I Inherited the Basement of the Tower - Chapter 63

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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 63

“Guh… ugh…!”

Hyeon-jun had already lost and regained consciousness dozens of times over.
A horrific pain as if his entire body was being torn apart.
His skill ‘Weakest Shield’ negated damage by returning double the pain of that attack directly to the user.
If not for the ‘Pendant of the Sun’ hanging around his neck, he would have died from shock long ago.
Thanks to the pendant, the Undead’s attack power was weakened, reducing the pain ever so slightly.
And the pendant’s effects didn’t end there.

Whoosh—!

Just then, the pendant burst forth with intense sunlight, pushing back the approaching Undead.
Several low-rank skeletal soldiers vulnerable to holy power crumbled to dust the moment the light touched them.
“Sir…”

Behind him, Park Eun-ji gazed at Hyeon-jun with worried eyes.
A pendant also glowed softly around her neck.
She too had benefited greatly from the pendant, but now her mana was completely depleted, leaving her unable to do anything.
She tried desperately to squeeze out mana, but only coughed up dark red blood instead.

“Cough, cough…!”
“Ugh…”

Hyeon-jun was gradually reaching his limit.

“I… I can’t do this anymore. If you could just… switch with me… please!”

Writhing in unbearable agony, he pleaded with Eun-ji.
But the moment she stepped forward, Hyeon-jun barely grasped his crumbling sanity and shouted.

“No! Don’t listen to me…!”

It was a firm refusal.

“Please stop, sir! I’m really fine! I grew up as an orphan with no great attachment to life!”
“Miss Eun-ji. You’ve never even had a drink yet, have you?”

Hyeon-jun twisted his blood-stained lips into a smile and spoke.

“Or maybe not. Kids these days are all fast, they say. Anyway, I haven’t done it yet either, but later I’ll meet a good person, get married, and all that. It’s still too early to die.”
“Sir….”

With nothing else she could do, Park Eun-ji simply wept without restraint.
She desperately tried to recover her mana through controlled breathing techniques.

Thud!
Squelch!

The relentless stabbing and clawing of the Undead made Hyeon-jun’s consciousness grow hazy.
He could no longer even scream.
This was no longer combat—it was nothing short of brutal torture.

‘This is the limit now.’

He had endured for so long.
For a mere D-rank civil servant, he had truly done his part admirably.
Now he just wanted to find peace.
Just as despair threatened to consume his mind.

Whoooosh—!

A small gust of wind swept in, pushing back the Undead that were about to overwhelm Hyeon-jun.
It was only a brief moment, but it gave him a chance to breathe.
It was a wind spell that Park Eun-ji had barely managed to squeeze out, blood pouring from her eyes and nose.

‘…That’s right. I cannot die.’

Hyeon-jun once again blocked the narrow crevice of the gorge with his body.
He endured with nothing but his bare flesh.
I can do this!
I must do this!
He ignited his resolve.
But that desperate determination was short-lived.
From behind the mass of Undead, a Lich emanating desolate mana revealed itself once more.

Screeeech!

A blinding light flooded my vision.

“Damn it—”

Boom—!

“Gasp!”

A corpse explosion slammed into my abdomen.
The immense impact I couldn’t nullify, doubled with agony, twisted my insides.
Hyeon-jun’s eyes grew clouded and dim.

‘So this is truly the end.’

As death loomed before me, the face of my beloved girlfriend flickered in my mind.
She who always prepared my lunch, and greeted me each morning with a tender smile, wishing me well.
Even when I told her I’d joined this special dungeon raid team.
She rejoiced in my long-held dream as a Hunter, yet tears welled in her eyes at the thought of something going wrong.
Such a kind and gentle girlfriend.
She won’t be able to survive without me.

“I have to go back… I still haven’t… introduced him to her yet…”

Fragmented words, nearly a final testament, spilled into the void.
Then it happened.

“Just introduce him once you get out. Get a hold of yourself.”

