Chapter 51
Chapter 51
Mad Black Mage's Tower Strategy
Chapter 51
Chasing after the supernova, and having come alone to the 10th floor to mine Eternal Snow Ice, Saintess Kwon Ha-yeon.
She was dressed in ordinary clothes like any other climber, instead of her usual priest robes.
The title of Saintess was certainly honorable and useful in many ways, but at the same time it was too heavy and burdensome.
Therefore, when she stepped away from the frontlines, she would cover her face with a mask and wear comfortable clothing.
However.
'Too cold......!'
Even the highest-grade robe made from processed yeti leather couldn't completely block Primgard's coldness.
Ha-yeon chewed on Fire Grass tightly inside the rabbit mask that covered her face while looking around.
'But this place is just like before.'
The steel fortress Citadel where blizzards and piercing winds raged.
Taking the cold as her companion for a brief walk, she arrived at the central plaza where statues of the first-generation climbers stood solemnly.
"......"
Ha-yeon silently looked up at the statues.
The figures of the late former association president Han Kyeong-cheol and his daughter Han Seo-hee, along with the first strategy team, remained here intact.
These were statues she personally cherished, but she noticed they were cracked and dirty in places due to lack of maintenance in the harsh cold.
Though Ha-yeon didn't have the ability to repair the broken statues, she could at least clear away the accumulated snow.
Ha-yeon struggled to climb up the statue and brushed off all the snow.
The snow would accumulate again soon anyway, but it was a kind of self-satisfaction.
It was when Ha-yeon was hanging on the statue with a satisfied expression.
"Who's there?"
A warning voice from below.
When Ha-yeon turned her head, she saw a guard below pointing a hand cannon at her.
"Ah wait! Don't shoot, don't shoot."
Getting hit by that wouldn't even hurt, but the statue might get damaged by accident.
"Remove your mask and reveal your identity!"
"I'll come down right away! I was just cleaning the statue."
"Shut up! Don't move!"
They told her to remove her mask, but now they're telling her not to move? What is this......
But no matter what Ha-yeon said, it wouldn't work.
From the guard's perspective, Ha-yeon was just a suspicious person in a rabbit mask climbing on top of the heroes' statues.
Eventually Ha-yeon decided to get help from someone she knew on the 10th floor.
"Ella, call Ella for me!"
"Who are you to casually call our supreme leader's name?"
But this only made the guard angrier.
"Arrest her!"
"Pull her down!"
Ha-yeon was eventually caught by the swarming guards and dragged away somewhere.
***
"So...... you climbed on top of the statue and got caught by the guards?"
After some commotion.
Ha-yeon was released from the detention center after much trouble and got to meet Ella, the supreme leader of the Citadel.
Ha-yeon scratched her head while sipping hot chocolate in Ella's office.
"Sorry~ But I couldn't just leave the statue alone."
"I'm sorry, but we don't have spare personnel to tend to the statues."
When every single person's labor was precious, there was no room to spare personnel for statue maintenance.
As Ella bowed her head, Ha-yeon waved her hands dismissively.
"What are you saying. I wasn't criticizing you. I know the situation here better than anyone."
In fact, Ha-yeon was regularly providing magic stones and food supplies with her own money.
Large quantities of magic stones increase the engine's heat production.
Thanks to this, they had room to operate greenhouses, so food cultivation was proceeding without problems.
"We're always grateful for that. But what brings you here today?"
"There's someone I need to find, and I want to mine some Eternal Snow Ice too."
"If it's personal business, you're welcome to mine as much as you want. Is the person you're looking for one of our citizens?"
"No, no. A stranger. They might have entered the Citadel by now?"
While coming down to the 10th floor, she heard news that the supernova had cleared Minos' Labyrinth on the 9th floor.
Then they might already be here.
'I'm glad I left early.'
She departed quickly just in case, and the timing seems just right.
"Then I'll instruct the gate guards to contact us and check the entry list."
"You don't need to go that far. And those people let anyone in if you give them some magic stones or Fire Grass. It won't be in the records."
