The palace corridor was decorated with lavish ornaments.
A heavy silence settled over the space.
An unpleasant sound seeped through it.
The sensation in his hand was also quite unpleasant, gurgling and squelching.
"Ugh."
Unable to bear it, he let go.
As expected of someone from the Undead Legion.
Even with his head completely shattered, he wouldn't die.
"H-How... did you know."
The spy asked the moment his mouth regenerated.
Instead of answering, Jinhyuk looked around.
"Mind if I borrow that mace?"
"Y-Yes."
One of the holy knights handed him a mace.
Everyone here carried weapons imbued with holy power.
The Holy Kingdom of Saintra — a truly fine place.
Gripping the mace firmly, he turned around.
"You fool. Too late."
The spy, Gant, had finished regenerating in an instant and sneered.
He had deliberately slowed his regeneration to fool the enemy's eyes.
That so-called hero had fallen for it completely, letting his attention wander.
Gant gathered strength in his feet planted on the ground.
Not just anyone could work as a spy.
His stealth movement and instantaneous acceleration were the best in the legion.
By the time they realized it, he would already be out of the palace.
"You're called the hero, are you? I'll make sure to repay this debt."
He leaped into the air.
Then escaped the palace through the escape route he had already mapped out.
Saintra was already in disarray preparing for a siege.
Getting out was a piece of cake.
He stepped off structures and vaulted over the city wall in an instant.
A smile crept onto his lips.
Getting caught was absurd, but it didn't matter.
He had already finished assessing Saintra's combat strength.
The mission was complete— *crack. Crack.*
'Huh?'
Gant tilted his head.
A strange friction sound was coming from somewhere.
Where was it coming from... *CRACK!!!*
The next thing he knew, his vision twisted.
"Hah!!"
The hero's face appeared right in front of him.
"Get up. Some spy you are — knocked out cold after one hit."
A giant question mark floated over Gant's face.
What the hell? What was this situation?
One of the few people who could answer that question, Roberto, swallowed dryly.
It had been an instant — truly a split-second moment.
The moment the spy pushed off the ground, Jinhyuk's fist had already swung.
Jinhyuk hadn't even been looking in that direction.
Yet he reacted almost simultaneously and crushed the spy's face.
It was a miraculous display of presence detection and reflexes.
"Hmm... So... tell me something."
Jinhyuk asked a clumsy question.
An interrogation conducted in front of so many people.
This was his first time doing something like this, so he wasn't used to it.
But if there was one thing he had learned from countless audiovisual materials...
"If you don't talk in three seconds, I'll smash your head in."
Death threats were essential.
As the mace pressed closer, Gant began spewing information like a machine gun.
This guy — no matter how he looked at it, he had no talent for being a spy.
*Ding!*
[Information about the Century Necromancer Mortarion and the Undead Legion has been updated!]
[Information about Mortarion's invasion plan has been updated!]
[Information about the Undead Legion's deficient forces has been updated!]
Excellent.
Even the system acknowledged this information.
"Th-That's everything I know."
Gant finished speaking and rolled his eyes.
He had spilled the information to buy time, but it didn't matter.
Once he killed everyone who had heard it, it would be as if it never happened.
Preparing to counterattack once more, he opened his mouth.
"Then let me go..."
*CRUNCH!*
*Ding!*
[You have defeated the Undead Legion spy, Gant!]
[You have cleared the enhanced 72nd floor of the Tower of Despair! Rewards from previous floors will be processed together!]
[You have achieved SSS+ rank on floors 71 and 72!]
[You have acquired a large amount of achievement gauge!]
The achievement gauge, which had been completely empty, instantly filled to 90%.
This Tower Enhancement Ticket was really paying off.
*Ding!*
[The level difference between the Tower and the Player is extreme!]
[The increase from the unique trait, Height Adjustment, has decreased!]
[Player Yoo Jinhyuk has leveled up! Current Level: 131]
At least he was the only one leveling up — his friends only got experience increases.
He clicked his tongue.
It was a bit disappointing, but he couldn't blame the system.
There was no one else, after all.
No other player at this level was still stuck in this section.
Besides, the original purpose of using the enhancement ticket was to get an SSS+ rank while the first-clear advantage was active.
He couldn't afford to miss out on the special reward box.
*Ding!*
[You have acquired the Cloak of the Undead Legion Spy, Gant!]
[Cloak of Spy Gant / Grade: Unique / Level Requirement: 50]
Defense: 50.
All Elemental Magic Resistance: 40.
Unique Effect: Hides the wearer's presence.
Effect is maximized when mixed in a crowd.
"Oh."
Jinhyuk spread the cloak out.
It was a bit shabby, but the stats were decent.
Though it was a bit awkward for him or his friends to use.
Better than nothing, but only slightly?
Jinhyuk rubbed his chin and nodded.
Time to activate the hand-me-down sequence.
He'd toss it to Yoo Jinhee.
[You are exiting the 72nd floor of the Tower of Despair!]
The Tower kicked him out before he could even wave.
He figured the next floor would probably start with an audience with Saintra's king.
* * *
Back on the rooftop of the house.
He laid out the loot he had acquired from the 71st floor.
Hmm, not great.
The section from floors 71 to 80 had always been infamous.
Because the loot was unimpressive compared to other floors.
That was because most of the enemies were undead — bones and rags.
But it was too early to be completely disappointed.
Sometimes, high-ranking liches dropped decent equipment.
And he had even enhanced the Tower.
If he kept going like this, he would eventually meet the Century Necromancer, Mortarion.
With a title like "Century," he was bound to have at least one piece of eye-catching equipment.
