Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 4

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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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Cheating Administrator’s Legendary Tower Climbing (4)
The yellow rubber duck squeaked sharply.
[A barbarian laying down conditions? I’m offering to take you to the very top of the Tower, and you’re haggling over Floor 58?]
Moo Saeng shrugged.
Floor 58—not even an unexplored layer.
‘Jinseong broke through Floor 66 not long ago. Mirae, JK, and Hana are all challenging the 60s right now. There are plenty of people out there who have information on Floor 58.’
At least four Guilds in Korea alone had already cleared it.
The core members of those Guilds—they were certainly people who possessed that knowledge.
‘They might have even seen Ye-rin. Or, given the Tower’s structure, maybe not? Either way….’
He himself had no ability to climb the Tower. Not yet.
With this duck? That was still unknown.
But he could ask someone else for help.
If it was certain she wasn’t dead, he could find another way.
After all, ‘finding a way’ was something he’d spent his whole life doing as a Dungeon Sherpa.
[But it can’t be. It just can’t.]
If that was the case, the remaining problem was simple.
All he had to do was sweet-talk this duck and slip out of the immediate danger.
That was what Moo Saeng was thinking.
“Why couldn’t it be? No, doesn’t it seem strange to you? Our Administrator teacher—why would you need to go all the way to the top of the Tower? You’re an ‘Administrator,’ aren’t you?”
The fact that his tone shifted so abruptly was unremarkable in itself.
At Moo Saeng’s logical question, Wash fell silent for a moment.
[…….]
Moo Saeng spoke again.
“Let’s approach this rationally, shall we? The very top of the Tower—we don’t even know how many floors that is, so getting there would be SO much harder, wouldn’t it? How about we just go out with me first and get to Floor 58! Then, uh, well? Some other friend who gets along well with you—”
[Damn it, if that were possible, I’d have killed you already.]
“—Oh, we can’t do that even after we leave? Well, in any case! Could we at least leave and find another way?”
Wash stared fixedly at the rambling Moo Saeng.
Only briefly did that beak click against itself.
The black-rimmed glasses flashed.
[……Fufufu, human. Don’t you want to reach the top of the Tower?]
Wash asked.
Moo Saeng started to shake his head emphatically.
“N—no. Like I keep saying, I—”
[Liar. What will you do the next time something happens? Without any power at all.]
“—…….”
He had to close his mouth.
Rationally speaking, it was true.
Ye-rin. He could find her.
And then?
What came after?
Moo Saeng wasn’t the type whose thoughts didn’t extend that far.
No—perhaps Moo Saeng was thinking about it too.
He had simply refused to acknowledge it.
[I will help you, human. So help me in return.]
What desire was churning beneath consciousness.
That was a part he didn’t know about himself.
“……The top of the Tower. But if I can reach it? Does wanting it make it possible?”
Moo Saeng asked.
Wash nodded.
[Of course. Because I will be with you.]
───────────……!!!!
In that instant, light blazed even in the pristine white space.
Something black fell before Moo Saeng’s eyes.
So darkly black that it looked like a hole had opened in space itself, yet fluttering down like paper was something indescribable.
[Sign. If you break this promise, not only you—but the one thing you hold most dear will disappear. Automatically.]
“……What are the terms?”
Moo Saeng asked.
Wash spoke in a murmur.
[You will reach the top of the Tower and visit Floor 58 at that moment. At that point, I will help with the search for Ye-rin. And…….]
Only after taking one more breath did he continue.
[……Once you reach the summit of the Tower, you will join me in my revenge.]
The yellow rubber duck spoke.
Revenge.
Moo Saeng didn’t bother dragging those two words out into the open. The atmosphere made it clear he wouldn’t need to.
“And you’ll help me for that reason?”
[Of course.]
“With all your strength? You’re certain?”
[……Yes.]
“Then we must both uphold our good faith in fulfilling the contract terms—”
[Squawk!]
Wash let out a cry of protest.
Moo Saeng spoke with an entirely solemn expression.
“Don’t be angry. After all, I’m a Dungeon Sherpa—I live by contracts and die by contracts.”
