CHSE 13

Chapter 13

“Found you.”

I arrived at the place where the golden glowing dot shone, and there it was — a creature unlike any ordinary monster.

The Reaper of Frost.

A powerful elite monster, based on an ice spirit, radiating a chilling aura.

<If I take that thing down, I’ll have cleared them all!>

I had already fulfilled the goal of clearing the 52nd floor.

But I hadn’t moved on to the upper floors yet because I was aiming for an achievement.

From floors 51 to 60.

In order to earn the achievement, I had to participate in defeating every elite monster across the frozen lake-themed layers and contribute more than 80% in each battle.

<Seriously, who made this achievement? Without Save Earth’s help, this would be nearly impossible.>

“I agree.”

I immediately activated my support-type mana circuits, casting Power Up and Shield.

Mana flooded the once-quiet circuits, surging through and setting my heart ablaze.

‘The Frost Reaper… and two spirits.’

The 52nd floor was originally one where B-rank hunters had to form parties to move safely.

Considering that I had to face not only the Frost Reaper but also the spirits at the same time, this was no easy fight.

But I was confident.

I had already turned every elite on this floor into loot inside my dimensional bag, and the Frost Reaper would be no different.

“Hoo…”

I steadied my breath and focused mana into my sword.

In this situation, the only things I could rely on were my own skills — and Infinity’s endless mana regeneration. Thanks to that, I could unleash an attack like this.

Fwoooosh!

Golden mana flared up like flames, gathering along the blade.

The living, flickering golden aura surged toward the monsters.

“Sssssaaaaahhh!”

The radiant golden flash split through the icy spirits, shattering the cold energy that composed them. Their forms were beginning to fade.

<Looks like it worked.>

“Overwhelming mana, plain and simple.”

It was a one-shot, all-in finishing move that consumed every bit of mana I had.

The circuits that had been overflowing with mana were now completely drained.

But—

“Huuuu.”

With a deep breath, Infinity triggered, and explosive mana from my heart once again began to seep into my circuits.

“Really is a broken ability.”

Thanks to that, I could pick fights that would’ve been unthinkable otherwise.

BOOM!

The ground shook as I launched forward, swinging my sword to cut off the monster’s breath.

Bang! Bam!

Golden mana bursts exploded, tearing the ice spirits apart with shrieks as their forms scattered. While swinging, I sensed a subtle presence.

‘From behind?!’

My muscles tensed, and I twisted my body with the help of mana.

A scythe slashed down exactly where I’d just been. The wavering form of the Frost Reaper lunged at me, its red eyes gleaming.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Slow, but devastating swings rained down, threatening to cut me apart.

If my strength had been lower, I wouldn’t have been able to block head-on. But Infinity had my back.

BOOM! BAM!

I poured out every drop of mana I had, unleashing relentless attacks.

The shockwaves swallowed the ice spirits, shredding them with screams.

The Frost Reaper met the same fate.

After several exchanges, the sword aura from Oath of Frost pierced its core, tearing the blue spirit to shreds. Its misty body scattered into the wind, leaving behind a small orb that clattered to the ground.

“The Frost Core?”

<Is that good? >

“Not sure. Since it’s from an elite monster… I bet it’ll give a lot of Frost Marks, at least.”

And with that, the last elite was down. Time to head to the 53rd floor.

<Lucky for us, those Chinese friends of yours aren’t around.>

“It’s a dominator floor. Even an E-rank Named doesn’t respawn quickly.”

Busan Tower also had a dominator floor.

The F-rank boss on the 41st floor — once killed, it wouldn’t reappear for at least five days. So for an E-rank like the Frost Dragon, it’d take even longer.

But it varied by tower, so it was hard to judge.

“Since it took me half a day on the 52nd, I should be a bit ahead of them.”

I just needed to follow the map, hunt elites, and move on. The Chinese hunters, on the other hand, had to scout every location manually.

And worse — unless they were among those advancing upward, they couldn’t even kill the elites.

To qualify for the next floor, they needed to defeat six out of seven total elites here.

<They might have inside info, though.>

“True, that’s possible.”

Either way, I had to move faster and climb higher before they caught up.

And so, I reached the 53rd floor.

[53F Goal: Defense.
Condition: Protect the Ice Sanctuary for 30 minutes.]

“…Ah. A defense quest? I’m screwed.”

The moment I saw the goal, ice trees and frost spirits swarmed from all directions.

Wave after wave of monsters poured in, and I had to pour out mana nonstop just to barely clear it.

<Damn, that was close.>

Teech clutched his chest in relief.

<You were moving a bit sluggish mid-battle.>

“Infinity’s regen is insane, but… my mana pool is still too small. I burn out too quickly.”

That was the one drawback of Infinity.

It gave me absurd recovery compared to other hunters, but my actual mana pool was tiny — so I frequently bottomed out.

And it wasn’t instant refill either — there was always a several-second delay.

Still, somehow I managed to clear it.

[54F Goal: Collection.
Condition: Gather 50 Frost Flowers and offer them to the Ice Sanctuary.]

“Nice.”

This one was easy.

With Save Earth’s map, I could see every Frost Flower location at a glance.

Actually harvesting them without shattering them was trickier, but after breaking a few, I got the hang of it.

<Hey! Stairs over there!>

“Let’s go!”

Thanks to Teech’s help, I sped through the Black Dragon River Tower, reaching the final frozen-lake floor — the 60th.

[60F Goal: Trial.
Condition: Defeat the Frost Queen.]

And when the boss appeared—

<We should run, right?>

“…Yeah.”

I immediately used an emergency escape scroll.

The C-rank Named boss, Frost Queen.

Two whole ranks above the Ice Dragon of 51F, and she stared me down with a chilling, deathly smile.

