Mythic Tower, 10th Floor
A damp, dark space.
A bleak wind slipped through the gaps between the rotting planks.
An old man sat there, unmoved even as the wind tousled his hair.
"Heh…!"
A greasy laugh escaped his lips.
He had felt it.
The presences that had just entered.
"Well, well. It's been a long time since anyone dared come in here."
Guests, after so long.
His body itched to move, but he didn't act rashly.
Not yet.
They hadn't fully entered yet.
He had to wait until they swallowed the bait.
"So? What will you do? Come in? Or turn back?"
If they chose to enter—
"It'll be quite lonely."
The comrades they trusted would vanish.
"And quite a long journey."
A maze without an end, without a visible exit, would appear—one they could never escape.
"Heh heh heh."
A chilling laugh leaked out.
If they made a foolish choice, they would hear it.
The screams echoing through the maze, with no one to help them.
[You have entered the Mythic Tower, 10th Floor.]
The moment they entered, Jinhyeok and the others swallowed dryly.
The timid Momo crept closer and clung to Jinhyeok's leg.
"Feels like ghosts are gonna pop out."
"Yeah. It's creepy."
"What's so scary? If we're talking scary, the scariest thing here is the knight standing next to us."
"Granny! Are you sayin' Captain Seira is a ghost? Can't ya hear what we're sayin'?!"
"Our yodel friend, wanna try falling out of an airplane in a bit?"
"Don't open the airplane door. We'll all fall together."
After stopping Elia, they slowly moved forward.
Gloomy—and bleak.
Those were the most fitting words to describe the place.
Caw. Caw. Caw.
Creaking wood mixed with the cries of crows.
Even the background sound was perfect.
"I saw this before!"
"Yeah."
"It's called a torii. A structure that marks a sacred area at Japanese shrines. It can also serve as a gate connecting the living world to another realm."
All eyes turned to Elia.
"What's with that stiff way of talking?"
"Hmph! I'm an elf who's 3,271 years old, you know? There's very little I don't know."
"You saw it on NimoWiki, didn't you?"
"How'd you know? My master can be pretty sharp sometimes."
Elia admitted it readily and shrugged.
Anyway, with a torii here, it seemed likely this place had something to do with Japan.
"Let's go in."
As they passed through the torii, the flow of air changed.
It felt thicker—heavier.
"Master, what did you say the class of the card you picked was this time?"
"I don't know the exact class. Just that it's someone close to the heavens."
Hands clasped in prayer, sparkles stuck onto the illustration.
From the picture alone, it looked utterly holy—so why was the place like this?
"This floor might not be related to the card. The Mythic Tower doesn't always produce places tied to cards."
"Eek!"
Startled, Momo pointed off to one side.
A massive old tree that looked a thousand years old.
From its branches hung an enormous number of talismans, tied together with sacred straw ropes.
"After the torii come talismans, huh."
If the floor was related to a card, then with torii appearing, he'd thought it might be an onmyoji—but talismans and a sacred tree?
A shaman had to be added to the list of candidates.
"What's the system doin'?! Why ain't it givin' us instructions already?!"
"You're used to it. It's always unhelpful. Still, don't yell too much."
He lowered his voice slightly.
"It might get mad and mess with us."
"O-okay."
After walking for quite a while through the bleak wind, they came upon a large gate.
Made of extremely old wood—it looked like it would shatter if someone merely tapped it.
"That's a lot of talismans."
The door was packed with talismans covered in all kinds of Chinese characters.
As Jinhyeok examined it, he let out a low hum.
At the very top, written in bright red letters—
DO NOT OPEN.
Whether it was blood or paint, the letters had run downward over time.
It felt like opening it would curse you on the spot.
"Commander! I'll hold onto the troublemaker Momo! She won't be able to dropkick the door!"
"Momo's not opening the door!"
Kancho and Momo bound each other up to make sure the terrifying door would never open.
But contrary to their wishes—
BANG!
The old door flew open spectacularly.
Half of it shattered completely, blasted away by the force.
"Huh?"
Kancho and Momo stared blankly as they looked up.
Then their eyes fixed on Jinhyeok, who had kicked the door open.
"Hm? Why? We came all this way. Of course we should go in."
It was scary, sure.
But since there was no other path in sight, not going in wasn't an option.
When there's no choice, the faster the decision, the better.
So he kicked it open without hesitation.
He scanned the silent interior.
"See? There's nothing inside. No need to be scared—"
Jinhyeok stopped mid-sentence.
The others were gone.
Was it because his source of confidence had vanished?
Sweat seeped down his back.
Maybe kicking the door had been a mistake?
Twang.
A sound like a gayageum or geomungo resonated through the air.
With each note, new torii and paths appeared—and disappeared.
Structures forming and vanishing, endlessly interwoven.
Ding!
[You have entered the Goblin Barrier.]
[A horrific maze where the paths change in real time.]
[If you fail to escape, your soul will be bound to the paths.]
[If you are lucky, you may encounter your scattered companions.]
[If you are unlucky, you may meet beings that interfere with navigation.]
[For countless years, no one has ever escaped this maze.]
"Damn."
One brutal message after another flashed before his eyes.
That damn system.
