Chapter 23 Gray Tower(4)

Translator: BaeBae Editor: BaeBae

Can we trust that bastard? Boss, are we really going into the Gray tower with him?

II agree as well. We might all die because of him.

I believe your judgement boss, but Im telling you, that guy is beyond crazy. Ignoring whether hes actually skilled or not, you know what happens when you enter a dangerous place with a psycho.

Ill constantly be worried whether Ill be stabbed in the back. Theres no way Im having him walk behind me.

Huksel didnt say a single word yet his crew was showering him with complaints.

The only ones silent were Anya and Juan.

Anya was in silence meanwhile, Juan was blatantly watching them while listening in on their conversation.

Huksel put his hand on his forehead.

The biggest issue was that they didnt know if Juan was actually talented or not.

If hed showed them a bit of his skill, the expedition could have continued, but right now Huksel couldnt force this.

You seem to have a lot on your mind.

Anya commented as she approached him.

You dont need to think too much about this. The towers a dangerous place for a boy anyways. Better send him out now rather than never.

Mrs

Huksel didnt want to, but the word of the sponsor was hard to refuse.

Plus, if hed insisted on bringing Juan, it seemed other members were set on turning back.

Huksels was struggling to make a decision.

After a long thought, he opened his mouth

..Alright. Juan will stay behind, while well go up the tower. If it looks doable well commence the raid, while if it looks difficult well retreat and get Juans help, just in case he is useful.

Are you sure about this?.

The one who replied was no Anya but Juan. Juan was smiling while twirling around Talteres sword.

With you or not, Im intending to head up the tower. I dont have any reason to wait while you lot turn into corpses. If you want to go alone though, then well split here as ill head on up first. Whether you guys follow or not I dont care.

What nonsense are you talking about.!

Anya shouted with a reddened face.

Its not a place where children can freely come and go! Do people from outside the border throw away their lives so easily?

Thats strange. From what Ive seen, people from inside the border dont value their lives as well.

Huksel quickly swallowed Juans words. He must be hiding something if he is confident in heading in alone.

Like what his comrades said, if he was just crazy, Juan would most certainly die inside the tower.

Huksel made extensive preparations to survive this expedition. Inside the Gray tower, one life wasnt worth anything if they were useless.

Good. Lets do that.

Huksel!

This expedition leader is me! Did you not give me your word, that you will trust my judgement throughout this journey?

Huksel explicitly stated.

Good. I only initially joined you guys because I liked your bosss attitude. Am I to understand we are to act separately from here on? Right?

As Juan laid his hand on the tower, a mist of smoke appeared and washed away changing the towers outer appearance.

It was the Gray towers true form.

The tower looked in good shape but in truth the fog of smoke was hiding areas where it had collapsed. Because of this, there were many places to enter the tower.

Ill give you one piece of advice before we go in.

Juan whod turned around looked at each member one by one.

Advice?

You guys looked sulky so Im giving you a tip. First the thief. For your role, youre a bit dim. If you arent going to pick locks, then at least you need to bring some combat skills for the team. Absolutely no courage and narrow minded.. You havent done any fighting so theres really no advice to give.

Wha, what? This bastard!

And the magician. Please cast your spells faster. I dont know where you learnt magic but you mustve given up half way through training. Are you using Kenan language to speak your magic? It has too many unnecessary words. If youve learnt the basics thats enough. Try to graduate from it as soon as you can. For you, I recommend using Pelt language.

Pe, Pelt? Why would I consider using that dead langu

Learn the abbreviations or get it tattooed. Pronouncing it is easy, so your enhancements will be half less wordy. Next, the shield user. If you dont quit drinking, youll find yourself dying from alcohol instead of a monster. You constantly feel tired and sore these days, right? Looking at your yellow hazy eyes, it wont be long before you die. If you dont have any skills, the least you could do is to have a strong healthy body. Also, when youre defending, lift your shield a bit higher. And in times when youre facing a stronger opponent, try reflecting instead of blocking.

.

Huksel. Out of everyone here, while you look the most promising, dont go for low percentage fights. I can most likely guess that youre struggling from debt and thats why you rush into everything. But you shouldnt be risking your life in every battle. Try to be more conservative. If you dont do anything reckless, youll prolong your life. Dont simply act on instinct and learn some swordsmanship. Didnt you learn this at the guild? At least thats what Ive heard. And last, you. Woman.

Anya who was suddenly pointed to, looked at Juan with a frozen expression.

If you arent going to contribute in fights, then dont say anything to the leader. Not only, are you confusing the members during fights, you could be struck from behind. Trust your leader.

Wai.wait

Before Anya could say anything, Juan had already disappeared into the fog.

After Juan disappeared, Huksels crew was again silent. Juan had pointed out their gruelling weaknesses that they were already oh so aware.

Ha, saying those words as if he was some big shot..

Benson let out a murmur but nobody replied.

A day hadnt even passed since Juan had joined them.

From one battle, Juan was able to see everyones weakness and point out how to improve.

.Boss, what to do?

The groups vanguard Torrell asked Huksel. Huksel was still regretting the fact they didnt join up with Juan. However, following his path up the tower didnt sound bad either.

It looked as if Juan wouldnt immediately die upon entering.

Well head in now as well. Do a final check on your equipment.

*****

Before he headed in, Huksel checked the equipment he brought from straggling magic towers magicians and alchemists. Hed basically forced them to make it.

Most of the equipment would be considered illegal in the eyes of a priest.

Expensive as they were, Huksel whod already visited the tower twice, believed these equipment were needed to successfully raid the tower.

Lets go.

Torrell stood at the front with his shield, followed by Huksel and Benson, Serum, Anya in that order. Each had one of their hands on the shoulder in front.

