Chapter 110
Chapter 110
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: The Tower's Colonial Item
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The top American player, Gerald, borrowed the Holy Sword from South Korea and conquered Cabalan, the 70th-floor copy of the Eastern Tower.
And the next day.
He entered the 71st floor of the Eastern Tower, received the Ring of Form Transformation, the Potion of Disease Cure, the Elixir of Rejuvenation, and the Rune Necklace of Liberation as gifts, and handed them over to Director Antonio.
The Western Tower was still on the 68th floor.
He planned to decide on the conquest based on the progress.
It seemed the Western Tower needed to be conquered soon as well.
Someone else might climb the Western Tower first and snatch the four-gift set.
The 70th-floor boss, Cabalan, was easier than expected.
Was that all?
The 68th and 69th floors too.
The overall difficulty felt significantly lower.
Then what about the 71st floor?
"Antonio."
"Huh? Gerald, what is it?"
"I'm thinking of conquering the 71st floor.... What do you think?"
"Ah! You want to go for it?"
"The collapse deadline has become meaningless anyway. It's overlapping."
Director Antonio pondered for a moment.
This was a topic that had already been discussed.
They had also received information about the 71st floor from the Korean government.
It was true that there was no need to delay since the collapse deadlines were overlapping.
Since he had already climbed to the 71st floor, it would be good to conquer it completely.
Depending on the difficulty, he could also decide on conquering the Western Tower.
"…Can you do it? As you know, it's a bit unusual."
"Heh, what's the problem? It's just a game anyway."
"Alright. I'll make the proposal."
Director Antonio conveyed Gerald's intention to Minister Macmillan, and Minister Macmillan reported it to the White House.
Thus, with the White House's permission, the conquest of the 71st floor of the American Eastern Tower was decided.
The safe zone was inside a log cabin.
Opening the door...
The mission appeared.
Previously, he had just taken the gifts and left.
Now it was a full-fledged conquest.
Gerald saw the village, which had turned into a slaughterhouse.
[Pommel Mercenary Member] with name tags above their heads slaughtering the villagers.
The stench of blood and screams spreading throughout the village.
Children being kidnapped.
Adults trying to stop them.
But Gerald remained calm.
He checked his equipment and cast buffs on himself.
In the meantime, a middle-aged woman trying to protect the children was killed by a mercenary's sword.
A grown boy who rushed forward with a stone upon his mother's death was also beheaded.
Gerald didn't even blink.
All of that was just a setting.
What need was there to save them?
Just think about the mission.
Rushing in recklessly out of trivial sympathy would only put himself in danger.
Alright, let the conquest begin.
Starting with the mercenary members looting alone.
Gerald was relentless.
Humans?
What did it matter?
This was the Tower, not the outside world.
Monsters or humans, they were all targets to be killed.
Whoosh!
He killed with fireballs,
Slash!
He killed with his sword.
'Easy.'
It was nothing.
Easier than orcs.
He killed them one by one.
He chased down and killed even those who tried to flee.
Pommel Mercenary Member eliminated 20/20
[You have succeeded in the basic mission of Floor 71.]
[Level has increased.]
[Reward: 1.1kg of Magic Stone / 6kg of High-Grade Magic Stone]
"Seriously."
It was absurd.
This was the mission for the 71st floor?
Additional optional mission?
Of course he had to do it.
[Pommel Mercenary Deputy Leader James]
He killed him with a single slash.
[Additional optional mission completed.]
[Reward: Tower-Exclusive Holy Water of Divine Power]
He received the reward.
'...Holy water?'
A new item.
He would check it outside.
Of course he would continue.
Why would he give up on such an easy mission?
[Pommel Mercenary Leader Pommel]
'The boss?'
It seemed so.
He used swordsmanship.
He seemed to have combat power equivalent to a jungle troll.
However.
Slash!
He severed his neck without much difficulty.
[High-difficulty optional mission completed.]
But then?
[Reward: Rune Necklace of Liberation.]
'Huh?'
Gerald was startled.
'The reward is....'
The Rune Necklace of Liberation?
'Was it this common?'
It was certain.
That was the necklace.
An item that liberated a player's abilities even in reality.
'Hmm.'
What should he do with this?
Should he hand it over to the US government?
No way.
There was no need to hand it over!
