161 episodes
45 The Tower of Causality (1)
Chimseonggung Palace where Zion left.
“ It’s really too much!”
A high-pitched cry erupted from the office of Chimseonggung.
Of course, the main character of that cry was Riusina.
“ No, did you leave me this time too? Secretly?”
A witch who roams around the office with ax eyes as if in anger and vomits complaints.
Yeah, just last time, Liusi and herself had other things to do, and there wasn’t much progress, so there were no complaints.
But now it was completely different from that.
“ Even if you think about it, didn’t the owner do too much this time?”
As if he was already familiar with this look, Riusina asked as she leaned her face toward Thierry, who was quietly watching her work next to her.
“ You didn’t take anyone but Lina-sama, right?”
“ You took the tweet!”
“… … .”
To that, Thierry remained silent without answering.
It wasn’t that there was nothing to refute, but it seemed that whatever he said would be useless to the extent that even spirits, not human beings, felt a sense of competition.
“ It must have been because there was a will, so let’s move on. In fact, there was no good reason for all the actions you have done so far.”
Fredo, who had just come into the office, handed her and Thierry the car and said bluntly.
“ He said he would let me kill more people than I could ever imagine… … The owner has changed his mind… … .”
With those words, she was gloomy for a moment, then suddenly her eyes lit up again and she raised her head.
“ Once this happens, I have no choice but to create things that I will kill myself a lot.”
“ Yes? What do you mean all of a sudden?”
At that unfamiliar murmuring, doubts crept into Thierry’s face.
“ The ones who attacked the owner last time. Did I mention that there was one woman in a monastic uniform among them?”
She looked at Thierry like that and asked.
“ Yes, yes.”
Thierry’s expression hardened slightly as he nodded at him.
Combining the information I heard from Shion and the 1st Prince, I found out that the woman was one of the demons hiding in the Imperial Castle and was in a fairly high position, but it was quite difficult to trace the location.
He used almost every shadow to scour the entire capital and other nearby cities, but he could not find any traces as if his existence had disappeared.
So it was a very frustrating situation right now.
Liusina smiled and said to the leader of such a shadow.
“ Somehow, that woman is like someone I know.”
“ Yes? Is that real?”
“ Yeah, hopefully we can find the location.”
In the eyes of the witch who answered Thierry’s question, a blood-red energy was swirling in her eyes.
* * *
The morning dawns slowly.
“… … It’s no joke.”
A tired voice came out of the mouth of Lane Dranir, who was one of the Seven Girls Outside the North and a fellow of the current Hero.
In front of her, a tower that soared to the top of the clouds and had no end in sight stood tall.
A tower boasting a magnificence that is not enough to simply say that it is huge.
The identity of such a tower was the ‘Tower of Causality’, the largest dungeon on earth that had just been created.
But it wasn’t the tower that made Lane’s eyes tired.
“ You mean they are all our competitors?”
People gather around the tower endlessly.
So many people were giving her such feelings, reminiscent of a swarm of ants.
What was even more surprising was that all the people gathered were not ordinary people, but talented people above a certain level.
And among them, there were also a number of powerful men who were famous enough to know their names just by looking at their faces.
The highest level dungeon exploration team, platinum or higher mercenaries, and even adventurers who explored the entire continent.
“ Do you think it would be difficult to enter this?”
As Lane who looked around him murmured,
“ Tongue, blood sword!”
People around her began to murmur.
The person at the end of the gaze of those people was a middle-aged man with a cold look with a blood-red sword around his waist.
Lane, who found the man shortly thereafter, had a different look in her eyes.
‘ Blood sword (血劍) Lee Woon-gang.’
He was a swordsman from Suinhae as one of the ‘Twelve Seas’, which refers to the strongest people right after ‘ Seven Heavens’.
In terms of the field of swords, a person who falls within the five fingers of the entire empire.
Was the appearance of such a blood sword a starting point?
“ The Storm King has come over there!”
“ On the other side of the Iron Soul!”
After that, other ‘twelve seas’ began to appear one after another.
As a result, people vomit in surprise, and the area around the tower becomes even more noisy.
“ Is it that great to be in that tower?”
Lane, who looked at those ‘twelve seas’ for a moment, muttered with questionable eyes.
” I didn’t expect them to move already.”
Strong people who can discuss the apex of the entire empire.
Of course, the ‘Seven Heavens’ existed above them, but except for one or two, all of them were the heads of large groups or had high positions comparable to those of him, so they could not move freely.
Therefore, it was no exaggeration to say that they are the strongest people who can move now.
“ Are you so afraid?”
Beside Lane, Turzan smiled and asked.
He was one of the ‘Seven Heavens’, but he hardly ever came out of ‘Heavenly Mountain’, so no one recognized him.
“ It could be.”
Lane smiles at the giant and replies.
In fact, there was no fear or embarrassment in her eyes.
“ The tower will be open soon.”
At that moment, the silver-haired woman who was looking at the sky from the side opened her mouth.
Three days ago, the Tower of Causality was revealed, but that didn’t mean it was open all day.
During the day, the tower is open only a few minutes at dawn.
It was a very short time, so it was necessary to move quickly.
That’s why other people had already gathered around the tower.
“ Did you understand all the details of the trials I told you?”
Then a question came out of that woman’s mouth,
“ Of course.”
“ I memorized the moon, so you can stop asking.”
It was the moment when Turzan and Lane responded.
Whooers you me out!
