BXBX NOVEL Chapter 88 - Lords of the Tower (2)
Chapter 88 - Lords of the Tower (2)
When the book was opened, glittering letters appeared before Sungchul’s party.
[Path to Euphoria #1]
Requirement - Exterminate the residents of the Tower of Idiocy. / Reward - Strength 5, Magic Power 5, Citizenship (Tower of Euphoria), Additional Reward can be chosen.
As the group read through the message, the maggot beside Miriadora began to squirm as he shouted.
“The Tower of Idiocy is the blue tower standing directly next to the Tower of Euphoria. There is a path directly from the Floor of Sloth, but I recommend you enter from the first floor! There are a lot of powerful Guardians overlooking the entrance on the fourth floor, you know?”
Sungchul’s group started by retracing their path back down. The group passed through the floors filled with avarice and corruption before the desolation of the Demon Realm greeted them as they exited the tower. They had simply crossed through a single steel door, but it felt like a whole different world.
“…Are you perhaps trying to become a High Devil as well?”
Elijah mustered up the courage to finally ask the question that was burning in his mind as he gazed at Sungchul’s back.
Sungchul immediately shot back with a reply.
“I don’t intend to become one of those garbage existences.”
“But then why…?”
“I only need magic power.”
“Magic?!”
Curiosity rose in Elijah and Sophia’s eyes.
‘Why would such a powerful man require magic?’
Sungchul lifted his head to scan the blue tower standing next to the Tower of Euphoria.
‘I better finish this quickly.’
Sungchul turned his head slightly before asking a question.
“I remember something about an additional reward. Do you know of its requirements?”
Elijah shuffled through the Tome of the High Devils and calmly replied to Sungchul’s question.
“It looks like you’ll receive the additional reward upon the death of 10 or more residents of the tower or the death of a Supervisor.”
“A Supervisor…”
The entrance to the blue tower was locked tight similar to the Tower of Euphoria, but a faint bit of cold light peeked through between the doors. Sungchul stood before the doors and flung them open. A neatly decorated white and faint blue interior greeted him. The tower had a completely different atmosphere to that of the Tower of Euphoria.
Sungchul opened another door that stood in his path and a wide hallway filled with countless pillars appeared. Stillness that reminded them of death oozed throughout the hallway. Despite the sheer size of the open hall, not a single shadow of a person nor their movements could be seen. It felt like a space frozen in time.
Sungchul cautiously entered the hall and began to look around for the residents of this tower that were bound to be somewhere close by. It didn’t take long for something to capture his attention. A single motionless man sat on a square stone chair next to a pillar.
Sungchul and his group drew closer. Their footsteps were loud enough to echo throughout the entire hall, and soon Sungchul could see the resident of this tower up close. It was a man that had a beautiful appearance and an imposing presence similar to the residents of the previous tower. The only difference between the inhabitants of the two towers was that the man of this tower was lost in deep contemplation.
Sungchul stood before him and addressed him.
“Hey.”
The man’s eyes narrowed as he lifted his head at Sungchul’s calling.
“You all look to be new here, but it is against the rules to speak within the Pallid Hall.”
He appeared disgusted as though he had witnessed something that he would have rather avoided before rising from his seat to leave. Sungchul did not lay a hand on the man.
‘Something is off.’
Sungchul lifted his head to survey his surroundings. He could see that there were people spread sporadically in the hall. They were dressed in the same blue and white colors of the hall and sat motionlessly, like inanimate objects. They were all sitting on a chair deep in contemplation without any way of knowing what they were thinking so deeply about.
Sungchul prodded another for conversation but was given the same response as the first. He was told multiple times that speaking is forbidden or that it was against the rules.
“What should we do now?”
Elijah asked in a quiet voice. At this point, Sungchul began to pull out the Demonic Weapon Cassandra from his Soul Storage. He abruptly pulled out the whip and began to strike the marble floor of the hall fiercely.
Shrrack!
The sharp noises reverberated through the entire hall. The residents who were contemplating in their chairs began to turn towards Sungchul. All of them looked at him with scorn and repulsion, but not a single one of them moved to restrict him. Sungchul continued to strike the floor.
Several marble tiles became shattered, sending fragments into the air, with each strike that Sungchul’s whip made across the floor. The continuous chain of bone-chilling sounds of impact filled the Hall.
‘Just why is he doing this?’
Elijah and Sophia Breggas simply stared at this scene with dumbstruck faces, but it didn’t take long before Sophia caught something in the corner of her eyes. Three large and dark beings approached the opposite end of the hall.
‘What are those?’
Sophia’s eyes grew wide. The huge dark figures turned out to be human. The mere body size of these figures reached three meters, and they had an impressive physique to suit it. They were wearing the mask of an executioner over their heads while inexplicably holding a rope for hangings and a steel rake. Their breathing was heavy enough to be heard across the other side of the hall.
“Who goes there? Who dares to breach the rules?”
Bloodshot eyes flared intensely through the holes on the black masks.
“It must be YOU!”
Sungchul finally stopped whipping as they appeared and took a look at them in turn.
“…”
The giant holding the steel rake pointed the rake towards Sungchul and began to shout.
“I hold immediate judgement for the crime of those that violate the laws of the holy and solemn Tower of Order!”
As the Giant shouted, the other two Giants began to surround Sungchul’s group. The Breggas siblings pulled out their weapons as the situation began to deteriorate, but on the other hand, Sungchul continued to glare at the Giants simply without any other particular movements. Soon, the Giant in the center pointed towards Sungchul and shouted his sentence.
“The sentence is… Death!”
