Chapter 36
Episode 36
Elder Tao Hulian, an adviser directly attached to the Dimensional Tower Administration.
Tao Hulian was an authority on Dimensional Tower analysis and was known to come from the Maoshan Sect of Chinese Daoism.
Tao Hulian was also a high-ranker who had actually obtained the Daoist class within the Dimensional Tower.
"According to the report, this individual has already fully cleared the tutorial and Floor 1."
The uniformed military officer seated beside Tao Hulian spoke in a grave voice.
"We have obtained information that he received 'Necron Emperor' as a Genesis-grade class reward."
"Necron Emperor, huh."
Elder Tao Hulian quietly stared at the screen.
On the screen, Lee Mu-seon sat upon the throne, flicking his fingers at Heukgang and Baekgang.
"But the jiangshi that man commands are unmistakably a Daoist art. One that has been long forgotten, at that. This is no coincidence."
Tao Hulian's eyes narrowed.
"If it is not a coincidence."
"It could be a trace of our Daoist secret arts leaking outside. Or..."
Tao Hulian paused for a moment. Silence fell over the conference room for an instant.
A middle-aged man in a suit seated on one side of the round table slowly spoke.
Wang Zihe, Deputy Director of the Dimensional Tower Administration.
He was the de facto highest decision-maker in this conference room.
"Whatever the reason."
Wang Zihe quietly fixed his gaze on Lee Mu-seon on the screen.
"That man is someone who will become an enemy of our China."
"The reason?"
Tao Hulian looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"Simple. Korea's super rookie. Someone the United States is already trying to recruit. And a talent who wields Daoist secret arts."
Wang Zihe continued slowly.
"There is not a single aspect of him that benefits us. And if he also possesses the arts of our mainland."
"You mean to cut the bud early."
"Precisely."
Wang Zihe shifted his gaze to a figure seated on one side of the round table.
The person seated there exuded an atmosphere unlike anyone else in the conference room.
A man swathed in a black coat.
He had a slender build, with a faint trace of killing intent clinging to him.
A covert department directly under the Dimensional Tower Administration.
The overall commander of a specialized unit tasked with eliminating Awakened.
"Begin the elimination operation. Is the operative who will enter the high-difficulty Floor 2 ready?"
"Yes."
The man in the black coat gave a crisp bow.
"Good."
Wang Zihe stared at the screen once more.
On the screen was a young man seated on a throne, smiling at the viewers' chat.
That utterly carefree face.
"Jiangshi master Lee Mu-seon."
A small murmur escaped Wang Zihe's lips.
"You're going to become an enemy of China. I'll nip you in the bud before that happens."
The red lighting of the conference room cast deep shadows over his face.
* * *
"All right. What kind of trap is next?"
I settled deep into the throne and crossed my legs as I looked around.
The passage stretched on endlessly.
Heukgang and Baekgang were silently advancing, guarding the front and rear of the palanquin procession.
It was after we had walked on like that for quite a while.
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
I felt a heavy vibration begin above my head.
"Hm?"
I looked up at the ceiling.
I could see the entire massive ceiling panel beginning to descend slowly.
And it was no ordinary panel.
It was a colossal crushing trap that looked to easily weigh dozens of tons.
A crushing trap that descended across the entire width of the labyrinth passage.
Ruuuuumble.
The ceiling drew closer at an increasingly rapid pace.
-No!!! The ceiling is coming down!!!
-It's a descending ceiling trap!!!
-Corpse-Spirit bro, this is a crushing trap!!
-You have to dodge, hurry hurry!
-But the palanquin procession can't dodge, what do we do??
-This is one of the really brutal traps lololol
-Corpse-Spirit bro, aren't all the jiangshi going to get smashed??
The chat window was once again buried in screams.
Well, by ordinary hunter standards, this really was a threatening trap.
Even with a body impervious to blades, dozens of tons coming down on you would still crush you.
However.
"Heukgang. Baekgang. Log lift."
I gave a short command.
At my will, Heukgang and Baekgang reacted simultaneously.
Whoosh!
The two jiangshi shot up beneath the ceiling in a single bound using the Soaring-Heaven Corpse-Spirit Ghost Step.
And then they raised both arms.
WHAM!
They held up the descending ceiling as it was.
Exactly the same posture as lifting a log overhead in the training yard.
"?!"
The chat window froze for an instant.
"Corpse-Spirit Heavenly Jiangshi Whole-Body Art. Full power."
From the throne, I sent Necromantic Mana flowing into the two jiangshi.
The internal energy stored in Heukgang and Baekgang's dantians activated explosively all at once.
Their internal energy circulated exactly according to the methods I'd used as the Martial God in my previous life.
Crrrrrrk.
The ceiling stopped.
And then.
Crrrrrrrrk.
I could see it being pushed back up slightly instead.
A crushing trap weighing dozens of tons.
The sight of it being lifted upward in reverse by two jiangshi performing a log lift.
Heh. I was the one who ordered it, but this really made for an incredible picture, didn't it?
-?!?!?!
-No wait, what???
-The ceiling trap is being pushed back??!
-No, what the hell is that???
-Two jiangshi are holding up a crushing trap weighing dozens of tons???
