Chapter 52
Chapter 52
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Tower of Gluttony (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The 2nd floor of the Tower of Gluttony was a squelching swamp that wouldn't even tolerate standing still.
Squelch, squelch.
Moreover, the entire swamp seemed to be a trap. The moment he set foot in it, his survival instincts blared out a torrent of warnings.
"...".
The scarier truth was that the "bottom" lay thousands of meters below, teeming with tens of millions of monsters.
It probably devoured players who ventured into the swamp... And judging by their earthworm-like appearance, they seemed as vicious and tenacious as could be.
'Fortunately, it's not as vast as the sea.'
The swamp's size was roughly half that of the 1st floor's ocean. Of course, "half" still meant dozens of times the size of South Korea.
'Tricky place. If it weren't for me, anyone would sink helplessly and die.'
Even now, he was hardening the swamp beneath his feet just to stay afloat.
Without that, he'd have sunk long ago or ended up inside one of those earthworm monsters' bellies.
'Anyway, glad it's easy.'
Lee Sang-hyun extended his right hand. The moisture spread across the swamp vaporized into mist and floated upward.
Naturally, the sticky bog hardened solid, trapping the earthworm monsters that had roamed it freely.
「?!!」
It took a mere three minutes for a region spanning tens of kilometers to solidify completely.
'No need to harden the whole useless thing. Even if they break out, they can't survive outside the sea.'
Lee Sang-hyun strolled lightly across what had once been the swamp.
The fact that the Tower of Gluttony's 1st floor contained a sea—and that it nurtured "soldiers" there to purify the world—was a top-secret known only to the highest echelons of the Dragon God Cult.
Once every half month.
A procession of massive trailers lined up to enter the Tower of Gluttony.
Of course, it happened past midnight with headlights off to evade satellites.
"Begin."
"Yes, understood."
The large trailers, operating on autopilot, filed into the Tower of Gluttony one by one.
Rumble...
The supervisor overseeing this operation was one of the few who knew the tower's secret—a high-ranking figure in the Dragon God Cult.
For utmost secrecy, he operated in pairs with his deputy.
Considering the cult's enormous following, it was absurdly minimal manpower.
But it was essential for secrecy, and this ironclad security had kept even the United States and every other nation in the dark.
'This operation's nearly over.'
The end of the supervisor's duties signaled the approach of the holy day of purification.
The supervisor bared an irrepressible grin of joy and malice at the thought of the coming "new world."
'Now... the world shall be reborn. By us, the Dragon God Cult!! We will become the greatest paradise on earth—the one true creators.'
It was the stuff of grand dreams, or perhaps utter delusions.
Yet it was no mere fantasy. A dream on the verge of reality within a year, maybe half.
At least, that had been the case until now.
"Wh-what...?"
At the tail end of the trailer procession.
The sight that greeted the supervisor upon entering the Tower of Gluttony's 1st floor was...
Desolation.
It should have brimmed with a vast sea...
Nothingness.
The soldiers meant to purify this wretched world lay withered and twisted—fortunate if they could yield even broth.
"Th-this... ca-can't...".
Impossible.
The supervisor couldn't find words. He stared blankly at what had once been the sea.
"N-not the time...!!"
Flustered, he snapped to—but couldn't exit the Tower of Gluttony.
You see, escape required either 24 hours to elapse or clearing the tower.
Clearing was out of the question, so it had to be 24 hours...
Meaning he couldn't alert the outside world until then.
"N-no...! No!! This can't be...!! Our sacred vow...!! The Dragon God Cult's hope!!"
The supervisor clawed at his hair, howling in agony. But it echoed hollowly.
The earthworm monsters apparently possessed keen survival instincts; they'd either burst out before the swamp set or burrowed impossibly deep.
"They crawl the ground well enough."
Tens of thousands of earthworms writhed and slithered before Lee Sang-hyun's eyes.
A truly spine-chilling spectacle. Strength aside, pure instinctive revulsion creased his brow.
Right then.
Nameless spoke.
"Exterminate...?"
Nameless's command was extermination.
Not just the ones crawling the surface, but those hidden in the depths as well.
"Exterminate... Pests, you mean? Won't they vanish once we clear the tower?"
Lee Sang-hyun grasped the order to exterminate. But the why eluded him.
Honestly, it felt like wasted time. They'd disappear anyway, so why bother...
'...Or will they?'
The thought that they might not vanish with the tower grazed Lee Sang-hyun's mind.
Suddenly, Nameless's words clicked.
'They won't disappear completely, then.'
Not 100% certain, of course.
