Chapter 75
Kael was a young knight.
Regardless of having been called a genius at the academy, he obviously couldn't yet be called seasoned.
Among the expedition's veterans, composed of experienced warriors belonging to the great powers' elites, he was still precisely at the level where being called a fledgling suited him.
But.
He wasn't completely devoid of experience as a soldier.
He had already experienced the deaths of comrades in the Royal Knights.
That was why Kael had already accepted their deaths by the time his friends still hadn't been found up to the 99th floor.
He had accepted that they had died in battle, rather than being isolated in the Tower.
Because.
- I'm not saying we're going to kill the Demon King. We're just going to take the treasure on the 100th floor.
That was what Leon had said.
Leon, Ellen, and Fuena.
Those three childhood friends were after only the treasure on the 100th floor, just like most of this expedition.
Therefore, if the three of them hadn't been found anywhere within the 100th floor, it was certain that they were already dead.
Thinking that they might have been isolated in the Tower was idiotic.
He accepted that.
At the same time, he even realized that most of the reason he had stubbornly insisted to Princess Elia that he would go to the Tower stemmed from his regret at failing to stop his friends from going to the Demon King's Tower.
But.
After seeing the stance that the monster in red armor had taken.
Kael became a fool once again.
The angle of that shoulder and the height of that raised elbow.
They were far too familiar.
There was no way he couldn't know the source of that déjà vu.
‘Leon…?’
An absurd conclusion took shape.
His thoughts whirled.
Kael stared blankly for a moment, pointlessly looking around him.
Everyone around him was just as dazed as Kael.
Because not a single gold coin could be seen where there should have been piles of them.
They truly looked utterly dumbfounded.
What kind of behavior was this, with a monster right in front of them?
He was no exception.
Using the others as a cautionary example, Kael barely regained his senses.
This wasn't the time for brooding.
Before long, he shouted at everyone as the expedition leader.
“Focus on the battle first!”
But even then, the commotion didn't easily subside.
The fact that the 100th floor was completely empty made everyone furious.
“So all that talk about gold coins was complete nonsense!”
“I knew something seemed strange!”
“Was it nothing more than a legend? Old woman! Explain what happened right now!”
“Kill this fraud immediately!!!”
“Don't do this! I merely told you about what happened 400 years ago!!”
The mages belonging to the Tower of Ram, the Holy Knights, and even some of those who had volunteered for the scout party were all caught up in the confusion, murmuring among themselves.
“My dream of restoring my family…”
“I thought I could send my sick younger sister to a priest…”
“What am I supposed to tell the Saintess…”
Those who felt the deepest despair couldn't even bring themselves to be angry at the old woman.
That was when.
“Stupid greedy fools...!! What are you all doing with a monster right in front of you!”
The Hero's descendant leaped forward.
“I'll fight it!”
He charged while taking advantage of the gap in the Holy Knights' vigilance caused by the confusion.
“Don't!”
Kael said that, but then he had to reconsider why he was trying to stop the boy.
The boy raised his holy sword and charged the monster in red armor.
Kaaaaang-!
The holy sword and the blood-red greatsword collided.
The boy staggered far backward under the impact.
“Urgh...!”
Using the recoil against him, the monster in red armor spun and unleashed a second slash.
The blood-red blade was aimed precisely at the boy's nape.
‘I'm going to be cut!’
Kael, who had kept his eyes on it, threw himself forward.
Thud-!
In an instant, Kael grabbed the boy by the back of the neck and hurled him behind himself as though throwing him away.
Whoooooosh-!
The boy went flying, and then the metallic wind from the charging red sword brushed past the tip of Kael's nose.
Swoosh-!
It had been a hair's breadth.
The descendant of the Hero rolled across the floor and burst out indignantly.
“Even you, Expedition Leader, are stopping me!”
The Tower Master of Ram and the commander of the Holy Knights, who had belatedly realized that the Hero's descendant had charged ahead alone, hurried over and blocked the boy.
“Thank you for saving me, Expedition Leader!”
“Aaaah! Get out of my way!”
They held the boy back, while Kael faced the monster in red armor head-on.
Whoooooosh-!
The red-armored one thrust its sword first.
Kaaaaang! Clang! Clang!
Three or four exchanges followed in an instant.
The more they exchanged blows, the more astonishment crawled up through Kael's mind.
‘As I thought… this is Leon's swordsmanship…’
During their academy days, the two men had been called geniuses of swordsmanship, and since neither had anyone else who could stand against him, they had been each other's only sparring partners.
Therefore, after sparring countless times, they had seen through every detail of each other's sword paths.
The distinctive upward slash that followed after deflecting an overhead cut.
The thrust that twisted the wrist simultaneously with a backstep.
It was so familiar that it was sickening.
‘How could this possibly…!’
Clang-!
While doubt tore through his mind.
“I'll provide support!”
The mages from the Tower and the mercenaries all began pouring magic and ranged attacks over Kael, covering him.
