b Predation}’s duel option could only be used on challengers. Therefore, it was useless to try on ordinary people or NPCs. However, that idea changed a bit in this Mission with Expedition Leader Zrayburn. Although he was a figure from 500 years ago that the Tower recreated, he was a challenger who climbed the Tower at the time. This was the same for Dracar Nyensson, who he captured with Cheon-ma’s help.
So maybe he could challenge this person to a duel as well?
‘That would be invaluable.’
Although he was a burdensome enemy to deal with alone one-on-one, the power of this man lay in his armor, not in his body.
“Let me go! Let me go!”
So it seemed, looking at the fact that he couldn’t escape easily when his arms were grabbed. His armor had already been neutralized, so if he were dragged to the duel like this, he would be easy to devour, providing no more resistance than a rice cake. But the problem was…
‘Does it mean I have to keep him alive until then?’
He used b Predation} a few hours before entering the Mission. This Mission required a total of 30 days so that the cooldown time wouldn’t be reset until the end of the last day. Of course, it could also turn out that he couldn’t use it on this NPC. There was also the possibility that he would die before that or that the mission would be finished.
‘Still, it’s worth a try.’
Even after putting all that aside, Yoon-seok felt it worth attempting. It might be a loss, but there was no reason not to try. Yoon-seok, making that quick decision, loosened the strength in his hand holding Dracar.
Flop.
His short, thick body fell to the floor. Yoon-seok pushed his sword to his neck as he tried to stand and run.
“…”
If you move, I will kill you. If you listen well, I will spare you. There was no need to say such a thing. Yoon-seok looked into his eyes without saying a word and exuded a thick murderous spirit.
“W-who are you? H-how dare you wretched folk to trap me….”
“Enough.”
Yoon-seok didn’t know what he was talking about. He thought everything was a trap, but it was purely coincidental that Dracar appeared here. They must have a lot of questions for each other. However…
“I’m the one who asks questions.”
Dracar clenched his teeth at Yoon-seok’s cold voice. His pride was damaged badly, but there was nothing he could do but glare with his sad eyes and his runny nose leaking snot through his beard.
“What’s your name?”
Although it was trivial, Yoon-seok asked what he already knew to start. It was a basic interrogation technique that he once saw in a movie.
“Do you think I will answer?!”
But was it still not enough? This Pygmy’s attitude remained rebellious. Yoon-seok put the tip of his sword close to his neck.
Drip.
Reliable eyes, witty remarks, and logical persuasion. That wasn’t bad either, but… murderous intent and a little bit of blood. There was nothing like these as a little lubricant to soften the conversation. Of course, instead of killing him, because of {Predation}, Yoon-seok had to make sure he didn’t kill himself. Wouldn’t Dracar be aware of such circumstances?
Support came in from Cheon-ma and Jin Mu-zhen.
“Tsk, tsk. You’re too nice. Once you cut him down bit by bit, starting with his fingers and toes, he will let everything out.”
“Young master! Leave that task to me. One day is enough. I’ll make him throw up every strand of his hair.”
Hair? He didn’t seem to be able to vomit that even if he wanted to, but Jin Mu-zhen’s enthusiasm was conveyed.
“L-looking at these terrible hybrids… d-do you think I would answer?”
Yoon-seok hid his satisfied smile. Despite his bravado, it was clear he was scared. Just a little push…
“Young master! Shall I start with his toes?”
Jin Mu-zhen took off Dracar’s boots and drew a small dagger.
“Ah! I think it’s better to start with the toenails first. If you cut off his toes from the start, won’t you be unable to do it later even if you want to?”
Rather than a threat, Jin Mu-zhen sounded sincere, but… well, it didn’t matter.
“I have a few questions for you. Could you please answer me?”
“S-say them…”
Finally, Dracar became docile. Right, no matter if he was a challenger who climbed to the 25th floor. No, because he was such a person, he wouldn’t want to face the end of suffering pain beyond death in such an unknown place. Moreover, Dracar wasn’t a warrior who grew stronger by training hard but utilized equipment.
“What is your name?
“Dracar Nyensson.”
“Which dimension do you belong to?”
