Chaos Tower Summit

The monster on the seventh floor couldn't even put up a fight against Taemin. It got caught in his trap without fail, flailing helplessly until his ambush severed its head cleanly, ending its life in an instant.

'Two left now.'

Waiting for him on the eighth floor was a massive rhombus-shaped crystal fragment.

'What the hell? Is this a monster too?'

No sign of any other creatures anywhere around, so he activated his Insight on the floating crystal hunk.

'Yup, it's the boss. But why does it look like that?'

To Taemin, it just looked like a giant hunk of rock. No trace of any monster, even if he squinted.

He approached for a closer look.

Right then—

Zing—!

The floating rhombus rock started glowing red. Then, a beam of light burst forth, shooting straight at Taemin.

Caught off guard by the sudden beam, Taemin instinctively unleashed Arrainba and dodged sideways. The beam slammed into the floor.

Boom! Crack!

A decently deep crater formed where it hit.

'Ranged type, huh. And with that kind of power, one hit would be instant death.'

Taemin didn't have time to dwell. The crystal, having missed, fired again.

'Whatever, just dodge.'

He weaved through the beams while closing in to lay a trap. But as befitting a high-floor boss, it wasn't that easy. The closer he got, the more beams it unleashed. The indiscriminate barrage from all directions made it hard to advance. Even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his top-tier evasion hit its limit around fifteen meters.

'At this rate...'

Unable to get closer, Taemin deployed smoke screen toward the crystal, hoping to blind it and halt the attacks.

But for some reason, it didn't affect the thing at all.

'Doesn't work on rocks? Fine, then I'll vanish.'

As the attacks intensified, he fell back and activated Invisible. His form vanished in an instant.

The crystal's furious beam spam stopped simultaneously.

Seeming unable to detect him, Taemin closed the gap and sprang Chaos Trap. He'd been a bit worried after the smoke failed, but luckily, it worked perfectly.

He slammed Defensive Critical + Ambush into the black-smoke-ensnared crystal.

Boom!

Crack!

With the explosion, the crystal shattered into pieces that scattered everywhere.

'Damn, that's some insane EXP.'

He muttered at the all-time high, then rummaged through the remains.

A moment later.

'Nothing, huh. Well, if it dropped good stuff every time, we'd all be billionaires.'

Shrugging off the disappointment, he headed up the stairs to the final floor.

As expected for the last one, the staircase was absurdly long. Nearly an hour later, he reached the top—a cramped space with the tower's master sitting alone.

A monster in a deep black hood, wielding a scythe as big as its torso. Notably, a bluish circular barrier enveloped it, reminiscent of a mage's shield.

'Attribute first.'

Taemin immediately used Insight on it. He couldn't see full stats due to level gap, but the attribute should show.

As expected, stats were hidden, but the attribute showed—darkness. Taemin donned his light-attribute pendant and charged straight in.

At the same time, a black orb formed from the reaper's scythe and flew at him.

Not too fast, so he sidestepped and watched it.

Missing its target, the orb wandered the air before slamming into the floor and vanishing like dissipating smoke.

Instinct told Taemin it wasn't an attack spell.

'Status ailment magic.'

He recalled the boss Schrider from the demon palace. It used status ailments alongside attacks—identical to this.

Debuff spells: no direct damage, but blinding, binding, poisoning—dangerous all the same.

Taemin focused on the orbs and rushed in, dodging this way and that until he closed to melee range and triggered his trap, binding the reaper.

His white-glowing sword hammered the thing mercilessly.

Clang! Claaang!

The clear striking sound rang out as his sword bounced right off. The jolt nearly made him drop it, pain shooting through his wrist.

The barrier was only slightly dented where he'd hit—insane defense.

Follow-up attacks yielded the same; the blue barrier wouldn't break.

As trap time ran out, Taemin decided to go all-in with his strongest skill.

'Ambush.'

The swirling red sword clashed head-on with the barrier.

Boom!

The explosion hurled Taemin back a dozen meters.

As dust cleared, he stared in shock. The reaper looked perfectly fine. Not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even a scratch—his ambush hadn't pierced the shield.

First time that'd ever happened.

'It tanked that?'

His mind blanked as his ace failed. He rebound it with another trap, backed off, and thought.

No ambush meant no real way to kill it.

But he had one untested skill left.

'Might as well test it—that's why I came.'

Resolved, he charged again. This time, not ambush.

'Shield Smash.'

Sparks flew brilliantly from his sword. The flashy effect boosted his confidence.

He swung at the reaper.

Claaang!

First try failed. He activated again.

'What?'

Frustrated by the failures, Taemin backed up, popped a potion, laid another trap, and hammered away at the shield.

Low probability explained the fails—but eventually, it'd proc.

After about nine strikes, the reaper's shield finally shattered.

With the shield gone, black energy rippled across the reaper's exposed face. Sensing death?

'Bye.'

Ambush smashed its head.

Boom!

The satisfying alerts rang as the reaper crumpled. Amid the remains, a glowing stone appeared.

'Even better. Sucks it's not gear, but whatever.'

Satisfied with the hard-earned reward, Taemin glanced around leisurely.

'Cleared it all, huh? Drops were solid too... Gotta come back often. Wait, what time is it? Holy crap, already eleven?'

He bolted down the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tower. Sprinting full-tilt, he exited around 3 a.m.

The escort team was still waiting.

'You guys didn't head home first?'

The seated hunters' heads snapped toward his voice. They jumped up.

"Welcome back, sir!"

"Why didn't you go home? I said it'd be late."

"Aw, sir, you know this is our job... Anyway, no injuries?"

"As you can see. But seriously, I feel bad. I heard former Section Chief let you clock out at five sharp."

"Like we said before, no need. Protecting you is our duty. When the boss changes, we follow the new schedule."

'Ha, these guys...'

Taemin sighed at their uniform response.

Truth was, he didn't need to feel guilty—escorts had no fixed quitting time anyway.

Still, to him, this was too much.

'Gotta figure out some compensation. Sticking around for three, four hours of sleep daily ain't easy.'

Having ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠always been at the bottom before awakening, Taemin tried to empathize. After suffering under shitty bosses, he wanted to give his people a good environment if they worked hard.