Chapter 34 (1/2)
The flames turned blue for a while. As the monster felt high heat above its head, it stopped its actions and looked above.
Grr—
What the monster saw above its head was a gigantic blue sword.
And soon.
Slash—
A blue line similar to that sword sliced the monster’s body into half.
Sludge, sludge—
The monster’s body fell to the sides, starting from its head. The beast quickly raised its arm to keep his body from falling off, but, of course, it wasn’t possible.
Stomp, stomp—
Its massive body finally split into half and fell onto the floor. Thick blood flowed, and Su-hyeun, who stood in front of the corpse, extinguished the flame and caught his breath.
Pant—
A blue flame and the flame’s bird, the phoenix.
Both of them were newly acquired abilities obtained through leveling Flame’s skill. It was his first time checking out their effects, and each had its own pros and cons.
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Firstly, the required mana to maintain the phoenix was quite substantial.
Moreover, the phoenix was a summoner that never perished if Su-hyeun could have an indefinite supply of mana to maintain the flame.
But the mana consumption was too high. And it was the same for the blue flame.
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The phoenix maintained its original form even though it had suffered attacks from the ancient beast. It was because Su-hyeun had kept supplying mana so that it doesn’t disappear.
But at that moment, Su-hyeun felt his magic factor got slashed tremendously. It was a tremendous amount of magic that he hadn’t expected to use.
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Stumble—
Then, the monster’s body convulsed vigorously. Su-hyeun’s gaze fell onto the monster’s half slain body. It was fascinating that the monster hadn’t died yet. It’s too horrible to think of one being alive while in that state.
Come to think of it, there wasn’t any message of him clearing the trial.
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It wasn’t too bad of a trait, but it wasn’t one that would make Su-hyeun envious. What could one do with that enormous amount of strength if he had to also be stuck in that situation?
“Even so, you…”
Burning—
Su-hyeun brought out the flame once again.
“I can’t use the transfiguration ingredients either.”
But it was also much too useful for an 18th-floor trial. It wasn’t to the level of wanting that ancient monster’s trait to himself.
Clank—!
Su-hyeun swung his sword and lit the flame. At that moment, a gigantic blaze swept over the ancient monster’s body.
[You have gained 50,000 achievement points.]
[You have attained the highest achievement.]
[You have cleared the 19th floor trial with perfection.]
[You will be ranked according to your performance.]
[You have been ranked first.]
[You have gained 1 health point…]
….
[Will you ascend to the next floor?]
The string of messages appeared simultaneously. It had also meant that the monster had finally died.
The objective of the trial was to end the unstable resurrection of the ancient monster and the creature. Of course, several forces attempted to fully revive the monster in the process.
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It was annoying being instructed on what to do.
Although it would be manageable for Su-hyeun to handle the monster at the current level, it would not be a smooth process. However, he had eventually succeeded in finishing off the ancient monster that had hibernated under the city. It had taken him two months to clear the trial.
“T-t-the monster…”
The young man who had warned Su-hyeun to be careful earlier had now flopped on the ground and was muttering to himself. After the monster appeared, everyone had escaped to the outskirts of the city. Only Su-hyeun and the young man were left.
Su-hyeun looked at the young man. The young man looked back at Su-hyeun with fear in his eyes.
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There was no other reason for him to stay there. Su-hyeun lifted his head towards the sky and spoke.
“Ascend.”
[You will ascend on to the 20th floor.]
His sight had turned white in an instant, and a vast city appeared before him once again.
It was a city that had been fully frozen and covered in white. The world on the 20th floor was a frozen city called Raglia.
Its temperature had reached as low as minus 60 degrees. On the 20th floor was a dying city where no living human would be able to live in.
Su-hyeun could hear people’s mutters as he stepped into the square.
A crisis existed every 10 floors at the Tower of Trials. The trials at every 10th floor had exceptionally high difficulty, which brought about high numbers of death. Thus, only special awakeners gathered every 10 floors, including the 20th and 30th floors.
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31st December.
Today was the last day of the year.
Su-hyeun had aimed to achieve his goal to reach the 20th floor before the year ended. Though he had cleared the trial with ease at first, the last trial had been a drag.
Even so, he was able to arrive on the 20th floor according to his goal. Of course, something was missing.
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The magic level and factor.
His original aim was to achieve a magic level of seven, and a magic factor of 70, but he was short of achieving those goals. Although he was able to pull up his magic factor to 68, which neared 70, his magic level still stayed at level six.
[Name: Kim Su-hyeun]
[Magic Factor: 68] [Magic Level: 6]
[Strength: 71] [Agility: 78]
[Health: 69] [Reflex: 80]
[Skill: Leap *Details.]
[Skill: Transfiguration *Details.]
[Skill: Flame…]
…
[Fatigue: 15.]
Compared to two years back when he first entered the Tower of Trials, the status window had lengthed quite a bit.