The three Giants threw out their hangman’s noose at the same time. Each of them was aimed accurately at Sungchul’s neck, but before the noose managed to catch his neck, Cassandra tangled all three of the nooses with one sharp movement.
“You bastard!”
The Giants roared in anger as they pulled at their hangman’s noose. They each pulled on their rope with strength befitting their massive stature, but the whip and the man holding the whip didn’t budge. When terror filled the bloodshot eyes hidden behind the masks, Sungchul lightly moved his arm. The Giants were flying in the air within the next moment. Sungchul’s god-like strength had lifted them into the air, but it didn’t end there. After lifting the Giants, he pulled his whip taut to cause them to slam onto the ground with full force.
Boom!
The ground was struck with a tremendous force that caused the entire tower to tremble. It goes without saying that the fallen Giants did not move any further.
But what was most unusual was the reaction of the residents. They had witnessed an incredible scene unfolding before them, but the residents of the towers didn’t show any sign of moving from their seats and simply looked onwards.
‘As expected. This is a strange place.’
Sungchul looked at the message that appeared before him with disinterest.
[Exemplary. You have gone beyond simply killing the dumb residents of the Blue Tower, and managed to take out their guard dogs.]
[Accordingly, you have been deemed worthy of S-grade rewards.]
Basic Rewards:
Strength: 5
Magic Power: 5
Citizenship (Tower of Euphoria)
Selective Rewards:
Certificate for Doctor Madd’s Plastic Surgery
Certificate for Doctor Psykko’s Gender Change
Meal Voucher for Chef Minamoto’s restaurant
“…”
The optional rewards were all complete garbage, and he couldn’t even receive one of the basic rewards.
[Your strength is exceedingly high, and thus a portion of the basic rewards cannot be received.]
All he managed to receive was 5 magic power and a citizenship with unknown purpose. Sungchul opted to choose none of the rewards, but Doctor Madd’s certificate for plastic surgery was automatically given to him. On the other hand, the Breggas siblings seemed to have chosen the meal Voucher for Chef Minamoto’s restaurant.
Thud.
A red identity tag dropped by Sungchul’s feet. It appeared to be the citizenship in question. Sungchul held the tag and carefully studied it.
[Citizenship (Tower of Euphoria)]
Grade: Common - Mid grade
Type: Held Item
Effects: None
Note: It is possible to receive an eternal body when holding the citizenship before the Altar of Ten Thousand Demons. However, it must be noted that the current body is offered as a sacrifice and cannot be recovered.
‘It looks like a ticket to turn into those maggots.’
Sungchul didn’t hesitate to throw the citizenship to the ground and crush it with his military boots.
“Excuse me. I have something to tell you.”
Elijah carefully opened his mouth to speak. Sungchul turned slightly to respond.
“Speak.”
“The second quest has been revealed in the book.”
Elijah opened the Tome of the High Devil in front of Sungchul. Another message appeared before Sungchul’s eyes.
[The Path to Euphoria #2]
Proof - Break one of the scales that can be found anywhere on the second floor. / Reward - Magic Resistance 10, Intuition 10, Standard Body, Additional Reward can be chosen.
Everything that he had seen so far seemed to add up to what Sungchul was already thinking.
‘This quest. There is something more to this.’
It wasn’t explicitly written anywhere, but Sungchul discovered that the Tower of Euphoria, the tower he first stepped into, had a hostile relationship to the blue tower where he currently stood. More than anything, it was strongly implied within the contents of the quest itself.
‘Let’s just go along with it for now.’
Sungchul continued towards the second floor with this line of thinking.
The second floor of the blue tower was a space filled entirely of pure white. The walls, the floors, the ceilings, and even the decorations attached to each surface was entirely white. Sungchul who felt his eyes beginning to strain pulled something from his Soul Storage. An item brought over from the Modern World. It was an old and faded pair of sunglasses.
Bertelgia saw the item and shook her body to ask a question.
“What’s with the colored glasses?”
“It’s an item called sunglasses.”
It was an item given by an old friend that had become a Returnee. He had said that he was a bus driver with 20 years of experience without a single accident on his record before he was brought over to the Other World. He had a problem with his temper, but more importantly, he had been rather kind-hearted and dependable. Sungchul continued to walk forward while reminiscing about his old friend.
A door appeared not before long.
When he entered through the door, a large space similar to a courtroom appeared. In this courtroom, there were Giants lined up along the judge’s stand whose end could only be seen through straining your neck, and there was a haggard human sitting on a plain chair beneath them. The judges looked down at the accused with magnanimous expressions and spoke
“According to article number 284 of Sharique Law… the accused is sentenced to be executed.”
Right as the words were uttered, giant executioners grabbed the haggard person by the collar and began to swing him above their heads. The accused that was being spun around like a tied balloon and lost consciousness before reverting to his maggot form. The executioners hooked the maggot onto their steel rake and disappeared somewhere.
Soon, another accused was sitting on the plain chair. The judges spoke again in their magnanimous voice again
“According to article 53 of Sharique Law… the accused is sentenced to be executed.”
The same scene as before began to replay itself. The executioners grabbed the accused by the collar, then they hooked the dead maggot onto their steel rake and disappeared somewhere.
‘The Tower of Euphoria was a gathering place for all sorts of crazies, but this place also seems to be on a similar level.’
Sungchul who was observing the court sessions discovered an object shining in a golden light on top of the judge’s stand. It was a pair of scales. Sungchul suddenly held a hammer in his grip. He addressed the judge’s stand that was high up in the air.
“According to Article 1 of Sungchul’s Law… I’m going to break everything here.”