Chapter 176 – Increasing Potential

“I have arrived.”

Pablo, who arrived at the 49th floor of the tower using the secret passage on the 39th floor of the tower.

“They are following well, right?”

Pablo spoke, looking at the entrance of the Lindgen he had come out of. Pablo was moving slowly on purpose so that the Black Wolves could follow well.

Just then,

“Huh?!”

Pablo saw that some of the Lindgen petals were cut. It was a trace of Se-jun cutting it with a knife to try eating it.

“What is this? Don’t tell me?!”

Pablo thought that the secret hideout on the 49th floor of the tower might have already been discovered. Of course, he was not worried because the secret hideout on the 49th floor of the tower could not be destroyed by such a crude method as the 33rd floor.

“Let’s go for now.”

Pablo was going to the secret hideout managed by Akiro like that.

Just then,

“Huh?! Akiro?”

Pablo felt Akiro’s energy approaching him.

But

“Nyang-nyang-nyang.”

Cueng!

(Bat-bat)

what appeared in front of Pablo was a cat, a bear, a bat, and one hunter. And Akiro’s energy was felt from the hunter’s body. To be exact, it was the bronze coin containing the energy of the 7th head of Hydra.

‘Akiro is dead?!’

Pablo quickly made a judgment. If they killed Akiro, the opponent was naturally an enemy.

“Die!”

So Pablo attacked Se-jun without a moment’s hesitation, but

Cueng! Cueng!

Thump!

he ended up dying after being hit by a punch thrown by the bear next to the hunter.

And

-You bastard! Who do you think I am!

the 3rd head of Hydra, which was hiding inside Pablo’s body, had no choice but to reveal itself.

***

[You encountered an Apostle of Destruction.]

[ was activated.]

Weakened the abilities of the Apostle of Destruction within 100m by 20%.]

Along with the message, the size and heat of the flames surrounding the red dragon noticeably decreased.

“Another Apostle of Destruction?”

Se-jun said while looking at the red dragon, as if it were a hassle. There was no sign of fear at all. This was because he had already seen how the golden dragon died to Cuengi. Even if it was a red dragon, it was no different.

“Create Dark Clouds. Make Rain.”

Even so, in case he might get burned due to the fire, he made rain fall in the surroundings to reduce the fire’s power.

“Thunder Throw!”

Kwang!

Kwang!

Crash!

and used Thunder Throw three times in a row to launch a surprise attack, but

Pshhh.

the lightning vanished as if swallowed by the flames. As expected, Se-jun’s attack was nowhere near enough.

-You bastard! How dare you insult me with such a trashy attack?!

The red dragon was furious at Se-jun, who had attacked it. No, an insult just because the attack was weak? Se-jun felt offended by the red dragon’s words. If you want it that much, I will give it to you! A strong attack!

“Cuengi! Rising Dragon Fist!”

Se-jun shouted to Cuengi, who had moved right below the red snake while Se-jun diverted the red dragon’s attention.

Cueng!

[Understood!]

Thump!

At Se-jun’s instruction, Cuengi bent and straightened his knees, jumping from the recoil. A giant hole was made in the ground due to the recoil.

And

Cueng!

[You must not ignore Cuengi’s dad!]

Thump!

Cuengi strongly undercut the jaw of the red snake that ignored Se-jun.

-Keu-heok!

That was the end of it.

Thud.

The red snake collapsed as it turned into dust,

Thump!

and the situation ended with Cuengi landing coolly with a superhero landing.

[Sentinel Cuengi defeated the 3rd head of Hydra, the nine-headed snake, the 10th Seat of the Apostles of Destruction who infiltrated the Black Tower.]

[You obtained 10 million experience points, which was 50% of the experience points obtained by Sentinel Cuengi.]

Unfortunately, due to the job quest, experience points could not be obtained.

“Good job, Cuengi.”

When Se-jun praised Cuengi and stroked his head,

Cueng!

[If someone bullies Dad, Cuengi will punish them!]

Cuengi said, rubbing his head against Se-jun’s hand.

“Right, right.”

