[Renya's Promotion Quest 'Unfinished Grudge' Begins!]
[Myth Tower Floor 17 has been altered! The previous entry restriction has been removed! You may enter immediately!]
Jinhyuk threw an uppercut into the air.
In his mind, of course.
In front of him, a life-or-death conversation with the 8th Act Ranzeche was underway.
A celebration here would be bad manners.
"That's everything I know."
Jinhyuk studied Ranzeche with wide, piercing eyes.
It felt like she'd said everything except what she absolutely couldn't say.
"Where's your base?"
"I... I don't have one."
Her pupils were visibly shaking.
She definitely had one.
But he didn't press further.
Because Renya had told him.
All Rakshasa are absolutely obedient to their queen.
They can never say or do anything that would harm her.
"You don't have a base. Then let's talk about that Despair Tower thing you just mentioned. What do you mean by entering the tower?"
He'd confirmed this was possible through the rabbit Mareto.
Mareto had also existed in the Despair Tower while bound to a Rakshasa in the real world.
"It's... a deal."
"A deal with the system?"
"The system is just an intermediary. The actual deal exists somewhere in the Despair Tower."
Jinhyuk rubbed his chin hard.
This was a new concept.
The Despair Tower — with its unshared progress, unshared floors, yet identical monsters and environments.
Humanity had understood it like stages in a mobile game.
But the rabbit Mareto's appearance had cracked that understanding.
A floor that couldn't be entered together, yet existed in the same dimension and space.
It was the discovery that unique beings could exist within the Despair Tower.
Now, according to Ranzeche, not only were there more such beings, but they could even trade with the outside through the system.
"What does a Rakshasa gain by entering the tower?"
"Opportunity and safety."
Ranzeche glanced at both of them before speaking carefully.
"Hunting in a place where no risk factors exist."
"Oh."
He understood immediately.
Humanity's biggest concern right now was the Despair Tower.
Everyone who could climb was giving their all to go up even one more floor.
If you set up a base there and waited?
It was practically prey walking right into your hands.
The Rakshasa's soul supply would become incomparably faster than before.
Of course, as players' synchronization rates hit 100%, they'd be stronger than in reality, but they must have judged it manageable.
"But belonging to the tower means being trapped. Doesn't losing your freedom matter?"
"That's... only temporary."
As Ranzeche hesitated to answer, Jinhyuk smiled.
He didn't really need to hear the answer.
He thought he understood.
"It's a transfer, isn't it? As long as the floor isn't cleared, you can come out again someday."
It might be a reasonable judgment.
The monster Rakshasa, endlessly resurrecting until their souls ran dry.
And they weren't weak.
Even the 3rd Act Kalik was a powerhouse you'd expect to see above Floor 90.
Whether the entire Rakshasa legion would be assigned to a unique floor, or split across multiple normal floors, he didn't know.
But it was clear they'd be troublesome monsters that had never appeared before.
They wouldn't be cleared easily.
"Okay. Anything else to say?"
"I've... I've told you everything! Didn't you promise! You said you'd let me live!"
"Calm down. When did I say I'd kill you?"
Jinhyuk nodded and took a few steps back.
Renya also stood up.
*CRACK!*
"KYAAAAAAH!!"
After ripping off one of Ranzeche's arms.
The promise not to touch a single hair was void.
She'd lied about her base.
Soon, a new arm sprouted from Ranzeche's shoulder socket.
Gasping for breath, Ranzeche looked up at Jinhyuk.
"Go. A promise is a promise."
Had she never expected him to actually let her go?
Hesitating for a long moment, Ranzeche shuffled backward.
Then she fled at full speed.
After confirming her presence had faded, Jinhyuk pulled out the Yodel Compass.
One by one, his friends materialized.
"Great Leader! Did you get the finger... KYAAAAAH! Why did you rip off the whole arm?!"
"So brutal!"
The Kkancho-Momo duo freaked out.
Jinhyuk swallowed dryly.
The original plan was to obtain a small body part, but Renya had cleanly torn off the whole arm.
An arm was a body part too, so it wasn't wrong, but still.
Renya's scale was something else.
"Ripping off a whole arm is easier than a finger."
Renya muttered quietly, handing over the arm.
Jinhyuk accepted it with a questioning look.
Then he brought it to the Yodel Compass.
The numbers and direction changed in real time.
Mm! It was working properly.
"Teacher Momo."
"What do you want?!"
"What do we do with this? We need to store it."
Momo stared off into the distance.
"M-Momo's storage is full! Can't put it in!"
Liar.
It was an infinite storage.
"Kkancho's bag has lots of empty space!"
"What nonsense is that, Momo! It's full of clay!"
"We used it all at the birthday party!"
"I'm about to fill it up again!"
As the two bickered, Jinhyuk rubbed his eyes.
What could he do?
He'd have to put it in his own bag.
"Dark, can you freeze this?"
"Sure."
After making it into a frozen arm, he wrapped it well in cloth and stored it.
He'd chase after it later when the distance stopped increasing.
"Goblin buddy. You planted my frog egg well, right?"
"I shoved it into her shoulder socket."
"Th-That's... reliable?"
Elia gave a shaky thumbs-up.
