Chapter 152

Handling the spirits was a straightforward task.

Storm Dragon Arts.

Esoteric method.

Shift.

Swoosh, swoosh!

This success was entirely due to Stormy continuously compounding her offensive indicators.

Yet, that did not imply the situation was completely effortless, either.

— Master!

BOOM!

Drill Sarge deployed the Pacheon Divine Art esoteric method World Annihilation (滅世) as he bellowed.

— These spirits possess far greater power than anticipated! Regardless of how deeply I slash and sunder, they refuse to perish!

“I am aware. I can perceive it as well.”

Spirits corresponding to the standard of Floor 53 ought to have been simple targets for Drill Sarge given his current capabilities.

And yet?

Confronted by ten of them invading his space simultaneously, he was being steadily driven backward.

“It feels as though their potency is magnified tenfold compared to what is normal.”

— Merely tenfold……?

“Indeed. Truly, it makes me marvel at how Rachel managed to endure this long.”

Saying tenfold aloud made it sound straightforward, but the reality of that multiplier was immensely significant.

An environment like the Tower of Trials, which already operated on an extreme baseline, amplified by ten?

Even Baek Jinwoo lacked absolute certainty under those conditions.

Managing single adversaries that grew more potent was one matter, but when the scale of every element escalated uniformly, the true difficulty expanded quadratically.

Nevertheless.

The current incarnation of Baek Jinwoo possessed the means to handle it.

Eight EX-rank summons, completely maxed out!

“LG. Dhampir.”

— Understood.

— GRWAAAAH!

Thump, CRASH!

LG anchored his limbs securely and met the oncoming spirits directly, acting as a massive bulwark with his entire frame.

Positioned on his upper back, Dhampir drained LG’s energy reserve to sustain the defense, converting it directly back into vitality replenishment.

With that impenetrable barrier maintaining the front, the objectives for the primary offensive units became unmistakable.

Stormy commenced gathering energy for Dragon Burst once more.

BLAM!

Drill Sarge and Aso, interconnected via Trinity, streaked like lightning across the firmament.

— Groan……!

Amidst the chaos, Baekho trotted over and pressed his forehead affectionately against Jinwoo.

An expression of appreciation.

A silent thank you for rescuing Rachel, his controller.

While fending off the unceasing tide of spirits, Baek Jinwoo monitored Rachel’s state.

He checked her wrist for a sign of life. Fortunately, her pulse remained steady.

Her respiration was regular too.

“She has simply collapsed from sheer deprivation of energy. Do not fret.”

Baek Jinwoo spoke softly.

The fact that she was resting with audible, peaceful breaths amidst this deafening clamor indicated her exhaustion must have been profound.

I will question her regarding the details afterward.

For the moment.

The priority is to obliterate every single one of these wretched spirits.

An interval of approximately five hours slipped by.

Ramba’s accumulated passive enhancements had reached an immense threshold by this point, rendering every single summon absurdly overpowered.

Their strikes unfolded at velocities nearly impossible for the eye to track.

— SCREECH……!

The final remaining spirit wailed as its form dissolved into nothingness.

— Master, every hostile entity has been liquidated.

Following Drill Sarge’s confirmation, the turbulent arena turned entirely quiet.

Floor 53, completed!

An alert of that nature ought to have materialized.

Yet nothing manifested.

No rewards were distributed either.

“What an absolute nuisance.”

What was the underlying purpose of this setup?

Could it be some form of system anomaly?

“Excellent effort, everyone. Let us take a brief intermission. Ramba, you may cease your exercises. You have contributed more than enough.”

— Whew, huff, huff…… Understood!

Ramba was soaked from head to toe.

The poor girl.

She had anticipated Floor 51 would conclude rapidly, which meant she had neglected to bring any pastries.

Furthermore, she had been carrying all that recording apparatus the entire time.

A true pity.

Baek Jinwoo, having completed the cleanup, dropped heavily to the earth.

He remained seated while waiting for Rachel to regain consciousness, trapped in his own thoughts.

A sense of foreboding began to take root.

What if exit remained impossible even after defeating the entity governing Floor 60?

Would they be marooned here indefinitely until human civilization progressed sufficiently to enter Floor 51?

Yet that was not the primary concern weighing on his mind.

His thoughts kept returning to Yu Jia.

I gave my word that I would return swiftly.

It appeared that pledge would be broken through circumstances entirely beyond his control.

Navigating up to Floor 57 might be manageable.

However, from Floor 58 onward, the challenge transitioned into something genuinely cataclysmic.

