Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 535

For years, the land of Omid had been cut off from the outside world. The people living there hoped this meant peace at last.

They thought danger could not reach them anymore.

But the place they had run to was not safe after all.

Just when the threat of destruction seemed to vanish, a new danger arrived. A demon army, led by the lazy Demon King Adrouse, marched into Omid. They burned farms and attacked towns, bringing fear to everyone.

The truth was much worse than they imagined. It wasn’t luck that had trapped them in Omid. It was the Demon King Adrouse himself who had used powerful magic to cut them off from the world.

Adrouse was a Demon King, but he was also cowardly. He was afraid to fight the destruction, so he used magic to trap Omid, hoping to rule it easily while everyone else was busy fighting the bigger threat.

But Adrouse’s plan went wrong. Suddenly, a roar shook the land.

“Why the Black Dragon?!” Adrouse cried out in fear. He had not expected the great Black Dragon to be trapped with them inside Omid’s isolated world.

The great Black Dragon was furious at being trapped. Its anger was like a storm, and its presence made Adrouse’s plan much more dangerous.

“Who is it?! Who used the isolated world?!”

The Black Dragon roared, searching for whoever had trapped it. Adrouse, terrified, ordered his demon army to hide. He himself ran, stumbling and tripping, desperate to escape the dragon’s wrath.

For years, Adrouse lived in hiding, always looking over his shoulder, fearing the Black Dragon’s return. His demon army, used to easy victories, grew restless and weak from hiding. Then, slowly, the signs of the Black Dragon faded. Its roars were no longer heard, and its magical energy seemed to vanish from the land. Finally, it was gone.

Even after the Black Dragon was gone, Adrouse remained cautious. He waited for years, secretly sending out scouts to make sure the dragon was truly gone. He used this time to rebuild his weakened demon army, preparing for his next move.

Only when his scouts confirmed there were no more signs of the Black Dragon – no roars, no magical energy, no sightings – did Adrouse dare to bring his demon army out of hiding again.

The Black Dragon’s attacks had weakened the demon army, but they were still a powerful force. And now, with the Black Dragon gone and the threat of destruction vanished, there was no one else in Omid strong enough to stand against them.

In just one year, the demon army swept across Omid. Great cities were burned to the ground, kingdoms fell one after another, and soon, much of Omid was under the demons’ control.

Faced with the overwhelming demon army, some kingdoms chose to surrender, hoping to survive under demon rule. Others, brave but outnumbered, declared they would fight to the end. They fought fiercely, but it was no use. One by one, these kingdoms were crushed, their people scattered or killed.

As kingdoms fell, huge numbers of people became refugees, fleeing their homes with nothing. They were hungry, tired, and scared, and there was no kingdom left strong enough or willing to help them.

In the darkness of despair, a tiny spark of hope appeared. Whispers began to spread among the refugees: ‘Go to Mount Modin. They say the great Black Dragon will protect you there!’ No one knew for sure if it was true, but desperate people will believe anything that offers a chance of safety.

Clutching at this rumor like a lifeline, the refugees began the long and dangerous journey to Mount Modin. They walked for days without food, drank dirty water, and hid from demon patrols. Many grew weak and fell behind, but the hope of the Black Dragon’s protection kept many others moving forward.

And to their amazement, the rumors were true! When they reached Mount Modin, they found a massive fortress built into the mountainside. Inside, people were living safely, protected by the Black Dragon. It seemed the dragon had allowed them to build a home there.

As the weary refugees stumbled towards the fortress gates, they were greeted by smiling faces.

“Welcome, travelers!” a kind voice called out. “You have reached the territory of the great Black Dragon. Here, you are safe. Come in and rest.”

The people of the fortress welcomed them warmly, offering food, shelter, and a place to rest. For the first time in a long time, the refugees felt safe and began to rebuild their lives.

Life in the fortress was peaceful. Children laughed, farmers planted crops, and for a while, the refugees could forget the horrors they had escaped. But they knew this peace might not last. Everyone understood that the demon army would come for them eventually, and they quietly began to prepare for the fight.

Their fragile peace was soon to be shattered.

The demon army, now controlling all of Omid, turned their greedy eyes towards the Black Dragon’s territory.

With arrogant confidence, the demon army marched into the Black Dragon’s territory, ready to take what they wanted.

The lazy Demon King Adrouse was sure of himself. He believed the Black Dragon was too weak to fight back.

Adrouse had been secretly studying the Black Dragon for a long time. His spies had found something interesting: at the place where the dragon was last seen, there were dark stains on the ground, like a lot of blood had been spilled.

The bloodstains, and the fact that the Black Dragon had not been seen since, led Adrouse to a single, exciting idea: the dragon was badly hurt.

Adrouse remembered stories of the Black Dragon’s fierce battle against the apostle of destruction, a terrible monster. He guessed that the wounds from that fight must have gotten worse.

When Adrouse convinced himself that the Black Dragon was fatally wounded, a cruel smile spread across his face.

“Heh heh heh,” he chuckled, a low, greedy sound. “This is my chance!”

He knew that if he could take the Black Dragon’s heart, he might even become a Demon God himself! The thought filled him with greedy excitement.

