My Assigned Hunters Climb the Tower - Chapter 24

In the wake of a flash so intense that one couldn’t even open their eyes, only an endless white space stretched out. A pure white nothingness where neither floor nor wall could be seen.

“Uh… there’s nothing here?”

“It’s probably opening the channel.”

Go Gyeol pointed at the empty air. Thousands of translucent screens began to float above the previously empty white space. And on each of those screens, the faces of the hunters participating in the Preliminary Round began to appear, along with a real-time viewer count.

[Republic of Korea Integrated Channel Viewer Count: 32,492,103]

[Starting broadcast.]

“The broadcast is starting now.”

As soon as Go Gyeol finished speaking, the endless pure white space shattered into pieces like glass.

Pa-aat-!

As the intense light receded like an ebb tide, what unfolded before their eyes was a desolate land with no end in sight.

The people in that place, where rough dust winds were blowing, were not just Go Gyeol’s party members. Thousands, tens of thousands of Awakened who had gathered from all over the Republic of Korea were filling the plaza, forming a massive circle.

Directly in front of where their gazes were directed, the ‘Tower of Truth’, which had pierced through the clouds, stood, boasting an overwhelming presence. Unlike on Earth where it had been floating in the sky, the tower here had landed heavily as if it had taken root in the earth.

Kkiiiiiiiik—!

A sharp, metallic sound that seemed to tear at the eardrums shook the earth. At the bottom of the tower, massive iron gates located in the four directions—East, West, South, and North—began to open slowly. As the inside of the gates, dark like an abyss, was revealed, a suffocating tension hung among the hunters.

Just then, a massive system message rose up like a verdict, dyeing the purple sky red.

[Selection Match Stage 1: Survival of the Fittest]

[Content: Only the first 10,000 people can enter the Tower lobby.]

[Time Limit: 10:00]

The moment the burning red numbers ticked down from [10:00] to [09:59], the plaza began to churn as if caught in a massive storm.

“10,000 people?! Hey, do you know how many people are here right now!”

“Move! I have to go first!”

In the chaotic plaza, the sound of tens of thousands of feet stomping shook the ground like an earthquake.

There were only four entrances, and a cruel race where the survival probability was not even a fraction was about to begin. Go Gyeol blocked the front of his party members who were trying to move their feet in panic, staring at the open gates with coldly sunken eyes.

“Wait. That gate isn’t a welcoming committee.”

“We have to go! 10,000 people will fill up in no time!”

Kang Hoon stomped his feet in panic, and Kwon Do-geun also prepared to rush off urgently. Lee Seong-ha, while maintaining his benevolent smile, had eyes that were shaking rapidly toward Go Gyeol.

“Go Gyeol, what are you doing? We need to hurry….”

Just as the party members were about to break formation and rush out, Go Gyeol’s cold hand grabbed Kang Hoon and Kwon Do-geun’s shoulders simultaneously.

“Stop.”

“What?! Hyung! If we don’t go now, we’ll be pushed out of the ranking!”

Kang Hoon asked in a voice mixed with a scream. Even Kang Ji-hyun looked at Go Gyeol as if she couldn’t understand. However, Go Gyeol didn’t even blink an eye and just stared at the backs of the hunters running ahead.

“Wait.”

“Why on earth! You have to at least tell us the reason…!”

“If you don’t want to die, just wait.”

At Go Gyeol’s firm command, the party members hesitated and stopped. Meanwhile, the hunters in the lead group had already reached near the tower entrance. Since the number 10,000 was pitifully small compared to the massive crowd, the hunters were pushing each other, creating a chaotic mess.

It was right then.

Kwaaaaaang-!

Directly in front of the tower entrance, the ground the hunters were stepping on surged up with a massive explosion. Before screams could even burst out, continuous explosions filled the plaza.

“……!”

Kang Hoon’s jaw dropped. As the mana bombs that had been buried like landmines detonated, the hunters in the lead group were knocked down like autumn leaves. But hell was just beginning.

Kieeeeek-!

