Chapter 137
Chapter 137
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 137
Chapter Title: Havel Suddenly Turns Young in the 8th Hierarchy
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Upon arriving at the 8th hierarchy, Havel suddenly found himself younger.
Staring blankly at the unfamiliar sight for several minutes.
"Hey, are you lost?"
A human voice suddenly rang out.
When Havel looked up, there stood a middle-aged woman.
She smiled kindly.
"Where are your parents?"
Hearing her gentle tone, Havel turned his head.
The scenery beyond the gate was completely different from what he'd seen moments ago.
Countless people were bustling about frantically.
Havel smoothly turned his head back.
The gate was gone.
In its place stretched an expansive city.
'What is this.'
Was the Tower toying with its climbers?
Havel scanned his surroundings with a displeased expression.
'Maybe I should've linked up with Elasia and the others.'
This would take quite some time to figure out alone.
'Still, this seems like a chance to learn the clear condition for the 8th hierarchy.'
That was when it happened.
Crack!
The sky suddenly split open.
The moment Havel looked up with a puzzled expression.
Crack-crack-crack-crack!
A rift spread across the entire sky, and some kind of space tore open.
Weeeeen!
At the same time, the streetlights around them lit up, blaring siren sounds.
"Kyaaah!"
"It's a dimensional gate—run!"
People scattered in panic.
"You too, kid!"
The middle-aged woman who'd spoken to him earlier grabbed his hand.
He could have shaken her off, but Havel let himself be pulled along for now.
Even so, his gaze remained fixed on the sky.
"Gieeeek!"
"Gaaah!"
In that instant, monsters poured out from the rift.
'Calamity Beasts.'
Havel grimaced, recognizing them immediately.
The swarming Calamity Beasts plummeted down and latched onto buildings.
They smashed structures indiscriminately or attacked people.
Screams echoed everywhere as a massacre unfolded.
A running office worker had his head torn off by a Calamity Beast.
A woman fleeing on a vehicle was crushed underfoot along with it, exploding in a burst.
A student-like figure was snatched by a tail and slammed into a building.
It was pandemonium.
As Havel watched without intervening.
Boom!
One Calamity Beast shot into the sky.
"You rotten bastards!"
"They're clustered in that sector. Take those down first!"
A group appeared and engaged the Calamity Beasts.
'They wield Calamity.'
Havel noticed they handled it differently from the slaughtered civilians.
'What is the Tower trying to show?'
As Havel's brow furrowed slightly.
A sharp sensation flashed through him, and he looked up.
There, someone had appeared in the sky.
In Havel's eyes reflected a small boy with black hair.
A distinctive mole near his eye caught the attention. The boy extended a hand toward the rift.
Clasping both hands together, the rift squealed and sealed shut.
The chaos below had prevented others from seeing clearly.
But Havel had witnessed it perfectly.
In that moment, the boy's eyes turned this way.
They met, and the boy hesitated before vanishing in a flicker.
Havel sensed it wasn't a normal method of disappearance.
That was when it happened.
"Huff, huff!"
"Gieeeek!"
A Calamity Beast appeared behind the woman pulling Havel along.
Drooling greedily, a four-legged beast with bare skin devoid of fur.
Ten times a human's size—it fit the word "monster" perfectly.
It targeted them, mouth gaping wide.
The gap in speed between the running woman and the beast was too vast.
The Calamity Beast closed in right behind them.
Its maw was about to swallow the woman.
"Ah, aaah!"
Tears welled in her eyes from terror.
Havel released her hand.
Slash!
His extended hand blade cleaved the Calamity Beast in two.
Havel's eyes met the woman's as she collapsed.
She stared at him in shock, gasping for breath.
Leaving her, Havel turned calmly.
"Whatever this is."
He shook the blood from his hand.
"Giek-giek, so noisy."
Furrowing his brow, Havel decided to clean up this place.
A former Special Class 2 Agent handling dimensional gates.
Dariz.
He'd been dispatched to seal a sudden rapid dimensional gate.
The dimensional beasts emerging from it were carrying out a slaughter.
The gate was a Class 2.
Even Damien, the strongest among the agents, could only mark one at a time.
Then the rift in the sky sealed shut.
"Abraksas showed up, huh..."
Gazing at the closed gate, he muttered to himself.
A being that always appeared from somewhere to close dimensional gates.
Some claimed it was the one opening them.