When helpful explanations are needed, it's nowhere to be seen—but when it comes to scaring people, it's more eager than anyone.
As he grumbled internally at the system, a shuffling sound came from the bushes.
"This is scarier than The Home of Legends."
Admitting without shame that he was scared, Jinhyeok drew Berid's sword, Pherakan.
Soon, grotesque figures emerged.
"Ugh."
Their faces and bodies were half-crushed, making them hard to even describe.
With rusty axes or sickles in their hands, they were unmistakably monsters.
"Perfect."
He kicked off the ground without hesitation.
And in an instant, severed the necks of two of them.
[Iron Brand has been activated.]
Pherakan's emblem was carved into the sickles and axes.
"Oh."
It was a strange sensation.
Though they were entirely separate beings, it felt like they were connected by some kind of flow.
When he manipulated that flow, the fallen sickles and axes floated into the air.
"So it takes mana."
He moved the weapons around experimentally.
The larger the movement he commanded, the more mana it consumed.
"Ssss—"
"Grrrr—"
He launched the weapons at the monsters that had emerged again.
Axes and sickles pierced straight into their foreheads.
The Iron Brand was immediately engraved, granting control over the weapons of the monsters that had just fallen.
Only then did he truly understand.
Why Berid Windsor became harder and harder to deal with as time went on.
"Kyahhh!"
"Grrrr!"
Perhaps enraged by the deaths of their kin, the entire forest shook as monsters began pouring out.
"Alright, Pherakan test complete."
No need to waste more time here.
He summoned his scattered companions.
"Wipe them out."
"Mission acknowledged!"
Kancho stepped forward, leveling her minigun.
Dududududu!
Hundreds of rounds of explosive clay sprayed into the forest.
The woods turned into a sea of fire, illuminating the once-dark surroundings.
They had been scattered for a moment, but he hadn't been worried.
Instinctively, he knew.
No matter the situation, the authority of manifestation was absolute.
"Mission complete! We're back!"
"Good work."
Roughly ruffling Kancho's head, Jinhyeok looked straight ahead.
A horrific maze where the paths changed in real time.
That wasn't a problem either.
They had the perfect counter to a maze.
From his pocket, he took out the Yodel Compass.
"Mythic Tower, 10th Floor exit."
The compass pointed precisely in the right direction.
Smiling, Jinhyeok turned to his companions.
"Let's go."
They were going to escape the maze now.
Without getting lost even once—warmly and comfortably.
[You have escaped the horrific maze!]
[The Goblin Barrier has been dispelled!]
Seeing the messages appear, Jinhyeok smiled.
As expected of the Yodel Compass.
Once again, it guided them to the exit without a single mistake.
"Haaah."
As Jinhyeok blew on the compass and polished it carefully, inside a nearby thatched hut—
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble!!
The old man's body shook violently.
"W-what are those things?"
At first, he thought he must have imagined it.
He'd gone to the trouble of scattering them, yet somehow the visitors had regrouped.
So he scattered them again.
Several times, even.
But before long, he had no choice but to give up.
He realized it was pointless.
He didn't know what principle was at work, but the visitors kept reuniting in less than a second after being scattered.
—Grrrk!! Wander forever!
Even if he couldn't scatter them, the maze was still there.
So he plucked the strings in real time, changing the paths.
Yet they escaped at an absurd speed.
—Are they just lucky?
He wondered—but that wasn't it.
To reach this place, one must pass through hundreds of branches and doors.
With the paths changing in real time, the number of possible routes should have exploded exponentially.
And yet they arrived here without a single mistake.
This was far beyond the realm of simple luck or misfortune.
"I have no choice. If it's come to this…"
The old man set his face in determination.
"Run."
He had prepared for countless possibilities—but not for the enemy actually reaching this place.
The old man sprang up and opened the back door.
"Doryah!!"
"Guhk!"
A stubby creature came flying out of nowhere, delivering a dropkick.
The old man took the blow to the chest and went rolling back to where he'd been.
Crunch!
Moments later, Jinhyeok and the others burst in, tearing the door apart.
Jinhyeok approached and helped the sprawled old man up.
"Are you the one who made the maze?"
Perhaps because of the polite, respectful tone, the old man puffed out his nostrils.
"That's right! I am the one who serves the Man-god—!"
"He says yes."
Jinhyeok let go of him and stepped back.
On cue, Momo and Kancho rushed in.
"How dare you! Release monsters! And build mazes!"
"Momo's legs hurt 'cause you made that junk!"
Kanmo's signature beatdown duo went to town, pounding the old man with whatever they could grab.
He was clearly a bad old man—but why did he suddenly seem pitiful?
"Eat dirt!"
Momo scooped up a fistful and shoved it into his mouth.
"W-why dirt…"
Sweat beaded on Jinhyeok's forehead as he raised his hand.
A signal to stop.
"Yaaahhh!"
"Hit him more! Harder!"
Failing to understand the signal, Kancho and Momo continued the beating.
It only ended after Dark and Seira lifted the two of them up.
"Ghhk…"
Jinhyeok approached the trembling old man.
"You said 'Man-god' just now, right?"
Then he asked,
"Who's that?"
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T/N:
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