The Reason for Hesitation
The next day.
I headed to the twelfth floor together with Miss Sowon.
The terrain on the twelfth floor wasn’t all that different from the eleventh, but the monsters that appeared were.
The rat-type monsters we’d seen on the eleventh floor were gone. In their place appeared creatures called “Sewer Dwellers.” Though the name sounded almost quaint, the reality was…
They were giant cockroaches.
The dog-sized “things” covered the walls, floors, and ceilings of the sewers, surging toward us like living shadows. Their numbers were so vast that counting them was pointless.
If they were allowed to swarm over a person… only bones would remain in seconds.
This won’t be something the goblins can handle.
“Goblius. Your priority is protecting Miss Sowon and me. I’ll take care of this place.”
“As you command, my lord! All units, defensive formation!”
Once the goblins had taken up their defensive positions, I stretched out my hand and activated a skill.
“Night Crows.”
*Flap flap flap flap—!!*
The moment Night Crows was cast, twelve crows burst from my fingertips, wings beating furiously as they shot forward. They slammed into the walls, floor, and ceiling without discrimination and exploded.
*BOOOOOOOOM—!!*
The power was overwhelming.
The dwellers caught at the center of the blasts were erased without a trace. Those on the edges were shredded into pieces that rained down like black hail.
Night Crows had more than enough firepower. It didn’t simply strike targets—it carpet-bombed entire areas, wiping out the dwellers in an instant. The problem was that the power was *too* excessive.
*Rumble rumble rumble…*
“Does it feel like the sewer is shaking, or is that just me?”
“Excuse me for a moment.”
“Kyaaak!”
The ceiling and walls collapsed. A torrent of rubble came crashing down.
I instantly scooped Miss Sowon into my arms and dashed forward like lightning. Massive chunks of the ceiling larger than my head rained down behind us, but it didn’t matter.
My Chaos energy was currently at base level 14. With the ring’s bonus, that became 17. In other words, my strength, stamina, and agility were all effectively level 17.
My heightened senses from agility made the falling rocks appear in slow motion. The strength stat let me carry Miss Sowon as if she weighed nothing, and I could sprint faster than the collapsing debris.
Thanks to my increased stamina, even after sprinting all the way to safety, my breathing remained perfectly steady.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah, yes… I’m fine, but what about you, Humin?”
“As you can see, I’m perfectly fine. That said, we’ve got a problem. The sewer’s structural integrity seems weaker than I expected.”
Or perhaps my skill’s power was simply absurd. I hadn’t even used the Great Crow trait to reduce the output.
Even so, the sewer’s foundation couldn’t withstand it.
“Then what should we do? Should we skip the twelfth floor and head straight to the next one?”
“Hmm… Let me test one more thing. If that doesn’t work, we’ll have no choice but to pass on this floor.”
I could already see darkness creeping toward us. No—it was the dwellers wearing darkness like a cloak.
Once again they surged forward, covering every surface. I made up my mind and activated the next skill.
If it gets dangerous, I’ll turn tail and run without looking back.
“Radiance of Incineration.”
The moment I spoke the activation phrase, a gentle flame-like aura began to burn across my body.
To others it would look like I was literally on fire, yet I felt no heat at all.
As a bonus, the burning radiance pushed back the darkness, illuminating a ten-meter radius around me.
That illuminated area was precisely the effective range of Radiance of Incineration.
The moment the radiance activated, the scattered dwellers—whether drawn by the light or by the skill’s inherent wide-area provocation—began rushing toward me in a frenzy.
If the radiance turned out to be weaker than expected, I would be swarmed and in serious danger. I stayed ready to flee at a moment’s notice and waited.
*Hssssss…!*
The instant the dwellers entered the radiance’s range, they emitted smoke and were instantly reduced to charred lumps.
It didn’t matter how many came at once.
Thousands—tens of thousands—of dwellers provoked by the radiance swarmed toward me, but the moment they stepped into the Radiance of Incineration, they burned away into nothing but ash.
Radiance of Incineration Lv.1 (Soul)(Flame)(Aura)(Holy)
Converts the Chaos Knight’s soul power into sacred flame and wraps it around the entire body. The Radiance of Incineration continuously burns enemies within its effective range, but the light stimulates the enemies’ ferocity and draws all hostility toward the user. Only one radiance can be active at a time.
I should have used this from the start!
I had chosen the Radiance of Incineration card as a precaution when preparing for the twelfth floor, but I had hesitated to actually use it.
It was still an untested skill.
If its power turned out to be weaker than expected while drawing massive aggro from the dwellers, it would have been no different from a suicide skill.
That was why I had wanted to handle things with the proven Night Crows and keep Radiance of Incineration as insurance. But the situation had reached the point where I had no choice but to use it.
Only after using it with some reluctance did I realize something.
I still didn’t fully trust my own class and skills.
“Miss Sowon, could you come a little closer? I’m pretty sure this skill doesn’t affect allies, but just in case, please be careful.”
