Chapter 297: Seventy-Fifth Floor, The Old Man and the Spirits (3)

[Resolve the old man’s regrets. Time remaining: 11 hours 43 minutes.]

It didn’t take long for Hyun to return from the hut. Maybe ten seconds at most?

“Success!” he exclaimed out of sheer relief.

Although looking at him now, he seemed like he had always been confident that it would work. Or perhaps he simply liked to prepare for every possibility.

Watching him approach, I hesitated for a moment. I wanted to ask him about my suspicions, but doing it now didn’t feel correct.

I still don’t feel confident about my suspicions.

Despite that, I was confident about one thing, but even that led to multiple possibilities.

Since my suspicions could be confirmed by just using the Spirit Stone, there was no point in testing the waters now. Asking prematurely could even affect the outcome of the trial. Confirming things later would be better.

I waited in silence while Hyun made his way back.

His face betrayed his tension as he cleared his throat. “Well then, let’s begin. Please step onto the array.”

He gestured toward the magic circle he had summoned me with, with a tilt of his head. Or perhaps it was a shamanic sigil, given his craft.

Either way, I was a little surprised. I had assumed it was designed solely for summoning, but apparently, it could serve as a gate to the past as well.

Just as I assumed, Hyun wasn’t an ordinary individual.

“Okay.”

As I turned to face the circle, my eyes were drawn to his right hand. Resting neatly in his palm were three small stones, each a muted shade of pale gray.

So those are the Spirit Stones.

I narrowed my eyes slightly.

Divinity radiated from them—not a specific deity’s power, but a pure, untouched energy.

He did say that if the Spirit Stone can do it, so can gods.

Now, I felt even more certain of one of my suspicions, one that I had theorized back in the waiting room. Once I stepped into the heart of the trial, I would be able to confirm it with greater clarity.

In any case, I had already decided on my course of action. Even if my hypothesis turned out to be wrong, that wouldn’t change the objective.

Plus, I had nothing to lose.

Briefly reassuring Doppy, I then stepped onto the circle. “Do I need to do anything while standing here?”

Hyun locked eyes with me, his expression solemn. “No. Just surrender to the flow of the Spirit Stone.”

“Got it.”

Drawing a sharp breath, Hyun chose one of the stones and began murmuring in a low voice.

Since it was my first time witnessing the ritual firsthand, I took in every movement carefully. A peculiar energy began to ripple around him, and an unfamiliar aura shimmered faintly.

So this is what shamanic power looks like.

It moved similarly to mana, yet felt subtly different from any spell I had seen before.

Maybe I just lacked proper mana sensitivity, like Ha Hee-Jeong liked to remind me. I couldn’t pinpoint the distinction.

Hmm.

If I could learn this for Ha Hee-Jeong, she would probably be pleased.

Maybe I can ask him after the trial, if time allows.

Even if I couldn’t master it on time or Hyun refused to teach me, it wouldn’t hurt to try. Since I was doing it for Ha Hee-Jeong’s sake, I figured it was worth a shot.

While I was lost in thought, the circle beneath me began to glow with a soft, orange light. Though the color didn’t match, it felt the same as the tower’s teleportation.

So traveling to the past isn’t all that different.

It was the same magnetic pull I felt when the tower transported me into a trial or pulled me back to the waiting area. That sensation of being drawn into something unseen.

Just as my curiosity began to wane, my divinity stirred. More accurately, it responded to the Spirit Stone in Hyun’s grasp. The divine energy glowing in his hand surged into me like a wave of light. It flowed across my skin and seeped inward.

It felt as though I had become a sponge. Unlike the mana coursing through my internal channels, this was something entirely different.

Wait, this is—

Though it only lasted a brief moment, I focused on how my divinity flowed.

This time, however, I could clearly trace a path, unlike the time I communicated with Phiri. This method would allow me to wield divinity more effectively.

My vision turned white. Through the bright haze, Hyun’s hoarse voice rang out clearly.

“I leave it in your hands. May fortune follow you.”

With that parting wish from the old man, my consciousness flowed away.

***

[Resolve the old man’s regrets. Time remaining: 11 hours 38 minutes.]

Certain moments just... energize oneself. It’s the rising sensation when one’s heartbeat accelerates and a surge of adrenaline begins coursing through some unseen part of the brain.

The thrill of battle.

It was a feeling I had become familiar with ever since adjusting to life in the Tower of Ordeal. There hadn’t been any warning signs, but the moment I arrived at this new location, the rush of combat washed over me like a wave.

The sun clung faintly to the horizon, dim and distant, as dusk began to drape itself across the world. Overhead, thick clouds choked the sky, casting a heavy gloom over the land.

Doom, doom, doom, doom—

A muffled drumbeat reverberated across the ground, accompanied by spine-chilling howls echoing from all directions.

I opened the notification window.

11 hours 38 minutes.

Even though I had been summoned into the past, the trial’s message hadn’t changed. Apparently, time didn’t flow differently here.

I had four hours to complete this phase. Before the countdown hit seven hours and thirty-eight minutes, I had to secure victory.

Technically, my task was to guide the princess, so calling it a battle did feel a bit off. However, the nature of the situation wasn’t all that different.

In any case, assessing the battlefield was crucial. I turned my gaze outward.

Let me see.

I was positioned high on the edge of a narrow ravine. Down below, soldiers on horseback fought to cut a path forward, their formation led by a woman clad in pristine white armor. Their gear was undeniably high-grade.

I could tell right away that she was the princess Hyun had mentioned, and the soldiers were her elite escort.

Hm. The front and rear are completely sealed off.

The enemies encircling them were grotesque in form, too varied to be a single species. Each was malformed in its own unique way. The only trait they had in common was their monstrous appearance. They looked like something straight out of a game—classic, textbook monsters.

