Mana exploded from the pressure into all sides.
Kwaaaangg—!
A spherical ripple was formed as dimensions wavered back and forth. Even though it exploded at a very high altitude, the ripple still managed to reach all the way down to the ground. Some of those observing would realise or be puzzled by his unchained strength.
Yu Jitae accelerated. The air felt like a viscous fluid trying to pull his body back.
He accelerated even more and his body gradually exceeded the speed of sound as air tore and cracked around him.
At one point, his ears could no longer pick up any sound. The world turned silent, leaving behind only the beating sound of his heart. Air molecules tried to grab and pull his body behind like hooks.
Despite all that, Yu Jitae accelerated even further.
It was then.
He found a black line dropping in a parabolic line.
The Downfall was dropping above the head of the Association. Its trajectory deviated at a certain point in the air and exploded a few seconds after that. The explosion as black as ink was so immense that even Yu Jitae could see it from where he was.
He had no time to check whether they had managed to safely alter its trajectory or not.
Yu Jitae called the Vintage Clock, not by language but through something closer to pressing a doorbell. He got no response even though it should be listening to him.
Was it ignoring him? Or perhaps it was going to quietly watch over him, like how it silently stared at him during his youth…
He flew into, and through clouds with more clouds beneath his feet and soared higher into the skies to fly through higher clouds.
At last, he saw cumulonimbus clouds. It appeared articulately three-dimensional as if it was crafted by cutting a mountain. He followed up a tall pillar of white cloud as something black hazily emerged from among it.
Tower of Mages was built on top of the floating island, ‘Hitlytan’, but it was impossible to see above the 3rd floor with naked eyes from outside.
It was because all the floors between the 4th and the 72nd were all inside a different dimension shaped like a dark hole. That hole was precisely the reason why the Tower of Mages was located 45 km in the air, as well as why it did not rotate around Earth like Haytling.
The Tower of Mages was built outside the fissure down from the 4th floor due to stability reasons, and simultaneously existed in two dimensions.
As he increasingly neared the floating island, Hitlytan, Yu Jitae felt a slight sense of fatigue and collected his breath.
And soon, he landed on the island.
Kwanng–!
Like a missile, his drop created a crater in the earth and a loud roar.
He put an end to his thoughts.
***
The front entrance of the Tower of Mages was surrounded by a 50-metre-wide lake. Humans rarely ever visited this island, so the ones guarding the gates weren’t humans.
He placed a foot above the surface of the water.
That was when a black shadow soared up from the dark lake. In order to kill the uninvited and unauthorised guest, a school of anglerfish, each 2 metres long, opened their mouths wide and flew towards the one who created the ripple but the man was long gone.
???
While the anglerfish were circling around the area in puzzlement, the man was already on the other side of the lake at the entrance of the door.
The door was 10 metres tall, and was as big as a three-storey building. A magic-engineered device was protecting the gates but when the man shoved his fingers in through the gap and pushed it open, the protective spell shattered alongside a spark.
An alarm went off.
Beep–! Beep–! Beep–!
“An intruder–!”
“Where?”
“At the main gates!”
People shouted from inside as soldiers either wearing hoodies or combat outfits unsheathed their weapons and dashed towards him. They were the standby troops and mages that were prepared for any emergency situations.
Yu Jitae pervaded into the shadow and proceeded on. He rode the dark walls and the dark ceiling.
He could break the ceiling and move up, but if he did that, half of the power sustaining the altitude of Hitlytan would be shifted into creating layers of protective spells throughout the building. It would separate each floor with different barriers and that would take more time to break through.
Thus, he headed to the elevator of the Tower.
Yu Jitae had only a bit of connection with the Tower of Mages.
Although little, it’s not that he didn’t have any connections with them. Therefore, he was fully aware of the basic structure of the tower as well as what he had to do to proceed above.
He had visited this place at least ten times.
The [Mana Elevator] that went straight to the 69th floor was in fact a device that allowed an interdimensional travel up and down. A limit to how far one could travel was decided depending on their role.
Because of that, he revealed himself from the veil of darkness.
“It’s that way; the intruder’s there!”
“Catch him!!”
Soldiers dashed towards him and Yu Jitae did the same.
Slam– By striking the guy at the front, he knocked him out and kicked his body before it could even touch the ground.
As if struck by a car, he flew and became one cluster with the two that were following from behind and crashed through the window of a restaurant and rolled on the tables and chairs.
[Ice Spear (B+)]
[Poison Fog (B)]
Meanwhile, the mages shot spells from behind. Clouds of poison covered him from all sides. It was undodgeable and the spear of ice was bound to reach him!
Even though the mage was certain of his victory,
“Huh?”
He suddenly realised that the spear was for some reason in the intruder’s hand.