That segment demanded dismantling every dark hex cast across the landmass, followed by a direct infiltration into the underworld territory to eliminate Asmodeus.

An underworld domain augmented to be ten times more formidable than its baseline state, no less.

An utterly terrifying prospect.

Merely contemplating the necessity of repelling limitless legions of fiends and abominations made him feel physically ill.

If not for the utility of Stormy’s Devour, Baek Jinwoo would have surrendered all hope then and there.

Rachel finally stirred seven hours after the conclusion of the battle.

“Nnh.”

Her eyelids twitched open, her tone heavy with residual slumber. She blinked repeatedly to clear her vision, and then—

“……!”

Awareness returned instantly. She snapped into a sitting posture, alarmed.

“W-what is happening?!”

Her words were saturated with astonishment and disorientation.

Which was entirely reasonable given the circumstances.

“You are free to rest longer.”

Baek Jinwoo replied in brief English phrases.

He lamented not having the translation creature with him. A minor oversight.

“How is this— is this reality? Are you truly JinuGod?”

“Sigh, please refrain from using that JinuGod title.”

Slap!

Baek Jinwoo clapped his hand to his brow and shook his head in exasperation.

“Olivia approached me. She mentioned you had failed to reappear, and requested that I inspect Floor 51 for a brief period.”

He recounted the chronology of events deliberately.

Beginning with his arrival and the discovery that Floor 51 was already vacated…… continuing all the way to his transit across the expanse to the Floor 53 zone.

He employed physical gestures to clarify his meaning where necessary.

The saving grace was Rachel’s basic comprehension of the Korean tongue.

Being an ardent supporter of Baek Jinwoo from the inception of his career, she had dedicated her leisure hours to mastering Korean and had grown thoroughly enamored with the dialect.

It required very little time for Rachel to regain her composure.

“Ahem, therefore.”

Rachel cleared her throat slightly.

“Your deduction is that the Tower of Trials is completely continuous from Floor 51 upward? And the difficulty parameters have been scaled up so that solo progression is unfeasible—it is intended for massive raiding parties to overcome collectively.”

“Judging by our observations thus far, that seems correct.”

“……Yet for a person of your caliber, this standard of difficulty should remain trivial, correct?”

Rachel unfeignedly viewed Baek Jinwoo as a supreme entity.

In her estimation, there existed no labyrinth in this reality that he could fail to conquer.

“That is easy to claim. What occurs if the scale intensifies a hundredfold once we reach Floor 61?”

“……Could such a variable even manifest?”

“We lack certainty regarding any parameters at present.”

Baek Jinwoo shared that exact sentiment.

He had foolishly presumed this reality would mirror the mechanics of Battle of Summoners flawlessly.

What an immense display of hubris that had been!

The human race had failed to comprehend even a fraction of a percent of the underlying cause behind this reality.

They had merely tolerated the circumstances and adjusted their lives accordingly.

“Setting that aside, have you nourished yourself?”

Baek Jinwoo unfastened a small satchel with a soft exhalation.

Contenders entering the Tower of Trials were permitted to retain any gear or provisions maintaining direct physical contact with their anatomy.

The identical rule that permitted recording apparatus inside.

Consequently, he had filled a pack with fluid containers and nutritional wafers to serve as crisis sustenance.

As a contingency.

Snap!

He extracted a half-liter fluid container and a nutritional wafer, presenting them to Rachel. Her countenance shifted instantly.

Gulp, gulp!

She drained the liquid without pausing for breath.

Munch, munch.

Then consumed the nutritional wafer like an individual possessed.

She must have been completely famished.

Which was entirely logical.

She had been marooned within the structure for an extended duration. The mere fact that she retained her life was an absolute wonder.

Whew.

However, this development introduced a complication for Baek Jinwoo as well.

The inventory he had transported was strictly meant for ‘crisis’ utility—an incredibly meager reserve.

“First and foremost.”

According to Baek Jinwoo’s recollections, Floor 54 commenced within the boundaries of an isolated sovereign territory.

Lumentia.

A pious realm devoted to the Divinity of Light, if his memories served him right.

The sole micro-nation remaining intact upon a landmass devastated by the corruption of Asmodeus.

Their objective required them to forge a base of operations there and cleanse the landmass utilizing that stronghold, however……

The complication lay here.

He possessed zero indication of the realm’s geographic location.

Within the original simulation, an individual simply materialized within the borders of the realm the instant they accessed Floor 54.

“Consume your food without haste. I intend to search for indicators.”

