Chapter 191
Meanwhile, around the time Suhyeok had just entered the Hidden Dungeon...
Inside his inner world...
Thud.
"Huff... huff...."
"I'm dying...."
"I can't do this anymore..."
"Cough...."
Bong Taesu lay face-down on the ground, unable to even lift himself properly.
He weakly shook his head.
The others weren't much better.
If anything...
They looked even more worn out than before.
Everyone who had undergone training was sprawled across the ground, breathing heavily.
The training had been brutal enough to practically qualify as abuse.
Last time...
They'd at least had enough energy left to complain.
Now...
No one said anything.
No.
They couldn't.
Everyone was so exhausted that even moving a finger felt impossible.
Even Cheon Sohee...
Who would normally say this much was nothing...
Had her face pressed against the floor.
Lee Yumi and Kim Hyuna weren't any better.
They had refused to waste even their rest periods...
And continued training without stopping.
Now...
Their eyes had completely lost focus.
But there was one other difference from before.
This time...
They hadn't been defeated immediately.
Inside Suhyeok's inner world...
They didn't need to eat.
Their Mana and stamina recovered back to normal within minutes.
And that wasn't all.
Thanks to the healing effects of the inner world and the Demon God's abilities...
Even fatal injuries that would normally kill them could be healed.
Because of that...
Everyone had fought like people possessed.
Dozens of times.
Hundreds.
No.
Thousands.
Without ever truly stopping.
"I think that's enough for now."
The Demon God looked down at them.
"If you stay collapsed on the floor..."
"You'll recover on your own in a few minutes."
"So don't bother getting back up just to get beaten again."
"Stay still."
Step.
Step.
He headed back toward his room.
As he walked...
He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel.
Then gave a disbelieving laugh.
"To think I'd actually sweat."
"You've all grown quite a bit."
"Lee Suhyeok is a monster, so I'll put him aside..."
"But I didn't expect the rest of you to push me this far already."
At first...
His evaluation had simply been that they were interesting.
For mere Players...
Or ordinary residents belonging to the Tower...
They were far stronger than expected.
Still...
For the first hundred spars...
That interest remained only interest.
They were impressive...
But everything remained within what he could predict.
Drop.
The Demon God suddenly stopped.
He stared at the towel that had slipped from his hand.
Then...
He looked down at his fingers.
Shake.
His hand was trembling violently.
He couldn't believe it.
It had only been a few days.
And yet...
He had actually become tired while sparring with them.
It wasn't simply because of the sheer number of battles.
As he'd already said...
Fatigue and injuries recovered within minutes inside this world.
Naturally...
The Demon God recovered too.
He was also an existence residing within Suhyeok's inner world.
"And yet I'm still like this...."
"Ridiculous."
"Absolutely ridiculous."
He started walking toward his room again.
While doing so...
He recalled the final spar.
Their movements had been completely different from before.
They no longer attacked with clumsy cooperation.
Their actions had become intricate.
Calculated.
Deceptive.
Every movement existed for one purpose.
To defeat the Demon God.
And it wasn't only their attacks.
Buffs.
Debuffs.
Traps.
Magic.
They divided them between individual attacks...
Sometimes acting half a beat faster to prevent him from reading them.
Other times...
Two beats slower.
As a result...
After roughly 4,300 battles...
The Demon God had been forced to use his full strength for a brief moment.
It was absurd.
He wasn't weaker than he had been at his prime.
If anything...
After recovering inside Suhyeok's inner world...
He was stronger.
"...Monsters."
He gave a crooked smile.
"Yeah."
"I should call them monsters now."
"There's no other explanation for growth like that."
"And Lee Suhyeok..."
"That bastard really is something else."
"Where the hell did he gather people like these?"
Eventually...
He reached his room.
He opened the door.
Then froze.
"...Why are you here?"
"And with Seon-a too?"
Unlike the baffled Demon God...
Seon-a calmly greeted him while squishing Leon's cheeks between her hands.
"Welcome back."
"The sparring looked like it would take quite a while..."
"So I decided to wait inside."
"And your room was messy."
"So I cleaned it while I was here."
Stretch.
"Nyaaaang...."
Leon was trapped in her arms.
His face was completely squashed.
"I-I came because I urgently have something to say, nyaang...."
"But before that..."
"Please do something about her, nyaang...."
"I can't escape, nyaaang...."
Somehow...
Leon finally managed to wriggle free from her grip.
The Demon God looked at him.
"So?"
"Why did you come all the way here?"
"Something you want to ask?"
"That's right, nya."
Leon straightened his disheveled clothes and fur.
Then continued.
"Um..."
"It looks like things outside have gotten really serious, nya."
"Shouldn't we start going out there to help?"
"It looks like Suhyeok just entered the Hidden Dungeon."
"If something goes wrong in there..."
"We're in serious trouble, nya...!"
Then...
Leon suddenly raised a message window into the air.
"And this!"
It was a message from Ruzian...
Sent collectively to all Administrators.
[Crackle... crackle...]
[Ah, microphone test.]
[Ah.]
[I don't know if you can hear me clearly, but greetings, Administrators of the Tower.]
[I am Ruzian, Highest-Level Administrator.]
[The reason I'm leaving this message is because an event will soon take place inside the Hidden Dungeon.]
[I believe I may require the assistance of the Administrators.]
[Handling it alone would probably be difficult.]
Static cut through the recording.
