Chapter 116
Chapter 116
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: Malice (3)
Inside the Tower, there was no way to contact the outside world.
Smartphones were utterly useless except for their built-in features.
You could listen to music or take photos, as long as the battery held out.
>'I wonder what she's up to.'
Han So-ra had entered the assault on the 50th floor yesterday.
No one knew when she'd come out.
Unlike the 20th floor, there was no information available on the 50th.
That was a big reason why the Haetae Guild's assault was drawing so much attention.
The representative strike team from Korea, stepping into uncharted territory.
Any Korean couldn't help but feel their heart race watching the Haetae Guild's progress.
"We'll split the strike team into two groups."
They divided the twenty-five members into groups of twelve each.
Seong Jae-yoon, who was serving as the Third Strike Team Leader, decided to be part of both teams.
"Waves come six times a day. Each team will alternate, taking three each. I'm planning to set fixed times for day and night."
"Isn't night more dangerous?"
A hunter from the Blue Dragon Guild shot his hand up to voice an objection.
"It is more dangerous. That's why we'll assign more Haetae Guild hunters there. We're all B-Rank hunters now, after our updates. The 20th floor is no problem for us."
The Blue Dragon Guild hunter couldn't argue further.
Who could complain when they were volunteering for the tough job first?
"Hunter Sun-woo, you'll stick with us and hold off the monsters at night."
"......"
Who could possibly voice any complaints about that?
"...Yes."
If they said squat, I'd squat.
I swallowed the rising complaints from deep inside and nodded.
"For now, let me explain how things operate here."
Seong Jae-yoon inspected the 77 Building's 50th floor based on the known assault methods.
In the ruins of a ruined city, inside a building on the verge of collapse, they'd gathered materials to fortify a base camp into a fortress.
>It was like building paths in a defense game to lure monsters away from your life pool.
The hunters would become the towers that killed the monsters.
"We'll block the passage between the 48th and 49th floors. When the giant zombies arrive, open the door and lure them to the 49th floor, then take them out there."
They'd only set up the base camp on the 50th floor—they weren't using it as the battlefield.
As long as a bunch of hunters gathered there, it was fine.
>That would automatically start spawning the enhanced zombies.
The hunters just had to deal with the enhanced zombies that came up periodically.
It was the standard method for clearing the Tower's 20th floor.
Enhanced zombies were far stronger than regular monsters.
Hulking muscle-bound giants, phlegm-spitting poison sprayers, even invisible ones you couldn't see.
No one could dream of tackling that alone.
And teaming up with random hunters you met like lightning? Sketchy.
You couldn't trust them.
That was why guilds became even more crucial from the 20th floor on.
"Let's head down for now."
Seong Jae-yoon led the hunters down to the 49th floor.
I adjusted my shield and followed behind.
The shield, packed with plenty of moonstone, gleamed brightly.
A high-end piece worlds apart from cheap Chinese knockoffs.
Precious gear that could withstand a clash with a giant zombie.
Krrroooar—.
From the floor below, the zombies' eerie beastly growls echoed up.
They gnashed their teeth like they wanted to devour every living human.
But a zombie was still just a zombie.
The head perched on their shoulders was nothing but a tool—or decoration—for ripping human flesh.
They couldn't think at all.
The plan was to clear out a bunch of zombies that had gathered conveniently.
It was also a chance to check everyone's firepower, so they opened the door to the 48th floor.
"Tanks block the front, dealers intercept from the rear."
"Yes!"
The Third Strike Team's leader was Haetae Guild's hunter Seong Jae-yoon.
The hunters moved in perfect order at his command.
The passage from the 48th to the 49th floor: the emergency stairs.
One of the Blue Dragon Guild hunters removed the barricade set up on the 48th floor.
They lured the zombies up to the upper floor.
>The zombies came surging in.
Uwaaaaa—.
The zombies climbed the stairs, letting out bizarre cries.
The emergency stairs rang out loudly.
On the 49th floor, they came stumbling over one by one.
The Third Strike Team stepped into the start of the passage they'd prepared.
'We already did this back on the 10th floor.'
It was exactly like the 10th floor assault.
Lure the monsters in and sweep them away.
It had worked great in practice.
The zombies followed the scent of humans through the passage.
It was a crudely made wall, but they never thought to break it.
"You got your hands on a moonstone shield?"
"Yes."
