In the game Blackout, the Ancient Tower was a piece of content that many veteran players obsessively pursued.
It was a hot topic in the community for a while. People arguing over whose build was superior and all that.
In the game, it functioned as a kind of “challenge”. It offered an objective measure of how much one’s characters had grown.
In other words, it was a fighting power meter.
That’s why hardcore users would craft their own unique character compositions, take clear screenshots, and post them in online communities.
I never made it that far, though.
From the beginning, Jun had enjoyed the game with a different focus than those veteran players.
While other veterans prioritized recruiting the best NPCs to maximize party efficiency…
Jun, on the other hand, focused on raising NPCs to the point where others would say, “You cleared it with those characters?”
Because of that, the Ancient Tower which only held meaning if you wrung out maximum efficiency wasn’t all that appealing to the “Lee Jeong-jun” of the past.
So my knowledge about the Ancient Tower is kind of limited.
Jun didn’t really know how many floors there were or what kinds of rewards were given.
What a shame. I should’ve looked into it more.
Suppressing his regret, Jun looked around.
A huge coliseum.
A softly glowing golden coliseum, packed with an enormous crowd roaring like mad from the spectator stands.
And naturally, the direction of their shouting was toward Jun and his companions.
They had woken up not in the stands, but in the center of the coliseum.
“What… what is all this?!”
The startled Aiden asked Jun.
“It’s a coliseum. We have to fight the enemies that appear here.”
At that, Eleanor tilted her head, puzzled.
“That’s not what the old man told me. He said he started in some half-dead forest.”
“The stage changes depending on how many people enter. It’s one of the Tower’s features.”
The Ancient Tower itself was incredibly difficult to find, and even then, the information available about it was extremely limited. So very few people knew much.
Even Maya, who had practically lived her whole life inside Blackout, had never once seen it herself.
“But… the people look weird.”
“You can’t see their faces clearly, can you?”
“That’s right.”
Strangely, the faces of the spectators filling the stands couldn’t be properly made out. As if distorted by some kind of visual noise.
“Don’t worry about them. They’re not people from this era anyway.”
“Understood. Then, what exactly are we fighting?”
“That.”
Where Jun pointed, a huge lion with a golden mane was glaring in their direction.
Its sheer size rivaled that of a decent-sized building, and with each exhale, it let out a blast of hot breath. It was radiating a terrifying aura.
“Wh-What is that?!”
“Goliath.”
That was the name of the lion with the golden mane.
“Just from the look of it…”
“You’re telling us not to fight it head-on, right?”
Aiden now understood Jun’s intent without needing an explanation.
Jun nodded in response, and soon, the iron gate trapping the beast opened with a thunderous clang.
Grrrrrnnnng—!
Its roar echoed like it came from deep within a cavern.
“It breathes fire. Be careful!”
“Got it!”
“Yes!”
Jun and Eleanor cast their support spells, while Aiden and Maya sprang into action to draw the beast’s attention.
It was clear from their movements that they were determined not to let the colossal lion near the two in the rear.
Raaawr!
The beast charged in response.
For something so huge, it moved with shocking speed.
With each step, the ground trembled, and its front paw which was the size of a boulder swiped toward Aiden and Maya.
Tatatata!
Krrrack!
The two scattered in opposite directions, leaving deep gouges in the ground where they had just been standing.
They tried to exploit the opening that had formed—
Grrrnnng!
“……?!”
In a split second, Maya arched her back like a bow, narrowly dodging something.
It was Goliath’s tail.
He’s manipulating magic directly…!
Not only was the tail cloaked in mana. The mana itself carried another strange, foreign energy.
The backward bend of her body almost drew her into the tail’s sweeping arc.
Had she not reacted in time, she would’ve been caught by the follow-up tail strike.
In contrast, Aiden was covered in a blazing red aura as he aimed to slash at the beast’s neck. But Goliath turned its head faster and unleashed a breath of fire.
Thanks to the skill [Beast Body] activating in time, Aiden leapt backward from the spot to evade the attack.
“How is something that big moving like that…?”
A split second later, Goliath’s claws slammed into the ground where Aiden had just been.
“Uh… Are we even capable of killing that thing?”
Eleanor who was watching the scene unfold asked in a half-dazed voice.
Jun, on the other hand, had no time to respond; he was already chanting a spell.
“Ugh. Never mind, then.”
With a deep sigh, Eleanor also began casting her divine magic once more.
In this battle, neither of them recklessly fired spells at Goliath.
The moment it changed targets, they’d be the ones in danger.
Instead, Eleanor focused her attention entirely on supporting Aiden and Maya’s fight.
Just then, Goliath’s claws came swinging down toward Aiden.
Perhaps angered by Aiden’s repeated evasions, the beast ignored Maya who was attacking from behind and focused solely on Aiden.
Too late!
A flicker of distress crossed Aiden’s face.
Dodging blow after blow as they rained down like a storm had pushed him into a corner before he realized it.
