Levels Soaring
They entered the 58th floor of the Tower of Despair.
A place packed with poison-attribute monsters amid a dense jungle.
"The bushes are moving!"
Startled, Momo hid behind Jinhyeok's legs.
Of course, Jinhyeok himself made an ugh face as well.
Since it was poison-related, there were many reptilian monsters—snakes, centipedes, frogs, and the like.
He really hated this sort of thing.
"We don't even have to go in! I'll blow everything away!"
Kancho pulled out a minigun.
Not a bad choice.
Even if he couldn't kill every monster, he could at least clear the jungle completely.
"May I go first? I'd like to try using the sword."
The Yordle Ranger Kancho, who had been about to charge, straightened his posture.
"I'll obey Captain Seira's orders! Salu—te!"
After a booming salute, Kancho lined up beside Jinhyeok.
Judging by how Elia and Dark were chewing on jerky, they didn't seem particularly interested in fighting.
"Go ahead."
Seira, who had put some distance between herself and the others, drew Raven, the Sword of Thunder.
Raven crackled with electricity around its wielder.
That's insanely cool.
Lightning—thunder and lightning.
Along with fire, it was one of the top two elemental attributes most men loved.
Still a little unfamiliar with it, Seira quietly gazed down at the sword.
In the meantime, monsters began to emerge from within the jungle.
As expected, most of them were reptiles.
Among them was an anaconda that looked at least ten meters long.
"Haa…"
Seira lightly inhaled, fixing her gaze straight ahead.
[Thunder Sword Raven – Ignition]
Bzzzzzzzt!!
Rough, greenish lightning burst from the blade.
"Keek!"
Monsters that had foolishly approached were charred black in an instant.
She hadn't even swung the sword yet.
Yet the power was already this overwhelming—his palms grew slick with sweat.
"Whew."
Exhaling, Seira swung the sword in a wide arc.
[Lightning Rain]
Green lightning-bladed energy scattered up into the sky.
The monsters beneath it tilted their heads, question marks practically forming over them.
The blade hadn't cut them—hadn't even hit them—just passed by.
Thinking this was their chance, perhaps, the monsters that had been inching forward suddenly sped up.
And just as they were about to let out a ferocious roar—
Thududududududududu!!!!
Hundreds of lightning bolts began to fall from the sky.
A rain of lightning poured down rapidly along the path traced by the blade energy.
The continuous explosions pummeled their ears without mercy.
"Wooooah!"
"We're gonna fall!"
Even the ground beneath their feet shook violently.
It truly felt as though heaven and earth were in upheaval.
Even while scooping up Kancho and Momo, Jinhyeok never took his eyes off the scene ahead.
Where did they all go?
The swarming monsters were nowhere to be seen.
The jungle that had blocked their view was gone as well.
As if nothing had ever been there, the area had been completely razed, revealing a wide, open field of vision.
Ding!
[You have cleared the 58th floor of the Tower of Despair!]
[Unique Trait 'Level Matching' activated! The highest level and rank, Seira Kincaiton, has been selected as the standard.]
[Additional experience will be calculated based on the experience gained from clearing the 58th floor of the Tower of Despair.]
[You have obtained a massive amount of additional experience!]
[Level Up! Current Level: 76]
[Level Up! Current Level: 77]
[Level Up! Current Level: 78]
[Level Up! Current Level: 79]
[Level Up! Current Level: 80]
[All stats increase simultaneously!]
Jinhyeok covered his mouth.
If he didn't, he felt like a scream might burst out.
Compared to the floors they were climbing, his level had been relatively high.
Because of that, clearing a single floor usually only increased experience, nothing more.
But five levels at once—this meant the additional experience from Level Matching far surpassed the original experience gained from clearing the tower.
[Yordle Ranger Vice-Captain Kancho leveled up! Current Level: 92]
[Explosive Clay Sculpting speed increases!]
Kancho gained three levels.
[Undying One Dark Castro has leveled up! Current Level: 100]
[Physical regeneration speed increases!]
Dark gained one.
[Greedy Collector Momo leveled up! Current Level: 94]
[Level of 'Nimble Hands' increases! The ability now demonstrates its power not only in item collection, but in various other situations as well!]
Momo gained two.
[Star Alchemist Elia Fossen has leveled up! Current Level: 107]
Elia gained one as well.
Compared to how their experience bars had barely budged on the previous floor, this was an excellent result.
"Whoa! My level jumped all of a sudden?"
"Growth does seem to have accelerated."
"My clay's getting made way faster!"
"Momo's hands are faster too! Look! Zoom-zoom!"
He explained the Level Matching trait to his excited companions.
"So this is what they call a trickle-down effect?"
"Oh, Elia. You really are smart."
"It's nothing special. I am a Star Alchemist, after all."
"Why're you getting all smug about knowing everything, granny!"
As usual, Elia and Kancho bickered.
This time, there was no need to step in.
The two of them stopped arguing on their own and turned their gaze in the same direction.
Seira, who had singlehandedly swept away the floor, was quietly returning.
Everyone began staring at her with sparkling eyes.
"Why are you all doing that?"
Perhaps feeling burdened, Seira hesitated slightly as she asked.
Regardless, Jinhyeok and the others intensified their gaze even more.
Eyes filled with respect and awe.
Ding!
[You have cleared the 58th floor of the Tower of Despair!]
[You have obtained materials from the poison monsters of the 58th floor!]