From the darkness, a familiar yet arrogant voice struck my ears.
Hyeon-jun laughed hollowly, his face drenched in blood.

“Ha, haha. Ugh. You’re not late, you bastard…”

Thud.

The moment I heard Kang Ha-jin’s voice, relief washed over me, and I collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness.

* * *

Even though Hyeon-jun had fallen and the defensive line was breached, the Undead could not approach easily.
Instead, they trembled and retreated like beasts standing before some colossal predator.
I walked toward them with measured steps, my voice cold and steady as I spoke.

“All of you. Take your own lives.”

Thanatos’s authority.
The absolute dominion over death’s command from the God of Death activated.

Crack. Crunch!

Hundreds of Undead legions that had tormented Hyeon-jun so relentlessly.
At a single word from me, they all simultaneously twisted their own necks and snapped them.

Crackle!

And so they fell to the ground, meeting their end.
The sound of hundreds of bones crumbling filled the canyon.
Only a single high-ranking Lich trembled and struggled to resist.
But.

“Die.”

I commanded, staring directly into the creature’s hollow eye sockets.
The Lich shrieked grotesquely and drove the long staff it held straight through its own heart.

“I came to save you, Eun-ji.”

I spoke to Eun-ji, who sat dazed on the ground, my sword resting across my shoulder.
Then Hyeon-jun, whom I thought had lost consciousness, groaned and grumbled.

“Ugh… what? Wasn’t it me?”
“You were just a bonus. She’s the one I was asked to save.”
“Asked? By the guild master?”

Eun-ji wiped her tears and sniffled.
I chuckled and shook my head.

“No. Someone else. A prince who rides a motorcycle instead of a white horse.”

At those words, thick tears streamed down Park Eun-ji’s reddened eyes once more.
She seemed to have sensed the truth about Choi Hyeon-min.
I approached the corpse of the Lich sprawled on the ground.
Now that I had fully acquired Thanatos’s power, I could have made this creature my first summoned Undead servant.
Its mana reserves looked quite substantial too.
But I had no desire to do so.
Seeing how it had defied my orders earlier, it seemed I’d need to retrain it from scratch.
Rather than that, it would be better to tame a new one later—stronger and more obedient.
Above all, this creature had reduced my friend Hyeon-jun to such a mangled state.
I harbored not the slightest desire to take such a wretch as my subordinate, nor any inclination to forgive it.

‘A subordinate should have the caliber of someone like Yahwi.’

If I brought such a creature along, Yahwi would likely dispose of it on the spot.

—My lord, we cannot allow such a creature to remain at your side!

He might very well draw his blade while saying such words.

Crack!

I lifted my foot and mercilessly crushed the Lich’s skull.
Then I pulled the long staff embedded in its chest.

“This should prove useful, at least.”

Whoosh!

I stowed it in my subspace inventory.
Just then, Park Do-hyeon came trudging over from behind, grumbling.

“Captain, is this enough?”

What he carried in his hands was a bundle of weeds that looked like random grass.
These were the very materials Thanatos had brewed into tea when he had entertained me earlier.
Not only did they have a pleasant aroma, but they were rare herbs that grew only in the unique environment of this special dungeon layer.

‘Since I’m heading back after so long, I should bring back a gift.’

I can’t keep letting Elder Barkalor drink nothing but Maxwell coffee forever.
He’s one of our Temple’s greatest contributors, after all.
Beyond that, if we accumulate more, there will be plenty of uses for it.
That’s why I’d given Park Do-hyeon separate orders to collect it.

“Wow, seriously. Here I am plucking grass in the middle of all this. Captain. I’m a really important person in the Nameless Guild. Hey? Remember that clearly!”

I ignored his whining and took the bundle of herbs, shoving them into my subspace.
Then I pulled out a high-grade potion with a reddish glow from my pocket and tossed it to Hyeon-jun.
It was leftover stock I’d bought from the Wol-yeong-seok Shop in preparation for the mission.

‘I knew there’d be a use for it.’

