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Translator: thursdays Editor: Yahiko PR: LightBrin
3.
-What?
Of course, it wasn’t only the Constellations who reacted to the death of the Constellation Killer.
-What? Wait, what… Did the Constellation Killer just die? Really?
A dull voice resounded in the gray sky. The chief of the wizards who had just warred against the Constellation Killer, the so-called Magic Tower Master, was in shock.
That voice was only the beginning. People started to flock to the wasteland. One by one, the Hunters who had fled the battle between the Constellation Killer and the Magic Tower approached.
“No way. The Constellation Killer died?”
“Who is that guy?”
“I’ve never heard of the Sword Emperor.”
“Fuck, that crazy mofo bastard was reincarnated…”
Though they were shocked, they did not rush and pile on top of me. There was an alertness in their eyes. They were wary of a newcomer who had suddenly hunted the Constellation Killer.
‘It’s dangerous. I should disappear before I draw more attention.’
I caught my breath, which had become feverish during my fight with the Constellation Killer.
‘If they discover that my fighting prowess is less than they think, I don’t know when or how they’ll attack.’
I was only able to hunt the Constellation Killer through a trap. If we were both fully prepared, I would have lost 100 percent no matter how many times we fought. The other Hunters weren’t aware of this fact yet… It was really lucky that they weren’t.
‘I should hurry.’
I put the Constellation Killer’s body on my back and muttered, “Transmit.”
In my mind, I was already thinking of the Great Library’s majestic lobby. Soon, my body would be transmitted there, carrying the Constellation Killer’s corpse. Then, I would coax [The Corner Librarian] to follow my schemes.
“……?”
However, nothing happened.
“Transmit.”
I muttered again, but it was the same. I remained in the desolate field. The glutenous blood from the Constellation Killer’s corpse soaked my back. Hundreds of Hunters stared at me in confusion.
“……”
Suddenly, an ominous premonition swept over me.
‘The stage clear announcement hasn’t been made yet!’
The Constellation Killer was unmistakably dead. And yet, no voice declared to me that [the stage has been cleared].
‘Why? Was something lacking?’
I desperately tried to think of what happened. Was it not enough to kill the Constellation Killer? Was the Tower refusing to recognize the 50th floor as cleared since the Constellation Killer wasn’t the master of the 50th floor?
“…Why’s he like that? He’s just standing still.”
“Hold on, my observation skill says that guy’s level is only B-Class.”
“B-Class?”
While I was urgently thinking, the Hunters began to murmur. The air of astonishment ebbed away. Astonishment slowly turned into alertness, and alertness soon became suspicion.
“Don’t joke.”
“Well, he must have a camouflage skill. The Constellation Killer is at least S-Class, so there’s no way he’d die to a B-Class.”
“Hey! Somebody talk to him!”
“Are there any Hunters who were active when the Sword Emperor was alive?”
I broke out in a cold sweat.
‘This isn’t good.’
Uneasiness rippled through the air. It wasn’t just because I could see the Hunters sniffing about. It wasn’t because each of those Hunters was a higher level than me and thus dangerous.
The sense that I’d [missed something].
A Hunter’s intuition.
“……”
I instinctively looked to my side.
-……
Next to me, Bae Hu-ryeong was smirking.
-What’re you looking at?
‘Speak honestly. You know something, don’t you?’
-I don’t know what you mean. I already gave you all the advice I’ll give.
Saying so, Bae Hu-ryeong grinned. The corners of his mouth were filled with mischief. Shit. Cursing in my mind, I recalled the advice he gave me.
『Gongja.』
『Don’t see him as a human. He’s nothing but a weapon that moves fully according to what he has written.』
Not a human but a weapon. A fighting machine.
‘What would I do if I was Lefanta Aegim? He’s a man who calculates everything obsessively. Wouldn’t he naturally have plans for if he died?’
My thinking became quicker.
‘Furthermore, Bae Hu-ryeong has met the Constellation Killer before.’
I saw Lefanta Aegim’s face for the first time in a trauma. Bae Hu-ryeong was with me then, too. He had immediately recognized Lefanta Aegim’s identity.
『It feels like I’ve seen that bastard before?』
『Even at a glance, I can recognize that he’s definitely the Constellation Killer.』
『I was wondering what kind of world such a madman was born in, that brat. So he’s from Aegim.』
I asked Bae Hu-ryeong what sort of relationship he had with the man. Bae Hu-ryeong shrugged.
『What else could our relationship be? We had a proper fight.』
『He was strong, I’ll give him that, but he couldn’t dare match me.』
In other words…
‘Bae Hu-ryeong beat the Constellation Killer in battle.’
The Constellation Killer had been defeated by Bae Hu-ryeong before.
Then, wasn’t it too strange?
Feeling the Constellation Killer’s blood drip down my spine, I looked at Bae Hu-ryeong.
‘You…’
-Yeah.
