Chapter 10: The Tower of Destruction and the Hero’s Party

“What’s the Tower of Ruin entry pass?”

“There’s a dungeon in the form of a tower. You can earn rewards as you clear each floor. This pass lets you enter.”

Ah, I see.

There were many dungeons like that in the Hero’s world.

“So, do you join forces with other guilds to enter?”

“Well, kind of, but it looks like you can go solo too.”

If it’s solo, that’s fine. I can just smash heads like always.

I guess I’ll go there later to make some money.

I can’t just sit around like those bums in the gallery.

At least I’m a human, right?

– Human, really?

Huh?

– I based that body on me, a god. Do you think you’re really human?

Oh, please.

Still, I should pretend to be human.

I at least look human.

But wait, why wasn’t I a Hero?

Ah, this isn’t the time for that.

“Alright. The goddess seems satisfied with this. You should avoid telling lies in the future. Otherwise, I might have to come back and take care of the demonic energy again.”

“I didn’t expect it to go up to 10 billion, but I was planning to give you a decent reward. Ouch! Why did you pinch me?”

The spinster pinched the bald guy’s thigh.

I think I know now.

It’s because of that wretched spinster.

She probably holds some inferiority complex towards me.

No, it’s certain.

“Hey, Miss Spinster. If you keep inviting demonic energy into your heart, you’ll face serious consequences one day.”

People like that eventually get a reputation.

They’ll call her a witch or a nasty old lady.

“What?”

“I’m just being honest. Without me, you would’ve been torn apart by that flood, right? But you, with such a rotten personality, probably had some run-in with a younger woman, huh? Or did your dad cheat on your mom with a younger lady? Or was the person you liked cheating with someone my age?”

“Do you even hear yourself?”

If not, what else could it be?

But by the look on her face, I hit the mark.

That’s why she’s so annoyed with me.

I can tell just by looking now.

So, what should I do?

I got exactly what I wanted.

This woman might betray me in the future, though.

Even though I don’t want to see her again, we might cross paths if we keep working in this hunter world.

“If there’s still any demonic energy left…”

I pulled out my mace from my sleeve.

“Ugh.”

“Well, I got what I came for, so I’ll be leaving. But hey, Baldie, if you keep letting that spinster run things, your guild is going to crash. The goddess said so herself.”

With that, I took the 10 billion and the Tower of Ruin entry pass and left the Seolhwa Guild.

After getting home, I logged into the Returnees Gallery on my PC.

“Wow, the post count is crazy fast here.”

Unlike other galleries, the Returnees Gallery requires verification that you’re a returnee before you can post.

Because of that, only returnees can write here.

The post flow is insane.

I scroll through and see some familiar usernames, but there are also some new faces.

Seems like there’s some interesting stuff today.

[General] FFS, the misery of when the toilet water splashes back—do any of you guys get me? [12] – MiserableSlime

[General] ★1v2 against an off-pitch singer and pickled cabbage—total stomp LOL [165] – MermaidPrincess

[General] MermaidPrincess, let’s duel. I’ll put my mermaid authenticity on the line. [47] – SirenBaby

[General] MermaidPrincess, stop running your mouth, let’s fight. [86] – 100-Year-AgedSuccubus

[General] The neighbor kids plucked my feathers, ugh [12] – HarpyLife20Years

[General] People are treating me like a laundromat poster because of my rank 1 bad play, seriously [23] – FromThe24thCentury

I’m about to make my own post.

—

[Author: HeadSmasherSaint]

[Title: Got 10 billion and the Tower of Ruin entry pass.]

Managed to get 10 billion.

Also got the Tower of Ruin entry pass.

What’s the difficulty like?

[Comments]

100-Year-AgedSuccubus: LOL, demon confirmed. You squeezed 10 billion from that tiny guild.

└HeadSmasherSaint: Aren’t demons old hags?

└100-Year-AgedSuccubus: Hey, you’re copy-pasting again, aren’t you?

└HeadSmasherSaint: —

SolinderMan: A Tower of Ruin entry pass? That’s a rare thing to get.

└HeadSmasherSaint: What’s the deal with it?

└SolinderMan: It’s a newly appeared tower. Everyone’s scrambling to clear it. Search it up on Y-Cheat.

└HeadSmasherSaint: Sounds like it’s really tough.

└HundredYearWeaponMaker: I heard the rewards there are sweet. If you get any good materials, come to me. I’ll drop the coordinates for my workshop if you post them.
PureElfHere: Hey, want to go together?

