Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Deus had disappeared, and then one of his scheduled posts suddenly went live.

If he had secretly entered South Korea, things might have been different.

But he had announced to the entire world that he was going to South Korea,

and then disappeared.

Of course it caused an uproar.

More importantly, there was only one reason Deus would come to South Korea.

Naturally,

it was to defeat Baek Cheon-myeong and prove his own strength.

The moment the post went live, countless people began watching Deus closely.

But after his post announcing that he was going to South Korea,

Deus's social media account was never updated again.

Then it was confirmed that Deus's private jet had never arrived at a Korean airport.

As a result,

the rumor that his private jet had been attacked began spreading as though it were already confirmed.

[Comments]

Devian: Did Deus get sliced up?

Eiduzc: Didn't he just get scared and run away? lol

↳MelonSoda: Even so, Deus isn't the type to get scared of anyone.

↳podc83: That guy lives entirely on pride. He's not really the type to break his own word either.

AnotherDayAtWork: Foreign edits are already going crazy over Baek Cheon-myeong lol. They're acting like he already killed Deus.

Reon: This might not be entirely good. We don't know what America is going to say.

Jongho: Deuuuus, what kind of mess did you cause this time?

While reactions exploded everywhere,

Baek Cheon-myeong stood at the center of the discussion.

Some people claimed Baek Cheon-myeong had been afraid of fighting Deus and hired a terrorist organization to attack him.

Others said Deus had gotten scared and staged the whole thing himself.

Every ridiculous rumor imaginable was spreading across the internet.

The problem was,

this wasn't limited to South Korea.

The entire world was doing the same thing.

Kang Ha-min stared at the internet with a devastated expression.

Fighting was a problem.

Not fighting was also a problem.

No matter what choice he made, this world only produced more problems.

His stomach hurt again today.

At this rate, he really needed to visit a hospital soon.

"Mr. Baek Cheon-myeong, what do we do? The internet is going crazy. Everyone is talking about you."

"Hmm. Is there really any need to care that much about what others say?"

Technically,

there wasn't.

But even if his brain understood that,

his heart didn't.

Kang Ha-min, born as a natural Estrogen Man, swallowed his tears.

There was no way someone like him could simply ignore this with a strong heart.

Shin No-seop had said the government would immediately respond to the rumors,

but there was no way they could silence every person in the world.

"More importantly, Master, it's time."

Kang Ha-min knew exactly what Baek Cheon-myeong meant.

It was time for him to enter the Eighth Floor.

No matter how many unexpected things happened in the world,

there was still only one thing they needed to do.

Climb the Tower.

Judging from the gods' recent reactions,

Baek Cheon-myeong had said that the Eighth Floor might not be as easy as the previous floors.

This time,

even Kang Ha-min felt a little nervous.

"Hunter Kang Ha-min, I will challenge the Tower."

The door to the Eighth Floor appeared with his declaration.

Ha-min looked toward Baek Cheon-myeong.

Baek Cheon-myeong grabbed the handle and pushed the door open.

A moment later,

Kang Ha-min's vision connected to Baek Cheon-myeong's.

[Hunter Kang Ha-min's entry has been confirmed.]

[The Eighth Floor difficulty has been set to Hell.]

[Rewards will increase due to the increased difficulty.]

As expected,

Hell difficulty again.

By now, the message itself had become familiar.

But the reactions from the gods were different this time.

[Volcano, the One Who Governs Fire, releases violent sparks in excitement.]

[Kyle, the One Who Rules the Sky, shows interest.]

[Solar, God of the Sun, urges you onward.]

[Stella, the One Who Embraces the Stars, watches with concern.]

Their gazes seemed to ask,

What will you do this time?

It was completely different from the boredom they had shown before.

That probably meant the difficulty had risen significantly.

Ha-min's palms began sweating.

Naturally,

Baek Cheon-myeong's expression hadn't changed at all.

Wind blew past him.

It carried heavy moisture.

The dampness clung to his skin like breath.

Only then did the surrounding scenery become clear.

Previously,

there had been wide-open plains.

This time,

it was the complete opposite.

Every breath seemed to soak his lungs.

The air contained the smell of rotten leaves, blood, and a strange sweetness that was difficult to describe.

Almost none of the sky was visible.

Massive trees tens of meters tall had tangled their branches together and created a natural ceiling.

Only tiny fragments of light slipped between them.

Even those looked less like sunlight and more like the remains of light.

Splash.

Baek Cheon-myeong stepped forward.

The ground sank beneath his foot.

It didn't feel like ordinary dirt.

It felt like something that had piled up, rotted, and melted together over countless years.

Ugh.

Something beneath the ground was also moving slightly.

Just looking at the swampy forest made Ha-min's skin crawl.

Rustle.

A branch moved in the distance.

There was no wind.

It felt as though the forest itself were moving.

"I can feel eyes watching us."

Baek Cheon-myeong followed the feeling and raised his head.

On branches untouched by light,

several eyes slowly opened within the darkness.

Monsters were clearly surrounding him from every direction.

Mr. Baek Cheon-myeong, are you sure you'll be okay?

The monster-filled plains from before had already looked terrifying.

But this place felt much more dangerous.

"I'm fine."

Baek Cheon-myeong wasn't bothered in the slightest.

"What I need to do hasn't changed."

With that,

he turned the wooden sword in his hand.

A powerful pulse came from the blade.

The pulse spread across the entire forest in an instant.

It was almost like sonar,

measuring the size and shape of the entire forest.

"Large."

The Tower never directly explained how to clear a floor.

It almost seemed to encourage repeated challenges.

