SSS-Class Revival Hunter-Chapter 374: The Blue Blood

To capture me—one person—thirteen killing puppets had sharpened their swords for a month. The Constellation Murderer, the definition of fear among the Constellations, saw me as someone stronger than usual and had made preparations to hunt me down.

“I give up the memories of the past thirty days.”

This was the result.

"Guh, ugh... Keough...!”

I coughed up blood. This was the cost of using my aura to protect my fox god and Hwia. They were safe, but the aura that had once flowed through my veins was exhausted, and that included the aura in my heart.

God, I feel like I’m dying.

I fell to my knees. Blood dripped down from my mouth.

Actually, I should die. I’ll die and go back a day. I now know what his strategy is, so I can prevent it. I have to die. It’s the only way to survive.

Even as hellish pain seemingly squeezed my brain, I searched for the one path to survival—no, to death.

I don’t have any aura left to block the next strike anyway. I’m not going to block it. Let it hit me! I’m going to die!

I vomited a mass of blood and waited for the sixth blow to end me. I never imagined that a Hunter of the Constellation Murderer’s skill would see himself as weaker than me and launch a full-scale ambush. However, the ambush would only work this time. This time, I was unprepared. Next time, I was going to...

I kept on coughing and gasping, but for some reason...

“What... are you doing...?”

... the next blow did not come.

“Kill... me...”

I looked up with difficulty. Nine pairs of blue eyes surrounded me, looking down from all sides.

“I won’t kill you.”

“What?” I asked back in disbelief.

“I won’t kill you, Scream-Gathering Sky.”

Five of the nine killing puppets approached. Right arm, left arm, right leg, and left leg—one by one, my limbs were seized. Even the acupoint at my nape was pressed and shut.

The puppets sealed all my movements.

“I’ve been investigating you quite a lot.”

With my acupoints pressed, I could barely move my mouth, let alone breathe. In fact, the puppets shut down my acupoints just enough to let me breathe.

“Many Constellations took an interest in you, so I searched for them one by one to learn what they knew about you. Only after destroying the ninth Constellation did I have an idea of what you were like.”

I realized it now. Not only did he mobilize all his thirteen bodies to capture me, but he also slaughtered nine Constellations just to gather data. This crazy bastard.

All I could do was gasp.

“You are strong and also grew strong in a limited timeframe. That could mean you have immense talent, but I have a more reasonable guess. It’s just that you have unlimited time.”

Freaking hell. I remembered the talk I had with the Constellation Murderer before the fight began.

“You and I have definitely met before and shared the same time, but you won’t find any record of me in your diary.”

“I see. You have an ability related to time.”

At the time, the Constellation Murderer reacted calmly. I hadn’t given much thought to it, assuming it was just his calm nature. Now that I thought about it, it looked like he had already expected for me to have an ability related to time even before the fight, hence the weak reaction.

“Of course, I couldn’t tell how you manipulated time. There are simply too many possibilities, but whatever the answer is, it’s clear that time is your resource and strength.”

In fact, the Constellation Murderer was a hunter by nature. He only fought after he knew his foe—what they were like, their strengths, their weak points. The Constellation Murderer had also made similar remarks while hunting monsters on the fiftieth floor when I met him for the first time. That felt like a lifetime ago.

“To kill a Half-Split Death, you have to split it exactly in half, as the name suggests.”

“The true nature of a Screamer lies in its screams, so you have to smother them with something louder than that to kill it.”

He was a strategist who studied every weak point of his enemies. That was the nature of the Constellation Murderer. This time, he had studied every part of me before coming to hunt me.

“Therefore, I won’t kill you, Scream-Gathering Sky. I’ll merely seal time from you.”

“Ho... w...?”

“It’s simple. I’ll sever this space and time from the outside universe. After that, I’ll trap you in ice and leave you here, but this is no normal ice. This ice will never melt. You’ll be trapped in ice and time. I’ll make sure of it.”

Fuck.

“You say it... so calmly... but you’re... basically saying... you’re going to torture another human being... forever...!”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.” The Constellation Murderer tilted his head and drew a dagger. “You’re not human.”

Stab!