With the combined firepower of dozens of people concentrated.
Swooooosh-! Boom! Kaaaang-!
The magic bombardment tore away one of the red-armored monster's gauntlets, and it staggered heavily.
“Expedition Leader! Finish it!”
Voices urged him on.
This situation offered Kael no room for consideration whatsoever.
Kael considered the possibility that this blood-red-armored monster might be Leon himself, but he wasn't given so much as a moment to deliberate.
He couldn't ruin everything through hesitation when an opening had appeared.
Kael clenched his teeth.
Then he drove a thrust into the opening in the collapsed breastplate.
Sssssss-!!!
Kael's sword completely pierced the center of the red armor's torso.
<……>
The body convulsed once, violently.
Then it collapsed to the floor.
Thud-
The blood mist was fading.
Kael looked down at the red-armored knight with his sword still embedded in it.
He froze in place.
Because he didn't know what emotion he was supposed to feel.
There was no guidance for a situation like this in any manual or set of instructions.
‘Did I… kill Leon? No… this wasn't Leon…’
That was when.
A very rough voice leaked from the cross-section of its neck.
<Kaa……el…>
Kael's eyes widened.
The monster was calling his name.
“Leon!! Is it really you!?”
Kael released the sword he had driven in and bent down.
He focused on the voice that emerged like that.
<…Kaa…el…>
“Yes, it's me, Kael! Tell me, Leon, what happened??”
<Die…>
“What?”
He put his knees on the floor and bent completely down to hear the voice.
That was the moment.
As though it had been waiting for him to draw close.
Grab!!
The red armor's shoulder moved, and its gauntlet clutched the back of Kael's neck.
<Die… Kael…>
Kael was seized and startled out of his wits.
<I… am that person's henchman. To defy me… is the same as defying… that person…>
“Urgh…”
<Do not… attempt to rebel against the one who granted… me honor…>
There was no way he could believe that was something Leon would say.
He fell into extreme confusion.
But the fact that it knew his name meant that it was definitely Leon.
As soon as Kael began struggling violently, the gauntlet choking his neck crumbled apart.
Soon, all the armor that made up the red knight scattered like dust.
As Kael watched, he thought about how Leon's final act, after squeezing out the last of his strength, had been to speak words wishing for Kael's death.
Fwoosh-!
Immediately afterward, heat surged through the muscle fibers throughout Kael's body.
It was the sensation of his physical abilities rising as a large amount of experience was absorbed.
It was proof that he had defeated a powerful enemy.
But Kael couldn't feel anything about it.
Because his mind had gone numb.
The expedition members who had been farther away came over to Kael and examined him.
“What were you thinking, doing something so dangerous! Were you trying to communicate with the monster?”
“That too, but, Expedition Leader… your swordsmanship is exceptional. It was as though you had seen straight through its sword paths.”
Kael's expression had sunk into darkness.
…
Had the Demon King done this to Leon?
What had happened to Ellen and Fuena?
Could he find a clue if he climbed higher?
While Kael was thinking about those things.
Once the only threat, the monster, had disappeared and the battle ended, an even greater commotion began.
“Defeating the monster didn't make gold coins appear either…”
“What is this!!”
Another uproar began over the fact that there were no gold coins.
At the center of the confusion, the Hero's descendant poured oil on the flames.
“Serves you right. Your greed will never be satisfied again.”
“How dare this brat!”
This time, the boy glared at the commander of the Holy Knights and the Tower Master of Ram as he spoke.
“I will head for the 101st floor. Eradicating the demonkin is the mission I was born to fulfill in this world. Therefore, if you intend to keep stopping me, you should follow me to the next floor.”
Having said that, the boy immediately ran toward the stairs to the 101st floor.
“Don't!”
The commander of the Holy Knights hurriedly moved to block the Hero's descendant.
“Let go of me!!! If you keep blocking me, I'll kill myself right here! Those of you who claim you want to protect me don't actually want that, do you?”
“That's absurd!”
At the same time, the mercenaries angered by the boy's provocation just moments earlier raised their weapons toward him.
“It seems that brat wants to die. We'll grant him that wish.”
“That would be troublesome.”
The Tower Master of Ram and the mages stopped the mercenaries who were trying to tear the boy apart.
The Holy Knights blocked the boy from the front as he tried to run into the 101st floor.
With the Hero's descendant in the center, they were blocking both the front and the back.
Kael, who had been watching this scene, lowered his head for a moment.
Then, as though he had made some decision, he walked steadily into the center.
The commander of the Holy Knights brightened.
“Expedition Leader! Good timing! Persuade this troublemaker!”
Kael approached without answering until he stood directly in front of the boy.
And then.
Grab-!
“......!”
Kael's hand seized the Hero's descendant by the collar.
The commander of the Holy Knights' eyes widened, and the mages stopped their incantations.
“W-What are you doing, Expedition Leader!”
The commander of the Holy Knights tried to stop him in horror, but Kael's gaze remained fixed solely on the boy.
