└ Seriously, when Soma pulls that off, it’s freaking cool

└ That’s all for show lol. I heard there were plenty of times he came out without a scratch during the 62nd floor prep runs lol

└ Still, pushing yourself to cut down on time can get you hurt. Above all, you can’t deny that Seoul is safe because of Soma!

└ Phew! Bought another month! A month feels way too short though lol. Would it kill them to make it half a year?

└ I guess it’s their way of saying “don’t let your guard down” haha. But looking at the New York Tower, it seems doable up to the 70th floor range as long as you’re fully geared up.

└ I heard the cost of renting all that equipment alone exceeds 100 billion won lol

└ Well, if that investment protects New York, it’s actually a bargain lol

With the successful clear of the top floor—the 62nd—the collapse of the 25th Seoul Tower had been pushed back by another month.

Given that New York had already climbed to the 71st floor, they could hold out for at least eight months.

If New York continued pushing higher floors in the meantime, the deadline would naturally extend that much further.

The tower had a total of 100 floors.

Since the tradition was to wish for good fortune all the way to the 100th floor upon awakening, reaching that summit would mark the end.

What exactly would happen once the 100th floor was cleared?

It still felt like a distant future.

But considering the number 71, even at the slowest pace, they had roughly two and a half years before the end.

‘Well, that’s something to worry about after I sort out my own problems first, I suppose.’

Shin Jungho reflected on his current predicament.

The Swordmaster Kim Taemin, the previous owner of the Summoning Stone, was searching for Mirinae.

At his request, both Park Soyul and Yoon Changdae were also hunting for Mirinae.

In particular, Yoon Changdae—who possessed a reliable method to detect the Summoning Stone—was now planning to search northern Seoul, which included the area where Jungho lived.

On top of that, the United States was also looking for Mirinae.

What exactly was the Summoning Stone, and what was Mirinae, that everyone was making such a fuss?

Jungho once again recalled Lea’s martial prowess and the devastating power of Meteor Summoning.

He nodded.

……Fair enough. It’s worth making a fuss over.

He had grown so accustomed to it that it all felt mundane to him.

But to anyone else unaware of the situation, it was an unsolvable mystery.

And today.

He was about to add yet another question to that mystery.

Jungho summoned Lea at exactly 11:00 PM.

Now that he could summon twice a day, he could summon her at 3:00 AM and then again at 11:00 PM the same evening.

Waking up mid-sleep at 3:00 AM was certainly a hassle, but it beat being ambushed in his sleep.

“My Lord, I hope you have been well.”

Lea bowed with impeccable posture, her military discipline as rigid as ever.

“……Is it going to take a year?”

“Pardon? For what, my Lord?”

For her to start behaving like a normal teenage girl.

He wondered if it was none of his business.

But then again, sending a girl far younger than himself into battle by pushing her forward felt considerably uncomfortable by modern sensibilities.

“Never mind. Let’s get right into the 11th floor clear. Are you ready?”

“I am always the sword and shield prepared for my Lord. Do not ask for my opinion—simply give me your command.”

……If he ordered her to act like a normal Korean teenage girl from now on, how would she even take that?

He was genuinely curious about her reaction, but that was something he could figure out later when he had more mental breathing room.

Right now, he needed to build enough strength that no one—let alone the third-ranked superhuman of Seoul Tower—could dare touch him.

For that, there was no more reliable method than climbing the tower.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

Jungho grasped Tiamat’s Staff and entered the tower.

Seupat! Seupat!

[You have entered the 11th floor of Tower 25.]

= Objective: Defeat 20 Minotaurs.

= Time Limit: 2:00:00

From the 11th floor through the 20th, monsters known as Minotaurs—half-human, half-bull creatures—appeared.

Standing over two meters tall with bull-like musculature.

Wielding massive weapons such as battle axes, greatswords, and halberds, the Minotaurs were considerably tricky to deal with as humanoid monsters that actually used weapons.

The one saving grace for superhumans was that the battlefield was a forest, not an open plain.

In the densely wooded forest, visibility was naturally obstructed, allowing climbers to deal with the Minotaurs one by one at a measured pace.

Unlike the zombies, the Minotaurs were scattered throughout the forest, which made engaging them individually relatively manageable.

However, they didn’t stay in one place—they wandered about, meaning there were times when two or three had to be faced simultaneously.

