8. Fragment of the Imugi's Inner Core(1)
THUD!
Odusasa, an undead formed from an Imugi's shed skin and the monster that had gone on guarding the Floor 2 trial.
It had fallen.
[A number of Constellations are astonished!]
At an achievement no one had ever managed, the attention of the Constellations converged.
'Because this is something no one managed before the regression either.'
The period when Lee Jin-hyeok had been the first-ranked player was the Tower's final moment, as <Pure Radiance> was bringing it down.
Even by then, the three achievements Lee Jin-hyeok had racked up so far were things no one had ever managed.
The tutorial, Floor 1, and now Floor 2.
Not once, not twice, but three times, so the Constellations paying him attention was only natural.
'No more points?'
[Constellation <Eternal Flame> is watching you.]
[Constellation <King of Muspell> is watching you.]
From the look of it they had no intention of giving more, which was a shame.
'Well, what I've earned so far is already a considerable amount.'
Approaching Odusasa's corpse, Lee Jin-hyeok smacked his lips.
'They won't give more, so I'll sell this at least.'
***
[Time remaining: 5 days 21 hours 22 minutes]
'To fly higher, one needs proper rest as well.'
After killing Odusasa, Lee Jin-hyeok rested well and recovered his stamina.
It was thanks to the goblin undead he had dragged in from elsewhere doing the work for him.
[Constellation <Dawn King of Zhonghua> marvels at your leadership!]
[Constellation <King of Muspell> is satisfied with your dignity.]
At present the goblin undead were bundling up Odusasa's corpse tightly on Lee Jin-hyeok's orders.
Corpse poison, extremely lethal to living creatures, was included in it, but there was nothing to worry about.
These things were undead anyway, so poison did not affect them in the slightest.
'And they follow direction well.'
There was plenty of space for the items too.
They were being sorted into the bags and such left behind by players and monsters that had died here over time.
'The <Goblin Chieftain> skill really is better than <Goblin Slayer>.'
The goblins brought him potions and food on their own initiative, which was extremely comfortable.
'Still, these are Imugi scales and materials. I should be able to gather a fair number of points.'
The points he had gathered now came to around 65,000.
Even if he completed the Star Decree for crossing the finish line in first place, that made 115,000 points.
He had no Sacred Relic yet, but to copy two skills he needed roughly 300,000 points more.
'If Odusasa's corpse sells, I can pull in a decent haul.'
He had rested plenty, and he had gathered enough food and potions to use in an emergency.
Even if he left this spot, the goblin undead would keep working away properly.
It was thanks to the instructions he had already given.
He was the only player alive in the Floor 2 trial grounds right now, and undead had no reason to attack fellow undead.
"Shall I get going?"
Now that the work had settled into a stable rhythm, it would not matter if he stepped away for a while.
[Constellation <Eternal Flame> is curious about your next move.]
"I intend to go have a look over there."
When the Floor 2 trial ended and the cleaning began.
The ruined temple had split almost in half as it collapsed, and Odusasa had revealed itself.
Where Lee Jin-hyeok was headed was the pit the thing had emerged from.
Deeper inside it.
"You never know what might be there."
[Constellation <Fire That Killed the Mother God> nods.]
[Constellation <Dawn King of Zhonghua> insists that a spirit of inquiry always leads to a fated opportunity.]
[Activating the skill <Enchant: Flame>.]
After wrapping the <Adept's Sword> in flame, he climbed slowly down along the wall.
He had told the Constellations he was going for whatever reward might be there, but he had chosen his route based on certain information.
'The <Fragment of the Imugi's Inner Core>.'
Swish.
'That inner core is down below.'
-"Something obtainable on the low floors. There is one. Ughhh. Because that bitch Majuron was staying there."
The Poison Witch, Dang So-wol.
Poisons of every kind, inner cores, elixirs, sorcery, and witch's knowledge on top of it all.
When it came to medicine and drugs, she was the player who held the most knowledge inside the Tower.
-"Ah. There is one. The thing called the 'Cleaner,' the one that comes out when you fail the Floor 2 quest, will be guarding it."
