Chapter 50
Chapter 50
Mad Black Mage's Tower Strategy
Chapter 50
Oryonggeon, the headquarters of the Thief Guild.
Guild leader Nam-gung Rin looked at the mana stone on the table with cold eyes.
Nam-gung Rin, who had been silently tapping the table with her finger in a regular rhythm, opened her lips.
"So? In the end, you lost the bet, couldn't capture him, and all you brought back is a single mana stone?"
"Little sister, that's expensive. The appraiser said it's worth 200 million..."
"Who cares about 200 million? The interest alone is 200 million per month!"
Several organizations within the Thief Guild, including the Black Snake Gang, had been dismantled by Nam-gung Cheon's hands, and the funds borrowed just for rebuilding those organizations amounted to hundreds of billions.
This was even excluding the losses from distribution lines.
She had sent him to capture Supernova and collect the bounty to cover at least part of it, but he had to fail and return empty-handed.
‘It's not helpful in life, not helpful at all.’
"Die! Just die, you useless fool!"
Office furniture flying toward Nam-gung Cheon.
When the mother-of-pearl nameplate with Nam-gung Rin's name on it came flying, even Nam-gung Cheon felt his life was threatened.
"Ah, I got it, I got it. I'll definitely catch him next time, okay? I buried Heavenly Fragrance on him, so I can track him anytime."
"Shut up, I can't trust you anymore, brother."
Nam-gung Rin, who had been fuming, picked up the receiver and called someone.
"Yes, yes. Grandfather, you finished the big job recently, right? I have something to ask you separately~"
Nam-gung Rin's voice was full of charm, completely opposite to her earlier shouting.
Nam-gung Rin, who had been acting cute toward the terminal for a while, clenched her fist as if things had gone her way.
"Thank you, Grandfather~ I'll attach detailed materials and send them right away. See you next time. Hehe."
At the sight of her putting down the receiver with a bright smile, Nam-gung Cheon broke out in cold sweat.
"...My dear little sister. You didn't contact Master, did you?"
"I did. If brother can't do it, then that person has no choice but to step in."
A member of the Tower Strategy Team and a master of Eight Extremes Fist, simultaneously skilled enough in spear techniques to be called Divine Spear - China's greatest ranker, Lee Seo-mun.
He was also privately the master of the Nam-gung sisters.
He had begun to move to capture Supernova.
***
Primgard, where blizzards raged fiercely.
Hyeon-wol, who had returned to spirit form to escape the cold and blizzard, stuck out her tongue.
[How on earth do people live in a place like this?]
"Cowardly running away in spirit form."
[I have no choice. My joints might freeze and break off here.]
Hyeon-wol, who had been spinning around Seo-jin as he struggled through the blizzard, continued speaking.
[So, is your plan this time to end the winter of this floor?]
From what Hyeon-wol had seen so far, Seo-jin's actions weren't simply focused on climbing the tower.
Solving the problems accumulated on each floor - true tower climbing in every sense. She was curious what kind of appearance he would show this time.
Seo-jin silently moved forward and opened his lips.
"Well. I'm not sure if it's possible."
Even in the future that Seo-jin had experienced, the winter of this floor never ended.
Even until the tower collapsed, no method to end Primgard's eternal winter was discovered.
Some said it was the Ice Queen's whim, others called it an ancient curse, and still others claimed it was simply nature's cycle.
But no one had reached the correct answer, so Seo-jin was the same.
Of course, he had his suspicions, but the tower had collapsed before he could test them, so there was no way to confirm if that answer was correct.
So he planned to try it with this opportunity.
"Well, if it doesn't work, I'll just have to install a few more engines before leaving."
In the next few years, the semi-permanent engine core that had been heating the Citadel would melt down, causing a disaster where a tremendous number of residents would freeze to death.
If he could get a few spare engines and install them before that, such an accident could be avoided.
After walking through the snowfield while having various conversations with Hyeon-wol, the main gate of the Citadel soon came into view.
The Citadel, a steel fortress rising high in the eternal winter.
The steel walls that seemed to pierce the sky stood firm in their place even in the fierce blizzard.
"State your identity and purpose of visit."
The guard at the main gate was blunt and cold.
But after proving he was a climber and giving him a few Fire Grass, he was quickly let inside.
"Oh my, what is all this..."
"It's cold, so please go inside quickly, hehe."
The 10th floor here was friendly toward climbers, commonly called foreigners.
This was because it was the climbers who had fixed the broken semi-permanent engine through a World Quest when the initial strategy team was climbing the tower.
Even now, there was a statue of the 1st generation strategy team in the center of the Citadel, and Han Kyeong-cheol, the first president of the Climber Association, was one of them.
Of course, due to the terrible natural environment, there was little traffic except for traders dealing in specialties like Eternal Snow Ice or byproducts of Yeti and Bigfoot.
'Not as bad as the 4th floor.'
Unlike the 4th floor, the natives' level of consciousness was around the industrial age, so communication was possible.
Nevertheless.
