Bam!
Pukeok!
Horse Fly smashed open Comodos’ head.
[Alert: You have killed Comodos!]
[Alert: You have obtained Experience Points!]
[Alert: You have cleared – Sky Tower: Ninety-Ninth Floor!]
[Alert: Congratulations! You have conquered the Sky Tower!]
A string of messages popped up in front of his eyes.
[Alert: You have obtained a new title – Sky Tower: Pioneer!]
And he obtained a new title as well...
[Sky Tower: Pioneer]
[A title awarded upon clearing the Sky Tower for the first time.]
[The honorable name of this title’s holder will be carved on the first floor of the Sky Tower.]
[Type: Title]
[Rating: Legendary]
[Effect: Fame +500]
Unfortunately, the title Sky Tower: Pioneer was just a symbolic title that did not give any special bonuses aside from having his name carved on the first floor and increasing his Fame by five hundred points.
“Tsk... But it’s still a relief they didn’t give me anything weird this time...” Siegfried clicked his tongue and muttered under his breath.
It was then.
[Alert: Your title has been upgraded!]
[Alert: King of Backstabbing has been upgraded to Demon King of Backstabbing!]
A message informing him of the title upgrade popped up in front of his eyes.
[Demon King of Backstabbing]
[A title only awarded to those who had backstabbed others countless times through deceit and lies.]
[Type: Title]
[Rating: Legendary]
[Effects: +25% increased Back Attack Damage, +25% increased Back Attack Damage to the head, +30% chance to fool an NPC when lying.]
[Warning: This is not an honorable title.]
Siegfried’s dishonorable title of the King of Backstabbing became even more dishonorable. This was the price he had to pay for being so treacherous and stabbing Comodos, an honorable NPC warrior, in the back.
“I deserve this...”
He didn't feel wronged this time after seeing his upgraded title. Even he knew that stabbing an honorable warrior like Comodos in the back was quite a despicable thing to do. However, he would have fought him fair and square if only he didn't have to fight the Church of Osric at the tower’s peak.
‘I’m sorry... I will come back in a few days, so please wait for me...’ He inwardly apologized to the honorable warrior. What he did this time around weighed heavily on his heart, and he felt that the only way he could get this heavy burden off his chest was to duel Comodos fair and square.
It went without saying, but the viewers weren't so kind to him at the moment.
—xxixxiix: His personality is... xxxx...
—SurpriseTiger: Hahahahaha!
—Aigoo: This guy’s backstabbing is the real deal lol
—oooo: Crazy... lmao!
—R8V12: LOOOOOL
—GangnamZone: Demon King of Backstabbing? WTF? LOL!
The viewers were jeering and sneering at Siegfried after seeing his new Demon King of Backstabbing title.
“Haha...”
Siegfried laughed awkwardly and bowed to the viewers before saying, “Well, that is the end of the Sky Tower raid. I am not sure when my next livestream will be, but see you all at that time. Oh, thank you for tuning in and for donating. Then, goodbye.”
He could have earned much more if he kept livestreaming. In fact, the total donation he had accumulated so far was enough for him to buy two apartment units in Gangnam, but he switched it off without any hesitation.
‘I can’t livestream myself going against the Church of Osric...’
He had no plans of showing the world what he was up to next.
‘Let’s pick up the essence before anything else.’
He picked up the Essence of the Strong dropped by Comodos and placed them in his inventory.
[Alert: You have obtained Essence of the Tower’s Strongest × 1!]
[Alert: You have obtained Top-Quality Essence of the Strong × 7!]
[Alert: You have obtained High-Quality Essence of the Strong × 30!]
Comodos lived up to his reputation as the boss of the Sky Tower as he dropped a ton of Essence of the Strong along with the Essence of the Tower’s Strongest, and Siegfried could now get his hands on the Master’s Necklace, which was an item that increased the skill level of his main skill by ten.
“Time to go.”
He walked over to the magic circle at the center of the floor, and two choices popped up in front of his eyes.
[To the first floor...]
[To the rooftop...]
Siegfried clicked the second option that would take him to the rooftop and infused his mana into the magic circle.
Flash!
A burst of bright light enveloped him as he disappeared without a trace.
***
[Sky Tower: Rooftop]
A message informing him of his current location popped up in front of his eyes as soon as the light dissipated.
Whoosh...!
He was greeted by a powerful gust of wind the moment he appeared on the rooftop. The Sky Tower was around two thousand one hundred meters tall, and the winds battered it furiously as it was the only thing standing on the wasteland it was built upon.
