What greeted us was a vast snowfield. The snow crunched cutely under our shoes as we stepped on it.

However, the cold that enveloped us was far from cute.

"Everyone!"

I quickly shouted.

"Raise your aura to protect your bodies!"

The harsh winter cold.

Just standing still, our toes would freeze. Immediately upon hearing my shout, Viper raised his aura. But the non-combatants, Apothecary and Medicine King, didn't manage to do so in time.

“I… I can’t... I haven’t learned to use aura…”

“Ahchoo! Ah, choo! Oh, this old man's dying! Going to die of cold!”

Within just 20 seconds of arriving in the world of Revelations, the two of them had already turned pale. I, too, had struggled to master aura. How could support hunters know how to use it?

"Tsk."

I quickly took action.

“Viper! Take care of Medicine King!”

"Okay."

Viper lifted Medicine King. Whether he's the emperor of light novels or a man who lives and dies by his pride, Viper was undoubtedly a top-ranking combat-focused hunter.

The purple aura he emitted soon enveloped Medicine King too.

“Oh, I feel much better now…”

Medicine King sighed in relief, looking as comfortable as an old man entering a hot spring. I nodded and then took Apothecary's hand.

"Boss, stay with me."

“Yes, yes?”

"Give me your hand."

Aura flowed from my hand to Apothecary's. A red aura. Whether it symbolized fire or blood had yet to be determined, but it wrapped the Apothecary in warmth.

"Ah."

Apothecary bowed her head.

“Th-thank you, King of Death. But this, it tickles a bit…”

"I understand it's embarrassing. I'm embarrassed too. But now is not the time to be concerned with that."

I looked around. A dense snowstorm like a fog. We managed to temporarily solve the issue of body temperature, but that was it. Where we were, where we should go, everything was unclear.

“The Holed-Up Head Librarian easily used words like [Work] and [Cancellation] because they're a Constellation. But this is a real world, not just a book. We've come to save a world. You know that, right?”

"......."

Apothecary widened her eyes.

“…Yes. That's right. I think I took it too lightly. I-I'll do my best.”

“Everyone just needs to focus on their role. Right now, I'm protecting you with aura, but when it's time to cure the pandemic, it's you and the Medicine King who need to step up. Please.”

“Yes, King of Death.”

Whoosh...

The snowstorm brushed past our ears. We squinted, trying to discern the surrounding landscape. I recalled the last line of The Veritable Records of the Heavenly Demon.

「A mysterious disease suddenly spread, and the Heavenly Demon died.」

「Soon, everyone else died.」

A brief sentence.

In those fewer than fifty characters, there was no 'cold that seemed to carve into the flesh,' nor any 'snow that did not merely swallow the ankles but rose to the calves and knees.' It said only that the world had ended.

Now, we had to find out.

What happened that led to the death of this 'Heavenly Demon' character?

What was this 'mysterious illness' that led humanity in this world to extinction?

"Ah."

Squeeze.

The Apothecary held my hand a bit tighter. She pointed towards the other side of the snowstorm.

"Look over there, King of Death! I think I just saw some people!"

We all looked in the direction she pointed.

She was right. It was hard to see through the heavy snowfall... but beyond the wind, shadows of people appeared. There were many shadows, not just one or two. Dozens, maybe even hundreds.

A forest of human shadows.

"Okay."

I led the way.

"Let's head over there!"

The snow whirled around. It wasn't falling from the sky

but was whipped up by the wind. In the blizzard, people appeared only as shadows, so we stayed close to avoid getting separated.

-Zombie.

The Guardian Spirit spoke. He was looking around for me.

-Something's off. I don't hear any noise from that direction.

‘Is it because the blizzard is drowning out the sound?’

-Maybe.

The Guardian Spirit narrowed his eyes towards the forest of shadows.

-But it's not just that there's no sound... those figures aren't moving at all. Not even a twitch. They're more like statues than people.

Fortunately, the windstorm settled down after a while. As the snowfall ceased, our visibility improved. But the relief was short-lived.

The sight before us left us speechless.

"...What's with these?"

Viper exhaled a white breath.

"Why are all these people frozen?"

In the middle of the snowfield.

Hundreds of people were all standing, frozen solid.

"...They really are human."

Apothecary confirmed after examining a frozen person.

She, wearing latex gloves, plucked flesh from the corpse with tweezers.

"According to [Life Diagnosis], this person has already been dead for two years and three months. The cause of death was infection. [Moving Hospital] identifies it as an unregistered disease."

"How strange!"

Medicine King also examined the frozen people closely, using skills to diagnose them, just as combat-focused hunters use skills to fight.

