Chapter 221
Chapter 221
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 221
Chapter Title: Clash of Legendary Classes
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"Merely a single climber like you!!"
Gauti Bor Warden could sense the faint mana and ether emanating from the 【Duelist】, and no matter how she had managed to climb up to the 80th floor.
He was absolutely certain that with that level of skill, she couldn't possibly defeat his EX-rank adjudicated class.
─Typical classes are selected by the tower based on talent, and afterward, one advances by avoiding mistakes or adapting accordingly.
And about 70% of climbers find their class growth ambiguous or subtle, barely achieving their second job change before hitting a wall.
From that point on, the clear limit becomes apparent—you need a party just to keep climbing.
Those who push through to complete their second job change and thoroughly hone themselves qualify for a third job change or to obtain a 【Divine Authority】.
In the first place, climbing the tower is the path to ascension for becoming a god—that's the essence of being a climber.
It's only natural that opportunity doesn't come to those who can't even manage themselves.
That's why 【Legendary Classes】 were special.
They hadn't existed before, making their very existence extraordinary.
Now the towers assign ranks to their classes.
【God of the Arriving Raven】, 【Martial Sovereign】, 【Man-Eater】, and 【Holy Swordsman】 are undoubtedly the pinnacle among them, deemed the strongest with their 【EX】 authorities.
The minimum is F-rank.
The buggy idol class that lacks any authority despite being Legendary is thus G-rank.
But ultimately, the scale is based on the strength and uniqueness of the authority.
The 【Artist】, which can never kill an opponent and thus can't climb even a single floor alone due to its absurd constraints, possesses the power to elevate and distort reality itself into art.
The more distinctly superior their unique power compared to other classes, the more they can wield their authority itself, independent of ether.
By fulfilling the minimal 【Conditions】, they naturally use their 【Divine Authority】 while climbing.
As a result, their thought processes change, their personalities shift, or they become uncontrollable entities that defy common sense.
That's why the [Arbiter] created the [Six Demonic Beasts] to restrain them.
To protect from the [Guardians] while ensuring they don't cause massive chaos in the world.
Types like the 【Satanist】 exist whose 【Divine Authority】 operates independently, drawing power by obtaining a 【Toll】.
Similarly, the 【Duelist】 reads the tower's records and manifests them through a toll.
That power is so consumptive it vanishes after one use, and even as she climbs the tower with skills, the risks would never change, just like with Wakamo or the Satanist.
But on the flip side.
No matter which floor you go to, a 【Duelist】's combat power never changes.
Just like the Satanist, what matters is─the number of 【Cards】 in possession.
The complete opposite of the Artist: a class that hasn't climbed a single floor yet holds the potential to defeat even Wakamo Inarizushi.
Climbers ascending the tower always face irrational trials.
─In other words, there's no such thing as absolute superiority among climbers' matchups.
But among Legendary Classes, matchups do exist.
Because the more special they are, the more possibilities open up, and the greater the accompanying demerits!
.....
...
"Talking big about killing climbers weaker than yourself and monsters that can't even scratch you, like it's some grand feat."
It was utterly pathetic, the way she screamed like she was a true god despite wielding 【Ether】 and even using her authority.
"That's why you lost to our President, you pathetic little shit."
"Sheeeet!! Architect bro!! Don't be cute with him—he might start bawling for his mommy, the orphan. Look at him, he's got the brains of a rock, right?"
"Oh, really? Did you even finish elementary school?"
Having gained power in childhood meant no need to respect adults or learn manners.
"Maybe he's just been consumed by his authority?"
Even to Xiao Liang, the kid's over-the-top arrogance and madness seemed off somehow.
Gauti screamed at his summoned ice undead to kill them, in response to the Architect and Oracle's blatant mockery and taunts.
Robert charged forward faster and bolder than anyone toward the advancing undead.
"Elisei-kun!! I'll buy time!! You don't have to repay the 【Tower Coins】!"
"Is that really okay?!"
"It's an offering for the pitiful dead!!"
"Ugh, what a cool guy…!"
Unlike his burly build, Robert was pure American hardboiled. He transferred all his Tower Coins to Elisey Bon.
The more sacrifices, the better the quality and speed of the demons you could summon.
"I don't need Tower Coins either! I've got gold!"
"Heh heh heh, this is what we've been saving these damn things for! Curse that constellation!"
Elisey Bon received Tower Coins from the Architect and Oracle too, immediately preparing his demon summon.
