Climbing the Tower with Multidimensional Avatars - Chapter 189

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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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Episode 189. The Tower – Princess of the Spire (6)

Running toward the Underground Dungeon with the Priest, we encountered Demon Soldiers.
Before they could react, I struck their solar plexus rapidly using the Middle Strike Technique, or choked them unconscious with my forearm against their carotid artery.
The Demon-kin of this world seemed less like demonic contractors or half-breeds and more like a subspecies naturally gifted in Dark Magic Force.
Beyond the blue tint to their skin, the pointed ears, pronounced fangs and claws, horn-like protrusions on the forehead, and pupils split vertically like a reptile’s, they didn’t look drastically different from humans.
“Don’t you use a blade?”
To the middle-aged Priest’s question, I quickened my pace toward the dungeon and answered.
“If we spill blood carelessly or cause a commotion, we’ll only draw attention our way instead.”
“True enough—Demon-kin do have a sense of smell sharp as a hunting dog’s.”
I couldn’t tell if that was an insult the Priest was throwing at the Demon-kin, or if he meant their sense of smell really was developed to a dog-like degree.
Maybe both?
Certainly, a race born to wield Dark Magic Force would naturally develop greater muscle, stamina, and sensory acuity.
Dark Magic Force itself could generate stronger power than ordinary magic, but when it affected the brain, it could trigger paranoia or psychosis.
Still, the Dark Magic Force radiating from the Demon-kin in this world didn’t seem dense enough for that—just enough to suggest they were naturally the impatient, slightly paranoid type.
On that scale, the gap between humans and Demon-kin in this world was less a matter of species divergence and more a racial one.
The difference was greater than mere skin color between human races, yet smaller than the gap between a large dog breed and a toy breed.
But humans discriminate and persecute over something as trivial as skin tone, so mutual hatred and war were reasons enough.
When Dark Magic Force seeped into the marrow, it made people volatile—perfect kindling for chains of revenge.
“If we go right from here, we should come to the stairs leading down to the dungeon.”
The Priest guided us naturally without consulting a map, as if he’d lived in this fortress long ago.
The Underground Dungeon was closest to the entrance where we’d come in, so we arrived in moments.
We emerged from the Secret Passage before the wizard’s curse had fully spread.
Outside the fortress, sounds of battle raged on, but the Demon Soldiers guarding the dungeon held their posts.
“What! An enemy—agh!”
The Priest and I struck down the Demon Soldiers before they could shout for reinforcements.
I struck their pressure points to knock them out instantly, but the Priest reinforced his body with Holy Power and snapped one Demon-kin’s neck in a single motion, killing him outright.
The Priest spoke to me as if imparting a useful tip.
“This way, there’s no blood stench to bring others running.”
He hadn’t seemed the type, but he was a formidable combatant.
He’d have protected himself fine without me.
“By the way, this is the Saint Fighting Method—a bare-handed combat art used by monks.”
The Saint Fighting Method… come to think of it, Diana might suit a Holy Power-based fighting technique better than pure Martial Arts.
We took the keys from the guards’ belts and entered the dungeon, surveying our surroundings as we moved through.
The Underground Dungeon was mostly empty.
The few cells that held occupants contained only corpses—human or Demon-kin—or those on the verge of death.
Anyone imprisoned in a place like this would naturally have been tortured first, so it was hardly surprising.
“The Princess isn’t here. I’m not sure whether to call that fortunate or unfortunate.”
The Priest sighed after surveying the cells. If the Princess had been here, she would have suffered—so her absence was a stroke of luck. Yet it also meant we couldn’t have simply handed her off and moved on, making it, in a sense, ill-fortuned.
My primary plan was scrapped.
I’d intended to leave the Princess with the Priest and buy time by raising a commotion, then loot the Demon-kin’s warehouse. Now that option was gone.
As I was regretting this, a fair-featured Demon-kin lying shirtless on the dungeon floor rose up and spoke to us.
“Are you… searching for the Princess?”
When the Demon-kin suddenly spoke, the Priest jumped to high alert. I approached cautiously, studying him.
Despite his split lip from a punch and the dungeon grime coating him, he still carried an air of refinement that didn’t suggest low station.
The fine silk garments embroidered with expensive thread he wore confirmed it.
Looking closer, his injuries weren’t severe enough to have broken bone, and from the aura he exuded, he was quite a formidable man.
“Be careful. He’s Demon-kin. There’s no telling what kind of treachery he might attempt.”
I let the Priest’s prejudice-laden words pass by one ear and asked the Demon-kin directly.
“Do you know where the Princess is being held?”
To my question, the Demon-kin man smiled and answered.
“The Princess is imprisoned in the Spire. At least, that was the case before I was locked up here.”
At the Demon-kin’s words, the Priest glared at him with eyes full of distrust.
“You’re lying. A Demon-kin would never tell us such a fact straightforwardly.”
The young Demon-kin snorted derisively at the Priest’s words.
“Hmph! Believe it or don’t—I don’t care.”
The Demon-kin spoke with a swagger, but his eyes wavered slightly and his fists clenched, the tendons in his hands becoming faintly visible.
He was clearly agitated. Was this anxiety?
I studied the demon-kin with interest. “Why reveal the princess’s location so readily? Is it a trap?”