"......That's true."
"I'll find them myself, so don't worry about it."
Ha-yeon, who had finished all her hot chocolate, put down the cup and asked.
"By the way, how's the engine doing?"
The semi-permanent engine that the first-generation climbers returned through a World Quest.
When the existing engine's lifespan ended and all of the Citadel's citizens were on the verge of freezing to death, the first-generation climbers excavated and returned an engine they found in the glacier.
That was almost 8 years ago, so the engine's lifespan was concerning.
Despite its name of semi-permanent, the engine was very unstable.
Ella spoke with a dark expression.
"It's not very promising. The cold wave cycles are getting shorter, and the duration is getting longer. Overload conditions are becoming frequent, making reactor maintenance difficult."
"We need to secure several more spare cores. Haven't found any related quests yet?"
Maintaining and repairing the semi-permanent engine with just the natives' power alone was difficult. Even now, various climbers were helping through quests. But.
"No, there's no news yet. Maybe the information isn't reaching me......"
Quests occurring sporadically throughout the 10th floor.
If it was important information related to engines and cores, it would naturally be conveyed to Ella as the supreme leader, but that wasn't always the case.
"Heh, are those people still like that? Should your big sister take care of them?"
"No. I should handle it myself."
Ella thought of the three noble families who were the actual rulers of Primgard.
Henry the Builder, who erected the steel walls of the Citadel.
Inventor Kabila, the blacksmith of drills used in mines and hand cannons for hunting.
Steam Philemon, the magical engineer who maintains and repairs the semi-permanent engine.
Until the foreign heroes who returned the broken semi-permanent engine appeared, these people ruled this Primgard, and they still displayed powerful influence even after those heroes left.
As long as their power remained strong, the position of Primgard's supreme leader was nothing more than an honorary title.
Ha-yeon said.
"Perhaps, those people might not want spring to come to this land."
"No...... I don't think that would be the case."
"......"
Humans were a species that would do anything to maintain their own interests. She was still a girl who didn't know evil.
Ha-yeon swallowed the words that had risen to her throat and smiled behind her mask.
"Anyway, the semi-permanent engine is barely hanging on?"
"Yes, but the Eternal Snow Ice mine is also a problem."
"Why the mine?"
"Eternal Snow Ice production keeps decreasing while reports of tunnel collapse signs keep increasing. It's not cost-effective, and it's dangerous for the workers too."
According to Ella's explanation, recently the vibrations shaking the mine were becoming more frequent and their scale was growing larger.
"Hmm."
Ha-yeon rested her chin on her hand and fell into thought.
'That's strange. The days keep getting colder but Eternal Snow Ice production is dropping.'
Originally, Eternal Snow Ice and the 10th floor's cold were mutually related.
The formation principle of Eternal Snow Ice had never been accurately revealed, but the prevailing theory was that it was a mass of condensed coldness from the 10th floor.
The stronger the cold became, the more Eternal Snow Ice would form, and the more Eternal Snow Ice there was, the colder the 10th floor became.
This meant that the more Eternal Snow Ice was mined, the cold would decrease even if just slightly.
Eternal Snow Ice mining was an important business that contributed greatly not only to financial gain but also to the living environment of the 10th floor.
But while the influence of cold waves was gradually intensifying, the number of Eternal Snow Ice was decreasing, making it less profitable.
Was it time to find new veins? Or was there some other problem?
She had come to the 10th floor with the light intention of mining some Eternal Snow Ice, but there were more problems than expected.
While other climbers might just pass it off as the natives' business, Ha-yeon, who had a personal connection with Ella, felt uncomfortable.
"Have you talked with the association people?"
"Yes, but nothing changes. The construction of the Climber Association test site is also making slow progress."
The climbing tests supervised by the Climber Association and BABEL only went up to the 9th floor. They hadn't been able to establish a test site from the 10th floor onwards.
Because of this, like the first-generation climbers, one had to climb the tower through quests or boss subjugation, making the climbing speed slow and the process inconvenient.
