Chapter 283

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Translator: Ryuma

Chapter: 283

Chapter Title: Lesson 55. The Heart of the Tower - 3

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It had taken the form of a flock of birds, but soon enough, it revealed its true nature.

The boundaries of what had a fairly distinct shape crumbled away, fusing indiscriminately with everything around it until it transformed into a black wave massive enough to swallow their hideout in one gulp.

It would have been a lie to say they weren't overwhelmed by the sight.

―Kwaaaaa!

"It's really a Constellation."

"I've suspected it ever since I saw the scale of this Room, but I didn't think it'd come at us right away like this."

This wasn't something you could block with physical or magical defenses alone.

It contaminated everything without discrimination, turning it all into a curse unless you confronted and utterly destroyed it.

But who was Ban Yu-won? He was one of the rare few who could wield barriers as perfect concepts, and a curse sorcerer who handled curses of depth 500 or higher directly.

The curse that came crashing down in an instant―looking like a wave of sticky tar―collided violently with Ban Yu-won's barrier, reinforced by his curse resistance, but ultimately failed to pierce through and faltered.

―Ah, you've grown even stronger!

No matter how you looked at it, the Constellation seemingly deeply connected to this curse, [Observer of the Ten Thousand Eyes], showed a psychopathic reaction, delighted that Ban Yu-won had so splendidly blocked its attack after striking first.

Ignoring the Constellation's voice clinging obsessively to his ear, he thought.

'Good, I blocked it... but now what do I do with this.'

If it had been a simple curse or phenomenon, he could have conceptualized and absorbed it, but this curse seemed to possess a direct will and act on its own, making that impossible.

"That voice just now... I think I remember hearing it before. That disgusting voice... Master, shall I handle it?"

"No, Yeon. I just thought of a decent way."

There was actually an easy solution.

All he had to do was draw Requiem, dormant in his body, from his sheath and stab it once.

The core concept forming the sword was Parma (破魔) at a staggering depth of 2,000.

Combined with concepts that destroyed souls and slew gods, it was perfect for quelling a disaster unleashed by a Constellation.

But―.

'It's not something to reveal so easily, and above all, I don't want to show it off to that creepy bastard.'

No helping it then. By projecting Requiem's concepts onto the Heavy Rain Sword, he could achieve a similar effect.

High-level concepts like God-Slaying, Soul Destruction, and Anti-Magic weren't something he could casually create, but with Requiem as the template residing in his body, generating a temporary minor copy via the Heavy Rain Sword was a breeze.

But first.

―To so easily halt a fragment of my authority...!

He unleashed his Word Command, infamous for activating unconditionally the moment it left his lips regardless of the situation, halting the wave of curse as he dismantled the barrier.

Creating even a minor copy of Requiem demanded a level of concentration that made multitasking impossible, even for Ban Yu-won.

"And―!"

―Puk, puk-puk-puk-puk-puk-puk-puk-puk!

Next, he hurled all twenty-five rain blades toward the frozen wave hovering in midair, embedding them at precise intervals.

It looked just like scattering talismans to seal an enemy's movements.

In truth, those rain blades would serve as terminals to exercise his authority, so calling them talismans wasn't far off.

'Anti-Magic, Soul Destruction. A tiny touch of God-Slaying.'

Concepts that would normally require massive chunks of his primal energy to produce one each, but Requiem within him aided in their generation.

Even so, it wasn't enough to fill all twenty-five artifacts, but Ban Yu-won had the Executioner's Longsword, an artifact resonating in real-time with the rain blades.

All he had to do was bestow every concept he'd just created onto the Executioner's Longsword.

Breaking demons, destroying souls, slaying gods.

They seemed entirely different in meaning―aside from being childish and cringeworthy―but they were all transcendent powers that enabled the eradication of things unyielding to mere physical or magical force.

Adding the Executioner's Longsword's innate Severance on top would utterly shatter the curse's intent to fuse everything, from the root!

And the instant he willed it.

All these destructive concepts transmitted simultaneously to the twenty-five rain blades through the resonance dwelling in the Executioner's Longsword, unleashing a divine ripple across the area.

"Oh, ooooo―!"

"The corrosion... the corrosion is vanishing!"

Dozens of identical longswords vibrated in unison, spewing their authority as the black wave visibly began to evaporate.

Golden magical power resembling Ban Yu-won's primal energy spread in wave form, rippling outward like twenty-five stones flung into water at once.

The faint but undeniable God-Slaying power within the Heavy Rain Sword's ripples affected even the Constellation.

―Ah, aaaaah.

The Observer of the Ten Thousand Eyes fell silent for a moment at Ban Yu-won's proactive and astonishing counter, yet still let out a pleased voice.

―Your growth, my child, truly surpasses all imagination.

"Doubt it. I don't remember having a mom like you."

―How rare is this chance for you to come to me of your own accord? Since you've come after so long, let's spend plenty of time together.

"We're not even flirting, so what's with that tone..."

Ban Yu-won retorted in disbelief at the bizarrely sweet voice, but the Observer's presence vanished after those words.

At the same time, the black wave's dissipation accelerated dramatically. It had either retreated, unable to withstand the God-Slaying, or wisely withdrawn in anticipation of a prolonged battle.