“Fedomia.”
“What is the ordeal you are facing?”
“Duel.”
“Which floor are you on?”
“The 25th floor… damn it! Why are you asking this when you know everything and set up a trap for me?!”
Dracar screamed in rage. However, shortly after that, he faltered when he saw the light in Jin Mu-zhen’s eyes. Asking to determine the truth he already knew, Yoon-seok continued the interrogation with indifference.
“How many dimensions have you survived?”
“Six.”
“How many Rankers were there when you entered the 20th floor?”
“10,000 people.”
“What were the ordeals on the 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th floors?”
“Except for the 23rd floor, it was all one-on-one duels.”
“What kind of ordeal was on the 23rd floor?”
Dracar was their senior, in a way. Of course, it was in the far past, so there might be differences from the present, but it would be helpful to hear. Yoon-seok shook his head.
“That’s a relief.”
“Relief…?”
“Yes. Because you are not lying.”
Dracar snorted. He didn’t understand why Yoon-seok was glad he didn’t tell a lie.
“Why does it sound like you have a way to find out if I tell a lie?”
“I do.”
“What?”
“To be precise, it’s not about trying to figure it out. It’s more like making you not be able to lie in the first place.”
Executor’s Eye. If his mana level was higher by one rank or more, anyone who made eye contact with Yoon-seok couldn’t tell a lie. When he explained the effect without talking about mana, Dracar shook his head in disbelief.
“I’ve never heard of such a skill…”
No one had. After all, it was an original skill created by skill synthesis.
“If you don’t believe it, why don’t you try? What is your name?”
“Dracar… damn it. I really can’t lie.”
Dracar paused and exhaled in frustration, unable to give a false name.
“If you have such a thing, you could just go to the main point without doing that from the beginning… no way, are you testing me? Whether I lie or not?”
Testing? It wasn’t like that, though Yoon-seok brought up the Executor’s Eye so that he would think so.
“Besides this, I have one more intelligence-related ability I can use against you.”
Yoon-seok casually spoke his lie. He didn’t have any such ability. However, Dracar didn’t know that. So, he would be a bit more honest when he was talking, wary of non-existent abilities.
“Can you tell me in chronological order what has happened since you entered the 20th floor? Everything, to the smallest detail.”
“Why are you curious about that?”
Yoon-seok didn’t answer, but Dracar slowly opened his mouth with a feeling that this might be a kind of test. It was a long story but interesting.
“Wait, your ancestors were Pygmy Clan people who migrated from Seheranbad?”
“Is that something to be surprised about?”
“It’s not like that…”
It turned out that the history of Fedomia was similar to that of Moorim. Once upon a time, they were defeated in the Hundred Years’ War, which prompted them to lead their clan to exile in an unknown dimension. Then, by developing metallurgy, they achieved their current Magic Engineering civilization. However, what surprised Yoon-seok was something else.
“What do you mean you received help from the Taklan Empire?”
“Instead of teaching us their technology, we took all kinds of resources from them… without them, we wouldn’t have developed this quickly.”
“But from what I know, Taklan is in a different dimension from Fedomia.”
“Of course, it’s in a different dimension. But what kind of people are they? Their technology transcends dimensions. They’ve already developed it, and they’re monopolizing it. That’s the reason I’ve been driven all the way here; everything was also…”
“No. Let’s hear that one step at a time, first finish what we were talking about. Who came out of the 23rd floor?”
Yoon-seok wasn’t in a hurry. When he was curious or felt something was incompatible while listening, he continued to ask questions. Because of that, it took some time to hear everything, but he received valuable information in return.
“To sum up, Dracar, you were a mercenary slaughtering the invaders inside the Gate in Taklan. Then another Gate opened inside that Gate, and you were sucked into it while you were wondering what it was. Is that right?”
“To put it simply, that’s right.”
He nodded, though his expression still had plenty to say. Yoon-seok took a deep breath, organizing what he had learned. Among his stories, there were many related to the Tower, but the main ones were about the process of slowly destroying the collapsed dimensions and his fierce survival.
“I want to ask you one last question.”
“Won’t you ask even if I say no?”
