SSS-Class Revival Hunter-Chapter 249: Turn the Table (1)

It rained that day.

“Ha, how the heck does it rain inside the Tower?” the Viper grumbled as he walked down the dark street. A few sparse streetlights were standing at irregular intervals, as if they were bean sprouts planted by an elementary school student before getting bored. Some of them were even destroyed.

The Viper squinted his single eye as he glanced at the broken streetlights. “Fuuuuck. The Tower did yet another fucking marvelous job, didn’t they?”

It was the early days of the Tower, so infrastructure was a distant concept. Buildings frequently went out of power, while the streets had no traffic lights or crosswalks. All kinds of crimes occurred on a daily basis.

Eventually, the Sword Star got sick of it and declared that he would create a group of watchmen. Well, the Viper was skeptical about its success. Plenty of scumbags and lunatics gathered in this place.

“Oh! Sect Master!”

The voice of the man who could be considered the leader of those maniacs called out from behind him. The Viper didn’t want to look back, but considering that head lunatic’s social status, he had no other options.

He sighed. “What?”

“Ah, it is you!”

When he turned back, the smile the Inquisitor flashed made it seem as if a golden light fell on him. The kid who looked like a fairy stood in the middle of the trashy street. At first glance, it seemed that he had gone through many hardships throughout his life. Nevertheless, his smile was very pure. His dainty, fresh blond hair added more life-like charm to his smile.

“Inquisitor, it’s raining, so why are you here?”

“Hahaha. That’s cold! I’m here because the Black Dragon Master asked me to talk to you for a bit in a place where people can see us!”

The Viper frowned. “Why? To create the impression that the OJP Sect and the Pantheon are getting along?”

“Wow, I see! That’s what she meant!”

“You didn’t know that, but you still listened to her? That is awfully obedient of you.”

“I’m still learning, so I have no other choice! Hmm, if we want to stick to that purpose, it would be more efficient to go to a cafe and avoid the rain!“

The Viper’s nose twitched. He could instinctively feel that the two of them were incompatible. Since they exchanged words, the Inquisitor came to a conclusion that progressed their conversation. Despite this, the Viper didn’t feel like they were actually carrying a conversation. It was quite the opposite, as if they had selected and exchanged words in alien languages that they could never understand.

“Cafe?”

“Yes, this is a nice cafe!”

Again, even though they just said cafe, something felt different. Was the Inquisitor really using the word “cafe” in the same sense as the Viper? Did the Inquisitor understand the Viper? Even if a parrot memorized all conversation patterns, asked questions and answered when inquired, could that really count as communication?

The Viper glanced at the Inquisitor. The Inquisitor’s blue eyes didn’t reflect the Viper at all; they seemed to have been made only to reflect the sky. In that case, there wouldn’t be much difference between talking to this guy or the sky. Either way, their conversation wouldn’t go anywhere.

If a religion was created out of the desire to talk to gods one couldn’t normally communicate with, this guy being the head of a religious guild would be peak irony.

“Hey, Preacher.”

“Yes, Sworder!”

“Pantheon Master.”

“Yes, Sect Master!”

“Inquisitor.”

“Yes, Viper!”

“Okay,” the Viper told the rainy sky. “Okay, let’s go to a cafe.”

It rained that day.

***

It also rained now.

“Death King—!”

A rain-soaked roar rang out. The OJP Sect Master was possessing a Skian warrior with a broken horn, his eyes gleaming red.

However, it wasn’t just his eyes that were red. His disheveled hair, his horn, his muscles, his broken nails—red rainwater dripped all over him. The more crimson dyed the ones possessed by the Viper, the more they shook in pain.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

This was the Demonic Heaven Arts of Estelle and I—Radiant Rain of the Tragic Sky. It was the autumn rain that Estelle had splattered the world with when she used to be the Demon King. Her resentment and hostility turned into endless rain, affecting the Viper, who was controlling multiple Skians at the same time.

“Haha, hahaha... Haha... Hahahahahaha!

The Viper lost his Skian vessels one by one, and the warrior with his broken horn laughed. He stood up from the piles of Skian corpses, which slid off the piles. As he stepped on and kicked the bodies of his compatriots, he created a path for himself. The Skian warrior was a venomous viper itself.

