Chapter 42. Tower (1)

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Kurururu.

Taejin sighed as he looked at the shredded corpse of the Demon Lord.

‘We finally killed it one way or another.’

Another chaotic situation would’ve occurred if runes came out so he was worried but no runes came out thankfully.

The undead all turned into dust and flew away after the Demon Lord died and the people who were up against the Undead all crashed down.

‘Around… 500 people? A lot survived.’

If you take into account the event in the middle and when everyone ran trying to save their lives, quite a lot survived.

‘Tsk.’

He didn’t like the non-clansmen over there but the fact that random lives had not been lost was not bad.

At that moment he could see Hansoo, who was searching around the Demon Lord’s corpse, approaching him with a complex expression.

Taejin made an expression of confusion as he looked at him.

“What’s wrong?”

Then Taejin looked at the bloody red marble in his hands.

***

[Kang Hansoo] Strength (Colorless): 20.8%

Stamina (Colorless): 21.1%

Agility (Colorless):16.7%

Perception (Colorless): 17.7%

Mana (Colorless): 15.7%

Magic (Colorless): 15.7%

Physical Resistance (Colorless): 15.7%

Magic Resistance (Colorless): 15.7%

‘It’s not bad.’

Hansoo nodded.

If you take into account the fact that he had raised Nurmaha’s ring by feeding it runes then it was a number which wasn’t bad for a month’s work.

The normal runes were prepared for the tutorial stage from the start so they rose fast but increasing the experience on colorless runes was not easy.

Making one of the runes into a red rune within the three months of the tutorial was a great feat.

Because having one red rune meant that you are a <beginner> who has the prerequisites to travel the red area.

And the Demonic Jade Crystal in his hands had a close relationship with these runes.

<Demonic Jade Crystal>

It increases all of your runes into 99.99% the second you eat it.

An amazing hack of an item.

The difference between 99.99% and 0.01% was like heaven and earth even if they were the same colorless runes.

And that was why raising the experience was hard also.

But of course there are shortcomings with it too.

First, it only lasted a single day.

And the second fault on it was a bit more extreme.

After that day all the runes will drop to 0.01% and he needed to start all over from there.

It was most similar to a forbidden medicine that exploded your potential like those from old martial hero stories.

And because of this he couldn’t use it randomly.

Only 1 chance at using this item.

The Final Dungeon, and from there, the third gateway.

‘Turn all my runes into red runes… then use it.’

This is the most efficient way to use it.

Only colorless runes and normal runes came out in the 2nd stage of the tutorial.

And because of this the perfect situation one could be in is getting 8 red runes at 0.01%.

Basically becoming an <Expert>. This means an adventurer whose runes had all reached the red stage.

But that was still a bit lacking.

And that was why this thing was needed.

If he uses this then he will become a <master> whose runes are all at the peak.

And there aren’t any risks either.

Since he started at the 0.01% anyway, he will just be going back to where he was.

‘I must save it until then.’

There was no need to focus on raising the runes.

Since there was another plan for that.

He needed to focus on other things before that.

Like this Demonic Jade Crystal.

‘Just gaining this in the Central Island means success.’

And it was even better since he had gained the Dekrados set.

But there was still another problem.

Hansoo put away the Demonic Jade Crystal as he spoke to Taejin and Yerin.

“We hunted together but only this came out. I really need this. I can’t share it with you but I can give you anything else we gained from the hunts so speak out what you want. Both of you.”

He needed to distribute things fairly.

He couldn’t give away this item but he also couldn’t ignore the two clans who had hunted the Demon Lord together with him.

Taejin and Yerin looked at each other for a while and then chuckled.

“Just take it. We would’ve all died without you anyway. We even gained more special forces thanks to you.”

A few of their clansmen had died but their overall strength had increased by far.

Since they had filled 50 of the 100 people limit with special forces.

“Mmm…”

Hansoo pondered for a moment and then spoke to the both of them:

“What are your plans from here onwards?”

Taejin and Yerin said very simply:

“Go to the Tower.”

Hansoo shook his head at those words.

He wasn’t sure if the Dark Mad Lord was going to wait in front of the entrance above.

‘But that guy probably knows about the situation in the Central Island.’

He should also know that Guktae had died.

Which means that he could assume that a lot of people from here would survive and come up.

He might’ve prepared something or he might not have but he couldn’t ignore the dangers due to unexpected chances.

