Chapter 176

Muttering something under his breath, he went straight up to the fourth floor. The fourth floor was no different than the one below. Sana looked at the dead bodies and took the stairs to the fifth floor.
“…what the heck happened?
The fifth floor was the same. Sana stood in front of the stairs to the sixth floor, wondering what the heck was going on. Pausing at the top of the stairs, he looked up and thought to himself.
‘From the sixth floor… They’re executives.
The mages here are stronger the higher up they go, but the difference in strength becomes staggering on the sixth floor. This is because the sixth floor is home to the officers who run the place, such as the Tower Master and the Vice Tower Master, the second in command.
Jumbled
She walked slowly up the stairs to the sixth floor.
“…any?
As he reached the sixth floor, he couldn’t help but shake his head. The sixth floor, unlike the lower floors, was immaculate. He turned his gaze from the hallway to the executive’s room. The door was slightly ajar.
“I guess…
Sana walked slowly to the door and peered through the slightly ajar crack into the room.
“…?”
After checking the room, he frowned slightly. Then he opened the door, stepped inside, and looked around.
“No?”
He thought there would be a body inside, but there wasn’t. He left the room and walked through the rest of the rooms to check inside. Again, the other rooms were empty.
That was the moment.
Boom!
A huge explosion was heard above the tower’s main chamber. He quickly made his way up the stairs to the top floor of the tower, the seventh floor, and upon reaching the seventh floor, he saw a jet-black orb that entered his vision.
“…?”
After a puzzled look, the surface of the black orb cracked, and then the crack split open and the orb exploded. At the same time, a message appeared.
[Attacked by user ‘Minghu”s pet ‘Lich Karot’].
[Enter hostile status with user ‘Minghu’].
But she couldn’t read the message, even though it appeared.
[He is deceased].
Before I could read the message, the death message appeared and my vision began to darken.
* * * * *
[Karot absorbed energy and gained 300 hit points].
[Karot absorbed energy and gained 320 hit points].
Ming Hu smiled wryly as he looked at the message and thought.
“I’ll give you 300 for the fourth floor.
The floor where Ming Hu currently resided was the fourth floor, the middle level of the tower. There weren’t many mages residing on the fourth floor, but each one provided a very large amount of power boost.
“How many floors are there to climb…”
The Tower of the Black Moon had a total of seven floors. The fourth floor would give him about 300 energy. Thinking about how much more energy would be gained on the fifth floor, and the sixth and seventh floors above it, Ming Hu smiled and muttered to himself as he opened the quest window.
<Black Moon
Master Black Nail John wants you to defeat all the Death Mages of the Black Moon. Do John's bidding and slay all the Death Mages of the Black Moon!
[Black Moon Tower Note: 0 / 1]
[Black Moon Butopjou: 0/1]
[Black Moon Cadre Wizard: 0/5]
[Black Moon Wizard: 147 / ???]
Time remaining: 19 days
Difficulty Level: A
Quest Reward: Mark of the Black Nail
"You said 200 people. We're down to about 50."
John said that the Black Moon was a group of about 200 people, and if that was true, they had captured 150 so far, so there were only about 50 left.
"Let's go."
Ming Hu went up to the fifth floor with Karotte.
Profit
The fifth floor was no different, the door opened as if waiting for Ming Hu to come up, and the wizard walked out.
Poof!
Stepping out into the hallway, the mage frowned at the sight of Ming Hu. At the same time, Karot's black orb appeared and exploded, engulfing the mage.
Hairsplitting
With that, the wizard collapsed, and energy burst forth from his body and flew toward Karot.
[Karot absorbed energy and gained 400 hit points].
A grin spread across Ming Hu's face as he checked his increased energy levels. Ming Hu continued to roam the corridors of the fifth floor with Karotte, hunting down the mages that came out of the doors.
"Is there any more…"
Ming Hu once again circled the hallways of the fifth floor to check for any remaining mages. Finding all the doors open and the corpse in front of him, Ming Hu took the stairs to the sixth floor.
"It's quiet.
The sixth floor was indeed quiet. It was just as quiet on the fifth floor, but the atmosphere was different. It felt like the air had gotten a little heavier.
"It's time to come out?
Ming Hu shook his head when the door didn't open when it was time to leave. Just then, Karot opened his mouth to speak.
-Master, there are no rats on this floor.
"Huh? No?"
Ming Hu frowned slightly at Karot's words and opened the nearest door slightly. The room was empty. Ming Hu walked down the hallway, checking the rooms. As Karotte had said, not a single mage was staying on the sixth floor. Ming Hu opened the quest window once more, looked at the quest, and muttered to himself.