He chuckled. A glow redder than rainwater appeared in his eyes, a clear sign of aura deviation. The Viper’s entire body was covered in blood, and he licked the rainwater flowing into his mouth as if it were cool mineral water.

“Are you planning to stop us, Death King?”

“I’m planning to stop you, Sect Master.”

“Why?”

“There is something that one of my children told me.” I glanced at where the Terra chairman was. “If Uburka crushes the Skians, that is his victory, not the Terras’.”

“Hmmm.”

“Using the same logic, this would be your victory, not your species’, if you were to go out of your way to win right now.”

“Hahahahahaha. That does sound like something your species would say, alright. I have nothing to retort because they’re so upright. Ah... So fucking annoying. Well, of course, that’s the most a guy like me can do.”

“Sect Master.”

“I’m wondering how the hell you raised your children so well. Goddamn it!”

Pzzzzzzz—!

Electricity sparked at the Viper’s feet. As if in response, lightning struck from the rainy sky.

Thuuuud!

The land shook from the collision of aura. Pools of raindrops on the ground splattered, and the rain in the sky evaporated in the lightning.

“Damn it!”

Electric currents flowed in the rain puddles as raindrops writhed about. The Viper stood tall in one of these puddles jolting with electric currents. The color of the electric current and lightning was mythically purple.

“Why? Why did my children get to have me for their guardian? They’re only suffering! Why, Death King?”

He brought down another lightning bolt from the sky.

***

It also rained that day. The Viper stood before a corpse that had lost its warmth in a secluded alley. He muttered, “You didn’t have to kill him. Why did you do it? Was it necessary? Inquisitor, you’re a capable bastard. You can do so much, so why do you always—”

The Inquisitor tilted his head, his hands stained with blood. “Well, that’s because it’s more efficient that way! Corpses don’t speak or act, so they can’t break promises or pose future threats! Therefore, it’s better to kill anyone who shows hostility if you get the opportunity to do so!”

The Viper couldn’t tell whether the rainy sky or the Inquisitor had answered.

As the number of rainy days increased, time passed twice as fast. Now, the streets had considerably more streetlights. The god’s broken child rested his chin on his palm after making many people part of the streets. Perhaps he got tired of it.

“Sect Master, I know you’re trying to fix me,” the Inquisitor said with a wide smile. “Your efforts have paid off. The two of us can now order coffee for each other without having to show off our guilds’ friendship. But that’s it.”

The Inquisitor looked at the Viper. His eyes didn’t seem to reflect the corpse he had left behind or the Viper, who was right in front of him.

“You can use me like everyone else, but you can’t change me.”

Old vehicles drove down the road. These types of cars normally belonged in antique stores, but they were still actively used in Babylon. Their horns blared weakly in the distance.

“Because you can’t take responsibility for me.”

The rain’s words were cruel because they were true.

“I was born like this, and this is how I’ve lived so far. This is the only life for me. Despite your good intentions, any attempt to indoctrinate me into a different lifestyle is doomed to fail.”

Unable to withstand the rain, the broken streetlights fell over. The Inquisitor smiled brightly with his arms spread out.

“However, Sect Master, is that such a bad thing? I define people who try to kill me as enemies because they cannot take responsibility for me. Unfortunately, ninety-nine percent of this world is made up of enemies! Considering that, you’re a very rare case. Even if you get the chance to kill me, you probably won’t!”

Lightning struck. In the heavy rain, it looked purple. Startled by the flash of light, the car that was driving nearby sped across a large puddle of water, drenching the Viper and the Inquisitor.

“The two of us are friends and colleagues. Isn’t that enough?” the Inquisitor asked.

No, it wasn’t. But if this was the best they could do, the Viper had no choice but to be satisfied. That was what he thought—no, what he used to think.

***

Lightning struck amidst the rain. Aura could have different colors, but color wasn’t the only thing that made one’s aura unique. Even if the aura was red, that could mean either blood or roses. Depending on the image the aura user had in their heart and the image embedded in their core, their aura could change.

My aura resembled blood and fire. And the Rank 6th Hunter, the Viper, seemed to have been carrying a purple lightning bolt within his heart.

“How should—” I grabbed a sword from a corpse nearby. “I know that!”

“Why don’t you know that, you little shit!”

The Viper rushed at me. Since his aura was like lightning, he now moved just like one after unlocking his vital energy thanks to aura deviation. It was almost impossible to follow his movements with the naked eye. In just one moment, the Viper passed by me.

