Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: The Tower's Balance
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The mission to conquer each floor of every tower in the world is the same.
The environment and the types of monsters are no different.
The floors in the 50s of the Black Tower were the flying monster sections.
From the 56th floor to the 60th floor, five types of elemental wyverns appeared.
Wyverns.
A degraded version of dragons.
The emperors of the sky who fed on ogres.
The Earth Wyvern with immense physical strength and defense, the Flame Wyvern with fiery breath, the Frost Wyvern with freezing breath, the Lightning Wyvern that discharges electricity from its body, and the Venomous Wyvern filled with toxic gas.
The 57th floor that Yu Cheol-min entered from the broadcast studio was the one where Flame Wyverns appear.
"It's been a while since I've been here too."
He had experience, was level 66, and had a variety of equipment and numerous skills.
A mission you couldn't fail even if you wanted to.
Floor 57 Mission
🎯 Objective: Defeat 15 Flame Wyverns.
⏰ Time Limit: Within 14 hours.
❌ Failure Conditions: Death or Mission Abandonment.
The mission appeared.
Rugged mountainous terrain.
Numerous flocks of wyverns densely packed around towering peaks.
There is a prerequisite for tackling flying monsters.
Since you couldn't fight in the sky, you had to pull them down to the ground.
Magic and ranged Traits had an advantage in that respect.
But what about melee?
What could you do?
You had to bring in a miniature crossbow or pistol.
But what if your proficiency with ranged weapons was poor and two of them got aggroed at once?
There was no choice.
You had to run.
Since Tower conquest is fundamentally a solo play, creating a 1-on-1 situation is always most important.
Conquest began.
After taking out a bow from his inventory and spotting a wyvern playing alone,
Fwoosh!
"Kyaak!"
A milky, translucent magic arrow struck the Flame Wyvern's abdomen.
"Got it."
Even as the wyvern descended, Yu Cheol-min didn't move, standing in place and firing magic arrows at the monster.
If he were an archer-type Player, he'd have to move frantically to create distance, but...
"I'm an all-weapon type."
Even if the distance closed, he could just swap to a melee weapon and slash or stab.
"In other words, it's a piece of cake."
Fwshwshwshwshwshwsh!
He activated a rapid-fire skill and struck the wyvern.
Dozens of magic arrows concentrated on that single target.
If a critical hit triggered well, he could kill it before it even landed,
But,
'Hmm.'
It was strange.
Not a single critical hit was triggering.
'At this point, at least one should have triggered.'
Even worse,
Ting!
One magic arrow, deflected by the wyvern's claw, flew off in the wrong direction and hit another wyvern.
"Sigh."
Aggro was drawn to another wyvern.
So, the descending wyverns suddenly became two.
The first one he shot was almost down,
"Hoo,"
What could he do?
He had to kill two.
Being level 66, two was possible, maybe three if he pushed it.
Weapon swap.
The bow was stored in the inventory.
After drawing his sword and shield.
Block, dodge, stab, slash.
He barely dealt with the two.
'This time...'
Carefully, carefully, he couldn't let his guard down.
After waiting a long time and selecting a target,
Just as he was about to fire a magic arrow.
"...Heeeh,"
Suddenly, his nose itched.
"Heeeeee-choo!"
Ultimately, a sneeze burst out.
From the recoil, a magic arrow was fired unintentionally.
Fwoosh!
"Huhk!"
Unfortunately, the arrow flew towards a place where wyverns were gathered in small groups.
"Kack!"
"Krak!"
"Kyak!"
Add, another add.
A whopping three flew at him at once.
"This is driving me crazy."
Three is tough...
But he still had to kill them.
If he abandoned the mission, he'd just exit the Tower.
And exit to where?
The broadcast studio in the middle of a live broadcast.
Instead of showing something impressive, he'd be utterly humiliated.
'Absolutely not.'
He used his ultimate, his special moves, everything.
Were cooldowns a problem?
Amidst it all, the critical hits still weren't triggering.
'Am I cursed?'
Why was this happening?
Just in case, he swapped weapons, but neither normal attacks nor skill attacks triggered a single critical hit, which had always worked fine before.
The spewing Flame Breath of the wyverns.
Three directions from three wyverns.
Dodging was difficult too.
Whoosh! Roar! Whooosh!
"Gkuh!"
Sizzle sizzle.
His flesh was being cooked.
Even so,
'I absolutely will not abandon the mission.'
It was a desperate struggle.
Hitting with melee weapons, creating distance to fire arrows or javelins, blocking breath attacks with his shield, then back to javelins, he killed two, leaving one.
But the last remaining wyvern kicked away the javelin he threw with its claw.
Skkreeeak!
Tang!
The deflected javelin again flew off in the wrong direction.
Again, towards a place densely packed with wyverns.
"Damn it! What the hell is this?! Why does this keep happening?!"
His luck wasn't just bad; it was abysmal.
A continuous stream of adds.
Like a train, one after another,
This time, five of them, no, there were more behind.
How many is that?
This is impossible even for a level 66.
