Chapter 387 – Then I Think I Can Do It

4th floor of the Black Tower.

“Hello. By the instruction of Lord Theo…”

When the slaves sent by Theo arrived at the grape farm,

“Nice to meet you, rookies! This instructor is called Koto! Overthrow the Bone Rank System!”

Senior slave Koto welcomed the rookie slaves.

This was to send them into battle against the Flesh Devourers after a brief training to help the slaves adapt to the grape farm.

“Huh?”

The rookie slaves were flustered by Koto’s last shout. ‘What is that?’

But

“Overthrow the Bone Rank System!!!”

Koto shouted again, undeterred.

“O… Overthrow the Bone Rank System!!!”

Oh well. The slaves, who had been scanning the room, hurriedly repeated Koto’s words.

This was because their lives were already messed up, but they felt it would be really tiring if they got messed up even further here.

As the rookie slaves shouted ‘Overthrow the Bone Rank System’ like that,

“Nice to meet you, rookies. Welcome to the Crying Skull Unit. Overthrow the Bone Rank System!”

“Overthrow the Bone Rank System!”

The rookie slaves were registered in the Crying Skull Unit without even knowing why, and ended up unexpectedly shouting to overthrow the Bone Rank System.

And

Keeeeeek!

“The enemies are coming! Attack!”

“Overthrow the Bone Rank System!!”

“Enemies are also coming from the left!”

“Overthrow the Bone Rank System!!”

It became their slogan.

Due to the continuously incoming slaves of Theo, the front line of the grape farm was stably maintained today as well, and Se-jun’s contribution was steadily accumulating.

***

99th floor of the Black Tower.

Kkuhehehe. Kkueng!

[Hehehe. Once this is finished, I’ll get another five-star stamp, yo!]

Snap. Snap.

While Cuengi injected mana into the Unbreakable Rod to extend it, snapped it, and put the firewood into the furnace,

“Puhuhut. Stroke here too, meow!”

“Sure.”

Se-jun stroked Theo’s belly with one hand while examining the items Theo had extorted from Battler with the other hand.

[Warrior’s Potion]

Upon consumption, all stats increase by 30% for 30 seconds.

Remaining amount: 10 drops

Use Restriction: None

Creator: Battler, the God of Battle

Grade: S

‘What is this? Theo said he got this from a god.’

Se-jun wondered as he looked at the options of the Warrior’s Potion.

‘The effect is worse than my beans?’

‘My beans require eating four at the same time, but they increase all stats by 300%.’

‘But this only lasts for 30 seconds, and only increases all stats by 30%…’

Just in case it wasn’t made by a god, he checked the content again, and Battler, the God of Battle, was accurately written as the creator.

‘A god who makes items worse than my crops…’

“That god named Battler must be extremely weak.”

Se-jun thought Battler was a weak god.

Having his potion extorted by Theo was already unfair enough, but being treated as weak on top of that… It was something that would make Battler furious if he knew.

Se-jun subsequently examined the skill stones.

[Combat Skill Stone – Warrior’s Shout]

If you inject mana into the skill stone, you can learn the skill: Warrior’s Shout.

Use Restriction: Warrior-related classes

Grade: A+

“Inject mana?”

Se-jun immediately injected mana into the skill stone, delighted by the prospect of learning a combat skill.

But

[You cannot learn the skill because you do not have a warrior-related class.]

He was cut off by the use restriction. ‘As expected, it doesn’t work. How cheap. How cheap.’

Se-jun put the skill stones into his pocket,

“Meow?”

grabbed the scruff of Theo’s neck, and wore him on his knees.

And, after giving the soup a big stir, he headed to the brewery.

“Fermentation.”

He used the Fermentation skill on the wine, added the secondary mash to the double-brewed wine, and sealed it well. Now, if he waited about two days, the Samyangju would be completed.

Having finished the brewery work like that, before long, it was dinner time.

When Se-jun was grilling fish and corn on the fire of the furnace where he was boiling soup,

[The tower administrator says that she has found the location of destruction on the 60th floor of the Black Tower.]

“Really? Then I must secure the land deed for the 60th floor of the tower first. Thanks, Aileen. Try this.”

Se-jun sent the corn cheese he was making for dinner to Aileen.