But when was the 10th floor opened, and test site construction still wasn't finished?
"Oh my, these people won't do. I'll have to talk directly with sister Seo-hee even though she's busy."
"I understand the situation, Ella. I'll go check out the Eternal Snow Ice mine first."
"I'll guide you."
Ella jumped up from her seat. Ha-yeon grabbed Ella's hand and smiled.
"Then thank you. I don't want to stand out, so keep the escort to a minimum."
***
After that, Ha-yeon visited the mine and ended up trapped together with Ella and her escort Victor.
Just before the tunnel completely collapsed due to the earthquake, Ha-yeon was barely able to secure space with divine defense magic.
"Cube!"
A cubic space spreading out from Ha-yeon as the center.
That wall of divine power blocked the pouring dirt and protected them.
CREAK- CREAK-.
The sight of dirt and rocks piling up beyond the translucent wall was quite threatening.
With Ha-yeon's divine power, she could maintain the wall for a long time, but if it went on for several hours or more, even Ha-yeon would face a great burden.
So they had to escape before then.
Ha-yeon asked Ella while maintaining the cube.
"Ella, do you have any external communication means?"
Deep tunnels were classified as 'dungeons'.
Magic tools and terminals couldn't connect to the outside.
"I sent out a rescue signal first. Since they felt the ground tremor, they must have realized the collapse from outside."
"That's fortunate. How many people are inside the tunnel?"
"There aren't many at dawn. The number of workers listed on the entry roster was twenty-seven."
"......"
Among those twenty-seven people, few would have the power to protect themselves from the collapse.
More than half should be considered dead.
It was sad that she couldn't protect them, but.
'I have to save at least the people who are alive and get out.'
But how?
With Ha-yeon's divine power, getting out with the current personnel was the most she could do.
It was when Ha-yeon was lost in thought.
KWAAA GWAK-.
A wave of mana felt nearby. This was definitely a unique wavelength emitted by magic casting.
Ha-yeon looked toward where that wavelength was felt.
'A climber?'
Coincidentally, there seemed to be another climber trapped in this Eternal Snow Ice mine.
Though they hadn't met under good circumstances, it was very welcome news.
If they cooperated with each other, a way out might become visible.
Ha-yeon shouted loudly toward the dirt pile and wall.
"Hello~ Are you there?"
***
"......"
A gentle and relaxed way of speaking.
A being who received everyone's love with bright sociability and friendliness that Seo-jin didn't possess.
Sometimes shamelessly, sometimes cunningly.
That person who prevented disputes among party members and brought everyone together as one.
It was a dear voice he hadn't heard for years, but Seo-jin could recognize her immediately.
The only person who had directly extended her hand to Seo-jin when he was isolated from the strategy team, Saintess Kwon Ha-yeon.
"......"
As Seo-jin stood there dazed and absent-minded, Tito carefully touched his sleeve.
"Hyung, don't you need to answer?"
[What's wrong?]
Even Hyeon-wol asked with concern at Seo-jin's strange behavior.
Seo-jin, who had been holding his throbbing head for a moment, came to his senses.
"No, it's nothing."
Seo-jin composed his emotions and analyzed the situation closely.
'It's nice to meet an old connection after so long, but this isn't the time to get lost in sentiment.'
The unstable ground situation of the Eternal Snow Ice mine was something he knew about beforehand.
If he used Baduki's power, escaping together with Tito wouldn't be difficult in itself.
But other survivors were a different story.
As time passed, the unstable ground would continue to erode and the tunnel collapse would accelerate.
Even if there were no additional collapses, survival chances would drastically decrease if oxygen wasn't supplied from outside.
To save these people in time, her help was absolutely necessary.
Seo-jin finished his thoughts and shouted toward the direction where Ha-yeon's voice was heard.
"Can you hear me?"
After a moment, a response came from beyond the dirt pile.
"Yes~ Since this is fate, shall we introduce ourselves?"