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“No.”
“Hahaha! You didn’t even hesitate for a moment! That confident attitude, I like it!”
Of course, Seun refused her offer.
He didn’t know what she meant by making such a suggestion, but from the start, Seun’s goal wasn’t just to settle down in the shelter on the third floor.
No matter how well he was treated, he had no intention of stopping there.
Despite Seun’s refusal, she didn’t seem upset at all. Rather, she seemed to like Seun even more, tightening her arm around his shoulder.
‘The Commander likes him so much….’
The adjutant, who was watching the scene, was so surprised that he opened his mouth without realizing it.
He was even about to drop the hand that was still saluting, even though she hadn’t accepted his salute yet.
‘She’s always had a good personality, but she’s never reacted like this to a stranger before….’
Seri Buccaneer. Who is she?
As the supreme commander of the Frost Fortress, she was a figure who captivated all the soldiers of the fortress with her charisma alone.
Even the veteran soldiers who had been working at the Frost Fortress longer than her, and the messengers who came to deliver instructions from above, mostly couldn’t straighten their backs and were intimidated in front of her.
However, Seun was standing tall and confident, even though it was his first time meeting her.
From the first meeting, he was even offered to come under her command.
Similar reactions continued afterward.
Seri poked Seun and asked him various questions, and Seun only gave minimal answers.
Yet, she didn’t seem displeased at all.
“Good, good! I like your personality! All that’s left is your skill!”
Click.
She opened the door and pulled Seun’s shoulder.
The adjutant, who noticed where she was going, hurriedly blocked her path and opened his mouth.
“Commander! It’s dangerous!”
“Then should we do it inside?”
“That’s even more dangerous! You wrecked several facilities last time!”
“That’s why I’m saying we should go outside.”
“But, outside….”
Seun, who was watching them bickering, couldn’t help but wonder.
He was sure that the adjutant wouldn’t dare to argue with the commander, let alone make eye contact, but he couldn’t understand why he was arguing with her while sweating profusely.
Besides, outside?
After bickering a few times.
The commander’s expression, which had been laughing and accepting the adjutant’s words, suddenly changed.
“Then, what do you want me to do?”
“Hmph….”
The commander’s expression, which had been laughing heartily, hardened.
The atmosphere around them instantly subsided, and a sense of oppression weighed down on their shoulders.
It was a level that Seun could endure, but the adjutant stopped talking as if he was suffocating and straightened his posture.
From that sense of oppression alone, Seun could guess her skill.
‘Strong.’
Indeed, the commander of the Frost Fortress.
A strength that couldn’t even be compared to the legion commanders he had seen in the second shelter was felt.
To think that there was a strong person of this level in the third shelter.
As Seun’s expression became heavier, she seemed to notice it, released her energy, and patted the adjutant’s back with a hearty laugh.
“I’ll be right back, so don’t worry! Hahaha!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
The adjutant barely raised his right hand to salute.
Even if the oppressive energy was released, it wouldn’t be easy to regain composure so quickly, so it seemed like this wasn’t the first time this had happened.
The reason why he was so nervous at first must have been because of her energy.
“Haha, I’m sorry about this! Our adjutant is a bit of a worrier!”
“Isn’t it better to have a soldier who can withstand your energy by your side?”
“That worry is a lacking element for me. The guys who can withstand my energy are all empty-headed, which is a problem! Hahaha!”
The leather around her shoulders heaved greatly each time she laughed.
Seun turned around when he felt a presence behind him and saw the polar bear he had seen in the room naturally waddling along.
Since there were no immediately bothersome elements, Seun quietly followed her.
There was no harm in getting on the good side of her, the commander of the Frost Fortress.
Rather, he might find a hidden piece of the third shelter that he didn’t know about before his regression.
“This is….”
After climbing another set of stairs, another huge door blocked his path.
A thick iron door, completely different from the door of the commander’s office.
It had a wheel-shaped lock, and he could tell where it was connected just by the chilling energy emanating from it.
“This is the summit of our fortress! Haha, look forward to it. The scenery of our fortress is not something anyone can see!”
She placed her hand on the lock of the iron door.
Just by looking at the chill, he couldn’t even guess how cold that wheel was, but she fearlessly grabbed it tightly with her bare hands.
Beyond just being cold, it wouldn’t be easy to open the door if it was frozen like that….
Squeak-
Bang!
She turned the wheel and opened the door with ease.
The ice that was freezing the wheel turned to powder and fell to the floor.
Even though it was cold enough to make skin fall off, her palm, which had pushed the cold iron door, looked perfectly fine.
“It’s been a while since I’ve felt this kind of chill! It has to be this cold to make it worth moving my body. Don’t you think?”
“……”
“I was going to keep my room this cool too, but our adjutant kept nagging me! Thanks to him, my room turns into a sauna every time I work out!”
A sauna.
The commander’s office was also not as cold as the outdoors, but as soon as he entered, he felt the unique chill of the snowy field.
Besides, at the time, the commander was exercising without even wearing that cloak.
Could it be that she has a strong resistance to the cold?
If it were another player other than Seun, they would have wrapped their shoulders and shivered from this cold alone.
“Kuoong!”
“Hahahaha! Our Kung seems excited because it’s been a while since he’s been outdoors!”
When Seun hesitated in front of the door, the polar bear that had been following behind him pushed Seun and ran forward.
