Chapter 176
Chapter 176: Shadow Dojo (1) (Start of Volume 8)
“It’s a relief that you like it . ”
Henova chuckled . He was usually pouting all the time, but he looked like he was in a good mood right now .
There was nothing Yeon-woo could say except for the words, ‘thank you . ’
[This is the 21st floor, gate of the ‘Shadow Dojo . ’]
When everything was set, Yeon-woo bid farewell to the One-horned tribe, and set to climb the Tower again .
Other than a few words with the Martial King, he didn’t say much .
He looked like he was deep in thought .
Shanon and Hanryeong didn’t say anything either . They sensed that there was something about Yeon-woo and Henova’s relationship . Only Rebecca brought it up .
[What ‘s your relationship with that old man?]
“Savior . ”
[Savior?]
Rebecca tilted her head .
But Yeon-woo didn’t respond . What else should he call the only person who missed his brother?
[It seemed like he’s fond . Of you . ]
Like a parent .
Rebecca didn’t say anything after that . She belatedly realized that it wasn’t something she should talk about .
Yeon-woo lightly pat his face with his hands to wake himself up . Henova was cheering him on with the rare material .
It was time to focus on the Tower now . The 21st was important to Yeon-woo .
As soon as he passed the door, a message popped up .
[The trial of the 21st floor is beginning . ]
[Trial: A shadow has always been faithfully with you, silently . However, some shadows gain their own will and do what they want .
They try to take the bodies of people passing by .
The 5 doors where the shadows are are divided into 33 different sections .
Now, choose a door and battle shadows to clear at least 20 sections .
The more shadows fought, the more their will to fight will decrease . ]
Yeon-woo checked the message and headed inside . He already knew what it said, and he would need as much time as possible to go around all the sections .
Then, a green portal opened in front of Yeon-woo . Yeon-woo stopped in his tracks . Green meant that someone was teleporting . It was a portal that Guardians used . Who was coming?
He never saw any of the Guardians after meeting Laplace on the 16th floor, so he was curious as to who it could be . The Guardians didn’t appear on the higher levels unless it was an emergency .
Then, the face of a scared little child popped out . There were tears in the child’s eyes . The child seemed to be hesitant to get closer to Yeon-woo .
Yeon-woo’s eyes shined .
‘The Hai of the Twelve Earthly Branches, Lupi . ’
The highest rankers Guardians were known to be as powerful as high rankers . So most of them were arrogant and mysterious .
But Lupi was different .
Like his weak appearance, he had a lot of tears and fear . He would cry at the drop of a hat and the other Guardians were tired of him .
Even among players, Lupi was treated as a nuisance . Guardians usually gave hints about the stage, but Lupi just cried .
There were girls who liked Lupi, because he was cute .
But people who knew Lupi well tried to avoid him as much as they could .
Although he looked timid and weak, there was a reason why the Tower appointed him as the highest Guardian .
Lupi was a hedonist . He didn’t care about other things, and he only sought thrills . The tears he spilled were only a prop to set up his stage .
Why was he here? It seemed like he was here for him .
“Are you #, ###?”
“Yes?”
“Y, You’re d, definitely as scary a, as I h, heard . ”
What kind of rumors had spread about him? He just looked at Lupi with a calm gaze .
“I, If you look at me like that it’s s, scary… . . ”
But Yeon-woo still didn’t answer . It was not a good idea to get tied up with Guardians . More so with Lupi . So he waited until Lupi could calm down and speak .
Sponsored Content
Lupi squirmed, hesitating to speak, and slowly opened his mouth .
“###, d, did Laplace come b, by?”
“Laplace?”
Yeon-woo tilted his head . Why was he looking for him suddenly?
Lupi read Yeon-woo eyes and slightly flinched .
“I, I guess he didn’t c, come here . ”
“Is something wrong?”
“L, Laplace is currently i, impeached, and u, under custody . S, so we’re investigating h, his s, surroundings . ”
“… . . ?”
A high Guardian impeached? Yeon-woo widened his eyes because he had never heard of something like this .
‘Was it because he was a messenger last time?’
When he entered the 16th floor, Laplace had told him to be careful of Urd, saying it was a message from a demon, and disappeared . Was it related to that?
But Guardians frequently acted as the messenger of gods and demons .
And that wasn’t reason enough to get him impeached . Was there something else involved? Or was he completely off?
But then he was even more confused, because there was no reason for Lupi to come finding him like this .
“I, If not… . . t, that’s good . T, thank you . ”
Lupi opened the green portal again . Just when he stepped inside, he carefully turned his head .
“Uh, d, do you need assistance on the 21st f, floor?”
“Not at all . ”
“A, alright then . ”
Lupi quickly bowed and disappeared through the portal .