└HeadSmasherSaint: I’m planning to try it solo for now. Not sure how many people can go in.

└PureElfHere: I think there’s no limit on party size. Without a guild, it’s more of a content for extroverts.

OverweightOrc: Damn, I’m so jealous. How’d you get that? The fact that Seolhwa Guild had it is shocking, but also that you got 10 billion too?

└HeadSmasherSaint: I exorcised some demonic energy, so they gave it to me as a reward.

└OverweightOrc: ? Are you some sort of female Buddha? Demonic energy?

└HeadSmasherSaint: I’m a follower of the all-powerful goddess Kanora, worshiped by the people of the continent of Yukran.

└OverweightOrc: ??? Why demonic energy, though?

—

-Why don’t you give it a try?

“What, the Tower of Ruin?”

-Yeah. You’ve got nothing else to do, right?

“Let me check something first.”

I turned on Y-Cheat, a streaming platform.

Hmm, interesting.

So, this is a streaming platform.

I don’t really remember much, but weren’t there a lot of games back in the day?

Now, though, there are dungeon broadcasts by hunters.

I tuned into a stream with thousands of viewers.

[“Guys, seriously? No way! I just killed a gargoyle, and a legendary sword dropped! Look here, see it?”]

Some guy who looked like a pig was waving a sword next to a broken gargoyle, causing a commotion.

[“You’re asking what to do with a knife, even if it’s legendary? Idiots! Even if the knife isn’t efficient, you can break it down for materials and make something else.”]

I think there were similar ranks in the Hero’s world too.

A lot of the other streams were talking about how the rewards were quite good.

The monsters seem tough, but the mana stones from the chests and monsters are of high purity, so they sell for a lot.

“Well, if the Tower of Ruin is that rewarding, I guess there’s no helping it.”

Maybe I should give it a try?

I’ve got nothing better to do, and I can’t live as a freeloader forever.

Strike while the iron is hot.

I’ll do a bit of research since I’m just going to dip my toes in at first.

[Tower of Ruin: A tower discovered a month ago through a gate on Mt. Halla. Inside, there are various monsters, and the difficulty is generally high, leading to several deaths. However, the rewards are good, and with the right party setup, it’s possible to make a living. The rewards for clearing each floor are also generous.]

Mt. Halla, huh?

Has Jeju Island become a hunter tourism spot?

Considering how much money people make there, I guess it’s understandable.

Not that I’m desperate for money or anything, but how would I even get to Mt. Halla?

-Didn’t you get something earlier, like an entry pass?

“The Tower of Ruin portal stone?”

-Maybe it’s for teleporting there.

Should I give it a shot?

Or should I just laze around and eat mint choco?

I’m faced with the dilemma of a lifetime.

On one hand, my body is itching for action, but on the other, smashing heads is kind of fun too.

“I’ve decided. I’ll eat mint choco while going.”

-Where are you going to put that?

Don’t worry about that.

I always had a lot of complaints about the Hero.

He even took the money I was planning to embezzle in secret.

“I’ve got the godventory box I stole from the Hero. This one. I borrowed it from him right before the final battle with the Demon King.”

It’s the only item the Hero ever used after finding it in the ruins.

Thanks to it, I didn’t need to hire a porter.

So, I might as well squeeze something out of this.

-So that’s why you were in such a hurry to open it.

“It’s not just that, but you’re not wrong. Now, how do I use this portal stone?”

-You probably just need to infuse it with magic power. It looks a lot like the items from the Hero’s world, just with a different appearance.

Is that so?

I pulled out the portal stone to inspect it.

It looked strange.

It was like a well-polished stone.

Just in case, I infused it with magic, and slowly, it began to glow red.

“What the…?”

Soon, the light enveloped my body, and I was swept away by something.

*

Side Story: The Hero’s Party

The Hero’s party defeated the Demon King.

It wasn’t without sacrifice.

The Demon King was only defeated because of Saint Karina’s sacrifice.

The Demon King’s army crumbled, and the demons who were unified under the Demon King scattered.

On the surface, that’s how it looked.

The Hero’s party, celebrated by all, gathered in the Hero’s quarters at the royal palace after their triumphant return.

“Are we really okay with glorifying Karina like this?”

The elven archer asked with a concerned look, to which the young man, presumably the Hero, nodded.

“Well, we did defeat the Demon King, after all. Let’s just enjoy today.”

