Novels online
Ranobes » Updates » I Came Back And Conquered It All » Chapter 138
           
OPTIONS
BOOKMARK
CHAPTERS LIST
Chapter 138
I Came Back And Conquered It All
The Devil of the 50th Floor (1)
The basic rules of the Tower were the same as the dungeons, but there were also apparent differences that distinguished it from ordinary ones. For example, in a crisis, one could escape to Earth using a Returning Stone, but to re-enter, one had to pay additional experience points as a penalty. Therefore, we decided to discuss whether to return to Earth on a 25-stories basis unless there were unrecoverable injured members or other significant accidents comparable to such a case. It would be unnecessary to go back and forth numerous times when we didn't have to. And when we finally broke through the 25th floor, everyone had the same opinion.
"I don't mind going on like this. Magic solves hygiene problems… and so does food. I didn't even have the symptoms of claustrophobia that I was worried about at the start."
Hibiki calmly talked about her weaknesses that she had never mentioned before in my previous life. It was a symptom caused by an accident she experienced when she was young.
"What about Nate?" "No problem. I don't have a family that worries about me if I stayed here for as long as we need to anyway."
I nodded to their words.
"Okay, we've made a decision. Then…" "Wait, why aren't you asking me about my opinion?" "We proceed straight to the 26th floor." "Hey, I'm asking you!"
Leaving the protesting dragon behind, we kept moving forward. The difficulty level increased noticeably from the 26th floor, which also affected the speed of the breakthrough. Still, it was much faster than our pace in my previous life, and it was incomparable to other world climbers without [The Successor's Eyes]. A month had passed since we started climbing the Tower.
"Now, finally…. the 49th floor awaits."
We had the half point of Clear right in front of us. A dry field appeared as we passed through the portal connecting floors.
Woosh! Swoosh!
The cool wind permeated through my collar. Its topography was no different from a typical field-type dungeon. The Tower looked like a building from the outside, but it was actually a multi-dungeon hub. It consisted of separate spaces on each floor. That much would become evident the moment a hunter stepped inside. As I looked around the familiar scenery…
Cr-rack!
I gritted my teeth quietly.
'I can't believe long we had been stranded here in my previous life!'
As Hibiki was informed beforehand, she invoked penetrative vision-based magic. She observed the underground scene that ordinary eyes couldn't capture. After a while, she uttered words in a way that told me she was horrified.
"Looking through the ground like this, it's like we're standing on a secret mass burial site."
Nate, who couldn't see the view due to his eyes lacking the necessary spell, shrugged his shoulders with a look of 'Really?' Euclid, who had not learned even a single penetrative vision magic spell while she aged for a few hundred years, asked a question out of curiosity.
"What is it that makes you say so?"
Looking down, Hibiki gritted her teeth.
"The monsters down there… Thousands, tens of thousands? There are tens of thousands of them that stand out to me. And those are Ghost Lurkers!"
I added a few words.
"What's worse is that they're not dying and rotting down there, but they're still alive and breathing."
What Hibiki saw was an army of monsters hiding underground in such a seemingly peaceful field, waiting for food to pass by. Coherent to the name, they waited quietly below the surface for the chance to attack when their opponent approached. I had never counted the number of them hidden in the plain, even in my previous life. I wasn't certain how many of them were there. I just knew that there was a lot. They numbered so many it felt disgusting. In fact, each of the Last Five threw up, taking turns. The reason for that was that the Clear condition for that floor was…
– Welcome to the 49th floor. To Clear this floor, destroy all the monsters hiding here!
That's right. We had to lure out and kill all those bastards to Clear the floor.
"Taking each of them down isn't that much of a problem. They're stupid, too. The problem is somewhere else. Hibiki, the perspective magic you just used is SSS-Rank for sure, right?" "Yes." "Then the limitations on your vision through the underground is 500 meters, and those gross bastards dig a few kilometers underground when they sleep. That means the number of those you haven't discovered yet is more than the ones you've already seen."
She had a nauseous look on her face.
'Situations were worse in my past life. We had no choice but to struggle.'
At that time, Hibiki's [Universal Mastery] was S-Rank, and the perspective magic was only at that level as well. Therefore, it was too much to find all the Ghost Lurkers hidden deep underground. And it was impossible to dig the entire field 5 kilometers deep and turn it upside down just because the situation demanded us to do so.
'In the end, we had no choice but to take them in reverse when they were after us and when they woke up and climbed up to the shallow mess.'
From that point, the second reason why the Last Five suffered came in.
'These maniacs will only ever wake up after three or four days since they fall asleep even though they're only monsters!'
The monsters that we needed to catch and kill were sleeping like logs underground where they couldn't be reached for days. There was no way that we could have sped up our Clear. In the end, those who were not that physically strong had the worst conditions, causing speed-hunting to become impossible.
"Ah, is that why you told me to prepare this?"
Nate shook his shadow.
"Yeah, they could be wiped out by an earthquake, but the plain is too wide, so it's only going to be a waste. Instead, we'll just do this."
I also took out an item.
"Let's lure them out with bait. In principle, it's similar to squid fishing."
In my hand, I had one of the SS-Class items that I received by trading with the ministry spirit for the first time.
[The Flute of the Imperial Palace Artist (Rank: SS)] -A musical instrument that can play a psycho-reactive score approved by the imperial court.
At that time, I received it with [Wartime Emergency Production Supply System – Type 3 (Rank: SS)] and [The 3rd Class Imperial Guard Program (Rank: SS)]. Since then, the flute's functionality remained dormant since I hadn't been able to experiment with it. That was because playing ordinary sheet music showed no effect at all. It was evident that it was necessary to have a 'psycho-reactive score' mentioned in the item description, but I didn't have any clue on where to get it. As a result, it was left deep in the snake inventory for a long time. Sometimes, 'snake 2,' the smartest of the five black snakes, threw it up in front of me without me asking and hissed with a glance that seemed to say: "Perhaps you forgot that you had this?" But I shook my head quietly at it every time. I couldn't help it because I didn't know how to use it. I couldn't even imagine that it would be through an unexpected event that the deadlock would be resolved.
'Guild Master, we found something interesting while we were studying the tactical fortress!'
It was a particular piece of music prepared for the crew of the tactical fortress. As soon as I saw it, it was a given that I naturally remembered the existence of the flute. I tried to play it immediately, but performing it wasn't easy. It didn't work by only moving my fingers. The psycho-reactive score was editorially directing how much Mana should be infused in a particular manner to produce each note. Eventually, after stubborn practice, I was barely able to play a few sheets of it.
"Now, first, everybody in the air."
Ghost Lurkers did not have the ability to fly, so the best place to carry out the operation was in the air. Particles of light scattered behind my back and created a wing shape. The other companions also rose to the sky in their own ways. After reaching an appropriate altitude, I started playing with my mouth closed on the flute using a sophisticated technique.
Tu-re-lu-re-lu!
Then, the faces of my colleagues, as they had been somewhat drained by long hours of climbing and hunting, changed radically.
"Huh?"
Nate's face was becoming brighter.
"My mind is clearing up!"
Tu-re-lu! Tu-re-lu-re-lu!
I spread the notes, and I signaled with my eyes at Hibiki, who I had already spoken.
[Sonic Wave (Rank: A)]
Originally, it was a spell that turned enemies into powder with powerful vibrations, but its form had changed a little. At that moment, Hibiki could play around with such spells with as much freedom as she needed. That time, its destructive power was decreased to the lowest level, and the vibration waves, whose range had been increased all the way to the maximum, resonated across the plains. The magical vibration carried the melody I produced into places far away, deeper, and filled the space completely, not even missing a single spot. I was sure that the notes would be delivered to the Ghost Lurkers that had been hiding and sleeping deep in the underground. Such monsters wouldn't usually respond to any noise once they had entered a state of a deep sleep, but…
'This is going to be different!'
According to the Tactical Fortress manual, that sheet music was broadcast to all crew members every morning. The effect was to drive sleep away and induce immediate rise. It was not until I was convinced that I had woken up the underground Ghost Lurkers without leaving out any of them asleep that I stopped playing.
"Nate, hand me that." "Mmhmm, here."
What he took out of the shadow and held in his hand was a fruit the size of a watermelon. Of course, it's clearly not of Earth's. The peel had a pitch-black color with no distinction of shades—a black sphere with a smooth extending surface.
[Fruit of the Last Moon Tree (Rank: S)] – It is an excellently ripened fruit of the Last Moon Tree. When the night comes, it attracts monsters within a wide range of radius.
