Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 95

A loud, sad cry echoed through the cave. “Pyaaak!!!” Then another, equally upset sound joined in, “Kweeeeeng!!!” Sejun frowned. “Huh? That sounds like kids… and they sound really upset.”

Sejun, hearing the cries, hurried towards the sound.

“Hey! What’s all the noise?” Sejun asked, finding the black rabbit and Kkuengyi frantically looking around.

“Pyak?”

“Kweeng?”

The black rabbit and Kkuengyi turned their heads at Sejun’s voice.

“Pyaaak!!!”

“Kkuweeeng!!!”

Their voices were full of worry and relief. Upon spotting Sejun, the black rabbit’s nose twitched rapidly, and Kkuengyi’s big eyes were wet with tears as they ran towards him.

They didn’t slow down at all. Their eyes were wide with happiness, but Sejun saw something wild in their excitement. ‘This is going to hurt!’ he thought.

He tried to dodge their charge, but they were much faster than him.

Thud!!!

“Ugh!” The air rushed out of his lungs. Pain exploded through his body. For a moment, everything went white. ‘Is this… is this the end?’ His mind flashed with a picture of Aileen’s smiling face. ‘I wanted to see Aileen again…’

[The body has sustained critical damage.]

[>Authority: Unbreakable Body> is activated.]

[Consumes magic to protect the body from breaking.]

‘Right. I have an Unbreakable Body…’

That was Sejun’s last thought before losing consciousness, accompanied by a pain that felt like his whole body was shattering. The Authority prevented his body from breaking, but it didn’t eliminate the pain.

Whoosh.

Sejun, now one with the black rabbit and Kkuengyi, soared through the air.

And Theo, instinctively knowing Sejun was safe,

“Eek! Let go, meow!” Clinging to Sejun’s knee as he flew unconscious, Theo frantically wagged his tail, trying to shake off Iona.

Meanwhile, on another part of the 67th floor…

Tamuro, the leader of the Lizardmen guards, greeted Tarik, who had returned to the 67th floor.

“Mr. Tarik, why haven’t you been around much lately?!”

“Haha. I appreciate the warm welcome, Mr. Tamuro. But I’ve heard you’ve been having trouble with the Purple Locusts…” Tarik said, observing the defense line. There were fewer guards than usual, and they looked tired and worn out.

“Ah! We were lucky. The waypoint was almost breached when, for some reason, the Purple Locusts suddenly retreated.”

“Ah… I see. Mr. Tamuro, this is a small gift to say thank you. Please accept it.” Tarik presented a small, black plaque. ‘A little something for your trouble, Mr. Tamuro,’ he said. These plaques, guaranteed by the Chau Merchant Guild, were worth a good amount of Tower Coins, the currency used in the Tower.

However,

Tamuro rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Five of these is… a start,” he said slowly, his eyes fixed on Tarik, “but things have been difficult lately.”

Tarik’s face briefly stiffened at Tamuro’s words.

“…Haha. My apologies! Of course. I should give you more.”

Tarik pulled out another black plaque from his pocket and handed two of them to Tamuro.

“Ah, now that’s more like it! Thank you, Mr. Tarik.”

Tamuro smiled and accepted the black plaques from Tarik. Tamuro, wearing a simple necklace that looked strangely familiar, greeted Tarik warmly…

“Then, please go and do as you wish. I have urgent matters to attend to.”

Tamuro quickly excused himself, allowing Tarik to act swiftly.

“Umm… Sejun groaned softly. His body felt heavy and sore, like he’d been run over by a cart. But as he slowly opened his eyes, he felt a gentle coolness on his forehead.”

“Kkueng!”

Kkuengyi was overjoyed to see Sejun awake.

However,

“Kkueng…”

Kkuengyi was overjoyed to see Sejun awake, jumping up and down. But then he stopped, his ears drooping slightly. He looked at Sejun with worried eyes, unsure if he should hug him again.

“It’s alright, Kkuengyi. I’m feeling much better now.”

“Kkueng.”

Encouraged by Sejun’s words, Kkuengyi hugged him.