A cold feeling cut through my chest and pierced my heart.

[Replica: Frost-Dyed Claw has begun to seal you away.]

The dagger that the Constellation Murderer plunged into my heart was made from ice. Having wandered worlds for a very long time, he’d probably found many odd items. This ice dagger seemed to be part of his collection. The moment the blade pierced my chest, it affected me strongly.

[Warning: After the sealing is done, only your consciousness will remain awake.]

[The eighty-first floor stage will be sealed soon.]

[Remaining time: 61 seconds.]

Crackle. Crack, crackle.

Ice began to form where the dagger pierced me. It first took over my chest, then my collarbone and shoulder. Like a blooming blue flower, ice spread across my body.

“Even if you send a Constellation message to your allies to request help, it’s already too late now,” he warned.

My senses were fading.

“Arriving here within sixty seconds to save you is impossible. After one minute, this floor will be isolated. I will make it so.”

As my senses faded, I knew that I had felt this sharp coldness before.

“Wi... nter...”

“What are you saying?” he asked.

“From murim... The seal you used... on the Yellow Dragon of the Great Lake. Is this it?”

The Constellation Murderer tilted his head. “Yes, I’m surprised you know that much. I found this item while searching for a way to defeat you. I used many items to seal the Yellow Dragon of the Great Lake, and the records show that this dagger is one of them.”

How could I forget this chilling sensation? This snowy ice was freezing Teacher’s realm forever. The Yellow Dragon of the Great Lake was the Constellation that ruled Teacher’s world. With Sympathy—the Goddess of Protection’s sister sword—piercing his heart, the dragon had been doomed to never truly die, only to decay forever. It was the Constellation Murderer’s doing.

I learned now that when the Constellation Murderer had sealed the dragon, he didn’t just use Sympathy but also the dagger piercing my heart. The winter that killed Teacher’s world was now trying to kill me.

[Remaining time: 21 seconds.]

If I had the strength, I would grind my teeth so loudly that it would fill this entire space.

[Remaining time: 20 seconds.]

Yes, Constellation Murderer. I admit it. You’re a fearsome Hunter. I now see why the Sword Emperor couldn’t kill you and how you managed to end the duel with him in a draw. By using your thirteen puppets and giving everything you got, you have shown that you’re the Sword Emperor’s equal.

Even when compared to the Sword Emperor, the only one who reached the ninety-ninth floor, the Constellation Murderer matched him in terms of skills.

[Remaining time: 19 seconds.]

That was how he defeated me. He didn’t just kill me but utterly defeated me. My time would freeze at any moment, and the eighty-first floor stage would be isolated, becoming a lone island where my comrades couldn’t reach me.

If only I were alone...

[Remaining time: 18 seconds.]

If only I were alone like him, I would be doomed to defeat.

[Remaining time: 17 seconds.]

Raviel.

[The Scream-Gathering Sky sends a message to Duke Silver Lily.]

I’m sorry.

[The Scream-Gathering Sky asks Duke Silver Lily to die.]

Please die right now.

The Constellation Murderer looked at me and tilted his head once more. “I don’t understand.”

Shiveringly cold ice covered most of me. The only part not yet shrouded in eternal frost was my face. Even so, only my eyes and mouth were left uncovered by the ice.

“Why are you smiling?” he asked.

“Ha...”

Was I smiling? I hadn’t realized it because the ice had crept up to the corners of my mouth. My lips were clearly curved in a smile, however. It wasn’t a sneer, but a real smile born from happiness.

I chuckled. “Can you imagine...?”

“Imagine what?”

“Hearing someone say ‘die for me’ and then actually doing it in less than ten seconds.”

The ice covered my left eye.

“Do you have someone like that?” I asked him.

My right eye was became trapped in ice.

“I don’t think so,” I muttered.

My nose bridge, too.

“You had so many chances during your centuries... but you didn’t take it... You only chose solitude. That’s why you’ll lose to me, Constellation Murderer.”

My lips...

[Remaining time: 5 seconds.]

My heart...

[Remaining time: 4 seconds.]

Right before they all froze...

[A Certain Returner’s Love has been activated.]

[Remaining time: 3 seconds.]

