Chapter 110
[Are you perhaps close with the other mages?]
“I guess so? Believe it or not, I'm Korea's precious fifth mage. A favored newbie, I'd say.”
I answered calmly.
I could hear the broker let out a deep sigh over the phone.
[Oh, my head....]
“Why?”
[It's because you seem to be turning into a bigger shot I can't handle anymore.]
“Ah, you can do it. You've been doing well so far.”
[I'm grateful you say that.]
The broker's voice became serious again.
[So, are you planning to bring all the other mages into our company?]
“Not really. I don't think the others would bother coming over.... Hmm, or maybe not?”
I thought about the other users on Mage Gallery.
Magic Firepower would never come anyway, since he already had his own guild.
Refrigerator was a researcher, so he wouldn't bother coming either.
As for Beetle, being number one, it would probably be awkward for him to belong anywhere.
...Probably, right?
“Anyway, this was a very special case.”
[What exactly is your relationship?]
“Friends.”
[Friends...? You mean that online friend you mentioned last time?]
A voice full of suspicion.
At that voice, as if asking, “A friend? You? Seriously?”, I couldn't help but protest.
“What? I have real-life friends too, you know?”
[Hmm.]
“... Well, they are online friends, but isn't an online friend still a friend? They're all just friends. You can't go around ranking people among friends.”
[I didn't say anything.]
“...”
The broker fell silent for a moment, then asked cautiously.
[I'm talking about the people you said you met online.... They're really mages, right? It's not some kind of scam, is it....]
“No, do you think I'm some little kid? You think I can't even tell that much apart?”
[Have they ever asked you to do anything weird?]
“Weird things? Like what?”
[Like suddenly asking you to take and send photos or videos.... They wouldn't be nice to you for no reason, would they?]
“Ah, nothing like that.”
I said, breaking into laughter.
“I've met them a few times too. They're all just good people. Don't worry.”
I added a few words to reassure the broker.
The broker still seemed skeptical, but he didn't ask any further.
[Understood. Anyway, I told Hunter Shin Seha our situation honestly. That we're still new and don't have the means to support an A-rank hunter.]
“What did she say?”
[She said she wasn't planning to climb the Tower again right away, so she'd wait patiently. But her intention to join seemed sincere.]
“I guess she has no choice.”
Come to think of it, that was true.
Shin Seha's team had been wiped out.
The higher the floor, the harder it was to find new party members.
Most of all, their climbing floors had to match.
For her to find new party members, there would have to be a team climbing back up from below to the 40th floor.
That would take quite a while.
After finishing my call with the broker, I returned to what I had been doing.
When I opened the fridge door, I saw the black mage essence in the gourd.
In case of a possible escape attempt, I'd sprinkled the area with sand full of divine power, like salt.
“Looks like you've been behaving yourself.”
I took out the silent gourd and shook it.
[Ugh... where am I...?]
The black mage had apparently been in hibernation or something; after I shook it a few times, it finally came to its senses and spoke in a dying voice.
“...”
Chohogi, who was beside me, kicked the gourd that was about the size of its own body.
It still seemed to hold a grudge against the black mage that had incapacitated it in one shot on the 40th floor.
The same seemed true of the sandworm wrapped around my finger.
[The sandworm recommends drinking it.]
“What? You're saying I should drink this?”
[That black mage is also a being of considerable caliber. It says it will definitely help the master's growth.]
“No, I think that's a bit....”
A proposal that was out of the question both ethically and physically.
I wasn't the only one horrified by the suggestion.
[W-What are you saying! You barbarians, you're going to eat this body?]
“What, you can hear the sandworm too?”
[That's not the important part!]
The black mage in the gourd seemed to snap fully awake and shrieked.
[Stop! If there's anything you want, just say it! I'll cooperate with everything!]
“Hmm.”
I glanced at the blender and centrifuge I'd taken out beside me.
Looks like the expensive things I bought had become useless.
It was disappointing in many ways.
I wanted to hear it scream as it was defeated by advanced science.
“Maybe I can use that guy as exercise equipment later. Like a hamster wheel.”
I nodded. That black mage would probably like that too.
It might complain of a bit of pain, but a truly excellent trainer never even blinks at a trainee's screams.
[W-Why are you looking at me like that...?]
“Which is better, split training or full-body training?”
[What do you mean?]
