Chapter 45
Episode 45
"Now then. And today, there's a new face I'm going to introduce to everyone."
At my words, the chat window instantly began to stir.
-New face?
-New family member??
-What did you recruit this time??
-Corpse-Spirit bro's HR team is working again lololol
-Is this a new character release?
"That's right. A new member. Bihallat, come out."
Swooosh.
A new form slowly rose from my shadow.
It was a single knight fully armed in armor woven entirely from white bone.
A figure clad from head to toe in a pure-white bone set crafted at the White-Bone Workshop.
Breastplate, pauldrons, greaves, and even a helm that completely covered the face.
The bone knight, fully armored from head to toe, took a weighty step forward.
From inside the helm, a blue glare shone with piercing intensity.
"Let me introduce her. This lord's new Vassal: the knight Bihallat."
"...I offer my greetings in obedience to your command."
Bihallat knelt on one knee and bowed her head courteously.
As befitting a knight, each movement was disciplined and full of dignity.
-?!?!?!
-Whoa, what is that??
-It's a bone knight!
-That look is insanely cool???
-Full plate set and even a helm... damn
-Wait, is that a woman? The voice sounds female?
I could see the viewers instantly losing their minds over Bihallat's appearance.
Well, sure.
Wearing full plate armor woven from pure-white bone, with a helm on top of it.
It was a visual that could pass for final-boss concept art in a game.
"I had the White-Bone Workshop make her some armor. So, does it look cool?"
-So is it a woman? A woman? A woman?
-When do we get a face reveal?
-Can't she take off the helm? I'm curious
With so many viewers, the chat scrolled by too fast.
So I couldn't follow it all, but I kept catching the words "woman" and "face."
Wow... these bastards.
Are they seriously losing it just because a woman showed up?
"Her face? Later. For now, let's keep it hidden for the concept. Oh, and I gave Heukgang and Baekgang new outfits too."
I then called out Heukgang and Baekgang.
Swooosh.
The two Copper Jiangshi revealed themselves on either side.
This time, they weren't in the ragged jiangshi getup from before.
They were dressed in black and white martial robes I'd bought cheaply at the marketplace and put on them.
Heukgang in black martial robes, Baekgang in white martial robes.
I'd matched the colors cleanly to their names.
"They've been going around too ragged all this time. They're supposed to be my escorts, so they ought to dress the part."
I can't exactly drag corpses around half-naked forever, can I?
Now that Bihallat was armed in full plate and Heukgang and Baekgang were dressed in martial robes.
My little legion was starting to look more and more like a proper military force.
"And the four palanquin bearers. Their collective name is Call Wind and Summon Rain."
Not from the Dimensional Tower marketplace, but from the regular Dimensional Tower shop—they sold ordinary corpses too.
They were human male bodies identical to the corpse I'd received during the tutorial.
So I bought them.
That gave me six identical corpses in total.
Then I spent some time turning the four new ones partway into jiangshi.
Once this Floor run was over, I planned to finish turning them into proper jiangshi.
"Now then. Introductions are done. So let's get to today's main point."
I leaned back against the throne and spoke.
"Today, we're going to Floor 3."
-Finally, Floor 3!!
-Corpse-Spirit bro is pioneering a new Floor!
-What's going to show up on Floor 3? Damn...
I sent my will to the Dimensional Tower system.
"Enter Floor 3."
Then a familiar message appeared.
[A proposal is offered to an Awakened who has achieved 3 complete clears.]
[Would you like to enter a floor composed of higher difficulty?]
"Oh. This popped up again?"
-It's that again!!
-Hard mode proposal!!
-Corpse-Spirit bro, of course you have to go!
-Going normal would be weirder lololol
-High difficulty, let's go!!
"True. After getting a taste of hard mode yesterday, normal would be a bit boring."
I'd already fully cleared hard-mode Floor 2 and received two Mythic Grade rewards.
There was no reason to go back to normal mode now.
Besides, hard mode gave far better rewards, so there was no reason not to choose it.
"All right. Higher difficulty, obviously. Accept."
The system responded to my will.
Whoosh!
Light surged up from beneath my feet, and my vision shifted in an instant.
A new Floor, a new map.
What kind of scene would be waiting on Floor 3?
Just thinking about it was starting to get me worked up.
[You have entered the high-difficulty Dimensional Tower Floor 3 rescue trial.]
[Rescue a specific individual.]
[If the Awakened dies or the rescue target dies, the Floor 3 trial fails.]
[The undead you can summon are limited to 10.]
[May luck be with you.]
Whoosh!
As the light subsided, a completely new landscape spread out before me.
Seated on the throne, I slowly looked around.
The place where I sat was midway up a rugged rocky mountain, with rough stones and dry earth spread beneath my feet and desolate rocks jutting up on all sides.
