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* * *
Whenever there was a moment to catch his breath, Samin would stick close to Doun’s side and act coquettishly like a courtier. But once the conquest resumed, he became serious as if nothing had happened.
The 48th floor. Although he had assured Doun it was a place he could easily conquer, he couldn’t ignore the experience of nearly dying when first attempting this conquest.
The giant desert scorpion that appeared as a mid-boss was handled by Doun and Kim Siwon. Since there were many frequently summoned small fry that needed proper clearing, Samin had fallen back.
Sgaaaaaak!
As soon as a magical beast appeared, it scattered glittering golden sand and charged forward. Its legs, gaining momentum, kicked off the sand as it tried to exploit the blind spot of Doun, who was facing off against the house-sized desert scorpion. It was quite a troublesome creature if ambushed, as it hid paralyzing poison at the tips of its sharp claws.
“Where does that thing think it’s going?”
Samin, who had been stuck in the tower to a sickening degree, wouldn’t miss it. He clicked his tongue and lightly threw a punch.
Whoosh!
The sound of cutting through air was heavy. His hard fist with protruding knuckles easily pierced through the hard skull of the magical beast that had been letting out brief screams. Samin, who kicked the corpse of the dead magical beast with his long leg, used the recoil to pull out his fist.
The fist that had been buried in the magical beast’s head was drenched with sticky liquid. Irritably shaking his fist to get rid of the liquid, he clicked his tongue inwardly.
‘It’s hot as hell and now this sticky mess.’
While other hunters considered ‘Night Fog Sediment’ as Slope’s representative skill, Yeoun Guild Master Slope’s main specialty was close-quarters combat.
His large frame of 187cm and 90kg, along with his natural strength and innate combat sense, had given wings to him when he awakened as a hunter. Although he occasionally drew a sword for creatures that required weapons, he didn’t particularly prefer weapons.
Samin raised his eyes and carefully watched the area where sand dust had risen.
Whooooooo—.
As if magic casting had just finished, the sun-scorched desert instantly became cool. The skill that had been decisively helpful when Samin was considering recruiting Kim Siwon revealed itself before the party’s eyes.
Ice Storm.
This skill, intuitive enough to understand from its name alone, literally summoned an ice storm that temporarily froze the surroundings. It was most effective in terrain like this where the average temperature exceeded 40°C. This was because the magical beasts had no cold resistance.
The giant desert scorpion’s movements became noticeably stiff due to the sudden temperature change. However, Kim Siwon’s attack didn’t continue further. Since it was a skill that temporarily caused climate change, the amount of mana consumed was considerable. It was when Kim Siwon was stabbing his staff into the sandy ground with a concentrated expression.
Light erupted from the sand the desert scorpion was standing on. In the middle of the ice storm that had come to the desert, dozens of swords mixed with pale purple appeared.
Sshaeeeeek!
Along with a sharp sound of cutting through air, the sharp blades floated chaotically in the air before striking down into the magical beast’s body. The blades that had penetrated the hard-looking hide broke apart, and then new blades formed from the fragments.
Watching the trajectory created by the eerily undulating blades, Kim Chansol thought to himself.
‘Using a skill that only rich hunter kids get as trophies like that in actual combat? Just how much mana does he have?’
The skill Doun was using was considered the exclusive domain of the so-called ‘silver spoon hunters.’
‘Noble Sword Graveyard (B).’
A quest to acquire this skill was generated when one possessed 50 or more sword-type artifacts sold at hunter shops or auction houses. Unlike other skills that could be acquired immediately upon meeting certain conditions, this one required conquering 7 floors reminiscent of ancient ruins 77 times.
Although it was a skill that required such a tedious process to obtain, it was evaluated as ambiguous for practical use.
While it could attack all magical beasts positioned within a certain range, the number of swords generated and the mana needed to maintain the range were affected by the caster’s mana capacity.
‘Ugh, my eyes hurt.’
Kim Chansol gave up trying to count the number of blades slashing the giant desert scorpion. It was moving too fast to follow with the eyes, and it was impossible to count the blades multiplying from broken blades.
The giant desert scorpion, whose hard hide had become rags in a matter of seconds, lost its center and collapsed. Kim Minhyeok, who had drawn his sword while preparing for collection from behind, muttered.
“It looks like the sword will go in so easily. Really…”
Perhaps because he was the hunter in charge of collection, his point of amazement seemed different.
* * *
The 49th floor, which they entered after leaving behind the 48th floor that Magnetic thought he’d never see in his lifetime. The conquest went smoothly. This was because the appearing magical beasts were similar, just as Kim Chansol had grumbled that the tower creator had recycled everything.
The bizarre forms wandering the sweltering desert collapsed helplessly and finally announced that the conquest was complete.
[Your alliance has successfully conquered the 49th floor.]
[Time elapsed after entry: 3 hours 12 minutes 51 seconds.]
[Notice: This record is a new record for the 49th floor of Veritas Tower in South Korea.]
[The Veritas System will arrange in order of highest calculated contribution.]
[Loading information…]
[Calculation complete.]
[1. Magnetic]
[2. Cooler]
[3. Slope]
.
.
Doun smiled as he looked at his nickname written at the top for both the 48th and 49th floors. Although the terrain was desert, making it hot and difficult to move, the conquest felt easy, perhaps because he coordinated well with Kim Siwon, who spammed heat resistance buffs and ice-type magic.
