Chapter 160 - Episode 22. Climbing the Branch (2)
Chapter 160: Episode 22. Climbing the Branch (2)
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[The Eighth Floor Task, ‘Climbing the Branches,’ will begin in 5 minutes.]
Gods began gathering one by one in the rear garden of the ancient palace, the Alliance’s home base.
They ranged from longtime Metaverse veterans to the most renowned powerhouses of the 《Abyss》. Wearing different Skins, the gods huddled together as they waited for the Task, like children preparing for a grand sports day.
‘It has been a long time since the atmosphere felt like this.’
Karlton stood among the murmuring gods with a sour expression.
"Karlton, you are not wanted throughout the entire 《Abyss》, are you? Take a portal and get there first to help Jaehwan. Do not make it too obvious."
He had come flying over as soon as he received that message, two days ago already.
Perhaps because he had always managed his public image well, or because 〈Caspion〉 was not the Seven Divine Thrones’ territory, the guards of 〈Caspion〉 did not stop Karlton. Some even said they subscribed to his channel and asked for autographs.
That was how he arrived in the Metaverse.
Karlton had spent the trust he had saved up in the Abyss without restraint and raced up to the Eighth Floor.
"Hey, Karlton. Have you arrived?"
A message from Sirwen came through 《Little Brother》. Karlton sent a brief reply.
"Yes."
"Where is Jaehwan?"
"I haven’t found him yet."
He had heard Jaehwan was near the Eighth Floor entrance, but Jaehwan was nowhere to be seen no matter where he looked.
"Are you sure the Fortress Lord is here?"
"I told you, he is. I heard he has even contacted the 「Rupture」 members."
Karlton stretched lightly with a sigh.
If Sirwen’s information was correct, Jaehwan had to be somewhere nearby.
"Be careful."
As if proving Sirwen’s warning, not one of the surrounding gods looked like an easy opponent. If any of them went to 《Chaos》, they would be a disaster.
Karlton gave a bitter smile.
There had been a time when he trembled at the sight of even a Lord at the rank of Lieutenant General. Now he stood among high-grade gods without feeling especially tense.
"I am no longer the same ‘Stubborn Karlton.’"
Then a familiar shout came from nearby.
“Light Stab!”
Karlton’s golden eyebrows twitched sharply.
“Normal Stab!”
Only two people in all of the 《Tree of Illusion》 used skill names that were this unsophisticated.
One of them was currently crawling this way aboard the Destruction like a grub, so the owner of that shout had to be...
“Hm?”
When he approached the source of the shout, an unexpected sight greeted him.
There was more than one person shouting.
Gods repeatedly stabbed into the air. Every one of them was naked, and they kept stabbing at empty space in time with the signal.
Their stabs were aimed directly at the ancient palace, the Alliance’s home base.
‘Are they the Fortress Lord’s followers?’
He felt like he had seen them on 《Little Brother》 before.
Were they called the ‘Naked Group’ that followed Jaehwan?
Karlton remembered his time training with Jaehwan in 《Chaos》. Perhaps that was why he spoke without thinking.
“You are doing it wrong.”
“What did you just say?”
By the time he came to his senses, the Naked Group had surrounded him.
‘Damn it.’
It had been so long since he had watched group Stab practice that he must have gotten too absorbed.
“It was nothing.”
“If you do not like our training, why do you not show us how it is done?”
Those who loved Stab never let something like this slide.
“If you insist...”
Karlton was training his own techniques now, but Stab had been his beginning as well.
Stab. A simple straight line that reached a single point.
Karlton took a light breath, summoned his spear, and began to stab. Each straight line was drawn with the reverence of laying steel beams for a solid building’s foundation.
How long had he continued stabbing?
Before he knew it, the Naked Group had gathered around and sat down to watch him.
“Whoa, mister. You are really good.”
The boy’s appearance looked strangely familiar. He was drenched in sweat from head to toe, as if he had just been practicing Stab among the Naked Group.
Karlton put away his spear and smiled awkwardly.
“Thank you.”
“What kind of Stab was that?”
“Ah, this.”
Karlton thought for a moment before answering.
“It is called Cheongheo Stab.”
“Cheongheo Stab?”
“It is a technique made to stab Cheongheo. The person who taught me used it from time to time...”
[‘Climbing the Branches’ will begin in 10 seconds.]
