Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability - Chapter 101

Chapter 101: Boss Supervision (2)

TL: DDTL

The Ice Castle was finished before long. The exterior, at least.

The Demon King roamed the castle’s interior, refining the space.

The first thing to be completed was a room like an audience chamber, with a throne in it.

The Demon King sat sprawled on the throne of ice, chin propped on one hand.

He sat there in silence, surveying his surroundings as if savoring them, then muttered something out of nowhere.

“There are no vassals here.”

‘Excuse me?’

What’s with the vassal nonsense all of a sudden…

The Demon King sat on the throne and did nothing at all. Right up until the allotted time ran out.

Once I had my body back, I did some hunting in Zone 5 before leaving the Tower.

When I checked the Communication Channel, there was a single Whisper waiting for me.

[Mountain Range: Greetings, Person123. It has been some time since I last reached out. On behalf of the Security Corps, I would like to express our deepest gratitude for clearing Floor 7 and extending the Time Limit by another year.

…To get to the point, the Security Corps will soon be cooperating with the Black Star Society to take on the Zone 3 boss, which is due to appear shortly. So at the risk of imposing, there is something I would very much like to ask of you…]

A lengthy Whisper from Alex, the Security Corps chief.

The gist of it was a request for help killing the Zone 3 boss.

At present, the Zone 3 Boss Gauge had filled to 99.1%.

Just as the Security Corps and Black Star Society cadres had supervised the killing of the Zone 1 and Zone 2 bosses, they were asking me to take on that role.

I replied right away.

[Person123: Understood.]

There was no need for him to ask.

I’d been planning to watch the Zone 3 boss fight anyway.

It was the reason I hadn’t yet attempted the Hidden, even though several days had passed since I cleared Floor 7. I wanted to help these people first.

It wasn’t as if the Security Corps had never shown me any consideration of their own.

I’d ended up killing it solo, sure, but when I’d gone to take down the Zone 3 boss, the Security Corps had stepped up to help me too.

And really, there was no need to weigh any of that. It was simply the right thing to do.

A boss in the 60-level range.

One wrong move and a lot of people could end up dead.

All I had to do was watch over the Boss Battle and make sure no one died.

*

Media outlets all over the world poured out coverage tied to the Zone 3 Boss Battle.

It was a battle in which a great many high-level climbers would take part, so it was only natural that the public’s attention would be riveted on it.

What’s more, one additional breaking story drew even more interest.

[Knight King: Is it true that Person123 is helping with the Zone 3 boss fight?]

[Tov: It’s true. I’m in the Security Corps, and apparently a reply came back.]

[Kukakaka: Then it’s already over lol]

The governments of every nation could breathe a sigh of relief at the news as well.

They had been on edge until now.

This was a Boss Battle in which, one wrong move, their own precious high-level climbers could be wiped out in a catastrophe.

But if Person123 was getting involved, success was already a foregone conclusion, and casualties were unlikely to occur at all. He wouldn’t allow it.

The day of the decisive battle drew near.

Both the Security Corps and the Black Star Society, as planned, filled the gauge to the very brink, then linked up at the agreed meeting point.

Now they would fill the remaining 0.1% together and move out to kill the boss.

They knew where the boss would appear. They’d seen it when Person123 killed it.

[Zone 3(100%)]

[The Zone 3 boss appears.]

And with that, the gauge filled completely.

The Security Corps and the Black Star Society made their final preparations.

“Now we finally go to kill the boss.”

The minimum level among the climbers taking part in this Zone 3 Boss Battle was 40.

And the highest level belonged to Alex, at level 64.

Having cleared two floors over the past two years, he was, at this point, the top record holder on Hard difficulty, and, aside from Person123, the highest-level climber in the entire world.

“There’s no need for any of you to be too tense. I’ll be fighting right at the front.”

Alex encouraged his men.

Even without him saying so, no one was all that tense.

Because everyone knew. Person123 was watching this Boss Battle.

If a truly dangerous situation arose, he would step in, so they could rest easy knowing there was at least that one safeguard in place.

Of course, the best outcome was to make sure there was never any need for him to step in at all.

Person123 had killed the Zone 3 boss alone back when he’d only cleared up to Floor 4.

And now nearly two years had passed since then.

For this many climbers to gather and then make a pathetic spectacle of themselves, fumbling to put down a single boss, would be genuinely embarrassing.

Waaaaah!

The climbers roared.

After whipping up their morale one last time, the Security Corps and the Black Star Society moved out toward the Zone 3 boss.

They reached the destination.

They spotted the boss.

Far off atop the peak of a small rocky mountain lay a red Wyvern, its body stretched out.

Sure enough, it was even more colossal than they’d imagined, and the climbers swallowed hard.

Alex exchanged a glance with Li Zeyan, the head of the Black Star Society.

They had only agreed to fight together without getting in each other’s way; it wasn’t as though they had drawn up a joint strategy and coordinated their moves against the boss.

To do that, both sides would have had to disclose things like skill information without reservation, and however decent the relationship between the two camps had grown lately, going that far was asking too much.

From here on, it was every group for itself.

The Security Corps would take on the boss its way, and the Black Star Society theirs, each as they’d prepared.

‘Person123…’

Had he arrived?

Alex glanced around.

The Communication Channel couldn’t be used inside the Tower, so there was no way to reach him.

“Ah! Over there…!”

Just then, one of the Security Corps cadres pointed to the left.

On the Land of Fire, not too far off, there was a person wearing a mask.

“It’s Person123!”

The climbers who spotted Person123 buzzed with excitement.

For a moment they’d been overwhelmed by the boss, but their morale quickly surged back. As promised, Person123 had come.

