Chapter 210
‘This tower isn’t friendly to us.’
The higher he climbed the Tower of God, the more certain he became.
This tower hadn’t been built for humanity—nor even for Park Chanwoo.
It wasn’t a simple trial of climbing and conquering.
It was hostile, as if it had been designed to grind challengers down.
‘A tower that projects destroyed worlds.’
That was the conclusion he reached by the time he cleared the 12th floor.
The Tower of God was tied to every “destroyed world.”
A tower that had contained destruction from the beginning.
Which meant the danger was beyond measure.
The tower’s very existence threatened the world with ruin.
And if that was true, then—
‘…Earth could be destroyed too.’
There was a high chance it would end up walking that same path.
Why would Transcender Lil leave something this dangerous as a “last resort”?
Had she valued the completion of magic over the survival of Earth and humanity?
Maybe an immortal Transcender couldn’t truly understand the deaths of mortals.
Or—
‘Belief.’
Belief that her disciple, Park Chanwoo, would overcome this destruction.
Belief that he would erase the curse engraved into the tower.
He believed it was the latter.
Hadn’t Chronos said Lil wasn’t like ordinary Transcenders?
That she carried compassion—something close to human emotion.
So Park Chanwoo didn’t go straight to the 20th floor, even though he could.
The reason was simple.
He chose to climb properly from the 13th floor and face every trial.
If this was truly the last resort Lil had left behind, then she would want him to climb in order.
There had to be something she wanted to teach him—something she wanted him to see.
And so, he headed for the stairs to the 13th floor.
[There could not be a more perfect clear than this.]
[Surpassing the hidden clear conditions, this is a ‘First Clear.’]
[You complete the 12th floor of the Tower of God with an EX grade.]
[Additional rewards are given to the first ‘One Who Surpassed God.’]
[You acquire three ‘Platinum Boxes (★★★).’]
[You acquire one ‘Superior Spirit Stone.’]
[You are awarded 50 Coins.]
Rewards poured in.
It had been a long time since he’d gotten a 3-star Platinum Box.
And he’d even obtained a Superior Spirit Stone while climbing the tower.
‘Superior Spirit Stones were rare even in the past.’
Even at the end of the century, the number of Superior Spirit Stones mined could be counted on one hand.
Even Demon King-class lords coveted them.
That was how absurdly hard they were to obtain.
And that wasn’t all.
Ping!
Ping-ping!
The number of Easter Eggs following him surged.
Maybe it was because he cleared with an EX grade, but they increased explosively.
Now, twenty-three eggs trailed behind him.
‘…What changes if I collect more?’
The messages still weren’t done.
[The ‘Achievement Score’ of the entered tower increases, and the remaining time of the ‘Tower of God’ increases by 10 hours.]
[Remaining Time: 287 hours 31 minutes 1 second]
[An additional ‘Important Tip’ is revealed because you cleared with an EX grade.]
[Important TIP: The tower is made up of five wills.]
‘Five wills?’
Did that mean the Tower of God had a self?
No—five selves.
That wasn’t a small detail.
Because it meant this wasn’t just a system.
If it had wills, then something was watching the climbers from above.
And if Park Chanwoo could perceive them, then—
They could hinder him.
Or they could help him.
There had to be a reason it was split into five.
‘I’ll figure it out as I climb.’
Park Chanwoo shrugged and climbed the stairs.
[You have reached the 13th floor of the Tower of God.]
[You face a newly adjusted trial by the tower.]
[Kill the immortal monster, ‘Ancient Bengalodon (100Lv).’]
[‘Ancient Bengalodon’ has the characteristics of magic immunity and physical immunity.]
[The longer ‘Ancient Bengalodon’ survives, the faster the ‘Remaining Time’ will decrease.]
—
10th floor.
Lee Hyuk-soo frowned at the Black Evil God (70Lv) standing before him.
He’d grown quickly during the Third Night, but—
‘Already Level 70.’
He’d only reached the 10th floor, yet a Level 70 enemy had appeared.
And the difficulty was climbing sharply with every floor.
“M-Master. Shouldn’t we reorganize and come back?”
Han Min-oh—who called himself Lee Hyuk-soo’s disciple—spoke cautiously.
Lee Hyuk-soo glanced around.
Their party had three people.
Lee Hyuk-soo, Han Min-oh, and a woman named Lingling.
“Are you tired already? It’s not that impressive, is it?”
