Chapter 91 – Path Of Choice (2)

“Inject what is left. What we just inhaled was poison gas. Without this, we’ll die..”

Jin-hyuk handed Andrea the half-full syringe.

“Uh? Yes, yes.”

Andrea took the syringe with wide eyes and carefully injected it into her arm.

‘I-it cannot be…’

It really was the antidote.

Her body had begun to feel itchy little by little, but the sensation washed away as soon as she injected the syringe.

Andrea looked at Jin-hyuk with keen eyes.

‘…what kind of person is he?’

At first, she had thought of him as terrifying since he had killed the agents of gods and their followers with overwhelming power.

However, as they talked, that fear disappeared and was replaced with curiosity. Curiosity to find out more about the other person.

Moreover…

‘This isn’t just about being strong.’

Andrea had heard rumors about the Path of Choice. None who had entered it had come out alive.

They had simply died due to the overabundance of choice. Yet this man had broken through two gates instantly with a smile.

It was all so fast that she didn’t know what was happening.

There was a force of a different degree as well as a sense of freedom that he refused to give up. He also could bring out the result he wanted from information he seemed to already know.

It was hard to believe despite being a witness to it.

‘If it is this person…’

Perhaps he could really kill the professor and put an end to the hellish life here.

“What are you doing? We need to move.”

“Uh? Yes!”

Andrea nodded right away.

Kukung!

And the third gate opened.

This room was relatively simple compared to the previous ones.

A chair was in the center of the room with a black level ahead of it. Finally, a pipe extended to a lever.

[Phew, the third gate is…]
Smelly Feet began their explanation with a voice that lacked strength or motivation.

“Cheer up.”

[What?]
“The best on the 5th floor is Smelly…ah, no, you, the manager. Don’t be too depressed and explain it to us. This time I will make my choice after listening to the hints.”

Even the monsters of the Tower would be concerned about their actions. Wasn’t this the direction that a veteran would pursue?

Jin-hyuk nodded.

Of course, Smelly Feet was important since it felt that things were falling apart.

[Nice. The third gate is called ‘Self Sacrifice’. As you can see, one person must sit on the chair and pull the lever for the door to open.]
“We just have to sit down and pull the lever?”

Andrea fell in love with those simpler-than-expected conditions.

[Before you rush to do this, remember one thing. When you pull the lever, flames will rise from the pipe right in front of you. The hand which pulls the level will burn.]
Due to the restraints on the chair, there was no way to avoid the flames.

A gate that opened for those that chose to burn themselves.

A gate that suited the name of Self Sacrifice.

“No…”

Andrea was startled as she realized that she would not leave this room.

At that moment.

Clap! Clap!

“Oh! Self Sacrifice! Such a cool word. Now, what is the hint?”

Jin-hyuk clapped his hands.

[You… you don’t have to sacrifice yourself. You should have noticed what I meant if it were you, right?]
“So, if I don’t want to get hurt, I can force someone else to sit in there and pull the lever, right?”

[Exactly.]
Although it was called Self Sacrifice on the surface of it, the structure of the room was easily escapable if you simply brought another person.

Flinch.

Andrea flinched at these words. If one of them had to die, then she was the one who would be forced to do it.

However, Jin-hyuk moved ahead, sat on the chair without thought, placed on the restraints, and then touched the lever.

[What? Are you willing to sacrifice yourself? I didn’t see you as that kind. Quite surprising.]
Uh?

“What sacrifice?”

Jin-hyuk’s magic book still had three minutes left on its effective timer.

In other words, he could still use his skills.

[Lv8 Glacier Formation is activated!]
The cold air from Jin-hyuk’s fingers froze the entire fire pipe.

Clack!

And then he pulled the lever.

Kukuku!

The gate began to open with violent vibrations. Naturally, the fire which should have burned him didn’t come.

[…]
Smelly Feet was at a loss for words. If someone who didn’t know the situation saw this, they would have thought that the image on the screen was frozen.

“S-sorry.”

Andrea nodded apologetically to Smelly Feet and moved to the next gate.

Jin-hyuk clicked his tongue. He should have dealt with the opponent more by covering up the fact that he could use his skills.

‘We are bound to meet for sure.’

Still, don’t be too frustrated about the loss of your test.

Just as the sun rose and set, this outcome was foreordained.

There were a total of seven tests in the Path of Choice.

However, the 4th and 5th tests were easily passed.

It was absurd.

“Isn’t there anything fresher than this concept? Something to make my heart pound loudly and force me to sweat?”

Jin-hyuk wasn’t hiding his boredom.

It was good to clear it quickly, but… perhaps he wanted a bit more stimulation?

The DNA of a veteran who had drenched himself in impossible hurdles wanted hell.

‘This is a bad habit which has to be fixed…’

What else could he do?

This was an instinct he had built for 11 years.

[More than now… what do you mean? That…]
“Why? You don’t have anymore? This passage designed by a Named of the 5th floor couldn’t be this easy, right?”

Jin-hyuk tilted his head and asked the question.

Before clapping his hand as if he had realized something.

