When humanity climbs Black Tower Floor 71, many things change.

Especially the benefits it gives.

You could call them rewards for overcoming the Curse of the Average on Floor 70 and congratulating them for the hard work it took to get this far.

High-grade Magic Stones, increased item reward probability, a drastic drop in tower-clearing difficulty, and stacked Tower Collapse deadlines.

And so the world becomes a little safer.

Players steadily become stronger too.

But there was another purpose to the tower.

A trial for the world and its Players.

Without trials, the tower had no value in existing.

It drove Players to climb to Floor 80 and release Diamat into the world.

The Succubus Queen, the ruler who governed incubi and demonic beasts.

Like incubi, Diamat was different from ordinary lords.

Not a physical-type, but an intelligence-type.

Cunning, selfish, and exceptionally skilled at plotting.

A trial that would infiltrate the world, sow discord between nations, provoke war, reduce the number of Players, and eventually lead to Tower Collapse.

That was why the tower tried to make someone step onto Floor 80 as quickly as possible.

Because the longer time passed, the stronger certain Players in the world became.

A Player who called one helper after another every month, raised their ranks, and monopolized every kind of item the tower gave.

Before that Player could grow even stronger, the gate to Floor 80 had to be opened quickly.

To make that happen, two items had been spread through tower rewards.

<Diamat’s Right Arm>

<Diamat’s Left Arm>

The function of the items was simple.

They bewitched a Player’s mind and created a convincing faith and will that made the Player feel they absolutely had to climb to Floor 80.

The victim probably would not even realize they had been brainwashed.

Because it infiltrated them quietly through dreams.

Diamat’s Right Arm and Diamat’s Left Arm would ensure success in clearing the tower under any conditions and lead the Player to Floor 80.

And the moment the Player climbed to Floor 80, Diamat’s Right Arm and Diamat’s Left Arm would destroy themselves automatically.

The climb had succeeded.

Diamat had observed the world through the memories of the Player who reached Floor 80.

And the very first thing she did after escaping the tower was polymorph into a form identical to a human.

Then she searched for a place to hide and live.

A big city would be best.

Preferably somewhere with a lot of people.

‘I need to stay quiet for the time being.’

Why?

Because now was not the time to act.

After observing the world, the situation was the worst possible.

If she rushed in recklessly, she would get crushed before accomplishing anything.

‘If I get discovered, I’m finished that very day.’

The information in the memories of the Player who had climbed to Floor 80.

She had learned where the summoner Player of the current world was and what that Player had done until now, but—

‘He’s insane, a completely insane summoner!’

Good grief!

A Player who had pulled off consecutive highest-grade clears all the way through Black Tower Floor 76.

How many Platinum Badges had he earned by now?

How many privileges had he received?

At this point, the beings he could summon would number at least six.

One of them might even be the same rank as she was.

That was the only way consecutive highest-grade clears up to Floor 76 could be possible.

‘You want me to handle that bastard by myself?’

No matter how she thought about it, impossible.

Honestly, she did not even want to go outside.

But by the rules of the tower, she had no choice but to manifest outside.

‘Those idiot administrators.’

How had they run the tower, exactly?

They had raised a Player into an outright monster and now expected her to serve as a trial?

Was a trial even possible at this point?

They should have told her in advance.

They were the ones who had made the mistake, yet they were dumping the cleanup on her.

For now, she would endure in silence.

Even if sanctions came down from the tower, nothing could be done about it.

That was still better than revealing herself by acting rashly.

‘As slowly as possible.’

Diamat quietly closed her eyes.

Then she mulled over the information she had obtained.

No matter how she thought about it, this was a mad Player.

He had not only cleared his own tower at the highest grade, but other nations’ towers as well.

He had even gotten through Kabalan’s Curse, which had caused destruction in other worlds, with minimal damage.

He had even succeeded in forcibly occupying a tower peacefully, without a war.

She did not know exactly who he was, but in any case, he lived in a country called the Republic of Korea.

Then where should her own base be?

The conditions had to be right.

A country that was easy to hide in.

