Chapter 49
A pitch-dark cave.
A place filled with the stench of rotting corpses.
The nauseating odor made him want to gag.
‘Where is this?’
But the location itself wasn’t the important part.
Goosebumps crawled up his skin.
The entire space was filled with overwhelming magic power.
A presence embodying the very culmination of magic—far beyond Kankun or the floor guardian Trog—was somewhere nearby.
‘…Is this really the Adora faction?’
It was likely the ‘Witch of Death, Adora.’
The words on the message that had appeared.
It clearly stated he had been summoned to the ‘Adora faction,’ and that fact remained unchanged no matter how many times he checked.
But there had never been a case of someone being summoned to another faction after making their choice in the Tower of Arrogance.
Once you picked a faction, you could never change it. That was the accepted rule.
‘The Tower of Arrogance summoned me to the Adora faction.’
Why?
Was it because he helped Kankun awaken the Heart Sword?
Given how directly it was mentioned, there seemed to be no other reason.
But all he’d done was guide Kankun so he would no longer fear magic, helping him free himself from the magic of death.
It wasn’t as if Kankun had suddenly used the Heart Sword.
Kankun himself had already been on the verge of reaching the Heart Sword realm; hearing Park Chan-woo’s advice had simply let him take the final step.
‘Does it want me to help Adora too?’
The image the Tower of Arrogance wanted.
It seemed to wish for Kankun and Adora to face each other in their perfect states, with only one left standing in the end.
Just as Kankun overcame his weakness and achieved a breakthrough, maybe Adora was supposed to change as well.
‘…They want both to be perfected.’
Only then could a truly perfect ‘Creator’ be made.
Honestly, Park Chan-woo didn’t know exactly what was required to seize the qualification of a Creator.
He just knew all Creators were ‘Lords of the Abyss.’
But neither Kankun nor Adora was anywhere close to being a Lord of the Abyss.
If someone who wasn’t a Lord of the Abyss could be given the Creator’s qualification… just as Dagon said, the Abyss would be thrown into chaos.
It was a top-level secret and an immensely valuable piece of information.
Seeing even the demon merchant Dagon avoid getting involved, it was clear what was happening in the Tower of Arrogance was extraordinary.
‘No matter what, I have to reach the top.’
The Tower of Arrogance probably wanted him to help Adora overcome her own weakness as well.
Kankun had a problem.
He found magic disgusting, feared it, and avoided Adora.
But what about Adora?
Unlike Kankun, she healed herself, gathered relics, and actively tried to climb the tower.
On the surface, she didn’t seem to have the same problem as Kankun.
She seemed perfect.
‘…Adora’s weakness, huh.’
The Witch of Death.
The feeling evoked by that title was pure ‘abhorrence.’
Witches appeared from the deepest parts of the Abyss.
There were extremely few of them, but the demons of the Abyss regarded witches as a ‘cursed race.’
In reality, their magic signified every kind of disgust and contempt, and among all that, wielding death meant they were the most cursed of all.
Even Park Chan-woo partly agreed with the demons’ opinion.
‘Witches are dolls without emotion.’
Fundamentally, ‘witches’ had no joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure.
They were born with a talent for dark magic and could wield every kind of ominous power.
The problem was the side effects of dark magic.
Unlike magic that governed truth, dark magic went against truth.
So, wherever witches went, ‘rifts’ would appear.
These rifts gnawed away at the Abyss and summoned all kinds of inexplicable things.
It was only natural, then, that to the demons who lived in the Abyss, witches were cursed beings.
Who would like someone wrecking their home and yard at will?
‘To find a weakness, I’ll have to get closer.’
It was about finding the witch’s weakness.
Observing from afar wouldn’t be enough.
Having decided, Park Chan-woo opened his ‘inventory.’
[‘World Tree Staff (-98Lv, Eternal)’ equipped.]
[‘Frost Han Helm (-95Lv, Legendary)’ equipped.]
[‘Arahan’s Golden Mystery (-89Lv, Ancient)’ equipped……]
…At least here, in Adora’s faction, he would have to be a real mage.
—
“You already filled the showcase?”
“Isn’t this basically a monopoly?”
The challengers climbing the tower in the Adora faction grumbled.
Countless challengers had climbed non-stop to reach the third floor, but a very small number had monopolized the relics and were dominating the climb.
You could place ten relics in the showcase.
If you found a higher-grade relic, you could swap it out, but all ten spots were at least filled with lower-grade relics or better.
There were even more than three intermediate-grade relics, so for ordinary challengers or groups, replacing relics was almost impossible.
Above all, nearly the entire showcase was monopolized by a single person.
“…They say he filled six spots alone.”
“He’s a real monster.”
Even the word overwhelming wasn’t enough.
An existence with terrifying skill and an unstoppable march!
A monster was here, making even the slightest will to challenge feel meaningless.
“Didn’t they say it was ‘Han Shin’?”
“At this rate, he’ll take all ten spots for himself.”
“Damn…”
They grit their teeth, but there was nothing they could do.
The higher they climbed, the faster the difficulty skyrocketed, and on the third floor, the ‘muscle spiders’ living in the caves would kill people in an instant if they dropped their guard.
As their name suggested, muscle spiders were spiders packed with muscle. The moment they got hold of you, they’d tear human bodies like paper.
