Chapter 88. The Hellish 30th Floor
BOOM!!!
“!!”
Even Jo Jeonghu, who was searching for the boss, whipped around at the tremendous shaking of the entire area.
It was a deafening crash utterly unlike the black ebony prayer beads clattering against the floor.
Anyone could tell it was the sound of metal clashing against armor.
“Guh…… urk?”
Philip, struck dead-on by the black ebony prayer beads, tumbled several meters across the ground.
However.
“Huh……?”
The world spun wildly for a moment, and the pain was insane…… but.
It's more bearable than I thought?
Unlike what he'd imagined—that a single hit would leave him on the brink of death—Philip immediately planted his feet and stood back up.
“How are you still standing?”
The Colossus was just as flustered. It had swung with all its might, yet its opponent stood unscathed.
If this level of attack is all they've got…… I can hold out pretty well……!
As expected of trash mobs, not boss monsters.
Of course, multiple hits would kill him, but there was a world of difference between dying from one blow and being able to take a few.
And the Colossi felt the exact same way.
“Alright…… let's go again!”
The greater the opponent's intimidation, the stronger the effect of Shout.
Philip exploited the flinching Colossi, diving into their midst and swinging his mace at their ankles.
Their massive hooves and reverse-jointed legs evoked the image of a bull's.
Which made their ankles relatively thin compared to their colossal bodies.
“Double strike, you bastards!”
Philip targeted the ankle of the lead Colossus, swinging Soul of the Mountain with full force.
Thud! Boom!
Snap!
Crunch!
With a gruesome sound that made even Philip grimace, one Colossus lurched its head wildly before dropping to one knee on the floor.
“Now your head's at a good height.”
Philip followed up by smashing the Colossus's skull.
Bam!
Made of rock, the Colossus shattered into crumbling stone fragments and collapsed to the ground.
“Huff…… huff……!”
The wounds on his back throbbed more with every clash, but he could still endure.
Jeonghu's…… still looking?
But Philip knew.
One thing he'd learned climbing countless dungeons and towers with Jeonghyeon.
Trash mobs respawn unless the boss is dead.
These giant monsters weren't the clear objective anyway, so he had to find the boss fast.
Jeonghu's probably grinding hard too……!
First, focus on his own job.
With the trust built from climbing the tower together, Philip didn't even glance at Jeonghu's direction as he swung his mace at another Colossus.
“Damn……”
No trace of the boss's mana anywhere in the dungeon.
Awakener of the storm dragon Mirtus, his mana sensitivity was exceptional.
He could sense enemies even other awakeners missed.
That was why orthodox martial artists like them had survived so long, even in Jeonghyeon's era.
Jeonghu had sensed all the monsters' presences in the tower so far, but not this time—the boss's mana was undetectable.
Where are you……!
It seemed the boss planned to lurk behind these destructively powerful Colossus trash mobs, wearing them down before appearing.
That means it's either deep inside or knows how to hide its mana.
Jeonghu activated the Jo family's unique mana-sensing technique.
“Hup!”
The Jo family excelled at spreading mana evenly throughout the body like no other hunter.
Jeonghu pressed his hand to the wall and let his mana flow outward evenly.
Like sonar probing ocean depths, the mana vanished or reflected alien mana upon hitting monsters.
But after circling the walls and returning to him, no mana signatures registered.
Not here.
If it were hiding here, he'd have sensed faint traces by now.
Next, the floor.
Not the floor either.
Something was off.
Among the Jo family branches, one had reached the 40th floor, and they'd documented the tower's details exclusively for family.
When Jeonghu raided the patriarch's building, he'd memorized it first.
The tower's difficulty spiked radically from precisely the 31st floor.
So an enemy capable of completely masking its mana shouldn't appear at this stage.
Besides, a boss hiding its presence while deploying such mighty trash mobs like Colossi? Unlikely.
As he pondered, Philip's voice echoed from afar.
“These bastards are really annoying!!”
No matter how widely Philip swung his mace, the Colossi simply lifted their massive bodies slightly to dodge.
“Should've learned an AoE skill!! Get down here!!”
“Get down……?”
At that moment, Jeonghu looked up as realization dawned.
The dungeon ceiling.
Too high for accurate mana return measurement.
Only place left anyway.
Jeonghu gripped his gauntlets tight.
“Hup……!”
If the ceiling collapsed, Colossi would get crushed, and Philip could finish them off.
Worst case, break even.
Jeonghu extended his left hand toward the ceiling, gauging the spot.
His right hand gathered mana like loading a bullet, preparing One Strike.
