I'm the Only Wizard Climbing the Tower - Chapter 52

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B.

Chapter 52: 052

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Flash!

The bright light faded, and I slowly looked around.

The first thing I saw was none other than an Orc Village.

Far in the distance stood a massive village made up of hundreds of huts. There were no spires or even a proper fence, but it was enormous.

A huge village with no fewer than fifteen hundred Orcs.

I muttered quietly.

“Those Orc bastards are swarming around like Chinese bastards.”

“Jiho, what's gotten into you now?”

“I hate Chinese bastards.”

How could I not?

Before the Tower appeared, China had interfered in Korea's domestic affairs at every turn, stolen Korean jobs with low-price offensives, distorted history through its Northeast Project, and brutally oppressed countless ethnic minorities. It was a shameless gangster state.

After the Tower appeared, its behavior only became worse.

It sent troops into India and Southeast Asia to kidnap Hunters, ran Point farms that trampled Hunters' human rights, and even now, moved troops through the West Sea and Manchuria while eyeing the Korean Peninsula after Korea's destruction.

On top of that, it was now even after this body itself, the Extreme Lunatic Hell Wizard Hunter...

As a Korean, China was simply a country I could never like.

Hyeji gave a hollow laugh at my words.

“Then why do you like martial arts novels so much? Isn't martial arts fiction just Chinese fantasy?”

“Silence! Martial arts fiction is the story of the real China, where martial prowess and chivalry live on! Modern China isn't China!”

“It's still China in the end...”

“The real China ended with the Ming Dynasty. Modern China is fake China, Chinese bastards!”

China had originally possessed a brilliant civilization.

Just as Europe had Rome, Asia had China.

Most East Asian countries, including Korea, belonged to the Chinese character cultural sphere, and China was practically the root of Eastern culture. It truly had been an incredible civilization.

But modern China had cheerfully burned its own culture at the stake, lost all its past glory, and become a bunch of fools coveting other countries' histories.

Communism really was terrifying.

No.

They burned all their own brilliant history, so why were they insisting that Korea's unrelated history belonged to them?

They were an impossible people to understand.

Anyway...

“Let's start clearing the floor, Hyeji.”

“Okay. I'll start flying. Iing Iing, please.”

“Iing!”

Bo-ro-rong.

Using the fairy's telekinesis, we rose high into the sky.

The assault on Floor 20 had begun.

* * *

The layout of Floor 20 was simple.

A massive Orc Village stood ahead of us. Beyond it lay a canyon, where we had to defeat the Orc Warlord and take the Escape Portal.

Most Hunters ignored the Orc Village and broke through it.

Facing a force of fifteen hundred Orcs was no different from suicide.

But it was different for me.

‘Fifteen hundred Orcs... Once I clear this floor, I'll easily earn over thirty thousand Points.’

All I could see were delicious Points.

Why would I give them up?

Still, there really were a lot of them.

‘There are seriously so many Orc bastards. Was this how Goguryeo felt when it faced the Sui Dynasty's million-strong army?’

Ah. Seeing that swarm of Orcs kept making me think of China.

It seemed I was overreacting because I had learned China was targeting me.

‘Honestly... I'm a little scared.’

Even if this body was the Extreme Lunatic Hell Wizard Hunter, China was a massive country competing with America.

Knowing that the armed forces of such a superpower were after me couldn't help making me tense.

I clicked my tongue.

“Ever since I heard China was targeting me, I keep worrying about it without realizing. I need to get stronger quickly...”

“Don't worry too much, Jiho. The National Intelligence Service will handle it.”

“Hyeji, you won't be able to say that so calmly after the National Intelligence Service screws up a few times around you.”

The National Intelligence Service had let my personal information get completely leaked, and it had failed to stop an American agent from approaching me in the middle of the night.

How was I supposed to trust people who kept screwing up?

Rather than relying on the National Intelligence Service, I should raise my abilities as much as possible and make sure I didn't fall for the tricks of the Chinese or Russians.

