The underground prison ceiling opened.

And in an instant, it changed into an arena.

The spectator stands were packed with people, too.

‘The prison..., turned into an arena?’

Does that make any sense?

How did they know we were coming here?

Even if this is a manufactured setting, and manufactured souls, still.

I don’t know who designed this Tower floor, but I want to tell whoever it is to at least pretend to care about plausibility.

Honestly, at this point, I’m curious.

The missions every country’s Players have to face from Floor 71 onward.

Would they really be the exact same missions as mine right now?

“They will not be different, my lord.”

“Is that so? I wish they were different.”

“For what reason?”

“Because it’s a mission tied to Meatshield’s backstory...”

I can’t help feeling uneasy.

Because it means Players around the world could indirectly experience Meatshield’s past.

“That is not something you need to worry about.”

“Why not?”

Gyeon Dallae explained in a calm tone.

“To those who do not know Meatshield’s present or past, it is merely a simple, ordinary mission. Simply stopping the mercenary company’s tyranny, and killing the necromancer and the king behind it—nothing more.”

Well, sure.

The mission text doesn’t even mention Meatshield at all.

The superior magical beast Hydra’s background description only briefly mentions a barbarian warrior.

And would ordinary Players even be able to check the background description?

<Royal Palace Royal Guards Captain Jornthe>

Rank : SSR (Special Super Rare)

Type : Knight (Human)

Knight Jornthe was a former mercenary. He wandered the continent with the hero Arius and completed countless commissioned missions. When Arius became the Norton Kingdom King, he became the captain of the royal guard, enjoying honor and wealth together. Then he fell for the king’s temptation and had his body modified, degenerating into a chimera.

Like that.

‘By the way, King Arius—this bastard is everywhere.’

I thought he only tricked Meatshield, but he even tempted his own royal guard captain and turned him into a chimera?

He was even the dogshit bastard who ordered the collection of children’s souls, all to restore the superior magical beast Hydra and turn it into a strategic weapon.

‘Let’s see some info.’

<Norton Kingdom King Arius>

Rank : R++ (Advanced Rare)

Type : King (Human)

‘Huh?’

Advanced, and that’s it?

Pathetic and flimsy.

At that level, wouldn’t Rajix’s golden pickaxe make him go “Keh!” and drop dead?

Arius was an illegitimate son of the Norton royal family. He left the royal palace and wandered the continent, avoiding the eyes of his half-brothers who sought to keep him in check. Arius had neither martial power, wealth, nor forces worth speaking of. His only weapons were his status as royal blood, a silver tongue, and the ability to package himself as a hero, conning naive people to build a faction.

The incident that made Arius famous across the kingdom was the subjugation of the superior magical beast Hydra. His popularity soared within the kingdom, and using that as a foothold, he returned to the royal family, rallied the nobles to his side, purged his half-brothers, and ascended the throne.

He was nothing but a small-time con man.

So why was a mission involving a guy like that considered extreme difficulty?

Clackclackclackclack.

Hundreds of soldiers and knights poured into the arena, and around the bastard’s seat were formations of battle mages.

That was it.

Arius’s power was his army.

For a lone Player to break through that force and kill Arius, of course it would be difficult.

‘Hmm.’

That applied to me, too.

Even with my summoned entities, how would we reach those stands packed with so many people?

If the king hid, it would be hard to even find him.

‘There’s no way except a Veronica-style snipe.’

Like a high-explosive round, for example.

But what about the mages stationed beside the king?

What if they used defensive magic?

If we failed, there wouldn’t be a second chance.

We might have to fight a full-scale war against the kingdom’s army.

Since it was a conditional clear, we couldn’t abandon the clear, and there wasn’t even a time limit applying either... we might be stuck in the Tower forever, bound here.

Mission impossible.

A mission that couldn’t be cleared in the first place.

I could at least find a thread of hope thanks to my summoned entities...

...but for ordinary Players, the moment they accepted the conditional clear, they might as well be dead.

I need to warn people ahead of time and stop them from ever doing it.

“Attack!!!”

The total assault began.

The crowd roared.

“Go!”

“Kill them!”

“Total extermination of the intruders!”

