CH 172

Before even the dark wizard finished the magic spell, Kim Do-Jin’s sword had already sliced through his neck.

Snorting, Do-Jin walked forward and coldly glared down at Kalstein’s beheaded body. Then, he pulled out his sword from the ground and returned it to its sheath.

Max, the village chief, heavily dropped down next to the corpse of Kalstein. He looked back and forth between the corpse and Do-Jin.

The sight of the dark wizard and Do-Jin, who stood arrogantly in front of the villagers, caught the attention of Choi Yu-Seong, who had been observing from a distance. Yu-Seong nodded in admiration.

‘He completely toyed with his opponent. I should learn from him.’

After planting the idea that he was a wizard to the opponent, Kalstein, Do-Jin had quickly ended the wizard's life with a swift strike of his sword. Although uncommon, there were wizards who carried swords as a backup weapon. Kalstein must have thought that Do-Jin was one of them, so he had failed to suspect anything until his death.

‘But he was the only monster - boss monster on the 3rd floor, so it would have taken some time to deal with at our current level…’

Thanks to Do-Jin, they were able to handle the situation easily.

While holding Emma, who had instinctively covered her eyes when Do-Jin attacked the wizard, Yu-Seong comforted her, "Hang in there a little longer. It'll be over soon."

"...Okay." Emma, with her small, trembling hands, grabbed Yu-Seong's clothes tightly and nodded with her eyes tightly closed.

As he gently stroked the girl's hair, Yu-Seong slowly approached Max and asked, "Where are the child's parents... I mean, where’s her mother?"

Originally, Yu-Seong was planning to ask about both of Emma’s parents. After all, if Emma was born in this village, her parents would be the people in the village. However, remembering Emma's behavior of calling him ‘father’ since the first time she had seen him, Yu-Seong decided to inquire only about the whereabouts of her mother. There was a strangely cold feeling that he couldn’t shake off.

"Ah, the child's mother...? I-If you're talking about Camilla, she was punished and exiled for giving birth to a witch..."

"Exiled?" asked Yu-Seong as he furrowed his brows.

The village chief, sensing the urgency of the situation, quickly said, "S-She's locked up. Nothing has happened yet."

"...that's a relief,” Yu-Seong said with a sigh.

‘It's probably better to not ask about her father.’

If Emma’s father had been caught, he would have been imprisoned with Camilla. However, Max, the village chief, did not mention anything about Emma’s father. Needless to say, it was highly possible that Emma didn't have a father in the first place.

"The child is not a witch. There's no reason to suspect her anymore, right?" said Do-Jin.

Max quickly nodded, "Oh, of course. We’ve fallen for the lies of the evil dark wizard! Please have mercy."

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"Mercy is a virtue that you all should ask from her from now on," Yu-Seong said with a wry smile on his face as he gently brushed Emma's back.

Meanwhile, magic flowed out of Do-Jin's body and enveloped Emma.

"This is a magic to calm her mind and put her to sleep. When she wakes up, she'll feel a bit better," said Do-Jin.

Looking at Do-Jin, Yu-Seong nodded. Then, he turned to Max and said, "Guide us to the child's mother."

"Yes, yes. Thank you for your mercy, foreigners!" Max hurriedly led the two into the village with a look of relief that he had not lost his life.

From then on, everything happened quickly. Yu-Seong, with the sleeping girl in his arms, and Do-Jin moved along with Max. They were enveloped in a dazzling display of lights as they witnessed the tearful embrace of Emma and Camilla, the middle-aged woman with fiery red hair.

“Thank you, two foreigners!”

The last thing Yu-Seong and Do-Jin saw was Camillia’s fervent expression as she bowed with Emma in her arms. They didn’t have the chance to respond as they were soon engulfed in a bright light. Instead of a mystical world full of vivid colors, the two returned to a square cube filled with drab ochre-colored bricks.

"Uh..." Yu-Seong rubbed his eyes, still not quite adjusted to the sudden change.

‘Right, that's how it is.’

The unique experience they had just gone through was like a virtual reality created by the Tower. Therefore, they had to accept the sudden disappearance of everything.

‘It’s just like logging out in a game.’

Of course, it wasn't easy to just accept this fact. If it were that simple, Yu-Seong and Do-Jin wouldn't have faced such a difficult decision at the crossroads on the Tower’s third floor. In fact, Do-Jin probably had similar thoughts as Yu-Seong.

"But you don't regret it, do you?" Yu-Seong asked proudly as he looked at Do-Jin.

Just when Do-Jin was about to reply…

Congratulations. You have rescued the girl, Emma, who received the blessing of the forest, from corruption.

On this journey, you have also executed the evil dark wizard, Kalstein. You have achieved great results by choosing the more difficult path! Additional points are included in the reward list.

The contribution rankings are as follows:

Choi Yu-Seong. Kim Do-Jin.

When the message appeared in front of them, a subtle expression of anger appeared on Do-Jin's handsome face. He said, "The contribution ranking is strange. I request a re-evaluation.”

Yu-Seong also felt suspicious and tilted his head in confusion, but he didn't expect a response from the system message.

‘Since it was also quiet in the original novel.’

However, as he was thinking that, the message disappeared.

- Choi Yu-Seong's contribution points history:

Discovery of the forest girl: 3P

Assisted the forest girl as a reliable ally: 15P

Cured the forest girl of the deadly plague: 10P

Successfully led the forest girl to her parents: 10P

Total: 38P

- Kim Do-Jin's contribution points history:

Cured the forest girl of the deadly plague together: 10P

Defeated the boss monster Kalstein: 25P

Total: 35P

After that, a new message appeared.