It was the fruit of the tree colony that we extracted the seedlings of from the gray Earth's dungeon and planted in a dungeon that no one knew the existence of. It came from the very seedlings that were used to haunt the monsters around it. Before climbing the Tower, the fruit we were waiting for had developed, and the effect was more potent than the tree itself.
"Hibiki."
[Weather Control (Rank: SSS)]!
As she stirred her hand, black clouds overcast throughout the plain.
"The 49th floor's environment is always in the daytime. We have to lower the luminosity artificially. The fruit won't have the same effect as when it's used during the night, but…"
As the surrounding area darkened, a subtle light spread along the black sphere's right edge. It was a luminous phenomenon that responded to the surrounding environment. If one were to look at the Last Moon tree with fruits hanging in the middle of the night, it created a mysterious scene that looked like dozens of Dark Moons were floating around it all at the same time. Although there was only one fruit at the moment, it was more than enough for low-intelligence monsters.
"Huh, look over there!"
The soil throughout the Earth began to wriggle, and monsters soon began to emerge out of the holes they drilled. The scene would've made hunters unfamiliar with it mistake it for a soft mudflat, not a solid ground.
"Every single monster that has kept themselves hidden in the ground is headed towards us!"
Ghost Lurker approached us with a hard shell on its back, swinging their sharp claws. However, all of us, including Nate, who was holding the fruit, were floating a couple of meters above the sky. They swung with their claws up against the sky. They tried to catch the fruit, but it was futile. As we waited a little longer, a similar black wave began to approach slowly, wriggling beyond the horizon. Nate's face became distorted.
"There were that many hidden under the ground?"
I spoke quietly in my mind.
'That's the reason why it became so much of a struggle for us back then.'
After we waited for another hour or so, the black waves under my feet had reached an enormous scale. It would've been an overwhelming attack based on their numbers.
'We had taken months just to clear this place.'
It was the part where the designer's blatant malice was exposed.
"Hmm… I think most of them have gathered by now. There are no more monsters that are coming out of the ground or drilling any holes."
Hibiki then asked me a question.
"Should I finish them with magic?" "No, there is a better way. Against monsters with an intelligence level that low, this works the best."
Following my command, Hibiki invoked Mute magic to the companions. Although I thought that there would be no dangerous effect since we weren't beasts with low intelligence, I still didn't want to take any chances. Using such a measure was better to prevent anything unexpected from happening. After confirming that she had finished the preparations, I played the next musical piece.
Tu-re-lo! Tu-re-lo-re-lo!
That score was something that, even within the Imperial Army, was allowed to be played only in particular circumstances. The song was made in order to raise tension among the crew members and to intensify the belligerence and battle spirit of the combat troops. Perhaps it only had such positive effects for those who were as logical and intelligent as modern sentient beings. However, due to the nature of psycho-reactivity, it had an extreme effect on animals with low intelligence.
"… Squeal! Squeaaal!"
Gradually, unusual events began to unfold below us. The Ghost Lurkers were swinging their claws faster at us. Even though they were already filling the space with no room for another foot, they clashed with each other roughly. Clack! The sound of the shells brushing and colliding. Their movements gradually became more and more aggressive. Then eventually, the first bloodshed broke out.
Crush!
"Squeaaal!"
Blood brought more blood. Within the blink of an eye, the chaos spread among their ranks.
"Oh, my God!"
A devastated voice came out of Euclid's mouth. The ground below us was gradually turning into a river of blood and gore. Even when the fruit in Nate's hand shone, the monsters densely gathered together, but they did not attack each other. However, things changed when I started playing the tune. Ghost Lurkers poured out their ferocity and bloodlust on each other when it should've only been directed against their prey.
Crack! Crush! Riiiip!
"Squeal!" "Kyaaaagh!"
Shells and flesh flew everywhere. Their attacks were aimed not on the Awakened above them but their own kind. Monsters entered a berserk state, causing them to kill and be killed by each other. They bit each other with their fangs and ripped them with claws. It didn't take long for a disgusting smell of bodily fluids to envelop the air. After a while, the remaining living monsters on the plains could be counted with my fingers.
"…"
My low voice rang.
"There's still a few left. Shall we wrap this up?"
In my past life, it took us few months. In my current life, it only took two hours. Just like that, we ever so quickly cleared the 49th floor.
*
"Now, next is the 50th floor."
Most of the time spent on the 49th floor was devoted to attracting monsters and retrieving Cores. After finishing up, we finally entered the portal to the next floor. Feeling slightly afloat, I whispered to the devil's sword.
"You will see a familiar face soon." '… What are you saying?'
It replied in a sour manner since it didn't understand the context behind my words. The 50th floor was a dungeon that could be completed as fast as the 49th if it was handled properly. The Clear conditions of it were simple and straightforward. All we had to do was defeat the Boss Monster.
Wee-ing!
The field we were in disappeared and the environment changed in an instant. As soon as the portal's light disappeared, the first thing that welcomed the party was a malice-filled mental wave.
– K-hahahahah!
Heavy and low laughter echoed. Telepathy slowly permeated our minds.
"That's… the boss."
Nate's eyes became fierce. The Boss Monster talked to us, expressing its emotion that it didn't know what to do because its mouth was watering.
– Foolish mortals have crawled into my lair again… Please, sing me a song to soothe my boredom. However, this time, please make it last for a long time.
And as each of the party members was beginning to raise their spirits for the boss match… Only one sentient being was shouting in bewilderment.
'… What? What the hell are you doing here?!'
Novels online
Ranobes » Updates » I Came Back And Conquered It All » Chapter 139
           
OPTIONS
BOOKMARK
CHAPTERS LIST
Chapter 139
I Came Back And Conquered It All
The Devil of the 50th Floor (2)
There was a dimension called the Magic kingdom. There were many rumors about its origin, but everyone agreed that it was one of the first worlds to take shape in the entire material realm. The magical kinds living there were known to be the first beings to recognize and respond to Mana's existence, and at the same time, they were the first to communicate with the god of magic to establish the system of spells.
'Don't the legends state that the seven magic masteries and most of the single unit spells that the Awakened beings learn through cards were designed by the magical species? They were faster than the dragons to establish the system.'
Like the dragon kinds, it was possible since they could use Mana from the very beginning. Hence, they didn't need to be Awakened through the system. No one really knew when their history began. Some argued that the magic civilization came before the ancient Sebrarian Empire, while others refuted such claims, saying that couldn't be the case.
'In fact, based on my previous life's knowledge, both theories had loopholes to refute.'
Both were paradoxes that bit the tails of each other.
'If the magic civilization is older than Sebrarian, it doesn't explain why no one has witnessed the process of the great empire's collapse. If the empire had a longer history, it directly opposes the tale that the first people who used Mana and magic were the devils.'
Those twisted hypotheses were easily sorted out if one knew the truth that the Sebrarian Empire was not an ancient civilization but rather a civilization that existed in the far future. Also, considering that I already knew the successor's secrets by that time, it was highly likely that the magic civilization was the oldest in the material world. Not to mention…
'The first successor, the being named 'Mtuba Ray,' My farthest past's reincarnation must have been a devil as well.'
It was the first life 'I' gained after my soul was sent to the past by the imperial government. According to the spirit, the destiny it was given to carry out was to prove and spread the existence of Mana for the first time.
'Then, in chronological order, after the gods were exiled, the material world was created. The first civilization blossomed in the magic kingdom… Then the heir challenged its destiny there for the first. The system came after that. And after some time went by, it became my turn to succeed in fulfilling my destiny by living in this era. Should all of my reincarnations succeed, in the distant future, the Sebrarian Empire will be founded in a more powerful form.'
That was only if my reincarnations actually did succeed, of course. In any case, the magical species had developed civilization before the system was established. They had never been selected for the tutorial quest, nor did they proceed with the main quest. They enjoyed their independent form of life without being a part of the system. Adam told me that the species that proceeded to the main quest was hostile to the magic species regardless of belonging in the Union or in the anti-Union. Their species was the kind that had to be treated that way.
'A race born to fight, kill, and torture. They endlessly fight each other, and if they don't get satisfied with that, they will whatever it takes to invade other dimensions. When they get sick of war, it is their hobby to lure another species into a fraudulent contract and eventually steal their souls.'
There was a reason why the magical beings were called the devils. Their civilization revolved solely around brutal slaughter and bloodshed, betrayal and conspiracy, domination, and exploitation. Eventually, they were considered as the common enemy for other dimensions. Yet, their existence remained up to that day. Since their species was extremely ancient, almost primordial, their power was so great that they were not inferior to any of the species supported by the system. In the end, their secret behind being able to make enemies everywhere yet remain at the top was simply their undefeatable power. And in front of us, there was such a demon waiting.
