The Legendary Regressor Devours the Tower - Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Kwajijijik-

In the end, the defense barrier couldn’t hold out and shattered.

The Queen’s main body was exposed to the outside, and Sungwoon relentlessly brought his sword down on the Queen’s head.

“Kireuk!”

Her head pierced, the Queen trembled violently, and before long, her movements stopped.

She had breathed her last.

[You have defeated the Master of the Tower, ‘Blood Ant Queen’.]

[25,000 EXP has been awarded.]

[You have leveled up.]

[Additional resources cannot be acquired.]

[Clear evaluation is being calculated.]

[Clear Score: S+]

[As an additional reward based on the clear evaluation, ‘1 Gold’ has been awarded.]

His level rose to 19.

It was something to be happy about, but Sungwoon couldn’t hide his lingering doubts.

‘There are still 3 floors left until the top, though?’

His current location was the 12th floor.

A fragment had flown from the 8th floor where Sungwoon lived, swallowing the entire apartment complex in an instant.

Crucially, the apartment complex that had transformed into a tower was not returning to its original state.

That meant this Minor Tower was a dual-layered structure.

“Everyone did great work.”

Sungwoon expressed his thanks to the three people who had struggled alongside him.

“W-We didn’t really do anything though……”

“That’s right. The Monster Rookie did everything. Honestly, that guy holding the shield over there wasn’t much help either.”

“Hey! Why are you the one judging that?”

Perhaps because they were roommates, they seemed close.

“In that case, please wait here.”

“Wait?”

They tilted their heads.

They had defeated the Blood Ant Queen, and a clear evaluation score had popped up in front of them as well.

Although each person’s evaluation score would differ based on contribution, they ought to have recognized that the clear was done anyway.

“There’s probably another guy lurking on the floor above this.”

“A-Another guy?”

“Yes. Look over there at the stairs.”

Sungwoon pointed his hand toward the stairs that led to the upper floor.

A black door was firmly shut there, and a barrier shimmered in front of it.

“Uh……?”

The staff members’ faces turned pale white.

‘A Dual Minor Tower.’

Usually, a Minor Tower is formed when a single fragment pops out and swallows a building, but a Dual Minor Tower occurs when a fragment composed of two stuck together swallows a building.

The problem was that the tower positioned above had a much higher difficulty than the tower positioned below.

1st floor to 12th floor.

If the Blood Ant Queen had taken over these floors, the fragment above had taken over a mere 3 floors.

That was by no means a good thing.

Because a narrower range meant the difficulty was just that brutal.

“N-No, you can’t! I think it’s better to wait for reinforcements!”

Lee Taehoon, who was holding the shield, urgently tried to stop Sungwoon.

He admitted that the Monster Rookie had put on a total one-man show in clearing this Minor Tower.

However, the tower above was a completely different story.

No matter how amazing he was, attempting to face a monster stronger than the Blood Ant Queen when he had only climbed up to the 2nd floor was no different from committing suicide.

“There might be people caught up in it.”

“Even so, it’s too dangerous!”

What he said wasn’t wrong.

After all, Sungwoon himself had also been swept up while half-asleep in his apartment.

But still, that was no reason for the Monster Rookie to risk his life.

If he just waited until at least the staff assigned to guard him joined up, there would be a more than sufficient chance of victory.

“No. I’m going right now.”

But Sungwoon didn’t even pretend to listen and stepped toward the stairs.

‘It might be because of me.’

The assumption that because he had gained massive benefits from the Golden Dice, the apartment complex turning into a Minor Tower was the resulting misfortune.

Since it wasn’t a completely impossible hypothesis, he intended to take responsibility himself.

[Would you like to enter the Instant Tower?]

[The allowed number of entrants is ‘1’ person.]

Sungwoon’s expression darkened.

Looking at it like that, one might assume no one had been caught up inside, but what if everyone was already wiped out and reduced to zero?

‘I hope it’s not the latter…… Enter.’

Ten minutes passed after Sungwoon went up to the 13th floor.

“Ha, fuck. What do we do about this……”

“Should we have tackled him to stop him or something?”

