Chapter 40
Chapter 40
Mad Black Mage's Tower Strategy
Chapter 40
A wave of pure white undead filling the horizon.
Seeing a scene that he had only seen in movies actually unfold before his eyes, Min-ho couldn't feel any sense of reality at all.
At that overwhelming sight, Min-ho gulped down his saliva.
'I, I have to face all of that?'
Seeing those creatures rolling toward the castle walls like a slow tide made his spine turn cold.
This wasn't a game or a movie.
It was definitely the reality he faced.
The sound of bones filling heaven and earth, the ashen dust clouds rising with their footsteps, and the pale form of the Lich King visible in that sky.
It was all real.
"Uh, uhh."
While Min-ho couldn't even speak properly and was flustered, the chat window was literally burning fiercely.
??
Is this real?
Is this the 4th floor wave?
There are so fucking many lol
What kind of quest is this?
Quickly escape with a teleportation stone, Min-ho! You'll really die!
A large-scale wave that couldn't be seen in existing undead wave quests.
Even the giant wave occurring in the central city of the 4th floor had only a few thousand skeletons at most.
But the skeletons caught on camera now numbered at least tens of thousands.
Such a large-scale defense had never been seen on any broadcast before.
Moreover.
Isn't that the Lich King?
Wasn't it subjugated?
The hazy form of the Lich King rippling in the ashen sky.
Since being subjugated in the early days of the Tower, it had never appeared directly even once. So it was natural for the reaction to be heated when the Lich King revealed itself like this.
Unlike Min-ho who couldn't even speak properly, Se-yeon silently gripped her sword.
"......"
With a baseball cap pulled down low and even wearing a mask, her face wasn't properly visible.
Even so, quick-witted viewers recognized that she was the climber Min-ho had met at the graveyard earlier.
Is that the person from yesterday?
Looks like a joint quest
Bro is warning you one more time. If you don't want to die together, run. You'll really die.
Did you get her number?
You should at least get her number before dying
Viewers making jokes even in this situation.
Min-ho wanted to throw away the camera in his hand right then and there.
But what could he do?
Originally, people take things lightly unless it's something that happens to them directly.
Especially those watching broadcasts. To them, this situation was just entertaining content.
'Fine. I didn't expect anything anyway.'
Min-ho bit his lips tightly, attached the camera to his chest, and drew his sword from his inventory.
SHING-.
Although he wasn't particularly talented, Min-ho was also a proper climber who had made it to the 4th floor with just a sword.
Gripping his sword tightly, Min-ho glanced sideways at Se-yeon and made a resolution.
'I can't lose to such a frail-looking kid.'
Just surviving and clearing this quest wouldn't be enough.
He would show the coolest appearance possible to score points with both the viewers and that kid.
'Right, I can escape with the teleportation stone if things go wrong.'
Min-ho touched the teleportation stone hidden in his pocket and steeled his resolve.
Emergency escape teleportation stones were items that cost hundreds of thousands of won, but if he could preserve his life, that much expenditure was nothing.
That's when it happened.
A donation with a jingling sound and clumsy voice came in.
[Mission has been registered.]
1,000 won per skeleton.
Starting with this, missions were registered one after another.
As various viewers' missions piled up, the mission amount quickly grew to 10,000 won per skeleton.
The World Quest reward also had an additional reward of 1 gold per skeleton killed, so combined it was 20,000 won per head.
'Right, at this rate the side income is pretty decent too.'
If he just killed a few hundred, he'd earn back the teleportation stone cost.
Since this situation has come to pass, rather than trembling, let's face it like a man.
Earn money, earn views, clear the quest... and get a girlfriend too.
"Alright, let's do this!"
TING-.
With Min-ho's shout, emboldened a hundredfold by financial treatment, came the timely clock tower announcing the start of the wave.
SHAAAA-.
The ashen sky was dyed blood red, and finally the wave defense began.
***
2 hours after the wave started.
The church of the Torch Order located in the center of the village was crowded with refugees.
The inside of the church was bustling like a marketplace.
WAAAH-.
"There there little one."
A woman soothing a crying child, a grandfather hugging his grandchildren and telling them old stories, patients with mobility difficulties, etc.
Village residents who had difficulty participating in battle were gathered together, waiting for the wave to pass.
Some of them blankly stared at the blood red sky beyond the window.
When that sky turned ashen again, it would mean the undead invasion had ended.
Although undead invasions like this were always happening, today's atmosphere was quite different.
It had already been 2 hours since the sky turned red.
By now the wave should have ended long ago, but the church doors that should have opened were still tightly shut.
Moreover, the guards standing in front of the door were dripping with cold sweat.
Whether it was his imagination or not, the sounds coming from outside seemed to be gradually getting closer.
Feeling puzzled, one resident got up and asked a guard.
"Is something wrong? It seems a bit late today."
"Th, that is......"
When the guard stammered and couldn't answer, a priest nearby answered instead.
"There's nothing to worry about. Please return to your seat."