Indeed a filial son. While Se-jun was stroking the head of the admirable Cuengi, the red snake’s corpse completely turned into dust.

And

Clink.

another bronze coin fell.

Se-jun picked up the fallen coin.

On the front, Hydra with nine heads, same as the coin obtained before, was engraved, and on the back, the number 3 was engraved instead of 7.

[Hydra’s 3rd Bronze Coin]

???

“Let’s go.”

Se-jun checked the bronze coin and moved back to the waypoint with the animals.

“Go inside for a bit.”

Se-jun, who sent the animals into the subdimensional warehouse, stood in front of the red crystal.

When he placed his hand on the red crystal,

when he touched the red crystal,

[Loading waypoints of other floors stored.]

waypoints he could go to appeared along with the message,

[Stored Waypoints]

– 99th floor of the tower

– 83rd floor of the tower

– 77th floor of the tower

and Se-jun selected the 99th floor of the tower and moved.

***

The 33rd floor of the tower.

Hegel, seeing that Pablo who fled to the secret passage moved as if openly telling him to follow,

“Stop the tracking here.”

felt it was a trap, so he stopped tracking and returned to search the enemy’s hideout thoroughly. Although most were destroyed when the cliff collapsed, there were things that remained.

While searching like that,

“Lord Hegel! I think we found something.”

the wolves called Hegel.

“Where is it?”

“Please follow us.”

At the place Hegel arrived under the wolves’ guidance, the Black Orcs were diligently clearing away stones. On the stones, the remnants of snakes crushed to death when the cliff collapsed were stuck here and there.

As they cleared away a few more stones,

“What is this?”

the corpses of crushed snakes were visible. It was a massive number. At least 1 million at a low estimate.

‘What were they doing with the snakes?’

Hegel fell into thought.

Just then,

“Lord Hegel, may we eat these snakes? *Slurp*.”

a Black Orc asked Hegel cautiously while wiping his drool. Behind the Black Orc, the Black Wolves and Black Orcs were looking at Hegel with sparkling eyes.

“Phew. Check if there is poison and then eat.”

“Wow!”

At Hegel’s permission, the Black Wolves and Black Orcs cheered. Thanks to the Three-Headed Society, the Black Wolves and Black Orcs could happily continue their search while having a snake meat party.

However, since Pablo had already destroyed all important facilities on the 33rd floor of the tower before the cliff collapsed, what they obtained after searching for a few days was only snake meat and a few items imbued with a suspicious smell.

“Return!”

“Yes!”

At Hegel’s words, the Black Wolves and Black Orcs who had eaten their fill of snake meat answered energetically.

Hegel moved to the upper part of the tower with his subordinates to join Urchi like that.

***

“Thank you.”

Moo!

Se-jun gave green onions as a token of gratitude to the Black Minotaur who had given him a ride from the waypoint to the farm.

When they arrived at the farm like that,

Cueng!

[Mom, Cuengi is here!]

Cuengi ran toward Pink Fur and threw himself,

Kuaaaah!

and Pink Fur also opened her arms to welcome Cuengi. A touching reunion of mother and son.

Thump!

A fairly loud sound was clearly heard, but Pink Fur caught Cuengi’s charge without any trouble and hugged him. As expected, mothers were strong.

And

-Kuhahaha! Our Se-jun has arrived!

Kaiser welcomed Se-jun intensely. It was thanks to Se-jun defeating the 7th head of Hydra, the Apostle of Destruction. Of course, there was also the reason that the makgeolli was almost running out.

“Yes. Lord Kaiser, can you appraise this too?”

Since it would go to Kaiser anyway even if he left it to Aileen, Se-jun did not want to cause trouble for Aileen and showed the newly obtained bronze coin directly to Kaiser.

-This?! Don’t tell me another Apostle of Destruction has appeared?

When Se-jun pulled out the unappraised new bronze coin, Kaiser’s expression hardened. It was certain now. The Apostles of Destruction definitely knew how to enter the tower.

“Yes. I met one more on the way here.”

-Understood. Rest for now. I will appraise it quickly.

