Tower Vote Rank War (4): The Gourmet Monster's Demise

That was the chat's reaction to Baeksan.

Under ordinary circumstances I would have been the only person alive who could see this monster. Thanks to the camera, though, Baeksan seemed to be showing up on everyone else's screens as well. And because it looked nothing like the creatures people were used to, curiosity was starting to ripple through the audience.

With Baeksan standing right there in front of them, the chat spun off into a dozen different arguments at once.

Hah. Can I even take this thing down?

I had come here because holding the last slot in the vote was going to take something big — one clean, unforgettable hit. Standing in front of that mountain of a body, though, I could feel my legs wanting to shake. With a normal monster I would have read the level floating over its head, counted the stars, and known immediately whether I could handle it. This was a type I had never seen before. Instinct was all I had.

It's not beyond me.

Honestly, the pressure rolling off it was nothing compared to the Death Knight or the Megalodon. If I had to put a number on the feeling, it sat somewhere near Ursula. And if it was in that neighborhood, I could kill it. I was almost sure of that.

"White Dragon. You can't see that thing, can you?"

A nod. Another nod. White Dragon clearly had no idea what I was talking about, which meant having him here would not help me in the slightest.

The other monsters I summon probably can't see it either, then. If White Dragon was blind to it, the rest almost certainly would be too. Which meant I would be taking this thing down alone, with nothing but my own two hands.

Alright. Let's go.

I settled my grip, lifted the Giant Knife, and started walking toward Baeksan.

"GRAAAAAAAAH!"

The thing threw its head back and roared, then began thrashing in every direction at once.

BOOM. BOOOOM.

Every movement said the same thing: take one more step and I die. I forced myself still, turned to the camera, and spoke.

"Everyone. We start now."

The instant I planted myself ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in front of Baeksan, the chat caught fire.

The last day of voting was closing in, and more rankers than usual seemed willing to do something reckless just to keep people's eyes on them. It made sense. Fail to place here and you were as good as dead already. Not guaranteed dead, maybe — but everyone understood how hard surviving would be after that, which meant the broadcasts were only going to get more dangerous.

I was no exception.

Hah.

I stood directly in front of it, pulled out the most recent batch of fried Harpy I had made, and started tearing into it in big, unapologetic bites.

The people who had already tasted fried Harpy lost their minds the second they saw me eating it on stream, and they had every reason to. The flavor was genuinely celestial. Anyone who had tried it could no longer go back to ordinary fried chicken; a new slang word had even been coined for it — Harkin — and the black-market trade around the stuff was still going strong.

Tch. If they love it that much, they could have voted a little harder.

Harkin's popularity had never translated into votes. I had dumped a massive supply onto the Auction House because people would not stop begging for it, and I still had barely pulled ahead of Baek Joongwon.

To be fair, his cooking was incredible too.

Not monster cooking — ordinary ingredients, handled by a man who could wring something miraculous out of them. I had tried a dish of his through the black market, and I still was not sure how regular food was supposed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to taste like that. His plates buffed the people who ate them the same way mine did, which was probably why the vote had stayed so close. When it came to versatility in the kitchen, Baek Joongwon had me beaten, and we both knew it.

This thing is going to settle it.

Baeksan stood right in front of me. It did not seem able to break through the iron bars; it just fixed me with a low, rumbling stare and waited.

Alright. Let's do this.

I finished the last of the fried Harpy, locked my hands around the knife and the shield, and walked up to the cage. Then I looked the thing in the eye and roared.

I had not used Roar much lately. As monster levels climbed, the fear effect had started bouncing off more often than it landed, so I had let the skill gather dust. I used it anyway, just in case.

Baeksan flinched. A half-step back. That was enough.

I put the Giant Knife through the bars and tore the cage open.

"KRAAAAAAH!"

The instant the iron gave way, it came for me.

CRASH!

That enormous body slammed into my shield and threw me clean off my feet.

"Master! What the hell was that?!"

"Kh— just stay put."

From White Dragon's point of view, I had been standing in an empty room and then suddenly gone flying. I had already explained the situation, but an explanation and actually seeing the thing were two different worlds. There was nothing I could do about it. He could not see Baeksan. He could not touch it. He could not help me.

The hit had at least given me distance. I swung the knife and sent Wind Pressure screaming across the gap.

Shhk! Shhk!

The blades of air reached it fast and did almost nothing — faint scratches on that massive hide, nothing more.

Damn it.

That skin was absurdly hard. Ordinary attacks were not going to cut it.

"KRAAAAH!"

Baeksan bellowed again and came at me in a straight line. For a second it looked exactly like a giant bear running down a rabbit. It closed the distance in a blink and swept a foreleg the size of a tree trunk at my head.

BOOM!

I twisted back just in time. The blow punched a hole in the floor where I had been standing.

Hah— I almost died.

It was faster than anything that size had a right to be. A fraction of a second slower and that hole in the concrete would have been a hole through me.

Eat this.

I slashed at the body right in front of me. The thing slipped the blade as if it had been waiting for it.

I had already counted on the dodge. The knife bent like a living thing and raked straight across Baeksan's eye.

"KRAAAK!"

It clutched at its face, staggering, then gathered itself and started swinging those forelegs in a blind, furious storm.

BOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOM!

Every swipe took another piece of the room with it.

At this rate the whole place is coming down.

We were in the basement of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a factory. Enough shock going out in every direction and the ceiling would do the rest of Baeksan's work for it.

I have to end this.

Baeksan's weakness lit up at once. Same as most other monsters: the neck. The hide was still that brutal leather everywhere else, but that one stretch had a real chance of taking the knife.

I could not afford to drag this out. I closed the distance, met its remaining eye, and triggered the skill.

Baeksan locked up mid-motion. I was already moving, and I drove the Giant Knife straight into its neck.

Shunk!

Huh?

I had stabbed it clean through the weak point. Something was still wrong.

If it died, there should have been a death message...

The thought had barely formed when Baeksan's body flushed a deep, violent red and started to swell.

"What the—?!"

I ripped the knife free and stared as the thing kept growing.

If it gets any bigger, we're in trouble.

The basement was cramped enough already. Another few seconds of that and the whole floor would come down on top of us.

Damn it. The vital point—

The weakness marker had not moved. It was still the neck. I was going to have to take the head clean off. The problem was size: the thing was already too big for the knife to reach the way I needed it to.

Wait—!

The trait I had taken from the Golem. The moment I triggered it, my body began to climb.

The chat went feral. I had burned through so many different skills in a single fight that people had been watching like they were hypnotized.

My body had grown. The Giant Knife had grown with it. I brought that enormous blade around in one hard, rising cut, aimed at the neck of a Baeksan that was still trying to get bigger.

Ssshk!

The head came free. Baeksan went down. And the moment it died, White Dragon's eyes finally found it.

"Whoa! What is this thing?!"

He stared at the corpse that had just blinked into existence in front of him, completely lost.

I walked over to the body lying in front of me, picked up a fork, and looked straight into the camera.

So this is it. The finale.

Seven days. A long, grinding campaign, and at the end of it Korea's seven representatives would be decided — the seven who would walk into the Tower of Death.

The rankings through sixth place hung in the air. The last slot was about to drop.

The last one — seventh place!