MTLNOVEL Chapter 24 - Beast Forest (1)
In the Transcendent Gallery where Han Yuseong had disappeared, the conversation was still flowing about him.
Title: Did the gallery owner leave? Did he?
Author: ㅇㅇ
-Ugh, it’s hard to pretend to be nonchalant.
How does a mere 3rd floor resident kill a King Kobold? It’s something I’ve never experienced before.
ㄴ For real lolol
ㄴ Why is this guy’s way of speaking like this?
ㄴ A Kobold using sword energy, that is!
ㄴ IceQueen) Freeze, it’s admirable!
ㄴ AbsoluteMonarch) I guess he’ll hit a level stagnation period soon.
ㄴ LightSword) Probably. I just hope he reaches level 20 before the stagnation period comes.
ㄴ ArchMage) Why even hope? It’s something the climber has to break through on his own anyway.
Before entering the 3rd floor stage, Han Yuseong kindly answered LightSword’s question about his stats.
ㄴ Ah, right. When two or more stats exceed 100, doesn’t leveling up become painfully slow? But why is this crazy guy experiencing this now? On the 3rd floor? I only experienced this in the middle of the Tower.
ㄴ Well, that’s because you… no, we.
ㄴ Pioneer) I wonder what will appear this time.
ㄴ I’mAnElf) But why is the climber the gallery owner? Isn’t the gallery owner the owner of the gallery?
ㄴ Well, that’s because the gallery’s subject revolves entirely around the climber, so they say that.
ㄴ Gallery owner, post something.
Beast Forest.
The forest with an obviously unclean name was actually ominous.
As soon as I entered, I sliced a beast that rushed at me with bared teeth using the great sword Karnavalt.
A beast that seemed easily 2 meters tall just in height.
It looked like a wolf in appearance.
The dark red fur was clearly visible even though darkness had fallen on the world.
It was possible because these creatures’ fur emitted a subtle light.
Slash!
I killed two of them as soon as I entered.
I took out my terminal.
I took a picture of the corpses of the two dead beasts.
I entered the Transcendent Gallery and wrote a post.
Title: The 3rd floor stage is the Beast Forest.
Author: ㅇㅇ*
Attachment: 901903897.jpg
-But what kind of monster is this?
Comments started pouring in fiercely.
ㄴ Beast Forest? Lololololololol
ㄴ For real, you’ve hit the jackpot!! A troublesome place!!
ㄴ That thing is a beast called Malecanis. But that’s not what’s important right now.
I was about to ask what was important, but a comment was added.
ㄴ ArchMage) In the Beast Forest, you should be more careful of the demonic energy (magi) spreading in the forest than the beasts themselves.
ㄴ ArchMage) Though that demonic energy is ultimately emitted by the beasts.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ*) Demonic energy?
ㄴ ArchMage) If you lose focus, you might get corrupted by the demonic energy and even harm yourself.
ㄴ Is self-harm the problem?
ㄴ For those with poor mental strength, there’s a high chance of getting stabbed and killed by their companions if they mistake them for enemies.
ㄴ I’m from Normal difficulty, and my first entry to the Beast Forest was on the 35th floor, but the 3rd floor?
By now, that wasn’t surprising anymore.
Damn Pandemonium.
More than that, demonic energy, huh.
Now I understand why the [Bracelet of Anti-Evil] on my left arm started trembling slightly.
It seemed to be continuously exerting its effect.
[The level of skill ‘Composure’ increases. Lv.6]
[The level of skill ‘Mental Barrier’ increases. Lv.2]
‘Mental Barrier’ was a skill I acquired when facing the King Kobold yesterday, literally a passive skill that strengthens mental power.
Two passive skills related to mental power leveled up simultaneously.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ*) So do I have to keep being exposed to this demonic energy?
ㄴ AbsoluteMonarch) You just need to eliminate the cause.
ㄴ Pioneer) The demonic energy spread in the Beast Forest doesn’t flow from the forest itself, but from powerful beasts. It means there’s a named beast near you right now.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ*) If I eliminate it, will the mental contamination stop?
ㄴ Pioneer) That’s right.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ*) The quest I received is to join the rescue team to rescue stranded members. Is it okay if I don’t go meet the members and kill that beast first?
ㄴ Yeah, it doesn’t matter. You can’t even be sure you’ll meet that rescue team today or tomorrow.
