Chapter 189
Chapter 189
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 189
Chapter Title: Flames of Loyalty
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Not an abandoned game, but one with continuous attention and changes.
That vast difference was something any modern person who had played even a little bit of a game would naturally recognize.
“Master.”
Among Goldian’s many subsidiaries, these people also ran a game company, so it was a massive advantage they could truly feel.
“It’s coming.”
At Richard’s words, Samuel took up his stance.
Before entering the tower, if judged purely on player capabilities, Samuel had been overwhelmingly superior in every aspect.
But the tower was different.
“Truly impressive…”
The approaching shadows.
They were combat lifeforms known as low-grade chimeras.
Their defining trait was that, due to their crudely stitched-together flesh, it was nearly impossible to detect their approach with ordinary senses.
“Remarkable.”
Not only had Richard clearly sensed their approach, but he was fully prepared to engage them.
Outside, Richard’s player capabilities weren’t particularly high.
But in here.
Roooar!
Richard transformed into an entirely different being.
Flame orbs floating all around him.
“Master.”
“Yes, Richard. Grill those bastards first.”
These were skills Richard had never possessed.
-Player.
Many believed that a player’s class and abilities were determined by talents they themselves didn’t even know they had.
They thought that upon seeing an ordinary office worker become a warrior and rampage across the battlefield.
But Samuel, the pearl of Goldian, thought differently.
‘The system is selfish and lacks finesse.’
From managing and nurturing countless players, he couldn’t believe the system truly awakened their talents.
Richard was the prime example.
Richard, who held the class of spearman, showed no talent for close-quarters combat no matter how hard he tried.
His body would stiffen when monsters closed in, and he’d slow down the moment he gripped his spear.
That was why.
‘I don’t think I’m suited to being a player.’
Richard had staked everything on commanding Goldian rather than player activities.
Their meeting had been the same.
“Do you remember?”
“Our meeting, you mean?”
The back alleys of Harlem.
The image of Richard collapsed in those back alleys, rejected solely for having white skin.
“You were quite peculiar back then.”
He had clung to life on sheer malice alone, but in the end, he reached his limit and gave up on everything.
“Now… I can finally repay that debt properly.”
When he had lost everything and was about to abandon even himself, he met Samuel.
-What a waste. With eyes like that, you could do anything.
-Too fine an eyes to die in a place like this.
A man utterly unlike the other black people he’d seen in Harlem.
-If you’re just going to throw your life away like that, why not give it to me?
Richard had sneered at the time.
He figured it was just another ordinary human, no different.
-Bullshit!
-I’ll give you what you want.
But he was wrong.
That day, Richard’s fate changed.
He obtained what he desired, and the one he sought revenge on was avenged.
-Now it’s yours.
Over the years, the organization that had dragged his parents through the mud and taken their lives was dismantled by Samuel in a matter of hours.
That was when it began.
-Master.
The master-servant bond between Samuel and Richard was established.
Roooar!
Richard, too, felt respect and gratitude toward the being known as Go Yohan.
As Goldian’s leader, he could clearly see the sacrifices Go Yohan made and the burdens he endured for the world and its people.
Just looking at this tower they now stood upon proved he far transcended ordinary humans.
Just as those who belonged to him did.
-He is the one.
As Samuel said.
-He is.
Go Yohan was the savior who would redeem the world—he truly felt it.
But.
‘Master, I revere and respect him, but what I truly follow is different.’
Richard prioritized something over Go Yohan.
‘Master. Because you follow him, I belong to him as well.’
Samuel.
Because Samuel had become Go Yohan’s follower, so had he.
Master and servant.
A relationship that might have existed centuries ago, but Richard was firmly bound to Samuel in one.
That was why.
Roooaaar!
He was thrilled with this newfound power.
No longer relegated to the rear, guarding Samuel’s assets—he could now stand on the battlefield alongside him.
“Fire Strike.”
He had acquired magic he once thought impossible.
The system hadn’t awakened his talent.
But Babel had.
‘This is my talent.’
Richard’s talent.
KABOOOM!
It had awakened his magic.
*
*
*
A litter of corpses.
The people standing before them.
Bloodied and battered, but their eyes held not a shred of doubt.
