Chapter 472: Ninety-Seventh Floor, The Wraiths (4)

Chapter 472: Ninety-Seventh Floor, The Wraiths (4)

The Community of the Dead, on the ninety-seventh floor.

[Bro wtf, why are the dead climbers trying to mess with Su-Hyeok? Have they lost it?]

[LMAO that “you’ll never make it” guy from the start was just salty as hell.]

[So annoying. Like, you died, just stay dead. Why do you gotta hate on our king Su-Hyeok?]

[But couldn’t that have been us tho?]

[What kinda nonsense are you spitting now?]

[Those are climbers that failed, and without Su-Hyeok, we probably would’ve been one of them.]

[Oh damn, true.]

[So why stress? We got Su-Hyeok on our side. Easy.]

[LMAOO imagine not having our Light Su-Hyeok 💅]

[All thanks to Lord Su-Hyeok fr.]

[Su-men...]

[Su-men.]

[Huh?]

[Wait, what? It’s changing??]

[LMAO, why’s it got six arms now??]

[Bro turned into a Pachamp 💀💀💀💀]

[Isn’t Pachamp supposed to have three arms?]

[Close enough lmao.]

[Y’all are insane. How are you laughing right now?]

[Why not? Su-Hyeok is gonna beat its ass anyway.]

[You got a point.]

[Exactly, you faithless fool. Believe in the light of Su-Hyeok 😤]

[Tbh that thing’s hella strong tho.]

[Damn.]

[Wait, what’s that??]

[Su-Hyeok kinda looks like he’s struggling ngl.]

[Nah, he always fights like that.]

[“Always fights like that”? You tryna disrespect him?]

[No, you dumbass, I mean that’s just how he beats his enemies. First, he looks like he’s getting wrecked, then BAAM! One hit KO.]

[Trueee.]

[But damn, our boy Su-Hyeok is fighting like a legend fr.]

[LMAO for real.]

[Wait, is that thing a representation of every climber class??]

[Yeah, it looks like it.]

[Even if Su-Hyeok’s handling it, where are the top-tier archers and mages at tho? How skilled is this thing?]

[They are all on the ninetieth floor lmao.]

[No, like the ones that died.]

[I’m an archer who died around the eightieth floor. That level of power is insane. I can make magic arrows too, but not infinitely like that.]

[Same with the spells. Look at the precision and blast radius. Not gonna lie, that thing may be better than Hee-Jeong.]

[Yo, you crazy.]

[I’m just saying what I feel. Even the magic explosions from the arrows are on another level.]

[That’s wild.]

[Anyway, stfu and start praying. Su-men.]

[LMAO no doubts. Su-men 🙏]

[Su-men!]

***

[Release the wraiths. Time remaining: 10 hours 17 minutes.]

I hadn’t expected Cloak of Dominion’s ability to mind control others to activate automatically. That assumption had been proven completely wrong, however. There hadn’t been an enemy nearby to test it on, and there wasn’t an obvious way to activate it. Both Vulcanus and Vironus were divine entities, so the cloak’s influence likely hadn’t affected them.

Or did it?

Thinking back, I realized that both Vulcanus and Vironus had inexplicably acted favorably toward me. Although Vulcanus had been that way from the start, at some point, his attitude had shifted dramatically for the better. The same was true for Vironus.

Until now, I had assumed their kindness stemmed from how I had obtained the Star Devourer. Perhaps it had been the cloak’s doing all along. Whatever the case, the Trial Wraith’s change in attitude was almost certainly due to the cloak’s influence.

Maybe not entirely, but at least in part.

If the cloak was entirely to blame, though, the effect should have manifested from the very beginning. Twelve hours had passed since the start of the trial, so the other wraiths should have reacted earlier. Perhaps I had slain them too swiftly to notice.

Still, directly striking Trial Wraith had likely contributed as well.

I had finally uncovered a clue. I fixed my gaze on the wraith as another notification window appeared before me, identical to the one from before.

[Trial Wraith]

- A transcendent being born from the resentment and hatred of climbers who perished within the Tower of Ordeal.

- Their minds have been consumed by loneliness and despair, leaving them devoid of reason.

However, one part stood out more clearly to me this time.

A transcendent being born from negative emotions.

