CH ss - 21

Side Story Chapter 21 - One-horn (6)

Wouldn’t a laurel wreath with twigs from divine cedar look pretty?

Phante started running around the Tower to make what Edora had called the most suitable and ‘best dress’. The floors? The tests? What was the use of those things? Phante was just going to ram past everything.

“Aha!”

Divine cedar was a tree said to be blessed by the gods and demons who resided on the ninety-eighth floor. For this reason, among the players living in the Tower, the people of faith tended to visit this place the most. They hoped that their voices would be better delivered, even just a little better, to the gods and demons that they worshiped. The rumor was that the divine cedar originated from a fallen branch of the World Tree.

So, the moment Phante appeared on top of such a tree and did something unspeakable, all the gathered players, who had been praying with reverence, screamed aloud.

“W-What is that…!”

“Why is the One-horned Tribe over there…?”

“What the hell is that madman doing?!”

“Ack! No!”

When Phante first appeared atop the divine cedar tree, the gathered players did not take him too seriously, saying, ‘Another One-horned Tribe member doing something One-horned’. They did not appreciate that a being was sullying the sacred tree by standing atop of it, but they were unable to do anything since they were not confident in fighting against such a fierce foe, especially one from the One-horned Tribe. They just hoped that he would get bored of playing around and leave. However, the man suddenly grabbed the trunk of the divine cedar and shook it recklessly!

They questioned whether the large divine cedar tree would bend just because this crazy guy grabbed it and shook it, but the divine cedar tree swayed and creaked very loudly. It was as if it were a bamboo tree that was being hit by the wind and rain. Thanks to this, the tree’s leaves started to fall like raindrops and several small and large branches started to pour down non-stop.

The gathered players, who were praying in the shade of the tree, had no choice but to run out. If they remained under the tree, the falling matter might break their heads. The fleeing players and those observing the scene from afar all turned pale.

Not caring about what others were thinking, Phante shook the divine cedar tree for a long time until he gathered as many branches as he wanted. “Hmm… Is this more than I need?” The basket that Phante was carrying on his back was bursting with divine cedar branches.

“It probably doesn’t matter.” Phante wanted to err on the safe side, so he decided that he would rather have more branches than not enough. After getting what he wanted, Phante quickly left the scene. In the place where he disappeared…

Whoosh!

“Ah, ah, ah…!”

“The d-divine cedar…!”

“God, oh my god!”

“Why is this happening to us…!”

All the leaves had fallen off and only a few bare branches remained.

***

“Arachne’s thread! I’ve heard that dresses made from it sparkle beautifully, like finely ground gemstones.”

Arachne was a being known for its exceptional skill in handling threads. It was to the extent that there were legends of how it competed evenly with Athena, a major god of Olympus. But, according to the legends, Arachne believed so firmly in its own abilities that it became arrogant and slandered the gods. This led to it being cursed by the gods and forced to live as a spider species, both for Arachne and her offspring.

This was why it was difficult to deal with monsters with the name ‘Arachne’. The Arachne, who took on the form of a spider, spewed its thread from someplace near its butt region. The thread that came out was very sticky, full of viscosity, and so elastic that it could not be cut easily, no matter how sharp one’s knife or sword.

Since the Arachne lived in groups, their threads were always used in their nests, creating a natural trap from which intruders could not escape. That's why even high-ranking players tended to avoid the Arachne’s nests.

“Give it up.”

Along the pathway where Phante had burst across, the bodies of dead Arachne littered the ground, with their bodies flipped over and their spider legs crumbled inward. As a bonus, Phante was able to secure several ejection organs near the corpses’ buttocks. He piled the loot into the basket on his back.

“Give it up!”

The ejection organ was the anus through which the Arachne excreted waste. Because of this, in the eyes of the Arachne who were still in their nests, Phante was seen as a rampaging pervert who was ginning for their butts, literally.

“Give it to me!”

Every time their eyes met with Phante’s, like a madman, Phante would shout out ‘Give it up! Give it to me! Gimme it!’ The scene of such a crazed, shouting character induced fear for the Arachne. Furthermore, the Arachne could not properly understand human speech. However, without understanding what he was saying, they knew what he was after with fanatical obsession and greed! Their asses!

Phante’s roars made their nests shake and thump, inducing greater terror and fear for all the Arachne.

The Arachne were reputed to be the apex predators around this region, but this newly arrived player was way above their heads, no, their asses!

Kee!

Kee! Kee! Kee!

The butt pervert has appeared! You must protect your asses!

The Arachne scattered all over the place to avoid Phante. They ran awkwardly with several of their legs covering their rears, trying to protect their butts from being exposed.

“Hey! Give it to me! Give it! Hahaha! Butts everywhere! Ass here! Ass there! Hahaha…!”

Kee! The Arachne nests filled with cries as Phante’s deranged shouts got louder. And then…

Kee… Arachne, the boss who was at the innermost part of the nest, trembled and closed its eyes tightly. It possessed the largest ass. It was obvious what fate would soon befall it.

***

“On the thirtieth floor, in the Sea of Death, the pearls that are at the bottom of the sea…”

Since Edora stated that she wanted pearls to decorate her dress, Phante had overturned the entire Sea of Death, which boasted an enormous size that covered an entire three floors.

Because of this, natural disasters occurred one after another, such as storm surges and volcanic eruptions… But Phante paid no attention. He was beyond a nuisance. He had become a moving disaster zone.

***

“On the forty-first floor, there’s a bird called Heavenly Stork…”

“Hmm, I raced out so quickly to gather the materials that I didn’t quite hear what type of feather she wanted.”

