Not one, but two—no, three.

It all starts from Floor 16.

[Entering the Black Tower (Republic of Korea) Floor 16.]

[Your physical abilities have been enhanced to match your level.]

[Traits and combat skills can be used.]

Physical ability, elevated another step.

Cossack moved forward to receive the mission.

Juhyeok followed behind.

But then?

“Meatshield! Why aren’t you following? What are you doing?”

The barbarian Meatshield acted like he didn’t even hear Cossack.

He didn’t even look at him.

Meatshield just stared blankly at Juhyeok.

So he’s got an attitude.

And he seems to know exactly whose words he’s supposed to listen to.

“Follow us, Meatshield.”

“Understood. Meatshield absolutely obey summoner.”

Only then did the barbarian warrior Meatshield lumber after us.

From now on, I’ll have to specify every order one by one.

Even if it’s annoying.

[Floor 16 Mission: Kill 30 Goblin Scouts.]

[Time Limit: Within 5 hours.]

[Completion Condition: Goblin Scout 0/30]

[Failure Condition: Death or Mission Abandonment]

The moment the mission appeared, the forest got busy.

RUSTLE, RUSTLE.

Something was moving.

“Summoner Bong, activate Energy Barrier. You must also be prepared to use Shadow Step immediately.”

“Got it.”

Right then!

“KEKEK!”

“KEEEHEK!”

Goblin Scouts had appeared out of nowhere.

If they were lying in ambush, there were a lot of them.

‘That looks like way more than fifty.’

TSSIT! TSSIP-TSSIT!

Black needle-like things flew at the three of us.

From the front, from behind, from the ground, from up in the trees.

“Dodge!”

TAT-TAT, TATATAT—

“I will block for you!”

Cossack batted away the poison needles flying at Juhyeok with his dagger as he charged into the woods.

But then?

‘Huh?’

The barbarian warrior stood there, motionless, even though poison needles were hitting him.

They weren’t even sticking properly.

When he shook his body once, the poison needles fell off in a shower.

“Meatshield? What are you doing? Don’t just stand there getting hit—go out and wipe them out.”

In an instant!

The barbarian warrior’s eyes flashed like a beast.

“Receive command. Kill all. Kill human assassin too.”

“Exclude Mr. Cossack.”

“Exclude assassin.”

A summoned who takes a lot of handling.

But—

THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!

“KUAAAAAAAH!!!”

The barbarian warrior roared and joined the battlefield.

Goblin Scouts fired poison needles, but they couldn’t pierce his thick skin and bounced off.

SNATCH!

The moment a scout’s head was caught in that huge hand—

CRUNCH!

THUD!

He popped it.

“...What the—”

That grip strength was insane.

Is that even a person?

Cossack was weaving around the poison needles and cutting goblin throats, but the barbarian warrior Meatshield didn’t bother with that.

Poison needles, arrows—didn’t matter.

He sprinted with terrifying speed, grabbed heads, and burst them.

CRUNCH! THUD! SNAP!

Or he grabbed legs and slammed them into the ground.

WHIP! THUD! THUD-THUD-THUD!

Overwhelming brutality.

And in the middle of it all, the barbarian looked at Juhyeok with an innocent expression like, I’m doing good, right?

“Y-yeah. Good job, Meatshield!”

“Me praised by summoner. Better than assassin.”

That part is true.

At least when it comes to fighting.

‘And that barbarian warrior is only Rare rank?’

He should be at least SR, maybe even SSR.

‘Maybe he’s Rare because he’s stupid.’

That has to be it.

Being stupid is a fatal weakness.

Meatshield was dominating the battlefield.

Goblins flew through the air.

Not because they had wings—because the barbarian warrior threw them.

Even huge trees were ripped out and sent flying.

Even boulders the size of houses flew.

Goblins that couldn’t dodge were crushed to death one after another.

Cossack almost got pinned under a boulder.

“Hey, you son of—”

I pulled well.

A barbarian warrior who takes every poison-needle attack from Goblin Scouts with nothing but his bare body.

Once he drew aggro, Cossack’s freed-up attacks got even sharper.

Juhyeok also pulled out the mace from his inventory.

The Energy Barrier was already active.

TING! TING-TING-TING-TING!

Poison needles bounced off the barrier and fell away.

‘...Whoa! What if I didn’t have the barrier?’

This is good.

‘So I’m testing the Energy Barrier here.’

Perk rewards really are insane.

No wonder I can’t give up Platinum Badges.

‘Then what about the skill?’

So far, I’d only practiced alone, but what about in real combat?

‘Let’s go.’