“Do you even have the skill for that?”

“I’m just saying! You bastard.”

The three were fidgeting restlessly, unable to leave the spot.

Meanwhile, staff members including Jang Byungjun came up from below.

Discovering that there were three survivors, Jang Byungjun breathed a sigh of relief.

“Everyone is safe.”

“Ah, yes. We survived thanks to the Monster Rookie’s help.”

“The Monster Rookie, where is he right now?”

The reason Jang Byungjun had hurried up was to rescue the resident staff, but also because Sungwoon, who should have been on the 8th floor, was nowhere to be seen.

“Well…… he went upstairs.”

“He went upstairs?”

“Yes. He said this place turned into a Dual Minor Tower.”

“A Dual Minor Tower?!”

Jang Byungjun, his face filled with shock, frantically ran to the portal leading to the upper floor.

[Entry is impossible as the maximum number of entrants has been exceeded.]

Oh, damn it…….

To think it was actually a Dual Minor Tower.

A Minor Tower where many people could enter.

And a Minor Tower where only solo climbing was permitted.

The tower established from the 13th floor upward belonged to the latter.

“Team Leader-nim, what do we do……?”

The staff who followed behind also realized the severity of the situation.

“We wait.”

“Wait?”

“Yeah. There’s nothing we can do in this situation.”

Maintaining his composure as much as possible, Jang Byungjun thought of Sungwoon, who would be beyond the entrance.

Although he had only climbed up to the 2nd floor, he had demonstrated moves worthy of being called an Irregular.

‘He didn’t just get dragged into it—he chose it himself.’

From what little he had observed, Sungwoon was not the type of person to act without a plan.

He must have entered because he definitely had something in mind.

So for now, we trust and wait.

13th floor.

“Not monsters, huh.”

The moment Sungwoon entered the 13th floor and saw its structure, he immediately realized it was similar to Tutorial Stage 3.

There was not a single monster, and crimson lava boiled all around.

Small rocks were floating gently above, unaffected by gravity.

“The heat is insane.”

Traces of One Who Endured All Things, upgraded to D-rank.

Despite possessing that passive skill, the heat was hard to endure.

It was hard to even breathe, and despite having just entered, his body was soaked in sweat.

The problem was that his health and stamina had begun to rapidly drain.

‘If stamina reaches 0, I collapse.’

Sungwoon’s current stamina stat was 26.

If he delayed time here, he would have to face the boss in a stamina-depleted state.

‘This is a format I’ve experienced countless times.’

The fortunate thing was that he had gone through tasks of this format more times than he could count.

Sungwoon stood in front of the lava lake.

His body felt light.

As he kicked off the ground and leaped, the height of his jump was three times higher than usual.

As he landed straight onto a floating rock, the rock began to sink.

Sungwoon didn’t panic in the slightest and jumped to the next rock.

Hududuk-

Every time Sungwoon climbed onto one, rock debris trickled down with a hududuk.

Jjeojeok-

Some rocks even split in half the moment he landed on them.

However, Sungwoon crossed skillfully and reached the destination.

‘Did it take about 30 minutes?’

Even though he moved relentlessly, it took just over 30 minutes.

An acrobatic display of a level where a single mistake meant losing one’s life had unfolded for a whole 30 minutes.

“As expected, it was the right choice for me to enter.”

Unless one could use a trick like Fly magic.

The 13th floor was not something that could be cleared simply by having a high level.

Sungwoon went up to the 14th floor via the stairs.

Pwisyook!

At that moment, something shot toward Sungwoon’s head.

Sensing it with Super-sensation, Sungwoon snapped his head to the side and dodged it.

Kwagwagwagwang!

Failing to hit Sungwoon, the object flew past and slammed into the wall, setting off a loud explosion.

‘Is that Kayak’s tail?’

What had just been shot was a tail.

To be precise, a small hole was pierced at the tip of the tail, and smoke wafting from it indicated that it was preparing for the next attack.

Sungwoon realized that the owner of that tail was Kayak.

A boss monster whose breath he had personally cut off after hacking it to pieces in his past life.

