Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Babel Tower Beckons
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I quickly scanned the vast room with my eyes, searching for Enkar and Mino.
Just as Enkar and a few heroes were dealing with the remaining animal-type monsters, and the moment Mino touched something on the boss room wall.
["Uh, whoa!"]
Flash.
A message window popped up in front of every Awakener inside the gate.
[Connecting to Babel Tower.]
[Connecting...]
Ding!
[Congratulations, Korea!]
Bam-para-bam!!
Paaang!
"？！"
In the midst of the crisis, flashy fireworks effects burst out of nowhere.
[You are the first in the world to successfully connect to Babel Tower!]
[Tutorial mode ends.]
[Connecting the system.]
While something unknown progressed rapidly through the system window, Mino and Enkar looked at me with panicked faces as I landed on the ground.
"H-Hold on, Guild Master. Connecting to Babel Tower is great, but what happens to the S-rank Gate if we just leave like this?"
"If this gate goes berserk, everyone outside will die!"
At their words, my eyes widened too, but the system window didn't stop.
[Dimensional connection in progress.]
[Materialization proceeding.]
[Settling rewards.]
[Restoring data.]
[Upper and lower dimensions merge, allowing all interference.]
What the hell does that mean?
Messiah, who had been helping Mino and Enkar, called out to me.
"Kaisha-nim."
"Yeah?"
"My body, which was a virtual hologram, is materializing into flesh."
I turned to the heroes in surprise.
Just then, Terra was lightly slicing her own palm with her sword blade.
"!"
Real blood.
As I started grasping what this dimensional connection meant, light exploded from the floor, accompanied by the sound of a door opening somewhere.
Clunk. Screeech.
An alert window appeared.
[Would you like to enter Babel Tower?]
The only option was [Yes], but in reality, we had two choices laid out before us.
Mino muttered.
"If it's like this, then..."
"Wow, fuck. These bastards are seriously making us choose, right?"
Enkar looked indignant.
"It's a choice, but we have no idea what Babel Tower is like inside. It might be even more dangerous than here."
The moment I spoke, a blood-red warning window popped up with an alarm blare.
[Warning!]
[Boss Monster 'Polluted World Tree' goes berserk!]
"!"
I looked up.
Dart, Gilgamesh, and Abyss must have finally hit the World Tree's vital spot.
Kuuooooh!!
As the boss rampaged, its roots thrashing wildly, the guild chat exploded in fear.
["Aaaah!"]
["What do we do, Guild Master!"]
["Lots of injured here! Should we enter Babel Tower?!"]
Even in the chaos, the first-string members—veterans of countless sieges—waited united for command HQ's orders.
Goldbunker and Space King were the same; not a single one had left.
I turned on my mic and shouted.
"Announcement! Only those about to die, enter immediately! We don't know what Babel Tower is like, so choose carefully!"
Then, dodging the randomly lashing tree roots, I rushed to the guild member who had cried out about the injured.
"Here!"
A corner of the boss room.
The hunters hiding there brightened up at the sight of me.
"Kaisha-nim!"
Whale-nim, who had been unconscious, was awake.
There was a fairly safe crevice inside, so it seemed all the injured from various guilds had gathered here, regardless of affiliation.
The non-injured must have been low on stamina and hiding out briefly.
I knelt urgently before those looking critically injured, cast a wide-area heal, and asked.
"No healers?"
"The mages used Fly to head up, so hardly any healers are left down here."
Siege first-string healers weren't pure healers.
Usually hybrid mages.
And mages, true to form, adapted quickly to Fly even in reality, vividly recalling the sensation.
A Fulminak guild member gave more details.
"These are the injured from the recent rampage. Space King and Goldbunker say they're out of mana potions, so sharing isn't possible."
"......"
Good thing I came down.
I turned on the guild voice chat mic and asked Abyss.
"Abyss, status."
["Attacks are starting to land from below! Commencing root assault!"]
Good.
"Everyone, head to the first floor. Those who can fight, fight. Those who can't, rest here."
I grabbed a mana potion and health potion from my inventory for myself.
Fortunately, our guild still had potions left, thanks to steady sharing from Mino and the members.
Unlike the other two guilds, which were wealthy tower guilds from the start, Fulminak began poor, fostering a culture of conserving and passing around items.
Now even that was running thin.
"We don't know what happens if someone enters Babel Tower alone, so try to go together. Only those in immediate danger should go urgently."
The hunters nodded.
Eyes filled with tension now gleamed with resolve and fighting spirit.
I stood at the crevice entrance, sword in hand, and the hunters checked their skill and status windows before following right behind me.
As soon as we emerged, nearly all guild members were on the first floor.
Mages handled insect-type monsters descending from the middle, while below, they attacked the boss's roots.
Whoosh—!
Just then, Messiah cast a wide-area buff and swiftly retreated to the safe zone behind.
Kali spotted me.
"Kaisha! Where the hell were you—uwaaaah?!"
Kali, grabbed by a vine and flying off, I chased swiftly and snatched her before she hit the wall.
Clinging tightly to me, Kali said in a slightly trembling voice.
"Th-thanks."
"Fly?"
"It works, but at this level, I can't handle the speed. Uwaaak! Ahead!"
"!"
A vine attacked us.