From within the smoke of the explosion, hundreds, thousands of gargoyles poured down like rain, riding the outer wall of the tower. The hunters who were running toward the entrance were instantly blocked front and back, becoming prey for the monsters.

“This is worse than Arcadia….”

Kwon Do-geun muttered with a pale face. Go Gyeol only then released the hands that had been gripping their shoulders and added coldly.

“The Tower never said it would just let 10,000 people in easily. It said this wasn’t a running race, but Survival of the Fittest.”

Go Gyeol’s gaze was directed past the battlefield that had just turned into a living hell, toward the invisible camera lenses. It felt as if he could hear the real-time reaction numbers of the viewers fluctuating explosively.

The scene before their eyes was truly a living hell. In the air, the red numbers indicating the number of eliminated people were rising terrifyingly in real-time.

[Current Eliminated Count: 42,109]

Even while screams and explosions shook the earth, Go Gyeol didn’t even budge. Unlike his party members who were stomping their feet, wanting to rush out immediately, he just stared intently at the flow of the battlefield like a frozen statue.

The hunters in the lead group, who had been excited by the heat of the first gate and rushed ahead, were falling like autumn leaves, caught in the swarm of gargoyles pouring down from the tower’s outer wall and the mana explosions on the ground. At the very moment when the survivors in the chaotic battlefield were barely regaining their senses and trying to start a counterattack, Go Gyeol’s eyes flashed.

“Now. Grab your weapons!”

Simultaneously with Go Gyeol’s sharp shout, the air rippled starting from his fingertips.

‘Subspace’ was opened.

From inside the black hole, Lee Seong-ha’s ‘Staff of the Seven Stigmata’ popped out and wrapped heavily around its owner’s hand, and following that, Kang Ji-hyun’s ‘Rose Staff’ and the auxiliary equipment of Kwon Do-geun and Kang Hoon were delivered accurately to each of their hands at the promised timing.

“Seong-ha, 12 o’clock direction! Catch that blue-winged gargoyle!!”

“May the Lord’s mercy be with you….”

While maintaining his benevolent voice, Lee Seong-ha swung his staff in the air, compressing powerful gravity to crush the gargoyle’s head entirely. It was a ruthless power hidden behind a holy expression.

“Kang Hoon! 11 o’clock direction, use on the one with the broken wing! Do-geun-ssi, please create ice spikes on the ground at 3 o’clock and shoot them. Ji-hyun, save your arrows behind me and only shoot the ones I point out!”

Go Gyeol’s instructions moved the party members like precise gears. The monsters he pointed out were all ones that had their defense weakened or had openings while fighting other hunters.

Pajijik!

As Kang Ji-hyun’s light arrow pierced the heart of the gargoyle Go Gyeol had indicated, a strange notification sound rang in her ears.

[Notification: Gargoyle Warrior defeated. You have gained experience points.]

“……Experience points? Hey! What is this? My body suddenly feels lighter!”

It wasn’t just Kang Ji-hyun. In front of the party members who were dealing with monsters according to Go Gyeol’s orders, experience point acquisition messages popped up all at once. To them, who were asking in surprise while running, Go Gyeol shouted.

“It’s the Tower’s law! The experience points you gain here become ‘Skill Points’ that can raise your level and strengthen your skills! The ones we’re catching right now have the best point efficiency!”

Data from before the regression. ‘Growth-type monsters’ that only appear at the beginning of the Preliminary Round. While others were busy running away just to survive, Go Gyeol intended to push his party members’ specs to the limit in this short section.

“We can strengthen our skills? Then does that mean we’ll get stronger than before?”

Kang Hoon cast curses in excitement. For the first time, greed appeared in the eyes of the boy who had been terrified.

“Yes! So don’t think about anything else, just make sure to kill the ones I point out! And run faster! Look at the speed at which the numbers are decreasing!”

The elimination number was heading toward 60,000 at a terrifying speed.

It was the Tower’s cruel selection process, trying to weed out the riffraff and leave only the real ‘prey’.