SSS-Class Revival Hunter - Chapter 72

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 72: The One Who Gathers Death. (1)

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What word in the world least belongs with [zombie]?

It's an odd question, I know.

But this world had been conquered by zombies. Having suddenly found myself training in martial arts while fighting them, I naturally had no choice but to think about zombies. And I had just realized which word suited them least.

-Groooarrr!

That word was [Palm Blast].

-Woah, ahhhhh!

A zombie in black martial attire gathered its hands and shot a Palm Blast.

This is no joke. It's real.

Let me repeat. A [zombie], who lived as a martial artist before death, let out a strange yell and fired a Palm Blast at me.

"Damn, this is crazy---"

Whoosh!

The Palm Blast effortlessly swept me away. I went floating through the air like a wooden stick. What had happened already threatened to rob me of both disbelief and sanity, but unfortunately, it did not end there.

-Woahhhh!

The zombie stomped on the ground. A mysterious Stepping Technique. Smooth Movement Techniques unfolded, as if its body was filled with helium. The zombie soared into the air and swiftly flew right in front of me.

Crazy.

"Hey! Wait, this isn't right!"

I frantically swung my Holy Sword, but before I could slash the zombie, a voice halted my blade.

“Halt! Do not flail your sword around blindly.”

It was the voice of the Heavenly Demon.

She was watching my battle from above the pit.

“Did I not tell you? Recall hunger, the agony of one who starved to death. Dwell on nothing but the sensation of starvation. If you merely swing the sword, the Divine Art of the Demonic Heaven is nothing but an empty shell.”

"But, but!"

The zombie opened its maw right in front of me. Clack! I barely twisted aside from its teeth. With no time to execute a proper breakfall, I tumbled onto the ground. Perhaps my evasion angered it further, because it roared and lunged again.

"I'm not particularly hungry right now!"

"You are foolish."

The Heavenly Demon shouted, sounding frustrated.

"Just because you can't see the color red before you, can't you imagine it in your mind? Just because you're not hungry now, can't you recall the feeling of starvation?"

Groooarrr!

Even as the Heavenly Demon spoke to me, the zombie ceaselessly swung its claws. If I got hit even once, it would be the end. I would be infected with the zombie virus and become Kim Zombie in the truest sense.

Clang! Clang!

The zombie's claws fiercely struck my sword. I could only defend myself, unable to attack. It was a dire situation.

"If you can't do it, it's because you're not yet familiar with the sensation of hunger. You must be stuffed to the brim. One who learns the Divine Art of the Demonic Heaven must freely recall sensations!"

The sensation of hunger.

The memory of starvation.

"Recall the longest you've ever been hungry. Chew over that feeling. Where were you at that time? What did you most want to eat? How long did you starve?"

"The longest I've been hungry was maybe 3 to 4 days..."

"What? Three to four days?"

The Heavenly Demon was incredulous.

"...You're saying the longest you've ever starved in your life is just around three days? That's unbelievable. The world has long been in chaos, and famines occur with each changing season. Unless you're a child of a noble family, how could you have only starved for just three days?"

"Well, the place we lived in, the Outside Land, was much more prosperous than the Central Plains..."

Naturally, the Tower was more abundant than the martial world where martial artists roamed. It was, after all, a place enjoying modern civilization. Probably many hunters haven't even starved for more than two days.

"Oh, dear. Tsk, tsk."

The Heavenly Demon sighed.

"It seems we are not on the same page. Starvation is the most urgent sensation. It's a pain that cannot be skipped even for a day, an agony that no one can ignore. After all, the purpose of human existence is to alleviate hunger. The hunger felt by the Son of Heaven is no different from the hunger felt by the lowliest outcast. How can you awaken the Divine Art of the Demonic Heaven if you don't even understand this?"

No.

I've also starved quite a bit, living over 10 years as an F-Rank Hunter.

When I bought tteokbokki outside, I used to count the number of rice cakes in a single serving, only buying from places that gave four extra pieces.

"That's it."

The Heavenly Demon turned her back.

"It's my mistake! I had some hope, but it turns out you're just a glib talker."

I was at the bottom of the huge pit. Hence, the Heavenly Demon's figure quickly disappeared from my sight. Clang! Clang! As I barely blocked the zombie's teeth and claws, I shouted towards the Heavenly Demon, who had already moved away.

"Heavenly Demon!"

There was no response.

"Heavenly Demon!?"

Again, no response.

The Heavenly Demon was a martial artist who never backed down.

"Wait a minute, please! It's not an honor to be starved! How does it make sense that I can't learn martial arts because of that! Hey!?"

The Palm Blast zombie opened its jaws wide.

Ah.

“What the fu----”

Crunch!

[You have died.]

[You will return 24 hours back to the past.]

“----ck!”

I stomped my feet, having returned to a day earlier. I saw the Palm Blast zombie's skill card, experienced the trauma, and even received the system's confirmation that the target’s ego remained intact. But none of that mattered right now.

"I've had my fair share of hardships!"

I fumed.

Anger. Competitive spirit.

Only these two emotions blazed like red and blue flames in my heart, burning fiercely.

-Wow.

The Guardian Spirit was calm by my side.

-She is teaching you in the completely traditional way. Well, she is passing on her sole secret art, so that is only proper. Zombie, when people always try to get things without lifting a finger, they end up getting served raw themselves...

