Chapter 553

RUMBLE!

A chain of explosions erupted one after another from where the Tower of Heroes had penetrated Lunatic, causing the entire structure to tremble.

Woong-

Gravity and other internal systems were going haywire, destroyed by the blast debris pummeling the surroundings like meteors. No matter how one looked at it, the interior of Lunatic now resembled a battlefield where total chaos was erupting everywhere.

Yet, despite standing on that battlefield, Tuner was just blankly staring outside as if the chaos didn’t exist.

Why are we being attacked...?

He was in shock. Lunatic had been equipped with a comprehensive defense system specifically to prevent such ambushes. Isolation chambers to counter spatial magic, dimensional neutralizers to suppress any techniques based on the power of Boundaries, thought-proliferation systems to resist the Blessing of the Sacred Lantern—every conceivable strategy Se-Hoon might try had been accounted for.

Tuner was so confident that he was calm even when their lunar camouflage was exposed. Yet they had been struck?!

The defense systems weren’t deactivated; no sign of forced entry either.

Contrary to his expectations, the security system hadn’t been deactivated even once. Even now, as Lunatic crumbled, it still operated in full... which meant Lunatic’s defenses didn’t recognize the Tower of Heroes that pierced it as an attack...!

A possibility flashed across Tuner’s racing mind. To verify it, Tuner wasted no time in morphing his own body.

Crack-

Like bubbles blooming across his body, thousands of eyes—artificial imitations of the Seeker’s eye—linked and opened. Close to the original, the eyes began interpreting

everything

in their view.

“...Ha.”

Seeing the truth, Tuner could only let out a dry laugh.

“The Tower of Heroes didn’t pierce from the outside... but within.”

Rather than rising from the surface, the Tower of Heroes manifested its full form from a “frame” first formed inside Lunatic that was then connected to the Tower of Pristine.

So that’s why the defense system of Lunatic didn’t react.

Now Tuner understood how the breach occurred—yet his questions only increased. How had the Tower of Heroes been constructed inside Lunatic? What kind of attack would follow? Because the Tower of Heroes itself had never been used as an offensive weapon before, Tuner was left at its loss by its very first user: Se-Hoon.

It seems hastily put together, but there’s no gap to exploit.

If it had been a typical power-based attack, Lunatic could’ve countered with its own puppet force. The Tower of Heroes, however, was a terminal directly linked to the Golden Ring. In other words, it couldn’t be destroyed by such ordinary means.

A Harbinger of Destruction might manage... but the collateral damage would destroy Lunatic as well.

Tuner honestly didn’t care about Lunatic, but there was no way Puppeteer didn’t. Thus, in conclusion, all he could do now was wait and recover from the damage.

“

Ugh,

we spent so much time preparing this. Did he foresee it all...? No, never mind. Judging by his slow reaction at the start, he probably only saw through the theater aspect, not Lunatic itself—”

Crack!

A twisted door burst open just as his thoughts were deepening, broken through by Beast King.

“Enemy incursion. What’s the plan?”

“Wait. We’re not in a position to act yet.”

“

...Tsk.

”

Annoyed, Beast King looked at the Tower of Heroes beyond the window with a sneer.

“That’s a perfect ride back down to Earth.”

Beast King’s words were only a meaningless jibe, meant only to mock Puppeteer and Tuner’s blunder.

“...!”

Yet they widened Tuner’s eyes. Realizing something, Tuner hastily scanned Lunatic’s interior again. And when he found that part of Lunatic’s outer zone had been transformed, just like the Tower of Heroes...

[The Towers of Heroes are being reconstructed.]

He laid his eyes on a notification message for the first time in decades.

***

There were two major obstacles to clear before attacking Lunatic.

The first was distance. Lunatic was suspended hundreds of thousands of kilometers above Earth, so it was natural that even high-ranking heroes had difficulty attacking or even approaching for that matter.

Of course, that didn’t apply to the Perfect Ones and their powers. However, the issue was that the Demon Force was well aware of that too.

They’ve surely prepared contingencies.

It was certain they were ready not only for attacks of the Perfect Ones but for approach attempts by them as well. And while a blocked attack would just end like that, a failed approach could mean a comrade was lost forever in outer space.

On top of that, reaching it isn’t the end of the problems.

Considering that Lunatic was built to alter the minds of others into puppets by implanting knowledge, with the effect intensifying the closer one got, approaching without proper resistance was equivalent to walking toward death.

We’re forced into a losing position from the start... I guess.

It was undeniable—but accepting that only led to being dragged along helplessly. Refusing to accept it, Se-Hoon abandoned all conventional strategies and chose a new path that no one had ever dared to attempt before.

Woong!

An invasive plan to corrupt Lunatic using the Tower of Heroes itself: the Terraforming Operation.

“Current corruption rate: thirty-one percent. At this rate, we’ll soon take over the internal purification system...”

“Wait. Don’t dig deeper in that direction. Looks like they’re trying to isolate and sever that zone.”

“Then I’ll go from another angle!”

Following Lea’s command, Terra flicked her wrist. Immediately after, hundreds of magic arrays began spinning like interlocking gears. Simultaneously, the golden spiral staircase within the Tower of Heroes churned like a wave and began rearranging itself.

Swish!

New golden steps stacked themselves toward the summit. Watching it all unfold with Se-Hoon, Ludwig was in awe.