Alex grinned too, then turned his attention back to the boss.

The information they had on the Zone 3 boss.

It was a flying-type monster, and it attacked by spewing flames from its mouth. That was all they knew.

Thinking back to when Person123 had fought it, the boss would probably take to the air and unleash a breath attack if they got too close…

The Security Corps’ plan was for a handful of the highest-level cadres, Alex included, to approach the boss first.

To attack the boss, the top priority was to drag it down to the ground.

Their reasoning was that the boss couldn’t just keep attacking from the sky with breath alone forever.

At some point it would have to come down. Otherwise there was no killing it in the first place.

The intention was for Alex and the cadres to hold out, dodging the boss’s attacks until then, and strike at its wings.

After that, everyone could swarm in and lay into it.

Alex stole a glance toward the Black Star Society.

Li Zeyan, the Black Star Society’s leader, and the man standing at his side.

That man’s true identity was none other than Ye Tianwei, the real power behind the Black Star Society.

Just as Taylor had joined on the Security Corps’ side, the Black Star Society’s own Nightmare Clearer had shown up as well, naturally enough.

Just then, Ye Tianwei looked their way.

His eyes met Alex’s, and he flashed a grin.

With Person123 watching, the worry that the Black Star Society might pull something underhanded was also eased.

The only question now was which side, the Security Corps or the Black Star Society, would bother going in first…

“…?!”

Just then Ye Tianwei suddenly bolted toward the boss.

Li Zeyan and several climbers, looking startled, scrambled after him.

The Black Star Society had charged ahead first, without any of the anticipated jockeying for position, and the Security Corps members were thrown off too.

“…Let’s go!”

Alex immediately led his cadres in a sprint toward the boss.

Whatever skill he was using, Ye Tianwei’s speed was tremendous.

He raced ahead faster than anyone and reached the foot of the rocky mountain where the boss was perched.

Kraaaaah!

The boss roared and beat its wings, trying to lift off into the sky.

In that instant, something like a beam of light shot out from Ye Tianwei.

A volley of light beams pierced clean through the membrane of one of the boss’s wings.

The boss, having lurched mid-ascent, made a precarious landing.

The climbers rushed the boss all at once as it came down to the ground.

Watching the boss yawn its maw open wide, Alex shouted urgently.

“It’s a breath attack! Dodge!”

Flames split the earth in a straight line.

The Security Corps and Black Star Society climbers split off to either side to evade it, then closed in on the boss.

Alex was the first to make a great leap and slam a skill into the boss’s head.

Crrack!

Next, Taylor, who had clung to the wing, sliced off the tip of the boss’s wing with her Sword Aura.

Li Zeyan and the rest of the cadres also struck at the wings first and foremost, to keep the boss from taking flight again.

Krrgh!

With both wings wounded, the boss beat them no more.

As if thoroughly enraged, it began rampaging across the ground, attacking the climbers.

The rest of the climbers hurried in after them, rushing the boss.

“Get in close to the body!”

While the cadres drew the boss’s aggro toward its head, the relatively lower-level climbers closed in on its body and struck.

The Security Corps members moved swiftly according to Alex’s orders and hand signals. The Black Star Society did the same.

“…It’s a breath attack!”

The boss spewed fire again.

Only the cadre-level fighters were handling the head, and since there was a tell before the attack, dodging the breath wasn’t hard.

The climbers quickly adapted to the boss’s patterns and attacked from their respective positions. Some hung back, performing Mental Concentration to launch magic skills.

Taylor and Ye Tianwei, in particular, were spectacular.

The two of them used all manner of skills to slice and shatter the scales on the boss’s neck with their blades.

It was skill befitting the Nightmare Clearers who trailed closest behind Person123.

And so the battle was flowing along fairly smoothly, but.

‘Damn thing is tough as hell…!’

A boss was still a boss, after all, and its vitality was tremendous.

The cadres were concentrating their blows on the head and neck, yet the boss was still going strong.

Person123 had killed something like this alone? It struck him all over again how absurd that was.

Just then, amid the struggle, Alex’s eyes went wide.

One of his men had broken from his position and suddenly charged the head.

“…That…!”

It was Vince, who never listened worth a damn, as usual.

Before anyone could stop him, he leapt right into the middle of the boss’s head, aiming his sword for the spot between its eyes and thrusting.

But the blow barely landed.

When the boss shook its head violently, Vince couldn’t break free and was flung to the ground.

“Khuck…!”

While the cadres had no choice but to fall back, the boss opened its maw toward the fallen Vince. A breath attack.

The moment disaster was about to strike.

KABLAAAM!

The boss’s mouth snapped shut again and its head was driven into the ground.

“…!”

A figure had suddenly appeared and struck the boss’s snout.

It was Person123.

A single punch and the boss’s massive head was buried in the earth.

“…”

For a moment, everyone stopped attacking the boss.

The boss, which had collapsed and lain motionless for a brief moment, twitched and pushed itself back up.

Person123 pointed a finger at the boss as if to say keep attacking, then vanished again.

Alex came to his senses and shouted.

“…What are you all doing! Attack!”

Everyone went after the boss again.

But that last blow must have been devastating, because the boss couldn’t pull itself together and staggered weakly.

The climbers concentrated their attacks on the boss far more easily than before.

Thud.

The boss had been thrashing, but its strength gave out, and before long it collapsed once more.

[The Zone 3 boss has been defeated.]

The message appeared.

Everyone stared at the dead boss in a slightly dazed state, then cheered.

“Wha… waaah!”

The Zone 3 Boss Battle.

Zero casualties. Time taken, about ten minutes.

A clear, completed without incident.

****

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