Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 113

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Using Cheats as an Administrator to Climb the Mythical Tower (113)
It was far more than simply binding them with rope.
The very device that Moo-saeng had employed when drawing the Korea One-Way Group into Floor 22 to confront them was now affixed beside every single dark elf held captive.
Drip… drip… drip….
“Really, that’s quite impressive, Director Kim. How on earth do you even come up with something like this…?”
“The way you just whip these things together… I have to say, it’s the most astounding thing I’ve seen yet.”
Shin Hyun-dong gaped in wonder, while Kim Ji-yoon shook his head as if past the point of surprise.
Observing the other astonished party members, Moo-saeng offered a simple explanation.
“When you’re out in the field like this, you end up needing contraptions like these all the time. It’s like the concept of improvising a shower at a campsite, or rigging a water pouch to a branch—not much different, really. You’d get better results with a proper drip tape, but this works.”
He described how he’d fashioned an IV drip that let liquid seep into their mouths one drop at a time, drawn from a small container.
The only difference was that what flowed into them wasn’t nutrients or glucose, but a mild-strength paralytic agent produced through the Poison Craftsman Enhancement—nothing more.
“How… cruel.”
“Even as captives, surely this is too much…?”
“The idea is so they don’t thrash around and tire each other out pointlessly.”
A few of the dark elves had struggled, but it was meaningless.
Even diluted to a weak concentration, it was poison extracted from the Poison Fang.
Once SR-grade toxin—stronger than even a Slakeen’s base venom—had entered their systems, they could do nothing but tremble.
“So then… shall we talk?”
Only after completing the prisoner arrangements did Moo-saeng stand before one of the dark elves.
The basic information visible through the mage’s goggles made it clear.
[Umbemba]
―Race: Dark Elf
―Age: 173
―Faction: Bembe Tribe
―Title: First Spear
‘I’ll have to grasp the title through intuition, but in any case—a number that stands out even among an age distribution ranging from at least eighty to at most one hundred twenty-six… and besides, he was the one directing operations in the first place.’
The commander of this ambush.
The commanding officer.
Umbemba, bound and sitting on the ground, merely looked up at Moo-saeng.
Moo-saeng deliberately moved left and right, making a show of observing him.
Was it to make the one looking up at him sense an oppressive posture?
[Kekeke, talking? What meaning does it have? These creatures don’t even recognize me.]
But that wasn’t all.
Could the commanding officer of the ambush actually perceive Wash?
Testing that in various ways was part of his purpose.
‘Everyone, including Umbemba, can neither see nor hear Wash. When Geum Su-ah couldn’t see him, she seemed to catch snatches of sound, so I thought maybe… but no.’
Their tier was too low.
Wash’s words held merit.
Yet it couldn’t be overlooked entirely.
‘To clear Floor 31, I need information. Spending thirty days here? That’s madness. I can’t waste time on that.’
He had to ascend as quickly as possible.
Of course, if he wanted to gather everything worthwhile on the way up, talking to these captives would prove the fastest method.
“Don’t waste time. You showed yourself and became a prisoner—you calculated that they’d have no choice but to spill information up to a point, didn’t you?”
“…Indeed, you live up to your name as the cursed one. Not entirely witless, then.”
“About that curse—yes, I did kill a dark elf. But if you dig into it properly, it was you lot who posed the real threat. You’re the ones who should’ve been designated as hostile to the Rosal Kingdom, if anything. I’m the last one who deserves this curse.”
Moo-saeng answered with a shrug.
What was the root cause of this entire mess?
[Dark Elf Curse]
“Our Bitter Aspiration crushed by a single human… Behold, human. See how my tribe—nay, all dark elves—weep tears of blood at the sight of you… Hear, human. Hear the voices of our resentment and curse against you who shattered our dreams!”
All dark elves mourn the death of Tozuka, the dark elf.
Attack power against dark elves: -30%
Defense against dark elves: -25%
It was because of Tozuka, who had been disguised as the Rosal Kingdom’s court mage.
It was because of Tozuka, who had conspired with monsters to destroy the fortress at Bottleneck Gorge.
But wait—who cursed whom?
‘Ah, I see now. There are stat penalties against dark elves too. Hmm, sure enough… their tier really is low.’
