Chapter 103
The black mage looked at the leg in his hand.
[… Sand?]
Immediately after realizing it, another explosion followed before he had time to react.
Boom—!
[Kuhk!]
A sand explosion detonated at point-blank range.
The black mage screamed and fell backward.
Holes had been punched all through the body made of shadow.
Its leisurely composure had vanished completely.
[You pathetic bastard, trying to pull such flimsy tricks when you're already on death's doorstep...!]
The black mage glared at me.
“Dying? Who?”
I stood up from the floor as if nothing had happened.
Sand gathered from all around into my body.
My severed leg and arm were regenerating.
Not a single drop of blood flowed.
[… You weren't injured from the start?]
I shrugged.
“Everything below my heart is just sand.”
My body could be detached and reattached at any time.
Having my leg cut off had, in the end, just been bait.
[You cowardly bastard, using such flimsy tricks...!]
The black mage spat out curses in fury.
I snorted.
“You came prepared to counter me after studying in advance, and that's not cowardly?”
He gave no reply.
I didn't give him a chance to breathe.
“It's not over yet.”
I conjured another sand bullet in my right hand.
This time, my target wasn't him.
I fired at the floor beneath my feet.
Crack—!
The sand bullet struck the floor and shattered.
The black mage remained on guard, unable to understand my intent.
But it was too late.
Moments later, the battlefield changed.
The thick black mist blanketing the floor began to clear.
[What the—!]
The black mage cried out in shock.
My vision was different than before.
Everything was now crystal clear.
The core of the mana sustaining the mist on the floor.
Through continued observation, I had perfectly understood the entire structure of it all.
All those shots I'd fired as if wasting bullets had actually been destroying the cores that formed the spell one by one.
“Your turn is over now.”
I extended my hand.
To seize control of the earth once more.
It was different from before.
Now that I understood his magic, any further contest of strength was pointless.
I had taken control of the ground in its entirety.
The floor surged up toward the black mage.
He reflexively scattered his body back into mist.
“Yeah, I've seen that enough already.”
I mocked him and copied his spell exactly.
My arm turned to sand and scattered into the air.
“I should call this technique Yellow Dust.”
Yellow dust began to mingle with his black mist.
Next came a contest of strength over control of the magic.
With our understanding now nearly equal, I was no longer being pushed back.
The black mage could no longer maintain his mist form.
[Kuhh...!]
His body was forcibly solidified.
Perhaps because the spell was forcibly canceled, he vomited black blood and dropped to his knees.
The winner had been decided.
“Thanks for teaching me something useful.”
I gathered up the last of my divine power and fired a bullet at the bastard's head.
Crunch!
The black mage collapsed without even managing a scream.
“Huh?”
The fallen man's body turned to liquid and spilled out.
Leaving behind his robe and items, the liquid spread everywhere like blood.
Of course, I had no intention of just letting that happen.
This was a black mage who dealt in death.
It would be strange if he didn't have at least one or two resurrection methods.
“Come here.”
I carved a sturdy gourd-shaped flask from a nearby rock.
Then I controlled the surrounding sand and stuffed him into the flask.
[You bastard—!]
Just as I thought.
I could hear a mental scream echoing.
I strapped the flask to my waist.
I'll have to think about how to deal with this guy later.
“Sharon, did you get the footage?”
“Yes! I didn't miss a single moment!”
I called Sharon over and took back my phone.
As Sharon had said, the video really had been recording me the whole time.
Satisfying footage.
“That's unexpected.”
“Pardon?”
“Honestly, when I collapsed halfway through, I thought you'd fire an arrow to save me.”
Since my collapse had been part of the act, I couldn't tell Sharon in advance.
I was worried she'd do something strange instead of filming me.
“Looks like you've grown, Sharon.”
“I believed in you, Sage. There was no way you'd lose.”
“Ahem. It's not that much...”
I cleared my throat awkwardly, fighting back a smile.
Why am I so weak to flattery and praise?
If I'm this easy, this is really a huge problem.
“Let's check the items he left behind.”
The guy who'd tried to escape by turning into a naked puddle.
Thanks to that, the black mage's items were left right where they were.
I walked over and picked them up one by one.
The first was a small wand shaped like a skull.
[Necromancer's Wand]
[Grade: Epic]
[Mana +50]
[Black Magic Power +200%]
[The curse of the dead will follow you.]
“Epic? Epic? Hey, carry something good for once!”
Epic, seriously.
I don't deal with garbage this cheap.
Besides, the options were utterly mediocre.
Black magic power? What am I supposed to use that for?
I shook the flask violently.
[Aah—! Aah—!]
A mental scream echoed.
“Sharon, keep shaking this thing.”
“Yes, y-yes! Like this?”
Shake-shake-shake-shake-shake.
Sharon shook the flask with both hands.
I looked down.
“Let's see, the next item is...”
The second item was a black robe.
[Memento Mori]
[Grade: Legendary]
[Can raise the dead.]
“Legendary? Sharon! You can stop shaking it now!”
I read through the description with a delighted expression.
[Warning: This item is cursed.]
[You will always be exposed to the threat of death.]
