Chapter 131
Her name was Lee Hyein.
She had cleared the 50th floor and was preparing to challenge the 60th.
Even across the entire Tower, she ranked among the top ten Players.
Her wide-area spell, Meteor, could burn and destroy virtually any monster without leaving so much as a trace.
The spell consumed as much Mana as an ordinary mage's entire reserves.
For most people, using it even once risked Mana Rampage.
Yet Lee Hyein could fire it off repeatedly.
The reason was her Trait.
Mana Tank (S).
Normal mages could only use Mana within the limits of what their bodies naturally held.
Lee Hyein, however, could store and use Mana far beyond that limit.
"Would you like to join our guild, Ms. Lee Hyein?"
Recruitment offers poured in from countless guilds.
Even the Three Great Guilds wanted her.
Mages capable of large-scale attacks were rare enough.
And one this powerful was even rarer.
But before long...
Every guild withdrew its offer because of a certain incident.
It happened on the 46th floor.
The clear condition was simple.
Kill every assassin pursuing you and escape the forest.
But the assassins chasing them were all at least Peak-level fighters.
Their relentless attacks and traps steadily chipped away at everyone's stamina.
The battle never stopped.
Eventually, every member of the party was exhausted and injured.
They were on the verge of being wiped out.
And Lee Hyein...
Was calmly sitting on a rock and drinking.
"Blegh."
"Who drinks cheap garbage like this?"
"I'm not fighting."
"You guys handle it yourselves."
"This crap ruined my palate."
"W-What are you-?!"
She leaned back against the rock, pulled another bottle from her inventory, and started drinking.
Gulp. Gulp.
Then she wiped her mouth.
"Keuh."
"You guys broke the promise first."
"You said you'd give me good liquor, so I followed you."
"And this is what you give me?"
"If I'm going to drink this trash, I'd rather drink what I brought myself."
In the end, they had to promise her even better alcohol once they returned before she finally agreed to help.
One Meteor annihilated every assassin in the area.
"Keugh...."
"I used a Barrier too, so that's five extra bottles."
Everyone survived.
But after that day...
Every recruitment offer for Lee Hyein vanished.
Yes.
Her drawback, despite being an incredibly valuable combat asset...
Was alcoholism.
If she couldn't drink good alcohol, she couldn't display even thirty percent of her ability.
And she had never been the cooperative type to begin with.
She calculated profit and loss mercilessly.
If the battle looked unwinnable, she would betray her allies without looking back.
She was an ally...
Without truly being one.
Back in the present.
"Ptooey, ptooey."
"The alcohol here is mediocre too."
"It only burns my stomach. No flavor at all."
"The stuff at the Banquet was good, though."
"Tsk."
Inside a shabby tavern in Waven Castle...
Lee Hyein had headed straight for the nearest bar the moment she was summoned.
"Of all times, I had to run out of what I brought."
"Haa."
"Should've rationed it."
The tavern looked old and worn.
The alcohol was strong enough to burn, but completely lacked depth or flavor.
Expecting anything else had probably been foolish.
This was a place where death could come any day, and the winter was brutal enough that people only cared whether a drink warmed their bodies.
"Seriously, this place is the worst."
"I should've bought more alcohol on the 10th floor."
"If I had, I wouldn't be in such a shitty mood right now."
She grumbled with a deeply dissatisfied expression and started to rise.
Then she froze.
"...What?"
"How did you even know I was here?"
The moment she saw Suhyeok enter the tavern, Lee Hyein immediately sat back down.
She looked oddly expectant.
Suhyeok silently took the seat beside her.
"What?"
"You came here to drink too?"
"Honestly, you should just leave."
"I've tried everything they have."
"None of it's good."
"About twenty bottles' worth."
Wait, she drank all of that by herself?
I thought she meant twenty glasses, but she emptied twenty entire bottles lmao
She's a booze hippo lol
Saying "twenty bottles" like it's "twenty glasses" is a skill in itself ㅇㅇ
She kept talking about alcohol.
Despite Suhyeok sitting beside her, she showed almost no interest in him.
More accurately...
Her interest was somewhere else.
"Hey, uh..."
"Does the Grand Duke's residence have any good liquor lying around?"
"I've run out."
"And if I don't drink, my abilities aren't exactly at their best."
"My temper gets worse too."
She kept making excuses, clearly trying to squeeze alcohol out of him.
Watching her, Suhyeok thought,
...She really hasn't changed at all from before the regression.
The reason Suhyeok knew so much about Lee Hyein was simple.
Before his regression, she had been famous among Players.
No.
She had been famous throughout the entire Tower.
Bong Taesu enjoyed alcohol.
Lee Hyein practically couldn't live without it.
She had even gone into debt just to buy expensive liquor.
Still, her ability hasn't changed.
And her growth is faster than before too.
Her total Mana had grown enormously.
So had every other aspect of her strength.
Most notably...
She possessed additional Traits that she hadn't awakened this early before.
[Trait - Lee Hyein]
Mana Tank (S)
Attribute Conversion (A+)
Mana Barrier (A)
Alcohol Addiction (D)
Attribute Conversion.
A Trait allowing her to change the attribute of her magic depending on the enemy's characteristics and the surrounding terrain.
Since Meteor was essentially her only major offensive spell...
Being able to change its element made the ability strategically excellent.
Either way...
Her flaws were severe.
But so was her strength.
Other than Lee Yumi, there was probably no mage currently inside the Tower who surpassed her.
"Lee Hyein."
"From now on, help m-"
"No need to say it."
She cut him off immediately.
"I already understand the situation."
"We need to stop the monster waves, right?"
Suhyeok answered without reacting.
"Right."
Lee Hyein took another sip of the alcohol she'd just complained about.
Then...
"But why should I?"
"I'm already annoyed because I don't have any good alcohol."
"Dealing with monsters like that sounds like way too much work."
"It's not like I'm particularly attached to staying alive anyway."
Suhyeok checked the window floating in the air.
[Time remaining until the next Wave: 6 days.]
[Total Monster Faction Players participating: 25.]
[Additional monsters: 80,000.]
[Theme: ‘Beast Forest’.]
The enemy force had increased compared to the First Wave.
