Chapter 65
Chapter 65
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Awakening of the Primordial Crow
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It was the second day that the climbers had been waiting in front of the altar.
They stared with eyes ablaze, waiting for the one possessing the Golden Crow to appear.
A rare chance to reach the 72nd floor.
Sneaking aboard from behind was an unwritten taboo, but to climbers obsessed with ascending the Tower, such rules meant nothing.
At that moment.
"Wh-what?"
Someone who happened to glance up at the sky cried out absentmindedly.
One by one, heads turned to follow the sound.
"Wh-what is that? A crow?!"
The others screamed in the same panicked tone.
And for good reason—high above in the sky, a massive crow had suddenly taken flight.
The climbers were startled by the crow bursting out from between the trees.
"Th-that's the Golden Crow!"
Someone spotted the golden feathers around its neck.
At the same time, they noticed a person dangling amid the crow's feathers.
"It's heading for the altar!"
"Hey! If you're going, take us too!"
Thoroughly shameless by now, their eyes rolled back in desperation as one.
The moment the Golden Crow was offered to the altar, no one could enter except the person already inside.
But they couldn't just loiter around the altar either.
If anyone stayed on the altar grounds for more than ten minutes without a sacrifice, a Calamity spawn would appear.
It had already killed several 7th Hierarchy climbers.
That's why the climbers had been waiting outside the altar.
But now, they had no time to pick and choose.
In the 7th Hierarchy, the lunar cycle of the Crow Era differed from the outside world.
Even so, it was still over a week until the full moon rose.
Desperate not to waste that time, the climbers were frantic.
But their all-out sprint proved futile.
The Golden Crow soaring through the sky reached the altar with ridiculous ease.
It had simply been too fast.
"Ugh, damn it!"
"We missed another chance."
The climbers felt their strength drain away.
But a few refused to give up and charged up the stairs.
The altar entrance atop the stairs hadn't sealed shut yet.
"H-Havel, sir! Climbers are coming up from below!"
Balop, who had tumbled across the altar upon arrival, shouted to Havel.
"Urk... Ju-just one... minute."
The wind sorcerer clutched his mouth, his stomach churning from the excessive speed.
Pyod beside him was in the same state, gripping the wall and struggling to catch his breath.
Havel regarded the pair as weaklings and spoke.
"Doesn't matter. We'll wait ten minutes."
"Pardon?"
Balop turned to Havel, wondering if he'd misheard.
But Havel's eyes were utterly serious.
"Wh-what do you plan to do? If we wait ten minutes, that thing will come out!"
"That's exactly what we're waiting for."
Havel plopped down in front of the Golden Crow.
"Catching the monster that even 7th Hierarchy climbers fear too much to touch—that's the perfect way to make a name for ourselves."
"Y-you're going to hunt it down just for that reason?"
"On the contrary, it's one we have to hunt."
Balop's face drained of color.
He regretted not fleeing when he still could.
"Th-that Rigo bastard's materials are pricey... They'll sell for a fortune."
Pyod, finally regaining his wits after vomiting, wiped his mouth and chimed in.
Vomiting seemed to have cleared his head.
"Can I take it down?"
Pyod asked with fervor.
Havel had planned to let Pyod handle it from the start anyway.
His initiative was somewhat commendable.
"Pyod, do you know that the Tower's difficulty changes?"
Pyod turned to Havel.
His expression suggested it was news to him.
Then again, not many knew this.
"The Tower adjusts its difficulty based on the level of those who enter."
"What?"
Pyod looked utterly shocked, as if hearing it for the first time.
"For the past few months, I've been away from the Tower. Other climbers progressed smoothly on easier difficulties because of that."
Pyod's pupils shook violently.
He belatedly grasped the implication.
There had been occasional rumors that the Tower's difficulty had spiked recently.
He'd brushed them off at the time.
But now he recalled those rumors had started a few months ago.
"Now that I'm back, the Tower has ramped up the difficulty again."
That explained the Golden Crow's absurd evasion abilities too.
"If it looks like you're about to die, I'll save you."
"...Guess I'm not destined to die peacefully."
Pyod muttered with a hollow expression.
"B-bro! You got this! I'm rooting for you!"
Balop quickly distanced himself from Pyod, fearing any fallout might reach him.
Prioritizing his own neck, as expected of Balop.
"Then you—keep those guys from climbing up to the altar."
"Y-yes?"
Following Havel's gesture, Pyod looked where he pointed.
Climbers were charging up the stairs like madmen.
"...Isn't that too many?"
Balop said, his face turning pale blue.
Havel merely wore a faint smile.
"If even one gets up here, you'll have to fight alongside Pyod."
