Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 14

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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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Cheater Administrator Climbing the Mythic Tower (14)
Mu Saeng chose 22 Dungeon for several reasons, but one of the primary ones was the absence of access control.
As a rule, dungeons corresponding to higher floors of the tower are controlled and monopolized by powerful factions.
Given the international law that prohibited control of dungeons below Floor 30, the government-operated 22 Dungeon remained freely accessible to anyone.
In other words, what was free for Mu Saeng was equally free for One Way personnel.
“Anyone climbing below Floor 22 should start with the Mana Pressure Resistance Potion.”
At Park Do Hyeon’s command, six people drank the potion.
Park Do Hyeon, leading thirty employees with a highest climbing floor of 37.
Three others at Floor 30 level.
Eleven personnel in the mid-to-late Floor 20 range.
Ten personnel in the early-to-mid Floor 20 range.
“……Manager Park, the target isn’t showing up.”
Among them, the Awakeners with search-related skills had their eyes gleaming, but they found no trace of Mu Saeng.
One employee furrowed his brow.
“What if he only pretended to enter the dungeon and left right away?”
“Then the team waiting outside would have gotten word.”
“Or maybe it’s not the same dungeon—”
“That’s nonsense.”
Dungeons, like the tower, operated on an Instance system as default.
However, unlike the tower—where a Party must be formed to enter the same space—dungeons had the distinctive feature that anyone entering within twenty minutes of the first person shared the same Instance.
Mu Saeng had entered, and they’d pursued immediately after.
If Mu Saeng had exited, the waiting employee would have entered and reported it.
Which meant Mu Saeng was still inside 22 Dungeon.
“If we can’t see him, we search for him. Split into six teams. Keep your communication officers alert on the radio.”
Then they would find him.
At Park Do Hyeon’s instruction, the employees instantly divided into groups based on climbing floor.
Even if Mu Saeng ignored them and even if Keumsung ignored them, they were still mid-tier guild personnel.
The Awakeners knew full well that having thirty-seven people clumped together in a jungle so dense with tall deciduous trees that it blocked the horizon would be pointless.
“Don’t spare the Long-Range Defense Scrolls either.”
Preparation against possible ambush.
Once preparations were complete, Park Do Hyeon reinforced the objective once more.
“Don’t forget this. The top priority is securing the Antidote. After that, live capture is preferable, but if he resists heavily, kill him. Of course, even if you kill him, you’ll need to bring the body before the Executive.”
They dispersed immediately and began moving.
Soft footsteps, rustling through undergrowth…
They didn’t underestimate the opponent despite him being a single dungeon Sherpa.
Apart from the unidentifiable birdsong, only the footsteps of each team of five or six were audible.
Despite the oppressive humidity that felt suffocating compared to outside the dungeon, they voiced no complaints.
“Each team maintain vigilance over your assigned directions. He’s a dungeon Sherpa. At minimum, he’ll know the terrain well.”
―Relay from Team 3: Normally the 22 Dungeon Boss is positioned in our direction, but the dungeon Sherpa may have lured the Boss elsewhere and relocated it. Exercise special caution not only against monsters but the Boss.
“Understood.”
Communication remained tight.
The critical point: this wasn’t an ordinary jungle.
It was, after all, a dungeon.
That meant the terrain, features, types of monsters that spawned, their distribution, and even the Boss’s location were identical to those of Floor 22 of the tower.
―Relay from Team 2: “UUUAAAAAAAGH—!” Encountered a pack of Red Howler Monkeys, engaging now.
The wail of the Red Howler Monkeys, one of the primary monsters of Floor 22, echoed from the radio, yet Team 2’s personnel remained composed.
The sound of Skills being activated rumbled out several times.
Shrieks of “UUUAAAAGH” filled the jungle—the kind of sound a madman might produce.
―Relay from Team 4: Chimera Jaguar spotted. Diverting around it.
―Relay from Team 6: Vampire Mosquito swamp found. Incinerating it.
As the teams spread farther apart and their search radius widened, radio chatter grew busier.
Yet Team 1’s personnel wore faint smiles.
“All the major monsters ended up being handled by the other teams.”
Aside from the Boss, the thing requiring the most caution in 22 Dungeon was the Chimera Jaguar.
