WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 68: The Heavenly Demon (3)

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3.

“I'm sorry.”

The Apothecary said.

"With the current state, he can't be treated."

She was examining the Head of the Martial Alliance. Throughout the examination, her expression was faint. She seemed like a doctor who was examining a patient just to say 'there's no hope,' even though she already knew it.

“......”

The Heavenly Demon silently looked down at the Head of the Martial Alliance. Perhaps she hadn't even expected treatment. With an expressionless face, she spoke.

"Stand up."

"I'm sorry."

“I am not asking for your apology. Stand up. Head of the Martial Alliance, Great Axe Sage.”

In the dark cave.

The Heavenly Demon's breathing quieted down.

It was as if a poisonous fragrance was emanating from her mouth.

“Did we not make a pact? Did you not boast that you would challenge the rule of the Demonic Way and raise the banner of the Orthodox martial world? Did you not gather the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Noble Clans to seek a decisive battle? A man who did all that cannot die in a sickbed. It cannot happen.”

"I'm sorry."

"Stand up."

The scent of poison grew stronger.

“Rise and take up a weapon. You need not even take up that ugly axe of yours. A wooden sword will do. A switch, a whip, a wooden stick, anything. Take it. Take it and stand against me.”

"I'm sorry."

"I said stand up."

"Demon."

The Head of the Martial Alliance took a breath.

He had aged more in just one night.

"I'm sorry that I am weaker than you."

“......”

"I've tried to hold on for one more day, but it's difficult now. You must have felt it too. I was already using the innate true energy. My Ki has run out. My vital energy has worn out too. Maybe you could last another year, but this is it for me."

There was silence.

"I was weaker than you."

The old man muttered as he lay.

"Kill me."

“......”

The Heavenly Demon's face contorted.

"I don't want to end up like the Monk from Shaolin. Kill me before my body rots and crumbles. Once turned into a zombie, even if I see, I don't really see; even if I live, it's not really living. So..."

"So, you want me to kill you while you lie in bed?"

The scent of poison reached its peak.

"You dare say that now?"

The Heavenly Demon was small, but from her small body, black flames rose. Ki took form and blazed.

Killing intent.

The Ki burned, emanating a scent of soot. It was the scent of the life she had lived, the life she had endured. The Heavenly Demon’s fragrance was as pungent as crushed weeds.

"Is this the end you promised for the great war? Is this it?"

“......”

"You should have chosen mutual destruction long ago, why hold on for glory? You should have ordered all the disciples of my sect and the orthodox faction to commit suicide together, why stubbornly hold on for a glimmer of light?"

The Head of the Martial Alliance couldn't respond. Tears that had dried on his wrinkled face now formed new trails.

"I am..."

“Namgung Woon. Since your days as a young master, you monopolized the praise and envy of the martial world for being born with the Heavenly Martial Body. At twenty, you stepped into the pinnacle realm. Before you were thirty, you became head of the Namgung Clan. When the Demonic Way gained supremacy, you were elevated to Head of the Martial Alliance. The essence of every Orthodox school dwells in you, and the bitter will of every righteous path clings to you. And yet, despite all that, you would meekly offer your neck to my demonic hand?”

“......”

"Fine. I'll kill you."

The Heavenly Demon got up.

"But you won't die peacefully."

She walked somewhere. After she disappeared, the smell of burning lingered. It was suffocating. The Apothecary and the Medicine King, especially, looked in agony, not adept in aura.

Shortly after, the Heavenly Demon returned.

In her hand, she held an axe.

"Namgung's old man. This is your beloved Jeweled Battle-Axe. You haven't forgotten it, have you?"

"So BaekHyang..."

"Speak."

The Heavenly Demon raised the axe.

"Martial arts have forgotten chivalry, and chivalry has lost martial arts."

“......”

"Say it. Say it and I'll kill you as you wish."

Martial arts have forgotten chivalry.

Chivalry has lost martial arts.

It signified the end of the Orthodox martial realm.

The leader of the Demonic Cult declared it. The Head of the Martial Alliance himself had to acknowledge the demise of the orthodox realm. Only then would she take his life. And with his beloved weapon, no less.

"Speak."

“...”

“Why can you not say it at once!”

The old man's lips quivered. His mouth opened, his teeth showed, but nothing was visible beyond them. He couldn't continue. It was as if he had lost his tongue. His mouth opened several times, and each time his tongue lost its way.

