Chapter 84 – Magician’s Ivory Tower (5)

Sungjin looked over the hunters.

Stat points 5000.

At the current level of chapters, it was about the same amount of stat points as getting 30~40% contribution.

It was a large sum, even to Sungjin. To the rest of the hunters, it was an incredible amount. It would be the same or more than receiving double the stat reward for this round.

So the hunters all watched with eyes full of hope and expectations. The ‘Highlander’ tried to maintain his cool, aloof disposition, but even he could not help but be interested in the free reward.

When Sungjin didn’t answer for a moment, the hat repeated itself.

“Those people, are they allies?”

It wasn’t for sure, but it seemed like whether or not they get anything from the hat depended on Sungjin’s answer.

‘What should I do…’

Another moment passed. Then, ‘Highlander’s’ eyes met with Sungjin, and he turned away.

‘Cute.’

Sungjin grinned and said to the hat

“Yes, they are my allies. They worked hard to take down Lenin, so please give them strength as well.”

There was a sudden shift in everyone’s expressions. The hat called them forward.

“Really? Good work everyone. Please come forward one by one.”

Sungjin handed over the hat. And when he looked over to everyone, they thanked him.

‘Thank you’

The ‘Highlander was wearing a hard-to-decypher expression. He was probably confused on whether Sungjin was good or evil.

‘Well… think what you want.’

[You have obtained 5000 unallocated status points.]

He heard the loud announcement from behind. Sungjin left the room, leaving the others behind. He immediately allocated the points.

“Operator, please allocate 1000 points to each of the stats.”

[Applied.]

There is going to be plenty of fighting from this point onward. Meanwhile, Cain came forward.

“Grrr arf”

He gave a short bark. Sungjin could understand Cain’s intentions by now.

“Ah, ok Cain. Good work today. Go rest.”

Cain turned into wooden figurine on the spot. Sungjin picked it up and placed it in the cube. Since he found the hidden place, it was time to find the hidden boss. Sungjin asked the Operator

“Operator, use the Treasure Hunter active. Tell me a hint about where the Hidden Boss is hiding.”

The Operator gave a verse.

[The final magic prepared by the Magician]

[Requires a courageous Lion,]

[a wise Goat, a cunning Snake]

[and most of all, an intelligent human.]

[When these ingredients are gathered on the formation]

[A supreme lifeform will be born.]

This time the hint was a little short.

‘Lion, Goat, Snake, Man… and a formation.’

There was a formation that Soldamyr told Sungjin about earlier; the upside down pentagram. A forbidden ‘taboo’ spell.

‘…but that was on the Goat head…’

Sungjin thought

“Swiftpaw.”

He took out the claws and climbed back up to the 9th floor where he fought the goat. And as before, he found the upside down pentagram drawn on its forehead.

“It’s a taboo spell which… merges two species together.”

When Soldamyr was explaining earlier,

‘Really?’

He had listened to it absentmindedly without giving it much importance. Sungjin picked it up and turned it over few times to take a look around the head. There was nothing else of interest; Just the upside down pentagram.

‘Upside down Pentagram… forbidden formation…’

He remembered

‘The Lion Corpse on the roof!’

There was a larger Magic formation drawn on the rooftop there. Sungjin brought the head of the goat up to the 10th floor.

Waiting there was the beheaded lion’s corpse, the magic lay formation below it. It wasn’t clear earlier because of the corpse but upon reexamination

“It is a pentagram…”

The formation described in the hint must be this thing. Sungjin searched his memories.

‘Goat’s Head… Lion’s body is already there… and then the rest?’

The first thing that came to mind was the 5th floor, where the Lion Dog lay dead. Sungjin left behind the goat head on the pentagram and climbed down the stairs once more.

10th floor, 9th, 8th, 7th, 6th, and finally the 5th floor. The Hunters were still in the 5.5th floor, inside the treasure room.

“Wow! Look at this! How much do you think this would sell for? Hundred thousand? Million?”

“10 million?”

“Look at this gigantic diamond. Don’t you think it would sell for at least a million?”

They were unable to break away from avarice, despite knowing it was all in vain. Sungjin only glanced at them as he went to the 5th floor, where the Lion corpse laid.

The body had spear wounds, and a deep cut in the forehead by a large sword. Most likely the work of ‘Hoplite’ and ‘Highlander’. Sungjin checked the corpse.

On the underside of the ear of the lion was a Pentagram.

Sungjin used the Moon Specter to separate the lion’s head from the dog’s body.

‘So what’s left is… the Snake’s body and the brain of a human…’

There ought to have been a snake somewhere in the tower.

‘Should I head down first?’

Sungjin was thinking, but he noticed someone looking at him. The ‘Highlander’ and the other hunters were watching him.

They must have noticed him pass by and came to say words of gratitude. The ‘Green Magician’ began.

“Thank you. We were able to obtain a great deal of stat points thanks to you.”

‘Mountain’ added as well.

