Awakening the Thunder Emperor
The same entrance scene!
A similar process!
But the result?
Privilege Ability, Regression, has activated.
This is your twenty-third regression.
“Haaah!”
He opened his eyes.
This time, the Thunder Dragon’s claw had punched straight through his chest.
He looked around. The familiar entrance to the fourth floor. And the faces of his teammates, staring at him with worry.
“You okay?”
“Why are you suddenly covered in cold sweat…? Is it because of the wound on your back?”
And above them all…
“You rascal!”
Ha-wol’s irritated voice exploded in his head.
“Did this lady not clearly shout Ground! Why did you dodge to the right! You should have rolled left!”
You spoke too late.
“What?”
You needed to speak a little faster. There’s almost no gap between each linked attack.
Ha.
That was the problem.
If he saw it with his own eyes and reacted, he could do it almost instantly. But trying to react after hearing Ha-wol’s words naturally slowed his response speed. More steps in the information-processing chain made it inevitable.
“Si-woon?”
“Just a second.”
Hyun Si-woon steadied his breathing for a moment and went through the same procedure as before. Leaving behind instructions to train and wait here, he sprinted off again.
Privilege Ability, Regression, has activated.
This is your twenty-seventh regression.
“…….”
Hyun Si-woon opened his eyes without a word.
He had already died four more times. Even so, he had lasted quite a while this run. After dodging a great many patterns, he had even managed to climb onto the Thunder Dragon’s body. But in the final moment, Ha-wol’s mistake had left his chest pierced through.
“Kh, ahem! My apologies… This lady was looking as carefully as she could…! In any case, we saw the possibility this time, so we simply try again, do we not?”
Right. Let’s go again.
Hyun Si-woon went through a similar process and sprinted off once more.
“You refuse to give up.”
“Of course.”
If he were the type to quit after a mere handful of deaths, he never would have started in the first place. Death was not defeat. It was simply the process of gathering data for a clear.
Even while moving, he was not merely moving. Hyun Si-woon was refining perfect synchronization with Ha-wol. She learned the limits of his physical ability and reaction speed; he trained so that his body would move the instant she spoke.
Empty the head. Empty the thoughts.
He poured every nerve into her voice alone.
And so, once more, the golden sand cave.
“It’s coming! Right foreleg!”
Hyun Si-woon’s body moved half a beat faster than Ha-wol’s shout. He could now even predict the timing of her calls.
Kuuung!
The Thunder Dragon’s massive foot slammed down into the spot where he had stood a moment before, gouging a deep crater into the sand.
“Immediately! Left wing lightning!”
Pajijijik!
As Hyun Si-woon dropped low, blue lightning skimmed past his back. A few strands of hair burned away in a heart-stopping instant, but it was not a solid hit.
“Good.”
Hyun Si-woon clenched his teeth. The timing was finally locking in. The Thunder Dragon’s attacks were still murderous, yet his own movements had become incomparably fluid and precise.
At this rate… I might not even need to die as many times as I did for the Formless Sword.
Keep running!
“Tail! S-curve!”
At Ha-wol’s cry, instead of ducking under the sweeping tail, Hyun Si-woon leapt onto it.
Taat!
He slid up the tail of golden sand as if skating and vaulted onto the Thunder Dragon’s foreleg.
“Kieeeek?”
Startled by the unexpected counter, the Thunder Dragon thrashed violently. But Hyun Si-woon was already settled near its upper back. The goal was the jet-black spear driven into the crown of its head. The path there was long and brutal.
“Back mane! Surging up!”
At Ha-wol’s warning, Hyun Si-woon rolled sharply to the side.
Pabababak!
Sharp lightning spines erupted from the place he had just occupied.
“Huk.”
His breath caught in his throat. But he could not rest or hesitate. He had to stand and run at once.
“Ooooh! Well done! Now run hard! This is your chance!”
“I know!”
Hyun Si-woon raced along the Thunder Dragon’s back.
“Kiek?”
The Thunder Dragon began to go berserk. It flipped its body to shake him off, slammed into the walls, and soared into the air only to dive in a steep plunge. Yet Hyun Si-woon clung on with stubborn tenacity and, little by little, advanced toward the crown.
Wow.
A quiet gasp of admiration slipped from Ha-wol as she watched.
This is actually working.
She could scarcely believe it. A mere Ascender—a fledgling who had only just begun to sense qi—moving like this against the phantom of an ancient dragon that might once have reigned as an apex predator even among Rankers? This was not something mere knowledge of patterns could achieve. Experience carved into the body through countless deaths. An iron will that did not fear failure. And absolute trust in his partner. All of it had fused into a single miracle.
“Just a little more! We’re almost there!”
Excitement bled into Ha-wol’s voice without her realizing it.
At last Hyun Si-woon reached the space between the Thunder Dragon’s two horns. The pitch-black spear was close enough to grasp. But the dragon’s final thrashing still remained.
“Kiaaaaaaaaa!”
The Thunder Dragon roared. Blue lightning pouring from its entire body began to condense into one colossal sphere. A self-destruct technique and the final pattern—the Thunderlight Cannon that annihilated everything.
“Th-this? There was no mention of a pattern like this! The destructive power is immense!”
“I know.”
Hyun Si-woon grinned.
“I was actually waiting for this.”
In the instant before the Thunderlight Cannon fired, every one of the Thunder Dragon’s defensive mechanisms abandoned protection of the spear in its crown and turned outward. Right now. This single second. The only moment when the spear’s binding weakened.
“Hyaaaaaap!”