"There's only one floor left…"
The only floor left was the seventh, the top floor of the tower, but they hadn't captured a single one of the tower's masters, vice-masters, and officers.
"Is it all on the seventh floor?"
Ming Hu closed the quest window and went up to the seventh floor. When Ming Hu reached the seventh floor, he saw six wizards staring at him and stopped walking. When Ming Hu stopped walking, the oldest of the six wizards opened his mouth and spoke.
"Who the hell are you. Why–"
But the wizard was silent when he spotted Karot behind him. Ming Hu turned to the silenced sorcerer and said.
"Why? That's what I'm asking."
Rather, he wanted to ask himself.
"You guys tried to kill me."
I really wondered why he wanted to kill himself.
"…"
But at Ming Hu's words, the wizard said nothing; he simply raised his staff.
Screech! Screech! Screech!
The wizard raised his staff and black orbs appeared around Ming Hu. They were slightly smaller in size than Karot's black orbs, but they were definitely black.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
Then the black orbs exploded and engulfed Ming Hu. Ming Hu furrowed his brow and looked at the mages. Countless black orbs had already appeared around the mages. The only problem was that an eerie black shield had appeared, protecting them.
-Are you okay?
Then Karot spoke. Karotte's words caused Ming Hu to check his shaved life force.
"…down 80,000?
You've taken more damage than you thought. Of course, even though I took a lot of damage, I didn't think I was in danger because my total health was over 15 million.
"Yeah, go ahead and kill him. Let's go."
-It's… It's going to take a while.
"…Why?"
Ming Hu shook his head at Karot's unexpected answer, then looked at the black shield protecting the wizards and said, "You're right.
-It will take a little longer to break the shield. A shield that is nearly immune to death and darkness…
At Karot's words, Ming Hu nodded in understanding.
Jumbled
Then he turned to the wizards and said, "I'm sorry.
"That's all we need to break, right?"
-Yes.
"Oh, right."
As Ming Hu walked toward the wizards, a sudden thought struck him and he opened his mouth to speak again.
"There's no attack reflex or something in there, right?"
If the shield had an attack reflection effect, his own health would evaporate in an instant the moment he broke the shield.
-None.
But at Karot's next words, Ming Hu looked relieved and went back to the shield.
Yikes!
A black orb appeared in front of the approaching Minghu, but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. It was as if Karot had cast a dispel.
Squeak! Squeak!
The black orbs continued to appear and disappear. When Ming Hu finally arrived in front of the shield, he raised his fist as he saw the mages inside the shield looking at him in bewilderment. He then stretched his fist toward the shield.
Zap! Bam!
The shield was strong enough to be immune to death and darkness, but not to physical attacks, and it was shattered by a single punch.
"Billion."
"Ugh."
The shield shattered, and the mages who had created it let out a groan of pain. At the same time, the black orb that had been floating in the air, unable to explode because of the shield, began to explode as if it had been waiting.
Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!
The explosion of the black orb lasted for quite a while, unlike the one downstairs. After a while, the explosions stopped and a message appeared.
[You have defeated Legas, Vice-Player of the Black Moon].
[Only prestige 2 will increase].
The message appeared, and the six wizards fell backwards.
Siaak
Black energy emanated from the bodies of the six mages and was absorbed by Karot. The message that appeared surprised Ming Hu.
[Karot absorbed a powerful energy and gained 1000 hit points].
[Karot absorbed a powerful energy and gained 1050 hit points].
[Karot absorbed a powerful energy and gained 1030 hit points].
[Karot absorbed a powerful energy and gained 1000 hit points].
[Karot has absorbed a powerful energy, increasing her hit points by 1100].
But there was something else that really surprised me.
[Karot absorbed a very powerful energy, raising his Constitution by 2000].
The message was a presumed butopism. The 1000 increase is surprising, but the 2000 power increase is twice that.
"…Awesome."
That was when Ming Hu was impressed.
Jumbuck
Footsteps sounded behind him. Ming Hu reflexively turned around and saw Karot's black orb and someone standing behind it.
Poof!
Karot's black orb exploded and the message appeared again.
['Rich Karot' attacked user 'Swoop'].
[enters hostile status with user 'killing'].
"…?"
Ming Hu looked at the message, puzzled, and then toward the stairs. A user with the username Ssangsal was falling backwards.
"…"
Ming Hu stared at the stairs for a moment, then turned back around. It was unfortunate that the user was dead, but the user was already dead.
"I don't know why I'm here, but…
With that thought, Ming Hu opened the quest window.