Skill Gacha (2)

“Gkkuaaaaaaagh—!!”

The imp, engulfed in emerald flames, let out a hideous scream.

Fwoosh, crackle-crackle!

Like dry kindling catching fire, the creature's body went up in a roaring blaze.

“F-Fireball? How could a Fireball— Gyaagh!”

The imp rolled pitifully across the ground.

Anyone could see what was coming. That imp was about to be reduced to ash right there in the flames.

“You… you bastard… Gkhaagh. Just… you… wait… Gkhek!”

And true to form, before long the creature's body burned away inside the fire without leaving a trace.

— It was forcibly banished. Well done!

At Ellaon's words, the fact that I had successfully killed the imp finally sank into my skin.

A mere lower-rank demon, yes—but to dispatch a demon this easily? Even though I was the one who'd done it, I felt dazed.

Once again, I rediscovered just how devastating the combination of a Mythic-grade spell and the Sage's Aura truly was.

— And it was Sage's Sight that doubled that power yet again.

Right. Sage's Sight.

I couldn't leave that out of the equation either.

While I was marveling at my own strength, Wang Ochun's dim-witted voice drifted over from beside me.

“Uh…….”

His eyes had gone blank and unfocused, his mouth hanging wide open.

His dropped jaw simply refused to close.

He wore the expression of a man who had never once dreamed that his trump card—the 'demon summoning' he'd prepared as his final gambit—could be neutralized so effortlessly.

“Hey. You.”

“H-Hiiik!”

The moment I approached, he convulsed like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a patient being tickled.

He looked utterly terrified.

Wang Ochun was even more of a coward than I'd expected.

“P-Please spare me, my lord! I've committed a sin worthy of death!”

THUD!

He smashed his forehead straight into the ground in a full dogeza.

I clicked my tongue softly at the sight of Wang Ochun, stripped of all dignity and backbone.

This guy is the head of a pyramid scheme?

— Snatch the rings he's wearing.

At Ellaon's prompting, I looked down at the two rings on the man's fingers.

Had he sensed my gaze?

“Th-The Lower Imp Summoning Ring and the Bracelet of Forest Protection! Sh-Shall I hand them over?”

With a servile expression, he immediately offered up the rings and the bracelet.

Wow. The guy reads a room frighteningly fast.

I was beginning to understand how he'd climbed his way to the top of his little organization.

Oh.

Forest Protection.

That was seriously handy.

An auto-trigger defensive shield, three times a day?

For someone like me whose defenses were lacking, this bracelet would be extremely useful for the time being.

And this other one… an artifact that summons demons, huh. I'd only heard rumors, but they really do exist.

Artifacts capable of summoning demons or celestial beings.

Word had it that only ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠something on the level of the Five Great Clans could hope to possess such a treasure.

And yet this bottom-feeder thug had been carrying one around.

I found myself thinking the man was perhaps more capable than he looked.

“Hey. You got anything else?”

I asked on the off chance.

A guy carrying stuff like this around was bound to have stashed away a slush fund or two, wasn't he?

“Uh, uh, th-that is……”

At my words, his eyes quivered endlessly, as if an earthquake had struck them.

That reaction alone made it easy to guess that the guy really did have something hidden away.

“What is it? There's more?”

“W-Well… yes. I'll hand over everything… hck. Yes……”

Wang Ochun wept, overcome with grief.

What was there to be so sad about? It wasn't as if he could take it with him to the grave.

“B-But… may I… ask one favor?”

Wang Ochun opened his mouth cautiously, groveling once more.

“Which is?”

“I-I'll give you everything I own, so please… spare my life…….”

“Okay.”

Color bloomed across his face at my answer.

He'd apparently been on pins and needles wondering what I would do with him.

But did he realize?

I'd only said I'd spare his life. I never said I wouldn't do anything else to him.

— What do you intend to do with that man?

You'll see soon enough.

Heh. I couldn't very well just release vermin like that back into the wild.

If I left loose ends behind, my own neck might pay for it later.

So shouldn't I at least handle the cleanup properly, so they could never bare their fangs at me again?

Chewing over how to deal with the man, I followed where he led.

And where we arrived was his secret warehouse.

“Th-This is the place.”

“Whoa-ho.”

I whistled at the wealth spread out before me.

Coins piled high on one side of the room.

If all of this converted to gold coins, it had to be well over a thousand, didn't it?

I swept the whole lot into my subspace ring.

“These are what I've been collecting… hnngh. G-Gem skill cards… hnngh… sir.”

Three cards in total, held out in his trembling hands.

At the center of each palm-sized ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠card was set a resplendent, rainbow-hued jewel.

Wow. These were a thing?

Gem skill cards were worth whatever the buyer would pay.

If you had to rank skills, equipment, and artifacts by priority, skills came first, bar none.

A card box might not yield a skill card at all—but with these, acquiring a skill was guaranteed.

Which meant the Gem Skill Cards before me now were worth even more than the Gem Card Box I'd obtained previously.

So he hoarded skill cards with the gold he scammed out of ascenders.

I could understand why the man was in tears, too.

The cards he'd clawed together at ruinous expense were being stripped from him, the whole lot at once.

