Babel Tower's Hidden Element
Babel Tower's hidden element.
Several of them only activate when a player makes their first entry.
For example, like the blood fiend on the seventh floor.
“Uoooo!!!!!”
Boom! Boom! The blood fiend swung its club like it was possessed.
The shield had long since been crushed beyond recognition.
“T-Team leader, at this rate…”
“A hidden element? What the hell is going on!”
Seo Jeongmin screamed in a trembling voice.
The team leader shouldn’t be showing his panic like that.
“Kraaak!”
When the blood fiend swung upward from below, the tanker’s shield was lifted high.
The tanker’s body floated several meters into the air before crashing to the ground with a thunderous impact and lying there limp.
He hadn’t been eliminated from the mission, so it seemed he was still breathing.
The entire Black Tiger team had gone deathly pale.
Earth Spike
As the blood fiend bellowed its victory cry.
The bundle of stone spikes erupting from the ground slammed the blood fiend’s body several meters backward.
The earth split apart as thick clouds of dust billowed upward.
“D-Did we get it?”
Seo Jeongmin’s mutter still lingered in my ears when a deafening crash rang out and part of the rock formation shattered into fragments.
Through the swirling dust, the blood fiend’s silhouette emerged.
The only damage was a few scratches on its armor.
What had blocked the Earth Spike was the golden chained staff now embedded in the ground.
The blood fiend had been pushed back from absorbing the spell’s force, but its monstrous strength had canceled out most of the impact.
“Uooo?”
That’s right. Laugh while you still can.
You won’t be hearing that grotesque roar much longer.
All I needed was ten meters of distance.
Fierce Charge
I kicked off the ground and charged straight at the blood fiend.
I never expected the Earth Spike to work in the first place!
The fiend’s eyes tracked my movement, then swung the golden chained staff diagonally.
A red aura shimmered around the weapon.
It was Blood Echo, the skill that spread part of the impact to everyone nearby.
A head-on collision.
Once Fierce Charge activated, it couldn’t be canceled at will.
“Uoooo!”
Still laughing, you bastard.
The internal energy gathered in my dantian responded instantly to my will.
My legs moved according to the Cloud Flow Steps.
Operating mana and internal energy—two skills with completely opposite principles—at the same time made my body creak in protest.
The golden chained staff grazed my side by a hair’s breadth.
Thud! I rammed the blood fiend with my shoulder and its entire body shuddered violently.
Two seconds of stun.
While the fiend was frozen, I pivoted on my left foot and spun once.
Sharp Claws
Protection of Greed — Claw Enhancement
I unleashed the third form of the Blood Claw Technique with my elongated nails.
The Blood Tiger Storm Claw crumpled the blood fiend’s armor.
Sparks flew at the point of friction, and the areas where I had concentrated my internal energy tore open, exposing gaps.
“Uooo?”
The fiend twitched.
That alone wasn’t enough.
I stabbed into the opening created by the first form of the Blood Claw Technique.
Instead of blood, a crimson current poured out.
As I chained one martial technique after another, the blood fiend’s body began to shake more violently.
Right before its stun wore off, I struck the widened gap with pure brute force.
With a deafening bang, the fiend was hurled several meters backward.
“Uooo.”
Even after taking that much impact, its posture remained stable as it slid back.
“Hey, Black Tiger team.”
“Y-Yes!”
“Don’t jump into the fight. Just provide support.”
When the blood fiend appeared, the mission parameters changed.
If even one person received a death verdict, the mission would fail instantly.
If we retried, it wouldn’t count as the ‘first challenge’ needed to trigger the fiend, so we’d never see it again.
If they tried to help and got properly hit by that golden chained staff, it would all be over.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I couldn’t afford to waste it.
“Let’s play for real now.”
I rolled up my sleeves and glared at the blood fiend.
* * *
The blood fiend was constantly maintaining its Fiend’s Rage state.
It was three times faster and stronger than normal, but whatever you gained, you lost something in return.
“Uoooo!!!”
The fiend stubbornly insisted on frontal attacks.
While Fiend’s Rage lasted, it couldn’t use debuff skills like Spirit Summon.
It had abandoned debuffs entirely and poured everything into offense.
“It’s dangerous. Let me tank—”
“If you jump in you’ll only get in the way.”
When the recovered tanker tried to rejoin the fight, I shut him down immediately.
If he joined, the blood fiend would have two targets instead of one.
The fiend always prioritized the enemy directly in front of it.
A normal unranked player would have been crushed by its overwhelming firepower.
But for me, it was actually easier.
I didn’t need to manage aggro at all.
Its excellent breakthrough power had become a liability instead.
Mud Trap
The sticky ground seized the blood fiend.
Even a rage-enhanced fiend couldn’t easily break free from the swamp strengthened by the Protection of Greed.
Its movements dulled for a split second.
I wrapped the golden chained staff in Shadow Dominion, closed the distance, and unleashed the Blood Claw Technique.
The deep gouges between the torn armor were the technique’s handiwork.
“Uoooo!!!”
The blood fiend swung the golden chained staff in a massive overhead arc.
The ground warped with a deafening explosion as the force scattered.
I couldn’t ignore that iron club no matter what.
Even with the fiend’s speed tripled, I could still dodge.
But if I took a direct hit, at least one bone would shatter.
