Chapter 291
Chapter 291
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 291
Chapter Title: Part 91. With Spear and Shield, Into the Eye of the Storm (2)
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Crushed mana exploded outward in all directions.
KWAAAAANG――!
A spherical shockwave rippled out. Space shuddered back and forth. Even though it had detonated high in the sky, the waves stretched toward the entire planet. Whoever was observing would realize it. They would wonder at him unleashing his power.
Right after. Yoo Ji-tae accelerated. The air turned into a viscous fluid. It tried to cling to his body.
He accelerated even more. Gradually, his movements surpassed the sound barrier. The air split as if being torn apart.
At some point, external sounds stopped reaching his ears. A muffled world. The pounding of his heart. Air particles clawing at his entire body like hooks, trying to drag him down.
There, Yoo Ji-tae accelerated once again.
―――.
At that moment.
Far away, a pitch-black line traced a parabola.
The Downfall was plummeting toward the Federation from above. Before long, its trajectory twisted at some point in the sky. A few seconds later, it exploded.
The pitch-black explosion, as if painted with ink, was visible to Yoo Ji-tae even from that distance.
Did it pass properly? There was no time to check.
In the meantime, Yoo Ji-tae summoned the Apocalyptic Clock (EX). Not by speaking, but closer to pressing a call button.
There was no response. It must have heard, yet...
Was it ignoring him?
Or perhaps watching quietly.
Just like it had watched over him when he was young long ago...
He plunged into the clouds. Passed through them, left them beneath his feet, and soared higher into the sky, diving into even taller clouds.
Then, cumulonimbus clouds appeared. Towering like mountains carved from stone. As he climbed along the pillar-like white clouds, something hazy and pitch-black slowly revealed itself within.
The Mage Tower floated above the floating island 'Hate Ling'.
Yet from the third floor up, it was invisible to the naked eye from the ground.
Because floors four through seventy-two were tucked inside a space resembling a pitch-black hole.
The Mage Tower existed in the 45km altitude zone.
Unlike Hate Ling, it did not rotate with Earth.
The Mage Tower was constructed outside the rift starting from the fourth floor for maximum safety.
And simultaneously, it spanned two dimensions.
As Hate Ling drew slowly closer, Yoo Ji-tae felt slight fatigue and regulated his breathing.
He landed on Hate Ling.
KWAANG―!
The ground cratered like a bomb had detonated, and a roar echoed.
His thoughts ended there.
The main entrance to the Mage Tower was surrounded by a lake about 50 meters in diameter. Few humans visited anyway. It wasn't guarded by people.
Over that water.
A man set foot.
From the dark lake depths, black shadows surged up. Unauthorized, uninvited intruders—the 2-meter-tall asuras bared their fangs and lunged. The moment they touched the surface. The man had vanished.
???
As the asuras circled the same spot futilely.
The man had crossed the lake and reached the door.
Ten meters tall. As big as a three-story building. Magical devices guarded it, but as the man pried it open with both hands, sparks flew and the protective magic shattered.
The emergency alarm blared. Beep―! Beep―! Beep―!
"Intruder―!"
"Where?"
"Main entrance direction!"
Shouts rang out.
Soldiers in hoods and combat gear drew weapons and rushed over. Mages and five-minute standby superhumans.
The man melted into the shadows. And advanced. Along the dark walls. Along the dark ceiling.
He could smash through the ceiling and go up, but that would trigger half the power keeping Hate Ling afloat in these high skies to create segmented barriers for the building's protection. Each floor isolated by separate barriers—it would take longer to break.
So the man headed for the tower's elevator.
He had little connection to the Mage Tower.
But little didn't mean none. He knew its basic structure and the path ahead perfectly.
He had visited at least a dozen times, after all.
This 「Mana Elevator」 connected straight to floor 69. In truth, it was a device aiding short-range spatial movement up and down. The accessible floors were determined by rank and status in the tower.
So the man emerged from the shadows.
"Over there, the intruder!"
"Catch him!!"
The soldiers charged.
Yoo Ji-tae charged right back.
