Solo Max-Level Newbie - Chapter 455

The 31st floor of the Tower of Trials.

Thanks to Excension, the situation had rapidly escalated.

In pursuit of The Hourglass of Möbius, each guild had immediately deployed their assault teams.

As a result, the entrance to the 31st floor was now overflowing with players, turning it into a chaotic sea of people.

“From now on, just follow our instructions carefully.”

Naturally, the ones holding the key to the information were Crash Guild.

Affleck, Excension, and the other Crash Guild executives dictated their terms, manipulating the rankers from the major guilds at their whim.

“…Damn it.”

“How did things turn out like this…?”

“I’ve never even heard of that guild until now.”

“We have no choice but to play along for now.”

“Yeah, whatever happens, we must get our hands on that item that extends time.”

If they let their pride get in the way and failed…

The entire world’s fury would fall upon them.

Especially considering how they had seen once-mighty guilds crumble in an instant, no one dared to openly oppose Crash Guild’s directives.

All they could do was silently comply.

“So that’s what they were aiming for.”

“Right… Clearing the 30th floor was fine, but now we’re completely restricted in how we move.”

Chun Yoosung and Teresa each voiced their frustrations.

Indeed, Excension had made a sharp move this time.

Though, more accurately, it was Guntafer above him who had orchestrated everything.

‘It’s been a while since someone got ahead of me.’

How long had it been since he last felt this kind of tension?

Thump! Thump! Thump!

His heart pounded in excitement.

It felt like being a newbie again, tackling the Tower’s twisted and sadistic trials.

How to conquer this challenge. How to utterly crush the opponent in the end.

Just imagining it made it hard to contain his excitement.

“First, let’s move into the forest. We need to meet the nearest Barbarian tribe. My master will be joining us, so we should find at least one tribe before we rendezvous.”

Jinhyuk vividly remembered the 31st floor—it was a place filled with bad memories.

And yet—

“Where do you think you’re going?”

A familiar voice interrupted.

Excension had stepped in, noticing Jinhyuk and his team trying to move separately.

“We’ll be moving on our own.”

“Hmm. Following us, the first conquerors of the 30th floor, would be the best course of action for humanity. Are you really refusing that? Is that your official stance as the leader of Veteran Corporation?”

Hearing this damned vampire talk about ‘humanity’ made Jinhyuk sick.

He’d love nothing more than to drive a cross through his face and douse him in holy water.

But he didn’t take the bait.

Even if he used divine power to attack…

‘There’s no guarantee that body is real.’

If it turned out to be a corpse puppet, things would spiral out of control.

In that case…

“I simply have better information than you. A top-tier deity gave me an exclusive lead. If you don’t believe me, how about we make a bet? Let’s see who finds it first.”

Fire had to be fought with fire.

A scam should be met with a counter-scam.

Evidence didn’t matter in the Tower of Trials—only results did.

And he had already demonstrated multiple times that he had ties to higher deities.

“Is that true?”

“Wow! As expected of Jinhyuk!”

Chun Yoosung and Teresa widened their eyes in amazement.

Wait… they were falling for it too?

“…….”

Excension also remained silent.

Yeah, he knew it.

Even if they found The Hourglass of Möbius, it would be an unusable relic—a mere burden.

Besides, the hourglass wasn’t even his real goal, so he wouldn’t go out of his way to search for it.

In the end, their confrontation would have to wait a little longer.

Step.

Without looking back, Jinhyuk walked away.

As expected, Excension didn’t try to stop him.

⁕⁕⁕

“Haa….”

Jinhyuk pressed his fingers against his throbbing forehead.

This was exactly why he hated the 31st floor.

Here’s how things had unfolded.

After nearly two hours of searching, they had finally found a Barbarian tribe in the hilly region.

They had beaten Excension and Guntafer to it.

That part was great.

The problem was…

“Don’t lie. Burning meat? It’ll just turn to ash.”

These Barbarians were incredibly stupid.

“No, that’s not what I meant… I was saying that if you make a contract with us, we’ll provide you with delicious meat. If you grill it properly over a fire, it tastes much better.”

“Meat is delicious. Fire is not allowed.”

“Then… if we just give you raw meat, will you make a contract with us?”

“What is a contract?”

“…F.”

Jinhyuk barely stopped himself from cursing out loud.

Why the hell were Australopithecus still around in the 21st century?

Despite their sheer idiocy, they were absurdly strong—each of them could take down an ogre barehanded.

Which was why they ruled the 31st floor.

“How do they even—”

“Head?”

One of the Barbarians tilted his head in confusion.

“No, I meant… your big head makes you look really smart.”

“That’s right. I, Barakdu, have the biggest head in our tribe and am the smartest.”

“Agreed. Barakdu even learned how to add recently.”

“He is the first in our tribe to master addition.”

“In ten years, he might even learn multiplication!”

“Mantehori, even for Barakdu, that might be too difficult. In the kingdom, only four… no, maybe five elders know how to multiply and divide.”

“Agreed. I misspoke.”

