Climbing the Mythic Tower as a Cheating Administrator - Chapter 94

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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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Admin Cheating Through Legendary Tower Climbing (94)
Not a single person understood Kim Moo-saeng’s words accurately.
More than that, no one could make sense of what he was doing right now.
“W-wait, Mr. Kim? This is…….”
He was rubbing something smooth, smooth onto his shoe soles, shoulders, thighs, forearms—everywhere.
And then he was spraying something with a hiss, hiss onto his waist, the back of his neck, and elsewhere?
“Ah, I made all of this myself. The oil keeps me from getting caught in Arachnella’s webs. And this is Insect-Type Monster Repellent.”
Kim Moo-saeng answered as if it were nothing.
Even Shin Hyun-dong, an ardent fan of Kim Moo-saeng, widened his eyes at that statement.
Anti-web-trap oil? Insect-Type Monster Repellent?
He’d sprayed something called a repellent on Floor 22 before…… but does something like that exist? Does it really work?
It was true that Artifacts could occasionally be made with such properties, but…….
“Heh, exactly. I know what you’re thinking. Up until now, I usually waited at the entrance…… but this time, like I told you? I’m planning to give you a first-class service. You all need to be careful. Of course, I’ll burn everything in my route of progress as we go, but even so, just in case. You all know this, right? If you happen to get caught in a web, don’t thrash around in panic!”
Kim Moo-saeng laughed at ease.
For Cho Sang-gyu, climbing with Kim Moo-saeng for the first time, this situation was utterly unbelievable.
Literally at the entrance of a forest filled with nothing but darkness, where you couldn’t see even what was right in front of your nose.
Could someone really show such an attitude while saying they were about to go inside?
“No, just put your hand on the shoulder of the person in front. Park Hyun-gu, you take the lead. Just follow right behind me and you’ll be fine.”
“Put your hand on the shoulder of the person in front”—who could say something so barefaced even if you asked them a thousand times!?
Cho Sang-gyu looked at Park Hyun-gu with his entire body tensed.
“Yeah, easy enough. I’ve been good at chasing after you since twenty years ago anyway.”
Was he really saying that seriously?
A man a few years older than the so-called “bus driver” Kim Moo-saeng acting so carelessly—it bred not the slightest bit of confidence.
And what’s more, this time…….
“Hyun-dong, this is fine, right?”
“Uh, yeah. That’s what he says. Just trust Mr. Kim for now.”
Shin Hyun-dong, who had repeatedly lavished praise and kept trying to convince him no matter what.
Even he showed some anxiety?
‘Did I just fall for some weird pyramid scheme? A Ponzi scam?’
Even as Cho Sang-gyu placed his hand on Shin Hyun-dong’s shoulder, he couldn’t shake his doubt.
His friend who had given up on tower climbing in the teens, somehow made his way to Floor 25 and caught up with him, and afterwards boasted about climbing plans and praised Kim Moo-saeng—was he not the same guy?
“Even so, they got rewards on the common reward floors! And that’s not all, you bastard! Mr. Kim, Kim Moo-saeng, how incredible is he! He did some ridiculous quest, and got 50 Stat Points as the Floor 21 reward! Just that alone means I’ve already gotten my money’s worth! Compared to risking your life climbing with a party, it’s practically a pleasure cruise!”
“Yeah, bullshit. Floors in the early 20s typically yield an average of 6 to 7 Stat Points per floor, whether soloing or running a party. Who the hell believes something like 50—”
“So did I take a bullet to the head and spout this nonsense? I’m doing you a favor. If you don’t like it, quit. I’m going alone.”
“No, I’m not saying I don’t like it—I’m saying you’ve got to keep the lies a little believable. What…… 50 Stat Points all given to someone with 0% Contribution Rate? If the tower hands them out like that, what’s the tower supposed to eat and live on?”
He couldn’t believe it.
Yet there was undeniable proof.
His friend, who had given up climbing with a weak Awakening Ability, had somehow made it to Floor 25 with “a small cost paid.”
He had demonstrated strengthened physical power and agility by actually utilizing the increased Stat Points.
‘If worst comes to worst, I’ll just……. Forget the Contribution Rate rules or whatever, I’ll just survive by any means necessary.’
Cho Sang-gyu had stopped climbing after acquiring an additional reward Stat on Floor 25.
The rapidly increasing difficulty from Floor 26 onwards, the climb in casualty rates…….
