Floor 21, Colonial Planet (4)

The factory was collapsing. The fire that had started in the shattered crucible of the weapons factory rode the wind, spreading from one building to the next, and then to the next beyond it. And with it, the color of the sky began to change, little by little. I couldn't tell whether it was fading or brightening, but one thing was certain: the ashen sky was searching for its true color. It looked like a world reclaiming its own power. Above that slowly recovering sky, black and white smoke rose together like incense at a funeral. Aside from the sound of the factory coming down, the surroundings were dead silent, quiet as a grave.

"Whew......" An unconscious sigh escaped me. The breath I'd drawn deep into my lungs scattered into the empty air in an instant. A colonial planet. This was undoubtedly the work of those Sinjwa. Why would they run something like this? The question leaked out from the tangle of feelings in my chest, and my reason answered in its place. To strip-mine other worlds, of course. It had been the same on Earth. Powerful nations invaded and plundered weaker ones to swell their own strength. This was only that same story on a grander scale — from nation and nation to planet and planet. If I failed to climb the Tower to the very end, Earth would end up exactly like this.

"Kkiik! Suyeok, you've worked hard!" Dobby's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. It was the first time he'd ever said something like that to me...... I turned my head and found him wearing the same conflicted, sorrowful expression. Dobby lost his own god too, before he entered the Tower. There were goblin soldiers here as well, so his heart must be heavy.

Suddenly I remembered meeting Dobby back on the first floor. If I hadn't saved him, he would have ended up just like those creatures. And he must be longing for the world he'd lost himself. I couldn't immediately think of what to say to him. After a long silence, I finally managed to find my words. "You've worked hard too." I gently patted Dobby's bald head. The Floor 21 optional mission. It had been the hardest stretch of time since I'd entered the Tower.

The floors I'd passed through came flooding back — the first floor where I'd met Dobby, the sixth where I'd met my first party members, the sixteenth where I'd saved another world...... Looking back on it all, I could feel how much I'd changed since entering the Tower. I was certainly stronger than the day I'd first climbed in. Mentally, and physically. But...... I still have a long way to go. This hidden mission had made that painfully clear. After gaining Lungkshak's dagger and the armor, I hadn't expected to face an opponent this difficult. If one appeared at all, I'd assumed it would come after I'd grown stronger. This was supposed to be an optional hidden mission...... Administrator, you were defeated by a black lizardman. I couldn't be satisfied with who I was now. I had to become stronger. Strong enough to climb to the end of the Tower so Earth would never suffer this fate. Strong enough that the people of Earth — my family, everyone I knew — would never be turned into slaves. Dozens, no, thousands of times stronger than I was now.

'Hm?' A rustle behind me broke my reverie. It was the otherworlders I'd rescued from the factory. They were still a fair distance away, but I turned first. Roughly three hundred of them were approaching, and every last one looked wretched, their complexions gray and dim. Their bodies were in poor shape, sure — but why did their expressions look so grim? Just as the question formed, the elderly Seraph who had greeted me back at the factory ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bowed his head and spoke. "Liberator, thank you once again. Thanks to you, we have escaped the factory."

"It was nothing. But everyone's expressions seem rather grim. Is something the matter......?" The old Seraph gave a bitter smile at my question. "Even having escaped the slave factory, we are lives soon to end regardless." Soon to die? What did he mean by that? Whether the old man read my face or simply saw the need, he spoke again. "We are otherworlders who had our gods and our original worlds stolen from us and were dragged here. This is not our world, and it lies under the dominion of another god."

"Then...... "Yes. Once the administrators learn that one has died, another will come. When you depart, Liberator, we will wander this world until we are caught once more. And the blame for the factory's destruction will fall upon us as well." Ah. So that was why their faces were so dark. At last it made sense. I was someone who would soon leave. From their perspective, I had done nothing more than grant them a brief stay of execution. Damn it all.

The buildings were almost entirely burned through and caving in on themselves. It meant I didn't have much time before I'd be sent back. And naturally, they couldn't come with me. Anyone left behind here would lose their life. Damn it, what's even the point of calling this an 'optional' hidden mission? I couldn't understand it. If saving these otherworlders couldn't ultimately keep them alive, what was it all for? Was the trial simply to bring down the factory? No — if that were the case, shouldn't the Tower have at least prevented another administrator from coming? While I was inwardly fuming over my tangled feelings, the old Seraph bowed his head once more. "Do not trouble yourself over it, Liberator. We were bound to become slaves to a god we never believed in anyway. Merely allowing us to die as ourselves is more than thanks enough."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

The old man's deep eyes met mine directly. And the instant I met that gaze, a solution struck me like a bolt of lightning. A portal. A two-way portal. I had definitely mimicked it on Floor 21 with my mimicry skill. I could use the portal to get them out of here. "Just a moment. There's a way." At my words, the old Seraph's eyes went as wide as saucers. In his heart, it seemed, he had been resigned to his fate while still clinging to hope.