Next was the Vampire Mosquito—small in size, but each drawing up to 500 milliliters of blood.
If dizziness suddenly struck, blood had already been drained. Death came through anemia and languishing decline.
The Red Howler Monkeys were also troublesome due to their numbers.
Those creatures moved freely through the dense canopy, making them difficult to strike and their ambushes hard to defend against.
Yet these were Awakeners who could suppress all of them with relative ease.
In other words, confidence brimmed when chasing a single dungeon Sherpa who’d climbed no higher than Floor 4.
“Still, we can’t afford to be careless.”
That much was certain—it wasn’t Park Do Hyeon who was being careless.
If anything, he was wound tight as a spring.
‘He won’t feel burdened by mana pressure. The 66 Dungeon, for God’s sake—he survived that hellscape. If there’s anything to worry about, it’s him.’
Because he’d seen Mu Saeng in action.
Clear the 66 Dungeon? That didn’t seem possible.
Yet somehow, he’d made it out alive.
That impossible resistance to mana pressure—what did he do with it?
‘And this whole thing—the 22 Dungeon, his domain. He chose this place to face us. That’s what the calculation means.’
As if sensing Park Do Hyeon’s tension, something stirred.
“Ah!? Damn—”
“What is it?!”
The rearguard of Team One moved suddenly.
Both the team lead and members drew their weapons and adopted a fighting stance—but then?
“B-bitten. Agh….”
The rearguard member was clutching his shoulder, stamping something on the ground into paste.
Park Do Hyeon looked closer.
“Is that… a snake?”
The snake’s head was already pulped.
An ordinary person would have been startled.
But these weren’t ordinary people.
“Pfft—you didn’t notice a snake coming? Unbelievable, honestly.”
“Hey, how many floors did you say you’d climbed? Aren’t you supposed to return your climbing record?”
“No, seriously, I didn’t sense anything!”
To Awakeners, a snake was nothing.
A trivial incident they could laugh off.
“A snake doesn’t give off a presence, that’s why. Now, if it were a Great Anaconda, I’d understand—but what is that? You should be embarrassed.”
“No, I—seriously, really—”
Besides, it wasn’t even one of the main monsters on Floor 22.
The massive snakes found near the river beside the jungle were classified as monsters and counted among the truly dangerous species, but this wasn’t one of those….
“Enough! Everyone, quiet down. You, get an Antidote first.”
Park Do Hyeon straightened the loosening atmosphere.
The bitten employee lowered his head.
“Yes, my apologies.”
“Monster or not, you saw what just happened—stay sharp, all of you. We’re not sightseeing.”
“Yes, sir!”
At Park Do Hyeon’s words, the team snapped back to focus.
They were out here to track down one Sherpa.
Though Lee Eun Woo had done something incredible to them, there was no way that power could sustain itself indefinitely.
That’s why they all pursued with relatively light hearts—or so they thought….
―Crrgh, watch out! Warning…gurglegurggle….
“Huh? What? Which team? What are you saying?”
An eerie transmission crackled through.
Words that made no sense.
A sound like something boiling or liquid gurgling.
―Huagh, huagh. Hubruk, grrrrgh—.
“U-uh? What?! Who’s talking?! Don’t you know radio protocol?! Who does this—”
―Shrieeek—. Shrieeek…!
Static erupted, cutting off the transmission.
Park Do Hyeon was about to rage.
Thud.
But the noise from behind stopped him cold.
“…That employee?”
Someone had collapsed.
The bitten one.
Foam at his mouth, he’d gone down?
But he’d taken the Antidote. He’d seen it himself.
And poison shouldn’t spread that fast anyway, should it?
More than that, the symptoms shouldn’t look like this at all!
“Ah, it stings! What—is there another snake?”
That wasn’t all of it.
Another team member’s back stung.
Someone shouted in the unmistakably wrong situation.
“Wait, wait. Up, up there! Up!”
Every head tilted skyward.
They saw it.
Hundreds, thousands of shadows crossing the canopy of the broadleaf forest.
“Sn—snakes! Snakes are falling—!”
The snakes that had been climbing through the trees plummeted down.
—, —, —, —, —, —, —…….
There was no way to avoid all those fangs.
“Everyone inside, now!”
