Chapter 499 - Common Enemy (5)

When Yeon-woo first entered the sixtieth floor, a message window popped up with the term “our race”. This was how the giants referred to themselves.

Unlike the relatively well-known dragon race, whose presence in the Tower lingered thanks to the Summer Queen, the giants had long gone extinct, and there were not many records left regarding their existence.

However, the giants were once great warriors who made countless worlds and dimensions kneel before them. However, that same fearlessness eventually brought them to their ruin, and the only traces of their existence were on the sixtieth floor.

Just as the fiftieth floor was connected to dragons and was where the ancient dragon Kalatus had made his lair, the sixtieth floor was full of the giants’ traces. The Great Sword Tomb was actually a collection of weapons used by the giants during their childhood training. With a little work, most of the swords could still be used now.

The Giant race’s excellent metalsmithing technology, craftsmanship, and ambition were all distilled into their swords, which helped them retain their shape and utility even after so much time had passed. The dragon race had studied and pursued knowledge and truth, but the giant race had taken a different path, and so, Yeon-woo did not know what to expect of them. Based on Valdebich, who inherited the blood of the giants, Yeon-woo only had a vague impression of the giants.

In any case, because of the sixtieth floor’s unique relationship with the giant race, Valdebich had rarely left the floor since he climbed there.

The sixtieth floor was the only place where he could put his mind to rest. Even though Arthia had its own clan house, Valdebich often mentioned that he felt more secure on the sixtieth floor. Valdebich often reminisced about his childhood with a longing expression.

I often thought that maybe his longing was similar to how I missed my life on Earth. However, the difference between us was that I could return to Earth any time if I retired from climbing the Tower while my friend could not.

The sixtieth floor was just an imitation of the giants’ home towards the end of their reign, so it could not be said that it was their true residence. It had never been the land of the giants.

After reading his brother’s journal, Yeon-woo speculated that Valdebich had decided to return to the sixtieth floor after giving up his accumulated privileges and achievements to send Jeong-woo back to Earth.

‘Furthermore, Bayluk also mentioned that the door leading to the giant race’s ancient lands is located in this place.’

The door to the giant race’s ancient lands was in a hidden stage located at the bottom of the sixtieth floor. In a way, it made sense that it would be here, but even though numerous clans and rankers had explored the place, none of them could find the door. In the end, they decided that the sixtieth floor was nothing more than just an imitation. After all, there hadn’t ever been any evidence that giants had ever inhabited the Tower, so this rumor became a fact to people.

However, after he completed the sixtieth floor, Valdebich realized that this wasn’t the case after all. He knew that the last place the giants set foot on before their extinction was the Tower, and if one understood the giants’ perspective, it made sense that they would have appeared in the Tower.

The giants were a race that proved their self-worth through battle. It was a tradition to despise the weak and revere the strong, which allowed the race to become stronger. To them, the world of the Tower was like a drug that could not be ignored. With the trials on each floor that tested each player’s abilities and the possibility to grow infinitely with the Tower’s reward system, it was inevitable that the giants scattered throughout the universe and various dimensions would hope to climb it. After all, the Tower even provided an easy-to-understand ranking system that allowed individual giants to understand their strength relative to their peers.

The giants had climbed up and up, but in the end, Allforone proved to be an immovable wall that blocked them from going beyond the seventy-seventh floor.

‘That was thousands of years ago, and there are hardly any records in existence now.’

The Tower was still in its infancy when the giants were climbing it and vying with Allforone. It was a time before the various societies in the heavenly world had even properly formed and the dragon race had been established.

Nevertheless, Allforone had already situated himself firmly on the seventy-seventh floor and had become an immovable barrier. And, of course, just like the dragons, the giants went through a slow process of extinction.

However, while the dragons had been massacred together while trying to challenge Allforone, the giants fought Allforone individually instead of as a group. They wanted to challenge Allforone as proud warriors, not as a race. This point of view caused them to fight each other to see which of them would be a great warrior worthy of challenging Allforone.