‘They’re probably really strong. I need to be on my toes,’ Siegfried thought as he prepared to clash against the enemies awaiting him.
His opponent was the Church of Osric, and the fact they managed to clear the Sky Tower and reach the rooftop was more than enough proof of their strength, but...
“Huh...?”
Siegfried was baffled by what greeted him.
Whoosh~
Nothing greeted him on the rooftop.
There was no suspicious altar like Cheon Woo-Jin said. No, forget about an altar; there was not even a single ant in his vicinity. Siegfried tilted his head in confusion and muttered, “W-What’s going on? The altar should be here somewhere, right? Or maybe it was the magic tower?”
He opened the quest Destroy the Suspicious Altar and checked the details again.
There were six altars listed.
[Northern Region - Great Woods Altar]
[Central Region - Sky Fortress Altar]
[Southwestern Region - Black Desert Altar]
[Western Region - Mount Kunlun Altar]
[Eastern Region - Sky Tower Altar]
He checked the details and confirmed it was the Sky Tower.
“Eh? But why is there nobody here? Did they finish and leave?”
He went over the quest again and found there were still twenty-eight days out of thirty days remaining, so they were definitely still here.
“What the...” He pondered for quite a while on the rooftop.
"Wait, what if... what if they haven't climbed the tower yet?”
He came to the conclusion that the Church of Osric had yet to ascend the Sky Tower. It was the only plausible explanation.
“What the hell... How can they achieve anything when they're so tardy? Damn, those slowpokes... Tsk... Tsk...”
He did not even consider that perhaps he had climbed up the tower too early and pinned the blame on the Church of Osric.
“Hmm... What should I do? Should I go down? No, I’ll have to climb this tower all over again... Hmm... What to do...”
He was torn between descending the tower and climbing it all over again later or waiting on the rooftop until the Church of Osric arrived. The former was going to save him a lot of time but was going to be quite the hassle, while the latter was going to waste a lot of time, but he could finally relax for a bit.
“I guess a coin toss is the best in these kinds of situations.”
He took out the coin he used earlier when scamming Comodos and flicked it into the air before catching it with one hand.
“I’ll stay here if it’s heads and go down if it’s tails. Alright! Here we go! Drum roll! Boom boom pow~ Boom boom pow~”
He had the habit of humming a tune whenever he was going to leave things to RNG.
The result of his coin toss was...
“It’s tails.”
He was to descend the tower and climb back up at a later date, and he decided to follow the result of the coin toss—or not.
“Ah, it’s too much work! I’ll just stay here.”
He plopped down on the rooftop. Anyone who saw what he did just now was probably going to wonder why he had even bothered tossing the coin in the first place...
“I guess I’ll visit the realtor while I’m waiting,” he said with a shrug before logging out.
***
At the real estate agency in Gangnam...
“Huh? Why are you here?”
Cheon Woo-Jin walked in while Tae-Sung was settling the deposit of the luxury condo unit he had purchased last time.
“I heard you were here, so I came to catch you,” Cheon Woo-Jin replied.
“Why?”
“Hey! Is this your house?! Why are you always here?!”
“Why are you picking a fight? Also, why do you care if I come here or not?”
“Who said I care what you do here? I came here because you’re not doing the quest I gave you!”
“Huh?”
“I already told you this quest is important, right? Are you seriously loitering around here while the fate of the game hangs in the balance—“
“Eh? Is that the only reason you’re here?” Tae-Sung replied with a smirk.
“Only reason?! Hey! Do you want to lose your rice bowl?! I think I already told you the consequences if this quest fails! Yet here you are—“ Cheon Woo-Jin retorted until his face turned red.
On the other hand, Tae-Sung completely ignored him and even had the gall to cut him off by taking out a check and handing it to the realtor.
“You can settle the deposit with this, and when can I move in? I’d like to move in around next week if possible—”
“HEY!”
“Why are you shouting? Can’t you see I’m busy?”
“I’m saying something much more important right now, yet you—“
“I cleared that. Happy?”
“What? You cleared it?”
“Yeah!”
“Oh? Now you’re lying, too? I didn’t get any quest clear message yet. Do you think I’m stupid? Also, the other Adventurers much stronger than you are nowhere close to clearing it, but how can you, the weakest, manage to clear the most difficult—“
“Quit your yapping and take a look at this,” Tae-Sung said as he played his G-Tube livestream on his phone and tossed it to Cheon Woo-Jin.
