"Whew"
Sungjin wiped away the sweat from his brows. It was a short, but intense battle.
'Blinking everywhere with spells… Sigh…'
It took much longer than expected. In order to use all five marbles, he had to finish things as quickly as possible. Sungjin made his way down the stairs.
'If this is the tenth floor… the hidden pieces were located… '
Sungjin tried to remember the past. As he made his way up while fighting the mobs, he came across a secret door. Contained within was a magician's hat; a hat which granted temporary status boost.
'Was that the 5th floor? Or was it the 6th?'
It was the place where a Manscorpion was, but he couldn't recall as to its exact location. He was too busy trying to survive first time around, where clearing the objective was a difficult challenge in of itself; he didn't have the time to sit around memorizing the location of secret items. Sungjin thought to himself,
'Well, I should see it as I descend.'
"Let's go Soldamyr, Cain."
Sungjin climbed down the stairs with his two summons. The summons lasted 15 minutes thanks to the 'Summoner' passive.
It was in his best interest to make his way down the levels while he still had dependable allies. And thus he arrived on the 9th floor. The 9th floor unexpectedly had a large black goat roaming the level. The goat looked innocent enough. But
"Baa~"
When the goat let out a cry, Sungjin felt sleepiness wash over him. Resistance proved futile, and his eyes closed themselves. Sungjin was about to call out Soldamyr's name who was following behind him
"Soldam…"
He didn't manage to finish before falling asleep.
"Electronic Touch!"
Soldamyr used electricity to wake him, but the goat was already charging upon him. Sungjin braced his two swords against the goat's charge, but
'Pow!'
Cain came flying like a thunderbolt from the side, crashing into the goat's side and flinging it away.
"Baa~"
The Goat cried as it was pushed away. Cain returned to Sungjin's side
'Grr…'
Cain bared his fangs and made threatening growls.
"T..Thanks, Cain."
Sungjin thanked him as he recalled the past. The goat was no ordinary goat; it could cast magic, a Goat Magician. Probably a creature created by the Mad Magician Lenin. The Goat began to cry again
"Baa~"
A magic circle appeared before the goat. A fireball was fired from the magic circle. It was much smaller than the one fired by Lenin, but it was still quite a size. Sungjin chanted a spell.
"Anti Magic Shield"
The ball of fire flew straight at Sungjin.
"Boom!"
And exploded.
'What kind of Goat shoots fireballs…'
Regardless of how strange the monster was, he had to beat it quickly. Sungjin charged towards the Goat again. The Goat swung its head around, trying to attack Sungjin with its horns. But that was a mistake.
There was no way it could hope to beat Sungjin in a melee. Sungjin didn't bother dodging its horns and used the Moon Specter to strike the horn.
'Crack!'
The horn broke off with a loud snap. The Goat's prized horns were cut off with a single strike of the sword. The Goat became terrified and
"Baa~"
Cried as it retreated. Sungjin dashed forward to try and finish it off, but
'Oong'
A bright light enveloped the Goat, and it teleported away a bit to the side. It was the same 'Blink' used by its master. Sungjin grinded his teeth.
'I see… You learned a great trick from your master…'
Sungjin addressed his summons.
"Same tactic as before."
At his command, Soldamyr began to chant. Cain ran towards the Goat's right, and Sungjin ran towards the left.
It was the strategy that beat the Goat's master; there was no way the goat would be able to overcome this.
"Lightning bolt!"
"Baa~"
The goat escaped the trajectory of Soldamyr's spell, but it ended up moving closer towards Sungjin. Sungjin used the Blood Vengeance to behead the beast. Swinging the sword, Sungjin removed the blood from the blade. Soldamyr came up to him and said
"This creature… was created to cast magic."
"Yes, it is impossible for ordinary goats to cast spells otherwise."
Soldamyr picked up the severed head of the goat.
'What is he…'
Sungjin was about to ask when Soldamyr whispered
"Mark of ill Omen…"
Sungjin stared at him. On the Goat's forehead was a red upside down pentagram.
