SSS-Class Revival Hunter-Chapter 162: The Cave’s Fire (2)

“I’d like to hear everyone else’s opinions as well,” the Inquisitor said. “Will you surrender to me? Or will you side with Mr. Death King and confront me? Haha, I’m fine with either option.”

“Isn’t this considered betrayal?” the Black Witch asked, pressing a palm to her forehead. Perhaps she was having a headache. She glared at the psychopath she had known for a long time. “We swore not to antagonize each other. Once that night, and once more when we cleared the twenty-eighth floor with Death King. I thought making the same vow twice would make it even harder to break...”

“It’s okay! We can just ignore it this time. Whether I win or not, the stage will still be cleared. Either way, we come out victorious. We just have different opinions on how to win!”

“Phew...”

“I’ll side with the Death King,” the Sword Star said. “I came to the Tower because I was tired of pursuing quick results in life. I’ve come this far, so I don’t want to go back to the old ways. Pantheon Master, you politely asked me to surrender, but I’ll respectfully decline.”

My colleagues left the Inquisitor’s side one by one. He watched them leave with a smile.

“Aha, I see! I’m hopelessly not to be trusted!”

Five people stood behind me while the Inquisitor was alone. Until yesterday, several of my colleagues had agreed with him, the Countess being one of them. However, after seeing how their species were doing, not a single person sided with the Inquisitor anymore.

“That’s not it,” the Paladin said. “We all know you’re a great guild leader, but we also know that you’ll be the worst parent to all these species. And children resemble their parents. Leaving all these creatures in your care... it’d be safer to leave them to the Viper.”

“What? Why are you bringing me up? I’m staying out of this,” the Viper grumbled.

“It was a compliment. You would be a better parent than the Inquisitor.”

“Oi, oi... Unbelievable. You’re basically telling me that I would be a better leader than Hitler.”

It was six against one but, despite the overwhelming disadvantage, the Inquisitor was still smiling. He seemed confident.

“What do you plan to do from now on? Mr. Death King, the civilization I built is strong. The slaves have already forgotten their wild nature and are under the reign of the Shellmounts! It seems like you peeked into the Terras’ secret meeting but, even there, no one dared to condemn or slander the Shellmounts! They simply performed their funeral ritual. That’s how strong the Shellmounts’ reign is!”

I knew it.

He had been intentionally leaving the goblin gathering alone. Just like me, the Inquisitor could walk around while invisible, secretly ruling for two hundred years. There was no way he hadn’t noticed the goblins’ secret meetings. However, he seemed to believe it wasn’t a big deal.

“I’m sorry, but your species have lost all hope. They just mourn and commemorate the past. I made sure this would happen over the two hundred years I’ve been here. Mr. Death King, do you have a way to make those who are kneeling revolt?”

I quietly looked around the underground empire. It was already dawn. A ray of blue light flowed in from the hole in the ceiling of the underground civilization.

The goblins crawled out of the pits, blinking despite their thick, heavy eyelids. In this era, the last ones to go to sleep were slaves, though they were also the first to get up in the morning.

“I won’t be the one to make them revolt.”

I opened the Civilization Store to look at the items.

Oracle Message: 20 points

Animal Possession: 40 points

Dream Appearance: 100 points

Prey Search: 5 points

Bronze-Grade Settlement Search: 80 points

Tribe-Grade General (Random draw): 100 points

Bronze-Grade Technology Invention (Random draw): 1,000 points

“I’m just giving them a chance to stand up for themselves,” I said, making my selection.

[You have purchased Oracle Message.]

[You have used 20 species points!]

[You now have 995 species points.]

I didn’t stop.

[You have purchased Oracle Message.]

[You have used 20 species points!]

[You now have 975 species points.]

I used up almost all the points I had.

[You have purchased Oracle Message.]

[You have purchased Oracle Message.]

[You have purchased Oracle Message.]

I thought about the suffering I had endured while I was on my own. When I went through over four thousand deaths on my own, what helped me was a voice. Every time I died, the Tower said “You have died,” announcing my demise. Even when I regressed, the Tower was aware. Someone in this universe was watching me and remembered what I had gone through. When things got really hard, this thought comforted me.

Now, it was my turn to offer someone comfort.

[You have purchased Oracle Message.]

[You have used 20 species points!]

[You now have 215 species points.]

I purchased forty Oracle Messages. The Inquisitor’s smile never left his face. He probably didn’t know what items I was purchasing.

In the meantime, I designated a total of forty people as the Oracle Messages’ recipients. The list included the high priest, the Pit Chiefs, and the sword slaves resting in their quarters.

What should I say? I don’t want to tell them to revolt against the Shellmounts. It’s up to the goblins to choose whether to rebel or obey. I don’t want to tell them what to do, I just want to help them choose.

I could only send one sentence using the item. After careful consideration, I finally made up my mind.

[The White Lion is by your side.]

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A mother goblin, who was washing her child’s face, flinched.

[The White Lion is by your side.]

A Pit Chief, who had just gotten out of the pit and picked up her stone ax, stopped in her tracks, shocked.

