-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Tower 2nd Hierarchy: The Screaming Cliff
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tower 2nd Hierarchy.
The Screaming Cliff.
This place, where screams echoed between the cliffs, claimed more lives from falls than from the calamities themselves.
The human voices rising from the base of the cliff shook the mind.
Encountering a calamity beast on the narrow paths was a disaster in itself.
Unlike the trial corridors, it was an open space.
Yet somehow, it felt even more suffocating.
This was the tower's 2nd hierarchy.
But that only applied to those bound by the limits of not falling.
Havel was currently climbing the cliff vertically.
He'd never intended to use the paths carved between the cliffs in the first place.
Just casually climb with hands behind his back, and that was it.
The calamity beasts stared blankly at such a Havel.
Of course, there were flying calamity beasts in the air as well.
But they couldn't even escape being treated like flies by Havel from the start.
"Dante, think you can keep up?"
"Yes!"
Dante answered loudly to Havel's question.
The voice came from none other than below Havel.
Dante didn't know how to climb the cliff vertically like Havel.
So, by infusing aura into his fingers and embedding them into the cliff face.
He was climbing, grip by grip.
Others would call it madness.
But it was Havel's training.
So Dante followed his words.
"Aura only becomes foundational when you can use it as naturally as breathing."
Havel said this, still with hands behind his back.
"To do that, you need enough aura in your body to wield it like breath."
In truth, Havel's aura was like an endless ocean.
In comparison, Dante's was merely a stream.
"The easiest way to increase aura is to deplete it all within your body."
The theory was incredibly simple.
But in practice, using up every last bit of aura in one's body was no easy feat.
Just as exhausting all physical stamina was nearly impossible.
The same went for aura.
"But there's one exception: dire situations change everything."
A creature's survival instinct in a crisis was fierce.
It would use everything it had to stay alive.
In that sense, the tower was perfect for growth.
No other place tied life so directly to the challenge.
"The 2nd hierarchy is ideal for expanding your aura reserves. You're lucky."
"Yes!"
Dante, sweat pouring down his forehead, answered loudly once more.
Screams from below.
Calamity beasts overhead.
In this hellish scenario, Dante climbed the cliff barehanded.
Yet he harbored not a shred of doubt toward Havel's words.
And Havel quite liked that about Dante.
'That kind of stubborn grit always gets stronger.'
He'd been the same way himself.
Plus, scaling the cliff like this sped up their ascent dramatically.
Instead of winding around the cliffside paths, they shot straight up.
Thanks to that, Havel and Dante shattered the 2nd hierarchy record yet again.
"Wh-what the hell is that?"
"They're climbing the cliff?"
The sight caught the eyes of those cautiously traversing the 2nd hierarchy paths.
They doubted their own vision at first.
But Havel and Dante were indeed scaling the sheer face.
The absurd rumor started as a joke.
But as eyewitnesses multiplied, it became fact.
There was a madman climbing the 2nd hierarchy via the cliffs.
The news spread like wildfire among the tower climbers.
Soon, people speculated on his identity.
Then someone spoke up.
"Isn't that knight named Dante?"
Dante.
The one who'd never lost his top spot at the knight academy.
Dante's name, already somewhat known, now buzzed on everyone's lips.
Ironically, Havel's name—no, even Havel's existence—remained unknown.
Dante had been spotted by countless witnesses mid-climb.
Havel, appearing leisurely from afar.
But he pierced the cliff so swiftly that no one properly saw him.
Those who glimpsed him occasionally doubted their eyes amid the surreal scene.
By then, Havel had vanished from sight.
"Anyone could think of climbing the cliffs."
"Executing it is another matter entirely. What insane guts."
People began acknowledging Dante, one by one.
A lunatic had appeared in the tower.
As Dante survived near-death scrapes.
His name spread far and wide.
And with it, Banpellyon's name rose simultaneously.
For Dante belonged to Banpellyon.
As Banpellyon's name began to circulate.
Some reacted to hearing it.
One of the Five Great Families.
The Glasis family.
"...Banpellyon?"
Beneath a sky choked with pitch-black storm clouds.
A man receiving the report stroked his chin.
He glanced at the subordinate bowed before him.
"Yes, Banpellyon."
The subordinate confirmed.
The man sat atop the leg of a fallen calamity beast behind him.
The beast, massive as a mountain, defied human comprehension.
The problem was that this place crawled with such monstrosities.
A realm where overlapping calamities made it impossible for life to tread.
The demonic realm.
There, the man calmly heard the report.
The current Sword Saint, bearer of the title once held by Havel.
Lebltein Glasis.
He had entered the demonic realm solely for tempering himself.
'Banpellyon, huh.'
The ancestors had endlessly drilled in warnings about Banpellyon.
'Never let them regain power.' He'd heard it ad nauseam.
But that was ancient history.
Banpellyon had fallen long ago, beyond recovery.
So Lebltein had forgotten about them ages back.
'That name's surfacing again.'
A Banpellyon knight climbing the tower.
It could happen.
No reason they couldn't challenge it.
Yet the ancestral doctrines lingered in the family.
Thus, Lebltein felt an inexplicable irritation.
'What to do.'
Should he order them crushed?
But soon, boredom crossed his face.
'What now?'
Glassis had been Banpellyon's vassal nearly a century ago.
No one remembered that past anymore.
Glassis was one of the Five Great Families; Banpellyon was ruined.
'Time to sever those old ideologies.'
He dismissed Banpellyon from his mind.
Now, he yearned to glimpse the next realm emerging before him.
"Enough. Go."