Without a word, Balop unleashed wind magic downward.
He was squeezing out every drop of mana to block them, no matter the cost.
Watching Balop's desperate stand, Havel waited leisurely.
About ten minutes had passed since Balop's winds had begun raging.
"It's coming."
Pyod gripped his dagger and longsword tightly, his face tense.
Shouts from the climbers below echoed up.
"Ten minutes! Run!"
"Damn it, it's here!"
The climbers fled down the stairs in droves.
Balop's winds gradually died down as well.
He retreated with a face full of tension.
"N-no one made it up!"
When Balop implicitly asked if he himself could withdraw, Havel nodded.
"Can you handle it alone?"
"I will."
Pyod stood before the altar, dual-wielding his swords.
Then, amid the fleeing climbers on the stairs, something like pitch-black liquid began pouring out.
"Gaaah!"
A climber who failed to dodge the gushing liquid got caught.
The instant it touched him, he was sucked into the liquid.
Havel leaped lightly and snatched the man by the collar from behind.
He tossed him outward casually.
"Not your time. Get lost."
The man tumbled across the ground, swallowed his scream, and fled again.
Meanwhile, the liquid's mass grew larger.
By the time it had swelled to the size of the altar, a head erupted from its surface.
71st floor.
The Primordial Crow.
The Primordial Crow, dormant within the altar, revealed itself.
At that instant, Pyod kicked off from the altar.
Red energy surged around his body.
He had begun using Frenzy Transformation.
But the Primordial Crow had no intention of letting him approach unchallenged.
Pitch-black spear-like bars protruded from its body.
Facing the incoming spears in midair, Pyod slashed his curved sword sideways.
Boom!
The air exploded, veering Pyod's trajectory.
He swiftly dodged the spears, then swung the dagger in his other hand.
Kaboom!
Another explosion propelled him forward relentlessly.
He was compressing and detonating his aura to change direction.
Kaboom!
And as if to prove he could accelerate too, Pyod soared upward with his swung curved sword.
This pierced the Primordial Crow's onslaught, landing him above its head.
But the foe was a Calamity composed of both liquid and solid.
The moment Pyod's feet touched it, black liquid surged to swallow him.
Yet Pyod was no pushover.
He instantly crossed his dagger and sword, thrusting them out.
Kaboom! Clang! Kaboom! Kaboom!
Amid the blasts, chunks of the Primordial Crow's body tore away.
Its liquid form was too frail to withstand Pyod's barrage.
'As expected of a Freya.'
To Havel, he was still a novice, but the Freya clan was innately superior.
Their bodies were close to the pinnacle of human perfection.
Moreover, Pyod bore the blood of the great warrior Gaiod.
Naturally, his skills ranked among the top climbers.
But there was a separate issue.
No matter how much he ravaged the Primordial Crow's body.
Ruuuuumble!
It was merely a fraction of the whole.
The Primordial Crow swung its wings.
Pyod urgently bent backward.
He'd nearly lost his head.
But that threw off his balance.
Pyod twisted his body, dropping swiftly downward.
"Tch, disgustingly huge."
Pyod clicked his tongue, glaring up at the Primordial Crow.
It possessed an unfathomable height and size.
His damage was imperceptible.
Despite his desperate assault, it remained unscathed.
Pyod gritted his teeth.
No good.
To topple this thing, he needed more firepower.
This wouldn't be enough.
"Pyod."
Havel called out to him then.
As Pyod perked his ears, Havel's voice reached him clearly from afar.
"The way you're fighting right now is for humans, not Calamities."
Pyod froze.
He was a climber who'd reached the 7th Hierarchy, after all.
He'd faced and defeated countless Calamities.
But this was his first time battling one this massive.
Plus, Pyod had spent recent years as Noklord's leader.
He'd engaged in far more human duels than monster fights.
"With something like that, you can go all out without holding back."
Havel's next words snapped him back to reality.
"...I see."
Pyod finally realized his mistake.
He sheathed his dagger at his waist and gripped his curved sword with both hands.
At that moment, red energy erupted even fiercer from his blade.
A greatsword's form began manifesting in the surging aura.
The result of Pyod pouring his full power into it.
Meanwhile, the Primordial Crow's wings rained down on him.
The liquid-solid wings split into tens of thousands of tentacle-like strands.
Facing them, Pyod drew back his rear foot, clutching the massive greatsword on the verge of exploding.
His teeth ground together.
A single all-out strike with everything he had.
Freya Clan Frenzy Technique
Mountain Overturn
Kaaaaaaaaboom!
It was the moment Pyod unleashed his first true full-force strike.