"Fine. So this is how it's going to be!"

I ignored the Guardian Spirit and left the hot spring cave.

"You think I'll cower and surrender just because you act like this? No way. I'm someone who has died burning before! Burned from the head down! And you think I can't die of starvation!?"

-Uh...

The Guardian Spirit looked flustered for once.

-Zombie? What's wrong? Hey. Instead of learning from that Heavenly Demon or whatever, learn from me. I'm a more forgiving teacher...

"Let's see how long I can starve then!"

-Damn.

The Guardian Spirit muttered.

-This is bad. This bastard has completely lost it. When he gets pissed off, the crazy bastard really cannot see anything in front of him... There go another few dozen days...

From that day on, I entered the Hell Path.

'I'm going to find the item needed to clear this stage.' That's the lie I told my companions. And I left.

I went as far away as possible from the hot spring cave, settling in a mountain covered with snow.

Doing nothing. Just staying put.

-You crazy...

Did he know what I was planning?

The Guardian Spirit looked at me with cold, withering eyes.

-Are you planning to stay here until you starve to death? Is that it?

"Yes. What about it?"

-Oh, my.

The Guardian Spirit lamented.

-Everyone should know how crazy this guy is, not just me. Oh, my! I'm the only one who knows, oh my. Being a ghost after death is such a regret, such a regret.

Too noisy.

-Zombie. No, Gong-Ja, I beg you. It's fine if you are immersed in training out of anger, but why must I, who has done nothing wrong, keep watching over you?

"Ah, you're so noisy."

-Let me ask just one thing. How long do you plan to endure this?

I sat in a small cave on the snowy mountain, different from the cave where the Heavenly Demon and her group stayed. Naturally, there was no hot spring and no grain-avoidance pills. It was merely a dark, cold cave.

"I don't know. At least beyond 112 days."

-What?

"I saw it in the Heavenly Demon's trauma. She once endured for 111 days without eating anything, surviving solely on energy circulation. So, I plan to endure at least 112 days."

-This is utterly crazy....

The Guardian Spirit swore for about a minute. But it was futile. No matter what he said, it couldn't shake my resolve. I had already assumed a meditative posture.

-You won't last more than 100 days!

The Guardian Spirit shouted.

-Look at the weather. It's freezing! If you don't wrap yourself in Aura, you'll freeze to death right away. How do you plan to maintain your Aura for 100 days straight? Even with all your effort, 20 days is the limit.

Failing with curses, the Guardian Spirit tried to persuade me.

-Plus, Gong-Ja. Enduring more than 100 days isn't just about hunger anymore. You've never starved for more than 100 days, right? If you haven't, then don't talk about it.

"Have you starved before?"

-Of course. I know because I followed a bunch of lousy monks through fasting practice when I was young. For a few days you occasionally feel so hungry you could die, but most of the time you stop feeling hunger at all! That is not starvation. It is mental cultivation, mental cultivation!

"Then the answer is clear."

I spoke calmly.

“After starving for fifteen days, I can simply repeat the fifteenth day forever.”

-.......

The Guardian Spirit was speechless.

-What did you say?

"I won't eat anything for 15 days. I'll endure until hunger reaches its peak. Then I'll commit suicide and keep staying on the 15th day. Hunger will remain constant."

I looked at the Guardian Spirit.

"I'll repeat this until it reaches 112 days. What do you think? The Aura won't drop, and the hunger will continue. A perfect solution."

-You... are insane....

The Guardian Spirit was appalled.

-Just learn from me... Do not take that strange cult leader as your master. I keep telling you my martial arts are better. If you insist on needing a master, then learn from me. What in the world is driving you to this madness?

"I will perfectly learn the Divine Art of the Demonic Heaven."

My heart blazed.

"Do you know why the Heavenly Demon despaired of the world? Why this world, the 'The Veritable Records of the Heavenly Demon,' came to an end? Because she felt that living further was meaningless."

When the Head of the Martial Alliance lay on his deathbed.

The Heavenly Demon murmured to herself.

「The world has become empty.」

That was the end. If the world were a story, those were the final words written on its last page.

Meaninglessness.

No matter what the characters say or do, where they go, what they feel, none of it carries any meaning. Hundreds of lines of dialogue, thousands of descriptions, all pointless.

It's just like a blank page.

Then the work dies, and so does the world.

Destruction.

That must be what the Head Librarian meant by [Serialization Cancellation].

-.......

I, for one, do not wish for this world to perish in such a way.

I never want the character of the Heavenly Demon to end like this.

"...Living like the Flame Emperor is easy."

I looked outside the cave. The white snowy landscape stretched out.

“I could have an overpowered skill and declare myself the greatest. Every victory would be my own ability, and anyone worse than me would only have themselves to blame for being an idiot. There would be no reason to care about idiots, so I could choose only the stages convenient for me, mocking and sneering no matter what happened...”

As I sat in a meditative pose, I circulated Aura throughout my body.

"It might look cool to be that way."

And so, I began.

"Cynicism isn't childish, but living cynically is."

I starved.

“Preaching what is right may be childish, but a person who lives by what is right is not.”

I starved for a day.

"I'm human too. I need to live."

I starved for two days.

"So, the answer to how I should live is quite clear."

I starved for three days.

And kept starving.