Green Dragons’ Territory.
“It’s suspicious…”
Brachio Iorg, the leader of the Green Dragons, said this as she watched the Black Dragon, White Dragon, Red Dragon, and Purple Dragon clean the red mist in her territory.
The four dragon clans came to the Green Dragon’s territory to clean the red mist.
The Green Dragons were happy they didn’t have to do the bothersome task,
– Kyeeek! Don’t touch that!
– I saw it first!
– The dragon who can take it first owns it!
– Guys, fighting is a waste of time! Let’s aim for that side!
Seeing the four dragon clans competing with each other to eliminate even a bit more of the red mist, Brachio thought,
“There’s something…”
She couldn’t shake off the thought that there was something she didn’t know going on here.
“It can’t be that they’re after Tower Coins… is it?”
The Tower Coins that emerge from dissipating the red mist.
Tower Coins are a means of transaction for the residents living inside the tower.
However, dragons didn’t need Tower Coins. If they needed something, they just had to ask.
Naturally, no tower resident would refuse a dragon’s request, so they didn’t need Tower Coins.
“I need to find out what it is.”
Brachio got up and approached the dragons cleaning the red mist.
***
“What do you mean by war, meow?”
Piyo!
[300,000 troops from the Caiman Kingdom suddenly attacked the 83rd floor of the tower at dawn! The one commanding the Caiman kingdom’s army is the 1st prince of the Caiman Kingdom…]
In response to Theo’s question, Piyot explained in detail what it knew, not forgetting a single thing.
Thanks to one of the messenger bird-exclusive skills, Absolute Memory.
Until just a moment ago, Piyot was receiving official messenger bird education on the 79th floor of the tower and had come up to deliver the news of the war.
“This can’t be, meow! That’s where Chairman Park’s chestnut trees and subordinates are, meow! Cuengi! Ajax, gather around, meow!”
Theo hurriedly called the other second-in-commands,
Piyo!
[I’ll go check if there’s more news then!]
Piyot went back down the tower.
And then,
“That’s why I called, meow!”
Kueng! Kueng!
[They can’t touch dad’s land! If you did, Cuengi will punish them!]
“If they mess with Sejun hyung’s farm on the 83rd floor, I, the great White Dragon Ajax, will punish them!”
When Theo told them that Sejun’s farm on the 83rd floor might be in danger, the two grinded their teeth in anger,
“Huhuhuh. Kids, why are you so serious?”
Sejun, who had just finished his business feeling good and humming a tune, approached holding Fenrir.
Kking!
‘I almost dug it all up!’
Fenrir, the sweet potato thief, was caught red-handed by Sejun while digging up sweet potatoes that hadn’t even fully grown yet.
As Sejun approached like that,
“Let’s go, meow!”
Kueng!
[Let’s go quickly!]
“Let’s go!”
Theo, Cuengi, and Ajax exclaimed as they clung to Sejun’s body.
“Go where? I don’t have time to play today. There’s so much to do.”
He needed to harvest the Detoxifying Green Onions for Tier and plant the seeds of the Thick Darkness Cherries.
And so on…
Sejun recalled his tasks for the day.
Then,
“Meow! Chairman Park, now is not the time, meow! There’s been a war, meow”
Kueng! Kueng!
[That’s right! We need to protect the chestnut tree farm!]
“Right! Are you going to abandon your subordinates?!”
The three urged Sejun.
“Huh?! What are you talking about? A war?”
Only then did Sejun realize that they weren’t just asking him to play around.
“Chairman Park, let’s talk while we head to the waypoint, meow!”
“Alright. Toryong!”
Sejun called for Toryong to move to the waypoint.
As they headed towards the waypoint,
“What?! 300,000?”
“That’s right, meow!”
Sejun heard from Theo that 300,000 troops from the Caiman Kingdom had invaded the 83rd floor of the tower.
‘I wonder if those guys are okay?’
Sejun checked his newly acquired talent while worrying about the chestnut hedgehogs. He wanted to see if it would be helpful in battle.
[Talent: Bringer of Nightmares]
→ This is a talent that can only be possessed by those who have eaten the heart of the Nightmare, Demon King of Nightmares.
→ It bestows nightmares upon your enemies.
→ The higher your rank compared to your enemy, the more effective it becomes. (If the gap is significant, the enemy cannot wake up from the nightmare.)
→ You cannot bring nightmares to an enemy of higher rank.
According to the description, it was a talent that made the enemy have nightmares.
