Chapter 20
Two raiders glared at me with fierce eyes.
“Come on, lighten up. Let’s all smile.”
“…You’re completely nuts. Or is this part of your plan?”
They spoke as they gradually surrounded me.
“I get it now. You’re the one stalling until Kwon Dohwa gets here, right?”
“?”
If anything, it was the exact opposite. It wasn’t worth wasting time answering.
‘I’d better deal with them quickly and rob the place.’
I had to hurry and take their valuables before Kwon Dohwa arrived.
I tried to knock one of them out by punching them in the head, but…
-Clang!
“Fuck, what kind of strength is that…!”
“What, how’d you block that?”
One of them blocked my arm with a longsword.
‘Could they be upper-tier C-Rank?’
I was taken aback by how strong they were, but…
“If you’re holding your sword with both hands, what are you gonna do with your other hand?”
“…!”
-Boom!
I punched them lightly in the stomach and sent them flying into the wall.
‘One left.’
I turned to deal with the other one, but there was no one in the living room.
‘They ran into the back room.’
I chased after them and entered the room.
-Crash!
They seemed to be trying to break the window and escape in a hurry.
‘Not a chance.’
-Thud!
“Guh…!”
I hit them on the back of the head and quickly knocked them out.
They’re so weak I don’t even need to use a sword.
‘So they really were just ordinary raiders.’
Just as I was feeling disappointed and looking for anything worth stealing in the house,
I spotted hidden-camera photos plastered all over the room.
‘What the hell?’
Most were pictures of girls who looked like middle- or high-schoolers, and I was even among them.
The desk was piled high with document folders.
[Name: Kim Siyeon]
Age: 17
She has a habit of wandering around near the Tower every morning to pass the time.
After that, she goes to a cram school for intensive vacation classes…
“Oh, shit.”
They’d thoroughly investigated people’s backgrounds, too.
Were they actually stalkers?
‘You bastards.’
They’d kidnapped and imprisoned a Hwasan Guild member, and now they were snooping into people’s lives, too.
‘They probably stole the stuff in the house, too.’
I hurriedly searched for valuables.
I would kindly put these criminals’ ill-gotten gains to good use for the public good.
***
Five minutes into the robbery.
I… no, perhaps the world itself was now in the midst of a grave crisis.
‘Why is there so little to take?’
I hadn’t gotten a single thing out of it.
At this rate, I wouldn’t be able to hand out burgers on the Hunter Gallery.
Then countless people on the Hunter Gallery would go hungry, which could trigger a massive global financial crisis…
“Oh.”
Just then, I found a safe surrounded by a mana barrier.
Had they kept all their important stuff in here?
‘Let’s unbox this~’
I infused my longsword with aura and swung, but…
-Clang!
It only left a tiny scratch on the mana barrier.
I didn’t have enough raw power.
‘Hmm.’
I had a weapon prepared for situations like this.
I reached into the air and pulled out a ‘big, enormous thing.’
-Click.
The Greatsword That Twists Causality.
When I infused aura into the greatsword, which looked about two meters long…
-Crackle!
Our energies began to clash with each other.
This was my only chance to use the greatsword.
I brought the greatsword down on the safe—
-KWA-KA-KA-KANG!
With a violent rumble, the safe split in half.
“Hell yeah!”
The exciting moment when I checked the loot was just about to—
-Rumble!
The greatsword overwhelmed my aura and surged up my arm.
“Swooord—Aaaagh!”
It felt like my arm was melting from the pain.
Had I been rolling around on the ground for dozens of seconds?
“…Did I get it?”
The pain slowly subsided, and I finally came to my senses.
“Phew.”
I let out a sigh of relief and looked down at the smashed safe.
Had it really contained something worth enduring that much pain for?
‘If it’s junk, I’m really going to kill them.’
I glared murderously at the raiders as I checked the items buried under the safe’s debris, and…
I found a fire-resistance scroll with an ornate pattern.
“Gasp!”
Jackpot.
I couldn’t tell its exact grade, but a fire-resistance scroll was worth at least 100 million won.
‘I could hand out 10,000 burgers on the Hunter Gallery?’
Just imagining it was fucking awesome.
‘Which means I should only imagine it.’
I rolled up the 10,000 burgers… no, the fire-resistance scroll, and carefully tucked it into my hoodie pocket.
I would use this scroll solely for my own personal gain.
‘What burgers?’
Anyway.
With nothing else to steal from the house, I went outside to head home.
“Guild Master…?”
“Jiwon, are you all right?!”
Kwon Dohwa had arrived just then, and was handing the injured guild member on the ground over to the medical staff.
There are a lot of people here.
-Slide.
I pulled my hood down farther to cover my face.
I had to hide my identity.
“…Ah, there you are.”
As I adjusted my clothes, Kwon Dohwa came over and spoke to me.
“We checked the identity of the man who was knocked out outside, and he seems to be government personnel… Did something happen?”
“?”
Wait a second. He wasn’t a raider, but someone from the government?
I was fucked.
‘Not Namsan Tower!’
I frantically racked my brain.
“Um… I have to climb the Tower soon! I should get going!”
“Huh?”
I quickly left the scene.
…Maybe Kwon Dohwa could smooth things over?
***
A dark night.
Kwon Dohwa was alone at the scene of today’s incident, deep in thought.
‘So they’d go this far.’
The three people the Sword Maiden had subdued were what were known as ‘black agents.’
However, they weren’t official government liaisons, but personnel dispatched to carry out covert operations.
