Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: The God's Departure
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Finally, the day the tower's inspection came to an end.
Most climbers enjoyed the break while also making ample preparations to ascend to the next higher floor.
"Hey, you got all your gear packed?"
"Finally time to clock in."
Small guilds did it to make a living, large guilds for the nation and prestige.
As if by some unspoken agreement, everyone was counting down the end of the inspection, waiting to enter the tower.
And Moon Byul was no different.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Pending rewards have been distributed. Lowest-grade magic stones x42, Mole claws x20, Slime... "The inspection's finally over."
Lying on his bed in his room, he scrolled through the messages from the tower.
The rewards were a jumble of materials and magic stones, with the occasional item or artifact supposedly mixed in, but nothing like that had dropped this time. A shame.
Instead, there was one odd item.
[Sealed Letter] "A letter? What's this?"
He pulled out just the letter from the rewards and read it.
To one user on the Earth Server Korea Channel. Do not break the tower. Repairs are difficult. "......"
Taking a shortcut like that must be akin to exploiting a bug.
'Who the hell is this?'
This had to be the tower's administrator. A simple warning message from them.
The question was whether to heed it or not.
The tower was a calamity that had suddenly appeared for humanity.
Should he listen to the guy managing it?
Wouldn't making trouble for the administrator actually help humanity? He couldn't decide.
He'd ask So Seori for advice later.
First, to turn in his rewards from the tower, he headed to the third-floor settlement office.
His assigned number was 999.
Inputting the number into the machine and swiping his room keycard opened it up.
"Unknown confirmed."
Why not just use his name? The thought crossed his mind, but he didn't dwell on it.
The space was five times larger than a typical travel suitcase.
He opened his inventory and dumped everything from the tower into it, save for the letter.
There was still plenty of room left, probably designed that way for leeway.
Out of curiosity, he took a peek at a lowest-grade magic stone.
It looked like a miniature version of the ones he'd gotten from Iru Ri and Han Yu Seong.
The mana inside was negligible. What the hell was this even good for?
He finished settling up and returned to his room.
Next, he stepped out into the living room to enter the tower.
"Hmm..."
He was torn.
Should he blast through the shortcut and climb fast, or take it slow?
He tried contacting So Seori on the phone she'd given him, but no response.
She must be busy.
No helping it. This time, he'd climb the old-fashioned way.
"Enter 10th floor."
The 10th floor was a vast maze, dubbed the Labyrinth. He already knew the strategy.
A special floor where you just kept one hand on the wall and walked straight.
Eventually, you'd hit spots that looked like walls but were actually open passages—head through those. Simple.
One problem, though.
"Kuuuwaaaargh!"
The Minotaur chasing him meant he had to run.
Snap.
He snapped his fingers and floated up slightly.
Hand on the wall, he flew along in that semi-levitated state.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each time the Minotaur's feet hit the ground, the whole maze seemed to shake.
It was slow, but fast enough that a person sprinting full tilt might still get caught.
No wonder people hated the 10th floor.
He was fine flying, but others had to run their asses off.
The pressure of not knowing when an exit would appear, plus a monster on your tail—had to suck.
'But...'
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Why not just take out the Minotaur and stroll easy?
He mulled it over while flying, then decided it would work.
Maybe he had a real talent for climbing.
Worth a shot.
Snap.
Moon Byul snapped his fingers at the Minotaur.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ So Seori received bad news on the day Yi Baek-ho visited.
Contact from Wolverine Guild's second-string party leader Kim Seung Cheol and the association.
A guild member had gotten tangled up in kidnappings targeting magic awakeners and been killed.
Choi Jin Ah had stumbled on the scene by chance, subdued and bound the culprits, who were then hauled off to the association.
She and Kim Seung Cheol got leave and counseling. The funeral, as always, was kept low-key with association help.
Awakener funerals were hushed up quietly to avoid public panic—a custom.
Americans apparently went all out, but not in Korea.
People died in the tower all the time. Everyone had grown numb to death.
This was different, though: Awakeners almost never died outside the tower.
They were superhumans, after all.
The culprits turned out to be mages from the tower.
Something from the tower kept leaking out. That woman introduced as Aka Sik last time was the same.
"What are you thinking so hard about?"
"Just... a lot on my mind."
So Seori rubbed her temples.
"Ever since Moon Byul appeared in the Cosmic Grimoire, all these unprecedented things keep happening."
Nothing from the tower had ever leaked outside before. Tower inspections were new too.
All of it started after Moon Byul showed up.
"Chairman, is Moon Byul really human?"
"What do you think, Wolverine Guild Master?"
She recalled Moon Byul's actions so far.
Sometimes he seemed like a guy short on common sense, other times like something beyond human, or just a really affectionate person.
Still, to her, he was human.