Hunters were simply thrown inside and expected to figure out how to clear it themselves.

That was one of the reasons so many Hunters became frustrated on higher floors.

They had no way of knowing the exact clear condition.

Still,

Hunters who had climbed repeatedly had developed certain theories.

When a floor had a special environment and was packed with monsters,

there was usually a boss hidden somewhere inside that environment.

And if the boss was killed,

there was a high chance the floor would be cleared.

BOOM!

CRASH!

The moment Baek Cheon-myeong finished concentrating,

the monsters surrounding the forest charged forward.

Rotten crocodiles completely covered in black moss and parasitic mushrooms.

Dozens of swamp wyverns cutting across the water.

Thousands of black swamp bats and flocks of rotting herons.

Even gigantic swamp spiders with eight enormous legs.

Every strange monster bared its teeth,

desperate to tear Baek Cheon-myeong apart.

But even then,

Baek Cheon-myeong maintained his concentration.

Mr, Mr. Baek Cheon-myeong!

The monsters were almost on top of him.

Flash.

Baek Cheon-myeong's eyes opened.

"Found it."

The moment those words left his mouth,

the entire forest seemed to tilt.

Baek Cheon-myeong's foot struck the ground.

It felt as though the whole forest had leaned around him.

BOOOOOOM!

The next instant,

Baek Cheon-myeong exploded forward and tore through the forest.

The monsters that had charged toward him were ripped apart by the force of a single leap.

Once again,

Kang Ha-min was reminded of just how ridiculous Baek Cheon-myeong's power was.

At the same time,

his vision became dizzy from the speed.

He was only sharing Baek Cheon-myeong's sight,

yet everything was passing too fast to follow.

Ha-min couldn't even guess how quickly Baek Cheon-myeong was running.

Every time he moved,

trees shattered and collapsed.

Naturally,

every monster near those trees was caught in the destruction and died as well.

That was the price for daring to stand in Baek Cheon-myeong's path.

Uaaaaah.

How could simply running cause this much destruction?

After racing through the forest for some time,

Baek Cheon-myeong finally reached the center.

Something appeared ahead.

[Black-Blood Marsh Lord (黑血沼主)]

[A lower subordinate hidden within the Swamp Forest.]

The creature raised its body to prevent Baek Cheon-myeong from reaching the true boss.

A swamp of pitch-black blood surged all the way into the sky.

It was an unbelievable sight,

as though the heavens themselves had been covered by a sea of blood.

Fwing.

Baek Cheon-myeong didn't even draw his sword.

He merely swung the edge of his hand.

SLASH!

The blood swamp split in half.

The Black-Blood Marsh Lord's core, hidden inside the swamp, was cut cleanly apart as well.

A short scream came from the creature.

SHAAAAA!

A fountain of blood poured down from the sky.

Baek Cheon-myeong passed beneath it in an instant.

Not a single drop touched his clothes.

"There you are."

Beyond the dead Black-Blood Marsh Lord,

at the center of the jungle covered in red mist,

something sitting on a broken giant tree slowly stood.

Half of its body resembled a wolf.

The other half was covered in crimson tree bark.

Several strange arms grew from its body.

[Wood Wolf Ghost King (木狼鬼王)]

The true ruler of the swamp.

Its terrifying eyes were split vertically.

"GROOOOOOOOOOOAR!"

The moment Baek Cheon-myeong entered its sight,

the monster roared.

Dozens of arms burst from the Wood Wolf Ghost King's back, shoulders, and ribs.

Every arm reached into the swamp and pulled out a weapon.

A greatsword still dripping with blood.

A rusted axe.

A twisted spear.

Dark-red chains.

Every single weapon looked as though it had been taken from someone the creature had killed.

Its killing intent spread across the area like a real mist.

An ordinary Hunter challenging the Eighth Floor would have fallen to their knees from that pressure alone.

That was the dignity of an Eighth Floor boss.

However,

Slash.

Baek Cheon-myeong's sword moved without the slightest hesitation.

It was a simple slash,

so clean that the mind couldn't even follow the moment he swung.

There was no sound.

No wind.

The sword light merely drew one silver line.

Silence followed.

The Wood Wolf Ghost King remained standing as though nothing had happened.

Its dozens of arms still held their weapons.

Its killing intent remained in the air.

Then,

Crrrrack.

A thin red line appeared through the center of its body.

The line extended from its neck to its waist,

then from its waist to its hips.

The massive armor made of tree bark began splitting from the inside.

Its body screamed like an ancient tree finally collapsing after hundreds of years.

One strange arm after another lost strength and fell.

The swords, axes, spears, and maces they held spun through the air and dropped into the swamp.

Then the creature's enormous body split perfectly in half.

Dark-red sap and blood erupted like a massive wave.

"Guh?"

The Wood Wolf Ghost King only realized it had been cut after the fact.

Before its confused sound could even finish,

the light of life completely disappeared from its eyes.

Baek Cheon-myeong had already returned his sword and turned away.

The Eighth Floor boss,

Wood Wolf Ghost King,

had died without even understanding what happened.

Kang Ha-min stared at the entire scene with his mouth open.

[Volcano, the One Who Governs Fire, is satisfied.]

[Okea, the One Who Rules the Sea, cannot hide his admiration.]

[Stella, the One Who Embraces the Stars, is relieved.]

More dramatic reactions from the gods appeared one after another.

...Mr. Baek Cheon-myeong, didn't you say this floor would take a long time?

Baek Cheon-myeong had clearly said that before.

Yet it had ended almost instantly.

"Hmm. It took more than a minute."

"That was quite long."

Where exactly was that considered long?