ㄴ SpearKing) That’s right. It could take 7 or 8 days to meet up if you’re late.
ㄴ Pioneer) My personal record is miraculously meeting up after 20 days. I thought I was going crazy.
ㄴ ArchMage) Anyway, the main point of such quests is rescuing the members rather than the rescue team. As long as you accomplish that, it doesn’t matter much if the process changes a bit.
ㄴ ArchMage) Assuming you accomplish the main points properly, there’s more freedom than you might think.
I guess so. Even on the 2nd floor stage, although I didn’t get heavily involved in the defense battle, I cleared it by killing the Orc Shaman who was the more fundamental cause.
Thinking of the 2nd floor stage, I remembered Ricelin, the leader of the Lucerna Mercenary Group, and Younes, who served as both a guide and a magic shuttle.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ*) Is this place unrelated to the world I experienced on the 2nd floor? Or is it the same world?
ㄴ LightSword) It’s highly likely to be the same world. The world with the Ermaine Empire you protected on the 2nd floor also has the Beast Forest. The timeline should be pretty much the same too.
ㄴ ArchMage) But you won’t meet the ones you encountered before this time. The continent with the Ermaine Empire and the continent with the Beast Forest are different.
ㄴ IceQueen) Freeze! The continent with the Ermaine Empire is Valtera! The continent with the Beast Forest is Noxis!
ㄴ But is the forest vast? It doesn’t seem shabby, does it?
I took my eyes off the terminal for a moment and carefully scanned the surrounding scenery.
It’s far from shabby. It’s incredibly lush. The black undergrowth is absolutely abundant.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ*) The forest is very wide and lush.
ㄴ It seems like this might be a point later than when we progressed. We nearly purified the entire Beast Forest before moving on, but hearing that it’s become like this again is a bit disappointing.
ㄴ For real, I shed blood and sweat with Decan to purify it. Well, even then, they said it had already been purified before I purified it, but it grew back because of the remaining beasts.
I see.
There’s just one more thing I’m curious about.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ*) But how do I find the beast that’s emitting demonic energy nearby?
ㄴ HeavenlyDemon) Go in the direction where unpleasant memories keep coming to mind.
What does that mean?
ㄴ Priestess) The demonic energy of intermediate and higher beasts makes those exposed to it recall past failures or memories they wanted to forget… scenes that are quite painful for the subject.
ㄴ I’mAnElf) It means that awful things like the pain of being seriously injured in the past might come to mind.
I was wondering why my right shoulder suddenly started aching.
So it was because of the demonic energy.
ㄴ Priestess) Even if you try not to recall it, you keep recalling it. It’s meant to break down your body and mind and collapse your psyche. Ugh… if it weren’t for the inter-dimensional trade cooldown, I could just give you my personal talisman and it would nullify everything… it’s unfortunate.
ㄴ LightSword) No, don’t your mental skills increase? It’s a good opportunity to build mental strength as long as you don’t die to them.
ㄴ Even in this situation, only thinking about growth! Kya! Crazy!
ㄴ As expected, full of fighting spirit.
ㄴ DragonKing) As expected! Beltui-‘s friend who only speaks the truth! Beep beep
ㄴ LightSword) Die.
ㄴ ArchMage) Anyway, even if trauma comes to mind, don’t let those thoughts chain together. That’s when the demonic energy really starts to corrode you. Then your physical and mental strength will collapse in an instant. When you feel like you’re getting close to a beast, activate Mana Body Enhancement as you go.
ㄴ GalleryMaster) Intermediate and higher beasts also hunt monsters in the forest. If you suddenly see a lot of monster corpses, that could also be a trace of a beast emitting demonic energy.
ㄴ ArchMage) Don’t get eaten by the past.
I’ve gathered all the information I needed.
I turned off the gallery and started walking again.
The tingling sensation in my right shoulder intensified.
It must be a recreation of the shoulder injury that played the biggest role in ending my baseball career.
A headache also intensified.
Voice-like hallucinations seeped into my ears.
-That mere ball game. Look, once you get a taste of it, you lose everything, don’t you?
-You should have studied from the beginning. Look at how you wasted all that time and now you’re sitting there pretending to study.
It was an unpleasant memory.
-What are you going to do now? You need to make a living somehow.
But these weren’t emotions of fear for me.
The pitcher’s mound.
Me, allowing a hit. Allowing a home run.
My teammates and spectators looking at me.
