Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 76

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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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Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator (76)
Lee Jeong-gi is a formidable opponent.
Hildegard possesses that information as well.
Yet the reason she remains unhurried is simple enough.
‘Surviving an encounter with Chairman Geum Byeong-chul… that’s nothing. Full equip in 0.4 seconds, restraint in 2—that should suffice.’
The vast Underground Space appears empty, but that is deceptive.
The space itself was created through the Hand of Aetri (SR).
Which meant that the moment she threw herself down, her body would be outfitted with a complete set of perfect Artifacts.
After that, dealing with that crimson Oni would take 2 seconds at most.
But she does not move.
If she stepped in first, she would only expose her true identity to the World Awakeners Association and Geum Su-a—both of whom she had slipped past using a fake identity.
Hildegard Schmidt had no reason to take such a risk.
She moves in exactly one circumstance.
‘If Kim Moo-saeng or Wash request assistance, that means the situation is already under control.’
If Moo-saeng or Wash call for help.
Risks like identity fraud or exposure? None of that matters.
She would step in immediately and disassemble Lee Jeong-gi down to the atomic level.
So long as she could impress Kim Moo-saeng, Wash, and the tower’s administrator.
So long as she could satisfy her curiosity by observing them.
Boom————————!
Whether Lee Jeong-gi shatters the space or not.
Whether the iron mace wielded by the crimson Oni is sharp enough to cut a few strands from Moo-saeng’s bangs.
‘I’ll just watch. Hang in there, Wash! If you said 75%, then you must have something more up your sleeve besides just holding back skills—I’m counting on it!’
Hildegard simply trembles in silence, playing the part of the frightened observer.
Of course, Hildegard had no way of knowing.
“Ugh, is there anything else?”
[Kwark? You’re asking me, Kim Moo-saeng? I told you I control which skills are available!]
“I appreciate it, but with the board laid out like this, that doesn’t matter anymore!”
[I can at least make sure you don’t freeze, kack!]
Why hasn’t he called for Hildegard’s help?
Because there’s no time!
Now that Wash is restored to 75%, what else can he do that he hasn’t already tried?
If he could have, he would have by now!
“Running won’t cut it! Once everything’s turned to blood and meat, it’ll be too late!”
Lee Jeong-gi shouted.
Moo-saeng’s contorted expression had not yet relaxed.
* * *
Geum Su-a made no attempt to hide her frustration.
She had to acknowledge that she had been caught in Lee Jeong-gi’s cunning combat strategy.
“Moo-saeng! Come out!”
She possesses not merely the skill known colloquially as Solar Beam.
Naturally, she also commands offensive skills of smaller range and scale, as well as ranged attacks.
“I want to! But the angle—. Ugh!”
The issue is line of sight.
Between Geum Su-a’s aim and Lee Jeong-gi, Moo-saeng keeps positioning himself directly in the way.
Or more precisely—Lee Jeong-gi was reading her line of sight perfectly and manipulating even Moo-saeng’s evasion patterns and trajectory to neutralize it!
“A lunatic of a girl advertising her guild with flashy skills thinks she can face me? Ha-ha-ha-ha! Geum Byeong-chul’s done a proper job raising his daughter!”
“Shut that mouth—”
“Screeeech!”
“—Gah, damn mutts!”
One cannot bend light itself.
Not even with Luminous (SR).
Therefore, the skill pairs perfectly with mirrors that reflect light—with Yoon Pyo’s Absolute Zero (SR) ice.
Given Geum Su-a’s characteristics of overwhelming firepower and large-scale, wide-range attacks, a confined space and an intelligent opponent were practically her worst nightmare.
“Left, right. Ready.”
At least it was fortunate that the World Awakeners Association’s personnel were no ordinary fighters either.
Robert Kay, Awakening Ability: Blade Wind (A Rarity).
Not cold wind.
Literally—formless blades streaming outward with each strike.
“Now!”
The power to employ an improved, enhanced version of the Wind Cutter skill—a technique typically wielded by those with wind-type Awakening Abilities!
Robert Kay and his wind-attuned teammate unleashed Wind Cutter in perfect synchronization, all three of them firing at once.
Compressed blasts of air shrieked through the Underground Space—Whoooosh!—and tore toward the crimson Oni with lethal force.
“The other two are pushing forty floors at best.”
Crash!
And the Oni’s iron club swatted them away.