Thwack―He struck one's jaw head-on, toppling them. He kicked the falling body.
Splat! The guy flew like hit by a car. The two following collided into a heap and soared far, smashing the cafeteria windows, crashing amid desks and chairs in a cacophony of shattering.
In that gap, mages fired spells. Poison clouds blocked his path on all sides. No escaping. The ice spear reached him!
The moment the mage was certain.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, the spear was gripped in his hand.
Ignoring the poison cloud entirely. The man reversed the spear and smashed the charging superhuman's head. Clang―! Head and spear shattered together. Shards became razor-sharp blades. He readjusted his grip on the ice blade.
What the hell was that?
The mage, a five-minute squad leader, widened his eyes.
The man approached. Panicking, he tried to blink away for distance, but the spell failed. Huh? Shit, why?
The man seized his throat.
"Uh, guk…! Gah!"
Breath cut off, the squad leader thrashed, swinging his wand at the man's head. Thud! Thud! It felt like striking metal with wood.
Soon, the grip on his throat became indescribably crushing. 'Gurgh….' The man wordlessly dragged the squad leader to the elevator for retinal scan.
A squad leader could reach floor 59.
Inside the elevator, Blink dominated Yoo Ji-tae's body.
When he opened his eyes on 59, elite mages who had grasped the intruder's presence via the tower's alert system rushed to the elevator.
"Stop!"
"Who are you?!"
The man didn't reply.
They weren't the type to step aside if told.
As he exited, he gripped the elevator door. Handprints dented where he held.
All tower steel was 「Single Iron Alloy」. Even an ogre couldn't bend 5mm plate—this superalloy crumpled like clay. The mages gasped.
Soon, he ripped the door off.
"Dodge!"
"The Elder is coming soon! Block him, don't let him pass!"
Futile defense.
The door flew. Hurled with overwhelming force. Shattered barriers, tangled with superhumans, smashed straight through the wall.
In the chaos, Yoo Ji-tae subdued them with simple violence. Thud thud thud! A punch always dropped one rolling on the floor.
Fire and lightning couldn't stop him. Not a scratch on him.
"Stop!"
Then.
With a roar, light gathered in midair, growing and glowing.
When the light faded, an old woman in a hood appeared.
"I am Maria. The grandmother who has been here since the tower's founding. You're that young intruder who came alone?"
"……."
"I don't know what brings you, but how about we stop and talk? Hmm? I respect the vigor of youth."
Mage Tower. Rank 7.
Former rank 117 before abandoning rankings—a high ranker.
Maria Valentine
She was an elder of the Valentine family...
In other words, the aunt of the witch 'Vera Valentine'.
Once an aspirant for tower lord.
"I don't know how you got here, but it wasn't easy. You must have agonized over it... right?"
The old woman tried to coax him with a soft, kindly voice.
Her presence at her age had reason.
For instance, not involved in the 72nd floor research. Or the one with the greatest external influence...
The latter seemed fitting here.
Her niece was a witch.
The niece's disciple was one of the five transcendents.
Her other sons and daughters were revered as 'the witch's bloodline' in G12 everywhere.
Reaching here so easily meant all the tower's greatest mages were tied up in the 72nd floor research.
Thus, the sole remaining figure was politically influential.
Touch her, and headaches worldwide.
As he didn't react, she took it as defiance and spoke sternly.
"Tsk. Young man! That's no way at your age. Everyone makes mistakes. But before irreparable regret, talk to this old woman once. Hmm?"
Irrelevant to him.
He moved like lightning, smashing her jaw.
Crack!
'Gah!' As she dropped her staff, he seized her throat.
Lucky an elder remained.
"Open your eyes."
"Ugh, eek, grk…."
"Eyes open. Before I pry them out."
"Hic… You, Federation...? You'll regret this…."
No time.
Smack!
Her head snapped. He entered the elevator, pried her eyelids open. The retinal device scanned; light enveloped him and her. He kicked her out. She was done.
"Stop……!"
