I Conquered the Tower with the EX-Class Character That I Raised - Chapter 15
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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 15
How was I supposed to charge mana in the Eternal Winter?
I’d never tried it before, so how would I know?
I pulled a long staff from my backpack and gripped it in one hand.
With my other hand, I clicked to activate synchronization.
In an instant, EX-grade Frost Field mana surged forth infinitely.
I simply pushed it straight into the staff.
As I poured the mana in and shook it this way and that, the mana began to move of its own accord with a smooth glide.
‘Aha.’
It wasn’t difficult at all.
Moreover, I was beginning to understand how the Eternal Winter’s Genesis trait ‘Winter’s Finale: Absolute Zero’ operated.
“So that’s how it works.”
The key was the ‘Heart of the Frost Dragon’—a jewel-like object affixed to the staff’s tip.
It was a rare material obtainable at an astronomically low rate from hunting Scathach in massive quantities.
To use an analogy, the entire staff was a water gun, and this jewel was the water tank.
The problem was that right now the tank—the heart—was completely empty.
Han Seol-ah had used it once already.
‘An empty tank just needs filling.’
I began forcefully driving mana into the Heart of the Frost Dragon.
My way.
The staff began to vibrate and shriek with a low hum—a wailing sound.
I ignored it.
I knew the proper method was to channel a predetermined amount of mana along a designated pathway.
But doing it that way would take over a week just to fill this tank.
I’d become an EX-grade Hunter, but my roots were those of a gamer.
A proud South Korean gamer, no less.
‘…Well, I’m not a South Korean citizen anymore, come to think of it. So just a gamer, then.’
In any case, the gamer’s spirit spoke to me.
Inefficiency was unbearable…!
Whoooosh—! Whoooosh—!
The staff trembled violently, but I pressed on.
According to my calculations, there was no problem. Though if I miscalculated, the tank might explode.
‘A mistake? I just won’t make one.’
Would anyone actually mess up such a simple task as filling a tank with water?
All you had to do was turn on the tap and hold the container underneath.
What I was doing now wasn’t fundamentally different from that.
Someone might scream that I’d lost my mind watching what I was doing.
“I am an EX-grade Hunter.”
My word is law.
* * *
[No, no! It’s going to burst!!! It’s bursting!!! It’s going to explode!!!]
Frozen shrieked and trembled as death loomed over him.
The place where Frozen dwelled—his home, in essence.
The heart of the ice dragon, that most vital and precious sanctuary, was on the verge of detonation.
The savage and merciless mana of the Eternal Winter was surging forth, overloading the heart itself.
[Great One!!! Please!!!]
Though Frozen could command the mana of the Eternal Winter as easily as his own limbs, this raging torrent of power was utterly beyond his control.
One wrong move, and this moment would become Frozen’s last.
Vicious. Swift. And overwhelming in sheer volume.
To draw an analogy, Frozen was an exceptionally skilled rider.
Before Frozen’s hands, even an untamed colt could become a legendary steed, and the most savage wild horse could be tamed into a docile pegasus.
But what if the creature were not a horse, but a dragon?
What if that dragon were not one, but ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand charging at once?
No rider in all the world could manage such chaos.
[Uuuugh….]
It felt as though it would rupture at any moment….
Frozen, exhausted from his mental screams, went limp.
[…But.]
Strangely, it wasn’t bursting.
Regaining his composure, Frozen scrutinized the flow of mana intently.
[….]
And Frozen was left speechless by the revelation.
This… harmony unfolding before his eyes—what was it?
[What is this?]
Such a thing was possible?
At first, he thought it was overloading the ice dragon’s heart.
Overloading the heart would extinguish the immediate crisis, but afterward… the heart would lose its function as a core.
The ‘Primordial Trait’—the power granted to items of Creation-grade—would vanish entirely.
If that happened, Frozen’s brief existence would end here.
But this manipulation of mana, though crude… and appearing so insanely reckless that it defied reason.
It was beautiful.
Yes. There was no other way to describe it.
[Heh.]
Frozen was a being inscribed upon the soul from birth to command all things of the Eternal Winter.
