The boss of the 70th Floor.

Duke Kabalon, a high-ranking noble of the demon race.

On Earth, his name was already fading into obscurity.

Why?

Because he had become a pathetically weak monster.

Kabalon’s Curse of the Average that swept across Earth did cause some conflict, but it was overcome without any major disaster.

Only one Tower collapsed as a result—the Mount Fuji Tower in Japan.

In truth, if the Curse of the Average had remained on Earth for a long time, the world would never have come through it unscathed.

Fortunately, Juhyeok, with the help of his summoned entities, quickly found and killed the true Kabalon.

Even now, a copy of Kabalon still remained on the 70th Floor of Earth’s Black Tower.

But its power had been weakened so severely that any properly trained national-level player could defeat it with a holy sword.

Max Kruger’s world had been different.

They failed to overcome that wall, and they fell.

All that remained was White Tower 1st Floor—and his legacy.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding...

Items continued pouring into Juhyeok’s Tower-exclusive Inventory.

They were probably the things Max had stored in his own inventory.

Was he happy?

Well...

It would have been a lie to say he wasn’t, considering how many desperately needed items he had just obtained—including a Trait Enhancement Rune.

Still, his heart felt heavy.

How lonely must Max Kruger have been?

It was impossible to imagine.

Ding!

[Inheritance of the 1st Floor owner’s inventory has been completed.]

Juhyeok bowed his head deeply and prayed for Max Kruger’s soul as the body crumbled into dust.

Then—

Gyeon Dallae stepped forward, her bell chiming softly, and offered solemn comfort through a restrained ritual dance.

“...You have done well. You have suffered greatly.

Now that your heavy burden has finally been lifted, rest without worry.

May you find happiness in the world beyond.”

The summoned entities also lowered their heads and offered comfort to the departed soul.

But—

Ding!

The messages were not over yet.

What now?

[As the rightful inheritor, you may acquire ownership of White Tower 1st Floor.]

“...What?”

Acquire it?

[Would you like to acquire White Tower 1st Floor for 45,179 kg of refined mana crystals?]

45,179 kilograms—roughly 45 tons of refined mana crystals.

The price had been calculated down to the exact kilogram.

So that meant—

that was how much refined mana Max Kruger had spent developing this place.

There were communication towers and power plants here.

Those two alone had probably consumed around 30 tons.

The remaining 15 tons must have gone into the buildings, roads, and other attached structures.

Juhyeok hesitated.

What would he even do with a place like this?

He didn’t really need it.

Still...

It was only 45 tons.

He had burned through 50 tons without hesitation while building the landmark tower on White Tower Floor 17.

“Mr. Rajix?”

“Hoe?”

“How much refined mana do you have in your subspace right now? More than 45 tons?”

“Hoe-eng! A lot. I have plenty.”

Then it was possible.

Might as well buy it.

“Stack it over there.”

“Hoe-eng!”

Shssss, shssss, shsssss.

A massive pile of refined mana crystals appeared.

If Rajix was a dimensional errand boy, then Juhyeok was a dimensional tycoon.

And a dimensional tycoon ought to own at least one piece of dimensional real estate.

“Acquire.”

FWOOOOOSH!

The pile of refined mana vanished instantly.

[You have become the official owner of White Tower 1st Floor.]

[The temporary residency period has been removed. You may remain indefinitely.]

Nice.

[White Tower 1st Floor Entry & Exit has been permanently registered.]

[You may now access the White Tower 1st Floor Owner Menu.]

[All residents of White Tower Floor 17 have been permanently registered as residents of the 1st Floor at no additional cost.]

The summoned entities were automatically registered as well.

So were his family members, Commissioner Jeon, and CEO Jung.

Ding!

[Achievement: You have acquired another White Tower floor for the first time.]

[Reward granted.]

[Elevator round-trip operation costs are waived for the acquired floor.]

“Oh!”

An achievement and a reward.

Trips to the 1st Floor were now free.

It felt strange.

Thanks to the elevator, he could now move between dimensions.

Whether that was a good thing or not—he still didn’t know.

Should I call it a dimensional elevator?

The more he thought about it, the more absurdly incredible it seemed.

Wait—

“When ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) did we get that elevator as a reward again?”

“Wasn’t it when we captured that succubus? The dream demon?”

“Ah!”

Right.

Diamat.

The boss of the 80th Floor.