Without even sparing a glance at the poisonous fog, the man swung the spear and smacked the head of one of the other superhumans that were running towards him. The spear shattered alongside the head leaving behind a sharp piece of ice that now resembled a sword. He then used the shorter piece of ice like a sword.
What kind of bullshit was this?
The captain of the standby troops widened his eyes.
The intruder walked towards him. Startled, the captain tried to distance himself with blink but he could not cast his spell. Huh? What the fuck is this? He thought as his throat was grabbed by the man.
“Uh, hulk…! Kuhk!”
Unable to breathe, the captain swung his wand in fright and struck the man on his head, but it felt as if he was hitting a piece of steel with wood.
Before long, the force strangling his neck became indescribably immense. ‘Kuu…’ Without saying a single word, the man carried the captain and placed his eye in front of the iris scanning device of the elevator.
The floor limit of the standby troops captain was Floor 59.
The interdimensional force of the elevator seeped into his body. By the time he reopened his eyes and walked out onto the 59th floor, he was met with high-ranked mages who had heard of the infiltrator through the Tower’s communication system to run towards the elevator.
“Stop!”
“Who are you!”
The intruder didn’t bother saying anything, since they wouldn’t listen even if he were to say something.
While leaving the elevator, he grabbed the steel door of the elevator as the handle dented following the shape of his fingers.
Every steel inside the Tower was made with a special type of alloy and even a 5mm thin layer of it was impossible to be twisted by an ogre. Having that dent like clay in front of their eyes frightened the mages.
Soon, the man plucked the steel door out and raised it up.
“Dodge it!”
“The elder will be here soon! D, don’t let the guy go any further!”
It was a futile attempt.
The steel door came flying in at an overwhelming speed. It shattered their barrier spells and sent all the superhumans back, crashing through the wall.
In the midst of chaos, Yu Jitae suppressed the remaining superhumans with a simple solution – violence. Every time he swung his fist, at least one of them always ended up rolling on the ground.
They shot flames and lightning strikes but couldn’t stop nor inflict any harm on him.
“Stop there!”
It was then.
Along with a shout, light gathered in the middle of thin air and increasingly got both larger and brighter. When the light vanished, it was replaced by an old woman wearing a hoodie.
“I am Maria, an old woman who had been with the Tower from its beginning days. Are you the young infiltrator? Are you here alone?”
“…”
“Not sure what the reason may be, but how about you stop here and we have a conversation, hnn? I respect your passion, young man.”
Tower of Mages, 7th in hierarchy – a high ranker who used to be Rank 117 before renouncing her rank.
[Maria Valentine]
She was the elder of the Valentine household and… she was the aunt of Valentine the witch and had previously aimed for the position of the Tower Lord.
“I do not know how you ended up here, but I’m sure it wasn’t easy. You must have gone through a lot as well… Right?” said the old woman, while trying to appease him with a warm and benevolent voice.
There must be a reason why this old woman in her 80s was here instead of the other elders.
It might be because she wasn’t a part of the 72nd floor research, or because she was the one with the loudest voice that could reach the public…
To Yu Jitae, the latter seemed a lot more realistic.
Her niece was the Witch.
The disciple of her niece was one of the five transcendents, and the other sons and daughters of the household were revered for being blood relatives of the Witch.
The reason he was able to come up here so easily was because all the powerful mages of the Tower were on the 72nd floor for the research. Thus, it was more correct to view the sole remaining person as one who had stayed behind due to their political influence – someone who could make things troublesome with their global influence.
When he didn’t say anything back, the old woman seemed to have found that insulting and raised her voice.
“Ehem. Young man! Don’t do that to yourself because of your youth. People can make mistakes in life, but before you regret doing something irreversible, let us have a conversation. Hnn?”
Of course, that had nothing to do with him. He moved at the speed of lightning and struck the old woman by the chin.
‘Kuhk,’ she dropped her staff as his hand reached for her neck.
It was fortunate that at least one of the Tower’s elders had stayed behind.
“Open your eyes.”
“Uhk, hkk, kuhuk…”
“Open them. Before I dig them out.”
“Hkk… Bastard, you are from the Association aren’t you…? You will regret…”
He didn’t have time.
Slam!
The old woman’s head turned to the side. After that, he entered the elevator and forcibly separated her eyelids. When the device recognised her eye, fragments of light began to envelope the old woman’s body but he kicked her out of the elevator. Her role was done.
“Wait…!”
Despite being kicked and hit, the old woman did not faint nor give up. She desperately tried to re-enter the elevator.
“You can’t go! That is not allowed!”
“What’s not allowed.”
“If you understood even a small portion of that person’s suffering, you won’t dare go there! You cannot possibly do such a thing!”
A purple stigma appeared on the old woman’s forehead as she entered a frenzy. It was the evidence of brainwash that was confirmed on Edrei.
