[Blue Pillar (2)]

A knight in brown armor leveled his weapon at us. Sword, spear, hammer—whatever. For variety, the fuck did combinations or matchups matter? Still, he looked threatening. First time seeing one up close, so tension was inevitable. We naturally kept our basic formation. Four of us in front, each guarding a lane. Elysha and Elbaren covered the remaining gap. Since Eloin handled one of them too, it was basically Eloin guarding two.

**Klang!** The knights’ weapons were made of dirt. Dirt weapons and armor, but the power level felt like real steel.

“Aah…” Stronger than the werewolves. That’s why the little werewolf pups had been PK-ing in the First City direction. Safer that way, right?

*They’re already dead anyway.* That’s how PKs work. Good drops double exp, bad drops one-way tickets to the afterlife. The longer you drag it out, the more tails you get—exponential honey traps. Just don’t step on them if you can avoid it.

The knight only swung at the player in front. The force in his weapon was so heavy I doubted any shield would hold. My brain was already calculating if the shield would crack.

*Nice.* When opponents are evenly matched, the heart starts racing. Werewolves are boring, but if I had to pick an appetizer, sure, I’d admit it.

The knight brought the hammer down. Don’t hesitate and you’ll end up pulp.

**Thud.** Hammer striking the dirt floor. Focus on dodging. Anyone who tries to block that kind of attack is just plain stupid. A maniac who wants to die.

The knight lowered the hammer to his shoulder. No guard up, but still not stupid enough to close the distance.

No need to close in. A black hand shot up. The knight flailed as Pluto’s Hand clamped down on him. At his level I was completely free of his strength. I stepped in fast and swung my shield. Couldn’t break him with the sword, so shield it was.

**Bang!** Whether his armor shattered or my shield cracked—

I’d activated it just in case. The armor looked tough, but it was still made of dirt. Would it corrode or not?

**Bang!**

“Tch. Looks like it won’t work.” I got a solid hit on the struggling knight. He staggered, dropped his hammer nearby, and collapsed.

Time to mount. A weaponless knight was my level, so—

“DIE!” I tossed the sword far away and hammered him until he stopped moving. With Pluto’s Hand I had plenty of time to keep him pinned. The knight, completely defenseless, got pounded.

**Crack!** His helmet caved in. My fist felt like it would break, but adrenaline made it hurt less.

“Switch!” The black hand slammed into my palm like a high-five. While I pulled a recovery potion from the inventory, the black hands beat the knight to a pulp.

*Still not enough?*

**Pasus.** Before I could even move, the knight ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠turned back into dirt. Even though he’d used up all his accumulated life force, Pluto’s Hand was worth every bit of it. I grabbed one to spectate.

I stood beside Elena and watched the fight. Everyone looked flustered. My black magic really was overpowered. If only I could deal with that inefficient resource called life force.

“Hey, hey! Help me! Stop watching and do something!”

“Moving is annoying.” While dodging the knight’s attack, Horin yelped. I sent a shadow spirit instead.

The shadow spirit was weaker than me, but 1 vs 2 was never close.

**Ait…!** Thanks to the shadow spirit’s support, Horin’s momentum came back. The longer we fought, the more we had the advantage. As soon as the knight adapted, Yoo Dahui won and the rest turned the remaining knights into dirt.

Coins came in nicely too. For risking my life, that was pathetically low.

*By the way…*

Skill levels climbed fast. I hadn’t used them much, so even a little got me growing like a newbie at a high-level dungeon. Not bad.

We kept moving. No plan to stop until we found the blue pillar. And we did.

“Here it is.” Yoo Dahui walked straight up to the blue pillar like she’d done it a hundred times. She’d known that the ability changed depending on the player’s stats.

“I’ll touch it once.”

Since she knew what to expect, she pressed her hand against it without hesitation.

“Huh?” The blue pillar froze anyone below level 10 in power. I already had over 10 from training with Elena.

“Jinwoo, try touching it too.” My power was 11. Nothing happened.

“Hmm… It must be the stats. But I don’t know what number it needs.”

“No need to know anymore.”

“True.” Stats didn’t change even with regression. Pass once and it was high pass forever.

After locating the pillar, we headed back to Second City. The sun had set and night was falling. Players gathered around the well to wrap up the day. Each one wiped dust and organized gear. Funny how organized it was. Basically, men’s side for men’s showers, women’s side for women’s, and miscellaneous stuff at the well. Minimal but working.

“I can’t do this…” Yoo Dahui still looked disgusted.

The nearest well was far enough that the position of the huts and the washing area made a decent distance. But it wasn’t like I could chase away the players openly peeking. I’d have to let everyone see naked bodies.

*No need for the one-armed orc to stop me…*

The one-armed orc liked survival of the fittest. He didn’t care about the weak. The discomfort of the weak was actually necessary discrimination, he said. He wanted to keep things as they were.

“Hmm. Still, washing is better, right?” I sniffed my shirt. It didn’t smell strong, but that strange scent lingered. Since it was my own scent, nothing special, but some people might hate it. Living with Yoo Dahui, letting that scent linger wasn’t right.

Yoo Dahui pointed at one well. It was where the male players huddled, barely covering their privates.