Gauti's eyes rolled back at the ominous aura rising from him, crafting a divine spear and hurling it—but the Oracle's skill deflected its trajectory, piercing harmlessly into the ground.
Even a spear blessed with infallible accuracy couldn't escape the "Fixed Future."
"Fighting with such predictable patterns—aren't you too reliant on raw power?"
"Rise, 【ᛞᚱᚨᚢᚷᚱ】s!!"
Beyond the corpses of dead climbers, armed draugr began pouring out from the depths of the flung-open Helheim castle.
"Release the 【ᚷᚨᚱᛗᚱ】!! 【ᚨᛚᛒᛁᛉ】s who lead the light at the call of the gods—pierce them!!"
Light began fading from the climbers' corpses.
Offering their dead flesh and using their possessions as endless cost to summon more minions.
Compared to other classes that required massive prep and effort, this seemed utterly unrestricted.
Not even the giant warrior with the lightning storm hammer from the war appeared.
"Is this because of the tower's update? Every generation with awakened 【Ascender】 blood acts like this?"
Vast hordes of hunting hounds burst forth, naked elves enchanting and seducing men rose with bows.
Robert busily worked his dual guns, smashing armed draugr while eyeing them.
He boldly flipped his body toward the hunting hounds lunging for his ankles and nape.
An agility unimaginable from his massive frame!!
Like a breakdancer, Robert spun windmills, whipping arms and legs to batter the hounds away.
Then came the merciless barrage.
Bullets precisely targeting vitals dropped corpses and hounds in an instant.
"Even if it doesn't look it!! This is all muscle!!"
Burnt and torn pants revealed [Boot Revolvers] at the cuffs, Robert striking poses with revolvers in both hands.
Firing guns, swinging fists with the recoil, elbow strikes, knee kicks launching foes, mid-air flips with windmill barrages—he rampaged across the battlefield.
"As expected from my little sister's recommendation! Trust level up!!"
The [Shooter]'s skills ensured no friendly fire.
Xiao Liang wielded Eight Thunder Swords against burning corpses amid the flames everywhere.
Her swinging sword and spear in the other hand—she'd kick the spear shaft up or wrap it around her ankle to unleash Flame King Spear Arts.
Executing Flying Sword Energy to deflect all elf arrows, she unfurled a fan from her waist, swinging fiercely to scatter hidden weapons and poison mist.
Elves pierced by venom needles melted; hounds toppled into spreading poison mist.
"Durability check complete!! Sadly, my structures have mysteriously high [Skill] priority, kid!!!"
And Jackson, single-handedly pressuring Gauti ferociously.
Ignoring distance, hammer swings shattered nail barriers.
Just as he attacked, Jackson erased structures with his hammer to trap him, dumping dangerous items from inventory—chain explosions to crushing weight, trying to squash him.
"Immune to radiation too? Didn't school teach you how hazardous industrial waste is? Even gods can't tank lava or acid!!"
Jackson smashed rising giant towers with his hammer, launching them like ranged attacks in rapid succession.
Shattering them spilled water, lava, exploding generators, or radiation from within.
──Flash!
And then, a [Future Scene] flashed through the entire party's minds.
Robert rolls forward to dodge a falling thunderbolt.
Xiao Liang deflects sharp ice spears from Helheim castle with Taiji Fist.
Jackson hurls nails to pin and block shadow blades rising from sudden fissures.
"Ooh, I can see it!! Hot damn, hahaha!! Let me read your fortune—for free! Your luck today… lightning from a clear sky!!"
Kwaaaaaang!!!
A pillar of light struck from the layer's ceiling—where no sky existed—swallowing Gauti.
The prophet's death sentence, intense enough to melt Jackson's structures and collapse Helheim's space.
"Like that Seimei guy, I wanna declare instant death, but his fate is too strong!!"
"Meaning if he doesn't die here, we're in trouble, right?!"
"Yeah! You hear that, card girl?!"
Xiao Liang and Robert fought desperately, but the numbers were still overwhelming.
Yet the prophet shouted at the one outsider pushing solo, matching their efforts.
In response, she simply drew a new card.
"I summon [★2 Vampire Hunter Hikari]!"
She'd summoned a 5-star Minotaur and multiplied it with [Proliferate] to press forward, but switched tactics with one card.
The hearty young man in a red coat charged at her finger-point.
His whip dissolved hounds and draugr into black fragments without warning.
"Urk, what?!"
Gauti, runes and gear shields depleted from direct lightning hits, gasping as he turned to the reaper cleaving through the horde.
One summon crushed over 200, clearing a path.
