Repelled (4)
“Hoo.”
Hong Seolhwa emerged from the Tower of Trials.
She let out a deep breath she'd been holding.
And at that moment.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch!
The cameras of the reporters waiting at the tower entrance flashed like mad.
“Superhuman Hong Seolhwa! How did the 83rd floor clear go?”
“You came out way earlier than expected—did you give up midway?”
“Could it be…”
A barrage of questions from the reporters.
Hong Seolhwa gazed at them with a calm expression.
Instead of answering, she raised her right hand.
The crowd fell silent at her gesture.
All eyes turned to her right hand.
There gleamed the Mana Amplification Gauntlet, sparkling silver in the light.
Snap!
She folded four fingers.
Only her index finger remained raised.
Pointing straight at the Tower of Trials entrance.
Mana was gathering there.
“Wh-what…!”
“The entrance!”
“An announcement!”
This was the phenomenon that occurred when the Tower of Trials made a public announcement.
And announcements like this usually meant a new floor had been cleared.
The 83rd floor of the Tower of Trials has been cleared for the first time.
First Clearer: Hong Seolhwa (Korea)
Starting now, the difficulty of the 83rd floor will be drastically reduced.
“……”
It was a shock.
When Hong Seolhwa emerged earlier than the estimated clear time, most had assumed failure.
That made the impact even greater.
“Snap pics!”
Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch!
The reporters' cameras blazed again.
Breaking news of Hong Seolhwa's 83rd-floor clear began flooding the wires.
“Superhuman Hong Seolhwa! What's the secret to clearing the 83rd floor…?”
“How did you clear it faster than estimated…!”
“Was it thanks to some new gear…?”
Another wave of questions.
Hong Seolhwa smiled faintly and spoke.
“I'll answer the question you're all dying to know. The reason I could clear the 83rd floor…”
Gulp.
Someone swallowed hard.
Hong Seolhwa flashed a deeper smile.
“…is thanks to this gauntlet.”
Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch!
The cameras erupted once more.
“Exclusive!”
“Post it now!!”
After that moment.
The whole world was flooded with the names of Madoje and Hong Seolhwa.
Kwaaaaa!!
The Zephyrus spirit shot out like a beam of light.
“What…!”
“Dodge!”
The distance was considerable, so Red-Striped Click Beetle Queen Enasion and Desert Locust Emperor Karax could react to the Zephyrus spirit's speed.
Kwaaaaang!!!
The spirit, hurtling like a cannonball, grazed the spot where Enasion and Karax stood.
It failed to intercept them directly, but it swept up several click beetle and locust division commanders in its path.
Paaat!
▲ fragments rose from the corpses.
Ignoring them, the Zephyrus spirit whipped its head around.
“Z-Zephyrus?”
“Impossible!”
Enasion and Karax screamed as they realized the attacker was Zephyrus's spirit.
“How is this…!”
“Tch. Pull yourself together, Enasion!”
Click Beetle Queen Enasion reacted slowly in her shock.
Karakarararak!
The Zephyrus spirit lunged at the opening, like it had a mind of its own, and bit into her.
Kwaduduk!!
With a gruesome sound, Enasion's body split in half.
“You fucking bastard!!”
Karax's eyes went bloodshot at her death.
Kwang!!!
His body rocketed out with an explosion.
His red-tinged legs held immense power—enough to half-shatter Titanos's exoskeleton.
Srurut!
But the Zephyrus spirit turned translucent and hazy.
Karax's attack passed right through it.
Kwagagaga!! Kwang!!!!!!!
In the end, he only pulverized the ground.
“What…!”
Karax gasped in horror as his strike missed.
He tried to retreat, but.
He couldn't match Zephyrus's speed.
Kwajik!!!
The spirit's jaws, now in front of him, cleaved Karax in two.
Kiririk…
In that instant, Karax felt like the spirit was smirking at him.
What the hell…
How could such a bullshit ability exist?
That was Karax's final thought.
Thud.
His head lolled, and ★ jewels and ▲ fragments spilled from his body.
“Ahh…”
“K-Karax-nim…”
“Uwaaaah!”
“Run!”
The click beetle and locust division commanders who witnessed it lost all will to fight.
They fled in panic, but.