Anyway, I had secured its full cooperation without much trouble.
I already knew what I needed to ask.
The parchment it had used to close the gate.
“There's only one thing I want right now: how to close gates.”
[Gates? Ah, you mean that...]
“When I used the scroll you had, the gate closed. Can you get more scrolls like that?”
[Of course. I made that myself, after all. I can make as many as you like.]
So that was it after all.
But if this thing really made those scrolls, there was one thing that worried me.
“Could you open gates artificially too?”
If so, and if there were more than one being like this.
The world could be destroyed at any moment.
I couldn't keep going this soft either.
[Unfortunately, I can't. Even I can only close gates. There is no one who can open them at will in the first place.]
“How can you be sure?”
[Hmph, how many mages do you think are better than me? If it's impossible for me, then it's impossible for anyone.]
“Huh? You lost to me.”
[That wasn't this body's full strength...! Damn it, if it weren't for this body, someone like you would have....]
“Enough with the loser’s cowardly excuses.”
[Grr, grr...!]
I could hear the black mage grinding its teeth.
I was dumbfounded.
And yet it had even done its homework thoroughly just to catch me.
After losing, what excuse could it possibly make?
“Enough. Then make me some more of those scrolls.”
[I need a lot of materials.]
“Well, I figured as much. What are they?”
[Parchment made from human skin, ink containing the spirits of a hundred thousand souls....]
“As if. Make them with different materials.”
Without listening any further, I cut it off.
As expected of a black mage, it only rattled off sinister ingredients.
Surely the parchment I used on the 40th floor wasn't made from ingredients like that, was it?
I felt unreasonably disgusted.
[But that's the most efficient. It's also the fastest method.]
“This isn't something we can talk our way through.”
Fortunately, the day I'd need those things had come faster than expected.
I stood up, took the blender out of the kitchen cabinet, and plugged it into the outlet.
[W-Wait! What are you doing!]
I opened the gourd's lid and poured all of its contents into the blender.
[No! Don't do it!]
Whirrrrrrr!
Without hesitation, I pressed the blender's power button.
The blender blades violently churned the liquid.
A scream of agony rang through the kitchen.
[S-Stop!]
“Are you willing to find another way now?”
[... Time is needed. I still don't know what materials exist in this world!]
“You're just buying time like that?”
[I swear on my soul. I will never lie to you. And I will make the gate-closing scroll too. I swear!]
“Make one more promise.”
There could be no loophole for it to slip through.
“Don't use any disgusting methods to make that scroll. Make it in a way that's good by my standards.”
[...]
The black mage remained silent, seeming to hesitate.
That silence irritated me.
Without hesitation, I pressed the button again.
Whirrrrrrr—!
[Okay! Okay! I swear to that condition too!]
Only then did I take my hand off the blender.
[But this is the truth. I need to know the materials of this world so I can substitute them. I know nothing at all about your world.]
“Hmm.... Fine, for now.”
[Then first provide this body with some items from this world that I can learn about. We can start there.]
For now, I decided to accept what it said.
[Hey! What are you doing! No! I don't want to go in there again!]
I put it back into the gourd and into the fridge, all while planning what to do next.
First, I needed to get a list of materials that come from the Tower and materials that can only be obtained from gates scattered across the world.
“It's about time I went up to the 41st floor too.”
It was time to climb the Tower again after a long while.
***
[Entering Tower Floor 41 (EXTREME).]
“Briny...?”
A blinding sun poured down, mixed with a salty sea smell that stung my nose.
What stretched before me was an endless white beach and a transparent emerald sea.
“Wow....”
I let out a gasp.
A scene completely unlike the gloomy atmosphere up to now, like I'd come to a resort.
And above all, the soft sand beneath my feet.
“Finally, a sand field appears in the Tower too.”
I grinned.
Because this place was practically my home ground.
I suddenly felt brimming with confidence.
“I once went to the sea and tried to build a giant sandcastle....”
A lot had happened since then.
Maybe today I could finally realize that dream.
With a faint sense of anticipation, I looked around.
“Is that a ship?”
A huge sailing ship was floating far off on the horizon.
On one side of the beach, I could see a group of people resting around a campfire.
They were laughing, chatting, and raising their cups.
Anyone could tell they were the crew of that sailing ship.
“NPCs?”
But I'd never heard of NPCs like that.