“Kyaaahhh!”
Screams echoed regularly.
The dark cave branched into countless tunnels, and it was impossible to predict where the ‘muscle spiders’ would emerge from.
Maybe that’s why—
“I—I can’t go any farther!”
“If we stay here, we’ll all die!”
After reaching the third floor, people began giving up on climbing any higher.
More than half had already retreated to the lower floors.
And that wasn’t all.
“Where’s Adora, anyway?”
“How should I know! You’ll get cursed if you go near her!”
Adora didn’t travel with anyone else.
It was inevitable.
If you approached Adora, you would be ‘cursed.’
Your life force would be drained, and in the end, you’d wither away and die like a mummy.
The frontrunners had already gone far ahead, and since it was impossible to move with Adora, the prospects for those left behind were grim.
Of course, there were a few people who followed Adora from as far outside the range of her curse as possible.
“This is seriously brutal.”
“Is she bringing dead monsters back to life?”
Around Adora, there were already countless ‘muscle spiders.’
There were even several ‘muscle spider queens’ among them.
But they were corpses.
The Witch of Death, Adora, was raising the corpses slaughtered by her dark magic as her own soldiers.
“Even the floor guardians from the first and second floors…”
“They didn’t stand a chance.”
She had resurrected the floor guardians as well.
That army alone was well over five hundred strong.
Aside from swapping out relics, there was nothing humans could do to help.
“Anyway, let’s just follow from as far away as possible. As long as we participate in hunting the floor guardians, we’ll each get a coin.”
Still, they couldn’t just miss out.
If you participated in hunting floor guardians with Adora, you’d receive ‘1 coin’ as a reward.
At this point, the importance of coins went without saying.
If you could get your hands on one, you had to risk your life for it.
“Hm?”
“What’s up with that guy?”
As they moved toward the third floor’s floor guardian, people cocked their heads as they spotted someone approaching from the other direction.
A bluish-colored helm.
Six horns, a visage of despair—an appearance so bizarre it would haunt your dreams!
Golden brilliance gleamed from both shoulders.
And that faint, golden aura swirling around him.
But the finishing touch was the staff.
It wasn’t particularly distinctive, yet for some reason, you couldn’t take your eyes off it.
“A mage?”
“Isn’t he the floor guardian?”
They still didn’t know what the third floor’s floor guardian looked like.
In a place filled with nothing but muscle spiders, if there was someone unafraid of Adora, it had to be the floor guardian.
That dazzling figure gave weight to the theory that he was the floor guardian.
After all, the Witch of Death, Adora, was not someone just any mage could approach.
At last, the witch’s army and the man faced each other.
“…….”
“…….”
Gulp.
No one could look away.
How would Adora react?
Based on everything so far, she’d blast him with dark magic.
Adora never tolerated anyone who stood in her way.
Look.
Even now, she was getting ready to use dark magic.
Kyaaa!
Kiiiiii!
A horde of monsters rushed to kill the man.
But then—
Thud!
Suddenly, the man knelt on one knee.
“I pay my respects to the descendant of the ‘Black Witch.'”
Thunk!
Adora, who had been about to unleash dark magic with both hands, stopped.
At the same moment, the monsters also froze as if on command.
Adora spoke in a dry, emotionless voice.
“Do you know ‘Our Mother’?”
“As one who studies the truth, how could I not know the Sovereign of All Demons?”
The first witch.
Called the Black Witch, worshipped as the ‘Mother’ of all witches.
There was no way Park Chan-woo would not know her.
Adora spoke.
“Leave.”
Knowing the Sovereign of All Demons, the Black Witch, meant she wouldn’t kill him.
But her attitude was as cold as ice.
Park Chan-woo looked up and met Adora’s eyes.
Eyes without a hint of emotion—white, like those of any witch.
“Witch of Death. I know well that you were abandoned by the ‘Black Witch.'”
“…….”
Adora did not answer.
It was a silent affirmation.
Just as Park Chan-woo thought, Adora also had a problem.
A serious one.
Otherwise, there would be no reason for a witch to leave the ‘deepest part of the Abyss.’
Park Chan-woo spoke confidently.
“I will solve it for you.”
“Solve what?”
“The death magic engraved in Kankun’s heart.”
“……?”
“I sensed something odd from it.”
“What are you talking about?”
She feigned ignorance.
This was where the real contest began.
Park Chan-woo rose and extended his right hand.
Then—
Fwoosh!
The ‘Flower of Life’ bloomed on his palm.
The death magic eaten from Kankun’s heart lingered within the Flower of Life.
Adora tilted her head.
That was unmistakably her magic. The special spell she’d engraved on Kankun’s heart.
“How do you have that?”
“I took it from Kankun.”
He chose to confront her directly.
He had a good idea what Adora’s problem—her weakness—was.
Park Chan-woo put the Flower of Life away.
“Only I can solve your problem.”
“I have no problem.”
“But first, let me ask you one thing.”
Park Chan-woo ignored Adora’s objection.
Adora hesitated, then finally spoke.
“…Ask.”
Park Chan-woo was inwardly tense.
This was the most important question.
He had acted as if he knew everything, but if he miscalculated, Adora could kill him.
Slowly,
he asked the worst possible question he could imagine.
“By any chance, are you in love with Kankun?”