SSS Awakening: I Can Class Change at will - Chapter 185: The Price Of Survival

Chapter 185: The Price Of Survival

[You have killed the level 25 S-rank Black Raven]

[Class Evolution Task Progress: Defeat one S-rank beast (1/1) – COMPLETE]

Selene sighed in relief as the notifications flashed across her eyes. She had managed to claim the kill without endangering her own life against the formidable creature, completing her most difficult evolution task.

Although it felt nice to complete a task that most Surpassers struggled with, the achievement didn’t feel nearly as satisfying or triumphant as Selene had imagined it would, knowing the terrible price Moon had endured alone while she’d been absent.

After receiving the system notification confirming successful task completion, Selene immediately turned her full attention toward Moon, who could barely maintain his upright posture. His legs trembled visibly with exhaustion.

Selene hurriedly retrieved a powerful healing potion from her spatial storage ring. “Why aren’t you drinking any potions?! Here, take this—”

She attempted to lean the glass vial closer to Moon’s mouth to feed him the restorative liquid.

Moon shook his head in refusal, carefully pushing her hand away. “No need for that right now. Also…” He spoke slowly, though his own voice sounded oddly distant. “I can’t hear what you’re saying. My eardrums are completely ruptured.” He pointed toward his blood-crusted ears.

[You have gained 2200 Lives] The notification flashed across Moon’s eyes.

Staring at the fresh blood still trickling down his neck, and the swollen tissue around the ear canals, Selene’s expression turned to a deep frown mixing concern with helplessness.

She couldn’t heal ruptured eardrums with basic healing potions. That level of damage needed either really powerful regeneration elixirs, or healing magic from powerful support-class awakeners.

She quickly took out a parchment and began to write on it, “DRINK THIS POTION NOW. You’re badly injured and losing blood.”

She held the written message directly in front of Moon’s face.

Moon read it, then shook his head again stubbornly. “There is no need to waste it. I will just die once, and revive. The heretics are still in the settlement, everyone else is dead. You can deal with the rest, let Yara and others decide their fate. I’m going to go with Mirage to find a safe place to revive in.”

Selene’s frown deepened, but she nodded regardless.

Selene wrote another message: “Yara and the others are safe. We got them out. Although, one warrior died before we arrived.”

Moon’s expression tightened at that news, but he nodded with understanding.

Then Selene hesitated before adding to her note: “The Savi village was completely destroyed. The White Swan is dead. Yara’s family is dead. Almost everyone is dead.”

Moon’s eyes closed briefly despite never having stayed for long in the settlement himself. These people’s favor was immense upon him, they had sent their most powerful warriors to aid him, and it could be said that he was the reason behind this outcome.

He opened his eyes and met Selene’s concerned gaze directly. Despite being unable to hear her, despite his body screaming with pain and exhaustion. Despite everything, Moon’s expression held no regret about the carnage he’d created here.

“The Heretics won’t threaten anyone ever again.”

Selene stared at her bloodied, injured, deaf, and barely standing partner for a long moment before finally nodding her head in silent understanding.

Without another word, Moon vaulted onto Mirage’s back with visible effort and departed the carnage-strewn battlefield. He headed toward a safe location that only he and Mirage would know.

Selene remained behind, staring at the absolute carnage Moon had created with a complicated gaze.

“If only I was this strong…” Selene whispered to herself. “I would’ve proved him wrong. I would’ve shown that I—”

She stopped herself mid-sentence, forcibly shaking away the intrusive image of a specific person from her mind—someone from her past who’d doubted her, belittled her, told her she’d never amount to anything significant.

Selene’s eyes suddenly landed on movement, several surviving Heretics attempting to flee the settlement under the cover of chaos.

Her expression immediately darkened. “You aren’t going anywhere,” Selene muttered before she took off sprinting toward the fleeing survivors, already casting a water spell to slow their escape.

♢♢♢♢

Inside a hidden cave they’d discovered and carefully sealed, Moon sat alone in the darkness, holding his combat dagger with steady hands as he prepared to stab it into his own chest.

While Moon certainly could have chosen to resurrect immediately next to Selene’s presence—and she would have defended his vulnerable body without question—Moon had deliberately chosen not to take that option.

Several reasons motivated this decision, but the primary one was simple: solitude.

Moon wanted to be completely alone after dying and resurrecting, to privately gather his scattered thoughts and deeply reflect on everything that had occurred during the brutal fight.

Although the battle had technically ended in his victory, it had certainly left profound effects on Moon’s mind and sense of self. Moon had been forced once again to confront the uncomfortable truth that as much as he wanted to preserve ethical boundaries, in this apocalyptic world, maintaining such principles was extraordinarily difficult, perhaps impossible.

He had used innocent children and defenseless non-combatants as effective hostages to manipulate the Black Raven’s protective instincts—exploiting the guardian’s nature to force it into a vulnerable position.

The strategy had worked and Moon had survived.

Thwack!

The dagger penetrated Moon’s chest and heart simultaneously, instantly making his entire body go weak and limp.

He collapsed heavily to the cold cave floor, unable to support himself as life rapidly faded.

[You have died!]

[You have lost 500 Lives.]

The familiar system notifications sprang into Moon’s vision as his awareness of the world returned.

Moon gasped and convulsed, his injuries no longer present, his sense of sound returning.

His entire body felt much weaker than before, the death penalty debuff working its magic. The phantom pain of dying still lingered unpleasantly in his nervous system like an echo.

Unlike the first time Moon had experienced death in the hidden realm, this resurrection felt more bearable and manageable.

Moon wasn’t entirely certain whether he’d simply grown strong enough that it reduced the debuff’s severity, or whether his Tenacity skill was partially offsetting the psychological trauma of experiencing death.

But either way, the improvement worked greatly in his favor.