Chapter 73: Velator the Hero (2)

[Velator of the United States has cleared the Tower’s Very Hard Floor 10.]

[Velator of the United States has cleared the Tower’s Very Hard Floor 11.]

[Velator of the United States has cleared the Tower’s Very Hard Floor 12.]

Messages kept ringing in my ears.

They indicated that Velator, a citizen of the United States, was conquering the Tower at the Very Hard difficulty.

But the important point here wasn’t that someone was clearing the Tower at Very Hard.

It was that name—Velator.

Velator the Hero.

Someone with such an uncommon name suddenly appeared and started climbing the Tower at the Very Hard difficulty?

It was too much of a coincidence to simply write off as chance.

‘It’s him.’

No, I was 100% certain.

The one in those messages was surely the Hero who once met his death at my own hands.

Not just the Demon Clan, but even the Hero chosen by the Goddess had now transmigrated into the modern era and revealed himself.

If there was an issue to consider here, it was that the Hero’s sword, which should be standing on humanity’s side and striking down evil, would likely be pointed at me—a fellow human.

‘Salmora has really pulled out a powerful card this time.’ I realized it immediately.

Salmora, and the Demon Clan, were definitely involved behind the scenes.

It was obvious, especially after I saw the replica of the Hero, Kayle Turner.

Making a replica was basically the same as having the original. 

There was no doubt that Salmora had just drawn one of his secret weapons that he’d kept hidden all this time.

And with this, it was now certain.

The appearance of the Hero, and the ascent of the Tower.

There were some facts to deduce from this string of events.

‘For some reason, the Demon Clan cannot ascend the Tower.’

They pressured me, trying to force me to climb the Tower.

But when that failed, they used the hidden Hero to make the climb in their place.

Why go that far?

With Salmora’s power, he could easily conquer the Tower.

No, even if it wasn’t him, his Guardian Knights alone would have been enough to break through the Very Hard difficulty.

All of this pointed to one thing.

The Demon Clan can’t climb the Tower.

Of course.

There is such a thing as balance.

If the Demon Clan could ascend the Tower, they would have conquered the world long ago.

The Tower, this special structure, clearly rejected the Demon Clan.

But that fact alone brought no comfort.

If they could climb the Tower by using someone who’d been barred from it by the limitations of race…

[Velator of the United States has used an Attribute Weakening Ticket.]

[Velator of the United States has used a Monster Enhancement Ticket.]

[Velator of the United States has used a Reward Reduction Ticket.]

It meant they’d secured that many tickets, and it was a clear sign that an attack was coming against their enemy, South Korea.

Of course.

[Kim Si-won of South Korea has blocked the attack with a Defense Ticket.]

[Kim Si-won of South Korea has blocked the attack with a Defense Ticket.]

[Kim Si-won of South Korea has blocked the attack with a Defense Ticket.]

But it was useless.

Thanks to the stockpile of Defense Tickets I’d gathered through Purge Tickets, I could defend against their repeated assaults, but I couldn’t rest easy.

This was only the beginning.

Their attacks would become even fiercer from here on out.

They’re clearing the Very Hard floors, which meant more tickets would be coming in.

‘If he’s really the Hero, if he’s Velator from the Gritia Continent, his supply will be much greater.’

I knew from experience.

How many tickets you could get by clearing the Very Hard difficulty.

Especially with the Hero’s power, the strength of the chosen one, he could probably overcome even the hellish Trials like the Blood Sea difficulty.

I had to be ready for their attacks.

And the only way to block a Nation Attack Ticket was with a Defense Ticket.

Of course, that meant I’d have to follow the path they wanted—climbing the Tower myself—but there was no other choice.

They’re already using the Hero card to climb the Tower.

Now, I’m no longer the only one who can clear the Very Hard difficulty.

That being the case, the wisest move was to attack the Tower quickly and secure both offensive and defensive means.

With that resolve, I tore the ticket in my hand.

“Whoosh!”

A flash of light, like a sudden lightning bolt, swallowed the entire hall.

And with it, a message echoed out.

[You have used a Tower Teleportation Ticket.]

[You may now attack any Tower anywhere in the world. Please select your desired country.]

The ticket I’d just torn wasn’t a Nation Attack Ticket, but the type that instantly transported me to a Tower. 

I didn’t need to travel far to another Tower; it was a convenient item that let me teleport from right where I was. 

[Teleportation Ticket (World)]

It was a ticket that let me travel to any place in the world.

Domestic Teleportation Tickets were fairly common, but these World Teleportation Tickets were rare.

It was a valuable item I’d only managed to obtain by clearing the Blood Sea difficulty, which I’d failed several times before.

But there was no need to save it now.

[Moving to Floor 40 of the United States’ Tower.]

This was my chance to strike a blow at the Demon Clan’s base in the United States.

[Though you are human, you have betrayed humanity and joined the Demon King’s Legion.]

Just as the pitch-black world around me was taking shape, the message began to play.

[The Demon King may have accepted you, but the Demon King’s Legion has not.]

[They demand proof. Proof that you have truly betrayed humanity and that you are worthy of belonging to the Demon King’s Legion.]

[If you wish to survive among these doubting members of the Demon King’s Legion, you must prove yourself. Complete a special mission to win their favor!]

[The more dangerous the mission, and the more humans you kill, the more favor you will earn from the Demon King’s Legion.]

[Just how ruthless can you become, to win their favor?]

