Chapter 156
Chapter 156
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 156
Chapter Title: Ordinary Guy's Tower Strategy 156
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One shouldn't underestimate a worker like Razix.
He had a decent amount of mana thanks to being a goblin, and his muscles and core strength, honed from manual labor, were nothing to scoff at.
Did he not have any skills?
Wasn't mining a skill?
A technique for splitting rocks?
At this moment, to Razix, Apophis's massive head was a motherlode vein stuffed full of high-grade magic stones.
Kwajik, kwajik, kwajik!
Heavy pickaxe swings raining down relentlessly.
"Hooouuu!!!"
Fear was long gone.
He wasn't alone.
Gobang was wrapped tightly around the snake's coils with his entire body, single-handedly drawing Apophis's aggro with provocative roars.
The restraint and wall skills from the wolf, the relentless targeting of vitals by Gwang-ma and Kosak, Bardin, harassing potshots from Sergeant V, mental attacks from Diarmat and Jepetto, Hyeolrang clinging to the tail...
His comrades were with him.
The summoner was right there beside him.
Cumulative damage had already surpassed half.
Thud!
Razix dropped the heavy pickaxe to the ground.
The feel wasn't right.
Weapons should be the ones you're used to.
A gleaming golden pickaxe pulled from his subspace backpack.
This was it.
An item that maximized mining effects.
Did he need to attack from afar?
From now on, it was ultra-close range.
Rolling along,
Wadadadot!
He climbed onto Gobang's head.
"Hooouuuu! That noggin..."
Kwakwakwakwa!
Direct pickaxe strikes to Apophis's head.
Razix's butt was jiggling with every downward swing.
"Ooh yeah! Deadly butt backside."
"Our Razix, ultimate worker Razix, truly magnificent."
"He could even learn martial arts. His skeletal structure isn't the best, but he's got spirit."
"Respect. Supply officer, that's pickaxe work born from experience!"
"Aah, a man's powerful pickaxe swings shake a woman's heart."
"The tender love between worker and lady is already a classic? Put meat on Razix the worker's plate starting today."
Joo-hyuk was checking mission progress.
Finally.
Hidden mission complete.
What was left?
"Let's wrap this up quick. Time for the finisher."
Zeiiiing!
Gwang-ma's black fighting energy.
Ziiing, ziiing.
Aura blades dwelling in Kosak's twin daggers.
Chulkuk!
Sergeant V loaded a large round, and clank, Bardin raised his Radiant Flail.
But right then.
"Hoe? ...Stop."
Razix chirped mid-swing.
"Why?"
"Hoe, the hide."
"What hide?"
"Body'll get damaged if you hit it."
"Ah!"
"Hoe, skin it alive."
Impressive.
Taking even this into account.
Intending to skin the Apophis body hide they missed last time.
A worker through and through.
"Hm, seems like it has self-regeneration too."
"Just listen to Razix."
"Yes sir!"
Apophis was in near-death state.
Already incapable of resistance.
Razix had pulled out a golden skinning knife before long.
Slicing here, slicing there.
"Hoeng."
"Got it. Worker, leave it to me. I'll skin it perfectly this time."
Gwang-ma, Kosak, Jepetto, and Sergeant V firmly pinned Apophis's head.
Hyeolrang, Bardin, and Diarmat grabbed the tail end and pulled like tug-of-war.
Gigantic Gobang gripped the slightly peeled skin from the head with both hands and moved toward the tail.
"Kkuung!"
Splaaaaack!
The skin started peeling off whole.
"Hoou!"
Apophis hide.
Snakes were reptiles like basilisks.
'Not bad.'
Apophis hide's color was more beautiful and higher quality than basilisk's.
And of an enormous size too.
Plenty of uses everywhere.
Come to think of it, he hadn't delivered basilisk or wyvern hides in a while.
For almost two months now.
'Should he skinned the Behemoth too?'
Not the best looking, but processed and sold, it could fetch a price.
And floor 80+ was giant monster territory.
Bigger and more beautiful hides might appear.
'Gotta visit the company when I have time.'
Razix Goods.
His own company, yet never visited once.
Splaaaaack!
Apophis was still being skinned.
Thrashing about like that,
Clear success.
Skinning continued anyway.
Splaaaaack!
Reward items spat out.
Three of them, no less.
"...Wow!"
Nine times over, 90t at once.
High-grade magic stones nearly filling the inventory.
Quickly pulled them out and set on the ground.
Shh, shh, shh.
Razix transferred them to his subspace bag.
And the hidden mission?
That should give rewards too.
This too,
Additional acquisition applied.
Eight times this round.
"Aaaah."
It was overwhelming.
Impossible not to be.
Climbing to floor 82, had he ever gotten rewards this massive?
Base high-grade magic stone reward: 20 tons.
Additionally acquired: 170 tons.
Total: 190 tons.
Plus one catalog expansion ticket and two unidentified random runes.
Though what random runes were wasn't specified.
'Gotta check myself?'
Skinning just finished.
Quickly into the subspace backpack.
And finally.
Badges too.
Jackpot of jackpots.
If the random runes rolled right, it would be the icing on the cake.
Please, just one trait enhancement rune.
Joo-hyuk and the group returned home.
First, mass summon release.
Then Joo-hyuk entered White Tower floor 17.
Big job done.
Could he send it off casually as usual?
"HoeEEE? N-no, too high!"
