#1
[Labyrinth Tower]
[Stages: 15]
[Grade: Sobaeksan]
[Stages consist of enormous mazes.]
[100 participants enter each session. Crews are limited to 5 members.]
[The first to defeat the boss, Vampire Serban, wins.]
[Bruiser equipment drops frequently.]
[Skill Book: Berserk can be obtained.]
The Labyrinth Tower.
The actual Sobaeksan was a mountain about 1,500 meters above sea level, apparently.
It stood at the heart of the Sobaek mountain range and ranked among South Korea’s taller mountains.
True to that grade, the difficulty rose sharply compared to Bukhansan or Namsan.
But this place had one major advantage.
There was no time limit for individual stages.
Ah, of course, given how the tower worked, everyone left behind would automatically be eliminated once enough people advanced.
‘The average clear time is… about five hours?’
Five hours meant three hundred minutes.
Enough time to secure three R-rank summons.
And he wasn’t sure yet, but what if the cooldown reset every time he went up a floor?
“This is just insane.”
His forces wouldn’t just become several times stronger in one go. He’d be the strongest in his grade.
Still, if he kept using up towers like this, he would eventually reach a point where even R-rank summons struggled.
He would have to keep climbing and build up a large force of SR-rank and SSR-rank summons.
‘Let’s go.’
[The game will begin shortly.]
[Climbers wishing to participate should select Join Game.]
The tower lobby.
It was finally time to join the game.
A huge crowd had gathered.
The place was packed with what had to be at least a thousand Climbers.
A few stood out among them.
An avatar with a golden axe strapped to his back.
That was definitely…
‘Golden Axe Sigrul. And the person beside him is…’
[Battle Maniac Lacrosa].
The partner who had been teaming up with Golden Axe for a long time.
Despite being a woman, she carried an enormous hammer and was still causing a sensation wherever she went.
Why were people who ought to be tackling tall mountains overseas here?
Hwanung wondered, but he had no way of knowing.
He decided not to dwell on it beyond the thought that sharing a session with them would be a headache.
The game would begin soon.
He didn’t think he needed to travel with a whole mob on this climb.
‘There’s player killing here, too.’
People like that were collectively called “griefers.”
Player killing, dumping monsters on others, betrayal, and all the other ways to interfere with a tower climb.
Griefers were the people behind all of it.
Sometimes they came from other countries, sometimes from hostile Climbing Clubs.
They crawled out of the woodwork for all sorts of reasons.
And they always showed up in large dungeon-style towers like this one.
‘So let’s keep a low profile with a small, elite team.’
He planned to use only R-rank summons for this climb.
As for the summons he acquired along the way, well.
Maybe he would keep them as his secret weapon.
[The game will begin shortly.]
[Stage Start]
[Capacity: 90]
The game began, and the view before him shifted.
Neatly laid brick walls and paths branching off in every direction.
His climb through the Labyrinth Tower had begun.
The idea was to move upward while defeating whatever monsters they encountered.
At the end awaited a boss and enormous rewards.
100 to 1.
The competition was on.
“Summon.”
Responding to his intent, only Lucas, Eyas, and the two Priests appeared.
He also used Draw and tucked the result away in his inventory.
He had no idea what people or monsters he would encounter here.
Everyone he met was an enemy, and anyone suspicious had to be kept out of the picture.
That was what climbing towers was like.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
“Anyone good at finding their way around?”
“…”
He had asked just in case, but no one answered.
Lucas and Eyas looked crestfallen.
They seemed so apologetic that they might drop to their knees at any moment. Hwanung quickly added,
“Don’t kneel. Don’t apologize, either.”
“…”
“You see right through us, my lord.”
“I only asked on the off chance. Don’t worry about it. Let’s get going.”
“…Yes.”
Eyas and Lucas looked at him for a moment, then took the lead.
The Priests simply stood with their hands clasped in prayer, offering little reaction.
All right, time to get moving.
“We’ll run into zombies and brainwashed soldiers. I’ll explain the vampire’s minions’ attack patterns as we encounter them, so respond right away.”
“Understood.”
“A vampire… Evil must be cleansed.”
One of the Priests in the middle of the group spoke.
Could it be?
Wondering if it might work, Hwanung continued forward for now.
After they had walked for a while, growling reached them from up ahead.
Good. His chance to test it had come sooner than expected.
“Priests, they’re just ordinary undead. Can you cleanse them?”
“Of course.”
“We shall cleanse them in accordance with the natural order.”
The Priests would take center stage this time, instead of Eyas and Lucas.
It was a familiar enough setup.
Against undead or evil-aligned monsters, healers were the most efficient damage dealers.
To test that, Hwanung ordered the Priests to heal.
[Healing Light]
[Heals the target.]
The skill description couldn’t have been simpler.
Pure white light flew toward a monster in the form of a sphere.
The monster was a [Vampire’s Slave Soldier].
The result was exactly what Hwanung had expected.
“Kieeeek!”
“Oh!”
The soldier struck by the sphere writhed in pain, smoke rising from its body.
Eyas and Lucas charged in and swung their swords.
Slash!
Clean strikes sent the soldiers’ heads flying.
Killed on the spot, the monsters dropped Lux crystals and vanished.