Facing the blue flash on the verge of explosion, Hyun Si-woon seized the spear with both hands. He wrung every last scrap of internal energy from his muscles and dantian.
Kkiigigigik!
The spear trembled minutely.
“Y-you madman! You’re going to pull it instead of dodging? Even if you succeed you’ll die anyway…!”
Ha-wol cried out in horror, but Hyun Si-woon did not hear her. His eyes saw only the spear. And then—
“Come out!”
Udeudeuk!
With a hideous tearing sound, the spear was at last wrenched free from the Thunder Dragon’s head. At the same moment—
Uuuuuuuung!
As the Thunder Dragon’s body blazed and the Thunderlight Cannon began to detonate—
You have pulled the spear.
Congratulations.
For the first time in the Tower of Despair, you awaken Noe-je.
……Noe-je!
Pajujujujujuk!
Current began to crackle at the tip of the blade, and in an instant it started to suck in the blue torrent of annihilation.
Kwagagagagaga!
Space itself screamed. A vast vortex formed around the spear tip, and the Thunder Dragon’s exploding power was helplessly dragged into it.
Puseuseuseuseu!
The sand-formed shape of the Thunder Dragon lost its light and crumbled away. With it, Hyun Si-woon’s body naturally dropped downward.
“Huuuh……!”
Ha-wol could only stare blankly at the sight. And then—
◈ This weapon is the only one of its kind that exists in the Tower of Despair.
At last he had obtained the hidden spear. Its name: the Thunder Dragon Spear. In the days of the Tower of Despair game, this too had been marked ???????(???).
Let’s check it out.
Type: Spear
Grade: Normal (Growth-type)
Trait: The soul of the departed, Noe-je the Thunder Emperor, resides within the spear.
Attack Power: 0
Durability: ∞ (Indestructible)
* Latent Ability
Manifestation of the Thunder Emperor: Summons Noe-je into reality.
Summon Duration: 5 seconds
Cooldown: 30 days
(※ Effects strengthen as the spear grows.)
“Whoa.”
Even Hyun Si-woon was seeing this description for the first time. Manifestation of the Thunder Emperor? Unlike Ha-wol, who appeared as a spirit, did this ability actually call him here in the flesh?
“Y-you rascal.”
Having recovered her wits, Ha-wol showed interest.
“What in the world was that just now? And what is that spear? Let this lady know as well!”
Her gaze was fixed on the Thunder Dragon Spear in Hyun Si-woon’s hand. She had clearly seen it: the catastrophic energy the Thunder Dragon had been about to unleash as its final thrashing—energy even a High Ranker would not have survived head-on—had been swallowed whole by that spear in an instant.
“I don’t really know either. First time seeing it.”
Whoosh!
He gave the spear a light swing. No spirit appeared or anything of the sort.
“Well, it says Noe-je is sleeping inside… Ha-wol, he’s a Ranker similar to you, right?”
“……What did you say?”
In that instant Ha-wol’s spirit form rippled like a wave. Her pupils shook violently, as if an earthquake had struck.
“What did you just say! Say it one more time!”
“What? Noe-je?”
“N-Noe-je, you say? Truly, Noe-je is in there? How in the world is that existence sealed away in a corner of the Tower’s fourth floor……”
“Is he famous?”
“Famous? Of course he is famous! He is a legendary ancient Ranker who existed before the Tower Lord’s generation, you rascal!”
Ha-wol’s cry echoed through the empty cave.
“I had only heard that he vanished from history for some reason. There were rumors he rebelled against the Tower’s order and was purged by the Tower Lord of that era, and other tales that he had departed for a higher dimension…… Yet…… to think such a being was sealed here…… Heh heh heh, heh heh!”
Ha-wol clutched her head as if in confusion. Noe-je was one thing, but…… what on earth was this disciple who casually stirred up secrets of the Tower that even Rankers did not know? Finding the path of the banished dead where she herself had been exiled had already been enough to leave her speechless; now he had dragged out an ancient ghost who belonged only in the pages of history. At this rate, on the next floor he might grab the vanished previous Tower Lord by the collar and haul him out as well.
Ha-wol swallowed dryly without realizing it. She felt a faint prickle of fear. Could she truly handle this disciple of hers?
Sensing that gaze, Hyun Si-woon grinned.
“Anyway, if it’s Noe-je…… he could beat someone like Penlark easily, right?”
“What?”
Ha-wol was so flabbergasted she could barely breathe.
“How dare you compare an ancient Dragon King to some neighborhood mutt. Do not ask such idiotic questions that are not even worth answering. Of course, this lady has never witnessed Noe-je’s power firsthand either, but……”
“Okay.”
Ha-wol’s reaction alone was enough for him to grasp how excellent this opportunity was. Now he would simply have to keep climbing the Tower and grow this weapon step by step.
“First, let’s head up.”
Hyun Si-woon stored the Thunder Dragon Spear in his inventory. At once the golden sands that had remained where the Thunder Dragon vanished began to stir. The grains gathered as if alive, swirling together, then surged upward toward the cave ceiling and formed a colossal pillar. The sand pillar did not stop; it hardened firmly and transformed into a single spiral staircase.
“Ooh, this is……?”
“The way up.”
If they climbed all the way, they would emerge at the center of that giant rock island he had seen before.
“Huu.”
Hyun Si-woon let out a breath. Now he would have to lead the members all the way from the beginning again. Originally it would have felt lonely, but…… perhaps because he had the spear? It was not so bad.
He had already obtained the single most important thing he needed from the fourth floor.