Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 125

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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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Chapter 125. The Tower — The Lizardmen’s City (1)

The moment I stepped into the heart of the Jungle, Lizardmen began to appear, and the closer I drew toward our destination, the more frequently we encountered them.
It seemed the central Jungle was unmistakably their domain.
I pressed forward for a time, then came to a stop.
“About fifty Lizardmen are scattered and moving in this direction.”
Rather than simply walking, I extended my Ki-sensing outward—ahead and to the sides—to survey our surroundings.
With Ki-sensing, I could detect living things, though not their specific nature; but once I’d located them, I could send out the detection magic called the Mage’s Eye to learn what they were.
At my words, Lee Su-young and Diana tensed slightly and drew out a Slime and a Mace.
Snakes and lizards were not particularly formidable monsters, but Lizardmen were awkward adversaries in a place like this.
They moved with startling speed, climbed trees with ease, and their broad feet rarely sank into the marshy ground.
Worst of all, they hunted in packs—that was genuinely dangerous.
“Are they targeting us?”
At Lee Su-young’s question, I studied the Lizardmen’s movements through my Ki-sensing.
“No. They don’t seem aware of us. It looks like our paths just happen to overlap.”
While we were moving steadily upward toward our destination, the Lizardmen appeared to be heading westward from the direction we were aiming for.
I spread my Ki-sensing wider to track the direction the Lizardmen pack was heading.
“A leading group? No—they’re breathing hard. Are they chasing another Lizardmen pack?”
It could have been tribal warfare among the Lizardmen themselves.
The Jungle was far too vast for any single tribe to rule completely.
“You can tell all that through Ki-sensing?”
At Diana’s question, I shook my head.
“No. Ki-sensing only tells me that living things are present. Once I know their location, I confirm the details through magic.”
“Could I learn to use Ki-sensing as well?”
“If you work at it… well, that’s all I can honestly say.”
Sadly, using Ki-sensing fell purely into the realm of talent with manipulating Ki itself—not something I could speak of lightly.
I could use it immediately upon reaching Grade 3, and since becoming Grade 2, I wielded it more easily than my eyes themselves; but others were different.
Even those rated as having superior aptitude—genuinely called geniuses—rarely mastered Ki-sensing.
Cheon So-yeon, being a prodigy beyond measure, used Ki-sensing without difficulty, but Cheon Ha-sung, rated as the next best in their year, could not use it at all.
I’d heard that if one uses Ki-sensing at Grade 2, one possesses natural talent for Inner Energy cultivation, and that there are plenty of Grade 1 experts who still cannot wield Ki-sensing properly.
“It sounds harder than Light Footwork.”
“I suppose it is.”
Lee Su-young spoke with a hint of frustration at the exchange between Diana and me.
“That’s not what matters right now, is it? What do we do? Attack first? Or avoid them?”
“We attack. We’ve been cutting through branches and vines all the way here—there’s no way they won’t pick up our trail anyway.”
Better to ambush them while their attention is elsewhere than to slip away cautiously and risk being tracked and harassed by alert Lizardmen.
Besides, the Lizardmen pack was already moving south in scattered formation, searching as they went.
The perfect setup for Divide and Conquer.
“Su-young. How far can you send the Slime?”
At my question, Lee Su-young considered for a moment before answering.
“About 250 meters maximum? I could push it further if I really strain, but the connection might snap and it could unsummon itself.”
At her answer, I sent the Mage’s Eye upward to survey the nearby terrain.
“From now on, we stop practicing Movement Technique and move with stealth.”
I outlined the strategy briefly to both of them.
After hearing my explanation, the two nodded and immediately set to work.

* * *

Lizardmen—lizard-men.
Some two hundred years ago, a mystery unfolded among a tribe that had been nothing but mindless monsters.
Their king was born.
The Lizardmen’s king communed with a mysterious being and transformed his tribe, which had known only how to eat, sleep, breed, and exist without thought, into something more.
The Great Warriors and Shamans chosen by the king began to develop intellect, evolving from simple beasts into conscious beings who questioned their own existence and meaning.
Their ponderings were simple and trifling, yet they were reflections on themselves—the stirrings of reason.
With intellect, the Great Warriors and Shamans began to support the king, crafting a language that resembled little more than a basic signaling system, and employing tactics, however simple.
The Lizardmen Tribe hunted the dangerous monsters nearby to ensure their safety, and invaded neighboring tribes to expand their power.
While the Great Warriors and Shamans expanded the tribe, the king began to spread a blessing upon the entire species that would grant intellect beyond even the Great Warriors and Shamans.
The king’s tribe received more and more blessings and began, gradually, to shed the nature of beasts that lived merely to exist.
Yet that transformation was far too slow and feeble.
The Great Warrior and the Shaman resented the fact that blessings had been scattered across the entire species, not merely the tribe.
But the king made clear that he spoke with a mystical being who communed with him alone, and he consolidated his rule by executing the “beasts” who dared voice their discontent.
As the years passed, the Great Warrior and the Shaman gave way to new generations, and though the Lizardmen remained caught between beast and sentience, they had drawn closer to the latter.
Yet still, if one sorted the Lizardmen of the Forest, they remained closer to beasts.
After two hundred years, the king still lived—and that fact filled him with sorrow and rage.
But what enraged him even more was that his once-strong body was withering, and death—which had seemed as though it would never come—was drawing near.
Even though the king had gained sentience, he had no master to teach him that nothing in this world lasts forever. So he raged, and raged again.
The king communed with the mystical being who had granted him sentience, found a way to restore his youth, and discovered the path to eternal life.
As a result, the king decided that in order to live, he would gather back all the blessings scattered among his kin beyond his own tribe.
He believed that with this mystical power, he could reclaim his youth.
The king’s tribe began a hunt of their own kind, preparing to sacrifice all Lizardmen outside their tribe as offerings.

