Chapter 272: Chapter 270

The fear of death is an intrinsic emotion shared by all living creatures,

especially when all of their painstakingly built efforts come to naught.

[Your unique ability ‘Grave of Swords’ has been activated!]

[The ability ‘Flame of the Beginning’ Lv15 has been activated!]

Jinhyuk released the magic he had stealthily accumulated.

At that very moment.

Boom!

A spear tinged with a bloody hue hurtled from the sky,

aiming precisely for the crown of Tristan’s head.

“Ah….”

Tristan let out a short sigh.

Now was the moment.

“Dodge!”

With a noisy gesture, Jinhyuk shoved Tristan out of the way.

Nearly at the same time.

Boom!

The spear pierced the ground.

It was a hair’s breadth away. A fraction late and a fancy ornament would have been added to Tristan’s skull.

“This, this is….”

“A demon’s spear. Hargan, the guy is quite enraged it seems. He’s even left behind such a thing after returning to the demon world.”

Shiver, shiver, shiver!

Tristan’s body shook like a leaf in the wind.

His once-noble and haughty demeanor was long gone.

Now, only a man stained with despair and terror remained.

Thanks to this, controlling a single human became easier than breathing.

“You’re saying… he tried to kill me with that?”

“Yeah. And this probably isn’t the end. Given the vindictive nature of demons, he’ll keep targeting you until he succeeds.”

Jinhyuk gathered his magic once again.

One by one, new spears began to appear in the air.

Swoosh.

Jinhyuk positioned himself in front of Tristan.

The spears, ready to be fired, were halted in their tracks.

“As you can see, Hargan is fearful of the demon supporting me. And that demon would drop dead with a word from me. Probably he’d even get up from sleep to help on my request.”

Jinhyuk put on airs boastfully.

The act was dramatically effective given how good he was at concealing his presence, and with Tristan half out of his wits.

[The divine being ‘Rotting Heart’ expresses strong doubt about your statement.]

Beriel quickly pulled up his status window, but Jinhyuk was quicker to close it.

This was no time for interruptions.

“Decide. Side with the demons and get killed by them, or side with me and save your life. I’ll give you one last choice.”

“If I follow what you say, that demon will protect me?”

“That’s right. As long as I have the support of a powerful demon, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

[The divine being ‘Rotting Heart’ lets out a silent outcry.]

[It warns you not to spout nonsense!]

“See? Even the lofty being seems pleased. Quite the fireworks they’re putting on.”

Jinhyuk pointed to the air,

Where sparks of various colors were lighting up, a sign of Beriel’s enraged power.

“It’s true. Protection from a high-ranking demon….”

Tristan swallowed hard.

Life or death?

The choice did not take long.

“Promise… Protect me.”

“Don’t worry about that part.”

Indeed, he intended to keep that promise rigorously.

[The ability ‘Soul Branding’ has been activated!]

As the red brand penetrated Tristan’s flesh, a bond of irrevocable servitude was formed.

Good.

‘With Gawain dead and Tristan persuaded, the remaining demons are as good as empty husks.’

Now he could also utilize the infrastructure and internal information of the demons, reaping an excellent harvest of achievements.

“Take a different path out so as not to raise suspicion. I’ll contact you later.”

“Understood.”

Tristan nodded slightly.

＊＊＊

Exiting the room where the Witch of Lamentation resided, Jinhyuk joined the rest of the waiting party outside.

Waiting there with anxious faces were the players.

“Hyung! Are you okay?”

“Oppa!”

Taemin and Yeonhwa were the first to welcome Jinhyuk warmly.

Though exhausted from evacuating the Dan-gun Guild, seeing Jinhyuk unharmed brought smiles to their faces.

“…Thank you, Jinhyuk-ssi. Thanks to you, we all were able to save our lives.”

Park Jungjin, who had regained consciousness, also expressed genuine gratitude.

“Thank you.”

“We tried to help but ended up being the ones helped.”

Resignation tinged their voices.

Pride had once filled the members of the large guild, but through this raid, they had learned harshly their own level.

And how outstanding Jinhyuk was for defeating such an incredibly powerful foe.

‘We can never catch up not even close.’

‘One person greater than the entire raid team.’

‘How much more do we need to strive?’

It was likely a lifelong effort that would still fall short. Even standing beside him in battle was an honor.

Rather than resentment, they found solace in the fact such a player was ascending the Tower of Trials for humanity.

“You are now a full-blown star, it seems. Even if I wanted to join next time, I wouldn’t stand a chance given my level.”

Olympus’s Maria approached Jinhyuk to offer a handshake.

If not for Jinhyuk, they might have been betrayed and wiped out by the Gandara Guild.

Or met a dismal fate at the hands of the Witch of Lamentation or the demons.

“For Europe’s top magician, Maria-ssi, to say such a thing… We all got through thanks to everyone helping out well.”

Jinhyuk graciously deflected the credit.

Not out of newfound maturity or humility,

But the thought of his upcoming reward had him a bit feigning.

[The condition for copying has been met.]

[You have copied ‘Hellfire’.]

As expected.

From start to finish. By not betraying Maria’s trust, he was able to copy Hellfire.

With this, he had acquired both Black Tear and Hellfire skills.

It meant all his tasks in the 15th floor were complete.

“Thank you, Master Yu Cheonyoung. Despite the unreasonable request, you’ve been a great help.”