Level-based bullying, slaughtering the weak.
That is, a high-level Player hunting weak monsters on lower floors.
That's only possible for monsters up to around the 30s floors.
Once you reach the 40s or 50s where super-large monsters start appearing, you had to be careful even at level 66.
A careless mistake could mean death in the Tower.
Yu Cheol-min gritted his teeth.
A crossroads of choice,
Fight or flee?
There was nothing to think about.
'Being humiliated is better than dying.'
Pride be damned.
'...Run.'
Yu Cheol-min sprinted towards the safe zone.
The safe zone doesn't mean monsters can't chase you.
It's just a zone where escape is possible.
"Mission Abandon!"
Spot!
Ultimately, Yu Cheol-min appeared in the studio.
It was still live.
The worst situation.
"Fuck,"
The announcer said something, but he wasn't in the mood to answer.
He simply turned around and left.
Tomoda, the Tower Climbing Administrator waiting outside.
He had been promoted to a government executive thanks to the merit of bringing Yu Cheol-min,
"How did it go? Why are you back so early?"
"Can't you tell? Why are you asking when you already know, you annoying..."
Failed?
He really failed?
After making such a big deal out of it.
"My condition wasn't great. My luck was bad too,"
It was utterly unbelievable.
A level 66 abandoning a floor 57 mission.
"I'll rest and conquer it next time."
"..."
Administrator Tomoda couldn't say anything.
He only thought that everything was ruined.
How on earth should he handle this?
Japan was turned upside down.
A verified level 66 Player.
A Player they naturalized, risking national pride, had abandoned a mere floor 57 mission and exited.
Was he a fake?
Were they scammed?
Criticism poured down like rain.
Stupid Japanese government.
Idiotic and arrogant Yu Cheol-min.
Approval ratings plummeted endlessly.
This panicked the Kawaguchi cabinet.
They hastily dispatched experts to analyze the cause of the failure, secured flame resistance items, and deployed them for the conquest.
The second attempt was done quietly,
Without leaking word of the conquest to the media,
They embarked on a re-conquest in secret, but.
"Fuck, fuuuck, fuuuuuuck!!!"
Yu Cheol-min had no choice but to abandon the mission once again.
No, seriously, why was this happening?
The battles with the wyverns didn't go according to the tactics he had established.
Unexpected situations kept occurring.
Was he cursed?
How is it that not a single critical hit was landing?
Is the Japanese Black Tower different from other countries' towers?
It was driving him insane.
What if he couldn't conquer it like this?
His impatience only grew.
Moreover, news of the second conquest failure inevitably leaked to the press.
[Yu Cheol-min Player, Fails 2nd Conquest of Floor 57]
Koreans who heard the news flocked to Japan's largest community site and,
Was it just Koreans?
Japanese users also poured self-deprecating mockery on the boards.
Amidst this, news from Korea,
[South Korea Black Tower Achieves 31 Consecutive S++ Grade Conquests!]
Was that all?
[Player Nam Ga-eun Completes 64th Floor Dark Ghoul Conquest in 3 Hours.]
The neighbor's house was a festival ground, here it was a funeral home.
The difference was too stark.
Amidst this, Yu Cheol-min failed his third consecutive conquest attempt.
Eventually, his mentality completely collapsed.
The Japanese government also had no way to handle it.
The fear of the Tower's collapse slowly began to seep throughout Japan.
Joo-hyuk also saw the news.
Seeing him continuously fail floors far below his level, it seemed the Karma was properly taking effect.
'Not just Yu Cheol-min, but Japan was in trouble too.'
Naturalization was a personal freedom.
However, it was not normal to abandon your home country, running away in the dead of night, regardless of whether the Korean Black Tower collapsed or not.
If he judged the 66th floor was too difficult, he should have at least returned all the items he received from the Awakening Management Bureau.
His achievements were commendable.
But that too was a give-and-take, a relationship based on contract.
Then he should have upheld the contract to the end.
Does he think he grew so strong all by himself?
Why didn't he realize there were countless sacrifices and support, both material and moral?
If he didn't know that, he deserved what he got.
Even an ordinary guy like me knew that.
"Does that last forever?"
He asked Gyeondal-rae, whom he had summoned for the 32nd-floor conquest.
"Regrettably, it does not last forever. When the balance of Karma is restored, it will return to normal."
"Really?"
Well, they'll figure it out themselves.
Leave the Japanese Tower to the Japanese, and let Koreans climb the Korean Tower.
The day before yesterday, he conquered the 31st floor.
After a day's rest,
Today is the 32nd floor.
The monster to conquer was, as expected, the Minotaur.
The unique point was that the monster type and Tower environment were exactly the same.
The only difference between the 31st and 32nd floors was the Minotaur's size.
From the first 31st floor, they were already bigger than Savage Gobang.
About 4 meters?
The 32nd floor ones were a whopping 4 meters 50 centimeters.
Just how big is the 35th-floor boss?
"The Minotaur King? Probably about 6 meters, I think. Twice as big as Gobang."
Truly a king among kings.
That's why S++ conquests were said to be difficult.