The surrounding Barbarians hurriedly chimed in.

Their pride in Barakdu was so sincere that arguing with them felt pointless.

It was clear that over generations of worshipping strength, their intelligence had naturally regressed…

If the simple-minded Barbarians in this village were already like this, how much worse would the ones in the larger settlements be?

Just imagining it was enough to make Jinhyuk’s heart swell with anticipation.

If it weren’t for Guntafer, he would have used his old methods—avoiding interaction with the Barbarians as much as possible while conquering the floor.

But this time, that wasn’t an option.

He had to engage with the Barbarians as much as possible.

“Haa…”

Jinhyuk sighed and placed the raw meat back down.

Convincing Barakdu wouldn’t be easy.

Just as he was thinking that—

“Barakdu! Someone else is coming!”

A Barbarian standing on the wooden palisade shouted.

“Enemy?”

“Not sure.”

“Ally?”

“Also not sure. But they’re not carrying any meat.”

“They have no meat? Then shoot them with arrows first.”

“Understood.”

“Wait, hold on!”

Jinhyuk quickly intervened.

These lunatics were about to fire arrows before even figuring out if the newcomers were enemies or not.

The old Barbarian saying, If there’s no food, throw a punch first, flashed through his mind.

“What is it?”

“They’re with us. Don’t shoot.”

“Are you a fortune teller?”

“What?”

“How do you know they’re on your side without even seeing them?”

“Because we arranged to meet at this time.”

The moment Jinhyuk spoke, the Barbarians froze.

“…!?”

“……!!?”

“D-Did you just say… you know the time? The exact time?”

“A human… smarter than Barakdu? Impossible.”

…Was this really that shocking?

No… from their perspective, this was practically advanced science.

It suddenly made sense why no one had ever tried recruiting the Barbarians before.

A scam only works if the target has some intelligence—if they had none, scamming them became nearly impossible.

At that moment—

BOOM!

The front gate exploded into splinters.

Shattered wood fragments flew in all directions.

“How dare you fire arrows… I’ll wipe you all out.”

“Oh my, it’s been a while since I’ve had such a grand welcome.”

A familiar voice rang out from the swirling dust.

It was Dark Emperor and Phantom Death Shadow.

“Barakdu!”

“Enemy!”

The Barbarians immediately grabbed their weapons.

They were ready to hack the intruders into pieces for daring to challenge them.

“This is getting troublesome.”

“Jinhyuk, should we fight?”

Chun Yoosung and Teresa prepared to unleash their abilities, worry evident in their eyes.

They couldn’t just stand by and watch Dark Emperor and Phantom Death Shadow get attacked.

However—

“It’s fine. Just stay put.”

Jinhyuk smirked.

It was already over.

The moment his master arrived, all problems vanished.

Fwoosh…

The dust settled, revealing Dark Emperor.

The Barbarians, who had been ready to attack, widened their eyes.

An old man.

At an age where he should be content living off the hunts of his grandchildren.

Yet, his body defied his years—his muscles bulging, seemingly ready to burst.

A single punch had obliterated the front gate, showcasing overwhelming strength and absolute fearlessness.

This was no ordinary elder.

“…A warrior.”

Yes.

To the Barbarians, Dark Emperor was nothing short of an ideal.

⁕⁕⁕

With Dark Emperor’s arrival, everything fell into place effortlessly.

“Great warrior, tell us the secret to your muscles.”

“Muscles?”

“Yes. Those large, magnificent biceps. Just looking at them makes my mouth water.”

“Hoho. These days, people only train their inner energy and end up frail… But at least you lot show some promise.”

Dark Emperor nodded approvingly.

“I shall teach you, young ones with proper muscles.”

Flex!

Dark Emperor’s right forearm twitched erratically.

“Muscles are alive. The more you train them, the bigger they grow. Run 200 ri (80 km) every day and casually lift 2,000 geun (1,200 kg) rocks for arm exercises. Back in my day, I used to move entire mountains. It helped a lot—something to keep in mind.”

Bulge!

This time, his left upper arm rippled violently.

Like watching a bizarre circus act.

“Every moment—even while eating, relieving yourself, or sleeping—should be dedicated to getting stronger. Only then can you achieve a perfect body like mine.”

“B-But… If you don’t rest, won’t your body break down?”

“That’s right, Master. There’s a concept called supercompensation where torn muscle fibers need at least—”

Jinhyuk started explaining modern sports science.

“Muscles screaming in pain? Then push them harder until they can’t even scream. A real man overcomes it with sheer willpower.”

…That’s not how it works.

Apparently, to gym freaks, taking a rest day was blasphemy.

“Aaah…”

Barakdu gazed at Dark Emperor with tears of admiration.

Well, as long as he was happy.

Thanks to that, they had completely won over an entire Barbarian tribe.

Jinhyuk approached Barakdu.

“There’s something I need to ask.”

“Speak. Any disciple of the great warrior shall receive my answer.”

Now then…

“The Barbarian King—do you know where he is?”

It was time to completely derail Guntafer’s plans.