“I'll put these to good use.”

They, too, slipped neatly into my subspace ring.

The man's head drooped all the way down.

“Now, then……”

The moment had come to execute the plan I'd conceived earlier—a clean way to dispose of both Wang Ochun and the members of Burning Tower.

The Sky Tower had its share of groups who contributed to maintaining order of their own accord.

The most representative of them was an organization called the Guard.

They styled themselves the tower's police force and dedicated themselves to keeping the peace.

“Burning Tower tops the complaint list again this month.”

Kim Incheol, director of one of the 2nd Floor's Guard branches, let out a long sigh.

It had been a full half year since he'd declared war on Burning Tower.

And yet he hadn't managed to root them out one bit.

Why?

Wang Ochun. That man is hell to capture.

The man's combat power ranked among the very top of the 2nd Floor.

And with rumors circulating that he commanded demons as well, he'd become all the harder to touch.

If you couldn't catch him, arresting his underlings was a job with no end.

If we could just nab that one man, dismantling Burning Tower would be a matter of time.

Was there some hidden master out there willing to catch him for us?

That Hahoetal-masked climber everyone was buzzing about lately—should he reach level 20, maybe we could put in a request?

No. No good.

Even if the man had received a Mythic grade, Kim Incheol couldn't bring himself to believe he'd win against someone who commanded actual demons.

In the end, the only answer is for the Five Great Clans to step in themselves…….

And just as he heaved another frustrated sigh—

BANG—!

His office door flew open.

“D-Director! Th-There's trouble!”

“What now? An earthquake?”

“N-No, it's not that…….”

“Then what? Did Wang Ochun get caught, maybe?”

Kim Incheol smirked, tossing out the very thing he'd only just been fantasizing about as a self-mocking joke.

“Yes? Uh, yes! That's exactly it! Wang Ochun has been captured!”

“……?”

What? Did I hear that wrong?

“Just moments ago, Wang Ochun and his entire leadership were dragged into our jurisdictional branch, bound from head to toe!”

“Wh-What did you say?”

Kim Incheol shot up from his seat.

The impossible had happened.

“Wh-Who caught them?”

“An ascender… wearing a Hahoetal mask, they say!”

“……!”

At those words.

Kim Incheol's eyes went round as saucers—they could not have grown any larger.

The news that Wang Ochun had been captured spread like wildfire through the ascender community.

At first, everyone assumed it was just bait.

But then—

As word of Hahoetal's movements gradually reached the ears of countless ascenders, interest in Hahoetal began to burn white-hot.

At that very moment.

“Phew.”

Spotless.

I clapped my hands together briskly, brushing them clean.

In the end, I'd handed Wang Ochun's entire gang over to the Guard.

The same man who'd resisted at first, whining that he didn't want to be dragged away, had sprinted into the Guard station on his own two feet the moment I asked, Shall I punch a hole through your belly instead?

How did a coward like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that ever end up running a scam syndicate?

A smirk escaped me as Wang Ochun's final image flashed through my mind.

In any case, I no longer needed to spare a single thought for Wang Ochun.

Even if the Guard's manpower left something to be desired on the lower floors, their Prison system alone was solidly established even down here.

“Now, then.”

Time for the card-gacha session I'd been waiting for.

Wang Ochun, I shall put your legacy to good use.

The corners of my mouth curled as I gazed at the three Gem Skill Cards glittering in my hand.

— Thanks to the gem skill cards taken from that man, we find ourselves in a most favorable position. Reinforce your strength further here, and conquering the Forest of the Labyrinth should pose little difficulty.

I'd been told that obtaining the Sage's Robe required clearing the Forest of the Labyrinth with a score that was, by ordinary standards, all but impossible.

Now that I possessed a Mythic-grade Fireball, I didn't consider that impossible.

But if my strength got a further boost here, the conquest would be that much smoother.

Gem Skill Cards (2-Star ★★)

I clutched the three cards in my hand.

At minimum, I'm walking away with a Legendary.

As long as I had Sage's Sight.

If Legendary-grade starlight appeared, securing a Legendary would be as easy as eating cold porridge.

Think a Mythic might show up?

Because that would be a genuine jackpot.

If it did, I might achieve a power-up incomparable to anything I'd gained on the 1st Floor.

Just as I steadied my racing heart and reached out to open the cards—

Shaaaaa!

Dark light swirled from the dark-red ring on my finger.

Huh?

This was the Lower Imp Summoning Ring I'd taken from Wang Ochun earlier.

Summoning was available already?

Ho ho. Would you look at that.

So that imp I'd roasted earlier was sending out a signal, begging me to summon it again.

If I ignore the summons request, the ring gets shipped off somewhere, is that it.

Well then. Let's have another look at the imp's face, shall we?

“Lower imp—Snikle. Come forth.”

The moment I spoke, pouring mana into the ring—

FWOOOOOOM!

The energy of darkness raged around the ring, tracing out a single figure.

“Keherhek! I am the descendant of the Great Demon, Snikle the Magnificent!”

Looking at him again, the demon somehow seemed like a bit of a dimwit.

Snikle had been summoned before me.