Chapter 469: Ninety-Seventh Floor, The Wraiths (1)

[Welcome to the ninety-seventh floor of the Tower of Ordeal: The Wraiths.]

[Release the wraiths. Time remaining: 23 hours 59 minutes.]

The floor’s description didn’t appear particularly complex at first glance. It was a simple directive. However, judging from my past experiences climbing the tower, I knew it was unlikely to be as straightforward as it seemed. First of all, it didn’t specify how I was supposed to release them.

Will I have to kill something to set them free?

If the tower wanted me to release them, then they had to be bound or trapped in some way. Other than my initial assumption that I would have to fight, something hidden could be the secret to breaking their chains.

Given that the tower had just given me a two-week respite on the previous floor, that alone was enough to assume this floor wouldn’t be easy.

Whoever bound these wraiths has to possess power beyond ordinary measure.

The fading darkness, replaced by a slowly brightening world, cut my thoughts short. The ground solidified beneath my feet. When my vision cleared, I found myself standing beneath an ashen sky. The world felt heavy and oppressive, like a volcanic plain blanketed in perpetual twilight.

Below that bleak sky, a sea of figures stretched endlessly. At a glance, I could tell what they were. There were hundreds of thousands, no, millions of countless wraiths, their bodies darkened and twisted.

Their forms aren’t natural.

Each one looked different, hailing from a variety of species—some large, some small—plus they all wielded different weapons. Some towered over five meters tall, while others were scarcely a meter. A small percentage even hovered in midair.

However, they all shared the same grotesque stillness. The unmistakable aura of the dead forced to move again. Wounds they had suffered in life were dyed in inky darkness, and a suffocating air of gloom hung thick around them.

There are far too many of them.

The number alone was staggering, truly an uncountable horde. Of course, the ground was invisible beneath the mass of wraiths, and the horizon itself was lost in their tide.

Then, all at once, they turned toward me.

Every single one.

Their eyes glowed faintly in the dim light, and within them flickered unmistakable killing intent. Millions of malicious auras pressed down on me like a physical weight. I could feel my muscles tightening instinctively.

So, will I release them by killing them?

The thought had barely formed when the nearest wraiths began to move. Some lunged at me sluggishly, while others charged at frightening speed. Without hesitation, I immediately activated Flash Strike and launched myself into the air.

I needed time to think and assess.

Each of them is so different.

Normally, enemies on a single floor followed a standard distribution—mostly weak, with a few stronger ones—and possessed abilities shaped by their governing god, or adjusted by the tower itself. This floor was wildly different.

For example, one wraith archer managed to track me even with Flash Strike active, while most of the others froze mid-motion. A fair portion of the wraiths were barely stronger than ordinary humans, but an equally decent percentage radiated an ominous presence that spoke to their strength. The disparity was indeed absurd.

I layered another Flash Strike and leapt again. This time, even the archer who had managed to track me before couldn’t keep up, but new enemies immediately locked onto me. Some of them were easily as strong as the climbers who had reached the eightieth floor. The gap in power among these wraiths defied all logic.

I thought quickly.

Maybe killing them isn’t the goal.

The tower had clearly tasked me with releasing them, not destroying them. Besides, slaughtering millions of wraiths would be impossible even for me. It was entirely possible that the ones attacking me were meant as a distraction, a trap. Perhaps the real key to their liberation lay somewhere around me, and the reward depended on how many survived by the end.

What should I do?

Swish.

A piercing whistle tore through the air beneath me. I twisted and narrowly evaded the strike. The source of the sound, a corroded spear, grazed past my shoulder, and when I looked down, I saw a massive figure at least two and a half meters tall. Even as a wraith, its eyes gleamed with an unnerving sharpness.

It had hidden its presence perfectly, so no wonder I hadn’t sensed it earlier.

There are just too many of them.

The sheer number was incalculable. Originally, I had guessed millions, but I reevaluated it to tens of millions, perhaps more. By this point, dozens of enemies were tracking me with their gaze despite Flash Strike’s accelerating effect.

I could feel the hostility radiating from every direction, but there was no time to analyze each one individually. Some of them were masking their presence altogether.

There are undoubtedly stronger ones lying in wait, hidden among them.

Just like the two-and-a-half-meter-tall wraith, they were watching while waiting for the right moment to strike. Unfortunately, my habit of overanalyzing everything wouldn’t help me in this circumstance.

First, I needed to look for any sign or hint that could serve as the key to their release.

I propelled myself higher into the sky. It was time to move and see what this world had in store.

***

[Release the wraiths. Time remaining: 23 hours 35 minutes.]

“Did you sense anything?”

“No, Su-Hyeok,” Poong-Lyeong answered.

That was what I had named the Spirit of Storms during my two-week training session. After some thought, I had decided a simple name suited it best, and it seemed pleased by it.

Anyway, I hadn’t expected much to begin with, so I wasn’t disappointed. If it had detected anything unusual, it would have spoken up by now. Even after more than twenty minutes of searching, we had found nothing.

My senses were sharper than ever after training and obtaining new equipment on the ninety-sixth floor, so I doubted I had simply missed something. Most likely, there was truly nothing to be found.

Of course, being the ninety-seventh floor, it may just be that well hidden.

Even with that possibility in mind, continuing to search would be a waste of time. Wherever I went, the horizon remained blanketed with wraiths. There were so many that the guess of tens of millions had now risen to hundreds of millions.

Finding a clue to their release amid that endless horde bordered on the impossible. It would be far quicker to strike them down and search for answers along the way.

Besides, I had to keep in mind that my time was limited.

Perhaps the main challenge of this trial is the enemies’ sheer numbers.

I resolved to conserve my strength and use my time wisely.

