Chapter 159
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 159
Chapter Title: Ancient Tower (6)
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‘It was a phenomenon I’d never seen in the game.’
The existence of that clockwork mechanism made of springs. Jun felt cold sweat trickling down his back.
‘Unknown things keep popping up one after another.’
Every time something like this happened, it felt like reality was whipping him, urging him not to get complacent in the current situation.
‘And from what that thing said earlier, since the 9th floor trial didn’t suit us, it summoned the 10th floor one instead.’
The moment he saw the surrounding landscape, Jun realized it didn’t match the theme of the 5th floor he knew.
Whiiing...
A gust of wind swept by, carrying gray ash particles along with it.
A gray world.
The sky, the earth, and everything on that earth was dyed in shades of ash.
As if a wildfire had ravaged everything, leaving only heaps of cinders behind.
Jun immediately cast [Scan].
Target detected nearby.
“There it is.”
The target caught in Jun’s detection magic was located not far away.
It was a pupa the size of a boulder.
Hanging from a gray tree that looked charred and ready to collapse at any moment, the pupa cracked open with a creeeak, and a massive moth emerged, unfurling its wings.
Void Moth.
A moth that lives in the void.
Its fully spread wings bore patterns resembling human eyes, directed toward the party.
“Eleanor!”
“Got it!”
At Jun’s shout, Eleanor immediately cast her holy magic.
[Light of Life]
Holy light that repels corruption rises above the party like the sun.
A sacred light of life that wards off corruption floated above the party’s heads like the sun.
Jun followed suit, tearing an incantation scroll from his dimensional bracelet.
[Mosilas's Severance]
Mental defense magic (pre-taught incantation from Chiles).
An incantation containing mental defense magic that Jun hadn’t learned yet. It was something he’d received from Chiles on the surface.
“We’ve got some protection in place for now, but try not to look at those eye patterns on its wings if you can help it.”
The party nodded without a word.
And at the same moment, Jun shouted.
“Charge formation! I’ll intercept, Eleanor handles defense, and Aiden, Maya—you two deal with the adds!”
In this charred gray world, what other monsters could there be besides the moth?
It wouldn’t take long to find out.
The Void Moth soared into the sky, wrapping itself with its massive wings, and black eggs of dark light dropped from its back.
Void remnants.
A gate connected to the void existed on the Void Moth’s back, and these void remnants spilled out from it.
Soon, the black eggs of varying sizes hatched, revealing monsters of various forms.
“This fight’s gonna drag on. Pace yourselves and conserve stamina.”
Aiden and Maya nodded at the advice and charged toward the approaching void remnants.
Despite their odd name of “remnants,” they couldn’t be underestimated.
The aura each one exuded was far beyond what a level 5 monster should have.
‘Originally, these are level 7 boss-tier minions.’
Perhaps because of what the clockwork mechanism said earlier.
Their power had been scaled down slightly above level 5.
‘Still, since they summoned properly, their base abilities should be intact.’
With that, Jun said to Eleanor.
“Can you keep maintaining the mental protection magic on us?”
“Nngh. I think so. But does it need constant upkeep?”
“Yeah. Killing these monsters doesn’t end it.”
Just then, Aiden swung his radiant sword first.
The insight he’d gained last time was vividly embodied, in the sword art he’d named himself.
[Gale Fury Slash]
Fierce winds embody will, amplifying fire mana from 'Salamander's Blessing'.
Fierce winds took on a will of their own, dwelling in Aiden’s sword and further amplifying the fire-attribute mana produced by Salamander’s Blessing.
At the same time, Aiden vanished like the wind, his sword already slicing through the enemy and beyond.
But.
Spluuurt—!
The enemy’s flesh sliced by Aiden’s sword burst like a smoke bomb, filling the area threateningly.
“Hup...!”
Aiden grimaced involuntarily as he inhaled some of the smoke.
Eleanor’s holy power and Jun’s incantation magic protected his body from it.
‘Whatever it is, can’t breathe it in!’
Just as Aiden’s instincts warned, that black smoke contained an ability to lull the soul upon inhalation.
If the soul fell asleep, the body would cease functioning too, leading straight to death—a deadly poison.
Since it affected the mind rather than the body directly, Jun and Eleanor had deployed mental protection magic.
“I’ll take the big one. You handle the rest.”
“Got it. Leave it to me.”
There were plenty of enemies in number, and among them was one boasting an ogre-like massive bulk.
Its strength wasn’t quite ogre-level, but Maya could handle it solo.
‘Now I see why the leader said this would take a while.’
The toxic smoke was bad enough, but more importantly, the moth kept spawning new forces with every one they took down.
So rather than forcing a cleanup of their numbers, it seemed better to keep drawing aggro continuously.
Meanwhile, Jun finished preparing his magic and said to Eleanor.
“In this fight, we’re the tanks.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Void Moth’s main abilities are summoning minions and ranged attacks.”
It was already tough for the two up front to handle the piling monsters; they couldn’t burden them with ranged attacks too.
So this time, Jun would draw the Void Moth’s attention directly, while Eleanor kept supporting those two.