“Drink it.”
“Gulp, gulp… Ahh, I feel alive again.”

Hyeon-jun’s complexion recovered rapidly after drinking the potion.
At that moment, Yun Seo-rin, who had been keeping watch over our surroundings, spoke in an urgent voice.

“Captain. We need to rescue Seong U-jae and Jinhyeok too.”

They’d been separated together, then scattered in different directions.
Park Seong-cheol and Li Wei had fled separately.

‘Did they think pulling the lever helped them escape?’

But I remembered the vacant expression on that bastard’s face when he pulled the lever.
That idiot made a complete mistake.

‘I’ll leave that to Park Seong-cheol.’

Who knows.
If he takes care of Li Wei, maybe my anger over that stupid blunder will ease a bit.
Well, it doesn’t matter even if it doesn’t.
Regardless of intentions, our task is already decided.

“Let’s go.”

* * *

“This way, I’ll find my comrades and combine our strength. It’s reassuring to have allies.”

Crossing through the tomb-laden darkness, Li Wei led the way with an excited voice.
Park Seong-cheol followed behind him, responding half-heartedly.

“…Yeah, sure.”

Perhaps the tension had eased now that we’d escaped the earlier chaos.
Li Wei chattered endlessly in awkward Korean.

“Why don’t you naturalize to China? The treatment is good. If it’s you, I’ll put in some effort too.”

Park Seong-cheol fell silent in thought.
Naturalization to China.
From the beginning, there was only one reason he’d joined this special dungeon layer raid team and accepted Guild Master Ahn Jae-jun’s covert instructions.
To find his lost youngest sibling and create a world where his sister Park Min-young could feel at peace.

“By the way, why do you climb the Tower?”

Suddenly recalling a conversation he’d had with the other team members during training, he asked.
Li Wei answered with a broad smile.

“Of course, for my family. I give the special dungeon layer to China and receive a reward. And later, when China conquers the world, I’ll live in luxury.”
“Your Korean is quite good.”
“I studied hard.”
“Is that so? Anyway, so China’s dream is world conquest? And you’re targeting Korea too?”
“Of course. That’s why you should come to China as well.”

With those words, Park Seong-cheol stopped walking.
He lowered his head deeply.

“Huh? What are you doing?”

Li Wei asked, sounding puzzled.
Park Seong-cheol answered quietly.

“I think I’ve been mistaken about something.”

Perhaps I would come to bitterly regret this choice.
I had defied Ahn Jae-jun’s orders, and I would lose the guild master position of Taesan that I had yearned for so desperately.
But what if the plan of those Chinese succeeded?
China conquering the world?
My younger sisters would have to live in such a world?

‘I don’t want that.’

And above all.
The expression on Kang Ha-jin’s face when I pulled the lever wrong at the castle gate was vivid and clear.

‘….’

Merely recalling it felt like I would have nightmares.

Shhk—

In the end, Park Seong-cheol drew forth the azure spear.
Li Wei’s expression darkened in an instant as he sensed the killing intent.

“It may be too late, but if I take your neck, Kang Ha-jin might spare my life. At the very least, even if he kills me, he might do it without pain.”
“…Must it be this way, brother?”
“When have I ever called you brother?”

At that response, Park Seong-cheol thrust the spear forward without mercy.

“Fool!”

Li Wei’s eyes tore open fiercely as dense black mana erupted from his body.

Ting!
【Activating the skill ‘Black Serpent Pasha’.】

The form of Pasha, a colossal black serpent from Chinese mythology, wrapped around Li Wei’s body.
Just as it stretched forth toward Park Seong-cheol, attempting to devour him.
A brilliant azure light exploded from the tip of the spear he held.
The spear prepared to pierce Kang Ha-jin had instead met an unexpected enemy and unleashed its true power.

Ding!
【Activating the effect of ‘Set’s Spear’.】
【The attack target is the ‘Black Serpent’.】
【Activating the ability of ‘Spear that Slew Apophis’ (instant death, limited to one use).】

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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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