Chapter 57
Chapter 57
Chapter 57
Kimaris (3)
After that, Rudian learned many things from Kimaris.
Originally, the expected training period he was supposed to spend here was about 5 years.
For 5 years, he would continuously challenge the gatekeepers, repeating the cycle of being defeated and overcoming, and once he achieved a certain goal, he planned to finish the Tower of Trials using Diablo and Adi.
While at it, he would also deal with Rigos if he encountered him.
But the time Rudian spent here was not about 5 years.
10 years.
A whole 10 years - he was held captive by Kimaris, repeating death and training.
-Hmm, you've become quite useful now.
Today, as usual, Kimaris was exchanging blows with Rudian and stroked his chin.
"Is that so?"
-It's been over a month since you last died. The fact that you can now endure a day against me without using that person's authority is certainly commendable.
To endure a day against Kimaris, who was still giving his all, required not just swordsmanship but squeezing out every ounce of strength.
But...
-Now there will be hardly any human who can surpass you. Unless they're truly special aberrants.
"How many monsters are there in this era... No, I'll gratefully accept the compliment."
Rudian shook his head and held back his words.
Even if he said it, it wouldn't have much meaning anyway.
Kimaris, who only needed to fulfill his given mission, didn't pay much attention to Rudian's words either.
-During the past month, the sensation of being accustomed to death must have dulled sufficiently by now.
"...I might cry from such delicate consideration."
The reason Rudian wasted 10 years was certainly not because Rudian's talent was lacking or anything like that.
It was simply because Kimaris taught Rudian everything he had, even his foundation, and Rudian absorbed it all like flowing water, causing time to pass excessively.
Thanks to that, Rudian was able to become much stronger than his target goal.
But there was something equally worrying, and thinking about the cause of that worry, Rudian's expression slightly darkened.
'I'm going to be killed by Yev when I return.'
The snacks he brought must have been eaten up long, long ago...
She wouldn't attack nearby villages because she's hungry, would she?
While he was lost in worry about Yev, Kimaris interrupted Rudian's thoughts and spoke.
-Go up. Rigos is waiting at the top floor.
"That guy has a lot of patience too. To actually wait all this time..."
-10 years isn't that long a time for demons.
Kimaris chuckled and pointed his sword at Rudian.
It was the same intensity as usual, but Rudian realized this would be his last sparring match with Kimaris.
-Then shall I fulfill my duty as a gatekeeper after 10 years?
"...Thank you for everything."
It didn't take very long for the match to be decided.
If Kimaris had given his all as usual, the outcome would have been uncertain, but Kimaris faced Rudian as a simple gatekeeper Dullahan.
And Rudian cut down Kimaris without hesitation.
-Iblis... That bastard... Please...
Kimaris collapsed, cursing the name of the Demon King Iblis, the being who had reduced him to a Dullahan.
"Don't worry."
Rudian muttered quietly while watching his master's form crumble into dust and disappear.
"I'll definitely get revenge for you."
During the rebellion that occurred in the demon realm in the past, Kimaris died at the hands of Iblis while helping his lord Leviathan escape to the middle realm.
Of course, considering Leviathan's end, his death was a meaningless sacrifice, but thinking that his will was passed on to Rudian, it wasn't an entirely futile ending.
"Phew..."
Rudian's eyes gleamed as he recalled the hellish 10 years.
"Then shall I go up?"
***
What Kimaris taught Rudian over the past 10 years wasn't just simple martial principles.
-Human! To climb all the way here, not bad!
"A Dark Dragon this time?"
Kimaris knew that those Rudian would have to face in the future would mainly be those who wielded power brutally using time as their weapon, rather than special beings who seriously delved into martial arts.
Like this lizard that was stupidly breathing fire.
KWAAAAAA!
Black flames smashed through the tower's outer wall, drawing a straight line.
It was truly a speed and size that couldn't be followed by the eye, but Rudian actually used the breath as a path to approach the Dark Dragon.
-H-How can this be?
"So the saying that dragons in the demon realm breathe fire as a greeting when you first meet them was true."
Speed, range, destructive power.
Everything was a flawless killing technique, but that didn't make it an invincible attack without weaknesses.
If you prepared for the breath to come from the start like this, there was no attack easier to counter than the breath.
"Next time, learn a thing or two about restraint."
-Wha, what?
Rudian didn't listen to the Dark Dragon's rebuttal and swung his sword as is.