"What's that?"
Soldamyr explained with a grave expression.
"This… is a forbidden formation."
"Forbidden? What kind?"
"It’s a taboo spell which… merges two species together."
"Really?"
"Yes. Just drawing this in Kutan is punishable… execution on the spot…"
Sungjin crossed his arms and said
"The master of this tower is such a nut job. You didn't see earlier, but he burnt all the buildings down around the tower."
Sungjin didn't take it so seriously, but Soldamyr remained grave. Sungjin said to him
"Hey, let's make our way down. We're supposed to meet the others halfway."
Sungjin progressed down the stairs while annihilating monsters on the way.
The difficulty of mobs on each floor rose from bottom to top, so someone like Sungjin who was making his way down from the top found each progressive floor easier than the last.
Sungjin finally reached the 6th floor where the hidden piece was located, guarded by a Manscorpion. The Manscorpion was a strange looking creature.
It had a body of a giant scorpion, like those of Kutan Desert, but had the upper body of a man growing on top. The human part wielded sickles, and although Sungjin wanted to try to speak to it, the Manscorpion wore a metal helm which concealed its face.
"Well, I'll see after I kill them."
Sungjin pulled out his swords. Soldamyr informed him
"Master, this is my last spell."
He had fought all this time without rest, so it was unsurprising.
"Ah, ok."
Sungjin turned towards Cain
"Cain, go destroy his tail."
Sungjin made the request and then charged straight ahead.
"Lightning Bolt!"
Soldamyr's spell came flying from behind
'Bzzzt!'
The Manscorpion who was hit by the spells spazzed out on the spot. Taking advantage of this moment, Sungjin swung his two swords together and cut off both of its claws at the same time.
"Ugh…"
The Manscorpion let out a strange cry of pain as he swung his sickle to retaliate, but Sungjin dodged it by simply tilting his head back. It nearly reached, but it was all calculated. The large tail came bearing down on Sungjin but
'Grr!'
Cain bit down and held onto the top part of the tail.
'Haa hoo…'
The Manscorpion continued to let out a strange cry of agony. Sungjin was getting tired of it. He ran up the body of the Scorpion and cut off the wrists of the human portion of the Manscorpion, disarming it.
Then holding the Blood Vengeance upside down, he plunged the sword into the center of its scorpion side, killing it. The tail lost strength and became limp.
And although the human portion had only lost its hands it still went limp and died.
"Hmm…"
Sungjin considered taking off the helm of the Manscorpion to see his face but decided against it. He didn't think that he would like seeing whatever was hidden underneath. Sungjin turned around.
Soldamyr was already back in his lamp.
'Taboo spells… it really does leave a sour taste.'
He thought to himself. But then from the stairs leading down to the next floor,
"What do you think happened to him?"
"Why do we need to worry about him at all?"
"But the boss was cleared…"
"Forget it, let's just get ready for the next enemy."
Voices of others could be heard. The hunters had arrived. Sungjin went to meet the others along with Cain.
"Yo~ Nice timing."
Reactions to Sungjin's appearance were highly varied.
"You…"
The 'Green Magician' was speechless.
"Did you kill the boss? Alone?"
'Mountain' immediately asked out of curiosity.
"Why did you go alone?"
The Hoplite chastised him. And finally
"You fucking troll! Die!"
The Highlander came charging towards him. Sungjin thought as he watched the man run towards him.
'This happened last time too…'
Sungjin readied his weapons and parried the Highlander's two handed sword. One strike, two strikes, three strikes were exchanged… and this man was strong. Not only was he quick, but his strikes were heavy as well.
Sungjin took on a downward strike head on and was planning on pushing the sword aside.
But when Sungjin tried to push off the sword, the Highlander gave no resistance and instead rotated the sword, using Sungjin's push to help turn.
Because of it, Sungjin was forced to make useless movements. The Highlander used this opportunity to attack Sungjin.
