Chapter 985 – 985. Ascension To The Light
“Jin Gu-eon!! Don’t do anything stupid! Do you think you can catch that damn toad without me?!”
“It might be a bit tough. But it’s not impossible. We’ve had experience catching monsters like that a few times. Isn’t that right?”
“That’s right, Captain! That kind of toad is actually on the easier side!”
“Let’s go! Kill it!”
The members of the Iron Crow Squad shouted and began their attack on me. The members who had reached the stage of emergence took the lead, while the rest threw stones or used bows to provide cover from behind.
‘This is a real pain in the ass. I feel like I’ve become the monster.’
It was a basic raid formation. I clicked my tongue. I think I had underestimated the Iron Crow Squad too much.
Clang!
After deflecting Jin Gu-eon’s sword, I glanced at the Flame Toad. The Flame Toad was facing Seong Ji-gon while looking this way. Seong Ji-gon didn’t seem to have the spare capacity to help me.
“Jin Gu-eon!! Think carefully! Do you think that toad will just stand still? You’ll all die too!”
“You’re the stupid one. That kind of monster doesn’t have intelligence, but it has excellent instincts. Instinctively, it targets the strong. Look, that toad’s eyes are only on you, not us. Both we and that thing want you dead.”
Whoosh!
The Flame Toad’s tongue and the Iron Crow Squad’s arrows flew at the same time. Jin Gu-eon and his subordinates’ swords weren’t idle either. Even using an instant, it was impossible to dodge everything.
‘I’ll take the damage and counterattack. Instant!’
My thought speed increased. In the slowed-down world, I quickly decided to take the incoming arrows. Thwack, an arrow pierced my shoulder. There was no time to hesitate because of the pain. I immediately raised my sword to block Jin Gu-eon’s sword and quickly lowered my body to the ground to avoid the toad’s whip-like tongue.
‘Thunder, Landmine!’
Zzzzt.
I slammed my palm, wrapped in lightning, into the ground. The current spread out in all directions and surged upwards.
“Kuaaaak!”
The members who were electrocuted by the lightning screamed. It wasn’t the reaction I had expected. If it had been truly dangerous, they wouldn’t have even been able to scream.
‘Either way, it’s an opportunity.’
The center of the Iron Crow Squad was Jin Gu-eon. If Jin Gu-eon died, their morale would plummet, and they would once again realize their fear of me.
“Die, Jin Gu-eon!!”
Shadow Heaven Style (影天流) Lightning Flash (雷光).
Just as the Crimson Lotus Flying Blade was about to become a red beam, the Flame Toad’s tongue aimed for my right leg at the perfect moment.
I stopped my attack and immediately took a step back. Retreating, I checked the Flame Toad’s condition. Seong Ji-gon was rolling on the ground. The mark left on his chest showed that he had been hit by the Flame Toad’s forefoot.
“Seong Ji-gon!! Are you dead?!”
“I’m not dead. I just made a slight mistake.”
Seong Ji-gon jumped up. His eyes were shining with fighting spirit. Seong Ji-gon had grown even stronger.
“Are you even worried about your friend’s safety? You must be very confident.”
Jin Gu-eon’s huge sword fell, aiming for the top of my head. I was more concerned about the Flame Toad’s tongue, which was slithering like a snake on the ground, aiming for my legs.
‘Stormbreaker.’
I summoned a sword-shaped Stormbreaker in my left hand to deflect Jin Gu-eon’s sword, and with my right hand, I stabbed the Crimson Lotus Flying Blade into the ground. The Flame Toad’s tongue was pierced by the blade and fixed in place.
“That ability to summon objects. I already knew about it!”
From Jin Gu-eon’s sleeve, a small dagger, not befitting his size, silently popped out. The tip of the dagger was covered in a sticky black liquid. It was obviously poison.
The dagger aimed for my side, and its blade transformed into a serrated edge. It wasn’t an ordinary dagger, but a magical artifact.
From all sides, the members rushed in to stab me.
“Tsk.”
I drew up the demonic energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art and stepped into the true form.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) Heavenly Demon Descent Step (天魔君臨步).
A shockwave occurred, blowing away the enemies. Jin Gu-eon was no exception. A gap had opened up. A very fatal gap.
“Jin Gu-eon. I was a bit surprised, but this is the end.”
“It’s not over yet!”