And at the same time, a nation that could directly influence the Republic of Korea.

She would choose a suitable place and establish a safehouse.

But she would not begin working on it immediately.

She would wait until an opportunity came.

*****

When the first Global Notice rang out, the world tensed up.

Everyone could not help but remember Kabalan’s Curse.

That was only natural.

Then came the final Global Notice.

Demonic Beast Lord Diamat (True) manifests outside the tower.

The boss of Floor 80 had come out into the world.

Wasn’t that one fact alone the worst possible threat?

What would it be like?

A curse? A physical attack?

But nothing happened.

Even after several days passed, nothing happened.

Could it really end as a false alarm?

The world remained merely quiet.

Thanks to that, America narrowly escaped disaster.

If something had exploded into crisis, the backlash would have been enormous.

The videos from the cult group that had threatened to climb to Floor 80 stopped appearing as well.

Juhyeok met Jeon Gwangil at the Administration.

“Director Antonio informed us that the FBI has arrested the people who threatened to climb to Floor 80 in America.”

Wow.

The FBI.

“They traced the upload route of the YouTube video.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, so familiar from movies and American TV dramas.

Its reputation really was the real thing.

“So it really was a cult group?”

“Well. There’s something a little strange about it.”

“What is it?”

“They arrested two Player suspects, but apparently they have no idea how they cleared the tower, or why they climbed to Floor 80. They say they don’t remember anything.”

“They don’t remember? Not even the clear information for Floor 77 and above, or what Diamat looked like?”

“Yes. All of it.”

Hmm.

It was one of two things.

Either they were playing dumb and denying everything, or they had really been under some kind of spell.

“The investigation is going to continue, so we’ll have to watch. Antonio said they’ll share anything unusual if it comes up.”

They would handle it well.

They were experts in that field.

Still, what should be done about Diamat?

If Diamat had manifested, shouldn’t something have happened?

What if Diamat was hiding somewhere and plotting behind the scenes?

It bothered him terribly.

Like having a boil on his ass.

Something that needed to be lanced as quickly as possible.

“Where do you think Diamat is?”

“Since it was an American tower, America seems likely, but it can’t be that obvious. Even so, they’re searching hard. The U.S. government is also watching to see whether any unusual phenomena appear.”

Well, if nothing happened, that was good.

“Oh, right! What about the Awakening Rune?”

“Ah, this is embarrassing, but I...”

Hm?

“Then that means you’re a Player too, Commissioner?”

“Yes. And I signed an elite contract as well.”

“Uh...”

He was not sure whether to congratulate him or not, but could he really just let that pass?

“Designated Summon, Rajix!”

SPOT!

“Hoeeeng!”

Rajix greeted them with one hand raised high.

“Mr. Rajix, our Commissioner became a Player.”

“Huh-eh?”

“So let’s give him a gift. You’ve got items in your Subspace Backpack that don’t have tower-only restrictions, right?”

“Hoeeeh.”

“Give him a full set. From head to toe.”

Jeon Gwangil flustered at once.

“N-no, you really don’t need to do this.”

“Hey now, just put them in your inventory. You need to climb safely.”

“...Mm.”

The Commissioner was climbing the tower now.

There might even be a novel someday called Make Way, the Commissioner Is Climbing the Tower!

Jeon Gwangil knew it too now, having become a Player himself.

Especially since he was a close-combat type, he knew exactly how important equipment was.

So he could not refuse.*

*****

Cossack went to work at the North Korean Chairman’s residence again today.

He met Chairman Kim Injung alone.

“Chairman Kim, everything been all right?”

“...N-not a major issue, but...”

“What happened? Your face looks bad, sir.”

“The Chinese bastards have been trying something.”

“What kind of something?”

Cossack’s gaze turned icy.

Kim Injung hurriedly continued.

“Today again, those Chinese bastards demanded that I let them meet the Minister of the People’s Armed Forces, and they threatened me, saying I’d better stop this North-South unification work we’re doing now...”

“Well now, their guts have gotten too big. All right, I get it.”