Good. That gave him four damage dealers, so they could pick up the pace.
“Let’s move faster.”
“Will you be all right without me guarding the rear?”
“It’s fine. I have something in mind, so you can stay up front for now.”
“Understood, my lord.”
Failing to make the first ninety meant automatic elimination, so he intended to focus on pushing through for now.
And if his guess was right, he wouldn’t need guards at the rear.
Being ambushed wouldn’t count as taking an attack “deliberately,” after all.
Hwanung picked up speed as he made his way through the maze.
And he encountered griefers sooner than expected.
#2
A group of unknown people was tailing someone.
Unless what happened inside a tower was broadcast, there was no way to find out what anyone did there.
Some took advantage of that to trample naive beginners. Their Climbing Club was called [Death Valley].
Trailing a crew of two women and three men, the Death Valley members snickered among themselves.
“They really lucked out with their avatars.”
“Yeah. Their equipment looks pretty good, too, doesn’t it?”
“They’re such obvious beginners. What are they doing, not even watching for an ambush?”
Exactly.
In a maze, the proper formation put a warrior or tank at the very rear.
An enemy could appear behind them at any moment.
That was what made them beginners.
They couldn’t keep track of all the little details yet.
The Death Valley crew crept closer, waiting for the group to finish fighting.
As luck would have it, this was a broad area open on both sides.
The perfect place to kill one in an ambush, then overwhelm the rest with numbers.
They quietly drew their weapons and waited for the perfect moment.
‘Now?’
‘Not yet. Wait a little longer.’
‘An arrow first. Okay?’
They coordinated through looks alone. Clearly, this wasn’t their first time doing this.
Creak.
One of the five drew back a bowstring.
The target was the man at the very rear, who looked like a Sherpa.
Take out the porter first, then jump the rest.
If they finished it quickly, they wouldn’t waste any stamina.
‘Huh?’
For a fleeting instant, the archer holding the bow at full draw sensed something off.
Those people clearly had no idea, yet it felt as though someone was watching.
The archer lost focus for a moment and glanced around, but there was nothing nearby.
‘What are you doing? Shoot already!’
The crew leader shot an impatient look from beside the archer.
Right.
The enemy had no idea where they were or what they were about to do.
So… fire.
‘Eat this, moron.’
The archer even used a skill, intending to finish it in one shot.
No unequipped beginner had ever survived this strike.
Only those carried by their equipment and skills had managed to endure it.
Fweeeesh!
The arrow tore through the air.
Brimming with blue light, it held enough power to punch through steel.
The arrow flew straight into the back of the man’s head, and a terrifying boom rang out.
KABOOM!
Aura burst, sending up a thick cloud of dust.
Someone shouted, and the people up front all turned around. At that, the Death Valley crew charged.
“Haha!”
“Hand over everything you’ve got and get the hell out of the tower!”
“Little noob shit! Didn’t watch your back? Then die, dumbass!”
“What’s a bunch of noobs gonna do about it?”
A man and a woman stepped into the path of the gleefully charging crew.
Then a voice came from within the dust.
“Summon.”
Space opened, and things began pouring out.
Watching from a distance, Death Valley’s archer realized something had gone wrong.
Though it was already far too late for regrets.
#3
[Summon Invulnerability]
The hit had startled him.
The skill blocked the damage, but it did nothing about the deafening blast or the thick cloud of dust.
He thought his eardrums were going to burst.
Still, this was more or less within his expectations.
He had experienced this often enough while working as a Sherpa.
Ambushers usually targeted Sherpas, who stayed at the very rear and whose absence made climbing a hassle.
Continuing a climb without a Sherpa wasn’t easy.
‘That’s why I deliberately left the rear unguarded.’
“Wh-what are these things?”
“Sorry, but could you keep my ability to yourselves?”
N-rank summons poured out, giving him the numerical advantage in an instant.
Wasn’t crushing enemies through sheer numbers the real joy of being a summoner?
Led by Eyas and Lucas, the swarm of summons descending on them was nothing short of a catastrophe.
“How dare you attack the Master!”
Vivid blue aura rippled at the tip of Lucas’s sword.
Other summons threw themselves forward to create an opening.
Lucas slipped through it, his sword slashing straight through a Death Valley crew member’s throat.
Slash!
The avatar vanished without even a scream.
Now there were four.
“Th-this is fucking insane—!”
“That one’s getting away.”
“Not a chance.”
With Agility over 40, Eyas moved like the wind.
The archer tried to flee on swift feet, but Eyas was already close behind.
The N-rank summons were also attacking, hampering the escape.
“Damn it, what the hell are these things!?”
“You shall pay with your life for daring to threaten my lord’s person.”
Her voice was cold, with a razor edge.
The archer quickly nocked and fired an arrow, but Eyas evaded the supposedly decisive shot with uncanny movement.
The effect of [Follow the Wind] had activated, letting her dodge the attack with its 30% evasion chance.
“F-fuck! What the hell are you!?”
“Die, you piece of filth.”
Eyas’s icy words drowned out the desperate cry.
[Storm Blade]
Her hwando began an elaborate dance.
It was the first time the summoner’s power had been revealed to others.
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