* * *

An unnamed Lizardmen warrior, acting under the king’s command, led his unit in pursuit of fleeing kin.
The unnamed warrior had not received nearly as many blessings as the Great Warrior or the Shaman, and thus was far from brilliant.
Still, he prided himself on being far sharper than the common soldiers under his command.
Those soldiers could only understand simple orders and speak in crude phrases—”hungry,” “tired,” “good,” “bad.” Simpletons, every one.
But the warrior was bold enough to lead them and cunning enough to devise strategy.
The unnamed warrior was certain he would succeed in this mission and draw closer to the rank of Great Warrior.
A warrior was a potential Great Warrior.
Though now he was still insignificant, one day he would gain the duty and power to serve the king at his side. Of this he was certain.
Already, countless Lizardmen had been captured and dragged into Tansa, the king’s city.
This fleeing group would not be difficult to catch and present as tribute to the king.
Thinking thus, he spread his unit wide in a sweeping formation and began the hunt.
Should any soldier spot prey, he had ordered them to cry out; all he need do was wait.
As the unnamed warrior pressed forward, he felt something amiss.
An ominous sense he could not name.
A feeling that something had gone wrong.
He could not say why, but his instinct—undulled because his intellect had not yet fully developed—was telling him something.
To gather his scattered soldiers back in.
Just as the unnamed warrior opened his mouth to shout the order, a crushing blow struck the back of his skull, and darkness claimed him.

* * *

My strategy was simple.
Divide and Conquer.
For Divide and Conquer to work, the scattered Lizardmen must not realize they were under attack.
If they did, fifty-odd Lizardmen would converge on a single point.
This was where Lee Su-young’s Slimes became invaluable.
Slimes were small and could share senses and attack from great distances from Lee Su-young, making them ideal for this operation.
Lee Su-young could summon four Slimes at a time.
With one remaining at her side to guard her, three were free to move about.
I used Ki-sensing and Mage’s Eye to locate the Lizardmen, then sent Lee Su-young’s Slimes in.
First, I eliminated those on the right flank—the ones most likely to cross our path.
“Success.”
A Slime hidden in the brush fired a Water Orb Shot with enough force to pierce the Lizardman’s skull in one instant, from a blind spot the creature never saw coming.
“The angle is different from usual. It’s not easy to snipe from here.”
Lee Su-young’s eyes were shut tight, cold sweat trickling down her temples.
If the snipe failed, the Lizardmen would swarm. Her tension was more than justified.
“I’ll support you. Just focus on the shot. If you miss once, I can muffle the sound.”
I sent the Slime to its next sniping position via magic once it finished.
Fortunate that Slimes were light; otherwise, this strategy would never have worked.
The three Slimes—Water Breeze, Lightning Breeze, and Fire Breeze—took their shots in sequence, dropping Lizardman after Lizardman.
“Ah! A mistake!”
“Right—again, quickly!”
I activated the Scroll I’d attached to the Slime, muffling the Lizardman’s cry before it could be heard.
In that moment, the Slime fired and eliminated the target.
With the right flank of the Lizardmen unit—those whose path crossed ours—now eliminated, we moved swiftly to seize the initiative from behind.
“From here on, we can make noise if we need to. We’re going for speed. I’m sharing my Mini Map with you.”
The Mini Map only shows enemy and ally positions once you’ve used Recognition on them.
But the Party Function included a feature to “share” Tower-standard abilities among members.
In other words, as long as someone with tracking prowess like mine was in the party, all members could visually pinpoint the enemy’s location.
Lee Su-young protected herself with a Wind Shield and sniped the right flank’s stragglers with Slime rounds, while I sprinted toward the left flank’s edge, and Diana rushed toward the nearby center.
I reached the left flank’s end using Light Footwork infused with magic, then advanced toward the center while concealed by Concealment Magic, swiftly assassinating Lizardmen with my Mana Bullet Pistol.
I could collect the Mana Stones later.
I leaped between trees, readying my Mana Bullet Pistol to fire at a Lizardman, when it yawned and spoke.
“Keruuk~! How tedious.”
Tedious? Did it just speak?
I hesitated for a moment, but immediately pulled the trigger and put the Lizardman down.
If I’d been alone, I might have captured the creature to verify it could truly speak, or wrestled with whether killing an intelligent being was truly justified.
But I wasn’t alone—I had comrades.
Once combat began, my hesitation risked not only my own safety but endangered my allies as well.
My meager curiosity and moral qualms held less weight than my comrades’ lives.
According to the explorer’s journal, the path to the Jungle’s core was blocked by Lizardmen, and these creatures hunted humans like prey, devouring them.
That alone justified culling them without doubt.
Still, keeping one alive wouldn’t be a bad idea—it could give us insight into the Lizardmen’s movements.
That way I’d satisfy my curiosity and protect my comrades at the same time.
I dispatched the Lizardmen more rapidly, pressing toward the center of their group.
Among them was definitely one Lizardman adorned with more ornate decoration.
That one might know more.
As I continued culling the horde, I spotted a Lizardman with its head crowned in elaborate feathers and carrying a more serviceable weapon—and I struck it across the back of the skull, knocking it unconscious.

(To be continued in the next episode)

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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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