3.
The events that unfolded were, in a way, simple.
The enraged acted in rage. Those who needed to apologize did so. Those who believed they had no right to utter a word about this world only deepened their silence.
"...This sucks."
And the [Assistant Writer] muttered a curse.
In front of the bridge, the Grey Spider was still kneeling. Quietly, her forehead was pressed against the ground. Over her body, the followers of the Anti-Magic Alliance threw rotten fruits and rubbish. What they were throwing was also a vomit of emotions.
Thud.
A black mass hit the Grey Spider's back and slid off.
"Ah."
The [Assistant Writer], who had been frowning, opened her lips. At the end of her gaze, a sharp dagger was slicing through the air.
"Wait, that thing,"
But mid-flight, the dagger, with a clear 'ting!' sound, was deflected. It was me who had shot an aura-like marble to knock it down.
Powerlessly, the dagger landed on the ground, 4 meters away from the Grey Spider.
"Tsk!"
Someone in the crowd of thousands clicked their tongue.
The [Assistant Writer] seemed to have heard it too.
"You there! What hideous act are you..."
"Don't stop it."
The [Mahos Army Commander] grabbed the [Assistant Writer]'s forearm to halt her.
"Stopping them will only make them angrier. Having dealt with battlefields numerous times, I know this from experience."
The Assistant Writer looked at the Mahos Army Commander, then turned to me.
I said nothing. Before and after knocking down the dagger, I just silently watched with my arms crossed.
Although no one else might know, that was also the pose Bae Hu-ryeong was taking right beside me.
Seeing no reaction from me, the Assistant Writer turned back to the Mahos Army Commander. Her brows perked up in a 'V' shape.
"But how can someone attack a person who has surrendered? If you've been on battlefields, you should know that's the basics, right!?"
The Mahos Army Commander didn't blink an eye.
"Did the Magic Tower ever adhere to those basics?"
The Assistant Writer clenched her teeth.
"You, yourself, were one of those who suffered in prison with Hamustra's followers. You were tortured until you were rescued by the Death King."
"...."
"Moreover, the world you were born and raised in has become a colony dominated by the Magic Tower. It doesn't seem likely that the Magic Tower treated the colonies any better than the 50th floor."
For a full thousand years.
The grudges piled up by the Magic Tower were deep and numerous.
"The Magic Tower was not wise. Therefore, be wiser, Assistant Writer. Aren't you representing your world in climbing the Tower? If you have the luxury to sympathize with the enemy of the world, you should rather be preparing for the next floor—"
"Thank you."
The Assistant Writer spoke. It was a low and cold voice.
"Anyway, you're saying it for my sake, right? So, thank you. …And I have something else to say, listen."
"Hm. I'm glad you appreciate it. So, Assistant Writer. Rather than that, I have a proposal. If you haven't decided on a team for the 51st floor, would you like to join me..."
"Go to hell."
The Mahos Army Commander closed his mouth.
After speaking, the Assistant Writer's eyes widened. Her glasses followed suit.
A moment later, she flapped her arms.
"No… that… I didn't mean 'go to hell' in response to your proposal to join you. Don't misunderstand. Rather, um, why are you making such an offer now… Ah, forget it! Just be quiet! …Damn it."
The Assistant Writer coughed several times. Then, she glanced at the Mahos Army Commander once more before turning around.
She started walking.
The Assistant Writer stood in front of the Grey Spider, more precisely, in front of the crowd surrounding the Grey Spider.
"Hey you bastards, stop doing such shameful acts!"
The Assistant Writer exclaimed.
5.
The crowd immediately showed their teeth.
"What's this!"
"Isn't that the Assistant Writer? It's the Assistant Writer, right?"
"The one who always horribly messes up grammar?"
"Why has that hamster's Apostle, who chews up books, suddenly popped up? Did she think she's something for slightly helping in the plan to subjugate the Magic Tower?"
"Everyone, shut up!"
With a voice that didn't lose to the murmuring of the crowd, the Assistant Writer shouted.
And then she immediately continued.
"First off, one thing. Whoever said I get grammar wrong, let's see later. I can't tolerate such distorted information spreading. But what's even less tolerable is… you guys, aren't you embarrassed?"
The Assistant Writer raised her voice.
"If you want revenge, plan it yourself and gather strength to take revenge! If you want to bully, bully those you've hunted yourself!"