‘There is no way a person like you would spare the Constellation Killer.’
The Sword Emperor.
He was a crazy nutjob, but he had a noble attitude when it came to swords and martial arts.
Bae Hu-ryeong killed my master. He killed her in a fair match. Master was beautiful, and she was as kind as she was beautiful. Bae Hu-ryeong recognized it, saying that [this was the doctrine of the Demonic Cult], and cut her.
-Heh.
The Constellation Killer was depraved. He couldn’t even be compared to my master.
-Smart little brat.
After subduing the Constellation Killer… there was no way that Bae Hu-ryeong wouldn’t have killed him.
-This is why I like you. You have to be smart to be a Hunter. There are three qualities a Hunter needs. Intelligence, to plan a way to win. Courage, to execute the plan. Skill, to succeed in the execution. You have to be smart, adaptive, and competent.
There was only one conclusion.
Bae Hu-ryeong must have killed the Constellation Killer in the past.
Only, that wasn’t the end.
-The Constellation Killer bastard is a Hunter, Gongja, just like you.
The sky split.
“Strengthening one blow.”
I.
“–I throw away the white flower I saw when I looked down on my way here.”
I was only able to avoid the blow because I was extremely tense and wary of my surroundings. I had reinforced my vision and hearing, all five senses, with my aura as much as I could. As I keenly observed the flow of air, I felt a blade that tore the flow apart.
I hit the ground.
I discarded Lefanta Aegim’s corpse. I disregarded my posture. I fiercely rolled away, my sole aim to get out of that spot. Running Wave. Any martial artist would laugh at my technique, but I used it with not a single inkling of shame.
In exchange, I survived.
Kwaaaang!
The wasteland was completely uprooted. The ground broke. The sudden blow had waylaid even the crowd who had gathered to look at me. Unlike me, not all of them had been paying attention. Over twenty Hunters died due to this bit of carelessness.
It happened in an instant.
“On the way, I saw an old man planting something in a flower pot.”
Someone took a step. Thud. The man’s footsteps echoed in the dense wasteland of screams and groans.
“The flowerpot was small. Petite. The man’s life had become old and lacking, and he was planting his all into a single flowerpot. For a moment, I saw the flowerpot that contained the old man’s life. Life, regardless of size, can be beautiful so long as it can be contained somewhere.”
The walker was wearing a ratty hood.
“One strike. Strengthening.”
A voice flowed from beneath the hood.
“I forsake the memories of the old man and the pot.”
A gale blew.
[‘The Lone Seeker of Truth’ rejoices.]
[‘The Eye Living in the Labyrinth’ watches as new events unfold.]
[‘The Warhorse of the Eternal Plains’ abandons the plan to attack you.]
The number of deaths earlier—20—instantly doubled. Everyone but the Hunters with prompt reactions was caught in the blow. There was a spirited man who ran toward the man in the hood, but soon his limbs were blown away, demonstrating to everyone the difference between courage and recklessness.
“I overheard people whispering in the alley.”
The man’s hood slipped because of the wind that he himself caused.
“I couldn’t understand them, so I shan’t say they were voices. But I cannot say it was mere noise because I wanted to understand them. The allure of something you don’t understand. I wondered if that was a sign of beauty. I thought the sound of the alley was beautiful.”
Silver hair.
“While walking, I stepped on the ground. The feeling of touching the ground was new to me. It was firm. It was nice. I thought that maybe the people of the world would become nicer if they walked around on bare feet. Then, I felt pained because I thought they would step on a glass shard. The people who walk barefoot in this world are good people, but that is why they will always be in pain.”
Blue eyes.
“I deduce that the one who murdered me is in this group. Among them, the person with the highest possibility of being the killer is… the one that was carrying my corpse.”
An old notebook.
“It is the first time I’ve died in 153 years, 7 months, and 2 days. The Hunter who killed me in the past, the Sword Emperor, was distinctly more skilled than I. Thus, I added a rule on page 2. [If I am about to be killed by an opponent stronger than me, I will escape]. This is the lesson I gained after dying three times in three battles against the Sword Emperor.”
The silver-haired man scanned the old notebook with his blue eyes.
“From my judgment.”
Then, he looked at me.
“You avoided two of my blows. But if you were a fighter on the Sword Emperor’s level, you would have counterattacked immediately after dodging. The Sword Emperor said his level of martial arts was called the Dawn Circle Sword. Your skills are not on that level.”
The Holy Sword by my waist trembled.
“It’s hard to understand why I was killed by a person on your level.”
The one who massacres Constellations.
“This means that you are smart enough to devise a method that I cannot guess. A Hunter who is smarter than me is dangerous. If you gain more outstanding power than you have now, you may grow into a Hunter comparable to the Sword Emperor.”
A human weapon.
A person who plans for his own death and has made an additional body. Whether it was a [clone], a [puppet], or some Constellation’s technique, the Constellation Killer, Lefanta Aegim, stood before me.
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