Dragon scales and dragon bones, among the hardest materials in the world, couldn't withstand the aura blade formed on Diablo's blade and split in two.
-KYAAAAAAAK!
Watching the dragon disappear with a scream, Rudian muttered indifferently.
"The 40th floor gatekeeper wasn't much either."
He achieved the feat of Dragon Slayer in one strike, but didn't feel much emotion about it.
'Looking at its size, it's just barely past hatchling level.'
The power of dragons, the strongest life forms in the middle realm and rulers of the southern continent across the sea, isn't at this level.
This thing was embarrassingly weak to even be called a real dragon in the first place.
Diablo, who had been watching Rudian's battle, spoke with a tone full of new feelings.
-Kekeke, you've improved a lot for a brat.
"Can't I remove the 'brat’ label now?"
At Rudian's protest, Diablo snorted.
-Don't be ridiculous. You've only improved your skills a little. Do you think you can change the modifier about you with just that much?
"...Damn picky bastard."
-At least achieve the level of a demigod before coming! Kahahaha!
'If I really reach the realm of a demigod, he'll probably tell me to come after acquiring divinity...'
He's really going to do that, isn't he?
Rudian glared at Diablo with a suspicious expression, but nothing changed from doing so.
"Whatever. There's nothing that changes from arguing with you anyway."
The number of deaths Rudian experienced from Kimaris over the past 10 years alone exceeded a thousand.
Having invested a month's time to bring back the fear of death that had become numb, the life-and-death situations Rudian had experienced were tremendous.
Perhaps because of that, a boldness disguised as indifference that just let most things slide had become part of his personality.
-That's not a good phenomenon though...
"Well, what can I do? And I'll be meticulous when actually working, so you don't need to worry too much."
Rudian continued to steadily conquer the tower after that.
Certainly, the Tower of Trials was indeed at a difficulty level that humans couldn't conquer.
This tower was a kind of virtual space created by Leviathan's obsession.
Within this place, Leviathan's followers could ignore all restrictions of the middle realm.
Of course, in return, challengers could also resurrect.
'Without the training experience with Kimaris, if I had just come up directly, I would have died dozens of times here too.'
Well, even though I dismissed it as a weakling, a dragon is still a dragon.
With the skills from when I first entered the tower, I probably would have barely scratched that Dragon Scale and died futilely.
'But if dragons are already appearing, it might get a bit difficult from here on up.'
Rudian frowned and glared at the door to the next floor.
As expected, his ominous premonition was right on target.
If the 40th floor's gatekeeper was a Dark Dragon...
The 41st floor's gatekeeper was a demon realm monster that could easily slap around decent high-level demons.
"Intruder who has set foot in the sanctuary, I have been waiting!"
"A Balrog... This is fresh."
A monster holding a giant whip and igniting demonic flames all over its body.
Even without using his Status Eye, Rudian instinctively noticed that this guy was much more dangerous than the dragon from the floor below.
"It looks like that one won't be easy to catch."
-Shall I assist?
"Good, shall we coordinate after a long time?"
"What are you muttering to yourself about?"
The Balrog exploded in rage and swung his flaming whip.
Though it was his first time using it in actual combat, Rudian smiled with intuition that this would work well.
"Let's go, Adi."
-Yes, master.
At that moment, Adi's form appeared in the real world on Rudian's shoulder.
***
Until now, Adi had been an absolute help to Rudian.
Status Eye, magic absorption, perfect immunity to authorities and mental magic excluding physical attacks, etc...
Truly, without Adi, Rudian would have held his breath in the Iskar territory until the start of the original work, then hidden somewhere in the deep mountains the moment the original work began.
But even such an Adi had a drawback.
That was the point that he couldn't provide substantial help in combat.
Kimaris did teach Rudian the ability to control magic power, but he couldn't teach methods of operating other powers with different natures like superpowers or magic.
In the midst of this, something flashed in Rudian's mind.
'Adi, there's something I want to ask.'
-Please speak, Master.
'The fact that you can inject magic into me means that conversely, you can also take my magic, right?'
-...
Adi didn't answer for a while.
Actually, Rudian's question was quite troublesome for Adi.
Being able to take magic meant that furthermore, Rudian's power of life and death was in Adi's hands.
-It's possible.
After much contemplation, Adi finally confessed the truth to Rudian.
'Oh, that's great.'
-...Is it great?
