Chapter 165
A baptism of swords pouring down upon Seo-jin like meteors.
Kuwaaa—!
It lightly shattered the protective enchantments on the stage and pulverized even the platform woven from earth and stone.
Kurureung—. Kung—.
The stage completely turned to powder as enormous Gang-qi swords poured down.
Seususeu—.
However, the stage was soon restored to its original form by recovery magic.
“……”
Ju Won-jae floated in the air, narrowing his eyes as he looked down at the dust cloud below his feet.
‘He dodged.’
Nova’s presence vanished from his conscious domain in an instant.
Though it had been a wide-area attack that literally ground up the entire stage, Nova must have evaded with spatial teleportation.
And the place where he would reappear…
Piing—.
“There you are!”
Ju Won-jae read the rippling flow of space and thrust his sword toward it.
He had already anticipated that Nova would evade the wide-area attack through spatial teleportation.
And
‘The moment he escapes spatial teleportation and manifests again is when he’s completely defenseless.’
If he aimed for that moment, he could definitively suppress the guy who had been dodging around like a rat.
Seugeok—.
Ju Won-jae’s sword precisely pierced the rippling space.
This was the result of analyzing the mana Nova used for Blink and his movement patterns through their exchanges so far.
Ju Won-jae was confident he had landed a solid hit on Nova, but.
“…!”
However, there was no sensation in his hand.
Instead, a chilling voice came from behind him.
“Where are you looking?”
At Seo-jin’s voice coming from directly behind him, Ju Won-jae’s eyes widened.
‘How?’
He deceived not only his Sixth Sense but also his conscious domain’s mana detection?
Before he could react to Seo-jin appearing behind him.
Flash—.
Something erupting from Seo-jin’s hand pierced through Ju Won-jae’s body.
“Keurk!“
Pajik— Pajijik—.
Ju Won-jae gritted his teeth at the powerful current that seemed to paralyze his entire body.
Ju Won-jae was someone who could endure most magic without batting an eye, but this spell was on a different level.
Leigal’s Breastplate that Ju Won-jae wore was an S-grade artifact that nullified magic below a certain rank.
Even if black magic had the characteristic of ignoring the target’s defense, if the magic’s rank was below a certain level, it couldn’t demonstrate its power.
But the fact that it pierced through this and damaged him meant Nova’s magic possessed a higher grade than ordinary black magic.
Ju Won-jae glared at Seo-jin with bulging eyes.
‘This man also carved his own history in this Tower.’
Well, of course.
Considering the Achievement Points he must have gained while climbing the Tower so far, creating a new system of magic wouldn’t be difficult.
Hwirik—.
Ju Won-jae swung his sword to push Seo-jin away, then pressed an acupoint on his chest.
Pababak—.
A wave of qi transmitted beyond the breastplate.
It was to protect his body from the black magic’s mana and residual current.
Having administered emergency treatment, Ju Won-jae glared at Seo-jin and asked.
“How did you do it? Deceiving my senses.”
Separate from the fact that he wielded high-grade magic with a new system.
He was curious how Seo-jin had deceived his Sixth Sense and conscious domain’s mana detection function to appear behind him.
However, Seo-jin had no intention of answering obediently.
“Trade secret.”
Seo-jin smirked and stared at the qi barrier spread around them.
‘Ju Won-jae’s unique martial art. The barrier of the conscious domain.’
Within that barrier that couldn’t be broken or dispelled, the space was literally placed under Ju Won-jae’s dominion.
Every element, every mana particle.
He already possessed the trait [Swift] to think and move faster than his opponents, [Sixth Sense] to instinctively perceive threats and crises, and the ability to distinguish truth from falsehood.
If he deployed the barrier of the conscious domain on top of that, he could even perceive and manipulate every flow of the opponent’s mana.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it was an ability close to that of a god.
‘But him fully wielding that level of power is a matter of the distant future.’
At this point in time, his martial art wasn’t complete, and his realm and proficiency hadn’t reached a mature state either.
He still couldn’t fully control the domain and was relying on his Sixth Sense and vision.
‘Rather, as much as he deployed the conscious domain, the amount of neural capacity distributed to Sixth Sense and mana detection has decreased, creating a reverse effect.’
If all abilities harmonized together, they could produce tremendous synergy, but right now each ability was interfering with the others.
Of course, most opponents wouldn’t notice such subtle discord and would succumb to his overwhelming swordsmanship and traits.
But Seo-jin was different.
He could target that thread-thin gap and the moment of carelessness stemming from absolute confidence.
‘Well, now that I’ve used it once, it won’t work anymore.’
Chiril—.
Seo-jin gathered mana in his hand, generating an electric current as he asked.
“Want to go another round?”
“……”
Ju Won-jae kept his sword pointed at the confident-looking Seo-jin and glared at him for a moment.
Then.
Cheolkeok—.
He sheathed his sword and calmly declared defeat.
“I acknowledge it. It’s my defeat.”
“…!”
The arena stirred simultaneously with those words.
‘Actually, if I continued the match as it was, I was confident I would definitely win.’
There were still many hidden cards left, and looking at Nova’s mana flow, the moment his Body Enhancement magic ended, he would clearly self-destruct from powerful side effects.
If he just evaded and bought time, victory would be his.
But
‘A victory obtained that way is not a victory.’
Just having his weakness exposed and allowing a single hit was as good as defeat.