Elves summoned spirits and fired arrows from behind, but the Duelist summoned a mirror to reflect them back.
"[★2 Vampire Hunter Hikari]'s special effect! Destroys undead-type monsters, including darkness attributes, without battle!"
"You know your cards, huh, miss?!"
Thanks to collector Yung Wei forcing her to learn, Xiao Liang noticed and shouted.
She'd been gauging enemy attributes from the start. Breaking through with minimal cards!
"Damn it—come forth!! Thunder God!! 【ᚦᚢᚾᚱᚨᛉ】!!"
"This moment!! Now that the opponent has declared a special summon!! I activate my pre-set card!!"
In the heat of battle, Gauti couldn't track what the Duelist was doing.
"[★6 Copycat]'s effect lets me randomly duplicate one of my cards! Here, I activate [★1 Lucky Constellation]!"
"Even a prophet like me couldn't foresee it!! Your luck is at its peak today, miss!!"
A bare [☆]-marked card generated in the Duelist's hand, glowing brightly.
Thunder roared simultaneously, and the giant thunder god warrior—hammer from the war against Wakamo—descended, cracking the floor and blasting the party with summon shockwaves alone.
Robert threw a rope to yank Xiao Liang's waist; Jackson created an air slide, safely evacuating them behind a wall.
"It's coming!"
But from afar, the hammer swing toward their wall collapsed it with shockwaves; the penetrating strike sent them tumbling as lightning poured down.
"Ugh!"
Xiao Liang desperately hurled her spear to block; Robert lobbed a bomb—but the thunderclouds' bolts were too many.
Just as they seemed about to be devoured by the all-consuming lightning.
"I offer the field monster as tribute and call forth the god!! Come!! [☆12 Ecstatic Madness Odin]!!!"
The summoned beast vanished, a massive god emerging above amid a lightning storm, flaunting its majesty.
Its mere presence exuded overwhelming pressure, ether so thick authority holders choked.
And it didn't take long to realize—that was the opponent's 【Divine Authority】 itself.
Just like how the Korean tower summoned the Arbiter through records.
"I activate Field Spell! [★5 Greece 77th Floor - Warriors' Battlefield]!!"
"Blast it quick, Thunder God!! 【ᛏᚺᚢᚾᛞᛖᚱᛒᛟᛚᛏ】!!"
Gauti, unnerved by the ominous presence, wrapped his 【Divine Spear】 in lightning for even greater speed and precise guidance—even if it missed or hit ground, runes would magnetize and pierce.
The massive lightning giant hurled a hammer its own size per its master's will, storm coiling behind.
But all bounced harmlessly without touching.
"Greece 77th Floor forbids ranged attacks—idiot! Next, Field Spell! [★4 Korea 61st Floor - Demonic Lava Ground]!!"
Helheim vanished; suffocating heat followed.
Gauti screamed and leaped as his feet touched the unbearable, mind-numbing lava.
The lightning giant burned and sank just standing.
Only the Duelist's [God Card] stood loftily, gazing down.
"Your class strength, skill strength—all rendered meaningless because the user is trash. Not a god, just a bag of bones?"
"Stop using those cheat cards!!!"
Invincible as it seemed, Duelists inevitably struggled in prolonged wars.
Against monsters, fine—but climber battles changed the rules.
Gauging her remaining deck, she glanced at the recovered party and drew.
"Go, Odin!! [Heaven's Judgment]!!"
A 【Divine Spear】 dwarfing Gauti's revealed its perfect, elegant form.
Rune-etched haft, blade of unknowable material flowing blood-red─Odin drew 【Gungnir】, hurling it at Gauti, only for the lightning giant to intercept and dissolve.
"Don't give her time to summon cards and it's over!!"
Correct.
A piercing gaze flowed from her eyes.
Intent on closing distance, snapping her neck with crushing grip—but a card stabbed his palm with a squelch.
A normal climber wouldn't flinch at such an attack.
"Ow ow ow ow!!!"
Gauti wailed like a child at the deeply embedded card in his palm.
"With [★2 Card Change]'s effect, I call a monster of the same rank from my deck!!"
The card vanished from Gauti's palm as a meteor crashed from above, erupting in a blizzard.
"Ahh—I didn't want to use this here!!"
Descending was a half-human, half-dragon.
Iosif Khan, in a mystical form blooming with 【Divine Authority】, spread wings and tail, glaring with dragon eyes.
Gauti froze from the mere [Dragon Fear] effect, sweating coldly.
"Watch closely! And don't tell a soul!!"
