Chapter 37 (1/2)

[The 20th floor’s level 10 trial starts now.]

What appeared in front of Su-hyeun was a massive castle wall and numerous soldiers spread out below it. The soldiers, standing close together like ants, looked down from the top of the wall. Just by looking at them, Su-hyeun knew what he had to do.

<>

But it was strange. No matter how he saw it, there was no one but himself around. Unlike the thousands of soldiers below, he was alone.

[The trial starts now.]

[Recently, thousands of soldiers and mercenaries are guarding the impenetrable fortress, the kingdom Gran Dalum. It is your responsibility to use all methods to take down the fort.]

[Take down the castle. There is no limit to what methods can be used. You may recruit allies within the arena.]

[But please remember: you are not their enemy.]

[You have a month to complete this.]

[You will fail this trial if you die or exceed the given time limit.]

[Please take down the fort.]

[Dig up the castle’s secrets.]

[The rewards will differ according to the results of the trial.]

The mission’s contents were quite lengthy. Through the contents, Su-hyeun was able to infer some facts.

<>

Firstly, the aim to “dig up the castle’s secrets” was clearly written, which meant solely taking down the castle was not the only objective.

Furthermore, he was told that the soldiers and mercenaries were not Su-hyeun’s enemies. Looking at this, he could understand the gatekeeper’s hint.

<>

But why? Why would the citizens’ lives dictate the rewards?

The Tower’s system did not deem humans’ lives to be that important. There were usually missions to kill, but missions to save were rare. To Su-hyeun’s knowledge, there wasn’t any mission that stops one from killing the enemy just to let them realize how precious life was.

<>

Su-hyeun looked up at the castle and scratched his head.

“This is difficult.”

One could have come up with many assumptions based on their own thoughts. But Su-hyeun could never find out anything by just standing there.

Su-hyeun closed his eyes and amplified the radius of his magic as far as possible. The magic was spread over the soldiers and mercenaries. With that, Su-hyeun was able to clearly feel each and everyone’s feelings.

<>

Most of the mercenaries were around the standards of a C-rank awakener. The other soldiers were quite well-trained as well.

It was by no means easy to take down the steep walls and thick iron gates that were guarded by thousands of soldiers. Furthermore, according to the gatekeeper’s words, Su-hyeun could not even kill them.

<>

The trial’s difficulty suddenly skyrocketed exponentially.

How should he clear the trial? Others would definitely have this thought on their minds if it was them, as missions of that standard should never have appeared on 20th-floor trials.

Of course, that would be the case for other awakeners. It might be an impossible trial for other awakeners who ascended the Tower in the usual way up to the 20th floor, but it wasn’t the case for Su-hyeun.

<>

The time coincided nicely. Su-hyeun had aimed to clear this floor within a month as well. He thought he knew why he was given a time frame of a month.

Amongst the mission’s contents, the hint said, “You can form allies.”

Perhaps during that month in that world, Su-hyeun might have to go through a complicated process such as meeting someone from that castle and having a hostile relationship with them.

But…

“With a time limit of one month…”

Trudge—

Su-hyeun started walking towards the castle’s wall.

“It’s too long.”

That process should be omitted. It was too troublesome, and it didn’t match his personality. Moreover, he didn’t feel the need to go through with it. It was something that he had to face head-on now.

Su-hyeun felt that it would be sufficient for him to do it on his own.

The gigantic castle, which was a few hundred meters tall, could be seen from farther away.