Then, he directed his focus back to the realtor and continued.
“I don’t have a lot of things, so it won’t take me that long to—“
“W-What the hell is this?!” Cheon Woo-Jin exclaimed while watching the video.
“S-Seven hours and thirty minutes? You cleared the Sky Tower in seven hours and thirty minutes? What the hell?!”
However, Tae-Sung ignored the ruckus Cheon Woo-Jin was causing and continued talking to the realtor.
“Let’s go with that day.”
“Hey, Han Tae-Sung.”
“What now?”
“You really cleared it? Then what about the Church of Osric?”
“They weren't there yet.”
“T-They weren't there...?”
“I think I reached the top faster than them, so I logged out and decided to settle this first.”
“Wow...”
“Is the game the only thing on your mind? Coming all the way here and bothering me over a game... Sheesh... Are you a gaming addict or what?”
“...”
“Play the game moderately.”
Cheon Woo-Jin was speechless after getting an earful from Tae-Sung. He would usually call Tae-Sung a gaming addict, but the tables had turned this time around.
“Chasing me all the way down in reality for stuff happening in the game... Sheesh... You need help, man,” Tae-Sung clicked his tongue to tease Cheon Woo-Jin.
‘This bastard...! He has become quite annoying these days...!’ Cheon Woo-Jin thought while trembling in anger. He couldn't help but think that he had ended up raising a tiger.
***
Two days later, Siegfried was back at the Sky Tower’s rooftop, waiting for the Church of Osric to show up.
“W-What the hell is that?!” he screamed after spotting something humongous flying toward the tower at high speeds.
‘Let’s hide first!’
His instinct told him to hide as far away as possible from the oncoming object, and he transformed Horse Fly into a three-pronged pickaxe.
Shwik!
He jumped over the edge and slammed the pickaxe on the exterior wall. Hanging on the exterior wall was the only thing he could think of, as the rooftop was an open area where there was nowhere to hide.
‘What’s that thing though?’ he wondered while hanging on the wall more than two thousand meters above the ground. He slowly peeked over the edge to get a better look at the humongous object flying toward the tower.
1. Rice bowl means livelihood or source of income
2. This is a proverb in East Asia when someone you help becomes extremely strong and bites you later.
Bam!
Pukeok!
Horse Fly smashed open Comodos’ head.
[Alert: You have killed Comodos!]
[Alert: You have obtained Experience Points!]
[Alert: You have cleared – Sky Tower: Ninety-Ninth Floor!]
[Alert: Congratulations! You have conquered the Sky Tower!]
A string of messages popped up in front of his eyes.
[Alert: You have obtained a new title – Sky Tower: Pioneer!]
And he obtained a new title as well...
[Sky Tower: Pioneer]
[A title awarded upon clearing the Sky Tower for the first time.]
[The honorable name of this title’s holder will be carved on the first floor of the Sky Tower.]
[Type: Title]
[Rating: Legendary]
[Effect: Fame +500]
Unfortunately, the title Sky Tower: Pioneer was just a symbolic title that did not give any special bonuses aside from having his name carved on the first floor and increasing his Fame by five hundred points.
“Tsk... But it’s still a relief they didn’t give me anything weird this time...” Siegfried clicked his tongue and muttered under his breath.
It was then.
[Alert: Your title has been upgraded!]
[Alert: King of Backstabbing has been upgraded to Demon King of Backstabbing!]
A message informing him of the title upgrade popped up in front of his eyes.
[Demon King of Backstabbing]
[A title only awarded to those who had backstabbed others countless times through deceit and lies.]
[Type: Title]
[Rating: Legendary]
[Effects: +25% increased Back Attack Damage, +25% increased Back Attack Damage to the head, +30% chance to fool an NPC when lying.]
[Warning: This is not an honorable title.]
Siegfried’s dishonorable title of the King of Backstabbing became even more dishonorable. This was the price he had to pay for being so treacherous and stabbing Comodos, an honorable NPC warrior, in the back.
“I deserve this...”
He didn't feel wronged this time after seeing his upgraded title. Even he knew that stabbing an honorable warrior like Comodos in the back was quite a despicable thing to do. However, he would have fought him fair and square if only he didn't have to fight the Church of Osric at the tower’s peak.
‘I’m sorry... I will come back in a few days, so please wait for me...’ He inwardly apologized to the honorable warrior. What he did this time around weighed heavily on his heart, and he felt that the only way he could get this heavy burden off his chest was to duel Comodos fair and square.