“Thank you. I didn’t think… something like a hidden place would…”

Sungjin disregarded their expressions of gratitude.

“Whatever, did you see any snakes in the tower?”

The ‘Green Magician’ replied

“3rd floor, there is a snake monster on the 3rd floor.”

“Really?”

Sungjin approached them with the newly severed head of a lion. And then he handed it off to the ‘Highlander’. He accepted it without a word of complaint.

Because there was no rejection, he must have felt less cautious towards Sungjin. Sungjin looked at him straight in the eye and said

“If you go and take this to the roof, you’ll find a magic formation. Please take this over there.”

And then

“If you consider that you already received 5000 stat points beforehand, it’s an easy quest, right? Then I’ll leave it to you.”

After saying what he wanted, Sungjin headed down the stairs. Glancing back before leaving the room, he saw the others head towards the roof as he had asked them.

Sungjin passed the 4th floor reaching the 3rd floor. A large corpse lay there with the body of a turtle and the head of a snake.

It was a grotesque monster. Sungjin checked the Snake’s body and found the pentagram as expected.

‘Body… right?’

Sungjin cut off the body. Until now, he collected 3 out of 4 ingredients. Now the last one was the ‘intelligence of a human’. Sungjin recalled the Manscorpion’s helm.

Sungjin returned to the 6th floor where he had left the helm on, thinking he wouldn’t like to see what was underneath. But once it was removed, the face was that of an ordinary teenager.

Sungjin cursed Lenin in his mind as he said

“He really was crazy huh…”

Sungjin checked the body. But no matter where he looked, he didn’t find the pentagram.

“Is this… the wrong one?”

When he thought of it, there was a second ‘human’ type monster. The Boss monster, ‘Mad Magician’ Lenin himself.

‘…No way…’

Sungjin returned to the 10th floor. He picked up the corpse of Lenin and checked all around. But he did not find a single red pentagram anywhere.

‘Was there any monster on the 1st or 2nd floor with human parts?’

But no matter how hard he thought, he had no recollection of any other human part in this chapter. The 1st floor should have been a skeleton mixed with a zombie, and the 2nd floor had a winged puma.

‘There should only be those two…’

Sungjin thought as he put down Lenin’s body. As it fell his tongue came out, and on it was a red Pentagram.

‘…My god… his own self…’

He went off the far end. Sungjin left his body alone for now and only brought the snake corpse to the roof.

All of the hunters waiting on the roof turned towards Sungjin at the same time. The ‘Green Magician’ asked first.

“Did you… really kill them all by yourself?”

They would have seen Manscorpion on the 6th floor up to Lenin’s corpse on the 10th. Sungjin threw the corpse of the snake on top of the formation and answered.

“Well, they certainly didn’t bite their own tongues and suicide, that’s for sure.”

‘Mountain’ asked while pointing at the pile.

“What are these for?”

He had never come across hidden pieces until now.

“Wait just a bit longer. I will show you the hidden boss in a second.”

Everyone tensed up at the mention of ‘hidden boss’.

“Well run away if you want. I can pretty much guarantee this boss is going to be fairly difficult.”

The hunters glanced each other and whispered. Sungjin left them behind and returned to the 10th floor. He lifted it up and carried the corpse on his back and brought it up to the roof.

“Last warning. Anyone who wants to run, run away now. You can die here.”

Everyone gulped at his words but did not budge. They had their own determination.

‘…well, at least they can buy time for me to read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms…’

Sungjin said to them

“Well, then let’s work together.”

Finally Sungjin threw the body of Lenin on top of the Pentagram. The Pentagram began to glow brightly. The hunters took their position behind the ‘Mountain’.

Sungjin stood at the very back, taking out the ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’. The Operator gave an announcement.

[Caution! Hidden boss]

[Terrible Chimera has appeared]

But despite the announcement, the creature couldn’t be seen past the incredibly bright pentagram. Opening the Romance of the Three Kingdoms revealed a blank page.

‘So… it’s not yet?’

Meanwhile, a familiar voice rang out from inside of the pillar of light.

“Yes! This is it! The greatest body I’ve always wanted!”

It was the Mad Magician Lenin’s voice. The light disappeared, and a monster, far more grotesque than any other, appeared.

To begin with, the goat head grew out of the side of the Lion’s body. It had the tail of a snake and Lenin’s human torso also grew out from the top.

It was an intimidating appearance. Sungjin quickly opened the ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’

‘When Sima Yi pursued him up to the West Castle…’

The book now held content, but when Sungjin tried to read it

“Baa~”

The goat cried. And at the same time, an irrepressible drowsiness took over Sungjin. Meanwhile, Lenin could be heard chanting an incantation.

“Murderous thunder, Jump from foe to foe!”

Even as Sungjin heard Lenin’s chant, he was unable to resist the drowsiness. But it was then,

“Power of Lightning!”

The Highlander was gathering the power of electricity into his two-handed sword.

‘What is that?’

But Sungjin lost his consciousness.

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