Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Master of the 72nd Floor, Crow Origin
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71
Master of the 72nd Floor, Crow Origin.
“Caw, caw-caw!”
The creature let out a joyful cry upon spotting prey it hadn’t seen in ages.
Swinging the spear it clutched around wildly, it looked every bit the hunter.
The moment Havel faced it, dawn began to settle upon his sword.
“Normally, I’d toy around with it a bit, given my temperament.”
But this time, he had to hurry and rescue Baria.
Since the man had gotten caught up in his mess, Havel decided not to drag things out.
Havel’s aura shifted in an instant.
“Caw!”
Startled by the sudden change, Crow Origin cried out.
Its black feathers bristled all at once.
The opponent was just a puny human, barely taller than itself.
A frail thing that seemed like it would die from a single wing strike.
So Crow Origin was delighted.
Due to the tower’s difficulty, it had always been stuck in statue form.
This was its first hunt in a century, so of course it was thrilled.
But then.
The instant Havel’s aura changed, it realized the truth.
The one before its eyes was no prey.
It was the prey now.
The moment that thought struck, Crow Origin’s form turned golden.
As it dissolved into particles of light in a flash, Havel let out a hollow chuckle.
“I’ve dealt with that trick before.”
Seeing it pull the same stunt as the golden crow, Havel thrust out his foot.
Boom!
In that instant, light wrapped around Havel’s body along with his kicking leg.
Havel traversed space in a blink, faster even than the particles of light.
But Crow Origin didn’t go down without a fight.
The moment it reformed from the light particles, it swung its spear.
As the long spear came flying, Havel swung his sword.
However, Crow Origin’s intent was different.
The spear arcing toward Havel was still in particle form.
The spear in light-particle state passed right by Havel’s blade.
At the same time, it reformed between Havel and his sword.
Havel eyed the spear tip hurtling toward his face.
Joy flickered in Crow Origin’s eyes at that moment.
Clang!
Crow Origin’s spear tip.
Havel’s hand blocked it.
Until just before, Havel had been gripping his sword—there shouldn’t have been time to block.
Yet his hand stopped Crow Origin’s attack cold.
“Caw!”
Crackle-crackle-crack!
Crow Origin thrashed like it was struggling, unleashing lightning through its spear.
Lightning exploded right in front of Havel’s body.
Through the pitch-black smoke, Havel stared impassively at the creature.
Crow Origin’s feathers began turning deathly pale.
“If you block like that, how do you plan to stop my sword?”
As Havel questioned it, he swung his blade simultaneously.
Crow Origin twisted its body in a panic.
But Havel’s sword ignored that and sliced straight through its wing.
Slash!
“Caaaaw!”
The severed wing of Crow Origin fell away.
Now with only one wing left, it flapped frantically, trying to dissolve into light particles again.
But as Havel had said earlier, he’d already seen this escape method.
Dawn surged fiercely onto Havel’s sword.
A blinding light so intense it seemed it would suck in even Crow Origin’s light particles.
Crow Origin realized upon seeing that light.
There was no dodging it.
Even as light particles, it would all be swept away and vanish.
Crow Origin’s light condensed in midair in an instant.
Though briefly, it had put some distance between itself and Havel.
Yet the ever-growing dawn on his sword shone clearly in its eyes.
No matter where it fled, escape was impossible.
So it folded its remaining wing and faced Havel head-on.
If it was going to die, it would fight to the death.
Its feathers bristled uniformly.
Its spear began turning golden.
Golden lightning crackled around Crow Origin’s body.
At the same time, its size started swelling gradually.
It was gigantification.
An immense mass and thunder qi poured forth.
The sole intent to pierce through imbued its spear.
Crow Origin’s form was gradually covered in gold.
Before long, the sky around it was tinged yellow.
The aftermath of manifestation beyond aura.
Beneath the yellow sky.
The moment Crow Origin’s eyes gleamed.
Its wing flapped forward.
Kwaaaaaang!
Faster than when it had fled moments ago, Crow Origin shot forward.
The surrounding clouds were torn apart, and trees in the forest below were uprooted.
The sheer destructive power was absurd.
Before the crackling golden lightning.
Havel quietly let dawn settle on his sword.
“All that flashy crackling.”
As always, Havel simply raised his sword.
Dawn on Havel’s blade illuminated the heavens.
——————————!
Soundless light devoured everything.