But just as I was about to bring up the portal, one question occurred to me. If I used it — where would I send them? The plan to send each otherworlder back to their original world had collapsed. Their worlds had long since been made into colonial planets, and I had never visited any of them myself. While I was thinking it over, another question surfaced — could I even use the portal to reach Earth? — but I set it aside for now. Whether it was possible aside, with the floor's time limit running, I had no idea what the consequences would be of me being on Earth mid-trial. I could just ask Ha Heijeong about it later. Which left, in the end, one destination: the Waiting Room of the Tower of Trials.

"Everyone, please get ready. Ah — and when the portal opens, I know it will be hard, but please move through quickly. I may not be able to hold it open for long." "We will remember this. Thank you." I had no way of knowing how much mana a two-way portal would devour, so I gave the otherworlders fair warning. I had plenty of mana from absorbing it off enemies, but this was travel across planets. The old Seraph bowed his head, then turned toward the column of otherworlders standing behind him. And in a voice very nearly a whisper, he passed along the instruction to enter as soon as the portal opened. It would've been easier just to say it loudly...... But apparently these people observed propriety even in the smallest matters. Should I just shout it myself? Hmm. No. Nearly half of them had already heard. I'd simply open the portal and be done with it.

I pictured the Waiting Room and tried to open the portal. The mana remaining in my body drained away in an instant. It clearly wouldn't be enough on its own, so I hurriedly drew on the gauntlet's reserves as well. And there before me bloomed a circular portal roughly three meters across — a golden one, bright as lightning. Given that the administrator's portal had been ashen gray, it seemed a portal's color changed with its user's mana. But god, the mana cost was staggering. I hastily shouted to the otherworlders. "Quickly! Move!" Sensing the urgency in my voice, they began hurrying into the portal, each one leaving words of thanks behind.

"Liberator, we thank you!" "I hope someday I may repay this debt. May the Golden Radiance watch over you...... "Thank you. I pray you overcome every trial that awaits you unharmed." In that short span, the great majority of the otherworlders crossed through. All that remained now was the elderly Seraph. His eyes had gone red at the rims. "Liberator, I cannot express the depths of my gratitude. May the Sinjwa of our race look down upon you with favor. Please, live long and in peace......" "Thank you. Go to the Waiting Room and rest well."

In that moment, the Seraph Queen I'd met on the sixth floor flashed through my mind. She had said the Seraphs had found their world, hadn't she. The old man wouldn't know that yet. But I chose not to tell him. Until I learned that world's location, it would be nearly impossible for him to go there. For now ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it would be nothing but an empty hope. Someday, though — once I had grown stronger. Couldn't I send that old man to the Seraphs' world? The elderly Seraph bowed deeply one last time, then stepped into the portal. I would make it happen. Not just the Seraphs — I would send every one of these races home to their own worlds. A faint smile touched my lips as I watched the old man's retreating figure.

Just then, a breeze drifted in from somewhere — cool and light, sliding across my cheek, brushing through my hair. It was blowing from the direction of the factory. And a short while later, the factory collapsed completely. At the same instant, a gentle sense of weightlessness came over me. In my blurring vision, I strained not to lose sight of the factory as it fell.

Floor 23. Something new had changed. A larger party quota could only mean the trials were getting harder...... Well, it hardly mattered to someone running the floors solo anyway. I sent Dobby off to the shower room first and pulled up my status window.

With all the skills that had accumulated over twenty floors, the status window stretched on endlessly now, sprawling out in a way that was almost a burden to look at. But as I went through it slowly, I found it immensely satisfying all the same. Fitting, perhaps, for the hardest floor yet — every single stat and skill level had gone up. Still, though...... The Two-Way Portal occupying the slot where my mimicry skill had been caught my eye. That was what had sent the otherworlders to the Waiting Room. Were they resting comfortably now, I wondered? The otherworlders already living in the Waiting Room must have been thrown into quite a panic. I checked the community right away. Since I'd taken the optional hidden mission, the other climbers were most likely on Floor 22 by now. Sure enough, the most recent post was from three hours ago. My Floor 21 had taken a long time, so the other climbers had presumably long since wrapped up their own and moved on to Floor 22. I wanted to ask Ha Heijeong about colonial planets and the portal, and I felt a twinge of disappointment that I'd have to wait. And then, at that very moment, a message arrived from her.

What? I'd definitely entered three hours ago. Was Floor 22 one of the ones that wrapped up fast? No. It couldn't be — the community was dead quiet. The other climbers hadn't come back yet. Hmm, well. She's a regressor, so she probably had some trick up her sleeve. It wasn't worth agonizing over. Now was the time to ask her about colonial planets and portals.