-K-hahaha! Is it only four this time?
The devil drooled. His entire body was covered by his golden armor, and the exposed area was covered with dark red flames instead of a creature's outer skin. It looked like a flame had been lit inside an empty armor.
'W-wait a minute!'
The devil's sword urgently exclaimed in my head while I was assuming a combat stance.
'Listen to me! I have a favor to ask of you!'
It was the first time it spoke in such an urgent manner, aside from when I was harassing it. I asked unenthusiastically.
"What is it?" 'He's a demon named Kirke. He's the head knight that is manipulated by the 'King of Gold' among the devil kings who have power over the magic kingdom. I didn't expect him to be captured by the system and working as a boss here!'
I had already assumed that the magic kingdom might be experiencing the dimensional interference effect as well. Whatever the reason could be, it's a world away from the main quest.
"So?" 'If possible… No, it's definitely possible for you guys right now. Instead of destroying that devil's armor and making a mess, as clean as possible… can you Clear it by consuming all the Mana that powers it?'
Up to that point, it was the same story that Randy heard in his previous life. At that time as well, the boss was the devil in that golden armor, and the devil's sword was startled to see him and asked a favor from Randy. And the following words were Randy's reply to the devil's sword at the time:
'Don't make a fool of yourself, you sly devil!'
It was a natural response. Even while climbing the tower, Randy was suffering from a telepathic attack that was attempted by the devil's sword at any given moment. That meant that if it were to ask for a favor suddenly, there was simply no way he would listen to it. But instead of refusing right away, I looked at the boss's state for a while.
– K-haha. What's wrong? Are you scared already? Faster, come closer.
The devil sitting on the golden throne was telepathically provoking and taunting us without getting up from his seat.
"We're gonna be okay, right?"
Nate asked me, his anxiety as evident on his voice as on his face. I reassured him.
"Do you see a faint layer between the boss and us?" "Yes." "We have to take the initiative to cross that line to make the shield disappear that blocks the boss. Only then will that the battle truly begin. In this state, we can't attack him, but he can't attack us either. That's why he's taunting us." "Ahhhh."
It was in consideration for the climbers who came up exhausted from the 49th floor. Essentially, the shield's main responsibility was to prevent them from being decapitated by the devil who would have been waiting for them as soon as they crossed the door. I double-checked that there was no problem in taking our time, and then I looked at the devil's sword.
"Why should we do that? What's so special about that devil?" 'It's…'
He explained the situation. One of the demon kings, 'The King of Gold,' seemed to have an editorial tendency to manufacture all of his servants himself.
'Instead of capturing and turning the mighty devils into subordinates, he created a powerful magical armor with a magical kingdom mineral named Blood Metal Stone. Can you see that? His armor has a strangely lingering red light around it.' "That's true. So? Just because he made an armor doesn't mean it's going to come alive on its own." 'Exactly. He then captured a moderately mentally strong devil and produced his servant by extracting the soul of that being and transplanting it into the armor. The same is true of Kirke. That golden armor is a powerful doll that can hold the spirits of the devils!'
It seemed that the devils, who became subordinated to stronger devils, whether that was by their own will or of others, had no choice but to follow the orders given to them faithfully. The King of Gold had the power to separate its soul from the armor right away in case of insubordination, after all. Most of the servants' original bodies were already disposed of, so being ripped out of that armor meant certain death.
'It would be distinguishable if it's you. Inside that armor made of Blood Metal Stone is a mechanical organ that replaces the Mana Core of living things.' "Yeah, I'm looking at it." 'When the Mana in it is depleted, the link between the soul and the armor is weakened. If it's me, I could take advantage of the gap and kick that soul out of his armor!'
It seemed to be a specialty of the cognitive body. But I didn't miss the parts that it didn't dare speak of.
"Well, what about the empty armor that the soul escaped from?" 'I can control it remotely at will! It will be like a body of my own!'
I clicked my tongue inside. That was an offer that even Randy of the past life had no choice but to refuse coldly the moment he heard it. It would give the devil's sword a body that it could control freely!
'Wait, listen until the end! It's a proposal that will never be a loss for you!'
The devil's sword continuously caused bloodshed by controlling a living host's mind because it had such a wicked mental state, but conclusively, it's because it had lost its real body that it couldn't freely move. Therefore, it always had a longing for a body it could call its own. When my reaction turned a bit sour, the devil's sword quickly poured out telepathy as if it became overanxious.
'I'm bound by a contract with you anyway! Without your permission, I can't move by myself, and I can't hurt anyone! I can't fool you. At least until you die, that will hold true!'
It was such a decisive difference from my past life.
'If you give me the ability to control that armor freely in this state, it"ll be like giving me a new body. I, who remember all the swords of the previous owners, will have a new physique! I will be a tremendous addition to your battle force!'
It seemed impatient to have something similar to a body somehow.
'Even so, swinging my original body, the sword, won't cause any problem for you! What will happen is I'll just be remotely controlling the armor where the soul has escaped. It's not that my soul will be transferred there! You wouldn't lose anything even if I became extremely immersed in manipulating the doll.'
In any case, it seemed that the devil's sword, which was usually only swung by me, didn't have to use large amounts of energy to amplify my Mana. Therefore, it suggested giving it the ability to control the doll with the remaining space of mind that it had.
"Hmm."
I knew that it wasn't lying. If it did, it would have suffered fatal damage to its soul. It wouldn't be able to have a proper conversation like what we were having because it would be more damaged due to its state as a cognitive body. However, it was necessary to leave no loose ends before making a decision.
"Are there any hidden subject about that armor that you're deliberately not mentioning and explaining to me?" 'None!' "What if you sneak off with the armor later and act contrary to my will or to hurt people…" 'You know it's impossible because of the contract we have in the first place!' "All contracts shall be maintained when controlling the armor, and my orders shall be absolutely…" 'Yes! I'll follow your orders! I'm telling you that I'll follow you without fail!' "Even if you start controlling it remotely, you must stop the very moment I give you the instructions." 'Yes, it's entirely up to you!'
Then it added a few words to conclude its statements.
'I just… want to have a body that I can use to move as I wish!'
I thought about it for a while. I asked another question for the last time.
"Aside from the case that I, who is the contractor, command, how do I get the armor back from you?"
It was a question that I had to ask if ever a situation came where I lost consciousness or encountered an unexpected event.
'… That's cruel. If you don't trust me that much, I'll teach you the destruction magic needed to cut my ties with it. It's the kind that can't be used to kick out Kirke's soul possessing that armor right now. However, it can sever the remote control connection that I will perform with it later on.'
Only after reviewing up to that point did I nod. Anyway, it was like having another workforce with the devil's sword forced to follow my orders.
"First, I'll try to get it the way you said it. And, if there are any strange signs from you, later on, I'll stop right away." 'Good! Good! As you wish! Aha! Hahahaha!'
A joyous mental wave poured out and rattled my mind. I explained the contents of the conversation I had with the devil's sword to the party. Nate just asked back, 'Really?' as if he didn't give much thought. Hibiki and Euclid glanced at the devil's sword as if they were suspicious, but-
"I'll make sure nothing happens as soon as I'm in doubt of it."
After that conclusion, we crossed the transparent wall separating us and the Boss Monster, then assumed our battle stance.
– Hahahaha! Foolish things!
The knight of the golden armor, Kirke, held a sword twice as big as his height. A red flame sparked through the gap between his armor.
Woooooooo!
As he exhaled his breath, the scent of sulfur and heat fluttered everywhere. The air we breathed felt heavy in our lungs. Come to think of it; even if Randy had accepted that proposal in his previous life, he could not have captured that devil alive. It took several times as much battle power as we had back then to subdue such a tough opponent without killing it. But in my current life…
'The chances of doing that is high enough!'
Its telepathy, smothered with its lust for war and death, entered our minds.
– Cry, mortal. Suffer. Scream for my entertainment… huh?!
Before he could finish his sentence, I had already unraveled my [Stardust Wings] and started to charge into the sky. If we waited for them to finish and listened to all that crap every time we met a boss, I doubted we would be able to Clear the Tower within the year.
– W-wait…!
[Arta's Sword Dance!]
Rumbleeeee!
As if to smite down the enemy using a hammer from the sky, I rained down a storm of sword energy into the armor from directly above it. Bolts of purple lightning descended in no time, all aimed at the prey below me!
– K-aaaaaargh!
As if to demonstrate that what the devil's sword said was right about it being an extremely powerful armor, it prevented the attack by creating a protective blue shield over its gold plating that was covered by red energy.
'Be gentle! You'll break the armor!'
The devil's sword shouted in a way that told me it was becoming overreactive, but I knew how strong that shield's integrity was. I watched my colleagues fight it right next to them in my previous life.