“Gonna wash over there?”

“Yeah.”

“Really? Everyone else is watching.”

“Well… I’m male, so maybe it’s fine.”

In any dimension, or in the Tower of Struggle, the one who dominated lust was always the man. Every lock opened by a key was called a slut, but the key that opened every lock was the master key. The key didn’t fear the lock. The lock feared the key.

With that mindset, I finished preparing to wash.

At that moment Yoo Dahui suddenly collapsed.

What the fuck is this shit. Sudden turn of events.

I stared at Yoo Dahui. She avoided my eyes. Why was she doing that? I wished she had a poison tongue.

*Poison tongue?* Hold on.

“Would you like appropriate equipment? Wearing it will make it less dangerous.”

While I roughly grabbed the equipment Elena dropped, I scanned the black magic list. Was there something like a poison tongue among all these black magics?

**O!** There it was, plain as day.

**Kiiiit…!**

“Elena, ma’am?”

“N-nothing…!”

I quickly drained Elena’s life force. Elena gritted her teeth and glared at me.

Well, what could I do. I drained just enough life force, then activated the black magic.

My head throbbed like it would split.

*Finally gone mad! Elena! Why are you staring at Kim Jinwoo’s dick?!*

*Dahui, why is your face red? Hehe, still cute though.*

*Thank goodness Elena is here. Elysha won’t be in danger.*

Elves’ thoughts flashed through my mind, then Yoo Dahui’s thoughts slid into my head.

*What do I say when she asks why I regressed?*

I was torn. Trying to come up with an excuse.

*Tell her the truth? That I regressed because I hated someone seeing your body?*

*How am I supposed to say that? I can never say it.*

*Just keep quiet. Say I regressed because I wanted to. Let’s go with that.*

*Okay, decision made. Now how to handle the face?*

**Huuu, why is my face red again. Ah… Jinwoo is coming.**

I walked up to Yoo Dahui.

“Why did you regress?”

“…Just. I wanted to regress.”

Yoo Dahui turned away and muttered bluntly. I knew exactly what she was thinking, so the attitude just looked cute.

*Even if she didn’t know, I’d still look at her cutely.*

In my eyes, no matter what Yoo Dahui did, she looked good. Even if it was a bean sprout, even if she was crazy. What could I do. I’d spent too much time with her while reading novels.

She didn’t know. I just smirked and let it go.

Since I stopped asking, Yoo Dahui shot me a glance, looking uneasy.

“Why?”

“Oh, I wondered why you weren’t digging any more.”

“Ah. Well, there might be a reason. I just went with it.”

I emphasized the “just.” Sometimes silence was scarier.

“And digging isn’t worse than you.”

“Huh? What did you just say? If you do it well, that’s enough!”

Ignoring the fuming Yoo Dahui, I walked ahead. We reached First City in no time. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠As stats rose, our progress speed increased overall. Horin appeared and we fought. What I could get from her was coin amplification through bets. 130,000 coins turned into 1,560,000. With that I rented the best hut and filled it with furniture.

“Today we rest. Tomorrow…”

Yoo Dahui couldn’t finish the sentence.

“…What to do?”

I didn’t want to train anymore. I was tired of it.

“Let’s go meet the little one who splits the lake.”

“Ah! That sounds good!”

We set a schedule and took a break.

* * *

Yoo Dahui’s party solved hygiene and cleanliness through the best hut she rented. We scheduled time slots so the elves could wash at those times. Today was shower time. Elysha went first, then Elena.

**Sniff sniff.** The moment I entered Yoo Dahui’s hut, Elena sniffed my scent.

*Eh? Why me?*

She looked a little awkward, like she’d just realized a bad habit she didn’t know she had.

*So what?*

Elena entered the shower connected to the best hut. A single tub that barely fit one person sat alone. I filled it with water and washed. Unlimited supply, no shortage. Since it was made by the System, no separate drain was needed. Once you adapted, it was convenient.

**Sizzle.** **Sizzle.** Elena stripped and put her clothes in the inventory. She used the basin floating in the tub to pour water over her beautiful naked body.

*Eh?* While wetting herself, Elena noticed a pair of underwear hanging on the wall. It was obviously not women’s.

*Man… Kim Jinwoo!*

The only man who would wear ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠something like that was me.

**Tsk tsk.** Elena clicked her tongue at the droopy panties that looked like they couldn’t breathe.

**Tsk, tsk…** While clicking, she scanned the surroundings. Like a kid about to do something bad, she even checked if anyone was around even though she was alone.

*W-why…?*

Elena reached for the panties Kim Jinwoo had left behind. I really didn’t understand why.

“No… this isn’t right… no…”

Despite her mind trying to hold on to reason, Elena rubbed Kim Jinwoo’s panties against her face. She sucked in his thick remaining scent deep into her nose.

**Ssssweep.**

**Huuu…**

It was the first time doing something like this, yet Elena acted natural. She took another deep breath.

**Ssssweep.**

**Huuuuh…**

It was humiliating. She hated herself. She knew it wasn’t Kim Jinwoo’s command. She knew it was her own doing.

*But I can’t stop…*