Chapter 165

Chapter 165: I Alone Am an EX-Class Summoner

Back at the training grounds.

“……”

Eila arrived in a frantic sprint, gasping for breath as shock rippled through her.

How…?

How on earth did they know?

Honestly, she’d been confident that no one would detect her.

She had employed footwork so stealthy it could evade even the relentless gaze of demons.

I didn’t make a single mistake, either.

The man called Drill Sarge.

His eyes had locked onto her without question.

And Aso.

That girl’s wooden sword had sailed straight toward her with pinpoint accuracy.

“Hah.”

Could they truly be the ones spoken of in the divine oracle?

They were no ordinary people.

And besides.

For roughly thirty seconds, she’d been able to observe the swordsmanship they were practicing.

That was a first.

Never in her life had Eila seen anything like it.

Swordsmanship so tyrannically overwhelming yet so breathtakingly beautiful.

What would happen if she fought them?

Honestly, she didn’t know.

She had confidence in herself, but something told her it wouldn’t be easy.

FWISH!

Eila spun her spear and let it hang low.

Whoosh, swish!

Then she swept it through the air.

I need to get stronger too.

She had to.

She wished she could.

FWIIISH!

She scattered the spear in a wide arc.

All while replaying that swordsmanship in her mind.

— My liege.

“Hm?”

— I’ve confirmed information on that woman, the Champion. Just returned.

“Yeah? What’d you find?”

— She’s hit a wall.

“…A wall, huh.”

Hmm.

Baek Jinwoo stroked his chin.

He’d ordered Drill Sarge to tail Eila.

Apparently Drill Sarge had some stealth-specialized summon ability rattling around in that head of his, because he’d managed the job without getting caught.

— Yes. Currently, she’s attempting to fight with the efficiency of a perfect machine. There are times when intuition must be valued to break through to the next level, but she appears to be consciously suppressing it.

Intuition.

Something Baek Jinwoo and Aso had in spades.

“Wow.”

Baek Jinwoo was genuinely impressed.

“You could tell all that just from watching at a distance?”

— Training is my specialty. Being a Paladin doesn’t exempt her from that.

She’s not just any Paladin though, that’s the problem!

She’s an S-rank summon!

“Then, if you were to train her?”

— I could certainly draw out her subconscious potential.

“Oh.”

Now that was a novel approach.

Back when he’d climbed Floor 54, he hadn’t had Drill Sarge, so it wasn’t an option then…

But this could be a viable route?

Train the Champion and the Commander until they were stronger, then take down Asmodeus more easily.

This is a no-brainer if we can pull it off.

The Tower of Trials was directly tied to their lives.

During Battle of Summoners, there had been multiple coins, and losing just meant you could try again…

But now it was strictly one coin.

When failure meant death, there was no reason to be picky about methods.

The problem was—

How to lure that Champion in.

Well.

Coaxing Paladins might actually be easier than expected.

Weren’t Paladins supposed to be simple-minded berserker types anyway?

The next day.

Hm?

Mid-thrust, Eila sensed someone nearby.

…That man from before?

Swoosh!

She recalled her spear and planted it upright.

Then whipped her head around.

Drill Sarge and Baek Jinwoo stood before her.

“Didn’t I say that spying on someone’s training is rude?”

Eila’s brow twitched with undisguised displeasure.

But Baek Jinwoo didn’t take it seriously.

He simply brushed it off.

“I wasn’t watching your training. I just wanted to offer some help.”

Eila’s expression turned guarded.

A smirk tugged at Baek Jinwoo’s lips.

“You’re preparing to fight Asmodeus, aren’t you? If you’re truly desperate… this isn’t the time to cling to pointless pride, is it?”

Fwip.

Eila’s eyes sharpened to a glare.

“Help? What kind of help could you possibly offer me?”

“Who knows. With that attitude, even the best help in the world would be wasted. No matter how good the teacher, it’s pointless if the student has no will to learn.”

At that infuriatingly smug grin, Eila’s grip tightened on her spear.

Heh.

Would you look at that.

Getting riled up over something this small?

“What, want to have a go? I’m game. Honestly, I’ve been more curious about you than the Commander.”

“…I’m not interested.”

The Champion was a Paladin who knew how to control her emotions.

She would never fight without the Holy King’s command, and while she was doing everything in her power to recover her strength, she couldn’t afford to create another casualty.

“Suit yourself, then. If you change your mind, come find me anytime. You’ll be welcome.”

Shuffle, shuffle.

Baek Jinwoo gave a nod, turned on his heel, and walked away.

He’d assumed all Paladins were berserker types, but she had better emotional control than expected.

Then there’s no need to push harder.

Keep his distance for now, show his face occasionally, and lower her guard.

After that?

He needed to make her come to him on her own.

His philosophy didn’t include setting the table and spoon-feeding people.

Want to pluck that sweet fruit?

Put in the effort yourself.

Watching Baek Jinwoo’s retreating figure disappear, Eila narrowed her eyes.

Help.

And pride.

If she was being honest, those words had jabbed straight into her heart.

The first blunt truth she’d ever been hit with in her entire life!

Just focus on training.

She resumed her spearwork.

Hmmmm!

Staggering holy power erupted from her pristine white spear, scattering in every direction as if to purify everything it touched.

The next day.

Baek Jinwoo shuffled toward her from the distance.

Eila, who’d been polishing her spear, kept her mouth shut and stole a sidelong glance.

Baek Jinwoo tilted his head in a casual nod.

Eila ignored it.