The reward process wasn't recorded by a body cam. There was no way for anyone to know what was in his inventory.
He would keep the Rune Necklace of Liberation.
He couldn't give it to anyone.
This was his.
'Interesting.'
Gerald's face was filled with anticipation.
The day to test his power in reality was not far off.
The final, extreme-difficulty optional mission of the 71st floor.
Suddenly, a voice was heard from above.
"Oh my, oh my? What do we have here? Looks like I'm going to get scolded by Master again."
A woman's voice heard from the void.
Necromancer Kate, the Fly Magic user.
Magic Swordsman Gerald hadn't learned Fly Magic.
Maybe he could learn it with a few more trait enhancements.
"You seem pretty strong. Right?"
Was there any need to listen to her rambling?
Gerald immediately fired a Fire Spear.
Whoosh!
But calmly,
Poof!
Necromancer Kate dodged with Blink.
"I'll remember your face. I'll come back with Master Noma and kill you, chop you into pieces and feed you to the chimeras I raise. Well then, see you next time. Bye."
Damn!
Swish!
Kate fled quickly.
He desperately fired magic and crossbow bolts, but...
"She got away."
If a fight had broken out, it wouldn't have been difficult.
But her escape speed was fast, and with her shield and Blink, there was absolutely no catching her.
[Extreme-difficulty optional mission failed.]
But it was fine.
He was satisfied just having received the Rune Necklace of Liberation as a reward.
[You can challenge Floor 72.]
[Exiting America's Black Tower (NO.1).]
Gerald exited the Tower.
"Huh? You came out faster than expected? Was it not difficult?"
"It was too easy. It was worse than the 30s floors."
"Really? What about the rewards?"
"High-grade magic stones and this."
Gerald handed the Tower-Exclusive Holy Water of Divine Power to Director Antonio.
"It's called holy water. Send it to the lab for verification."
"Oh! A new item."
Of course, he didn't mention the Rune Necklace of Liberation he had obtained as a reward.
Namyangju Villa.
The Mad Demon had returned as his manifestation period ended.
After demonstrating the Surging Wave of the Crescent Moon Boomerang on the 73rd floor.
The spectators who had been sitting comfortably in the stands, enjoying the bloody spectacle and believing they were safe, were swept away by a single wave.
"Old man, that was intense. The scale is incomparable."
Indeed.
The Mad Demon, the king of mass slaughter.
The 73rd floor, whose difficulty had suddenly spiked.
But there was no need to worry.
No matter what missions came next, with the Mad Demon alone, there would be nothing to worry about even if an army division swarmed them.
Anyway, there was too much to check.
He had to summon the Mad Demon again in three hours for the badge award ceremony.
First, the Multi-National Tower Usage Ticket received as an additional optional mission reward.
That made it a total of five? No, six?
It was a decent reward.
The more, the better.
He would keep it.
And the high-difficulty optional mission reward.
Rune Necklace of Liberation (2).
Two at once.
"Why are so many appearing? I can't just smash them."
"It is concerning. It seems the Tower is blatantly releasing the necklaces."
"We must become vigilant soon."
Should he melt them in a smelter?
No.
He might need them later, so he would keep these in his inventory too.
Since he was level 74, he had plenty of inventory space.
The highlight was the Rune of Summoned Being Grade Breakthrough.
But before checking it....
He had also received two badges for conquering the 73rd floor with an S+++ rating.
What was the cumulative number of badges acquired so far?
A total of 85.
So?
That meant he could receive a special privilege.
"Alright! Time to check the special privilege."
"Should we chant the countdown?"
"Shout it out loud."
"No celebration?"
"That's for when we reach a cumulative 100."
"I shall prepare diligently for that day."
Hopefully, something good would come out.
[Privilege granted for accumulating 85 Platinum Badges.]
[Special Privilege: Tower Annexation Declaration Megaphone is granted to your Tower-Exclusive Inventory.]
"Du-gu-du-gu-du-gu-du-gu-du-gu…"
"...."
What in the world…
"…Annexation?"
What?
"...Tower?"
How, in what way,
"...Megaphone?"
An item he had never heard of before.
But its effect was astounding.
[Tower Annexation Declaration Megaphone]
Effect: Use the megaphone to 'declare' a Tower 'annexation' in a [World Announcement] format. Ten days after the declaration, forcibly occupy a specific country's Tower and incorporate it into the user's nationality. Can be canceled mid-process. No usage limit.