On the other hand, though, I could be overthinking it altogether. A massive field of both weak and strong enemies just happened to be the perfect scenario for me to test my new armaments and divine relic.

My intuition liked that thought.

Usually, I would have spent more time seeking the key to their release, but the malice they exuded was too raw and pure. It was the collective killing intent of tens of millions, primal and suffocating. Even the weaker wraiths radiated such fierce hostility that it made my skin prickle.

Confronted with such blind and absolute hatred, I abandoned the notion of searching for clues altogether. Now, it was time to face them head-on and uncover the truth through battle. After all, the most important thing was to overcome the trial itself.

I should start by reducing their numbers.

Just as I began gathering lightning, the powers of storm and flame sealed within Soulbound stirred faintly within me. I decided to test my control over storms first. Before doing so, however, I wanted to confirm something with Poong-Lyeong. I had been wondering how different Soulbound’s and its storms were.

“Can you channel your strength into storms I conjure through Soulbound?”

“Of course, Su-Hyeok.”

“Then let’s try it.”

“I’ll assist.”

I drew upon my mana and invoked the storm’s essence contained within Soulbound, causing it to surge vividly to life. A swirling gust flickered along the axe’s edge, and Poong-Lyeong’s power merged with it seamlessly.

Reveling in the feeling of Soulbound in my hand, I gave it a light swing. The axe cleaved through the air, and wherever it passed, the surrounding breeze, no matter how small, gathered into a storm. As the vortex expanded and spread in all directions, I released Flash Strike.

Thud!

A deep, resonant boom rumbled across the land, echoing like a thunderous collision. The storm roared as it swept over the world, engulfing everything within its reach. Whether the wraiths were grounded or airborne didn’t matter; they were all caught in its fury.

Each gust of wind was like a blade, shredding any flying entity until not a single fragment remained. Their blood and flesh vanished the instant they touched the storm, erased by the power of the Star Devourer.

It looks like even though Poong-Lyeong is controlling the storm, since it comes from Soulbound, it contains the power to erase.

Of course, it wasn’t as mighty or absolute as the Star Devourer. The blades of wind diced any wraith unfortunate to encounter them, and the erasure followed soon after. Even so, the fact that the storm carried that destructive force at all was more than enough for me.

Next, I summoned the Flame of Aspiration.

Theoretically, is this an inextinguishable fire?

A flame imbued with the power to erase everything it touched would also annihilate the forces that tried to extinguish it. Still, I didn’t set my expectations too high. These were distinct and peculiar powers, and only a small portion of the Star Devourer’s essence had merged into them.

I looked down. At the eye of the storm beneath my feet, countless wraiths howled and reached for me. I swung the axe once more, this time invoking the Flame of Aspiration.

Whoosh.

A massive fire blazed to life, but it didn’t feel as satisfying as the storm. The Flame of Aspiration’s power was purer than the storm, but it seemed slightly weaker than Ha Hee-Jeong’s magic.

That was true only in terms of raw power, though.

Although countless wraiths attacked the fire with weapons or spells in an effort to extinguish it, the flames refused to die, devouring any incoming object instead.

Wait, what if I combine it with the storm?

I acted immediately. The Flame of Aspiration rode the storm’s current, spreading upward and outward.

A firestorm.

In an instant, a majestic blaze dyed the blackened world in red. The flames did not fade, even amid the raging winds. The flickering fire rode the storm’s vortex and swept across the battlefield.

A hot gust brushed against me, though all I felt was warmth.

The heat stirred the air into powerful updrafts, kicking up dust that clouded my vision. However, my senses traced everything clearly. The storm continued to expand and devoured everything in its path.

So this is what magic feels like.

Though I would undoubtedly release more devastating attacks by wielding Soulbound directly, the spectacle captivated me in a way I had never imagined possible.

Pushing the thought aside, I turned to Poong-Lyeong. “How far can this go?”

“There is no limit, so long as your power can sustain it.”

Even with Soulbound supplying the spark to create storm and flame, and Poong-Lyeong absorbing my mana to amplify them, I still had energy to spare. The items imbued with La-Soon’s Last Breath enhanced vitality, and along with it, mana recovery. It didn’t store additional mana like my gauntlet had, but it did replenish it constantly.

To be honest, when I had first learned that conquering the tower could elevate one to godhood, I couldn’t comprehend the concept of me being a god. However, I truly felt divine in this moment. Even if I set aside the destruction I was unleashing, the sheer spectacle of the natural forces bending to my will was overwhelming.

Let the storm grow!

Now it was time to test Soulbound and the armor together. I pushed through the vortex with ease, no doubt because I had created it. Beyond the storm, the horde of wraiths continued racing toward me.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

I sought out the strongest among them. One possessed the level of strength I had possessed around the eightieth floor. Not a weak foe by any means, but I had long surpassed such power.

I launched myself straight toward it.

This was merely a test of my armaments, so I held back my strength. The wraith raised its sword to block the descending axe.

Clang!

Even after deliberately restraining myself, Soulbound almost immediately hollowed out the point at which the axe hit the blade with its erasure ability. The wraith shifted smoothly from defense to offense without being dumbfounded.

I chose not to block the strike. As its sword slashed diagonally toward me, I raised my left forearm to intercept it.

Clang.

The already damaged blade shattered on impact, and the section of it that had landed on my armor also began to erode slightly.

Even after sustaining the blow, the armor was so exceptional that the blow barely registered. Perhaps it would be different against a divine being, but just as I had expected, employing it strategically could allow me to easily switch to offense.

Time to test my Aura.

I gathered my mana and released it forward. The instant it erupted, I understood. The lightning I manifested directly carried far more of the Star Devourer’s essence than anything Soulbound could summon.

The surge of blue-gold light tore through the charging wraiths like a tidal wave, erasing everything it touched without leaving a trace.