Part 6
Mincheol’s vision spun, and his body stiffened.
He gritted his teeth.
I need to retreat first.
GRIP.
HMMMM—!
As Mincheol stretched one leg far behind him and raised his hammer, the weapon began vibrating violently.
Earth Shatter
BOOOOOOM—!
RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!
Mincheol activated his skill and slammed his hammer into the ground.
The earth began shaking violently with a deafening roar.
It felt as though an earthquake had struck.
“SKREE!”
“EEK!”
Startled by the violently trembling ground, the Rock Monkeys scattered in every direction.
Whew. Now that the monkeys have backed off, I need to deal with the Harpies first…
Just then—
RRRRRRRRUMBLE—!
The entire canyon began shaking as though it were about to collapse.
Huh…? What’s happening…?
Mincheol struggled to maintain his balance on the trembling ground, utterly bewildered.
This shaking wasn’t being caused by his skill.
It was at least ten times more powerful than the earthquake produced by Earth Shatter.
RRRRUMBLE—
CRASH-RUMBLE-RUMBLE—!
As Mincheol barely managed to keep his footing, an enormous monster erupted from beneath the ground.
“Good grief…”
【Lv. 74】 Drogas
Mincheol’s jaw dropped at the sudden appearance of the Boss Monster.
Why had a Level 74 Boss Monster appeared on Floor 23…?
More importantly, why had it emerged in the first place?
Don’t tell me… Was it because of the Earth Shatter skill I just used?!
CRRRRRRACK—!
“Boss! You need to run—”
BOOM—!
SHATTER—!
“Urgh!”
The Giant Worm charged at him with terrifying speed and shattered the Indomitable Bulwark in a single strike.
The impact was so tremendous that Mincheol nearly lost consciousness.
Worse still, excruciating pain surged through the arm holding his shield. It felt as though the bone had broken.
SHRAAAK!
Soon, Drogas’s tentacles began extending from every corner of the canyon.
No, rather than tentacles, perhaps they would be better described as smaller worms.
SHRAAAK!
“SKREE!”
“SCREECH!”
The tentacle-like worms emerging from the canyon began devouring the Harpies in the sky.
The monsters shrieked and desperately fled.
However, the worms extended with overwhelming speed.
CRUNCH.
CRUNCH-CRUNCH.
“……”
Not only the Harpies but even the Rock Monkeys were devoured by the worms.
Mincheol swallowed dryly.
Hundreds of monsters had disappeared in an instant.
If only I hadn’t used Earth Shatter…
As Mincheol blamed himself—
STEP. STEP.
Yugeon approached him from behind, though Mincheol had no idea when he had descended into the canyon.
“B-Boss! Why are you down here?! Hurry and get back up—”
“You’ve done enough. I’ll finish things from here.”
“Pardon…?”
SHING.
With an indifferent expression, Yugeon drew the sword hanging at his waist.
It was the cheap sword he had brought from home.
DING!
【Seamless Realm】 has been activated.
HMMMM—
SWOOSH!
The entire world came to a halt.
Yugeon moved his sword.
DING!
【One Sword to Annihilate Heaven】 has been activated.
FLASH!
KABOOOOOOOM—!
FWOOSH—
SHATTER.
“As I thought. I need to replace my sword as soon as possible.”
Time began flowing once again.
The sword in Yugeon’s hand shattered into countless fragments.
At the same moment—
SPLIT—!
THUUUD.
The massive Drogas and the smaller worms were bisected, dying instantaneously.
What… Did I just see?
Mincheol stared blankly at the dead Boss Monster.
It had unquestionably been Level 74.
It was an existence that should never have appeared on a mere twenty-third floor.
It wasn’t an ordinary field monster but a named Boss Monster.
Yet the moment Yugeon moved, the Boss Monster died.
How does that make any sense?
The levels of Boss Monsters weren’t comparable to those of ordinary monsters.
A Level 50 Boss Monster and a Level 50 Awakened weren’t equal.
Even at the same level, the Boss Monster was vastly more powerful.
That was why Awakened didn’t trust the displayed levels of Boss Monsters.
In the past, many Awakened had lost their lives senselessly because they hadn’t known that.
A Level 40 Awakened had once challenged a Level 30 Boss Monster alone, only to die before he could even scream.
The levels of Boss Monsters simply couldn’t be measured by the same standards as those of humans.
At least four… No, five.
It would take a party of five Awakened in their seventies to defeat Drogas.
Then how did Boss…?
Who in the world was he?
Mincheol already knew Yugeon was powerful, but this was far beyond anything reasonable.
“Are you all right?”
“…Huh? Ah, yes! Yes… I’m fine!”
Snapping back to his senses at Yugeon’s question, Mincheol put away his shield.
The Harpies and Rock Monkeys had already been devoured, and the Boss Monster was dead.
There was nothing left to fight.
“Go and retrieve the Boss Monster’s Mana Stone.”
“Only the Mana Stone?”
Drogas’s hide was exceptionally tough and durable, so many Awakened used it to manufacture protective equipment.
Why did Yugeon only want the Mana Stone?