About four seconds passed.
Then Ruzian's voice returned.
[Crackle...]
[So I would appreciate it if you finished preparing and came as quickly as possible.]
[If you delay making your choice...]
[The event may suffer complications.]
[That is all.]
Leon looked agitated.
"Right now..."
"I'm basically the only Administrator left, nya."
"I don't know if it's temporary..."
"But everyone else either lost their authority..."
"Or their very existence disappeared, nya...."
"And yet he still sent something like this!"
"That means he's definitely asking for help, nya!"
Seon-a calmly added,
"This is only speculation..."
"But considering everything Ruzian has done until now..."
"He is undoubtedly hiding something."
"He has been involved throughout the entire process of Lee Suhyeok climbing the Tower."
They were right.
There had to be a reason Ruzian sent that message.
The Demon God closed his eyes.
Then focused his vision beyond Suhyeok's inner world.
The Primordial God's memories had flowed into him as well.
So he had a rough understanding of what was happening outside.
A screen appeared.
It showed the situation outside.
System...
Having absorbed the Tower...
Standing before Suhyeok.
And behind them...
Ruzian...
Who had just pierced Schunau's heart.
Leon immediately bristled.
His fur stood on end.
"H-How does that make any sense, nya...?"
"W-Why is he suddenly doing that?!"
"Why is he suddenly betraying Lee Suhyeok, nya...?!"
The Demon God was equally confused.
...I don't understand.
Why now?
Betrayal itself wasn't impossible.
Suhyeok and Ruzian had only allied because they shared the same objective...
Destroying the Tower.
Now that System had absorbed the Tower...
That alliance was effectively over.
And there was a plausible reason Ruzian had attacked Schunau instead of Suhyeok.
He probably wanted to erase even the slightest possibility of the Tower being restored.
Besides...
Schunau himself was an existence whose Rank had been granted by the Tower.
Eliminating him would make sense.
But one question remained.
Why had Ruzian betrayed Suhyeok...
Only to side with System?
...I saw it while inside Lee Suhyeok's body.
Ruzian clearly held a grudge against System too.
As his confusion deepened...
Leon suddenly grabbed the Demon God's collar.
He shook him desperately.
"W-We need to gather everyone and help Lee Suhyeok right now, nya!"
"Or you can go outside yourself and help him!"
"If you do that──"
"Unfortunately..."
"I can't."
Leon's hands stopped.
Then tightened again.
"W-Wait!"
"You can't, nya?"
"Not that you won't?"
"Correct."
"I can't."
"Not in my current state."
The Demon God raised one hand.
Rank flowed across his palm.
Leon had become an Upper Administrator.
The moment he saw it...
He immediately noticed something was wrong.
The Demon God's Rank...
Was unstable.
Leon looked back at Seon-a in confusion.
As though she'd expected that reaction...
She gently pulled Leon away from the Demon God's collar.
"As you can see..."
"The Demon God's Rank is currently unstable."
"That means he cannot manifest through Lee Suhyeok's body right now."
"Nor can he directly lend him power."
"W-Why did that happen, nya...?"
"He was fine just a little while ago...."
"He was probably hiding it."
Seon-a answered calmly.
"He knew you would react exactly as you are now."
"He didn't want anyone worrying."
The Demon God lowered his violently trembling hand.
Then continued in her place.
"To summarize..."
"The reason I'm not sending those people outside despite how serious things are..."
"Is because the absorption of my Rank isn't finished yet."
"A-Absorption?"
Leon blinked.
"Come to think of it..."
"Bong Taesu and Lee Yumi have been using something that feels like Rank lately, nya...."
"Don't tell me...?"
"Exactly."
"I've been injecting my Rank into them during training."
"If I forced them to accept it all at once..."
"Their vessels could break."
"So I had to beat it into them slowly."
The Demon God clicked his tongue as he watched his Rank grow increasingly unstable.
"Even after all this..."
"It's still not enough."
"They need more time before they can fully accept my Rank."
"If I send them out now..."
"They won't help Lee Suhyeok."
"They'll only get in his way."
The Demon God fell silent.
Time was critical.
System had already absorbed the Tower's authority and governing power.
At this point...
The Battle Royale outside no longer mattered.
If he wanted to send the others out quickly...
He had to accelerate their absorption of his Rank.
But the current method was too slow.
What choice should he make──
He froze.
Ruzian's final words suddenly returned to him.
If you delay making your choice...
The situation may spiral out of control.
The important part...
Was the event that would take place inside the Hidden Dungeon.
Ruzian had repeatedly emphasized the event.
He told them to hurry their decision so it wouldn't suffer complications.
Twice.
The Demon God could only make a guess...
But perhaps...
Those words had been intended for the people inside Suhyeok's inner world.
"...Don't tell me."
There was no time to confirm it.
It was only speculation.
Still...
The Demon God immediately stood and headed for the door.
Seon-a asked,
"What are you going to do?"
"...We're out of time."
"I've been postponing it until now..."
"But there's no other choice."
"I'll force them to absorb the Rank."
Seon-a flinched.
"If you do that..."
"Then you will...."
She couldn't finish.
Forcing others to absorb his Rank...
Would mean the Demon God's own extinction.
That was also why his Rank had become unstable.
But he didn't care.
He opened the door and stepped outside.
"Leon."
"Gather everyone immediately."
"We don't have much time."
"A-All right, nya!"