This wasn’t something to treat lightly.
A contract had to be certain.
[Hmph, good faith……. I’ve never seen anyone actually live that way.]
Wash regarded Moo Saeng for a moment.
Moo Saeng met his gaze.
“So answer carefully. Will you uphold your good faith?”
Revenge? Against whom, what, and how—he didn’t know.
Even if he asked, there was no guarantee he’d be told.
But one thing was certain.
[Good. I will uphold my good faith. If you intend to do the same…….]
“I do.”
[Say your name.]
The being that had overlaid his Awakened Ability.
Perhaps the being that had destroyed his life.
〈Transfer (X)〉.
Yet in a Dungeon like the Tower’s Dungeons, it was a being capable of carving out its own isolated space.
And a being that offered him a chance to reclaim his life.
〈Transfer (O)〉.
“Moo Saeng.”
For the sake of the contract with him.
Moo Saeng spoke his own name.
[Wash.]
Wash answered in kind.
Wash’s condition: to carry Moo Saeng to the summit of the Tower.
Moo Saeng’s condition: upon reaching the Tower’s summit, to join Wash in his revenge.
Both parties prioritized the search for Ye-rin on the fifty-eighth floor.
To fulfill those conditions, they would uphold their good faith with complete devotion.
The voice carrying the will to honor the contract transformed into light.
Upon the Contract Document, the names of both shimmered as they were inscribed.
The fulfillment of the contract was instantaneous.
[〈System Restore〉—all injuries of the contractor, restored to the most recent healthy state before sustaining them.]
────────────…….
“……Wow.”
Not just the cuts across his forearm and thigh.
Even the exhaustion he’d accumulated while crossing the desert had been restored.
It wasn’t healing—it was literal restoration.
“This is…….”
[Good faith in fulfilling the contract conditions. Now go.]
Wash let out a sharp huff and turned away.
Seeing that attitude, Moo Saeng chuckled softly.
“Oh right, you said this space has isolated spacetime, didn’t you?”
[What of it?]
“Before I entered this space, something—the master of a snake, I think?—was in the middle of eating me.”
Moo Saeng spoke as though it were obvious, as though it were nothing serious.
Wash’s dark bean-like eyes blinked rapidly.
[……Ugh, I’m cursing already. Hey! Since this is my space, it doesn’t matter, but in the Tower you can’t use Programming willy-nilly! If you use strength, you’ll be discovered immediately!]
“……What? Programming in the Tower? Does that mean you can’t use your abilities?”
Moo Saeng could no longer afford to feign composure.
Unable to use his abilities?
[Damn it, yes!]
“Wait, hold on. A moment ago, Ye-rin—how would she have—? That’s a lie?”
No, what about the information regarding Ye-rin from earlier?
Tower Climbing, fifty-eight levels—how did he even find out about that?
Wash explained.
[I can use it once. Now that I’ve just been executed, the Tower’s creatures won’t detect me either. Damn it, this is why I should have filled the download to one hundred percent—.]
A single chance, he said—and he’d already spent it.
“No, no, then…….”
Moo Saeng’s mind churned through a tangle of thoughts.
Multiple possibilities surfaced, but there was one thing he needed to confirm first.
“Let me start by getting this straight. This isn’t a Tower. It’s a Dungeon.”
[What? A Dungeon? What’s that?]
Fifteen seconds after the contract was sealed.
Both parties to the agreement fell silent.
This time Moo Saeng spoke first.
“Look, I think we need to have a proper conversation, Wash.”
The yellow rubber duck answered with a crisp chirp.
* * *
Slayken coiled his tongue around the human and swallowed him whole.
Then he drove his fangs down.
It was over.
The moment Slayken felt that, light flickered.
A sensation barely distinguishable from a blink of an eye.
Whether he had blinked or the illumination had dimmed—the instant was too fleeting to tell.
That was all it took.
“Huurrrk—!?”
Violent convulsions erupted from within his throat—from inside his mouth!?
Slayken immediately vomited the human out.
“Gasp—gasp—.”
Then he saw.
The human’s wounds completely healed.
