Trace
I wiped the sweat dripping down my forehead.
'I should have showered before coming.'
A swamp area filled with poisonous mist.
It's disgustingly humid; I was drenched in sweat the moment I entered.
Phew.
I turned my head toward the cool sensation.
A small chunk of ice, brimming with the chill of a thousand years.
I gave Dark a thumbs-up, took the ice chunk, and rubbed it against my neck.
"A Player?"
A small badger walked up.
The tower resident who would guide us through the 59th and 60th floors.
Recognizing the familiar face, Jinhyeok spoke up.
"Konyu?"
"Don't compare me to that honeybee bastard! He's a total scammer! I came here because they said it was more comfortable, but it's disgustingly hot, stuffy, and humid."
Quite a temperamental fellow.
"Anyway! My name is Roro. I'm the guide for the 59th and 60th floors."
"I'm Jinhyeok. This is Dark."
"The path is still being formed, so wait. The waiting time isn't counted in the record, so don't worry. Actually, you can't even set records here to begin with, so don't get greedy."
Roro waved his hand dismissively.
The 59th floor, with its complex maze and various poisons laid out section by section.
There's no shortage of Players who rushed to save time and died.
"I'm the boss here. Got it? On a ship, the captain's word is law. It's just like that! If you don't listen to me and rush, I won't guide you."
"We'll listen well, so no worries."
Good thing the Yodel Ranger Kancho isn't here.
If he were, Roro would have gotten a dropkick for insubordination and flown far away.
"But what's that? It feels cool."
"This? It's a portable air con… Huh? Roro?"
The moment I held out the ice chunk, Roro froze solid on the spot.
The chill was far too intense for a badger to withstand.
"Rorooook!"
I quickly put away the ice chunk and warmed him up.
Only then did Roro barely regain his senses.
"What was that? Everything just went dark for a moment."
I patted my chest in relief.
I almost lost the guide right at the start.
[The path has been completed!]
[Various poisons are laid out in each section!]
[You must have the guide with you to pass the final path!]
"Roro, you're immune to any poison, right?"
I saw it on the Tower site.
The guide is an all-poison-immune badger.
"Of course! No poison can kill me! But you be careful! Even a slight whiff could send you straight to your grave."
"Oh. Nice."
I took out the Yodel Compass and looked at Dark.
Dark nodded and scooped up Roro.
"Huh? What are you doing? Carrying me? You don't need to do this! The poison mist won't lessen just because I have a good view. And if you do this, I can't find the path. It changes every time, so even I have to find it each go."
"Got it."
"If you got it, put me down."
This time, instead of answering, he just smiled.
And then, he started running.
Roro's eyebrows fluttered wildly in the wind.
It was faster than any speed I'd ever experienced.
As the first poison mist rapidly approached, Roro's eyes widened.
"Eeeeek! You'll die like that!"
He pounded Dark's body with his tiny fist.
The two just kept running, heedless.
Watching them ignore even what reached their ears, Roro shook his head.
'Oh God of the Tower. Another one ascends.'
Dark and Jinhyeok entered the poison mist.
Yet their speed didn't decrease.
Roro drew a question mark in his mind.
Shouldn't they have collapsed by now?
'Are their cardiopulmonary functions that good?!'
And they're even lucky.
Even though they seem to pick at random, it turns out to be the perfect shortcut.
Shortcuts are hard to find even for a guide like Roro unless you look closely. Truly incredible luck.
Their speed was so fast that the end of the first poison mist was already in sight.
"Now we really have to go slow! Hidden weapons fly in the poison mist! You'll become a honeycomb… Eeek!"
Dark flung Roro away.
Jinhyeok, following behind, caught Roro and held him in his arms.
"Hey! I'm not a bouncy ball!! I'm the noble guide! Put me down right now!"
Ignoring him, Dark pushed off the ground.
A deep blue energy shimmered at both ends of his Eternal Frost Spear.
He swung it down.
Creeeak!
Massive ice mountains formed on both sides.
"Kuh-heeeek!"
Roro's mouth fell open.
Instead of dodging the hidden weapons, he blocked them outright.
This was a first.
Such a brute-force, simple, and straightforward breakthrough method.
Roro, who had been struggling to get out, quieted down.
Because he realized.
If he crawled out now, he'd freeze to death immediately.
"Left! We have to go left! Listen to me this time! If you go right, there's a poison that melts your brain!"
Were they reverse-psychology frogs in a past life?
Dark and Jinhyeok entered the right path without hesitation.
'Hopeless!'
Roro tightly shut his eyes.
There had been plenty of stubborn Players before.
But this was the first time anyone had so blatantly ignored the guide.
Soon, a brown mist swept over Jinhyeok's party.
Roro looked up at Jinhyeok.
Would they try to brute-force their way through by holding their breath again? This section is much longer than before.
'Huh?'
He squinted his eyes.
He thought he was seeing wrong.
"You idiot! Hold your breath!"
Jinhyeok was exhaling very evenly, inhaling and exhaling.
Did he not know he was enveloped in poison mist?
"It's fine. It's fine."
"Fine? What's fine about it?! Your brain fluid will start leaking from your nose, eyes, and ears!"
He shouted angrily, but Jinhyeok just smiled and said it was fine.
And in reality.