He looked down and saw Kkuengyi carefully dabbing his forehead with a wet paw. The little creature had been taking care of him, wetting his paws with his own spit and gently placing them on Sejun’s forehead to cool him down.

“Pyak!”

“Ppyu ppyu.”

The black rabbit and Ppyu Ppyu brought breakfast for Sejun.

“Thank you.”

Sejun praised them, stroking the heads of the black rabbit and Ppyu Ppyu.

“Kkueng.”

Kkuengyi pushed his head forward, as if asking for praise as well.

“Alright, alright.”

As he was stroking the animals’ heads,

“Chairman Park, you’re awake, meow?” Theo woke up from his nap on Sejun’s lap.

“But where did Iona go?”

“She went to deal with Tarik, meow.”

“Tarik came?”

“Yes, meow.”

Iona, realizing that the video-recording magic necklace given to Tamuro had been activated, went directly to the waypoint to ensure Tarik was dealt with.

At the same time, Iona had followed Tarik…

“Tarik, stop!” Tamuro, believing he had secured enough evidence by following Tarik, stepped forward.

Cough. Cough.

Grrrr.

Suddenly, from behind the crates and tents, Lizardman soldiers and fierce Silver Wolf tribe wolves emerged, surrounding Tarik and his men. The glint of steel and the low growls of the wolves filled the air.

“Hmph! I thought you were just a greedy lizard, but you’re foolish as well.”

Tarik said, looking at Tamuro. He had been caught disposing of monster corpses, but Tarik remained unfazed.

“…Since it has come to this, there’s no choice. Don’t let any of them leave alive.”

“Yes!”

At Tarik’s command, the wandering merchants who had followed him pulled out equipment from their packs. Tarik also pulled out a massive, blood-red battleaxe from his pack.

Thus, the battle began. The tide unexpectedly turned in Tarik’s favor, due to the weapon he had drawn.

As Tarik swung the battleaxe, a red aura emanated from it and flew outwards.

“Dodge!” The Lizardmen and Silver Wolves scrambled to avoid the red aura.

“How can he have Guillotine…” Elka was shocked to see the massive battleaxe Tarik was wielding. Guillotine was a very old and powerful weapon, ranking fifth among the Ten Great Weapons of the Black Tower. As it had been a holy object of the Silver Wolf tribe, she knew it better than anyone.

“Elka, why did you betray Grid? Because of your choice, your entire tribe will starve to death!”

“Pride is something you wouldn’t understand, Tarik! You’ve lost yours long ago.”

“Your grandfather and parents died that way, and you’re still talking about pride. You haven’t learned a thing.”

“Kyuu—Tarik, stop talking nonsense and confess your sins.”

Iona appeared from the sky.

“You’re Iona?! Why are you here? Don’t tell me you planned this?!”

“You don’t need to know that. I’ll take care of Tarik, so you guys handle the rest! Seal!”

Iona shouted, casting a sealing spell on Tarik’s weapon.

“What?! Why isn’t it working?!”

Tarik was flustered by his suddenly weapon not working. With Tarik’s weapon sealed, the battle quickly ended due to the much stronger fighters of the Lizardmen and Silver Wolves.

“Squeak! How dare you treat me badly, the head of the Chau Merchant Guild and an important member of the merchant group! I will officially complain to the Mage Association and the Free Mercenary Association, and I won’t let you escape punishment!” Tarik, tied up with rope, screamed at the top of his lungs like a pig being slaughtered.

“We’ll see? Do you really think you can get away with this again?” Iona smiled at Tarik. Tarik had previously escaped punishment several times, despite being suspected of crimes, by getting rid of proof and people who saw him and using his power.

“What?! Haha. I’m an elder of the Boar tribe, protected by the powerful lord Grid of the 55th floor! No matter what I do, you can’t punish me!”

“Yes. But will you still be so confident after seeing this? Tamuro.”

“Here it is.”

At Iona’s words, Tamuro took off the necklace and handed it to her.

Then, Iona manipulated the necklace.

-What?! Haha. I’m an elder of the Boar tribe, protected by the great landowner Grid of the 55th floor! No matter what I do, you can’t punish me!