'This is troubling.'
For the 31st floor, he used Shadow Step to circle behind the Minotaur and smash its head for a one-hit kill.
But they said the Minotaur's size increased as the floors went up.
If it was moderately big, that was one thing, but if it's a terrifying size where you have to tilt your head back to look up?
Ugh!
I went through the trouble of convincing Yeon Da-rae.
If I back out now, she'll laugh at me, won't she?
"Ah! I want to eat beef."
"Hrrrmph, I want to eat some too. Tenderloin and ribeye are tempting. Warm ox-head soup as well."
"Doesn't the Tower reward give something like 10kg of prime ribeye?"
"Would it give such a thing? Precious beef is not for just anyone."
Yeon Da-rae also said,
"Beef is not something you give to just anyone. Do not bestow too much upon your subordinates. I fear they may develop bad habits... Cheese cake or macarons would be more appropriate."
Isn't that what she herself wanted to eat?
He decided.
Let's pick a day and eat beef.
But having a beef party in an officetel was difficult.
Beef tasted best at a meat restaurant.
'Bringing Kosak along shouldn't be a problem.'
He was of the Assassin class.
He could stealth, and change appearance.
Last time, he went alone to Yu Cheol-min's penthouse and retrieved items.
The problem was Gobang and Yeon Da-rae.
These two were the issue.
Himself as well.
...Should I ask?
"Princess Da-rae?"
"Speak, my lord."
"By any chance, is there a spell that can completely change a person's appearance?"
"Among talisman arts, there is such a thing. However, it cannot actually change one. It merely deceives human senses."
"Oh! Can Princess Da-rae do it?"
"Just give the order. I always carry the Ghost Yellow Paper and the Clear Mirror Pill with me."
Perfect.
After the conquest, I should try it.
'By the way, the house is getting a bit cramped too.'
Kosak and Gobang were fine, but with Yeon Da-rae being of the opposite gender...
'I need a bigger house.'
For example, like the penthouse Yu Cheol-min used to live in,
"...Ugh,"
They say a person's mind is different when sitting and when lying down.
Let's not get greedy.
If you were, you'd overreach, and if you overreach, you'd pay a hefty price.
Floor 32 Mission
🎯 Objective: Defeat 20 Phase 2 Minotaurs.
Gigantic Phase 2 Minotaurs appeared here and there.
But before a party of three Summoned, they were just insignificant cow heads.
Yeon Da-rae turned on her speaker.
Dung, dudung, dungdung!
Jingle jingle jingle!
Tstststststst!
The three-part harmony of drum, bell, and sword.
Whoooosh!
The mirror radiating a brilliant light,
Gyeon dal-rae's buffs and debuffs took effect simultaneously.
Power overflowed.
Meanwhile, the Minotaur horde fell into confusion.
Mooing, screaming, going this way and that,
It felt like entering a secret maze in a game.
"Kiyahoo!"
Kosak charged out first.
Gobang ran after him belatedly.
'Me too...'
Is there a suitable one?
Found it.
A Minotaur spinning in place like a top, as if lost.
Zzziiing!
Energy Shield activated.
Holding a mace and shield.
But it's big. Really big.
Seeing it up close, the sense of unease grew even more.
The difference in weight class cannot be ignored.
Even if its axe swings are slow, if one solid hit connects, the Energy Shield would likely shatter in an instant.
Honestly, I'm scared.
The nature of an ordinary guy, was creeping back up.
'How do I kill this?'
In an instant!
As Joo-hyuk joined the battlefield, Gobang, Kosak, and Gyeon dal-rae subtly moved closer to his side.
A distance from which they could intervene immediately if he was in danger.
It might seem like excessive overprotection, but his heart quickly felt reassured.
Someday, he would truly become strong enough to lessen their worries.
'Well, even if I get stronger, they'll probably still be the same.'
The fear subsided.
With the feeling of a fox riding on a tiger's back,
Swat! Swat!
Joo-hyuk vanished as if sinking into the ground in front of the Phase 2 Minotaur.
A massive axe swung down, but it was a meaningless attack hitting the afterimage Joo-hyuk left behind.
Before he knew it, Joo-hyuk was behind the Minotaur.
To smash a clay pot, you need to jump with all your might.
Through repeated mission conquests, the final third move of the Hunyuan Pili Gun had been unlocked.
'Scattered Lightning Strikes.'
The ultimate technique of extreme speed.
A one-hit-kill ultimate skill with a cooldown, possessing tremendous power matching its speed.
Swat!
Joo-hyuk jumped.
A mace raised high behind him.
It fell like a bolt of lightning.
Flash!
Crunch!
The Minotaur's head disappeared without a trace.
"Whoa!"
The thrilling sensation in his hands from the Falling Thunder Flash technique.
'I might get addicted.'
He'd fill his quota of three as promised.
And so, Joo-hyuk's conquest of the South Korean Black Tower's 32nd floor ended,
🏆 Conquest: Black Tower (Korea) Floor 32
🎁 Reward: Platinum Badge
Exactly as expected.
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