'Even though I'm a lot stronger now, I still think the shield is pretty hard.'
[Blizzard Storm (Rank: SSS)]!
The ice storm summoned by Hibiki raged forth, covering the entire brilliant armor of the King of Gold's subordinate in gelid and sharp shards. The Core mounted in the armor, and the Mana contained in it was visibly being shaved off little by little. And-
"Come on, let's hit it from behind!" – Remotely striking the enemy specified by the subject for protection.
Pa-pa-pat!
Instead of summoning a dragon and releasing its Breath, Nate remotely summoned the [Guard Program]'s multi-caliber cannon. He commanded it to release the cannonballs, causing the item to fire it all against the devil. Both Hibiki and Nate were avoiding flame-based attacks, considering that it was the main property of our current opponent. It was as I ordered in advance.
'Alright, this is enough!'
Capturing the armor without breaking it did not seem difficult at all.Novels online
Ranobes » Updates » I Came Back And Conquered It All » Chapter 140
           
OPTIONS
BOOKMARK
CHAPTERS LIST
Chapter 140
I Came Back And Conquered It All
The Devil of the 50th Floor (3)
The golden armor spilled baffled telepathy.
– No way!
The spirit of the devil that was stored in it was floundering as if he were losing his mind.
He tried to avoid the bombardments of different attacks somehow, but it didn't seem to be working.
Pa-pa-pa-pat!
A blizzard-like energy flare stormed through and struck every part of the armor.
Shockwaves and vibrations surged from the shield surrounding it thousands of times.
The devil's body, a weapon of destruction said to be produced by the devil called the 'King of Gold,' began to creak.
The Mana stored in it was being consumed at a rapid rate.
– Ugh!
The devil's sword whispered to me.
'Okay, Keep going at that pace… Just a little more!'
It had quite a great glee that couldn't be compared to the expectations leaked by that devil.
Apart from that, various emotions flowed from the devil's sword.
It sounded joyful, almost as if it had the most delicious food in the world in front of its eyes.
The devil's sword was that desperate to have its own body.
Even I thought that it was certainly the perfect item to replace its old body.
The armor was about the same size as the human body.
Not only was it similar in shape, but it was really no different from living creatures since the Mana inside of it was boiling fluidly.
The overall energy circulatory system, apart from the Core, was similar to that of an Awakened being.
'How the hell do they make things like that? The principle seems like it gives the user the ability to control and extract Mana whenever needed freely. If one stays still without engaging in a battle, it even provides natural healing. There's no blood and flesh, but it's technically the body of an Awakened.'
Through the unique skill in my eyes, I witnessed the devil concentrating his Mana.
Blue light gathered around its feet. He was preparing to leap into the sky.
– Damn it!
He jumped high into the sky while spitting telepathic waves filled with mental profanity.
It had no choice but to run away from the seemingly endless storm of bullets fired by the machinery of Nate's guard spirit.
Swoosh!
But I was already lying in wait in the very place where he quickly flung himself up. I had read his movements and positioned myself accordingly in advance.
Shhhhhhhh!
I manipulated the shape of my sword energy without any limitations.
To avoid accidentally piercing or breaking the armor, I expanded the purple energy blazing on the blade.
Unlike its usual long, pointed form, a thin and wide plane was created.
Putting my hands together in that manner, I held the handle of the devil's sword tightly.
In an instant, I swung my weapon down with all my might, like striking a fruit fly with a fly swatter!
Thwack!
-K-aaargh!
The blow I delivered accurately struck the demonic armor.
The devil fell to the ground as if he had just been deflected.
Below him, Hibiki was already preparing a spell.
[Gravitokinesis!]
Doooooom!
Hibiki created and launched the gravity-based assault.
She manipulated an invisible weight and burdened the devil to force him to stick in the ground and prevent him from ever rising again.
Crack! C-crack!
The ground where he was pinned down cracked and split.
I set foot in front of the struggling devil.
In the meantime, I had already changed the shape of the sword energy once again.
-That is… It can't be!
The devil, who was floundering his hands and feet as he lied down in a futile attempt to escape from his fate, seemed to sense an ominous feeling.
The shape of the devil's sword had turned into a purple lightsaber, its girth and length having been fully increased.
No, to be exact, it would be more like a light ray club.
It didn't matter what it was called anyway. Without hesitation, I wielded the energy-infused object and beat the devil with it.
Wack! Wack!
Smash!
-Argh! S…stop!
I smacked the devil as if to turn him to a pulp and murmured quietly.
"Oh, this… It's a little annoying."
I was about to sweat, which I rarely did.
I was tiringly beating the armor when the devil would've died right away if I just went straight to piercing Core.
At that moment, the devil's sword freaked out and soothed me.
'Please! Hang in there! Can't you see that his Mana is almost drained by now?'
Bash!
Smash!
Wack!
-Eek! Ugh! This… Demonic… Mortal!
I hit every part of the shield protecting its life from certain death evenly.
The changes happening on the blue wall became more and more evident with every swing I landed.
'B-be careful! If you break the ankle…'
I knew that he was worried that I might break the armor because I couldn't control my strength, but…
"You're worrying about nothing. Just wait quietly. You're distracting me."
Regardless, the devil's shield became fainter and weaker as if draining my strength just to bash his armor in was effective.
Nate and Hibiki, who confirmed that the battle was reaching its final stages, looked in my direction and watched in silence, stopping their attacks from different sides to prevent any unnecessary damages on the body or accidents from happening.
Behind them, Euclid stood with a perplexed look.
"I mean, I feel a little weirded out by this… Have devils really been that easy to subdue and contain?"
After the flicking and hitting noises that I had produced continued for a while…
The moment we were aiming for finally arrived.
– K-argh! N… No!
I could vividly see the interior of his armor.
His Mana had gradually decreased while we fought, and from then on, it didn't take that long for him to be left with barely enough Mana to soak the bottom of his Core.
"Now, is that enough?"
The answer came right back almost instantaneously.
'That's enough! That's perfect! That's great!'
It reworded the same phrase three times, showing how excited he was.
'Now, then!'
The golden devil was faintly convulsing on the floor.
As the devil's sword guided, I moved its blade near the armor and used it to touch the opponent's body.
The cognitive body of the devil's sword seemed to be sending telepathic waves that I couldn't hear directly to the presence inside the armor.
It didn't take long for all of us to hear the opponent's fierce reaction.
The mental wave he sent was filled with horror and fear.
– N-no. What is this…?
And a desperate cry followed.
– Oh, are you… Could it be? Why are you in a place like this… No! No! Please don't do that. Please stop. Noooooo!
In front of us right in that instant, the work to separate the soul of the demon from the armor forcibly was underway.
Euclid murmured lowly.
"I keep seeing all kinds of things the longer I live…"
After a little while…
The mental scream finally stopped.
A brief silence lingered.
I asked the devil's sword a question.
"What do you think?"
Still, the spirit of the devil was in the sword I was holding.
The only thing that was different was that it could control that armor remotely from that point on.
Hibiki's spell, which was preventing the armor from escaping or retaliating, had disappeared.
Clink!
Instead of answering, the lying golden armor slowly lifted itself.
It touched the ground, bent its knees, and moved its heavy body around.
– …
I could tell that the soul that was in it while I was beating it up was no longer anywhere to be seen.
Nate clapped his hands when he heard the explanation about the phenomenon from Hibiki.
"Oh, so the one possessing that armor from a while ago had been forced to reach Nirvana!"
Shhhh!
It moved its body a little more. Inside the armor, the dark red flame that was blazing throughout the battle had disappeared, and only empty darkness was in it.
It opened its two hands and examined it. It turned its shoulders, stretched its knees, and delivered a short kick into the air. It then jumped in place and bent its limbs as flexibly as the armor allowed it to.
What I heard after all the trial runs were done was…
– Ha… haha… Hahaha….
At first, its reply started out so thin that I couldn't distinguish if its reaction was based on laughter or based on joyful tears.
– Hahahahaha!
However, it didn't take long for it to turn into a mental wave that echoed as large as a wall.
The devil's sword was genuinely delighted.
*
While the devil's sword was controlling and experimenting with the golden armor, I also swung the sword in the air a few times.
As expected, its performance remained the same.
It was natural since the spirit did not contribute to the unique functions of the devil's sword in the first place.
"Did you completely kick Kirke out?"
Only then did the devil's sword barely answered my query as if its excitement had just calmed down.
– Yes! This is now my body!
Although there was no soul in it, there was no real difference since it shared and fully controlled the senses of the armor anyway.