Flash—kwagagagaga!
Before the lightning-fast Zephyrus spirit, they all met their ends.
Karrurrurur!
The spirit let out a victorious roar.
Its form gradually faded, then evaporated on the spot.
And shortly after.
“Ha… unbelievable. For real.”
I and the guardians arrived at the scene.
We'd watched the whole thing via Wispent's temporary spirit descent.
Zephyrus's spirit had utterly ravaged the locust and click beetle division commanders.
Even accounting for their injuries, its power was jaw-dropping.
It moved just like the real Zephyrus in life.
“Beyond expectations.”
Even Wispent, who summoned it, looked stunned.
The stronger the spirits I capture, the exponentially greater the combat power.
Wispent would double down on capturing strong spirits from now on.
She already seemed to realize it, starting with the fallen division commanders' spirits.
“Capture all their souls too.”
“Urgh…”
“Grrrk…”
Two legion commanders foaming at the mouth.
A stag beetle and a longhorn beetle.
“Handling them now.”
We quickly finished them off.
My level skyrocketed.
In moments, it hit today's cap of 210.
Thrilling.
I shuddered, clenching my fist.
The rush of leveling up always delivered massive pleasure.
And it wasn't just me—the guardians all leveled up too.
★ jewels and ▲ fragments rose from the corpses.
Four ★ from one, three from the other.
First time seeing four ★ from one.
These were among the strongest insect legion commanders, for sure.
Especially the stag beetle—spewing four ★ on first kill.
Thanks to them, my ★ jewels neared 20 again.
Synthesizing the ▲ would push it over.
Huge gains.
Still, I felt a pang of regret.
“Would've been perfect if we'd hunted those guys too.”
Human greed knows no bounds.
I kept imagining how many more ★ we'd get from Titanos and his crew, and how much higher the guardians' levels would climb.
“Keh. Could've just fought it out right there—not a bad idea.”
Azkai licked his lips with a wry grin, clearly regretting it too.
“Tch. Yeah, it's a shame. But no guarantee we'd win 100%.”
“Yes, exactly. Restoring Azkai's power first and then tracking them down was the safer play.”
Wispent's words rang true.
The issue was…
“No clue where they went.”
If they holed up tight, we had no immediate way to find them.
But then.
“Master! Don't worry about tracking those bastards!”
“…?”
I looked at Lulumiel in confusion.
“Heehee. When I used Soul Oath of Truth on that cockroach, I slipped Scent of the Soul onto his spirit too!”
Scent of the Soul.
A spell that etched a magical scent onto a target's soul.
Once marked, you could track them anywhere, no matter the distance.
Hard to apply, but even harder to detect once it stuck.
So.
As Lulumiel said, we could track them anytime.
“Nice one, Lulu! When'd you set that up?”
“Hehe. Figured you'd be bummed letting them go, so I did it then.”
“Impressive, Lulumiel.”
“Easing Master's regret like this—truly splendid.”
“Keron. I must learn from Lulumiel's thoughtfulness.”
Lulumiel puffed up at our praise.
Her eyes sparkled +_+, giggling hehe nonstop.
She was clearly proud of herself.
“Great job. Really. So once we restore Azkai's origin power, we hunt those bastards down right away.”
That Titanos beetle.
Something told me leaving him be would be a big threat.
Hunt him the moment Azkai's back to full strength.
“Then…”
I glanced over.
The massive insects milling in chaos far off, leaderless.
The legion commanders' bugs, opposed to Titanos.
“Let's wipe those out too.”
Pure XP bundles.
Cleaning them up would push my level to at least 250.
Have to do it.
And then dump ★ on Azkai.
With what we've got.
He can hit 9 stars.
He was pretty bummed earlier.
Heard him mutter after letting Titanos escape.
If he were just a bit stronger, he could've taken them all…
Thirsty for power, so after mopping up the remnants, hand over the ★—he'll be shocked and thrilled.
Look forward to it, Azkai.
I chuckled, picturing his surprised face.
And the next day.
We tackled the remnants.
Remnants or not, thousands strong—every day was a level-up party.
Four days later.
All remnants cleanly wiped.
And at that moment.
A massive expansion in your mind.
A thrilling shiver spreads through your body.