Since he will be an entirely different existence from the previous clans.

Full frontal fights would not be easy.

‘Let’s see… I cannot let them do something good for him.’

Hansoo looked around at his surroundings.

***

“… Nobody’s coming?”

Changhee, who was standing next to Wongyung, asked.

‘Is there a possibility where this guy is wrong.’

He could make mistakes because he was a human but it was rather wondrous since they had never seen him make a mistake.

Before Changhee could finish her thoughts, a single person appeared from the giant circle in front of them.

But Changhee clicked her tongue.

Since it was a familiar face.

‘Dislikeable guy.’

That guy over there was hard to trust because his attitude changed back and forth too fast.

‘Well. That was probably why he acted as the person close to Hansoo.’

Changhee spoke out to the guy who had just come up, Hyunwoo, as she looked at him.

“Didn’t you say you had a friend called Taehee?”

Hyunwoo shrugged his shoulders.

“She was just for cover anyway. What’s there to call a friend when we had only seen each other a few times. She died on the way.”

“…”

While Changhee was clicking her tongue, Wongyung asked Hyunwoo while staring at him:

“But it seems you’re alone. Did the rest die?”

Hyunwoo shook his head at Wongyung’s words.

“Nope. Exactly 531 people survied.”

“… But none of them came to the Island of the Tower?”

It might’ve been different if they had all died but for that much to survive and not come to the Island of the Tower.

The Island of the Tower was a very alluring location.

Hyunwoo sighed at those words.

“That guy fucked it all up at the last moment.”

Then Hyunwoo thought of the words which Hansoo had said to the people at the last moment.

— If you guys are thinking of going to the island of the tower then think about it very well! it looked very sweet on the islands map but remember that it was just like that for the central island as well!

“… No one would come if they hear that. But is there really a chance for nobody to come like this?”

The thing about a person’s greed is that it usually did not work out the way they wanted but for none of the 500 plus people to have come.

Hyunwoo added a few more words at that:

“It’s because they all know what happens if they ignore his words now. He’s really a talented fellow.”

“…”

Wongyung clicked his tongue inwardly.

The people who had survived there would probably be much stronger than the ones who had gone through other islands.

This was the perfect chance since they would be a mess from fighting the Demon Lord and the undead.

‘Well. If it didn’t work then there’s nothing I can do about that.’

If Hyunwoo spoke out then he would only arouse suspicions.

“Did you check where the Hansoo guy went?”

Hyunwoo shook his head.

“I don’t know about that but I did see him going into the Crystal.”

Wongyung shrugged his shoulders as he rose from this seat.

“Well, that’s enough then. Since we did everything we needed to do here, let’s go into the Tower.”

Hyunwoo asked at these words:

“Doesn’t your heart ache? We got nothing out of the Central Island in conclusion.”

Wongyung spoke as he laughed.

“What’s there to have a heartache over. It was one failure out of many. And we killed a lot of the Lords too.”

“…”

“And according to my senses… the thing we’ll gain from the Tower will be much greater.”

The Islands Map never lied.

The thing they would gain from the Tower would be much sweeter than the thing they would gain from the Central Island and wouldn’t be comparable in terms of quantity and quality.

‘Hansoo that guy… I’m disappointed.’

He didn’t know about others but he felt like that guy would come up at least.

But for him to dodge him like this.

‘There probably won’t be much difference huh.’

That guy probably didn’t know since he hadn’t gotten to the Island of the Tower yet but everyone eventually gathered to the tower and there would be more instances where they would collide.

Meeting him then will just be the end of it.

‘Though we won’t meet for a while… I should at least give warnings. But this guy… why doesn’t he have any distinctive features?’

Wongyung sent a message to the 15 people in other places.

— Be cautious of a guy with a chain scythe and a dagger and report at once you spot him. finish off what i asked and then come into the tower. i’ll see you above.

Wongyung, who had sent messages to the people all around, shrugged as he spoke.

“Let’s go.”

At those words a large amount of people started to walk slowly towards a location.

Towards the giant black tower that pierces the skies in the center of the island.

***

A long while after the circle shone as it spat out another person.

Hansoo, who had come out of the circle, checked his surroundings.

Clear signs of people.

It was definite that a clan was waiting for people here.

Hansoo smirked as he looked at these.

‘I knew this would happen.’

