Chapter 155: Birth of the Minotaur – Moo, the Giant Warrior Awakens

“Hooray for the Climberrrr!!”

While Seo Jun was climbing the Tower.

As always, the Tower’s administrator, Riohr, rushed to the monitor the instant Seo Jun appeared in the Tower.

Riohr was worshipping Seo Jun.

He was a climber who had struggled at the Trial of the Fifth Floor, so Riohr was worried he might falter.

But after clearing the Sixth and Seventh Floors without pause, and then—

“My word, did he just clear the Tenth Floor that quickly?”

The Tenth Floor of the Tower.

A trial clearly more difficult than the Orc Invasion on the Fifth Floor, and yet he cleared it so easily. 

Unbelievable.

The Tenth Floor, of all things.

As someone who had barely managed the Fifth Floor, surely there would be a crisis awaiting him on the Tenth Floor as well.

And yet, he’d conquered it so easily!

Seeing that, Riohr was once again certain.

“This time, it can really be done! This Climber could do it.”

‘He could climb all the way to the top and bring down this accursed Tower.’

Instead of perishing with the Tower, Riohr could break free from its shackles and regain his freedom!

Thinking that, he felt as though the hope and energy that had long lain dormant were coming alive again.

“Is there anything more I can do?”

Riohr began to move with burning enthusiasm.

He tweaked every possible reward to give the Climber as much as possible, increased the experience gained, and more.

He found everything he could do as the Tower’s administrator.

But in the midst of all that—

“Huh?”

Riohr was startled as he looked at one of the monitors.

The dimensional wall surrounding the Tower.

That dimensional wall was more distorted than he had thought.

As the Tower aged, the dimensional wall had warped along with it.

This was a serious problem.

He knew this was the last chance, but he never imagined the dimensional wall would be this badly warped.

At this rate, the Tower would descend upon the Climber’s reality far sooner than expected.

For now, the Climber could quietly climb the Tower, but once the Tower manifested in reality, it would become much harder for him to focus on climbing.

The instant the Tower appeared in reality—

The monsters pouring out from the Tower would start destroying his world.

The Climber would have no choice but to fight off the monsters in reality, and naturally, his climbing speed would slow down.

If that happened, the Tower would collapse before it was conquered, and the world would be destroyed in the end.

“No…!”

It had always been like this until now.

Superhumans who once seemed capable of conquering the Tower.

But as they climbed, the Tower would descend upon reality, and to stop it, they couldn’t focus on the conquest.

This time, that could not be allowed to happen.

After confirming this, Riohr began pouring all his strength as the administrator into finding a way to prevent the Tower’s descent.

“This time, absolutely not!”

***

For some unknown reasons, thanks to the experience boost event, my level shot up again this time.

Just reaching the Tenth Floor already allowed me to create another assistant.

Normally, I had to gather Guild Members and clear Rank 8 Gates to level up.

But even then, I’d never leveled up this quickly.

Once again, the greatness of the Tower was clear.

“I didn’t know everyone could fight so well.”

“That’s only natural, Master.”

My level had risen, and my assistants’ equipment was upgraded as well.

On top of that, with the Mining Team and the Production Team all present, our numbers had increased greatly… but still, I hadn’t expected to clear the Tenth Floor so easily.

“By the way, with Tenth Floor materials…”

I picked up the material I’d received: ‘Minotaur’s Horn.’

Unlike other floors, the Fifth Floor had given an SS-grade monster material as a reward.

Then, shouldn’t this be at least SS-grade as well?

Excited, I checked the item.

[Minotaur’s Horn]

Type: Material

Grade: SS

Description: The horn of the half-human, half-beast monster, the Minotaur, once sealed within Eternal Rock Mountain.

“Double S!”

As expected, it was an SS-grade material.

I’d secretly hoped for an SSS-grade material, but maybe wishing for that on the Tenth Floor was just too much.

I carefully stowed away the new SS-grade material, but before heading to the next floor—

‘No, should I just use it now before moving on?’ That thought crossed my mind.

I’d learned from my experience on the Fifth Floor: Never let your guard down in the Tower.

With that in mind, I wanted to be as prepared as possible before ascending to the next floor.

I couldn’t afford to waste an SS-grade material.

[Vulcanus’s First Anvil]

I’d already packed all my crafting equipment, including the anvil from my room, into my Space Pocket.

Even here, I could focus and create items just as well as in my workshop.

After a moment’s thought, I nodded, making my decision.

The Trial of the Eleventh Floor.

With no idea what might appear, I had to prepare thoroughly.

“So, what should I make?”

‘Should I upgrade my assistants’ equipment again?’ That was my initial thought, but I quickly shook my head.

Right now, after climbing to the Tenth Floor, my level had risen enough to create another assistant.

Rather than upgrading an SSS-grade assistant to Legendary grade, it was a much better move to simply add another L-grade assistant to my forces.

So, I decided to make a new assistant.

But what form should this new assistant take?

As I pondered, I glanced at the fading Minotaur as the trial ended and nodded.

“Hmm I’ll give it a try.”

[Activating Crafting Skill.]

The idea that came to me as I looked at the fallen Minotaur—

[Please select the form of the item to craft.]

“Axe.”

It was an axe.

Perhaps it seemed too ordinary.

In fact, among my assistants, Combat 8 was a Berserker whom I have in reference to Park Kang-chul, who wielded an axe.

I hadn’t planned to create another assistant with a duplicate form, so of course, I had no intention of making the same kind of axe as Combat 8.

[Please specify the detailed form of the axe.]

I settled on a massive double-headed axe.

Just like the huge one the Minotaur had wielded.