‘They’d stoop to dirty tricks just to find the Sword Maiden.’
They were probably investigating every self-governing guild this way.
‘As expected, the government is never to be trusted.’
She vowed to be even more wary of the government from now on.
If the Sword Maiden hadn’t noticed in time, all of the Hwasan Guild’s internal documents would have been leaked.
Her identity would have been exposed, too.
‘It’s a relief she noticed in time, but…’
There was one thing that bothered her.
How had the Sword Maiden tracked them down?
‘It would’ve been impossible unless she’d gone around stalking people.’
There was no way anyone would do something like that.
If so…
It meant the Sword Maiden had first noticed that Hwasan Guild documents had leaked, found and tracked down the people behind it, and even resolved the situation.
‘…That’s impossible.’
After briefly marveling at her, she felt guilty toward the Sword Maiden.
She’d seen her holed up in her room every day, just playing games on her computer.
She’d thought the Sword Maiden had simply gotten lucky and awakened an overpowered ability, and wasn’t particularly admirable as a person.
‘I was wrong.’
The Sword Maiden had been thinking things through all along.
Maybe there was some special reason she played games, too.
‘…She’s almost frightening.’
Feeling awe toward the Sword Maiden, she returned to the guild.
If she got the chance sometime, it might be nice to play a game called ‘Canyon’ with the Sword Maiden.
‘Then I could learn the special reason she plays games, too.’
It would also help her get closer to the Sword Maiden.
‘What was the Sword Maiden’s rank… Bronze?’
She’d said Bronze was an extremely high rank.
She’d probably have to practice a lot if they were going to play together.
‘Should I learn separately?’
She contacted Taker, a legendary pro player in Canyon, whose contact information she’d exchanged with him long ago.
***
After dumping the incident on Kwon Dohwa and coming home,
I carefully put the fire-resistance scroll in the corner of my room and flopped onto the bed.
‘There’s about thirty minutes left on the cooldown.’
I could browse the Swordsmanship Gallery I’d been neglecting, then go.
[Swordsmanship Gallery]
-The greatest, most unprecedented greatsword wielder of all time, ‘Rei’
-So who the hell is Rei, this chick with a name that makes me horny???
-Damn, Rei again. I have no choice but to worship her.
“Hmm. Yeah, yeah.”
The gallery was ablaze with the latest hot topic.
[Title: Ah, seriously, you fucking bastards]
Author: GreatswordFan
Can you guys stop already?
I’m seriously going insane
-PureAndLovely*) Rei, wanna go on a rampage together?
└GreatswordFan) Fuck off
└DaggerTechniquePro) Ahem. Don’t swear at the blue-tag mod.
└GreatswordFan) F@ck
└DaggerTechniquePro) Rei, I said stop swearing.
└GreatswordFan) 🖕🖕🖕🖕
-GeniusSwordMaiden) I-I think everyone should stop teasing Rei…! Rei is having a hard time…!!
└As expected, Sword Emperor is so considerate
└Fuck lol, is this not just mocking her?
└GeniusSwordMaiden) Huh? What do you mean by ‘mocking’?
└GreatswordFan) …You’re so pure I can’t even say anything
-WokeUpAsATSGirl) Everyone’s taking this too far, so let’s stop;; Our Swordsmanship Gallery’s supreme greatsword wielder, Rei, is having a hard time ㅠㅠ
└You’re the worst one, you fucker lol
└Your ability to roast people is fucking insane
└GreatswordFan) Newbie.
└WokeUpAsATSGirl) Yes?
[‘GreatswordFan’ has requested a spar.]
*Accepting the request will move you to ‘GreatswordFan’s’ inner world.
└GreatswordFan) Wanna spar? You know the Greatsword That Twists Causality, right? I know an easy way to use it, hehe.
[Spar request declined.]
I could see right through them, so I rejected it instantly.
They were going to drag me there and beat me up.
└GreatswordFan) Newbie?
└WokeUpAsATSGirl) Hehe, I’m gonna go climb the Tower for a bit.
└GreatswordFan) Hey!!!!! Where are you going!!!!
I closed the gallery and headed for the Tower.
***
[You have entered Floor 16.]
I entered the Tower with a relaxed mind.
‘It’s Floor 16, so I should be safe.’
Hidden Stages had only appeared every five floors so far.
So I thought Floor 16 would be an ordinary difficulty, but…
-Shhhhh…!
I found myself in a snowy forest.
‘Floor 16 is supposed to be a desert map.’
Even if the monsters I had to kill changed, the Tower’s rule of thumb was that the map always stayed the same.
I’d been wondering why it felt strange, but…
‘…I guess this is okay?’
Thinking about it carefully, there wasn’t much reason to be surprised.
I’d met GreatswordFan in the Floor 15 Hidden Stage. A slightly different map was practically normal by comparison.
‘Not having an objective is a little annoying, though.’
I figured it would show up on its own if I wandered around, and looked around.
A snowy mountain, with snow falling.
Strangely, though, the ground was covered with brightly colored flowers.
‘It’s so pretty.’
As I walked along, admiring the beautiful scenery,
I spotted a woman coming toward me from the other side.
A beautiful girl with silver hair and violet eyes, and a composed air about her.
‘What is this?’
She approached me without a word, and…
“…”
She stood still and stared at me.
What was this, an NPC?
“Um, who are you…?”
“Genius Sword Maiden.”
“…Pardon?”
When I asked again in confusion, she glared at me with an annoyed look and said,
“Are you deaf? ‘Genius Sword Maiden.’”
