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SSS-Class Suicide Hunter (Web Novel) - Chapter 269: White Lion Faith (2)
Chapter 269: White Lion Faith (2)
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
Translator/Editor: Ryuu
‘Rain.’
I observed the water droplet on my sword blade.
‘It's raining.’
Every movement of the slowly sliding droplet was clear to me, moment by moment. Due to the heightened concentration from drawing up aura throughout my body, my heart rate and senses were far beyond that of an ordinary person at this moment.
Thud!
I channeled aura into my sword blade and flicked the water droplet away. My red aura instantly enveloped the droplet. Should I call it coating? The droplet, now plated with my aura, I sent it flying directly towards Uburka.
Thwack!
The reddened droplet hit Uburka's cheek.
It burst.
Like a child playfully throwing a water balloon. Red paint smeared and ran down one side of Uburka’s face. He could easily dodge my strike, yet he jovially received it as a playful jest.
“At this point, showing off the mastery of your aura is uninspiring.”
Uburka grinned.
“The sorrow and resentment mixed in the droplet from your blade, that aura-infused tear becomes more than just one of many raindrops to be washed away, but rather a single drop that feels dirty, gloomy, and as if it needs to help someone. Remarkable. A fascinating intricacy of aura.”
“Uburka.”
In the midst of this small exchange, where we gave and took mutual respect, I fully composed myself. The habit of Kim Gong-Ja, who awkwardly inserts himself into conversations or tries to draw favor from strangers he meets for the first time.
I shed all the shells that made me who I am, one by one, focusing my mind solely on the [believer].
At this moment, the one wielding the sword is the Vice-lord of Demonic Cult.
“Do you believe I created that?”
“What?”
“A raindrop is nothing more than moisture clumping together, falling when it can no longer hold its own weight. There's no reason beyond physical action. Just water, just force, just gravity. That's why there are raindrops.”
Master.
I conveyed the teachings I received from the lord of the Demonic Cult, about snowflakes, to my believer.
“I infused human desires and resentments into the droplet with my aura, turning a simple droplet into a projectile. Adding something that wasn't originally there makes it unnatural. That’s how the Demonic Cult manipulates aura, right?”
"......."
“But son, you are mistaken.”
To the orthodox, land is just land. Emulating the land means a martial artist themselves become a speck of dirt.
But to the Demonic Cult, what is land? It's the enemy that must be dug with broken fingernails to bury a sister’s corpse. It's the enemy that was so peaceful on that day that it caught the lord's eye. Despite all their hard work, it's the bastard that never becomes theirs, forever hiding in the landowner's ledger, mocking their miserable lives.
Sword Emperor.
I shared the explanation I heard from another master with my offspring.
“I didn’t mix my own emotions into it.”
“Then whose did you mix?”
“People’s.”
All the grievances and resentments of people living in the world gather to form the sky, which we call Demonic Heaven.
“I am the Vice-lord of Demonic Cult, its representative.”
Therefore, the emotions mingled there are not mine. I dare not call them mine.
They belong to someone who once existed, someone who will exist someday. They are resentment, grief, hatred.
“This is the sword of the Demonic Heaven!”
I swung my sword.
Thousands of red raindrops flew horizontally at once. My responsibility. My charge. My representation. Precious things shot out, striking Uburka sideways with an unbelievable loud boom! With a cry that seemed more of a wail, Uburka was swept away, and the jungle shook violently.
In the drenched forest, birds could not fly. Instead, water droplets hanging from tree branches flew all at once.
“Indeed.”
In the middle of it all, from a meteor crater carved in the heart of the jungle, Uburka spoke.
“Indeed. So it was.”
Uburka boldly laughed, then clapped his fists together with a thud!
“In that case.”
Uburka stood up.
Covered in rainwater, his figure flickering in and out of visibility, the white giant laughed, revealing gleaming white teeth.
“This time, let us show you our world.”
Meanwhile, the rain kept increasing.
This place, being the wettest jungle on the continent, made rain a daily occurrence this season. Drizzle, monsoon, misty and heavy rain. Nearby, a school of piranhas thrashed in the river, and river eels swiftly devoured them.
The jungle was engulfed in heavy rain.
-Uu…
In an instant, the jungle was wrapped in low-lying fog. Unable to see even a few inches ahead, the river flowed beneath the fog, where piranhas leapt up from the water only to vanish again. Below, the sound of flesh being torn echoed.
-Uu…
The base of the palm trees was submerged in fog. Trees with obscured bases appeared to be hanging in mid-air, as if tethered to the sky rather than the ground. Perhaps like pillars of a temple carved from wood in worship of some deity. Millions of trees were enveloped in fog, transforming the entire area into a damp, misty temple.
And from beneath the fog,
Half-concealed by the palm trees turned into temple pillars,
Centered around me, forming an impenetrable surround,
The Asuras were deeply burping in chorus.
‘Indeed.’
I looked up at the sky.
Realizing that the dark clouds were not just sea-breeze-driven rain clouds.
Krrrumble… Lightning streaked between the clouds, thunderbolically swallowing each other. The dark clouds churned, threatening to unleash their fury.
‘I wondered why Uburka didn’t call for a one-on-one duel and instead attacked with a pack... It wasn’t Demonic Heavenly God Art he was using, but Demonic Formations Art for a showdown.’
The moment I realized this, the entire jungle was already resonating with the sounds of summoning rain.