But no one knew the truth.
No one had ever seen it with their own eyes.
People called that existence Abraksas.
"D-Dariz, Class 2 Agent!"
"What? What now?"
Dariz, who'd sighed in relief, turned at the call.
A bizarre sight unfolded before him.
A boy was butchering the dimensional beasts they'd been struggling against.
A boy who looked no older than early teens.
With each swing of his silver hair nearing white, his hand blade scattered blood.
Class 2 dimensional beasts were bisected, meeting their end.
Killing a Class 2 with such a small gesture?
An unbelievable scene.
Moreover, an inexplicable aura emanated from the boy.
An overwhelming presence that inspired awe in onlookers.
'This...'
It was the aura felt only from Class 0 agents.
"What the hell is that? A new type of dimensional beast?"
An agent beside him muttered blankly.
It was only natural, given how surreal it was.
"No mana at all. How is that even..."
Others assessed differently from Dariz.
They hadn't sensed the aura Dariz had.
Dariz realized belatedly that only he had felt the boy's power on-site.
'Detection type.'
Dariz was a detection-type ability user.
Though far from combat, assigning him as Class 2.
His detection rivaled Class 1 agents.
Thus, he alone vaguely sensed the slumbering power within the boy.
'Even stranger in others' eyes.'
If even he, a detector, only glimpsed it slightly.
To other agents, it looked like a civilian massacring dimensional beasts.
'Whatever it is.'
Dariz realized instinctively.
He couldn't let that boy go.
Whether good or evil.
Nothing was certain.
But his instincts hit the mark more often than not.
"Evacuate all civilians and support that boy."
His Class 2 experience wasn't for nothing.
After Havel finished off all the monsters.
He spotted agents approaching him.
'Smells like trouble.'
Feeling unwelcome, Havel considered slipping away but stopped.
Unlike the others, one had decent eyes.
That one had somewhat sensed his power.
Won't try anything stupid.
'I need to figure out this situation too.'
Even Havel found it disorienting.
The previous 7th hierarchy at least hinted at a clear path.
But here, the Tower's intent was a mystery.
'The spot with just the night sky earlier, and now this.'
Full of inexplicable oddities.
As expected of higher hierarchies.
The higher you climbed, the weirder the structure became.
'Need a clue.'
There had to be a way to clear it somewhere.
As Havel stared at the approaching agents.
Dariz, the one he'd deemed okay, stepped forward.
"Thank you for handling the dimensional beasts. I'm Class 2 Agent Dariz."
Havel blinked at the introduction.
Then glanced at the Calamity Beasts he'd killed.
'They call Calamity Beasts dimensional beasts here.'
Havel stroked his chin briefly.
He hated memorizing new terms.
'Well, to me, they're all just Calamity Beasts anyway.'
To a climber, even these agents were Calamity Beasts in human guise.
Aware or not, Dariz continued.
"I'd like to discuss this a bit. Do you have time?"
Dariz spoke to Havel with utmost courtesy.
The other agents were taken aback.
They hadn't expected such deference from him.
Havel looked barely early teens.
The beast-slaying had seemed unreal.
But up close, he looked even younger.
Even Havel found the situation absurd.
His original form gone, suddenly youthful.
'One of the Tower's clear conditions must involve rallying in this form.'
He had no choice but to accept it that way.
"Sure. I've got questions too."
Dariz looked knowledgeable at a glance.
So Havel agreed to talk.
"Thank you."
With that gratitude, Havel moved with the agents.
As the agents departed.
Others arrived on massive vehicles to clean up.
Removing beast corpses, repairing buildings.
Checking the dead and handling their bodies.
They were street dimensional beast cleanup specialists.
'The city's systems are fully built out, from one to ten.'
The Tower's power was astounding anew.
After all, it had created an entire world.
'Felt it in the 7th hierarchy too.'
The Tower's world-building was otherworldly.
Then a thought struck Havel.
Were these worlds truly created by the Tower?
Following the agent, Havel's gaze drifted to distant mountains.
Beyond the continent's fog.
Worlds unknown to continentals.
Perhaps mimicking some of those.
'No way to know.'
Calamity masters often influenced the Tower directly.
Meaning their handling of Calamity far surpassed others.
'Like when I fixed the Demonic Palace's inscriptions before—they must have similar powers.'
The next demon's turn was looking forward to.
Lots more to ask, it seemed.