166
Kwa-boom—!
Tower of Vortex, Floor 14.
Kim Jaeha was hard at work killing monsters with his hammer.
Crack—!
Crunch—!
Black liquid sprayed in a wide circle around him.
The monsters could not cross that boundary.
The result of using the item Hanbit had given him, exactly as instructed.
‘This really is something.’
The battle ants dying beneath his hammer were strong.
Fast-moving limbs, and jaws with tremendous force.
Facing dozens of them at once, getting killed was the natural outcome.
And yet here he was, standing in place, safely swinging his hammer.
He almost had to laugh at how absurd it was.
Krunch—!
Kim Jaeha brought his hammer down on the last ant’s head.
At the same instant, an alert sounded.
Ding—
[Tower of Vortex — Floor 14 cleared.]
[Based on clear time, reward has been adjusted.]
[200,000 Gold obtained.]
[2 Stat Points granted.]
[Vortex Coins x1 obtained.]
[Experience points increased by 210,000.]
[Level increased by 1.]
[1 Stat Point granted.]
“Phew.”
Kim Jaeha let out a long breath, having cleared the floor without incident.
He couldn’t push for fast clears, but what mattered was ascending this tower safely.
He wanted to honor Hanbit’s wish that they make it to the top, however he could.
“How’s Avant-garde doing?”
The only ones streaming from inside the tower were Hanbit and Avant-garde.
Kim Jaeha moved his hand and pulled up Avant-garde’s live broadcast.
(Viewers! Is this not a truly magnificent sight!)
Avant-garde’s excited voice came through immediately.
Sprawled across a terrain that resembled a vast, dried-out seabed were dozens of shipwrecks.
-Whoa
-Incredible. lol
-Now that’s a map.
-The developers poured their souls into this.
-Saw it on Black Dragon’s stream, and it’s still breathtaking on second viewing
-Vanguard, let’s just plant a flag here permanently.
His viewers, who shared his love of adventure, cheered enthusiastically.
The floor Avant-garde had entered was Floor 21.
According to Hanbit’s walkthrough, the clear condition was to find a treasure chest hidden within a specific shipwreck.
(Let’s head over this way!)
Avant-garde had been weaving exploration elements into his run for the sake of the stream.
It was his desire to experience the tower as an adventure, if only a little.
Of course, that hadn’t translated into dragging his feet.
(There seem to be some monsters too. Let me clear them out first.)
He naturally repositioned himself while dealing with a group of skeletons that appeared ahead.
Simply dashing straight to the shipwreck wouldn’t clear the floor anyway.
A certain number of skeletons had to be killed before the treasure chest would reveal itself.
Slide—
A yellow thread of light bloomed from Avant-garde’s twin swords.
He charged at the enemy and plunged directly into combat.
Clang—!
Shhk—!
His swift footwork and sweeping blades dispatched the skeletons one after another.
Hanbit’s walkthrough explained not just the objective, but where and in what quantity monsters needed to be cleared for maximum efficiency.
What made it almost unsettling was how it was tailored to each person’s stats, skills, and combat style.
The precision — as though every possible situation had been foreseen — was difficult to believe even while watching it unfold.
Shhk—!
As he finished off the skeletons, Avant-garde gradually drew closer to the shipwreck that housed the treasure.
At that pace, it wouldn’t take much longer before the floor was cleared.
Click—
Kim Jaeha, who had been watching, closed the stream.
He tightened his grip on the hammer in his hand and turned his gaze to the door.
“Let’s move.”
* * *
The run that had continued from the second day onward was progressing smoothly.
The core conditions revolved around monster hunting, survival, and exploration.
Every ten floors, a boss appeared.
Since the floors were still in the first half, the structure itself was relatively straightforward.
And on the evening of the third day inside.
Hanbit arrived at Floor 28, the rest area.
[Black Dragon — Lv.131]
[Title: None]
Strength: 185
Agility: 185
Intelligence: 185
Stamina: 170
Remaining Stat Points: 0
-These stats are something else lol
-This game is cooked
-What even is a spirit user?
-Strength mage + agile tanker?
