The first clear was crushed with an S+++ rating.

As expected, it was Veronica Caliber.

Veronica Caliber’s magitech gun ultimate, the near-light-speed round.

Just one shot.

With a single near-light-speed round—with no guidance function at all—she precisely hit the massive Frozen Colossus Condor and blew it apart.

Of course, there were a few conditions that made it possible.

Its gigantic body was practically a target, it moved slowly, and it had no proper defensive measures, relying only on ice hawks for both offense and defense.

It was easy to hit.

And once it hit, that was the end.

In short, the near-light-speed round was a skill optimized specifically for the 84th-floor Frozen Colossus Condor.

It was sealed now.

To see it again, they would have to wait 48 hours.

The cost was absurd too.

One kilogram of top-grade Magic Stones was worth 2.2 billion won.

One shot meant 2.2 billion gone.

Well, whatever.

Even decent missiles cost about that much these days.

For now, they were repeating the same Republic of Korea Black Tower (NO.1) run.

[Entering Republic of Korea Black Tower (NO.1) 84th Floor.]

They needed to give Rajix a chance—

a chance to make up for his failure.

He had nearly gotten himself killed after charging out based on scent alone, and Blood Wolf had actually died—

though they had revived it with the Wheel of Resurrection.

“While we deal with the Frozen Colossus Condor, Meatshield, Cossack, Bardin, Jepetto, and Diamat—please protect Rajix and Blood Wolf.”

The close-combat SSRs were assigned solely to Rajix’s escort.

They had nothing else to do here.

The combat team consisted of four LSSRs:

Veronica Caliber, Mad Demon, Mackenzie, and Gyeon Dallae.

“Just buy time until Rajix finishes his work.”

They did not even need to kill it.

This was a repeat run.

“Veronica Caliber! Commencing the lure operation!”

The aerial-battleship-class giant monster, [N O V E L I G H T] the Frozen Colossus Condor,

and the ice hawks circling around it.

The only ammunition currently available was small-caliber rounds.

Because of the near-light-speed ultimate, the large rounds that strained the magitech gun were sealed for 48 hours.

Even with only small-caliber rounds, the power was no longer what it had been before.

These were small-caliber rounds fully infused with high-grade Magic Stones.

Haa... what a waste of high-grade Magic Stones.

But what choice did they have?

They just had to hope Rajix brought back even greater returns.

BOOM, BOOM—DUDUDUDUNG!

CHA-CLANG! CLANG-CHA-JA-JANG!

The sound of drums and gongs echoed across the battlefield as Gyeon Dallae’s buffs spread through the blood-summoned allies.

“Selector to full-auto! Open fire!”

PA-JUK, PA-JU-JUK, PA-JU-JU-JUK!

Small-caliber magic rounds tore through the Frozen Colossus Condor’s subordinate ice hawks.

At the same time—

SWOONG!

Mackenzie’s barrier shielded Juhyeok and Gyeon Dallae.

Mad Demon’s crescent-moon blade aura shattered the falling ice hawks.

Mackenzie’s flame magic painted the sky.

Their attention was pulled to one side.

That was enough.

“Hooeek!”

Rajix climbed onto Blood Wolf’s back and pointed with his golden pickaxe.

WHIRR! TADADADAT!

Blood Wolf burst forward at incredible speed.

The bodyguards ran with them.

A faint scent of Magic Stones tickled Rajix’s blunt nose,

mixed in with the raging blizzard.

Ho-e.

Rajix zigzagged repeatedly, chasing the scent.

His companions followed close beside him, guarding him.

“Rajix, laborer—are you sure we’re going the right way?”

“Huek!”

“Got it. I’ll shut up.”

They ran for a long time.

They had come quite far.

The path was anything but easy—

their feet sank deep into the snow, and the blizzard howled.

SPAPAPAP!

Cossack used Shadow Step.

Diamat flew with her wings, and Jepetto transformed into a bat.

Meatshield’s stride was so long that simply walking let him keep up without any trouble.

The only problem was Bardin, the heavy-armored holy knight with no real mobility skills.

“Aura, Bardin!”

“Light!!!”

No problem.

Meatshield could just carry him.

WHIRR!

Bardin—the holy knight, the living holy sword—jumped and latched onto Meatshield’s hand.

WHIIIT! WHIIIIIIT!