Anyway... China.

The word China kept circling through my mind.

And before my eyes stood fifteen hundred Orcs.

I had to kill every last one.

China... massacre...

Then, a new concept came to me.

“Hyeji. From now on, please call me Mao Zedong.”

“...?”

“No one can match Mao Zedong when it comes to massacres.”

Mao Zedong!

China's founding father!

The man who killed the most people in the world!

He was a true genius of massacre.

Compared to our boy Zedong, every other mass murderer was just an ordinary man!

Hitler?

That bastard only killed seventeen million people. In the end, he was even dealt with by Adolf, that pure young art student.

An ordinary fascist.

Stalin?

That guy only killed twenty million people too. He strutted around with his Great Purge and Gulags, but his heart was far too soft.

An ordinary communist.

Genghis Khan?

He was pretty good.

He killed as many as forty million people.

But he was still ordinary, so he couldn't claim the title of number one mass murderer.

The Extreme Lunatic Hell Mass Murderer himself, our boy Zedong, was on a completely different level from those ordinary men.

He massacred eighty million people with a click while sitting down!

As a fellow click-based mass murderer, I couldn't help admiring him from the bottom of my heart.

‘I can do some clicking too... but at most, I kill a few hundred or a thousand Orcs. That bastard ground up eighty million people while sitting down. I can feel the wall between us.’

Truly, the spirit of the continent!

The holder of the world record for massacres!

He was simply incredible.

Maybe I could learn some tricks for massacring if I followed his example.

So, on Floor 20, I planned to reenact Mao Zedong's achievements one by one.

“Watch me, Mao Zedong! I'll follow in your footsteps and become a genius of massacre!”

I stared into the sky and made a firm vow.

Of course, Mao Zedong's face did not appear beyond the clouds.

That was because Mao Zedong, the mass murderer of eighty million, was in hell rather than heaven.

Anyway.

I turned my gaze toward the Orcs below and spoke quietly to Hyeji beside me.

“Look over there, Hyeji. Those Orcs are all gaunt and live like primitive people. They must be short on food and iron...”

“How are they gaunt? They're built like mountains of muscle. And what do you mean, iron? Can't you see the axes they're carrying?”

“Don't you feel sorry for those gaunt Orcs? For the revival of our great Chinese Orc People's Republic, we must carry out the Great Leap Forward!”

“...Jiho. I'm seriously telling you this, but you should visit a psychiatric hospital.”

It seemed Hyeji lacked revolutionary spirit.

This was why rich bourgeois people were always like this!

How dare she deny the Great Leap Forward?

If this movement succeeded, our Chinese Orc People's Republic would surpass Britain and contend with America...!

Without answering Hyeji's grumbling, I continued.

“Look! The poor Orc people are so gaunt. It's because those evil sparrows ate all the food of the good Orc people... We have to kill every sparrow.”

“You really are insane.”

“That bird is a harmful bird!”

I cast Storm.

-Kraaa-BOOM!

Countless bolts of lightning swept through the air and roasted the Orcs golden brown.

-Kwoooaaaar!

-Kyaaaaaah!

The Orcs screamed and collapsed.

Dozens of blackened Orcs fell in heaps, giving off acrid smoke.

I continued firing magic.

-Kra-rumble!

-Kra-boom!

-Kraaa-rumble!

One by one, they were charred black and fell.

I scattered Storm magic wildly across the broad area.

Hundreds of Orcs died and collapsed.

I had dealt with many evil sparrows, Orcs that stole food!

The Orc people's food situation should have improved greatly now.

But it still wasn't enough.

“Now that we've killed many evil sparrows, the food situation has improved enough... but there's still far too little iron.”

“...What iron?”

“Our great Chinese Orc Republic must surpass Britain in seven years and catch up to America in fifteen. At least in steel production!”

“...”

“The answer is backyard blast furnaces! Light fires in the backyard furnaces and produce steel!”

I fired Fireball.

-Fwoooosh!

