Chapter 150
“You are…”
Ju Won-jae stopped in place as he saw Seo-jin appear at the Altar of Balance.
“…”
Seo-jin also stood frozen in place, silently gazing at the figure before him.
Sharp, gleaming eyes beneath neatly arranged black hair.
An infinitely relaxed attitude that radiated a razor-sharp aura without a single gap, stimulating Seo-jin’s competitive spirit.
He was a master of the sword and humanity’s undisputed strongest force, the leader of the Frontline Strategy Team at the forefront of tower conquest.
The man who became an idol to countless climbers who had fallen into despair after the death of Han Kyung-cheol, the first tower conqueror.
‘Sword Star Ju Won-jae.’
Personally, he was a comrade who had climbed the tower together with him before his regression, and also the betrayer who had cut off Seo-jin’s head for his own purposes in the end.
Seo-jin silently gazed at him standing before him, then lowered his gaze.
His fingertips trembling of their own accord.
Seo-jin clenched his fists and calmed his trembling hands.
‘It feels like I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time.’
However, the emotions that actually arose were somewhat different from what he had expected.
Neither blazing anger nor cold vengeance stirred within him.
Was it because he had encountered that damned face several times since his regression?
Or was it because the man before him was a different being from the one who had betrayed him in his previous life?
Or perhaps.
‘Is it because of the confidence that no matter what that bastard does or how he does it, I can hold him in the palm of my hand and manipulate him?’
Seeing that his pleased emotions were greater than his anger even when looking directly at that face, the last reason might be the greatest.
But either way, it didn’t matter.
That bastard’s end was decided the moment Seo-jin regressed.
What mattered was only the process leading to that end.
A familiar voice reached Seo-jin’s ears as he was quietly lost in thought.
“So you’re that rumored Nova.”
Ju Won-jae spoke to Seo-jin before him.
A young man in a black suit with a robe over it, different from the reports that said he dressed like a native.
Through his trait [Sixth Sense] and [Art of Employing People], which instinctively grasped human value, Ju Won-jae could intuitively understand an opponent’s essence.
He narrowed his eyes as he looked over the Nova before him.
A solidly formed ego with not even the smallest gap to slip through.
Though it might be twisted and corrupted, its foundation was unshakeable.
‘This one is self-enlightened.’
He didn’t know what kind of life he had lived, but he was one who had trained himself through long hardships and broken out of his shell.
Such a person might temporarily stay under another’s shadow, but would eventually escape that shadow and rise above.
With the additional power to draw people around him, he was a dangerous element who could threaten his position at any time.
Though he was a coveted figure, it seemed he should abandon any thoughts of keeping him as a subordinate.
“That, that bastard!”
Just as Gu-ren was about to say something upon seeing Nova, Ju Won-jae raised his hand to stop him.
“Quiet.”
Ju Won-jae’s voice, coolly subdued.
At the ominous aura emanating from him, Robert and Yelena, who had been about to speak to Nova, also closed their mouths.
Having silenced his team members, Ju Won-jae looked at Seo-jin and asked.
“What… do you want?”
This was asking what compensation he wanted in return for cooperating with the strategy team to clear this World Quest.
At the same time.
‘What does Nova truly want?’
It was also a question directed at the deepest part of his inner self.
“What I want.”
To this, Seo-jin raised his finger to point at the sky and answered.
“I want to go higher.”
“…”
Ju Won-jae’s eyes widened slightly at that answer.
If he had answered the former, he would have been somewhat disappointed, but he had given the answer Ju Won-jae wanted.
Though vague, there could be no greater wish for a climber.
This was proven by his tyrannical conduct and his record of climbing the tower at an incomparable speed.
But the answer of wanting to go higher wasn’t enough. He wanted a more clear response.
“What do you hope for at the end of that?”
Like other climbers, for personal wealth and glory? For fame that would spread throughout the world?
Though these were primal desires, harboring such desires ultimately meant having the vessel of an ordinary person.