'Too cold.'
Even after entering the steel fortress that blocked the cold wind, the cold didn't subside, so it really wasn't fit for human habitation.
The cold persisted despite the Fire Grass's effects.
If it had been cold enough to freeze to death before eating the Fire Grass, now it was about as cold as stepping out of the bathroom after a shower in the middle of winter.
It wasn't for nothing that this floor was avoided despite specialties like Eternal Snow Ice.
Upon entering the Citadel, the cityscape that naturally brought to mind the word steampunk came into view.
An empty plaza surrounded by medieval-style buildings.
Smoke from burning fuel continuously rose from the buildings' chimneys, and heat from the semi-permanent engine was transmitted throughout the city via pipes.
[Ho, is it some kind of mechanical device?]
"Yeah, if that stops, everyone here will freeze to death."
Pistons and gears that moved endlessly like a heart, spreading heat.
The day that stopped would be the day this Citadel - no, Primgard - would perish.
As he was walking aimlessly across the plaza, he saw a group of people moving with pickaxes and drills.
"..."
From adults to children who still looked young. They looked exhausted, as if they had just finished working in the mines all night.
They were workers mining mana stones to put into the semi-permanent engine.
'Fuel is essential to survive in this cold land.'
To survive, everyone had to work. Not just the elderly, but even young children.
That was the way to survive in Primgard.
Just then.
"Oh."
A boy who had been dragging a heavy drill slipped and rolled on the ground.
But those walking ahead only gave the fallen boy a glance before silently continuing forward.
It was a cold and heartless reaction, but they weren't particularly evil people. Their capacity to help others had simply frozen over.
[Let's go help him.]
"Yeah."
He was planning to visit the slums first to check the situation anyway.
Seo-jin approached the boy who was struggling alone and extended his hand.
"Get up."
"Ah, thank you."
The boy, whose cheeks were red from the cold, smiled brightly and took Seo-jin's hand to stand up.
But looking at his trembling arms and legs, while he could walk alone, it seemed too much for him to carry heavy luggage.
"Baduki."
GROWL-.
Seo-jin summoned Baduki to carry the boy's heavy load instead.
The boy was startled to see Baduki. But seeing Baduki wagging his tail, he was reassured.
"Where's your home?"
"Ah, it's in F district."
As Seo-jin expected, the boy lived in F district, the coldest and poorest area of the Citadel.
Following him would let him check the living conditions of the poor.
"Guide me."
Seo-jin followed the boy who identified himself as Tito toward F district, the outskirts farthest from the semi-permanent engine.
***
This was the slum area closest to the Citadel's walls, where the semi-permanent engine's heat was barely felt.
It was a place where even firewood to light the fireplace was scarce.
"H-here it is. It's not much."
A shabby brick house that could barely block the cold wind was the boy's dwelling.
Inside the house, a girl younger than the boy and an old man lying as if dead were waiting for him.
The boy greeted them warmly.
"I'm back, Grandfather."
As soon as the boy arrived home, he took out a small mana stone from his chest and put it into a pipe.
Shortly after.
WHOOSH-.
Warm air briefly puffed out with smoke from the trembling pipe, heating the inside of the house.
Tito's younger sister looked at him with puzzled eyes.
"What's the occasion, brother? Using up all the pipe too."
"Uh-huh, we have a guest today."
Thanks to the boy's consideration, Seo-jin could briefly escape the cold.
After arriving home, the boy took out biscuits and canned food from the pantry, dissolved them in warm water, and fed them to his grandfather.
After that, there was no food left.
The food that had been there was completely eaten by his younger sister who had been staying at home.
"...I'm sorry I don't have anything to offer you."
"It's fine. I have my own food."
Primgard was a world extremely lacking in food.
The only food sources were crops produced in the transparent dome-shaped greenhouse at the center of the Citadel and monster meat that hunters brought back after venturing through blizzards.
Even that was much improved, as before the association provided mana stones for free on humanitarian grounds, there was no fuel to run the greenhouse, resulting in many deaths from freezing and starvation.
The fact that food supplies reached even this slum was thanks to the Climber Association's support.
Seo-jin took out processed foods he had stored in his inventory and placed them on the table.
Food piling up neatly - tea, dried provisions, jerky, tuna cans, and more.
"Wow~ There's really a lot."
The younger sister drooled, and Tito's eyes widened too.
"Th-this is!"
Seo-jin chuckled and flicked Tito's forehead with his finger.
"What are you pretending to be surprised about? You brought me here knowing everything."
"Hehe, I got caught."
He knew that Tito guiding him to his home and even using precious mana stones for heating wasn't simple goodwill.
It was widely known that foreigners had abundant supplies and mana stones, so he was trying to curry favor even a little.
This level of awareness was natural to survive in this cold world.
Tito sighed deeply even while filling the pantry.
"I'm really grateful. But I still have to rest briefly and go back for the dawn shift."
Though this world was more advanced technologically and consciously than the 4th floor, the living conditions themselves might be even more hellish.