It wasn’t Jin Gu-eon. It was the voice of his subordinate, Woo Young-tae. I ignored Woo Young-tae’s voice. He was just a guy who had barely reached the stage of emergence. He wasn’t a threat.
The moment I kicked off the ground to kill Jin Gu-eon, something pulled at my leg. I looked down.
‘A rope? When did they tie it?’
Woo Young-tae was holding the rope. How pathetic.
Zzzzt.
Lightning traveled along the rope towards Woo Young-tae. Woo Young-tae gritted his teeth and endured the current.
“Yoo Jin-ah!!”
Seong Ji-gon’s urgent voice was heard. The Flame Toad opened its mouth wide towards me and began to spew flames. That was what Woo Young-tae was aiming for.
‘Stormbreaker in shield form.’
Thud! A large tower shield appeared. I held the shield with one hand and blocked the flames. Looking back, Woo Young-tae was unconscious from the electrocution. I abandoned the heated tower shield and moved to finish them off.
Instead, Jin Gu-eon rushed at me. The red sword energy (刀氣) swirling around his large cleaver split into three. They aimed at me from the left, right, and front.
‘Attacks coming in almost simultaneously. It’s threatening, but… it looks clumsy.’
Shadow Heaven Style (影天流) Lightning Flash (雷光).
The blue slash cut through Jin Gu-eon’s sword energy and sword in an instant. Through the past training, Lightning Flash had increased not only in accuracy but also in power.
“You have a lot of things. But you’re not the only one with a hidden card.”
A crimson aura formed in Jin Gu-eon’s palm.
‘…Mobi Seol’s Crimson Divine Palm? Indeed. He secretly stole the secret manual and trained in it.’
However, his palm never touched my body.
Thwack.
A sword that appeared from behind Jin Gu-eon pierced his back. Jin Gu-eon’s eyes widened, and his palm lowered. Just before dying, Jin Gu-eon looked at my right wrist. A bracelet with a small sword attached, the Meteor Sword Bracelet (流星劍釧). A magical artifact that summons and drops meteor swords in the air. The size of the meteor swords and the position and angle at which they fall can be easily controlled.
“You bastard… you have so much.”
“I have more than you think.”
He fell to the ground.
“……I can’t be lonely by myself. Let’s go to hell together!!”
Jin Gu-eon held a dagger in his hand. Crack. The dagger shattered, and purple smoke billowed out. It was poison gas.
“Is this your real hidden card?”
“Even if you stop breathing, it’s useless! This poison is absorbed through your skin!”
Zzzzt, zzzzzzzzzzt!
I released lightning. Just like I had burned away the sleeping pill’s energy with lightning energy (雷氣) before, I burned away the poison gas with lightning. Jin Gu-eon’s face twisted horribly as he watched the poison gas being suppressed in an instant.
“Shibaal!! Ugh!”
Jin Gu-eon’s head fell limply. He was already a dead man, his heart pierced by the meteor sword. It wouldn’t be strange if he died at any moment.
Thwack!
I kicked Jin Gu-eon’s head with my foot. The head, flying through the air, collided with a tree and burst.
‘I killed Jin Gu-eon, so the urgent thing is the Flame Toad… Huh. It’s been strangely quiet since earlier, it’s dead.’
The Flame Toad was also dead. Seong Ji-gon, with more than half of his upper body burned, was sitting on the ground, breathing heavily. His sword was covered in the Flame Toad’s blood.
‘It would have been difficult with Seong Ji-gon’s skills… Did he aim for the moment when the Flame Toad spewed flames earlier?’
The Flame Toad had been targeting me the whole time. That was the Flame Toad’s downfall.
I turned my head sharply. There was still work to be done.
The members of the Iron Crow Squad became pale as they felt my gaze. None of them ran away. They knew that running away from me was largely meaningless.
“S-Sir Seong Yoo-jin. Please spare us!”
“We didn’t actually want to do this! The captain…! No, Jin Gu-eon threatened us!”
“We’ll do anything! Just please spare us!”
I smiled coldly.
“You have long tongues. If you betrayed me, you have to pay the price. Well, I’m merciful, so I’ll let you live a little longer.”
I cut off the right arms of all the Iron Crow Squad members and tied ropes around their necks. Those who still had their heads on straight realized their future and lowered their heads. If anyone made a fuss, I cut off their left arm as well.
Then, I approached Seong Ji-gon.
“You did well, Ji-gon. You’re not going to die, are you?”
