I Inherited the Basement of the Tower - Chapter 60

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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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Inherited the Basement 1 of the Tower – Episode 60

“Wh-what is this place!”
“Shh.”

As the cold blade pressed against Yang Sang-jin’s throat, he swallowed his gasp and clamped his mouth shut.
Lin Xiao-wei held the dagger to Yang Sang-jin’s neck, her sharp eyes gleaming with lethal intent.
Though I had maintained vigilant awareness, not a single sound echoed through the thick darkness surrounding us.

“….”

Silence reigned.
Soon, a chilling smile spread across her lips.

“You were irritating. Healer.”

Yang Sang-jin’s face drained of color.

“W-wait! Just wait a moment! You! You know who I am! I’m Yang Sang-jin of Taesan! Korea’s number one Taesan!”

Even in the face of death’s terror, Yang Sang-jin invoked his origins.
His voice trembled as he bluffed desperately.
But Lin Xiao-wei’s gaze remained utterly unmoved.

“It doesn’t matter. I am Lin Xiao-wei of the Five Stars.”

Yang Sang-jin’s mouth fell open.

“…What? Five Stars? From China? What the hell are you talking about—”

She muttered in Chinese that Yang Sang-jin could not comprehend.

“Bad luck. He has good skills. If circumstances were different, I would have taken him and extracted his abilities.”

A sinister killing intent flashed through the air.

Whoosh!

Without hesitation, Lin Xiao-wei swung her weapon with tremendous force to sever Yang Sang-jin’s life.
Yang Sang-jin squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for his final moment.
But then.

Clang!

A dull metallic ring tore through the darkness. The blade hurtling toward Yang Sang-jin’s throat was intercepted mid-air by something that materialized from the void, sending it ricocheting away with tremendous force.

“…!?”

Lin Xiao-wei’s eyes widened in shock.
She had maintained meticulous vigilance.
Not even a breath could be heard, and there was absolutely no one nearby.
Yet she had detected nothing.
When did he arrive?
How long had he been approaching?
As she slowly turned her head.
A man stood in the darkness, his lips twisted into a crooked smile.

“(What? Skill extraction was real after all? I thought it was just a conspiracy theory.)”

In fluent Chinese, someone looked down at Lin Xiao-wei and spoke with perfect composure.

“(Hello, friend? Thanks for the confession.)”

The only one who had been cautious was Kang Ha-jin.
The man who had stumbled forward was the one with the least presence in the raid party, and therefore the one she had least suspected.

“…Damn it.”

Lin Xiao-wei felt the overwhelming gap between them and retreated from Yang Sang-jin.
Killing the healer—her original objective—seemed impossible now, let alone preserving her own life.

Flutter!

She unfurled her wings.
She possessed the skills of the Chinese demon, the Gao Huo Bird.

Whoosh!
The moment I soared into the air, three daggers embedded themselves in a line across my arm.

“Grraaah!”

Lin Xiao-wei cried out in pain, but didn’t stop—she flapped her wings and pulled away.
A variable.
I never expected such a skilled fighter to be hiding within the raiding party.
I need to hurry and reunite with Li Wei.

* * *

“…Where am I?”

When I came to my senses, I found myself in an unfamiliar place.
The crimson magic circle’s light that had filled my vision was gone, as was Lin Xiao-wei’s sinister smile.
Instead, only a subtly fragrant scent that tickled my nose and profound silence filled the space.
It was a scent I never expected to encounter in the Special Dungeon Layer.

“….”

I slowly pushed myself up.
The first thing that caught my eye was the Death Knight kneeling on one knee beside me.
The atmosphere felt different from when he had allowed me a strike and knelt before.
Rather than forced submission, it was a respectful posture of genuine courtesy.
If that’s the case, then this place must be…

-It seems the Master has shown you mercy alone.

The Death Knight spoke quietly.
I followed his gaze and looked ahead.
From the dim darkness, a man in a deeply pulled-down robe walked slowly toward me.
He held a pitch-black staff in his hand.
The man stopped before me, his shoulders trembling slightly as he opened his mouth.

“…Mother?”

For a moment, silence hung in the air.
I stroked my chin with a deliberately serious expression and replied.

“Alright then, Thanatos. Your mother has arrived.”

I threw out a casual jest, and the Death Knight who had been kneeling obediently beside me flinched in surprise before springing to his feet like a coiled spring.
Bewilderment was evident even through the visor of his helmet.

-Y-Your mother-in-law?
“…Good grief.”

I regarded the Death Knight with pity and released a deep sigh.
That fool must have wandered alone even during his days as the Solar Knight.
At that moment, Thanatos, who had been wearing a robe, suddenly whipped it off with a flourish.

Whoosh—!

Enormous wings that had been concealed unfurled in all directions, and the face hidden beneath the robe was laid bare.
Hair as black as the deepest night, and beneath it, the chiseled features of a strikingly handsome Western visage.
An otherworldly aura that seemed to dominate the very air around him.
Most notably, the wings spread behind him bore a striking resemblance to those of the Nix statue erected in the underground temple.

‘So he truly is her son, then.’

He approached me slowly and knelt before me.
Then he grasped both my hands firmly and tears streamed down his face.

“You have finally come, Apostle of the Goddess.”
-Ah, so you were an Apostle. I thought you were actually my mother-in-law….

Behind me, the Death Knight wiped his chest in relief and exhaled a sigh of reassurance.
I shot him a cold glare.

“Understood?”