Someone who, even with a B-grade Awakening Ability, had stopped under the principle of “safety first,” had only mustered the courage to go this far through his friend’s powerful persuasion.
Splash, splash, splash…….
“The helmets you’re all wearing do have light functions, but if we turn them all on at once, monsters will swarm, so……. It’ll be somewhat inconvenient, but just focus and look carefully at the ground beneath your feet as we go.”
And this was what he was actually doing!?
This man named Kim Moo-saeng, leading the way with just a single flashlight giving off barely adequate light.
Eleven people trailing after him like a game of follow-the-leader!?
No matter how much they wore A-grade Metal Rhine protective gear, the tower was a place where your life could be hanging by a thread!?
And they weren’t even allowed to use the light functions!
“Um, um, just one thing! Mr. Kim Moo-saeng, right now…… where are we—. What are we going there for?”
Cho Sang-gyu finally asked.
Kim Moo-saeng answered without hesitation.
“Like I told you. Going to see the Insect Clash. We’re going to watch a snake and a spider fight, see who wins. Ah, so it’s not really an ‘insect.’ What should I call it?”
“……What?”
For Cho Sang-gyu, it was an answer he couldn’t understand at all.
Kim Moo-saeng continued.
“Petit Hydra—I’ve only heard rumors about it myself, but the basic nature of a normal Hydra should be the same. Only six heads instead of twelve. That is, it has multiple heads that use different elemental magic, and…… it only dies when all the heads are severed. From the moment one head is cut off, it starts regenerating.”
It was a monster whose very existence wasn’t even confirmed.
But since there was a base monster to reference, it should share those characteristics.
“A regular Hydra’s neck takes about ten seconds to fully regenerate even after being severed, doesn’t it, Moo-saeng?”
“Yeah. When raid parties get really large, it can drop to five seconds, but normally it’s ten. Petit Hydra probably has more leeway than that. Maybe twenty seconds per head? Thirty would be solid.”
Kim Moo-saeng nodded at Park Hyun-gu’s question.
Half the number of heads.
More than double the regeneration time.
Even if the difficulty had increased, it shouldn’t be any worse than a monster from Floor 26.
Of course, Cho Sang-gyu, who’d been listening, could only swallow hard.
“So, that is to say……. Once you sever one neck—. You’re saying it takes twenty to thirty seconds to cut off all the remaining necks, right?”
“Yes. That’s correct.”
“That’s…… plenty of time?”
A many-headed monster that spewed elemental magic.
A hellish creature whose heads grew back even after being severed.
Its sheer size was so immense that most Awakeners might fall into Debuffs like Confusion, Terror, and Paralysis the moment they laid eyes on it, and twenty to thirty seconds was supposedly manageable?
‘Who does he think he is, saying that when he’s only made it to Floor 25!’
Cho Sang-gyu shook his head rapidly and asked again.
“But about the battle between충왕 and snakes and spiders—? It sounds like you’re saying Petit Hydra fights the surrounding spiders, but……—. Is that even a scenario that happens? I do know a bit about Hydras. They’re solitary swamp monsters that mark their territory aggressively, but Petit Hydra……. this isn’t even a swamp. It’s the Black Forest, which is Arachnella’s territory—.”
“Arachnella is defensive-type, so she wouldn’t attack Petit Hydra first, would she? Wow, you really know your stuff.”
Kim Moo-saeng brushed off his genuine concern lightly and laughed.
The casual, almost playful tone made Cho Sang-gyu feel a surge of frustration.
“So—”
SHRIEEEEEEEEK————————!
“—Huh?!”
“Quiet.”
But there was nothing more to say.
How far had they walked into the Black Forest?
Now the beast’s roar echoed from close range.
Kim Moo-saeng sent a hand signal.
As Park Hyun-gu crouched, the party members who’d been resting their hands on his shoulders lowered their postures in turn.
Kim Moo-saeng even switched off the low-intensity flashlight.
Sudden darkness fell, and before the party members’ eyes could adjust,
a soft buzzing sound—the flutter of insect wings—reached their ears.
Several small points of light appeared in the party members’ vision, only to vanish moments later.
“Everyone stay silent……. Just observe. From now on, all external communications are blocked—audio will only be shared through the radio channel.”
With Kim Moo-saeng’s voice, a hologram suddenly projected into the air.
Not from a beam projector—how was this happening?