Their pleasant meeting ended quickly. One of the men who had been watching the Stab practice got up.
“That was some Stab, handsome fellow. Runald, let us go.”
“Yes! Good luck, mister!”
“You too. Make sure you survive.”
Karlton and the boy exchanged looks, then lightly bumped fists.
The people watching the Stab practice also dispersed one by one.
He had thought they gathered to pick a fight, but they withdrew this peacefully. Those who loved Stab truly had a different mindset. Karlton’s respect for Jaehwan swelled once more.
With a deep rumble, a colossal tree root began descending from the air. It was large enough to fill the Eighth Floor’s central district and still have room to spare, its circumference easily several kilometers.
[The Task details have been announced!]
+
<Climbing the Branches>
1) ‘Climbing the Branches’ is a lightfoot competition that selects the person who reaches the destination first by running a designated course.
2) There are buffs that increase special abilities.
3) Passengers who obtain a buff will have increased movement speed and Constitution recovery speed.
4) If you kill a passenger who has obtained a buff, you can take that passenger’s buff.
+
[Touch a nearby Root to move to the Task location.]
After carefully reading the Task details, Karlton reached for the nearest Root without hesitation.
[You have selected Root No. 461.]
The view before him warped. The next moment, Karlton stood before a staircase.
A spiraling staircase stretched endlessly toward the sky.
Karlton realized he was inside the tree.
A few gods who seemed to understand the rules at almost the same moment shouted.
“Run!”
Karlton raced up the spiral staircase with them.
Somewhere along this endless spiral, Jaehwan would be there too. If so, finding and helping him as quickly as possible was the only thing Karlton could do.
“You are in the way.”
It seemed some gods had entered as a team, because interference came at once.
Sword strikes stabbed in from his left and behind him at the same time.
Judging from the heavy World Force carried by the blades, they were at least Lords at the rank of Lieutenant General.
Silver World Force surged around Karlton’s shoulders.
Law-type Setting, 「Silver Restraint」
Karlton’s 「Silver Restraint」 had once been a Skill, but with Awakening, it had transformed into a Setting that was entirely his own.
The restraining power that had once depended on the System’s chain of commands now activated according to the Edicts he set.
“Karlton’s Rules for Conversation, Article 1, Clause 5. Do not swing your sword first.”
Silver chains erupted from Karlton’s entire body, binding the hands and feet of the ambushing gods and knocking them down.
“Ghk! What is this?”
The immobilized gods tumbled down the stairs.
Karlton glanced at them and muttered, “You should have followed the Edict.”
“Who the hell made up that law...”
“Karlton’s Rules for Conversation, Article 1, Clause 1. Do not interrupt when the other person is speaking.”
Silver chains flew in with arrogant force, hurling away the gods blocking his path.
“Wait, could that be...”
Only then did the gods recognize Karlton. Their expressions changed.
“It is Silver Restraint! I have seen him on 《Little Brother》!”
“The Edict addict!”
“The handsome guy!”
Karlton waved at the gods with an embarrassed smile, then shot forward.
After clearing thousands of stairs in an instant, he found a passage leading to another, wider staircase.
He had entered through Root No. 461. It seemed the survivors from other Roots joined through this passage as well.
Karlton continued running up the stairs.
Gods were not the only threats he faced while climbing. Monsters leaped out from the passage without warning, and traps sprang up out of nowhere.
‘It feels like climbing a tower.’
As a Celestial-human hybrid, Karlton had never properly experienced the 《Tower of Nightmares》. He had been born from a Root, then fell straight into 《Chaos》 when he died. Unlike other humans, he had no hometown.
[You have obtained a buff!]
[Your movement speed has increased!]
After running for another thirty minutes or so, Karlton had completely entered the leading group.
He had even found a buff in a hidden chest, greatly increasing his movement speed.
Just as he began to think he might reach the finish line before Jaehwan, a powerful presence blocked his path.
Slice.
The upper half of his clothes was slashed apart. If he had not stopped on instinct, his body would have been split by the cutting wire.
The sound of a clock ticking began somewhere nearby.
One, two, three, four...
The moment Karlton saw the masked figures wearing pitch-black eye patches, his expression hardened.
The gods before him were on a completely different level from the enemies Karlton had faced until now. In terms of Lords, they were General class, or gods of similar strength.
Karlton summoned his primary weapon, the Silver Holy Spear, into his palm.