At that world’s sole anvil, legendary runes beyond measure were poured forth alongside every supreme material imaginable, all shaped by the greatest craftsman across all dimensions—the Eternal Winter.
And Frozen was the spirit designated to inhabit this divine artifact.
No being existed who could wield the Eternal Winter better than Frozen. None should ever exist.
To do so would be a direct denial of the Creator’s power.
Yet that very impossibility was unfolding before Frozen’s eyes.
[Heh. Hehehehe.]
It didn’t burst.
This mana manipulation was, quite simply, flawless.
Frozen realized it belatedly.
Mana was surging into the Frost Dragon’s heart at an astonishingly rapid pace.
That wasn’t all.
I could feel the mana extending beyond the dragon’s heart throughout the entire staff.
[Great One… what manner of being are you?]
That was when it happened.
The tempestuous mana subsided.
The Great One sat before a strange box, expression serene and unbothered.
Click.
I moved my finger lightly.
Whoosh—
In that instant, the transcendent mana that had raged like a storm, threatening to freeze the very world itself… ‘evaporated’.
[…?!]
Frozen questioned his own senses.
It vanished. Not hidden. Not suppressed.
That overwhelming ocean of mana had been cleanly erased from this world without leaving a single drop.
As if it had never existed in the first place.
Concealing mana? This transcended such notions.
No matter how perfectly one hides it, traces always remain.
If it were Eternal Winter mana, Frozen—the master of Eternal Winter mana—could never be deceived.
Even when closing the floodgates of a vast dam, water seeps through the cracks.
But this…
This wasn’t merely closing the floodgates.
‘The water’ itself had been erased.
[This… this can’t possibly be…!]
That was when it happened.
Click.
A cheerful sound echoed once more.
[Eek?!]
The erased ocean returned!
Click.
…then vanished again.
Click.
[Aaaahhh!]
Then surged back.
Click. Click.
The Great One repeated this peculiar demonstration several times, as if verifying the mana’s consistency.
Frozen trembled. His very soul quivered with dread.
[Is she… manipulating the flow of mana itself? No, the very existence or non-existence of things…?]
The primordial authority of creation—let there be water and it exists, let it not be and it vanishes?
To her, mana was nothing more than tap water flowing from a faucet.
Draw it out when needed, erase it when inconvenient.
[The difference in caliber… is absolute.]
Frozen, seized by a terror that transcended mere awe, crumpled deep within the staff and held his breath.
He dared not even let the sound of his breathing escape.
* * *
“A mana-devouring beast, this technique.”
I simply poured it out relentlessly, and in mere seconds, I had burned through my lifeline of 50,000 MP.
Fortunately, once I disengaged the synchronization, the strain on my body was almost negligible.
“Certainly, if it’s not combat, 50,000 is manageable enough…”
Drip.
A warm liquid streamed from my nose.
“Huh.”
Since this wasn’t a combat situation, I’d avoided the worst outcome, but the burden on my brain was unavoidable.
A pain like sandpaper gently abrading my brain came crashing down belatedly.
Swish.
The tissue darkened with blood in an instant.
I carelessly tossed the blood-soaked tissue into the trash and gripped the staff once more.
Each time Han Seol-ah screamed from the bathtub beyond, the blood vessels in my head screamed with her.
But I couldn’t stop.
“More useful than I thought, this is.”
This is ammunition.
The only bullet that can pierce through the calamity called Scathach.
I had to load every last round.
“Hah… again.”
I hastily plugged my nose with tissue and reengaged the synchronization.
While Han Seol-ah wailed and sobbed uncontrollably, I bled and loaded my ammunition.
To prepare for the ruin that was coming.
* * *
Dawn broke.
Han Seol-ah had not rested for a single moment.
Boom! Crack-boom! Shatter!
Two hours remained until the sparring count reset—originally a blissful respite meant for my exhausted body to recover.
But she found even that time wasteful. Locked away in the bathtub, conducting self-harm demonstrations…
No, magical experiments, rather.
The horrifying sounds of flesh bursting and bone shattering echoed through the speaker all night long. Unable to escape that cacophony, I was forced to spend the entire night with my eyes open.