Juhyeok took a step.

‘Shadow Step.’

SWAT!

Juhyeok vanished in an instant.

An afterimage left behind in that spot.

Poison needles struck the shadow and passed through.

TSSIP-TSSIP-TSSIP-TSSIT!

SWAT! SWA-WA-SWAT!

‘This is ridiculously good.’

Is there any better skill than this for running away?

There was a reason Cossack told me to learn this first.

I got more and more proficient.

To the point poison needles weren’t scary.

The scouts concentrated their poison needles on Juhyeok, but—

SWAT! SWAT! SWAT! SWAT...

All they could do was get toyed with helplessly by fast movement and afterimages that triggered misjudgment.

‘This is fun.’

Way more than I expected!

‘Do I actually have talent?’

Yeah, right.

That’s ridiculous.

In the end—

[Notice: You have achieved Black Tower (Korea) Floor 16 Clear Rank S++.]

[S++ Clear Reward: You are awarded a Platinum Badge.]

One is definitely better than none.

No—maybe three?

※ ※ ※

Hannam-dong, Seoul.

Commissioner Park Kyungsoo and Team Leader Jeon Gwangil were talking over warm tea.

Player Bong Juhyeok, the one recording S++ clears.

They’d even handed him gear at dirt-cheap prices.

“Whew. I can finally breathe a little. Was Player Bong satisfied?”

“Yes, I think so. He told me he’ll climb Floor 16 sometime this evening.”

“Really? That’s rewarding.”

Please, start climbing.

And set records, too.

“By the way—should we leave Player Bong’s affiliation as it is? Or keep pretending we don’t know?”

“I think pretending we don’t know is the better approach.”

“Why?”

“First, we can conceal the existence of the S++ record-holder. Second, given Player Bong’s personality, this approach is efficient.”

“Hm.”

“We just watch quietly, and when something comes up that needs support—like this time—we solve it immediately.”

Commissioner Park also nodded.

Honestly, ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) he still didn’t understand it.

They’d jabbed at him so hard, offering to pour benefits on him, and he didn’t even blink.

“Let’s go home. You?”

“Player Bong said he’s clearing Floor 16 today, so I’ll confirm it and then leave.”

“Will he be able to do it again? From Floor 16, it gets extremely difficult.”

“Well, if we wait just a bit—”

Right then!

Knock, knock.

Someone opened the Commissioner’s office door and stepped in.

It was Section Chief Lee Mina, a Player and an Administration section chief.

“Oh, Section Chief Lee—what is it?”

“I-it just came in.”

“What— ...Ah! Don’t tell me?”

“Yes. Tower Floor 16 S++ clear record.”

“Heh.”

We sell him a few pieces of gear cheap and he clears it immediately?

“Consecutive S++ through Floor 16... is that even possible?”

Section Chief Lee answered.

“If we compare it to baseball, it’s like one pitcher achieving sixteen consecutive perfect games.”

“That’s a crazy record.”

It wasn’t something they could just celebrate.

At this level, would neighboring countries sit still?

“We need to hide the information thoroughly. Especially keep an eye on movements from China and Japan.”

“Yes.”

They also needed to keep building trust.

“Put together a dedicated team. And include Player Bong’s family as support targets too.”

Supporting the Player is one thing, but if you also give benefits to the family?

It might be even more effective.

“But don’t make a show of it.”

“...If we don’t make a show of it, won’t they not know it was us?”

“Player Bong will notice. He’s timid, but it’s not like he’s stupid.”

“Yes. I’ll take responsibility and push it through.”

Commissioner Park Kyungsoo had a goal now.

During the remainder of his term, he would absolutely get Player Bong Juhyeok to join the Elite Climbing Team.

※ ※ ※

Korea’s tower climbing record is Floor 65.

Tied for second in the world alongside Norway and Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, China and Japan—both in East Asia—were far below.

In fact, information about each floor of the tower had come to be seen as a public resource shared by all humanity, so it wasn’t hard to figure out what appears where, and what mission types exist.

The problem is the Player.

Because a nation’s fate depends on a single Player, securing skilled Players is the key.

So brutal scouting wars break out, or talented Players are classified as national assets and protected thoroughly.

Yoo Cheolmin—who solo-cleared Black Tower (Korea) Floor 65 and is currently challenging Floor 66—is a Player every country in the world wants.

Japan and China in particular were obsessively persistent about recruiting Korean Players.

It was practically a quiet war.

If Player Yoo Cheolmin changed nationality, that country would rocket up to Floor 65 no matter what.

China has a huge population.

So the number of Players is proportional.

