SSS-Class Suicide Hunter

3.

Blood splattered.

-Kuh, Huk!

The ‘Grey Spider’ indifferently looked down at the corpse. If one raised their head and looked around, they would find someone particularly frail, trembling like a windblown tree.

Isn’t that an interesting sight?

The ‘Grey Spider’ smiled.

-Shivering?

-Hik, Ah… Hieek…

-Why are you shivering?

The ‘Grey Spider’ waved her hand. It was instantaneous. As if caught by an invisible hand, someone was pulled right up to the nose of the ‘Grey Spider’.

-Hi, Eeeek!

-You are a god, aren’t you? Gods shouldn’t be shivering. You look more like a human when you tremble. The races that devotedly served you would be disappointed.

Ah.

The ‘Grey Spider’ then tilted her head slightly to the left as if she just remembered something.

-Well, they probably wouldn’t be too disappointed. They’re all dead.

-Ple, please spare me! Spare me! Spare me!

-Yeah. I like that phrase. There are words and moments that never grow old, like when someone begs for their life at the brink of death. Right now, you’re probably hanging onto my every word, aren’t you? Wondering if I’ll spare you. Or kill you. You’re putting all your energy into listening to me.

This time, the ‘Grey Spider’ tilted her head to the right.

-You should have done this earlier.

Blood splattered.

-Aaaaaaah!!

-Hey. I heard it from your comrade. There’s a separate world where you gods live, right? From our perspective, it should be called the divine realm. I’d like to visit there, can you secretly tell me how to get there?

-Ah, uh, Ugh…! Aaaaah, spare me, spare me…!

-You really are a crybaby.

The ‘Grey Spider’ lightly tapped the nose of what she held in her hand.

-You’re telling me now.

-……. ……, …….

-Hurry up.

-Stage… S, Stage… [Teleport]…

The world was enveloped in a blinding white light.

Looking at the light, which wrapped around like tendrils, the ‘Grey Spider’ laughed, realizing something.

-So this is how it is?

That day, a tower in a world burned to ashes.

The massacre was easy. The [Divine Race] had left the conquest to a handful of warriors. Apart from a few enemies, they could not use aura and were not adept at magic.

The ‘Grey Spider’ was honestly disappointed. It was too trivial. Destroying the five races ruled by the [Divine Race] seemed more challenging than this.

-It’s unprecedented, a ruling race being overthrown in a rebellion by the races they dominated, leading to their destruction.

Thump.

Footsteps sounded from behind. Turning around, there stood a child with platinum hair, hands clasped behind her back, staring intently at her.

-Who are you?

-Call me the Lady Who Walks the Mirage. Just ‘Lady’ for short.

-I didn’t ask for your name.

-Hmm. I’m like a guide for those children.

The Lady pointed her finger down the mountain. The city was burning. It was a furnace. Magic-crafted earthen walls encircled the city’s outskirts, within which every living being was being roasted alive.

-But now they’re all dead or worse. Well, can’t be helped.

The Lady smiled brightly.

-Congratulations! From now on, you are the rulers of this tower!

-…….

-It’s an unexpected situation but not outside the rules. You haven’t broken any rules. Your witch race legitimately participated in the 40th floor stage, and now as the only survivors, you have the right to ascend to the 50th floor.

The ‘Grey Spider’ remained silent.

It wasn’t that she was flustered. It was just that an overwhelming amount of information had flooded in all at once, taking time to process. Combining the information gained from slaughtering the [God’s Race] with what the Lady just said, the ‘Grey Spider’ easily reached the truth.

-Hmm.

However, there was a riddle she couldn’t solve alone, so she asked.

-Are there other races being summoned besides us?

-Yes.

-Those who ascend to the stage, do they all reach the 50th floor like this? Making themselves out to be gods and using inferior races.

-It’s not necessary, but it seems that’s how it’s been.

-So, every human who reaches the 50th floor is treated like a god?

-Yes. At least until now.

Indeed.

A smile formed at the corner of her mouth.

-Thank you.

-Why?

The ‘Grey Spider’ replied.

-Just now, I found a reason not to die.

4.

They knew they were formidable opponents the moment their eyes met.

“Everyone. Even if it’s been decades since we last coordinated, surely we haven’t lost our edge to the point of failing to catch a mere rookie who just ascended to the 50th floor?”

“We’re too old to fight on instinct alone. Let’s communicate the strategy via telepathy.”