[The tower administrator says that the corn pops and the cheese stretches, making it really delicious.]

“Yeah. I will keep making delicious things for you in the future, so Aileen, you don’t have to cook.”

Se-jun spoke carefully with his hope in mind.

[……]

“Aileen?”

Aileen did not reply after that.

“What’s this? Is she angry because I told her not to cook?”

The pitiful man who had been single since birth misunderstood today as well.

At that moment,

“Meow?”

Theo, who felt something, raised his head and looked outside.

[Multiple core fragments of Fenrir have been detected at a point 20 km to the northeast.]

Suddenly, a message appeared in front of Se-jun.

“Everyone, gather!”

Se-jun, who checked the message, hurriedly called Cuengi and all four tower farmers who were prepping ingredients.

Not just one but multiple; it was clearly an enemy attack.

[Multiple core fragments of Fenrir have been detected at a point 10 km to the northeast.]

While the group gathered, the distance to the enemy had halved.

“There are 9.5 kilometers left now.”

As Se-jun informed the group of the distance to the enemy,

“Chairman Park, it’s not an enemy, meow! It’s Iona, meow!”

Theo spoke to Se-jun.

“Iona? You’re saying the one coming now is Iona?”

“Puhuhut. That is right, meow!”

“Really?… Huhut. Actually, I called you guys to eat.”

Se-jun, embarrassed about having called the group, went into the kitchen smoothly, and the group followed him into the kitchen as well.

A few minutes later.

“Kyu-kyu-kyut. Lord Se-jun, hello!”

“Yeah. Welcome.”

Iona, who had arrived at some point, greeted Se-jun while wrapping around Theo’s tail.

“Lord Theo, this. I brought it because I saw you collecting them last time.”

Iona, who had greeted Se-jun, handed 10 of Fenrir’s core fragments to Theo.

“Puhuhut. Iona, thank you, meow! Chairman Park, look at this, meow!”

As soon as Theo received the core fragments of Fenrir from Iona, he immediately presented them to Se-jun. ‘Puhuhut. Praise me, meow!’

“Vice President Theo, excellent.”

“Puhuhut. I, Vice President Theo, am naturally excellent, meow!”

While Theo spoke in a proud voice at Se-jun’s praise,

‘Thank you.’

‘It’s nothing.’

Se-jun conversed with Iona through their eyes.

After Se-jun stroked Theo’s head, he ate the corn cheese while examining Fenrir’s core fragments.

Kkihikit. Kking!

‘Heh. It’s so delicious!’

The real owner of the core fragments, Fenrir, was so absorbed in the corn cheese that he didn’t even know his core fragments were right next to him.

“Most of them are below 0.01%.”

Se-jun, after checking the power contained in the core fragments, hid them well in the void storage.

Then he had a pleasant mealtime chatting with the group.

Once dinner was finished like that,

Flop.

Kking…

‘Butler, I’m full…’

Fenrir, whose belly was bulging after eating a lot of corn cheese, lay spread-eagle in front of Se-jun and requested help,

“Alright.”

and Se-jun stroked Fenrir’s belly to help him digest.

A moment later,

Kkirorong.

Fenrir, who was receiving Se-jun’s strokes, fell asleep just like that.

“Hehehe. I put him to sleep.”

Se-jun laid Fenrir on the bed, came out, and buried the core fragments of Fenrir that Iona had brought in the field.

And

Gulp.

[You have consumed mugwort.]

[All stats increase by 20.]

[Your lifespan increases by 3 months.]

[You have consumed a bitter medicine.]

[Talent: Good Medicine for Stamina is Bitter is activated.]

[Your stamina increases by 9.]

“Ugh. I can’t get used to…”

He fainted after eating the mugwort.

The 395th day since Se-jun entered the tower, which almost became a disaster due to Battler, passed safely thanks to Theo.

***

Austin, the capital of Texas, USA.

-Citizens, please exit the city in accordance with the soldiers’ control.

The roads were currently packed with vehicles evacuating to escape the Flesh Devourers flocking to Austin.

While Austin’s roads were paralyzed with refugees like that,

“Check if there are any gaps!”

“Yes!”

300 hunters urgently dispatched from neighboring cities prepared to fight the Flesh Devourers at the borders of Austin.