"I can't."

The old man exhaled.

"I can't do it... I can't say it..."

Fresh tears flowed over the hardened tracks of the old ones. Across his wrinkles, the tears settled in layers like geological strata. The accumulated tears became difficult to distinguish from the old man's aged skin. It seemed as though his flesh had always been made of his tears, and the tears were flowing not from his eyes but from his flesh.

"I can't say it..."

“......”

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, BaekHyang..."

The Heavenly Demon swung the axe.

The blade did not cut the Head of the Martial Alliance's neck.

It just struck the hard ground.

Right next to the old man's face. There, the axe struck. The hard rock of the cave floor easily split like tofu. How much Ki the Heavenly Demon must have used to split the rock, I could hardly guess.

"Did you say living as a zombie is not living?"

The Heavenly Demon muttered.

"It doesn't matter. Right now, you are neither living nor dead. What's the difference between a life that is not life and a death that is not death? I can't see the difference. Meaningless. It's all meaningless..."

She turned her back.

"The world has become emptiness."

The next day.

Namgung Woon, the Head of the Martial Alliance, died at dawn.

He died of illness.

4.

It was the tenth day since we fell into the Apocalypse.

The day the world was to end had arrived.

"...I've obtained valuable samples."

The Apothecary said.

"Only analyzing the virus from those infected for 2 or 3 years had its limits. This sample allowed us to observe the infection in real-time. This is a significant breakthrough."

In front of her lay the Head of the Martial Alliance.

A lifeless body.

The old man's body was tightly bound with chains.

"Death doesn't immediately turn them into zombies... There seems to be a slight delay before awakening. I guess it takes time for the infectious agent to spread throughout the brain."

“I've compiled the research findings.”

The Medicine King handed over a file.

He clicked his tongue.

"She may be good at making medicine, but she's terrible at explaining it to others. Really terrible. Ah, these self-absorbed types..."

"We did our best to research."

Unfazed by his criticism, the Apothecary continued.

"But it was impossible to develop a cure after all."

"Was there not enough time?"

"Yes. At least 90 days. Preferably around 120 days..."

Clang!

-Goooo.

The chains clanged, producing an unpleasant noise. We all turned our heads simultaneously. The body of the Head of the Martial Alliance was shaking violently.

-Grooo… Eugh, Uooo…!

For a while, we silently observed what used to be the Head of the Martial Alliance.

It kept flailing with its mouth wide open.

“......”

It was then that the Heavenly Demon approached.

Thud.

The woman approached with quiet steps. The Heavenly Demon, clad in black with black hair, black martial attire, and black eyes, held a dark sword in her hand. Her sword was even darker than her shadow.

"---How pitiful."

The Heavenly Demon looked down at the body of the Head of the Martial Alliance.

"Decades of time, all in vain."

Instinctively, we stepped back from her.

The intensity of her poisonous energy was incomparable to yesterday.

Her Ki was surging, enveloping her entire body.

"In the end, when a layer is peeled off, humans are like this. What's the difference between us and beasts? Eating, consuming until the body can no longer move, and then disappearing. Martial arts have forgotten chivalry, and chivalry has lost martial arts."

The Heavenly Demon extended her left hand.

"Eat."

The zombie opened its mouth and bit her hand. Crunch! Blood splattered. Flesh tore, and bones shattered. The Heavenly Demon looked down at the Head of the Martial Alliance, now ferociously gnawing at her own hand, with an indifferent gaze.

"Hey, hey."

The Viper, shocked, took a step forward.

"Look. What are you doing? If you keep this up, you'll turn into a zombie too...!"

"Don't come closer."

I grabbed the Viper's shoulder to stop him.

"Huh?"

"It's already over."

"Over? What do you mean..."

A squelching sound of flesh echoed. Thump! The gruesomely violent noise made everyone flinch.

Slowly turning to look, there stood the Heavenly Demon with her hand torn to shreds.

And the Head of the Martial Alliance, now headless.

The Heavenly Demon had burst his head with her Ki from inside his mouth.

"Huh."

As we all lost our ability to speak,

"Heheh... Hahaha... Ahahaha!"

The Heavenly Demon began to laugh.

It was a manic laugh.

The blizzard continued to howl outside the cave ceiling. However, the Heavenly Demon's laughter swallowed the sound of the snow, reducing it to a mere background noise. The laughter filled the cave, echoed in the sky, and devoured the world.