The Hero said this as he gulped down a drink from a wooden cup.

Honestly, if it weren’t for Karina, they wouldn’t have been able to defeat the Demon King.

She grumbled all the time but always helped them. In the end, no one knew what really happened, but she suddenly got sucked into some glowing thing.

“But seriously, what happened to Karina?”

“She used to mumble sometimes, saying she wasn’t from this world but another one.”

The Hero remembered.

The day Saint Karina told him her secret.

-Hero, the truth is, I was sent from another world with the mission to defeat the Demon King.

-Oh? And?

-If I defeat the Demon King, I can return to my original world.

-There’s a proper order to things.

-Tch.

At the time, Karina had openly clicked her tongue.

He never imagined it was actually true.

“Oh, was that how it went?”

“It seems I didn’t tell you all, but Karina had told me before she needed to return to her world and urged me to hurry up and defeat the Demon King. I was doubtful at the time, but that glowing thing looked just like what happens when a teleportation scroll is used.”

It was similar to how traps in dungeons or ruins would trigger teleportation.

Karina really was that kind of person.

A woman who could even embrace the gods.

“Well, it’s not exactly wrong. The problem is, unlike other saints or priests, she was a damage dealer.”

“Because of that, we spent a lot of money on potions.”

“What a bad woman. Didn’t she have any affection for us? Just up and leaving like that.”

The wizard Maria looked dejected.

“In fact, that’s one of the reasons we delayed the Demon King’s subjugation.”

“Yeah, that’s true. The Hero liked the Saint.”

Karina was different from other saints.

Though she was a follower of a goddess, she boldly spoke her mind without worrying about others.

At that moment, there was movement outside.

When the door was opened, a knight from the Order stood there.

“Hero! I’m sorry to interrupt your celebration, but…”

“What’s going on?”

“Well, there are noble ladies outside!”

“Huh?”

It wasn’t the first time noble ladies had shown interest in the Hero.

The problem was that the person the Hero was actually interested in never paid him any attention.

But this time was different.

The next voice he heard made the Hero’s vision spin for a moment.

“Hero! You promised to marry me!”

“You said you’d take responsibility for me in place of my late husband!”

“Hero, please, even as a concubine, take care of my daughter!”

“???”

What in the world were they talking about?

When did he become a womanizer leading on noble ladies?

At this point, even the elf Erin, who had been quietly listening, stood up angrily.

“What is this, Hero?!”

“I swear, I have no idea what this is.”

“Hero, I’m sorry, but you’ve been accused of marriage fraud.”

“What?!”

“Saint Karina already confirmed the documents. If you refuse, Hero…”

Saint Karina?

No way… are all these noblewomen outside involved?

After defeating the Demon King, was he now supposed to become a marriage scammer?

“Wow, Karina really funded her expenses with money from the nobles? No way… the Hero’s been hit with a marriage scam charge?”

Erin chuckled, surprised that Karina had outwitted the Hero in such a way.

She liked the Hero, but this was just too funny to ignore.

But Erin wasn’t exactly in a position to laugh.

“Excuse me, High Priestess Erin.”

“Uh, what?”

“You’re also under suspicion for running a large-scale magic herb farm that caused a drug war in the underworld.”

“???”

What kind of nonsense was this?

“There’s evidence.”

A knight showed Erin detailed records of her supposed involvement in magic herb cultivation and drug trafficking in the underworld, under her name.

“Karina… she really left with a bang before leaving this world.”

Maria, the wizard, muttered in disbelief.

But even Maria wasn’t off the hook.

“Wizard Maria, you’re accused of conducting illegal experiments in the Magic Tower. We’ll need an explanation for that. Formally, you’ll have to come with us.”

The knights surrounded the Hero’s party.

Ah…

At that moment, the Hero’s party remembered the serious conversation Karina had had with them long ago.

“Guys, we’re really out of money. The Hero and his companions have been spending it like water on charity, and soon, we won’t even have dry bread to eat.”

“Is there no way to make up for it?”

“There is, but it might cause some trouble for all of us.”

“We have to make some sacrifices if we’re going to defeat the Demon King.”

“If the Hero agrees, then I do too.”

“Same here. We’re always sorry to burden the Saint.”

“Since the Hero and everyone else are on board, I’ll take care of it.”

Karina had smiled more brightly than ever.

The Hero had fallen for that smile, and the others had felt a bit guilty as well.

But who could have known that the consequences would hit them so hard, so late?

The Hero’s party screamed in despair.