-"A great serpent. That is, the inner core of the monster called an Imugi. It's a mass of mana it gathered up until it shed its skin and moved on."
-"Why it set down the lump of mana it had gathered all that time and left, I don't know either. But one thing is certain."
-"Its inner core holds a tremendous amount of mana. A volume so vast that players like us can't handle it."
An Imugi's inner core.
A vast mass of mana, the equivalent of a 'dragon heart' if one were speaking of dragons.
Obtain that inner core and one gained a volume so vast there would be no need to worry about mana for a good while.
-"You're asking why I didn't go and get it? Come on. You can't get that one, Brother."
-"Not my past self, and not that damned bitch...... Majuron either."
-"And she stayed on Floor 2 for a full three years, at that."
There were two problems.
-"The first problem is that you can't kill the thing. A player who has already taken the trial can't go back down and take it again. And a player who has only just come up to Floor 2 killing Odusasa makes even less sense."
The poison mist that comes out with it, the corpse poison the four heads spew, the flames from the central head, and scales that ordinary weapons cannot even pierce.
Because she knew the thing well, Dang So-wol was certain.
That a player who had only just come up to Floor 2 could not kill Odusasa by any means whatsoever.
-"The second problem lies in that inner core. This one...... is a matter you have to go and see for yourself to understand."
-"The location is simple. The pit the thing forces its way out of. It will be inside there."
SLIIIDE......TAP.
Recalling the conversation with Dang So-wol as he climbed down along the wall of the pit.
HSSSSS......
SLIIITHER!
Something began crawling out from deeper inside.
Countless snakes.
Their sizes varied enormously, from about 10 cm to 10 m, and several of them were spewing the same corpse poison Odusasa had.
"They're a nuisance."
[You slay a small corpse snake.] x12
[You have acquired 2 points.] x12
[You slay a giant corpse snake.] x3
[You have acquired 15 points.] x3
[Your experience rises.]
The arrival of things that called to mind smaller versions of Odusasa.
But to Lee Jin-hyeok, whose level had risen enormously, they were hardly even a threat.
'You can't even call this a threat.'
If anything it was good news.
Because he could ride the snakes coiled along the wall and reach the bottom more safely.
Hssseeek?
Ssslith!
Was it because they realized Lee Jin-hyeok was no ordinary opponent?
The corpse snakes began to scatter slowly.
"......."
And so he arrived at the bottom of the pit.
There he found only darkness where he could not see a hand in front of him, and snake-shaped ornaments running along the walls.
'An enormous circular passage. Yes, almost like.'
Swish.
'a passage built for snakes.'
Walking on like that for a long while, before long a door leading to an underground temple revealed itself.
THUD!
After simply smashing the door with his fist, he went further inside.
An atmosphere different again from before, all of it in very clean condition.
It could hardly be so, but it looked as though someone came and cleaned it, without a speck of dust.
CRACKLE......!
As he pushed inside, the corpse poison Odusasa and the corpse snakes had spewed came out in the form of smoke and threatened Lee Jin-hyeok.
'Far more potent than the poison mist that came out during the cleaning.'
[You have been afflicted with <Status Ailment: Poison>. Your life force decreases gradually.]
[You have been afflicted with <Status Ailment: Curse>. All stats are reduced.]
And not only that. A curse was being laid on him as well.
'Right. She said this was dangerous too.'
[By the effect of the skill <Indomitable Star>, you are freed from all status ailments.]
There was nothing to worry about.
As long as he had <Indomitable Star>, no status ailment worked on him.
'Is it meant to stop anyone from taking it just by killing Odusasa?'
Looking at the countless passages tangled together like a maze, it seemed they had been built so Odusasa could enter from anywhere.
'It makes finding the way a little harder, but that doesn't matter.'
Look carefully at the floor or the walls and traces remained.
The path Odusasa had gone back and forth along each time it went out to clean.
There were faint flattened marks along that path.
'Well, a bulk like that clocks in roughly every ten days. There's no way it wouldn't leave traces.'
It took a little time, and corpse snakes came to interfere along the way, but Lee Jin-hyeok reached his target quite smoothly.
'Found it.'