"Goodness. What's the harm in telling us?"
Just as the priest was soothing the grumbling resident and sending them back to their seat.
THUD-.
Suddenly the closed church door shook greatly from impact.
"What's that?"
Just as the residents looked around in surprise.
CRASH-!
A monster made of pure white bones appeared and began smashing the windows.
Soon the window broke and the monster entered the building, instantly throwing the church interior into chaos.
"KYAAAH!"
What had burst through the window wasn't an ordinary skeleton.
It was a skull with the form of a giant bird or pterodactyl.
[Lv.50 Pteranodon Skeleton]
It was a higher-level undead that the village residents had never seen before.
KAAAAAK-!
When it opened its maw wide and roared, the residents hurriedly backed away to avoid it.
"H, how did it get here?"
"Go block it!"
The undead wildly attacked residents with its sharp claws and beak.
"GRK!"
Guards and priests rushed to block it, but the situation wasn't favorable.
The creature's level was much higher than ordinary skeletons, and even higher than the priests or guards.
Moreover, most of those with strong combat power had been deployed to the front lines.
Those guarding the church were relatively weaker fighters.
"KRAAK!"
It easily tore a guard's arm and approached the residents huddled together.
The Pteranodon Skeleton approached a woman holding a baby, stepping across the floor with its skeletal wings.
"HUUK."
The woman who couldn't escape in time crouched down, holding her child tightly to her chest.
KAAAAAK-!
Just as the Pteranodon Skeleton opened its sharp beak wide to devour the woman.
PATTER-.
A girl ran over and stood blocking the Pteranodon.
It was Lea, the girl who had been treated by Seo-jin.
Then bright light burst from Lea's tiny hands.
[Turn Undead]
Although there was no incantation, her power definitely triggered a response from the Tower's system.
FLASH-.
At the bright light bursting from Lea's hands, the Pteranodon Skeleton paused for a moment then.
CRUMBLE-.
Soon collapsed into a pile of bone fragments on the floor.
"Haa, haa."
Lea breathed roughly from the recoil of holy magic.
Her upper dantian that had been eroded by the Lich King's thoughts had recovered, awakening a talent she hadn't realized she possessed.
Seeing this, the residents looked at Lea and the pile of bones scattered before her and murmured.
"Th, this is..."
"That child was definitely said to be cursed......"
Their amazement at Lea's performance was brief.
"But wait, how did that thing get inside the village?"
"Could it be that girl brought the monster here?"
Immediately the villagers' prejudiced gazes poured toward Lea.
Despite courageously defeating the enemy, all that returned was cold malice.
Just as Lea couldn't react and trembled slightly in fear.
"......"
CLANK-.
The closed church door opened forcefully, and Priest Mattie and the clergy entered.
As soon as Priest Mattie entered, she shouted loudly and gave orders to the priests.
"Flying undead have appeared! Block the windows with whatever boards you have!"
At the appearance of reinforcements, the villagers brightened and flocked to Priest Mattie.
"Priest, what on earth is happening?"
"The, the defense line, has it perhaps been breached?"
"M, my husband?"
Priest Mattie was like a spiritual pillar to the villagers.
She shouted loudly to reassure the villagers.
"The defense line is in danger but still intact! Flying monsters appeared so I came to protect the church!"
Priest Mattie looked at the residents who were only looking at her and fell into thought.
An undead army numbering in the tens of thousands.
The village's forces alone couldn't maintain the front lines, but they were barely holding on thanks to the help of outsiders.
Although she usually thought outsiders were dangerous, their excellent power was a great help to their military strength.
'Especially that young-looking girl among them.'
She had jumped into the undead army like a demon and cut down hundreds, thousands.
Thanks to that outsider girl, they could at least hold on by the castle walls.
While explaining the situation and reassuring the residents, Priest Mattie's eyes fell on a pile of bones.
"What's that?"
A villager pointed at Lea and said.
"A flying monster entered the chapel, but when that cursed child emitted light, it collapsed."
"......"
At that answer, Mattie quietly looked at Lea.
With her father Lubal fighting on the front lines, she stood alone among the villagers.
Though she held her fists resolutely, she couldn't hide her trembling legs.
When Priest Mattie remained silent, the villagers added more words.
"Th, that girl brought monsters even into the sacred church because of her! I definitely said we shouldn't let her inside the castle walls!"
"She must definitely be a minion of the Lich King. Otherwise there's no way she could handle that monster that even the priests couldn't deal with."
"That's right! She definitely borrowed the Lich King's power to defeat the monster!"
Though the ignorant residents spouted all kinds of fallacies, Priest Mattie's eyes clearly saw it.
The white holy sign drawn beneath the pile of bones.
'That's definitely a trace of Turn Undead.'
Judging by that holy mark alone, it was divine power no less than that of high priests at the center.
Mattie looked at Lea silently and recalled what the outsider had said before.
'I'm sorry, but this isn't an infectious disease. It's closer to a divine illness. That's why priests suffer similar symptoms.'
