Chapter 62
Chapter 62
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Information Stripper Havel
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Information Stripper Havel.
He was gleefully stripping information today as well.
In front of him knelt today's target, Balop.
"I don't particularly enjoy bullying the weak."
Havel lounged in his chair, legs crossed, casually flipping through sheets of paper.
Those papers were none other than the 7th Hierarchy intel that Balop had brought.
"But there's one thing I won't overlook, weak or not."
Havel paused on a page as he spoke.
"When someone lies to me."
The moment Havel's eyes turned to Balop, the man shuddered violently.
"I s-swear, everything written there is the absolute truth! It's the essence that Greenroad gathered day after day!"
His face drained of color, he protested desperately.
"Is that so? Then I suppose I'll have to believe you."
Havel smiled with his eyes and placed a hand lightly on Balop's head.
"You're not the type to lie right up until the brink of death, are you?"
"N-no, sir! I would never lie!"
Havel withdrew his hand, watching Balop who looked ready to lick his boots.
He glanced around, and the Greenroad members averted their eyes with startled expressions.
Most who had charged at Havel had ended up bedridden.
But they were all still alive.
And that fact terrified Greenroad even more.
He could toy with their lives at will.
If he had decided to kill them just moments ago...
Nine times out of ten, everyone here would have met their end.
Knowing that all too well, they had no choice but to fear him.
"Good."
Havel rose from his seat, eyeing them.
"Balop, follow me."
"P-pardon?"
"We need to verify if that intel is real, don't we? Or if you don't want to, I can take someone else."
Havel slowly rubbed his own neck as he spoke.
"There are plenty of replacements anyway."
"I'm coming! Right now! I should show you personally!"
Balop scrambled to his feet and hurried after Havel.
Those words had been a clear threat: refuse, and die—then move on to the next.
Follow if you want to live.
He had no real choice.
Havel left Greenroad with a faint smile, watching Balop.
He had already memorized everything on the papers.
First up: tackling the 71st floor. Where to start...
The method to conquer the 71st floor.
It involved finding and capturing a specific crow, then offering it at the crow altar.
The catch: this crow only appeared on nights when a full moon hung in the sky.
"The full moon cycle."
"It's tonight, sir. You're so lucky. Fortune always favors the capable!"
Balop fawned over Havel shamelessly.
Havel stared at him silently before dropping a single fact.
"I hate sycophants too."
"I'll shut my mouth."
Balop clamped his lips shut immediately.
Havel ignored him and reviewed the paper once more.
'Its distinguishing feature is a single golden feather.'
Caw! Caw!
With so many crows filling the sky, pinpoint one among them.
Havel stroked his chin.
"Should I take them all down?"
Balop flinched.
He could totally see Havel doing it.
"Sh-should I find it, sir?"
Havel turned to him.
"Got a good idea?"
"That golden feather is real gold. Use a mineral-detection spell, and it's easy."
"And you know that spell?"
"Haha, I'm a mage too, you know. Best in Greenroad, despite appearances."
This guy's unexpectedly useful.
The intel-verification tagalong was proving his worth.
"Nice. Cast it."
"Haha, got it. I'll prepare as soon as night falls."
Balop beamed, proud of his skills being recognized.
Then he remembered this job put his life on the line, and his face fell.
His emotions shifted busily.
Whether Balop sulked or not, Havel waited for nightfall.
It arrived soon enough.
A full moon rose between the clouds.
Unlike outside the Tower, this one glowed red, ominous just to behold.
Caw! Caw! Caw!
Crows swarmed the night sky overhead.
These massive beasts flocked in huge numbers, making the sky itself seem to writhe.
"There's more."
Havel sensed presences beyond the crows.
Climbers.
They wanted into the 72nd floor too.
With full moons so rare, they were seizing this chance.
Competition with other climbers, then.
"Balop, you ready?"
"Just a bit longer, sir!"
Balop prepared his spell diligently.
Soon, light gleamed in his eyes. He scanned the sky frantically.
"Ah, there!"
He pointed to one spot in the sky.
A cluster of crows.
Far too distant for normal eyes.
But Havel saw it clearly.
A crow with a single golden feather around its neck.
The instant it appeared, Havel kicked back with one foot.