Pure physical force snapping immaterial blades clean in half.
The next instant, its cheeks puffed grotesquely before it expelled a torrent of needle-sharp blood spikes.
Spurt!
An application of the Blood Consumption skill—hundreds of blood needles rocketed toward Robert Kay’s party.
“Ugh—”
“First these bastards from the Association… wait—”
But the blood needles never found their marks.
A laser caught all hundreds of them mid-flight and incinerated them in an instant.
“Hah… hah… I, I’m grateful, Miss Geum.”
“Be careful. He won’t fall for that twice.”
Geum Su-a stood with both hands splayed wide, drawing in a long, measured breath—whoooosh.
And Moo-saeng was watching too.
Robert Kay’s team’s techniques.
Geum Su-a’s power.
‘If this works—’
Moo-saeng’s hand plunged into the Anything Pocket without hesitation.
He drew out Mage Maia’s Goggles.
Lee Jeong-gi’s expression twisted into a snarl.
“Let’s see if this one can stop it too.”
The Oni’s massive crimson frame twitched, but only for an instant.
Then his back and flanks began to tear open.
[Primitive doesn’t begin to cover it. Truly repulsive.]
“…I agree. Hey, mister! You’re not a spider—eight total limbs is a bit much, don’t you think?”
What burst forth were arms.
Four additional arms generated by the Ghost Hand skill.
The scarlet Oni, now possessed of six arms in total, drew ragged breath and grinned wickedly, teeth bared.
“You little flies… keep laughing while you can.”
Lee Jeong-gi’s reason for using this skill was unmistakable.
His true target was Moo-saeng.
But the evasion-focused Moo-saeng was so elusive that even the Oni-form Lee Jeong-gi couldn’t pin him down—so he’d switched tactics.
“Let’s see if you can still crack jokes after those friends of yours are turned into pulp.”
Kill Geum Su-a and Robert Kay first.
Moo-saeng caught the intent immediately and shouted.
“Everyone, evade!”
Crash!
In the same instant, the 2.5-meter Oni spun on its heel and launched forward, tearing across the ground with explosive force.
The fractured earth splintered and scattered.
In one of its newly formed hands, an iron club was gripped tight.
And razor-sharp claws jutted from its fingertips.
───────────!
All of it converged on the sweat-drenched Robert Kay and Geum Su-a’s face, pummeling them.
“…So that’s Geum Byeong-chul’s daughter. Cowardly and vicious. I really can’t stand it.”
Lee Jeong-gi’s grin began to fade at the corners of his mouth.
The mangled, torn bodies and faces simply evaporated—poof—and vanished.
An illusion generated through light manipulation using Luminous—a kind of mirage.
“…Hah… hah.”
“Th, thanks again—”
While Lee Jeong-gi was deploying Ghost Hand, Geum Su-a had already conjured illusions of everyone’s bodies and slipped into hiding, now completely concealed.
Robert Kay tried to express his gratitude, but Geum Su-a shook her head and cried out.
“No need for thanks each time. Instead—hurry and come up with a countermeasure! If all else fails, I’ll use Solar Beam, so figure out how to survive on your own!”
The attacks were still manageable now, but if those extra arms started sweeping through the surrounding space as he charged in—
A blind assault like that had a high chance of finding a mark. And even one glancing blow wouldn’t be a light wound.
“Ghost Hand, track by scent.”
Lee Jeong-gi summoned the blood wolves again.
That was when it happened.
“Geum Su-a! Light, laser! Fire it over here! It doesn’t have to be lethal—just as thin as possible. But make it bright!”
Kim Moo-saeng burst forward.
The window while the other skill was in use wasn’t long.
But if he started charging forward wildly, the opportunity would disappear entirely.
Then the moment to move was now!
“What?!”
“No time to explain—hurry! Over here!”
“Oh, understood!”
It was an odd request from Kim Moo-saeng, but Geum Su-a moved swiftly.
Lee Jeong-gi, who had summoned the crimson wolf, let out a scoff.
“If it’s only something like 〈Solar Beam〉, then I… huh?”
A mere laser wasn’t even worth laughing at.
Lee Jeong-gi, who was scattering blood mist around himself with 〈Blood Consumption〉, tilted his head in confusion for a moment.
A single beam of light, vivid even through the haze.
But it wasn’t aimed at Lee Jeong-gi or his Ghost Hands.