But,
“This won’t be helpful…”
Since enemies don’t usually sleep during battle, it couldn’t be used.
While Sejun was checking his talent,
“Chairman Park, we’ve arrived, meow!”
Theo announced their arrival at the waypoint.
“Yeah. Go inside.”
Click.
As Sejun opened the void storage,
Sssssh.
Theo, Cuengi, and Ajax went inside.
And then,
Click.
Sejun put Fenrir, which was in his pocket, into the void storage.
Kking?! Kking!
‘Where are you going alone again?! Take me with you!’
Fenrir didn’t want to be separated from Sejun.
Kueng!
[Blackie, stay still!]
Cuengi was holding onto Fenrir while,
Click.
Sejun closed the door of the void storage.
And then,
[Moving to the 83rd floor of the Black Tower.]
Using the waypoint, he moved to the 83rd floor of the tower.
***
83rd floor of the tower.
Tap. Tap.
The 300,000 troops of the Caiman Kingdom moving towards the road leading to the 82nd floor.
At that moment,
Thunk.
“Aaargh!”
The Caiman Kingdom soldiers at the very front collapsed with a scream. The thorns were coated with the poison of the poisonous bees.
“There are poisoned thorns on the ground!”
“Watch your step!”
“Yes!”
The soldiers carefully watched their steps, at the words of the frontline soldiers.
However,
Kwieek!
[Attack!]
Godori had no intention of letting the soldiers move comfortably.
Bounce.
Kwieek! Kwieek!
Following Godori’s command, 1000 hedgehogs that were hiding their bodies in the ground got up and
Whoosh.
They turned their backs toward the soldiers and fired thorns coated with poison.
“Dodge!”
The soldiers hurriedly moved to avoid the thorns.
However,
Thunk. Thunk.
“Argh!”
Unable to properly dodge because of the thorns on the ground,
Thud. Thud.
Soldiers who stepped on or were hit by flying thorns fell.
In the meantime,
Kwieek!
[Well done! Return!]
Kwieek! Kwieek!
Following Godori’s command, the hedgehogs, now bare after shooting all their thorns, quickly returned to the chestnut tree farm, exposing their pink undersides.
In the meantime,
“The 2nd row, stand at the front, and archers, line up in the 3rd to 5th rows!”
At the commander’s order, the soldiers quickly changed their positions, and
“Advance!”
The soldiers, now in formation, marched forward again,
Kwieek!
[Attack!]
Whoosh.
This time, 2000 hedgehogs rose from both sides of the soldiers, shot their poison thorns, and returned to the farm.
While the hedgehogs were inflicting damage on the Caiman Kingdom army,
“Why can’t we move forward?!”
Croker Caiman, who was slowly following from behind, noticed the soldiers unable to advance.
“That’s… in front…”
“What?! You mean to say the soldiers are having trouble because of mere hedgehogs?!”
Angered by the commander’s report, Croker’s eyes turned red.
And then,
“You have nothing to fear. You will become brave soldiers who can fight dragons.”
He stretched out his hand towards the soldiers with a mad declaration.
Then, from Croker’s hand, the red mist spread out and was absorbed by the soldiers, making their skin harden.
“Soldiers! Go! Go and show the greatness of our Caiman Kingdom army!”
“Waaah!”
At Crocker’s command, the soldiers, whose eyes had turned red, shouted and marched toward the chestnut tree farm.
Tap. Tap.
The Caiman Kingdom army, now fearless, quickly surrounded the chestnut tree farm completely and entered inside.
However, the hedgehogs were nowhere to be seen. Only the flourishing chestnuts were visible.
Then,
Kwieek!
[Attack!]
Kwieek! Kwieek!
Following Godori’s command, the hedgehogs that had regenerated their thorns shot them at the soldiers.
But,
Ting! Ting!
Now the hedgehogs’ thorns couldn’t penetrate the soldiers’ skin, which had been hardened by Croker’s power.
Kwieek?!
The hedgehogs panicked.
“The king says he will personally annihilate those vermin! Drive the hedgehogs into a corner!”
“Yes!”
Following the commander’s orders, the soldiers threatened the hedgehogs and gradually pushed them towards the center of the farm.
***
[You have arrived at the 83rd floor of the Black Tower.]
[Moved from the top floor, the 99th floor, to the 83rd floor.]
[You have descended 16 floors.]
[Due to the effect of the title <Retrogressor>, all stats increase by 16.]
As soon as Sejun arrived on the 83rd floor,
Click.
