Chapter 281
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 281
Chapter Title: Lesson 55. The Heart of the Tower - 1
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"Is it just my imagination, or does it feel like it's been forever since we last entered the Tower?"
"That's because, As Light..."
"No, forget it. Don't say it! My bad!"
On Friday morning, having filled their bellies with crab fried rice topped with an exotic citrus sauce and plenty of sprouts, the Rebellion members entered Babel Tower faster than any other team.
Of course, when they arrived, the first-year Special Class members were glaring at them with fierce expressions, but they neatly ignored them.
Especially the pale-faced Lucelle Ortima at their center, who looked like he was sick or something.
"If he's not feeling well, shouldn't he just stay quietly in his room? Why bother coming out?"
As they entered the Tower, boldly enduring the countless piercing stares from behind, As Light wrinkled her nose, unable to move on without commenting on Ortima.
In truth, there was no direct connection between As Light and Ortima, but they had both paired with Ulrike Prominence during the Union Founding Festival, fought Ban Yu-won, lost, and suffered the same humiliation—which gave them a bit of emotional common ground.
The difference was that As Light had seized a chance to restore her honor from that day, while Ortima's reputation had plummeted into the gutter, making his title as heir to one of the Ten Great Families meaningless.
"Who knows, Light? He just accomplished his goal a moment ago."
"Huh? What goal?"
As Light blinked innocently in response, Lucelle flashed a mischievous smile.
"You just showed interest in him, Light."
"Huh? Well, yeah, because it's weird for an heir to one of the Ten Great Families to come out here without even managing his own condition... Did I do something strange?"
"That's the point. He's deliberately exposing his pitiful, wretched state to us to evoke sympathy."
The last space they had explored was exactly Room 200—no more, no less.
From here on, it was the domain of returning students rather than freshmen, the true heart of the Tower they could proudly claim. What had once been a simple labyrinth or cave filled with straightforward traps and mindless charging monsters had transformed into layered worlds, each floor feeling like a small, self-contained realm to explore.
――Of course, to Rebellion, the Tower had been like that from the start.
"Come on, even so, you think an heir to one of the Ten Great Families would pull something like that just to get our attention?"
"If anyone's target, it'd be Dokgo Yeon—or stretching it, maybe the Master."
But even upon reaching Room 200, the conversation between As Light and Lucelle didn't end.
As Light might not have noticed, but Lucelle had been glancing at Dokgo Yeon from earlier.
"Ah— so he likes Dokgo Yeon that much. Poor guy, Dokgo Yeon's such a blockhead she probably didn't even notice."
As Light, still viewing Dokgo Yeon as the world's biggest airhead, nodded innocently, and Lucelle let out a small laugh.
In truth, after hearing that Dokgo Yeon was 'pretending no other man catches her eye because she hates Ban Yu-won worrying about it unnecessarily,' Lucelle had been so shocked that she desperately wanted to see Ban Yu-won realize and react to it himself.
"So, what do you think, Dokgo Yeon? You knew he was here, right?"
"A beast, and a fool. Your mind's gotten too lax now that we're in the Tower."
And of course, aware of Lucelle's intentions, Dokgo Yeon hardened her expression and spoke in an deliberately cold voice.
"I won't nitpick your usual flower-field brain, but this place is already a battlefield. Wasn't climbing the Tower everyone's goal?"
"Heh... You're right. Sorry."
It was a golden chance to see Dokgo Yeon embarrassed, but when she got serious, there was nothing to say.
Reluctantly giving up the interrogation, Lucelle winked meaningfully at Ban Yu-won. Guessing the psychological warfare between the two, he shook his head, feeling as if nine fox tails were peeking from behind her.
"Yeon's right for now. I get that our power outpaces the rooms we've cleared so far, loosening our tension—but from Room 200 on, the Tower changes dramatically. It'll apply to us too. Everyone, stay sharp."
In Room 200, before leaving Eden, they had collected every drop of the blood wine flowing there into their canteen.
The artifact-modified canteen, now holding over 10,000 liters, was already more than half full of pure blood wine. Anyone who knew its effects from Eden would covet it.
"Everyone got their candies?"
"No issues."
Unlike the blood wine, these were candies made from Eden's life essence—harvested early—and the fruit's concept, solidified into jam.
Confirming each had at least three Life Candies that could heal any non-fatal wound, they left Eden for Room 201.
"You slipped out of that nicely, Dokgo Yeon."
"Didn't you hear the Master? Stay sharp."
"Lately, it feels like you're handing the reins to the Master more than speaking up yourself... Knowing we're on the same page makes me so happy lately, you know?"
