I Conquered the Tower with the EX-Class Character That I Raised - Chapter 53

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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 53
[One strike!]
“Agh!”
Clang!
[Two strikes!]
“Agh!”
Crash! Thud!
“Aaaaagh!”
Rat-dol thrust his toothpick blade from all directions, while Lee Ah-woon desperately channeled dark mana in a frenzy to block each strike. Wherever his defense faltered, blood sprayed freely.
A crude yet undeniably effective survival-based hell training regimen.
The results were nothing short of dazzling.
I could see with my own eyes how Lee Ah-woon’s speed in manipulating dark mana was skyrocketing, driven by pure survival instinct.
“Ugh!”
Though he still appeared to be suffering, it was a far cry from the trembling wreck drenched in sweat from before.
[Agent, perhaps you should intervene…]
Depending on one’s perspective, this could seem excessive.
But I would answer without hesitation.
“No.”
This is the right path.
‘It will begin soon.’
Rat-dol was simply executing my orders and pursuing the objective.
But I was watching something far greater—Lee Ah-woon’s dark magic training and what lay beyond it.
The moment when Lee Ah-woon truly felt death approaching.
The moment his shell would shatter and he would be ready to evolve to the next stage.
“Cough!”
Lee Ah-woon collapsed, spewing black blood.
[This pathetic worm!]
Rat-dol’s toothpick blade flew toward his thigh.
I breathed the faintest wisp of dark mana into Rat-dol’s body.
[Wha—!]
The trajectory of the thrust twisted, redirecting straight toward Lee Ah-woon’s heart.
Rat-dol panicked and tried to withdraw the blade, but my dark mana held him in an iron grip.
Life returned to Lee Ah-woon’s half-closed eyes.
True death. That was surely what he felt now.
Then.
The ‘divine essence’ that had been seeping into Lee Ah-woon’s body opened its eyes.
Burst!
Blue light erupted from Lee Ah-woon’s heart, engulfing him in radiance.
Boom!
Bang!
The toothpick blade shattered against that radiance, bouncing back uselessly.
[W-what is this…!]
Lee Ah-woon’s body lifted into the air.
“Huh? Wh-what?”
“Stay still.”
The moment I restrained Lee Ah-woon from thrashing about, he went limp like an obedient mastiff.
The azure light enveloped Lee Ah-woon’s entire form, and like salve melting into skin, it began to absorb into him slowly.
Whoooosh!
The instant the blue radiance fully seeped into Lee Ah-woon’s body, a brilliant prismatic brilliance erupted from him.
I closed my eyes briefly against the luminescence, then opened them to find…
Four translucent spirits—red, blue, green, and yellow—materialized around Lee Ah-woon, standing sentinel.
‘The Primordial Essence….’
The Genesis-tier item I had crafted for Lee Ah-woon.
The power of the ‘Primordial Essence.’
The core purpose of the Primordial Essence was to instill in Lee Ah-woon qualities he lacked.
Specifically, aptitudes for spirits and summoning-class abilities.
And what I had sought to guide through one hundred thousand meticulous design iterations.
The Genesis trait I granted Lee Ah-woon was…
[Genesis Trait]
[Yggdrasil Core: A Microcosm Gestating All Things]
To transform Lee Ah-woon into a human World Tree.
* * *
In Lost Honor, the World Tree is called ‘Yggdrasil.’
According to lore, the mother tree that the chief god asked to fashion elves and spirits.
The World Tree cradles living elves as ‘fruits’ and sends them into the world.
From its leaves, it generates spirits infinitely.
The Primordial Essence is an item that compresses and degrades the World Tree’s authority as much as possible.
No matter how Genesis-tier an item might be, it cannot contain the creative power a god possesses.
But…
It is still a Genesis-tier item.
Though degraded, in one aspect alone.
I succeeded in capturing the World Tree’s ‘spirit creation’ ability.
‘Of course, even that required tremendous compression and degradation….’
The World Tree, given sufficient necessity and cost, is a demigod capable of infinitely producing ‘supreme spirits’—just below the spirit king tier.
Yet the Primordial Essence could only generate a handful of lowest-tier spirits.
“B-brother… what is this?”
Those spirits hovering around Lee Ah-woon are precisely those lowest-tier spirits.
Mere spirit fragments with only the instinct to protect their master.
‘Small as they are now, once Lee Ah-woon’s abilities develop, he’ll eventually be able to summon far superior spirits.’
So then, my reason for transforming Lee Ah-woon into a human World Tree?
It’s simple.
I need to utilize Lee Ah-woon as a tank.