“Phew…”

Back in my room, I went straight to inventory management.

“Not having to dump my bag out and being able to just click and organize from the computer is insanely convenient.”

<How was it done before?>

“We’d empty everything onto a big clearing and sort it by hand.”

Hunters themselves didn’t usually do it — but like construction sites, helpers would sometimes skim off loot. Supervisors had to keep an eye on them.

<Did you supervise?>

“I was a pushover. Told them they could keep anything under 300,000 won.”

Because of that, guild staff always neatly organized and indexed my loot for me.

But now the system made that obsolete.

Click, click.

With a few mouse taps, everything in my dimensional bag turned into Frost Marks.

The result? 760,000 marks.

Enough to buy Oath of Frost twice over.

<Way more than you got climbing 1F to 46F.>

“Stronger monsters, better loot.”

That’s why mid-sized guilds always planned to target the 50s.

The loot here was leagues above what lower floors offered.

<Then how insane must the rewards be at the top floors?>

“I wouldn’t know.”

<Don’t know?>

“Nope. The top floors — usually the 80s — no nation’s ever reached them.”

And on those floors, A-rank Named monsters awaited, each given codenames by the Hunter Association.

Even when six Masters teamed up, all they could do was survive — not defeat them.

“Those things are walls to us.”

But to bring down the Tower, they had to be defeated.

Before, it would’ve sounded impossible. But thanks to Save Earth and Infinity? I felt it was doable.

‘Though first, I’ll need to beat the Frost Queen.’

A C-rank Named.

She’d normally require an A-rank hunter party, or at least several high-B ranks.

Just tanking her attacks required at least a top-tier B-rank defender.

So I bailed.

“Stamina 26, Toughness 30…”

At least my stats had gone up from climbing the Black Dragon River Tower.

Even without the Tower of Growth, my body had improved a bit.

But even with Infinity, I doubted I could withstand her strikes.

“I miss the old days.”

I never imagined losing my mana circuits would cripple my body so badly…

Like someone who barely survived inner deviation, my body was trash now.

Still, I had to beat her before the Chinese hunters advanced.

<Why not try another tower instead?>

“No. At the very least, I’ll clear every achievement here first.”

And there was another reason.

Hunters like Chen Shiyi still assumed I was in the tower.

If I left traces here, then?

They’d be forced to leave skilled hunters behind to monitor me.

<Why’s that?>

“Because the monsters won’t just ignore them. They’ll be dragged into fights.”

Which meant Black Dragon River Tower’s contribution score would inevitably rise.

And sure enough—

[Black Dragon River Tower – Current Monthly Ranking: 482 / 500]

I checked Save Earth and saw the tower’s ranking had climbed significantly.

I could already picture the Chinese leadership, and hunters like Chen Shiyi, fuming.

Click, click.

I opened the Achievements tab.

But instead of showing all the ones I’d cleared, most appeared greyed out as “unachieved.”

“…Huh?”

Achievements I’d definitely completed before — now marked undone, since things synced with reality.

<What are you doing?>

“Checking achievements.”

I started with the Ice Dragon.

**[‘Conqueror of the Lake Tyrant’ {Achieved – Han Ji-min}

Defeat the Ice Dragon of the frozen lake solo within 1 hour.

Reward – Strength +1, Agility +1.]**

“So it really does sync with reality…”

Even an E-rank Named, as a boss-level monster, wasn’t normally fought solo.

And the fact the hunter’s name was listed proved it was first-come-first-claim.

Next, I checked Busan Tower, where I’d once been active.

**[‘Master of the Waterfall’ {Achieved – Chen Long}

Defeat the Waterfall Spirit of Cheonmasan solo within 1 hour.

Reward – Strength +1.]**

“Figures… tch.”

So that’s why China’s Master had visited Busan Tower.

Back then, I thought Chen Long had helped us out of goodwill. I even thought, when I become a Master, I’ll do the same.

“I was an idiot.”

The fact they’d stolen our achievements pissed me off.

As I scrolled, I found another Busan Tower achievement.

**[‘Like a Salmon Swimming Upstream’ {Unachieved}

Swim in the waterfall pool on 65F of Cheonmasan Tower for 1 hour.

Reward – Toughness +1.]**

“What the… this existed?”

I remembered a small pool near the 65F waterfall, often used as a camp by high-rank hunters.

I’d been there many times — but never thought to swim.

<Why not? There’s an achievement.>

“Because monsters could’ve shown up anytime! Who’d dare swim there?”

If I’d known it gave stats, I would’ve jumped in no matter what.

So if Chen Long had known about it, there’s no way he’d have ignored it. But it was still unachieved.

“…Wait.”

Something felt off.

I checked the achievements for the towers under Chen Long’s Dragon Ascension Guild, and then the rest of the world’s towers.

“Heh. These bastards.”

Every solo boss-kill achievement was cleared.

But the stat-giving achievements were almost all untouched.

Which meant — I was the only one who even knew they existed.

Though admittedly, it dampened the thrill a little.

“Won’t others notice once they check Save Earth’s achievements?”

It was a global game, after all.

Then I noticed Teech snickering beside me.

“…What’s so funny?”

<You really think anyone else can use the Save Earth system?>

“…What do you mean?”

<You don’t know? After Save Earth activated, the game itself vanished.>

“What?”

I stared blankly, then rushed to check online.

Sure enough, Teech was right.

Save Earth had officially ended service, deleting all records.

A lonely announcement remained, with only two comments mourning the closure.

“…In that case, I guess I’ll head deeper into Black Dragon River Tower.”

After all, the Chinese hunters had stolen some achievements.

So I had to take at least twice as many to make up for it.