Yeon-woo narrowed his eyes . Laplace, a member of the 12 Zodiac, getting impeached was a big deal . He was extremely curious as to what had happened .
But the business of the Guardians didn’t bother players . That was the system of the Tower .
He folded his thoughts and entered the yard .
“The Hoarder… . . ”
“I didn’t see him for a while . He’s back . ”
“I heard he spent quite some time on the 20th floor . Did something happen? I heard that the Sadhu that were there disappeared . ”
As always, gazes followed where Yeon-woo went .
What happened on the 20th floor had spread all the way up to here .
Sponsored Content
He fixed his mask and looked around .
‘I guess they’re not here either . ’
Yeon-woo looked around with his Extrasensory Perception and smiled bitterly . He couldn’t see any trace of Kahn and Victoria .
After he left the 20th floor, he had ordered the Night Watch to find them .
However, they said that they couldn’t . He had spent a full moon in the outer sections, but they couldn’t be found in that time either .
‘Are they on the run from the Devil Army? But I don’t think so . ’
Another thing that was on his mind was that the Devil Army wasn’t taking any action towards him .
It might’ve been because they couldn’t approach him easily since he was with the One-horned tribe .
‘If they were that cautious, they wouldn’t be called crazy bastards . ’
There was nothing clear about what happened in the Monkey King’s Palace .
But since he knew he couldn’t let his guard down, he always had his senses up .
Thinking those thoughts, he arrived inside the building .
The faces of those who were looking at him changed . It was because Yeon-woo was standing in front of the door with the least difficulty .
You only had to clear one door to pass .
But the people who knew that Yeon-woo always chose the most difficult path thought him strange .
Yeon-woo didn’t look at them and just opened the 5th door .
[You have selected the 5th door . ]
[The shadows of players ranked 165th to 133rd on the 21st floor’s hall of fame will appear in order . If you can endure at least 5 minutes or defeat the shadows, you can move to the next section . Once you defeat at least 20 shadows, you can clear the trial . ]
Five minutes didn’t seem that hard .
But they were alter egos of the greatest rankers of the 21st floor .
The level of players continued to change as time went on, but it wasn’t easy to take down the people in the hall of fame .
And you couldn’t just run away, because the space was limited .
Players desperately tried to find their weaknesses to discover them .
But Yeon-woo knew that he wouldn’t grow if he used the same methods as them, so he was planning on setting limits on himself .
‘First I’ll clear the doors . Completely . ’
Even if Yeon-woo was someone who was registered on the hall of fame for every floor, it wasn’t simple to defeat the shadows .
Especially within 5 minutes .
Soon, light appeared in front of Yeon-woo, and he was in a new location . He was surrounded by stone walls .
The 21st floor took place in individual instant dungeons . If not, there would be too many players in the same place .
So this meant that Yeon-woo could use all the strength he wanted .
Sponsored Content
[Soon, the fight with Craden, 165th place, will begin . Prepare for the fight in the remaining time . ]
[00:10:00]
[00:09:59_99]
… . .
Then, with the message, black fog appeared and slowly took the form of a human .
The red eyes of the shadow stood out .
It was a familiar face that Yeon-woo saw in the diary .
High ranker, Greed .
‘Did he look like this when he was younger?’
Like his name, he was greedy, and he was a nuisance to his brother back then .
He didn’t join an organization . He just wandered around getting what he needed .
‘Was his speciality using fake sword techniques?’
Greed slowly pulled out his sword from its sheath . But Yeon-woo didn’t miss how he moved his left hand behind his back . There were probably small daggers behind his belt .
It was similar to how Yeon-woo fought . Yeon-woo also pulled out Carshina’s dagger from his belt .
It was Carshina’s dagger, but it had been a long time since the dagger changed .
It was impossible to attack during the waiting time .
Instead, he could set up magic or look for advantageous locations to fight from .
Yeon-woo didn’t do anything other than getting his two swords ready .
[What should I do?]
Then, Rebecca appeared with crossed arms .
Yeon-woo could make the Monster Portents, the undead army, or the spirits move for him, but he didn’t .
“Just stay there . This is something I have to take care of by myself . ”
Yeon-woo firmly shook his head .
Rebecca nodded and stepped back . Then, she crossed her arms and looked at Yeon-woo . She knew Yeon-woo had hidden powers, but she didn’t exactly know what they were, so she had to check .
Since he was the master she had to serve, she wanted to see what she could help with her .
Then .
[00:00:00_02]
[00:00:00_01]
[The time for preparing is finished . The trial of the first section is beginning . ]
As soon as the count began, Yeon-woo hit the ground .
Then, a blistering heat whirled around him .
Please download our sponsor's game to support us!