“Sorry, but that won’t work.”

The spiders exchanged words as they rushed in. All were using aura to race along an accelerated timeline. Before a black cloak could even flutter once, the spiders spoke, listened, and questioned through numerous sentences.

“Why not?”

“That Death King guy. He’s listening to our conversation right now.”

From the north side of the city, dozens of spiders felt the casting of magic. In the east, a unit had completely jumped over the city wall. Probably, they were using invisibility magic and then going around to ambush me from behind.

“Really? So he’s not a complete newbie. I’ve increased my speed now.”

“Increase it more. That bastard is following us with his eyes.”

“More?”

“More.”

“Stop.”

“How about now? If we compress the telepathy further, some of us won’t be able to hear.”

“It’s no use. He’s still [listening] to us.”

Someone among the spiders muttered coldly.

It seemed that this spider was temporarily taking command. Not exactly a leader, but clearly in a control tower role.

“Moreover, he seems relaxed. His flow of time is faster than ours.”

“What, no way. That’s impossible!”

“He’s not moving at all. Just standing there. Maybe he’s just pretending to listen?”

“No. He’s not just standing there. He’s…”

Found him.

“…! Handing over command to [Duke of Bone Thorns]!”

It was a desperate shout from the control tower. I discarded a piece of memory, honed my aura, and shot towards the location of the control tower’s voice.

Boom!

At the same moment the control tower shouted about transferring command, the hiding place she was in was slashed. It was a balcony of a seemingly unremarkable 3-story apartment building.

“——.”

The spiders’ breaths halted for a moment, a clear sensation to my senses.

“Attention. I am the [Duke of Bone Thorns].”

A parched voice muttered. It was a different person from the one who had just been in the control tower role. The muttering tone conveyed an effort to suppress fury towards me.

“From now on, I’ll exercise command. Telepathy will be forbidden for spiders below the rank of viscount.”

“……Damn. Crazy.”

“Agreed.”

“Did Serena just get taken down in one shot!?”

“She’s not dead. Not sure if that’s good news though.”

“Ah, please. Don’t tell me he’s going easy on us. Suddenly I don’t feel like fighting.”

“Phase implementation.”

“Idiots! Divide the telepathy into two stages! Increase the speed so that only those above the rank of viscount can understand! The remaining orders can be relayed once more by each commander to their troops!”

“Ready.”

“Implementing. And those who are optimistic, prepare for bombardment.”

“Increase the speed! More! More!”

“They are not just average! Stay alert!”

“No, wait. Everyone, just wait a moment. That strike just now was Constellation Killer’s…”

Found it.

“…!?”

The original control tower had passed the command to a spider farthest from me. It must have been a decision made to last even a little longer.

But it was precisely because of that, the plan became evident.

Immediately after taking down the control tower, I concentrated on the northern part of the city. Of course, someone nearby with a parched voice was giving commands like ‘forbidding telepathy’ and ‘prepare for bombardment,’ pretending to be the commander.

It was a fake.

The owner of the parched voice was not [Duke of Bone Thorns]. Or maybe they were, but at least not the commander.

The true commander was the one who had been giving short commands like [Agree], [Phase], and [Ready] from a little while ago.

They pretended to pass command to the terse-speaking spider and the real commander issued orders using code-like phrases. It was a fairly sophisticated fake. It must have been something they agreed upon before the battle began.

But I wasn’t fooled.

“Warning!”

I shrugged my shoulders.

And swung.

The charged strike was unleashed. This time, stronger. The sword slash that split the sky tore through the northern wall of the city, striking a terse-speaking spider who was hiding behind it. Just before being incapacitated, she chose to shout a warning to her comrades instead of attempting an evasive maneuver.

“Target, Constellation Killer level! Warning! The target—-.”

And then the voice was cut off.

“…….”

“…….”

Silence enveloped the spiderwebs.

Crack.

Someone ground their teeth. A sound of tongue clicking, and then a spit flew. But no one uttered a sentence.

Nobody.

Thousands of elites who had been chattering excitedly to distract me suddenly all fell silent, as if their earlier noise had been a lie.

“That’s a wise choice.”

Even as this happened, the battle continued.

“Having a commander is just making them a target for sniping. It’s better for each to act independently and attack me. Hmm. It does diminish the significance of gathering thousands of troops, though.”

“But the talk of me being Constellation Killer level is incorrect.”

