Tower of Despair, Floor 4 (8)
“Haaah!”
A breath of pure relief burst from Baek Yeon-ho’s lips.
I knew it was there, but…
The fight had been so chaotic he’d completely forgotten about it. Shame flooded him in the same instant.
Without this… that last hit would’ve been critical.
He might even have died.
He had volunteered to take the lead. He’d sworn he could handle things without Hyun Si-woon—that he wouldn’t become a burden. And this was the result?
“Arrows! Throw them to me!”
There was no time for self-reproach. Kang Si-a was already sprinting. In that single heartbeat, she had no intention of letting the opening slip away.
“R-right!”
Baek Yeon-ho ran as well, scooped an arrow off the ground, and hurled it with everything he had toward her distant figure.
And in that moment—
Silent as a cat. Trace-less as a shadow.
Kang Si-a’s footwork transformed. Soundless. Weightless.
Sssst!
She recovered the arrow hanging in the air with liquid grace—and in the same motion rolled, nocked, and loosed.
With a hawk’s eye, read every motion—and sever the origin of the flow like a talon.
It wasn’t perfect, but the form was there. Arrows fired from different stances, different angles, all buried themselves dead-center in Argos’s eye.
—KRAAAAAAAAH!
Argos roared in a final, desperate thrash. Its colossal single eye flooded blood-red and began to drink every scrap of mana from the surrounding air.
The precursor to its area-of-effect instant-kill: the Gaze of Destruction.
Baek Yeon-ho went pale and shouted.
“That’s the one-shot kill I told you about! To dodge it, everyone has to get behind a pillar!”
But Kang Si-a did not run. She stopped where she stood, as if she had been waiting for this exact moment, and drew her bowstring all the way to the limit.
“What the hell are you—!”
Baek Yeon-ho cried out, but the conversation she’d had with Hyun Si-woon a few days earlier was already sliding through her mind.
Argos? Not hard. Just watch for the instant-kill. Normally you hide behind the pillars, but… we’ve got Kang Si-a on the team, so there’s an easier way.
What’s that?
When it gathers mana for the Gaze of Destruction, look closely at the pupil. You’ll see a tiny core that isn’t visible the rest of the time. Hit that, and the skill cancels—and it goes into a long groggy state. Finish it then.
Whoa… how do you even know that?
You just figure it out after you’ve killed it enough times.
Back then it had sounded like a joke—or a story from some distant future. But right now, Kang Si-a believed every word. His knowledge had never been off by even a hair.
“……!”
Every nerve in her body locked onto Argos’s vast single eye. The blood-soaked iris. The crimson energy swirling inside it. And then—
…I see it.
Just as Hyun Si-woon had said. At the heart of the vortex, a single point of light began to shine from the pupil, crystalline and pure.
And hitting that? For Kang Si-a, it was child’s play.
Ping!
A silver flash split the air.
Thuck!
The arrow did not miss. With a dull, wet sound, it punched straight through the core.
—Kh… khuh…?!
Argos’s roar cut off. The annihilating light gathering in its eye guttered and died. Its enormous body went rigid, then began to sway, dazed and reeling.
“Now!”
Kang Si-a’s shout was the starting gun. None of them understood exactly what had just happened—but this was the opening.
“Go!”
“Finish it!”
The whole team charged as one. And at last, the giant body toppled forward, shaking the earth.
BOOM!
You have defeated the Watcher, Argos.
You have cleared Floor 4 of the Tower of Despair.
“W-we cleared it…!”
“We actually cleared it…”
“Whoa…”
Hwang Dae-un’s legs gave out and he sat down hard. A boss fight without Hyun Si-woon. The pressure had been beyond anything they could have imagined.
“Ha… hahaha!”
“We did it ourselves…”
The moment the tension snapped, strength drained from their bodies as if it had never been there. Hearts hammered wildly; ragged breathing was the only sound left in the empty space.
And outside, standing beyond the exit, Hyun Si-woon saw the clear messages appear in his own vision as well.
They did it.
Every stat had risen by one again.
Ten thousand TC apiece. An enormous sum—and yet, given the difficulty of Floor 4, it almost felt expected.
Privilege Ability activated.
Save Point has been set to the present moment.
Now…
It was time to leave the Tower. A measure of satisfaction warmed him, but something in his chest still sat heavy.
There’s nowhere left to retreat.
Penlark. The rematch with that thing was still waiting.
Clearing a floor brought you out through the exit—at the rear of the Tower. Fortunately, that far was still a safe zone under the Executors’ jurisdiction. Even Penlark couldn’t enter there.
The problem was everything after. To return to their base, Eden Camp, they would have to leave the safe zone. And Penlark would be waiting outside. The tenacity and obsession of the Hound race. Ha-wol’s warning still rang in his ears. That creature would never give up.
There won’t be any negotiation.
They had already tricked him once. The moment they met, the odds of a savage attack without a word of dialogue were high.
“Everyone stay here.”
Hyun Si-woon told his team. This fight he had to take alone. Moving with everyone would only be cumbersome—and produce meaningless casualties.
“You’re not seriously going alone?”
“You’re going to fight that Ranker, aren’t you? We’re coming with you. We can’t just let you go by yourself.”
Baek Yeon-ho and Kang Si-a stepped forward, reading his intent at once. But—
“No.”
His refusal was absolute.
“Just trust me. Stay here and review the Argos fight. Yeon-ho hyung—use the TC you just got and grab a shield from the auction house as soon as you can.”
Baek Yeon-ho’s shield had shattered in the fight. One way or another, he needed a replacement.