'Huh?!'
Jinhyeok was fine.
The amount of poison mist he must have already inhaled was enormous.
'What's with these guys? What kind of bodies do they have?'
With his hand on Jinhyeok's arm, he watched the poison mist section pass by quickly.
Now he saw it. They didn't choose the right path for no reason.
It was a shortcut, incomparably shorter than the left section.
He couldn't gauge what kind of Awakened class this human was.
Swish! Slash!
After that, Jinhyeok's party passed through a couple more poison mists without issue.
And they still picked perfect shortcuts every time.
Roro quietly stared straight ahead.
He had completely switched to spectator mode.
Just as they were running without any trouble…
[A slumbering remnant detects a trace!]
A message popped up abruptly.
Jinhyeok looked at the guide Roro for the first time since starting the run.
"Roro, what's this?"
He couldn't help but ask.
There was no such mention even on the Tower site, which had accumulated hundreds of thousands of data points.
Cold sweat ran down Roro's flank.
He wanted to show off the guide's knowledge this time, but it was impossible.
"W-what? I've never seen a message like this pop up."
Before he could grasp the situation…
Koooooong!!
A massive earthquake arrived.
The ground shook madly.
Cracks formed even on the newly made path, and through them, a darkish form revealed itself.
"It's disgustingly huge!!"
Roro screamed.
He didn't know what it was.
All he knew was that it was bigger than your average hillside.
[Due to the remnant's appearance, a change comes to the Tower of Despair's 59th floor!]
[The floor number is changed to somewhere between the 59th and 60th floors!]
"Is that a mountain?"
Dark muttered indifferently.
Next to him, Jinhyeok, who had been rubbing his chin, furrowed his brow.
"Yeah."
"Why? What is it? What is that thing?! Why is it so big? What's happening!"
He seemed to have forgotten he was the guide.
The flustered tower resident Roro poured out questions.
Jinhyeok, his brow furrowed, leaned toward the mountain.
"It feels similar. To the aura I felt in the Tower of Mythology."
In the previous floor, an entity suppressed by the God of Ten Thousand Stars had appeared.
Although he hadn't seen its form directly, he had clearly felt the sinister aura permeating that floor.
For some reason, the remnant before him also held a very small trace of that aura.
'So that's why it's called a remnant.'
Still, if even a remnant takes such a monstrous form…
How incredible must the main body be?
"I'm not really sure."
Dark shrugged.
But he didn't think Jinhyeok was wrong.
When it comes to sensing and feeling things, the Yodel guy is a step above him.
And Jinhyeok inherited that ability.
[The remnant begins to rampage!]
A giant tree trunk swung down.
Dark stepped forward and blocked it.
Dark clicked his tongue lightly.
"Master, this isn't my specialty."
The size was ridiculously huge to simply freeze.
Judging by the struggling power, even that would likely be a waste.
Jinhyeok nodded and summoned his other friends.
He had planned to call them near the end to feed them experience, but…
A variable had appeared, so he changed the plan.
Meanwhile, he took out Perracan and Salamanca, cutting down the flying branches.
Branches that regenerated and swung again no matter how many times he cut them.
What kind of tree was it? Its regeneration speed was insane.
"Reporting! Yodel Ranger Vice Captain Kan… Hwaaaam!"
Kancho, who had been summoned, yawned widely.
One side of his fur was flattened, a testament to how deeply he had slept.
"Chief! You called for meeeee?!"
Kancho screamed as he looked back.
A massive mountain ridge filled his vision, swinging its branches.
It was a sight to jolt anyone awake.
"What is thaaat?! The world is mooooving!"
"See, I told you our Yodel world is stingy? Woohoo, that's big."
Elia whistled, putting a hand to her forehead.
She didn't forget to throw in a petty jab at Kancho.
"I'll cut it."
Sera stepped forward, drawing Raven.
"Kancho. That's the guy from the Tower of Mythology, right?"
"Huh?! That's right! It's faint, but it's definitely that bastard's aura!"
Kancho looked up at Jinhyeok with sparkling eyes.
'As expected of the Chief! You don't miss even these small details anymore!'
Kancho was filled with pride at the Chief's growth.
"Why aren't you escaping?! Are you trying to catch that?!"
Roro, who had been quiet, shouted.
This wasn't a matter of bravery.
Something nonsensical had popped out.
For now, retreat was the answer.
"Huh? Why escape? We have to catch it."
"You can just come back tomorrow! How are you supposed to catch that!"
"It'll probably appear tomorrow too."
Jinhyeok stared at the remnant.
The system had called it a trace.
It seemed something had carried over from the 10th floor of the Tower of Mythology.
No one knew when this trace would be erased.
He couldn't waste tickets until it stopped appearing.
"Catch what?! Can't you see its size? You won't even make a dent… Gwehk!!"
A dropkick flew into his flank.
The guide Roro tumbled out of Jinhyeok's arms, rolling away.
Kancho, having landed cleanly, crossed his arms and glared at Roro.
"Where does this pea-sized thing get off yapping?! If the Chief says we catch it, we catch it!"
Truly, an era of suffering for guides.
Just as he was about to shout in surging bitterness…
KWA-GA-GA-GA-GA-GAK!!!
A thunderstorm of lightning began pouring from the sky.
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T/N:
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