The achievement for converting a Tower monster and accepting its defection.

That reminded him of something.

If this was a parallel world—

“Ms. Diamat?”

“...Y-yes, Master?”

“Does this world’s Black Tower also have a Diamat?”

“Of course not. That’s impossible.”

“Why? Kabalon exists.”

Diamat answered with an indignant look.

“Kabalon is a soul bound to the Tower—a kind of slave.

That’s why he can be copied and used across different dimensions.”

She twisted her body slightly before adding,

“But I’m under a free-will contract.

I signed an exclusive contract with Earth’s Black Tower only.

I do not exist in other dimensions.”

So that was how it worked.

“Then who cleared the 80th Floor in this world’s Black Tower...?”

“Someone special. Someone qualified to enter into a contract with the Tower.”

“For example?”

“Well... probably another demon lord like me.”

“You’re impressive too, Ms. Diamat.”

“Hehe. Compared to you, Master, I’m nothing.”

At her syrupy tone, Veronica Caliber let out a cold sneer.

“But a free-contract soul looks weaker than a Tower-bound slave like Kabalon.”

Kabalon had possessed enough power to destroy an entire world.

Diamat, meanwhile, had accomplished nothing worth mentioning and ended up caught while hiding in China.

In other words—weak.

Diamat bristled immediately.

“Oh? If I hadn’t been discovered, Earth would have been destroyed by now.

Through international nuclear war.”

Veronica smiled thinly.

“But you were discovered. And then you defected while begging to live.”

“That only happened because my Master is so incredible.

Do you think I’d defect to just anyone?

Do I look like some bargain-bin dream demon?”

“You are.”

“No, I’m not!”

The tension crackled.

Another rivalry was starting, right after Cossack and Mackenzie?

Best to stay out of it.

They’d probably end up getting along anyway.

In any case—

thanks to the dimensional elevator, he had gained valuable items and even acquired White Tower 1st Floor.

Why had he bought this place?

First, to honor Max Kruger.

This was his legacy.

It deserved to be preserved.

Second—

“Mr. Mackenzie.”

“Yes?”

“You can summon meteors, right? Preferably a big one.”

“Where should it fall?”

“Outside the 1st Floor.”

“Given enough time, there is nothing I cannot do.”

“Good. Let’s try it.”

Those damned monsters.

Even if he couldn’t kill them all, he could at least get some revenge.

The world connected to White Tower 1st Floor—

already ruined, crawling with monsters.

Juhyeok reappeared on the same high-rise building.

Then he immediately summoned his companions.

SPOT! SPOT! SPOT! SPOT!

They saw it too.

A world where the boundary between the Tower and reality had collapsed.

“Heh heh.”

“They’ve all poured out.”

“Truly dreadful.”

“...It’s hard just to look at it.”

“Hoe-ee...”

Juhyeok felt the same way.

If he could wipe out even a small portion of them, he would feel a little better.

“Let’s drop something big on them.”

“Summoning a meteor is no problem, but I am concerned for the Summoner’s safety.”

“It’s fine. We’ll dodge it before it lands.”

“Understood. I will begin.”

Phase One.

Creating a meteor in the mental cosmos.

Time required: about one hour.

Mackenzie formed hand seals and entered meditation.

With his eyes closed and his expression solemn, he truly looked like a grand archmage.

Ah.

The great 9th-circle Archmage Mackenzie.

Show them your power.

You’ve been looked down on for far too long.

Especially by Cossack.

This time, shut him up.

An hour passed quickly.

Phase Two.

Summoning the meteor from the mental cosmos into the real sky.

But—

“This is where it becomes dangerous.

To form the meteor, I must forcibly draw mana from this world.”

“The resulting mana turbulence may alert the monsters and draw their attacks.”

The Mad Demon answered calmly.

“Do not worry. Do you think we cannot protect you?”

“When did I say I was worried about myself? I am worried about the Summoner.”

“Heh. Of course the Summoner comes first.

If you die, old man, no one would care.”

“...Very well. I’ll begin.”

Mackenzie raised both hands toward the sky.

WOOOOONG!

Mana began to swirl violently.

DRRRRRRRR!

With the boundary between the Tower and reality broken, dense mana filled the air.

That formless power gathered into a massive current and, at Mackenzie’s gesture, surged upward into the sky.

Mana condensed.