Red trails pierced through the air.

They were the Fireballs I had created and fired.

Dozens of Fireballs struck all across the Orc Village.

-KWAAANG!

-KWANG!

-KWAKWAKWAKWAKWANG!

Explosions erupted everywhere, and flames soared skyward.

Orcs struck by Fireballs were torn to shreds, scattering blood and entrails.

The huts crumbled helplessly.

Orcs shattered and flew apart.

-Kyaaaah!

-Woooooo!

-Kurk. Kugh...!

Blood mist burst forth, body parts scattered everywhere, and chunks of entrails flew through the air.

I poured out dozens of Fireballs and ground up hundreds of Orcs in an instant!

And after the flames died down, massive amounts of steel, Orc loot, had been produced.

The power of backyard blast furnaces was truly incredible.

If I built enough backyard blast furnaces, Fireballs, I could surpass Britain's steel production and compete with America!

“Look, Hyeji! Thanks to the backyard blast furnaces, iron has been produced!”

“...Sigh.”

“But... I won't stop here. I'll carry out water control projects.”

“Do whatever you want...”

“May all Orc people have an abundance of water!”

Tap.

I landed on the ground and worked my magic.

The magic I used was Protective Aura.

By manipulating the water element, I created a transparent membrane around my body.

-Hummmmmm!

A compressed membrane of water wrapped around me.

Then...

-Woooooar!

-Kwoooaaaar!

Dozens, perhaps over a hundred Orcs, charged toward me with axes clutched in their hands.

Water control.

In other words, controlling water.

It was also one of Mao Zedong's projects during the Great Leap Forward.

He had built crude dams and canals across the country to prepare for droughts and floods, but it failed because of reckless construction and ecological destruction.

I too intended to conduct a water control project.

But mine would be different from Mao Zedong's.

Because I had magic.

“I will supply water to the Orc people!”

In other words, I rapidly spun my water-based Protective Aura and fired it at the Orcs!

A vortex of high-pressure water whirled around me.

-KWAKAKAKAKAKAKAK!

Over a hundred Orcs were ground up in an instant by the high-pressure water.

-Kyaaaaah!

-Wooooooaagh!

-Kugh...!

Splash!

The Orcs were fed into the Water-Blender and scattered as bloody water.

Their blood and chunks of flesh sprayed in every direction, and their corpses covered the ground.

Drip, drip...

Orc blood fell to the ground.

I murmured quietly.

“The Great Leap Forward is over.”

I slowly looked around.

What I saw were Orc corpses scattered everywhere, chunks of their flesh strewn in all directions, and blood soaking the ground.

Half the massive Orc Village had been destroyed.

Of the fifteen hundred Orcs, half had died.

Eight hundred citizens of the Chinese Orc People's Republic had perished!

“No... Why? I carried out the Great Leap Forward and improved the Orcs' lives! Why did eight hundred of them die?”

“You killed them all, Jiho.”

“If the Great Leap Forward has failed... then the answer is the Cultural Revolution! For the revolution, we must destroy everything old! Old ideas, old culture, old customs, old habits... We will smash the Four Olds!”

“Haah...”

With my eyes blazing, I looked around.

Then I saw them.

The old things scattered all around...

In other words, the Orc Village's huts!

I fired Fireball.

“I'll destroy every old thing! Even if it's cultural heritage!”

KWAKWAKWAKWAKWANG!

Countless explosions shook the entire area, and the Orc Village's huts burst apart.

The Orc bastards hiding inside the huts and waiting for an opportunity were ground up alongside them.

Blood and heaps of debris flew high into the sky.

I rampaged through the Orc Village, destroying everything in sight.

I killed the reactionary Orcs that charged at me and erased the old things I saw everywhere, the Orc huts.

Then I spotted some notable ones.

-Woah! Woagh!

-Wooooo!

They clutched staffs made from bone and prepared magic.

Orc Shamans.

Those who had learned the academic discipline called magic.

In other words, intellectuals!