"The cause of death is the same for all of them. It wasn't freezing. Since they died of disease, you would at least expect them to have died lying on the ground... Yet every one of them is standing. Good grief. It is utterly baffling. When something like this happened in Silicon Valley..."

"It's highly likely someone deliberately moved the bodies here."

Apothecary cut Medicine King off.

After hearing my earlier words, she had become serious.

"The cause of death is the same, but the dates are all different. This person died two years ago, while that person died three years ago. Someone must have deliberately moved the bodies here..."

I furrowed my brow.

"Sort of a graveyard?"

"Hmm."

Viper stroked his chin.

"A graveyard, eh? From afar, it looks like an army of terracotta soldiers."

The poses of the frozen people varied. Some had their arms spread wide, looking up at the sky, while others were frozen mid-roar like beasts.

‘Character window.’

I looked at the nearest frozen person and whispered in my mind.

White letters floated up over the snowy field.

Name: Jang SeongPa

Favorability: -

Preferred Genres: -

Disliked Genres: -

Preferred Characters: -

Disliked Characters: -

Preferred Plots: -

Disliked Plots: -

Psychological State: 'Light.'

"......."

So this is what the character window of a deceased person looks like.

Perhaps the 'Light' mentioned in the psychological state was... the last thought of this person before dying. The psyche of the corpse, like an inscription on a gravestone, was fixed.

The group murmured, faced with the mystery.

"A graveyard... If this is a communal grave, why make it like this?"

"I don't know. But they all have weapons at their waists."

"Is there anywhere we can rest? I'm warm thanks to the aura but..."

At that moment.

"---Hahaha!"

Laughter echoed from a distance. Our group instinctively crouched down. The source of the laughter, unaware of our presence, shouted at someone.

"The reign of the Demonic Cult ends today!"

"Hah. Even the passing dogs would flip and laugh at that."

There were two voices, not one.

"As long as I remain alive and well, the rule of the Demonic Path remains secure. Great Axe Sage, you are the one who should bid farewell to the orthodox martial world."

Clear and resonant voices.

One belonged to an old man, the other to a young woman.

The old man shouted.

"Nonsense! Your Demonic Cult's vaunted Blood Ghost Troops have already had their heads lopped off by my axe. I cut the heads from those rotten old demonic fiends as well and sent them to the netherworld! Five hundred of the martial world's elites follow me, so what sorcery could you possibly use to stop me?"

"Huh."

The woman chuckled softly.

"Such a long tongue for an old man. The Blood Ghosts merely left on my secret command. They're not weak enough to be killed by someone like you."

I raised my finger, signaling my group to be quiet.

'Shh.'

My companions blinked.

'Let's approach quietly. Okay?'

They nodded silently in agreement.

We stealthily moved through the cemetery of frozen humans, drawing closer to the voices. Soon, we could see the two of them.

"Worry about your own followers before mine, Great Axe Sage."

The woman wore a black martial outfit.

"Where have all the promising pillars of the noble clans you boasted of gone? An old fossil once revered as the martial world's leader has become a sorry sight."

"Humph!"

The old man was dressed in white mourning clothes.

"None of your concern. They've spread across the world on secret missions!"

"There must be a lot of secret missions..."

"You've messed up the world with your needless meddling. If not for your damn Demonic Cult, things wouldn't have become this bizarre!"

"If we are fools, what does that make you, who have handed over the martial world to such fools? The fool above fools, a supreme fool."

"How dare you, woman!?"

"Come at me, old man."

A rather low-level squabble was unfolding.

Judging from their conversation, the old man in white belonged to the Orthodox Faction, while the woman in black belonged to the Demonic Cult. The orthodox old man and the woman of the Demonic Cult pointed their weapons at each other.

"Enough! I can no longer stand the sight of you, demonic leader! I shall split your head in two, offering one to the Jade Emperor and the other to the King of the Underworld!"

"Hmph. I've been longing for a decisive battle. Today, I'll eliminate the last of the Orthodox bloodline and prove the strength of the Demonic Cult."

Despite their frivolous tones, it was a typical confrontation between martial artists.

Just as the two were about to unleash their formidable powers in a dazzling sword fight, a serious problem emerged.

-Zombie.

The Guardian Spirit muttered in disbelief.

-What are they doing with those twigs...?

Indeed.

The old man and the woman, these two martial artists, were holding slender sticks, resembling thin canes. These were their 'weapons'. The splendid weapons typical in martial arts movies were nowhere to be seen.

"......."

There was an awkward silence. The two seemed embarrassed at pointing mere sticks at each other. Finally, the woman in the black robe spoke softly.