Someone quietly muttered, “Karlton of Silver Restraint. His level is at the beginning of Fourth Awakening. His Sanctuary is unknown. His primary Setting is Silver Restraint, and his primary weapon is the Silver Holy Spear.”
“You know me?”
The masked figures did not answer.
Karlton leaped straight into their center without hesitation.
Each of them was a difficult opponent. If he did not break their momentum early, he would not be able to get through them. The enemies surrounding him in an instant stabbed their daggers into his blind spots.
Law-type Setting, 「Edict」
As a voice like an incomprehensible chant flowed from Karlton’s mouth, the regular ticking of the clock faded for an instant.
Karlton did not miss the moment the daggers’ trajectories twisted.
Karlton-style variation.
「Hard Stab」
The Stab Jaehwan had taught him burst from Karlton’s holy spear. The masked figures leaped back from the threatening surge of silver World Force.
The Stab pierced through their formation and charged toward the masked figure guarding the center.
It was a strike that could not be dodged.
Crack.
Yet Karlton’s Stab twisted just before the masked figure’s chest.
The figure had the Roman numeral Ⅻ embroidered on their eye patch.
"Karlton, run."
Sirwen’s urgent voice reached him. She must have been watching the battle through a broadcast.
"That one is 12 o’clock of the ‘Blind Clockmakers.’ They are a powerhouse comparable to the Seven Stars."
The Seven Stars. Seven stars shining in the sky of the Abyss.
Karlton had heard that Jaehwan recently defeated one of those Seven Stars.
Yet hearing about it and facing one in person were entirely different things.
The Fortress Lord fought enemies like this?
The moment he faced 12 o’clock’s chilling presence, even Karlton, who had spent two years fighting through the Abyss, could not help shrinking back instinctively.
The ticking in his head grew louder, like a time bomb’s timer.
Karlton calmly raised his World Force. He had no chance of winning, but this was still a fight he could not retreat from.
“Manifest your Sanctuary, Silver Restraint.”
As if they wanted to see Karlton’s abilities, 12 o’clock took two daggers from inside their robes. They resembled the hour and minute hands of a clock.
The clock sound became louder than before.
Even while operating 「Selflessness」 at full power, his body moved sluggishly. He might be able to fight better if he manifested his Sanctuary as the enemy advised, but there was one problem.
Karlton had never successfully manifested his Sanctuary even once.
“I would rather not.”
For some reason, no proper place came to mind when he thought of a ‘Sanctuary.’ He tried imagining a world tied to Edicts, but unlike a dream demon, he had difficulty materially imagining the world of symbols.
“Then your time ends here.”
“Karlton’s Survival Rules, Article 1, Clause 1. This life is to be used only for the Fortress Lord.”
Silver wings sprouted from Karlton’s shoulder blades.
Karlton’s holy spear moved at high speed, exchanging dozens of blows with the Clockmakers’ daggers. A dagger slipped through an opening, cutting across Karlton’s wing and shoulder.
Despite the pain that washed over him, Karlton endured without showing it.
These were surely Jaehwan’s enemies. If so, simply holding them here might help Jaehwan, even a little.
The number of daggers increased by the second, forcing Karlton onto the defensive. At this rate, he would not last even a few minutes.
As he watched the rain of blades pour down like Deadmans, a familiar scene suddenly came to mind.
‘Yulhen, Cayman. Are you both well?’
It was not the place of his birth, but it was where he had stayed for a long time and found comfort. The world that had called him the Northern Checkpoint Chief.
The hometown where he had grown up and lived for so long, 《Chaos》.
Karlton’s silver chains shattered in the air against the waves of World Force that surged like a tide of Deadmans.
A dagger slipped in at once, about to take Karlton’s head.
Then, from somewhere, came the roar of Garnak, the Five-Horned Beast.
Thinking it was a hallucination, Karlton opened his eyes wide.
With a sharp crack, the dagger before him was knocked away.
12 o’clock’s shocked expression was followed by the shouts of the Clockmakers.
An unbelievable sight unfolded before him.
A massive figure shielded him, its broad back vast enough to evoke Gorgon Fortress.
The moment he saw that back, Karlton remembered an emotion he had forgotten for a long time.
He had followed that back into the Abyss.
“Fortress Lord.”
The King recognized by 《Chaos》 looked back at him.
Footnotes:
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