SSS-Class Suicide Hunter

-But do you have time to scold me right now?

Bae Hu-ryeong chuckled.

-The alarm has been triggered. Any moment now, the spiders will swarm us, right?

“Damn it. Followers of Hamustra!”

I ran towards the prison with the bunch of keys in hand.

“If you are a follower of Hamustra! [The Corner Librarian] is the greatest constellation in the universe! If there’s anyone like that, make even a small groan!”

“Uuuh…”

Weak groans came from various places.

My aura-enhanced hearing didn’t miss even the slightest sounds. Twelve spots in total. I was about to pass the keys around, searching for the right one, when…

“There’s no time for this!”

I threw the keys on the floor and drew my holy sword, slashing through the iron bars. Clang! Although they were as tough as if enchanted, pouring my aura into the sword cut them like straws.

“Quick, anyone who still has the strength to get up…”

-Roooaaarrrr!

That’s when it happened.

A menacing roar echoed from afar.

I couldn’t tell what kind of monster it was, but one thing was certain: it wasn’t roaring to herald the dawn.

[‘The Eye Living in the Labyrinth’ finds your crisis amusing.]

[‘The Lone Seeker of Truth’ is curious to see how you will overcome this situation.]

[‘The Incarnation of Love and Lust’ is excited about the prospect of you being captured!]

This is maddening.

“Just follow me! Let’s escape!”

I cut the restraints on the followers.

“Who, who are you…?”

Some were too severely tortured to even stand. For them, I pressed their acupoints to circulate aura and poured potions into them.

“Drink this!”

“Gulp, gulp…”

“Don’t throw up! It’s really good for you!”

I handed each follower a bottle. These were special potions from the Apothecary whose services had become exorbitantly expensive.

The loyal Apothecary had said, “For Master, I will provide these at a special friend’s price…” Thanks to this, I could generously use them in situations like this.

“Ohhh?”

“This, this taste is…!”

“Unbelievable. Such a small dose and yet so effective…”

The apothecary’s skills were evidently effective even on the 50th floor.

‘Indeed, my friend.’

-She was quite a lunatic too. Come to think of it, isn’t this Charumu kid somewhat similar to him?

‘Would you be quiet.’

Most of the Hamustra followers had taken the potion.

But ‘most’ is not ‘all’.

“Wait. Who are you to tell us to follow?”

The woman, who seemed to suit glasses and had a sharpness in her eyes, looked at me fiercely. Her disheveled hair from imprisonment added to her fierce look.

“I am on Hamustra’s side too.”

I said.

She frowned.

“I’ve never seen a librarian like you. Until you explain what you’re up to with helping us escape…”

There was no time to waste.

“Just focus for a moment.”

“What?”

I accelerated my aura, extending my sense of time. On this elongated timeline, I carefully observed the surroundings.

The Hamustra followers looked anxiously at the woman.

They were not looking at a colleague or a subordinate, but clearly at a superior. They were eager to escape, but seemed unable to move without the woman’s consent.

‘Indeed.’

I quickly understood the reason.

‘This woman is the [Assistant Writer].’

Wasn’t she almost treated like an apostle among the Hamustra followers?

To lead the followers, I needed to gain her trust first.

‘If she’s an apostle-level figure to the constellations, she should understand telepathy.’

I spoke while maintaining the slowed timeline.

“[The Corner Librarian] has personally requested my assistance. [Assistant Writer].”

The words came out at a speed no ordinary person could imitate. To someone of lower stature, my sentence would sound like a single word, ■, an incomprehensible buzz.

Indeed, the [Assistant Writer] was astute enough to understand telepathy. She furrowed her brows.

“The Librarian asked you to…?”

“Yes. To take care of his followers. He is currently in a situation where…”

“I can’t believe it. We are far from being the Librarian’s [favorite characters]. And he sent you to help us escape? It doesn’t make sense. It would be a [character-breaking] and [conveniently plot-driven] action for the Librarian to take.”

