Chapter 22. Welcome, Heroes! (1)
Chapter 22. Welcome, Heroes! (1)
1
[00:00:00]
The sky's clock struck zero.
"Zero!"
The hunters cheered. Many threw their hats into the air. Thousands of hats soared up from the plaza at once, like countless dandelion seeds scattering on a spring day.
Before the hats could even finish falling—
[Announcing to everyone.]
A voice echoed from the sky.
The voice proclaimed to all.
[As of today, the tutorial has ended.]
That the preview had finally drawn its curtain.
[Announcing to everyone once more.]
[As of today, the tutorial has ended.]
And that the main stage had at last raised its curtain!
"Waaaaah!"
The crowd erupted in excited shouts. Heat, passion, frenzy. How long had it been since hunters had burned this hot? An old man who had retired from the front lines to run a shop, a middle-aged man who had given up climbing higher and settled into the 2nd-floor hunting grounds—all of them were cheering in the plaza now.
At least in this moment, they were all hunters.
"11th floor! 11th floor! 11th floor!"
"Open the 11th floor already!"
"Hey, the news just broke... this is......"
Perhaps to repay their fervor.
Whoosh!
The strands of light that formed the sky's clock burst radiantly. Light as intense as the sun. The hunters squeezed their eyes shut, then parted their fingers to barely peer up at the sky. I was no exception.
[Warriors. Those who climb the Tower.]
[Congratulations on crossing the grudge of the Hellfire Mansion.]
A colossal human figure floated in the heavens. No—perhaps it should be called an angel, or even a goddess. The goddess fluttered in white robes, radiating holy light.
It was a sacred sight, as if painted on a temple wall.
"Ooooh......"
"So beautiful......"
Admiration spilled from all across the plaza. Most hunters were spellbound. That was how beautiful the goddess's form appearing in the sky was.
-Zombie, snap out of it. That's no goddess.
But my guardian spirit was cold.
Sword Emperor, the man who had personally conquered the Tower up to the 99th floor in another world, was not dazzled by the scene before him.
-It's nothing but a system explaining the quest to you people.
"...So it's like some kind of NPC?"
-Yeah. Even if a goddess or whatever did exist, that thing's nothing more than a pre-recorded video. It plays automatically when you clear the 10th floor. Tsk, tsk. Pathetic.
I suddenly grew curious.
"How do you know that?"
-Huh? Well, because......
It was the moment my guardian spirit was about to answer.
[Warriors! There is a world now yearning for your touch. That world is under invasion by a terrifying Demon King. From now on, you will be summoned there as heroes, and you will receive a mission to save humanity. If you wish to accept this mission, say 'Teleport'......]
Thud!
Before the voice even finished, someone leaped into the air.
"Hup!"
The hunter lightly stepped on a building's roof. 3rd floor, 5th floor, 7th floor. He climbed higher buildings in an instant, then finally kicked off the plaza's bell tower with force. And the hunter soared high into the void.
Sword Saint(劍星).
Marcus Calenbury.
"Haat!"
The current rank 1's sword strike split the sky. Where the blade passed, there stood the goddess. The goddess's form was cleaved in two.
It was a beautiful, swift strike.
People gaped at the sudden turn of events.
"Uh, uh......?"
But only for a moment.
The goddess's illusion, split in two, quickly restored itself. Just as slicing seawater accomplishes nothing, the goddess regained her beautiful form, exactly as before, and spoke.
[...If you wish to accept this mission, say 'Teleport.' Warriors. Then, you will take a grand stride onto the eleventh floor.]
The goddess's form still radiated light.
There was light, but the light was no longer holy.
For a god that had been torn apart once was no longer a god.
"Hm."
Sword Saint landed lightly on the bell tower roof. As on the day I first saw him at the bar, the old man wore a black suit. The aged swordsman looked up at the sky as if something displeased him, then slowly gazed down at the plaza below the bell tower.
"......"
Silence settled over the plaza.
-Hm.
My guardian spirit spoke.
-I used to do that back in the day too. See? It's an NPC, right?
I was dumbfounded.
'...You really had to confirm that to feel satisfied?'
-Yep. I don't understand people who don't confirm it, actually. When some huge thing appears, don't you just want to slash it with your sword? Isn't that just how people are?
'Good grief.'
They're all lunatics. Birds of a feather, as they say.
I enhanced my sight and hearing with aura and looked at Sword Saint, careful not to meet his eyes.
"Teleport."
Sword Saint muttered quietly. Flash! The same light the goddess emitted wrapped around the aged swordsman. Moments later, Sword Saint vanished without a trace. Only white bird droppings remained on the Italian-style bell tower roof.