When their faces and the baseball field itself all looked tilted like crescent moons.
That was when I was most afraid.
Yes, just like the memory playing in my head right now.
[The level of skill ‘Mental Barrier’ increases. Lv.3]
However, now even that memory is just a memory.
It was only fear when I couldn’t do my part.
Now, I don’t even have time to wallow in inferiority.
I had too much to do right now to survive, to climb this damn Tower.
I don’t have the luxury to indulge in past sentiments.
Crack-
I slowly rotated my right shoulder to release the tension.
All the heavy sensations disappeared.
Step.
[Mana Body Enhancement Lv.4 – Activating skill.]
The sight of dead monsters that looked like goblins came into view.
Beyond them, I saw a one-eyed monster.
It was a monster with the lower body of a four-legged beast like a tiger, and an humanoid upper body.
But it was far from human because its body and face were covered in red fur.
“Is it you? The one making me think these strange thoughts?”
“……”
The one-eyed monster didn’t answer me.
My gaze shifted.
I saw a pointy-eared being tied up under a huge tree next to the one-eyed monster.
A pointy-eared being with auburn fur, slumped as if dead.
Not an elf, but seemed to be a beast-kin that looked like a feline race.
『You have encountered one of the rescue targets! Safely escort the target to the rescue team!』
I see.
It didn’t say the rescue target was human.
Shing-
I adjusted my grip on the great sword Karnavalt.
I stepped towards the one-eyed monster.
Hard difficulty 64th floor.
Hard difficulty Tower numbering #35.
A purple-haired woman approached a blonde man sitting on a park bench reading a book.
“Union Leader.”
Targon, the leader of the Conquest Union, raised his head from the martial arts book he was reading.
“There was a casualty at our Tower’s exchange meeting for those below the 10th floor.”
Targon furrowed his brow at the words of Bellasia, the attack team leader.
“Who?”
Bella opened her mouth again to answer.
“8th floor, 21st century Earthling. Baek Jin-young.”
A report had come up through the mail system from another 8th floor resident who was with Baek Jin-young.
Saying that Baek Jin-young had died.
The probability of a Hard difficulty player dying in an exchange meeting is low.
This is because the difficulty experienced in the exchange meeting is slightly easier than the difficulty they usually climb.
And this is even more so for exchange meetings below the 10th floor.
“Did he die alone? Didn’t he enter the exchange meeting in a party?”
Form parties of two or more within the same numbered Tower in preparation for being summoned to the exchange meeting.
That was the directive I had issued as the Conquest Union leader.
Bellasia shook her head at Targon’s question.
“He refused, saying he already had promised party members in Normal difficulty. So he was on the watch list because we suspected he might have refused a party from the same numbered Tower to hide that he was doing PK.”
PK. Player Kill.
It meant murder occurring between Tower players.
“If he wasn’t killed by a monster, then he must have died while trying to PK someone else.”
“Yes.”
Targon recalled the 2nd floor ranking scores.
The culprit who made him pay attention to the lower floors he hadn’t cared about.
1st Place – Private : 1,532 points
2nd Place – Union Leader : 784 points
An existence above himself.
Targon shook his head.
‘However, even if Private is a Hard difficulty player, the difference in level between the 2nd and 8th floors is too great.’
Targon didn’t think for a moment that Private might be a Pandemonium player.
However, if Private took first place again on the 3rd floor ranking, surpassing himself, he was determined to somehow obtain their personal information.
Targon, having removed the name Private from the list of suspects for Baek Jin-young’s murder, spoke disinterestedly.
“Have you secured the name of the Normal difficulty player who was said to have partied with Baek Jin-young?”
“Yes, though I’m not sure if it’s the real name.”
“Then post an official notice on the Climber Gallery. See if anyone knows anything. If it looks like it’ll take too much time, just leave it.”
To maintain balance across all floors of the Tower, from the 1st floor up.
That’s how the Conquest Union guild was launched. But they had neither the capacity nor the reason to perfectly take care of floors before the 30th floor, which couldn’t even enter the Climber Gallery.
The reason for continuously implanting the perception that they were taking care of things adequately was because of the
It was just a design work to maintain influence as the #1
“Understood.”
After Bella left, Targon, alone again, muttered as he opened his book.
“I am curious.”
Whether you’ll surpass me and take first place on the 3rd floor as well.
Targon’s eyes gleamed sharply as he thought of ‘Private’.