Limitation: Can only be declared against countries with below-average Tower conquest progress. Additionally, the target country of annexation is granted a 'Right of Defense'.
"What the hell is this?"
Wasn't this essentially forcibly seizing another country's Tower?
It was a truly insane item.
Of course, it wasn't applicable to everyone.
There were limitations.
Limited to countries with below-average Tower conquest progress.
And the granting of the Right of Defense.
He couldn't know the exact details of the Right of Defense.
It looked like a toy.
Click! He turned the switch on.
[Tower Annexation Declaration is possible.]
Click! He turned it off again.
"No, but still. This is really…"
Only now did he realize.
The world conquest the Mad Demon spoke of.
It was never an empty, far-fetched story.
The summoned beings also looked surprised.
But they had expressions that said the inevitable had arrived.
"...What should we do?"
"My apologies, but this humble one also has no words. I will follow the Young Master's decision entirely."
What about Kosak?
"...I will protect you to the end."
The meaning of 'protect' was clear.
If used incorrectly, he could die.
"Sergeant Veronica Caliber, you need a preemptive strike before using the megaphone. It would be best to use it to crush the enemy's will to resist and plant the final flag."
Was it war?
Well, using it would undoubtedly lead to war.
This was more sinister and terrifying than the Rune Necklace of Liberation.
A Tower standing proudly in a country's territory would no longer belong to that country.
The country that lost its Tower would also be unable to claim byproducts like magic stones from the Tower.
Moreover, if displeased, one could stop conquering higher unclaimed floors to induce collapse.
A Tower imperialism item.
A colonial annexation item.
A colonial exploitation item.
A colonial oppression item.
And a war-provoking item.
His head was spinning.
Was this really made to be used?
He would seal it away unconditionally.
No one must know.
"Let's pretend... the special privilege never existed."
The summoned beings nodded.
"Let's keep it a secret from the Mad Demon as well."
Nod nod.
Forget all about it.
"Let's check the highlight reward."
The Rune of Summoned Being Grade Breakthrough.
He immediately checked the information.
[Rune of Summoned Being Grade Breakthrough (Conditional)]
Effect: Evolves 5 skills of an SSR-grade Summoned Being to LSSR to break through the grade. Upon success, the SSR-grade Summoned Being ascends to LSSR (Legend Special Super Rare).
"I knew it."
A rune that turns a Summoned Being into LSSR.
But it doesn't raise the grade itself at once; it evolves 5 skills to LSSR.
That seemed to be the criterion for LSSR grade.
Five LSSR skills.
What was the condition?
Condition: Can only be used on the Summoned Being Savage Meat Shield.
'Aha...'
Well, he expected that too.
The mission itself was related to him.
There were also limitations.
The first limitation was,
Limitation: When the rune is used, Savage Meat Shield becomes unsummonable for approximately 2 weeks.
'Hmm, I don't like that.'
How could he live without seeing him for two weeks?
The second limitation.
Limitation: 25 Platinum Badges are consumed as breakthrough materials. The number of badges currently required for Savage Meat Shield is 22.
'....'
It's just one rune, why does it need so many badges?
What a waste.
Should he just not do it?
But there was a strange point.
It said 25 Platinum Badges were needed as breakthrough materials, but what Gobang actually needed was 22.
"...Hmm, perhaps."
The total number of Platinum Badges Joo-hyuk had acquired so far was 85.
Out of those, how many badges had been awarded to the summoned beings?
Gobang 3, Kosak 3, Gyeondalrae 3, Mad Demon 3, Veronica 4, Bardin 3, and Deputy Director Jeon Gwang-il 1.
Razix had quite a few.
He had absorbed the 5 badges he originally received to upgrade one skill, and now he had 3 on him, making a total of 8.
All together, 28.
57 physical badges remained in the inventory.
Gobang had been given 3 badges in advance.
So maybe that's why he needed 22?
'Let's test it.'
Joo-hyuk called Gobang.
Then, he removed the badge from his chest again.
"S, Summoner, has this warrior done something wrong?... I'm sorry. I won't do it again."
"Don't worry. I'll put it back on you."
Now Gobang had 2 badges on him.