"Ahahaha!"
Laughter burst from the silence-stricken plaza. The hunters turned their heads.
The source of the laughter was the Pantheon guild master, Heretic Questioner. Heretic Questioner laughed brightly.
"He's stolen the lead again! Ah! What a wonderful day!"
Heretic Questioner removed his priest's hat. He bowed politely to those watching him.
"Then I'll see you all on the 11th floor! Teleport!"
Pure white light wrapped around Heretic Questioner. The next moment, Heretic Questioner vanished. Only after blankly watching him disappear did the hunters belatedly realize.
"Uh......"
That Sword Saint and Heretic Questioner had climbed to the 11th floor one step ahead.
That was the starting point.
"T-Teleport!"
"Teleport!"
"Teleport!"
Countless hunters frantically shouted for teleportation. Flash! Pop! The plaza was instantly engulfed in bright light. Every time someone shouted, a pillar of light shot up. The pillars rising from the plaza soon multiplied into tens of thousands, illuminating the sky.
[Warriors. Those who climb the Tower.]
Even amid all that, the goddess's illusion murmured softly.
[From the eleventh floor to the twentieth floor, you will face trials. Trials of faith.]
The goddess clasped her hands to her chest.
As if offering a prayer somewhere.
[...You will find answers. The answers you find will reveal once more who you are. And so you shall come to know yourselves......]
But few people listened to the goddess's illusion. Everyone was busy. Everyone was desperate not to fall behind.
The few remaining people only raised cameras or smartphones to film the goddess's illusion.
"A shame."
Someone approached me and muttered.
The Vigilante Corps vice guild master. Paladin.
"A shame?"
"Think about it. Whoever, whatever being built this Tower, they must have put tremendous effort into it. That's probably a message left for us too. But no one cares."
Paladin wore a wistful expression.
"Normally, it would be a sight to admire and look up to a little more. The existence of this Tower, the ability to use skills—all of it should be astonishing miracles...... We've already grown used to everything by the 10th floor."
"You're unexpectedly sentimental."
"Mm. I majored in music in the outside world."
Paladin grinned, lifting the corner of her mouth.
"Does a woman from music school seem more attractive?"
"Ah... sounds like it'd be hard to make money."
"Ouch, stabbing me with facts."
We chuckled.
My guardian spirit slyly cut in between us.
-Zombie, be careful. This person is suspicious. Hm?
'Oh, what now.'
-There's no way someone would approach a loser like you without an ulterior motive. Are you handsome? Do you have a good personality? You're trash in every way. Hah, it all adds up! This person is a black-hearted con artist! One hundred percent!
This guy, seriously... No, let's just drop it.
"Excuse me!"
At that moment, people carrying cameras approached us.
They didn't seem to be reporters, but people who posted personal broadcasts on the internet.
"E-Excuse me, the man over there—are you Hunter Kim Gong-ja...?"
"Oops."
Paladin's face instantly showed annoyance.
"Seems I've drawn attention to you. Sorry, Kim Gong-ja. I'll head to the 11th floor first."
"...Wait. Did you approach me on purpose for this?"
A reasonable suspicion suddenly struck me.
Paladin's face showed she'd been caught.
"Haha, I have an eye for gauging people's sincerity, you see."
An eye for gauging people's sincerity?
Meaning she was confident in reading a person's character?
Paladin scratched the back of her head like a mischievous child.
"I talked to you because I wanted to get a quick sense of what kind of person you are. Think of it as an expression of interest."
"So what kind of person do I seem to be?"
"Mm. Well, let's just say the answer lies in your own heart. Teleport!"
Good lord.
She's openly running away.
In the end, Paladin tossed me to the reporters as bait and slipped away alone.
-Heh. See? Wasn't I right? My predictions are never wrong!
'Damn it, shut up.'
Once Paladin disappeared, people swarmed toward me even more. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by streamers and reporters.
"Hunter Kim Gong-ja! Just one word, please!"
"Is it true you cleared the 10th-floor boss solo?! There's rampant speculation that your simultaneous guild memberships were a scenario staged in advance by the major guilds!"
"There's been an official announcement that your rank is E. Many people are questioning this. Could you confirm whether the official announcement is accurate......"
"What's your relationship with Paladin of the Vigilante Corps?! You seemed very close—is there something deeper going on privately?!"
"Hunter Kim Gong-ja!"
Whoa.
'So this is the [Request of Countless Handshakes] that only comes to successful hunters......'
Now that I'd experienced it firsthand, I understood why that Flame Emperor bastard found reporters so annoying.
I deliberated over how to respond, then decided to say just one thing.
"I'll clear the 20th floor too."
