SSS-Class Hunter is Going to Rest - Chapter 111
Only Noblemtl
111 Final Chapter (1)
2024.06.24.
The moment our lips touched and then parted, Elaine’s appearance was completely blurred.
‘It was an honor to meet you.’
I read the shape of Elaine’s lips for a moment, but I wasn’t sure if that was true.
However, there was no way to confirm it again.
The ‘past’ Elaine had disappeared.
The moment I decided not to use the last 〈Deviation〉, the ‘past’ Elaine seemed to have accepted death.
‘The past Elaine didn’t even regret not existing anymore.’
Rather, she seemed happy. She seemed to have finally let everything go and felt relieved.
Everything seemed to be an illusion. Even the lips that had touched my mouth were blurry because I couldn’t feel any temperature, so it was even more so.
The moment my vision became clear again, I was lying on the blue sky.
My body was falling down.
When I whistled lightly, a unicorn that ran from below took her body.
As she looked up while resting on the unicorn’s back, she saw her teammates falling together from a large crack.
Kung! Kung!
She quickly turned her head down at the same loud noise she had heard inside the tower, but much farther away.
It seemed as if the Tower of the Sage itself had begun to collapse.
From the tall, black tower that stretched into the sky, large, unstructured boulders crashed down to the ground. A cloud of dust rose from the floor.
When she was inside the 100th floor, she thought it was an event that only happened on that floor. Usually, when fighting a boss monster, the floor would collapse, leaving the hunters with nowhere to stand.
But this time, it seemed as if the tower itself was disappearing.
Suzy flew out and grabbed Elaine by the nape of her neck from the tangled teammates, putting her on the back of the unicorn and circling around the tower.
She felt a strange sensation.
It was a space we had been together for a long time.
She was glad that she didn’t have to go back into that damn tower, but still. It was the place where I had spent most of my teenage years.
It felt strangely refreshing, but at the same time, disappointing.
Fortunately, there were no other hunters around.
It seemed that everyone who had the energy to handle the waves that had burst out simultaneously had gathered.
There was only a no-trespassing sign left on the first floor where there had been a long line.
‘Did my aunt do it? Or did the dedicated manager take care of it?’
Either way, it was fortunate.
If someone had entered the tower without reason, they would have been caught up in the aftermath.
While she was thinking about something else, Elaine asked, still hanging onto her hand.
“Daphne, are you okay?”
Suzy blinked. She
felt the tears that had been gathering in her eyes flowing down her cheeks.
Suzy hesitated for a moment about what to say.
It’s because she feels sorry.
The sight of the place that my mother, myself, and countless other hunters nicknamed “The Tower of the Sage” crumbling so easily, and the past Elaine who confessed to me instead of the current Elaine disappearing.
Everything was regrettable.
However, there were also good things about living in the present.
Elaine was right.
Of all the episodes she and he had been through, this one might have been the one with the most potential.
“My rank is EXS.”
Elaine looked slightly surprised, grabbed Suzy’s arm, and bounced her body like a bow to get on the unicorn’s back.
“Really? I thought you might have some thoughts since we were suddenly doing a user test, but… …”
“Why would I lie? That was the condition for using the scythe.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Even Elaine doesn’t know much.”
“It must have been reflected in the world rankings right away. The world must have been turned upside down.”
Suzy smiled faintly.
Rankings didn’t matter.
There was a time when she was happy or sad about people’s reactions.
But now, it didn’t really matter who cheered or was jealous of that.
It was hard to survive.
Why bother worrying about that?
After all, the number of people she knew and could talk to comfortably was limited, and she just had to live happily with them.
If she had received help from many people in the world, she could just return the favor.
“If you think about it, Elaine. The reason I am now an EXS is because I didn’t choose to “deviate.”
“… … That means.”
“If I had chosen 〈Deviation〉, 〈Demiurge〉 would have immediately sent me to another timeline. And we would have had to struggle to become as strong as possible while living in the new timeline again.”
“Yes.”