Ice Pillar
Ultra-Fast Calculation
Shape Transformation — Separation & Penetration
Ice pillars burst from the crushed mud.
What was originally a large binding spell had been reshaped into dozens of sharp awls.
The tips pierced the blood fiend’s entire body like thorns.
Its high magic resistance prevented them from sinking deep, but—
Crackle!
Cold air leaked from every point of contact and locked its body in place.
“Nice assist.”
“I-I’m glad it worked.”
Seo Jeongmin replied awkwardly.
It seemed he still felt uncomfortable supporting in perfect sync with my movements.
“Hard Armor!”
A skill that boosted armor performance.
It didn’t apply to my Thorn Armor, but I didn’t bother correcting him.
Buffs that were refreshed the instant they expired.
Impressive work for a promising talent the Baekho Guild had deliberately cultivated.
The tanker and melee dealer also assisted the raid without drawing the fiend’s attention.
Blood Intoxication
Red energy spun around the golden chained staff.
A skill that drew in nearby prey.
The fact that it was using this meant the blood fiend had burned through a lot of stamina.
The real fight began now.
“Uoooo!!”
Every swing of the golden chained staff made the fiend’s center of gravity waver.
I circulated internal energy throughout my body to keep my balance from collapsing.
Clang!
For the first time, I allowed the staff to strike me directly.
Thorn Armor Durability -42%
The force was strong enough to turn my vision yellow for an instant.
Even after the armor absorbed most of the impact, the pain was enough to bring tears to my eyes.
“Uooooo!!!”
The blood fiend clenched its fist, and the blood flowing from my wound streamed toward it.
Blood Exploitation.
A skill that drank the prey’s blood to restore its own life force.
“Not happening.”
Acidic Blood
The Deep Slime’s skill altered the properties of the blood seeping from my skin.
The blood fiend absorbed it with its right hand and—
“Uooo?!!”
It let out a short scream and frantically shook its arm.
“Stings a bit, doesn’t it?”
How dare you try to drink my blood.
“Heal!”
The healing spell soaked into the wound.
Combined with my own Regeneration, the injury closed almost instantly.
“What kind of healing speed is that?”
The supporter muttered under his breath.
Fast healing is a good thing. What’s the problem?
Thirty minutes after the battle began, the red aura rising from the blood fiend’s body started to thin.
Its movements were still fast and linear, but my ears caught every ragged breath it took.
“Just a little more.”
The corner of my mouth twitched upward.
The blood fiend raid had gone smoother than expected.
That was thanks to the Black Tiger team’s support.
The fiend was a step below Jeong Sinho, Bathory’s contractor.
It felt almost insulting to compare it to a Bronze-rank player who had cleared past the twentieth floor.
As long as I avoided direct clashes with the golden chained staff, it was perfectly manageable.
With the team’s firepower and buffs added in, this hunt had no difficulty at all.
“Uooo……”
Even the voice leaking from its mask was growing weaker.
“Goddess.”
-I have been waiting!
All stats increased by 40%. Polar Night recovery maximized.
Duration: Active
Strength and Agility +30%
It was time to end this.
“Block it just once for me.”
I kicked backward to create distance, and the tanker immediately took my place.
The blood fiend’s golden chained staff slammed into the dented shield with a deafening crash.
“Ughhhhh!”
The tanker held on with everything he had.
Good. Well done.
Once I was ten meters away, I closed the gap again with Fierce Charge.
The instant the fiend tried to raise its staff—
“You shall not pass.”
Magnetic Shield
Green light poured from the warped shield and seized the golden chained staff.
A perfect opening.
I didn’t waste the golden chance the tanker had created.
I rammed the blood fiend with my raised shoulder. It let out a low groan—Uooo……
I used Back Step to slide ten meters away, then activated Fierce Charge again.
It had a ten-second cooldown, so I couldn’t spam it, but—
“When I’m dumping this much firepower, there’s no reason to hold back!”
At the moment of impact, the blood fiend’s body shuddered once more.
Stun applied in duplicate.
Resistance to identical skills and status effects activated. Stun effect reduced by 50%.
I’ll finish it here.
I drove a fist strengthened by brute force through the gap in its useless armor.
The condensed power of Polar Night poured into the open wound.
Once inside the blood fiend, it manifested as jagged thorns that rampaged through its body, destroying everything from the inside out.
The armor rattled violently.
Under the relentless assault of Polar Night, the blood fiend’s body began to collapse.
“Now!”
Taking my shout as the signal, the Black Tiger team poured every ounce of their firepower into the fiend.
Genocide Cutter
Glacial Spike
Shield Attack
Melting Armor
I stepped back and activated Demonic Power.
The chosen stat was magic power.
“Earth Spike!”
Demonic Power — All Stats Converted to Magic Power
The bundle of stone spikes tore through the earth and slammed into the blood fiend.
Frost and dust clouds rose, obscuring vision.
Massive experience points acquired.
Level increased.
When the dust finally settled, the blood fiend’s mangled form was revealed.
Its arms and legs were bent at unnatural angles.
The red mask that had covered its face and the old sword lay discarded on the ground.
I walked slowly toward the blood fiend’s corpse.
It wasn’t intentional. My stats were all converted to magic power by Demonic Power, so my body felt sluggish.
Gulp. Just looking at the limp corpse made my mouth water.
Devour
I absorbed the blood fiend’s essence.