That meant the wraiths weren’t the climbers themselves, but the manifestations of their emotions. If I could use the Cloak of Dominion to harmonize those emotions, it would release them in a non-destructive manner.

Even if they are formed from negativity, destroying them doesn’t feel right.

I hadn’t liked the thought of forcing others to align with me, but if the wraiths were nothing more than resentment and hatred given form, then I considered it better to assimilate them into something positive rather than erase them outright.

Yes, it would be better. It may even be a hidden mission.

From what I had gathered, the tower suppressed strange or irregular powers. Perhaps the Trial Wraith had once been a single entity, but had been later divided into countless fragments by the tower’s will, only to merge again upon my arrival.

Either way, the frustration that had weighed on me began to lift. I had been debating whether or not to use Thunderbird, but with the uncertainty clouding my mind disappearing, I felt confident without it.

While I sorted through my thoughts, the wraith regained awareness and began chanting a spell. Its staff emitted a dark glow, and soon it was cloaked in black smoke.

A divine incantation?

Its eyes returned to their original sharpness, and the glow of several buff spells wrapped around it. Come to think of it, though it represented the different climber roles, I hadn’t seen it use a priestly weapon, although the staff seemed to handle both divine and non-divine spells.

The faint synchronization I had achieved with it had faded, but that wasn’t a problem. Now that I understood how, I only needed to push harder before it could restore itself, to bring those emotions into resonance with mine.

I adjusted my grip on Soulbound.

It was time to soothe the climbers who had fallen before me. Kicking off the ground, I charged into the storm of flame, lightning, and magic. The storm’s winds brushed across my cheeks and lifted my hair as I surged forward.

***

Nine hours and thirty minutes remained. A sharp spear grazed the edge of my left shoulder.

Thunk—!

A faint metallic sound rang in my ears, the clash between the Star Devourer’s power and the wraith’s energy of hatred. Its spear partially disintegrated, releasing a violent burst of black smoke.

I manifested causality to block the follow-up attack aimed at my head, though the impact pierced my barrier and slightly dented my helmet. It wasn’t a problem. Both Soulbound and my armor could repair themselves.

Swinging Soulbound, I unleashed a Heart Sword at point-blank range, and my axe crashed into the wraith’s shoulder along with my will. I deliberately avoided cutting it too deeply as my approach had changed.

The wraith restored itself as usual. No matter how its armor bent or warped, it regenerated in real time as I sliced continuously through it. It was a relentless fight. Of course, rather than aiming to kill it outright, I intended to assimilate over the course of countless blows.

Amidst that unending clash, I began to see a change.

“You... can’t... ascend...” it dragged slowly, still trying to finish the sentence, but with a clearly different saying than before.

That wasn’t all. Since that first exchange of eye contact, it had met my gaze more frequently. The difference was subtle, but its movements had started to slow.

My storm, now infused with the Flame of Aspiration, surged toward it, and I used that opening to drive Soulbound forward once more.

***

Eight hours and seventeen minutes remained.

I pressed the assault, unceasingly trading attacks while shrugging off any blows I took in return. My armor regenerated, and I healed any wounds I sustained with causality-enhanced spells.

Perhaps because of the Primordial World Tree’s power, even the wounds left by the strange forces closed faster than expected. I was slowly accumulating fatigue, but it wasn’t a problem yet. Despite that, the visible progress excited me. The wraith was succumbing to my ability faster than the rate at which it injured me.

“You... can’t... ascend...”

As we exchanged attacks, I kept focused on its every move, adjusting my tempo whenever necessary, sometimes accelerating and other times slowing down.

Perhaps because of its internal struggle, it was moving sluggishly, but despite that, the fight only grew more intense. The conflicted wraith seemed to have abandoned self-preservation altogether, throwing itself toward me as though seeking an end.

Now that I could see progress, I sped up.

***

Seven hours and forty-one minutes remained.

It was a drawn-out yet tense and turbulent stretch of time. Once again, I had changed strategies. Rather than attack with Soulbound, I relied more on the cloak for both attack and defense. Perhaps because of that, the wraith assimilated to my will quicker.

“You... can’t... asce...” it declared once again, though it dragged out its words even more this time.

Another twenty minutes passed.

“You... can’t...”

Then forty more.

“You...”

Another thirty.

