Chapter 16 · 11 min

Chapter 16

Variant

Receiving the flustered Yu Seo-ha's contact, Yu Ji-seong returned to the office.

“...This?”

His eyes looked at the piled document bundle.

Absurdity spread in the pupils.

“D-don't tell me you saw all of this?”

Instead of answering, I shrugged.

Color slightly left Yu Ji-seong's face.

Then he looked at Yu Seo-ha with a somewhat reproachful gaze.

“What were you doing in the meantime?”

“...I slept while working. Yaaaawn···.”

“You should have told him to look leisurely. It's become midnight, the mage will be tired.”

Yu Seo-ha who finished yawning snorted.

“I told him several times. But he's so focused he doesn't hear at all, what am I supposed to do?”

···Ah.

Was that so.

I was so focused I didn't hear.

It was understandable, it was that important a matter to me.

“Could you wait a moment···?”

Yu Ji-seong held the documents and approached the computer.

In the meantime, Yu Seo-ha softly smiled and looked at me.

The exact opposite of the cold appearance shown to her brother.

Is this K siblings after all.

“Documents surrounded by gray tape are requests whose deadline has already ended. In my memory···an old man named Choi, an old man who ran a junk shop nearby, I think it was a request he left.”

[How was the cursed heart obtained?]

“I heard the son is a hunter. He had some hand skills and got a job at a small workshop, and said it was an item received there.”

[How was it received?]

“...Since it was a useless item, I think they said they gave it to play with before disposing of it? Such cases are secretly common. It's not like only good items always come out from the labyrinth.”

In the meantime, Yu Ji-seong approached.

“I finished the call with the client. He says he still has the item, but the request he originally wanted resolved has already been finished, he said.”

“...”

“When I said let's meet tomorrow, he looked a bit troubled. Saying the son hasn't come out of the labyrinth yet. So we decided to meet at the office the day after tomorrow.”

[Do production series awakeners also enter the labyrinth?]

“It's not a rare thing. They enter to earn money, and low-level awakeners also enter to efficiently raise the proficiency of skills.”

I nodded.

Yu Ji-seong's work processing was perfect.

There seemed to be nothing for me to do.

[Please]

I lightly bowed my head and got up from my seat.

Coming in the morning and returning at night was a bit strange, but there was no feeling of the body being tired or anything.

This.

Having severed nerves has advantages too.

Thinking that, I inwardly chuckled and boarded the car.

Mana Thread started the engine, and the sedan started running south.

Placing my hand on the steering wheel meaninglessly and quietly staring outside the car window.

Looking at the Han River quietly crouching in the darkness, I recalled the reward item.

Cursed heart.

The effect itself is perfect for me beyond compare.

But whether it can be reversed once absorbed is unknown.

“Will it be okay···.”

First, it was a matter to judge after Yu Ji-seong meets the client.

In the meantime.

I had to do what I had to do.

Day broke.

I immediately headed to the tower.

[You have entered the tower lobby floor]

I stopped by the skill shop.

Naturally, there are no skills that can be purchased.

The Hispanic merchant grins and throws half-mocking words.

“Hey, come back after getting stronger.”

···A thug-like guy.

Next, the equipment shop.

The knight's gloomy gaze scanned me.

A feeling like smiling beyond the visor.

[Held points: 4160]

[Weapons][Armor][Accessories][Auxiliary equipment]

First, there's nothing to buy for weapons.

Accessories like the cursed wooden doll manifest performance just by putting them in the utility belt.

Weapons or armor manifest performance only by directly wearing them.

If holding even one staff, it's giving up 400 Mana Threads.

It wasn't an easy choice.

‘...Armor is also a bit so.’

Even if so in the tower, reality is the problem.

In light training clothes, smoothly moving the body with Mana Thread is possible.

But if wearing formal hunter equipment, movement will inevitably become difficult.

But if removing equipment only in reality, mana imbalance occurs.

The gap difference between the tower and reality is fatal in combat, is the consensus of the community.

A problem hard to decide easily.

Finally, I headed to the alchemist merchant.

A white woman wearing a splendid silk clothes full of luxury looks at me and smiles.

“Oh my, the rookie who bought a lot of potions?”

An ambiguous face whose age can't be gauged.

In some ways it looks like a teenage girl, but if changing the angle, it also looks like a 90-year-old grandmother.