Should I say that its body had increased to two because it still possessed the senses from the sword that I was holding? Although one was a still object, and the other was a moving body.
– I mean, why did the King of Gold send him forth with this trashy sword?
It grabbed the sword that Kirke used initially, threw it against the floor, wielded and swung it a few times, then stuck it back into the ground.
The weapon was about twice as tall as the owner's height. It was visually overwhelming, but it was essentially impractical in combat.
It looked around with rough gestures, but there was no way that there would be anything for it to grab on.
– …
Then it speaks as if it had made up its mind.
-Ah… by any chance… Is there…
Suddenly, the tone of its mental wave changed.
The words it uttered had hesitation accompanying them, which was unlike how it used to act in front of me thus far.
I asked it unenthusiastically.
"What?"
Then it uttered the following words:
– … Uhm, if you have a sword laying around… Could you give it to me?
It was not until I heard those words that I thought about it, but there were rarely swords among the items that I kept in the snake inventory.
That was only natural since I, the only swordsman in the party, was not interested in anything else other than the devil's sword.
"I've got one in reserve just in case of emergency…"
The moment I said that…
It was not even ordered to, but the bracelet– that had the shape of five snakes intertwined– naturally changed its appearance.
Shhhh!
Hiss! Hissss!
It was snake two and snake four that revealed themselves. The smartest, snake 2, whispered and instructed the other about something. However, snake 4 tilted its head for a moment as if to show that it didn't understand what snake 2 meant.
As it did that…
Hisssss! Snake 2 made a long noise as if to scold it. Only then did snake 4's throat starts to wriggle and throw up something long. It must have understood what it said a little late.
After giving my approval to snake 2, who looked at me with sparkling eyes, I held the sword that snake 4 threw up.
[Stormbreaker (Rank: SS)]
"Why don't you try this?"
The golden armor enthusiastically received my weapon.
As it was about to swing the sword in its golden hand, it stopped as if it realized yet another problem.
– Ah… H-hey…
He was hesitating again.
I called in a party member without listening to the following words.
"Lunchbox, charge him up."
"Hey! I told you not to call me that!"
Euclid, who was preparing the [Mana Legacy] spell to refill the Core of the empty golden armor, also seemed to have foreseen the fate that awaited her in the extremely near future.
"No, wait a minute. Starting now, the number of kids that need to be charged has increased to four from three, right?"
"You're quite slow to understand."
"…"
The armor, which was charged with Mana from the dragon, finally grabbed the sword and conjured sword energy.
Tzzzz! Zaaaap!
In response to that, the lightning-like currents flashed and flowed onto the Stormbreaker's blade like electricity being channeled through metal.
The devil's sword spoke as if it was not impressed.
– It's got all kinds of miscellaneous options.
"Is it not good enough? Should I take it back?"
– No, no. Don't mind what I said.
Then, the devil's sword stood still for a while. Throughout the duration of that moment, it looked like a human concentrating on one's breathing.
Soon, it began to move again, its steps and actions seemingly performing a fancy sword dance.
"…!"
Countless movements danced at the end of each sword stance that fired sword energies, which sliced through the air smoothly.
"Woah…!"
Nate dropped his jaw and exclaimed.
Swish! Sh-swish!
The sword path made an apparition and soon crushed the air heavily.
Initially, the sound of the wind being torn apart rang along with its movements, but soon enough, even that could no longer be heard. Silence permeated throughout our entire vicinity as it elegantly moved around, delivering swing after swing.
It freely embroidered space as it received no resistance.
And the moment the Mana started to flow on the sword…
Someone let out a small voice.
"Oh, my days!"
A brilliant dance of light followed.
It was fast but slow, dizzying, then tidied up. It wavered freely and dynamically.
Everything around the armor was swept away by the lines it made. Every time it swung its weapon, shock waves built up, and the strands of its sword energy blended together in perfect harmony.
The dance continued, each step remaining connected even though there were times when it looked as if the rhythm would be broken.
I was observing its movements.
'Those are the unique movements that the former owners of the devil's sword practiced. It's experimenting with them one by one.'
Among them, there were many sword techniques that I had never witnessed in my previous life.
And all that movement and Mana's flow… were stuck in my eyes, forming memories that would never be forgotten.
Only after nearly an hour in that state did it managed to get itself out of its trance.
– … What? Has it already been that long?
The reason why it came to its senses was also no other reason than that it used up all the Mana in its body.
The dragon complained yet again since she had to charge its Core to the brim once more.
"Alright, shall we get back on track, then?"
We prepared to move on to the next floor right away.
As the dragon said, the number of people in our party had increased by one. The four-member party had technically become a five-member party.
… Well, technically, it was three people, one dragon, and one sword.
Nate spoke, folding the chair that he had taken out while watching the sword techniques of the armor.
"Oh, come to think of it… what should we call that armor?"
He was referring to the title.
I thought for a moment before speaking up.
"It's weird to keep calling it the devil's sword, so wouldn't it work if we used its real name?"
In fact, the devil's actual name had a significant meaning, but it probably didn't matter to the devil's sword because it couldn't be considered as a proper devil.
Even if it finally had a remotely controlled body, the fact that the root of it was a mental body didn't change.
I looked at him as I continued voicing out my thoughts.
"What do you think?"
The armor answered calmly with a mental wave.
– Well, it doesn't matter now what the name you bestow upon me may be.
I nodded.
"Alright, you can call him Genograche from now on."
Vividly marked in the contract that I made with him was the real name of the devil sealed in the sword.
The spirit sealed in the devil's sword took the most lives of the devils in the history of the magic species when he was still alive.
It was said that the aftermath was so great that the magic kingdom, where the killing and dying had initially been a typical occurrence, had stopped functioning temporarily.
And when he was alive, he was given a title that best suited him:
The lord of a massacre.Novels online
Ranobes » Updates » I Came Back And Conquered It All » Chapter 141
           
OPTIONS
BOOKMARK
CHAPTERS LIST
Chapter 141
I Came Back And Conquered It All
The One That Guards The 77th Floor
Allowing the devil's sword to control the golden armor was an excellent choice, considering the outcome, one of which was that our Clear speed increased. Our pace, which had been slowing down until we reached the 50th floor, was noticeably faster the moment the devil's sword gained his body. In the second half of the Tower, despite its difficulty increasing, the speed had rather increased.
'If any of the other species heard of this, they'd say it's bullshit.'
However, almost every part of our climb was out of the ordinary. In such a short time, we had finally…
– Welcome to the 76th floor.
… broken through the three-fourths of the Tower!
'There are only a few floors left!'
*
The system's message was as follows.
– 76th Floor Clear Conditions: Join forces with allies to protect the castle from enemy attacks.
The theme of that floor was 'Tower Defense.' If the goal on the 10th floor was to attack and take down the castle, that time, it was the opposite. Our team was on the outer wall of the citadel in the middle of the plain. Under Clear conditions, the term 'enemy' referred to the Ogre troops that were flocking beyond that horizon.
Du-du-du-du-du!
"They're coming!"
An overwhelming number of enemy troops flocked toward the castle as if they wanted to surround it. The wailing of the fierce monsters and heavy rumbling from running as they kicked the ground was audible all the way to where we were.
"T-the enemy is coming! User, would it really be okay to do as you have said?"
I turned my head toward the person who spoke to me. There was a furry dwarf. They were the ones the system referred to as the 'allies' by the system. Since they didn't attack the climbers, they were not classified as dungeon monsters but should be considered dungeon creatures with intellectual abilities. Therefore, they were some kind of an NPC. The dwarf asked again in a voice eroded by fear and anxiety.
"Is it really okay if we don't help you at all?"
Supposedly, the Clear condition was to collaborate with them to endure a certain amount of time in the castle. In my previous life, we protected that castle, joining our forces with the dwarves under Angelica's command. However…
'That method takes too much time.'
So I decided to change the approach. As soon as they came out of the portal, the dwarves, who welcomed us like saviors, showed signs of doubt and anxiety when I told them of my plan. It was the same as in my past life that the dwarves would lock the doors and hold out in the castle. However, our party would move more actively instead of focusing on passive defense.
-We just have to kill them all, right?
The devil in the golden armor, Genograche, had placed his leg on the castle wall as if he was about to charge soon.
"Yeah, it's not that complicated."
The screaming Ogre troops became more vividly visible. Staring in their direction, I spread my wings made of light particles and flew up.
"Initiate the attack!"
As soon as those words fell, Genograche crossed the balustrade. He then kicked the outer wall close to a vertical angle and headed down. He ran away from the bondage of gravity. The speed was faster than the fall in the natural state.
-Mwahaha! Great! This feeling, it's exhilarating!
