บท 348: Key man (3)
-<Return Scroll> / Scrolls / Rank: ?
A scroll that allows you to return to the Tutorial Zone for one time only.
It contains the answer to the question, 'Lord, where are you going?'
※Using this scroll will reset your level
A one-time use item received when you first leave the tower's tutorial area.
The overwhelming majority of challengers to the Tower use this scroll early on.
This is a great item to have when you're in a life-or-death situation, or when you're faced with a mission that you just can't seem to complete.
It's a last resort, so to speak, to preserve one life.
Tudor, Sancho, Piggy, and Bianca all looked surprised.
"You haven't used this scroll before?"
"Great, I remember using it on the third floor."
"I used it on the first floor...."
"Ugh! I used it right before I died on the third floor, and I was so pissed that all my hard-earned levels were reset!"
In addition, Balak's warriors had also used up all of their scrolls before reaching the Flowing River.
Vikir decided it was time for him to use it, too.
"...."
Before tearing up the scroll, Vikir noted the words at the bottom of the item's description.
Debuff that resets your level to 1 upon use.
Not that it matters when your life is on the line, but it's still a pretty significant loss.
'I knew it, and I've been saving up golden candies all this time without leveling up.'
Vikir held up the scroll.
Suddenly, the conversation between Amdusias and Pope Nabokov I that he had overheard before entering the tower flashed through his mind.
'You, too, will eventually suffer the same fate as me. You will deny God, humanity, and yourself three times.'
'Holholhol. Horse head. You are right, we Quovadis are descendants of those who 'denied God three times'. ... But there's a story behind that.'
The First Apostle denied the Prophet Lun three times before the dawn rooster crowed.
One day, he received a call from the resurrected Lun.
After answering all three questions, he was finally forgiven.
Then he turned and shouted at the departing prophet.
"Quo Vadis, Domine ? (Lord, where are you going?)
The Prophet replied
'...We go back to the beginning to be persecuted again.'
Vikir mulled over the words on the scroll.
To return to the beginning again.
And so on.
As Tudor, Sancho, Piggy, Bianca, Ahul, and the rest of Balak's warriors looked on in concern, Vikir tore the scroll.
Buuk-.
The moment the tough scroll was torn in two, a brilliant ball of light rose up and enveloped Vikir's entire body.
Then.
"Vikir!"
Piggy called out.
"Can, We can all see each other again, right?"
Tudor, Sancho, and Bianca, who were beside him, turned their heads as if he were talking nonsense.
"Of course we will, man!"
"Vikir will never be defeated."
"He'll clear the tower for sure!"
But Piggy was still uneasy nonetheless.
Piggy's pupils, which were trembling slightly, seemed to reflect something different from what was reflected in the pupils of the other friends.
And towards that piggy.
" ... Wait for me."
With a dry smile, Vikir left only one short word.
* * *
Kiiiiing-
A pain like an awl piercing his eardrums shot through his head.
With an unpleasant vibrating sound, Vikir opened his eyes.
<Underground Level 1. Tutorial area>
Dirty bats were flying around in front of him, and the ceiling was slowly descending.
It was the same scene as when Vikir first entered the tower, except the rats had changed to bats.
Then.
[ hello ? ]
Flesh and internal organs dripping from the distorted features, a lump of meat flapping its ugly, dried wings.
[ I am a 'fairy' in charge of the tower's guide? ]
The fairy appeared. Just like when he first entered the tower.
The creature purses its swollen lips and utters a formal statement.
[ From now on, it's first-come, first-served… … uh ? ]
However, the fairy never finished the line that was supposed to be uttered.
…Grasp! Bam!
Vikir, who had closed the distance in an instant, grabbed the fairy with a vicious hand and slammed it to the ground.
The grip strength that erupted from a strength stat of 798 was not at a level that even a fairy could ignore.
Moreover.
ppug!
Vikir plunged the Baalzebub awl, coated in Piggy's blood, deep into the fairy's belly button.
[ eub eub eub eub eub ? ]
The fairy struggled a few times and then died.
With a look of disbelief in its eyes.
"What's it like to be the victim, is this new to you?"
There was no way the dead fairy could answer, but Vikir asked anyway.
Vikir's mind flashed back to the faces of the students who had died in the tower, and the faces of the fairies who had watched with giggles.
With that, Vikir kicked the fairy's body aside as if it were garbage.
Then he drew the sack that hung from his waist.
Walgraak-!
The sack was filled with golden candies.
Vikir scooped them all into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed.
Crunch-clack-clack!
The hard pieces of candy quickly melted in his mouth.
At the same time, a loud notification sounded in his ears.
[Level 1 Warrior Vikir has leveled up!]
[Level 2 Warrior Vikir has leveled up ...]
[Level 3 Warrior Vikir...]