The attitude is arrogant.

But better than the other two guys.

At least malice isn't felt.

[Held points: 4160]

[Item purchase][Grant][Gamble][Jewel][Expansion]

The alchemist has many unique lists.

Can grant magical effects to items or equipment.

The probability of a good fellow coming out is extremely bad, but once it comes out, there are times of hitting a jackpot, and can burn points on gambling.

Can also purchase or sell the kind of jewels embedded in the mithril bracelet.

Or can expand inventory.

[Inventory expansion]

[2×2 → 4×4]

[Consumed points: 1580]

The consumed points were secretly expensive.

But I can't keep going around with 4 slots forever.

Anyway, I had to raise it appropriately.

“Hey, thanks.”

Leaving the giggling alchemist behind, I entered the tower.

[You have entered the 5th floor of the tower]

[Collapse the orc village, and defeat the tribal chief Turnish]

Tribal chief Turnish.

The first variant appearing in the tower.

Suddenly the dark face of the man who said he lost his sister in the labyrinth comes to mind.

What killed his sister was also a variant.

Moreover, not a kobold variant but an orc variant.

The high mortality rate of the 5th floor wasn't for nothing.

A feeling of the body slightly stiffening from tension.

But there was a corner I believed in.

The moment I entered the 5th floor of the tower, the limit already disappeared.

It means I can immediately rise by catching just one.

Step, step.

While walking along the small forest path, I checked the board.

As expected, since it's a forest background, there are too many living beings and it's dizzying.

Still, I maintained the cognitive range up to 1km.

A quite better situation than the previous 800m.

I shouldn't loosen the tension.

The orc's cognitive range was confirmed as 400m, but Turnish is different.

It's unknown when and where he'll rush in.

‘Once I catch one, the situation will improve.’

That was when it happened.

Three orcs that appeared at the edge of the board.

It wasn't around the village, but scouts circling the surroundings.

I swallowed dry saliva.

There's a more important matter than just killing them.

The shape transformation of Red Flame that I trained the whole time.

Since it was impossible in the motel, I went to the sparsely populated Han River side and practiced occasionally.

The effect was quite good.

That said, it wasn't at the level of being created exactly as consciously imagined.

Even if not an arrow, thorns became possible.

Whoosh!

A fist-sized crimson triangular cone.

An effect of adding penetration power to an ordinary Fireball.

Penetration power is lower than a sharp arrowhead, and air resistance is also large, but for now this alone is enough.

There's no reason to rush at all.

As the level rises, flame control will also increase.

Just focus on dealing with the enemy in front of my eyes.

I took an appropriate position and launched thorns.

Three flame thorns flew toward the orc scouts.

Whether there was the effect of shape transformation, it was much faster and quieter than the existing Fireball.

Puuk!

Even the impact sound was almost none.

Instead of the existing flesh sound that burst with a puk.

Only a small penetration sound lightly circled the forest and disappeared.

Shape transformation of Red Flame.

As the community said, there was definitely an effect.

Suddenly the red dots on the board disappeared, and the awaited message floated up.

[You have defeated the orc scout]

[[Transcendence (EX) ability manifests]

[Experience points gained increase by 1,000,000 times]

[Level up]

···

[You have achieved Level 100]

Limit breakthrough.

At the same time, the strengthened Detection skill caught the physical change.

Thump, a heart that pulsed roughly once.

Blue mana that started roughly running through the whole body races through the whole body and changes the body.

Some places strongly.

Some places elastically.

Some places flexibly.

Elasticity arose in the muscles, and the bones became a layer harder.

The destination was the head.

The mana that arrived at the crown burst like fireworks and quickly melted into somewhere inside the skull.

“...Huu.”

Is it thanks to the expanded Detection skill.

The fleeting change was clearly engraved in the mind.

It was intuitively felt how and how much the body changed.

I immediately widened the detection range.

The range that was 1km increased to 1.5km.

Whether mental strength strengthened, it wasn't greatly burdensome.

Then shall I try once?

I summoned a Fireball above the palm, and attempted shape transformation.

Not hastily, slowly.

Up to thorn form was in an instant.

Just one more step from here.

While concentrating my mind to the maximum, I molded the flame with will.

The flame that gradually elongated.

Soon a long body formed and feathers grew.

A complete appearance of an arrow.

‘...This works.’