“Glory to His Majesty King Arius!”

Battle Chimera Hounds and knight formations swarmed us.

“My lord, Sir Bardin is at your side.”

Lucius Bardin stepped away from acting as a holy sword and came to my side.

“VIP protection mode, Commander. Do not worry.”

Veronica’s shots were dead-on.

“Ma’am, shall we have ourselves a little dance?”

Gyeon Dallae scattered talismans, moving like she might take flight, as if dancing.

And the Mad Demon...

‘Huh? Where did you go? You were just right next to me.’

Anyway, the battle began.

ZIIIIING!

I had already activated the energy barrier.

I held the Thunderstorm Club of Destruction in one hand.

I activated the Blood Jade Aura.

And the blink ring, too—ten uses only.

Ready.

Now we execute.

A rite of passage.

‘Why can’t I kill people, too?’

I can.

Humans or hounds—everything I see, I’ll kill it all—

In that moment,

I took a step forward, then halted.

‘Wait!’

A thought flashed through my mind at the same time.

‘Why am I so desperate to fight like this?’

Because I’m a coward with no courage?

Because I want to live as an alpha male instead of a weak man?

I can’t deny it.

That could be part of it.

But the biggest reason, more than anything—

I felt sorry.

Sorry for the summoned entities who only ever sacrificed themselves for me.

I didn’t want to burden them anymore.

I wanted to do my share, too—to carry the load they were carrying.

But the thought that came to me now:

Was this action really lightening their burden?

Were their shoulders getting any lighter?

I moved forward.

I saw Meatshield facing Jornthe.

Sneaking glances,

Meatshield kept looking at me, tense, like something might happen ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) to me at any second.

And it wasn’t just Meatshield.

Bardin, too—

“Light!!!”

He raised his flail and kept circling right beside me.

Like he was trying to fill Cossack’s absence.

Then, if enemies even approached a little—

SHWAAAAK! WHUMP!

He charged immediately, dealt with them, then returned to his spot.

And Veronica?

Same.

A class that gets punished if aggro sticks.

Even so, she ignored the enemies rushing in and silently pulled the trigger only for me.

And Gyeon Dallae’s talismans—

The drop range was extremely limited.

The talismans fluttered like petals only around me.

‘At this rate...’

Could this even be a proper clear?

‘Everyone is only watching me.’

I let out a small, bitter laugh.

This wasn’t it.

And I slowly stepped back.

Only then did relief spread across the summoned entities’ faces.

Me stepping forward wasn’t lightening their burden.

It was making it heavier.

‘Unbelievable...’

I thought I’d gotten strong enough.

I thought I was at a level where I could at least take care of myself.

It was probably like this.

Like an eighty-year-old mother worrying herself sick every time her sixty-year-old son steps outside.

It can’t be helped.

I have to get stronger.

At the very least, strong enough that I wouldn’t be a burden to my summoned entities.

*****

Meatshield faced Jornthe.

The knight in an iron helmet tilted his head.

“You... look familiar.”

Then, as if he remembered—

CLINKCLINK!

He removed his helmet.

“Right. You were that barbarian warrior. A dull, stupid meat shield.”

A huge, blood-red single eye like a royal guard’s.

Jornthe was a modified chimera knight, too.

The difference from the other knights was that he could speak freely.

“...But you died. How?”

“Right. I died. But I was summoned by my summoner.”

“Summoner? Hm. Those are words I cannot understand.”

“You don’t need to.”

Step. Step.

Meatshield walked forward.

“You’re going to die here.”

“...Me?”

Srrrng.

A blue greatsword slid free from Jornthe’s waist.

“That’s a welcome thing to hear. Please, do kill me.”

“How should I kill you?”

“Kuhahaha, you speak well. You’ve gotten quite smart. You should have been like this fifty years ago. If you had, you wouldn’t have been fooled by Arius.”

FWOOOOSH!

Flames flared along Jornthe’s sword.

CRRRRIP!

Meatshield’s body hardened like diamond.

Meatshield’s expression was calm, but inside, he was deeply uneasy.

Because that bastard was strong?

Not a chance.

Meatshield could toy with Jornthe, torment him slowly, then kill him.