Razix, was already getting tossed in the air by the summoned beings.
"Hoo? Hoe? HooEEE..."
A fluffy furball soared dizzyingly high into the sky before falling back.
Everyone celebrated Razix.
For overcoming his trauma.
Even shut-in alchemist Mari joined in.
Charrlrlrl, she was sending her homunculus to sneak into the tossing line.
He'd leave Razix be like that,
Time to settle accounts.
Rewards from this Clear.
Handle the urgent first.
Pulled out the catalog expansion ticket from inventory.
Five slots per ticket.
Riiip!
He tore and used it right away.
Next, privileges.
Previous cumulative badges 128, plus 4 from consecutive clears of Tower 1 and 2, total 132 badges, physical badges 17.
'Then privilege?'
'...Hm.'
Probability adjustment confirmed.
It gave one even when not required.
Well, expectations for privileges abandoned long ago.
Riiip!
He tore this one too, adding 5 more slots.
Total 10 more random summons possible.
Now the highlight remained.
Two random runes.
What had entered the inventory?
Pulled one out,
Thump thump.
Clutching his pounding heart, checked info.
"...Eh."
Rune to breakthrough SSR summoned beings to LSSR.
A bit disappointing,
'It's fine. Good stuff.'
Yes.
Plus, there were no conditions on who uses it.
Any SSR could breakthrough.
'Who are the current SSRs?'
Razix, Sergeant V, Bardin, Jepetto, and Diarmat.
Exclude Diarmat.
Why?
Because she was a defector.
Her promotion needed separate runes.
'Four then.'
Razix already has 18 badges.
This time badges were confirmed, so over 20 for sure.
Meaning he'll hit 25 soon.
No need for breakthrough rune then.
Breakthrough runes were just used to bulk-grant badges to shorten time.
Then?
'Maybe he'd give it to Sergeant V.'
Not right now.
After Razix promotes to LSSR and badges accumulate.
Her time for promotion would come too.
What rank would she be after breakthrough?
Lieutenant maybe?
Anyway, next random rune.
Please!
Got this far on luck.
Time to burst.
That's the natural order.
Gazua!
Climb aboard the luck coin.
What is it?
"..."
Joo-hyuk said nothing.
Just checked info, checked again.
'Hm.'
Dream or not, rubbed eyes, pinched thigh.
'Hoo.'
Deep breath, then approached the summoned beings still tossing Razix.
"Can you stop a moment?"
"Nem?"
Razix finally touched ground.
"Hoehoe, hoeee..."
Staggering like drunk, plopped to the floor.
"Razix is done. Toss me now."
What?
The summoned beings tilted their heads.
The summoner could get tossed anytime if he wanted, but by nature, he was not the type to want this...
Joo-hyuk slowly raised the hand holding the trait enhancement rune.
Close enough to see well,he spun it around once.
"Holy!"
Kosak noticed first.
"T-trait enhancement rune? Is it?!"
"Oh my?"
"Wow!"
"Hoe?"
"As expected!"
"Summoner! We bow in gratitude."
"Heaven aids you once more, as always."
Grab.
Gobang scooped up Joo-hyuk.
Tossed high.
"Eek!"
Tossing began.
Charrlrlrlrl,
Mari's homunculus wrapped around him.
Warm.
"Sound the fanfare! Ehheradiya!"
It was the best mood ever.
'A random summon later was fine, right?'
They played excitedly.
And since floor 82 was a success, he sent the related data to Chief Jeon Gwang-il.
Floor 81 Behemoth footage was already public.
And the players' reactions to it...
They were overwhelmed by their sheer size, one might say.
Like a skyscraper laid horizontal, stomping on four legs.
Clear that?
It made no sense.
The Undead sections were easy.
The good times over.
Floor 80 was no easy feat either.
The Black Horse Nightmare.
That monster's details were made public before.
Then another video released.
Floor 82 monster, giant beast Apophis.
Players or civilians were starting to buzz everywhere.
The Top player.
Just take our tower.
Like in North Korea.
Before our tower collapses.
In Infinite Prison, Realm of Souls, announcements rarely rang even there.
How?
Like this.
It was an announcement declaring start of doom.
It was an announcement signaling the true start of the apocalypse.
It was always an announcement of doom.
Thus, no announcement was welcome.
But?
Earth No.1001?
It's that summoner's world, right?
The world of the miracle summoner nuking Black Tower and climbing floor 82.
The player so strong managers had to illegally interfere.
The managers were replaced, the catalog expansion probability was normalized...
『Hurray!』
『Heh heh, if you stick around long enough, you see the managers change too.』
『Those bastards, replacement was not enough. Obliterate their souls.』
『You said it? Heave-ho it.』
『Heave!』
『Heeeave-ho!』
Suddenly!
One soul's remark.
『Then random summon will be soon.』
Thus,
『Ah!』
『Hmm.』
『Uh.』
『...』
『...』
The bustling infinite space gradually fell silent.
『There is a chance here. Everyone, let's aim for random summon this time. Yeah? Come on, soul!!!』
But,
『Yeah? What are you all doing? Soul! I said soul.』
Silent.
『Soul!!!』
『...Soul?』
No one played along.
『What? Why are you all so quiet? You praying or something?』
Yes.
They were all praying.
For themselves to win the upcoming random summon.
『From now on, every soul for itself... Fuck.』
Exit means straight to White Tower floor 17.
To them, random summon was soul liberation.