Seong Jae-yoon glanced at my shield.
He pointed at the zombies and said,
"Moonstone's great for the 20th floor. Look at those idiots. They lose their minds when you embed it in the walls."
The Haetae Guild had money.
With capital, you could assault more safely and comfortably.
"You're really lucky, Hunter Sun-woo. A D-Rank hunter joining our Haetae Guild."
Moonstone, a stone imbued with the power of moonlight.
Silver's superior counterpart.
Moonstone was useful in so many ways.
>'In short, it turns the undead into retards.'
The common "extra damage to undead monsters" was just the basics.
Like saying, "This product even turns on!"
The zombies staggered around in confusion, somehow sniffing out the human scent amid the moonstone crevices and heading toward the end of the passage.
"I think so too."
>I was lucky.
There was no better way to put it.
While the Milky Way Guild fell apart and the guild with A-ra and her friends wasted time doing nothing, the Haetae Guild had contacted me right on cue.
"They say there's a moment when a person's luck really turns around. I feel like that's been me lately."
Ever since the Taming App got delivered to my doorstep, my life had changed.
Meeting the Taming App gifted to me by Park Sun-woo from another dimension... my life...
>From an F-Rank hunter crawling pathetically on the floor, the kind doomed to get culled without leaving a single seed, I'd become a stud banging prime females like Choi Da-eun and Han So-ra.
'Get stronger, bang more.'
I wasn't satisfied with the current situation.
I was still hungry.
"...Let's keep doing well going forward. Once we clear the 20th, we'll be together all the way."
Seong Jae-yoon extended his hand.
I usually didn't shake with guys, but I didn't want to make him feel awkward.
So I took it.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The Haetae Guild's First Strike Team entered the 50th floor.
They quickly scouted the surrounding terrain.
The 50th floor was set on some unknown planet.
More precisely, one of its moons.
Vast space stretched out, bright constellations shining.
They were clearly standing on solid ground, yet a massive planet loomed in the distance.
A planet that looked like Earth.
But it wasn't Earth.
Unlike verdant blue Earth, this was a gloomy purple world.
"Whoa..."
A pure gasp of awe slipped from Han So-ra's lips.
The immense cosmos overwhelmed her.
Even hunters who lived fearlessly on Earth felt like mere specks of dust before the universe.
It really hit home.
"Hae-wan, there's some weird building over there."
The scouting hunters returned.
They'd found a peculiar structure on the far side of the moon.
The First Strike Team moved slowly in full alert, prepared for any ambush.
A moon made of sand.
Gravity stronger than Earth's.
They dragged their sinking legs forward at a sluggish pace.
"...That's..."
Lee Hae-wan spotted the building too.
A structure built in tones matching the distant purple planet.
The architecture was far removed from modern science.
Like something out of a sci-fi movie...
"Looks like we have to assault that place."
Lee Hae-wan approached the building.
Woooong, woooong—.
A touchpad was mounted near the entrance.
A screen etched with a handprint shape.
He guessed what it meant.
"To enter..."
Lee Hae-wan placed his hand on the screen.
A blue line appeared inside.
The line scanned up and down, reading his palm print.
Ku-gu-gu-guung—.
The entrance began to open.
The interlocking doors parted.
The floor was covered in sand dust, like it hadn't been maintained in ages.
The First Strike Team drew their weapons and cautiously advanced step by step.
"...A prison?"
The building had four underground levels.
In simple terms, it was a prison.
Bars, restraints, and torture chambers or solitary cells made of unknown materials.
>"There's one monster inside."
The scout hunter detected a monster ahead.
"It's locked up."
Lee Hae-wan quickened his pace.
He soon confirmed the monster imprisoned in the inner cell.
A monster in the emaciated form of a human.
Skin so pale it went beyond white.
Scrawny body with bits of muscle attached.
Limbs sprawled weakly, longer than expected.
>It clearly wasn't human.
That was when the 50th floor info popped up.
The objective shared via the 'Hunter System Interface' for the 50th floor.
📜 NEW QUEST 📜 Kill the 'Brainwashed Rebel Leader Hyperion'
📍 Location: Satellite Prison for Planet Pandora's criminals. The only inmate is the 'Rebel Leader Hyperion'.
⏰ Time Limit: He is currently under 'Eternal Punishment' and brainwashed. Kill him and escape before Planet Pandora's Empress finds out. 3 days.