Break his ankles, snap his waist, tear off his arms one by one...

But there were quite a lot of enemies in the arena.

And the assassin was gone.

Then who protected the summoner?

He had to finish fast and guard the summoner’s side.

Personal revenge?

That was nothing.

To Meatshield, the single most important value was the summoner’s safety.

TSIP!

Jornthe’s blazing greatsword stabbed for his heart.

He was SSR.

The fight could drag on.

Meatshield had to end it before Jornthe fully grasped his true ability.

‘Give one, take one.’

Meatshield didn’t retreat. He stepped in.

He twisted his torso slightly to avoid the heart, then accepted the flaming greatsword straight into his chest.

THUNK!

The greatsword pierced through his right chest.

“Uahahaha! Was that all? You stupid barbarian bastard!”

Ignoring the sneer, Meatshield grabbed Jornthe’s shoulder with a THUNK! and yanked him close—

“Y-You—!”

GRAB!

Meatshield seized the bastard’s head with both hands—

“Ghk!”

Then, with a roar of provocation—

“RAAAAAAAH!!!”

CRRRRUNCH!

He twisted—

RRRRIP!

—and tore it off.

THUD!

Jornthe collapsed, headless.

[You have completed the High-Difficulty Choice Mission.]

[Reward : high-grade Magic Stones 73kg/ Liberation Rune Necklace(2)]

Next?

‘Where’s the king?’

But Meatshield’s eyes were fixed only on me.

How could revenge compare to the summoner’s safety?

The summoner was unharmed.

Only now could Meatshield relax.

Meatshield yanked the greatsword out of his chest.

SCHK!

A fountain of blood erupted.

But the regeneration was quick.

Meatshield grinned.

Because now he could finally protect his summoner properly.

*****

The circular arena’s spectator stands.

At the very top, watching the match: Norton Kingdom King Arius.

There were no long-term prisoners in the Norton Kingdom underground prison.

The prison was always empty.

Because any fresh, useful prisoners had their souls extracted, and the flimsy trash were gathered all at once for gladiator matches and slaughtered in one go.

Gladiator matches where prisoners killed and were killed.

Sometimes, if a monster was captured alive and thrown in, the match became even more thrilling.

When matches were held, the kingdom turned into a festival cauldron.

Nobles and wealthy merchants paid huge sums and gathered at the arena to enjoy blood and flying chunks of flesh.

But you couldn’t supply prisoners forever.

Unless you started a war and took captives, maybe.

No fighters meant no matches.

That meant one income stream vanished.

And on top of that, with the superior magical beast Hydra restoration project, the money going into the necromancer Norma had the royal treasury on the brink of drying up.

Well, there was a way.

Force fighters into existence.

That was why the chimeras were prepared.

Untrained, feral chimera hounds.

And chimera knights made for the matches.

Originally, the match was supposed to be hounds versus knights.

Arius lifted the lid with a bored expression—something he’d seen a hundred times...

...and then, what was this?

Because of suspicious intruders, every chimera hound and every chimera knight was dead.

Where did these bastards come from?

Six of them.

Each one was anything but ordinary.

Arius’s judgment was quick.

They could fight the match instead.

Their opponents would be his loyal slave, Captain Jornthe, along with knights, and trained chimera hounds.

No matter how strong those six intruders were, could they really compare to Jornthe?

He was reinforced with chimera magic and had reached the level of a sword expert.

But as time passed, anxiety grew.

They weren’t easy.

The hounds started dying.

Chimera knights refined at massive expense were crushed by a flail, and heads exploded under some suspicious long-range weapon.

Especially that giant.

Just how huge was he?

Even Jornthe, reinforced with chimera magic and given a minotaur’s body, looked small by comparison.

But he’d seen that giant somewhere before.

Who was it?

It almost reminded him of a barbarian from fifty years ago—stupid beyond belief.

Then Jornthe died.

Even after being pierced by a flaming sword, the giant dragged Jornthe close and tore off his head.

The crowd began to get excited.

Drunk on the cruel sight they hadn’t seen in a long time.

But Arius grew uneasy.

Dangerous.

If those bastards made it out of the arena, who knew what might happen?

‘...This won’t do.’