-Zombie. Be careful.

The Guardian Spirit whispered softly.

-It's qi deviation.

At that moment.

The Heavenly Demon turned her head and looked directly at us. Gently, she wore a bewitching smile. A strange voice flowed from the gap in her lips.

"Oh?"

A chill ran down my spine.

"Have you come to assassinate me, righteous ones?"

Her eyes were no longer looking at us.

"Good. Come at me. Let's cross swords."

"Everyone, run!"

The instant I shouted, the Heavenly Demon swung her sword. Swoosh! A fountain of blood erupted. It was the Medicine King's blood. His throat had been cut cleanly, and his knees buckled before he could even scream.

He died instantly.

Realizing his comrade was killed right before him, the Viper belatedly drew his sword.

“What the fuck...!?”

I couldn't read her sword movements with my eyes. No, I couldn't even see her movements. All I could register was that [the Heavenly Demon swung her sword], and at precisely the same moment, [the Medicine King's throat was cut]. There was not even an instant of separation between them.

-She's gone mad.

The Guardian Spirit groaned.

-She's surpassed the stage of an Enlightened Demon. She must have exhausted all her Ki and even her vital energy... Right now, she is, even if temporarily, in the realm of life and death. Even if I were in my prime and came back to life, I'd lose 4 out of 10 times against her.

That was the Heavenly Demon.

Before she weakened due to the zombie infection.

The person who had once been the greatest martial artist under heaven.

"Ridiculous."

The Heavenly Demon hummed.

"Monk of Shaolin, do you think such tricks can stop me? Taoist of the Wudang, do you really think you can bear the karma of my sect?"

The Heavenly Demon took one step, then another, towards us.

“Grief overflows under heaven and drowns Mount Song. Resentment burns throughout heaven and earth and sets Mount Wudang aflame. The Demonic Cult is the heaven of the martial world, and I am the heaven of the Demonic Cult. Are you qualified to speak of a heaven beyond heaven?”

"Damn!"

The Viper raised his sword and charged.

"King of Death! Take the Apothecary and run!"

I was already doing so.

I picked up the Apothecary and ran. Though it was likely futile, I still ran. To struggle until the very end. To not accept this ending and this death as inevitable.

"You're not enough! You lowly minions of righteousness!"

The Heavenly Demon's laughter followed us from behind.

"Namgung Woon!"

Once, twice, thrice.

The sound of swords clashing resounded.

"Where is Namgung Woon!"

Then, no more sword sounds followed.

The Viper had perished after enduring three exchanges.

“Bring me the former head of the Namgung Clan! Present the Head of the Martial Alliance before me! No matter how dense the forests of the martial world or how vast its sky, in all heaven and earth there is only one talent capable of receiving my sword! Four Demon Lords! Drag Namgung Woon before me at once!”

Her laughter was persistent and unyielding.

With every step I took to escape, her laughter caught up tenfold. We stood no chance. Eventually, when the laughter almost reached my back, the Apothecary in my arms spoke.

"King of Death."

She looked up at me.

"I still believe in you."

And then.

Something sliced through both of us.

Piercing us.

"------"

The sky tilted. The ground tilted. I had lost my legs. I had lost everything below my waist, and with only my upper body remaining, I fell onto the snowfield.

That's right.

It was a white snowfield.

We had escaped the cave.

“......”

A bit further away, the Apothecary lay fallen. Where she fell, the snowfield was unusually red. It looked like bingsu with strawberry syrup, I thought in my dazed mind.

"Ahaha. Heh, hahaha!"

Snow was falling.

"Ahahahaha! Ah, ahahahaha..."

As the snow fell, the sky and the earth became indistinguishable. A dark white. Only a cool and pale shadow was visible.

Someone was walking away in the snowfield, leaving footprints.

As footprints were made, the sky and the earth seemed to separate momentarily. However, the blizzard raged ceaselessly, burying even the last remaining footprints.

Silently.

Without a trace.

Without any scent.

The world that had scorched people and the people scorched by the world, buried and hidden until only the white snowfield remained. A colorless, odorless, soundless blizzard would fall forever.

The world had ended.

[You have died.]

But that was it.

For me, the end did not mean the end.

[You will return to 24 hours ago.]

Now.

Let's save your world.

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