Beyond dragon transformation, harnessing only the strengths of dragon and human in perfect hybrid form.
Not as an idol, but the true form of an Ascender crushing foes as a climber through authority.
"[★12 Holy Light Dragon Iosif Khan]!!"
Undoubtedly the strongest reward from the tower!!
Iosif Khan's ultimate killer form and final form!! The finisher he'd wanted to show but kept forgetting!
"If word got out I could summon this… other fans would demand their Oshi show theirs too!!"
Iosif casually kicked aside Gauti's swung holy spear, shattering it, then spread his wings.
Even if Gauti's authority was strong, Iosif overwhelmingly surpassed in combat power and floor gap.
Much less a self-proclaimed god who was just a 15-year-old human kid losing to a dragon.
"End it─"
About to command the killing blow, but Iosif parried a charging ambush.
A massive greatsword, armor evoking a holy knight.
"Gabriel Valentino?"
The Oracle named the man who'd been a 【Champion】 class; his head turned.
Human in form, but wrong—that wasn't a living being.
A stark SS initial branded like a stigma.
"Tch!"
Exorcists with wings—two angels—appeared. Iosif Khan parried the ragged oni swinging its club.
Single-handedly repelling over 10 suddenly appearing Legendary Classes, she withdrew toward allies with her summoner.
"Weak to group fights?"
"Rules are different—these are all monsters, not climbers."
"More precisely, corpses."
Around 20; faces the Architect Jackson recognized were mixed in. Xiao Liang recognized some too.
Two months ago, she'd heard one withered to a cripple from power backlash, died, and was buried nameless.
"Martial Sovereign…!!"
A mummy wielding a sword festooned with mechanical devices—face shriveled, but unmistakable.
"He didn't come alone!"
Robert freaked; he'd thought the rumored 【Final Battalion】 mere conspiracy.
Unlike [Guardians], they wore black uniforms, encircling and protecting Gauti.
─"Don't you need those bastards' corpses too?"
That line was as good as confirmation.
"Robert, know anything?"
"Hmm~ There's nonsense like the [Guardians]'s backers being Nazis. Black tower design resembles Babel's library, cities on Atlantis or the moon's far side—that's all the conspiracy crap I know."
Corpses with [Ether Generators] attached moving was beyond eerie—grotesque.
Masked black-clad figures in SS uniforms were no less ominous.
Some felt like climbers; others seemed [human].
Could six handle them?
"Demon of hell!! Answer the call as per contract!!"
After 30 minutes of fierce duel, the protected Satanist shouted, having prepared his summon.
Using all supported Tower Coins as cost, his blood-drawn demon circle emitted eerie light.
The Architect threw up walls to trap the charging mob, buying time—but Martial Sovereign's demonic slashes effortlessly cleaved them.
Xiao Liang parried, but all opponents were 【Legendary Classes】.
Even without reaching authority in life, Ether Generators forcibly injected ether for feeble use.
As the Duelist pondered using her necklaced card and reached for her deck.
"Come, 【Golden Demon】!!"
The barely completed summon birthed a golden demon.
Nude fiend with flowing gold locks, horns like dripping branches.
Over a million Tower Coins as cost; it wove golden branches into a spear and hurled it.
Silently, shocklessly, the spear vanished from its hand—and charging monsters and freaks turned to gold.
Soon, tens of thousands of coins rained down, foes vanishing.
Only Martial Sovereign snatched Gauti, barely dodging.
"Amazing, that's the power of Legendary #4!!"
"One shot and done?!"
"Told you!!"
Grinning, the demon left gold behind, promising to return, then melted away.
"Shit! Shit!"
Sensing defeat, Gauti fled the opposite way.
Did he still intend to climb? The party pursued desperately.
"Using all murdered Legendary Classes as materials for an army?!"
"If they can turn people into monsters, that's hardly impossible!"
"Truly horrific."
"Year-end concert threats must be eliminated."
"You guys!! Take me too!!!"
Robert mounted a summoned horse; Xiao Liang matched on foot.
Grumbling Jackson paved paths with architecture skills; the Duelist chased purely on her own power.
Only the Oracle lagged from stamina drain.
Robert lassoed and hauled the pleading man onto the horse's rear.
"A white sheriff roping a black man— this okay?"
"White guy hanging with a KKK-looking dude in blackface vibes is fine?"
No time for disbelief, they ascended toward the dreaded 90th floor.
Above, bosses even association heads couldn't breach awaited.
──What if they could use those bosses' corpses too?
That dread forced their pursuit.