"Wooosh~"
The sword made threatening noises as it came flying towards Sungjin's undefended side. Sungjin hurriedly brought his Blood Vengeance back down to block it
"Clang!"
The man retreated after his attack failed. The Highlander had a rigid expression.
'He blocked this?'
His eyes seemed to say. But Sungjin was also surprised as well. The attack just now required 'his full attention' to block it.
If he did not have at least double the Dexterity and Strength, he would have fallen prey to the earlier attack.
'Hey… he's really good.'
Sungjin just stared at the man. The 'Highlander' was a young white male. Blonde, blue eyes, agreeable features, and handsome looks. The 'Highlander requested assistance from his teammates.
"Hey! What are you dong? Help me!"
But the others remained hesitant. They must have felt uncomfortable attacking another hunter. By now everyone should have become aware of the 'Troll System'.
They must not want to land the first strike. Sungjin found it interesting. Curious about something, Sungjin decided to test the 'Trite – Eye of Jeremia'.
Sungjin touched the earring hanging from his right ear. The Earring required a conversation to activate. Sungjin faced the other hunters and said
"I am not a troll. All I did was run ahead."
And soon he heard everyone's voices all at once.
'So the announcement about killing the boss was true?'
'But isn't that exactly the same thing as trolling? Well, since he's not in troll state I shouldn't attack him first and get the penalty.'
'If either one of them dies… my contribution percentage should rise. I won't get in the way and just watch. Things may end up playing in my favor.'
He could hear the sound of their inner voices. It was the most interesting of experience. And of the voices, the one that had the most impact on Sungjin was
'That mother fucker… shut the fuck up!'
It was the 'Highlander's' rage fueled thoughts. He came charging towards Sungjin once more.
'Clang!'
The Highlander's two handed sword exchanged blows with Sungjin's two blades.
"Hey, why are you doing this?"
"You really don't know?"
And whisper-like voices could be heard.
'We almost died because you left the team!'
He didn't seem like a bad person. Sungjin wanted to explain to him
"Hey, I'm not a troll. It's just…"
"No excuses!"
The conversation did not last very long. He came charging towards Sungjin with the large sword. And his inner thoughts could be heard.
'Trolls like you are enemies of mankind! You little piece of shit!'
Sungjin watched him charge in, but couldn't help but grin.
'Hey… this guy's pretty righteous!'
Note: Don’t worry no cliff as it’s a double release! Click the next chapter 🙂
'Clang clang!'
The swords exchanged blows. Sungjin wanted to speak with him more.
"Hey listen to what I have to say"
But the only reply he got was the swinging of the swords. And because either the conversation ended or 10 seconds passed, Trite was no longer active. The only way to interact with the Highlander was
'Clang! Clang!'
Through the sword. The 'Highlander' was filled with rage. Enough to be willing entering the troll state to kill Sungjin.
Actually, Sungjin could have allowed one or two attacks to land to put the Highlander in troll state, kill him, and take two items. But Sungjin decided not to do so.
Sungjin liked him. And also, his reason
'We almost died because you left the team!'
He was not wrong. The difference between Sungjin and the Highlander was that the Highlander had not experienced the latter stage of the raid; their knowledge was different, and their perspective was different is all.
'Willing to sacrifice himself to carry out justice… kind of an idiot but… a man with good intentions.'
Others in the same position as him were thinking
'Is he telling the truth?'
'I hope it doesn't bring harm to me.'
'This can play to my favor'
And he was also strong. Each time Sungjin blocked a blow, he could tell that the man was unusually skilled with the blade. He was talented with extremely high stats.
'…Let's find out more.'
Sungjin held the sword in a cross as he blocked, and pushed away the two handed sword.
"Binding Frost! Frostbite!"
His feet froze in place. He couldn't run away anymore.
"You fight with the sword, and yet you still use this kind of hex?"
It looks like he had no resistance to magic at all.
'It's just like looking at my past self.'
Sungjin thought as he asked
"Hey, you. What's your name?"