The Dark Mad Lord always liked to be doing something so he wasn’t good at waiting.

A very diligent guy from a point of view.

Though the fact that he was working diligently on crazy things was the regrettable part.

He had used Arankal’s bracelet to pretend entering the crystal and then waited nearby while hiding.

Though they could’ve spotted him if they looked hard enough, they probably didn’t expect him to do such a thing in a situation where they were trying to get into the portal.

He had fooled that Hyunwoo guy like that.

‘Who would get fooled if you stick around like that at all times…’

While that guy was looking around at him he was doing the same.

The result was that he was very suspicious.

It might’ve been different if he didn’t know about the Dark Mad Lord.

But that wasn’t the case.

Anyways, Hansoo had waited until everybody left, healed his body completely which was exhausted from fighting the Demon Lord and then came through the Crystal.

Since this amount of time would’ve been enough for them to have left.

‘It’s too tedious to go around.’

Hansoo then looked towards the Tower in the distance.

The final level as well as the stage of the second tutorial.

The <tower> in the center was piercing the clouds up above and many islands were floating around the tower.

And like branches of a tree, black bridges from the tower extended to connect to those islands.

If you were to start at the island where the tower was standing then you could sweep up from below but even if you were to start at the nearby islands you would eventually go into the Tower.

This was why he pondered going to other islands but then he might not be able to gain what he wanted.

Since if he went to other islands he will start at a different floor and not on the first floor.

‘Let’s start.’

He was going to prepare faithfully for the Final Dungeon.

Since this was his 1st target.

And the Dark Mad Lord was going to be included within it.

Hansoo grinned as he organized his gear.

‘I’m not sure if that Hyunwoo guy remembered my physical traits well or not.’

Hansoo pushed down the Justice of Dekrados deep within his thigh.

At the same time he shortened the length of the chain on Judgement of Dekrados as much as he could, wrapped it around his waist once, fixed it firmly onto his back and then covered it with his cape.

And soon it was almost like the two weapons disappeared.

Hansoo then proceeded to grab onto a sword he had picked up randomly before coming in here.

A decent level Podao that a dead adventurer was holding onto.

Hansoo’s image instantly turned into a mediocre level which you could find anywhere.

Well Hansoo’s image wasn’t what caught the eye in the first place.

But this wasn’t enough.

Hansoo quickly moved out.

Since there was a place he agreed to meet that guy.

After a while a very familiar face came into view.

“Hey. Hansoo!”

Hansoo laughed as he spoke.

“Thanks.”

Sangjin grinned.

“It’s a win-win. Anyways… here it is.”

Sangjin handed over a small earring.

An artifact which Hansoo had asked for him to get along with the <shadow technique>.

<earring of seven siblings.>

It absorbed the user’s mana constantly as it changed the user’s appearance.

To one of the seven which was saved onto it.

‘Saved some time thanks to him.’

Hansoo put on the earring on his hand.

And as he inserted mana onto it his face changed.

No, not only his face but his whole body made crackling sound as it changed.

Sangjin made a scared expression as he looked at this.

“Is it okay for you to do this?”

Sangjin had actually used this before.

Since it was much more charming than the mask.

But this wasn’t something where one could change their face however they wanted.

It was something which changed their whole body onto one of the seven saved images.

Of course the battle power decreased and Sangjin, who had realized this, gave up using it and put on the mask.

But Hansoo shook his head.

“This is good enough.”

He needed to do at least this much. He couldn’t fool the enemy just because he had changed the face a little bit.

Since the adventurer’s perception was too high for that.

Since that was basically covering one’s nose with a biscuit and then saying that they have disguised themselves.

They would be found out by other adventurers who had memorized the shape of their entire body.

He needed to change his whole body structure as so.

‘It does decrease my battle power but this is enough.’

This wasn’t the important part.

Hansoo made an expression so cold that it was fearsome.

‘Everyone should remember me to some degree by now.’

The 500 people of the Central Island remember him.

The clansmen of the Dark Mad Lord remember him.

Rumors about him would be spread far and wide.

He does not kill people.

He sticks by the rules.

He tries to fight in the front and also tries to save as many people as he can.

This much was enough for him to create an image.

‘Eres. This should be enough.’

And now it was time for him to keep Keldian’s last will.

‘Dark Mad Lord. Until I come find you… keep doing well.’

Hansoo laughed coldly at the tower in the distance.