-Corpse-Spirit bro, are you actually insane???
-No, is this even possible???
The chat window went beyond frenzy and entered madness mode.
However, from my standpoint, there was one problem.
The internal energy consumption was insanely fast.
I could feel the thirty years' worth of internal energy Heukgang and Baekgang had each stored being nearly half drained in just a few seconds.
At this rate, if the internal energy ran out, they would be flattened just like that.
But.
I smiled faintly and leaned deep back against the throne's backrest.
That was when.
[Park Il-chim has donated 1 DP!]
Isn't all the jiangshi's internal energy getting drained? Get out of there, hurry!!
"Good grief, you people worry too much. This lord has a nice reliable resource to draw on."
Whoooosh.
A massive flow of Necromantic Mana surged up from beneath my feet.
The [Necron Ossuary] situated deep within the subdimension.
From that massive facility filled with ten thousand corpses, Necromantic Mana began to flow out inexhaustibly.
Necromantic Mana passed through my dantian and poured without pause into Heukgang and Baekgang's dantians.
The rate of replenishment was faster than the rate at which their internal energy was draining.
Crrrrrrrrk.
The ceiling continued to be pushed upward.
Heukgang and Baekgang kept their arms fixed in the log-lift posture.
And then, finally.
CRACK! CRUNCH!
The sound of something breaking came from inside the ceiling trap.
The trap's driving mechanism had apparently been forcibly destroyed.
Rumble.
The ceiling came to a complete stop.
The trap no longer functioned.
"Did you see that?"
I lightly waved my hand while seated on the throne.
"This is the power of this lord's Black and White Twin Jiangshi."
-WOOOOOO!!!
-Corpse-Spirit bro, you're insane!!!
-He smashed a trap weighing dozens of tons!?!?
-Corpse-Spirit bro is truly madness itself
-The Black and White Twin Jiangshi are god-tier!!
-Corpse-Spirit bro, that ten-thousand-corpse ossuary power is crazy for real
-Ossuary OP confirmed once again
"Good. Then shall we keep going?"
I sent my will to Heukgang once more.
The palanquin procession rumbled beneath the shattered ceiling trap and moved on.
It was after we had walked on like that for quite a while.
Crunch!
This time, a sound came from the floor.
I saw the stone slab that Heukgang had stepped on cave in beneath him.
"Oh. It's the floor this time, is it."
Right in front of the throne palanquin, Heukgang fell straight down.
A massive pit trap opened its mouth in the middle of the narrow passage.
The depth looked to be about ten meters.
The chat window was buried in screams once again.
And the next moment.
Clang!
A clear metallic sound rang out from down below.
I quietly peered down into the pit.
Heukgang.
Still in the posture of having fallen headfirst, upside down.
Was embedded head-first in the spike-covered floor.
The spikes had struck Heukgang's crown and snapped off.
Heukgang was perfectly fine.
Rather, he was trying to right himself while still stuck upside down.
"Hey. Get up and climb out."
I sent my will lightly.
Heukgang slowly corrected his posture, then braced against the pit wall and began climbing up.
To a jiangshi with a body impervious to blades, a ten-meter fall was nothing.
-?
-No, he's fine???
-He fell onto a spike floor and he's fine???
-The spikes broke, the spikes;;;
-No, what is this, the ceiling falls and it doesn't matter, the floor caves in and he's fine??
-This is a labyrinth?
-Ah, just tank it with your body! lololol
-Corpse-Spirit bro's labyrinth strategy: throw jiangshi at it
-In the end, the trap gets smashed by the trap, and the spikes get smashed by the jiangshi's head lololol
-This is true madness, madness
The chat window entered laughter mode once again.
Watching that reaction, I sat on the throne and smirked.
This is the good stuff.
Isn't this exactly why I stream?
"Now then. Let's keep going."
I sent my will to Heukgang lightly.
Heukgang, who had just climbed out of the pit, took his place at the head of the palanquin procession again.
And the throne palanquin began advancing heavily into the labyrinth once more.
* * *
All sorts of traps appeared after that as well.
In one place, hydrochloric acid poured down; in another, lightning poured down; in another spot, fireballs poured down.
And among these, the most effective trap was the hydrochloric acid.
There was no way around flesh melting, you see.......
The jiangshi weren't mature enough to use body-protecting Gang Qi yet, so getting doused in hydrochloric acid left them in terrible shape.
Fortunately, I was able to restore them using the adhesive flesh items we had recently begun producing and the Corpse Processing skill.
If it hadn't been for that, it could have been a disaster.
And so.
They called it Floor 2 Hard Mode, but it really didn't seem like much.
"This is too easy."
When I muttered that while seated on the throne, I could see the viewers all having fits.
Did I flex too hard?
But what can I do? It is easy.
Honestly, part of it was that I had obtained the absurdly broken Necron Emperor class, but strictly speaking, if I hadn't made the jiangshi using the martial knowledge of my former life, it wouldn't have been this easy.
If they had just been ordinary undead, the undead would have already been smashed apart by all these traps.
Still, I probably would have broken through somehow.
Since I could mobilize an enormous number of undead....... I could just push through with sheer numbers.
They said it was limited to ten, but they didn't forbid resummoning.