In such situations, the ironclad rule of survival for any superhuman lacking confidence was to run unconditionally.

Well…… that was generally speaking, of course.

In the face of Meteor Summoning…… what meaning did any of that hold?

Jungho pointed at the enormous warhammer-shaped staff lying flat on the forest floor—just as it had been on his studio apartment floor—and asked for help.

“Lea, could you lift this for me?”

“My apologies! I will lift it at once!”

Lea’s loud response carried an unmistakable note of excitement.

Being summoned only in the dead of night and limited to whispered conversations must have been quietly frustrating for her.

“Heup!”

“Hat!”

The two of them combined their strength and heaved Tiamat’s Staff off the ground.

“Here we go!”

“Yes!”

Jungho used the staff to activate his Meteor Summoning skill.

The vast cosmos unfolded in his mind.

Within it, he quietly observed the meteorites available for summoning.

And sensed something was off.

Nothing had…… changed, really?

The staff’s ability was supposed to amplify magic-type skills, yet the visible cosmos and the summonable meteorites looked no different from usual.

After watching in silence for a while, a sudden realization struck him.

Ah.

The Meteor Summoning magic was so extraordinary.

That the staff’s amplification effect couldn’t even reach 0.01% of it.

……Should I really just leave this thing in the tower?

Jungho selected a moderately sized meteorite, just as he usually did.

A massive black hole tore open in the sky.

Where the Minotaurs were in this vast forest, he had no idea.

The dense trees blocked any clear view of what lay ahead.

But through the gaps in the foliage, the sky was visible.

Using the sky as a reference point, he designated a spot roughly 500 meters ahead as the meteor summoning coordinate.

“17.7 tons!”

A rather impressive one was going to drop right from the start.

“Let’s get going!”

“Yes, my Lord!”

Jungho and Lea combined their strength and drove the staff into the ground.

Kuwoong!

With a massive barrier now in front of them, Jungho immediately ducked and pressed himself tight behind it.

The head of the staff was so enormous that simply crouching behind it concealed nearly his entire body.

Meanwhile, Lea stood boldly in front of the staff’s head, sword drawn and ready to face the enemy.

Kwaaaaaaaang!

The meteorite struck the ground, triggering a massive explosion.

Kwagagagagagagagaga!

The violent shockwave sent everything in the vicinity flying.

Lea focused her entire consciousness on the hand gripping her sword.

A single misstep here could gravely injure not only herself but Jungho behind her. This was a moment demanding more caution than any before.

The enemy she had to face with her life on the line on the 11th floor of the tower.

Was not the bull-headed brutes swinging their massive weapons.

It was the trees—many times larger than those brutes.

Kadeudeudeudeu—!

Hordes of wooden debris swept up by the shockwave came flying toward them.

Lea drew a deep breath.

Then swung her sword with lightning-fast speed.

“Hap! Hap! Hap! Hap! Hap! Hap! Hap! Hap! Hap! Hap! Hap! Hap! Hap! Hap! Hap……!”

The incoming wooden fragments split left and right under Lea’s sword strikes, deflecting past either side of the staff’s head.

Some pieces did collide with the staff’s head, but its absurd mass meant that even sizable impacts didn’t budge it an inch from where it stood.

As a shield…… it wasn’t half bad?

It was in that moment of realizing the staff’s alternative utility that he resolved to bring it back with him after all.

Sensing the sky above darken slightly, he looked up and saw an enormous tree—roots and all—hurtling straight toward them.

“Lea! Above! Above!”

At Jungho’s urgent cry, Lea answered not with words but with a powerful battle cry as she leapt into the air.

“Haat!”

Lea’s sword traced an upward arc from below.

Along her blade shimmered a pure white Sword Aura unlike anything he had ever seen before.

Seogeok!

The thick tree trunk was cleanly cleaved in two by Lea’s sword.

He had known she could use Sword Aura, but witnessing its power firsthand was a first.

He could finally understand why Swordmaster Kim Taemin took such pride in Sword Aura as his signature technique.

Its martial display was enough to stir a momentary sense of awe.

The battle was over.

……Against the wooden debris, that is.

Unfortunately, no floor clear notification appeared.

Which meant there were still Minotaurs alive out there.