“Ah! Have you deliberately placed such easy ones to distract us?”

[R-right. The 6th gate is a masterpiece of mine!]
Smelly feet proclaimed.

Three seconds later, the 6th gate was opened in record time.

“…”

“…”

[…]
The awkward silence lingered for a short while.

[Fuck.]
Smelly Feet cursed out loud.

This was…

Jin-hyuk scratched his head.

‘In the end, I made him angry.’

Looking at the Tower of Trials as a whole, such a test would never come again, and Jin-hyuk had looked forward to this.

‘If this video goes up, how many views will I get?’

Jin-hyuk smiled.

He didn’t know, but for the time being, he was confident that the top player spot in the Hall of Fame had been decided.

At that moment.

The imaginary barrier that had created the Path of Choice began to crumble.

Kukuku

Finally, the game was about to start.

[You have entered the professor’s hideout.]
The entire landscape had changed.

It was a stone chamber filled with bizarre statues and blood-stained symbols.

In the center, the professor was engaged in unholy acts with what looked like a corpse.

“Yah. I thought a professor would be reciting a sermon, but you were practicing anatomy?”

Was he a science student?

Seeing that the professor was doing this, he must have been accepted to a medical school and studied hard as a student.

In a way, he might be like Chun Yuseong.

“It cannot be… Valsetter was broken?”

“Don’t be too rude to that person. Despite being timid, Smelly Feet is a good friend of mine.”

Jin-hyuk said in reply.

“As expected, what he said is true. He said we shouldn’t be careless when it comes to you. I know what he means now.”

The professor seemed a bit shocked at this.

The Jin-hyuk who had spoken nonsense in prison was someone he wouldn’t consider a potential enemy.

He had no doubt that he would have been crushed to pieces and sacrificed, but…

Everything had gone contrary to his expectations.

“But, Lancelot, no, I don’t see Hosenveld.”

“That person left a while back.”

Left…

Well, it seemed that was the case.

“Anyway, he is a smart one.”

“Smart? What do you mean?”

“He must have known that he would die if he stayed here, so noticing it, he ran away first. Well, look at that.”

“Kuahaha! That is interesting. You put too much worth on yourself.”

The professor laughed loudly, but his smile disappeared a moment later.

“I don’t know what you did, but you broke the rules of the Tower and used your unique abilities and skills. To be honest, I was surprised. I didn’t think a human could defy such an absolute order.”

“I am quite good at such things.”

To be precise, he didn’t start out good, but he got good with time.

It was always said that you had to hide 30% of your skills to win, so Jin-hyuk only slightly praised himself.

“I look forward to seeing how far you can act with this confidence. I also look forward to how desperate your screams will become later.”

The professor reached out to the table next to him towards a black jar.

“Are you going to use a divine relic?”

“…!

At Jin-hyuk’s words, his hands stopped. This time he was really shocked.

“Divine…relic? You know about it?”

“Something like that.”

He had made a collection of relics in the past, so it would be a lie if he said he didn’t know about it.

However, he admitted that collecting them had been quite tricky. Some of them were very hard to get.

“… you are really a shocking person.”

The professor spoke with shock and astonishment.

Of course, that sentiment didn’t last long.

Because the words that followed were accompanied by killing intent.

“But if you know about the relics, then you must know their power.”

A cursed relic used in the Demon King’s resurrection had enormous magic.

In particular, the ‘Filth Eating Jar’ in front of him was a Blue grade relic among the seven colors.

“The cooldown of it is really long. Do you want to use that to catch me?”

“I don’t think I will meet anyone as annoying as you. Rather than having a clumsy fight, I plan to use something which can bring me certain victory.”

Umm.

It was hard to deny the professor’s intelligence.

At that moment.

[The divine relic ‘Filth Eating Jar’ is activated!]
Cursed energy erupted from the jar. A black wave that would take down everything in front of it.

The energy flowed like a wave towards Jin-hyuk alone.

Kwakwakwang!

It had the ability to kill anything with just a single order.

Jin-hyuk made some distance quickly, but this wasn’t something that could be avoided in the first place.

And just like that.

Puak!

The wave passed through Jin-hyuk’s chest.

Choke.

Black blood flowed from his mouth. The pain was so terrible that it could make him lose consciousness.

“Kuak… Ack!”

As his lungs were hit, his voice could barely escape.

“No!”

Andrea screamed at this sight.

And…

“Die for the arrogance you showed. Human.”

The professor smiled slyly as he beheld the human who now had a hole in his body.

This was the end.

Jin-hyuk lost consciousness, and his body collapsed.

[Due to the death of the target who received the ‘Demon King’s Curse’, the ‘Corrupting Heart’ vanishes]
A message that confirmed that the target was dead.

And…

A unique ability was triggered.

[Target is dead]
[The condition has been met.]
[Unique ability ‘Blessing of the Stars’ is activated!]
Beyond the covered ceiling was a night sky that could not be seen on the 5th floor.

Woong!

And a light which contained the energy of the stars poured in.

At the same time.

His heart began to beat again.