Battle Tower (2)
《You have entered the 11th floor of the Battle Tower, ‘Barren Rock Forest’.》
As soon as I entered the 11th floor, the flow of the air changed from before.
Until now, it had been an ordinary scent one could smell on a normal forest path, but the air of the 11th floor was a little heavier, mixed with the smell of iron and the rank odor of beasts.
The appearance of the forest was also extremely unnatural.
The trees were closer to gray than the green of overflowing vitality.
They were twisted as though writhing in agony, and thick roots pushed out between the rocks.
The rocks were sharp and cold like cliffs, and their surfaces were covered with old moss and black fungi.
Perhaps the summons also felt this gloominess, because Golem Iron, who had stood at the front doing nothing, trembled.
“Th-This is the, the werewolves’ territory, is it not?! D-Do I have to stand in the frontline here too? I cannot do it!”
“Then, well, you will have no choice but to be used as my test subject and melt away.”
“Yeees?! I have not done anything at all until we climbed this far...”
That was true.
Until we reached this 11th floor, Iron had done nothing.
The reason I had not made him do anything was to reassure him.
“You may continue doing nothing from now on as well. As long as you stay in the frontline.”
“Pardon?! R-Really?!”
“Why? Do you want to fight with us?”
“N-No! I like things better as they are right now!”
Look at that.
Now he was saying he would stand in the frontline on his own.
This fellow only needed to be used once.
Just once.
Until then, I would keep him standing in the frontline like this.
As if he were doing nothing at all.
“Good. Then continue working hard in the frontline.”
“Yes!”
Iron was settled, so now it was time to make use of Temina.
The reason I had chosen Temina out of so many summons was exactly one thing.
It was because she was a summon who could exploit the werewolves’ weakness.
‘The werewolves’ weakness is the number of hits.’
In Legend Seven, there was a concept called ‘hit count’.
It meant that each skill counted how many times it struck.
And this hit count had quite a few strategic uses.
Especially when dealing with fellows like werewolves, whose feet were fast.
As befitted their agile appearance, their strength lay in speed rather than attack.
On top of that, they wrapped themselves in evasion buffs once the battle began.
However, those buffs did not last forever either.
Every time they avoided one hit, one stack was shaved away.
In other words, Temina was useful as a ‘buff-stripping agent’.
Before I had Temina, the attack with the highest number of hits among those I possessed was Hertia’s 2nd skill.
When she used Reverse Side of Darkness and the thread stretched out to pierce the heart, that counted as 1 hit.
Then the Vortex of Death created by the 2nd attack generated 5 to 8 hits.
However, a maximum of 9 hits was not enough.
Then what was the hit count of the newly obtained summon, Temina?
‘100 hits.’
Temina, who appeared as a limited pickup in the summer event, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Vacation!’, used an umbrella as her weapon.
...Or rather, a machine gun disguised as an umbrella.
When she opened the umbrella, the muzzles packed inside it breathed fire.
A basic 100 hits with a single attack.
She was a summon that should have been popular because she was useful for dealing with certain gimmicks, but since she had been released very late in the game, there was no information about her on the market. That was lucky for me.
If even a little information had spread about this summon, there was no way I would ever have obtained her for only around 15 million won like now.
“Hert.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Prepare the vortex. Gather those dogs in one place.”
“Yes!”
“Temina will handle the cleanup.”
“Is there a need to do that? My strength and Caligo’s alone are more than enough.”
Hertia was right.
Honestly, if those two were here, there was no need to use Temina.
However, I had a separate reason for deliberately bringing her.
‘If you two kill them, the corpses will not remain intact...’
Well, in the end, it was money.
Hertia and Caligo were obviously overpowered.
Even if they controlled their strength, it would be hard to leave the enemies’ materials intact with Hertia, who burned the opponent or burst them from within, or Caligo, who marinated and melted them in poison.
However, Temina could easily strip their speed buffs through multi-hits and kill them in a relatively intact state.
And from enemies defeated in such a gentle way, materials dropped at a much higher rate.
“Then, Hertia. I leave it to you.”
“Yes!”
“Three behind the red rock on the right, two in the forest ahead, and four on the rocky hill behind us. Gather them all in front.”
“I shall obey your command!”
Snap!
Along with Hertia’s finger snap, a black veil unfolded.
Snap!
At the sound that rang out once more, a black vortex swirled and gathered them in front of us.
“Hertia. Designate the artifact effect. Target, Temina!”
“Yes!”
《Due to the effect of the artifact ‘Nightmare-Tainted Heart of Red Solidarity’, Temina, Shade of Flame, performs a joint attack.》
Temina leaned back and pointed the umbrella she had been holding, still closed, straight ahead.
