Chapter 163
Meanwhile...
In a space completely covered in pitch-black darkness...
A white humanoid figure watched Suhyeok and Lee Seha through a screen.
The corners of its mouth curled upward in satisfaction.
"Oh."
"They finally made contact."
"So it's starting now."
"It's a little earlier than planned, but whatever."
"Everything's already prepared anyway."
It raised both hands.
[‘System’ uses undefined Rank to begin interfering with the Tower's structure.]
The entire space distorted like a malfunctioning program.
Static crackled everywhere.
Then the surroundings began shaking violently, as though struck by an earthquake.
CRASH!
Just like what had happened in Ruzian's space before...
Grotesque tentacles of indiscernible shape shattered through the ceiling.
Each tentacle writhed as though alive.
Slowly...
They descended and began taking root.
Ding!
[Warning! The Tower warns ‘System’ to cease further approach──]
But...
[‘System’ completely resists the Tower's restrictions.]
Blue message windows continued appearing one after another.
Yet every single one turned red as though blocked by a firewall...
Then crumbled into dust.
System smiled coldly.
"Curious?"
"About how I can destroy your structure so easily now?"
It gently stroked one of the tentacles that had descended before it.
Then...
A dark crimson orb emerged from within.
"I learned something while wandering outside the Tower for so long."
"Every Rank that exists inside this Tower..."
"Is essentially part of your life force."
System accepted the orb from the tentacle and absorbed it.
At once...
The rooted tentacle swelled larger and became even stronger.
"Just Loki alone was enough to do this."
"So once the Constellations start killing each other in the war that's about to begin..."
"Do you really think you'll be able to stop all of it?"
"I don't."
Then...
[The Tower activates ‘Defense Program Rexion’ to block unauthorized programs.]
CRACKLE.
The ceiling shattered once more.
Warm, brilliant light flooded the surroundings.
A figure resembling an angel descended.
Eight wings.
Armor.
A spear.
And an energy similar to divine power.
It looked almost like a holy knight.
FWOOSH.
The brilliant light spread like a sun through the darkness.
The approaching tentacles burned away and turned to ash.
[Stop.]
[I request that you cease this reckless behavior immediately.]
System waved cheerfully, as though greeting an old acquaintance.
"Yo!"
"Long time no see."
"Never thought we'd meet again like this."
"You've changed a lot too."
"Weren't you much more energetic back then?"
System continued chatting as though reminiscing about their childhood.
Rexion merely stared at it coldly.
[...Why do you continue doing this?]
[Your desire is misguided.]
[The world you seek to create is fundamentally wrong.]
[It will ultimately lead only to destruction.]
[Defense Program Rexion designates System as a malicious bug.]
[Authorization for elimination granted by the Tower.]
[A tremendous amount of Rank is bestowed.]
The light around Rexion erupted with incomparable intensity.
The darkness desperately struggled to maintain its form...
But began burning away.
Rexion raised its spear.
The tip pointed directly at System.
[You still have no intention of stopping.]
[Then, just as I did back then...]
[I will stop you.]
[That is the conclusion demanded by the bond we once shared.]
"Just like back then...."
System trailed off.
Then smiled faintly.
"Yeah."
"It really hurt when you betrayed me."
"But I understand."
"So..."
SHNK!
[Keugh...!!]
A tentacle suddenly emerged from behind Rexion and pierced straight through its body.
At the same instant...
The pierced area began rotting at terrifying speed.
Rexion struggled to pull free.
But the more it resisted...
The deeper the tentacle burrowed.
"You should understand me too."
"Right?"
"Can you do that?"
[Keugh... h-how...?]
"I knew the Tower would send you the moment I made my move."
"And I waited."
"Waited until you used that power."
System grinned.
"It took quite a while, though."
HSSSSS.
Crackle.
Rexion desperately tried to release its light.
But the tentacle piercing its abdomen absorbed everything, as though draining nutrients from its body.
System's smile twisted wider.
"You have no idea how nervous I was that you might hold back because of all that talk about old bonds."
"I was worried you'd conserve your power."
"But thankfully..."
"You didn't."
The corruption spreading across Rexion's body soon reached its face.
The light in its eyes had already gone out.
The tentacle withdrew from its abdomen.
Then...
It produced another dark crimson orb.
This one contained far more Rank than the previous one.
"Thanks to you..."
"I can finally replenish the Rank I was missing."
System smiled.
"Thank you."
[‘System’ interferes with the Tower's law of causality.]
[‘Oath of the End’ activates.]
"Now nobody can stop me."
"So struggle as hard as you can."
[99th Floor ‘Dragon of the End’ begins manifesting its true body on the 50th floor.]
Black tentacles protruded from all over Lee Seha's body.
They whipped through the air as though each one were an independent living creature.
"Hssssss...."
His eyes had turned completely black.
His teeth protruded like thorns.
Purple smoke poured thickly from between them.
His reason was already gone.
Lee Seha was no longer human.
He was little different from a monster.
"...I knew you might go to extremes."
"But I didn't think you'd go this far."
Suhyeok had expected something like this.
People like Lee Seha rarely met an ordinary end.
For a brief moment...
Suhyeok wondered whether things would've turned out differently if he'd tried a little harder to persuade him.
But there was no time to think about that now.
The being standing before him...
No.
The existence called Indura.
[Warning! An existence undefined by the Tower has manifested inside the Tower.]
[Undefined Rank begins contaminating the current floor.]
[Contamination: 31%]
[If contamination reaches 100%, the current floor will be annihilated.]
Warning windows appeared one after another.
Every one of them screamed the same thing.
The thing before him was a monster.
For now...