Eyes alight with renewed resolve.
And beyond all else—a small, faintly glowing yellow object beside him?
The two began speaking.
[Dungeons correspond to Tower Climbing, yes? And you said this is Dungeon Sherpa fifteen, didn’t you?]
“Right? That’s correct—”
[But this is Data from level sixty-six. What are you talking about?]
“Huh? What? How many levels?”]
It was Moo Saeng who was startled.
Moo Saeng had explored as high as Dungeon Sherpa fifty-one.
He’d sensed the Mana Pressure around here was beyond that, but—level sixty-six?
Moo Saeng’s eyes had barely finished widening in shock.
[Hmm, yes. A glitch, perhaps. A collision occurred. Incompetent fools……. They can’t even manage their own system properly.]
Wash muttered to himself.
Slayken found it equally incomprehensible.
“Gasp—how—. What……. What is that?”
Why was the human intact? What was that small yellow thing?
It was Wash who was taken aback by Slayken’s question.
[What? A level sixty-six Data can see me? The download truly is incomplete. Administrator dignity be damned.]
He chirped irritably, his complaint coming out light and dismissive.
Yet Slayken could sense an overwhelming presence emanating from him—one that could not be lightly ignored.
[Either way, it’s certain now—this isn’t a Tower, Kim Moo Saeng.]
“Yeah, I told you.”
[Right—here, I’ll be able to use my ability.]
“Then time it perfectly!”
Moo Saeng bolted forward immediately.
Slayken recoiled at the sudden movement.
The serpent’s master reflexively lashed out his tongue.
That tongue, whipping through the air at tremendous speed.
“Not again!? Wash!”
Moo Saeng shouted as he slid out of the way.
And in that instant.
[Administrator Authority Execution.]
Wash spoke.
────────────…….
Slayken’s movements noticeably slowed.
“Hisss!? What the—”
More precisely, it couldn’t close its mouth fast enough after firing out its tongue.
Wash murmured as he watched.
[Even if it’s only the 66th floor, I can’t keep it pinned for long. Try it the way we discussed.]
“That’s enough.”
Moo Saeng didn’t hesitate.
The slide hadn’t been just to dodge the tongue.
The B-grade Artifact short sword he’d dropped earlier was now gripped in his hand.
“You—!”
Slayken swung its long arms in a wide arc.
Whoooosh—! Moo Saeng crouched low, slipping beneath the blow.
Then he straightened up, driving power into his thighs.
A leap, target clear.
“Even on the 66th floor, a ‘snake’s’ weakness is obvious—the roof of its mouth!”
“You—!”
Into Slayken’s gaping mouth, unable to close in time, where the tongue hung extended along the hard palate.
A long, scraping sound──────…….
“Haaah!”
Moo Saeng drove the short sword in and sliced.
“SCREEEEEECH—! Hisss, SCREEEEEECH!”
Slayken could no longer form words.
Moo Saeng scrambled free from its thrashing jaws.
“Hisss, SCREEEEEECH—!”
And the radiant boss of the 66th floor began to evaporate slowly.
Moo Saeng stepped back, watching it fade, and murmured.
The power to pierce an exact weak point even with a mere B-grade short sword.
“……Administrator Authority Execution, then.”
So this was Wash’s power—Administrator Authority Execution.
Wash felt the same way.
[The 66th floor feels like my first time seeing it. But I know the exact deletion point……?]
It hadn’t been mere bravado when Wash said that slowing it down would be enough to take it out.
Knowledge. Experience.
The resolve to drive himself back into the jaws of an enemy that had nearly killed him once.
And above all, a willingness not to place one hundred percent faith in himself alone.
[Not bad.]
“Not bad.”
The two of them grinned.
And in that moment, the massive serpent-man vanished without a trace.
────────────…….
This isn’t the Tower.
Stats don’t rise here, nor can Skills be acquired.
Yet the Dungeon grants something all the same.
A glimmering sound…….
Moo Saeng’s body trembled slightly.
“……An Artifact.”
The material reward for slaying the lord of this 66th-floor Dungeon gleamed before 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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