I Inherited the Basement of the Tower - Chapter 72

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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 72

Ding!
【You are entering Basement 15F.】

My vision warped as a scorching heat washed over me.
Opening my eyes, an endless desolate desert stretched out before me in welcome.
And beyond those sand dunes, the rulers of this floor revealed themselves.

“Halt!”

At the command of the one leading from the front, the group stopped in perfect unison.
These were not the skeletal remains I had sliced through countless times in the upper teens.
They were living, breathing humanoid warriors clad in golden-tinged armor, bearing the emblem of the sun etched upon their chests.
I had already cleared up to Basement 14F and seen them often enough to grow weary, but this time there was something different.

‘A Knight Captain, then.’

The aura he radiated was exceptional, and above all, he possessed a charisma that captivated the eye.
He sat not upon a horse, but upon the saddle of a massive and ponderous desert beast—a camel.
Beyond the ornate helmet designed to shield against the desert’s sand winds, his gleaming gaze somehow evoked the appearance of the Death Knight I had encountered in that special dungeon floor in life.
He exuded a weight and chill of oppression equally formidable.

Ding!
【Clear condition for Basement 15F: Defeat the Solar Knight Captain and 30 Solar Knights.】

Moreover, the structure felt strangely familiar.
It felt as though I had stepped into a vivid past version of the special dungeon floor field from the upper teens that I had entered not long ago.
This place is not an Undead theme. Therefore, the self-termination command using Thanatos’s mark that I had used quite effectively against Undead in the special dungeon floor—the so-called click strategy—would not work here.

‘Should I try using Rest?’

Even if they were living humanoids, if they were beneath my station, I could grant them peaceful rest without issue.
But.

“It’s not bad to engage in close combat after so long.”

Shing—

I slowly drew the jet-black longsword from my waist.
The blade fit perfectly in my grip after so long, offering an excellent feel in my hand.

“A heretic! Annihilate the enemy of the sun!”

With the Knight Captain’s cry, a blinding radiance and scorching heat erupted from the bodies of the knights.
As if they themselves had become miniature suns, they evaporated the moisture around them.

“The sun, is it.”

I let out a light scoff and channeled power throughout my entire body.

Whoooosh—!

My special stat ‘Darkness,’ now vastly expanded to a staggering 66 compared to before, erupted explosively.
Pitch-black darkness instantly engulfed the sandstorm and consumed the knights’ light.
Beyond merely overwhelming the sun, the dense darkness now pressed down upon the shoulders of the Solar Knights.

“Ugh! This… this power…!”
“My legs… won’t move!”

Just as I had been helpless against the sunlight on the 5th Floor of the surface long ago.
They floundered within my darkness, their momentum completely shattered.
However, the Knight Captain was not captain for nothing.

“Do not falter! The sun never sets!”

Roooaaaar—!

As the Knight Captain roared from atop the camel, a dazzling wave of light burst forth from his mouth.
That wave became undulating sunlight, roughly pushing back my darkness.
And in an instant, it washed away the debuffs afflicting the knights.

“Interesting.”

I narrowed my eyes. Impressive indeed.

“For the sun—!”

As the Knight Captain let out a battle cry, the knights echoed it in unison and surged toward me.
Sharp crescent-shaped kopeshes reminiscent of Egypt came flying at me from all directions.
Perhaps it was too late to employ Yahwi’s Fourth Form, Twilight Banquet.
But that was fine.
This was my first pure melee combat in a long time, and I had no intention of ending it so easily and anticlimactically.
I appreciated the Underground Layer precisely because there was no pressure to break the fastest clear record.
The sensation from back then—when I sliced through vampire bats on the 4th Floor and actually enjoyed the Tower climb itself—had awakened within me.
I adjusted my grip on the longsword and began responding with precision to each incoming attack.
Because that was my original intention.

“Yahwi’s First Form.”

Clang! Whoosh!

“Midnight Slash.”