Arius gave an order to a vassal.

“Have the soldiers pour oil into the arena.”

“...Pardon?”

“Royal palace mages, prepare fire magic. Burn everything. Make sure not a single one crawls out.”

“But the knights are still—”

“So what?”

Arius snapped back as if that were the whole point.

“After seeing that, you still say such things? Unable to kill a mere six intruders...”

“Five, Your Majesty.”

“...What?”

“The intruders in the arena are five.”

Arius blinked and checked again.

At the start, there were definitely six.

‘Did one die?’

Right then!

“Have you been looking for me?”

A voice came from the empty air.

Arius raised his head.

“Ghk!”

An old man floated high in the sky, hands clasped behind his back, looking down on the world as if ruling it.

“You’re going to set the arena on fire?”

The Mad Demon lifted a hand.

WOOOOOOOOOO...

A storm of swirling force.

“Dare to do that to my summoner?”

And a massive blade of force rose above his palm.

The king’s eyes trembled.

‘...A sword master?’

No.

Stronger than that.

A grand master—the kind that only appeared in legends.

A shiver ran over Arius’s arms.

Had he ever felt threatened like this?

“K-Kill that old man!!!”

Brilliant magic crashed toward the Mad Demon.

Knights hurled spears.

SHWAAAK! KWA-KWA-KWAANG! WHIRRRR!

But no attack could pierce the Mad Demon’s protective aura.

Still with his hands behind his back, speaking in a relaxed voice—

“Have you ever heard of doing the wave?”

What the...

“Since it’s a circular arena, let’s do the wave. From left to right.”

And a huge crescent of force dropped onto the circular arena.

“Ugh!”

“M-Move!”

“Block it!”

“Protect His Majesty!”

TSH-PA-PA-PAT!

A violently spinning crescent of force.

Lopping off everything it touched.

TSH-PIRIRIRIRIRIT!

It circled the stands once.

And then the massacre began.

Crescent boomerang wave.

Two laps, three laps...

A sea of blood.

A mountain of corpses and an ocean of blood.

There was no other way to describe it.

*****

I saw the carnage in the stands, too.

‘...My god!’

At first, I wondered where the Mad Demon had gone.

Then noise rose from the stands, so I lifted my head and looked up—

No, Mad Demon, doing the wave?

That’s what people do to cheer at baseball or soccer games.

The stands were leveled.

Bodies with heads severed. Bodies cut in half. Bodies with legs sliced off.

The Mad Demon’s mass murder.

Well, he’d always been that kind of person.

Did “the most vicious under the heavens” become a saying for no reason?

I felt ridiculous for having agonized over whether to kill or not in front of someone like that.

And it wasn’t just me.

Nobody said a word.

Meatshield, Bardin, Gyeon Dallae, Veronica—everyone.

They just swallowed hard, staring at what the Mad Demon had done.

And then—

At some point, he reappeared.

PATPATPATPAT!

Cossack came running in with a big grin, smiling brightly—

“Summoner Bong, you won’t believe our Rajix farmhand— Huh! Th-That—what is that?”

He froze at the horrific sight of the stands.

“HURK?!”

Rajix, who had been rolling in with a swaggering face, too—

“...Huh?”

His round little body trembled.

But the Mad Demon was perfectly calm.

Descending slowly from the air—

“Hm? Why is everyone so shocked? Now of all times.”

No—if you’re not shocked, something’s wrong with you.

And then. Ding!

[You have completed all missions on Floor 73.]

[Reward : high-grade Magic Stones 73kg/ Summoned Entity Rank Breakthrough Rune (conditional).]

[Calculating clear rank.]

[World Notice : You have achieved Black Tower (Korea) Floor 73 clear rank S+++.]

[S+++ clear reward : You will be awarded 2 Platinum Badges.]

A message announcing the clear.

And even in this situation, the message still pierced straight into my ears.

‘A Summoned Entity Rank Breakthrough Rune?’

Not an upgrade—a breakthrough.

The word “conditional” was explicitly there.

‘Does “breakthrough” mean...?’

[You may challenge Floor 74.]

[Exiting Black Tower (Republic of Korea).]

SPOT!

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