Chapter 268

Editor: Tide, Rektsatan
(Important Note from Imagine: Hey guys just want to give you a heads up, someone has been spoiling stuff regarding future chapters in TTITH in the comment section so just watch out!)

Kkeureuk,
the monster croaked.

Just a little more. Don’t you think this part is less resistant to burns?
I noted.
[That’s because it’s a hot-spot, where it’s groin would be located.] Ahbooboo said.

It doesn’t have an organ there now. It’s just a stump.

Ahbooboo groaned at my words.
Why was he complaining about it? He was just burning a monster.
[I heard this monster was originally a human being. Then, wouldn’t it be natural for that part to hurt?]

That’s interesting. It’s surprising that it didn’t suffer exceptionally, even though it lost an important organ.

[Why is that interesting?]

First of all, I need to find out whether it’s actually feeling genuine pain or phantom pain.

Instead of setting fire to the source, Ahbooboo kept asking me questions.
[Why do you have to know that?]

When we actually hit that area, if it feels more pain, we can continue to use the place as a weakness. Of course I’d want to research more. If it’s pain is caused by phantom pains, the monster is aware of his body structure when he was a human being. Even if it’s unconscious. I’ll find out. I don’t know if other monsters are like this monster, but this is the only subject we’re given right now, so I can’t help it.

I kindly explained the purpose of the experiment to Ahbooboo, but he didn’t seem to think the experiment was necessary..
[Warrior, I beg you, can we stop torturing this creature with its groin?]

Kkeereuk,
the monster croaked.
[Look. That monster’s voice, which used to sound grotesque before, now sounds pitiful!]

Okay. Let’s test it out just a little more.

[You said the same thing an hour ago.]
I was in the middle of a series of experiments with Ahbooboo when the door of the room opened. A man walked in and exclaimed,
Oh, my God, this is crazy. What am I looking at?


Oh, the search for the source has started.

The man who came in through the door was a giant warrior, over two meters tall and muscular. He seemed like the typical warrior in a game. That man had come into the spire less than ten minutes ago. I stopped my experiments and waited, but I guessed he wouldn’t leave so easily.
The man had strode in with quite a pompous attitude.
Hey, you crazy mtherfcker, what if you die? It’s popular among bounty hunters, but do you know how much the monster is worth?

He thought I was a bounty hunter?

If you leave the monster behind now, I will spare your life.
The man waved his hand, acting as if he were being kind to me.
This was interesting. It took so long for a man to come up to the room that I thought someone with a cautious personality would arrive. But now that I saw him, it doesn’t seem to be a personality problem, it just took him a long time to climb the stairs of the tall spire.

Are you a bounty hunter, too?

The man nodded at my question. It appeared that the first of countless people to search for their source was this bounty hunter. I couldn’t believe he came to this monster faster than the native gods. Maybe it was because bounty hunters were professionals who usually worked in the front line of this field, so the man had the ability. I was sure that he had the skills, and he knew a lot of information.
[Whew, tsk tsk.]


Yes. The ancient demon was known to have been sealed by the founder of the kingdom, but in fact, the founder of the kingdom built a new kingdom with the help of the demon. The royal family had kept and maintained ancient demons deep underground for generations.


Why didn’t he kill the demon before?
I questioned.
To answer my question, the man speculated,
It’s rumored that the demon and the kingdom’s founder signed a contract. But I think the royal family was hoping that one day it would use the power of the demon again. Back then, the kingdom lost the war and its influence was greatly diminished.


Maybe so.

The man was a better storyteller than I thought. He was kneeling next to the monster, talking to me without any interruptions.

Then what?


Because of the incident I mentioned earlier, the ancient demon was released from the seal, and the royal family and the knights were exterminated. At that time, there was a famous sorcerer in the capital of the kingdom. Maybe that monster is him.

The sorcerer was a kind of wizard who accepted the spirituality of God and spread his teachings to the world. Although he was similar to priests who used sacred spells, there was a noticeable difference. The native gods here had many of the characteristics of primitive religions, unlike those seen on other stages. The sorcerer took advantage of the power of God present in nature, but it was hard to say that he was a believer who supported the gods directly.
Anyway, such a sorcerer stopped the demon. His reputation in the capital city skyrocketed, so he must have drawn people’s attention.