“Chairman Park, let’s hurry, meow!”
Kueng!
[We’ll teach those bad guys a lesson!]
“I’ll crush them!”
The void storage opened, and Theo, Cuengi, and Ajax ran out and clung to him,
Plop.
Kking!
‘Hey! Take me with you!’
Fenrir also jumped out of the void storage,
Click.
And approached Sejun’s feet, biting his shoes to make sure he was taken along.
“Got it. I’ll take Blackie too. Toryong!”
Click.
Sejun put Fenrir in his pocket and called Toryong, hurrying towards the chestnut tree farm.
***
“How dare you block my way, you have some courage.”
Croker spoke as he looked at the hedgehogs surrounded by his soldiers.
Then,
Kwieek!
[You’re the one who has the audacity to invade the farm of the great Black Dragon Park Sejun!]
Godori retorted without backing down.
“What?! Are you saying this is the Black Dragon’s farm?!”
Kwieek! Kwieek!
[Yes! We might die, but the great Black Dragon Park Sejun will avenge us!]
Kwieek! Kwieek!
The hedgehogs eagerly agreed with Godori’s words.
But,
“Kukuk. Do you really think you can die as you please?”
Croker scoffed at the hedgehogs’ words.
Croker had no intention of killing the hedgehogs.
Instead, he planned to use his power to make the hedgehogs his subordinates and force them to fight against dragons.
Could there be anything more crushing to the dragons’ proud pride than their own subordinates attacking them?
“Kukuk. You are now my subordinates.”
As Croker was about to release the red mist from his hand,
“Hey! Get your hands off my guys!”
Sejun shouted at Croker from atop Toryong’s head.
And then,
Swish!
“Cuengi, are you ready, meow?!”
As Theo asked while drawing out his dragon claws,
Kueng!
[Ready!]
Cuengi energetically nodded.
“Then, let’s go, meow! Meow-meow! Meow-meow”
Kueng-fooo!
Theo and Cuengi combined their powers to unleash the Meow-meow Fist and Kueng-fooo, creating the combined attack, Meow-Kueng-Storm Fist.
Kwaagwang!
An enormous whirlwind filled with magic blades that seemed to cut through anything engulfed the Caiman Kingdom army.
But,
“How trivial.”
Croker stepped forward and nonchalantly blocked the combined attack with his right hand enveloped in the red mist.
No, more accurately, the red mist devoured it. The attack was absorbed by the red mist.
“Huh?!”
“Meow?!”
Kueng?!
Sejun, Theo, and Cuengi were taken aback, having never experienced such a thing before.
“Don’t worry, everyone! I’ll handle this! Hyung, release the seal!”
Ajax, feeling smug, spoke up. Heheh. It’s my turn to step in.
“Alright. I, Park Sejun, release the seal on Ajax Mamebe’s…”
Just as Sejun began to release Ajax’s seal,
‘What is this?!’
Fenrir poked his head out of Sejun’s pocket, feeling a familiar energy suddenly.
And then,
Kking?!
“Why does that bastard have my core?!”
Fenrir was startled upon seeing Croker. Though the energy was weak, it was definitely his core that he felt inside Croker’s body.
In the meantime,
“Seal release.”
“Leave it to me, hyung!”
Kwoooooo!
With the seal released, Ajax confidently fired his breath at Croker.
However,
“Kuh…”
Croker, though struggling, managed to block Ajax’s breath.
Then,
Kking!
‘Core, come to me!’
Fenrir, on the verge of fainting from Ajax’s energy, hurriedly called out to its core. Thanks to Theo’s energy drain, it was fainting rather than dying.
Zook.
Thus, a small black orb flew out of Croker’s body towards Fenrir, heeding its master’s call.
But,
Grab.
“Meow?! What is this, meow?!”
Theo, defending around Sejun with an iron wall, caught the orb with his front paw.
And then,
“Puhuhut. I don’t know what it is, but I’m taking it, meow!”
He put it into his bag.
While Theo was taking the piece of Fenrir’s core,
Kwaagwang!
[Guard Ajax Mamebe has killed the King of Caiman Kingdom, Croker Caiman.]
[You have obtained 2.5 million experience points, which is 50% of the experience Guard Ajax Mamebe earned.]
[Ajax Mamebe is your slave.]
[You gain an additional 1.25 million experience points, which is 25% of the experience Ajax Mamebe earned.]
With the core gone and unable to withstand the breath attack anymore, Croker was completely obliterated by Ajax’s breath without a trace.
*****
*****