-Even the vanguards must be shocked
-Still, 3-day clear is fast.
-3 days (42 hours of streaming)
-Does the Stamina stat increase your actual physical stamina?
-Yeah, sure it does. lol
The achievement of climbing twenty-two floors from Floor 6 was considerable.
Part of it came from cutting sleep and pouring in the hours — but regardless, he had reached Floor 28 faster than expected.
Whoosh—
A fierce gust howling in from all directions.
An enormous outpost stretching across the prairie occupied the entire floor.
[Tower of Vortex — Floor 28]
Classification: None
Trial: None
Objective: Rest your body and complete your preparations before pressing onward.
Reward: None
Time Limit: None
The description for Floor 28 that surfaced was brief.
Hanbit moved inside and surveyed his surroundings.
‘Quiet.’
The rest floor, draped in silence, was exactly as he remembered it.
Supposedly, it had once been used as an actual outpost in the distant past.
Step—
Walking further in, Hanbit took in what lay around him.
Structures bearing signs for a smithy, a general goods store, and the like.
Not a single living creature in sight.
Thwap—
Hanbit stood at the center of the outpost and looked at the camera.
“That’s it for today’s stream. I have some things to take care of at home, so I’ll be taking about four days off. Floor 29 will be tackled together once the others arrive.”
-4 days off?
-Is that right?
-We’re already at Floor 28, so maybe it’s fine…
-Let him take care of his home stuff
-I didn’t say anything.
-Good work.
-Ryongba ㅠㅠ
Hanbit watched the chat scroll upward, then ended the stream.
Four days of rest.
There was a move tomorrow, but the biggest reason was something else entirely.
‘Someone must have been here before me.’
While climbing the tower, no “First Clear” title had been awarded.
Even clearing all the way to Floor 50 would only yield rewards tied to performance.
If anything, it would be stranger if the top-tier vanguards hadn’t passed through here.
All the more so because the likelihood was high that more people with experience in the other world existed.
Of course, he also had a sense of what parts their hands hadn’t reached.
‘Though there are no traces.’
The tower held a few hidden secrets.
Even this Floor 28 alone contained a massive transfer device beneath it, linked to the underground.
However, once this device was activated, it would lose all function entirely after a few days.
It might be different in-game, but he could confirm that by heading underground.
Step—
Hanbit moved and headed toward the northern end of the outpost.
A low wall running broadly around the outer perimeter.
Embedded at intervals along the continuous wall were pillar-like structures.
Slide—
Hanbit drew a mana stone from his inventory and approached one of the pillars.
He lowered himself and pressed the crystal into the dirt floor.
Thud—!
The mana stone driven in firmly.
He watched it for a moment, and a change soon followed.
Slide—
A blue light rippled from within the surface.
The mana stored inside was beginning to flow.
‘Works well.’
Hanbit confirmed the signs of activation.
Under normal circumstances, a device issued to a survey team would be required — but that was not yet obtainable.
Meaning the only option for now was to substitute with mana stones.
Tat—!
He rose to his feet and kicked off toward the east.
Another pillar was visible there.
Hanbit drew another mana stone and pressed it into the dirt floor.
The same process repeated until he had done it to the south and the west.
Slide—
Hanbit confirmed the mana draining from the final mana stone.
In that instant—
Flash—!
Light erupted from the pillar before him.
Flash—!
The same phenomenon appeared at the pillars in the other three directions.
The light rising from the four cardinal ends curved and bent, and began to connect with one another.
In the meantime, Hanbit returned to the center of the outpost.
Slide-slide—
Blue lines weaving and darting overhead.
It was as though a massive magic circle was being drawn across the sky.
‘This will take a while.’
Gauging the slow pace, Hanbit estimated the time roughly.
At this rate, it would be about an hour.
Click—
He switched the gear to power-saving mode and returned to reality.
When he stepped out of his room, his mother was sorting through moving boxes.
“Mom, why are you doing that? We hired a full-service moving company.”
“How can I just hand everything over? I need to get some of it ready myself.”
He had spent 1.2 million won on a full packing service, but his mother couldn’t just sit back and watch.