Some kind of gem, throbbing like a heart.
Red, green, and black energies, dangerous even at a glance, were coiled together and stirring up a small storm.
"It seems I have to climb those stairs to obtain the gem."
[Constellation <Eternal Flame> worries about you, saying it looks dangerous.]
[Constellation <King of Muspell> snorts.]
'Energies of that scale all gathered in one place. No wonder the main body held together.'
It was not simple poison alone.
There was also the black power used by black mages, demons, and demonkin, demonic energy.
Whatever being had made it, the energy was tremendous.
'A player who had only just come to Floor 2 would never even have reached this place. Even without fighting Odusasa.'
STEP.
When Lee Jin-hyeok climbed one step, the storm intensified and began to wrap around him.
'Hrgh!'
Even with no status ailments taking hold thanks to <Indomitable Star>, the aggression the demonic energy itself carried covered Lee Jin-hyeok's body and did damage.
But his body was far stronger now, thanks to leveling up seven times just before.
Add to that an excellent piece of armor in <Eternal Frost>, and he could endure this much easily.
[A number of Constellations watch you with interest.]
GRIP!
Before long he climbed all the stairs and seized the gem.
[The item <Fragment of the Imugi's Inner Core> resists.]
As though refusing to let Lee Jin-hyeok become its owner, the <Fragment of the Imugi's Inner Core> began to give off an even stronger energy.
'An item, resisting. And one that isn't even a complete piece of equipment, nothing but a material at that.'
-"Of course the poison mist laid out on the way there is dangerous too. But the truly dangerous thing is the <Fragment of the Imugi's Inner Core> itself."
-"Because what's there isn't an imitation or a fake, it's the real thing. An Imugi is an individual that failed to become a dragon. So the grudge and obsession it holds are tremendous."
-"And on top of that, it stored poison its whole life across all those long years. You can't endure that. It's absolutely impossible with an ordinary human body."
-"Of those, Odusasa's inner core is located in the Floor 2 trial grounds. It isn't that there's no way at all to get the core even after passing the trial...... but if you go to the trial grounds at the point of regression, you'll be able to get it faster than Majuron."
Someone once said.
That an Imugi's inner core is the final curse harbored by a being that failed to become a dragon.
As such, a human body cannot withstand this vast energy.
By rights, killing Odusasa alone completed the Floor 2 trial.
One then had to move on to the Floor 3 trial and aim for hidden pieces there.
'If I had regressed in my original body, I could never have obtained the <Fragment of the Imugi's Inner Core>. But.'
Tight grip.
'it's different now.'
Lee Jin-hyeok's body was not that of an ordinary human.
A Constellation's vessel.
The finest body in the Tower's history, able to take in a Constellation's consciousness and power as they were.
Add to that the several hidden pieces he had obtained, and he could withstand even a storm of poison like this.
"Do not try to escape."
-SCREEEEEECH!
-SSSHAAAAAA!
Even the malevolent thoughts formed from the Imugi's grudge and its negative feelings about failing to become a dragon could not affect him.
So Lee Jin-hyeok was able to subdue the inner core with relative ease.
[You have acquired the item <Fragment of the Imugi's Inner Core>.]
{Item}
<Fragment of the Imugi's Inner Core>
Grade: Heroic
Category: Miscellaneous Item
▶An object holding the poison and mana an Imugi gathered. It is in a contaminated state due to the demonic energy and malevolent thoughts within.
Contaminated it may have been, but there was ample room to make use of this.
'Though the Floor 2 trial has to end before I can use it.'
Being an inner core the Imugi had gathered itself, it was an item holding a considerable volume of mana.
If he could absorb this item properly, he would have no need to worry about mana at all for a good while.
[Constellation <King of Muspell> is satisfied with your domineering way.]
[Constellation <Eternal Flame> is relieved.]
[A number of Constellations take note of you.]
After looking at the inner core in his hand for a moment, he swallowed it whole.
[A number of Constellations are astonished!]
[Constellation <Eternal Flame> covers its eyes with its hands, saying you will never be able to handle it!]
[Constellation <King of Muspell> starts up from its seat in surprise.]