[Level 4...]
Levels rising at an incredible rate.
Soon, Vikir's status window began to show changes accompanied by a large vibration.
<Vikir>.
-LV: 100 (%)
-Title: 'Gutter Rat Hunter', 'Hell's Dog', 'Daylily Lumberjack', 'Majin Executioner', 'Black Sea King's Executioner', 'Demonic Dragon Great Rival', 'The Leading Boatman'
-Stats
↳Strength: 1,000 (+98,941) = 99,941
↳Agility: 1,000 (+98,941) = 99,941
↳Stamina: 1,000 (+98,941) = 99,941
↳Physical Resistance: 1,000 (+98,941) = 99,941
↳Magic resistance: 1,000 (+98,941) = 99,941
↳Reflexes: 1,000 (+98,941) = 99,941
Now we don't need to tie up levels.
Vikir quickly maxed out his level and was back to where he was before entering the tower.
What's more, the base stats he'd built up at level 1 had exploded with his level increase, including three special stats he wasn't naturally born with.
"...!"
Strength. Agility. Stamina. I can feel my basic three stats are much stronger than they were before I entered the tower.
But that's hardly a perk compared to my newfound talents.
Reflexes. Physical resistance. Magic resistance. These three talents are innate, unavailable to anyone but those favored by the gods and the world.
Vikir had succeeded in blossoming them, developing them to the extreme.
The invisible became visible and the inaudible became audible.
This immense sense of exaltation was something he had not felt even when he first stepped on the threshold of the 8th Form.
'If now... maybe...'
Vikir drew his sword.
Whoosh!
A crimson aura coursed through Beelzebub's sword.
With that, Vikir took a deep breath and cast the ultimate sword technique he had spent so many years honing in the flowing rivers.
The 8th Form of Baskerville.
It was something that he hadn't accomplished much with since his first clue in the Tower of Stabbing, and could only master with the blessing of Saint Dolores.
Vikir's swordsmanship, which was technically only 7.5 Forms, finally shone.
…Flash!
Turning The Sky Upside Down (翻天).
Seven giant teeth. The 8th tooth, which had grown to almost the same size as the others, ferociously tore through the air.
kwakwakwakwakwakwakwang!
The strikes, swung in eight directions, bit into the ceiling that was slowly descending.
…Kugung!
The ceiling descended and stopped slightly.
Its movement had slowed, but it was still descending.
'It's about as strong as the fist of the Demonic Dragon I met before.'
Vikir watched the tutorial ceiling descend.
Next, Piggy's blood coated the hilt of Beelzebub's sword from the leather scabbard at his waist.
Crackle!
The newly fiery aura prepared to reveal its eight teeth once more.
Hounds. The Hound of Iron Blood Swordsman. It leaps forward with its fur all over its body standing up sharply and with a fierce look in its eyes.
kwa-kwakwakwakwakwakwang!
Eight sword strikes hit the ceiling again.
But this time, it was different.
"...!"
Vikir felt a strange sensation on his fingertips.
It was a supersensory sensation he would never have felt if it weren't for his nearly 100,000 reflexes stat.
It was beyond the ceiling.
Something evil and sinister was lurking and sitting on top of the first level of the basement.
'Common sense tells us that if we want to go up to the ground, we should go further up from the basement level.'
Vikir poured more and more power into Beelzebub.
And then… it started to respond.
Ku-deuddeudeuk!
The ceiling stopped its descent, and then it shook violently.
…creak, creak, creak!
And then it began to crack with tremendous force.
At the same time, an enormous mana storm began to rage.
A wind that not only crushed the body with its powerful wind pressure, but also contained a strange heat that caused the mana in his body to boil over and run wild.
But Vikir remained standing, unmoving, and withstood the mana storm.
Neither the wind pressure that blew him away nor the magic waves that shook the mana in his body could help him.
This was because Vikir's physical and magic resistance stats were ridiculously high.
And Vikir was staring sharply through the gusts of wind from this fierce mana storm that was blowing through the cracks in the ceiling.
'...There is an answer.'
A high Reflexes stat will give you a clear view of what lies beyond, even through the fluctuating wind in real time.
<Amdusias, the '5th Corpse'>
Danger Rating : S+
Size: ?
Found in: The Serpent's Womb, deep within the Gates of Destruction.
-Also known as the 5th corpse.
A natural enemy of mankind, one of the ten plagues known as incomprehensible and unkillable.
"I will take away the lives of the first born that year."
– The Book of the Ten Commandments 10: Above –
Instead of the holy and sacred energy that is always mentioned in myths, it is a giant unicorn full of only hostility and evil.
[...How could a human even reach this place!?]
The 5th Demon King that had corrupted Winston, the Principal of Colosseo Academy, was hiding right there.
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