Favorite character ranking, character-breaking, convenient plot-driven development… what are these terms…

It feels like the apostle of that constellation, but again, this is not the time for this.

“I anticipated this and obtained proof.”

“Proof?”

“The Librarian said there’s a phrase that only you and the Librarian know, something you heard when you entered the apocalypse.”

I whispered into the Assistant Writer’s ear.

“[I am looking at your face right now.]”

“…….”

The Assistant Writer’s eyes widened.

“[Someday you will die too. When you close your eyes, if you remember my face, then the two of us will die looking at each other. It’s the same. Looking at each other. The same. I will stop here for a while and wait until you close your eyes.]”

“…Enough, no. I understand. I understand, so that’s enough.”

The Assistant Writer made a difficult-to-describe expression.

“It’s enough with just that…”

She seemed sad, angry, and surprised all at once.

For a moment, the marks of a wound that everyone bears in life seemed to surface on her face.

“Yes, it’s clear you were sent by the Librarian. It’s hard to shake off the feeling of lacking plausibility, but then again, I’m not the [main character] after all…”

The Assistant Writer shook her head bitterly. Then, her eyes regained focus.

She said,

“I’ll take care of the followers. What’s the escape plan?”

“Well, originally, I planned to sneak out, but…”

In the stretched timeline, the alarm was still ringing with an eerie length.

“With this mess, let’s just push through with force.”

“Is that possible?”

“The quicker this conversation ends, the more likely it is. Even though we’re talking through telepathy, we don’t have much time. So, quickly…”

“This man is truly sent by the Librarian!”

The Assistant Writer shouted to the surrounding followers.

“Everyone, follow this man’s instructions! Damn spiders! Let’s escape!”

“Yes!”

The followers answered robustly as if they were just waiting for that word.

-Roooaaarrr!

The monster also roared robustly, as if waiting for that very moment. Finally, the monster turned the corner and burst into the prison.

As a result, the followers’ spirited “Yes!” turned into a twisted “Yessss?!” towards the end.

-Oh. A chimera. Haven’t seen one in a while.

The monster didn’t waste time observing us, a trait of beasts always living in the reality of the present moment.

And the present reality for this monster was to drool and charge towards us.

-That’s a mutant bred from a manticore and a slime.

Boom! Boom!

The floor shook with each step of the monster. It had no eyes where they should be, replaced by a constant flow of sticky green fluid.

Bae Hu-ryeong clicked his tongue.

-Ugh. These perverts. The same a hundred years ago as now.

“I’ll take the lead! Just follow me without question!”

I charged forward.

“Ah…! In-, Invader! That is…!”

Charumu tried to say something while swallowing a groan, but I ignored him and rushed in. I roughly guessed what he was trying to say.

‘It must be something like, “It can’t be killed without a special method!”’

Monsters inhabiting the 50th floor are generally unique.

In essence, to kill a [Half-Cutter], you must split it exactly in half as its name implies, and to kill a [Screamer], you must overwhelm it with volume rather than with a slashing attack.

The chimera in front of me was a monster from the Mage Tower. In other words, it was a creature from one of the most difficult dungeons on the 50th floor. It wouldn’t simply die by being hacked at recklessly.

‘So,’

I slid, slipping under the chimera’s body.

Before the chimera could react, I plunged the tip of my sword deep into its belly.

‘If I obliterate it to the point where not even a speck of dust remains, that’ll do it!’

The sword flashed. What seemed like a red lightning bolt shot up, and then, with a loud burst, the monster’s belly exploded.

No, it wasn’t just the belly. The monster’s entrails, body, spine, head, and even the slime oozing from its eye sockets – its entire body exploded in an instant.

“Eek!?”

The young magician screamed. I had just used the holy sword like a syringe, furiously injecting aura into it.

The monster exploded alive due to the overwhelming injection of aura beyond common sense.

“Phew.”

I expelled the aura.

Not satisfied with merely blowing up the chimera’s body, I burned all its skin and bones, including the last remnants of its flesh. Even the dust-like ashes that briefly floated in the air were incinerated.