"Why the fuck does that matter?"
It didn't look like he was willing to share his name.
'He's certainly strong enough… And I like his sense of righteousness.
But it wasn't like Sungjin could use the 'Holy Water of Baptism' on someone who didn't want to receive it.
'What should I do?'
In the short time Sungjin was considering his options, the spell lost their effectiveness and the Highlander came charging at him immediately. But
'I saw everything I need.'
Sungjin finally became serious as he used the Moon specter to block the attack and used the Blood Vengeance to knock the two handed sword away.
'Clang~'
The Highlander was surprised. He had believed he held the upper hand the whole time, but not only had Sungjin parried the attack with just one hand, but was able to knock the sword out of his hand with a strange motion.
The three behind the Highlander were also shocked. They were well aware of the Highlander's strength, having climbed the tower alongside him. And the Highlander lost so simply.
Sungjin raised his sword to the Highlander's neck and asked
"I'll ask again. What's your name?"
But he glared back at Sungjin and said
"Kill me."
He was prepared to die. Sungjin watched him for a moment more before putting his swords away.
"I am not a troll, well I am sorry I left you guys behind… I only did that because I had my reasons…"
Explaining his circumstance or persuading others is difficult. The Highlander quickly ran over to his sword and picked it back up.
Even if the fight a moment ago could be called just and passionate, trying to recklessly charge against a foe of insurmountable difference in power is idiocy.
'If he takes another step…'
But luckily, he walked over to the other hunters after retrieving his sword.
'Not a bad judgement.'
Sungjin liked him a lot. If not now, Sungjin hoped that he could meet him later on so that he may baptise him.
Sungjin left the other hunters alone and headed towards the stairway to the fifth floor, where the hidden piece was waiting. Cain wordlessly followed. Cain was becoming wiser.
When he felt that the Master was in danger, he would unhesitatingly sacrifice himself to save Sungjin. But even though his master was exchanging blows with strangers, he calmly sat in place.
He must have realized Sungjin was fighting to test the stranger's strength.
'How smart.'
Sungjin patted Cain's head as he stepped on the first step of the stairway when he realized
'Ah right… this hidden piece can be used by everyone.'
Sungjin stopped and faced the other hunters to tell them
"Hey, come here for a sec. As an expression of apology…not really but, since there is a hidden piece here, so come get it."
The hunters were standing in place despite Sungjin's words. They were still being cautious of him.
"Well do whatever you want. There's nothing but corpses upstairs anyway."
Sungjin climbed down the stairs after he spoke. He now paid attention to the wall of the stairway. The height of the stairs in the tower was standardized between the floors.
With the exception of the stairway leading from 5th floor to the 6th. There were three more stairs between these two floors compared to any other stairway in the tower. In other words, there was a larger gap between the floors here. And in that gap was a hidden room.
'I guess you could call it floor 5.5…'
Sungjin checked each of the bricks on his way down.
'There was something weird here for sure…'
But he ended up reaching the 5th floor. On the floor was a corpse of a beast with a lion's head and the body of a dog. A liog. When Cain saw it, began to growl.
"Grrr…."
Sungjin glanced at the monster as well. He remembered killing that last time around as well. The forcefully combined dog and lion.
'…forbidden spell…'
It was a beast he did not want to look at for too long. Sungjin turned around and climbed back up the stairs while rubbing his hands over each of the bricks. Along the way
'Click'
One of the brick was loose.
'It's this'
Sungjin pulled the brick out. It came out without any resistance. Inside was a red button. Then
'Rumble rumble'
The wall along the stairs opened up. At the same time, the Operator gave an announcement.
[Congratulations!]
[You have found the 'Hidden Place – Magician's treasure horde']
Sungjin entered the room. The light came on automatically and illuminated the entire area within. The room was full of eye-catching treasures.
Between the mountain of golden coins, there were golden crosses, silver cups, gem boxes made out of rubies and sapphire scattered across the room.
