Chapter 48
Chapter 48
Translator: Penny
Chapter 48
My carefully modulated display of killing intent seemed to have worked perfectly.
The three who had been standing dumbfounded over the fallen Matthew dropped their weapons and knelt as I commanded.
Ten seconds passed.
Matthew, now fully recovered, also knelt.
His face softened slightly as he looked up at me and asked, "...What do you want?"
"What are you asking?" I tilted my head. "Did I try to kill you first? You stole my things and tried to kill me."
I tapped Matthew's cheek. "What difficulty level are you from?"
"...Hard."
So, they weren't just relying on numbers.
Having cleared the 9th Floor of Hard Difficulty and reached the 10th Floor staircase, they must have been quite confident in their skills.
"This is supposed to be a team-based mission for ten people, but suddenly they're demanding we hand over our weapons. How are we supposed to complete the mission properly if they make us give up all our items?"
"...I'm sorry."
"What I want is very simple. Whatever the mission is, I want to complete it properly. And..."
I straightened up from my crouched position and looked at the four kneeling figures, as well as the two standing beside them.
"You'd better listen to me."
Since Matthew seemed to have taken the warning seriously, I planned to warn the remaining three one by one.
First, I approached the platinum-blonde woman, another Player with the number <10> floating above her head, just like Matthew.
She was the Player I'd noticed hesitating earlier, debating whether to charge at me or not.
"Name, country."
The woman let out a soft sigh before speaking.
"Lena Vogel, Germany."
"Which Tower are you from?"
"Hard Difficulty."
Her gaze shifted cautiously to Matthew, who was kneeling quietly, as if gauging my reaction.
"The same Tower as that guy?"
Lena Vogel answered readily.
"Yes."
"How many times have you done this together?"
Lena frowned at my question.
"Is that really necessary to ask?"
"Yeah, it is. I'm curious."
My firm tone had the desired effect. Lena's lips parted again.
"...The first time was at the Exchange Meeting two rounds ago. We teamed up right before entering."
It seemed they had been profiting from this arrangement ever since.
One more question remained.
"But why did you almost attack me just now, then stop?"
"Your movements," Lena said, her eyes fixed on mine. "The way you dodged the spear's trajectory and countered. That made my will to attack vanish. I had to focus on toying with you."
Lena seemed to want to ask me something, but she held back.
Even if she had asked, I wouldn't have answered.
I moved past Lena and addressed the two people sitting quietly nearby, asking for their names and nationalities.
"Josephine Bernard, 9th Floor Staircase Resident. France. Normal Difficulty."
"Okada Yuuji, 9th Floor Staircase Resident. Japan. Normal Difficulty."
Even those on Normal Difficulty were from the same Tower Numbering.
The connection that had forged the two parties into a single team was said to be the recent Exchange Meeting.
I mentally categorized these four troublemakers separately.
Seniors from the Transcendent Gallery had casually offered various pieces of advice about the Exchange Meeting.
- Sword of Light: Just like at the first Exchange Meeting, you'll clearly be in the position of power this time.
- Archmage: If you can control the situation, do so. It's the easiest way to steer things toward the mission's objective.
- Heavenly Demon: The first way to minimize unnecessary variables is to control every aspect of the situation. The second is to kill everything and eliminate the variables themselves, but I doubt you'd choose the latter.
"Now get up and take your weapons."
The moment I finished speaking, a notification window appeared before my eyes:
Move with the summoned Players toward the area illuminated by the Red Beam of Light.
Beyond the wall, a crimson pillar was moving toward the direction of the dense forest.
I deliberately chose to position myself at the very back, bringing up the rear.
During the previous Exchange Meeting, I had also observed the others from the back, finding it easier to closely monitor their movements.
"Thank you for saving me," a short-haired woman said.
Her voice was unmistakably Korean.
The language translation system rendered foreign languages into natural-sounding Korean in real-time, but inevitably, there remained a trace of artificiality.
Yet, just like Baek Jinyeong, whom I had personally killed, her voice was clearly Korean.
"Name?"
"Kim Ju-eun."
"Difficulty?"
"Normal Difficulty, 7th Floor."
I nodded toward the two Normal Difficulty troublemakers walking ahead of us.
"A different Numbered Tower than those two Normals?"
"Yes, a different place."
Kim Ju-eun looked at me with curiosity.
"You're not going to tell me your name, are you? Even if I ask?"
"No."
"I figured, since you're wearing a mask."
"You're quick to read people."
Kim Ju-eun chuckled.
"Still, it's nice to meet another Korean. No matter how naturally they try to sound, it's subtly different from a real Korean speaking."
"True enough."
I was glad to meet her too, but that was all.
I had no intention of finding allies at the Exchange Meeting.
If a mission explicitly required cooperation or had a minimum survival requirement among the recruited Players, I would step up to help. But otherwise, I had no intention of proactively assisting others.
That was my understanding of the Tower.
I tapped the shoulder of the man walking beside Kim Ju-eun.