[Time taken to clear: 57 seconds. A new record has been set in the Hall of Honor!]
[You ended the battle in a single exchange! Rank SSS+ achieved! Achievement gauge increases!]
[Achievement gauge fully charged! Special Reward Box is activating!]
The Special Reward Box—always exciting to see.
The box spun for a long while before stopping on a symbol he'd never seen before.
[A Class Lineage Selection Ticket has been granted!]
You may choose the class lineage of the next card you collect!You cannot choose a specific class!Please select your desired lineage!
Four images appeared before his eyes.
A sword, a shield, an arrow, and a shimmering hand-shaped symbol.
"Hm."
He rubbed his chin, examining the images.
They called them lineages, but the illustrations were extremely vague.
Especially the last one—it was ambiguous.
The earlier ones could roughly be interpreted as a melee damage dealer, a tank, and a ranged damage dealer.
The hand shape looked like prayer, so maybe a healer? Or maybe not. It was unclear.
He turned to look at the companions lined up behind him.
There was a crazy melee DPS, someone who could more than adequately fill a tank role, an explosion maniac ranged DPS who also used alchemy, and a chubby little one who handled just about anything competently without needing much attention.
If he had to choose something they lacked, it would be that last image.
I hope it's a cleric-type.
Elia was an excellent pharmacist, but she wasn't a healer by nature.
Having one, just in case, would be incredibly reassuring.
[You have selected the 'One Close to the Heavens' class lineage!]
Jinhyeok frowned.
Just like the image, the name was frustratingly ambiguous.
"No!!"
A sudden scream rang out.
Momo, who had somehow gone far ahead, collapsed with a thud.
"Mooooomoooo!!!"
They rushed over, and Momo reached out weakly, her face devoid of strength.
She was holding the pitch-blackened body of a snake.
"It's all grilled! Here too! Over there too!"
"Huh?"
Momo's collecting worked differently from the system's automatic material acquisition.
She personally processed monster corpses to gather higher-grade materials.
But every corpse on the 58th floor had been charred black by the lightning.
"We'll need to restrain the use of lightning from now on."
Seira crouched down and gently patted Momo.
Joining the comforting pats, Jinhyeok smiled.
"It's okay, Momo. Even if you collect a little less, we can still eat tasty food."
"Really?!"
"Yeah. Did you forget? Our annual income is fifty billion."
"Oh, right!"
Realizing that gourmet food was still secure, Momo immediately brightened.
"I'll gather whatever's still usable! We have to sell it at Unnie's place!"
"Okay."
Momo dashed off and began collecting at lightning speed.
Every time her hand touched a corpse, it instantly turned into bare bones.
An impressive—yet terrifying—ability.
After Momo finished her round of collecting—
[Exiting the 58th floor of the Tower of Despair!]
With the message, the damp jungle faded into blur.
A refreshing breeze began to blow once more.
Before them stretched the beautiful green fields of Wales.
Thudududududu.
Hearing the sound of a helicopter, Jinhyeok looked up.
There was still more than an hour left before the scheduled time.
It seemed they'd arrived early to wait.
"Ngghhh."
Stretching lazily, Jinhyeok gazed at the approaching helicopter.
Time to head back.
To Conwy Castle.
A high-rise building in Tokyo, Japan.
Sitting in the living room, Innovation Party Diet member Sato Tsubasa stared at the television.
"What a mess."
Most channels had canceled their regular programming.
Instead, they were flooding the airwaves with broadcasts about the Runner.
From who the Runner was, to praising the Hall of Honor records he had achieved—the content varied widely.
But among them all, the biggest topic was the steel-related summit that had concluded earlier that day.
The United Kingdom, the country importing the largest amount of steel in Europe.
Because of that, it had effectively played the role of decision-maker at the summit—yet it delivered a completely unexpected outcome, sparking controversy.
The British government has stated that today's summit results have absolutely nothing to do with the Runner's actions.
"Nonsense."
Tsubasa shook his head.
If that message hadn't appeared during the summit, there would have been no reason to adjust Korea's upper limit.
Unlike China or Japan, Korea no longer had anything to offer Britain.
"Serves them right."
With a faint smirk, Tsubasa tipped his glass.
Masaru, the Minister of Trade from the ruling party.
If not for the Runner, he would've been praised for pulling off an excellent negotiation—but now, simply because he had ended up performing worse than Korea, he was being harshly criticized.
"A being that overturns situations that seem impossible… I like that."
Murmuring the Runner's name, Tsubasa lifted his glass again.
Or rather, he was about to—when his hand stopped.
A strange sense of déjà vu.
Come to think of it, he'd had a similar thought not long ago.
One of Japan's major yakuza groups, Yamaguchi-gumi, had been wiped out, and Hosaka, its leader, had died.
As a result, a pillar that had supported the ruling party collapsed, causing it to waver.
Back then too, he'd felt something similar to what he was feeling now.
"…Am I overthinking it?"
Deep in thought, Tsubasa picked up his phone.
"Gather everyone. We're heading to Incheon Airport."
Even if it was an excessive assumption, it didn't matter.
It was worth confirming by following his intuition.
To see whether the lingering traces he had collected matched the Runner's scent.
"Hm."
Letting out a low hum, Tsubasa smiled.
Then, rising from the sofa, he whispered a few small wishes.
That he might meet the owner of those lingering traces at Incheon Airport.
And that that person might, indeed, be the Runner.
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T/N:
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