* * *

We found ourselves in the lord’s chamber within the fortress—
that is, in Thanatos’s domain, where we held an unexpected tea time.
I never imagined I would find myself indulging in such refined leisure in a Special Dungeon Layer, and especially not when our raiding party had been scattered by the enemies’ trap in this urgent situation.
I carefully opened my mouth as I inhaled the fragrance rising from my teacup.

“Wait, if I drink this tea, I won’t be able to return to the living world forever, will I?”
“Ha ha, no. There are certainly old legends about the food of the underworld having such effects. But this isn’t Tartarus, so don’t worry.”

Thanatos answered with a gentle smile.
Only then did I tilt the teacup to my lips without concern.
It smelled fragrant.
Looking to the side, the Death Knight who had lost an arm to me was also struggling to sip the tea awkwardly with his remaining opposite arm, as if unaccustomed to using it.

“I have been waiting for you.”

Thanatos said, setting down his teacup.

“For me? Why?”
“Because you are the only path to save my mother, my sister, and the other children.”
“Your mother would be Nix, your sister would be one of the many marked ones, and other children? Don’t tell me you and she have a child together?”
“That’s not what I meant.”

Thanatos wore a bitter smile.
This one doesn’t understand jokes either.
In any case, he began a long story.
According to his explanation, this Special Dungeon Layer was originally a fortress guarded by the Solar Knights.
Thanatos himself had slain them all and built this fortress upon their remains.
I listened silently and nodded.
Some of this information I already knew.

“So that’s why the Solar Knights who were alive and breathing in Basement 10 became Undead in the cemetery of the upper layers.”

At my words, the Death Knight drank his tea with a bitter expression.
Thanatos nodded slowly.

“Correct. It’s not just me.”

My other siblings and sisters as well.
Each performing similar acts in their respective layers.
Waiting for me, the apostle of our mother.
In essence, these heterogeneous spaces created and transformed by the gods are what we call the “Special Dungeon Layers.”

“So my suspicions about those marks were correct after all.”
“Yes. I believed you would recognize the traces we left behind. However, some of my brothers ultimately failed to do the same.”
“…Are you referring to handing over Special Dungeon Layer items to other Hunters?”

Choi Yeon-su, the Gaebanghoe Guild Master.
The holy relics and madness she possessed came to mind.

“Precisely. Not everyone possessed unwavering conviction that you would come. And even if they did, after being trapped in this Tower for so long, enduring in isolation, some go mad or betray their principles. Especially those like myself who could not find new meaning.”

Thanatos’s gaze naturally shifted toward the Death Knight sitting beside me.

Clack.

I set my teacup down on the table with a sharp sound and clicked my tongue.

“Tsk, how could this happen in the Korean Peninsula where Confucian values hold such sway? Did I not teach you better? I will not tolerate this until dirt enters my eyes.”

Creak.

Crunch.

Before my words had even finished, the Death Knight shot up from his chair and roughly grabbed a handful of dirt from somewhere.
Then Thanatos shook his head with a stern expression.

“Enough. Go inside first.”

Though his expression showed displeasure at his master’s command, the Death Knight discarded the dirt and bowed his head silently.

“Yes, then.”

As he disappeared into the depths of the fortress, I posed my real question.

“What exactly happened between you and the Solar Knight? Earlier, that bastard was going on about their sun or something.”
“No mythology monopolizes the world. Each has its own domain to govern. However, there will always be those who resent that order.”

The Egyptian god Ra, who desired to become the sole and complete sun, began to eliminate the days and suns of other mythologies.
The usurpation of myths.
In that process, Apollo, the sun god of Greco-Roman mythology, fell victim, and Hemera, the “Day”—sister of Thanatos and daughter of Nix—was abducted.
The solar forces grew ever stronger as they consumed other mythologies, eventually encroaching upon the very domain of Nix, the mother of night.
But she did not yield without resistance.
She fought him to the bitter end and succeeded in creating a vast underground prison to confine him.

“…She sealed him at the very bottom of that underground prison. Though in doing so, she herself became trapped there as well.”
“That place being…”
“Correct. The Tartarus of Basement 100. That is where my mother currently resides.”
“Then that creature. Ra is—”

Rumble, rumble, rumble—

The moment I asked about Ra, the entire space of the fortress began to tremble unstably.
Thanatos’s expression darkened grimly.

“…I’m afraid I cannot speak of it yet. Grow stronger. Become far stronger. Otherwise, all those you love will be consumed by the sun’s flames.”

Those I love.
The faces of the Temple’s residents, Yahwi, Barkalor, Eltos, Jeong Min-hee, and Hyeon-jun flashed through my mind.

Crunch—

I clenched my fist tightly beneath the desk.

“But do not forget. They too have chosen apostles like yourself. As has been the case in every age.”
“Every age?”
“You were unaware. The residents in your temple are the ‘failed apostles’ my mother once chose. They fell to the solar apostles in the war between day and night, meeting their end.”

Thanatos’s eyes gleamed with sharp intensity.

“But you are different. You clashed with the solar apostle and survived. Following that trace, I was able to find you.”

If I had clashed with an apostle and survived.
That one whose brilliance was so blinding, wielding the trait of radiance.
The face of Ahn Jae-jun flashed through my mind.
But at that time, I had not won purely through my own strength.
It was thanks to Gu Jang-hun arriving at the perfect moment to aid me.

“…It’s mere coincidence.”

I denied it earnestly, yet even as the words left my lips, I found myself ridiculous.

“Coincidence? Are you perhaps unaware that among the children of the Mother, there exist three goddesses who govern fate itself?”

Thanatos spoke with a voice both bitter and resolute.

“You are an apostle of Nix.”

His final words lingered in my ears like a terrible curse—or perhaps a blessing.

“In a world where gods exist, do you still believe in coincidence?”

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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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