“Hoo. Understood.”
In sync with Eleanor’s response, Jun’s magic manifested.
His signature [Flare] by now.
But this [Flare] had been enhanced with the insights Jun had gained lately.
Shraaarak!
Pages from the grimoire in his dimensional bracelet tore free, floating in the air as the magic circles inscribed on them activated.
[Bestowal: Memory Page]
[Flare]
[Modified Magic]
[Penetration Specialization] [Split] [Mana Sustain]
Three additional magic circles formed along the path of the [Flare], and each time it passed through one, an ancient magic attribute was added.
By the time it pierced the final [Split] circle, the [Flare] beam had divided into five prongs, firing at the Void Moth with staggered timing.
‘What a madman.’
Even as she focused on her holy magic, Eleanor couldn’t help but stick out her tongue at Jun’s spell.
Ordinary mages couldn’t knead and modify existing spells like dough the way he did.
Yet Jun’s modifications were astonishingly perfect, each one intensely threatening.
Brief imagery packed in, supplemented by ancient magic.
The Void Moth recognized the danger too, flapping wildly to focus on evasion.
Despite its huge body, it floated nimbly through the air, dodging all five [Flare] prongs.
But.
[Detecting Target]
[Modified Magic] [Mana Guidance]
The [Flare] prongs, targeted on the Void Moth, curved back mid-flight.
Even so, the Void Moth dodged three, but allowed two to hit.
Given [Flare]’s property of burning until Jun’s mana dissipating, it was as good as a lethal strike.
But the creature quickly circulated void mana through its body, converting Jun’s mana into ‘nothingness.’
Considering Jun’s mana control, it was an absurd ability.
‘That’s borderline cheating, so we’ll set it aside.’
The true power of void attributes lay in reverting everything to nothingness.
There wasn’t even a proper counter attribute, so the only way to overcome it was a pure power struggle.
In other words, Jun’s mana reserves had to overwhelm the Void Moth’s.
‘If mana amplification works, great. If not, we have to account for my overheat state too.’
It had bad matchup against spirit mages.
Not that it was great against warriors either.
Maya was especially vulnerable.
Her ancestral spirits feared that void power immensely.
It was the most fitting ability to erase souls that shouldn’t linger in this world.
‘Shut up.’
Thus, Maya sighed deeply as her head throbbed from the ancestral spirits’ screams since earlier.
‘Not ready yet.’
The power contained in the World Tree’s essence she’d heard about thanks to Jun and Eleanor last time.
She’d gained some insight through its theory, but it hadn’t fully integrated yet.
Plus, with her trait of accumulating mana in her head, a single failure came at a brutal cost.
So she needed ample preparation time...
‘If I could talk to the old folks, I could calm them down.’
Her trait meant the spirits’ chaos affected her too.
In the end, Maya gritted her teeth and relied more on Basai’s techniques than the Jokyung tribe’s power.
While Aiden used [Beast’s Roar] to draw aggro, Maya slipped into shadows, emerging behind enemies for one-shot kills.
She’d dodge the toxic smoke into shadows immediately after, assassinating several this way.
‘Still too many. Can’t leave it all to Aiden; it’s too much.’
Even as it dodged Jun’s attacks, the Void Moth kept laying eggs, bolstering its forces.
Finally, Maya seemed to resolve herself and pulled something from her bosom.
‘The leader said to conserve stamina as much as possible, but...’
At this rate, Aiden would collapse from exhaustion first.
In the end, Maya hurled the brush she’d pulled out high into the sky.
The brush, stuffed with thick bristles, looked unremarkable at a glance, but it was made of steel needles she’d commissioned herself.
The moment Maya yanked the thread connected to the brush head.
Booom—!
The explosive inside detonated, raining thousands of steel needles onto the ground.
Most failed to pierce enemy skin.
But Maya’s eyes clearly saw it.
The thousands of steel needles scattered on the ground, linked by thin threads!
At the same time, she channeled her mana.
[Shadow Web]
Thousands of steel needles vibrate at ultra-high frequency via threads.
The steel needles linked by thousands of threads began ultra-high-frequency vibrations.
What fate befell the monsters tangled haphazardly in those threads?
Shraaash—!
The monsters shattered like wet clay, turning into toxic smoke.
“Nngh...”
She still needed tools for it, and being unfamiliar meant heavy mana drain.
But it allowed her to wipe out enemies in one go.
The legendary assassin Basai’s secret technique was recreated here.
“Thanks!”
Thanks to her, Aiden gained some breathing room.
Fighting while each kill spewed toxic smoke had been burdensome, but Maya’s performance created an opening.
The brief respite.
Aiden had to hold the line until Maya recovered with mana fluid.
Visibility was now near zero from the black toxic smoke.
Unable to hold their breath indefinitely in combat, just as Jun and Eleanor’s magic began to falter.
Eleanor’s holy power flared again, replenishing the protective aura around the two.
Hummm—!
The Void Moth noticed and turned its gaze toward Jun and Eleanor.
It was a war of attrition, but the Void Moth was gradually falling behind.
Realizing this, void energy gathered from its antennae, signaling a counterattack.