There was no need for further explanation when you saw everyone from elderly to young children being put into mine work in shifts.
"You're pushing yourself hard."
"I have no choice. My younger sister and grandfather can't work."
The younger sister was too young, and grandfather was old and had become disabled after injuring his leg while working in the mines.
Tito was the only one in this house who could work.
"The dawn shift has the fewest people, so I can mine the most Eternal Snow Ice too."
"Isn't there work at the greenhouse?"
The Citadel's crops were grown in greenhouses to maintain temperature. If Tito's situation was difficult, they might let him work there.
"Ha, a poor person like me can't even dream of such good positions. That's where the descendants of heroes go."
Those who worked in the greenhouse were descendants of heroes who had helped climbers bring the semi-permanent engine to this city in the past.
Or only those from high families like the three great houses were possible.
The only time ordinary citizens could enter the greenhouse was when transporting mana stones to the engine.
"Then would it be okay if I follow you to the mine at dawn?"
"Of course. But the Eternal Snow Ice mine where I work is a bit dangerous - is that okay? The ground shaking has been unusual lately."
"Perfect."
That was exactly the phenomenon Seo-jin was looking for.
***
Dawn, when the sun had not yet risen, with a bluish tint.
Seo-jin followed Tito toward the mining area outside the Citadel.
The massive Eternal Snow Ice mine that extended like an anthill below the fortress walls.
It was indeed the dawn shift, so there were hardly any workers.
Tito, who had written his name on the entry log, walked ahead chattering to Seo-jin.
"Is it true that the Eternal Snow Ice from here is a specialty that foreigners like you seek a lot?"
"That's right. Unlike this place, there are also worlds that are incredibly hot and sweltering."
"Hot and sweltering - I'd like to visit at least once."
"You probably wouldn't like it once you actually went."
Humans are fickle creatures. They'd quickly adapt to the environment and complain about the heat.
Anyway, if Seo-jin could end the winter here, it might become difficult to obtain Eternal Snow Ice again.
'I should mine a lot in advance.'
He should mine plenty and store it in his inventory to sell for a long time.
Until the next ice-type floor opened.
Seo-jin followed Tito down the winding tunnels for a while.
Tito stopped in place, putting down the lantern in his hand.
"This is the area I was mining."
"Hmm."
Seo-jin placed his hand on the tunnel wall and sent a bit of mana into it.
Mana waves that spread through the rock and reflected back.
Through this, Seo-jin found the location of the Eternal Snow Ice.
"If you dig in here, it should work."
"R-really?"
"Try it, thinking of it as being deceived."
"Yes!"
Tito began digging the wall according to Seo-jin's guidance.
Occasionally, Baduki and the skeleton helped Tito by digging the wall instead.
A few hours later,
Tito was able to mine a sackful of Eternal Snow Ice.
Tito shouldered the heavy sack with a beaming smile.
"W-with this, I might be able to move to E district."
"Let's stop here for today."
While Tito was mining Eternal Snow Ice, Seo-jin had found the location of the ley lines.
And he had also discovered that the ground here was extremely unstable, and that this instability was artificial.
"Yes! I'll come mine again tomorrow!"
Just as Seo-jin picked up the lantern and was about to leave the mine with Tito.
RUMBLE-.
Vibrations felt from far away.
THUD-.
THUD THUD-.
THUD THUD THUD-.
The vibrations quickly approached and shook the tunnel where Seo-jin and Tito were.
CRASH-!
The tunnel ceiling instantly collapsed.
"Baduki!"
GROWL-!
At Seo-jin's call, Baduki howled powerfully and erected earthen walls to prevent the ceiling from collapsing.
CRACK CRACK CRACK-!
Solid walls of earth and rock instantly rose around Seo-jin and Tito.
Thanks to Baduki, who had inherited the attributes of the earth beast Behemoth and specialized in earth-type magic, Seo-jin and Tito could survive.
RUMBLE- THUD-.
After several rounds of such roars and vibrations passed and the tunnel became quiet.
Though they had avoided disaster thanks to Baduki, finding a way out was daunting.
Tito trembled with a pale face.
"Wh-what do we do now?"
"Hmm."
On the other hand, Seo-jin stroked his chin, lost in thought.
Well, he had said it was daunting, but if he took time, he could get out safely.
If he just extracted Seo-jin and Tito's bodies, it wouldn't take too long.
But if he searched for other survivors trapped in the tunnels, it might take much longer.
Should he safely extract only himself and Tito, or should he risk danger to save other miners as well?
"Th-there is a way, right? Right?"
Just as Seo-jin was ignoring Tito's cries and pondering for a moment.
"Excuse me, is anyone there~?"
Someone's voice was heard from far beyond the collapsed tunnel.
A familiar yet distant voice.
As soon as Seo-jin heard that sound, his heart seemed to sink.
"...!"
Uncharacteristically, Seo-jin stopped still in place and slowly turned his head toward where the sound came from.
Then a voice he could never forget, should never forget, was heard again.
"If you're there, please answer~"