-Uu! Uu! Uu! Uu! Ugohr! Ugohr! Ugohr! Ugohr!
-Kerukke, Uu! Kerukke, Uu! Kerukke, Uu!
-Ugohr!
-Kerukke, Uu! Kerukke, Uu! Kerukke, Uu!
-Ugohr!
The Earth Spirit Tribe pounded their weapons on the ground, beat palm trees with their fists, and struck rocks with their feet, awakening the dormant sounds of the forest. It was a wild rhythm.
Having evolved, they became Asuras, and their auras burned red without exception. “Kerukke! Uu!” When one Earth Spirit struck a wooden drum, the aura mercilessly vibrated the wood’s core. The palm tree became a giant instrument, roaring noisily. Koooom! Kooom!
‘Impressive.’
The fog acted as an invisible, intangible wall separating this world from the other.
Thus, the river beneath the fog became the banks of hell, and the land that emerged from the fog became earth.
But with even the land obscured by fog, what is there to rely on in this world?
‘Excellent.’
The leaning palm trees.
Palm trees stretching lazily into the sky, piercing through the fog, were the only refuge from the shores of hell, making them pillars of a temple singing the grace and glory of gods. Small animals, snakes, squirrels, and spiders in the jungle all took refuge in the palm trees.
Demonic Formations Art.
Special Method.
Ashen Cloud Blood Dew.
Not yet perfected.
Despite merely bringing rain and thick fog.
The Earth Spirit Tribe transformed this space into a [strange stage].
“Truly a remarkable sight.”
I admired the spectacle of the Asura’s Demonic Formations Art unfolding.
“It’s beautiful.”
Heaven above.
The ash-colored sky spreads low with dark clouds. From one side of the cloud, a lightning bolt tries to strike, only to be swallowed by the neighboring cloud, and on the other side, a thunderstorm roars down.
And Earth below.
Endless fog covers the jungle. Flowing rivers, rocks in the river, rugged shrubs, insects chirping beneath the bushes. All hidden by fog. Now, they secretly whisper. Insects, birds, beasts – none can be seen beyond the fog, only occasionally passing as ominous shadows.
Zirrrrr… Krur, …Kiikiiki…Kii…Krrrrrrrrr…Grrr…Pii…
Incomprehensible noises.
Discordant cacophony made by the shadows.
"......."
My vision encompassed only the dark cloud-filled sky and the land covered in dark fog.
Between the half-lowered sky and half-raised earth, rows of palm trees, bent over, seemed to be hanging onto something desperately.
“Haha.”
I lightly swung my sword to cut through the fog. The density of the fog remained unchanged. Instead, more dense grayness gathered, forming a river of fog.
‘This isn’t ordinary fog. It’s made of aura.’
Further disrupting it, the fog began to take on a bloody hue. The color of the Earth Spirit Tribe’s aura was starkly revealed.
“To cover this entire area with fog... Consuming the Ki Dragon was worthwhile.”
Blood-red mist oozed from the fog cut by my sword. It flowed like a stream through the gray fog, eventually turning all the fog on the ground a bright red.
In an instant, I was transported into a different world.
“Is this my hell?”
“No, daddy.”
Splashing.
Stepping on the fog-covered river, making a sound more akin to a bell than water, Uburka approached me.
“This is our origin.”
“Origin?”
“Ugor. When we first opened our eyes and gazed at the world with tender sight, the world reflected to us was merely like this.”
Uburka looked around.
“The sky wasn’t blue. There was no reason to look up at the blue sky. For us to pay attention to the sky, it first had to rain, and a rainy sky was always ash-colored. Hence, to us, the sky was always a bizarre lump of clouds, rumbling with indigestion, spewing lightning.”
“The earth? The earth was terrifying. Any beast could harm us. Even a tiny insect seemed powerful enough to poison our children. A place where big and small demons roamed... Unidentifiable beasts howled in the distance, and adults who said they’d return by night never did. Why? We didn’t know. We knew nothing. Beasts howled, adults didn’t return, the world was unknown, shrouded in dense fog.”
"......."
"Only occasionally."
Uburka envisioned the world of the beginning.
A gray world infinitely stretching with ash-colored sky and earth.
“Like these palm trees, we only had something to cling to, a place to escape to. Whatever saved me and became a home for my family was a god. We wandered between hell and refuge, looking for gods to cling to.”
I smiled slowly.
“Raising you in this place wasn’t easy. The only words I knew were water, sky, earth...”
“Ugor. In a world that appears to us like this, why would we need many words?”
Rain fell.
Although the rain clouds were summoned by the Asura’s aura, the raindrops from the clouds seemed gentle. It was just rain. I opened my mouth wide and caught a few drops. It was refreshing. The rain, far cleaner than the old aura, soaked my entire body.
“Nothing happens if you dwell here.”
Uburka said.
“Daddy. You love us. There is no one among the Earth Spirit Tribe who doubts that love. But wasn’t it hard?”
“Hard? Well, facing this imminent collective parricide is difficult, but…”
“After you led us out of this primeval forest, there were many events. Progress, conquest, defeat, enslavement of all races. I can’t imagine there were no deaths.”
"......."
“Those tortured to death, accidentally killed, died of bad luck, speared resisting the Mountain Calamity Tribe, mocked to death as gladiators for mere audience amusement, killed while escaping, died failing to escape…”
Silence lingered.
“Do you feel all this is your responsibility, daddy?”
Long silence flowed.