Splash-splash-splash-splash———————!
Park Do Hyeon’s barrier, born from his Awakener ability Wall Builder (B), unfurled in an instant.
The sound like rain battering a window—but each time that noise came, a snake struck the barrier, and the sheer number of them was incomprehensible.
“……Clearing them all will take considerable time. One of you take Lim with the scroll and get out. Report the radio malfunction too.”
“Yes, understood.”
The employee with the lowest Climbing Floor immediately tore open the scroll.
Whoosh.
“Ah……. Huh? Huh!?”
The “ah” rising in pitch.
Park Do Hyeon and everyone else’s faces went identical.
Just like the employee standing there holding the torn Escape Scroll.
The Escape Scroll had been torn, yet he was still standing there holding it?
“Su, surely……?”
Park Do Hyeon swallowed hard, his throat dry.
It could only be described as a nightmare revisited.
“The, the scroll won’t activate, sir.”
“What do you mean, really—”
Whoosh, whoosh—.
A few nearby employees tried the same thing, but it was no use.
Watching them, Park Do Hyeon snapped back to focus.
“Don’t waste them! Stop! We walk out together, straight for the Gate!”
Barely managing to pull the panicked employees together, Park Do Hyeon shouted.
They could reach the Gate without the Escape Scroll.
There had to be a way.
“First, we deal with the snakes right in front of us—”
“Sir! Behind, behind! More snakes are swarming from the rear!”
The only problem was how to make it back to the Gate.
Hissssss, hisssssss…….
Fight all of them?
The Antidote doesn’t even work on their venom.
Being bitten by even one or two among thousands would be fatal.
A direct frontal assault and retreat was impossible.
“……Damn it, hoist Lim up! We move, fast! We have to circle around the snakes and get back to the Gate somehow! Get ready to cut a path!”
Circumventing them was the only option.
Park Do Hyeon’s judgment was sound.
“Yes, yes!”
“I’ll count to three—use your skills on my mark. Pour everything into one point! Three, two, one—”
———————, ———————, ———————!
Yet with the radio dead, navigating around the vast 22 Dungeon’s jungle had never been attempted before.
The suffering of it—only a Dungeon Sherpa would know. Most Awakeners never would.
Now, the personnel of One Way Group, Park Do Hyeon among them, had to learn it firsthand.
* * *
Even simply hacking through the jungle was no easy feat.
“Haa, haa, haa…….”
Sssssss…….
“Sn, snake sounds! They’re coming again!”
“Damn it! How is this happening—they won’t even let us rest!?”
And all the while, they were being hunted by snakes whose bite meant the end.
Those who’d brought relatively few supplies, thinking it would end quickly.
Who’d entered dressed in business attire.
Dragging paralyzed colleagues with them.
“Ugh… Come on, hurry.”
“Yes!”
They wandered for hours.
No matter how accomplished Awakeners were, their bodies and minds inevitably reached their limits in no time.
Team Three’s leader had climbed to Floor 34 at best, but in this situation, he was virtually useless.
He couldn’t even deploy a skill—escaping was already beyond his capacity.
He was carrying one person on his back.
His subordinate was hauling the other two.
If they were dead, he could at least give up, but with only paralysis, there was no way out.
“Sir, there are snakes ahead too! Leader, now—”
“Haa… haa… huuuu…”
Even so, snakes were pouring from the jungle ahead in a dark swarm.
Fight? When enemies blocked front, back, and both sides—not to mention snakes tumbling from the trees as they passed through?
Team Three’s leader lowered the paralyzed employee to the ground with a heavy sigh.
Then, all at once, they noticed something strange.
The snakes were maintaining a certain distance, not advancing any further.
No—rather, it looked as though the snakes were hesitantly parting, as if clearing a path.
“Ah.”
Yes. The snakes were clearing the way.
Just not for them.
“Well, thank you for your efforts. You’ve held out the longest—aside from Park’s team, anyway. Shall we end this?”
Mu Saeng walked calmly down the path the snakes had opened, a smile on his face.
In his hand was a Whip.
The One Way personnel had no way of knowing what it was.
Crack!
As Mu Saeng swung it, the sound of the air tearing erupted.
In that same instant, tens of thousands of snakes descended upon them.

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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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