An ordinary person would be overwhelmed by such a sight. But Sungjin held no such attachment to gold. If only these coins were Black Coins, gold was useless.
Sungjin treated these mounds of gold the same as piles of stone as he walked among the treasures. And meanwhile
"What is this?"
He could hear voices from behind.
"Wait… is all of this… gold?"
"Rich! We are rich!"
They shouted in excitement. The others must have followed him down. Sungjin stared at them. Three of them were visibly elated. The 'Highlander' wasn't showing it outright like the others, but his eyes were large. Of them, one acted upon his impulse right away.
The Green Magician ran forward and stuffed a diamond necklace into his cube. Sungjin watched with narrowed eyes.
'Why are you doing that…'
But when he put the necklace into the cube, the bottom of the cube opened up and let it drop out.
'You can't even take it back with you…'
He already tried it once. Any item not 'owned' is discarded by the cube. Sungjin left them alone and continued to walk deeper into the room.
On the far side was an extremely worn out pointy hat of a Magician. It was a stereotypical wizard hat. Sungjin picked it up. And then
"Who are you?"
The hat spoke to him. Sungjin responded without being surprised.
"I am Kei. A Hunter"
"…Hmmm really? You weren't surprised at all by my appearance. You must be quite a veteran hunter."
'A veteran… yes… since this is my second time around…'
The Magic Hat continued to speak
"I don't know how you came to this tower but… if you can, get out. The master of this tower is becoming more and more deranged. Dangerous things may happen."
Dangerous things have already ended though.
"I know. If you mean Lenin I already killed him."
"Kill?"
Sungjin nodded.
"Yeah, I killed him."
The hat paused for a long time.
"So… he went crazy in the end?"
It asked. Sungjin nodded
"Yes. He had completely lost his mind. In his insanity, he razed the town and began strange experiments in the tower."
"By experiments… you mean combining different species?"
"Yes."
"So in the end… so that's what happened…"
The magic hat's dialogue changed a lot from before.
'I think last time he just upped my status a bit… what did I say to get him to do that again?'
While Sungjin was trying to recall the past, the Magic Hat said to him
"Lenin was my friend."
It was an utterance mixed with regret. Sungjin decided to listen to the hat.
"When he was first assigned to this town, he protected this town from monsters and was well respected. But he changed when he completed his mission and returned to the Capital."
Now that he thought of it, he remembered these words. But Sungjin still listened to the story quietly.
"His teacher was at the Capital. "Orkin of the Blue Ocean". A great Magician. But he did not select Lenin as his disciple. He picked an unknown child instead."
Sungjin felt people approaching from the back. The hunters had arrived and were listening in on the story.
"He had devoted his whole life to his teacher… and at first, he tried to understand the teacher's choice… But he never overcame the feeling of rejection and slowly lost his mind. And finally, he crossed the line experimenting with Taboo Magic…"
The hat stopped speaking as if it was struggling with rising emotions.
"I tried to stop him… and ended up like this after losing. Hunter, I thank you for taking care of him on my behalf."
Sungjin bowed for a moment. 'Thank you' was sure to be followed by some sort of reward. The hat continued and said
"As a proof of my gratitude, I will give the rest of my remaining magic power over to you. Do you accept?"
If he thought about this for a second, this dialogue was a bit different from last time. When he had visited the hat last time before he killed Lenin,
'Take some magic power from me. Please kill my friend Lenin on my behalf.'
Something like this had happened. Well, in either way, reward is reward. Sungjin nodded.
"Well, I'll take it gratefully."
The Hat glowed for a moment, and a blue ray of light came down upon Sungjin. The Operator gave an announcement.
[You have obtained 5000 allocated status points.]
The reward was done with this. Sungjin was about to put down the hat. But the hat asked one more question.
"The ones standing behind you… are they comrades?"
Sungjin looked back. Behind him were 'Highlander' and the three others who were watching.
He couldn't use Trite to read their minds, but their inner thoughts could be heard loud and clear.
'Please PLEASE say yes'