I was starting to piece things together.

Hyun said the princess failed to escape in time, drowned in a deluge of enemies.

Her guards numbered fewer than a hundred. Even accounting for their losses along the way, their original force had been far from sufficient. Considering that they needed to push through a large group of enemies, choosing an open battlefield would have been a poor strategy.

Naturally, they had opted to escape through a narrow ravine pass. They had probably intended to move quietly, but the enemy had either spotted them or predicted their route.

That resulted in their complete encirclement.

There really are a ton of them.

Looking at the sea of enemies, a memory stirred.

Was it the fourteenth floor?

The scene reminded me of the river defense, where over a million lizardmen had swarmed the battlefield.

My gaze shifted beyond the sea of monsters. Out on the plains beyond the ravine, I sensed a strange presence shrouded in darkness amidst the mass of creatures. It stood out sharply, its aura distinctly more menacing than the others.

This won’t be easy.

Strangely enough, I could feel divinity radiating from it. It wasn’t the pure, untarnished kind I had sensed from the Spirit Stone. There was something unpleasant about it, almost foul.

At the very least, it was on par with an apostle.

Hyun told me he didn’t know if gods existed. Did an alien one intervene?

I had no way of knowing. Either way, just as I had suspected, the seventy-fifth floor was shaping up to be a physically demanding trial.

The situation certainly looked grim, but the solution itself was straightforward.

I just need to carve a path through the front.

If my assumptions were correct, I just had to overwhelm the enemies.

Haa.

I took a steady breath, then began drawing up mana from within.

Ever since the prison, Al Ferhadeen, my body had contained two mana reservoirs. My total mana hadn’t exactly doubled, but my ability to use it had improved. Even if I emptied one pool, I could rely on the other while it replenished.

Thanks to that, I could now operate a far greater output than before.

Looking back, this was likely the greatest gain I had made on the seventy-fourth floor.

This is the first time I am testing it in actual combat, though, but it is definitely reassuring not having to worry about mana.

I looked down. At the center of the canyon below, mounted soldiers were struggling to press forward. Their armored steeds pushed against the tide of enemies, but the sheer number of foes was overwhelming.

One by one, stragglers were starting to fall behind.

I stepped forward, halting at the edge of the cliff.

If I really want to make a dramatic, exhilarating entrance, I should probably wait a bit longer.

That contradicted my values, however. I wasn’t going to gamble with people’s lives just to maximize dramatic effect. Standing by in silence while others died wasn’t something I was willing to do.

With that, I kicked off the ground and leapt into the air, my mana flaring violently.

Crackle!

A bolt of lightning erupted from my fingertips, tearing through the darkness and shooting into the sky. A massive column of electricity pierced the clouds.

Rumble— BOOM!

Forked lightning burst outward through the heavy storm clouds, branching like the limbs of an ancient tree.

All of it happened in the blink of an eye.

The sky flashed as if someone were flicking on the light switch of the world itself.

Everyone on the battlefield instinctively looked skyward. The bolts of lightning that had spread in all directions twisted back together, converging once more above the cloud layer.

Rumble, THUD!

Then it struck straight down toward me. The bolt connected, yet I felt no pain. Bathed in the radiant hues of blue and gold, I allowed a smile to form on my lips.

Took a lot of effort to develop this one.

It was one of the more satisfying fruits of labor from my recent training.

Surging with lightning, I dove toward the ground like a streak of light. I hoped that to the princess and her soldiers, it would appear nothing short of miraculous.

Azure and gold shades filled the darkened environment. Riding the currents in the air, I angled downward, descending alongside the lightning.

I crashed into the enemy’s midst, landing roughly one hundred twenty meters ahead of the princess’s group.

Boom!

“

Gyaaack!

”

“

Urghhh!

”

“

Screeek!

”

My attack didn’t end with the initial impact. The lightning spread outward, weaving between the monsters like threads of energy. Those caught in its path spasmed violently before being scorched black.

The air filled with the scent of burning flesh—a putrid stench rising in waves.

I turned to glance behind me. I had calculated my landing point with precision, so there was now a clear path between me and the princess’s forces.

They were frozen in place, horses halted mid-gallop, eyes wide and mouths agape, and every last one stared at me in stunned silence.

High above, lightning still danced across the storm-choked skies.

Their reactions matched my expectations, but they couldn’t afford to stand there slack-jawed.

I can’t exactly shout at them, either.

Technically, I could have spoken, but I chose not to. I wanted to maintain an air of mystery.

They will catch on soon enough.

Turning away from them, I began sprinting toward the ravine’s exit.

As if she had caught on to my intent, the princess snapped out of her daze and sharply commanded, “A-advance! Now!”

The vanguard spurred their horses into motion once more.

Satisfied that they were following, I extended a hand toward the sky. In response, dozens of lightning bolts rained down from above.

Rumble— BOOM! BOOM!

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The summoned storm fell indiscriminately. It wasn’t just a display of power, but devastation made manifest.

Monsters across the battlefield screamed and collapsed, and some turned to flee outright. The lightning didn’t discriminate, however. It struck inside the ravine and beyond its borders alike.

This is practically at the level of an archmage, isn’t it?

No, even that wouldn’t be enough to describe it. Lightning was falling across every visible inch of terrain. The monsters had no chance.

Of course, the mana cost was astronomical.

I briefly glanced over my shoulder. The princess and her soldiers were still following, their mouths agape, utterly speechless.

That was fine, though. This was exactly what I had hoped for.

“

Graaaahhhh!

”

That was when I heard a chilling roar, cutting through the battlefield like a hurricane. Its source was unmistakable. It came from the same presence I had sensed earlier—the one with an ominous, divine aura.