This Is a Real Fireball
When the light faded, a vast circular arena lay revealed before him. High stone walls enclosed it on every side, the stands stood utterly empty, and at the far end a massive iron gate waited, shut fast.
A message rose before Woojin's eyes.
Boss Hunt
Defeat the boss monster, the Ogre King.
With a heavy rumble, the iron gate ground open to left and right. Out of the dark came ponderous footsteps.
Thud.
Thud.
What emerged a moment later was a giant fully five meters tall. Thick green hide sheathed a torso slabbed with muscle, and in one hand it carried an iron mace the size of a man's body.
The floor shuddered as the Ogre King stepped into the arena.
"GRAAAAAAH—!"
The roar shook the whole of the arena.
The fifth floor was the first boss floor novice hunters ever met. The foes from the first floor through the fourth might come in numbers, but in the end they were ordinary monsters. The Ogre King was different. Its thick hide turned aside all but the heaviest blows, and every swing of that mace broke a front line.
For a party of ten, the orthodox method of bringing it down was as follows.
1. Shield-bearing hunters draw its aggro from the front while the rest scatter in every direction.
2. The instant after the Ogre King swings its mace, strike the opening it leaves — then scatter again.
3. Repeat until the Ogre King falls.
Simple enough to say. In practice, one or two mistakes were all it took to collapse the formation, and a collapsed formation almost always ended in a wipe.
"A step up from the lot downstairs, at least."
Woojin raised a hand.
Flame flared, and an ordinary Fireball — the sort any common mage would cast — bloomed above his palm. With nothing added to it, the Fireball flew for the Ogre King's chest and burst. The giant rocked back a step.
That was all. Where the fire died, only a faint scorch remained on the hide.
"Hrk?"
The Ogre King looked down at its own chest, then split the corner of its mouth in a long, mocking grin.
So that's the power of an ordinary Fireball.
A Fireball's cooldown was thirty seconds. Loose one, and until it reloaded the rest of the party had to stake their lives on holding back the mace. Utterly useless. Dead weight. Nothing but a burden. It was the reason mages couldn't endure, and turned to other classes.
The Ogre King seized its mace. The huge body launched forward with a boom, far faster than that bulk had any right to be.
Woojin did not move. Blue current cracked from his fingertips, and Lightning speared out to meet the charge.
It was not one thick bolt. Current split into dozens of fine threads and raced over the Ogre King's whole body — shoulder and elbow, knee and ankle. Wherever motion lived, the blue current clung.
"GWAAAK!"
The Ogre King forced its right arm up, muscle writhing under the hide. The current along that arm flared harder still. Stiffened muscle would not obey, and the arm holding the mace simply stopped where it was.
Enraged, it stepped in on its left leg. This time the current wound about the knee flashed. The massive body lurched, and the Ogre King braced, refusing to fall. But every time it moved, the current discharged hard along that very place, biting deeper the more strength it poured in.
In the end the Ogre King froze in the posture of a swing, mace still raised. Blue fire crackled and spat across every inch of its body.
Woojin regarded the stilled giant for a moment.
"That should do."
He opened his right hand. A span above his palm, a mass of fire bloomed. At first it was an ordinary Fireball.
Compress.
Mana condensed to an extreme, and the flames shrank in a rush until the orb was no larger than a fist.
Rotate.
Following the flow of mana, the fire began to spin. A low hum rose as it traced a tight circle at tremendous speed, and before long the flame had shifted into a searing blue-white — the same form that had wiped out the orcs on the second floor in a single blow.
But he was not finished.
Woojin drew in the mana drifting through the air around him. The superheated flame began to burn every wisp it touched, taking it in as fuel. With a roaring rush, mana enough to shape dozens of Fireballs poured into the small orb.
The Fireball shuddered violently. Inside it, a force that seemed ready to burst free at any moment crashed and collided in a frenzy, and each time the flame heaved, the air around it was driven back. Woojin forced mana in to the very limit. The trembling grew fiercer. It looked a single step from detonation.
And then, at a certain instant, it stopped.
All motion ceased. The flame that had raged so savagely went calm, as if the fury had been a lie. Above Woojin's hand a small, sleek sphere floated in silence, only the faintest tremor left upon its surface.
At a glance, the fire seemed to have weakened. But the stone floor around him was slowly melting. Rock that had glowed red was already turning to lava.
Woojin looked at the finished Fireball. A form he had used countless times in his previous life. In this state, pressed to the limit, a single handful more of mana would make it explode.
He extended his hand. For an instant, time itself seemed to stop. The small flame flew without a sound.
The Ogre King's pupils shook. It tried to move, to dodge — and the current latched across its body flashed once more.
The Fireball touched its chest.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
And then—
The world went white.
Compressed flame of monstrous power detonated all at once. The Ogre King's enormous form vanished into the blast, and the fire that had swallowed it did not stop; it swept straight on through everything behind. Arena floor along the path of the explosion heaved upward. A section of the thick stone wall came crashing down. The shockwave swallowed the arena whole and raked the empty stands.
A moment later, the flames slowly drew back.
Where the Ogre King had stood, only two legs remained. The entire upper body was gone without a trace. Beyond them lay melted floor and a stone wall gouged deep — a destructive power beyond any comparison with the Fireball he had used on the second floor.
As Woojin took in the sight, a message rose before him.
You have defeated the boss monster, the Ogre King.
You have cleared Floor 5.
Calculating clear rank.
5,000 gold has been paid as a clear reward.
South Korea's Grace Period increases by 30 days.
He now held twelve thousand gold. Even after buying Ice Spear, two thousand would remain.