Having held the others back, Hyun Si-woon stepped toward the boundary of the safe zone.
How many times am I going to die this time?
A fight against a Ranker. Si-woon steeled himself and accepted what was coming.
The ruins beyond the Tower. Night had fallen, almost as if on cue. Dark. Still.
Sssst.
Hyun Si-woon moved from shadow to shadow with even his breath suppressed. The essence of Moon Shadow Steps was the erasure of presence. Like a ghost, he drifted soundlessly through the wreckage of collapsed buildings.
—Be careful.
Ha-wol’s voice rolled low. Not her usual tone of scolding pride.
—A Ranker’s senses are on a completely different level from a Climber’s. That mutt in particular has smell, hearing, and dynamic vision all developed to a monstrous degree. One small mistake will mean death on the spot. There is no path to victory if you fight him straight—so take out that spear first.
Got it.
Whir!
Still gripping the Formless Sword, Si-woon drew the spear as well. It was cumbersome, but he couldn’t sheathe the sword. That would make Ha-wol vanish.
Thud. Thud.
His heart beat heavy in his chest. Si-woon moved toward the most open space he could find. The tighter the ground, the higher the chance of an ambush. Wide open was better.
Unexpectedly, Penlark did not appear at once. Had he left? Or had he already found Eden Camp, where Lumi was? The thoughts crossed Si-woon’s mind—until—
—Brat! There he comes!
Ha-wol’s voice shattered the unease in a single stroke.
“……!”
Si-woon hesitated. Summon Noe-je right now? What if the timing was wrong? Die once more and come back?
—Left! At least he’s slowing down. Small mercies.
Sssst!
That was when two points of golden light gleamed from the left-hand dark, cold and predatory.
—Grrrr… Finally crawling out, you little rat.
Penlark. He emerged from the darkness at a deliberate pace, like a predator that had herded its prey and was now savoring the last moment. Arrogance filled every step. Of course he assumed he would win.
“Hmm.”
Hyun Si-woon scratched his head.
“I cleared the Tower like we agreed… So now I just tell you where Lumi is, right?”
Penlark snorted at the brazen line.
—You expect me to believe that?
Grrrkk.
Instead, he ground his teeth in pure rage.
—Do you have any idea how long I’ve been prowling this place since you ran off like that?
Deep, simmering fury rode Penlark’s voice. He was a Ranker. Something that could crush a worthless Climber with a single finger. And yet a single insect had dared to flee right under his nose—cleverly, using the Tower’s own rules as a shield. It had left a scar on Penlark’s pride that would never fade.
—Lumi doesn’t matter anymore. I’m going to tear you apart. Hunting down that pathetic fox can wait until after I’ve carved your limbs into pieces.
“Huh? That’s strange.”
—What?
“If you’re just going to butcher me without negotiating, why talk so much?”
—What did you just say? You little—
Penlark was stunned. At the level of a Climber, the proper script was to collapse on the ground in terror, wet yourself, and beg. Then you extracted Lumi’s location and crushed them. But this one was wrong. There was no fear. If anything, he was mocking him.
—You really want to die that badly?
“What are you talking about? Getting carved into pieces is dying, isn’t it…?”
—How dare you run your mouth in front of me—!
Now.
Si-woon’s instinct spoke. This was the moment. This was when he had to summon Noe-je.
His grip tightened on the spear as he murmured inwardly.
Manifestation of Noe-je.
KUUUUUNG!
Blue lightning began to spit from the spear.
PZZZZZZT!
The current sketched a human shape in the empty air. A young-looking man with long silver-white hair. His eyes were wide open; he was blinking.
That’s Noe-je?
In the brief instant Si-woon stared, dazed, Penlark’s movement locked solid. His golden eyes fixed on the silver-haired man who had appeared before him.
At first he assumed it was just another trick of Si-woon’s. But—
—……!
Goosebumps raced over every inch of Penlark’s skin. Instinct. The beast-like senses forged by crossing countless lines of death as a Ranker were screaming.
Run. That is not something you can handle.
The silver-haired man did nothing. He simply looked around, blank, as if waking from an eternal sleep. But the sheer difference in rank radiating from his existence could not be hidden. Every Ranker Penlark had ever met—even the head of his own faction—felt like fireflies before this man.
—Th-this is insane—!
Perhaps three seconds after the silver-haired man appeared.
Ssshk.
Judgment complete, the man’s hand moved. Direction: Penlark.
—N-no—!
Penlark fled with everything he had. And into that retreating back—
PZZZZZZT!
—the thunderbolt Noe-je hurled drove clean through.
A single sweep of the hand. That was all it took.
—Kh… khlarararwaaaagh!
There was no time to feel pain. The blue current that burrowed into Penlark’s body raced along every vessel and nerve in an instant. His form turned transparent as glass, the flow of blue lightning filling him visible with perfect clarity.
PZZZT! KRADDDUK!
Everything burst from the inside out. Muscle charred to coal; bone powdered and scattered. Penlark never even finished the scream.
But every Ranker is immortal. They do not die. And so, in the place where Penlark had vanished, something rapidly contracted and began to pour out light.
Ranker Penlark has been sealed.
A portion of Penlark’s Authority is sealed within the Penlark’s Oath Fang.
The sealed Ranker cannot awaken for the next 100 years.
And then—
Tunk.
A single amulet in the shape of a dog’s fang clattered onto the ground where he had stood.
The Ranker who had coveted Lumi. Penlark’s hollow, unceremonious end.