I lightly deflected the trajectory of the kopesh that came flying first, exploited the opening in my opponent’s defense, and slit his throat one beat faster.

“Gasp!”

【You have defeated a Solar Knight.】

Next.

I deflected the spear shaft thrusting at my blind spot diagonally and pressed forward.

Clang! Slash!

【You have defeated a Solar Knight.】

The next one was the same.

Clang clang clang! Slash slash!

【You have defeated a Solar Knight.】
【You have defeated a Solar Knight.】
【You have defeated a Solar Knight.】

Corpses began piling up around me one by one.

Shhhhh—.

I flicked the blood clinging to my blade away lightly and shifted into my next stance.

“Second Form: Midnight Consecutive Slash.”

The explosive barrage of strikes from Twilight First Form.
Black trajectories bloomed in all directions, ruthlessly shredding the bodies of the knights rushing toward me.

“…Do not falter! The Sun walks with us!”

The Knight Captain watched his subordinates being cut down helplessly, and despite his obvious panic, he tried to hide it.
He made an effort to command the remaining knights without revealing his true feelings.
From atop his camel, he raised his sword once more and cast a skill.

“Echo of Radiance!”

Whoooosh—!

As his voice echoed and dispersed,
the eyes of the knights who had been backing away in terror regained that zealous fervor.
With their morale restored, they forgot their fear and charged forward once more.

“Oh, that’s a nice skill. How about mine?”

I activated the mark of Thanatos inscribed on my left shoulder.

“Summon.”
“…Guaaahhh.”
“Guh, guh-ughhhh….”

In that instant, a thick aura of death seeped into the corpses of the knights who had just fallen, lying sprawled on the ground.
Some were missing their arms, severed by my blade.
Others lacked legs entirely.
They rose with grotesque sounds of bone, stumbling and swaying.
Their hollow eye sockets flickered with eerie light as they turned their weapons toward their former comrades.

“W-what kind of bizarre power is this!”
“T-this is blasphemy! We are warriors of the Sun God!”
“How could you do something so horrific…!”

The living knights visibly faltered and retreated.
They hesitated, unable to cut down the comrades they had been fighting back-to-back with moments before.
It seemed the Sun God’s doctrine forbade striking down one’s own brothers.

“How convenient.”

I voiced my honest impression as I watched the battlefield fall silent.
At that, the Knight Captain atop the camel clicked his tongue sharply and activated his skill once more.

“Brothers! Since they have been resurrected by this man’s twisted hands, they are no longer brothers who share the same sun!”
“B-but Captain! Just yesterday, they were eating with us-!”
“Silence! Even if they truly were our brothers, we cannot leave them to be defiled in the enemy’s grasp! Free your brothers with your own hands!”

The Knight Captain’s words came like blood spilling forth.

“U-uooooo!”
“Yes! We shall set them free!”

Spurred by that cry, the knights’ morale inexplicably surged once more, and with tears in their eyes, they began swinging their weapons at the Undead.
I clicked my tongue watching that maudlin melodrama unfold.

“Tedious.”

I had enjoyed this close-quarters combat well enough after so long.
Idealism?
Of course, it is a noble sentiment.
But ‘growth’ is also an important value.
To grow, one must change.
And I am no longer the naive fool from the 4th Floor Cave who knew only how to swing a sword mindlessly through sheer stats.

Snap.

I raised my hand toward the empty air and opened my mouth.

“Rest.”

Ding!
【You grant peaceful rest to those of lower rank.】

“….”

The scorching heat of the battlefield, where steel and bone had clashed moments before, vanished like a lie.
The pupils of the knights staring into empty space became hollow and vacant.

Thud. Thump.

Without a single wound, without a single scream.
The remaining twenty-odd knights collapsed onto the sandy ground all at once.

“What, what is this! Come to your senses! Everyone, get up—!”

Thump—.