Whether the monsters vanished with the tower or got released would only reveal itself after collapse.
But why bring it up now?
They'd definitely be unleashed upon the tower's fall.
'Can't leave them be, then. These things crawling Earth would spell catastrophe.'
To Lee Sang-hyun, bearer of water's origin, they were mere worms. In truth, these were "Death Worms"—the red tower's deadliest player-killers.
How else to explain monikers like "Death from Below," "Devil's Parasite," or "Intestines of Death"?
Death Worms were no joke. Should they reach Earth and lay countless eggs underground...
The mere thought conjured apocalyptic horrors.
Wriggles!!
Lee Sang-hyun crouched, pressing both hands to the ground. He drew in moisture with every ounce of power.
'Absorb them all.'
Having mastered "absorption" on the 1st floor, his efficiency defied imagination.
Swoooosh!!
The sticky swamp turned to cracked, parched earth in seconds. Moisture rose even from thousands of meters underground—no, it evaporated outright.
「?!!」
Evaporation outpaced the Death Worms' frantic scrambles, trapping hundreds of thousands deep below.
The few that escaped wriggled helplessly across the surface.
Shaaa...
Hundreds of kilometers dried to dust—even the deepest subterranean layers turned bone-dry.
'Not yet.'
Unsatisfied, Lee Sang-hyun reached deeper, broader still.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His moisture-siphoning hands—the "roots"—extended unstoppably. Nothing could halt them.
Death Worms that terrorized players fled desperately; colossal specimens tangled immobile in the roots.
Swoooo!!
To the swamp and its Death Worms, Lee Sang-hyun was calamity incarnate.
Kaguya learned of it 24 hours after the supervisor entered.
"Pardon?"
Kaguya doubted her ears. An utter impossibility had occurred.
"What did you just say?"
Her calm tone chilled far more than rage.
Her steady gaze pierced like a serpent laced with lethal venom.
To the demigod Kaguya's query, the supervisor slammed his forehead to the floor.
"Th-the sea...!! The sea vanished!! The soldiers to purify the world all withered and perished!!"
"You believe that possible?"
Common sense deemed it absurd.
How to erase that colossal sea? Even Earth's every nuke couldn't manage it.
Yet the supervisor wasn't insane—an elite picked for the role.
He banged his head again.
"Tr-true!! O Dragon Shrine Maiden!! Who dares lie to you!! Not a shred of falsehood!! The sea... the sea is gone!!"
"...".
"And the soldiers to cleanse this filthy world... all dead. Shriveled like bloodsucked by Russian mosquitoes—pitiful husks."
Stunned briefly by news of the vanished sea and dead soldiers, demigod Kaguya swiftly regained composure and decreed.
"I'll inspect it myself."
"O Dragon Shrine Maiden?!!"
Murmurs!!
Supervisor and all present couldn't conceal their shock.
Yet Kaguya stood firm.
"You lot, hold this place. I'll ascend the Purification Tower to verify."
Her word was absolute. None dared oppose, none harbored irreverent fears for her safety.
For Kaguya was demigod—chosen vessel of the holy Dragon God, Yamata no Orochi.
"We obey, O Dragon Shrine Maiden."
Thus, they followed with unshakeable faith, unlike doubters.
"I'll return shortly."
To unravel the absurdity—the sea gone, soldiers slain—Kaguya entered what they called the Purification Tower: the Tower of Gluttony.
Seventeen hours before the supervisor's report to Kaguya.
Swooo...!!
Lee Sang-hyun transformed the sticky swamp into dry, crumbly earth. He'd siphoned every drop across thousands of kilometers, rendering it uninhabitable for Death Worms.
'...One more push here.'
Yet he pressed on, unsatisfied—to fully exterminate as Nameless desired.
Swoooaaa!!
「Kieeeek...!!」
Moisture fled the Death Worms' bodies. Nay, it was brutally plundered.
Tremble...!!
Shudder...!!
Their death throes lasted mere minutes at best.
'...Finished.'
Having eradicated tens of millions, Lee Sang-hyun withdrew his hands and rose.
Stagger.
Overexertion? Equilibrium faltered for a heartbeat.
'...Tired.'
No grave issue. The absorbed moisture replenished his depleted mana, and post-sea absorption left him brimming.
Merely fatigue from dominating thousands of kilometers.
'Anyway, 2nd floor's done.'
Death Worms fully exterminated per Nameless's order. Now, just ascend to the 3rd.
'Let's go.'
Lee Sang-hyun headed straight for the stairs.
They lay at the former swamp's center, buried hundreds of meters underground.