Perhaps that’s why the Intimidation didn’t take hold.
Otherwise, the natural suppression from stat differential alone would’ve already been decisive.
“Not because of one dark elf… not because of the Ska Tribe member’s death. You trampled our Bitter Aspiration. The dream and hope that not only my tribe but all dark elves yearned for—you destroyed that.”
His voice carried such intensity that even Park Hyun-gu and Noh Ye-rang, listening nearby, instinctively stepped back.
Umbemba’s eyes flashed with a dangerous gleam.
“So what exactly is this dream of yours?”
Kim Moo-saeng met that gaze directly and answered.
“A return to the Promised Land.”
Umbemba replied.
Someone swallowed hard, their throat dry.
“Sigh…… Well, fine. I didn’t expect this conversation to end anyway. Where is your tribe? Let’s go talk there.”
To Kim Moo-saeng, it was merely a frustrating loop.
The fact that talking like this would never reach any conclusion.
“That’s something I can’t—”
“Umbemba of the Bembe Tribe. You must have resigned yourself to this the moment you were taken prisoner.”
“—…… Understood. But did I tell you the name of our tribe?”
Kim Moo-saeng didn’t answer.
At least he’d managed to gather some basic information, and it was time to move on to the next step.
* * *
For once, even Kim Moo-saeng was glad to have his party members with him.
Escorting more than twenty Dark Elf prisoners alone to their settlement would have been an exhausting task.
Besides, prisoners or not, he couldn’t just leave the Dark Elves lying on the ground.
Clang—clang—clang!
“Walking all day…… and now having to set up tents like this, it’s really—”
“Sir Kim, you’re slower at this than when you do it alone?”
“There’s barely enough firewood, honestly, there’s just not enough no matter what. Sir Kim Moo-saeng, could you check if this wood is safe to burn?”
Guided by Umbemba and the other Dark Elves, they marched for roughly ten hours.
Once the sun fell and they could walk no further, Kim Moo-saeng secured an appropriate position and ordered the camp to be set up.
Compared to the days when he’d prepared everything from bedding to food entirely alone, the comfort of having help now was beyond words.
“Ugh, my back’s killing me after doing this for so long.”
“All done, hyung?”
“Yeah. I’ve got the water heating—just needs to come to a boil now.”
Park Hyun-gu, who’d been overseeing the meal preparations, patted his back and approached Kim Moo-saeng.
Kim Moo-saeng let out a small chuckle at the sight.
Park Hyun-gu glanced around nervously before speaking again.
“But Moo-saeng, did you understand all that? What was he saying earlier?”
Why hadn’t Kim Moo-saeng hidden his conversation with Umbemba?
It was partly trust in his party members, but mostly because there was no need to.
Dreams, tribes, bitter aspirations, Dark Elves, races and clans, the Rosal Kingdom……
It was all part of one world within the Tower—the Emu Continent.
“Nah, I don’t know the details either. Woo-min seemed just as lost, and apparently Dark Elves are such a rare race that there’s hardly any contact with them.”
Even Kim Moo-saeng, once called an ace Dungeon Sherpa, couldn’t clearly grasp how this situation would unfold or what framework was in play.
And hadn’t even Kim Woo-min, who enjoyed Tower content related to the Emu Continent, said there was almost no information about Dark Elves?
Then there was no point in circling endlessly.
Kim Moo-saeng’s plan was to be simple and direct instead.
“But we’re just going like this?”
“What else? We can’t hide and survive here for a whole month, can we? One way or another, we need to face this.”
Making contact with Umbemba’s Bembe Tribe.
And somehow securing the clear condition for Floor 31.
“You’re going to kill them all? Though, with me here now, that’s possible.”
Park Hyun-gu clenched his fist as he spoke.
Kim Moo-saeng let out a bitter laugh, as if tired.
“Why do you sound like a serial killer? That’s scary…… Pfft, though it is a fun thought, first we need to try talking.”
Park Hyun-gu tilted his head, but Kim Moo-saeng had his reasons.
He’d gathered information from his conversation with Umbemba.
‘The Blue Dragon thing was revenge against a specific individual. Death—that leaves no room for compromise. But this is about dreams, hopes.’
The Dark Elves weren’t seeking revenge against Tozuka as an individual.
They’d said they cursed him because they lost their dreams and hopes.