I shouted in the air.
"Nate!" "Got it."
Swish!
The undead subordinates were summoned to the place where the monster troops flocked. Genograche, who came down to the ground as if to lead the zombie army, ran ahead toward the enemy army. And the two waves that were heading for each other collided!
"Squeal!" "Kwaaaaa!
All hell broke loose. The rest of the group also initiated an attack. Above, the undead dragon fired its Breath, and I scattered sword energy like an air raid. At the back, Hibiki delivered multiple wide-ranged magic spells. And in the front line…
-Yes, this is it! This is what I'm talking about!
There was a straight river of blood rushing through the battlefield like a tank. The performance of one Genograche was more prominent than that of zombies, which were far superior in numbers. Perhaps he was excited. He released telepathy that was so intense that we could hear him loud and clear from afar.
-Die! Die! K-haha! Mwahaha!
"Squeal!"
There was no hesitation in his progress. Genograche raced through the enemy lines like a wild horse bitten by a mad dog. In each sector of the battlefield that he passed, monsters would fall, crushed.
"K-aargh!"
The monsters stepped out to defend themselves, but they were simply not good enough against his might. The Ogre soldiers, who were charging with battle cries, were broken through one after another. The army was pushed back without a hitch, and the ragged corpses were scattered across the plains. The bloodbath, made by the golden armor scraping the ground, showed no signs of pause. It wa a satisfying charge. But I clicked my tongue as I watched him from above.
"He's been spilling Mana all over the road."
Climbing one floor after the other up to the 76th floor, I corrected preconceptions and judgments about the devil's sword's ego. The lord of the massacre killed countless devils to create a sea of blood and build a tower of corpses. However, my experience with Genograche's personality before climbing the Tower was shady and insidious, and there was no such thing as charisma or dignity at all. No matter how cruel and vicious of a being he was, I guessed that his words and actions might have been twisted when his actual body was lost, and his soul was sealed inside the sword. That perhaps, the mind followed the shape of the material. But I didn't think so anymore.
-K-kya-kya-kya! Hmm?
He panicked as if his Mana was running out. I clicked my tongue, stopped the monster massacre, and went to the rear for a while. Sitting down on the wall, I talked to Euclid.
"Hey! Please charge him up again." "Already?!"
The dragon, standing on the wall, grumbled and invoked [Mana Legacy]. I could see that Genograche's Mana reserves were rising again.
– The Core has charged up again. That's amazing!
In the distance, Genograche exclaimed with his mental waves and swept through the battlefield again.
"…"
Yes, I repeated: I corrected my assessment of him. It was not because he was trapped in a narrow sword material that he felt undignified for a demon king. It's just that his personality was always like that. The dragon grumbled.
"I'm going to say something when the battle is over. He should be frugal with Mana while fighting!"
It was natural know-how as an Awakened to act accordingly to one's Mana capacity, but the devil's sword had missed his timing several times so far. I thought he was still in the process of adjusting. The same events kept repeating because he was moving according to the Mana capacity from his previous life. Presumably, the artificial Mana Core prepared for Kirke, the King of Gold's head knight, was not enough to be at the same level as the Core that Genograche originally had.
"But surely, the hunting has accelerated."
Hibiki, who was firing off magic spells next to the dragon, muttered. I followed her gaze instead of flying back right away. It wasn't difficult to find where Genograche was. I just had to focus on where the most colorful flashes were taking place. Every time he swung his sword energy, it changed color and quality. I had already stopped counting how many kinds of sword movements he had been performing. That's the second reason why I thought it was a good idea to give him a body.
'Well, aren't there a lot of sword techniques that I've never heard of before?'
Of course, the task to remember everything was continuously progressing due to my unique skill, even if I didn't mind it. The Tower Defense continued in that manner until…
– The 76th floor has been Cleared!
It ended with a welcoming message. Unlike in my previous life, we finished it in the form of annihilating the enemy monsters.
*
After taking a day off in the castle to reorganize, we headed to the portal while being greeted by dwarves who repeatedly expressed their gratitude.
'We're heading straight to the 77th floor.'
We never used a Returning Stone from the first floor to there. I asked the group's opinion about returning with the interval of 25 floors, but the answer they gave me remained the same.
"Hmm? I'm fine, though? Let's not drop the pace and finish it all the way to the 100th floor in this manner." "Honestly… I also think that's better. I was nervous before I came in because we were told that we had to Clear 100 dungeons in a row, but I think it's doable."
Nate and Hibiki, who said those words, were very different from their previous lives. I remembered vividly how the party looked like when we were climbing the Tower in the past. Everyone had bloodshot eyes due to lack of sleep, and their nerves were on edge to the point that it was about to be worn out. Nate and Hibiki, who were on bad terms in the first place, fought each other on a daily basis. There was no room to leave and come back using the Returning Stone, and even if we went out, it was meaningless. That was because we had collected all the useful items and supplies left for humankind and climbed with them. It was the heavy sense of duty and a sense of crisis that led us until the end. That was what drove the Last Five onwards.
'Of course, Angelica had a completely different plan in mind.'
I checked my companions. Aside from the two colleagues from my past life who remained energetic, the dragon had a slightly bored look, but there seemed to be no problem thanks to the species' remarkable mental and physical endurance. And the devil's sword? I didn't even have to mention that guy. He must've been itching to fight in the next battle.
'In the end, will we reach the 100th floor without ever returning to Earth? In that sense, it is the same as the past life. Of course, the reasons are different.'
Before I went to the 77th floor, I spoke.
"I'll explain once again. There will be no battle on the next floor."
The devil's sword shows blatant disappointment. The Clear condition there was to solve ten complex puzzles. That might make it seem easier than other floors that made people fight and kill. However, the reality was far from it.
'In my previous life, the 77th floor was our second biggest crisis!'
The first crisis was on the 49th floor, which we had to destroy tens of thousands of Ghost Lurkers hidden in the ground. The Last Five spent months there. After that, the second big crisis happened on the 77th floor. In particular, me of the past, Choi Seung-Hyun… felt that his life was being threatened on the 77th floor several times.
"The 77th floor's puzzle is supposed to be solved by using a magic spell that meets the conditions of the 'gatekeeper.'"
Those who had never modified the original magic spells that could be learned through skill cards wouldn't be able to Clear it in the first place. That was because they would have to perform the sophisticated and precisely modified spells that the gatekeeper that kept guard there required. Each time a condition was met, one lock was disabled, and there were ten locks that had to be unlocked in total. At least we had it better thanks to [The Successor's Eyes]. Regardless of whether Hibiki was creating the spell properly or not, I would be able to personally check the Mana patterns and guide her based on the patterns on the lock. Nevertheless, we spent more than a month on the 77th floor back then. That was because it was a completely different story from seeing it and doing it myself and teaching others to do it. The conversation we exchanged then rang in my ears.
'No, that's not it! Hibiki! Come on, do it right. You're wrong again!' 'Ah, this is fucking annoying. Choi Seung-Hyun, you have to teach me properly!'
While teaching beside her, I feared for my life several times because the hands of the enraged Hibiki might kill me. … Her personality in my past life was very different from who she was in the present.
'Just because I'll do it myself, it wouldn't mean that we will be able to pass with ease.'
The patterns in my past life were still clearly engraved in my head, but it was not easy to control the flow of Mana in the way the lock wanted. That was the case even for the current me. It would take at least a few days.
"Come on, let's go!"
When I crossed the portal, the scenery I saw in my previous life unfolded. Centered on the Gate was an altar on the left. A door on the right with ten locks and chains was also visible.
"Huh, that statue!"
Nate recognized it and pointed. There was a spider-shaped statue that was missing a single leg.
"Yes, it's the altar of the god whose name… I can't speak of."
Objects of gods had been scattered all over the Tower for them to snatch promising young leaves. There were traces of the god of life on the 10th floor and the god of spirit on the 25th floor. However, after that, we didn't find another godly entity again until we came to that floor. The altar was dedicated to Igras-Sho, the god of magic. The deity had also tossed a bait there to snatch mortals.
'He wouldn't do anything weird to me again since he's already given me the holy scar.'
Genograche muttered as if he were uncomfortable.
– Keup! That idol is different from the one on the 25th floor. It's properly connected to a god.
The demon fell back to quite a distant place and kept his guard up. However, there was no particular movement in the statue.
'Yes, are we going to be able to proceed without any fuss here?'
At that moment…
Wobble!
It was not the altar on the left that began to change, but rather, it was the door on the right. I wasn't surprised. It was the same procedure as the previous life.
Rumbleee!
A black tentacle flowed down from thin air. The black flesh in front of us formed a familiar figure.
