Episode 13
When I left the association building, a madder light was raising its head from the bottom of the eastern sky at dawn. The shooting star turned his head, leaving behind the horizon where the darkness of night and scarlet dusk intertwined.
Towards Park Tae-sik, the head of the National Intelligence Service, who was waiting for him behind his back without even a trace.
“Thank you, mister.”
“done. “After all, the government was secretly watching the association’s runaway.”
The power struggle between the government and the players' association does not last a day or two. As the president of the association said, in a world that has changed, each person has a different way to pursue it, and those ways can never coexist.
But Yoosung didn’t think any further and turned his head.
“Since you’re already here, please get in the car and take me to that tower.”
▽ Where?”
“Tier 5 top.”
“Hummy sippal. “Did I eat something wrong?”
“Tier 5 top.”
“No, the bastard who stayed up all night in the PC room and even caused an accident in the association is going to get into the 5th tier top? “You said you would control your pace and climb to the top of Tier 4.”
“Tier 5 top.”
“Hey you bastard. Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard and staying up all night? No matter how much you...
Yoosung quietly interrupted Master Park's worried question.
“Can you sleep at that level?”
[Tower of the Pale Desert]
[Tier 5 Guard Mission A hot and cold journey in the desert awaits. Number of players allowed to enter. Minimum 1, maximum 4. No stores] [Strategy Objective:
Escort the caravan
and safely transport the goods]
[ Move to the target camp in the desert oasis....]
[Protect the target from monster attacks and keep the ‘product’ safe!]
“Oh, this damn world.”
As soon as he entered the tower, Yooseong raised his head, swearing.
It was a desert night.
Beyond the bluish horizon, I could see endless sand dunes.
There was a faint scent of the sea mixed in the night breeze. The salty, wet, cold sand wind blew as if it were cutting into my skin.
It was right then.
Kieeeeek!
The monster's roar rang out, and soon people's shouts were heard. It seemed a lot farther away than I thought.
‘Please drop it properly.'
Yoosung cursed again and kicked the ground. The appearance of players in the world of towers is always exquisite and breathtaking.
That's why players always appear like saviors in times of desperate need and help create their myth. Thanks to its exquisiteness, there were many cases where the strategy failed as soon as the station started and ended up becoming a duck egg in the Nakdong River.
How far did it run? Beyond the sandy hills, a camp filled with portable tents and a group of monsters surrounding the camp came into view. As soon as he saw that, Yoosung stretched out his arms and shouted.
“Kamang, let’s eat!”
— Nyaaaang!
The unmistakable cry of a cat rang out, and a shadow beast leapt out from beneath Yoosung's feet.
The black cat began to glide through the darkness of the night. And there were things running faster than that through the darkness of the night.
It was an ice bolt, a crystal of cold magical power, swirling from the tips of Yoosung's fingers. Like a volley of fire from
Tayang
musket infantry, the scattered frost arrows hit the monsters surrounding the camp.
Kieeeeek!
The scream rang out again. It was the scream of desert ghosts.
‘Why are there so many'?'
Before I knew it, the black bird had burrowed its way through the group of desert demons, and its body made of shadows began swinging out its jet-black blade like a hedgehog.
Immediately after, Yooseong also adjusted his rapier-shaped frost sword and kicked the ground.
Normal skill stabbing.
However, stabbing, which receives the strengthening effect of steel synergy, was by no means an ordinary skill.
《Stab〉
(omitted)
. Steel synergy strengthening effect: Significant increase in charging distance and explosive power.
It was a truly simple and easy-to-understand enhancement effect.
Although it was quite a distance away , the distance between
the
shooting star and the desert ghost narrowed in an instant.
A quick, sharp blow like a flash, with explosive acceleration, pierced one of the desert ears.
The cold rapier penetrated between the desert demon's flesh and bones. It was almost at the same time that the Desert Demon's body exploded.
An outrageous level of rushing and destructive power that makes it difficult to believe that it is an average level skill. This is the power of synergy.
Just like that, Yooseong adjusted the hilt of his sword and grabbed it. The rapier-shaped frost sword had already been reborn as a long sword with a wide blade.
The frost sword was swung, and cold magic swirled under my feet again. Several frost swords were created as if orbiting around a meteor and soon stretched out their arms.
Frost swords rushed through the desert ears, as if intangible swordsmen were striking the ground with their respective swords in hand.
The shapeless sword dance of the swordsmen was performed. However, what they held in their hands was a blade of cold energy that was clearly imbued with substance.
The desert demons flocked to him as if attracted by the presence of the shadow beast and the baptism of the frost sword that he was controlling through the sword technique, and each time, Yooseong swung his sword without hesitation.
The number of monsters steadily decreased, and experience points increased each time.
After the last remaining desert ear was swallowed into the maw's maw, silence fell for a moment.
After a moment of silence, Yoosung opened his mouth.
“I, Advent.”
Only then did those in the camp lower their guard and began to approach one by one. Contrary to appearance, he appeared to be quite well-armed.
“You can't believe you suddenly appeared in this desolate desert and helped us...
“You can call me whatever you want.”
“Oh oh...! “The God of Light has taken care of us!”