The magic bombardment from the northern spiders hit me. Bang! Boom! I carefully watched the blue magic cannons falling and dodged each one, step by step.

“I am stronger than a mere dog.”

A guerrilla force that had circled around the outskirts of the city attacked me from behind.

A total of 24 members. Specializing in assassination, the twenty-four members had their lower faces covered with masks. They swung their swords in a simultaneous, coordinated attack. Although it did not reach the level of a battle formation, it was nearly perfect in its execution.

“What a pity.”

I moved my holy sword with respect towards them.

“If it had been me before reaching the 40th floor, this would have been enough to kill me.”

Infernal Heavens Demonic Art.

First Form.

Sword of Starvation.

Suddenly, the surroundings plunged into chaos. From my shadow, ghostly hands surged up. These hands grabbed the spiders’ wrists, ankles, and necks, throwing them to the ground. “Kerk!” “Huk!” The spiders’ breaths were cut short.

“I’ve heard a lot about you all.”

The touch of the shadow did not stop there. Hundreds of gestures spread out in all directions. They climbed up the outer walls of buildings and seeped into the cracks of windows. “Ah,” “Kugh!?” “This can’t be…” Spiders that had been lying in ambush inside the buildings, hiding their presence, fell one by one.

“Witch race.”

Flames blazed all around.

“In any world, to ascend to the 50th floor, there is a common stage that must be passed. That is, the task of becoming a god and ruling over one’s own race. You were originally a race that originated and lived in the world of the 40th floor… In other words, a dominated race led by hunters.”

“You’re wrong!”

One of the spiders within the range of my Infernal Heavens cried out. A strong one who had managed to repel the hands reaching out from the shadows five times.

“We misjudged! It’s not because he needed the power of the constellations to defeat us that he dragged them into this! It’s the opposite, he drew us in so that, damn it! We become cautious of each other and restrict our range of attack…!”

“But the hunters who ruled over you made a mistake.”

Thud.

The five exchanges did not lead to a sixth. A hand struck the back of the spider’s neck. The spider was knocked unconscious and fell into a deep sleep due to a targeted blow to her vital points.

“Damn it! Is this silence meaningful?!”

“That’s precisely the point. They marked you all as scapegoats. Carefully nurturing the five races but making the Witch race play the hated role among all races, so that the anger and blame intended for the gods were directed at you instead.”

“That’s right! Staying quiet will just get us killed!”

“Push through with numbers!”

“That might have been a good strategy. However, they failed to consider the possibility that you might become strong, and then even stronger, to the point where you could annihilate the five races and even the hunters revered as gods.”

“He’s a monster…”

“Bombardment! Start with a bombardment before charging in!”

“Optimists!”

The spiderweb trembled. The spiders uttered a word, and I murmured five in the accelerated timeline. Though we were both in the same accelerated time, there was an insurmountable torrent flowing between them and me.

“Wipe out that crazy guy completely!”

What happened next was as follows.

The Falling Stars, literally those who fall from the sky, were exactly that. Wrapped in special magic, they plummeted from high above. Whether it was a suicidal attack or not, I couldn’t tell.

Not knowing, I decided to deal with it first.

“What—-.”

Kicking off the ground, whoosh, I immediately soared into the air. I locked eyes with the spiders just as they began their plummet. They were right in front of me, so close I could see their eyebrows quivering. I gently touched the forehead of the first falling spider, rendering her unconscious.

Infernal Heavens Demonic Art.

Third Form.

Sword of the Drowned.

All seven members of the Falling Stars were engulfed in the torrent of aura. Their momentary hesitation at their leader being struck was their fatal mistake. The Falling Stars lost consciousness and plummeted endlessly.

“One must always consider the possibilities.”

I landed on the ground first.

Thump!

I caught each of the Falling Stars one by one as they fell, carefully laying them on the ground. Already unconscious, they groaned as if tormented by nightmares.

“The possibility that someone you thought was nothing might actually be stronger than you.”

I dusted off my hands with a couple of light taps.

“Isn’t that right? Everyone?”

“You all make the same mistake. It’s all about making mistakes, learning from them, and helping each other to improve where possible. That’s what life is about, I believe. Surely, we can help each other too.”

Around me were hundreds of flames.

Hands shaped by aura writhed around me.

“……Death King…….”

Someone seemed to murmur.

“No, more like a Great Devil…….”

Hmm.

I gave a sheepish smile.

“That’s just propaganda and fabrication, you know?”

****