Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Behold! The World Tree Burns Red!
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While the team leader risked his life to hold back the Irregular...
The rest of the team wasn't just standing around idle.
"Tossing a flame scroll!"
"I'll prep the pulverize spell! Hurry!"
Explosions and heat blasted from behind.
The team leader, forgetting even the cold, fought on desperately.
He blocked the [Widowstone Knight]'s attacks with his SR shield,
then stabbed with the flames of his SR spear to interrupt its onslaught.
The tide had turned.
And bad news and good news are much alike.
They both come pouring in at once.
"Gate secured! Secured!"
"Oh my god...! Tris is alive!"
An escape route had opened.
And the tank Tris.
He was still hanging on!
'It didn't finish him off? Why?'
Joy and unease bred a mistake.
The team leader groaned as his shoulder was deeply slashed.
"Urgh...! Get lost!"
"Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
He couldn't die here.
He had to live to be of service to that lord!
He was the recovery team leader.
A straggler who picked up loose change.
But,
if that lord had placed value on this wretched neck of his!
"Repaying with my life is a knight's duty!"
What [Widowstone Knight]?
Its clumsy swordplay was plain as day!
-Boom!
He parried, then rammed with his shoulder.
Creating distance, the team leader dove into the gate.
Thud-!
It was a reckless leap, heedless of front or back.
The team leader rolled pitifully across the snowfield.
But there was no shame in it.
"Huff, huff...!"
He was alive.
The cold snow on his cheek felt welcoming.
Crawling on the ground, the team leader joyfully lifted his face.
"Is everyone safe?! Tris...!"
His words halted.
There stood a stranger at the Tower entrance.
'Who is that?'
A tall young man.
Imposingly built, with broad shoulders.
He had rolled up his dress shirt to bare his muscular arms.
Why was he wearing an apron?
The young man wore the serene expression of an archery master.
With the apron and his looks,
you could easily mistake him for a cafe owner.
Only,
the team leader was a veteran climber, even as a straggler.
'...He's strong!'
He knew it the moment he saw him.
A true expert.
Wild dogs tuck tail before the dogcatcher.
The team leader caught the faint scent clinging to the young man's body.
The smell of blood and fat that hadn't fully faded.
A trace of being drenched in blood thousands of times over with a blade.
Even his mana reeked of iron!
"...Who are you?"
Gripping his spear warily, the team leader prompted the young man to shrug.
Then he pointed behind him.
"Recovery Team spotted! All personnel retrieved! All retrieved!!"
"We really made it out!"
"Rescue team here! Treating the wounded first!"
Ah.
The rescue team, huh.
The team leader collapsed in relief.
Of course, the 0th Layer was Cave Bear territory.
They'd need escorts.
"Heavy bleeding! Quick, stop it!"
"Forget me, Tris first, that guy..."
Tension released, those were his last words.
The team leader blacked out as if falling into a deep sleep.
"All four survived?"
"Yep! Potions on hand, they'll be fine!"
Whew, what a relief.
Jeong-uk patted his chest in relief.
'Worried they'd escape only to die to field mobs, so I tagged along with the rescue team. Overkill, maybe.'
Anyway.
The beta Enhanced System, [Equipment Transcendence].
The Item Transfer System, [Auction House].
Development success.
Jeong-uk patted his chest again.
The core of the [Equipment Transcendence] skill was simple.
"I'm not the one doing the enhancements. The World Tree is."
William had said it, hadn't he?
Entrusting something to someone you can trust.
That's the power of people.
But trustworthy people are rare.
Especially when money and power get involved.
Monthly 300 million, honor, and immense authority.
Lessons from wearing the armband.
'This is reality.'
So?
"Like when I made the Tower Gal, just train the World Tree."
"?"
"The main body finally crossed the line."
"Taught it bad habits, now stealing money too."
"World Tree... wife of a domestic abuser... memo."
Shut up, fakes.
Anyway.
It's a simple principle once you see it.
'Inanimate gear can use skills too.'
The mere leather [Warlord's Gauntlets].
If they could use [Fury Chain Strike],
'Why wouldn't a World Tree learn even higher skills?'
No reason.
So Jeong-uk just had to teach it.
He didn't have the skill to teach people yet(?),
but teaching objects? Sure.
'Since when did I delusionally think I could only take humans as disciples?'
And so.
No red hat, but Jeong-uk became a trainer.
"World Tree, come here!"
Grabbing one of the World Tree's roots piercing the sky.
Defiling its pure form with his own color.
Entrust it with luggage transport (Auction House),
steal what it has (mana, etc.).
Then teach [Equipment Transcendence] and kick it out to earn money?
Tada!
A world where no one gets hurt.
"Qu-Queen! The World Tree! The World Tree!"
"The World Tree is glowing bright red!"
"Who cares! Leave it! Must be autumn!"
"How can you say such a thing!"
Heh~ Jealous? Cut it down then~.
I'm not queen for fun~.
Queen Harpy turned back to the Tower Gal.
The World Tree turning red, blue, or rainbow,
none of it would stop her praise for Gallery Master.
Floor prisoners successfully escaped.
From the heart of an A-rank Irregular,
with 'external help' no less!
Should be enough to shake the Tower.
Naturally, the Tower Gal exploded.
Traffic ballooning to 30 times normal.
The most frenzied in this flow were the raid teams.
Especially the third-string ones.
The ones despairing over another Irregular incident.
Something was changing.
The Tower Gal?
No, this damn Tower!
Couldn't help but wonder.
Our Gallery Master oppa.
Or unnie.
'What madness next?'
No, probably making something already?
Asking not to expect was too much.
The usual lowbrow mess.
Which was great.
Meant peace had returned.
So Gallery Master's response—
Jeong-uk's, that is—was concise.
Of course.
It was a concise bombshell.
Uploaded a pre-prepped video to the post,
and shared the link.
A video set at the Tower entrance.
Demonstrating some skill.
-Whoosh! Whoosh!
A basic healing potion vanishing, then reappearing.
Demonstration of the [Inventory] system.
Jeong-uk's comments posted,
and the next moment.
Post-service launch.
The Tower Climbing Gallery crashed for the first time.
Overloaded by thousands of comments.