It went without saying, but the viewers weren't so kind to him at the moment.
—xxixxiix: His personality is... xxxx...
—SurpriseTiger: Hahahahaha!
—Aigoo: This guy’s backstabbing is the real deal lol
—oooo: Crazy... lmao!
—R8V12: LOOOOOL
—GangnamZone: Demon King of Backstabbing? WTF? LOL!
The viewers were jeering and sneering at Siegfried after seeing his new Demon King of Backstabbing title.
“Haha...”
Siegfried laughed awkwardly and bowed to the viewers before saying, “Well, that is the end of the Sky Tower raid. I am not sure when my next livestream will be, but see you all at that time. Oh, thank you for tuning in and for donating. Then, goodbye.”
He could have earned much more if he kept livestreaming. In fact, the total donation he had accumulated so far was enough for him to buy two apartment units in Gangnam, but he switched it off without any hesitation.
‘I can’t livestream myself going against the Church of Osric...’
He had no plans of showing the world what he was up to next.
‘Let’s pick up the essence before anything else.’
He picked up the Essence of the Strong dropped by Comodos and placed them in his inventory.
[Alert: You have obtained Essence of the Tower’s Strongest × 1!]
[Alert: You have obtained Top-Quality Essence of the Strong × 7!]
[Alert: You have obtained High-Quality Essence of the Strong × 30!]
Comodos lived up to his reputation as the boss of the Sky Tower as he dropped a ton of Essence of the Strong along with the Essence of the Tower’s Strongest, and Siegfried could now get his hands on the Master’s Necklace, which was an item that increased the skill level of his main skill by ten.
“Time to go.”
He walked over to the magic circle at the center of the floor, and two choices popped up in front of his eyes.
[To the first floor...]
[To the rooftop...]
Siegfried clicked the second option that would take him to the rooftop and infused his mana into the magic circle.
Flash!
A burst of bright light enveloped him as he disappeared without a trace.
***
[Sky Tower: Rooftop]
A message informing him of his current location popped up in front of his eyes as soon as the light dissipated.
Whoosh...!
He was greeted by a powerful gust of wind the moment he appeared on the rooftop. The Sky Tower was around two thousand one hundred meters tall, and the winds battered it furiously as it was the only thing standing on the wasteland it was built upon.
‘They’re probably really strong. I need to be on my toes,’ Siegfried thought as he prepared to clash against the enemies awaiting him.
His opponent was the Church of Osric, and the fact they managed to clear the Sky Tower and reach the rooftop was more than enough proof of their strength, but...
“Huh...?”
Siegfried was baffled by what greeted him.
Whoosh~
Nothing greeted him on the rooftop.
There was no suspicious altar like Cheon Woo-Jin said. No, forget about an altar; there was not even a single ant in his vicinity. Siegfried tilted his head in confusion and muttered, “W-What’s going on? The altar should be here somewhere, right? Or maybe it was the magic tower?”
He opened the quest Destroy the Suspicious Altar and checked the details again.
There were six altars listed.
[Northern Region - Great Woods Altar]
[Central Region - Sky Fortress Altar]
[Southwestern Region - Black Desert Altar]
[Western Region - Mount Kunlun Altar]
[Eastern Region - Sky Tower Altar]
He checked the details and confirmed it was the Sky Tower.
“Eh? But why is there nobody here? Did they finish and leave?”
He went over the quest again and found there were still twenty-eight days out of thirty days remaining, so they were definitely still here.
“What the...” He pondered for quite a while on the rooftop.
"Wait, what if... what if they haven't climbed the tower yet?”
He came to the conclusion that the Church of Osric had yet to ascend the Sky Tower. It was the only plausible explanation.
“What the hell... How can they achieve anything when they're so tardy? Damn, those slowpokes... Tsk... Tsk...”
He did not even consider that perhaps he had climbed up the tower too early and pinned the blame on the Church of Osric.
“Hmm... What should I do? Should I go down? No, I’ll have to climb this tower all over again... Hmm... What to do...”
He was torn between descending the tower and climbing it all over again later or waiting on the rooftop until the Church of Osric arrived. The former was going to save him a lot of time but was going to be quite the hassle, while the latter was going to waste a lot of time, but he could finally relax for a bit.
“I guess a coin toss is the best in these kinds of situations.”
He took out the coin he used earlier when scamming Comodos and flicked it into the air before catching it with one hand.