Then he checked the breakthrough rune limitation again.
Limitation: The number of badges currently required for Savage Meat Shield is 23.
'So it's 25 including the one on his chest.'
Then, was the rune a necessary item?
Previously, when he gave Razix 5 badges, his search skill was raised to LSSR grade.
If he gave summoned beings 25 badges one by one and evolved their skills in order, wouldn't that work?
They could be promoted to LSSR, L-S-S-R, without the breakthrough rune.
However, he couldn't just give them out arbitrarily.
When awarding badges, there was a restriction that the minds of the giver and receiver must be in agreement.
They had to achieve enough merit to be convincing.
So, assuming he gave one badge each time they achieved merit…
'It would take a very long time, right?'
Probably several months or more.
'Is that why the breakthrough rune is needed?'
The Rune of Summoned Being Grade Breakthrough only required gathering 25 Platinum Badges, bypassing this process.
Along with the two-week period.
On the other hand,
'It might be a useless item for Razix.'
That was likely.
How much merit had our cosmic bald muscle man achieved?
Even now, if he received just 2 more badges, he could upgrade another skill to LSSR grade.
'Anyway, I'll need a lot of badges.'
Should he take back the 1 badge he gave to Deputy Director Jeon Gwang-il?
Ugh, that would be truly shameless.
There's nothing shabbier than giving and then taking back.
He needed to acquire badges in other ways.
Temporary naturalization, or Multi-National Tower Usage Tickets.
Now he knew exactly what the Rune of Summoned Being Grade Breakthrough was.
An item that helps an SSR, S-S-R, Summoned Being get promoted to LSSR, L-S-S-R, in a short time.
So, what was Gobang's choice?
After explaining the breakthrough rune in detail,
"This warrior understands."
Gobang pondered for a moment.
Then.
"I will use the breakthrough rune. And become L-S-S-R to protect the Summoner."
It was as if the decision had already been made.
But Joo-hyuk had no intention of sending him off immediately.
"If you use the breakthrough rune, I won't see you for 2 weeks, so play to your heart's content and then use it."
"Until when?"
"Let's see, the Random Summon day isn't far off. Right before the Random Summon?"
"This warrior will follow the Summoner's words."
Random Summon.
It really wasn't far off.
Moreover, this Random Summon already had an LSSR-grade Summoned Being predetermined.
How many would that make?
With the existing Mad Demon and Gobang being promoted, and a new Summoned Being joining, that would be a whopping 3.
The ultimate fighting force.
It was practically balance-breaking.
Anyway, Gobang becoming L-S-S-R was a matter of time.
Everyone congratulated him.
Except Kosak.
"How will I look at Gobang from now on?"
"...Just look at him well."
"I'm joking. If I mess around and get a flick, I'm really dead."
That was true.
An L-S-S-R flick wouldn't be ordinary.
"Gobang, when you become L-S-S-R, you won't flick me, right?"
"...."
"You're not going to, right?"
"...."
"Please say yes. Please, I was wrong."
Even Gyeondalrae chuckled.
"I look forward to the L-S-S-R flick. I'd like to hear that satisfying explosive sound again."
"...Why don't you get hit by it, Princess?"
"Surely Gobang-nim wouldn't flick a delicate young lady?"
Gobang's expression turned serious.
"This warrior is fair to everyone. Except our Summoner."
"...."
Now only the badge award ceremony remained.
He had to summon the Mad Demon too.
By the way, what about Razix?
Could he have come back empty-handed?
Maybe he was being greedy, but,
"Mr. Razix."
"Hoe?"
"Nothing this time?"
Instantly! Grin!
With a fishy smile, Razix took the subspace backpack off his shoulder.
"Huh! No, could it be?"
"Hoe-eeee…."
He held the backpack upside down and shook it.
Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble...
An endless stream of items poured out.
"My god..."
Did he loot another treasure vault?
No wonder he took Kosak along.
"Hoo-hek!"
Great thief Razix.
It was astounding.
To the point of leaving him speechless.
The Necromancer's treasure vault was nothing in comparison.
Just how many badges did he need to give him?
'If I give Razix just 2 more badges....'
That would make 10 total.
Then another skill upgrade.
It was confirmed.
The Rune of Summoned Being Grade Breakthrough was a completely useless item for Razix.