If what Ju Won-jae had seen was accurate, Nova had to be different from such ordinary people.
A clichéd answer like saving humanity would be fine too… but wouldn’t this person give some different answer?
He waited for a response with great anticipation, but.
“Well. Is there a reason I should answer that to you?”
Instead of answering, Seo-jin only shook his head.
He borrowed the words Ha-yeon had once said to Seo-jin.
Would you answer such questions from someone you’re meeting for the first time?
However, Ju Won-jae didn’t back down easily.
He wanted to hear an answer from Nova no matter what.
A single ray of light standing tall among countless ordinary people and livestock-level beings.
The answer from one of the few beings who might be viewing the world from the same eye level as himself.
“There is.”
Shing-.
His voice, with widened eyes, felt chilling to the point of being eerie.
“If you don’t answer, I might just kill all of you.”
Sharp killing intent burst forth along with drawing his sword.
Whoosh-.
At the sword wind-like killing intent that cut across skin, everyone present felt such powerful pressure that they unconsciously tensed.
However, Seo-jin didn’t even twitch an eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders.
“If you can do it, try it. Unfortunately, you don’t have that level of ability.”
He knew more about that bastard’s power than anyone else in this world.
That he was hiding 30% of his strength, and that he wasn’t giving his all in tower climbing.
However, if his power was at a similar level to before regression, there was nothing to worry about.
Because there was nothing to be lacking.
Moreover, Seo-jin also knew his ultimate purpose well.
‘What Ju Won-jae wants is humanity’s salvation.’
In a way, it could be seen as having the same purpose as Seo-jin, but the methods and processes they pursued, and the results they had once achieved, were vastly different.
He believed that ignorant humanity should be ruled and saved in his own way.
Though it was an incredibly self-righteous and arrogant thought, in some ways, Seo-jin might be the person who should most agree with his methods.
Because the ones who demanded Seo-jin’s death—Seo-jin who had devoted himself to humanity—were precisely the foolish and ignorant masses that Ju Won-jae extremely despised.
Nevertheless, Seo-jin didn’t think that method was right.
“…”
Meanwhile, Ju Won-jae was somewhat surprised by Seo-jin’s appearance, standing upright without budging an inch.
Even though he had opened more than 60% of his aura, he didn’t even twitch an eyebrow.
Though he had expected that clichéd threats wouldn’t work, he was even more pleased.
Shing-.
Ju Won-jae sheathed his sword again and answered coolly.
“Fine, let’s cooperate.”
If he was that level of person, cooperating would be beneficial in many ways.
Moreover, this matter would plant appropriate fear and anxiety in those corporate bastards who wanted his death.
Through this, he could negotiate with the corporations under better conditions.
At Ju Won-jae’s decision to cooperate, not only Yelena but also Gu-ren and Robert came forward in opposition.
“Leader, really?”
“Why with those bastards!”
“I ask you to reconsider.”
On the other hand, Ha-yeon, Lee Seo-mun, and Rei agreed to cooperation, maintaining their previous stance.
With things having come to this, the casting vote was placed in Choi Gang-hyeon’s hands.
“…”
He crossed his arms and silently looked at Seo-jin and Se-yeon standing beside him.
Though they weren’t complete strangers, he didn’t know much information about them.
At most, they had worked out together a few times at the apartment gym.
Even that had become rare after Nova became a target of the corporations, as he rarely came outside the tower.
Nevertheless, he knew.
That they were vicious bastards obsessed with tower climbing.
‘Less than a year and six months since entering the tower.’
He knew that in that short period, they were bastards with outstanding talent and vicious persistence, enough to catch up with the strategy team.
It was true that they were threatening, but that wasn’t particularly important to Choi Gang-hyeon.
What was truly important was that they were strong. And that he could compete with them in the future.
For that, cooperation would be good.
“I agree to cooperation.”
The vote result was 4 to 3. More members wanted to cooperate with the Reverse Heaven Society.
If Choi Gang-hyeon had opposed, Ju Won-jae himself would have stepped forward to make it a tie and decided on cooperation by leader’s authority, but there was no need for that.