He kicked the old woman who was trying to crawl back into the elevator and soon, his body was covered by blinding light.
*
Tower of Mages 69F.
An ancient weapon was here protecting the 72nd floor, the heart and brain of the Tower. A Level 4 defensive artifact.
[Gate Guardian]
The large mechanical doll that reached 4 metres in height, was sitting down on a small chair. Next to it was the staircase leading to the 70th floor.
The authority this destructive artifact had was [Unlimited Regeneration]. Surprisingly enough, the Gate Guardian was unable to be harmed no matter what the opponent was as long as it was inside the designated territory.
It constantly regenerated at an ultrahigh rate, at the cost of practically nothing. Yu Jitae, who had been curious of its regenerative abilities, had fought it for 10 days and 10 nights back in the 5th iteration before retreating.
Flash…
Red lights appeared in the sockets with a flicker, sensing something that approached from beneath.
Gate Guardian raised its body. It had been a long time since it met an enemy. The opponent was estimated to be a human but appeared extremely strong.
Despite being created for the purpose of fighting, there had been no chance to. Rotating its joints, Gate Guardian unsheathed the greatsword from its back and readied itself.
It was starting to be heated up for the first time in a long time —
That was until the floor went crumbling down.
Kwaaangg–!
The territory designated by the Gate Guardian was the 69th floor. When the ceiling of the 68th floor collapsed, the guardian fell out of its area, disabling its access to unlimited regeneration.
In order to cut down on time, Yu Jitae avoided a frontal fight with it.
[Shapeless Sword (SS) – 2nd Form]
[Chainsaw Form]
Killing intent merged like blades and rotated following a chain. Yu Jitae’s killing intent that now resembled an electric chainsaw divided and crushed the two legs and wings of the Gate Guardian. The aftermath of his attack was immense. A portion of the 69th floor’s walls were blown away, revealing the red sky of the other world.
Uiing! Uiiingg!
Leaving behind the wriggling Gate Guardian, Yu Jitae climbed the stairs heading straight to the 72nd floor.
*
At last when he was running up the 71st floor’s staircase, Yu Jitae felt a somewhat familiar sensation.
It felt extremely familiar for some reason…
Something he had felt dozens and hundreds of times at least between his previous iterations – he had not considered those in-between rounds as iterations and his memories of the time, that were therefore hazy, were starting to float back up.
Don’t tell me…
The Regressor thought to himself.
There’s no way.
A gloomy aura covered the ground, singing tunes of death. The will that wished for something to die and disappear gathered above the ground into a faint form. It momentarily dissipated when his feet touched the ground, but soon clunked up again to follow his body from behind.
After he flew through the staircase, he found the large gates of the 72nd floor at the end of a long corridor. The thing that Q was desperately trying to hide should be on the other side of that door.
Kwang!
Yu Jitae kicked the door open. Inside was something that would shock any and every superhuman.
There was a nest.
A large nest.
Black and long, yet hiltless blades were intertwined, forming a large nest as big as a sports stadium.
The blades that substituted the twigs of the nest were piercing through human bodies who had their arms wide apart as if crucified. There were more than a hundred of them there and half of their bodies were covered by purplish liquid.
After scrutinising their appearances, Yu Jitae realised that they were the elders of the Tower.
He frowned.
All the mages that were involved in the 72nd floor’s research were penetrated on the nest.
Yu Jitae approached one of them and wiped off the purple liquid that was covering their face. Revealed from inside was a man with a wavy beard, who gave off an old yet fierce impression.
“…”
It seemed that even the lord of the Tower of Mages was in this state.
“Who are you…?”
That was when the Tower Lord, penetrated by blades, opened his eyes. The old man with a curly beard looked at him with a faint gaze and asked.
“Who…?”
He was physically alive and even his mind was fresh. Despite that, mana was being sucked out from their bodies by the large nest.
Before long, he felt a large aura and jumped up to land on the nest.
Something opened its eyes from within the darkness and he had to turn his gaze towards the tall ceiling to meet its eyes.
“…”
30 metres in height; a body covered with black scales. He could see the tough tendons on its arms and legs as well as a powerful pair of legs.
Swoosh–
It opened its wings. Large wings threatening to cover the entirety of the enormous 72nd floor fluttered.
He found it strange.
The numerous black dragons that he had seen all had black eyes but the one in front of him was different. The dragon faced him with vertically-slit pupils and ‘purple eyes’ that he had never seen before on a dragon,
[I was hoping you would not come here but…]
[Since you are here anyway, I shall welcome you.]
It was a simple transmission of will and yet caused the dimensions to shiver and shudder.
[Welcome.]
The adult ‘black dragon’ greeted Yu Jitae.
[My Nemesis.]