My Assigned Hunters Climb the Tower - Chapter 17

========== CHAPTER 17 ==========

The storm-like battle had subsided. Fragments of broken mannequins and sticky filth were scattered messily across the floor. The party members, who had smashed the mannequins’ joints and beaten them down using pure physical strength without being able to use magic, collapsed to the floor or sprawled out the moment the tension eased, as if they had agreed to do so.

“Ah… my arms feel like they’re going to fall off…”

Kang Ji-hyun groaned, her sweat-drenched face twisted as she trembled, holding the red whip. Since she had smashed the sturdy mannequins by swinging the whip using only her arm muscles without the help of magic, it was only natural that her shoulder joints were screaming. Beside her, Lee Seong-ha was also gasping for air, clutching his waist as if he’d thrown his back out from swinging that heavy steel pipe.

However, Go Gyeol’s gaze as he looked down at that miserable sight was cold as ice. He spat out dryly,

“Everyone up. Next. Prepare for battle.”

Go Gyeol scanned the party members sprawled on the floor one by one. It was a pathetic sight, crawling on the floor just because they couldn’t use a little magic. It was proof that since these so-called Awakened only relied on the efficiency of their skills, they had put the most basic foundation—physical conditioning—on the back burner.

‘Pathetic. Getting muscle cramps from just this much manual labor.’

In Go Gyeol’s head, instead of dungeon strategy data, a new ‘Hellish Fitness Schedule’ was being written in real-time.

In special dungeons like Arcadia or high-floor towers, magic sealing was a daily occurrence. If they collapsed like this every time, total annihilation was only a matter of time.

‘Once we get out of here alive, I’m going to start by rebuilding their basic physical strength. 20km mountain runs every dawn, 500 Gravity Acceleration squats each. Breakfast will be forcibly unified into a special muscle recovery diet.’

Before Go Gyeol, who had turned into a ruthless trainer, could even open his lips, Lee Seong-ha beat him to the punch.

“Hey! Do you have no conscience?”

Lee Seong-ha, who had been lying flat on the floor, snapped his head up and shouted.

“Look at the kids! We smashed all those mannequins by rolling our bodies without using a single drop of magic! Our muscles feel like they’re about to explode, so let us rest, just a little! 5 minutes, no, even 3 minutes!”

“No. No time to rest.”

“What? You heartless bastard…! Hey, if you’re going to do this, you fight too!!”

Even with Lee Seong-ha’s profanity-laced complaints, Go Gyeol’s expression didn’t twitch. He clicked his tongue briefly as if displeased and added,

“It’s not that I won’t let you rest. If you rest in a state where you can’t use magic, your muscles will just stiffen up. It only lowers training efficiency. And crucially.”

Go Gyeol indifferently raised a finger and pointed to the other side of the store, toward the escalator shrouded in deep darkness.

“That thing won’t wait for your pathetic muscle aches. If you don’t want to die, get up.”

Following the tip of Go Gyeol’s finger, the gazes of the terrified party members shifted.

Drrrk, drrrk. Kwa-chang!

The sound of heavy chains dragging across the floor came from the dark second-floor hallway. Soon, a massive figure emerged from the darkness.

It was the floor’s mid-boss monster, a grotesque fortress made of dozens of tangled shopping carts.

Numerous mannequin arms embedded between the cart bundles were scratching the air as if rowing, and it was charging toward them at a terrifying speed.

“……Hiiik! W-what is that!”

With Kang Hoon’s scream, Lee Seong-ha, who had been lying on the floor, cursed and sprang up like a spring. Only then did Go Gyeol smile, looking somewhat satisfied, and said,

“Prepare. The last fight was just a warm-up. The next one will be more intense.”

The air emitted by the mid-boss monster was on a different level from the mannequins earlier.

If the mannequins were a stagnant unpleasantness, the mid-boss monster was a crucible of noise mixed with metallic sounds and murderous intent.

Drrrk, drrrk! Kwa-a-ang!

The thing charging through the darkness was a giant mountain of scrap metal. Dozens of shopping carts were tangled to form a massive fortress, and dozens of mannequin arms stuck in the gaps between the carts were scratching the floor like oars, gaining acceleration.

“Scatter!”

As soon as Go Gyeol’s command fell, the party members threw themselves left and right. 0.1 seconds later, the Cart Golem plowed right through the spot where they had been standing. The marble floor crumpled like paper and scattered.

“Huck, huck… how are we supposed to block something like that with our bodies!”

Kang Hoon shouted in terror. But Go Gyeol was cold.

“Who told you to block it with your body? Use your brain, use your brain! Kwon Do-geun!”

“Y-yes, yes!”

“Do as I taught you! Spread water over the entire floor where its wheels touch. Make the friction zero!”

Kwon Do-geun stretched out his trembling hands. He thought of the ‘acting’ from earlier. This is a movie. He is the protagonist of a flashy action scene who creates an icy road to make the enemy slip.