Lee Ah-woon is a talent I must rely on heavily as a tank going forward, but his class—Necromancy, Curse Magic, and the like—possessed qualities better suited to a mage than a tank.
So I had long since abandoned any notion of developing Lee Ah-woon into a mere meat shield, absorbing attacks on the front lines.
What is the essence of tanking?
Absorbing the formidable attacks directed at party members.
But why must a human with fragile flesh bear that burden directly?
Why must we block attacks from beasts possessing hundreds or thousands of times a human’s strength with our own bodies?
Because we enjoy it? Because it’s efficient?
No.
The answer is simple.
Because there’s no other way.
I had no intention whatsoever of developing Lee Ah-woon into such an ‘unavoidable meat shield’ of a tank.
‘If Lee Ah-woon cannot endure by sacrificing his own blood and flesh?’
Simple.
Then I’ll simply throw others’ blood and flesh at the problem indefinitely.
A Necromancy Lord possesses the ability to summon the undead through Necromancy.
‘Just look at Rat-dol—he’s already a Death Knight.’
And if we could summon spirits on top of that, what then?
If those summons merely blocked the attacks directed at Lee Ah-woon and the party members once each?
And if Lee Ah-woon could generate those spirits in nearly infinite quantities?
Finally, if those spirits could accept the sacrifice of dying instead of Lee Ah-woon with absolute joy?
I predict the world’s greatest tank would be born.
* * *
“Rat-dol, attack Lee Ah-woon as if you mean to kill him.”
[Understood.]
“Uh, uhhh!”
Whoosh!
Rat-dol shot forward like an arrow of light, wielding his toothpick blade.
Screech!
The nearest crimson spirit valiantly threw itself into the trajectory of Rat-dol’s descending blade.
Boom!
As Rat-dol’s blade cleaved through the crimson spirit, a faint explosion erupted, and the momentum behind Rat-dol’s strike weakened.
Boom, boom!
The remaining spirits all rushed forward, and after their sacrifice, Rat-dol was knocked back.
‘Oho….’
Perfect defense.
[This is…]
‘What is it?’
Truth be told… even I find it fascinating.
‘So this is how a Dual Class affects things.’
It’s different from Lost Honor.
Perhaps it’s because the dark mana possessed by Lee Ah-woon’s Summoned Lord influenced the spirits.
The spirits’ appearance differed from what I knew.
It was as if a murky madness had taken root in the eyes of these otherwise luminous beings.
Moreover, that explosion which blocked Rat-dol’s blade…
It should never have produced that level of force originally.
‘A mutant spirit born infused with dark mana.’
Actually, this was better.
They’ve been upgraded.
Pop!
Chirp, chirp~
The sacrificed lowest-tier mutant spirits were instantly regenerated.
As if the agony of death they’d just experienced meant nothing, they swiftly reformed their fierce assault, circling Lee Ah-woon from all sides and establishing an impenetrable defensive formation.
That’s the crux of it.
As long as Lee Ah-woon’s mana permits, these disposable spirits are replenished infinitely, like leaves sprouting from a tree.
The boss uses an area attack?
I throw one hundred lowest-tier spirits as a meat shield.
The boss uses an instant-death skill?
I grind one thousand spirits into a meat wall.
Lee Ah-woon, without a scratch, bears the burden of the party’s survival by sacrificing the lives of infinitely spawning one-cost summons—a miraculous meta.
‘Infinite-engine meat shield summoning.’
That is the true purpose of the Dual Class I granted Lee Ah-woon.
‘Perfect.’
The World Tree itself might shed tears seeing spirits—its own children—sacrificed like this.
But with that one exception, it’s the completion of a world where no one else suffers.
‘Hold strong, great tree.’
* * *
Min Ji-hee was confident.
She had read the Apostle’s instructions and the intent beneath them, then prepared thoroughly by acting with foresight.
Her stance was flawless.
She could assert this with certainty.
Min Ji-hee lifted her gaze toward the distant horizon.
She could see Pyongyang, bleached white.
Even after fifteen days had passed, the frost blanketing Pyongyang had not melted in the slightest.
Despite the sun’s rays pouring down and the temperature rising slightly, that place still resembled a frozen hell.
‘That is the place of final battle.’
Min Ji-hee looked down.
Tanks armed with various artifacts.
Their mismatched uniforms made them appear at first glance like a ragtag gathering, but…
Min Ji-hee understood.
That tank Jin Cheon-jin was Earth’s strongest.
Warriors reborn through the Apostle’s relentless baptism of points!
And before them.
A solitary small figure standing apart….
White hair fluttering visibly even from a distance…
South Korea’s Guardian.