"Yes."
The Meteor Knights' Captain Commander.
Cheon Gu-seong rose from his seat.
He was a mess from breaching the realm.
But no one else could deliver reports to the demonic realm.
So he hurried onward.
No rest until he exited.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Days passed of climbing the cliff alongside Dante's training.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Achievement 'One Who Conquered the 2nd Hierarchy' has been registered. As the lord of the Demonic Palace's 10th hierarchy, your presence elevates. The tower now fully senses your existence. The 2nd hierarchy's calamity seeps into your body. ― Strength +15 ― Agility +18 ― Endurance +19 ― Talent +15 ― Technique +13 ― Calamity +11
Finally reaching the cliff's summit, Havel arrived at the 2nd hierarchy safe zone.
"Huff... huff."
"You okay?"
"Y-yes... I'm fine... huff... fi-fine..."
As if. He couldn't even catch his breath properly.
Havel clicked his tongue.
Dante, barely holding on with trembling limbs, was on the verge of collapse.
In truth, he'd plummeted from the cliff multiple times en route.
Just as Havel instructed, he'd depleted his aura completely.
Havel had rescued him each time.
"Rest up. We'll hit the 3rd tomorrow."
Dante finally collapsed in the safe zone inn.
Meanwhile, Havel decided to scout info on the 3rd hierarchy ahead of time.
'They say lords start from the 3rd.'
The Demonic Palace had a lord from the beginning.
The tower, however, introduced them from the 3rd onward.
Thus, difficulty spiked dramatically there.
It crushed countless climbers.
3rd hierarchy.
Lightning Zone.
Endless torrents of rain and falling thunderbolts.
The downpour was like a waterfall, visibility near zero.
Amid that, calamity beasts hunted lost climbers in the storm.
Havel slowly caressed his sword hilt.
'Might be different this time.'
Havel felt an odd frustration.
Unclear if it stemmed from the differing environment from the Demonic Palace.
But since leaving it, he hadn't freely swung his sword even once.
'I see.'
Then it hit him.
'The tower's too far beneath the Demonic Palace. It's boring me.'
He'd spent half his life confined there.
Not a single day without battle.
To him, the tower felt tediously tame.
Separate from his resolve for Banpellyon.
"Haha."
A laugh escaped him somehow.
Conquering the Demonic Palace had made him so strong that boredom was his reward.
Who could call that fair?
'I've really gone mad. Might even miss the Demonic Palace someday.'
He was broken in many ways.
A self-deprecating smile crossed his lips.
'Realizing it just makes it worse. Starting to itch for a proper sword swing.'
As Havel fidgeted in the 1st-floor inn.
Dante, nearly passed out in a 2nd-floor room, finally stirred recovered.
'How long was I out?'
This state after every hierarchy.
The future worried him.
Knock knock—
Suddenly, someone rapped on his door.
Thinking it Havel, Dante bolted upright.
"Ugh... urk."
Pain flared everywhere.
Felt like death.
But he couldn't show this to Havel.
Dante straightened himself with effort.
Then reached the door.
Opening it revealed an unfamiliar face.
The man flashed a gentle, affable smile.
"Ah, you're Dante of Banpellyon, right?"
A fox-like man.
Dante eyed him quizzically.
He'd expected Havel, not this stranger.
"Who are you?"
"Looks like it is you."
Confirming, he bowed.
"I'm Sergia of the Scarlett family."
Scarlett family.
Not one of the Five Great Families, but renowned nonetheless.
Dante knew the name well.
Which made it all the more puzzling.
Why would someone from there seek him out?
"I came with a proposal today."
"A proposal?"
"Rumors about you will soon circulate among the families."
Dante blinked.
He couldn't imagine what rumors.
"I heard you ascended the 2nd hierarchy via the cliffs, not the paths."
Then it clicked.
Someone had witnessed his training with Havel.
He'd been focused on climbing.
But countless climbers had seen the spectacle.
"That..."
"And thanks to it, you set the fastest record for the 2nd."
He hadn't expected the training to draw such attention.
Dante felt awkward.
Sergia, meanwhile, smiled.
"Soon, not just me—other families, even the Five Great ones, might come calling."
"Me?"
"Yes. Scout offers from all sorts of houses."
Even back in Banpellyon, scouts had approached.
This time, he'd drawn massive notice.
Families thirsting for fresh talent wouldn't let him slip.
"Why me?"
But Dante questioned for another reason.
Climbing the tower like this was all thanks to Havel.
He'd merely followed.
'If they scouted Havel, sure.'
He couldn't fathom why him.
"Your skills, and that performance—more than enough."
But Sergia didn't know Dante's thoughts.
Unlike Dante, Havel's info was scarce.
The lack bred wild misconceptions.
"Beating those Meteor Knights recently helped draw eyes too."
"Beating..."
Dante realized why his rep soared further.
Glassis's Meteor Knights had been wiped out in the clearing.
Witnesses naturally credited Dante.
They hadn't seen Havel.
'Ridiculous misunderstandings piling up.'
All Havel's doing.
Yet Dante was becoming a super rookie from the errors.
Cold sweat trickled down his back.
He wanted no part of this misunderstanding.
"But we offer collaboration, not scouting."
Oblivious, Sergia pressed on.
"Scarlett and Banpellyon teaming up for the tower. We'll provide solid support, so please consider it."
He bowed and left.
Unaware of the truth, he anticipated success.
But one who knew it could only scoff.
"Chasing a phantom, blind to the real dragon."
Not some rookie mirage.
The true wyrm rooted in Banpellyon.