The blizzard grew fiercer and fiercer.

But Rajix was in a state of extreme focus.

A determination to absolutely pull off something big.

And then—

“Hooe.”

At Rajix’s gesture, Blood Wolf stopped running.

Before them stood a massive ice wall.

“Eh? Is this a dead end?”

“A cliff.”

“...Don’t tell me we have to climb it?”

An ice wall of overwhelming height, stretching endlessly to either side.

Plop!

Rajix slid down from Blood Wolf’s back.

Rrrroll.

He rolled closer to the wall.

Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff.

He took a deep sniff.

Rrrroll.

He rolled again, sniffing.

Rrroll, rrroll.

Rolling along the ice wall—

“Hooe?”

Rajix stopped, bent one knee, stretched his short arm upward, and shouted.

“Hooeek!!! Here...!”

The blood-summoned allies rushed over.

“Is he telling us to break it here?”

“Ho-e, yes.”

“Feels like there’s something behind it.”

“Got it. We’ll break it fast.”

Meatshield raised Bardin, the living holy sword.

“Light!!!”

WHIRR!

KRAAAK!

“Light!!!”

CRACK! CRACK! KRRRSH! CRACK-CRACK! KRRRSH!

Chunks of ice shattered away.

Rajix lifted his pickaxe too.

CRACK! CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!

ZIIING!

Aura Master Cossack sliced into the ice wall with blade aura.

SHRRRK! SHRRRK!

Broken ice piled up quickly.

Then—

BANG!

A small hole opened in the ice wall.

“Whoa!”

“Oh!”

“So this was it.”

Rajix grinned broadly, swinging his pickaxe faster and faster.

Finally—

CRACK! THUD!

The entrance to a cave was revealed,

along with an overwhelming, dizzyingly dense scent of Magic Stones.

“A cave. Caves always hide treasure. That’s a cliché.”

After widening the entrance a bit more,

Rajix and the others went inside.

What would they find?

The answer came immediately.

Normally, caves are dark—

because no light gets in.

But the cave inside the 84th-floor ice wall was different.

It was dazzlingly bright,

as if lighting had been installed from the start.

The source of the light?

An enormous quantity of Magic Stones embedded throughout the walls.

“...Wow.”

“My god.”

“Oh my.”

“The light... hmm.”

“Ho-eng!”

“Woof woof!”

These were not ordinary Magic Stones.

Every single one was high-grade,

dense and concentrated with magical energy.

No wonder he had come running.

Who could stay still after smelling something like this?

“Rajix, laborer!”

“Ho-eng?”

“This is too much! If you hit the jackpot on every floor, what are the rest of us supposed to live on?”

Cossack shouted indignantly at Rajix.

“I mean, huh? I swat away parasites clinging to Vice-Chief Bong, huh? I eliminate risks in advance, huh? I act as the vanguard of unification as the head of the People’s Armed Forces, huh? I’ve done everything!”

“Ho-e?”

“And yet what do I earn? I get knocked out cold by one Ultra Counter Strong Punch from our laborer here.”

It was a rant that doubled as praise.

Meatshield and Bardin joined in.

“As expected of the cosmic head laborer. This warrior will always respect you.”

“Hooe-ee.”

“I cannot help but envy you, Sir Rajix. I am merely an LED bulb that lights fires.”

“Ho-et!”

Jepetto and Diamat too.

“I envy you, Senior.”

“Ho-e!”

“Mm, Mr. Laborer, share just one achievement with me. Let’s live together. I’ll give you sweet dreams.”

“Hoo-eng?”

Everyone was jealous.

Rajix smiled in satisfaction.

Shall we get started?

The scent was pouring out from deep within the cave.

It was quite large.

Even a rough estimate put the high-grade Magic Stone deposits at tens of thousands of tons at minimum.

Was it only Tower No. 1?

If Tower No. 2 was included too, they would never need to worry about high-grade Magic Stones again.

And—

Ho-hehehehehehe.

Something else caught his eye.

Something truly potent.

CRACK!

Rajix’s golden pickaxe struck the cave wall.

Clink.

A high-grade Magic Stone came loose from the tip.

From here on, it was harvest time.

The objective of the 84th-floor repeat run:

buy as much time as possible for Rajix’s exploration.

It was not difficult.

That damned aerial-battleship bird never came down to the ground anyway.