I had already confirmed that the goblin minions near me were completely unharmed, so I was confident it wouldn’t harm friendlies. Still, I warned her just to be safe.
“Yes, it seems fine. But… are you okay, Humin? It looks… visually intense right now.”
“I’m perfectly fine. From the looks of it, we can hunt just fine with Radiance of Incineration. We should be able to clear the floor by simply walking around like this.”
And that was exactly what I did. I simply strolled through the sewers, sweeping away the dwellers and collecting experience and mana stones.
In truth, the twelfth floor was one that most hunters avoided.
Without at least one area-of-effect attacker in the party, people wouldn’t even dare attempt it. Even with four or five such hunters, clearing it was still difficult, and parties usually rushed to finish and escape as quickly as possible.
But for me right now, it was nothing but a treasure trove of experience, items, and mana stones.
“Humin! Look at this! I got a bonus loot drop!”
“Oh, jackpot! That’s a Rare two-handed battle axe, right? Looking at the options, it should be worth at least 100 million won. Nice catch. Great job.”
“Hehe~.”
I continued raising my level until I hit the daily experience cap. By the time my bag was full of items and mana stones, Miss Sowon and I had successfully cleared the twelfth floor.
＊＊＊
After finishing the twelfth floor, evening arrived.
I took a quick shower at the hotel, changed clothes, and stepped outside to hail a taxi.
Our destination was a famous Korean beef restaurant in Seoul, known for being as expensive as it was delicious.
Miss Sowon was already waiting out front. When she saw me, she waved cheerfully.
“Humin! Over here!”
“You were already here?”
“I couldn’t possibly make the person treating me to meat wait. Especially when it’s Grade 2+ Hanwoo. Let’s go in.”
We entered the private room we had reserved. Before long, the server brought out beautifully marbled Grade 2+ Hanwoo flower sirloin and grilled it for us personally.
“I’ll eat well~!”
“Please enjoy as much as you like.”
Miss Sowon ate with such gusto that it felt truly worth the money. Thanks to her, both of us enjoyed the meal immensely before leaving the restaurant.
“Thank you for the meal, Humin. Next time, I’ll treat you for sure! To something even more delicious.”
“Really? I’m looking forward to it.”
“Of course! The stone-pot soybean paste stew here is tasty, but it’s a bit bland for my liking. Next time I’ll make you my special version. Once you taste it, you’ll be shocked.”
“It sounds like you’re just going to pay me back with soybean paste stew.”
“Just try it first before you say that. And don’t you dare ask me to make it again after one bite. Hmph!”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the way she proudly puffed out her chest. We headed to a nearby café and ordered coffee and dessert.
“Really? The Director actually made you that offer and you said you’d consider it?”
“Yes.”
“But why? If it were me, I would have stamped the contract immediately. They won’t interfere with your Tower clearing, and on top of that, the government will provide full support. Is the proposal not to your liking?”
“It’s not that. There’s just something that’s been bothering me.”
“Bothering you?”
I organized my thoughts for a moment, then spoke my honest feelings.
“You know how the mysterious vigilante who destroyed the Devils Clan has been the talk of the town lately, right?”
“No, I don’t know anything about that? So I haven’t said a word to anyone. Not even to my parents. I’m serious.”
*Pfft.*
Her answer alone was enough for me to be certain that she knew the vigilante’s true identity.
Of course. To someone who didn’t know me, it would be hard to guess. But to someone who knew my abilities and true nature, it wasn’t a difficult deduction at all.
“Well, if you say so, then I’ll say I know the person too. I happen to be acquainted with that friend, and he told me something. While he was dismantling the Devils Clan, what scared him the most wasn’t the villains—it was himself. The version of himself that made it impossible for those villains to return to normal life.”
“……”
Miss Sowon’s expression grew heavy. She looked at me carefully before asking,
“But that was unavoidable, wasn’t it? Someone had to do it, and that person just happened to be you… I mean, that person.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
“Then what?”
“He said it didn’t bother him at all. Even though they were villains, they were still people… but destroying them felt no different from a child pulling the legs off an insect. He felt absolutely nothing. Not even the slightest shred of guilt. That terrified him. It felt like he was no longer himself. But if he joins the Administration Bureau, he’ll have to keep doing those kinds of things whether he wants to or not.”
“……”
Miss Sowon took a sip of her now-cold coffee, then spoke.
“I didn’t realize you were carrying such worries. I’m sorry. I spoke too lightly…”
“No, it’s fine. I didn’t bring this up to burden you. On the contrary, I’m grateful. These are thoughts I can’t share with my family, but you’re willing to listen.”
At my words, she smiled gently.
“No matter what decision you make, I will fully respect it. And I believe in you. I know you’re not a bad person. So if you can’t trust yourself right now, then trust me instead. After all, I’m pretty confident in my eye for judging men.”
“Alright. I will.”
Thank you, Miss Sowon.