“No. I simply dislike the fact that she’s being held captive.”
The Priest scoffed at the demon-kin’s answer.
“If you’re going to make excuses, at least put some effort into it. You don’t like it? That’s absurd.”
At the Priest’s blatant hostility, I smiled wryly.
“Well, regardless, what we need to do now that the princess isn’t here is clear enough.”
The Priest and I had two choices.
One was to retreat back through the Secret Passage and escape the fortress safely.
The other was to move again to rescue the princess.
In the latter case, we’d have to decide whether to head to the Guest Hall, which lay at the fortress’s center, or toward the Spire.
The Priest naturally chose the latter.
For a clergyman devoted to his god, the princess was the subject of a Divine Oracle, so dying a martyr while rescuing her would be glory itself.
“Let’s head toward the Guest Hall. I’m certain the princess is there.”
At the Priest’s confident words, I shook my head.
“No, we should split up. I’m heading toward the Spire.”
The Priest’s expression darkened at my response.
“Surely you don’t believe that demon-kin?”
“Whether I believe him or not, either way we’d already considered both the Guest Hall and the Spire as possibilities. If the princess is at the fortress’s center, that’s fortunate, but we should account for the possibility that she isn’t.”
The Priest seemed to have eliminated the Spire from consideration based on the demon-kin’s words, but it was clear his judgment stemmed not from cold logic but from a prejudice that the demon-kin would certainly lie and deceive him.
Of course, since I didn’t know this world’s history, I couldn’t simply call the Priest foolish.
How would I know whether demon-kin had always been liars, deceiving and murdering humans throughout their existence?
“But….”
“Rather than waste time trying to convince me here, why don’t we just move? Or should we debate for the next few hours about whose theory is right?”
At my question, the Priest sighed quietly.
“Fair enough. We’ll move separately. Since you’re a Climber, you likely don’t know much about demon-kin, but don’t trust them.”
“I’ll be sufficiently cautious.”
With my assurance, the Priest nodded and immediately turned away, heading back to the Surface City.
Once the Priest had completely left, I turned to the confined demon-kin and asked, “What’s your relationship with the princess?”
“…What do you mean?”
The demon-kin feigned ignorance, but Riven, the mad android Teacher of the Cheon Family Clan, had included interrogation techniques for reading facial expressions in her strategy, tactics, and military science courses.
Of course, even without such techniques, the demon-kin seemed far from practiced at hiding his emotions.
The Priest who’d turned without a backward glance and headed toward the fortress’s center probably would have noticed too, if he hadn’t harbored such prejudice against demon-kin.
“The Priest already said it. I’m a Climber. Do you know what Climbers are?”
“Climbers—aren’t they the problem-solvers sent by The Tower? Climbers sometimes come to our territories as well.”
Problem-solvers. I want to deny it, but it’s not exactly wrong, which is what’s funny about it.
“So you’re saying they leave in the end?”
“That’s right.”
“…….”
The demon-kin fell silent.
There was something he found difficult to tell a stranger like me.
At that reaction, I drew my sword wreathed in sword force and sliced through the prison door’s hinges, opening it.
The demon-kin stared at me in shock at my action.
“Why are you letting me out?”
“I have a good instinct. I came to rescue the princess, and you seem like you could be helpful one way or another.”
The demon-kin clearly harbored some inexplicable goodwill toward the princess.
Of course, there was also the possibility I was being deceived insofar as I didn’t understand demon-kin.
There was even a chance he’d manipulated me through methods I didn’t know, guiding my actions.
If I was deceived… well, that’s unfortunate.
It’s not as though I’d suffer for being betrayed here.
The worst damage from a miscalculation would be failing the 29th Floor Quest and wasting three days loitering on the Lower Common Floors.
Of course, if I fail, the princess becomes a tragic casualty.
If she were my colleague, I’d gladly throw away multiple spare lives to save her, but the kidnapped princess is ultimately a stranger to me, isn’t she?
I was someone far removed from justice or a sense of duty.
At my words, the demon-kin extended his hand and said, “Then would you cut these shackles off too?”
At his brazen expression, I chuckled and sliced through the thick wooden shackles.
“Thanks. I never thought you’d actually free me like this. Will you come to the Spire with me?”
At the demon-kin’s question, I shook my head.