[Luck: -200]
“... no, keep shaking it.”
[Aaaagh———!]
What kind of thing was he carrying around?
No wonder he died at my hands.
“No, let's change our perspective.”
If it was someone already somewhat free from death, this item would basically have no penalty.
Maybe that black mage was one such being as well.
Considering his head came off and he immediately went liquid without dying, that was a pretty reasonable inference.
“If I can turn my whole body into sand, then it should be fine to wear.”
Otherwise, I could always give it to Chohogi.
Chohogi has extra lives to spare anyway.
I carefully put the robe away.
The last item was an old parchment scroll covered in a mass of unknown writing.
“This doesn't even count as an item.”
A parchment that didn't even bring up a status window.
I thought it was some kind of magic scroll, but maybe I was mistaken?
I unfolded the scroll, but of course the text was unreadable.
“Sharon, do you happen to know this script?”
I held the scroll out to Sharon, who was still shaking the flask.
Just in case.
Sharon took the scroll and frowned.
“No, I've never seen this script before. But...”
Sharon paused for a moment.
Her eyes narrowed.
As if she were tracing a forgotten memory.
“… somehow, I think I can read it.”
Sharon hesitantly began reading the letters on the scroll aloud, one by one.
The language flowing from her mouth had a strange resonance.
“Huh? Wait! Stop!”
Mana suddenly began gathering madly around the parchment.
Even after Sharon hurriedly stopped speaking, the strange phenomenon didn't subside.
The parchment turned black, then crumbled away in place.
Sharon turned to me with a pale face.
“S-sorry! I did something stupid...”
“No, hold on a second.”
My eyes, which could see the flow of mana, showed me something else.
A beam of light shot out from the crumbled parchment fragments.
Toward the gate behind it.
The purple vortex twisting space began to roil violently.
“Ugh, my head...”
I felt the headache coming over me again.
Sharon seemed to be the same; I could see her clutching her head.
[W-What are you doing——!]
Could the black mage be feeling the same pain too?
How strange.
Flash!
A moment later, the gate shrank to a single point of light and vanished without a trace.
At the same time, all the ominous energy that had filled this underground space lifted as if it had been a lie.
“There was a way to close the gate?”
If that were true, it would be a truly important discovery.
Gate.
A mysterious phenomenon that appears when a tower collapses.
It periodically spews monsters.
Monsters of all kinds never observed inside the tower itself.
There were already gates all over the world created by tower collapses.
Just look at North Korea—gates had ruined the country.
And you could close those gates?
I spoke to the flask.
“What exactly is this scroll?”
[Heh, do you think I'd tell you?]
Looks like he still hadn't come to his senses.
Shake-shake-shake-shake-shake-shake-shake!
I shook the flask even more violently.
[Aagh! Aaagh———! I-I'll talk——.]
“Tough, huh? You can still endure this?”
[Aaagh——! Wait, let me—!]
The black mage's willpower was strong.
Looks like I'd need to interrogate him carefully once I got home.
“Maybe I should buy a centrifuge.”
If I left him spinning in one for about a day, he'd probably come to his senses.
I carefully stowed away the flask.
“Looks like there's nothing else to take...”
My business here was done.
I retrieved Chohogi, then climbed the long stairs back to the temple on the surface.
Clear air brushed my cheeks and warm sunlight.
This was probably the end of this floor.
The reward for clearing it would come soon.
“Well then, I'm off. This time, I have time to say goodbye.”
Unless the Tower Re-Climb Pass comes around again, we probably won't have reason to see each other for a while.
I said goodbye, hoping Sharon would keep the faith piggy bank safe.
A reluctant look crossed her face.
“If it's not too much trouble, may I ask when you'll return?”
“Let's see? I don't really know either. It's not something I can decide myself.”
I answered honestly.
“But I think it'll be fine even without me now. There shouldn't be any threats left here.”
But even with my assurance, Sharon's expression didn't easily clear.
Sharon seemed to hesitate over something, then, as if gathering her courage, she spoke.
“Even if there isn't a crisis, I hope you'll come back to visit.”
“Why?”
“Well...”
Just as Sharon was about to continue her answer,
an all-too-familiar system message appeared before me.
[Congratulations on clearing the 40th Floor EXTREME difficulty.]
[The first-clear bonus has been applied!]
[‘Ruler's Flag’ has evolved into the unique item ‘Flag of Sand’.]
[The flag's territory declaration has advanced a level!]
[By consuming faith, you can freely travel to wherever the flag is placed.]
“A town return scroll? Not bad.”
I nodded with a satisfied expression.
The message didn't end there.
[The Rank 1 bonus has been applied!]
[You have obtained 4 copies of ‘Flag of Sand’.]
“Huh?”
Immediately afterward, four identical flags appeared in my hands.
I knew what would happen from here.
A message appearing meant I'd be forcibly kicked out of the tower.
I reflexively tossed one flag to Sharon.
“Take this! Plant it somewhere conspicuous!”
“?!”
Sharon, still looking utterly confused, hurriedly took the flag from me.
She opened her mouth to ask something, but it was already too late.
The familiar sensation of my body being enveloped.
I was spewed out of the tower in an instant.