The man flinched, then awkwardly lowered his head to look at me.
"Name, country."
"Felix Bauer, Germany."
Felix was on Easy Difficulty 8th Floor.
We were now right in front of the place where the Red Beam of Light was pointing.
I spoke again, raising my voice slightly to ensure Matthew, who was walking at the front, could hear.
"Just keep walking and listen."
"When a mission is assigned, just follow the instructions exactly."
Matthew and the other three troublemakers turned to glance at me.
"If you engage in any pointless, unauthorized actions unrelated to the mission, I'll kill you."
I subtly released a hint of killing intent to ensure they understood I wasn't making an idle threat.
They'd better understand.
What stood before us wasn't the Fortress that had appeared to be a waiting room for the Exchange Meeting, but a massive wall built to defend against real monsters and enemies.
Soldiers were moving frantically.
"They're coming! Everyone, prepare for battle!"
The knight barking orders seemed to be the field commander, holding a high-ranking position.
In the distance, the Temple's tower had been crushed by something enormous.
Blood stained the ground everywhere.
Mangled human remains lay scattered about.
Beside me, Kim Ju-eun murmured in a trembling voice, "...A spider?"
It did indeed look like a spider.
Felix stumbled backward.
"W-what? That spider looks at least 60 meters tall!"
He was right.
The spider's sheer size and power were enough to crush several buildings with a single movement.
"There! Mercenaries! Hurry and get those men to set up a barrier to block Kabaraks' webs!"
NPC - Third-Tier Swordsman Jerado
I approached Jerado, who was focused on issuing orders with a grim expression.
"Should we kill it?"
Jerado shook his head.
"That would be ideal, but its carapace is so tough it can withstand even my Third-Tier White Sword Aura. It might even withstand Fourth-Tier attacks. Kabaraks has a strong resistance to Aura itself. Until the mages arrive with reinforcements, our best bet is to set up defenses and hold out."
As soon as Jerado finished speaking, a notification window popped up before my eyes.
Mission Alert!
Defeat all three Kabaraks outside Deumullen City.
Afterward, find and eliminate the entity controlling the Kabaraks like puppets.
Three Players have already begun searching for this entity in the forest. Join them as quickly as possible.
So missions could be divided into stages like this.
The three Players who weren't here must be already working on the task of finding the Kabaraks' controller.
"Just hold out! When the mages arrive and deploy Sonic Magic, the Kabaraks will swiftly retreat into the forest, bind themselves with silk, and fall into slumber!"
As if the notification window had appeared before my eyes, it must have appeared before the other six as well, because a murmur began to spread.
"Why would they send something like that to the Exchange Meeting?" Josephine stumbled backward.
Matthew scowled and shouted, "Shut up! At least they're not telling us to kill it. Move! Do what the NPC says!"
Swoosh-
I pulled out my Binding Talisman and unfurled the Veil of Secrets right in front of me.
Title: Kabaraks, the Spider-like Creatures, Appear
Author: ᄋᄋ*
- They're disgustingly huge. For now, there are only three Kabaraks. The mages say we can repel them with Sonic Magic until they arrive, so just stall for time.
- The NPC forces are quite numerous.
- Can I even kill these things? They're said to have strong resistance to Aura itself.
- Why are the Kabaraks...? Oh, right. They said "repel," not "kill." That drops the difficulty significantly.
Even when told to just repel it, they're already thinking about killing it!
Ice Queen: If you freeze it solid, it dies! Sorry for not being more helpful. Brrr.
To freeze and kill even monsters resistant to a Fourth-Tier Swordsman's Aura...
It seems most monsters can be killed simply by freezing them. I'm suddenly curious about its true power.
Archmage: Kabaraks can be repelled by Third-Tier Mages using Sonic Magic alone... but the problem is, they create spiderweb barriers around the forest. If left undisturbed for about a month, they awaken even larger and stronger.
Archmage: At that point, only High-Tier Mages or Fifth-Tier Swordsmen can kill them. If you can kill it on the spot, that's the cleanest solution.
[ Archmage: ] It's just a one-off Exchange Meeting quest, after all.
As expected, you know so much.
You're saying that to the person most likely to be the smartest on the continent?
[ Scum Sword Saint: ] I think I could kill the Climber easily enough.
[ Sword of Light: ] If you cut them down one by one, even a Fourth-Tier Sword Aura would be enough. Your Sword Aura is quite sturdy for a Fourth-Tier, so you should be able to kill them.
[ YY*: ] One by one?
[ Sword of Light: ] I'll explain.
After learning how to kill the Kabaraks from Senior Light Sword, I stored the Gallery terminal in my Inventory.
"Move aside."
The players, who had been milling about in confusion, quickly parted to clear a path.
I stood at the edge of the city wall.
Jerado rushed forward and blocked my way.
"I told you, we just need to hold out! What are you planning to do?"
I drew my sword, Mundum Extinguite, and unleashed a White Sword Aura.
"I'm going to kill them."
If I can kill them, I should.