The dense forest had also softened the shockwave considerably compared to usual, at least from their perspective.

While the flying wood fragments had been threatening enough, given the Minotaurs’ defensive capabilities, the blast might not have posed as great a threat to them.

Of course, all of this was mere speculation.

No one had ever slammed a massive meteorite into the tower before, after all.

“Huu! Huu! Huu!”

Jungho waited for Lea to catch her breath while surveying the surroundings.

Perhaps due to the distance from the impact zone, the surrounding trees were relatively intact.

But shifting his gaze even slightly forward revealed branches snapped everywhere, with some trunks completely broken in half.

The toppled trees scattered every which way made exploration look difficult.

“Huu……! My Lord! Your command!”

Lea, still breathing heavily, demanded orders to hunt down the remaining monsters.

“These are Minotaurs, not zombies. Are you sure you’ll be alright?”

“Unless all twenty charge at me at once, there is no creature here that can match me! Moreover, my Lord has just unleashed a magnificent magic, so there can be no doubt that none remain standing unscathed! Therefore, give me your command at once!”

It was disappointing not to witness Lea fighting the Minotaurs in person, but dragging this out any longer would only increase the risk of missing out on an Amazing Achievement.

So Jungho issued his command without further hesitation.

“Yes, then I leave it to you. And don’t push yourself too hard.”

“You need not worry about me! I shall present my Lord with an Amazing Achievement without fail!”

Lea drew her sword and dashed forward.

Even with the forest in total disarray, Lea moved like a flying squirrel, weaving through the wreckage and vanishing from sight in an instant.

Just how many had survived?

If only he could know the number.

Several minutes passed since Lea had charged out.

An anomalous movement was detected from one side of the forest.

Jungho immediately ducked behind the massive head of the staff and fixed his gaze in that direction.

……Keureureureu!

It was a Minotaur—a bull-headed humanoid.

He had seen them in videos compiled from superhumans’ testimonies.

But facing one directly inside the tower carried an entirely different level of pressure.

Lea…… was she still not back?

It was hard to predict when Lea, who had dashed off to the left, would return.

Only then did Jungho realize his mistake.

The prospect of an Amazing Achievement must have briefly clouded his judgment.

He should have asked her to sweep the area from left to right in front of him, even if it took a bit longer.

Jeobeok! Jeobeok! Jeobeok!

The Minotaur carried a massive two-handed axe and marched straight toward Jungho.

Its condition didn’t seem particularly good—it stumbled once or twice while walking.

But with only a staff he couldn’t even lift, Jungho had no viable way to fight the creature.

A typical superhuman would have drawn on their experience fighting zombies, trusted their personal combat skills, and engaged immediately.

But for Jungho, who had never so much as swung a baseball bat at a zombie—let alone faced a monster up close—this was an exceedingly dire situation.

……This won’t do.

Jungho pulled an item from his coat.

In his hand was a Return Ticket—the item that would instantly transport him back to reality.

The creature was limping, so he could have easily fled.

But he couldn’t just abandon the staff that had found new life as a shield(?), so regrettably, he was about to give up a first-clear attempt for the very first time.

Keureureureureu!

The Minotaur closed to within about ten meters.

It was right around the moment he truly felt there was no other option.

“You fiend!”

Lea appeared from out of nowhere, flying in like the wind and charging straight at the Minotaur.

The Minotaur immediately registered Lea and turned to face her.

It readied its two-handed axe for a powerful swing.

Buuung!

Seogeok!

The massive two-handed axe cleaved through empty air, and Lea’s sword struck the bull’s head.

[You have cleared the 11th floor of Tower 25.]

[11 Magic Stones will be awarded.]

[You will automatically return in 10 seconds.]

“My Lord! I am sorry! Are you alright!”

“……Haha, thank you. You saved my life.”

“I have committed a mortal sin! For failing to ensure my Lord’s safety, I will accept any punishment you see fit!”

Apparently convinced she had made a grave error, Lea showed no sign of lifting her head.

“It’s fine. You came back right on time. I trusted that you would.”

Jungho quietly slipped the Return Ticket away.

“I have no face to show you, my Lord……!”

Still, no one got hurt and the floor was cleared successfully—wasn’t that what mattered?

More importantly, the real question now was.

Whether he had still managed to achieve an Amazing Achievement despite all the time that had passed.