“!”

The water that erupted from Kwon Do-geun’s fingertips instantly covered the Golem’s path.

Kkiiiiik-!

The wheels of the Cart Golem, which had been charging at a furious speed, began to spin uselessly on the water. The massive lump of scrap metal, unable to stop due to inertia, lost its balance, staggered, and crashed into a pillar of a nearby clothing store.

Kwa-chang!

“Now! Kang Hoon, cast a curse on their connection points! With Corrosion!”

“Okay! Please just… !”

The black smoke that erupted from Kang Hoon’s hands burrowed into the joints of the carts. The shiny stainless steel was instantly covered in red rust and creaked.

“Lee Seong-ha, Kang Ji-hyun! Don’t use magic, strike those rusted parts with pure physical force! The main axes at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock!”

“Talk is cheap, you scammer bastard!”

Lee Seong-ha spat out an insult and tightened his grip on the blunt weapon he had hurriedly picked up. With magic sealed, he swung the massive, mace-like blunt weapon using only pure muscular strength.

Kkang-!

With a dull impact sound, the rusted frame of the cart bent. At the same time, from the other side, Kang Ji-hyun’s red whip flew in like a snake. Even without magic imbued, her physical strength was beyond imagination. The whip coiled around the cart’s wheel axle and ripped it right off.

Kwa-deuk, kwa-jik!

The Golem let out a bizarre metallic sound and twisted its body. The mannequin arms embedded between the cart bundles all turned into whips at once and lunged at Lee Seong-ha and Kang Ji-hyun.

“Danger!”

Kwon Do-geun screamed. But Lee Seong-ha didn’t dodge. No, he couldn’t dodge. His muscles were already screaming, and his vision was blurry with sweat.

“Lee Seong-ha, one and a half steps to the right! Kang Ji-hyun, lower your upper body!”

Go Gyeol’s voice landed with precise timing, like that of a prophet reading the future. The two moved their bodies before they could even think. Dozens of mannequin fingers grazed their hair tips by a hair’s breadth.

“Hey, Go Gyeol! How long do we have to do this!”

Kang Ji-hyun asked, gritting her teeth.

“Until we see the ‘Golden Cart’ shining in its center! That’s the core!”

The Cart Golem swelled its body as if enraged. The tangled chains erupted in all directions, cutting off the party members’ retreat. An environment where they couldn’t use magic was hell. The junk that they would normally wipe out with a single area-of-effect skill had returned as a massive disaster now that their magic was sealed.

‘Is this the limit?’

Go Gyeol observed Kang Hoon’s trembling legs and Kwon Do-geun’s pale complexion.

Lee Seong-ha and Kang Ji-hyun’s movements were also noticeably slowing down.

But Go Gyeol’s eyes were still cold and sharp.

He knew. Although this boss seemed unscathed at a glance, it was actually a mess on the inside.

“Lee Seong-ha, open the gravity field for just 0.5 seconds. Just once.”

“Are you crazy? If we use magic here, that bastard will absorb it all…”

“We just have to destroy it before it absorbs it. Kang Ji-hyun, prepare an arrow. Compress your magic to the limit and fire just one shot. Once Lee Seong-ha opens the way, pierce the core immediately.”

At Go Gyeol’s confident gaze, the two finally nodded.

“Kwon Do-geun, Kang Hoon! Squeeze out all your remaining strength and bind its legs! If we fail, we’re all going to get shredded here!”

“Ah, seriously… I don’t even know if I’ll die! !”

“!”

Black smoke and a massive stream of water simultaneously engulfed the Golem’s lower body. The Golem began to tremble, trying to absorb Kang Ji-hyun’s magic, sucking in all that energy.

In that split second, the Golem’s iron-clad defense temporarily loosened to absorb the magic.

“Now! Lee Seong-ha!”

“Eeeeek… !”

The gravity Lee Seong-ha emitted for just 0.5 seconds crushed the Golem’s upper body.

Kwa-jik! With a sound, the lump of scrap metal bent downward, and the golden-colored cart at the center was revealed.

“Kang Ji-hyun!”

Kang Ji-hyun was already pulling the string. The arrow of light that erupted from her fingertips split the space, drawing a dazzling trajectory. The Golem sensed the magic and tried to deploy a defensive barrier, but Go Gyeol’s prediction was faster.

“15 degrees lower right of the core! That’s the only crack!”

As Kang Ji-hyun moved her hand, the arrow that flew as instructed pierced the gap in the Golden Cart precisely.

-Kwa-a-a-ang!!!

With a massive explosion, dozens of shopping carts flew out in all directions like a fountain. The mannequin arms scattered in the air in vain, and the metallic murderous intent that had filled the second-floor hallway vanished in an instant.

Silence.

The party members collapsed like an ebbing tide in the dust-filled hallway.