EX-rank Frost-attribute Hunter, Han Seol-ah.
Han Seol-ah stood with her eyes closed, her posture serene.
As if absorbing the bitter cold sweeping down from Pyongyang, Han Seol-ah breathed deeply and slowly.
Whoosh!
Each time, tiny frost vortices appeared and vanished around Han Seol-ah in repetition.
‘Seol-ah….’
Because Frost-attribute mana had once ravaged her own body, Han Seol-ah had to consciously restrain and suppress her mana.
If she lost emotional control and released the reins of her mana, she would cough blood and collapse for a lifetime….
But Han Seol-ah was different now.
Breathing in harmony with Frost-attribute mana had become effortless, and she no longer wounded herself.
She had grown stronger. Remarkably so.
“Are you worried, Director?”
“Director Min.”
It was Jin Cheon-jin who spoke in jest.
Wearing the White Tiger’s claws he had regained, Jin Cheon-jin grinned widely.
“Not at all.”
Min Ji-hee smiled in return.
“This time… we will achieve total victory.”
* * *
Han Seol-ah felt freedom.
Was this how a bird soaring through the sky felt?
In this vast, boundless space.
Breathing Frost-attribute mana to her heart’s content.
Freedom without fear of injury.
It was an overwhelming sense of liberation.
‘…Apostle.’
Han Seol-ah’s gaze could not tear itself away from Pyongyang.
It was different from when she had merely grazed EX-rank.
Now that she had truly stepped into EX-rank, there were things she could see.
‘Who… exactly are you?’
That grand magic that erased Pyongyang from the map, turning it into a pristine open field.
She had long known that magic bearing the name ‘grand magic’ was no ordinary spell.
Yet standing before these traces of destruction now….
A shiver of terror and awe erupted simultaneously from the depths of my consciousness.
—Magic could become this formidable.
This singular thought consumed Han Seol-ah’s mind.
The sensation of thoughts expanding infinitely….
In that moment when consciousness threatened to scatter.
[Compose yourself.]
A sharp voice seized Han Seol-ah’s wavering sanity.
“Frozen.”
[Why do you always lose yourself whenever you witness that trace?]
“It’s beautiful. Wondrous….”
[Your magic is beautiful too. Wondrous.]
His voice returned, blunt and matter-of-fact.
Consolation? Praise?
“Heh, were you comforting me? Now of all times?”
[…No? That wasn’t it?]
“It was.”
[…You’re insufferable. And don’t even think of imitating that. You lose your mind because you’re yearning to replicate it.]
“…You have a point.”
A mere human reshaping terrain and obliterating a demonic beast in a single strike—what sorcerer could help but covet such power?
[I told you frost-binding magic isn’t magic for destruction. That… ‘grand magic’ transcends the natural order, so forget about it. Please, I’m begging you!]
“Yes, yes. I understand.”
[Impudent.]
“Hehe.”
Han Seol-ah extended her hand.
A delicate wisp of pristine frost mist coalesced upon her palm.
“How many points?”
[…Not bad. What, ninety points?]
“That’s essentially a perfect score, isn’t it?”
Ahahah.
Han Seol-ah laughed brightly.
In this raid, Han Seol-ah would not assume the role of ‘dealer’.
She intended to dedicate herself solely to the position of ‘frost-binding debuffer’.
Until now, Han Seol-ah had been crushed beneath the weight of responsibility—’if I fall, South Korea falls’.
Freed from such a burden, participating in the subjugation as a raid member brought her peace.
“My preparations are flawless.”
She felt liberated.
* * *
“Save me….”
Unlike Pyongyang, where the tension of the final confrontation hung heavy, Kang Hyo-jun’s office was suffocating beneath a mountain of documents.
Dozens of empty coffee cups lay scattered across the desk.
Kang Hyo-jun slouched among towering stacks of documents, dark circles hanging down to his jaw.
“Let me rest….”
But rest was impossible….
—Once the subjugation war ends, I will come find you.
I had to honor the deadline set by Apostle, the Special One.
Kang Hyo-jun collapsed into sleep as if losing consciousness.
Tears dripped onto the document clutched in his hands.
[South Korea Reconstruction Foundation ‘Golden Mine’ Project Report]
* * *
Ding—
[Emergency Epic Quest]
[Save South Korea from the Brink of Destruction 4]
[Quest Objective]
[Eliminate the Wondrous Echo—Resonance Entity Resonar]
[Reward]
[Synchronization (EX) ‘Trait’ Unlocked]
[Possession Ticket]
“The time has come.”
I activated Synchronization.

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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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