They made a sturdy barricade by laying cars on their sides and stacking them in several layers on roads that had solid walls.

They intended to hold out here for about 3 days to buy time for the refugees to escape the city.

As they inspected the position while waiting for the enemy like that,

Keeeeek.

the Flesh Devourer horde began to be seen.

Creak. Creak.

After about 10 minutes, the Flesh Devourers arrived at the position made by the hunters.

The Flesh Devourers, of course, were blocked by the barricades they had made and could not move forward.

“Attack! Since that guy has high resistance to fire magic, mages, fight mainly with wind magic!”

“Yes!”

“Never overdo it! We just need to drag out time!”

Hunters holding swords or spears climbed onto the barricade to lure the Flesh Devourers so they wouldn’t go elsewhere,

and hunters using bows or magic attacked the Flesh Devourers from atop tall buildings, occasionally dealing with those trying to bypass.

2 hours later.

The ground in front of the barricade was dyed red with the liquid spilled by the dying Flesh Devourers.

Ping.

“Soren, at this rate, we could hold out for a week, couldn’t we?”

The hunter, who accurately shot the stem connected to the head of a Flesh Devourer trying to break away from the horde and bypass, separating the head and stem, spoke to his colleague.

“Indeed. I wonder if we evacuated people for no rea—”

As Soren was replying,

Gooo.

the liquid spilled by the dying Flesh Devourers in front of the barricade suddenly began to clump together.

As the corpses of the Flesh Devourers piled up, Halphas sent an additional calamity using those corpses.

And it soon transformed into a giant leech.

“Huh?! A leech! Eva—”

Boom!

Before Soren could finish delivering his words to the hunters guarding the barricade, the giant leech struck the barricade.

The hunters were swallowed into the giant leech’s body, had their blood sucked, and turned into mummies in an instant.

“Without grapes, that thing is… Retreat.”

The hunters quickly boarded the cars they had prepared and left the position.

But

Rumble.

the ground vibrated,

Boom!

and from underground, a giant leech swallowed the car. There was not just one giant leech.

Keeeeek!

In that way, the Flesh Devourers and the giant leeches entered Austin together.

And in Austin, there were still 2 million citizens who had not been able to evacuate.

***

99th floor of the Black Tower.

As the night deepened,

(Baet-baet! Goodnight, everyone!)

Baet-baet-i, the Golden Bat, began his activity.

As soon as Baet-baet-i woke up,

Flap. Flap.

he went to the kitchen and began to eat the fruits prepared by Se-jun.

Slurp. Slurp.

(Baet-baet! Grapes are so delicious!)

In that way, Baet-baet-i finished his meal.

He stirred the soup, which was still boiling, once on behalf of Se-jun,

“Hello, I am Baet-baet-i. Nice to meet you.”

and also went and greeted the Sausage Tree, which had not even sprouted yet.

Then, he headed to the eastern cave for training. This was to train the skills of his older brothers as usual.

But

(Baet!)

(Baet!)

he was struggling quite a bit today.

(Baet-baet… Brother Cuengi’s technique this time is difficult…)

It was due to Cuengi’s new technique, the Kkueng Ten-Thousand-Step Fist. No matter how much he practiced, hitting only a distant target accurately was difficult.

(Baet-baet! Still, I don’t give up!)

Baet-baet-i yelled out to focus and began training from one step.

And

(Baet-baet. I succeeded up to 1,200 steps!)

Having completed the Baet-baet 1,200-Step Fist, Baet-baet-i flew back home with a satisfied face.

At that moment,

[Baet-baet-i, is your power fully charged?]

As the situation on Earth became urgent, Flamie came to find Baet-baet-i. Although she could step forward herself, the size of the enemy was too small.

(No. But what is the distance?)

[Distance? Roughly 12,000 km?]

(Baet-baet. Then I think I can do it.)

[How?]

(Baet-baet. I just practiced my new technique!)

Baet-baet-i’s one step was very different from Cuengi’s one step.

(Baet-baet. Lady Flamie, see you on Earth then!)

Baet-baet-i traveled to Earth like that.

[It’s that way!]

(Baet-baet! Yes! Baet-baet 1,200-Step Fist!)

Baet-baet-i used his new technique toward Austin.