The Assistant Writer looked at the Grey Spider lying prostrate and the various pieces of trash scattered around her, grinding her teeth.
"But what is this? If you personally hunted the Magic Tower, the witches, the Grey Spider, I wouldn't say a word, whatever you did. But you didn't, did you. What the hell are you doing to someone else's prey?"
There was a moment of silence among the crowd.
Just for a moment. The overwhelming majority of the crowd blushed. Someone among them, whose face was not visible because of a mask, blushed behind their mask.
A masked warrior, carrying a huge spear that looked like it had torn off a dragon's horn, stepped forward.
"Very impressive, Assistant Writer-ssi."
The masked warrior spoke in a voice tinged with metal.
"Really impressive. A true hero! You've said it all – the right words, the correct words, the nice words, the ultimate words. It would be perfect if we now run away in shame to find a mouse hole, but what to do. It only makes me angry. Haha. Is it because I'm a blockhead?"
"Yes."
"Don't agree so straightforwardly… Well. You're so self-assured that those who can't be, can't even show up, huh?"
The masked warrior banged the end of their spear on the ground with a thud.
"For a thousand years. For a full thousand years, the Magic Tower has dominated this 50th floor! The oppression got stronger, and this 50th floor, and the Towers that arrived on the 50th floor, were sucked dry by the roots of the Magic Tower!"
Voices erupted from all sides, saying, "That's right!"
"Assistant Writer-ssi. Don't you see that pain and suffering in your eyes?"
"That's right!"
"People who had to pass through alleys in silence, not to catch the eye of the Magic Tower! Those who lost their families or something more precious to those witches and still had to keep silent! Don't you see or feel such people!"
"Right! Right!"
"Assistant Writer-ssi. You speak words of morality, but that's because you have the power to speak them! What about the powerless! The weak! Even in such a moment, they should think not of venting but just keep their mouths shut, act as if they don't exist, is that what you're saying!"
"Right! Right! Right!"
"Trying to gag the already powerless victims like that! Isn't that an unjust and cruel act!"
"Right! Right! Right! Right!"
With each rebuke of the masked warrior, a wildfire of cheers erupted. Even regular Hunters who had not participated in the Anti-Magic Alliance raised their voices. "Woahhh!" The plaza turned into a cauldron of frenzy.
And the Assistant Writer poured cold water on that cauldron.
"I really appreciate listening to the shitty nonsense of an extra."
The masked warrior flinched. The crowd also fell silent for a moment.
Over that silence, the Assistant Writer slowly walked.
Standing in front of the masked warrior, the Assistant Writer looked straight into the two holes in the mask.
"Remember this, you bastard."
The Assistant Writer, like a cat stretching, bent her waist and raised her head, bringing her face close to the masked warrior's mask as she murmured.
"Even if you were 10 times, 100 times stronger than you are now, even if you were as strong as the combined might of the Magic Tower, I would have still stood in front of you and said you're talking bullshit."
The Assistant Writer pressed the tip of her finger against the nose of the masked warrior's mask as she spoke.
"That's why I was dragged to the Magic Tower."
The masked warrior's mask heated up red. "Ow, hot damn," the Assistant Writer hastily removed her finger, showing a flustered face, as if the mask emitted physical heat.
The masked warrior spoke in a voice that resembled lava overflowing from a mountain slope.
"No, that's not it. You were dragged away because Hamustra suddenly disappeared. Because you lost your backing, because your power weakened! It's the same now. Now that you have the Death King or whatever as your backing, you're all…."
"Ah. And one more thing to add."
In fact, it was two things, she murmured, 'How do you even wear that mask, it's damn hot,' and then the Assistant Writer lightly licked the tip of her burned finger.
"Even if you were 1000 times, 10000 times stronger than you are now. Even if you were as strong as the Magic Tower multiplied, you would've just been a one-time extra, appearing only to show how strong the protagonist has become."
The masked warrior shut his mouth.
The Assistant Writer shifted her gaze away from the masked warrior. Her glasses, sharpened along with her gaze, turned towards the surrounding crowd.
"Let's not do embarrassing things."
If the masked warrior's speech grew louder as he spoke, the Assistant Writer's was the opposite. Her voice gradually diminished.
"You guys are [Hunters], aren't you?"
