Chapter 107 – The Monarch (１)

“Quite a few have left, haven’t they.”

Hera said.

As she spoke, nearly all the players who had been near the tower had already departed.

When Gijun first arrived, a crowd of several thousand had gathered. Now barely a tenth remained.

“Yes. There was the prediction it would take considerable time, wasn’t there.”

Klaim answered her question.

The man who served as Knight Commander of Saint Guild’s First Knight Order.

“True.”

Hera nodded.

The prevailing forecast was that the fight against the Monarch would take a very long time.

The basis for that guess, of course, was Amalta.

“What do you think you’re doing! Get the hell out of here! Do you think that’s just any tower? The Mother herself said it would take at least a few weeks to clear that tower!”

Amalta wasn’t making baseless noise, either.

After all, Hamal himself had said that climbing the Monarch’s Tower to reach the Monarch would take weeks at minimum.

“What could possibly be inside there?”

Klaim murmured.

“We can’t know for sure… but from what that NPC Hamal said, countless traps and powerful monsters are lying in wait. So it’s bound to take time.”

“Guild Master, do you intend to stay the whole time?”

At Klaim’s words, Hera nodded.

“Yes. I’ve taken care of the urgent matters first… so I plan to wait as long as I can.”

“I see.”

“You may go back if you’re busy, Knight Commander. Waiting with too many people might put pressure on Master Jun.”

Saying that, Hera turned to look behind her.

Even now, players were trickling away, one by one.

“Might as well go hunting.”

“I found a jackpot grinding spot wandering around over there.”

“I picked up a quest earlier.”

“It’ll take ages anyway….”

“Someone’ll let us know when he comes out.”

Everyone was moving off to do their own tasks, each for their own reasons.

But then….

UMMMM-BOOM!

The tower began to tremble.

“Huh…?”

Hera cocked her head.

“What’s that?”

“Felt like an earthquake?”

“Didn’t the ground shake?”

It wasn’t just Hera.

Everyone gathered there felt the same tremor.

In that instant.

KRRRAAAASH-BOOM!

A colossal explosion erupted from the very peak of the tower.

“…Huh?”

“That’s….”

“That’s the top of the tower, isn’t it?”

The peak of the tower, so impossibly tall its top was lost to sight.

That was where the explosion had occurred.

“No way…”

“Did he reach the top?”

If so, it meant the mage might have already made it to the summit.

“How long’s it been since he went in?”

“Maybe an hour now?”

“I thought it was supposed to take weeks?”

Hera’s eyes went wide as she listened to the players murmuring among themselves.

‘He really reached the top already?’

A speed even she hadn’t anticipated.

And then another explosion thundered out.

From the tower’s peak again.

Kwaaaang!

A blast erupted from one wall of the tower—

Kwaaaa!

And flames roared skyward.

“It’s real!”

“He’s insane! He actually made it to the top!”

The players exploded with excitement.

They began spreading the news frantically.

No sooner had word gone out than more players started pouring toward the tower.

*

‘What’s this now.’

Beyond the chimera he’d taken down and the door he’d forced open, an endless staircase waited.

The moment Jun set foot on that first step, it began.

A relentless cascade of traps, one after another without end.

Shushuk—kwakwang!

Every step triggered an explosion from the floor or the walls.

From every direction, projectiles whose origin he couldn’t even trace rained down in an unending hail.

And these weren’t ordinary projectiles.

Each one detonated in a massive blast.

Where they exploded, the very stone walls were coated with a poison potent enough to melt them away.

‘One moment of carelessness and I’m dead.’

Even Strong Wind’s barrier had been pierced by those lethal projectiles.

The memory flashed through his mind—how he’d nearly been impaled when he relied too much on that spell.

‘I can only trust my instincts.’

He couldn’t afford to let a single attack through.

This was a course of brutal, sadistic difficulty.

But so far, Jun was weaving through the traps unscathed.

Of course, that was thanks to his razor-sharp instincts and Libre’s help.

At the same time, another thought crossed his mind.

‘Looks like he’s cornered, too.’

The Monarch must be far from comfortable right now.

Setting up all these shoddy traps meant he was desperate to buy time.

‘It’s tough, but if anything, it only strengthens my conviction.’

If anything, this brutal staircase was fueling Jun’s determination.

After all, a cornered rat will bite the cat.

Of course, the cornered rat wasn’t Jun.

It was the Monarch.

At least, that’s how Jun saw it.

The Monarch was backed into a corner—that’s why he was going to all this trouble to try and take a bite out of Jun.

Jun was certain of it.

Kaaaaak—!

And then more Monsters burst forth.

Gijun was already moving, unleashing Fireballs at the creatures as his feet hit the floor.

Boom. Boom. Boom. CRACK!

The tower’s walls exploded outward, chunks of stone flying.

Flames geysered through the breach.

Monsters caught in the blast were hurled clear out of the tower.

A shriek—high, thin, and dying—cut through the air.

[Not far now, I think.]

Libre’s words made Gijun push harder.

He climbed. Step after step, up the endless stairs.

*

‘At last… at long last…’

He was coming.

The Seeker.

He had smashed through every trap she’d laid and was barreling straight for her.

“Ha… hahaha… Hahahahaha!”

Liberta.

She laughed.

Laughed like a madwoman.

Wasn’t it absurd?