China’s tower progress is only Floor 58 cleared, challenging Floor 59.

It contrasts sharply with Korea: Floor 65 cleared, challenging Floor 66.

They tried everything.

They gave the first climbing Player a hero title, poured out prize money...

Magic Stone production is enormous.

As a result, China’s economy was flourishing.

But the problem was the sluggish tower climb.

A Black Tower erected near the megacity of Shanghai, with only about two months left until the upper-floor clear deadline.

If the Collapse Countdown begins?

They can’t just sit on their hands.

They need an aggressive response.

Using naturalization policy to pull outstanding Players into their country.

So where do they draw talent from?

The neighboring country, Korea.

Korea has plenty of talented Players.

They don’t even need to recruit Yoo Cheolmin, Korea’s top Player—if they naturalize any member of the Elite Climbing Team, they wouldn’t have to worry about Tower Collapse.

Mass opinion, national pride—none of that matters.

That kind of thing collapsed a long time ago.

But then news came from Korea.

There’s a record-holder with consecutive S++ clears through Floor 16?

Up until now, they’d never even heard of such a Player—never seen one, never experienced one.

How could they sit still?

There aren’t many pro-China figures in Korean politics, so they can’t do much behind-the-scenes work, but they still have something to rely on.

They’re Korean nationals, but ethnic Koreans in China—naturally cooperative with China.

Even now, they were pouring all their strength into persuading the Elite Climbing Team and identifying the S++ record-holder.

※ ※ ※

Japan’s case was even more desperate than other countries.

Japan has only one tower too, but the location was the problem.

Japan’s Black Tower is located west of Mount Fuji.

It’s far from major cities, but there are predictions that if the tower collapses, it could affect the seismic zone.

A Kanto-region megaquake unlike anything experienced before could occur.

The Japanese archipelago sinking—becoming reality.

They even said the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant might not be safe, so a tragedy like Fukushima could repeat itself.

Korea is lucky, comparatively.

It’s not a major city, and it’s not on a seismic zone.

That’s why Japan’s jealousy toward Korea was intense.

Why is Japan’s tower on a seismic zone, while Korea’s tower is out on a rural mountain where there aren’t many people?

Why are Korean Players better than Japanese Players, when Japan was the universally recognized “gaming powerhouse”?

When the tower first appeared, Japan was confident.

Tower climbing that looks like a game system.

And Japan is full of shut-ins who do nothing but stay home and play console games.

They thought that if those people awakened as Players, tower climbing would be easy.

But the result was miserable.

Tower progress: Floor 56.

Dead last among Korea, China, and Japan.

Even if they somehow make it past the 50s, when Floor 60 comes?

Tower Collapse is as obvious as day.

Japan’s choice was the same as China’s.

Bring Korean Elite Climbing Team Players to Japan.

Or bring over the recently famous S++ clear record-holder.

At least Japan had plenty of pro-Japan politicians embedded in Korean politics, so if they used them, they would soon get good results.

※ ※ ※

Floor 16 cleared with S++ again.

Cossack said Floors 17, 18, 19, and 20 would be no problem.

“Summoner Bong, I almost pissed myself. To turn that barbarian Meatshield idiot into a useful human...”

Honestly, I wanted to say he was stronger than you, Mr. Cossack, but...

“Come on! We could do it because you led the way up front, Mr. Cossack.”

“Hehehe, you flatter me.”

“Hahaha!”

Then he looked at the barbarian warrior.

“Meatshield, you bastard! Stop stuffing your face!”

“Kitchen tasty.”

“Chicken! Is this a kitchen? Chicken!”

“Yeah. Kitchen.”

“Ah, fuck!”

After a clear, a party is standard.

So I ordered chicken.

Thinking about the barbarian warrior’s size, I ordered ten chickens, but they were disappearing in an instant.

He’d grab a whole box and just pour it into his mouth.

Done.

CRUNCH, CRUNCH!

He even chewed the bones.

“Summoner good person. If summoner feed kitchen, I give my life.”

“Chicken!”

“Right. Kitchen.”

“Seriously...”

It’s just chicken.

Floor 20 is right in front of us.

Assuming we all get Platinum Badges—

‘What will the perk reward be?’

A skill? An item? Trait Enhancement?

Anything is fine, as long as I get safer.

In the Floor 16 Goblin Scout extermination mission, there was danger even for me.

Without Shadow Step and the Energy Barrier, I definitely would’ve gotten hit by poison needles.

If I imagine bare flesh, no skills?

Always careful.

Arrogance is absolutely forbidden.

Let’s wipe out Floor 17 first.