“Ugh…. I feel like I’m dying from the pain. Give me some Golden Wound Medicine. It’ll be a bit better if I apply that.”
“It’s better to go up to the 8th floor and get treated by the healers instead of wasting time.”
“Yeah. Let’s go quickly.”
Seong Ji-gon got up. He staggered as if he was in a lot of pain, but he climbed the stairs as if he was running. I leisurely followed behind him, bringing the Iron Crow Squad members along.
‘It’s a bit twisted from my plan… but it worked out somehow.’
•••
“Congratulations on passing the 7th floor trial.”
A soldier was waiting. Not just one, but several. They glanced at us but showed no change in expression.
“Do you need the help of a sorcerer?”
“Yes. Please help us. My skin is burning and it hurts so much.”
“I will call a sorcerer.”
As if they had been waiting nearby, a sorcerer appeared in less than three minutes. Seong Ji-gon received treatment from the sorcerer. The burns on his upper body quickly disappeared.
The sorcerer then examined the Iron Crow Squad members.
“Their arms have been cut off. If you have the severed arms, I can treat them, but… it seems you don’t. I’ll just do some first aid.”
I stepped forward and shook my head.
“No. There’s no need for that.”
The soldiers and the sorcerer simply nodded. Even though they noticed the tense atmosphere between us, they didn’t say a word.
“What reward would you like to choose for passing the trial? There are better martial arts and elixirs than the rewards on the 6th floor. And from now on, you can choose magical artifacts.”
“We’ll all choose magical artifacts.”
“Understood. Please follow me.”
We followed the soldiers. There was a strange magic circle drawn on the floor.
‘…I’ve seen something similar to this before. It’s similar to the one in the Flower Moon Tower. This one is simpler, though.’
Whoooom.
The magic circle flashed for a moment, and we were teleported to another place. There was a teleportation circle drawn on the floor there as well.
I looked around. The wide space was filled with display cases. The display cases were full of all sorts of items. Just counting the number, there seemed to be hundreds of thousands.
“You can choose only one magical artifact from here. And this is a book that describes the magical artifacts here.”
The soldier handed over a thick book. I immediately opened the book. Information about the magical artifacts was written in it. After skimming through the book a few times, I frowned.
‘There aren’t any useful magical artifacts.’
I wasn’t expecting something like the Meteor Sword Bracelet, which summons meteor swords from the sky. The Meteor Sword Bracelet is among the top-tier magical artifacts.
‘A magical artifact that ignites the blade? A robe that doesn’t get wet? A spear that doesn’t need sharpening? A belt that smells good? Why are there so many pieces of trash.’
There was almost nothing that was directly helpful in combat. Most of them were trash. They were called magical artifacts because they had strange powers, but… that was it.
‘These are mass-produced items by the Artisan Masters (器匠士). No, that’s too good of a name for them. Should I call them practice pieces by novice Artisan Masters?’
Artisan Masters.
They are the ones who specialize in making magical artifacts.
‘…Still, since they’re magical artifacts, maybe I can sell them later?’
I chose magical artifacts that were likely to be worth money.
“This, this, and this… the shiny sculpture… and this, please.”
“Understood.”
The soldier didn’t ask again. Without questioning, he brought what I wanted.
“Wait a minute! Those aren’t our shares! We haven’t chosen yet!”
“That’s right! We haven’t chosen!”
“I want an elixir!”
The Iron Crow Squad members desperately shouted. The soldier calmly ignored them. I realized from the soldiers’ calmness that they had experienced this more than once or twice.
I took out a box, put them inside, and put it in my inventory.
“That’s an excellent space container (空間函).”
The soldier, who seemed to have no emotions, was impressed by my smartphone. Space container. It was like an inventory in this world.
“It’s my treasure. It seems like it’s going to get a bit dirty here… is that okay?”
“It’s okay. We clean it every day. However, these kinds of tricks only work up to the 7th floor. From the 8th floor, we will impose restrictions.”
So, there were already countermeasures for these kinds of tricks. Well, if they didn’t, all the rewards of the Myriad Tower would be plundered.
“S-Sir Seong Yoo-jin! Please spare us!”
The Iron Crow Squad cried out. Some were struggling to escape.
“You lived longer than Jin Gu-eon. That’s enough, isn’t it?”
“Yoo Jin-ah. I’ll kill Woo Young-tae.”
Seong Ji-gon and I drew our weapons at the same time. Soon, screams echoed.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