As his face contorted in anger, Do-Jin erupted in anger and cried out, "So, defeating the boss monster is only worth 25 points? But delivering the child safely to her mother is worth 10 points? This damn system...! I demand a reassessment. The point distribution is unjust, isn't it?"

Do-Jin appeared quite upset from losing to Yu-Seong. He was stomping his feet and shouting, but there was no response from the system message.

When a message appeared about the reward settlement system, similar to their experience on the second floor of the Tower, Yu-Seong simply asked, "How about an equal distribution...?"

"No need. Do you think I'll receive such sympathy?" Do-Jin snorted and turned his head with an annoyed expression.

"Truthfully, I don’t want to distribute equally. I was just asking."

Come to think of it, since it was a mission to escort Emma and protect her until the end, it was obvious that the score for that task would be higher.

‘Well, it’s true that it was divided into smaller details.’

In fact, Do-Jin had looked somewhat annoyed and had left Emma in Yu-Seong's care, which made it inevitable that the scores would mostly be given to Yu-Seong. However, during the mission, neither of them had thought much about it.

‘That's why I thought that Kim Do-Jin, who defeated the boss monster, would receive more rewards than me just before the settlement.’

Do-Jin probably had the same thought. That was why, when the message about contribution rankings had appeared, he had naturally straightened his shoulders and looked so confident.

‘Anyway, the important thing is that I can't be sure when I'll be able to beat Kim Do-Jin again.’

Now that luck was on his side, Yu-Seong thought it was better to take advantage of the differential distribution and get good rewards. He said, “I'll choose the differential distribution.”

"You seem very pleased."

"Huh?"

“You are even humming now.”

“Am I?”

Yu-Seong chuckled and checked the reward message that had just appeared before his eyes.

- First place reward: External skill activation, and an additional random skill. 1000 karma points.

“Wow..."

There were a total of three rewards, and none of them were bad.

‘No, the first one is amazingly good.’

The external skill activation as a player from Earth was only granted after clearing at least the 10th floor of the Tower. But what if Yu-Seong could already get rewards on the third floor?

‘This is like rolling a snowball.’

It was common knowledge that if he continued to progress through the Tower with someone, it would be advantageous to have more external skills. In addition, Yu-Seong had received another additional random skill.

‘As always, I have good luck in the lottery.’

Just as he had earned ten points with the Pursuit Skill, Yu-Seong could expect something similar on the next floor. And finally, he had also received karma points.

‘As expected, I can earn karma points even within the Tower of Heaven.’

The points were a result of the karma created by Yu-Seong and Do-Jin’s choices.

‘It's only the third floor though, so it’s not a huge number yet.’

Although, in a way, it was a huge number that could be obtained from just the third floor. After all, karma points were not easy to earn even on Earth as they were only obtained through the sponsorship of the gods.

"I earned a selected additional skill and karma point reward. How about you?" asked Do-Jin.

"I got a random additional skill, karma points, and an external skill activation," replied Yu-Seong.

"I shouldn’t have come forward. I chose the difficult path for the additional rewards," said Do-Jin.

"Was that really the only reason?" asked Yu-Seong teasingly.

Do-Jin nodded and snorted. He said, “Of course. By the way, you asked me if I regretted it earlier, right? Well, I'm regretting it a lot now.”

"Don't be so pessimistic. You might contribute more than me from the fourth floor onwards," Yu-Seong said.

"Of course, I won't lose to you," Do-Jin declared.

Obviously, Yu-Seong's thoughts had also changed a bit from before.

‘I chose to open an external skill activation for my Third Eye Skill. And I'll save the random additional skill for later…’

With this, Yu-Seong was certainly ahead of Do-Jin. Perhaps he could continue to beat Do-Jin, the protagonist of this novel.

'Somehow, I don't want to lose to this guy when I'm with him.'

The two men stood in front of the fourth floor’s entrance, igniting their competitive spirits. Once again, they had to enter as a team of two at the same time. They didn't know what mission awaited them, but they were both confident.

"Don't cry if you lose, Choi Yu-Seong," provoked Do-Jin.

"I just want to say that I won't be giving you any sympathy just because you lost once, Kim Do-Jin," Yu-Seong replied with a snort as they stepped through the door together.

“Hmph!”

Their snorts echoed as they entered the next level.

***

The competition could be seen as absolutely ridiculous.

‘After that, I didn’t expect to lose on the 4th and 5th floors in a row.’

Despite having one more powerful external skill, Yu-Seong had been defeated by Do-Jin for two consecutive times. Even considering the fact that both floors had monster extermination missions that favored Do-Jin, Yu-Seong still felt that it was unfair.

‘Darn it, I should have chosen the Dancing Electric Doll!’

Remembering that the contribution points were higher for the player who defeated more monsters, Yu-Seong entered the sixth floor with a sense of regret and a strong desire to win.

The mission on the sixth floor was to find the hidden treasure in the basement. Yu-Seong achieved an overwhelming victory by using his Pursuit Skill and Third Eye Skill to successfully complete the mission.

"Let’s go!" Yu-Seong exclaimed with clenched fists as he confirmed the results of their contribution points during the announcement.

"Now it's just a tie," Do-Jin muttered with a sour expression.

The two men immediately headed to the seventh floor after checking their rewards.

‘Come to think of it, wasn't the situation between Kim Do-Jin and the Godfather similar?’

In the original novel, the Godfather and Do-Jin had respected and admired each other, playing catalytic roles in each other's growth as they climbed the tower together. Compared to them, Yu-Seong and Do-Jin's quarrel was somewhat childish and unimpressive.

‘Oh well, it doesn't matter. As long as we get to the goal in the end.’ Yu-Seong thought to himself.

In fact, he was satisfied enough with achieving his first goal on this journey with Do-Jin.