'Being able to take my magic means I can use magic utilizing your computational ability, right?'
-...
Actually, Adi hadn't not considered that method either.
It's just that given Adi's behavioral principle of prioritizing the master's protection above all, using the master's magic arbitrarily wasn't even a consideration from the beginning.
If the master actively wanted to use his abilities, Adi was ready to utilize his abilities 100%.
Rudian asked with an excited expression.
'There's magic in your database too, right? If you draw on my magic and use it, you can certainly use magic, right? It's like a kind of dual core!'
-Dual core...
Adi smiled mockingly at those words.
-That's underestimating me.
'Huh?'
-Not just dual, but hexa, hepta, octa, or even more is possible. My computational ability is at a level that even gods cannot imitate.
It was an absurd boast, but it was the truth.
But if magic was really used that way, Rudian's body wouldn't be able to withstand it.
Just chanting a few grand magic spells would drain all his magic and turn him into a mummy.
But if used only as assistance, Rudian would gain a powerful weapon that could give him an advantage in compatibility against any opponent.
-Arcane Blizzard.
A complex attribute spell belonging to the highest tier even in 6th class unfolded.
The Balrog's whip wrapped in flames began to lose its light as it was enveloped by a completely opposing attribute.
"Huh? Human, were you a magician!"
The Balrog, who had mistaken Rudian for a swordsman from his appearance of charging with a sword, was completely caught off guard.
SWOOSH!
When the Balrog breathed fire with full power, the Arcane Blizzard, which was only 6th circle, was immediately canceled, but...
The misty fog that appeared as a result covered the entire field of vision.
Rudian charged through the fog as is, aiming for the Balrog's main body.
"You insolent bastard!"
Despite his brutish appearance, the Balrog was also a highest-level black magician.
"Teleport!"
He could use spatial movement with just a simple incantation.
For a moment, a bluish light enveloped the Balrog, but...
-Dimension Prison.
CRACK!
The light of spatial movement was immediately blocked as soon as Adi chanted some spell.
"Wha, what?"
The spell that blocks spatial movement was, as far as the Balrog knew, magic that humans could absolutely never use.
"You, you! Are you really human..."
STAB!
The Balrog couldn't continue his words to the end.
How could he speak when Rudian's aura, who had somehow approached right up close, had split him from top to bottom?
"Phew! That's a relief."
Having dealt with the Balrog more easily than expected, Rudian let out a sigh of relief and dusted off his hands.
Originally, with the Balrog's skills, he should have been prepared to die once or twice, but being caught off guard twice was the decisive blow that prevented him from showing his proper skills.
"Even so, I never thought my magic would be completely empty after just two spells..."
-Still, it's fortunate that you killed him without injury. If you had fought again, we might have had to offer our necks.
"...That might be true."
Especially the second magic, it showed such vicious efficiency that it sucked up half of Rudian's magic.
Well, thanks to that, the battle became easier, which couldn't be denied.
***
Among the guys that appeared afterward, there was no being stronger than Kimaris with his full power unleashed.
Rather, in the current situation, there was only one being that posed a threat to Rudian.
"Adi."
-Yes, Master.
"If Yev gets angry, protect me a bit."
-...I'll try my best.
Since Rudian spent about 11 years here, probably 11 days have passed in reality too.
"I did say in advance that it would take several days... Since she hasn't stormed in here yet, it should be fine, right?"
-Well, I can't calculate causality yet, so it's difficult to answer.
"Damn."
Even while chatting with Adi, Rudian quickly headed to the upper floors.
Rudian's advance, which had been climbing the tower as fast as possible, stopped again on the 65th floor with the top floor right before his eyes.
"...Huh."
Rudian stared at the 65th floor's gatekeeper with a blank expression.
Until now, Demon Lords, Lich Kings, and various top-tier demons had greeted Rudian, but the 65th floor's gatekeeper was a completely different 'race' from such things.
"An angel?"
A beautiful woman with 12 pairs of wings.
Her expression held benevolence, but in some parts, you could also glimpse a resolute and sharp atmosphere.
"I have been waiting."
Unlike other gatekeepers, that angel didn't show any particular fighting spirit.
-Huh? Why is she here...?
Diablo, who recognized the angel's identity, couldn't hide his bewildered expression and trailed off.
The angel introduced herself to Rudian with a benevolent smile.
"My name is Raphael. I am one of the Seraphim belonging to the Celestial Pantheon."