Yet even battered and kicked, she didn't faint. She gritted teeth, trying to enter again.
"You can't go! No!"
"Why not."
"If you knew the agony that one suffers, you wouldn't dare go! No one can!"
As the old woman convulsed. A purple mark appeared on her forehead.
The 'evidence of brainwashing' confirmed with Edrei.
He kicked her crawling attempt away.
Soon, light enveloped him.
Mage Tower 69F.
Here, guarding the heart and brain—the 72nd floor—stood an ancient weapon.
Level 4 defensive artifact.
Gate Guardian
Four meters tall. A massive mechanical golem dwarfing humans sat on a crude chair.
Beside it, stairs to 70F.
This destructive artifact's power: 「Infinite Recovery」
Amazingly. The moment anything entered its 'domain', no one, nothing could harm the Gate Guardian.
It recovered at ultra-high speed repeatedly. Without cost.
In the past fifth regression, curious about its recovery, Yoo Ji-tae fought nonstop for ten days before withdrawing.
Flicker….
Red glow in its eyes.
Something coming from below.
Gate Guardian rose. A rare 'enemy'. Human presumed, but immensely strong.
Built for battle, yet seldom fought. It loosened joints, drew a massive greatsword from its back.
Its body heated up after so long.
Until the floor collapsed.
KWAAAAANG―!
Gate Guardian's domain was 69F.
Thus, when 68F's ceiling broke and it fell, infinite recovery didn't trigger.
To save time, Yoo Ji-tae avoided direct confrontation.
Formless Sword (SS) ― Form 2Ring Chain Form
Killing intent like sawteeth weaves into chains, rotating. Like a chainsaw, it grinds Guardian's legs and wings.
The aftermath was massive. Part of 69F's outer wall blew out, revealing Otherworld's red sky.
Whirrr! Whiiiir!
As Gate Guardian thrashed, Yoo Ji-tae raced up the stairs to 72F.
Finally, sprinting up 71F stairs.
Yoo Ji-tae felt something familiar.
Extremely familiar….
A sensation felt dozens, hundreds of times across regressions combined.
Not divided by regression, so memories fading in his mind resurfaced.
No way….
The regressor thought.
No way, right.
Gloomy aura blanketed the floor like oil, singing of death. The will craving something's demise coalesced into hazy form. It shattered underfoot, then regathered thickly, trailing his body.
Thus, as he flew up the stairs.
At the long corridor's end, the massive 72F door appeared.
What Q desperately hid was there.
BAM!
Yoo Ji-tae kicked the door open.
There, even a superhuman would be shocked.
A nest.
A massive nest.
Pitch-black, elongated blades without hilts tangled into a stadium-sized nest.
Instead of branches, human bodies impaled spread-eagled like on crosses.
Over a hundred.
Purple liquid half-covered the humans.
Looking closely, Yoo Ji-tae realized they were the tower's elders.
He frowned.
All mages secluded for 72F research were skewered in the nest.
He approached one man, brushed purple liquid from his face. Bushy beard. Aged but sturdy features.
"……."
Even the tower lord like this.
"Who... are you...?"
Then the impaled tower lord opened his eyes.
The wrinkled-bearded elder peered at Yoo Ji-tae with cloudy eyes.
"Who...?"
Body alive. Mind intact too.
Meanwhile, their mana was being drained. Into this massive nest.
Suddenly, immense presence.
Yoo Ji-tae leaped onto the nest.
Eyes opened in the darkness.
Crane head high. Yoo Ji-tae looked up.
"……."
30 meters tall. Body covered in pitch-black scales. Robust tendons on limbs. Exoskeleton-like sturdy legs.
Flap―――
It spread wings. Enough to blanket the vast 72F sub-space. Massive wings unfurled.
Strange.
All black dragons he'd seen had black eyes.
But this one differed.
Unprecedented 'purple eyes' fixed on him, pupils focusing, narrowing vertically.
"I hoped you wouldn't come here…." "But since you have, I must welcome you."
⟨ Adult 'Black Dragon' ⟩
The entire space trembled just from conveying intent.