When he listened to his sister’s words, Phante thought it would not be too difficult to gather the bird’s feathers, but the bird, the Heavenly Stork, that Edora spoke of boasted a formidable size, exceeding twenty meters in height.

Even though the Heavenly Stork possessed so many different feathers that Phante could not tell exactly which one was needed. The more gorgeous feathers were limited to the area around the bird’s tail, but Phante, who did not possess an ounce of aesthetic taste, was unable to recognize it.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter.” Phante smiled broadly. “I’ll just kill them off and take them all with me.”

Boom! And on that day, a mountain range that occupied more than half of the stage on the forty-first floor completely collapsed.

***

In a short time, Phante roamed the Tower’s world. Who else’s older brother would work so hard for his precious sister?

‘Hahaha. I hope she doesn’t cry too much from appreciation.’ Phante envisioned Edora weeping from appreciation, so his shoulders naturally became broader, and subsequently, he carried himself with greater confidence.

Edora, from the previous time period, always told Phante that, ‘as you get older, your brain is turning more into pure muscle’.

Phante was adamant to change that sentiment during this time period. Rather, he would make sure that Edora looked up to him with eyes full of respect and admiration!

‘If I can make that happen…! If I can get her onto my side, and since she has a hold on Yeon-woo, I’ll finally be able to escape that tyrant’s grasp! Then, I’ll be able to throw my weight around as his brother-in-law!’ In fact, this was the secret motivation that spurred Phante into action. Did it matter what motivated him? If he could act like a good older brother and gain some benefits at the same time…

Phante was already imagining a world where Yeon-woo was calling him ‘brother-in-law’ with a respectful face. In the One-horned Tribe, who followed tradition strictly, these titles and manners carried great weight. ‘Very good. Very good. Hahaha!’ His happiness was shooting upwards to the moon.

***

“…What is all this?” After leaving Yeon-woo and the Martial King in the meeting room, who both said they had something to share with each other, Edora frowned. She was concerned that her father was going to ask Yeon-woo to do something absurd… However, Edora was soon ambushed from an unexpected place…

“They’re…formal complaints.” The head elder pressed his fingers against his stinging temples. Edora could feel the head elder’s deep anger as he continued to speak through clenched teeth.

Scrolls were piled high enough to fill one wall of the hallway. The problem was that other members of the tribe continued to bring out and pile on more scrolls.

“Letters of complaint… Huh?” Edora felt a chill running up her spine.

“Yes. Phante! That idiotic bastard is running around wreaking havoc everywhere.”

The head elder tossed the scrolls he held in his hand as he ground his teeth.

“This complaint states that the divine cedar tree has become barren, as all of its leaves and most of its branches have been torn off. It has completely lost its divine ability and connection to the heavenly world.”

Plop.

“This complaint is from the Tower’s administrative branch office. They’re saying that the Sea of Death on the twenty-eighth floor has suddenly dried up, rendering it impossible to operate the stage any longer.”

Plop.

“This complaint is about something being burned in the river on the eleventh floor. All those who drink from the river have gotten excruciating stomach aches.”

Plop...

“The whole forty-first floor’s mountain range was blown away, so there are no mobs that allow players to raise their stats. And this complaint…”

Plop. Plop. Plop. As the scrolls fell one by one, Edora’s expression changed moment by moment. All this destruction could not be considered trivial. Natural disasters, desolate winds… Phante was leaving a wake of destruction as he tore across the Tower’s floors. The damage went far beyond affecting just one or two players or clans. Phante’s actions had stopped the operation of several stages on different floors.

If Phante was left alone, the accumulated damage may become irreversible, so despite the fear of the One-horned Tribe, the players had sent complaints as a collective group. Even the Tower’s administrative office asked what the heck was going on… Truly, the entire ecosystem of the Tower was being messed up because of Phante.

‘What the hell is that idiot brother of mine doing?’ Edora understood that the only person who could do such a thing was the Phante who came from the future with Yeon-woo. She thought he would be old enough to know better…! Somehow, it did not seem like age corresponded with wisdom or intelligence for her brother. No, in many ways, he seemed to be getting younger. Edora felt a massive headache coming on.

‘How is his head only full of muscles!’ This was not in reference to Phante’s anatomy, wherein the brain was essentially a muscle, biologically. Edora felt that Phante’s soul was ruled by reincarnated muscle. Even after getting married, she was worried that Phante would continue causing accidents like this and drag Yeon-woo down with him. Tremble. Tremble. Edora’s insides boiled.

“And do you know what this is?”

“…What is it?”

Somehow, Edora’s anxiety grew.

“Phante beat down the advance squad on the seventy-seventh floor, which was dispatched to investigate the disappearance of Allforone, because they were making too much noise.”

“…”

“Anyway, as if he’s not Nayu’s son…!”

The head elder frowned as he remembered the Martial King’s youth. The Martial King used to fight all the time and caused accident after accident when he was young. For some reason, the head elder’s anger grew as he recalled the headaches he had to face during that time. At that moment…

“I! I have been wronged!” Someone shouted from outside. It was Phante… The Phante of the current time period was caught and dragged by various tribe members. Phante had drool all over his mouth as he screamed bloody murder. He was passionately stating the injustice of his incrimination. It seemed that he was suffering harm due to the actions of the Phante from the future.

‘Such a troublemaker…’ Edora had to press her forehead with her index fingers. She had an ominous feeling that sooner or later, she would become as wrinkly as the head elder.