China.

The country that would hate a unified Korean Peninsula more than anyone.

Naturally, it would not sit still.

Cossack did not care.

If they came at him, he would be grateful instead.

The problem was Chairman Kim Injung.

What if something happened to this one while Cossack was away?

Everything they had done so far would turn into nothing.

“Don’t you worry. While I’m gone, I’ll send you a bodyguard, Chairman Kim.”

“A-a bodyguard?”

“That’s right. One bat.”

A bat?

“I brought it with me. Go open that window over there.”

Kim Injung rose awkwardly and opened the window.

And then—

FLAPFLAPFLAPFLAP!

A bat flew into the room with a rapid beating of wings.

‘...A real bat? That thing is going to protect me?’

Then it happened.

FLASH!

“Hhk!”

Kim Injung could not believe his eyes.

The bat suddenly turned into a person.

FLASH! And it transformed into a pale-faced handsome man wearing old-fashioned Western clothes and even a cape.

‘W-what in the world?’

Who is this person?

No, was it even a person at all?

“Looks human, but it’s actually a vampire. Sucks blood like a mosquito.”

“Hhk!”

If it was a vampire, wasn’t that a bloodsucker?

“Hey, Comrade Jepetto!”

“Why... are you... calling?”

“Say hello. This is the human we’ll be protecting from now on.”

Jepetto signaled with a glance.

Kim Injung lowered his head in greeting too.

“So don’t go sucking blood recklessly.”

“I won’t suck it... It doesn’t look tasty... anyway.”

“That’s right. Even if I were a vampire, I wouldn’t suck his either.”

Kim Injung felt strangely offended.

What was wrong with him?

“And I’m sending one more person too. Staff Sergeant Bae.”

Staff Sergeant Bae?

“From the South Korean military?”

“He is a soldier, sure enough, but not from this world’s military. Don’t go pestering him carelessly, or you might get a hole blown through your head.”

“U-understood.”

“And that security chief position is still vacant, right?”

“It hasn’t been appointed yet.”

“Put our Staff Sergeant Bae in the security chief seat. That’ll make things safer.”

Looks like they would have to work shifts.

It would be terribly troublesome for Master Bong, but for the time being, there was no helping it.

It would not last long.

Once China got overturned once, things would probably calm down.

“You ought to always be grateful to the person I serve. You’re only being kept alive because that person ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) told us to keep you alive.”

“...”

The Minister of the People’s Armed Forces, the old man he had met before, and now this bat-man vampire in front of him.

They were all pledging loyalty to one person.

He even knew the name.

They shouted long live that person openly enough that anyone who did not know would be an idiot.

In truth, Kim Injung had long since lost all desire for power.

To do anything at all, he would have to face these people.

Could he?

Not a chance.

All he could do was obey whatever they told him.

That was the only way to prolong his life.

*****

Juhyeok repeated the clear of Floor 76 with his remaining summoned entities.

Once Rajix had mined enough high-grade Magic Stones over a sufficient period, they would complete only the basic mission and exit.

It seemed high-grade Magic Stones were treated like treasure-vault items.

Even after a reset, they did not generate again.

Well, that was fine.

He had the North Korea tower now.

After mining to his heart’s content like that, 20 tons came quickly.

He built a generator on White Tower Floor 17.

Now all that remained was to buy a house and register residents.

Mari, the shut-in alchemist, began refining high-grade Magic Stones into top-grade ones.

Then, in the middle of that, came a request from Cossack.

Apparently Chairman Kim Injung in North Korea needed protection.

So Staff Sergeant Bae and Jepetto were put into shift duty.

North Korea was North Korea, but where exactly was the manifested Diamat?

Was this really going to end with manifestation alone?

There was no way that was all.

Time passed quickly.

Now it was about time.

‘Our princess should be coming back soon.’

And at last, that day arrived.

In the Catalog, Gyeon Dallae’s entry changed to summonable.

Juhyeok called in the summoned entities.

He temporarily halted the shift duty too and gathered every last one of them in one place.

“It’s time for the princess to return.”