I had literally erased the monster’s existence.

“Okay!”

I quickly stood up and looked back.

“Forget strategy, just obliterate them! Let’s go!”

The young magician, the Assistant Writer, and the followers stared at me blankly.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go!”

“Ah, yes. Right. Let’s go!”

The Assistant Writer was the first to snap out of it. She grabbed and pulled the shoulders of other followers, occasionally kicking their butts to hurry them. The followers then joined in the sensible parade and started to flee with me.

[‘The Lone Seeker of Truth’ is at a loss for words with your aura manipulation.]

[‘The Eye Living in the Labyrinth’ is surprised you are not tired and still in good shape.]

[‘The Incarnation of Love and Lust’ is already preparing an epic campaign just for you.]

Yeah. Thank you, thank you!

But that’s a story for later!

“That chimera was a creature specially beloved by the big spiders…”

The young magician panted as he followed behind me. Despite struggling to keep up, he made every effort to look at my face, seemingly shocked by what had just transpired.

“The chimera’s heart, forming its core, was liquefied like slime… constantly moving within its body. If you don’t precisely stab it, it won’t die…”

“Ah, I see. My method was the right answer then.”

“…….”

The young magician opened and closed his mouth before deciding to concentrate on running.

-Roaaaarrr!

-Grrr! Grrrroar!

Monsters kept appearing in the corridor non-stop, as if springing from nowhere.

“If you don’t want to die, move aside, you creatures!”

I swung my sword without slowing my pace. Pop! Crunch! Every monster my sword touched inflated like a balloon and exploded.

Every three seconds, a fearsome monster appeared, but since I was dispatching one every second, the path ahead was clear.

“Hyaah!”

For about 40 seconds, I exploded around fifty monsters.

Then, I sensed something was off.

I was tensely infiltrating, cautiously escaping, yet I felt no strain. Sure, the monsters were fearsome. But if I just blindly pumped aura into them until they burst, wasn’t that enough?

‘It’s easier than I thought?’

The difficulty level wasn’t as high as I had imagined.

Perhaps, maybe.

‘Am I much stronger than I thought?’

Stop.

I halted my steps.

“Huff, huff… Huff…!”

“Inv-, Invader! Just a little… slower, please…”

The sound of my companions panting reached my ears from behind. It was strange. I hadn’t used any lightness techniques; I merely enhanced my legs with aura to run, yet my companions were struggling to breathe.

And they were all hunters who had reached the 50th floor.

“…….”

I looked up, still holding the holy sword.

We were still underground in the Mage Tower, beneath the earth.

Beyond that wall was the city of the 50th floor.

‘Should I give it a try?’

I gripped the hilt of my sword tightly and activated a skill.

‘I discard all memories of the hunters I met at the open-air tavern.’

Wooong!

The holy sword was enveloped in red aura. [Salvation of a Torn Goddess]. A skill that trades memories for a burst of power. Unleashing the skill I inherited from Constellation Killer, I swung my sword towards the ceiling of the corridor.

A single slash.

A crimson storm surged. The sound of stone walls collapsing was drowned out by the roaring tempest. The followers screamed behind me. I swiftly deflected falling rocks from hitting the followers’ heads and looked up.

[‘The Eye Living in the Labyrinth’ is astonished.]

The ceiling had been cleanly pierced through.

“Oh.”

Through the gap in the ceiling, dark clouds were visible. The sky was always gloomy on the 50th floor. But even that dark sky seemed bright compared to the underground corridor’s ceiling.

It felt like looking up through a hole from the bottom of a well.

“It worked?”

“…….”

The followers gaped at me in amazement.

“One by one, please. I’ll lift you up. What are you waiting for? If the spiders catch up, it will be a headache. Let’s form a line respectfully and sensibly.”

“Invader…”

The young magician trembled and opened his lips.

“What, what are you really…?”

I shrugged my shoulders and replied.

“The boss of evil.”

****