Struck by the Cloak of Dominion, the wraith went tumbling across the ground before collapsing to its knees. I wasn’t exactly unscathed either. My cloak and armor had stopped regenerating halfway through, worn out from the prolonged contest of endurance. Restoring it could wait until later.

The wraith remained kneeling as it lifted its gaze toward me. “You...”

I prepared to strike it before it could recover, but then I realized its gaze had changed completely. With Soulbound still gripped in one hand, I looked back at it.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

“Help me...”

Its eyes no longer contained a madness.

Instead of striking, I stepped closer and extended my hand. “I’ll help you. Take it.”

In truth, I hadn’t decided how I would help it. The climbers had already died, or rather, existed only as lingering negative emotions. Bringing them back to life was impossible since their trials had long since ended.

On the other hand, Soulbound already held countless souls, so surely I could at least carry these remnants with me.

Well, if that isn’t possible, then maybe the tower can help.

I planned to ask the Tower of Ordeal directly. There had to be a way—I meant it sincerely. Whenever presented with those in need, I would help if I could, and this time was no different. The words I had declared to the wraiths weren’t empty promises.

The six-armed Trial Wraith raised its right hand and placed it atop mine. My hand looked almost child-like in comparison with its massive palm, however. A chill came from that dark, cold hand that wasn’t merely the temperature. It was emotions.

I quietly accepted its hatred and grief. Having suffered from Kalain’s memory-sharing ability, the sensation wasn’t foreign to me. I could feel it all. Their fury, sorrow, resentment, and fleeting moments of joy. I took it all in and let it settle within me.

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed. As soon as I felt like I had absorbed everything,

a notification appeared before me.

Ding—

[Congratulations. Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has conquered the ninety-seventh floor of the Tower of Ordeal: The Wraiths. Achievement points will be calculated.]

[The hatred and resentment of countless climbers have finally been freed from the tower’s bindings after a long wait.]

[The prospective fifth-class god, ‘The Coming Dawn,’ has been granted authority over their fate. What would you like to do?]

I frowned slightly. The message felt ambiguous. It said I had been granted the right to decide their fate, but what exactly did that mean? I wasn’t even sure what they truly were anymore—wraiths or the climbers who had perished before me.

I rarely spoke at the tower, but this time, I responded, “What does that mean? What exactly are you referring to?”

[These are the climbers who perished in earlier ascents. If The Coming Dawn so desires, they can be resurrected. Their fate lies solely in his hands. He may bind their souls to his armaments, return them to their worlds, or take them as his army.]

So they weren’t just remnants after all, but were the actual climbers who had come before me. Although the tower hadn’t declared it was a hidden mission, the outcome felt close enough to one. Even if I hadn’t chosen to assimilate them, I likely would have been granted the same authority.

The title “Liberator” resurfaced in my mind. Did Kalain face the same trial and free the climbers who came before him? Perhaps those who returned to their worlds, or followed him as soldiers, had spread that title in his honor.

Considering that many people I had saved called me that, the idea didn’t seem far-fetched. If Kalain had been able to take them as his soldiers, that would explain how he had grown so powerful so quickly.

An army numbering in the hundreds of millions.

Even if weak now, they were all climbers. Given time, they would inevitably grow stronger.

I don’t want that.

Even though I had used the Cloak of Dominion, which contained Kalain’s power, to assimilate them, I had no intention of turning them into my subordinates. I wasn’t Kalain, and they weren’t mine to command.

They were beings with their own will, and I had already decided what to do.

Having failed to ascend, their worlds had likely already fallen into other hands. Some would wish to return. Others wouldn’t. That wasn’t a choice I could make for them.

So, as I have always done—

I lifted my gaze toward the sky. The message hanging in the air looked the same as always, but I could feel the tower watching me.

Slowly opening my mouth, I almost whispered, “Let them be free.”

The chill of the wraith’s touch still lingered at my fingertips.

“Let them do as they wish.”

***

「Invisible message: By the choice of ‘The Coming Dawn,’ the fallen climbers have been granted free will.」

「Invisible message: The souls of the climbers are moved to tears. Some who had chosen death have instead found refuge within Soulbound.」

「Invisible message: The vast majority of climbers have declared themselves soldiers of ‘The Coming Dawn.’」