Then?
Couldn’t they simply restore those dreams and hopes?
Couldn’t they make it happen some other way?
“Yeah, that makes sense. First we talk, and if it doesn’t work out, then—bang! Right?”
Park Hyun-gu threw mock punches at the air, fooling around.
It was only then that Kim Moo-saeng understood.
“Your skills are seriously no joke.”
He’d come because he wanted to hear it from someone else’s lips.
Park Hyun-gu’s face lit up immediately, and he began to gush.
“Right? You saw it, yeah? Man, I was too embarrassed to say it myself, but honestly, isn’t that scale more like a Solar Beam, just a smaller version? Even compared to Geum Su-ah—”
“Don’t exaggerate. The scale is one thing, but the output was only a fraction of the Solar Beam’s—maybe one-sixteenth, if that. And even then, the person who cast the skill was so shocked that their expression was priceless. I wish I’d gotten a photo.”
Kim Moo-saeng tried to rein in Park Hyun-gu’s excitement, but he wasn’t wrong.
For a skill derived from a C-rank Awakener ability, it was impressively strong.
‘It’s not just Hyun-gu. Shin Hyun-dong and Kim Woo-min’s skills are pretty solid too… and when we tested it earlier, Noh Ye-rang’s barrier should handle the Dark Elves’ ranged attacks without any trouble.’
It felt less like a Floor 31-tier reward and more like a Floor 40-tier one.
Especially watching Park Hyun-gu panting and shadowboxing at the air.
“Should we not take a Mana Pressure Potion?”
“We can manage for now, and it’d be wasteful anyway. That stuff’s expensive.”
They’d come this far with a Contribution Rate of zero.
Their stats in the status window?
They’d received massive bonuses related to the Floor 21 Murometz, but their current stats were likely lower than those of an average Floor 31 Awakener with average contribution.
Of course, withstanding the mana pressure was bound to be difficult.
‘And yet, just their skills…’
Wash drifted lazily into view beside the puzzled Kim Moo-saeng and muttered.
[I see. Perhaps my influence had something to do with these rice-grubbers becoming mere bugs.]
Perhaps?
Either you did or you didn’t—there’s no perhaps about it.
Kim Moo-saeng raised an eyebrow at Wash, wordlessly urging him to continue.
[Fool. What composes me now is not just me, is it?]
Not just you?
A name surfaced in Kim Moo-saeng’s mind as well.
“Oh, Do-do.”
“What?”
[Du-du.]
“Never mind, never mind.”
Behind the bewildered Park Hyun-gu, Wash drifted upward.
‘Du-du’s log, or whatever… that didn’t just raise the download rate?’
Kim Moo-saeng still couldn’t grasp it clearly, but somehow Wash’s download had risen along with something like “another administrator’s thoughts.”
Perhaps something had settled into Wash at that moment.
[Du-du was particularly good at handling the reward system, so that creature….]
Wash continued his murmur.
As long as the download remained incomplete, there were aspects even Wash couldn’t fully understand.
But one thing was certain.
“Everyone, would you mind gathering over here?!”
Kim Moo-saeng called out.
“Yes, what is it, Director Kim?”
They asked his intent, but everyone moved to obey without hesitation.
Watching them assemble, Kim Moo-saeng swept his gaze across the group.
[Ksandu]
―Race: Dark Elf
―Age: 159
―Affiliation: Dark Elf Sandu Tribe
―Occupation: Second Spear
[Yonbaba]
―Race: Dark Elf
―Age: 181
―Affiliation: Dark Elf Yodingo Tribe
―Occupation: First Spear
Nearly a hundred Dark Elves cloaked in Invisibility.
They’d closed to relatively short range without making a sound.
Watching them in clear defensive and combat posture, Kim Moo-saeng murmured.
“This is close to a racial trait. The First Spear and Second Spear are in full effect.”
“Sir?”
“No, never mind—everyone’s gathered nicely. I’ll just check on something real quick.”
“Moo-saeng? Check on what?”
Park Hyun-gu asked.
Kim Moo-saeng held up the Poison Fang and Blue Alert as he spoke.
Everyone had cleared Floor 31.
And at the same time, they’d obtained an abnormal Skill.
“My Skill.”
Which meant the same applied to him.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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