Swish!

“Shit.”

Blood spurted from my shoulder. His sword was quick and moved bizarrely. If he had cut a little deeper, I probably would have lost my entire left arm, but I wasn’t angry because I got injured.

“For fuck’s sake, why the hell are you whining?!”

Before my regression, he was one of the giants I couldn’t even dare to look in the eyes. Even after discovering he was the silly emperor of light novels, I still respected him for who he was. Even though I knew he wasn’t acting normally because he was affected by aura deviation, I couldn’t bear how pathetically he was acting right now.

“I’m basically a baby compared to you. Aren’t you ashamed to do this in front of me?”

“Baby? Ha. Babies like you don’t exist!”

The Viper’s voice came from all directions because he was constantly moving. In a split second, he arrived in front of me. I used my aura to slow down time around me as much as possible.

With time infinitely stretching around us, the Viper moved to strike my stomach, my chin, and my head. The resolve to kill me was evident in each blow. I moved out of the way, pushed him away, and twisted in place to avoid the blows.

“Why?!” the Viper continued to yell.

He didn’t stop. Before the sound of his footsteps could disappear, the Viper appeared from the other side and swung his sword. I unleashed my aura as much as I could and narrowly avoided his sword strike.

“Why is it always you, Death King?!”

I met his eyes. They were burning with so much venom that I wondered if this was what it was like to stare into a jar filled with snake eyes. The Viper’s gaze became a pot of gu poison and shone dark red.

“Why are you the only one making the others happy?”

I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re the heir of the Demonic Heaven.”

I wasn’t expecting him to bring this up.

Seeing me freeze in my tracks, the Viper screamed, “You made sure the Heavenly Demon would have the best final moments she could ask for! Even though the pain of dying was eating her away, she could smile genuinely at the gift you gave her!”

He had gone into the Heavenly Demon Chronicle with me. While I was on the Heavenly Demon Cult’s side, he fought alongside the Murim Alliance. I took the Heavenly Demon as my teacher, and the Murim Alliance’s leader became the Viper’s teacher. We had shared the same winter.

“Why? Why couldn’t the alliance leader do that?”

That scream had the power to stop me in my tracks. The aura he fired scratched my cheek. My blood dripped on the ground, but I still couldn’t move.

“Grandpa Namgung Woon also tried his best in his life, so he could somehow compete with the Heavenly Demon! He devoted his whole life to training! Even with my one eye, I can see that the alliance leader looks more noble, so why? Why couldn’t he meet an end like her and find his twilight happiness in taking care of simpletons who know nothing?”

The Viper’s aura became darker as it rose from his shoulders, slowly undulated until it reached high into the air.

“Is it my fault? Was that my fault too, just like I failed to care for my children properly? Have I failed to understand the alliance leader on a deeper level? Why can’t I...”

He lowered his head. However, as his voice became quieter, the amount of aura rising from him became bigger. Now, the Viper’s aura moved like writhing tentacles from his back.

The fight between the OJP Sect and my clan was already concluding. Every time Kim Yul swung his sword, two of the Skians possessed by the Viper died. Every time Uburka swung his ax, five or six possessed Skians were hacked to pieces. The Skians controlled by the Viper lined up and attempted to counterattack, but they instantly evaporated when Estelle swung her red greatsword.

The only sound that could be heard was the Viper’s own scream. As his defeat became clearer, the silence deepened.

“Death King.”

“Yes, Sect Master.”

“Why can’t I...”

The Viper slowly raised his head.

Ah.

It wasn’t until I met those eyes that I understood what was beyond them and the source of the tremor in his voice. Perhaps I could understand it so well because they reminded me of my past self.

The first hope I ever had was extinguished because my resentment didn’t disappear even after my first death. My wish, which defined me, was to climb high and breathe only clean air, as if the Tower were a mountain. By swinging my sword and walking strictly my desired path, I wished to live exactly the way I wanted to live.

The moment I looked into the Viper’s eyes, I understood the intense venom in his eyes better than anyone. I Want To Be Like You—the first Skill I acquired.

“I...”

The Viper clenched his teeth. He was gritting his teeth so hard that he seemed to be chewing on his very soul.

“I wanted to be like you, too.”

That was how others had come to see me.

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