"Excuse me?"
"Well then, good luck, everyone. Teleport."
Whoooosh!
White light rose from beneath my feet.
"Ah, w-wait! Hunter Kim Gong-ja!"
"No! Grab him!"
"Please, just a few more questions—"
Sorry.
I think the mysterious concept is the best.
[Those who climb the Tower.]
Just before the light fully enveloped me.
The goddess's voice echoed through the plaza one last time.
[May fortune be with you all.]
2
Flash!
The light wrapped around me faded. Slowly, my vision began to return.
The first thing that entered my sight... was a vast battlefield.
-Grrrrr!
-Squeal! Squeak!
Monsters.
Hideous creatures were swarming in from beyond the horizon. Goblins, orcs, ogres. The monsters I'd seen throughout the tutorial up to the 10th floor were now charging all at once, regardless of species.
It was a swarm like an ant colony.
"Hold them back!"
"I-Impossible! There are too many enemies!"
"Do not retreat! If we're pushed back here, the Empire is finished!"
The defensive force standing against that swarm... was a mere handful.
Was their civilization level somewhere between ancient and medieval? A group of armored soldiers was somehow holding the harbor. A last stand. With a deep river at their backs, the human soldiers resisted desperately.
"What the?"
"What's going on......?"
"Whoa! E-Everyone watch out for arrows! They're flying everywhere!"
The hunters suddenly summoned to the battlefield looked around dazedly.
It wasn't strange that the hunters were stunned. They had only ever hunted monsters in [safely prepared hunting grounds] until now; they had never experienced a hair-trigger battlefield like this.
But from the 10th floor onward, sights like this were routine.
'The tutorial has literally ended.'
A battlefield where you never knew when your head might fly off.
A fighting ground where you had to stake your life on every single floor.
"Ohhh!"
Someone approached the hunters who were flustered from being suddenly summoned. His armor was quite ornate, so he wasn't an ordinary foot soldier. This general exclaimed in admiration and spoke to us.
"Thank you! You have come to aid our Empire, heroes!"
The hunters stirred.
"Heroes? What's he talking about."
"Idiot, didn't you hear what the angel said in the plaza earlier? The Demon King is invading. We must be taking on the hero role."
"We can't hear back here!"
"Whoa, is this real? Are those soldiers actual humans or NPCs......"
"Quiet down over there!"
Murmur, murmur.
Even while the hunters chattered, reinforcements kept arriving. People pushed against people, people mingled with people. It was chaos itself.
"Heroes! Please, help us save the Empire!"
Fortunately, a few skilled individuals including myself knew how to enhance sight and hearing with aura. While the low-ranked grunts were completely out of it, a handful of hunters heard what the general NPC was saying.
"This harbor is the Empire's last lifeline. If the Imperial capital is to continue receiving supplies, we must hold this place at all costs. Heroes who have crossed over from another world! Please, defend the Aegim Empire with us!"
Then a voice rang in my head.
[The 11th-floor quest has been issued.]
Letters floated before my eyes.
+
[Supply Route Defense Battle]
Difficulty: F~A
Mission Objective: Calamity has befallen the Aegim Empire. The Demon King(魔王). A being that existed only in legends has finally raised an army. The Demon King is cunning, vicious, and powerful. He first seeks to sever the Aegim Empire's supply route.
Defend the harbor!
This battle will be the first step toward saving the Empire.
※However, if you are defeated in battle, the 12th floor will not open.
+
Seeing is believing, as they say.
"A quest......?"
"See, the Demon King really did appear."
"And where's this Aegim Empire?"
The hunters who had been confused moments ago slowly began to grasp the situation. Some hunters silently drew their weapons, while others formed teams with their comrades.
And one hunter sent a sword strike flying toward the goblins.
"Indeed."
Sword Saint, standing at the front line, muttered as he sheathed his sword.
Before him, blood sprayed. Five or six monsters lost their heads and collapsed to the ground like straw.
"...I don't know the details. But it seems I just need to cut them down."
And Sword Saint threw himself into the front line.
The dazed hunters saw this and let out battle cries.
"Waaaaah!"
"Alright! Follow Sword Saint!"
"You dog-like goblin bastards! I've taken thousands of your heads over six years!"
Thousands of hunters grabbed their weapons and charged, followed by thousands more. The defensive force that had been pushed back one-sidedly suddenly swelled in strength.
As the war turned into a brawl—
"Okay."
I was smiling from the rear.
Because a voice that no other hunter could hear was reaching me.
[Welcome, Hunter Kim Gong-ja.]
[The 10th-floor clear reward is being issued.]
A voice telling me of my own exclusive privilege.