Of course, it wasn’t defeat in the true sense. He had still concealed 30% of his power.
Also, in this match, he hadn’t used the unique swordsmanship he had carved into the world at all. He had only used universal skills from the Swordsman class.
He had deployed the conscious domain out of excitement, but that was it.
He hadn’t shown his full power at all.
“……”
Separate from his thoughts, when Ju Won-jae readily acknowledged defeat, the Frontline Strategy Team members protested.
“W-wait, really? Think again!”
“What are you talking about! You can win if you just keep going like this!”
Yelena and Gu-ren’s angry outcries.
Nevertheless, Ju Won-jae just shrugged his shoulders.
“Forcibly seizing victory has no meaning. I was defeated in substance.”
He, called the strongest among climbers, had his guard pierced and allowed a hit to a rookie who hadn’t even climbed for two full years.
Even if he forced a win, his diminished honor wouldn’t be restored. Rather, if it fell, it would fall further.
And separate from the match, the overall development of the 38th floor test also didn’t measure up to Reverse Heaven Society.
Though they won all the battles, Reverse Heaven Society had the advantage on a strategic level.
Even if he forced a win here and secured the totems, it would literally be a Pyrrhic victory.
Also, Nova seemed to have thoughts about clearing the quest by methods other than what the administrator restricted, and he had a mind to see that.
It was an opportunity to confirm with his own eyes the ‘climbing method’ he had only heard about in rumors.
‘This defeat doesn’t mean eternal defeat.’
Since he had gained much through this match, that was enough.
There was also the Saintess’s request, and this wasn’t a stage worth risking his life to fight on.
When the Sword Star acknowledged defeat, Ha-yeon declared Seo-jin’s victory.
“Alright. Then by the Sword Star’s forfeit, Nova wins! Everyone applaud!”
Clap clap clap—.
Only a few Reverse Heaven Society members clapped in response to her words, but Seo-jin was decided as the victor of this match.
***
“That bastard, when he fought me he hounded me to death, but now why is he acting like that? Huh?”
The Wolf Tribe’s communal cave after returning from the match.
Nam-gung Cheon kept grumbling, seemingly dissatisfied with the content and result of the match.
It was because Ju Won-jae, who had toyed with him, readily acknowledged defeat against Seo-jin.
“There was tremendous psychological warfare that someone like you can’t see. The opponent just acknowledged it.”
“Bullshit. He just fired off some magic a few times then teleported and got one hit on him, didn’t he?”
“……Seeing only what you want to see. Ask your master later.”
Because Lee Seo-mun would have grasped most of the overall flow of the match and the psychological warfare contained within.
Meanwhile, So-yul touched the totems gathered in one place with a moved expression.
“We managed to collect them all after much trouble.”
The sixteen animal totems that fell into Reverse Heaven Society’s hands.
“Mm.”
Though there had been various incidents, they had ultimately succeeded in collecting all the totems.
They had essentially won in a head-on confrontation with the Frontline Strategy Team.
Seo-jin praised his team members’ achievements.
“You all worked hard.”
The four who held out despite being at a power disadvantage, the two rogues who infiltrated enemy territory even digging tunnels to steal totems.
And Nam-gung Rin, who joined Seo-jin in analyzing totems and played a key role in infiltration.
If it had been Seo-jin alone, he couldn’t have achieved such a feat.
It was thanks to everyone’s cooperation that they could produce such results.
‘Now all that’s left is to combine the totems into one.’
Since he had figured out the principle of combining totems into one while manufacturing the ‘key’ to go to the surface earlier, combining them wouldn’t be too difficult.
With this, he could also fulfill the victory condition Nimrod presented.
And the combined totem, unlike the temporary key he made, would become a true key and lead the tribes living underground to the surface.
‘The key I made could only briefly send the Remus brothers to the surface.’
The enchantment the ancestors of the natives had placed on the passage to the surface was that powerful.
However, if he used [Primordial Totem] by fusing all tribes’ totems into one, he could easily send tens of thousands of tribespeople to the surface.
But there was one last remaining problem.
“Hurry and destroy that!”
“Didn’t you say you’d bring us victory?”
“It’s time to taste the fruits of victory!”
When they came outside the cave, the chieftains had gathered and were raising their voices.
Thinking they had won the war, they were demanding to destroy the enemy’s totems.
Seo-jin considered their position.
‘The natives followed the outsiders’ orders while suppressing their complaints only for victory.’
And having finally succeeded in obtaining the opposing tribes’ totems, what remained was destroying them.
If they just destroyed the enemy’s totems, they could conduct battles from an extremely advantageous position.
After Seo-jin’s party, who were controlling the revival ritual, left, they would resume the revival ritual and subjugate the enemies whose totems were destroyed, making them slaves.
Thus gaining freedom from the long war of the underground world and seizing insufficient ley lines and water veins to enjoy a prosperous life.
However,
“That’s just what you think.”
Seo-jin had no interest in the freedom and prosperity these people desired in the underground world.
Because true freedom and prosperity weren’t here.
“Just watch closely. Remus.”
“Yes.”
When Remus sent a glance, Romulus standing beside him drew his spear and approached the chieftains.
Jeobuk—.
The chieftains tensed up seeing Romulus approaching while gleaming his razor-sharp spear tip.
“Wh-what? You’re not planning to kill us!”
“S-stop!”
Flash—.
Simultaneously with their screams, Romulus’s spear flashed.
