Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Babel Tower
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Babel Tower stood tall on a small island in Lake McKay.
Its color and shape were utterly unlike any ordinary tower.
If the white, red, and black towers resembled the circular Leaning Tower of Pisa, then Babel Tower looked more like a square clock tower. Its colors were a tangled mix of red and black.
"......"
Lee Sang-hyun didn't head straight into Babel Tower.
First, he entered Lake McKay to heal his wounds and recover his depleted energy.
Bubble bubble. Glug glug.
Fortunately, Lake McKay's waters were clear and pristine. Though pushed aside miserably by the towers and monsters, it hadn't been defiled like the fallen Rune.
No monsters lurked within. It teemed with Earth's native creatures, pulsing with vibrant life force.
Lee Sang-hyun quietly closed his eyes. He attuned himself to his heart and mind.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
With his powerful heartbeat came a pleasant sound rising gently from the depths of his heart.
The subtle euphoria soothed his body and mind. It felt like being cradled in a warm embrace.
Thump...! Thump...!
Lee Sang-hyun let go of his tension, savoring the cozy sensation for a moment.
Number one pick was, without doubt, humanity's strongest—the Hero Jack Roar.
Second place went to Kang Mu-hyuk and Ryu O-shin, though Kang's name edged out slightly more often.
Russia's Vladimir barely got mentions. But some insisted he might take it first.
Italy's Aria wasn't mentioned much—her tower clears were notoriously slow.
Experts called it glacial. Yet when she led, there were zero casualties. Not a single one.
Even Ryu O-shin, Kang Mu-hyuk, and Jack Roar had losses. Aria's clears were slow but flawless.
So when she declared two Babel Towers, no one laughed. They believed in her.
The world had regained some calm. The chaos from quakes and towers had settled into bets on who’d clear first.
Australia's mess? Jack, Kang, or Ryu would handle it post-clear.
Babel Tower's interior was shrouded in thick fog.
Visibility was zero—not mere mist, but mana-draining magic.
'Fascinating... but it's still just water at its core.'
Magical fog, yes—but rooted in water.
Lee Sang-hyun ignored the magic, dominating its aqueous origin.
Rumble!
Mana resisted fiercely, but against water's essence incarnate, it faltered.
Whoosh.
Having crushed the fog utterly, Lee Sang-hyun extended his sensory domain through it.
The tower's innards sharpened into view.
'...A maze.'
The first floor was a vast, intricate labyrinth. Non-living things wandered its halls.
'...Undead.'
Ancient undead roamed the colossal maze.
Yet they felt oddly familiar—new, but known.
Lee Sang-hyun knew why instantly.
'Rune...'
Babel's first floor was another prison for Rune's defenders.
He'd already found the exit—sensing via ambient moisture the instant he expanded his domain.
"......"
But could he just leave them?
Ignore Rune's fallen and climb to floor 2?
The thought halted his steps.
Nameless said nothing, silently watching like ever.
Lee Sang-hyun pondered quietly.
'...Rescuing the long-dead is laughable. But if souls exist... if they're trapped wandering forever... shouldn't someone free them?'
A world of magic and demon-masked constellations.
How could souls not exist?
'I'll free them.'
Lee Sang-hyun resolved to release these eternal maze-dwellers.
Pointless, maybe. A time sink, perhaps.
Maybe empty husks circled soullessly.
Yet he sent none away ignored.
Crumble...
"......"
No thanks, no pain, no tears—just corpses disintegrating.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Yet even so... inexplicable joy welled, warming his somber heart.
'...Not bad. Not bad at all.'
He grasped, a little, the idea of saving others to save oneself.
Not that he craved mocked martyrdom.
Just... not bad.
Whoosh...
Another crumbled to dust. No salvation fanfare.
Lee Sang-hyun paused.
'...At this rate, it'd take days to clear them all.'
He'd raced the maze, but hadn't freed even a fraction.
Too vast, too twisty—backtracking killed speed.
'...Break the walls?'
He eyed a wall.
Sturdy, but breakable with effort.
Problem: too many walls, too expansive.
'Hundreds? Fine. Thousands? Millions? No.'
He deliberated: smash through or maze on?
"......"
A better idea struck—beyond walls.
'...Apply the sensory domain differently?'
He'd used 'sensory domain' only for sight.
Feeling objects via moisture.
But... far more precise than eyes.
Why not interfere?
'...Like with the sea. Ambient moisture could manipulate objects too. Same water, lesser amount.'
Oceans bent to his will—water as limbs.
This fog-choked maze? Same principle.
'Alright, let's try.'
No overthinking. Light focus.
Fog was eyes, hands, feet.
Distance irrelevant—all sensed.
'...Same water. Just shallower.'
Compared to ocean's riot of colors, land was gray.
High humidity sharpened it; fog made it vision-clear.
Possible.
He interfered directly.
Whoosh!
Not one fog wisp moved—but as many as wanderers.
......
The undead froze.
Calm as ever, he enveloped them via fog.
Swish...
No resistance.
They accepted it.
Fog filled bodies, seeping bones, flesh, scales.
Thump. Thump. Thump...
Soon, fog saturated them.
Incredibly swift—two hours felt impossible.
Lee Sang-hyun exhaled, eyes opening. Heart steady: thump thump.
Quiet farewell.
'...May you return home.'
He granted them rest.
Aaaaaahhh...
................
..........
....
The maze-wanderers...
The death-forsaken...
All departed.
'Let's go.'
No grand notions of salvation now.
Just quiet satisfaction.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Thump...!
That was enough.
It felt good.