“No, I’m thinking of stirring up some trouble to make movement easier. Do you know of any critical facilities or warehouses in this place?”
The Demon Soldier’s eyes narrowed as he caught the meaning of my words.
“So you’re not a rescue party—you’re a jackal.”
“A jackal that happens to be very useful for rescuing the princess.”
I’ll hunt like the jackal I am.
Hunting two rabbits: the princess and Ten Thousand Winter’s companion.
If I have the skill to chase two rabbits, wouldn’t it be wasteful to chase only one?
And if I end up losing both rabbits in the process?
Well, that’s just a shame, isn’t it.

* * *

“All forces! Attack!”
Megroleta commanded an assault on the enemy fortress, and the soldiers of the Lamberton Kingdom unleashed magic toward the walls and trained siege weaponry upon them.
The City Wall was sturdy enough to withstand the barrage of magic, but the Demon-kin did not rely on the wall alone—they climbed atop it and mounted a defensive siege.
The Moat surrounding the fortress began to freeze instantly under the humans’ magic, and the Demon-kin countered by pouring Flame Magic to keep the ice from forming.
The Lamberton Military failed to freeze the Moat completely, but they succeeded in freezing portions of it and constructing makeshift bridges to cross.
The human soldiers who crossed the Moat readied Ladders to scale the City Wall, while the Demon Soldier defenders kicked the Ladders away and poured boiling oil in their efforts to hold the ramparts.
Though they attempted to breach the gate with a Battering Ram, the frozen ice, while passable for soldiers on foot, could not support the weight of the heavy siege engine.
Diana worked alongside the Lamberton Military’s priests to heal the wounded with Holy Power, while Lee Su-young fought from the rear with other mages, raining slime attacks from range.
The stalled siege troubled Megroleta with growing impatience.
The two thousand soldiers attacking the fortress had one purpose: to draw enemy attention so those who had infiltrated the interior could move freely.
But this level of assault was far from sufficient to properly direct the defenders’ gaze toward the walls.
It was then that Rachel approached Megroleta.
“Your Highness. Would a spell capable of delivering a tremendous shock to the City Wall be of use?”
Rachel’s negotiation was only now beginning in earnest.

(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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