Kwaaang!
I leaped just as it slammed loudly into the gate wall—thankfully, it didn't collapse.
I released Kali like tossing her—she could fly on her own—and used Fly to run down the gate wall, then jumped.
Gripping my sword with both hands, I poured all my power into the skill.
[Flames of the Abyss]
[!!Warning!!]
[Unless the item is made of special material that withstands extreme heat, the item will be completely destroyed, and the caster will take massive damage.]
Oh shit.
The moment I saw the warning, I dropped the sword and kicked off the tree to leap away.
Kwaaang!
The half-cast technique exploded massively with the sword.
Ha. Close call.
My hands burned precariously.
Even with incomplete mana input, the damage was solid—the boss let out a screech.
Dart streaked past me, gathering electricity in both hands, and struck the root.
Kwaaang!!
"Wow."
I couldn't help but admire the stable skill execution.
Dart wasn't the only one; despite not escaping low levels yet, everyone's skills had improved insanely during this.
Only about a dozen heroes left.
Having three of them as my heroes was immensely proud.
As hunters chipped away at the boss's HP with various skills, top rankers tanked maximally, gathered mana, then unleashed finishers to shave off huge chunks at once.
["Almost the end! Everyone, just a bit more!"]
Maya's voice.
Gilgamesh, who had arrived unnoticed, flew stably beside me and said.
"Our potions are all gone. You guys have some left, right?"
"How'd you know?"
"Heard from your guild members in chat. You land the finisher big, wreck the gate, and we all bail to Babel Tower."
"!"
Wrecking the gate? My whole body thrilled with excitement.
Truth is, even with many skills used, only a limited number could fully replicate that sensation.
I downed a mana recovery potion.
"Finisher time now?"
"Not yet. You're after me."
Answering my question, Gilgamesh infused his sword with a skill and continued.
"Turns out official skills have the best cost-performance. Finishers eat too much mana for the damage right now. It'll improve with practice, though."
Sword stage 1 skill.
He'd leveled up and unlocked another in the meantime.
Gilgamesh loaded the skill onto his sword, stopped Fly, dropped sharply through the air, and struck the root.
Bang!
Kwaaang!
I looked away below and up at the gate ceiling.
The soil color inside the gate cave, and somehow, it felt like they'd transplanted a chunk of Lowguard wholesale with the monsters.
If Midgard had any will, they wouldn't want us leaving this unfinished.
The early gate entry error message 'Midgard's Interference' and the resulting gate rank change—maybe that was it.
Mana surged through me.
Time to go.
"Dynamite Racing Across the Heavens."
Thud.
A heavy, dull noise settled over the gate.
Kukukukuku—
The chain explosions began.
Gilgamesh yelled as he approached me.
"Hey, you lunatic, how the hell did you set the range?!"
"From the walls inward."
"What?!"
"You said wreck the gate."
Kwaaang!
Finally, the explosion burst through the ceiling, piercing the tree's crown.
Like a massive pillar of fire,
Kwaaakwaaang!!
The moment the dynamite flames cleaved the air, piercing the tree's center down to the ground, Gilgamesh and I shouted simultaneously.
"Everyone, move now—!!"
"To Babel Tower—!!"
Whoosh.
Gilgamesh vanished instantly.
Thud! Ku-thud! Thud!!
[Boss Monster 'Polluted World Tree' defeated successfully.]
[Gate closes in 4 hours.]
[04:00:00]
I sprinted briefly through the collapsing gate interior, checking guild members' evacuation.
Dart and I locked eyes.
"......"
What can you do, guild masters gotta guild master.
Only after confirming every guild member had safely moved did Dart and I finally press [Yes].
* * *
It was a drizzly day.
A group of hunters had passed by in the evening but ultimately didn't enter the gate.
As it grew dark.
A police officer glanced casually at the gate and noticed something.
"Huh?"
He nudged his colleague.
"Yeah? Already done? But why only one coming out?"
"Got injured or something?"
"Walking fine, though."
Another officer approached.
"Two came out together earlier. Wouldn't respond when I called out."
"Odd outfits."
"Hunting monsters drops all sorts of stuff, they say."
"Even if you're a gamer, facing man-killing monsters must be scary. Government should reward hunters."
The officer who'd seen another hunter earlier stepped up again.
"I'll go check."
Splash! Splash!
Running through the rain.
Up close, the man was much taller than from afar. His shadowed features were sharply defined.
It was well-known that hunters often had striking looks.
"Good work, Hunter! Which guild?"
The tall man looked at the officer.
"...Space King."
"Ah, Space King guild. If it's not rude, your name?"
"Helcannon."
A foreign name from a Korean hunter's mouth left the officer flustered.
'G-Gamer nickname?'
To avoid awkwardness, he changed the subject quickly.
"No injuries? Want an umbrella in this rain?"
The man who'd named himself Helcannon shook his head curtly.
He turned to leave, then paused.
"Were there others who came out besides me?"
"Pardon? Oh, yes. Shortly after my shift, I saw two."
Helcannon's expression hardened slightly.
The man nodded briefly in thanks, then turned fully away.
He glanced somewhere.
[You have entered the World of the Gods.]
With that alone,
Helcannon vaguely realized where he'd arrived.