That battle had taken place on the sixtieth floor, and the Great Sword Tomb’s weapons were the only things left of the giant warriors who had fought and died, and only the hidden stage contained the traces of their battles and foolish quarrels. The place Bayluk had discovered, which Valdebich later visited, was the area that contained the remnants of that final battle. However, this was all the information Yeon-woo had about the hidden stage.

The original books of revelations were not the only books Yeon-woo had seen in the Changgong Library. He’d picked up random books, as well, and so he managed to learn a lot about the hidden history of the universe.

‘The Crawling Chaos is somehow related to the extinction of the giants.’

The information on high-ranking beings, such as otherworld gods, was restricted. Only those with high-level clearance could access the heavily guarded information, which meant Yeon-woo couldn’t read it. If he still had his viewing rights, he might be able to find out more about the Crawling Chaos, but since he’d use them all up on the revelations, he no longer had the opportunity.

However, he had a few theories. The Crawling Chaos was the one that told Bayluk about an ancient land of giants. Furthermore, the Crawling Chaos had appeared using Valdebich’s appearance, so there was clearly some connection between the death of the giants and the Crawling Chaos.

Yeon-woo thought that the giants had reached out to the Crawling Chaos, just as the ancient dragon Kalatus had allied with the Crawling Chaos to overcome Allforone. However, all of this was only conjecture. Yeon-woo did not know anything for certain.

Valdebich seemed to know something, but he did not leave any details about it in the letter he had penned while returning Jeong-woo’s ashes.

‘I’ll find out soon enough.’

After crossing the stage with his Fire Wings, Yeon-woo finally reached its end and found a hill that was much taller than all the other hills he’d seen in the area. It looked like a magnificent mountain, and at its peak was a huge sword that seemed to easily exceed one kilometer in length. The hilt of the sword broke through the clouds and seemed to be reaching for the heavens.

The trial of the sixtieth floor was to be acknowledged by one of the sword spirits that remained in the swords. In other words, one had to be recognized by a fallen giant’s spirit. Since the size of each sword was directly related to the rank of its former owner, the difficulty in passing the requirements of the floor directly corresponded to the size of the sword.

Yeon-woo stood in front of the largest sword on the stage.

‘The king of the giants, the Great Warrior.’

He folded his Fire Wings and infused his palm with magic power.

‘The entrance to the hidden stage should be below this.’

Rumble! The giant’s sword grave began to quake, and the rust and dirt that covered it crumbled off. The hard, sharp blade that was dormant under the rust and dirt gleamed coldly. Ch, ch, ch! A hazy gray spirit fluttered over the giant sword’s grave and began to take on a gloomy shape.

The giant’s spirit body was easily as big as the Titans Yeon-woo had encountered in Tartarus. However, it was only a spirit and nothing more than the traces of a once-great being. The spirit didn’t have any sentience and was little more than an NPC that moved as programmed.

However, since it was a remnant left by the king of the giants, it exuded an enormous spiritual pressure. A violent typhoon raged as it took form, flattening the surrounding mounds and hills. Those who challenged the sixtieth floor were close to being high rankers, but Yeon-woo wondered how many would be able to contend with such a fierce storm.

Not minding the storm’s ferocity, Yeon-woo patiently waited for the spirit to take its final form. As the various wisps of aura united, a skull took form and looked down on Yeon-woo, roaring,

『Who dares awaken the spirit of this great being? Prove your qualifications!』

It was the same line that spewed out whenever a spirit appeared from its sword grave. Yeon-woo had always planned to answer sincerely, but he had no intention of stating an answer only for this single spirit to hear. In order to open the hidden stage, another absolutely ridiculous condition had to be met: ‘To be recognized by all the spirits that live in these sword graves.’

In an instant, a huge magical field spread out from Yeon-woo to the rest of the stage, leaving concentric circles in their wake. When the field enveloped the sword graves with its magical powers, the graves started trembling at once. There were 3,000 sword graves on the sixtieth floor, and the sight of them all resonating at the same time was a fearful sight.