They only had to deal with the ice hawks dive-bombing them.

Sure, there were absurdly many of them—

kill them and more just kept coming.

Had about three hours passed?

Seriously, where were all these ice hawks coming from?

“Ugh, I’m exhausted.”

Of course, he was not actually doing anything.

All he had to do was sit warmly inside Mackenzie’s barrier, basking in the heat of the fire heater Mackenzie had set up.

The problem was the boredom.

Rajix had gone off to carry out his mission by scent, with no idea when he would be back.

While waiting, a thought crossed his mind.

Since we’re here... should we try killing that thing?

Come to think of it, it was not like they absolutely needed Veronica Caliber’s near-light-speed round.

“Mage Mackenzie.”

“Yes, Summoner.”

“Is it possible to summon a meteor? If you can drop one, I’d like to try.”

“Of course it is.”

Huh?

It is?

Mackenzie answered Juhyeok’s question with a proud smile.

“Let me explain first.”

Pabat!

An image appeared above Mackenzie’s head—space, a galaxy.

“This isn’t real outer space. It is a conceptual universe, a virtual cosmos created within my consciousness.”

Oooooh!

Recreating the universe in one’s mind...

A 9-circle mage really was on another level.

“Step one is creating a meteor within that conceptual universe. It takes about an hour. Others usually need over two hours, but I’m rather talented.”

“Oh, I can tell just by looking. Hahahaha.”

“Hahaha. Anyway, step one is the most important. You cannot move on to step two without it.”

He even explained it kindly.

“Step two is summoning the meteor from the conceptual universe into the real sky. This consumes an enormous amount of mana.”

“Can you do that under the Tower’s sky?”

“Of course. However, it won’t appear instantly—you must continuously supply mana until it gains sufficient physical form.”

“How long does that take?”

“Step two also takes about an hour.”

One hour for step one, one hour for step two.

Just those two steps already totaled two hours.

“Tch. That takes longer than I expected. With a nuke, you just plant it and press a button.”

Juhyeok’s tone dipped slightly, and Mackenzie panicked.

“Uh, well, at least it’s radiation-free—an eco-friendly meteor.”

“Nukes have already gone off inside the Tower. If you think about it, they’re eco-friendly too.”

“...But meteors can be summoned endlessly as long as you have mana.”

“Nukes don’t really have a hard production limit either, and there are already tons of them on Earth.”

Mackenzie grew awkward.

“Anyway, what’s next?”

“Step three is setting the coordinates and driving it down. That part is quick, but... the problem is safety.”

Safety.

Right.

When a meteor falls, does it only kill monsters?

Everything dies.

“Barriers won’t be enough. Unless you dig deep underground into a bunker—though even then, it would still be dangerous.”

Meteor-summoning magic was not very practical.

It took too much time, and safety was an issue.

Juhyeok looked slightly disappointed.

Meh. Meteor summoning isn’t that amazing.

A nuke would honestly be better—

though restrictions made it unusable.

Meanwhile, Mackenzie’s mouth went dry.

His meteor sales pitch had failed.

It had not impressed the Summoner at all.

He could tell just from that disappointed expression.

What do I do? This is bad.

Random summoning was approaching.

There would be one more blood-summoned ally soon, and in their current state, that was risky.

Especially since Veronica Caliber had broken through to the LSSR rank—there was no longer a strong reason to keep Mackenzie around.

Honestly, the growth was absurd.

A near-light-speed round?

One shot to blow up an 84th-floor giant monster?

An instant-kill, one-hit finisher.

Something Mackenzie could not even imitate.

Why was he being brought along for repeat runs?

Just to stall for time.

They did not even need a mage.

The old Mad Demon and the fairy were enough.

Bracelet enchantments?

He had disciples now.

Their skill had improved so much that defect rates were nearly zero.

I might lose my position.

Bringing in disciples had been a mistake.

He had taught them for convenience, but it ended up biting him back.

The enchantment business itself was also in trouble.

Recently, the Summoner’s gaze toward him had not been favorable.

The ambitious weight-loss bracelet enchantment business—

people had been happy at first, but now it was the opposite.

The Summoner’s complaint:

he was too busy working all the time because of it.

Am I going to get kicked out again like before?

Sure, he could wait on White Tower Floor 17.

He would not return to the world of souls.