Jun’s warning “Don’t fight it head-on” flashed through his mind.
Huh?
But then, strangely…
Aiden felt like he could break through the creature’s assault and move forward.
And with that thought, he acted.
Tatatata!
Even without Jun’s enhancement magic, Aiden’s movements suddenly became extraordinary.
Like a breeze, he slipped past Goliath’s huge foreleg and weaved his way into its inner blind spot.
Was it the spirit’s influence?
Most likely.
Though he wasn’t yet used to this sensation, Aiden had been steadily blossoming. His innate talent was blooming through countless real battles.
And then—
[Point in Light]
Eleanor’s divine magic enveloped both of Aiden’s arms.
Unlike [Hymnal of Light], which enhanced overall physical abilities, this spell specifically focused on amplifying a single body part.
It was a divine magic spell Eleanor had personally developed after being relentlessly pushed by Jun in training.
And its effect was outstanding.
Baaaaaang!
Sparks flew in the air as sword and claw clashed, and Aiden gritted his teeth before pushing back against the beast’s huge paw.
Compared to the boulder-sized foreleg, the slender blade of a human sword was somehow holding its ground.
Aiden and Eleanor… they’ve both grown so much.
In response, Jun cast an enhancement spell on Aiden.
Paaang!
Strength surged into Aiden’s arms and legs, and at last, Goliath’s foreleg was knocked aside. The creature was forced to pay the price for its reckless assault.
“Die.”
Maya, who had slipped past its thrashing tail, drove Acanthus’s Fang deep into the beast’s hind leg.
***
Battles against giant monsters always demanded caution.
Even the slightest movement from such a creature meant they had to brace for devastating blows.
But as the saying goes, small peppers are the spiciest.
When facing an enemy of such overwhelming size, Jun and his companions had prepared for every possibility.
The first key was teamwork.
Aiden and Maya held the front, while Jun and Eleanor supported from range.
When Aiden was in danger, Maya would threaten the enemy, and when the reverse happened, Aiden did the same for her.
And if both were cornered, Jun and Eleanor would step in.
Never rushing, never overreaching……their strategy was to slowly chip away at the monster’s stamina and focus.
In this, the essence of the World Tree Jun had secured added even greater brilliance to their teamwork.
The second key was careful planning.
Up until now, Jun’s party had relied mostly on sheer skill to clash with their enemies. But in the original game Blackout, every hunt required preparing a large stock of consumables.
The enchanted scrolls used by mercenaries and adventurers fell into this category.
Until now, Jun’s magic had filled that role, but it was finally time to begin making use of consumables as well.
One of those was poison.
Grrrnnngh…!!
The Goliath, which had moved with surprising agility despite its huge size, now began to slow noticeably.
It was because of the paralyzing poison smeared on Maya’s blade when she struck earlier while the beast was focused on cornering Aiden.
Normally, with such a huge body, the poison should have taken a long time to spread.
But the paralyzing poison Jun had crafted from materials gathered in Ervantos’s contamination zone directly affected the struck area and gradually spread outward.
“Haaah!”
The beast belatedly raised its foreleg against Aiden’s charging sword, but it was already too late.
Aiden’s blade had already pierced deep inside, slicing through its neck, and right after, Maya slashed open the ankle of its opposite foreleg.
Finally, a golden spear summoned by Eleanor drove into the creature’s leg joint.
Krrrhhhuuuaaargh—!!
A cry more like a scream burst out.
And at last, Jun’s [Flare] crashed squarely into the center of its forehead.
A finishing strike he had saved so as not to reveal his hand too soon.
The beast’s body went up in roaring flames and collapsed.
Uwaaaaaaaahhh!!!
The faceless spectators in the stands stomped their feet and shouted in frenzied excitement.
“Huff… huff…”
But they were just as exhausted.
Fighting a huge monster, where even a single mistake could lead to fatal injury, was nothing short of grueling.
“Phew… is it… over?”
Aiden who was worn out and weary approached and asked, and Jun nodded.
“You did well. You really managed to hold out.”
Maya had also faced danger multiple times, but not as much as Aiden, who stood at the very front against Goliath.
In this battle, Aiden’s contribution had been immense.
“But… why did it focus on me so much?”
Aiden hadn’t used [Beast Roar], yet Goliath had fixated on him with strange intensity.
“Because of the skills and equipment you have.”
Aiden’s current gear was primarily crafted from monster hides. Armor was made from the Destroyer’s Leather, greaves fashioned from Balrog’s hide, and the like.
And [Beast Body] not only amplified the performance of such equipment but also carried the effect of drawing monsters’ attention to some extent.
“On top of that, Goliath was a beast-type monster. To it, you must have seemed like a rival trespassing in its territory.”
“Ah, I see…”
Aiden hadn’t expected there to be a connection like that, and once again, he gained new knowledge today.
“Alright, let’s head up. You all did well.”
Before they knew it, the door to the next floor had appeared.
Stepping through it, the party was greeted once again by a pure white space, just like before.
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