Kael spoke in a low, heavy voice.
“…No one else acknowledged it, but you clearly said it yourself, didn't you?”
“What did I say?”
The boy looked up at Kael with a bewildered expression.
“You said that if you disobeyed an order, I, as expedition leader, had the authority to carry out a summary execution.”
“That is what I said.”
Even while being held by the collar, the boy couldn't imagine what would happen next.
Kael said this.
“Fine. Then I'll issue an order.”
“I am prepared to climb to the 101st floor…!”
“That will be the second order.”
“…What is the first?”
“That you get beaten to a pulp by me.”
“…?”
Bang-!!
Kael's fist slammed into the boy's cheek.
“Urgh!”
The boy rolled across the floor and spat blood.
Thud! Smack!
Kael didn't stop, driving kicks into the fallen boy's abdomen and face.
The boy groaned in pain and tried to resist, but he had no means of overcoming Kael's strength.
The Tower Master of Ram burst out laughing.
The commander of the Holy Knights was horrified and reached for his sword hilt, but then hesitated.
…
He soon understood Kael's intention.
The mercenaries had been snarling as though they would tear the boy apart and kill him at any moment, spewing killing intent.
Their hostility was subsiding at the sight.
With the gold coins on the 100th floor gone, everyone needed an outlet for their emptiness and anger.
Kael had found the perfect candidate.
The commander of the Holy Knights admired Kael's scheme, took his hand off his sword hilt, and remained silent.
“Cough... hack...”
By the time the boy's face was mottled with bruises and his eyelids had swollen badly.
Kael released the boy's collar at the mercenary captain's feet and casually tossed him down.
A priest of the Holy Knights silently approached and began healing the boy.
Kael spoke to the now-silent gathering.
“We will head upward. Only those who will follow my orders and observe the expedition's regulations should follow me. I will give those who do not wish to continue the chance to descend.”
*
Afterward, they deliberated for quite a long time.
Most of the mercenaries chose to descend and preserve their lives.
“There might be treasure on the upper floors, but there's no guarantee of that!”
“There is such a thing as a Golden Carriage…”
“How can we trust you? The Tower has changed since 400 years ago!”
The ironic thing was that most of the eleven people who had originally volunteered for the scout party were among those who chose to descend.
It was the moment that proved they had been among the greediest of all, having sought the opportunity to enter the Tower first.
But Kael wasn't surprised by this.
Because he had come to realize that only madmen would climb the Demon King's Tower for a greater cause.
“Expedition Leader, if beating me was a plan to weed out the fakes, I will forgive you…”
…
The Hero's descendant said that to Kael with blood still crusted on his lips.
Everyone else decided to climb the Tower.
The commander of the Holy Knights had no choice because of the suicide spectacle caused by the Hero's descendant.
‘If you stand in the way of my will, I'll kill myself.’
An absurd threat.
But it had actually worked, and the commander of the Holy Knights was ashamed of that fact.
However, judging from the boy's words and actions so far, he thought this madman really might do it.
Thus, unable to send the Hero's descendant alone, the Holy Knights joined the climb to the upper floors.
“…Only as far as the floor where we can sense the Gatekeeper's demonic energy…”
The Tower Master of Ram said that.
“In any case, we can't descend yet, Commander of the Holy Knights.”
“What do you mean?”
“I'll tell you when the time comes.”
The Tower Master of Ram said something no one could understand and decided to accompany them.
It was a journey to find the demonic energy of the Gatekeeper, who had been the Demon King's Tower's guardian.
Using that as a pretext, the Human Alliance expedition climbed the stairs toward the 101st floor.
There were thirty-one of them in total.
*
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*
*
*
“Crazy.”
The Blood Knight had been defeated.
Because two groups of intruders had invaded one after the other.
There had been only about nine hours between them.
The first group of ten had somehow been defeated by the Blood Knight, but the second hadn't.
The Blood Knight fought back, screaming until the very last moment when it collapsed to the floor, but it died.
How much pain had it been in? It had been a horrifying scream.
Judging by the intense loathing I sensed from the Blood Knight connected through Necro Synchro, perhaps the final swordsman who killed it had been mocking it.
“…How many of them were there?”
There seemed to have been around fifty. It was such a massive number that I couldn't even properly determine it.
And there was a problem.
“My reward leave…”
Even though the Blood Knight had killed the ten intruders, the 100th floor wasn't sealed off.
The experience had come in, but there was no reward leave.
Could it have been because it hadn't happened on the floor where I was?
……
But I didn't have even a second to stand around dazed.
Just as had happened nine hours earlier.
Immediately after the Blood Knight encountered the first group of intruders, I reported it on the gallery and then headed for the 142nd floor.
I completed the climb to the 161st floor, where I had just woken up after making camp.
Creak-creak-
[The Ascension Match begins.]
There was no time to hesitate.
I had to head for the 162nd floor.
Because I needed to absorb the monster's experience right now and become even a little stronger.