『Who dares awaken us from our long slumber?』

『Who dares awaken us from our deep sleep?』

『Which one...!』

About 3,000 large and small spirit bodies rose from their graves at the same time and turned to look at Yeon-woo, their ferocious warrior intentions combining into a single killing intent. The atmosphere trembled.

Ding!

[The Hidden Quest (The Legion of the Great Old Warriors) is being revealed.]

[Hidden Quest / Legion of Great Old Warriors]

[Description: You have disturbed the rest of an ancient race that had been dormant for a long time on the sixtieth floor. They feel a strong hostility towards the person who has not only destroyed their slumbering peace but also disturbed the peace of others around them. In addition, the fact that a mere creature of flesh and blood disturbed them has caused them offense.

The Great Warrior has declared that you will be sacrificed in tribute to their race. From this point onwards, prove to this Legion of the Great Old Warriors that you are not just a mere mortal but a warrior with courage and determination equal to theirs. Exceed your limitations and vanquish them all to prove you deserve your qualification.]

[Restrictions: ―]

[Time Limit: ―]

[Rewards:

1. The title of ‘Great War Soldier’

2. Entrance to the hidden stage the ‘Land of the Fallen Giant’

3. The Great Warrior’s Sword]

Yeon-woo lightly smacked his lips. Even high rankers would have a hard time dealing with just one spirit. For ordinary challengers, the objective of the floor was to prove yourself worthy and not necessarily win. As long as the spirits respected you, you could pass the trial. However, the situation was different for Yeon-woo, who had woken up all the spirits on the floor.

He didn’t only have to prove himself, but he had to destroy. The floor’s system had decided he had insulted them all, and even though Yeon-woo had become strong enough to awaken Lucifer’s power, he felt his lips go dry from the killing intent, which was formidable enough to make his skin tingle. ‘Valdebich mentioned he had to go through quite a bit of trouble to get through here, right?’

In order to enter the hidden stage, he needed to obtain the title of Great warrior Soldier. When Valdebich had first arrived, he didn’t have the strength to defeat all the spirits and struggled quite a bit. However, he did complete the Hidden Quest eventually.

Yeon-woo slowly pulled out the Magic Bayonet hanging from his belt. It felt good to touch it after such a long time. It would be a lot faster if he could bring out all his familiars from the shadows to deal with the spirits. ‘However, I can’t wake them up right now.’

His familiars had entered into a state of deep meditation to practice and improve for over a thousand years. Shanon, Hanryeong, Rebecca, Boo...even the Vampiric Lord who had been pulled out of Vigrid had not regained consciousness yet.

The fact that they had not woken up after his return meant that they were at an important crossroads. Yeon-woo had no intention of disturbing them at this critical moment. Furthermore, he did not feel that he needed their help, so he was going to leave them alone until they woke up on their own. Just as he reshaped himself, they would soon appear in their own new form.

He decided to spread his Fire Wings and fly away for the moment.

『My body...! I’ve been looking for it for so long...! But he stole it...! Oh, my body...! You have it...! You’re the thief...!』

‘What?’ Yeon-woo turned his head towards the Great Warrior’s spirit. It was saying things that were not part of its programmed language. The Great Warrior’s eyes blazed wildly. The level of hostility that Yeon-woo felt from it was beyond anything he had ever experienced.

[The sealed ‘Soul of the Great Warrior’ has been released.]

[The ‘Soul of the Great Warrior’ senses the scepter you and your familiars possess and demand that you return it!]

[The ‘Soul of the Great Warrior’ has tremendous hostility towards you.]

[From the darkness and void, the ‘Soul of the Great Warrior’ is attempting to descend through its spirit body.]

[A ‘Great Demon’ infected by the Crawling Chaos is descending.]

[All spirits under its control are attempting to reincarnate simultaneously.]