“Attack!”

“Destroy the castle!”

The demon army stormed into the Black Dragon’s lands. Just as Adrouse predicted, the great dragon did not come to defend its home.

Instead of appearing in person, the Black Dragon unleashed blasts of fire magic! *BOOM!* Demons screamed as they were turned to ash. But for every demon the dragon destroyed, ten more seemed to take its place. Adrouse had brought a massive army.

Adrouse watched carefully. He noticed that the Black Dragon’s magic only hit demons close to the fortress. The dragon didn’t seem able to attack demons further away. This made Adrouse even more confident in his plan.

Adrouse kept sending more and more demons forward, trying to make the Black Dragon use up all its magic.

Adrouse’s plan was to tire out the Black Dragon completely. Even if the dragon was wounded, it was still a dragon. If Adrouse got too close and the dragon attacked, Adrouse would be badly hurt, maybe even killed.

He needed to make the Black Dragon so tired that it couldn’t fight back when Adrouse finally attacked.

Years passed. Slowly, Adrouse began to see signs that his plan was working. The Black Dragon used magic less often. The blasts of fire were weaker. Sometimes, days would go by with no magic at all.

At first, the Black Dragon had used magic every hour. Then, the time between magic attacks grew longer and longer. Now, days were passing without any magic at all.

“Now it’s over! The dragon’s heart is mine!”

Adrouse was completely sure of victory. He could almost taste the dragon’s heart! But then, out of nowhere, a flash of gold! *Bat Spin!* A small golden bat appeared in front of him, using a technique with a silly-sounding name.

“(Bat Bat! Did you tell me to attack him? Yes, you did!)” Batbat squeaked to himself, then glared at Adrouse. He puffed out his tiny chest and got ready to fight.

*Bat Spin!* *Ugh!* Demon King Adrouse gasped as Batbat’s attack hit him. A strange light surrounded him, and in a flash, the mighty Demon King was gone, replaced by a small, ordinary-looking stone.

And so, the threat of Demon King Adrouse was ended, thanks to a small golden bat. But far away, in a different place, another story was beginning… On the 99th floor of the Black Tower…

The 99th floor of the Black Tower was cold and grey, even in the morning light. Sejun groaned as he woke up, every muscle in his body screaming in protest.

“Ugh… Aargh!” he gasped, trying to sit up. Instantly, he felt soft paws and gentle nudges.

“Meow…” Theo purred, rubbing against his cheek. *Kkueng…* Kkuengi whined softly, starting to massage his aching shoulders. They were always there for him, his loyal companions.

“Thank you, guys.”

Kkihihit. Kking!

“[Hehe. Master, I’ll do it too!]”

“No. Blackie, go fetch this. Oof!”

Sejun quickly endured the muscle pain and threw the roundly cut stone with all his might.

Kkihihit. Kking! Kking!

“[Hehe. Okay! I’ll play with Master!]”

Tap tap tap!

He sent him out to not disturb him, but Blackie thought he was playing with Master and went to pick up the stone excitedly.

“Ah. Good.”

Sejun received a massage from Theo and Kkuengi.

[Authority: All stat potentials have increased by 30 due to the effect of the Sunfish Core.]

After checking the message,

‘How much potential is left in the Strength stat?’

He checked his stats.

Stats: Strength (1237/16122) Stamina (10592/13622) Agility (9255/12255) Magic Power (1793/13823) Mental Strength (3000/5000) Divinity (35.9934/100)

“Huh?!”

Contrary to Sejun’s expectations, there was considerable leeway in the potential of all stats.

The potential of all stats had increased by 3000.

Yesterday’s efforts had grown the Muscle Strengthening skill by one level, increasing Sejun’s potential.

“Hehehe.”

It was worth the effort.

For reference, Blackie had raised his mental strength, but Blackie, who had to appeal that, was

Sniff. Sniff.

Kking?!

“[Where did it go?!]”

He was digging the ground hard, looking for the stone Sejun had thrown.

A moment later.

“Guys, gather around!”

Sejun called his party to go to the 10th floor and tried to activate Authority: The Power to Support the Sky with Thirteen Hands.

······

The authority was not activated.

“What’s wrong? Is someone missing? Number from me. One.”

“It’s two, meow!”

Kkueng!

“[It’s three, Kkueng!]”

Kking!

“Five!” Sejun called out, listening to the strange sounds of the forest. A loud screech of birds echoed through the trees. Then came a softer, musical ‘shalala’ sound, like wind chimes in the breeze. Even a cow’s distant ‘moo-moo!’ joined the unusual chorus.

The strange sounds finally stopped at eleven.

Sejun realized Batbat hadn’t returned yet.

“Where’s Batbat?”

Sejun hurriedly searched for Batbat.

Just then, Theo shouted, pointing. “President Park, I smell that strange energy from yesterday here!” He pointed towards the shimmering air where Batbat had made a gate before.

“What?!” Sejun exclaimed. “This is…”

Just as Sejun found a small, round opening in the air, about 15cm wide, leading to Omid, he understood. Batbat, following a strange magical signal, had accidentally stumbled upon the Demon King’s army in Omid. He had defeated them and was now being called to meet Aileen’s mother, Elizabeth Fritani.