[The White Lion is by your side.]

The sword slave was so surprised that he dropped his whetstone while sharpening his dagger in his cramped living quarter.

[The White Lion is by your side.]

I, the one they regard as their god, was powerless. I didn’t have the power to overturn the Shellmounts’ reign, and I couldn’t perform a miracle that would shake the heavens. All I could do was tell them this.

[The White Lion is by your side.]

This was the first oracle I had ever sent.

The high priest goblin lying on the mine cave floor tossed and turned, finally standing up using the leftover firewood as a staff. The wood broke because it couldn’t bear his weight, but he was already up.

“Gorrr...”

With some difficulty, he made his way through the maze. The more he walked, the faster his steps became. The old goblin used not only his feet but also his hands to make it to the surface.

“The White Lion spoke to us...”

The priest held onto a boulder with his hands and stepped on the mine floor, his red aura emanating from his aged skin, blazing fiercely. His voice echoed through the cave, amplified by aura.

“The White Lion spoke to us!”

The goblins’ mine maze started from a mine cave which had closed down because the rock salt there ran out a long ago. Through its dozen paths, the high priest’s voice traveled, enhanced by his aura.

“Spoke... to us...”

“The White Lion spoke to us!”

The echo finally reached the entrance of mine, where goblins were getting ready for their dawn shift. As they drank water from their jars, their ears pricked up.

“The White Lion...”

The old goblin collapsed from exhaustion. Life drained out of him as he poured out the last drop of his aura, exhausting himself of all the strength needed to stand again.

“...spoke to us.”

The old high priest would never get up again. His voice was still echoing around him. Finally, he closed his eyes.

“Ker.”

“Kekerkereuk...?”

The goblins buzzed. They stuck their heads out of the pits and looked at the mine entrance. The echo was still reverberating from its dark maw.

“Kereuk.”

A Pit Chief put down her child and stood up. She was one of the forty goblins who had received an oracle from me.

“The White Lion spoke to us!” the Pit Chief shouted before the old goblin’s echo faded out.

It wasn’t just her. Thirty-eight other Terras also stood up.

“The White Lion has finally returned!”

“I heard it, too! Kereuk, I heard him talk to me too!”

“He said he’s by our side!”

That was it. The goblins who had received the oracle kept shouting as if they had to tell this to their kin no matter what. That alone made the Shellmount supervisors freak out.

“What, lime? What are they doing?”

“Quiet! Everyone, be quiet!”

“From now on, I will whip any fungus that makes loud noises!”

The snails crawled out of the watchtowers and waved their tentacles.

Slap!

Several of the goblins flinched when they heard the sound of the whip. Nevertheless, not all of them stopped their shouting. The Shellmounts made no exception and beat the instigators.

The Inquisitor stroked his chin. “I see. Did you use Oracle Message? Simple yet effective. But, Mr. Death King, I’m sure your points aren’t endless. You can’t give an oracle to even thousands of goblins, let alone tens of thousand! The Shellmounts will put an end to this turmoil—”

I didn’t wait for the Inquisitor to finish his sentence, so I immediately purchased another item.

[You have purchased Prey Search.]

[You have used 5 species points!]

[You now have 210 species points.]

I had already bought this item before. Without hesitation, I used it.

Please search for the nearest lion.

A map appeared in my head. There was a lion in the colosseum. Next to the arena, cages were lined up, containing five lions peacefully gnawing on cow bones.

Okay. I will purchase Animal Possession.

I purchased the third and final item from the store.

[You have purchased Animal Possession.]

[You have used 40 species points!]

[You now have 170 species points.]

Before the Inquisitor could finish speaking, I possessed one of the lions in the colosseum.

Whoosh!

The world around me distorted, and I blacked out for a brief moment, as if a fuse had blown. When I opened my eyes, I was in a lion’s body.

Krrrrr...

Unlike the last stage, this lion didn’t have white fur, but plain brown. It didn’t matter, though. I was still a lion, no matter the color. I drew up the aura within me. My red-imbued aura throbbed in my heart.

Badump!

I channeled the beating of my heart into the roar I released, startling the animals trapped in the cages across from me.

My roar was so loud it echoed in the square where the colosseum was built, reverberating in the connected streets, over the building walls where Shellmounts came and went, reaching even the ceiling of the underground city, and eventually, the goblins’ pits.

I am here.

Even though I couldn’t see them, I could tell that the goblins heard my roar.

I took a deep breath and let out a proper roar.

“Goruuuuuuu!”

It was the name of Terras’ homeland, the name I gave it two hundred years ago. It was the first word the goblins learnt from me. In time, this word became their faith.

“Goru!”

It didn’t take long to hear the answer.

“Goru...”

From the other side of the underground city, I heard similar shouts, barely audible compared to my aura-infused roars, but I nevertheless picked up on the goblins screaming back.

“Goru!”

My goblins didn’t miss my roar either.

[A rebellion has broken out in Slimepolis!]

[Terras have revolted against the Shellmounts!]