As far as I knew, the 40th-floor area had a ship at sea as its backdrop, and there were no named NPCs.
Most of them were just there to help with navigation.
I approached them cautiously.
It would be nice if they were friendly NPCs, but I couldn't jump to conclusions.
When I got close enough to see their faces, a few of them spotted me and pointed.
“Hey, look over there.”
All the sailors' gazes turned to me.
I was just about to give them a light wave.
But after hearing their next words, I froze in place.
“It's a woman!”
“Huh, isn't she way too young, though?”
One of the men smacked his lips with a lecherous smile.
“So what if she's young? Are we in any position to be picky?”
“Besides, young has its own uses, after all. Heh heh heh.”
That was not the kind of conversation ordinary sailors would have.
A chilling premonition ran down my spine.
I quickly looked around.
I saw a black flag with a skull on it.
“...They were pirates.”
The pirates rose to their feet and started approaching me.
I took a fighting stance and gathered my mana.
A sudden standoff with pirates.
Looks like they weren't NPCs but mobs after all.
Just then—
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
The ground trembled faintly, and the peaceful sea suddenly began to churn violently.
“W-What!”
“Damn it, it's 'that time'! Hurry, back to the ship!”
The pirates' relaxed smiles vanished.
The pirates began sprinting toward the ship in a panic.
They jumped into a small boat on the beach and began rowing like mad.
In no time, they reached the sailing ship, then hurried up the rope ladder hanging from it and clambered onto the deck.
“What the hell is that...”
I stared blankly at them, then belatedly came to my senses and tried to chase after them.
But I couldn't.
Swoooosh!
The tide suddenly surged in.
The seawater quickly rose to my ankles.
“Shit...!”
The stretch of beach I was standing on began to shrink in the blink of an eye.
It was as if the island itself were sinking.
[Keurk.]
And beyond the sea, where the water had risen.
Something was walking out.
Splash, splash.
Fish-like heads and bulging eyes.
Sharp fins sprouting from their backs and arms.
They were merman monsters carrying tridents.
“Ugh, the fishy smell....”
The reek of fish was enough to make me dizzy.
There were easily over a hundred of them.
“Is this a time attack?”
The cold seawater rose past my ankles and up to my knees.
Looks like I had to take out all of them before this island completely sank.
I smirked.
The situation looked unfavorable.
The footing was narrowing, and enemies were closing in from all sides.
For an ordinary hunter, that would've been a hopeless situation.
But this was the sea.
There was an endless supply of sand beneath my feet.
“Even if I wanted to lose, I couldn't.”
I flicked my finger.
In response to my will, the sea beneath me flipped over entirely.
Kwaaaaaaah!
A gigantic sand tsunami rose up, splitting the sea apart.
The mermen were swept away by the sand tsunami before they could even react.
[Kyaak?!]
[Kweeeek!]
Their screams burst out from all directions.
Millions of grains of sand ground their scales and flesh away like sandpaper.
With the first wave alone, dozens of the mermen in front of me vanished without a trace.
“There's still half of them left?”
But there were still plenty of them.
Those who weren't swept away by the wave came charging at me, hurling spears.
I stood still and swiped my hand through the air.
A huge sand barrier sprang up and blocked their attack.
The tridents sank straight into the soft sand.
“I'll give them right back.”
I snapped my fingers.
The spears embedded in the sand barrier shot back out in all directions.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
The tridents pierced straight through the mermen's heads and hearts.
[Keuruk....]
The mermen collapsed without even managing a scream, becoming part of the sea once more.
I didn't stop there.
“Sand Hell.”
At my call, Sandworm raised its body.
All the ground ahead except the small patch I was standing on turned into a giant quicksand pit.
The mermen in the rear, who hadn't even gotten close to me yet, were horrified to feel the sand beneath their feet tugging them down.
[Kerok! Kerorok!]
The more they struggled to escape, the more persistently the sand pit dragged them down.
The battlefield was cleaned up in an instant.
I watched the scene with a blank expression.
That was when the last one completely disappeared into Sandworm's mouth.
As if nothing had happened, the sea became calm again.
The water that had rushed in began to recede slowly.
The beach returned to its original, beautiful sandy shore.
“Still not gone?”
I turned my gaze to the distant horizon.
The pirate ship was still there.
It was still flailing around, unable to set sail.
I slowly walked toward the pirates.