As a finishing touch, he recovered solid concepts from the traces left after everything vanished.

This time, countering with opposing attributes to the curse had netted him not just Fusion but also Collapse. Moreover, evidence that the Observer of the Ten Thousand Eyes had directly infused power into the black wave granted him a substantial amount of Stigmata.

'The curse depth I can handle now... about 700. Looks like I'll push it to 1,000 before leaving here. Perfect timing, since I was planning to delve deep into curses anyway.'

Ban Yu-won absorbed the Stigmata and Curse concepts himself, while collecting Fusion and Collapse separately into the Code Core.

He could give them to Shati later or use them to craft other artifacts; either way, they'd prove immensely useful.

"As expected of our Savior...!"

"But Paul... Paul..."

Apparently, the man who had gone out earlier to fetch the locals was named Paul.

The NPCs wore complex expressions: half joy at surviving the disaster that engulfed their hideout, half sorrow at losing yet another comrade from their already sparse ranks.

After peering outside and confirming everything had been swept away, Ban Yu-won sighed and turned to them.

Whether by the Tower's design or sheer coincidence, he'd be dragging these NPCs along in this Room too.

No need to seek out other NPCs for stories now. All that remained was establishing a safe camp.

Ban Yu-won didn't expend much effort here.

Having Lilith transform into a spacious spaceship equipped with living quarters and a training ground solved it neatly.

"Unbelievable."

As Light muttered, shaking her head. She still couldn't get used to Lilith's transformation ability, no matter how many times she'd seen it.

Lucelle giggled beside her.

"No one would think to use a spaceship as a camp in a place like this. First, you'd need to even have a spaceship and an Inventory that can bring it inside the Tower..."

"A regular spaceship wouldn't work anyway. The Tower's repulsion would bounce it right back. Only possible because it's Lilith."

Ban Yu-won made a mental note to add subtitles to the footage later, warning against trying to bring a spaceship into the Tower and blaming him if it broke.

For reference, the survivors unwittingly dragged aboard were being guided through the facilities by Lilith, who had fibbed about being a dazzlingly beautiful artificial ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠maiden AI for the ship system.

Thanks to that, the Rebellion members could now discuss freely among themselves.

"Normally, you wouldn't take the easy route like this. You hate exposing the spaceship too."

Dokgo Yeon faced him with a cautious expression, trying to gauge his intentions.

"It's because of that Constellation, right?"

"Yeah. Feels fishy."

Ban Yu-won grimaced in reply as he leaned back in the captain's chair.

The Observer of the Ten Thousand Eyes: the first Constellation he'd met in the Tower, one obsessively fixated on him.

Acting as if it knew his secrets, it lorded over other Constellations despite their rejection, wielding immense authority.

If this weren't his reality but a game or comic, he'd casually declare it the final boss or hidden boss without a second thought.

"If that Constellation feels fishy, then we should clear this Room's conditions as fast as possible and move on."

As Light was spot on.

Ban Yu-won lacked the means to kill the Observer, so avoiding it for now―even if reluctantly―was best.

That said, he wasn't certain how far this Chain Room extended.

In the worst case, it could chain beyond ten Rooms like before―.

'Since you've come after so long, let's spend plenty of time together.'

Recalling the Observer's words heightened his unease, and he nodded.

"Right, As Light's got it. We have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠no choice but to grasp the core of this Chain Room quickly and push through. Keeping the NPCs inside the ship keeps them safe."

"How did they even cross Room boundaries to reach here?"

"Originally, it was probably a bonus concept to ease Chain Room conquests by building good relations with them."

The problem was the Room's excessive difficulty rendered the NPCs useless.

He'd wondered if they served as a link to locals, but those locals got neatly wiped out by one black wave.

No, seriously―why did the nation crumble and dimensions collapse every time they entered the Tower for exploration?

"Whatever. We'll just scour everything. Tike, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠scan complete?"

―Whiiiing.

Tike, already in orbit and having mapped the vast Room, sent the completion report and data.

Lilith projected a holographic map of the Room in the bridge via resonance, leaving As Light dizzy.

"We're really exploring the Tower, right?"

"Any sufficiently advanced kin is indistinguishable from magic."

As Ban Yu-won smugly quipped and prepared to order Tike for deeper analysis, a colossal black spike―truly massive, piercing the heavens―erupted from the distant land.

It targeted Tike overhead precisely.

It had detected Tike's ground surveillance and countered―but how far did it stretch!

―Whiiiing, click-clack!

Fortunately, Ban Yu-won spotted it from the ground in time, and Tike, sensing the crisis, warped back to his side, evading it...

The missed black spike soon collapsed and writhed, morphing into a gigantic serpent that slithered toward them.

A shadow so immense it warped perspective.

It had to be several kilometers long.

"Imagine pitching tents out there for camping in this mess."

"This isn't Tower exploration."

"This footage is guaranteed views too. Phew, good thing."

That was important, yeah.

Ban Yu-won sighed and issued orders.

"Lilith, launch. Dodge that snake and crash into suspicious spots first."

[Lilith, taking off!]

And so began their exploration of the curse-blanketed land, where the entire world turned foe in horrific fusion.