Hanbit didn’t know much better himself, so he nodded.
“Should I pack this in too?”
“I’ll handle it — go back to your room. You’ve been up so late, you can barely sleep.”
He reached out to help, and his mother stopped him.
It seemed she had noticed him staying up late these days.
“I’m not busy right now. I need to be vacant for an hour anyway.”
Hanbit wedged himself in among the scattered boxes and started helping on his own terms.
His mother looked on and sighed in resignation.
“Put the dishes in the blue box. Wrap them in newspaper properly.”
Informal packing proceeded under her direction.
It was really more like sorting than anything, so it went quickly.
They hadn’t accumulated that much to begin with, so it didn’t take long.
“The movers come at eight, right?”
“They’ll probably arrive around seven-thirty. Make sure you’re up early.”
“Got it. I’ll head back to my room now——”
“Since you’re already out, eat dinner first.”
He was caught, and ended up sitting down for dinner.
Back in his room, he put the gear on again.
Slide—
The in-game scene unfolded before him almost instantly.
He looked up, and the massive magic circle filled his view.
‘Nearly done.’
The lines converging toward the central pattern were completing their final work.
Slide—
Hanbit fastened several consumable items to his belt.
The underground of the Tower of Vortex was dangerous.
But having chosen the path of growing strong quickly, it was a place he absolutely had to visit.
Flash—!
Just then, light blazed from the enormous magic circle overhead.
The final pattern had been completed.
Whooom—!
At the same instant, an immense pressure bore down on his entire body.
And the moment the flood of light blanketed the entire outpost—
Slide—
The sensation of teleportation washed over him, and the scene before his eyes shifted.
Ding—
[Entering Tower of Vortex — Underground.]
[Hidden Achievement: One Who Has Set Foot into the Tower’s Darkness unlocked.]
[Reward granted for first achievement.]
[Growth Elixir of Madness (Rank 6 — Unique) received.]
‘So I really was the first.’
The appearance of a First Clear title was just as expected.
No one having been to the underground meant no one had ever gone to the area where this information existed.
It was also, admittedly, an awkward place to bother making the trip to.
[Growth Elixir of Madness]
Rank: 6
Grade: Unique
Description: An elixir containing the resentment of souls who craved the power of madness. When used, experience points gained are doubled — but upon death, all experience points obtained within the tower are forfeit.
Note: The effects of this elixir apply only within the Tower of Vortex Underground.
‘They’re giving away something like this.’
A glass vial filled with luminous red liquid.
Something he had never seen in the other world.
The risk of losing all experience points left no impression on him whatsoever.
He had no intention of dying here.
Kya-gya-ga—!
Kaareuk—!
A path stretching long in every direction, drenched entirely in red.
Spread across it were creatures wearing absurd-looking masks.
[Storm Jester (Lv.173)]
[Storm Circus Troupe (Lv.174)]
[Storm Spade Ace (Lv.175)]
The levels from the very start were far from ordinary.
Hanbit checked the other message that had appeared upon entry.
[Tower of Vortex — Underground]
Classification: Individual, Party
Trial: Normal, Elite, Boss
Objective: Subjugate the legion consumed by madness.
Reward: Underground Settlement
Time Limit: 4 Days
A simple objective that required no lengthy explanation.
The reason the time limit was four days was just as simple.
The path stretching ahead would take a long while even at full speed.
From here to reaching the legion’s main force would consume a considerable amount of time.
Gulp—
Hanbit immediately drank the growth elixir and drew his sword.
Then he called out the names quietly.
“Sylph, Salliste, Undine, Gnome.”
Slide—
The four spirits revealed themselves at their names.
No lengthy explanation was necessary.
“Will you help me?”
[Yes!]
Sylph circled around him, answering with spirit.
The other three spirits each accepted the request in their own way.
“Phew.”
The underground of the Tower of Vortex was dangerous.
The monsters themselves were full of variables, and on top of that, the terrain changed at random.
From here on, not a single fraction of his focus could be allowed to slip.
Hanbit tightened his grip on his sword, felt the surging wind, and kicked off.