“(Batbat! Greetings, Lady Elizabeth! I am Batbat, the hybrid golden bat!)” Batbat announced proudly.

Normally, facing a great dragon like Elizabeth would be impossible for Batbat. But Elizabeth’s power was very weak right now.

Elizabeth looked very tired and weak. She was curled up, holding her stomach as if in pain, but she still tried to look like a powerful black dragon, even though she was weak.

“Yes, Batbat,” Elizabeth said, her voice soft. “Thank you for helping me.” She knew Batbat’s arrival had stopped a very dangerous situation. Normally, she would never let someone like Batbat get so close. But she felt Kaiser’s power coming from him, so she had called him closer.

*There isn’t much time,* she thought urgently. She couldn’t be too picky right now.

“(Hehe! No! Lady Elizabeth is Aileen’s mother! Of course, I should help!)” Batbat said happily.

“Oh! You know our Aileen?! Our Aileen is…” Elizabeth started to say, but then suddenly cried out in pain, like she had hurt herself. “Ugh!”

Plop.

Elizabeth, struggling with the pain, lost consciousness and her head fell forward.

Batbat panicked. *Batbat! What should I do?!*

Batbat looked at Elizabeth, not knowing what to do.

After thinking for a moment, he had an idea. *(Batbat! Sejun-nim would know what to do! He always knows everything!)* Thinking of Sejun, the most trusted and reliable person, he quickly tried to go back through the dimensional gate.

“Puhuhut. Batbat, you were here, nya?!” Theo said, appearing suddenly in front of Batbat. He had followed Batbat through the small dimensional gate, because cats can squeeze through small spaces.

“Nya?! Is this dragon President Park’s mother-in-law, nya?!” Theo asked, surprised.

“(Batbat! Yes! This is Sejun-nim’s mother-in-law, Elizabeth-nim! She suddenly collapsed! What should we do?)”

“Puhuhut. Batbat, don’t worry, nya! I, Vice President Theo, will heal President Park’s mother-in-law with my healing magic, nya! Batbat, go to President Park, nya!” Theo declared confidently.

“(Batbat! Yes!)”

Theo started to massage Elizabeth’s body with his small paws.

Theo burned money, and a bright light burst from his paws. He knew this was urgent, so he used all the money he had given to Sejun earlier, all at once.

But it wasn’t enough to heal a great dragon. He needed much, much more money.

And then, Theo shouted loudly, “Herr, give me money, nya! If you don’t, I will complain about you!” Theo, out of money, begged Herr, the god of merchants, to give him more, and kept healing Elizabeth.

“(Batbat! I need to tell Sejun-nim quickly!)” Batbat thought, flapping his wings hard as he flew back through the dimensional gate.

“(Sejun-nim!)” When Batbat arrived back, calling for Sejun urgently, he saw that Sejun, Kkuenge, the Blackie family, and the Four Dragon Society dragons were already waiting for him.

Kkomi had heard about the situation through her spider web that was connected to Theo and had told everyone.

“Batbat! Quickly, put this on!” Sejun said, holding out a piece of golden dragon skin.

Kaiser used dragon language to change Batbat’s skin to the golden dragon skin. The skin was taken from Artemis, who had been drinking juice just a moment ago.

“Kaiser, what are you doing?!” Artemis protested, surprised that her skin was suddenly being taken.

“Sorry. I’ll give you this instead,” Kaiser said, holding up a bottle of kiwi juice.

“Ahem. Two bottles,” Artemis corrected.

“Okay,” Kaiser agreed. It was settled with two bottles of Ultra Brain Kiwi Juice.

“(Batbat?)” Batbat thought, looking at his black dragon claw and golden dragon skin. *Am I now a super hybrid?!* He was happy, even though he didn’t know why he had golden dragon skin.

“Batbat, can you make the dimensional gate to Omid again?” Sejun asked.

“(Batbat! Yes!)” Batbat replied. He made a dimensional gate right away.

“(Batbat? Why is the dimensional gate so big?!)” Batbat was surprised to see a large dimensional gate, about 70cm wide, behind him.

Batbat didn’t know it, but while he was gone, the dragons had figured out his dimensional gate ability. They realized that the gate was small before because Batbat’s own body wasn’t strong enough. So, they changed his skin to golden dragon skin to make him stronger. Because of this, the dimensional gate was now big enough for Sejun to go through!

The black dragon statue, controlled by Anton, spoke in a cold voice and went through the gate first.

“Yes!” Sejun replied and quietly followed Anton, flying with Kkuenge’s power.

He was becoming friends with Kaiser, but he still felt nervous around Anton, his future father-in-law. So, the two flew in silence.

A heavy, silent feeling filled the air.

[Butler! Don’t be scared! I’ll protect you!]

Blackie, thinking that Sejun was intimidated by Anton, hung on the sling bag and barked hard at Anton.

Thanks to Blackie’s bravado, Sejun was able to smile a little.

A little later.

Sejun was finally able to meet Aileen’s mother.