Then, the moment she opened the umbrella wide—
“I will show you a taste of heat, beasts.”
RATATATATA!
TUDUDUDUDUK!
The sound of bullets flying and shell casings falling filled the entire forest.
《Temina, Shade of Flame, has defeated a Hungry Werewolf.》
《You have obtained Werewolf Hide x2.》
⁝
《You have cleared the 11th floor of the Battle Tower, ‘Barren Rock Forest’.》
《An unbelievable record!》
《Clear Time: 00 minutes 44 seconds》
***
《An unidentified adventurer has cleared the 11th floor of the Battle Tower in 00 minutes 44 seconds.》
《An unidentified adventurer has cleared the 12th floor of the Battle Tower in 00 minutes 44 seconds.》
《An unidentified adventurer has cleared the 13th floor of the Battle Tower in 00 minutes 50 seconds.》
The 11th floor. The 12th floor. The 13th floor.
Just how far did this rookie intend to climb the tower in one go?
Lee Jeongyul went beyond shock and turned pale.
‘Does this... make any sense?’
From the 11th floor onward, the difficulty was infamous for being high.
There was a reason it was called the Wailing Wall of Beginners.
Even the world record was over 15 minutes.
And yet, 44 seconds?
Not only the 11th floor, but 44 seconds on the 12th floor, and 50 seconds on the 13th?
If this had been a game, she honestly would have suspected a bug.
Her team member Park Taegyun had also been investigating the entrants, but when he saw the records displayed on the monitor, he was flustered.
“Team Leader. This... looks like we are screwed, does it not? If the Battle Tower records are like this, is this not already out of our hands?”
Team Leader Lee Jeongyul managed every low-level content record, but something like today’s incident would spread as a rumor very quickly.
It was not as though there were no foreign informants inside the Record Tower either.
They might be Korean, but in the face of capital’s logic, did nationality not change as easily as flipping one’s palm?
“For now, keep looking—”
《An unidentified adventurer has cleared the 14th floor of the Battle Tower in 00 minutes 58 seconds.》
“Uh... the 14th floor did not go over 1 minute either? Do you think he will climb to the 15th floor too?”
“Wait. These are clear-time records, right? Check what the clear grades are.”
“Ah! Yes! I will check right awa... Uh... Team Leader. I think you should see this yourself.”
Lee Jeongyul was certain.
When clear speed was fast, clear grades tended to come out somewhat lower.
The clear grade received by the adventurer who currently held the record of clearing the 11th floor in over 15 minutes was ‘S’ grade.
If the floors were cleared this quickly, would the adventurer not have failed to receive even A grade?
However, when she saw the data Park Taegyun provided, she could not close her mouth.
“They are all... SSS grade. From the 1st floor until now.”
“Then that means he fought properly too. What in the world is this...?”
***
《You have entered the 15th floor of the Battle Tower, ‘Red-Hued Rock Forest’.》
Climbing to the 15th floor had gone as expected.
Rather, the records were even better than I had anticipated.
I tended to be quite conservative when planning these clears, after all.
I always kept the worst-case scenario in mind too.
“Master. Then I will open it now.”
The giant door before me now.
It was a black door with the pattern of a wolf’s mane.
A black door was also the symbol of a boss room.
“Open it. However, after opening the door, do not move without my instructions.”
“Yes.”
“Oho!”
Caligo’s shout.
Hertia nodded, then slowly applied strength to the hand holding the doorknob.
Click!
Creeeeak.
When the boss room door opened, a giant rocky mountain and a cliff appeared before us.
Looking down at us from atop the cliff while receiving the fierce wind was a giant werewolf.
Its physique was distinctly larger than the werewolves that had appeared until now.
As expected, a boss was still a boss.
However, the creature did not move yet.
No, it could not move.
Because Hertia’s principle had completely taken away its first turn.
“......”
Slowly, time flowed.
I reviewed the instructions I had given the summons earlier.
-Until their manes are dyed red.
What I was waiting for was the hidden gimmick of the 15th floor.
The azure sky spread overhead gradually dyed red with the passage of time.
And when the sunset finally caught on the rocky mountain and completely sank,
The red sky should have turned deep blue.
“The sky... is growing even redder.”
“Yes. Wait a little longer. You will be able to see something interesting.”
Suddenly, something round rose into the sky.
From where the sun had set, something that was not the sun rose.
It was a red moon.
A ‘Mad Moon’ that ruined the minds of those who gazed upon it.
《A change occurs in the boss room.》
《The owner of the boss room, ‘Tenacious Werewolf’, awakens into ‘Carmin, Wolf King of the Mad Moon’.》
“This much should be enough to make the fight enjoyable for us as well, should it not?”
I said that, then smiled pleasantly.