All those traits felt so human. Like a baby with too much power, maybe.
"He seems human."
"You're asking my coin, not me, right?"
The chairman chuckled amusedly.
"I was curious too. Human or not? So I checked already."
"He is... human?"
She was dying to know his true nature.
"What would you do based on my answer?"
"Well..."
Truth be told, she wasn't sure. Did his identity even matter? To her, Moon Byul was a 'good' person.
Even if not human, would it change anything? Still, she was curious.
"I think Moon Byul is human. When he came to the association, he was unmistakably one."
"Then...?"
"But my coin says he's not."
"!"
It was a shock. She must have hoped he was human too.
"Even so, I think he's human."
So Seori found it odd. The chairman had never gone against his coin before.
"Even if he's not human, I'll treat him as one. His expressions and emotions weren't fake."
The chairman remembered: his face taking a request from that nameless old man, the relief he felt meeting Han Yu Seong, and the changed Han Yu Seong.
"The Meteor Guild Master's change wasn't magic. It was human power."
"...I see."
"So how about dropping the charges? Simple eavesdropping is a fine, but framing it as a sex crime..."
"It's a woman's executive office."
"Still, it puts me in a tough spot as chairman..."
"Ugh, I'll think about it. Should've dialed back the anger."
Han Yu Seong's attempted murder charge was downgraded to a fine-able offense at Moon Byul's request and the chairman's behest.
Moon Byul had no ID back then anyway. Per the chairman, he wasn't even human... Aka Sik wasn't strictly human either.
He was still locked up at the association purely because of So Seori's charges.
"You really gonna make him eat prison food...?"
"I'll mull it over."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Underground cave beneath the Andimion Academy building on the Akashic Tower's 90th floor.
"Power that constructs space-time, open the path to the outside world." ⟨ Gate Ritual ⟩
A man holding a plain dagger bowed toward the mural, muttering endlessly.
People in black robes encircled him, hands clasped in reverent prayer.
The mural depicted indistinct black shapes, and the floor bore an elaborate magic circle.
The prostrated man rose and shouted, extinguishing the cave's candles as the magic circle blazed to life.
Haaah!
With a kiai, he plunged the dagger into the circle's edge.
The mural rippled like shattered glass, cracking apart.
"Find our lost brothers and retrieve the grimoire. Jera."
Ordered the dagger-wielding elder.
"Jera hears and obeys."
"Ten enough?"
"Sufficient."
The robed figures filed out one by one toward the passage.
Earth's fledgling mages would pave the way for their great cause.
No more dying to the library's child god.
Grimoires could be made anew.
Using their power, their academy would rise greater still, forcing false academies to kneel and claiming magic's pinnacle.
The dagger-man smirked as the passage slowly sealed shut.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Coming to this shithole three damn times! What the fuck for?!"
"Can you shut your trap for once?"
Iru Ri's special team climbed the 61st floor amid raging blizzards.
"Sorry... it's not because of me, right?"
"Whoosh."
Iru Ri wilted a bit, and Baek Yi-su panicked.
"No, no! Not the Saintess—it's this damn place. Don't get the wrong idea."
They were just at the climb's start.
"See? You're best when you're quiet."
Lead damage dealer Song Hyun chided. This time, Baek Yi-su wilted without retort.
"But it's too damn cold!"
His shout was nearly swallowed by the storm.
"Can't deny that..."
They trudged up a near-40-degree snow slope, turning into snowmen.
"Whoosh!"
Wisph spotted enemies and zipped ahead, drawing lines in the air.
"Shit, here they come."
Baek Yi-su yanked his greatsword off his back, raising it high toward the distant wolf pack.
The wolves charged through the blizzard-obscured hellscape without slowing.
"Hoo..."
He dropped into stance, like drawing from a sheath.
"Iru Ri, fall back more."
"Got it."
The rest spread out from him. The dot-like wolves sharpened into view.
"Hraaap!"
The moment Baek Yi-su opened his eyes from his shut stance with a shout—
The tower's time froze again.
"......"
"No way..."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Extended Inspection: Due to an error, the Korea Tower will undergo 6 hours of maintenance. Tower Impact Count paused during this time.] [Returning in 30 seconds.] "Extended maintenance, fuck!"
Baek Yi-su hurled his greatsword.
"Does the asshole who coded this tower not even test before deploying?!"
Climbers everywhere reacted much the same.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ ⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [You have achieved a great feat!] [Minotaur's Double-Edged Axe] Axe used by the half-man, half-beast trapped in the Labyrinth. You found the Labyrinth's hidden treasure, but the half-beast never escaped the maze. Seems infused with a god's resentment.
They said special rewards every 10 floors, and this seemed like a usable item.
"Not really my style, though."
After that day, no Minotaurs appeared on the tower's 10th floor.