Maximum level Fireball and Flame Burst skills.

Thanks to that, flame amount was overwhelming while delicacy was lacking.

It seemed perfectly covered through this level up.

Training to raise proficiency is essential, but for now confirming the possibility alone is enough.

'I've obtained everything needed.'

Now there's no need to force approaching the enemy lines.

Since the goal is to collapse the orc village, once the distance narrows to some extent, blowing it away whole from afar should be enough.

Puk.

The flame arrowhead pierced the heads of the three orcs circling around.

Monsters that turned to powder and scattered into the empty air without even screaming.

Fsss...

I raised my head.

One bird sitting on the tree branch above the orc's head.

It lightly flapped its wings but didn't fly.

It's proof that the attack became that much stealthy.

Puk!

Then I dealt with three teams of scouting parties.

After calmly advancing for a while.

At some moment, dots suddenly increased on the board.

Over 20 red dots gathered in one place.

In the middle of that, the darkest and largest dot existed.

It was tribal chief Turnish.

‘...Fortunately, it doesn't seem to recognize up to 1.5km.’

Like with orcs, a thought of confirming how much the guy's cognitive range is came, but I immediately gave up.

Thinking of the archer who died in the labyrinth.

The tower is not a game.

Absolutely don't let my guard down, and must do my best.

No matter how strong an awakener, if an axe gets stuck in the head, that's the end.

Whoosh.

A condensed huge flame floated before my eyes.

Flame Burst of the same size as during the kobold colony.

I could increase the scale but didn't.

Destructive power that overflows anyway.

It's not sweeping the canyon whole either.

Rather, I had to leave power assuming the case Turnish survives.

I held the flame with my hand, and threw it with strength.

Whoong, a light sonic boom seemed to ring, then far away red light flashed.

“...”

I didn't look at that.

I also didn't look at the following explosion.

I looked at the board.

Kwaaaaaaaaaang!!!!

Beyond 1.5km, a huge flame soared into the empty air.

But I didn't see that.

No, I couldn't see it.

Because a huge red dot was running on the board.

-Krooooooo!!!!

The shout became an echo and roughly shook the forest.

A perfect straight line movement as if measured with a ruler.

The guy already accurately knows my position.

I didn't hastily use skills.

Time was needed for the dizziness to subside.

Distance is 800m.

Fortunately, the guy wasn't intact.

The balance that subtly mismatches every time the left foot steps on the ground.

He suffered an injury.

I finished the calculation of the guy's movement speed and the Fireball's projection speed in an instant.

A strange feeling as if the conclusion the Detection skill made was engraved in the mind.

Is it because of the level up.

All those processes are input faster and more precisely than before.

The calculation ended in an instant.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh···.

I summoned fifteen Fireballs.

Head-sized flames roughly flickered and brightly illuminated the surroundings.

Distance is 500m.

Now it can be confirmed with the naked eye.

A huge variant orc running while roughly exhaling.

“Kaaaaaaaaak!!!!”

The guy who let out a shriek slammed the ground.

Both feet that momentarily separated from the ground.

The judgment was instantaneous.

Now.

Fifteen flames simultaneously raced through the empty air.

Turnish inhaled empty breath and rotated his body, then roughly swung the axe.

The axe and Fireballs collided.

"Krrk!!"

Suddenly bewilderment burst from Turnish's mouth.

Flames soared along the axe that should have split the Fireballs.

Fwoooosh!

The guy tried to destroy the Fireballs, but that was a wrong judgment.

Fireballs are not for explosion, but for burning.

The flames that rose along the axe handle instantly spread to the guy's hand.

“Krrt···!!”

The guy being flustered was truly a fleeting moment.

But that alone was enough.

While briefly pondering whether to discard the axe.

The remaining fourteen Fireballs roughly rushed toward the guy.

Fwoooooosh!!!!

Flames brightly burned the guy's huge body.

Even while the whole body burned, the guy rushed at me but it's useless.

The accurately aimed flame struck the guy's head.

This time.

It was condensed flame.

Kwaaaaaaaaaang!!!!

There was no time to even scream.

The legs of Turnish whose upper body completely burst ran a couple of times waveringly and collapsed.

Dirt dust roughly scattered, then blood and flesh pieces fell like rain.

That was the end.

"...Huu."

The variant was stronger than thought.

But I was stronger.