It was a soft voice.
"Aren't you the ones who decided to climb the Tower with your own feet because you wanted to go somewhere bigger than where you were born and raised, because you wanted to see something different from the scenery you always saw?"
Her diminishing voice turned into a lament.
"I was like that. There might be bastards who climbed because they had nowhere else to be, and idiots who can't catch the timing, climbing while representing their world or whatever. But I don't know about such grand things. I always knew only about myself, thought only about myself."
Maybe that's why she believed in the Constellation, like the director who resembled herself, people are drawn to what resembles them, the Assistant Writer murmured.
She said.
"I came here to write my story."
Her glasses, drooping along with her eyes, scanned the crowd.
"Aren't you the same?"
Her gaze, returning from scanning the crowd, turned towards me.
In that gaze was not anger, but regret, a sunset of the heart that tends to seep out when recalling past conversations.
Looking back at the still prostrate Grey Spider, the Assistant Writer said.
"Does this look like something [Protagonists] should do?"
Once upon a time.
The Apostle of Hamustra, who had murmured, [After all, I'm not the protagonist of this story], shivered her shoulders as she murmured.
"It's not."
"...."
"Let's be the protagonist now, at least a bit."
And then.
There was an echo to those words.
"Well said."
It was the voice of the followers of the Sword Emperor Sect.
The Sword Emperor Sect must have been the ones who suffered the most cruel treatment from the Magic Tower, more than anyone else. However, they did not even glance at the witches of the Magic Tower's First Branch, awkwardly standing on the glass bridge. The same was true for the prostrate Grey Spider.
The followers of the Sword Emperor Sect walked over and stood beside the Assistant Writer.
"That's right."
"It's a hitting truth too. Many would feel like hitting someone, honestly, I feel the same."
"But… still, a right thing is a right thing."
The followers of the Sword Emperor Sect turned around in unison.
The followers, lined up beside the Assistant Writer with their arms crossed, spoke.
"If it weren't for the Death King, this hunt wouldn't have been successful."
"As such, it would be against the principles of righteousness for us to make more fuss about this matter."
"The Death King would have said the same."
The crowd began to shrink back.
-Hmm.
Bae Hu-ryeong spoke.
-Well, after 150 years, they've grown a bit.
That was the beginning.
"I think the same! This isn't fair!"
The Jester, who was the only one to have killed me on this 50th floor, walked out and stood beside the Assistant Writer and the followers of the Sword Emperor Sect, uttering those words.
"Damn… it's over."
The Berserker who clicked her tongue followed suit. Paparazzo and the other high-ranking members of the Anti-Magic Alliance followed.
Lastly, the Mahos Army Commander walked up and turned into a corner of the human barrier, blocking off the Grey Spider and the crowd.
The Assistant Writer looked slightly bewildered.
"Why are you here? You told me to act wisely."
"I'm here because the tide is in our favor. Although Mahos is known to prefer winning fights over just ones, in truth, he likes fights that are both just and victorious."
"That so? You're both an idiot and trash."
"But a trash who fights well."
"Yes. That's why I'll accept your proposal. Let's go to the 51st floor together."
"It's an honor."
As the human barrier solidified, the fervor of the crowd slowly subsided. However, it wasn't dispersing but rather settling down, like steam gathering under a pressure cooker.
The masked warrior exploded.
"Damn it! Your words are forced! Then are you saying that victims who can't take revenge by their own strength should just keep their mouths shut for life!"
"We never said that. I'm also one of those victims."
One of the followers of the Sword Emperor Sect spoke up.
He raised his head.
"You there. The spokesperson for the Magic Tower."
The spokesperson for the Magic Tower, who had been nervously watching the situation, hiccupped.
"Ye-yes?"
"You killed my disciple."
Anger can be hot, but it can also be cold.
The anger of the Sword Emperor Sect follower was cold not due to a lack of heat, but because it was filled with rage.
"He was talented and light-hearted, living life easily, but perhaps for that reason, he couldn't die easily. For nearly ten days, inside a glass tube, he died a horrible death, his bones crushed throughout his body."
The spokesperson for the Magic Tower mumbled, avoiding eye contact.
"Ah, ha… um. That's truly, a regrettable event… My condolences. Uh… But why mention this now…?"
"Clean your neck and wait."
"Excuse me?"