This was Babel’s 40th floor.
“About 75 days have passed, huh.”
The elderly gentleman, Park Do-young, said as he sheathed his sword.
Reaching the 40th floor of Babel felt like about 75 days had gone by.
“100 days.”
Park Do-young declared.
“We climb higher within that time.”
Their goal was to break through to the 50th floor within 100 days.
Nods.
No one questioned Park Do-young’s words or spoke of impossibility.
They were Kang In, Park Do-young, Shin Seul-hye, and Choi Chang-su.
The founding members of the church.
The path they had traversed must have been hell itself.
A time when they couldn’t wield proper weapons and had to hunt monsters without the abilities they’d relied on.
Moreover, Babel was qualitatively different from mere gates.
‘Countless gimmicks, not even giving time to adapt.’
Traps, curses, magic.
Grotesque monsters and occasional disasters.
Nothing seemed like something they could ever get used to.
Even when they prepared for the same event in similar environments, another catastrophe would befall them.
Yet they didn’t look strained.
“Doing this brings back old memories.”
Shin Seul-hye.
“Old memories?”
Kang In replied to her.
“What? You’ve already forgotten everything after messing around in Black Hall?”
Shin Seul-hye shot Kang In a dissatisfied look.
“With us…”
“That’s not what I meant. It’s not ‘old’ times.”
Kang In cut her off.
“It’s the same even now.”
Only then did Shin Seul-hye chuckle and nod.
“My bad. Yeah.”
Babel, a hell that others endured.
To these founding church members.
“It’s just our daily routine.”
It all felt like everyday life.
Before becoming founding members, they were already elite players renowned as Korea’s rankers.
It was said that reaching that position in those grueling times was only possible for those who had truly been through hell.
However.
“Do you remember the group combat training with the Apostles?”
Without a doubt, the danger and harshness truly began after joining the church.
“Which Apostle?”
“Who else? Envy, obviously.”
The founding members chatted cheerfully as they.
KABOOM!
Hunted the surrounding monsters.
“Envy never held back if you got excited or fell behind.”
From before the demons appeared, the church’s followers—who had prepared to face them—endured daily hellish training.
Power that far surpassed players.
Just like Kang In alone could shatter Korea’s underworld.
“Well, back then…”
“I meant someone else.”
To them, this hell was a reality they had to accept at any moment.
“Who?”
“Pride…”
Flinch.
At the name Pride, everyone froze.
“…….”
They couldn’t even easily speak it.
Sweat.
Dripping down their cheeks.
Even though it was long in the past.
“Y-yeah?”
“Y-yeah.”
Combat training with Pride was an intensity unmatched by anything else.
-Don’t worry too much.
-Even as Incarnations, as long as you’re careful, you won’t die instantly.
-I’ll reattach an arm or so right away.
Those were the memories.
“…Let’s hurry.”
“…Yeah.”
Thinking back on it.
KABOOM!
Made battlefields like this feel far too easy.
Halt.
They paused briefly, then sharpened their gazes.
“Boss, I guess.”
Up to now, bosses appeared every five floors, each a step above.
The floor they stood on was the 40th.
A boss monster would appear here too, and the aura it emanated.
Zing.
Felt intense enough to tear their skin.
“…Mountain Range Troll.”
The boss that revealed itself was colossal beyond measure.
A troll the size of a mountain.
Even in the short history of players, it was a monster among monsters that had left its mark.
‘S-rank.’
An S-rank monster, a true beast that had once obliterated an entire city.
If they could use their full power, they might not need to tense up this much.
But even having grown accustomed, they hadn’t recovered their outside strength.
Nods.
They didn’t relax, yet moved in perfect unison as if scripted.
No words were needed.
Their honed synergy was solid enough to not view such obstacles as crises.
At the same time.
Fwoosh.
Their eyes burned with even brighter light.
Eyes that would blaze fiercer even if this were a crisis.
Because something entirely different dwelled within them compared to others.
“Let’s begin.”
Nods.
Conviction.
“For Him.”
Faith.
“For Him.”
Adoration.
“So we can be of help to Him.”
“To live up to His trials.”
Everything.
“For our Savior.”
The hunt for the Mountain Range Troll began.