Baek Jinwoo signaled for Drill Sarge to approach.

This location served as a final resting place for combatants.

“Everyone, search this entire region thoroughly. Should you uncover anything resembling a geographical chart, deliver every fragment directly to me.”

The primary objective was determining their precise insertion point.

A wave of comfort washed through Rachel.

She had endured nearly fifty days in isolation.

In all candor.

She had not anticipated that the mere presence of a companion could instill such profound emotional serenity.

Yet as her awareness sharpened……

She became acutely aware of her unhygienic state.

Nearly two months had transpired since her last proper bathing session.

Her attire emitted a foul odor, and her tresses had bound themselves into rigid tangles.

The moment had arrived.

To confront the current state of affairs.

Following an exhaustive dialogue with Baek Jinwoo, she had arrived at a firm deduction.

They were not merely completing a labyrinth.

They were required to subsist within this environment.

Provisions had to be gathered. An appropriate camp arrangement needed to be established.

Fortunately.

He had brought an alternate set of garments along with the crisis provisions.

Utilitarian tactical apparel designed for labyrinth environments, at that.

They would need to cycle through the two outfits to maximize their longevity.

“Baek Jinwoo.”

“Yes?”

“Grant me a moment for hygiene. I have the Great Wizard at my disposal, so simply signify when you require his services.”

Sufficient time had elapsed for her energy reserve to reach maximum capacity.

Accompanied by the Great Wizard, she relocated to a nearby cluster of foliage.

She discarded her soiled attire without a second thought and invoked her magic.

Great Wizard.

Tier 1.

Aqua Cleanse.

Such was the utility of an S-rank Great Wizard.

Provided one possessed knowledge of a spell’s existence, it could be manifested as the scenario dictated.

Splashhhhh!

“Ahhhhh.”

Rachel uttered a sigh of pure contentment.

The cascade of purified fluid washed over every surface of her anatomy, while simultaneously rendering her stained garments immaculate.

……Utterly rejuvenating!

The magically generated fluid automatically neutralized impurities and seamlessly isolated any debris.

An intense sensation of relief permeated her entire frame, as if weeks of compounded physical strain were being purged away.

Drying the saturated attire presented no great challenge either.

There was no necessity to trouble the Great Wizard for such a task.

She simply requested assistance from Stormy, who remained stationed nearby.

“Would you mind dehydrating these items for me?”

— An objective that basic requires no effort at all, Lady Rachel.

Swoosh!

Storm Dragon Arts: Shift.

Stormy’s mastery over thermal energy had ascended to an absolute pinnacle by this duration. Modulating the output was elementary work.

As twilight began to descend—

— Master.

Drill Sarge advanced from a distance.

— I have uncovered an object of interest.

“Is that so?”

The item Drill Sarge presented was a regional geographical chart.

Smeared with residue, yet in remarkably functional shape.

— It appears an officer among the fallen combatants was preserving it. I located numerous iterations, but this piece remained the most preserved.

“Excellent contribution.”

Baek Jinwoo unrolled the material upon the earth.

Drill Sarge proceeded with his analysis.

— According to my calculations, our current coordinate is situated here—the southeastern perimeter of the landmass.

“Truly?”

— Indeed. The surrounding landmarks validate this position. The elevated plateau here and the contours of that particular range in the distance correspond flawlessly.

“Ah.”

Drill Sarge’s deduction was entirely accurate.

A uniquely configured mountain range was illustrated upon the chart with impressive precision.

This fellow, continuing from his prior displays.

“You possess the analytical mind of Detective Conan, are you aware of that?”

— What is the significance of that title, master?

“It is inconsequential, disregard it. Proceed with the breakdown.”

— Understood, our target location is the Holy Kingdom of Lumentia, and…… observed here, toward the northwestern quadrant, a divine insignia is explicitly detailed upon the chart.

“Ah, precisely there. Correct.”

Baek Jinwoo signaled his comprehension.

The memory returned to him.

That specific emblem he had observed on countless occasions throughout Floor 54!

“Meaning a direct trajectory from the southeast toward the northwest represents our optimal route?”

— Correct. We are required to negotiate only a single watercourse and a single mountain range. Regarding the physical measurement of distance…… the chart lacks a proportional scale, necessitating an approximation, but I anticipate it will demand an extended duration of travel.

“Regardless, we must proceed…… We can simply utilize the wyvern for transit.”

Baek Jinwoo nodded in agreement, folded the document, and secured it within his gear.

With twilight firmly establishing itself……

“We commence our transit the moment the sun breaks the horizon.”