And far off in the distance.
Down below the mountain, a massive stone fortress stood tall.
With high walls and even watchtowers, it was a rather impressive military fortress.
"Hm. What's that over there?"
I narrowed my eyes and studied the fortress.
But the ones guarding that fortress weren't human.
What was prowling atop the walls were none other than goblins, kobolds, and a horde of orcs.
It was a scene of green-skinned, hideous-faced monsters occupying the fortress in swarms.
"A monster fortress, huh."
Judging by the atmosphere, this didn't seem like a simple hunting ground.
While I was thinking that, my chat window instantly exploded into chaos.
-Wait, hold on, isn't that a rescue stage???
-Why is a rescue stage showing up on Floor 3????
-That kind of stage only shows up on Floor 10 or higher??
-That's that infamous map where you rescue a hostage from a monster fortress
-WTF, they're stealing difficulty tiers again—they put a Floor-10 map on Floor 3
-No, even Corpse-Spirit bro can't do this
-Undead are limited to 10, how do you assault a fortress???
-Rescue stages are hard even with a full party
I could see the viewers falling into another collective meltdown.
Well, piecing together the chat, I got a rough idea.
There was a hostage held inside that monster fortress, and rescuing them was the goal of this stage.
And apparently it was a high-difficulty map that normally only appeared on Floor 10 or higher.
An arrow had appeared above my head, pointing toward the fortress.
Still, I supposed I should be grateful they at least gave me a way to find the person I needed to rescue.
"Well now. The restrictions are strict, aren't they?"
I muttered with a smirk.
The Dimensional Tower had stuck a Floor-10 map on Floor 3, so it was clearly determined to work me hard.
Well, difficulty actually gets me excited, though.
"First, let's check our current forces."
I mentally counted the undead I could mobilize.
Heukgang and Baekgang.
And the newly joined knight Bihallat.
Plus the four half-jiangshi palanquin bearers collectively named "Call Wind and Summon Rain."
Seven in total.
Since the undead operation limit was 10, that meant I could use three more.
"But there's one thing I need to confirm."
What exactly the ten-undead limit meant was ambiguous.
Whether I could only use the first 10 I brought out.
Or whether, if one of those 10 was destroyed, I could bring out a new one to replace it.
That distinction mattered a lot for how I managed the fight.
"I can just test it myself."
First, I summoned three additional Walking Corpses made from hobgoblins.
That filled it out to exactly ten.
"Heukgang. Smash one of those."
At my command, Heukgang moved immediately.
Crunch!
Heukgang's hand crushed the skull of one hobgoblin corpse outright.
Now one had been destroyed, leaving nine.
"Now then. Let's try bringing out a new one."
I immediately attempted to summon a new undead.
But.
[You have reached the current limit of operable undead.]
[Additional summoning is impossible.]
"Ah. So that's how it's going to be?"
The summoning was blocked.
In other words, the first ten I summoned formed the full roster.
Once one was destroyed, that slot remained empty forever.
This was basically hardcore mode, where every single life mattered.
"Hm. Then I'll have to operate more carefully."
Well, our legion's main force was Heukgang, Baekgang, and Bihallat anyway.
As long as I didn't throw them around recklessly, there wouldn't be any major problems.
And.
Whoosh...
Even now, Necromantic Mana was being continuously supplied to the four members of Call Wind and Summon Rain, and their jiangshi transformation was still underway.
With just a little more time, they'd become Copper Jiangshi, so they'd soon be combat-ready too.
"Black and White Impermanence."
I spoke toward the two Copper Jiangshi.
"Yes. Sovereign."
"Yes. Sovereign."
Heukgang and Baekgang bowed their heads at the same time and answered in clear voices.
That was the moment.
My chat window literally went nuclear.
-?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
-H-hold on???
-Did the jiangshi just talk???
-The Black and White Twin Jiangshi spoke!?
-Corpses can talk???
-No, what is going on, seriously
-I didn't just hear things, right??
-Corpse-Spirit bro, the jiangshi are talking! The jiangshi!!
I could see the viewers flipping out once again in an instant.
Well, sure.
Until now, Heukgang and Baekgang had been stoic, silent characters.
Then they suddenly opened their mouths and answered, "Sovereign," so of course the viewers were shocked.
"Ah. About these two."
I gestured lightly and spoke.
"From now on, these two are the Black and White Impermanence. Remember that. Heukgang is now Black Impermanence, and Baekgang is White Impermanence."
Heukgang became Black Impermanence, and Baekgang became White Impermanence.
I'd modeled their egos on the Demonic Cult's Black and White Impermanence, so I gave them names to match.
Donation chat immediately began pouring down like a waterfall.