Yes. All the people in the capital looked up to him. It is said that there was a bond between the people and the sorcerer. An observer who was at the capital said that everyone in the capital cheered for the sorcerer. And…

It was a story I knew better than this guy, who must have been overwhelmed by the people’s power. Unlike the 57th floor, where work was carried out on a planetary scale due to the well-developed technology, it was limited to the capital of the kingdom, but that alone contained too much power. The sorcerer eventually became a monster, not a hero, and the native gods that appeared belatedly made the surroundings a mess while fighting for the power of the monster’s source. In the mess, the monster disappeared somewhere and must have found its way all the way over here.
The source was certainly an unusual power: a kind of power that could only be found in cartoons. The power that might remind you of Dragon Ball Z, the famous anime.
Holy power was given rise through religion. On the other hand, the source was made unexpectedly by people under unknown circumstances. Rather than divine entities, the power was passed on to their representatives and heroes. Finally, it was influenced by the people’s level of civilization and history.
Recently, I learned a lot of information that I hadn’t known through the stages. Every time I cleared the stage, the Dragon gave me a lot of information, but there were still about two things I wasn’t sure about.
Many of the sources that appeared on the 40th floor were relatively small and weak. After killing them, a piece of rock called root debris could be found, but I didn’t know how they were created. At first, I thought there would be a parent source for such monsters, but the only source I faced were the ones who had lost their minds. It was unlikely that they would be able to reproduce strategically to increase their numbers.
The second was about me. How was I capable of using the source? Of course there was the power of the source from the God of Remorse, but I was not aware how I had used it back then, and the Dragon had refused to answer. This was the question I had to ask as soon as I met with Kirikiri.

May I go now?
the bounty hunter begged.

No.

Tears welled up in the man’s eyes at my answer, making me feel bad for making a tall man sit on his knees, his head facing my chest. Why was this man so afraid of me? I didn’t even hit him. I just suppressed him with mana and told him to talk.
[You’re not really asking because you don’t know, are you, Warrior?]

I’ll do anything. Please don’t kill me…

I turned my head away from the man who was begging in a desperate voice and looked into the monster that was spread out on the test bed.
After checking its muscle condition, vascular structure, and location of the internal organs, I found that it had a weird flow pattern of mana. I also found out that the position of the source’s power was consistent with the place where I kept mine, and took note of what order it flowed in.
What do we do now? I had been experimenting for so long that my neck felt stiff.
Before reaching the 13th floor, I had routinely dissected enemies. Upon entering the 13th floor, I began to feel skeptical and refrained from dissection. From then on, people who could talk, and not monsters, came out as enemies. Since the human body structure was well known, I didn’t have to bother to dissect it. After that, I stopped experimenting. But whenever necessary, I would capture enemies alive and conduct experiments. After all, anatomical knowledge greatly helped in combat.
Either way, the number of times had decreased significantly, and now it felt awkward to dissect and experiment with the enemy. I didn’t know what to do with such a great experimental subject in front of me.
I needed insight.

I need more insight on the monster. Is there any way to further study it?


What?
The man didn’t understand what I was saying and showed a confused expression, so I promised I’d let him live if he came up with a useful idea.

Well… uhh, sorcery maybe? There are some who have mastered sorcery just for torture purposes. That monster used to be a great sorcerer, so maybe this’ll help.

The man’s idea was excellent, and I replied in a pleased voice,
Very good. It’s a great idea. Maybe we should invite a sorcerer.


Oh, how?
he asked in an uneasy voice, sweat dripping off his face. I didn’t think he was going to get me a sorcerer.
I raised my hand to the window instead of answering. From the window, I could see the fireballs flying towards the spire. Dozens of fireballs crashed into the wall of the mana I had made, and dissipated.

Magic? Ah, no, gunfire boosted by magic,
I noticed
Outside the spire, shouting was heard, followed by a second roar. I murmured as I looked at the shells that were fired,
That unit will include a sorcerer, right?

[Warrior’s theory sounds very probable.]

There was no sorcerer, and unfortunately, I only captured a commander of a useless unit.

Damn it. How can there be no sorcerer?
I groaned.

Eh… well, there was no sorcerer in the original unit,
the commander replied.
Wasn’t there supposed to be a sorcerer? What the heck? I had no choice but to inquire more from the commander.
The commander introduced himself as an officer of a country, in pursuit of the source, but I forgot the name of the country as soon as I heard it. In addition, he was commanding the vanguard of the great army, which was still running hard here.

What kind of vanguard shoots a cannon?

On hearing my words, the commander showed their equipment, which was smaller than I thought and looked more like a mortar than a cannon. It seemed quite useful to me, too, but this must be a military secret, and yet, they were willingly sharing with me.

What’s the total number of troops?


A little over forty thousand.

Forty? I thought I heard wrong. After all, why would you send 40,000 people to catch a powerless monster? Even if the monster regained its strength, it was wise to deal with it with a small number of elite soldiers rather than sending a great army. The average soldier was just a scarecrow in front of a certain level of strength.

It was an inevitable mobilization since the armies of other countries are also looking for the source.


Well… you did say you were aiming for a number of countries. Commander, how many soldiers are running this way now? Irrespective of their nationality.


Eh… I think it’ll be two hundred thousand if I round it off. Not only soldiers, but also hunters, adventurers, mercenaries, wanderers, and traders.

Two hundred thousand if rounded off? According to the explanation of the stage, the native gods would soon also begin to seek their source. If the gods began to quarrel over monsters, this area would naturally be destroyed like the capital of a kingdom that had already been blown to bits.
How many of the 200,000 people would survive? I could bet that most of them wouldn’t.
What should I do?
Tutorial 59th floor (2) > End