"I will come to the Lion World as soon as I'm ready. To challenge you to a duel. …Is that alright, Death King?"
Hmm.
Yes.
That's how it was.
Now, at last, I began to speak.
"Hey. Who would, and how could anyone stop a fair duel?"
I humbly smiled.
"I would stop an invasion led by an army, but a duel? I have no right to prevent that. …However, if you happen to die in that duel, I won't be able to help you under the same logic, right?"
"That's only natural. One who isn't prepared to die has no right to seek the death of another."
The follower of the Sword Emperor Sect nodded and glared at the spokesperson for the Magic Tower.
"Wait for it."
"...Hah."
The spokesperson for the Magic Tower ground his teeth.
"This is something. I underestimated you too. You think you can win in a one-on-one fight? I'll make sure to thoroughly teach you that's a misconception. Dying at the hands of the same person who killed your disciple, what a celebratory event for your sect. Yes! I'll certainly make it a memorable death!"
"You may be able to do that. Then my disciple. And then that disciple will come after you. Until my lineage is severed or you lose your life."
"No, damn it… Uh, uh, let's not do this. Mercy! Peace! Anti-war! Blood only begets blood, and revenge only leads to more revenge. Can't we just forget and forgive?"
"Sorry."
The follower of the Sword Emperor Sect laughed, showing his teeth.
"I'm not strong enough for that."
The spokesperson for the Magic Tower hiccupped.
4.
And so, it was the beginning.
5.
The witches of the Magic Tower each received their respective [Duel Challenges] according to the years they had served.
Some received none, but most got more than three; the spokesperson, in particular, groaned upon receiving a whopping 107 duel challenges.
"Damn it. This is all because you guys dumped the spokesperson role on me. Because I was at the forefront, I drew all this aggro. Hey, other branch heads. If you have a conscience, you should take some of these. But do you even have a conscience? No, of course not… Damn bitches…"
Charumu, who had escaped with me, sighed in relief.
"Phew… Lucky I was stuck deep inside cleaning. This is the big picture…"
"Be careful, Charumu-ssi."
I patted Charumu on the shoulder, offering advice.
"After all, one cannot escape the life they've lived."
"What the heck… What is this strange realism I feel in Gong-ja ssi's words…"
And so, fifteen days passed.
Krrrrrrrung!
It was the sound of the last remaining spire on the 50th floor crumbling down.
['The Whip That Descends on the Self-Abuser' is released from its seal.]
The pillar that had been supporting the center of the spire toppled over with a wobble. From a distance, it looked like a giant nail. As soon as the nail-like iron core touched the ground, it shattered like glass.
"Uuuuh…?"
From within the broken pillar, a woman with red hair slowly opened her bleary eyes.
"Where am I…?"
"Unnieeeee!"
The Berserker sprinted at supersonic speed. Bang! A sound that shouldn't be made when two humans collide was heard, but fortunately, one of them was not a human but a Constellation.
The red-haired Constellation lightly embraced the Berserker.
"Oh. Oh my…?"
"Unnie! My Constellation Unnie! Sob, I'm sorry for being late! Sorry for being late! I said to wait just three years! But 300 years have passed! I'm a fool, an idiot, a crazy piece of trash! I should've died! Should've been dead! Couldn't even die! Coward! Sob, I'm sorry!"
The Constellations sealed in the Magic Tower were released.
"Ah… this self-deprecating… Yes. Definitely my Apostle…"
The red-haired Constellation patted the Berserker's back.
The Berserker, who had longed for this reunion, buried her face in her god's shoulder, crying "sob," smearing snot "waaah," and finally wailed with spittle flying "wahhhh."
"Mmm…"
The red-haired Constellation wiped the Berserker's cheek with a troubled expression.
"Don't be so filthy, please…"
"Thank youuu, Death King!"
With her cheeks as red as her god's hair, the Berserker spoke to me.
"It's all thanks to you! If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have met Unnie again! Thank you, sob, even though I thought you were a damn dog-like bastard, turns out you're a cute dog-like good guy!"
"My goodness."
I sheathed my holy sword.
My body hadn't fully recovered yet, and even just cutting down a single pillar of the spire left my shoulder feeling stiff.
"Is that the only adjective you know how to use…?"
"What! Puppies are cute, aren't they!"
Hmm.
I suppose that's true, but still.