Perhaps everything he said was right.
What she had dismissed as an infectious disease was a divine illness caused by exposure to the Lich King's thoughts.
The fact that Lubal's daughter suffered the divine illness most severely among anyone meant she had that much stronger talent for divine power.
When a crisis situation approached, the divine power talent that child possessed awakened.
Mattie gripped her staff tightly.
Though she understood the truth rationally, it was hard to accept easily.
Admitting that what she had firmly believed to be right all this time was wrong was a difficult thing.
The villagers who had no way of knowing Priest Mattie's thoughts.
They glared at Lea and shouted recklessly.
"Let's drive that girl out quickly!"
"For everyone's sake, let's drive her outside the church! No, outside the castle walls!"
"Outside! Outside!"
The residents who had somehow united in resolve to drive Lea outside.
To them, the undead invasion had all become Lea's fault.
In the midst of an unprecedented crisis with a super-giant undead wave attacking.
Even in the midst of this, the sight of people branding a single girl as a witch.
Priest Mattie's eyes shook precariously as she watched this scene.
"Ah, ah."
It was confusing and frightening. And those people were utterly disgusting.
Even herself for making them like that.
In their ignorance of being unable to see the truth even when it was before their eyes like blind people, and in their ugliness of branding and ostracizing an innocent girl as a sinner, she saw her own reflection.
Only then did Priest Mattie accept all of reality and decide to act according to her conscience.
'One must reap the seeds one has sown oneself.'
In the midst of the villagers' shouts approaching madness, Mattie trembled and muttered.
"......Shut up."
"Pardon?"
"I said shut up! If it weren't for this child, you'd all be slaughtered!"
With her shout, the chapel instantly became quiet.
Having shouted until her voice gave out, Priest Mattie took Lea's hand and bowed her head.
"......I'm sorry. Really, I'm sorry."
"......"
After holding the tiny hand and crying for a long time, Mattie asked.
"This old woman shamelessly asks a favor. Can you protect these people together with me?"
Lea answered without delay.
"Yes, my father always did that too."
"......I see."
Gravekeeper Lubal, who silently guarded the graveyard even after being driven outside the castle walls with Lea.
Lea closely resembled her father.
***
3 hours after the wave started.
"Haa, haa."
Se-yeon breathed roughly and looked at the undead endlessly surging toward her.
CLATTER- CLATTER-.
The number of white bones at her feet already reached the thousands.
Though she had jumped outside the castle walls and cut down countless enemies, the wave of undead endlessly surged toward her.
Her whole body's muscles trembled.
TREMBLE-.
Her arm that had already been torn and regenerated several times no longer had the strength to hold a sword.
Se-yeon stuck her sword in the ground and supported her body while quietly catching her breath.
'Is this, as far as I go?'
Se-yeon looked vacantly at the undead horde approaching her.
She had always longed to die, but when that time actually approached, some inexplicable lingering attachment remained.
No, originally there would have been no such attachment. But recently, something called attachment had gradually developed.
She didn't have any great goals or grand plans, but she thought she was moving forward little by little.
She had gained a few acquaintances and found things she wanted to do. That alone was enough.
But to die so futilely like this.
Se-yeon, who had been about to accept death without much resistance, suddenly changed her mind.
'No.'
GRIP-.
And she squeezed out her last strength to grasp her sword.
It wasn't time to die yet.
If she had one last breath remaining, she would resist.
That would be the wish of the friends who had died so far.
Just as Se-yeon pulled out the sword stuck in the ground and was about to swing it with all her remaining strength.
FLASH-.
Black lightning that shot up from the village entrance split the red sky.
KWAAAAAH-!
Black lightning splitting the sky like a waterspout.
At the same time, a huge wave of mana spread throughout the entire village like a tsunami.
CHWAAAAAH-.
The wave of mana swept through everything on the ground down to the particle level in concentric circles.
This wave even swept through the endless army of skeletons that had been surging forward.
And the moment that wave touched them.
CRUMBLE-.
The tide of the dead that had been surging fiercely collapsed just like that.
"Huh?"
Min-ho, who had dropped his teleportation stone and faced a life-threatening crisis.
"......!"
Priest Mattie, who had been gasping from the attack of flying monsters.
Se-yeon, who had been trapped in the middle of enemy lines trying to burn her last flame.
RUMBLE-.
Everyone on the front lines blankly stared at the army of skeletons scattered on the ground.
A world so deadly quiet that it was hard to imagine there had once been skulls covering the entire horizon.
Ash returned to ash, dust returned to dust.
A tomb of white bones that no longer moved even slightly.
This was the natural providence as it should be.
Wasn't it natural that the dead shouldn't be allowed to come back to life and attack the living?
Se-yeon, who had barely held her sword, dropped it again and looked toward the village.
'You did it.'
That person had finally done it.
Just as Se-yeon let out a sigh of relief and smiled faintly.
A man's voice was heard in the silence.
[Rise.]