It was aimed at the object in Kim Moo-saeng’s hand.
Specifically—the lens of Mage Maia’s Goggles. That lens?!
“What are you trying to—”
“Association members! Wind Cutter, at full strength! On the count of three, fire!”
Kim Moo-saeng shouted again.
What was he attempting?
An action so utterly unexpected it made even Lee Jeong-gi lose focus for a moment.
“What? No, ah—understood!”
But the red Oni moved again just as Robert Kay and his group were about to activate their skill.
Lee Jeong-gi wasn’t fool enough to stand there confused just because of curiosity.
If something was being attempted, he’d simply move faster and disrupt it.
Or better yet, prevent them from using skills like 〈Wind Cutter〉 altogether.
“Insolent bloodbags!”
Boom, boom, booom…!
The ground cracked beneath his pounding footsteps, the distance closing in an instant.
“One, two!”
Kim Moo-saeng counted aloud.
Lee Jeong-gi glanced sideways at him with a sneer.
“Wh—what?!”
Then his expression shifted to shock.
In Kim Moo-saeng’s hand now lay something…
“A fireball?”
A roaring, blazing fireball it was.
The impact went far beyond mere surprise at seeing flame.
A fire-attribute Awakening Ability?
If so, there’d be no reason he hadn’t used it until now.
Not a physical enhancement type then? So how did he increase his stats?
And the way he’d been tracking and attacking his movements before…
The fireball, appearing now despite everything Kim Moo-saeng had shown so far, made even less sense.
The shock that gripped Lee Jeong-gi’s thinking lasted barely 0.7 seconds.
“Three!”
Kim Moo-saeng’s signal to Robert Kay’s group—just enough time.
Whiiisshhh……
Time enough to pass Geum Su-a’s laser through the goggles’ lens, attach it to the wad of paper he’d been holding, and hurl that fireball forward.
How to bring down that massive frame of Lee Jeong-gi.
Kim Moo-saeng examined the resources at his disposal and finally arrived at one answer.
‘〈Elemental Magic Fusion〉….’
A skill he’d acquired while capturing the Blue Dragon.
A skill that had been useless because he had no elemental-type abilities—but now he would use it.
Only, not his own attribute-based skills.
[Detecting attribute.]
The wind from Robert Kay’s group.
The flame he could create through Geum Su-a.
If he blended the elemental magic of those around him…?!
[Wind Element Confirmed]
[Flame Element Confirmed]
[Will you fuse the activated spells?]
The Wind Cutter reached Lee Jeong-gi’s vicinity.
And when the fireball Kim Moo-saeng hurled struck Lee Jeong-gi and the Wind Cutter, the area around them—
“Fuse.”
───────────……!!!!
A pillar of flame tore through the Underground Space’s ceiling and shot toward the surface.
“Gwaaaaaaaaaaa!”
A whirlwind of fire rose up, consuming the massive frame of the red Oni entirely.
The sheer force of it made even Geum Su-a’s eyes widen—and Hildegard, master of this space itself, couldn’t hide her shock.
“Ugh, we’re being pulled in too—!”
“Hold on! If we get sucked into this, it’s over!”
But that wasn’t all.
It was a vortex wind.
Whoooooosh────────!
A wall of wind that prevented Lee Jeong-gi inside from escaping outward.
And simultaneously, a wind that drew everything around it inward.
“Ah, ahhh, aaaaahhh!”
Lee Han-il and the members of the Korea One-Way Group were being pulled one by one into the fiery vortex—a sight that defied any description other than hell itself.
But Lee Jeong-gi—Lee Jeong-gi was different.
“Guhhhh—is this—is this all you have for me—?”
Boom…… Boooooom…….
Step by step, slow but deliberate, he was forcing his way out of the wind vortex.
Horns melted at their tips, skin charred and crackling.
The crimson Oni’s form had become even more grotesque in the wake of those burn scars.
Eyes alight with madness, his body burning, Lee Jeong-gi pushed onward.
And yet……
“Khack.”
A Short Sword embedded itself in Lee Jeong-gi’s back.
“Impressive. So impressive I knew you’d manage that.”
Even through the roar of the wind vortex, Kim Moo-saeng’s voice came through clear and sharp.
Lee Jeong-gi turned slowly to face him.
The Poison-Snake venom already spreading from the blade began to penetrate his body rapidly.
“…… How?”
The bloodshot eyes of the Oni trembled.

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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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