'It's a sacred beast!'
Under the mysterious pond that upgraded the Magic Skill Card, a tentacle monster lived that looked just like that. It was a holy creature manipulated by a god.
– Ugh!
The devil groaned painfully as sacred power must have begun to fill up the room.
Wobble! Wobble!
The gatekeeper on that floor was that sacred beast that revered Igras-Sho. As the god of life implied, it seemed that the gods had been involved in a fairly direct manner in the creation of the Tower.
'Looking back, the giant heart we saw on the 10th floor could have been a sacred beast of some sort.'
Then, the black monster telepathically spoke.
– Anyone who wants to pass through here will have to solve the ten riddles I present.
It then stuck out a tentacle and pointed at the door tightly sealed by ten locks.
– Every time you perform the spell corresponding to the hint in front of me, I shall unlock that door one by one. Only after disabling all ten of them can you head to the next floor.
That was the same explanation as before.
– By any chance, it's better to give up the shallow idea of trying to open that door using force early on. The power that constitutes that door is borrowed from a great being that I serve… Hmm?
The telepathy stopped abruptly as if it was baffled.
"?"
The group, who had been listening with a bored expression because it was providing information that we were already aware of, became startled.
– …!
We waited for the next words, but the sacred beast remained silent for a long time. The silence stretched on for long enough for the climbers to feel weirded out. Nate whispered.
"Jin-Wook, why did that octopus-like thing stop talking? Is it supposed to be like that?"
In fact, I couldn't understand what was happening either. I had never seen that reaction in my previous life. Amid the pile-up of such an uncomfortable silence…
-… This couldn't be?
It was a very confused mind wave. The tentacle wiggled and shook.
-What is this feeling… It's so warm and tearful, like a mother's arms? Where is this familiar power flowing from?
Oh, wait a minute. My eyebrows frowned by themselves. The situation was going in a strange direction.
-… I see. Yeah, it's you!
The sacred beast, who was slowly stirring its body as if to search for something, suddenly changed its tentacle's direction and pointed at me.
-What the hell are you… Gasp!
The tentacle angled slightly lower. It was pointing to my left hand. Due to its actions, we realized why the sacred beast wriggled as if it was horrified.
-O-oh, my god! You, no, thou…!
Its next movement had also dispelled our expectations. It turned around hurriedly as if it had realized something belatedly. As it stirred its tentacles toward the tightly closed door…
Click! Cha-cha-chack!
The locks and chains that sealed the door began to fall one by one… It took Hibiki and me a month to completely open it up.
Rumble!
The monster's calm tentacle gesture caused all of it to be disabled and to fall onto the ground at once. Euclid muttered.
"… What is this?"
– F-forgive me! I didn't recognize you! Why did such a distinguished being come all the way here…
By moving its dozens of tentacles, the sacred beast picked up the cut chains and locks rolling on the floor. Then it dragged all of them into its arms and stepped back as if it were making way for us. The sacred beast delivered a polite and respectful mental wave as it pointed to the door that had been completely freed from any form of obstacles.
– I apologize for taking your time. Now, please, pass, thou who has won the favor of a great being!Novels online
Ranobes » Updates » I Came Back And Conquered It All » Chapter 142
           
OPTIONS
BOOKMARK
CHAPTERS LIST
Chapter 142
I Came Back And Conquered It All
77th Floor → 95th Floor
The sacred beast compressed its body and laid its dozens of tentacles low. It bowed deeply in that manner. It was hard to find a more polite posture than that. It was a rare experience to discover how polite a tentacle monster could be. Nate and Hibiki had their jaws dropped with shock, and Euclid looked at me with a gaze that seemed to ask me, 'what the hell are you?' Genograche also leaked telepathy, meaning 'Huh…', as if he had never expected that kind of situation to occur. A heavy silence broke out. There was no reply because of everyone's bafflement, but the tentacles seemed to misunderstand it as unpleasant. It flattened its body wider on the floor like an octopus, minimized the space it occupied, and then delivered an apologetic mental wave.
– Once again, I apologize with all due respect. I didn't, for a moment, recognize your grace.
'All sort of things can happen here, huh.'
I couldn't simply pass its words off with a simple remark like, 'Alright, you better do your job properly from now on!' There was a thing that bothered me, too.
"One thing…"
The word to follow that phrase was 'I have a question,' but the tentacle monster replied in a hurry, its body trembling as it did so.
– Do thou require anything?! Just name it. I will provide everything with sincerity. Are you running out of food? Then!
Rattle!
"… Gasp!"
Hibiki swallowed her breath, appalled. It happened in the blink of an eye. Dozens of chopped-up tentacles rolled on the floor. It used the same speed that cut the locks and chains off of the door. Like a lizard that cut off its tail, the sacred beast cut off parts of its own body. The tentacle immediately regrew from the smoothly sliced surface.
– It's not much… But if you would like to take this to eat…!
Genograche looked serious.
– No, thanks! Why would we take such sacred power clumps? You're even a higher class entity than the sacred beast buried under that pond!
While I was about to reply that I didn't need it either…
"Wait! Wait! I'll take this then!"
Euclid hastily gathered all of the tentacles into a subspace bag. Well, a sacred beast's body was not an easy ingredient to get, even if one didn't necessarily eat it. I shook my head and continued my thoughts.
"Well… I think she wants it, so I'll take it, I guess… But that's not what I was going to ask. It's just a simple question." – Yes, ask me anything! "Is it because of the holy wound that you became aware of me? Or did information about a particular individual, called me, spread to all of those who serve the magical god?"
I had an ominous feeling that it might be the latter. What if the spider god had gathered believers and the sacred beasts and gave them an oracle?
'There is a man named Seo Jin-Wook on Earth. He will be my incarnation in the future, so pay your respect in front of him!'
… I really didn't want that kind of fame.
– Oh, that's…
However, I didn't think that was the case, considering the answer he replied to my query with.
– I've never received any particular oracle about your existence. However, I can see from the traces left on you that you are the one who has received the deep interest and affection of the great being.
It was the former. Thinking that that was at least a relief, I asked one more question, though I could already guess what its answer would be.
"Then, in the future, any other party can recognize me in a similar situation, right?" – I should have noticed it sooner… I am ashamed that I didn't recognize you immediately.
Since it realized that I had a connection with the god of magic, his replies seemed to have begun to start with apologies. Well, I didn't particularly mean to… nag it about it. I looked down at my finger. On it were the remaining two sacred scars given to me by the spider god. After the tutorial, I was going to erase it anyway, but there was some unexpected use for it as well. The tentacles continued to explain itself.
– For me, since the divine trace is from the one that I closely serve, I can detect the fact that there were originally three sacred wounds. In addition to that, those who serve it at lower levels, such as priests, can also sense the holy wound. They will show you the utmost respect that can be offered to the beings of Earth as I have now, regardless of how many holy scars there are left on your finger.
Nate spoke with admiration in his voice.
"Woah, so in the end, you will be treated like VVIP by the people in that religion? That's awesome…"
Still, it was unknown how often such things would happen after entering the main quest. Anyway…
"That means that the holy scar isn't that common." – That's right. I will put it in a way that would perhaps help you understand it quickly. There is only one holy scar on the archbishop of the dimension that the faith serving the great being was most widespread, and it was received in return for hundreds of years of sacrifice and service. Not to mention, its size and divine power are also shabby compared to what the great individual in front of me has received. "…"
Was it that bad?
– Huh, seriously.
The devil's sword sent a sarcastic mental wave.
– After starting the main quest, all you'll have to do is go to an adequate level and raise your fingers for everyone to see. After that, then you would already have a status as a religious order leader reserved for you.
Nate's eyes got bigger.
"Then, will Jin-Wook become something like a pope?!"
I dismissed that idea.
"That will never happen."
I remember what the Albanos babbled about. They said that if an ordinary mortal were to receive three holy wounds… his entire body would've been turned into a mucus-like substance. And the reason why they didn't believe me was exactly due to that reasoning. I mumble internally.
'This is strange.'
Listening to the story of everyone made me feel convinced. There had never been a case in which a divine being had shown such favor to only one human being. I was the first. Was it because I was special or because I was the successor? The spider god also said the following at the second possession:
'I see your soul is still as strong as ever. How long must you have spent refining it? How many times did you hone and hammer yourself to become this hard? If you're a mortal, even if you don't remember, it should have been enough for you to go mad…'
The god also talked about my soul being tough and firm during the first encounter. The reason for speaking in that way seemed to be that the successor's soul repeated the cycles and the regressions countless times. Just like steel becoming tough by hammering it, did the same thing happen to my soul?