Snow was piled up to his knees, but he seemed to enjoy it even more.
He moved along the path that Kung had made while playing.
Looking down from above, he felt the scale of the fortress was even larger.
As he approached the end, he saw a particularly bulging pile of snow.
They were cannons, cannonballs, and various siege weapons, and they seemed to be covered with cloth to protect them from the snow.
It wasn’t just a rooftop concept, but this place was also a prepared attack facility to prepare for monster attacks.
And below that.
“Hahahaha! I’ve only heard about it, but it’s quite a sight to see in person!”
Seun’s last attack.
The traces of the ‘Evil Dragon’s Breath’ reproduced through Hrotti [Hrotti is likely a weapon or artifact] were spread out.
‘It’s connected here too.’
The sand city of Skabe, which was the second shelter.
That place was usually the same background as the 10th floor trial, but it wasn’t actually connected to the results of the trial.
Logically, if the trials were always connected, the walls of Skabe would collapse if the players couldn’t stop the attacks.
But Seun’s trial was different.
Whether it was because of the hidden quest or because of the high performance, the results of the trial were connected to the shelter.
The same is true now.
For some reason, the situation of the 20th floor trial that Seun had cleared and the third shelter, the Frost Fortress, were connected.
– The Constellation, ‘Hungry Prince,’ looks at the gradually emptying table and is satisfied, saying it was the best feast.
The scene of the lake that was directly hit by the ‘Evil Dragon’s Breath’ was truly desolate.
Whether it was because of the breath or because of the authority of gluttony, the monsters in front of the lake had disappeared as if by magic, and the ice of the lake, which had been so hard, was shattered mercilessly.
Under the broken ice, a pile of monster corpses was floating.
Perhaps, it wasn’t the monsters that were directly hit by the breath, but the monsters that were stunned or killed by the secondary damage caused by the ice breaking due to the impact of the breath.
Above that, a black aura was slowly flowing out.
The remnants of the breath were still left in the lake.
The reason why other monsters didn’t approach the walls even after the monsters disappeared seemed to be because of that.
– The Constellation, ‘Hungry Prince,’ discovers prey that has not yet been moved to the table.
– The Constellation, ‘Hungry Prince,’ scolds himself for his urgency and is frustrated with the cooling prey.
‘I wonder if I can still use it.’
Cooling or not, in this terrain, the monster’s corpse will not rot easily no matter how long it is left unattended.
Perhaps, if only the lingering remnants of the breath disappear, a new monster will appear and devour them.
In that case, it would be better to feed it to Beelzebub and get even a little more mana.
– The entire ‘Lake of Despair’ has been designated with the authority of gluttony.
– The fangs of gluttony are attacking the monsters!
Seun raised his hand and pointed to the broken part of the lake to designate the area.
Fortunately, the conditions for using the authority of gluttony had not yet been lifted, and the fangs of gluttony began to appear and devour the monsters floating between the ice.
The 20th floor trial and the third shelter.
It was the same space, but he thought it might not work because it was a space separated by the system, but fortunately, the authority of gluttony was clearly manifested.
Perhaps, if he passed some special conditions, the last trial and the shelter would be connected, and Seun seemed to have satisfied those conditions in a row.
“Oh?”
The commander, who was watching this with Seun, opened her mouth and exclaimed. She realized that the current situation was Seun’s doing.
“Is it magic? I don’t think it’s magic. Anyway, amazing! You’re the man I recognized at first sight!”
The authority of gluttony.
It wasn’t an ordinary power at first glance, so she could have been suspicious, but she only admired it for a moment and patted Seun’s back heartily.
If it weren’t for her size, actions, and hearty personality, she would have reminded him of Kang Han-cheol.
‘Wait, if it was Kang Han-cheol….’
At that moment, an ominous premonition arose.
The current situation of going outside, the adjutant who desperately blocked her, and the adjutant’s meaningless words that she had wrecked several facilities.
All those things and the commander’s actions that resembled Kang Han-cheol were connected.
“Now, then! Shall we start quickly!”
Flap!
The commander threw off the black cloak she was wearing on her shoulders.
The polar bear, who had been digging through the ice and playing in the back, quickly ran up and received the cloak.
Of course, she who threw off the cloak was in the same flimsy outfit she had seen in the commander’s office.
Standing in this cold in that outfit, he wondered if she was out of her mind.
“Haa….”
Seun, who understood the meaning of her actions without having to say anything, faced her and straightened his posture.
Even for Seun, fatigue had accumulated from climbing five floors.
Above all, he had faced the remnants of Francis Hamel in the Ice Castle of Trials and had just crossed the lake after pouring out all his mana.
Fatigue had accumulated to the point where he wanted to take a break, but the tower didn’t seem to want to allow Seun to rest yet.
“To recognize a person, the best way is to exchange fists! Don’t you think so, soldiers!”
Soldiers.
He had refused to enlist from the first moment, but she seemed to see Seun as her soldier already.
Of course, Seun had no intention of enlisting, so he shook his head and focused his attention on her movements.
“Kuoong!”
The moment the polar bear covered in black leather sat down in the middle and cried loudly, she kicked off the snow piled on the floor and ran towards him.
To have a personality that throws a fist as soon as you meet someone.
The more he looked at her, the more she reminded him of Kang Han-cheol.