Its level easily exceeded 100, making it a monster too tough for the current Sungwoon to handle.

That being said, if one asked whether Kayak was the master of this tower, that wouldn’t be the case.

‘Kayak is a boss lurking on the 33rd floor. There’s no way it would appear here.’

Moreover, the monsters it usually commanded were nowhere to be seen.

‘Ah, I remember. This is a Lizardman Shaman.’

The boss monster.

Lizardman Shaman.

A fellow who revered Kayak as a god and attempted to summon Kayak down through a ritual.

If asked why he remembered such a guy, it was because the reward acquired from that place had been quite extraordinary.

‘This isn’t a misfortune after all, is it?’

If his memory served him right, this was tremendous good fortune.

Sungwoon kicked off the ground and sprinted.

Pwisyook!

Once again, an attack was shot from the tail.

“!”

Sungwoon reflexively twisted his body.

A sharp, stinging pain surged from his flank.

Because as the distance closed, he couldn’t dodge completely.

Even this, without Super-sensation, dodging itself would have been impossible.

Kung-

The tail that was targeting Sungwoon once more suddenly quieted down.

Because Sungwoon had safely landed at the destination point after successfully dodging.

The task of the 14th floor was to survive against that tail and stand before the stairs leading up to the final 15th floor.

“Only the boss left now, huh.”

As expected, the boss monster lurking on the 15th floor was the Lizardman Shaman.

A guy boasting a level of as high as 40.

Also, unlike the Blood Ants, he was considerably intelligent.

Excluding physical strength, the rest of his stats were at level 19 level, so if this part were seen through, the shaman would try by all means not to narrow the distance and would highly likely target Sungwoon intensively from a distance.

However, even though he must have noticed Sungwoon coming up to the 15th floor, far from responding, he was focusing on conducting the ritual.

‘He’s completely off his guard.’

Highly suitable for playing a winning move.

Ildoyangdan (Cut in Two with One Blade).

A skill that couldn’t be used for a full 24 hours once used, but its power was immensely formidable.

‘I can’t exert up to 100% of its power.’

To make the probability 100% and slice the Lizardman Shaman for sure, at least 50 mana was required.

But currently, Sungwoon’s mana capped out at 25.

‘It’s fine. I can do it.’

Even though it was only half the probability, if he exploited his physical strength that surpassed his level along with the Lizardman Shaman’s weakness, he could definitely finish it in a single strike.

Sungwoon intentionally made loud footstep sounds as if wanting him to hear while narrowing the distance to the guy.

“Kireureureuk!”

Kwang!

Then, the guy slammed down the staff he was holding heavily, and sparks flew from it.

Pajijik-

“!”

Having seen through the guy’s ability, Sungwoon quickly backed away as if he had been waiting for it.

Pajijik-

The sparks raged right up to Sungwoon’s front, but failed to engulf Sungwoon.

Because Sungwoon had already returned to the 15th-floor entrance before anyone knew it.

Lightning Bolt, which would have been impossible to dodge if its area of effect had been even slightly wider.

Not expecting him to dodge, the Lizardman Shaman stopped the ritual, turned around, and glared at Sungwoon.

“Kireureureuk.”

Sungwoon smirked, took steps deliberately as if showing off, exited the entrance, and advanced toward the Lizardman Shaman.

Unable to use Lightning Bolt repeatedly, the guy pointed his staff at Sungwoon.

This time, a magic called Bolt Shot was fired from the staff.

A projectile made of lightning flew over at tremendous speed.

“Heup!”

Sungwoon executed a footwork step, narrowly dodging the Bolt Shot.

At the same time, he picked up speed and narrowed the distance to the Lizardman Shaman in an instant.

“Kireuk?!”

Caught off guard by his dodging, the guy panicked and tried to swing his staff to prepare magic, but Sungwoon had already prepared his skill.

’20.’

Sungwoon decisively invested 20 mana.

Thereupon, the sword in his grip turned crimson red.

[Using ‘Ildoyangdan (Cut in Two with One Blade)’.]

[The probability is 40%.]