So he vanished just as quickly as he’d come.

The third day.

Her holy power still flowed abundantly, but her spear felt choppy, disconnected.

That man came and went again today, same as before.

Hah.

Eila let out a short breath.

I miss Master.

The previous Champion, Raphael Darius.

Once called the Spear of Light, he had become a legend of Lumentia.

Would things have been different if he were here?

Of course, he had spent his final years quietly during the continent’s era of peace before passing away.

He couldn’t possibly be here.

One week in.

Her hands trembled.

The more she trained, the better she should have gotten, yet something kept twisting further out of alignment.

It felt like drifting in an ocean with no lighthouse to guide her.

Swish, swoosh!

Really.

Could she even call this spearmanship?

Grasping at straws, she sought out the Paladin Commander.

Arno Villian.

“…You are strong indeed, Champion.”

He lost to Eila decisively.

She was undeniably powerful.

So what the hell was the problem?

On the tenth day.

Swish, swish-swish!

As she threw herself into her spear drills, a voice reached her ears.

— Stop lying to your emotions.

She flinched.

Eila’s body went rigid.

Had she been so absorbed that she’d lost all awareness?

She hadn’t sensed a presence at all, and yet…

When she came to her senses, the man called Drill Sarge was standing nearby.

— Using holy power solely for purification is the mark of an amateur.

— Start by infusing your Resolve into it. Only then will you break past your limits.

He dropped those few words, left without waiting for a response, and vanished.

“…!”

The sheer audacity should have infuriated her.

But perhaps because her frustration had built up for so long?

Rather than wounded pride, curiosity won out.

Infuse my Resolve…?

Hmm.

What the hell does that even mean?

That’s the stupidest thing she’d ever heard.

Holy power was the will of God.

They were holy knights.

Servants who upheld God’s will.

My own will doesn’t matter.

She gritted her teeth and swung her spear again.

Her stubbornness ran deeper than anyone imagined.

And then, two weeks in.

“The Holy King has finished his preparations for battle!”

The message came through a priest.

“Oh, finally!”

“We’re starting?”

Baek Jinwoo and Rachel sprang to their feet as if they’d been waiting for exactly this.

Floors 55, 56, 57.

Conquest of three major strongholds scattered across the continent.

They were sick of training by now.

They wanted to finish this quickly and climb the tower.

Asmodeus, whatever. They just wanted to charge in headfirst.

That was the only way to find out whether they’d reach Floor 61 or finally get to go home.

He missed Yu Jia. He missed his ridiculously luxurious bed.

“Let’s wrap this up quick.”

Baek Jinwoo stretched out long and hard, then thought:

Eila.

That woman, seriously.

Stubborn as a goddamn mule.

He gave up.

Decided not to bother teaching her.

Let her live and die by her own stubbornness.

Asmodeus?

They’d just beat him down with Stormy!

Iron Bear, headquarters.

“Rachel has disappeared.”

Those were the first words out of Glushakov’s mouth upon returning after a full month.

“What?”

One of the Five Emperors.

MoscowMan, Beskoff, rose from his seat.

His fists were clenched tight.

“You’re certain?”

“Yes. No matter how well they try to hide it, some things inevitably surface. She hasn’t shown herself for over two months now, and her last known destination was the Tower of Trials.”

“…The Tower of Trials.”

Don’t tell me…

Rachel couldn’t clear Floor 51?

Or…

Did she fail after repeated attempts?

“Internal sources are considering the possibility that Rachel is dead. And the probability is quite high.”

“Hah.”

Rachel, dead?

Beskoff let out a bitter smile.

Still.

She was someone he’d known for a long time. Hearing she might be dead didn’t sit well with him.

But.

There was a silver lining.

They’d clashed on opinions frequently, and because her social standing was higher than his… he’d never been able to raise his voice.

MoscowMan had always kept that bottled up.

“And… there’s a high probability that Korea’s Baek Jinwoo has also disappeared.”

Beskoff’s pupils widened.

This time, his surprise ran deeper.

Rachel not making it out was hard to understand, but he could accept it as a possibility.

But JinuGod?

The idea of that man being unable to clear something…

He couldn’t even picture it.

A monster among monsters.

That was precisely why Beskoff had always kept his guard up around JinuGod.

With him in the picture, controlling this world to his liking became far more difficult.

“And given that Olivia has been making frequent visits to Korea, it appears there was some kind of connection between them. My assessment is that the two of them…”

Glushakov paused briefly before continuing.

“In all likelihood, they’re trapped inside the Tower of Trials and unable to get out.”

Beskoff’s expression turned grave.

If that was true…

The Tower of Trials might have changed far beyond what they knew.

Rachel. JinuGod.

Neither of them should have fallen anywhere in the 50s.

Especially not with the combat prowess they’d displayed in the league.

“Any idea how long they’ve been inside?”

“Not precisely… but I’d estimate over two months.”

A capable man, no question.

Breaching that level of security was no small feat, yet he’d uncovered details that specific.

Probably…

Beskoff thought.

Around the time she stopped replying to messages.

Rachel had been trapped since at least then.

Perhaps.

She might even be dead in there.

Without truckloads of emergency rations, survival would be all but impossible.

“For now.”

Beskoff settled back into his seat.

“Watch for one more month.”

No need to be hasty.

Look before you leap, as they say.

If, by then, neither of them had returned?

Then…

He could no longer afford to yield.

Just as she had ruled as she pleased for the past four years, he too had every right to dream of a world shaped by his own hand.

Because.

He had the power.