‘She’s truly… relentless. Absolutely relentless.’
I scooped up Han Seol-ah, still sobbing uncontrollably in the bathtub.
[…Nebula?]
Carrying the bewildered Han Seol-ah, I navigated through the familiar passage toward the Interdimensional Gate.
[Ah, this place…]
It was a location Han Seol-ah would recognize.
The very place where I had wielded Eternal Winter and faced Scathach.
I moved the mouse swiftly, summoning Scathach.
[…Surely not?]
“Exactly.”
That very thing she suspected.
In Lost Ark, Scathach is a boss that can be summoned infinitely.
And the specifications of the Scathach that would manifest in reality would likely be identical.
“A practice exam, Han Seol-ah.”
It was the optimal location to rehearse before the real confrontation.
[…I’ll give it my all!]
Determination crystallized across Han Seol-ah’s face.
Last time, with Eternal Winter in hand, I had defeated Scathach in a single strike.
But now, Eternal Winter was gone.
Han Seol-ah would have to face Scathach relying solely on her own strength.
And so the first attempt began.
—Roooaaarrr!
[Interdimensional Boss Raid commencing]
[Defeat]
Han Seol-ah lost consciousness, unable to resist Scathach’s Fear, and fell in just one second.
“A dragon’s Fear is like a passive ability. And for a formidable dragon like Scathach, the rank of that Fear grows exponentially higher.”
Han Seol-ah regained consciousness quickly, and it seemed she immediately understood the ‘why’ behind her defeat.
The second attempt followed.
“That’s right.”
Han Seol-ah had fortified her mental defenses, successfully enduring Scathach’s Fear, and the battle commenced.
Han Seol-ah’s opening move! She cast Permafrost against the charging Scathach.
But before the spell could complete, Scathach’s magic struck her down.
[Defeat]
She never finished the incantation.
“Back then, you had Eternal Winter, so it succeeded. Now you’re fighting bare-handed.”
I revived Han Seol-ah with a resurrection scroll.
The third attempt commenced.
Han Seol-ah began wielding new magic she had learned through our sparring sessions.
“Impressive, truly.”
Not all of it, perhaps…
But she seemed to have mastered roughly thirty percent of the spells she demonstrated flawlessly.
“…But that’s not the answer either.”
Scathach possessed the Frost Dragon’s ice resistance reduction, and beyond that, the passive ability ‘Ice Immunity’—a dragon standing at the apex of the ice realm.
Before Han Seol-ah’s magic could even reach it, it crumbled before that absolute immunity…
She died, struck down by Scathach’s magic.
Resurrected, Han Seol-ah fell into deep contemplation before diving back into the raid.
“Right. Let me recall what I learned from our sparring match.”
I know she can’t hear my voice.
But watching Han Seol-ah, I can’t help but cheer her on.
With her thoughts organized, Han Seol-ah stepped back into Scathach’s perception range.
[Whoosh.]
Drawing in a deep breath so forceful it echoed through the speaker, Han Seol-ah sharpened her focus.
This time, she took no action whatsoever.
Scathach, who had been charging forward with momentum, suddenly halted and stood still, beginning to probe Han Seol-ah carefully.
When Han Seol-ah still showed no response, Scathach began casting a spell.
Boom!
An ice explosion erupted in the empty air.
It was proof that Han Seol-ah had properly dispelled Scathach’s casting.
“Yes. That’s exactly it.”
Scathach had the setting of being ‘arrogant and cruel’.
If you stood against her, she would crush you with even greater force.
If you refused to stand against her, she would ‘test’ you until you shattered.
Like a cat toying with a mouse until it dies.
And during that ‘testing’…
“Ah.”
In that moment, Han Seol-ah died.
“Let’s see. She lasted six seconds.”
Han Seol-ah’s first score was a failing grade.
“It’s fine. I have plenty of resurrection scrolls.”
Unlike real combat where death meant the end, Han Seol-ah had 99,999 more chances remaining.
And besides…
If you fall short, I’ll create as many opportunities as you need.
So rise again, Han Seol-ah.
* * *
And then.
The day of the final confrontation arrived.
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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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