My eyes shone as I fired magic at them.

“Those Westernized intellectual elites! Enemies of the revolution! Execute them!”

Kraaa-rumble!

I blasted the intellectuals, Orc Shamans, with lightning magic and charred every one I saw black.

Like that, I killed the Orcs one by one.

I killed them in all sorts of ways.

Sometimes I fired Fireballs, sometimes lightning magic, sometimes Air Bullets, and sometimes I used Protective Aura.

I was having fun with my Mao Zedong concept, but the real purpose of Floor 20 was to reorganize my magical abilities.

I repeatedly used as many different spells as possible while looking for things to improve.

-Kraaa-rumble!

-Bzzzt!

-KWAAANG!

-KWAKAKAKAK!

I electrocuted, burned, exploded, ground up, and crushed the Orc bastards while manipulating various elements.

Then, suddenly...

‘...Something.’

A strange sensation washed over me.

‘Something. It feels like my magic is activating more smoothly.’

Was it because I had used far more kinds of magic than usual?

The more I alternated between spells, the more I felt my magical control becoming smoother.

It was like oiling a stiff machine.

Or like loosened joints becoming flexible.

Mana moved far more naturally than before, arranging itself precisely where I wanted it.

Thanks to that...

‘My spell activation speed has become much faster.’

My magic activated more quickly.

No. It had gone beyond simply becoming quicker.

Previously, I had activated magic by drawing out every part of the mana arrangement in my head.

Now, I could create magic with only a fleeting image.

Spells formed and activated in an instant.

And so...

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

The large Fireballs I had once carefully prepared one by one could now be created and fired wildly like a machine gun.

KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWANG!

The Orc Village burned, and countless huts were destroyed and scattered.

The speed of mana particle placement had risen dramatically.

My spell activation speed had become absurdly fast.

So I thought:

‘At this speed, I might even be able to fire Railgun repeatedly.’

The magic I had created on Floor 18.

Railgun.

I had not used it properly until now.

It was powerful and efficient, but it took somewhat longer to activate than my other spells, and preparing a projectile was troublesome.

I had to create two virtual rails, float a projectile separately, then fire it.

It took over ten seconds to prepare and launch.

So repeated fire had been impossible.

I had only learned it as a kind of finishing move.

But with magic activation this fast, I might even be able to fire Railgun repeatedly.

“Hyeji, give me a few Orc axeheads.”

“Why?”

“I want to try firing Railgun repeatedly.”

“...”

Hyeji handed me several Orc axeheads she had collected, and I picked up one of them and fired it.

-KWANG!

The time it took to create the virtual rails and fire the projectile was under one second.

Its activation speed was far faster than before!

I went ahead and tried repeated fire too.

-KWANG!

“Holy shit.”

The activation time had dropped to under a second.

I could now fire it repeatedly.

If the old me had used Railgun magic like firing a musket, I could now blast it like a semiautomatic rifle!

A dramatic increase in rate of fire!

And so...

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Every time Railgun fired, countless Orc huts were pierced straight through.

Thanks to its absurd penetrating power, the projectiles ripped through countless Orcs and huts, punching through distances measured in kilometers.

I was satisfied.

“I liked Railgun's power and efficiency, but it was hard to use in real combat because of the loading speed. Now, it looks perfectly usable in an actual fight.”

It was the strongest single-target attack magic I possessed.

And now I could fire Railgun repeatedly too.

Could I really start crushing even High Floor Hunters now?

I clenched my fist.

‘At this rate, I don't think I'd be scared at all even if China's Hunter special operations unit came after me.’

No matter how strong High Floor Hunters were, could they withstand repeated Railgun fire?

The unexpected gain put me in a good mood.

Anyway, I continued killing Orcs, completely wiped out the Orc Village, and then...

-KWANG!

I killed the Orc Warlord, the boss monster inside the canyon.

For the record, the Orc Warlord went down in one Railgun shot too.

Even the boss of the Orc Floors was nothing special.