But this was a matter of pride.

Unemployed, reduced to a shut-in old man, forgotten in the Summoner’s memory.

He needed a solution.

He had to firmly establish his necessity in the Summoner’s mind.

Damn it! Isn’t there some other business the Summoner would like?

Long-range combat? He lost to Veronica Caliber.

Money-making? Rajix completely dominated that.

Enchantments were about to become a liability.

Then—

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Signal flares exploded in the distant sky.

It meant the work was finished.

Time to go home.

First, recall the blood-summoned allies scattered far away.

Rajix, Blood Wolf, Meatshield, Cossack, Bardin, Jepetto, Diamat—

mass recall canceled.

Then—

“Let’s go too.”

“Veronica Caliber, retreat preparations complete!”

“Understood.”

“Heh heh, this was work too—tiring. Let’s grab a drink after.”

They moved to the safe zone.

“Mission abandoned.”

[You have declared mission abandonment.]

[Mission failed.]

[Exiting Republic of Korea Black Tower (NO.1).]

SPOT!

White Tower Floor 17.

Time to settle the results of the 84th-floor run.

Commissioner Jeon Gwangil and CEO Jung Donghoon were already there.

“Congratulations, Player Bong. We saw the World Announcement.”

“Me too. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

Commissioner Jeon Gwangil asked curiously,

“But the 84th floor is...?”

“It’s a giant flying monster called the Frozen Colossus Condor. I’ll record a video and show you later.”

“Gasp! F-flying?”

“That’s right, a flying monster. We just wrestled with it for three hours—I thought we’d die.”

“T-that hard? Even for you, Player Bong?”

“Oh! That was the repeat run. The first clear took less than three minutes.”

“...What?”

What had he just said?

Three minutes?

“We were looking for something during the repeat run... let’s check it together.”

“Ah... yes, yes.”

Juhyeok smiled warmly at Rajix.

“Rajix, did you find anything?”

“Hob!”

“Oh! What is it?”

Rajix showed them through action.

SSSHT, SSSSSHT, SSSSHHT.

High-grade Magic Stones began piling up on the ground of White Tower Floor 17.

“Woooah!”

“What is that?!”

A vein.

He had definitely found a Magic Stone vein.

Otherwise, there was no way he could have mined this much.

At this rate, they would hit 1,000 tons in no time.

But then Cossack spoke with a scoff.

“Summoner Bong, you’re surprised by just this? You’ve gotten soft. Tsk. What foods are good for the liver?”

What?

There was more?

Cossack grinned slyly.

“Cosmic laborer.”

“Hoeng?”

“Show him. Be ready to wipe his drool—he might start slobbering.”

“Hoet!”

Gulp.

Just in case, Juhyeok swallowed once.

SSSHT!

Rajix took something out.

“Uh...”

They looked like Magic Stones again.

The quantity was not large—about enough to fill a plastic grocery bag.

But that color...

Don’t tell me—

“T-top-grade... Magic Stones?”

Top-grade Magic Stones.

“That’s right. Naturally formed top-grade Magic Stones. Not refined. Rare stuff.”

Holy crap.

So top-grade Magic Stones could occur naturally?

Gulp!

He swallowed again and examined a chunk—

it was definitely top-grade Magic Stones.

Even if the quantity was small, it easily exceeded 30 kilograms.

No worries now about replenishing Veronica Caliber’s near-light-speed rounds.

Residency Rights, too.

Mari would not even need to do any refinement work.

This was insane.

Now he understood why the cosmic laborer had bolted the instant he caught the scent.

So that “something intense” had been the smell of top-grade Magic Stones.

How could anyone resist that?

He hugged Rajix tightly.

“Aww! Our cosmic laborer!”

“Hoeng-eeng.”

Two Badges—no, at least three—would be deserved.

He reached into his inventory to pull out a Platinum Badge, but—

No.

If he put it on now, Rajix might break through in rank and get sent to the top of the landmark.

That would take at least a week.

How could he go a whole week without seeing Rajix’s face?

Let’s take it slow.

Slowly.

Do more 84th-floor repeat runs together, clear the 85th floor too.

Was Tower No. 1 the only Tower?

They still had Tower No. 2 to conquer.

And then, a week later, with the random summoning—

welcome the new blood-summoned ally,

and then send Rajix off for his breakthrough.