"I might reclaim my past life's power faster than I thought."
Woojin left the fifth floor and made for the magic skill-book shop.
The shopkeeper was dozing, slumped over the counter.
"Hello."
"Welco—"
The shopkeeper lifted his head, and his eyes went wide.
"Dekaron?"
"Yes."
The shopkeeper shot to his feet.
"You're here already?"
"I came to buy Ice Spear."
"Ice Spear?"
"Yes."
The shopkeeper stared at the clock on the wall for a long time. Woojin frowned, puzzled.
"Is the clock broken?"
"No."
"Then why?"
"You entered the Tower for the first time today, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"And just now the fifth-floor notice went out."
"Yes."
"And that was you, Dekaron?"
"I believe so."
"......"
The shopkeeper gripped the counter for a moment. Lately, far too many things had been making him lightheaded.
"How did you clear the fifth floor?"
"I took it down with a Fireball."
"The Ogre King?"
"Yes."
"By yourself?"
"Yes."
The shopkeeper's gaze dropped to Woojin's hands.
"A Fireball can't even properly pierce an Ogre King's hide..."
"So I noticed."
"And you killed it anyway?"
"Yes."
"......"
What kind of conversation am I even having?
The shopkeeper had run out of words.
The fifth floor was a place where even ten novice hunters, banded into a party, had to stake their lives. A mage's role among them was never large. Loose a few Fireballs, and you counted yourself lucky to leave soot on the Ogre King's hide. And a mage like that had killed the Ogre King alone — a man who had walked into the Tower for the first time today.
The shopkeeper stared at Woojin for a long while. He couldn't begin to guess what had been done, or how. But of one thing he was certain. The young man standing in front of him was not like any mage he had ever known.
"Um, the Ice Spear skill book, please."
"Ah— yes!"
Only then did the shopkeeper come back to himself and hurry to the display case. A moment later he returned with the Ice Spear skill book in hand.
"Ten thousand gold."
Woojin produced the gold. Coins stacked neatly on the counter, one atop another, and with practiced fingers the shopkeeper began to count them.
"Exactly ten thousand."
Satisfied, he carefully held out the Ice Spear skill book. Woojin took it.
Will you use it?
The skill book turned to blue light and vanished.
You have learned the skill Ice Spear.
Woojin closed the message and turned to go.
"I'll be on my way, then."
"Ah, one moment."
Woojin looked back. The shopkeeper hesitated, then asked.
"Will you come again?"
"If I need another spell."
"I see."
The shopkeeper's face brightened a little.
"I'll be waiting."
"All right."
Woojin inclined his head and left the shop.
The door closed, and the shopkeeper stood where he was for a while. Then he went to the display case.
"What will he come to buy next..."
He considered it a moment, looking over the skill books set in the case, and starting with the nearest he took them out one by one and began to polish them. He couldn't have said why. He was simply certain that customer would come back.
The Tower Management Bureau Situation Room.
The staff were waiting on nothing but the result from the fifth floor. Before long, an alert sounded.
Challenger Dekaron has cleared Floor 5.
Clear Rank: S
The Situation Room Director asked.
"How long did it take?"
"One minute and thirteen seconds."
"If ten people go in, how long does it usually take?"
"Thirty minutes, if they're fast."
"Hah."
A moment later, a reconstructed image of the fifth floor after the battle came up on the screen. Melted floor. A collapsed stone wall. And in the center, two legs left standing all alone.
The Situation Room Director asked again.
"The Ogre King?"
An analyst enlarged the image.
"Only the legs are left. There."
"And the rest?"
"Gone."
"Right."
He wasn't even surprised anymore. The Situation Room Director nodded, perfectly calm.
Then the staffer compiling Dekaron's fifth-floor record shot up from their seat.
"Director!"
"What?"
"The 65th-floor expedition is returning!"
The Situation Room Director's face hardened as he checked the time. South Korea's elite vanguard — missing without a word for a full week after entering the sixty-fifth floor.
"Put it on screen."
The main screen switched to the sixty-fifth floor's exit. Light flashed.
A single person tumbled out onto the ground. It was a man drenched in blood. More than half his armor had been torn away, and one arm hung limp at his side. Cradled against him was an unconscious woman — the vanguard's only mage, a hunter the government and the guilds had poured enormous resources into raising.
No one came out after them.
There was no one else.
The Situation Room Director rose from his seat.
"......That's all?"
The staffer couldn't answer.
Twelve had gone in. Twelve of the strongest hunters in South Korea. Only two had come back, and one of those two wasn't even conscious.
"Get a medical team out there, now!"
The situation room became chaos in an instant. People ran for the exit. The blood-soaked man staggered upright.
South Korea's Rank 1 Hunter. Kang Hyunsoo.
The Situation Room Director seized the radio.
"Hunter Kang Hyunsoo!"
Kang Hyunsoo lifted his head. Eyes gone unfocused stared into empty air.
"The rest of the team?"
His lips parted, barely.
"They're dead."
The situation room went silent.
"What... dead?! Which of them died?!"
"......All of them."
From all around the room came the sound of people sucking in startled breaths.
Kang Hyunsoo looked down at the unconscious woman.
"Only the two of us..."
The broken voice went on.
"We ran."
The strongest hunter in South Korea had said he ran, leaving his comrades behind. Understanding that would take time.
The Situation Room Director asked, his voice shaking.
"Then the assault on the sixty-fifth floor is..."
Kang Hyunsoo shook his head, strengthless.
"It's impossible."
Fear showed in his eyes for the first time.
"With the strength we have now..."
Kang Hyunsoo clenched his teeth.