“Good. We’ll cooperate with Reverse Heaven Society limited to proceeding with this 37th floor World Quest. Are there any conditions you hope for?”
“Didn’t I already say? I only want to go higher.”
Seo-jin answered thus while looking at the three strategy team members with dissatisfied expressions.
Demanding something more here would give those three who opposed cooperation grounds for complaint.
Seo-jin decided on cooperation with the strategy team without conditions.
With this, the negotiations between both sides concluded successfully.
***
Altar of Balance.
Figures from both sides lined up in a row above the altar where sun and moon patterns were intertwined like a taeguk.
Soon, Rei knelt on one side and Nam-gung Rin on the other to conduct the ritual ceremony.
This was a ceremony representing the two gods who ruled the 37th floor: Lunaris and Solaris.
Flash-.
As the two recited the prayer inscribed on the stone tablet, bright beams of light shot up from the darkness below the rocky mountain.
Seven in total.
The wedges that Reverse Heaven Society had driven in began emitting blue light and purifying the rampaging ley line mana.
Flash-.
Simultaneously.
Golden circuits shone from within that darkness and began transmitting the purified mana to the Altar of Balance.
The mana pipes installed by the strategy team had begun operating.
Whoooosh-.
As sacred mana rushed into the altar, the patterns carved into the floor began lighting up one by one in sequence.
Circuits lighting up one by one from the outside to the inside of the altar, like fluorescent lights turning on.
This soon settled into the statues of Lunaris, god of darkness, and Solaris, god of light, standing at the center of the altar.
Flash-.
Then light appeared in both statues’ eyes, and powerful beams of light stretched high into the sky.
Rays of light piercing through the sky filled with darkness and dark clouds.
Members of both Reverse Heaven Society and the strategy team were looking up at the sky, waiting for the phenomenon that would occur next.
Rumble rumble-.
Suddenly, a great vibration shook the Altar of Balance.
Crack-.
Soon the Altar of Balance split in half, and something began crawling up from the gap.
A fragment of demon Paimon who controlled the 37th floor.
[Guoooo-!]
A hideous roar that seemed to shake even souls burst forth above the altar.
As the fragment appeared, Seo-jin and Ju Won-jae shouted simultaneously.
“Everyone prepare for battle!”
Ting-.
Along with that, a quest window appeared before their eyes.
[World Quest #4]
– Defeat the fragment of demon Paimon, the true master of the darkness covering the 37th floor.
The final stage of the World Quest.
Defeating the demon fragment.
Since the appearance of these bastards was within expected range, neither the strategy team nor Reverse Heaven Society showed much sign of panic.
They were administrators of each floor, but sometimes appeared as final bosses blocking tower climbing.
Shing-.
Ju Won-jae drew his sword and shifted his gaze to Seo-jin.
The final battle fought just before climbing to the next floor.
A demon fragment should be enough to properly confirm his skills.
An opportunity to clearly witness with his own eyes the power of the one called Nova who brought upheaval to the tower, competed with the strategy team’s Lee Seo-mun, and even subdued Gu-ren and Robert.
‘Show me your skills, and prove it.’
Whether he truly possessed power worthy of his reputation. And whether he was truly worthy of being considered a rival as a climber living in the same era.
Just as Ju Won-jae was about to begin the battle with the demon with such great anticipation.
Flash-.
A pure white beam of light fell from the sky and pierced straight through the demon fragment that had crawled up, splitting the altar.
[Gueeeeek-!]
With a terrible scream, the demon fragment was shattered and disappeared in a single strike.
At first, they thought the light beam shot up earlier had fallen back down to defeat the demon.
Whoooosh-.
But as the smoke that had billowed up from the altar cleared and they saw the figure that appeared beyond it, they could tell that thought was wrong.
A young man who appeared as the light dissipated.
Nimrod, the tower’s administrator, bowed his head to everyone with courtesy.
“Yes, we meet again.”