Kaiser swallowed the bronze coin and began the appraisal.

And

“Flamie, have you been well?”

Se-jun went down to the cave and greeted Flamie.

[Master!]

Flamie welcomed Se-jun intensely, waving her leaves.

“Oh? One more leaf has increased?”

Se-jun spoke, looking at the four leaves on Flamie’s stem.

[Yes! Look at this! Ta-da!]

Flamie bragged while flapping her fourth leaf.

“I want to catch it, meow!”

“Vice President Theo, no.”

When Theo tried to catch Flamie’s leaf, Se-jun hurriedly caught Theo.

“By the way, what is the ability of the fourth leaf?”

[It is faster to show you than to explain. Ya!]

With Flamie’s shout, the fourth leaf turned red, and a red flame permeated into Se-jun’s body.

[The flame of growth permeated for 3 hours.]

[While the flame of growth was present, it increased the potential that had reached its limit.]

“Huh?! Increasing potential?!”

[Hehe. How is it?]

As if wishing for Se-jun’s praise, Flamie’s body was tilted toward Se-jun.

“It’s the best.”

Although the effect remained to be seen, it was the ability Se-jun, who was blocked by a wall, needed the most.

Stroke, stroke.

Se-jun stroked the leaf of Flamie, who had done an admirable thing. As the Farmer’s Warm Touch skill was activated, the recovery speed of Flamie’s leaves became slightly faster.

[Hehe. I feel good!]

When Se-jun stroked and adored Flamie,

“President Park, do it for me too, meow!”

Theo, who thought he could not lose to the second child, Flamie, rolled over on Se-jun’s lap and confidently stuck out his belly. There are too many competitors lately, meow! It was Theo, who lived a tiring life.

“Got it.”

Se-jun had a healing time for everyone while stroking Theo with his left hand and Flamie with his right hand.

When about three hours passed like that,

[The flame of growth faded.]

[The flame of growth increased the potential of the mana stat by 6.]

[The mana stat potential rose to 105.]

“Oh!”

The flame of growth was effective.

While Se-jun was rejoicing,

Flap, flap.

-The appraisal has ended.

Kaiser flew over and handed the bronze coin.

“Thank you.”

When Se-jun received the appraised bronze coin and was about to examine the coin closely,

-There is no big difference from the previous one.

Kaiser spoke.

“Is that so?”

-Yes. More than that, the situation is unusual. Carry this with you, just in case.

Kaiser handed over a bracelet. It had golden letters engraved on a luxurious black luster. An item that was extraordinary even at a glance.

“Thank you.”

Se-jun quickly accepted the bracelet from Kaiser, wore it, and checked its options.

[Dragon Horn Return Bracelet]

The great black dragon Kaiser Pritani created it by casting magic directly on a fragment of his horn.

If you infused mana, the return magic would activate no matter what interference there was, allowing you to return to the designated location of the tower with up to 10 people.

Available for use once a month.

Restriction: Park Se-jun, recognized by Kaiser Pritani

Creator: Kaiser Pritani

Grade: Unmeasurable

“Return?!”

Se-jun looked at Kaiser with a puzzled expression. To think that an item made using even his horn was an item with return magic cast on it. Se-jun, who had expected a more practical magic, was slightly disappointed.

Of course, it was good to have it as a survival tool, but since he had Theo and Cuengi, he had no reason to run away.

-Do not be arrogant! The Apostle of Destruction you defeated just now is only a small fragment of the main body.

Perhaps reading Se-jun’s expression, Kaiser spoke in a stern voice.

“What?! A fragment of the main body?”

-Yes. It was ambiguous at first, but after appraising it once more, I knew for sure. The Apostles of Destruction are separating their energy and infiltrating the tower.

Of course, they could not fool the tower with that alone, but if mixed with other energy, some degree of disguise would have been possible.

-It means you might meet an Apostle of Destruction with stronger energy.

Gulp.

A stronger enemy? Se-jun swallowed his saliva at Kaiser’s words.

And

[Ho! An Apostle of Destruction……]

Down below, Flamie pricked up her ears and listened to their conversation with interest.