There was no telling how far Ranzeche would run.
That's why they'd planted it.
The frog egg that the Star Alchemist Elia had newly synthesized.
"Hey, old hag! Is the thing working properly?! Is it really teleportation?!"
"Hmph. Of course? None of my creations have ever malfunctioned."
"Don't lie! Everything except the cuckoo clock that tells your age is weird!"
"I meant nothing malfunctioned except the ones that don't work."
"What kind of nonsense is that?!"
"For someone so big, you've got tiny guts, you goblin Satan wannabe. I guess I'll have to show you."
Elia, wearing the Star Gauntlet, drew an alchemy circle.
Two giant frogs appeared above it.
As expected of Elia's work, they looked grotesque.
"Shoo, shoo. Go away. Shoo. Stand over there."
Elia dragged one frog to the edge of Namsan Tower.
Returning, she pointed at the remaining frog.
"Get in. You'll come out of the other frog's mouth."
Silence fell over Namsan Tower.
Everyone's mind seemed to work the same way.
None of them wanted to go in first, whistling and staring into the distance.
"No choice."
Jinhyuk stepped forward.
If this kept up, it would never end, so he'd lead by example... though he was scared too.
As the master, he decided to make a reasonable judgment.
"I'll leave the vanguard to you, Dark."
"Why does it turn out that way?"
"Because you're the safest person?"
"Sandbag, are you refusing your master's order?"
"Weakling. Resorting to defiance out of fear."
Seira and Renya's criticisms poured out as if they'd been waiting.
Dark shrugged and walked toward the frog.
It wasn't that he was worried about dying — he just really didn't want to go into that mouth.
"Alchemist. This thing works properly, right...?"
*GULP!*
Dark vanished from sight.
Elia scratched the back of her head.
"Oh right, I forgot to mention. If you get close, the frog swallows you automatically."
Everyone's eyes shifted to the other frog.
Its belly bulged.
*BLEEEEEGH!*
With an unpleasant sound, the frog spat Dark out.
"Ugh."
Jinhyuk and his friends stepped back again.
Whether it was slime or something else, some sticky substance covered Dark's body.
Dark looked at the gooey liquid dripping from him and raised his head.
"Alchemist. What is this?"
"It protects the body. You never know what might be at the teleport destination."
"Oooh."
This time, seal-like applause burst out.
Such delicate exception handling.
Truly the Star Alchemist.
Still, Dark didn't seem happy about it.
"Dark! Here's bottled water, shampoo, soap, and a towel!"
*Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!*
Momo tossed the items from a distance, pulling them from her infinite storage.
Dark's eyes looked even sadder.
Anyway, they'd confirmed the frog's basic function.
Nice!
After confirming Dark had cleaned himself up enough.
Jinhyuk pressed the entry button.
Let's go right now.
To the Myth Tower.
*Ding!*
[Entering Myth Tower Floor 17!]
* * *
[You have entered Myth Tower Floor 17: 'A Certain Human's Memory'.]
Huh?
This was another novel floor.
Not a physical space, but someone's memory.
He looked around.
Everything was white, like a blank canvas.
"It's like a hospital!"
"What if we fall when we step?! Dark! Try stepping!"
"I feel like hitting you today."
"Sorry!"
Jinhyuk stepped forward, but fortunately, he didn't fall.
*Swoosh.*
A single black stroke cut across before his eyes.
The speed of the strokes grew faster.
It really was a canvas.
Ink paintings.
Soon, the first picture was complete.
It was Renya's cave, where they'd obtained the Black Dragon's Scale last time.
Characters were drawn over the background.
Three children and one goblin.
From the meticulously drawn tattoos, it was clearly Renya.
'So that's why.'
During their last visit, he'd wondered about the cave paintings on the wall.
They didn't look like something Renya would draw — they looked like pure children's drawings.
The ink paintings kept erasing and redrawing.
Judging by how fast the bean-sized children grew, the passage of time seemed quite rapid.
'It's warm.'
There was no color.
Yet warmth seemed to radiate from it.
That's how joyful and bright the goblin and children's life in the paintings was.
'She's always liked kids.'
It was the same when she was first freed from her seal.
Unlike Dark, who had punched them, Renya had patted Kkancho and Momo.
He'd vaguely thought it was because both were irresistibly cute, but it seemed that wasn't the only reason.
Of course, Renya would deny it, so he didn't say it out loud.
Anyway. The immersion in this painting was incredible.
'Hm?'
At some point.
Beings painted pitch black appeared before the goblin.
He could instinctively tell.
They were Rakshasa.
The goblin and the Rakshasa fought fiercely, as if by some pact.
The Rakshasa always lost, but the fight showed no sign of ending.
The Rakshasa kept coming.
As if trying to wear Renya down to death.
And after some time passed.
The children in the cave vanished from the painting.
Only the goblin remained, alone.
'No way...'
Jinhyuk and his friends' eyes widened.
None of them dared look at Renya.
-I didn't really like staying there.
Renya's words from their first visit to the cave came to mind.
Maybe it was because of painful memories.
*Swoosh.*
The goblin in the painting rose to its feet.
The goblin began moving somewhere.
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T/N:
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