A misty fog that made breathing difficult, was clouding their sight.

It felt as if they were trudging through water.

Their whole sight was blinded, so their only source of certainty was that they were still linked together by touch.

Enduring the need to cough, Huksels crew slowly made incremental steps forward.

Then, the fog weakened.

Huksel let a sigh and looked around.

The fog was slowly disappearing inside the half collapsed tower.

While the fog was still thick, now they were able to see in front of them.

Inside the tower, everything was in ruins. They didnt see any lifeforms.

Torrell looked around while sweating.

Boss, that kid is nowhere to be found.

..Dont worry about him. Lets think for ourselves first.

Huksel tried focusing his entire senses to see if it made a difference.

Just because you couldnt see anything, didnt mean nothing was there.

Ever so slowly, some things changed.

The fog close to the ground moved against the drift.

There were a few areas where this was happening.

Its moving.

Boss?

Sereum, prepare the enchantment that I requested.

Sereum with a nervous expression started the enchantment.

Huksel pulled out one of his equipment that hed prepared.

The fog that was moving in a pattern suddenly moved towards Huksels crew.

Huksel nor anybody else knew what was going on.

Close your eyes!

Huksel tossed a circular ball up into the air.

Simultaneously, Sereums spell finished and the magic poured onto the ball.

For a moment, a flash of blinding light filled the inner tower.

The fog inside the tower was all pushed out from the blinding light.

And once the fog had all cleared, dark shadows appeared on the floor.

Taken back, everyone and everything just stood still in their place.

Kill them all!

Huksel covered his eyes from the light and ran forwards. His sword made contact and slashed at something that couldnt be seen.

Theyd been reprimanded by Huksel of their battle formations and tactics. But this being their first real battle together, theyd been late to follow his lead.

Huksels crew quickly slew monsters that couldnt be seen.

The monsters that protected this tower were these monsters that couldnt be seen.

To be exact they werent invisible, but were monsters coated in protective colours from the Gray towers mana that made them seem invisible.

Normally, an expedition group found themselves dead before they realised what was happening but Huksel had already seen this happen twice.

Another way was to shower them with black substance but spraying the whole tower with substance to find monsters wasnt exactly ideal. So what Huksel had thought of was a blinding light grenade.

The monsters inside the Gray tower lived in a dark murky environment so they were weak to light. The blinding light was effectively used to reveal their shadows.

He had gotten this idea from the story, where the emperor turned himself into a sun and blew away the fog.

The light is fading! Come together!

As the light weakened and the shadows faded, Huksel threw another light grenade.

As he had used his entire fortune on this, he had plenty left.

The monsters, dumbfounded at Huksels method, were still moving about here and there to surround Huksels crew.

However, they simply couldnt go closer due to the light in the air.

Boss! These monsters cant do anything!

Benson shouted in happiness.

As they overpowered opponents that usually put fear into all expeditioners, they couldnt contain their excitement.

However, Huksel couldnt but feel a sense of nervousness within him.

Juan had come in before them.

So then, either the amount of monsters should have lessened or Juan should have been a corpse by now. But it was neither of the two.

Where had Juan gone off to?

At this moment, Huksel heard an unusual noise. A thunderous roaring sound was beckoning from above.

Beyond the fog towards the left, a massive impact echoed and shaked the ground.

Huksel panicked and looked above.

The tower was moving.

*****

Sina Solbein was looking at the tower off in the distance beyond the forest.

After being incorporated into the chasing group, shed ridden without stopping through countless nights and days.

Her entire body was aching.

It was the same for every other knight.

Right, theres the Gray tower.

Kato started a conversation. In all honesty, Sina didnt want to reply back but couldnt ignore an inquisitors words.

Ive heard its the place where the emperors wisdom was shone bright like the sun.

Now, its become a sacred place of ingratitude. Ive heard many indecent folks attempt to go up the tower in search of the hidden treasure. Of course, adding themselves to the pile of corpses in the tower.

The emperor stated not to view human greed in only a negative way. He said greed is natural and emotions like love and bravery are found from a sense of greed.

Now, now, arent you well versed with the words of scripture.

Only the ones I know.

In order to argue with a professor of Torras knight school, skim reading the scripture wasnt enough.

But from reading it thoroughly, shed only gotten a bad temperament.

The emperors words were perfect but the people who scribed his words werent. Therefore, errors and contradictions existed in scriptures.

The problem was some tried using misinterpreted information to their advantage and ignored the rest which was correctly transcribed.

Sina knew from experience when facing these people, stating the orthodox parts of the scripture would usually shut them up.

Lets hurry then. The sheath is longing for its home.

Kato looked into the square glass. Inside the glass, the sheath was vibrating in the direction of the Gray tower.

According to Katos words, it pointed to where Juan was currently at.

And true to his words, on the way, theyd found traces of Juan at a village.

Sina still didnt understand the principle behind it but nervously followed his volition.

I dont understand why hes there. Didnt you say he was initially heading for the capital?

At Sinas question, Katos eyebrows furrowed.

Would someone who didnt touch Daarons treasure trove at all, be looking for riches? Not a chance. More likely, his objective is the evil armor that the emperor sealed inside the tower. After denigrating and desecrating its divinity, hell make the weapon his.

Sina didnt reply.

While it was difficult to agree with Katos opinion, she kept recalling a particular scene in her head. When Juan had swallowed Talteres blood.

Plus, there wasnt anyone normal who visited the Gray tower.

Beasts, humans, most were criminals with no future that were on the brink of despair or heretics that were part of a cult.

Sina and the Blue Rose knights hasted their approach towards the Gray tower.