The scene of Tarik speaking just now was showed again in the air like a magic picture.

“Th…that’s?!”

“Kkyut kkyut kkyut. It’s a necklace with video-recording magic that I developed. Everything you did has been recorded! And thank you for involving the great landowner Grid as well.”

“…!”

“Clean up.”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

Leaving the unable to speak Tarik behind, Iona gave instructions to Tamuro and Elka. Now that they had the evidence, there was no need to keep him alive.

“Sa…save me!”

“Fire from hell.”

Iona’s magic engulfed Tarik’s entire body in fire from hell that would not go out until he died.

“Kkuweeek!”

Tarik screamed in agony as he died.

The Lizardmen and wolves collected the monster bodies that were thrown away and the bodies of the wandering merchants together.

“I was unconscious for five days?!” Sejun exclaimed in surprise while eating breakfast. No wonder he was so hungry, no matter how much he ate.

“That’s right, meow!”

“Then what about the Locusts?”

“The Locusts started eating the detoxification green onions, so we chased them away, meow!” As the Locust population decreased, the poison flowing through their bodies disappeared, and the Locusts were no longer affected by eating the detoxification green onions.

“Then what about the quest?”

Sejun hurriedly checked the quest.

[Intermediate Manager Quest: Exterminate the Yellow Locusts on the 67th floor of the Tower.]

Yellow Locusts 803,919,112/2,938,170,012

Reward: 75,000 experience, 7,500 Tower Coins

Failure: You cannot return to your original location until the quest is completed.

“Huh?!” As the number of Locusts decreased, they had gone back two levels from Red to Yellow. And as the Locusts regressed, the quest difficulty and rewards also decreased.

‘If this continues, the rewards will keep decreasing. Isn’t there a way to get better rewards?’ As Sejun was thinking about how to get better rewards,

“Kkyut kkyut kkyut. Mr. Sejun, you’re awake!” Iona entered the cave.

“Yeah. What about Tarik?”

“We caught him. Here’s the video evidence.”

Iona showed Sejun the saved video.

“Oh?! What did you do with all those monster bodies?” Sejun asked, seeing the monster corpses scattered on the floor in the video. The moment he saw the monster corpses, a good idea came to mind.

“We’ve only collected them for now. Why do you ask?”

“Bring those monster corpses here. I have a use for them.”

“Yes. I’ll be right back.”

Iona went out again.

“Okay, everyone, listen up! I have an idea,” or “Right, everyone, come here. We’re going to do this…”

Sejun began giving instructions to the animals.

When Iona returned with the sacks of monster corpses, she was surprised to see the cave completely empty. The animals had cleared everything out, ready for Sejun’s plan.

“You guys, dump everything here.”

At Sejun’s command, the animals carried the sacks Iona had brought and began dumping the monster corpses inside the cave. The plan was to increase the number of Locusts inside the cave to raise the quest difficulty and then catch them all at once.

The jewel frogs, the original owners of the cave, willingly found new homes and moved out when Gae Ron, the god of the jewel frogs, stepped forward and ordered them to do so.

“Iona, use wind magic to trick the Locusts into coming.”

“Yes! Wind, be!” Iona used wind magic to carry the scent of the monster corpses to where the scattered Locusts were.

A short while later,

Following the scent of the monster corpses, lots of Yellow Locusts with bright yellow bodies began entering the cave.

“Good.”

Sejun said, hiding and watching the Locusts.

“Whew. There are no more Locusts outside now.”

“Good work.”

Sejun said, having lured all the Locusts inside over several hours.

As time passed,

[The Yellow Locusts have changed into Blue Locusts.]

[The quest has been updated.]

…

..

. .

As the number of Locusts increased, evolution began again.

[The Red Locusts have changed into Purple Locusts.]

[The quest has been updated.]

…

..

. .

When the Red Locusts evolved into Purple Locusts,

“Now’s the time!”

“Yes! small black hole!” Iona used her strongest magic that controls gravity.

With a final surge of magic, Iona unleashed the Mini Black Hole. The air crackled, and then, with a sound like a giant gulp, everything around them – the swamp, the trees, even the ground itself – seemed to vanish into nothingness.