And even if it didn't drop, he could just bring Momo along and strip it off him. Instant jackpot.
*Heh!*
Just imagining it was a happy thought.
He barely suppressed the smile creeping onto his lips and went downstairs.
He had been gone longer than expected, so he needed to hurry.
"Smell that."
Even before reaching the garden, the savory aroma of oil wafted over.
They must have already started grilling the dragon meat.
He glanced at his status window.
[All Elemental Resistance: SS+]
The result of stuffing himself with Black Dragon Drakan's meat.
His unique trait, which had been S+, had been promoted to SS+.
Not only was he more resistant to heat and cold, but he could now just tank most magic head-on.
But then again, what exactly counted as "most"?
Come to think of it, he had never really been hit by a proper magic attack.
'I should run some tests.'
He needed to figure this out in advance.
That way, when the time came, he could just tank hits instead of dodging.
"Wooooow!!"
An enormous cheer erupted from the garden.
He wasn't surprised.
It was only natural.
"This is sooo delicious!? Momo, what kind of meat is this?"
!?
Jinhyuk's pace quickened.
Momo, who had been flipping the meat, opened her mouth with a bright face.
"This is black... *mmph!*"
Jinhyuk covered her chubby mouth and spoke instead.
"It's black beef. They raise it using a special method in Greenland, apparently. It was unbelievably delicious, so I brought some frozen."
"Wow, black beef! I've never tried beef like this before!"
"Me neither. This is beyond amazing — it's a shock."
"Wow."
Jin Seohee and Cheon Seyeon, who had tasted the meat, shook their heads.
They thought they had tried all the famous beef out there.
But they had never experienced this level of rich flavor and chewiness.
"I just put it on... and it's gone. So this is what they mean when they say it melts in your mouth."
Jin Yunho covered his mouth.
His face was genuinely moved.
"Oh, wait. My stats are going up."
"Huh... Yeah. Mine too."
The four people's eyes turned to Jinhyuk.
Their pupils were shaking violently.
This was also a natural reaction.
Potions or elixirs that raised stats cost anywhere from tens of millions to billions of won, depending on the amount.
And even those were all snapped up by the rich, leaving the supply completely dried up.
But meat that raised various stats evenly with just a few bites?
Even as they ate, they couldn't believe it was real.
Needless to say, each piece had to be unbelievably expensive.
"You've always done so much for me. I'll give you more frozen meat when you leave."
"Woooow...!!"
The people looked at Jinhyuk with sparkling eyes.
Jinhyuk gave a thumbs up.
May everyone eat Black Dragon meat and grow stronger!
"We'll eat well!"
"Seriously! Such precious food!"
The speed of their chopsticks became absurdly fast.
Not only was the taste excellent, but now they knew how precious it was.
How could they possibly use their chopsticks leisurely?
"Eat slowly and plenty. There's a lot of meat."
This was the truth.
The Black Dragon had to be big.
There was still a ridiculous amount left in the Infinite Storage.
"Momo, stop grilling and... oh, you're already eating well."
Yoo Sooyeon let out an awkward laugh.
She must have realized it.
That the most unnecessary worry in the world was worrying about Momo eating.
*Nom nom nom nom nom!!*
Half of the grilled meat was being sucked into Momo's mouth.
As expected, the devil of mukbang.
Her stats probably wouldn't go up anymore, but she was eating harder than anyone.
"Have these later. They're special drinks."
He pulled out four of Elia's potions from his inventory.
"Oh! My throat was getting dry anyway!"
"Not now."
"Huh?"
"Wait until you've digested the meat. Okay? Okaaay."
"Y-Yes, sir!"
If they drank it now, he couldn't imagine what disaster would occur.
It wouldn't just ruin the taste of the meat.
Jinhyuk glanced at Jin Yunho.
He'd tell him about the broken holy sword later.
Chewing on the meat, he looked around.
Under the bright moonlight, in the peaceful garden, a housewarming barbecue party.
Absolutely perfect.
Twenty out of ten!
* * *
On the Tower Site's hot topic board today.
A strange post appeared on the already heated site.
**Title: Floor 71 is weird.**
"Just climbed it and something feels off. Did the people who wrote this guide actually make it to floor 71?
The content itself wasn't much.
But that last paragraph triggered a flood of annoyed players.
@ Obvious bait. Be grateful someone shared a guide and stop stirring shit lol"
@ What could have changed? I'll go check myself for fact verification. Prepare to die.
ㄴ "Prepare to die" lol. Someone who gave up climbing and has tickets to spare.
ㄴㄴ What floor are you on to be talking so cocky? If you can reach floor 71, you're in the top tier of players.
At first, the dominant opinion was that the OP was delusional.
But not long after, comments as strange as the original post started appearing.
@ It's real? First, the guide changed. It was originally some badger named Konu or Konyu, but now some holy knight I've never heard of shows up.
ㄴ Konu got fired?
ㄴㄴ That's not the point. The holy knight keeps talking weird stuff. Says there was a kingdom in the past that was destroyed. If it hadn't been destroyed, the undead wouldn't be running rampant like now. Muttering on and on.
ㄴㄴㄴ ??? He says that? When I went crazy, there was nothing like that. Is this some kind of hint?
ㄴㄴㄴㄴ Is it an event? But the Tower of Despair doesn't have stuff like that. It's not some game.
ㄴㄴㄴㄴㄴ No, is this even possible? You're saying the Tower, which should be the same for everyone, suddenly changed?
Of course, it was impossible — or more precisely, it was believed to be impossible.
Because nothing like this had ever happened before.
But it had started to happen.
All because of someone's small flap of wings.
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T/N:
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