“Heh heh. Did I do anything worth noting? Taking down the ruins’ boss, saving the raid team, it all seems to be your work alone? Above all, I fulfilled the request of a lifesaver. It’s only natural for me to help in return.”

Yu Cheonyoung laughed heartily.

Not a bad feeling.

In the past, he had to tackle everything alone, but now he had companions to share the journey.

In life-threatening situations, these were precious comrades, trustworthy enough to have his back.

“It seems you will be moving on to the boss raid of the 15th floor, but what are your plans now, oppa? If you have something in mind, shall we go together?”

“The boss?”

“Yes. With the successful conquest of the ruins broadcasted, various guilds are preparing major movements. With you handling the toughest part, they see an opportunity.”

A boss, huh…

The 15th floor had its own boss monster, but it wasn’t of much nutritional value.

He could leave that to the two of them and the large guilds.

“No, I have other things to attend to. First, I plan to rest for a few days and recover my strength.”

There was a mountain of work, from practicing combinations of new skills to creating advanced abilities through unification.

Moreover, the empire would have reorganized by now, and a great conflict would loom again.

He needed to prepare for that, too.

‘While I’m at it, I should also visit Murim to meet my master…’

Jinhyuk gave a shudder as he thought of Amhuang.

‘…Does that mean I have to undergo that training again?’

Always enjoying the most perverse trials, Jinhyuk’s body shivered at the thought of training with Amhuang.

＊＊＊

Three days passed since the raid. Having departed from the tower, Jinhyuk spent the time recuperating from the fatigue, enjoying leisurely rest.

Rest, in his case, was practically collapsing.

Now fully recovered, Jinhyuk and Elise headed to a special training facility provided by the Association of Awakened.

“Here we are. This place guarantees full privacy, so no worries about others coming in.”

An individual training room for S-rank and above users.

Elise looked around with curiosity.

“Ho! This kind of thing is also possible. Not bad for something made by humans. But what is this?”

Elise approached a virtual reality device in the center of the training room.

She pressed a red button on the device with her finger.

[Scanning target’s magical energy.]

Blue light scanned over Elise’s body.

“How insolent…! Dare a mere machine attempt to gauge my magic!”

Elise’s crimson pupils dilated.

At that moment.

Whirr!

[Lv??? Measurement impossible. System will create the strongest possible training opponent within its capabilities.]

“Kuuoooh!”

A holographic 30m tall behemoth appeared.

A Black Dragon.

The most powerful creature enveloped in dark scales.

“A dragon? How can there be a dragon outside the tower?”

Elise stuttered in disbelief.

Facing this strange form of dragon suddenly was understandably disconcerting.

But even if dubbed the mightiest lifeform, Elise, as the pride of her lineage, could not back down.

“I am Elise von Ataraxia, head of the Ataraxia house!”

Elise activated ‘Blood Road.’

Hmm.

A paradoxical fight between a fool queen and a machine….

This ought to be interesting.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Win or lose, it was a battle that spelled nothing but scars.

“Die! Die! Huh? Why is it dodging all the attacks? Could it also have the ability to warp space…? Indeed, a dragon. Can’t be underestimated as a formidable foe!”

Formidable foe my foot.

Definitely an idiot.

Wouldn’t one normally catch on by now?

While Elise fired attacks haphazardly, Jinhyuk, left alone, quietly activated his status window.

—————————————————

Name: Kang Jinhyuk

Gender: Male

Age: 27

Level: 100

Strength 101 Agility 30 Endurance 40 Magic 233 Gap 100 Luck 10 Adaptive 78 Essence 51.24

Available Stat Points: 18

Coins: 5,175,356

Occupation: Rune Interpreter

Unique Abilities: ‘Fusion,’ ‘Grave of Swords,’ ‘Star’s Blessing,’ ‘Anubis’s Judgment,’ ‘Blood Demon Qi,’ ‘Mandala,’ ‘1-Second Invincibility,’ ‘Thousand Poisons,’ ‘White Tiger,’ ‘Sharing All Good Things,’ ‘Sanctuary of the Sun,’ ‘Dark Emperor’s Ultimate Technique,’ ‘Triple Magic,’ ‘Gigantic Strike,’ ‘Breath of the Fire Dragon,’ ‘High-Speed Sword,’ ‘Tombgraver’s Right Arm,’ ‘Berserker,’ ‘Realm of Wind,’ ‘Shadow Extreme Kill,’ ‘Blood Explosion,’ ‘Black Tear’

Skills: The number of learned skills is too many to be listed, set to ‘folded’ state.

Barriers: The number of learned barriers is too many to be listed, set to ‘folded’ state.

——————————————————

Level 100.

He had finally changed digit places.

The massive amount of experience gained from defeating The Witch of Lamentation and the Apostles proved it.

‘Real time has indeed passed.’

There was a time he looked at triple-digit-level enemies, wondering when he would reach that height. And now, he joined their ranks.

Still a ways to go compared to his heyday.

[Agility rises from 30 to 39.]

[Endurance rises from 40 to 49.]

It was time to invest in agility and endurance, which he had relatively neglected.

In the lower floors of the tower, sense and experience could compensate for the disparity in stats, but as he moved past the middle to the upper floors, the balance of stats could not be ignored.

Good.

Now, onto the long-awaited ‘reward’ to make up for all the ordeal in this raid.

Jinhyuk brought out the items won from defeating The Witch of Lamentation from his extradimensional inventory.