[Please select the material for the axe.]

Naturally, I used the horn I had obtained from the Minotaur.

Since the Minotaur wielded an axe, it felt only right to craft an axe from its horn.

Once I finished designing and setting the materials I swung my hammer.

“Clang!”

With almost the entire SS-grade Minotaur’s Horn going into the build, the resulting axe was enormous, making the crafting difficulty spike and the challenge points soar.

But that was fine.

Hadn’t I already created Durandal through Myth Creation?

Making an L-grade item from SS-grade materials was now a simple matter.

Thanks to my growing proficiency, I hummed a little tune as I swung my hammer.

[Crafting complete.]

[You have obtained ‘Minotaur’s Wrath’.]

[Minotaur’s Wrath]

Type: Axe

Grade: L (Legendary)

Requirement: Level 235 or higher

Description: A massive double-headed axe crafted by the Descendant of Hephaestus using the Minotaur’s Horn, created to bring forth a Giant Warrior.

Attack Power: 5,200

Abilities:

1. Superhuman Strength – Greatly increases Strength and Attack Power, at the cost of slower attack speed.

2. Overwhelm – Greatly ignores enemy defenses and destroys defensive components.

3. Pressure – Greatly increases the weapon’s weight.

4. Fear – Briefly slows the target’s movement speed on attack.

5. Wrath – Temporarily negates attack speed reduction and makes the weapon feel lighter to the wielder.

“Nice, nice.”

As expected, an L-grade weapon.

Thanks to its massive size, the attack power was staggering.

Now to make armor.

[Activating Crafting Skill.]

The armor, too, was enormous.

Not quite as big as the Minotaur I’d just defeated, but still massive.

It required a lot of materials, so the Minotaur’s horn remnants alone weren’t enough; I used materials I’d prepared in advance or from earlier trials.

I mainly used monster horns, carapaces, and the like.

Though it was technically light armor with no ore mixed in, its weight and defensive power surpassed most steel armor.

[Crafting complete.]

[You have obtained ‘Bullfighter’s Cuirass’.]

[Crafting complete.]

[You have obtained ‘Bullfighter’s Greaves’.]

[Set Effect: Bullfighter (Vulcanus’s Bullfighter) activated.]

[Set Effect: Bullfighter]

Charge speed toward enemies increases, and strength rises as you get closer to enemies.

Cannot be knocked back.

“Phew.”

With this, I’d finished crafting all the armor.

The next step, of course is to use my skill to bring an assistant to life.

“Soul of the Blacksmith!”

But—

[You lack the necessary ability to use Soul of the Blacksmith.]

“As expected.”

For the first time, I received a message stating I couldn’t use the skill.

Well, I did make it pretty large.

If there were no limit to the size of equipment I could animate, I could’ve created assistants as huge as mountains and swept away my foes.

I considered leaving it at that, but no.

Aside from Crafting Skill, I also had the ‘Modification’ skill.

With this, I could reduce the size of the equipment I’d made.

Since things had come to this, I’d try shrinking the gear little by little and see exactly what the maximum size for an assistant I could animate was.

[Modification complete.]

[You lack the necessary ability to use Soul of the Blacksmith.]

[Modification complete.]

[You lack the necessary ability to use Soul of the Blacksmith.]

Gradually, I reduced the size of the equipment.

Testing to find the upper limit of what Soul of the Blacksmith could animate.

As the equipment steadily shrank, the moment it reached a certain size—

[Soul of the Blacksmith infuses Bullfighter’s Cuirass.]

[Soul of the Blacksmith infuses Bullfighter’s Greaves.]

“Oh.”

At last, the skill activated properly.

[Soul of the Blacksmith raises a body.]

The assistant that stood up was about 3.2 meters tall.

Larger than any assistant I had created before.

Gripping an axe made from the Minotaur’s horn and clad in armor made from the horn’s remnants, along with bones, horns, and carapaces of various monsters, the new assistant looked no less intimidating than the Minotaur I’d just defeated.

[Please assign a name to Soul of the Blacksmith.]

“Combat 21.”

[Soul of the Blacksmith is named ‘Combat 21’.]

[Soul of the Blacksmith raises a body.]

Naturally, I named it the next in line, 21.

At that, the Minotaur knelt, presenting its horned helmet—shaped just like a real Minotaur’s head—before me in a pledge of loyalty.

3.2 meters.

That seemed to be the current limit allowed to me.

It wouldn’t end here; as I leveled up, I’d surely be able to make even larger assistants.

“Wanna try moving?”

“Moo?”

“Run a lap around here. Follow the wall. Try swinging your weapon, too.”

“Moooh!”

Maybe I shouldn’t have designed the helmet to look like a bull’s head.

It can’t speak, just moos like a cow. And—

“…Why is it so slow?”

It’s sluggish.

It’s bigger than anyone else on the Combat Team, but it runs as if in slow motion.

The attack speed is the same.

Admittedly, that axe’s ability does increase Strength and Attack Power at the cost of attack speed.

But even considering that, it was just too slow.

‘So being big isn’t always better, huh?’

I felt a pang of disappointment.

Or rather, just before I could really feel disappointed—

“Moo—!!”

“KA-BOOM—!!”

At the strike of Minotaur’s—

No, Combat 21’s axe, the stone floor shattered into pieces, and all my disappointment vanished.

Since its size increased, it had slowed down, but the attack power rose to match.

Purely in terms of raw physical strength, Combat 21 might just be the strongest in the Combat Team.

As I was testing 21’s strength, Mining 1, who’d been organizing the equipment as instructed, approached me.

“Master.”

“Hmm?”