“Even though I pass through the valley of death, I am not afraid because the God of Light is with me!”
“Why don’t you just go through Death Valley in the first place?”
“A revelation has come that the God of Light is willing to send down an Apostle of Light for us!”
“Oh, is that so?”
Yoosung muttered calmly and looked around at the people. Everyone praises the God of Light and expresses gratitude to his apostle and player Yoo Seong.
‘I'm the god of light, so I'm not feeling well.'
There was a part of me that was upset, but it wasn't something to worry about right now. That's why Yooseong looked around and continued speaking.
“Where is the road headed?”
“I was heading to the port city of Acre to sell my goods.”
“Are there any other threats besides desert monsters?”
“Ah, fortunately, this is the territory of the Holy Kingdom. “There is no need to worry about attacks from infidels.”
“How many days will it take to arrive in the city?”
“It took about three days, and luckily we had plenty of food and water.”
**o|“ Oh my...w
As soon as Yoosung heard those words, he immediately let out a curse.
The flow of time is different between the tower and the outside world. Because three days have passed in the tower, that does not necessarily mean three days in the outside world.
Nevertheless, as long as the player is in the tower, he or she is baptized by time based on the world inside the tower. In other words, you actually have to spend about three full days in this desert!
‘I'm feeling sleepy.'
Even if I deeply regretted my actions, nothing would change. At least because I had the rare accessory ‘Necklace of Vitality’ and the healing skill ‘Slow Heal’, I would be able to somehow preserve enough stamina to carry out the strategy.
“Don’t worry, just spend the night. “I will stand guard.”
“Oh, Apostle of Light! Truly, thank you for your mercy!”
I wanted to set a boundary and close my eyes instead, but the world of the tower is such that you don't know what will happen while you sleep. Even though they are noisy like desert ears, it is difficult to detect something like a Sand Lurker without keeping a close watch.
Although Yooseong wasn't worried about his own life, there were many lives he had to take care of in order to conquer this tower. Therefore, even the country of Chal could not neglect its vigilance.
— Nyaaaang.
Just then, Black Mangi came to Yoosung's side and rubbed his dark cheek. Yooseong stroked Blackman’s head and laughed.
“Yes, yes, good. “You are the only one who will protect me...”
It was immediately after that Black Mang entered Yooseong’s shadow and disappeared.
“Ha, who is it? I guess not.”
After saying that, Yoosung raised his head. The desert night was deep. The stars embroidered along the curtain of night were scattering pale light.
You can open the 洪 gift box!
It was immediately after that a system message blocked the shooting star's view.
“That’s right, opening the gift box.”
Only then, remembering the gift given by the Clown Lord, did Yooseong formulate a command.
A cloud of light swirled in front of the shooting star, and a box literally fell from the sky. I unpacked it and opened the box.
[Hero Consumables: Advanced Growth Stone has been acquired!]
‘Oh my.’
What was in the box was a stone shining like crystal.
The next morning.
It was literally a meteor in a living zombie state, and as a result, the meteor's prediction was correct.
As if the cold night had been a lie, there were heat waves that were starting to burn and predators running without even a trace under the twilight of dawn. They probably gathered in after smelling the live meat.
However, even those who raced under the sand could not deceive Yooseong’s sharpened senses.
The meteor stretched out his arm and a javelin of cold air was created. As I adjusted my spear and flew with all my might, the bottom of the desert began to twist and the predator began to scream.
It was a sand lurker running through the desert ground.
And he was not an opponent who could be defeated with just one javelin. Immediately after, at the bottom of the desert, a sand predator revealed a body as grotesque as a centipede.
A shadow was cast over Yoosung’s head. It was an absurd size.
‘adult....”!'
Clicking his tongue inwardly, Yooseong quickly kicked the ground. As he created a frost sword and unleashed the ‘Pierce' skill, Yooseong's body ran like a flash and was able to dodge the sand lurker's blow. It was not an attack, but an evasion
. After using the skill. Immediately after, the frost sword in Yooseong's hand was overlaid with the shape of a spear.
He threw the second ice frost spear with all his might.
The sand lurker cast a shadow over the area and hurled his body. .
Narrowly avoiding the downward strike, Yoo Seong rolled his body, and immediately after, a black bird jumped out from the shadow beneath Yoo Seong's feet. The shadow beast opened its mouth and
tore the sand lurker's body to pieces. The swallowed body was transformed into a black hole. He was swallowed into the darkness as if he was being sucked into it, and Yooseong also stretched out his arms, creating several frost swords. The
intangible swordsmen rushed in again, holding frost swords.
At the same time, blades flew out again from the shadows of the rushing frost swords. A rare grade skill
,
Shadow Blade. The dual swords of cold and darkness (三重劍) were scattered and ground the sand predator like a blender. Green blood was sprayed everywhere, and an ear-piercing scream rang out. The massive body of the
sand
lurker collapsed, and green blood engulfed the entire area.
[The level has risen!]
[The level is...]
[The level of the skill card ‘Frost Sword Creation' is...]
[The level of the skill card ‘Fighting Swordsmanship’ is...]
At the same time, experience points pouring in like a flood began to fill Yooseong’s field of vision.