'Did it give me three because it was sure that I could handle it? Perhaps the reason it showed affability towards me is that my soul was of that kind.'
While I was immersed in my thoughts, the tentacle monster hesitated and spoke again.
– Well, with all due respect, if thou are not in a hurry, may I offer you a suggestion?
I asked bluntly.
"What is it?"
– From what I heard, the 'crow that sings of the apocalypse' was observed in the dimension where this Tower was summoned and connected…
My eyes narrowed as I replied.
"Now, how do you even know that?"
Genograche, who listened to the information while working with me, did not respond much, but the other three seemed to be bewildered by the unexpected word. Hibiki raised a related question.
"Apocalypse?"
I raised my hand to gesture to them that I would explain everything to them later. I then spoke to the sacred beast again.
"Does the god of magic… watch over such things?" – That is what one of the mortals that serve great beings prayed and told to god.
It meant that it was reported by a believer. Perhaps it was a member of the Union.
– If so, it seems thou doesn't have to hesitate because thou already have two scars left. They, the 'Prophets of Destruction,' are enemies of all gods, but my god cannot intervene in the material world for reasons thou already know. Eventually, the principle of causality should be adjusted, and the best way is to make a wish by consuming the scar…
I cut off his words determinedly.
"That is something I will take care of on my own."
I then pinched out the meaning that had been omitted from what the sacred beast said.
"Looking at the fact that it is recommending that I do what the god wants me to do… the weight of the wish to get rid of 'Mercadius' is enormous. Enough to tilt the scale to the bottom at once."
The sacred beast confirmed my suspicion with silence. Clearly, it seemed to be interpreted as a powerful wish that was incomparable to the first wish to contain Albanos. However, that meant that the risk that I would have to deal with later would increase as well.
– I do apologize if I have offended you in any way.
I looked at my companions, who seemed eager to question me about the conversation we exchanged just then.
"Alright. Let's go straight to the 78th floor."
I hesitated for a moment before continuing my thoughts.
"I'll explain everything there."
With the entry to the main quest imminent, it seemed that the time had come to share my secret with them since it could no longer be kept away as I had intended. I headed to the door that led to the 78th floor. After my determined footsteps, the sacred beast's words rang low.
– It is an honor to have met you, the one that received the most profound love of the greatest being among all the beings I've witnessed so far. Please be a stepping stone to restore the eighth magic that has been lost.
I didn't answer.
*
After moving on to the 78th floor, before we started the hunt, I briefly disclosed everything I knew about the species called Mercadius. Nate's face turned pale when he heard the story.
"Destroy the world? Then does it mean that he's that strong of an entity?"
I corrected his words.
"Rarely had it ever been seen destroying and killing with its own hands. Only the causality was made that if they are observed in a dimension, then it eventually leads to the apocalypse of said dimension. The intermediate process has not been discovered yet."
I also explained why we were in a hurry to Clear the Tower.
"In the end, it means that the people of Earth must enter the main quest as soon as possible to survive at least." "Yes. And, we need to join the Union and get help. There's no guarantee that the destruction will be definitely stopped, but we can't just wait for it to go down without trying our best to prevent it."
Adam was confident that the Union would actively help to at least prove the hypothesis that we had. However, no one on Earth would believe such a seemingly farfetched story even if we brought our knowledge to the governments around the world and made them aware of the existence of such a destructive species in our home dimension. Instead, We had to proceed to the main quest and start interacting with aliens in earnest. Only then would the information I held would have sufficient gravity to remove all the reasons that might arise to hesitate to join the Union. Considering all of the factors involved, Clearing the Tower as soon as we possibly could was the best course of action to ensure our continued prosperity.
"But… What the hell is the actual identity of that Mercadius thing?"
It seemed that what was discussed that day was the first time that Euclid heard about it as well. She had long been lost in thought. It was almost as if she was hooked on the mystery of the species' identity despite all the things I explained. We continued our Clear beyond the 78th floor, and when we reached the 81st floor, the dragon shouted with confidence.
"Alright! I finally got it!"
I answered back while I was absorbing the Mana Core that the zombies had pulled out.
"What do you mean? What did you get?"
The dragon screamed with a glowing face.
"THe Mercadius' identity!" "Were you thinking about it since our meeting back then?" "Yes! No matter how much I think about it, I'm sure. They must be demons!"
That conclusion of hers came across as quite a shock.
– What?!
Genograche sent telepathy as if he were dumbfounded. Euclid began to voice out her thoughts with sparkling eyes.
"A sign of destruction? The devil is the only species that had ever been called such a shady and bizarre name. The devil is also the only species terrible enough to eradicate all the lives in an entire dimension. Now, we have even figured out a way to catch Mercadius. With the overwhelming power of faith enough to-!"
The devil's sword, who controlled the golden armor, dismissed it as absurd babble.
– What kind of nonsense is this? If they were demons, they'd be from the magic world, and the magic kingdom should have already been ruined. But that dimension remains undiminished. It's even one of the longest dimensions in existence!
He then spoke in a tone that told me he was refuting Euclid's claims.
– Also, if there is a demon with such a transcendental power, the rumor should have spread in the magic world already. It's in the nature of the magic species to show off our strength! It would make no sense if you had only thought about it a little bit more. That's indeed the kind of crap an empty-headed dragon's head is supposed to make. "What? What did you say about my head?"
The devil's sword giggled and replied.
– Am I wrong? If you lack experience and have insufficient knowledge and culture, don't say absurd things and just watch your mouth. "What even, you retard demon became trapped in a sword because you can't even properly die." – What?! This bitch! You really want to die, huh?! "Kill me! Kill me! You are bound to a contract like me in the end."
I knew that the devil's sword was very talkative, but when I was with him, I was the only one who could hear the psychological waves he released, and my universal response at that time was to ignore him. Now that he could control his armor and send his psychological waves in a one-to-many manner, he became even noisier. And the conversation he held usually had Euclid on the other end of the line. However, what they did was more like a quarrel than a conversation. Their scuffle continued throughout the 81st floor and only stopped after I shouted at them.
"… Yes! I remember! If it's not the devil, it's certainly the system's subordinate! You can't do such a tremendous thing if you're not the system."
Soon after that, we were passing through the 87th floor when Euclid came up with a new assumption. Her claim that the system's arrangement to cull an unqualified dimension was Mercadius. It collapsed due to the devil's sword's counterargument that there was a dimension that had broken through the main quest and was inflating its power but still ended in destruction. Of course, the process was accompanied by various abusive language, threats, and regards to each other's parents, ending with my scolding.
"…Well, then!"
We arrived at the entrance to the 95th floor, listening to Euclid's claim that if Mercadius' identity was not the devil, not the system, then it must the result of the senility of the gods. Instead of pointing out that if Mercadius was a messenger of god, there was no reason for the gods to oppress it, and that gods who could exist only by being worshipped after the collapse of the old world would not encourage the extermination of the mortals, I picked up my sword with a determined expression.
"Now, shut up. This place is the last hardest hurdle."
Only then did the dragon's lengthy reasoning presentation time end. We prepared for the battle in tension.
I Came Back And Conquered It All
100
1
2
3
4
5
BOOKMARK
0
282
Report
CHAPTERS LIST
We do not translate / edit.
Content is for informational purposes only.
Problems with the site & chapters? Write a report.
Each book is a new life filled with new adventures.
Wuxia, Xianxia, XuanhuanCompleted novels
I Came Back And Conquered It All
0
1
2
3
4
5
BOOKMARK
0
339
Report
CHAPTERS LIST
We do not translate / edit.
Content is for informational purposes only.
Problems with the site & chapters? Write a report.
Each book is a new life filled with new adventures.
Wuxia, Xianxia, XuanhuanCompleted novels
I Came Back And Conquered It All
100
1
2
3
4
5
BOOKMARK
0
252
Report
CHAPTERS LIST
We do not translate / edit.
Content is for informational purposes only.
Problems with the site & chapters? Write a report.
Each book is a new life filled with new adventures.
Wuxia, Xianxia, XuanhuanCompleted novels
I Came Back And Conquered It All
0
1
2
3
4
5
BOOKMARK
0
268
Report
CHAPTERS LIST
We do not translate / edit.
Content is for informational purposes only.
Problems with the site & chapters? Write a report.
Each book is a new life filled with new adventures.
Wuxia, Xianxia, XuanhuanCompleted novels
I Came Back And Conquered It All
100
1
2
3
4
5
BOOKMARK
0
314
Report
CHAPTERS LIST
We do not translate / edit.
Content is for informational purposes only.
Problems with the site & chapters? Write a report.
Each book is a new life filled with new adventures.
Wuxia, Xianxia, XuanhuanCompleted novels