"Wait here."
His figure blurred the moment he spoke.
He pierced the sky in a flash, arriving before the crow.
As Havel reached to grab the golden crow...
"Caw!"
It sensed him and screeched.
The second his hand extended fully...
Whoosh!
The golden crow dissolved into particles of light and scattered.
Havel's eyes widened.
'Teleportation?'
He looked up.
He hadn't gone all-out, but...
Never imagined it could escape from right under his nose.
'Fast.'
This level of teleportation—no other climber could touch it.
How had they reached the next floor with things like this?
Havel let out a dry chuckle.
'I see.'
The Tower had ramped up the difficulty the moment he entered.
That's why the golden crow's teleport was so potent.
"Can't kill it with attacks, so it dumps everything into evasion, huh."
Havel cracked his neck lightly in midair.
Crows charged him, but too late.
He had vanished.
He streaked like lightning, crossing the sky in an instant.
He'd already locked onto its presence once.
No escaping Havel.
"Caw!"
The golden crow spotted him again and turned to light particles.
Fast, as expected.
'I was holding back to avoid causing a scene with full speed.'
But restraint was off the table now.
If it wanted a speed battle, he'd oblige.
Havel stomped the sky.
Aura cloaked his body as he launched upward.
Kaboom!
A gale exploded belatedly, shredding the sky.
Crows tore apart en masse; clouds vanished in one spot.
Havel arrived at its next reappearance point before the particles reformed.
A four-digit lightspeed feat.
Just then, the golden crow's particles began coalescing.
Right in front of them...
Havel thrust out his hand.
Crunch!
"Kek!"
The golden crow, gripped by the neck, screeched in his grasp.
Larger than Havel, it gaped in shock.
It had escaped him—yet here he was again.
"Out."
No time to process. Havel's fist flew.
Splat!
But now Havel's eyes widened.
The crow's head pulped.
Yet it didn't feel like a kill.
More like punching a cloud.
Caw! Caw! Caw!
Crow cries echoed from all directions into Havel's sharp ears.
He realized instantly.
It had split into tiny fragments, nearly invisible.
"What a pain."
Even the neck he held was fragmenting.
Planning to flee via division.
"Don't underestimate me."
Havel released the neck.
He drew his sword from its sheath.
Dawn light cloaked the blade.
In the past three months, while Havel roamed other Calamities besides the Tower...
He had transcended the last stat excluding Calamity: Technique.
Transcended Technique's new name.
Apex.
The pinnacle of skill.
Havel's sword, infused with Apex, moved at lightspeed.
Flash!
A streak lit the sky.
The Dawn aura moved too swiftly.
Crow cries around Havel ceased.
His Apex sword had struck every fragmented golden crow.
Proof: all the minuscule crows were flipped over, eyes rolled back.
All knocked out.
The true pinnacle of swordsmanship.
Havel swept them into one hand.
The golden crows in his grip merged.
"Like clay."
Finding the sight intriguing, he fused the rest.
The unconscious golden crow reformed to its original shape.
Havel descended leisurely, crow in hand.
Other crows could only watch, dumbfounded.
None could reclaim it from him.
He returned to where he'd left Balop.
Planning to offer the golden crow at the altar with him in tow.
"Bro, this is seriously dangerous! We'll all die at this rate!"
"Hah, you really don't trust me? I oughta punch that punk who trashed Greenroad right in the face."
Voices reached Havel's ears then.
One was Balop; the other, an unfamiliar man.
"Balop."
"Eek! H-heeek! Y-you're back, sir!"
Balop jumped and yelped at his call.
Havel's gaze shifted to the man.
Dark skin, black bull-shaped tattoo on his body.
'Freya?'
The Freyas were a tribe from the mountains of the fallen Beltaron Empire during the Unification Wars.
Havel had seen Freyas recently.
The sisters handled by that old Calamity Sorcerer.
'Those were basically corpses anyway.'
This was his first living, contemporary Freya.
The issue: the man's face looked oddly familiar.
"You the rude bastard who turned my Greenroad into a mess?"
But Havel brushed it off.
He simply rolled up his sleeves.
"Guess I'll have to show you who's rude."
The moment Balop quietly backed away...