Chapter 21
Part 20
Seo Hwarin had cast another spell so quickly that no one even saw when it happened.
The Orcs were cursed.
Their bodies were rotting away.
It was a curse that forcibly drained life itself.
“Haa... Haa...”
Seo Hwarin's expression gradually worsened.
The Death Energy was not harming her.
She was simply exhausted.
“As expected. She's incredible.”
Yugeon smiled faintly and nodded.
Of course she was tired.
She had spent her entire life suppressing this power.
She had almost no experience controlling it.
She possessed enormous strength...
But it was like someone with incredible stamina trying to sprint properly for the first time.
Crash.
Look at that.
The Skeletons she had summoned were destroyed by one swing from the Ogre.
“J-Just a little longer...”
Seo Hwarin clenched her teeth and continued summoning Skeletons.
Yugeon placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Good work. I've seen enough.”
“I can still keep going.”
“You'll have plenty of opportunities later. Rest now.”
Her strength immediately left her body.
She dropped to the ground.
This was the first time she had used Death Energy until she was completely exhausted.
CRASH.
The moment she collapsed...
All the remaining Skeletons fell apart.
The monsters immediately charged toward the three humans.
“Should I stop them?”
“No. It's about time we left.”
“Yes.”
Mincheol understood.
He immediately stepped aside.
Ding!
[You have activated Timeless Realm.]
BZZZZZZ.
The world stopped.
The vibrations created by the Orcs and Ogre...
The smell of blood...
Everything turned gray and froze.
Shing.
And within the stopped world...
Yugeon moved his sword.
The Ogre died.
Floor 27 was cleared.
“You look relieved.”
“H-Haha. I am.”
Seo Hwarin lay flat on the ground and smiled weakly.
Yugeon was right.
She felt unbelievably refreshed.
Her head no longer hurt.
She could not feel the Death Energy tormenting her.
“Um... What's your name?”
“Han Yugeon.”
“I'm Cha Mincheol!”
Mincheol smiled and pointed at himself.
“My name is Seo Hwarin.”
“Even your name is pretty... Ah. Ahem.”
Mincheol coughed awkwardly and looked away.
“You asked me to become your companion, right?”
Seo Hwarin stood.
Then she offered Yugeon her hand.
The person who had reached out to her.
The person who accepted someone who had always felt empty.
She wanted to walk beside him.
“I may not be very useful yet... but please take care of me.”
“Same to you.”
“Me too! Let's get along!”
“Hahaha, my arm hurts.”
Mincheol grabbed her hand and shook it so enthusiastically that Seo Hwarin laughed.
“We'll talk more after we leave. Things are going to become busy soon.”
The second member of the Godslayers.
The future Saintess of Reversal.
The future Queen of Corpse Flowers.
Seo Hwarin began walking beside Han Yugeon.
Ding!
[You have changed the fate of a key figure from the future.]
[The Sanctuary groans after observing Seo Hwarin.]
[The Outer Realm expresses discomfort at the interference of ■■■ after observing Seo Hwarin.]
[The Sanctuary becomes wary of Seo Hwarin's power.]
[The Outer Realm becomes curious about Han Yugeon's actions.]
Feat +1
Ding!
[■■■ has begun taking interest in Han Yugeon's actions.]
[Today's international news. This morning, the Vulcan Guild reportedly obtained a Legendary-grade item on Floor 37, [Coral Reef Labyrinth]. The Vulcan Guild is currently searching Floor 37 for additional hidden items...]
“Hyung.”
“Yugeon.”
“Yeah. I saw it.”
Yugeon watched the television and clenched his fist.
Twenty-eight days.
It had been twenty-eight days since Seo Hwarin joined him.
Finally...
The news he had been waiting for appeared.
One day remained.
Tomorrow...
Monsters would pour out of the Towers.
“Just like you told us... News really appeared about an item being found on Floor 37.”
“I knew you weren't lying, but still...”
Mincheol and Hwarin looked shocked.
Actually...
They had trusted Yugeon completely.
What darkened their expressions was the knowledge that another horrific Monster Wave was about to begin.
“A Wave after decades of silence...”
“...”
Mincheol and Hwarin clenched their fists.
Forty years had passed since the Tower appeared.
During that time...
The Tower had released monsters only twice.
And each time...
The world suffered terrible disasters.
Several cities were destroyed.
Countless people died.
“Yugeon, I know you've already explained a lot, but there's something I still don't understand.”