When even the last knight, unmoved by the Knight Captain’s command, fell.
Only then did he grasp the gravity of the situation.
His subordinates had perished completely, and far too quietly.
Deep dread welled up in his eyes as he confirmed this truth.

“A pity. Being of higher rank isn’t always a blessing.”

Had his rank been lower, he would have met the same peaceful, painless death as they did.
I opened my mouth once more toward the thirty corpses sprawled across the desert sand.

“Rise.”

Crack. Crackle.
Perfect skeletal soldiers with only bone and solar armor remaining—the same ones I had witnessed in the special dungeon floor.
They surged toward the Knight Captain with the clattering of bones.

“Stay back! Kyaaaah! Gaaaah—!”

Slashed to ribbons by the merciless spears and blades of what had once been his own subordinates.
The Knight Captain tumbled from his camel with a final, agonized cry.

Ding!
【You have defeated the Solar Knight Captain.】
【You have cleared Basement 15F.】
【You have obtained 1 Darkness stat.】
-Current value: 67.
【You can now challenge the fourth task of Nix.】

Messages announcing the end of battle materialized before me.
But I still had one more task to complete.
I approached the tattered corpse of the Knight Captain and reached out my hand.

“Arise.”

Gugugugugu—!

The Knight Captain’s torn flesh melted away in an instant, leaving behind only a pitch-black skeletal frame.
Shattered golden armor clung to it above.
And from within the hollow eye sockets, an eerie crimson light blazed to life.
A knight forcibly resurrected from death.
The birth of that very creature who had guided me through the special dungeon floor.

“So it was you after all.”

I smiled warmly upon seeing the all-too-familiar face of the Death Knight.

“Ah, perhaps…”

And something flashed through my mind.
If this creature truly was the Death Knight from the special dungeon floor in life.
And if this desert and fortress terrain matched perfectly with the structure of the special dungeon floor.
I ignored the clear message floating in the air for a moment.
And proceeded with the Death Knight toward a corner of the fortress.

‘It should be around here.’

When I had conquered the special dungeon floor before.
The exact spot where Seong U-jae and Jinhyeok had excitedly discovered the treasure vault.
I felt along the wall and disengaged the mechanism.
With a grinding sound, the hidden chamber door swung open.

“…Bingo.”

My prediction had hit the mark perfectly.
There lay the rewards I had willingly forfeited in the special dungeon floor, watching my comrades’ accomplishments without regret.
Of course, due to the difference between the surface and the underground, the form of the rewards was slightly different.

‘There are no floor skip tickets or reset passes, it seems.’

Judging by the hundreds of Moonlight Stones gleaming instead of massive quantities of Mana Stones.
The rewards had been thoroughly converted to match the ecosystem of the Underground Tower.

“Still, at least there’s a skill book.”

I grinned widely and picked up the worn skill book placed at the center of the altar.
What kind of skill book would replace the rewards of the special dungeon floor in the underground layer?

Ding!
【You have acquired the skill ‘Echo of Radiance’.】
-Upon casting, boosts the morale of all allies within a wide range and removes abnormal conditions.

“This is the skill that creature was using on the camel, isn’t it.”

Throughout the battle, it had been quite irritating how it kept bolstering the morale of its dying subordinates and erasing debuffs.
Considering that Yahwi, Barkalor, Eltos, and more Temple residents would join me in the future, this was a skill that would prove quite useful in combat.
Just as I was about to acquire the skill.

Ding!
【Nix’s Apostle’s authority intervenes, transforming the nature of the acquired skill book.】

“…!”

Deep darkness flowed into the skill book.
The golden-hued skill book was instantly dyed pitch black, displaying a new message.

Ding!
【’Knight Captain’s Echo’ evolves into ‘Lord’s Baptism’.】
-Upon casting, temporarily grants all allies within a wide range the special stat ‘Darkness’. (Effect increases proportionally to the caster’s Darkness stat value)

“…Insane.”

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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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