The bewildered party members soon noticed that Kim Moo-saeng was wearing something like sports goggles,
and saw him crouched backward, holding what looked like a small insect on his palm.
The only thought they could manage was whether he’d done something with that Artifact.
“How presumptuous, you mindless vermin!”
A voice came through the helmets the party members were wearing.
A seductive woman’s cry echoed through their speakers.
At the same moment, the camera angle swept upward sharply.
Zooming in on a point somewhere in the trees, the space that had been nothing but darkness revealed a distinct female silhouette.
Arms and legs like a human’s. But also four additional limbs sprouting from her back.
The spider queen, roughly three meters tall—Arachnella.
And the web she shot, and the procession of enormous spiders moving at her gesture—where were they headed?!
The camera moved and the screen shifted.
“SHRIEEEEEEK—!”
“ROOOAAARRR!”
“KAAA, KAAAAAAHHH!”
“Damn—. Ahem, my apologies.”
Cho Sang-gyu was so startled he’d unconsciously cursed.
A six-headed beast.
Fire, water, ice, wind, electricity, poison…….
Spraying six elements indiscriminately.
Of course, they were just watching a hologram screen.
But the intensity coming through it. The sheer impact.
And above all, the thrilling danger that this was all happening at close range!
“Kyaa, this is killing it. Shame there’s no popcorn, wouldn’t you say?”
Kim Moo-saeng spoke with a laugh.
To begin with, the Additional Condition was to defeat Arachnella within five hours.
The Hidden Condition was to bring light into the Black Forest, where even light itself had been devoured—the easiest way being to burn the forest down.
Kim Moo-saeng had wrestled with how to achieve both conditions.
The moment Petit Hydra was added as a boss, he understood.
He could use it.
〈Slayken’s Tongue (S)〉
The tongue of Slayken, master of all serpents. No snake could refuse its tremor.
Petit Hydra?
It was a snake, wasn’t it?
Just a snake with many heads, right?
Compared to Slayken, the boss of Floor 66, the master of all serpents, it was nothing, wasn’t it?
‘Wash said it would work. If it were an ordinary Hydra, it might have resisted—that much made him slightly uneasy—but…’
A former Tower Administrator who had recovered over eighty percent of his original power had said so.
Slayken’s Tongue would work on Petit Hydra.
That was enough.
If they eliminated all light entirely, how would they respond to immediate threats?
Mage Maia’s Goggles (SR) saw everything.
Sight, sound, even smell—all data that could pose a threat was being collected and analyzed in real time.
Not a single one of Arachnella’s offspring, or rather, not a single mosquito, was approaching.
And he hadn’t provided this service solely to gain the trust of first-timers, either.
〈Operational Unit: Construction Civil Works-009 Enhanced Model (S)〉
Primary Functions: Flight, Tunnel Excavation
Description: An insect-type golem originally crafted by Mage Maia for the construction of her magitech research facility, modified through Metal Rhine’s technology. Possesses excavation and civil engineering capabilities, terrain modification abilities allowing the user to create desired spaces even deep underground. Additionally, modifications have added recording, video capture, and functions for data transmission and broadcasting between identical models. Designed by METALRHINE.
He needed to test the capabilities of the dung beetle-type Guardian that Hildegard Schmidt had been entrusted with duplicating and enhancing.
‘Of course it’s Hildegard Schmidt. It’s working out flawlessly.’
This “cutting-edge 3D cinema experience” was necessary precisely to confirm that one dung beetle Guardian could relay what another had seen and heard.
Whoooosh…!
A torrential inferno poured forth, setting ablaze the towering black trees of the forest like pillars reaching toward the sky.
Some party members flinched.
Ice froze countless spiders crawling up from the bases of the trees, while the wind blades that cascaded down hacked through the ancient giants in chunks.
Again, several party members flinched.
Park Hyun-gu was among them.
“Moo-saeng.”
“Yeah?”
“You know, I do have popcorn, but I probably shouldn’t share it, right? What with the Contribution Rate and all…”
“…You’re truly impressive, hyung.”
It was a remark that made Kim Moo-saeng wonder whether to marvel at the shock or simply at such meticulous preparation.
The principal architect of the difficulty spike and soaring mortality rate following the acquisition of Floor 25’s bonus reward.
Floor 26’s Black Forest was now burning fiercely.
Without a single Awakening Ability deployed, through the collision of monsters alone, the Clear conditions for Kim Moo-saeng and his party members were being satisfied.

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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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