Unlike the other questions, this was born from personal curiosity, and it might be a sensitive topic.
“Dracar Nyensson, why do you climb the Tower?”
“…You motherfucker, how dare you!”
Dracar spat out curses. Jin Mu-zhen next to him was furious, but Yoon-seok raised his hand and stopped him.
“…Why are you asking this?”
“You answered the other questions fine. Is this a difficult one? Enough that you want to lie?”
“No, it’s not like that; it’s just because you’re asking something too obvious… damn it!”
Dracar raised his head, and he started talking after facing Yoon-seok’s eyes full of mana.
“I climb it to live. I live, and the others live as much as possible! That’s why I climb it! Is that enough?”
The answer was simple enough to make Yoon-seok feel empty. However, he hesitated to say that.
“If I live, the other will die. I’ll still go up, though. Not only do I survive, but I want someone close to me to live.”
If there was a winner, there was a loser. And Dracar had seen firsthand the defeated dimensions crumbling down, and he felt responsibility and guilt for them. Yoon-seok now understood the reason why he called Moorim or Seheranbad the ‘losers.’
He was probably whipping himself.
“Are other Rankers like you?”
“I do not know. How do I know what those mad people think?”
“I see. So let me ask you one more thing.”
“You’re such a jerk. You are…”
Accepting Dracar’s criticism, Yoon-seok asked him the last question.
“…What do you think there will be at the end of the Tower?”
After a moment of silence-
“I don’t know.”
“…”
“Still, if I go there, I will be able to see the face of the bastards who did all these things.”
Dracar’s voice was calm and cold as ice.
* * *
Some time passed. Dracar returned to his usual self and was now looking up at Yoon-seok.
“Is it my turn to ask a question?”
“…Do you have any questions?”
“Are you asking if I have none? I know that you didn’t set a trap for me, but who the hell are you guys?”
After thinking for a while, Yoo-seok decided to borrow the setting for this mission. There was no telling what would change if he learned he was a recreated being.
“The Expedition? You came into the Gate to kill the Queen?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“With this force?”
“…?”
It was kind of a dubious reaction, but afterward, Yoon-seok even told him about killing the dragon. Then he was greatly astonished.
“The Guardian of the Red Clan? You killed that dragon? Didn’t you get it wrong? How can people like you kill that dragon?
“…?”
Yoon-seok tilted his head. As he was caught like this after a fight, Dracar knew their power. But what did he mean by people like you? Was the dragon that great? Yoon-seok didn’t think that it was that strong. However, Dracar muttered something to organize his thoughts that Yoon-seok caught.
“…I don’t know how you persuaded it, but the dragon was there in the first place to make this Expedition happen. Without the Guardian dragon’s help, no one would have come up with this insane plan to kill the Queen.”
Come to think of it; the dragon said it would give up the cause and kill them at any cost before it died. Yoon-seok wondered if it had a second form or something, but Cheon-ma cut off its head before the dragon showed its true powers.
“No, this doesn’t make sense. Why did you kill the dragon helping the Expedition? Was the goal to kill the dragon from the beginning? For what reason?”
The longer he thought, the more Dracar faced various contradictions he couldn’t reconcile. Yoon-seok provided no answers.
“No. I don’t think so. Our goal is the Queen.”
“What? Then why…?”
“Everything about the dragon was an accident.”
Accident: he had no choice but to say that. In the first place, Yoon-seok didn’t even know that the Expedition had established a cooperative relationship with the dragon. He had just been assigned…
The one that might have been aware was their only NPC, Former Expedition Leader Zrayburn, who died within 30 minutes of the start.
“Let me summarize… no, I don’t know why I have to, but anyway.”
“…”
“The goal of this Expedition is the Queen, but because of an accident, the Guardian dragon who was helping the Expedition was slain. So, when the dimension became unstable, I was brought to this place by chance. Am I right?”
“…I think that’s probably right.”
As Yoon-seok nodded, Dracar let out an exhausted scream.
“Damn it!”
There was only one person who sympathized with his swearing. That was Jeffrey, listening from afar. If he had something to say, he might have told Dracar how it was easier to give up thinking about it.
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