“I’ll stay here if it’s heads and go down if it’s tails. Alright! Here we go! Drum roll! Boom boom pow~ Boom boom pow~”
He had the habit of humming a tune whenever he was going to leave things to RNG.
The result of his coin toss was...
“It’s tails.”
He was to descend the tower and climb back up at a later date, and he decided to follow the result of the coin toss—or not.
“Ah, it’s too much work! I’ll just stay here.”
He plopped down on the rooftop. Anyone who saw what he did just now was probably going to wonder why he had even bothered tossing the coin in the first place...
“I guess I’ll visit the realtor while I’m waiting,” he said with a shrug before logging out.
***
At the real estate agency in Gangnam...
“Huh? Why are you here?”
Cheon Woo-Jin walked in while Tae-Sung was settling the deposit of the luxury condo unit he had purchased last time.
“I heard you were here, so I came to catch you,” Cheon Woo-Jin replied.
“Why?”
“Hey! Is this your house?! Why are you always here?!”
“Why are you picking a fight? Also, why do you care if I come here or not?”
“Who said I care what you do here? I came here because you’re not doing the quest I gave you!”
“Huh?”
“I already told you this quest is important, right? Are you seriously loitering around here while the fate of the game hangs in the balance—“
“Eh? Is that the only reason you’re here?” Tae-Sung replied with a smirk.
“Only reason?! Hey! Do you want to lose your rice bowl?! I think I already told you the consequences if this quest fails! Yet here you are—“ Cheon Woo-Jin retorted until his face turned red.
On the other hand, Tae-Sung completely ignored him and even had the gall to cut him off by taking out a check and handing it to the realtor.
“You can settle the deposit with this, and when can I move in? I’d like to move in around next week if possible—”
“HEY!”
“Why are you shouting? Can’t you see I’m busy?”
“I’m saying something much more important right now, yet you—“
“I cleared that. Happy?”
“What? You cleared it?”
“Yeah!”
“Oh? Now you’re lying, too? I didn’t get any quest clear message yet. Do you think I’m stupid? Also, the other Adventurers much stronger than you are nowhere close to clearing it, but how can you, the weakest, manage to clear the most difficult—“
“Quit your yapping and take a look at this,” Tae-Sung said as he played his G-Tube livestream on his phone and tossed it to Cheon Woo-Jin.
Then, he directed his focus back to the realtor and continued.
“I don’t have a lot of things, so it won’t take me that long to—“
“W-What the hell is this?!” Cheon Woo-Jin exclaimed while watching the video.
“S-Seven hours and thirty minutes? You cleared the Sky Tower in seven hours and thirty minutes? What the hell?!”
However, Tae-Sung ignored the ruckus Cheon Woo-Jin was causing and continued talking to the realtor.
“Let’s go with that day.”
“Hey, Han Tae-Sung.”
“What now?”
“You really cleared it? Then what about the Church of Osric?”
“They weren't there yet.”
“T-They weren't there...?”
“I think I reached the top faster than them, so I logged out and decided to settle this first.”
“Wow...”
“Is the game the only thing on your mind? Coming all the way here and bothering me over a game... Sheesh... Are you a gaming addict or what?”
“...”
“Play the game moderately.”
Cheon Woo-Jin was speechless after getting an earful from Tae-Sung. He would usually call Tae-Sung a gaming addict, but the tables had turned this time around.
“Chasing me all the way down in reality for stuff happening in the game... Sheesh... You need help, man,” Tae-Sung clicked his tongue to tease Cheon Woo-Jin.
‘This bastard...! He has become quite annoying these days...!’ Cheon Woo-Jin thought while trembling in anger. He couldn't help but think that he had ended up raising a tiger.
***
Two days later, Siegfried was back at the Sky Tower’s rooftop, waiting for the Church of Osric to show up.
“W-What the hell is that?!” he screamed after spotting something humongous flying toward the tower at high speeds.
‘Let’s hide first!’
His instinct told him to hide as far away as possible from the oncoming object, and he transformed Horse Fly into a three-pronged pickaxe.
Shwik!
He jumped over the edge and slammed the pickaxe on the exterior wall. Hanging on the exterior wall was the only thing he could think of, as the rooftop was an open area where there was nowhere to hide.
‘What’s that thing though?’ he wondered while hanging on the wall more than two thousand meters above the ground. He slowly peeked over the edge to get a better look at the humongous object flying toward the tower.
1. Rice bowl means livelihood or source of income
2. This is a proverb in East Asia when someone you help becomes extremely strong and bites you later.