“What?”
“You said your goal is to save humanity and civilization, right? And you'll clear the Tower too.”
“Right.”
“But Towers exist all over the world. How are you going to defend all of them?”
They had spent twenty-eight days together.
Yugeon had explained his dream.
He had explained what he needed from them.
But this part made no sense.
Towers existed all over the world.
The three of them could not possibly defend everything.
They knew Yugeon was strong.
They had not spent twenty-eight days sitting around.
They had trained together constantly on the lower floors.
They had watched Yugeon fight many times.
His strength was so absurd that they sometimes wondered whether he was even human.
Still...
One person could not defend every Tower on Earth.
Unless he could create clones of himself.
“Good question. Sit down.”
Mincheol and Hwarin sat on the sofa.
“Do you know which places have already been destroyed?”
“Yes. Sapporo, where we went...”
“And Sri Lanka was destroyed.”
Unlike Japan, where only one city had collapsed...
Sri Lanka had been completely wiped out as an island nation.
Part of that was because it was an island.
But the region also had relatively few powerful Awakeners.
There were other places too.
North Korea and several other countries had collapsed.
But North Korea had largely caused its own disaster.
The other regions had also made serious mistakes.
The places that had been destroyed despite doing little wrong...
Were Sri Lanka and Sapporo.
“Why only those two?”
“Um... Because they didn't have enough Awakeners?”
“Because Sri Lanka is an island?”
“Nunim, Sri Lanka had a Level 99 Awakener.”
“Ah... Right.”
“There are plenty of other islands, and plenty of countries with very few Awakeners.”
“Ah...”
Both nodded.
He was right.
Sapporo itself had possessed many Awakeners.
“The world still hasn't properly understood something.”
“What?”
Yugeon's expression became serious.
“The monsters released from the Tower... form armies.”
They were organized groups.
That meant there was a commander.
A boss monster with intelligence.
“?!”
“A b-boss?!”
“Every monster released from the Tower is mentally connected to its commander. They follow its orders. And because the boss has intelligence...”
“They can create strategies and use tactics.”
Mincheol answered immediately.
He had military experience.
“Exactly.”
“Then what about Otherworlders?”
Yugeon looked at Hwarin.
“If the monsters have commanders and can use tactics... could Otherworlders come out with them too?”
From Sector 3 onward...
Climbers frequently encountered Otherworlders.
If they were released during Waves too...
Things would become much worse.
Unlike monsters, Otherworlders formed societies and used tactics just like humans.
“You don't need to worry about that.”
Yugeon shook his head.
“Everything released during Waves belongs to the Tower.”
“Ah...”
“Otherworlders don't belong to the Tower, so they aren't released.”
“...”
Yugeon noticed Hwarin still looked uncertain.
“What?”
“Well... There are Goblins and Orcs that are monsters, right? But there are also Goblin and Orc Otherworlders. If Goblins or Orcs appeared outside the Tower, I'd be worried about killing an Otherworlder by mistake...”
Goblins and Orcs had miserable positions compared to other races.
They climbed the Tower like humans.
Yet they were also treated as monsters.
In truth, telling the difference was simple.
Those who lived inside the Tower were monsters.
Those who entered from an outside world and climbed were Otherworlders.
But humans, Elves, and Dwarves often lumped Goblins and Orcs together as monsters anyway.
It was easier to hunt them that way.
Because of this...
Goblin and Orc civilizations strongly hated humans.
“Think of it simply. Every Goblin and Orc released from a Tower during a Wave is a monster. Cross-dimensional racial transfer isn't possible.”
At least not yet.
Later...
Certain events would make interaction between species possible.
More precisely...
Travel to the dimensions where other races lived would become possible.
“And there's one more important thing.”
“What?”
“Whether they're Otherworlders or not, if they try to kill us, they're enemies.”
“That's true. Anyway, I'm relieved. I was worried we'd have to fight them too. So the real danger is the commander boss.”
That was the key reason Earth had been destroyed.
As Hwarin said...
Monsters came from Towers all over the world.
And each Wave released stronger monsters than the floors humanity had currently cleared.
Still...
If they were only mindless monsters, humanity could handle them.
So why had Earth eventually been destroyed?
The commanders.
Boss monsters secretly controlled the hordes.
Because the monsters moved tactically...
Cities fell.
Eventually, the commanders were killed.
But by then...
The damage had already become catastrophic.