Storm Dragon Fist……!
Just as Jeonghu thrust his fist forward.
“No! Block it!”
The Colossi shouted.
Jeonghu had nailed it.
“One Strike!!”
“Adults exist solely to protect the young, you see. That's no exaggeration.”
Arak's lecture had dragged on for hours already.
“Who are you punks to defy nature's order? How old are you even?”
Damn. Even counting reincarnation, they're older than me. These boomer bastards.
Jeonghyeon grimaced and let out a deep sigh.
“Hah? A sigh? You in your right mind? An elder's sharing blood-and-bone wisdom here.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
The Rock Dwarves sat clustered around Jeonghyeon and Nus like nosy holiday relatives.
About to demand talent shows any second.
“How old are ya?”
Nus started to open her tiny pixie mouth.
“Three thousand two hund……”
“Haven't counted past seven thousand.”
Bullshit. You obsessives track years, months, days.
Pointless question from the start.
Nothing outlived seven-thousand-year-old Rock Dwarves except dragons.
“Oho. Not answering? Back in my day, kids snapped to when elders asked.”
This damn boomer crap.
Jeonghyeon sighed instead of replying.
“Huh? Look at this punk sighing now? You, fresh-faced kid, dare protect us? The nerve?”
Chief Arak advanced on Jeonghyeon threateningly.
“Not content with invoking Uldran, now trampling our pride too?”
Jeonghyeon's expression shifted at Arak's words.
Dare invoke Uldran?
Rock Dwarves clearly worshiped Uldran like ancestors.
These etiquette-obsessed boomers dropping the honorific for Uldran?
Jeonghyeon's battle-honed instincts screamed something was wrong.
“Uldran…… Don't you serve Uldran?”
The Rock Dwarves fell silent at Jeonghyeon's question.
“……What if you know?”
“I know you were the first race to serve Uldran—no, Lord Uldran.”
Jeonghyeon seized the momentum.
“Nus's words about protecting you might irk, but…… we're Uldran's servants too. That's why we came seeking your teachings.”
The dwarves lowered their eyes at his changed demeanor.
“……See that.”
Arak grumbled petulantly, unbecoming his age.
“Uldran forgot us. Promised to return, send help…… then abandoned us for millennia.”
“……”
“While our kin died, left on frozen wastes, Uldran never sought us.”
“……”
“Just seeing you serve Uldran proves we're forgotten, replaced, favored less.”
“……”
“Your strong yet familiar mana drew our goodwill.”
Uldran's awakener effect worked, it seemed.
“Teachings? You're here to save us from Ignirn, right?”
“……”
The Rock Dwarves already knew of Ignirn's awakeners, under constant assault.
“Then snatch Uldran's relic and leave.”
Relic?
First time hearing that.
No way Uldran left a direct relic.
Dragons influenced Afraksas only through awakeners or races' authorities.
Indirect interference only.
“Wait, relic……?”
As Jeonghyeon started to ask.
“Enough of this crap from you old farts!”
Pixie-form Nus shot up, exploding in rage.
“This body is the Demon King's servant, almighty ethereal slime! We came to save you because my Demon King accepted a dragon's request, you idiots!”
Nus was stirring shit again.
Consult first before charging in, please.
Screw the situation—just blurting it out.
“Uldran wanted to protect you! That powerless weakling reached out to the Demon King for you.”
Oh boy. Now Uldran's begging the Demon King—ultimate blasphemy title.
Dragon-worshipers would love that.
“Like it or not, Ignirn's coming. We'll protect you—not for your sake.”
But Nus didn't stop, spewing abuse right in Arak's face.
“Got it? Sit tight, guzzle booze, and sleep. We'll handle Ignirn's awakeners.”
Now how to salvage this.
No sigh left—just a hollow chuckle.
“Fine. Try blocking them. Reflect on why we're like this.”
Arak backed off surprisingly tamely.
“See how every 'protector' ended. You're not the first.”
Then pointed skyward.
“Right on time.”
Not sky—the cliff.
Figures in goat-skull masks swarmed down the cliffside.
Red armor.
Long cloaks.
Flame dragon aura from afar.
Ignirn's awakeners.
“Haa……”
“Ignirn's awakeners. Scared facing that heat?”
Jeonghyeon shook his head at Arak.
“Nah…… hangover plus fight's just tiring.”
He drew Blood Dissector casually.
“Nus. Ready?”
“Of course!”
Ignoring the dwarves' worried shouts, Jeonghyeon unleashed his hidden mana fully and stepped forward.