As the message ended, something appeared before my eyes.

It was a crossroads.

At the entrance to each path, wooden signposts were planted.

[El Sola Village]

[Dushanti Territory]

[Karloa Grand Territory]

[Divalloon Free State]

[Duchy of Bura]

Five paths.

They pointed to real villages and territories that once existed on the Gritia Continent.

I guessed that these roads represented the difficulty levels for this mission.

From the small El Sola Village, through territories, free states, and up to the Duchy of Bura.

Of course, the Duchy of Bura—a whole nation—would be the highest difficulty. 

However, my eyes were drawn to El Sola…Village.

‘Aagh!’

‘Kyaaa!’

It was an unforgettable memory.

‘Please, please spare us!’

‘What crime have we committed to deserve this…?’

People begged for their lives, their faces stained with tears.

But…not a single one survived.

In the past, I destroyed El Sola Village to prove my betrayal of humanity and join the Demon King’s Legion.

Everyone.

Even newborn infants, incapable of resistance, were included among them.

The moment I looked down at the bloodstained sword, the reflection in the blade looked truly like a demon.

No, more cruel than a demon—a murderous fiend.

I became a demon myself, just to survive.

By destroying El Sola Village, I was able to join the Demon King’s Legion not as a human, but as one of the Demon Clan.

‘Keh keh keh!’

The crazed laughter of the Demon King, as he congratulated me for completing the mission, still rang vividly in my ears.

Back then, I chose to become a demon, a member of the Demon Clan, to survive.

Regret?

To be honest, at the time, I didn’t regret my choice.

No, I thought I didn’t.

But—

Just recalling it now brings a stabbing pain from deep within my subconscious.

That was my conscience, which I had to abandon just to survive.

Suppressing one’s feelings doesn’t mean erasing them completely.

It just means hiding them somewhere.

And only now does that hidden part of me speak up.

It hurts.

It’s painful.

I regret my past.

That killing innocent people to survive was a sin.

What I had buried in my heart was rising to the surface again.

All under the pretext of the Tower’s Trial.

“Ssshh.”

I turned around.

“Kill!”

What I saw were countless members of the Demon Clan lined up, stretching endlessly.

They were egging me on.

“Kill the humans!”

“Prove your demonic nature!”

“Kill!”

“All of them!”

“Kill the humans!”

To kill humans.

To prove my demonic nature.

At first, I hesitated.

Even if it was just a trial, I didn’t want to repeat my past.

But the moment I saw the Demon Clan behind me,

“…Interesting.”

That was when I started to get excited.

Five paths lay before me.

But beyond those roads, another choice had been given.

The very path I most desired.

“Step”

I strode forward without hesitation.

Toward the Demon Clan, forming a massive force that seemed to blot out the land.

“Hey, that’s not the way.”

Ken Tauros at the front pointed in the opposite direction with his finger.

At those words, I fell silent.

“……”

Because what I needed to do right now wasn’t to answer with words.

For just an instant, my blade flashed, then faded.

It was as if I had stretched a single moment into an eternity—truly an instant of an instant.

“……”

Ken Tauros who had spoken to me so threateningly stopped moving.

No—

“Slaaash!”

His massive body was sliced in half vertically and crumbled to the ground.

The path I had chosen.

It wasn’t the path the Tower had set out.

I could not repeat the mistakes of my past.

Even if it was only self-consolation, I would never choose the same path again.

Rather, I would make certain these Demon Clan members, trying to oppress me, would remember my existence.

And with this choice—

All of it.

[You have chosen the Path of the Inexplicable.]

[Difficulty has greatly increased and changed to the Blood Sea Path.]

[Due to the immeasurable difficulty, rewards will increase explosively.]

Once again, I was notified that I had entered the Blood Sea difficulty.

Naturally, this choice brought a tremendous aftermath.

“How dare you!”

“We should never have trusted a mere human!”

“Kill!”

“Kill the worthless human!”

An uncountable army now became my enemy.

“Kwak kwak kwak kwak”

Just the malice they held was enough to unleash a terrifying pressure.

Any ordinary Awakened would have their heart burst just from this aura.

But I did nothing to resist this pressure.

I simply kept walking.

“Step—”

I did not unleash any aura, demonic energy, poisonous miasma, or chaotic power to resist them.

‘Noisy attacks just waste too much energy.’

Techniques like the Grand Demon Prison, Grand Demon Blade, and other so-called mass-killing sword arts required an enormous amount of stamina and mental energy.

Of course, there was the advantage of being able to wipe out many enemies at once.

But what I was facing was an army of the Demon Clan too great to count.

To face such a force, created so no one could dare choose this path, what I needed was not flashy techniques.

Restraint and concentration.

Even if it took a long time, I would conserve my energy and draw this into a war of attrition.

And the best method for that was restraint and focus—the Sword of the First Demon.

The primordial race.

The sword technique I realized after absorbing him—no, after evolving it even further.

‘I only want one thing, the death of every Demon Clan member before me.’

That was all. 

As if in a trance, I walked forward with only that single thought.

Of course.

“Hyaaaa!’

“Uaaaah!”

To stop me, they rushed in, unleashing the Demon Clan’s power.

The endless army poured down their relentless assault.

But not a single attack could hit me.

As if I had become a ghost, I blocked or dodged all their attacks, no matter how many came from all sides.

Thus, their shouts and roars soon turned into screams of agony.

“Gghk!”