“That’s why it wasn’t something I could achieve. Becoming EXS-class.”
Elaine nodded with a thoughtful expression.
“It definitely is. Too many things have changed. Daphne in particular.”
Suzy crossed one leg over the unicorn’s back and sat down, then looked back at Elaine, who was sitting behind her.
Instead of sorrow, Elaine’s black eyes were filled with a clear determination.
The determination to survive.
The determination to protect the present.
Suzy smiled brightly because she liked him like that.
“There’s no 〈Deviation〉 anymore. So there’s no other choice, you understand?”
“I know.”
He nodded without hesitation.
Unlike when he had acted as if he wouldn’t mind dying soon.
“It’s really life or death. Kill the final boss, or do we die?”
“I know.”
“So let’s live together in this hell.”
Behind Elaine, who nodded, Peace and Saint soared high and snatched a human figure from somewhere on the upper floors of the tower.
Even in the midst of all this, it was funny to see Nature’s body, which had fallen asleep and passed out, hanging limply in Peace’s hands.
Still, they somehow managed to get through the ordeal.
At that moment, the terminal rang.
It seemed to be a call from the dedicated manager, Kim Ha-young. Just
as Su-ji was about to reach for the terminal,
Hmm .
Her head started to spin as she heard a small buzzing sound like a flying insect.
When she came to her senses and stood up straight, there was no one left around her. She wasn’t on the back of the unicorn, and Elaine wasn’t there either.
She was in a white space that looked like a box with nothing on it.
‘I’m getting used to sudden events like this now.’
Was it a good thing or a bad thing?
As Su-ji waited for the status window while grumbling to herself, a notification popped up soon after.
[A trait is provided as a reward for completing the 100th floor.
Please open one of the following boxes.
You can open two out of three, and you can choose one of them.
The second wave event will start as soon as the trait selection is complete.]
As expected.
Suzy nodded.
I thought they would wait the promised period until the 〈Messiah〉 event starts after reaching the 100th floor, but it didn’t seem to be the case.
Those who have run out of things to see must be impatient to see the main match.
‘Well, there’s no place to get stronger anymore.’ There
had to be monsters to face in order to receive rewards.
The only thing left would be the dungeon, but Suzy had grown too much to be affected by the monsters there.
It seemed like the other team members had all been called to different spaces.
If I had known I would suddenly drop like this, I would have at least come up with a strategy.
It doesn’t seem like it would be effective to come up with a strategy while going to meet the ‘final boss’ that I’ve never succeeded in before.
Suzy squeezed her eyes shut and opened them.
‘They probably haven’t even finished all 11 waves outside yet.’
If I was going to make a decision, I wanted to finish it as quickly and cleanly as possible without burdening the other hunters.
Of course, I knew that was greedy.
No matter what, as quickly as possible.
For my mother.
Now, the path I was running to avenge my mother, and my exact goal, had become blurred.
Still, I was determined to do it.
Even the Messiah. Even the ‘Great Beings’. I
was going to make
them regret it. Soo-ji turned her fear into determination and checked all the equipment she had.
Since she hadn’t heard anything about the rewards for the 100th floor from Elaine, she had to be careful when choosing the boxes.
Once she chose, she would go straight to meet the ‘Messiah’. She
also had to evacuate the civilians, and she had to provide support for the other gates… … .
Various thoughts kept filling her head, but she shook her head every time. She
could think about things later, so for now, it was time to do what she had to do.
After checking her equipment, Soo-ji swung the unexpected item, the ‘Demiurge’s Sickle’, around here and there.
When I made the crack on the 100th floor, I only thought about escaping from the tower, but now that I think about it, I wonder if there might be a way to use it in battle.
I thought I needed to use it more to see if I could freely connect in the direction I wanted.
Of course, I could make the starting point as I intended, but the problem was how the connection points were connected.
‘Would it be faster to try it myself?’
As Suzy, who was in front of three boxes, stood up and started swinging her sickle, the impatient ‘Great Beings’ spoke to her.
– Hey, what are you doing?