After helping the struggling Kim Minhyeok finish collecting magic stones and before exiting the tower, Samin gave light words of encouragement to all conquest team members.
To summarize, it was about resting well tomorrow and meeting at the pension. He didn’t forget to tell Siwon, who couldn’t attend due to travel, to have a good trip. Although he did add some strange unnecessary words.
‘Siwon, don’t go randomly entering towers in other countries while traveling.’
‘Are you crazy? I’m not a hunter YouTuber, why would I do that?’
‘I can’t speak English, so I’m worried some foreign guild master might contact me saying to manage guild members properly. If a dungeon breaks near you while traveling, just quietly run away. You’re terrible at English too.’
‘I got it, okay? Just do one verse. Crazy guild master bastard…’
Kim Siwon was disgusted and eventually cursed. Who did he think was a troublemaker? After grumbling, he gave Doun, who was drinking water that had melted and become lukewarm, a kind smile and said in an affectionate voice that he would definitely buy travel souvenirs.
Thus, Yeoun Guild, having completed their conquest up to the 49th floor, quickly dispersed at the tower entrance. Kim Siwon, who needed to prepare for departure, disappeared after picking up Park Sangyeon who had come to meet him, and Doun was on his way home in Samin’s car, which had now become familiar.
“I can rest well tomorrow and pack for the evening trip. But hyung, you have a suitcase, right?”
“Yeah. I bought one.”
The day after Samin brought up the unity competition, Doun immediately bought a suitcase. A few days ago, when the delivery arrived and he unwrapped it, he was so excited. At Doun’s confident answer, Samin grinned but then composed his expression.
It seemed like just yesterday when he confessed to depression and cried in the park. While he felt relieved that Doun seemed to be gradually getting better than expected, he was worried about when Doun was alone at home.
‘If it weren’t for you, I’d still be holed up in my room taking medicine and sleeping.’
That one carelessly dropped sentence stuck in his heart and wouldn’t fall out easily. He slightly turned his head to look at Doun sitting next to him.
One eye was still blue. Even though they were in a car where ‘Accident Acceleration’ wasn’t needed.
Lee Doun had said he had no idea why his eye color had changed. He had asked doctors too, but they could only vaguely guess it was aftereffects from psychological stress. Even though it was a special case that doctors couldn’t figure out, somehow Samin felt like he vaguely knew why Doun’s eye had changed.
“Hyung. When we get to that pension, the night sky is really amazing.”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s go light a campfire, look at the stars, and have fun.”
Since there would be many people, he couldn’t create an atmosphere and kiss like last time, but sitting side by side looking up at the same sky seemed quite romantic. Samin muttered with particularly moist eyes, but the response he got was utterly bleak.
“That sounds good too, but aren’t we going to practice in the tower?”
Did they smear honey on the tower or something? Samin grumbled inwardly before giving a delayed response.
“…Don’t you like things like emotional camping, hyung?”
“I’ve never tried it, but I don’t dislike it…”
“Then that’s fine. We’ll go there and stare at fires, beat magical beasts, and drink beer and soju – that’s how we bond.”
“You want to enter the tower after drinking?”
That damn tower, tower. Is there nothing but tower in this guy’s head?
Samin eventually glared at Doun and grumbled.
“Do you really have nothing but tower thoughts in your head, hyung?”
He found it annoying that Doun only talked about towers even when he tried to set a romantic mood.
“What else should a hunter think about if not towers?”
Samin thought this was his chance and quickly replied.
“Thoughts about Samin who wants to date hyung?”
“More nonsense.”
Doun turned his head away sharply, disgusted by the silly talk. Despite his cold attitude, Samin, who had built up quite a resistance, persistently stared at Doun while waiting for the signal, and noticed Doun’s ears were reddish.
What reason could there be for ears that had been fine just moments ago to turn red in a car that was cool to the point of being cold with the air conditioning on? Pondering this, Samin grinned.
‘No matter how I think about it, it seems like hyung doesn’t have absolutely no feelings for me… right?’
While thinking such thoughts and wanting to push further, remembering how Doun had smashed magical beasts’ skulls with his staff made him unnecessarily cautious.
“…I posted the schedule in the group chat.”
“Yeah.”
Samin decided to only bring up tower topics as if he had lost to Doun who liked towers. It was also enjoyable to accommodate everything for someone you liked.
“I made it pretty loose so it could change, but we’ll definitely go to the tower on both the first and second days. Training floors generate magical beasts based on the party leader, so hyung can practice against magical beasts that appear on the 50th floor in advance. How about it? Good, right?”
It was perfectly tailored conversation for Lee Doun. Tower, magical beasts, practice. Samin, having said words full of things that made Doun’s eyes sparkle, waited for the response.
“Good.”
Anyway, you have to acknowledge his love for towers. How did he manage to get through a whole year feeling upset while loving towers this much?
Even if he started dating Doun, he wondered if they’d have to go on dates inside towers. Just as Samin’s delusions were growing while he racked his brain to plan conquest date courses focusing on low floors with good scenery.
“At night, is there nothing besides campfires and stargazing?”
He does remember the campfire and star talk. Samin nodded then mischievously added.
“There is one more thing…”
“What?”
He could feel the gaze staring at him intently. Samin hesitated for a long while before vaguely mumbling.
“Just, you know, having fun together with everyone.”
“…How bland.”
Doun chuckled and looked out the window. His face, anticipating the unity competition, was slightly flushed. Enough to make the driving Samin want to act crazy and take a bite.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