Far above, beyond the atmosphere—

And then!

“KRAAAK!”

“KYAAAH!”

“KUUAAAK!”

Sensing that something was wrong, monsters swarmed toward the building.

Wyverns, griffins, and ice hawks filled the sky.

CRRRRZZZZT! CRRRRZZZZZZT!

Veronica Caliber’s magic gun roared.

SHASHASHASHASH!

Gyeon Dallae’s talismans scattered like petals.

ZIIING!

Destructive beams shot from El’s eyes.

Diamat deployed the Dream Domain.

Wyverns and griffins fell in droves.

On the ground, the land monsters went berserk and charged the building.

They climbed the walls and clawed their way toward the rooftop.

This was more dangerous than expected.

“This warrior will go down first.”

“Captain Meatshield, this Bardin shall follow.”

“This old man will join as well.”

“I’m going too.”

Meatshield, Cossack, the Mad Demon, and Bardin leaped from the building to the ground.

BOOM!

The battle erupted.

—

It had been a long time since Meatshield had wielded Bardin in his hands.

BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!

Land monsters were cut down and blasted apart wherever Bardin struck.

Sword Master Cossack and the Mad Demon’s crescent-shaped qi blades also swept through the horde.

Even in the middle of that chaos, Mackenzie’s second-stage meteor formation continued.

Far off in the sky, a starlike point of light began to shimmer.

As time passed, Mackenzie’s face grew paler.

Cold sweat beaded across his brow.

Juhyeok at least wanted to wipe his face for him—but he couldn’t.

Meteor creation consumed an enormous amount of stamina.

A small meteor could be made quickly, but its power would be limited.

The one Mackenzie was forming now was obviously huge.

If it fell, the destructive force would be beyond imagination.

BOOM! BAM! CRRRRZZZZT! CRRRRZZZZZZT!

The summoned entities fought desperately.

On the rooftop.

Below the building.

All to protect the summoner and make sure Mackenzie could finish the meteor.

It was nerve-racking.

Juhyeok trusted their strength, but there were simply too many monsters.

They only had to hold out for one hour—but even that was no easy task.

Then—

“UOOOOOOOH!!!”

Meatshield’s roar, the roar of an RSR-ranked warrior, shook the ruined city.

A provocation.

“Good grief...”

The battlefield changed in an instant.

The monsters surged like a tidal wave toward the giant Meatshield.

From the ground—and from the sky.

At the same time, the summoned entities concentrated their firepower around Meatshield.

Juhyeok frowned.

Watching Meatshield struggle desperately while holding Bardin in his hands—it was painful to look at.

The longer he watched, the more wrong it seemed.

How was a man supposed to fight properly while holding another man?

And why did he have to use a taunt skill of all things...

It was obvious.

He was drawing every attack onto himself to protect Juhyeok and Mackenzie.

Juhyeok’s chest tightened.

His eyes nearly stung with tears.

This couldn’t go on.

First, there was still one rank breakthrough rune left—Bardin needed to break through as soon as possible.

And Meatshield...

I need to get him a proper weapon.

Luckily, he had just obtained something perfect.

Time passed.

And finally—

“Kh!”

The second stage was complete.

Mackenzie lowered his hands and collapsed to the ground.

“Huff... huff... haa...”

He was so out of breath he could barely speak.

“I-it’s... done.”

His voice was barely audible.

“...You did great.”

I’m never making you do this again.

“Drop it immediately.”

“Understood. But we must escape before it lands.”

“Why?”

Juhyeok had wanted to watch it hit.

“When the meteor approaches the ground, an enormous torrent of mana erupts.

Mana distortion will occur, making magic, martial arts, and skills unusable.”

Right.

If that happened, the summoned entities would no longer be able to fight.

And they were still in the middle of battle.

“Drop it and run. Now.”

At last, the final incantation.

The lips of the 9th-circle Archmage Mackenzie slowly parted.

“Ground and sky—destroy all that exists.

Reaper of destruction, descend!”

The archmage’s true-name invocation.

FLASH!

A shining light in the distant heavens.

The impact point—

here.

How strong would it be?

There was no way to find out right now.

They would have to come back later and see.

First, recall the summoned entities fighting on the ground.

SPOT! SPOT! SPOT...!

Then the ones on the rooftop.

SPOT! SPOT! SPOT...!

Finally—

Juhyeok himself.