How had she changed?

“Princess Gyeon Dallae ain’t turning into a Nine-Tailed Fox like her master, is she?”

“No way.”

“Promoted from princess to queen?”

“Hoe?”

“At the very least, she will appear as a supreme shaman, a grand shaman.”

“I hope her personality got a little gentler.”

“If she starts yellin’ at LSSR rank, our ears are gonna bleed.”

They would know once they checked.

“Designated Summon, Gyeon Dallae!”

FWAAAAASH!

He was looking forward to this.

Had the rank breakthrough succeeded?

SPOT! She appeared.

“Huh!”

“Oh?”

“Oh!”

“Hoe?”

Juhyeok’s eyes widened.

“...Princess?”

Was it really her?

It looked like her...

But she had changed a lot.

Her appearance, her clothes, and even her height...

‘She got taller.’

Before, she had been completely a heavenly maiden in a girlish sense.

If you put a school uniform on her, she would have looked like a South Korean high school girl.

But not now.

That youthful look was gone.

Gyeon Dallae had appeared in the form of a mature woman.

“You could marry her off now.”

“...”

He had no idea whether summoned entities could even get married, but still.

“Staff Sergeant Bae better stay sharp. Our princess ain’t any joke either.”

“...Still a long way off.”

“I can feel a sacred aura. It rivals Radiance itself. O light!!!”

<Catalog: A fairy maiden in full bloom with mature beauty, possessed of culture, manners, and dignity.>

Name: Gyeon Dallae

Rank: LSSR (Legend Special Super Rare)

Even the Catalog title had changed.

From prime shamaness to fairy maiden.

And she definitely looked like a real fairy maiden.

Because even now, she was floating about 30 centimeters above the ground.

“Is she a ghost?”

“She’s a fairy maiden.”

“Ah! The feather robe.”

“A fairy-maiden shaman would surely be spiritually potent. I ought to ask her for a fortune later.”

She flew. Dallae.

Floating Gyeon Dallae.

A fairy maiden in a feather robe.

Gyeon Dallae drifted toward Juhyeok as if she were flying—no, she really was, hovering in the air as she bowed.

“This humble girl has returned.”

“...Uh, w-welcome back.”

She had returned as a poised adult woman, which made her hard for a lifelong single weak man to deal with.

“W-was it... hard, by any... chance?”

“Thanks to your concern, I completed the breakthrough safely.”

Gyeon Dallae continued, wearing a captivating smile.

“And now I have become able to offer meaningful help, though it may still be slight, in the great work you are accomplishing, young master.”

Of course.

She was an LSSR fairy maiden now.

“This humble girl, while strengthening her soul, happened to meet someone within my consciousness.”

Who?

“My master Haeryeong, who ascended and became an immortal, and another immortal besides.”

Another immortal?

“The immortal named Danju. That immortal passed talisman arts on to me.”

Oh! Talisman arts learned from an immortal.

How incredible would that be?

“However, while this humble girl was in that world, did anything happen in this one?”

“How could nothing have happened? Something ridiculous happened.”

“What kind of...?”

Juhyeok explained everything that had happened in the meantime to Gyeon Dallae.

“Diamat... Since a fiend that belongs inside the tower has come outside, it must be hunted down without fail.”

“But we don’t know where it is.”

“This humble girl has one method.”

A method?

“Among the talisman arts I learned from Immortal Danju, there is one called the Tracking Talisman...”

Tracking Talisman.

A talisman art from the immortal realm that could find the location of a specific target.

But it was not all-powerful.

You had to know something about the target you wanted to track.

At the very least, the face, overall appearance, or personal details.

It would be even better if you had the target’s unique aura, or a piece of the body such as hair.

In that case?

“Then we’ll have to climb to Floor 80. The Copy of Diamat should be there.”

“As expected, you are most wise.”

There was almost no difference between the Copy and the True one.

Use the Copy to activate the Tracking Talisman.

And then use it outside the tower?

They would be able to find where the true Diamat was.

────────────────────────────────────

────────────────────────────────────