“They’re really connecting with each other...”

The golden staircase that once rose to the Tower’s trials... was actually heading towards Lunatic. Any hero could now ascend the staircase and traverse hundreds of thousands of kilometers in an instant.

Gazing at the transcendental passageway formed by combining his power with the Tower’s system, Ludwig glanced at Terra.

“I never would have imagined that this would be what the Planetary Reinforcement Project grants you.... You always exceed my expectations.”

Who would’ve thought the Tower of Heroes could become both a weapon and a transport route? His admiration overflowing, Ludwig turned to Se-Hoon, who scratched his head awkwardly.

“I just got lucky this time.”

If they hadn’t been able to control the Tower of Heroes through Terra’s power or link to it via Ludwig’s power, the plan would’ve failed instantly. The plan was such a reckless gamble without prior verification that even Se-Hoon couldn’t bring himself to boast.

“Seizing these chances is part of one’s skill too. Don’t dwell on it.”

“Thank you for the kind words.”

“Next... is there anything I can help with?”

Se-Hoon looked around the interior of the Tower of Heroes.

“Nope. At this point, the connection should hold.”

“I see. In that case, I’ll guard against external intrusions. Strange currents are stirring near the Academy.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

“Alright. Then, take care of yourself.”

And with those words, Ludwig teleported away. Moving on, Se-Hoon walked over to Lea’s side.

“What’s the status like?”

“We’re at forty-five percent. At this rate, we’ll reach the next phase within a minute...”

Staring at the golden sphere—Lunatic’s blueprint—Lea frowned. Noticing that, Se-Hoon looked at her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well...” Hesitating, Lea only voiced her thoughts after a moment. “This artificial planet, Lunatic... it’s more complete than I expected.”

“And what’s so weird about that?”

“It’s nothing weird, but... wasn’t Puppeteer’s specialty Biological Enchantments?”

While imitating the moon’s presence was one thing, deceiving all of humanity was another entirely. The moon was as familiar a celestial body as the sun to humanity; any irregularity would be caught by observatories or high-ranking heroes in a heartbeat.

“I knew she could use Celestial Magic, but I didn’t know she could use it this well...”

Specifically, what truly bothered Lea was something else: the Analog Stellar Magic used in Lunatic that was originally the research topic of her beloved father, Dane Claudel.

“Analog Stellar Magic...”

The very tech Lea used to form the foundation of her Sphere’s Analog Stellar System was now being used by Puppeteer.

Arriving at the same realization, Se-Hoon narrowed his eyes upon having a chilling thought.

Don’t tell me... unlike before the regression, she replicated the Sphere’s function by herself?

Lunatic had never existed before the regression, so it was entirely plausible that his butterfly effects had caused the change. Seriously contemplating Lea’s words, Se-Hoon nodded.

“Okay. We’ll stay alert. Let me know if you notice anything else strange.”

“Yeah. Will do.”

Although Puppeteer’s evolution was indeed troubling, it was also a fact that they had no way to confirm anything. For the time being, they could only focus on conquering Lunatic.

Lea understood that too, so she returned to manipulating the Sphere. And eventually...

“The corruption rate is at fifty percent! We’re ready to move to the next phase!”

With the issue of distance overcome using the Tower of Heroes, what about the traps and threats of Lunatic itself?

“Tell everyone to get ready.”

For that, he would use the Towers of Heroes’ greatest weapon: trials.

Grasp-

Approaching the Hero’s Tomb, Se-Hoon clenched the air and drew out the Genesis Hammer from the Dream Storage. Not long after, a presence became obvious. Neither tangible nor visible, the force was the very power that constructed and maintained the Towers of Heroes.

This must be the framework I saw in Ludwig’s lab.

Its nature—whether a Law or the power of Origin—was unknown. But if anyone knew how to process such a thing, it would be Se-Hoon without a doubt.

Bond Recreate

[Bond Recreate has been activated with the subject ‘—’]

Woong!

Se-Hoon’s left hand turned orange, amplifying Terra’s granted authority through their bond. Using it to step into an uncharted domain where no one—not even Se-Hoon himself—had ventured before, he shaped the framework of the Towers into massive cogs.

CLANG!

Then he brought the hammer down, reforging it altogether.

WOOOONG-

A tremendous pulse swept through the entire Tower, its vibration resonating directly in everyone’s minds. From Babel to the entire world, the pulse reached.

[The Towers of Heroes have been reconstructed.]

[The ‘Theater of the Moon’ is now open.]

It was a sign that Puppeteer’s mockery from the sky, her lunar domain, had been transformed into a new trial by the Tower. And of course, the moment it was revealed to humanity, the countless waiting challengers of the Tower all charged in as one.

RUMBLE-

Thousands upon thousands raced up the staircases Terra had created, heading straight into the trial “Lunatic.” In response, Lunatic—now part of the Tower of Heroes—began generating trials for each challenger, rapidly depleting its power.

Unable to corrupt the unceasing flow of intruders, Lunatic crumbled under the torrent of energy escaping through the Tower of Heroes.

“Aaagh!

”

Listening to the eerie screams echoing across the night sky, Se-Hoon glanced back at his assembled companions.

“Time to head up... I guess.”

Turning forward, he led the way up the golden stairs toward the heart of Lunatic.