“Enter White Tower 1st Floor.”

SPOT!

Everyone vanished.

—

Earth No. 675.

A world already beyond the point of apocalypse, its destruction long since sealed.

Demonic Dragon Karathos, the guardian of the 89th Floor of Earth No. 675’s Black Tower, was flying toward Berlin.

He had sensed an unusual current of mana.

Not the savage mana of monsters—

but refined human mana.

Were there still humans alive?

If so, their souls would belong to him.

Demonic Dragon Karathos.

Dragons had originally been beings of harmony and balance.

But when they rejected their ordained role and pursued power and desire, they fell—and became demonic dragons.

The Blue Dragon Karathos had fallen the moment he reached adulthood.

Corruption?

Why was it wrong for an intelligent being to seek greater power?

And so he freely entered into a contract with the being that could grant him greater strength—the administrator of Earth No. 675’s Black Tower.

In truth, he had never once used his full power while the Tower still stood.

Humanity in this world had collapsed in the 70th-floor range.

And now, with the boundary between the Tower and reality shattered, the true Karathos had emerged from the 89th Floor to hunt human souls.

But it was disappointing.

Too many humans had already died in war.

There were also too many competitors, so the number of souls Karathos could devour was limited.

And yet now—

there were still humans alive.

Not only alive, but emitting mana powerful enough to be sensed from far away.

SPOT!

Karathos appeared on top of a high-rise in Berlin.

Once one of the greatest cities in the world—

now ruined beyond recognition.

“...Strange. They were here just moments ago.”

There was no doubt.

Traces of a fierce battle.

Countless monsters drawn to this location.

And lingering residues of many different kinds of mana.

“Quite a few. At least ten.”

Players, without question.

Humans stubborn enough to cling to life in a doomed world.

Their souls would be heavy.

Souls tempered by hardship and despair.

How sweet they would taste.

Then—

SHHHHAAAAAK!

A sound brushed past Karathos’s ears.

“...Hm?”

From the sky?

He raised his head.

“...A shooting star.”

A meteor trailing a long tail of fire.

It was still far away, barely visible.

Where was it going to land?

Karathos narrowed his eyes and stared at the falling meteor.

Something felt wrong.

Its size was abnormal.

Its trajectory was too.

If it landed here—

Karathos snorted.

So what if it did?

He could simply teleport away.

More importantly, where had the humans gone?

If he waited here, would they come back?

The roar grew louder.

SHHHHAAAAAAAAK!

Then—

“...What?”

Suddenly, the air grew heavy.

As if something with unimaginable mass were pressing down on everything below.

DRRRRRRRR...

At the same time, violent torrents of mana erupted.

“D-don’t tell me...”

Karathos finally understood.

This was not a normal meteor.

It was a meteor created from mana and materialized into reality.

“...A meteor?”

Panic rose inside Karathos.

What was this?

How could an ultimate spell appear in a ruined world like this?

“N-now is not the time!”

He had to escape.

If he took that head-on, even he would not survive.

“Teleport!”

FWOOO... FSSSS...

“...!”

Disaster.

The spell failed to activate.

It was too enormous.

An overwhelming mass of condensed mana.

A normal meteor—or even a nuclear missile—could have been avoided with teleportation—

but the mana of this magically formed super-meteor was distorting all mana in the surrounding area.

At that scale, only a 9th-circle archmage working for hours could create something like this.

There was a 9th-circle mage left on this Earth?

Then—

KWA-KWA-KWAAANG!

The meteor began exploding in midair.

“Y-you’re insane!”

DRRRRRRRR!

Shattered fragments slammed into the ground.

KWA-KWANG! KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAAANG!

And yet the largest fragment was still coming this way.

Karathos could not move.

Perhaps an ancient-class demonic dragon could have survived—

but for one who had only recently become a demonic dragon—

And so, in the ruined city Juhyeok and his summoned entities had just left behind—

the cataclysmic shockwave of the meteor strike erupted.

KWA-KWA-KWAAAAANG!

It swallowed everything that moved.

Everything on the ground.

Everything in the sky.

Even Demonic Dragon Karathos, frozen stiff in stunned disbelief.

“N-no!!!”

KWA-KWA-KWAAAAANG!

The devastating shockwave tore through the city.

And the flesh of the so-called strongest lifeform—

the dragon—

was ripped apart like paper.