“It isn’t cost-effective.”
Drogas’s hide and teeth were relatively valuable.
The problem was the difficulty of processing them.
Drogas’s materials were extraordinarily troublesome to process, making the manufacturing costs extremely high.
The resulting equipment wasn’t effective enough to justify the cost.
“The equipment you’re using now would be more efficient than anything made from that.”
“Ah…”
“But the Mana Stone is different.”
“I understand! I’ll retrieve it immediately.”
Mincheol nodded, pulled a dagger from his bag, and began dismantling Drogas.
In truth, it wasn’t very difficult.
Yugeon had already split the creature in half.
SQUELCH.
“Boss, I brought it.”
“Good. Keep it safe and sell it somewhere with low transaction fees.”
“?”
“What is it?”
When Mincheol continued staring at him, Yugeon tilted his head.
“Um… Are you giving this to me? You want me to keep it?”
This Mana Stone had come from a Level 74 Boss Monster.
It wasn’t Level 7 or Level 4.
It was an A-rank Mana Stone from a Level 74 monster.
Even if sold cheaply, it would fetch over three hundred million. Its average price ranged from five hundred to eight hundred million.
Yet Yugeon was telling him to keep it.
“I don’t need it.”
“…Even so, I can’t simply accept something this valuable. Besides, the Boss Monster only appeared because of me…”
“I knew it would appear.”
“Pardon?”
“When Drogas senses a powerful vibration, it assumes someone has invaded its territory and emerges.”
“……”
Mincheol had so many questions.
Why didn’t Yugeon need the Mana Stone?
How had he known that the Boss Monster would appear?
Why was a Level 74 Boss Monster hidden on Floor 23?
Everything left him baffled.
And I also want to know who Boss truly is…
SWOOSH.
“You look like you have a lot of questions.”
“Haha… I’m not very bright, so I’m having trouble understanding…”
“Originally, the Tower didn’t have any boundaries.”
“No boundaries? What do you mean?”
“It wasn’t divided into Zone 1, Zone 2, and Zone 3. From Floor 1 to Floor 100, the Tower was originally a single whole.”
“?!!”
Mincheol’s eyes widened at this shocking revelation.
Then what exactly had he and countless other Awakened been doing by clearing floors and advancing upward?
“It has been changed now. They divided it into floors and began watching—all to show more and create more dramatic scenes.”
“……”
Mincheol tilted his head, unable to understand what Yugeon meant.
It wasn’t only because his words were incomprehensible.
The look in Yugeon’s eyes as he spoke was chilling.
For an instant, Mincheol thought he saw anger in those eyes, but he couldn’t tell whom that anger was directed toward.
“Anyway, the concept of individual floors didn’t exist in the past. It was introduced later.”
“Um… Then does that mean…?”
“Several powerful beings are hidden on every floor, just like this one. Where does the Tower begin?”
“Zone 1, Floor 1.”
“There was once a Level 90 monster there.”
“What?! W-wouldn’t that cause a disaster?!”
“Don’t worry. That monster has already perished. It didn’t have much of its lifespan remaining.”
“……”
“I know what you’re thinking, but don’t worry too much. Most of them are being forcibly kept asleep by the laws of the Tower. Unless someone forcibly awakens them like we did today, they won’t appear.”
“Ah… I-I’m sorry. This happened because of me…”
Yugeon grinned.
PAT.
Seeing Mincheol scratching the back of his head, Yugeon chuckled and patted him on the back.
In truth, Yugeon had brought Mincheol here today specifically to draw out Drogas.
I needed an earthquake powerful enough to make Drogas emerge.
If he hadn’t killed Drogas today, Hwang Mungi would have died at its hands.
After all, the item Hwang Mungi was searching for was one of Drogas’s favorite foods.
The moment Hwang Mungi found it, the sleeping Drogas would have emerged.
***
DRIP. DRIP. DRIP.
“Ugh…”
“This place smells terrible.”
“Boss, why did we come here…?”
Pinching his nose shut, Mincheol shone his flashlight ahead as they continued forward.
They were currently in Zone 1, Floor 5, [Waste Storage].
As soon as they finished their business on Floor 23, they had descended straight to Zone 1, Floor 5.
“There’s something I need to obtain.”
“There’s something worth obtaining here?”
At that moment, something occurred to Mincheol.
An enormous mountain of garbage stood at the center of the Waste Storage.
Everything from food waste to discarded appliances had been piled there indiscriminately.
“Are we going to the mountain of garbage?”
“That’s right.”
“Is there really anything worth obtaining there…?”
Mincheol had visited the mountain of garbage in the past.
However, he hadn’t found anything particularly useful.
There had been weapons and armor, but all of them were shabby and worthless.
“There’s no better place to hide treasure than among filth.”
“Hmm… If you say so, Boss, I’ll trust you.”
Mincheol grinned before turning forward and continuing to walk.
***
How long had they been walking?
After traveling for quite some time and defeating every monster that attacked them, an enormous circular cavern finally appeared before them.
And within it stood a colossal mountain of garbage.