The sky that had been dyed yellow moments ago was gone.
Only serene dawn remained.
And the creature flapping before Havel was swallowed by his dawn.
Kuuuung!
Dust and wind trailed as Crow Origin crashed onto a distant mountain.
Due to its gigantified form, the mountain’s peak collapsed entirely.
This triggered a landslide, turning the mountain into a mess.
Watching that, Havel extended his hand.
The numbers shot up in an instant.
Finally, Havel checked the value for his last transcendence stat, Calamity.
‘991.’
Transcendence in Calamity was truly just around the corner now.
The moment he passed the next floor, Calamity would surely transcend as well.
“I can’t even call myself human anymore.”
Absorbing the Calamity, Havel turned back toward the door.
There, Balop, Paioid, and Owen were pacing around, apparently waiting for him.
Paioid spotted him first.
Seeing Havel, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“I figured you’d be farther away, but you were here.”
“If you got taken out, I couldn’t exactly hide from a monster like that.”
Fair point.
Havel said nothing more and placed his hand on the door to the 73rd floor.
“Let’s go, then.”
Without hesitation, Havel opened the door.
In that instant, a brilliant light flashed, and the four vanished.
When Havel opened his eyes again.
White trees and grass unlike before filled his vision.
In a gray world that seemed like it would crumble to dust at a touch.
A little ash drifted in the air.
“Cough, this is...”
Recognizing the ash, Paioid immediately covered his mouth.
A pitch-black sky loomed overhead.
Volcanic ash swirled endlessly there.
“Gah, it’s hot!”
Balop screamed as the ash touched his skin.
The volcanic ash was hot enough to melt flesh.
“Use magic or aura to protect yourselves.”
Havel issued the order and pulled a piece of paper from his pocket.
He’d never heard that the 73rd floor was like this.
Checking the info, it was supposed to be home to a primitive crow tribe calamity species.
But there were no such things—just volcanic ash flying around—so naturally, he was puzzled.
“H-Havel!”
At that moment, Owen pointed to the sky.
Beyond the black volcanic ash clouds, a massive shadow slowly moved through the clouds.
“Balop.”
Havel called out to Balop while gazing up at it.
“Is that a primitive crow tribesman?”
Balop panicked at the question.
“N-No. It’s big, but only on the level of the lower-floor crows. It shouldn’t be that huge.”
Hearing that, Havel grasped the situation.
This rotten tower had upped the difficulty.
Not just by strengthening the master.
But the overall difficulty of the entire floor.
“Owen, Baria might be dead by now.”
Voicing his honest thoughts, Havel watched Owen’s face drain of color.
With something like that roaming around, Baria could have died long ago.
‘Of course, the tower’s difficulty spiked after I entered. He’s probably still fine for now.’
Still, it was only a matter of time.
If not just this floor but others had their difficulties raised too, chaos must be reigning above right now.
At that moment, Havel shifted his gaze.
A cluster of light was flying toward him.
It was in the shape of a butterfly, but not a calamity species.
“Balop, isn’t this magic?”
“Y-Yes! It’s a message spell that carries voice to a specific target.”
Balop identified it.
“Can you check the voice right away?”
“Yes, I’ll connect it now.”
Balop approached the butterfly in front of Havel.
He fiddled with it this way and that.
Moments later, the butterfly’s light faded.
“Here it comes!”
With Balop’s words came a crackling sound.
Havel recognized the voice’s owner.
He wore an incredulous expression.
It was none other than Elasia Selentia.
The magic captain of Selentia whom he’d once dragged along for pathfinding.
She’d climbed to the 7th hierarchy too.
Apparently, she’d tagged along with Moebius.
‘Why’d she come?’
She probably figured sticking with him meant plenty of scraps.
Guessing Elasia’s thinking, Havel scratched his head.
The message ended there.
She’d led with the key info first, showing her effort.
Havel clicked his tongue briefly and trudged through the ash.
“Havel, what now?”
As Paioid asked, Havel lightly loosened his legs.
“Someone I was thinking of building ties with our family.”
He’d gotten some use out of her before, so he owed her this much.
“To find her, best to ask the locals, right?”
Paioid got it and froze.
It didn’t take long for his thoughts to reach the right conclusion.
Havel’s figure blurred and vanished.
Watching that, Paioid thought quietly.
The crow tribesmen were all going to die today.