"You'll pay for that later."
Ignoring the two whispering endlessly behind, waiting for the shift to end, As Light—brushed off by them—puffed her cheeks and whispered to him.
"Yu-won, those two have been weird lately. They keep glaring at each other while saying cryptic stuff. Think they're under mental interference like I was before?"
"They're perfectly fine, As Light. No worries."
Recalling last night when Dokgo Yeon had fed him chocolate mouth-to-mouth, Ban Yu-won wondered if she was the normal one—but saying that would just earn him a beating, so he kept quiet.
Fortunately, the shift ended before he slipped up.
The group was plummeting from the sky to the ground without parachutes.
Kwah-gwagwagwagwa! The wind battered them viciously from all sides as gravity pulled them down.
"See—I told you it'd be like this—."
"Whoa—it's really high—!"
"The scale's insane—look at that land! Gotta be another chain room!"
"It's like... an entire world embedded here."
Veterans who had rolled through the Tower for years might handle it, but any first-year suddenly tossed from the sky would panic.
But Rebellion wasn't top team for nothing.
For starters, they had two members who could fly on their own.
Lucelle, with her divine beast blood awakened, and As Light, who could fly with the True Dragon Sword's power, burrow through earth, or walk freely underwater.
Dokgo Yeon could probably dash across empty air with her inner energy, and Ban Yu-won could soar like a bird using wind elemental magic.
―In games like this, landing spot's key, right Master?
"No battle royale once we land, so just transform."
―No farming?
"Might farm some."
But Ban Yu-won chose an even easier path.
Lilith, now able to transform into any vehicle thanks to the concepts of Yokki and Myeongbyeon, shifted into a fighter jet and carried him.
It was a two-seater, and soon Dokgo Yeon had claimed the back seat.
"Fast?!"
Lucelle, unfurling her divine beast tail to take flight, gaped at the sight, eyes widening.
"Riding something weird again... Incoming!"
As Light drew her True Dragon Sword and dove, stunned by Ban Yu-won in the state-of-the-art jet, but she swiftly unleashed its aura with a sharp cry.
Having overcome her ancestor's possession and awakened as a true dragon, her combat prowess was now reliable, if nothing else.
Flipping freely in midair and swinging her sword, a massive blue aura trail slashed the sky in an X.
One swing, yet two trails—before anyone could question it, the purple-winged horde caught in them shrieked grotesquely and vanished.
Acquired Life 300, Curse 150, Fusion 30.
"Curse! Don't let them touch you!"
As the enemies vanished, Ban Yu-won manifested his authority, secured the language concept, identified them, and transmitted to the group telepathically.
But the group only grew more confident upon hearing it.
"A curse that weak can't invade my body."
Revealing her divine beast aura, Lucelle repelled purple sparks crackling across her body as she charged through the air.
Her elegant fingers sprouted sharp nails, shredding the winged amorphous monsters; each kill dispersed evil energy as black smoke rose.
"Same here... While Yu-won's stuck in that clunky metal lump, let's finish them ourselves!"
If Lucelle countered the curse with her innate divine beast holiness, As Light crushed it utterly with her draconic nobility.
Especially after overcoming her ancestor's curse recently, her resistance was sky-high; she could handle these barehanded without her sword.
Gripping her spear-shaped weapon, she kicked off the air, grinding through the monsters in her path and bursting out the other side.
"So, what are we doing?"
As Ban Yu-won formed the fighter jet with Lilith, Dokgo Yeon slipped into the back seat with ghostly agility, wearing a prim expression as if forgetting the past.
"The sky is my domain."
Ban Yu-won declared confidently and summoned his familiar.
Its name: Abyss.
The ultimate drill that grinds all it touches attached to the jet's nose, transforming the front into a drill.
"A true driller pierces the heavens. Yeon, let's go!"
"Wait, you don't mean charge straight like this—."
The jet accelerated into the monster swarm where Lucelle and As Light were rampaging!
Long past supersonic—fast enough to shred non-superhumans in the wake alone—the nose drill spun furiously, even converting the entrapped airflow to mana.
"Dodge on your own!"
"What's that... Kyaa!"
"It's sucking us in!"
The drill's vortex pulled in the monster flock before they could flee, shredding them instantly.
Ban Yu-won stored the hard-won Curse and Fusion concepts in his Code Core, then surveyed Room 201's landscape emerging below the clouds.
The room's finite size meant the ground cut off at boundaries, but over half the interior was blackened.
"If that's all curse, then this is..."
Probably tied to a constellation.
Even veterans screamed at this hellish environment, but Ban Yu-won just smiled calmly.