I stopped breathing.

[You share your lover’s timeline.]

[The timeline has ended.]

[Remaining time: 2 seconds.]

Death closed my eyes before winter could. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

[You have died.]

[Remaining time: 1 second.]

Two voices were layered in my head.

[Sealing complete. You are sea—]

[Rewinding time to twenty-four hours ago.]

When I opened my eyes again...

“I wonder what I should eat today. What would be the best choice?”

“Well, I’m not sure, but I do want some fish and chips. It’s been a while.”

“Hahahaha, that’s a choice I didn’t expect!”

The place was all too familiar to me; it was the shared lodging. In this place, my colleagues, friends, and clan members gathered, talked, and ate. Lounged on the sofa, I opened my eyes, now back to twenty-fours hours in the past.

“What do you think, Master?” The Inquisitor, who was sitting on the other sofa, turned to look at me. “Fish and chips is a bit too... Huh? Master, you look strange.”

Upon hearing the Inquisitor’s words, the Black Witch also looked at me.

“Hm?”

So did the Countess, the Viper, and the Paladin. Everyone who had spent time with me and promised to spend more time with me in the future was now looking at me.

“It’s true. He has a weird look on his face.”

“Yes, he does. It’s the face of a tuna that took the bait, thinking it was food, only to realize too late that it was a plastic bag.”

“Oi, what kind of metaphor is that?”

“Nisha, it’s all your fault for suggesting we eat strange food like fish and chips. I’m sure it would have been better to just go with potato fries.”

“Potato fries sound good. It’s been a while. Back then, we ate hamburgers for all three meals. Remember?”

“Yeah, that was a really long time ago!”

I smiled. “Hahaha...”

Really, I didn’t feel like I was going to lose.

“Bambolina,” I said.

“Yes, Master?”

“Could you give me an alarm clock?”

The Inquisitor pulled out his smartphone and turned on the alarm app. Handing me the phone, he tilted his head. “Here you go, but why do you suddenly need an alarm clock?”

“Actually, it’s a stopwatch that I need. Let me see...” I pressed the timer. The clock, which had shown 00:00:00, quickly began to start the count. I nodded with a smile. “Yes, that’s good. Give me some time, please. I want to see how long it’ll take.”

“Huh? I don’t know what’s going on, but use it all you want if you need it, Master!”

“Thanks.”

I sank back into the sofa. My friends gave me odd glances. Still, they soon went back to their chat since this wasn’t the first day I acted weird. Today’s night snack was decided to be potato fries. The Viper and Sylvia went to the kitchen to fry the potatoes.

One minute passed. Everyone was relaxed and found themselves comfortable. Three minutes passed. The Paladin and the Countess started to flaunt their love in the disguise of a quarrel. Six minutes passed. The Black Witch hit them both on the back of the head with her three-striped slippers, telling them to stop. Seven minutes. Eight minutes. Nine minutes.

When the numbers 00:09:21 appeared on the phone screen, noises could be heard from outside. One of the Four Demon Kings, in charge of the lodge’s security, shouted, “Y-you can’t do that here!”

Tap, tap.

Dozens of footsteps echoed through the hall and reached the room. The Black Witch and the Inquisitor sprang to their feet. Both wore gym clothes and three-striped slippers. Although Anastasha lacked one slipper, both looked keenly alert. They focused on the approaching footsteps from the distant hallway beyond the living room door.

“This is where our Tower’s executives are. Regardless of everything, you can’t—"

“Shut up. You’re getting in my way.”

Thuuuuud!

The living room door flew off from its hinges. My friends, who were about to charge forward at the possible assailants, froze when they saw the person that appeared where the door had been. They stared at the intruder, their eyes fixed in shock.

“Hm.”

However, the intruder paid no heed to the existing residents. Standing before many knights, she slowly turned her head to look around the room. Our eyes met.

I could not help but smile bitterly. “That would be nine minutes and forty-three seconds, Raviel.”

“You were thirteen minutes and twenty-seven seconds. I’m faster than you, Gong-Ja.” Raviel smiled brightly, her red eyes also grinning. “So, which son of a bitch are we supposed to kill?”