She’d swallowed every ounce of her pride—all for a single human.

And now he was trampling her efforts, mocking her, charging this way.

A week… no.

Not even a single day.

Had it even taken him an hour?

Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.

‘Fine. If you’re determined to come here…’

Liberta rose to her feet.

‘Then I’ll kill you.’

She’d bought time to recover her strength, just as she’d said.

But not because she feared the Seeker. Not at all.

‘If you think I waited to regain my power because I was afraid of some vermin… you’ve miscalculated.’

She had been gathering strength for something far greater.

The King of Monarchs.

She was hoarding herself to offer to Him.

‘I’ll kill you. Then I’ll wipe every last insect that’s crawled into this land off the face of the earth.’

Her eyes glinted.

‘I’ll gather them all, burn them, and present the pyre to Him.’

Swords materialized in both her hands.

Twinblades with razor-thin edges.

They were soaked in a black so deep it seemed to drink light, and around them, violet-black Magi roiled.

The moment the blades appeared, everything in her chamber warped.

Their mere presence filled the room with Magi so dense, so malevolent, it could dismantle matter at the atomic level.

CRASH! BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

Everything was shattering, scattering apart.

She reached toward her chamber door.

Crack—

A fissure spiderwebbed across the massive gate.

Then it blew apart.

BOOOOM!

The door flew into splintered fragments, swirling through the air.

“…Come, then.”

Ahead, she saw the figure of a single human, charging fearlessly.

“I’ll kill you.”

Flash!

The moment she uttered the words—

From far off, a nauseating halo of light erupted, flinging itself at her.

CRAAAACK!

She swept her sword lightly, deflecting the light.

“Pathetic.”

A cold smile touched her lips.

“To think you’d dare crawl before me with power like that.”

Thud—

She stepped forward—one pace.

And in that instant, she vanished.

A single black afterimage streaked ahead.

KWA-BOOM!

A halo of light bloomed again, and an explosion erupted.

But that light couldn’t even scratch her.

“Did I not tell you?!”

Flash!

She raised her sword.

Sparks of Magi leaped from its blade.

Tzzzzzt—!

Space warped along the sword’s path, bending to the flickering sparks.

Everything nearby crumpled, shattered, and scattered into dust on the air.

“…!”

In that moment, Liberta’s eyes met the Seeker’s.

“Die.”

Her sword flew toward the Seeker.

Flash!

*

‘…Fast.’

Gijun’s eyes went wide.

He’d been watching the Monarch the whole time.

He knew she might lunge at any moment.

That much went according to his plan.

But what came next didn’t.

The Monarch was faster than he’d anticipated.

The instant her sword moved, moments ago…

Gijun had nearly missed the attack.

Not that he’d truly lost track of it—

He saw it, yes, but her instantaneous acceleration was enough to make his blood run cold.

‘Her alias is the Fastest Darkness, isn’t it.’

Liberta’s alias.

The Fastest Darkness.

True to her name, Liberta’s movements were blindingly swift.

As said—fast enough that even Gijun lost sight of them for a moment.

Then, the Monarch’s sword was right in front of his nose.

‘When?’

A speed that caught even Gijun off guard.

Despite his mind being razor-sharp.

Despite his spiritual link with Libre—still, in that fleeting instant, he lost track of the Monarch’s movement.

The time Gijun lost track was a mere flicker.

But that flicker was long enough to threaten his life.

‘I have to move.’

Gijun desperately tried to shift his feet.

But he was too slow.

Even with Orca’s Footsteps active, he couldn’t imagine escaping the Monarch’s velocity.

‘Shit.’

A chill ran down Gijun’s spine.

Cold sweat seemed to trickle down his back.

And then, at that moment—

[Proficiency in Orca’s Footsteps has increased]

A message flashed before his eyes.

Gijun’s foot pressed into the ground.

And then…

FWOOOSH!

“…!!”

Gijun’s body launched forward at incredible speed.

Swish!

The Monarch’s sword cleaved empty air.

By a hair’s breadth, Gijun had dodged her attack.

0.1 seconds.

No—maybe even less, an infinitesimal gap.

Blam-blam-blam-BOOM!

From where the Monarch’s sword struck, a violent pulse of Magi erupted outward.

Her Magi atomized everything in its vicinity right down to the molecular level.

If that had hit him, Gijun would never have come out unscathed.

And that meant the Thorn Gauntlet’s effect was no small thing either.

Blood suddenly burst from her body.

Sssshhhhhhik!

“K-Kugh-aaaaaah!” ”

The Monarch stumbled backward, screaming instead.

Watching her, Gijun kept a strange smile on his face.

Who would’ve thought this is what would raise my Proficiency?

[Orca’s Footsteps]

– Grade: Legendary

– Proficiency: B

– Movement Speed +100%

– Wind-Pressure Effect Activated: Deals Wind-type damage equal to 50% of Magic Attack each time you move.

– Extreme Speed

[Extreme Speed]

– Upon taking the first step, Movement Speed increases by 500% for 10 seconds.

– Cooldown: 60 seconds

Orca’s Footsteps’ new ability: Extreme Speed.

The power to boost initial movement speed by 500%.

He could only use it once per minute.

It’s enough.

This ability had come at a very opportune moment.

After all, as he’d said, his fight with Liberta would likely be all about speed.