The earth began to vibrate with a loud roar.
And slowly.
The huge stone gate that had firmly blocked the entrance to the tower began to climb upwards.
“ Open!”
“ Go inside!”
With him, new models of people were shot towards the tower.
Not everyone was moving.
Because we didn’t know exactly about the tower, there was also a class that wanted to keep an eye on it.
They were looking at the people heading for the tower with thoughtful eyes.
ride it!
Is it still worthy of that name?
The powerful men of the ‘Twelve Seas’, who quickly hit in front of people and disappear into the tower.
Following him, other people also begin to quickly enter the dungeon.
“ Then see you later.”
There was no need to enter quickly, so the silver-haired woman near the end greeted Turzan and Lane briefly and then pushed herself into the entrance.
“ Don’t be late.”
A new type of Turzan that disappears immediately after the woman.
After that, it was the last moment that Lane also took a step into the tower full of black darkness.
“… … uh?”
Lane’s eyes fluttered when she saw someone.
A man just entering the tower from the other end of the entrance where she was.
‘ Zion… … harness?’
Black hair and eyes, and a face with a characteristic indifference.
I knew it the moment I saw it.
‘Cause I’ve never forgotten
The man she longed to see again.
Unknowingly, the moment Lane was about to reach out towards him, Huuk!
The darkness of the tower completely engulfed her.
* * *
As soon as you enter the tower, darkness completely obscures your view.
How much time has passed since then?
Zion looked at the huge walls that were revealed through the slowly lifting darkness.
‘ Has it started?’
At the beginning of the same scene as described in the chronicle, an arc was drawn on Zion’s lips.
Fortunately, the changed future did not seem to have affected the Tower of Causality.
at that time,
– You have entered the Tower of Causality.
A hard woman’s voice could be heard in Zion’s ear.
– You are the 4th contender.
A voice without pitch.
Shion knew the identity of this voice.
‘The ordeal helper.’
It was an existence that helped those who entered the tower of causality to focus only on overcoming the ordeal and going up to the next floor.
An artificially created spirit that was not born naturally.
The reason these ‘ordeal helpers’ exist was simple.
‘ The Tower of Causality is different from other dungeons.’
If a normal dungeon was built to protect the treasure, the Tower of Causality was built to give the treasure on the contrary.
It was a dungeon with a bizarre tendency that could not be found anywhere else, but knowing the origins of this place, I was able to understand it naturally.
‘ In preparation for the destruction of the world, the gods and the old dragons joined forces to create the ultimate support tool.’
The gods, more than anyone else, wished that this world would not be destroyed.
Therefore, while looking for a way to help humans while reducing the causality rate as much as possible, the Tower of Causality was created.
If the reward was given in exchange for the ordeal, the consumption of causality could be reduced that much.
‘ In other words, the more difficult the ordeal to break through, the greater the reward.’
Even when Shion was organizing her thoughts like that, the voice of the ‘Trial Helper’ continued.
– There are trials on each floor in the tower, and each time you break through those trials, you will be rewarded with different points according to your performance and contribution.
– Scores are accumulated, and the higher the score, the better the rewards.
– The ordeal on the first floor is a maze of anguish. Try to break through it as fast as possible to get a high score.
A simplistic explanation.
“… … .”
Shion stared at the huge maze in front of him.
This ordeal with the name of ‘maze of agony’ was not so difficult as it was the first ordeal.
Just deal with the monsters that appear in the middle and break through the maze and that’s it.
‘The question is, how quickly do you break through?’
In the chronicle, the hero finds a shortcut, breaks through the maze first, and then gets the highest score.
He knew the shortcut because he had read the chronicle, but Zion had no intention of going that way.
‘ Because the hero will also take a shortcut.’
Shion was aware that the hero and party had entered the Tower of Causality with him.
As Luminus said, if the hero had truly returned, not only her but her party would have known the existence of that shortcut.
So, even if we went, we could not have a definite advantage.
“ There’s a faster way out there, so you don’t have to go there.”
With those words, Shion reached out a hand and lightly grabbed the air.
Shrek-
Then, as if waiting, Iklaxia was caught in such a hand.
Shion, who looked at the extinct light sword that appeared in perfect form from the beginning, slightly twisted the wrist holding the sword.
hey hey!
At that moment, the darkness surrounding Iklaxia rotated around the sword and began to absorb all the energy around it and replace it with darkness.
At the same time, Iklaxia, which is more efficient than Agdvar, amplifies such darkness endlessly under the Black Star.
gurg gurg!
A blade that trembles due to repeated compression and amplification.
The trembling was closer to the expectation of the first sword strike that was greeted with a perfect body, rather than a scream that could not bear the power.
Feeling the trembling that reached his hand, Shion pulled Iklaxia straight back.
At the same time, two overlapping partial lunar eclipses occur naturally.
In fact, there was no such thing as a faster path than the hero’s shortcut in this maze.
However,
“ If you don’t have it, you can create it.”
Shion’s curved eyes.
Did you sense something ominous?
– Please refrain from inappropriate behavior.
– Please refrain from inappropriate behavior.
Belatedly, the ordeal assistant’s voice resounded in Shion’s ears.
It was already too late.
At last, Iklaxia, having achieved another perfect blade, slowly pushed forward.
tuk.
The moment the tip of the protruding light sword of extinction lightly touches the wall of the maze,
A single black flash that started from the tip of the sword ripped apart all the walls that existed in a straight line.