"...Great Axe Sage, where did you leave your vaunted Jeweled Battle-Axe that you came carrying a piece of wood? Your one redeeming quality as Namgung Clan's chaff was how boldly you swung that axe..."

"Shut up!"

The old man's face reddened.

"And you! Where did you toss aside your treasured Lethal Demon Blood Sword, resorting to such a cane!"

"Ah, a cane, you say."

The woman averted her gaze slightly.

"That's harsh. This is a wooden sword I carved myself. It contains the essence of a millennium of demonic teachings. I have even graced it with the name Demonic Heaven Wooden Blade."

"Putting the name of Demonic Heaven on a mere twig?"

"Hmm. Is that not acceptable...?"

"......"

Silence.

The old man spoke softly.

"Ahem. Even so, Demonic Heaven Wooden Blade is a bit much. How about using the modest name 'Switch'?"

"Doesn't 'switch' literally mean a switch...?"

"Literally a cane, and what you see is a cane! Foolish woman!"

The woman reluctantly nodded.

"Fine.

Since you insist, I shall settle for the name Demonic Switch."

"That Demonic again!"

The old man's white beard quivered.

"Why do you demonic folks obsessively attach 'demonic' to everything? Just in your followers, there's Blood Demon, Sword Demon, Ghost-Soul Flame Demon, Moon Shadow Demon, four demons! And they're collectively known as the Four Demon Lords! Did you learn the word 'demonic' before even the Thousand Character Classic!?"

"Hmm. Is there not an elegant ring to it...?"

"Ah! To think the martial world once fell to such buffoons!"

Then.

Dark clouds began to eat away at the sun. The snow-laden clouds were especially thick, casting a deep twilight over the snowfield. The world darkened as if it were early evening.

"Huh!?"

The old man flinched.

"Demonic leader, now's not the time for us to fight!"

"......!"

The two martial artists, who had been verbally sparring, suddenly stood back-to-back. The woman's forehead was slick with sweat.

"Damn it. The heavens have been unpredictable lately...."

"Woman, didn't you assure me the weather would be clear today?"

"Divinations are sometimes right and sometimes wrong. I merely picked up the art by watching the Ghost-Soul Flame Demon perform divinations. How could I possibly see through the workings of heaven?"

"Argh! I would have been better off taking a marketplace fortune-teller as my cult leader. I let this woman's words seduce me into ruining the whole affair!"

"Shut up and prepare to fight, old man. My energy's already draining."

Our group stood there, utterly bewildered.

Apothecary, sticking close to my side, whispered.

"Wh-why are they acting like this all of a sudden...?"

"I don't know either. I was about to say..."

Just as I was about to reply.

-Grumble.

Something stirred.

At first, I thought it was one of us making the noise. But when growling sounds began emanating from the left, right, front, and back, I realized something was terribly wrong.

-Growl.

-Squeak, growl.

-Grrr.

"Yikes!"

Apothecary clung to my arm in shock. Even through her glasses, her complexion looked pale.

Viper and Medicine King's faces weren't much different. My expression must have been quite grim as well.

-Squeal!

-Growl, growl.

No fewer than a thousand frozen humans.

What we thought were mere corpses began to move slowly.

-Groan.

A corpse nearby, previously frozen stiff, rotated its eyeballs. Its pupils were open, eyebrows almost gone, and parts of the iris eaten away by bugs. Yet, it stared right at us.

"......."

Our eyes met. Seeing the corpse's eyes, I realized the truth.

"Damn it..."

The Revelation named [The Veritable Records of the Heavenly Demon].

The book clearly stated:

[The Veritable Records of the Heavenly Demon]

Genre: Martial Arts, Fusion

Difficulty: B

Required Participants: 2~4

*The serialization has been discontinued.

Description: The Martial Realm. A world of those who revere martial prowess, wield martial prowess, and attain martial prowess! Here, a Heavenly Demon appeared and sought to unite the Martial Realm. The Demonic Cult rallied around the Heavenly Demon, while opposing forces rose against it. They would have clashed over the fate of the realm...

Had it not been for a sudden super pandemic.

Reason for Discontinuation: An unidentified pandemic spread, leading to the death of the Heavenly Demon. The Demonic Cult was annihilated. All other forces perished. The end.

What we thought were frozen corpses began to stir.

Their movements were sluggish, but the sight of corpses moving was terrifying in itself.

I belatedly realized what the 'unidentified pandemic' mentioned in the Revelation was.

"The pandemic was a [Zombie Virus]!"

As I shouted, the corpse's mouth opened.

-Ughhhhh!

The sun was obscured by clouds.

A thousand zombies descended upon us.

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