Lingling was a Chinese woman Lee Hyuk-soo had accepted only because Park Sang-min, director of the Abyss Safety Bureau, had pushed for it.
She was also one of the most skilled people Lee Hyuk-soo had ever met.
The problem was that she never stopped provoking him.
It seemed the Chinese government had sent her to verify the skills of Lee Hyuk-soo—the so-called Messiah, praised as a great hero.
Of course, Lee Hyuk-soo wasn’t the type to be shaken by cheap taunts.
But—
‘If we exit, we can’t re-enter for 24 hours.’
That delay bothered him.
Reorganizing would be safer and more efficient.
And there was another issue.
‘…This party is too attack-oriented.’
There wasn’t a single healer or proper defender.
Potions had limits.
Even Lee Hyuk-soo could feel his stamina draining.
Should he push forward, or step back?
‘Balmung will be summoned when the remaining time runs out.’
Balmung—the monster of the 99th floor.
If the 10th floor was Level 70, he couldn’t imagine what level Balmung would be.
If something like that appeared in Korea, the country could be wiped out in an instant.
And according to what he’d heard, it would destroy everything around it until it died.
Just thinking about that made his mind go cold.
He could never allow Balmung to be summoned.
‘Achievement Score… it’s probably the combined score of climbers in that country or city.’
Still, questions remained about how the summoning worked.
They said Balmung would be summoned from the tower with the lowest Achievement Score.
As far as he knew, 146 Towers of God had appeared worldwide.
Which implied—
‘Roughly one tower per 50 million people.’
That kind of estimate made sense.
And in Korea, the Tower of God had appeared in Gapyeong.
That was why he had to keep climbing this tower.
‘I have to raise the Achievement Score, even by one point.’
At the very least, he had to keep Balmung from being summoned in Korea.
Lee Hyuk-soo focused on the empty air.
A message floated where nothing should be.
[The ‘Tower of God of Korea’ Achievement Score is currently 36,155 points.]
It had started appearing once he reached the 10th floor.
But he had no idea whether that number was high or low.
So he had to push it higher.
If the Fourth Night began—or if another unexpected Abyss event occurred—there might not be time to climb at all.
He needed to climb as high as possible before anything else happened.
“Give up? Surrender?”
“…Shut up.”
Lee Hyuk-soo clicked his tongue at Lingling’s provocation.
He didn’t know why she’d come all the way to Korea just to needle him.
‘You wanted to see my skills?’
Then he’d show her.
Lee Hyuk-soo’s growth since surviving the Third Night had been explosive.
No—his growth, along with the Prophet, had reached a level most humans could never touch.
Swish!
He drew the Greatsword of the Immortal King.
Kuaaaaaaah-!
His shadow swelled, towering upward until it formed like a giant.
And when Lee Hyuk-soo swung his sword at the Black Evil God—
the giant shadow swung in sync.
Kwarurururung!
With a roar that shook the tower, the shadow’s blade cleaved the Black Evil God down.
—
Ancient Bengalodon.
A monster that looked vaguely like a tiger.
The trial the tower had hastily “readjusted” was harsher than expected.
Immune to magic and immune to physical attacks.
In other words, ordinary methods couldn’t harm it.
But Ataraxia shouted with confidence instead.
“I can solve this. Please allow me to handle it, Great One.”
Maybe he felt he hadn’t done enough on the 11th and 12th floors.
Park Chanwoo couldn’t bring himself to refuse that earnestness.
“Try.”
“Thank you!”
Ataraxia nodded hard, then immediately subdued the charging Bengalodon.
He deployed a barrier and trapped it inside.
It couldn’t be damaged, but it couldn’t break out either.
Then Ataraxia steadily narrowed the barrier’s space, suffocating it to death.
On the 14th and 15th floors, Ancient Bengalodons with different immunity traits appeared.
‘It seems Ancient Bengalodon has two random immunities.’
A strange monster.
Two immunities, but never fixed.
And then, on the 19th floor—
[‘Ancient Bengalodon King’ appears.]
[‘Ancient Bengalodon King (125Lv)’ has ‘All Immunity (100%).’]
A truly difficult enemy had appeared.
But there was a bigger problem than even that.
Ataraxia’s expression turned tense—more rigid than when he’d faced the Dusk Clan.
Because it wasn’t only the Ancient Bengalodon King waiting here.
Others had arrived first.
They were in human form, but their aura was nothing like ordinary humans.
Then they and Ataraxia spoke at the same time, voices hostile.
“…Dragon Clan.”
“…Kirin Clan.”