I Became the Youngest Prince in the Novel

162 - The Tower of Causality (2)

TL/Editor: raei

Status: ongoing

Illustrations: none

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Episode 162, Chapter 45: The Tower of Causality (2)

SCREECH!

Golden Claw Gnolls, considered the top-tier among gnolls, charged towards the silver-haired woman in a systematic formation.

RAT-TAT-TAT!

The woman rushed towards the gnolls, holding her sword against her left side.

The woman's sword slashed horizontally with a light touch.

But the scene that followed was anything but light.

CRACKLE!

A silver flash of light, following the trajectory of the woman's sword, cut through all the charging Golden Claw Gnolls at once.

As if that wasn't enough, the flash continued on, even splitting the maze walls.

The woman's form, having dealt with all the attacking monsters, instantly reached the end of the maze.

-You have passed the trial of the first floor.

The Trial Helper's voice rang in the woman's ears.

'I cleared it almost in a straight line.'

A satisfied light gleamed in the woman's eyes.

She had passed through the maze faster than expected.

There were two ways to clear the 'Labyrinth of Anguish', the trial of the Tower of Causality's first floor.

The first was to follow the standard route, dealing with normal monsters along the way.

The second was to find a hidden shortcut and break through while dealing with the stronger monsters in between.

Of course, the woman had chosen the second method.

Even the stronger monsters weren't much of a challenge, given that this was just the first floor's trial.

'This should definitely put me in first place.'

The woman lightly shook her sword, waiting for the ranking announcement.

There was a reason she was so intent on getting first place.

The highest-grade reward given only to the person who scored the highest among those climbing the Tower of Causality.

The woman had entered the tower aiming for that reward from the start.

'Originally, I should aim for the special reward above that, but...'

That was already out of reach.

To obtain the special reward, she needed a fragment of the Frost Queen's authority.

That's why she had previously sought out Ouroboros to get the fragment, but someone had already taken them all.

So now she had to settle for the highest-grade reward as an alternative.

'To do that, I need to gain the upper hand from the first floor.'

With that thought, just as the woman was about to take a step,

-You have passed in 2nd place. You will receive 10 basic points and 9 additional points based on your ranking.

The Trial Helper's voice reached her ears.

"...What?"

The woman's eyes filled with bewilderment.

* * *

-You have passed in 1st place. You will receive 10 basic points and 10 additional points based on your ranking.

The artificial spirit's voice rang in his ears.

Zion glanced back as he heard this voice.

What he saw was the maze walls shattered in a straight line along the path he had taken.

'Well, they didn't say not to break anything at the start.'

He had ignored the Trial Helper's belated warnings to stop as he swung his sword, but it seemed they still acknowledged it.

After all, breaking walls was also a participant's ability.

'Not bad.'

Zion thought as he looked at Eclaxia in his right hand.

Was it because he hadn't used it in a while?

The abilities of the completed Light-Extinguishing Sword exceeded even Zion's expectations.

Not only had its stability and fine control noticeably improved, but what was more surprising was its efficiency in amplifying the Black Star.

It was almost twice as effective compared to before.

If Eclaxia hadn't been complete, it probably would have been difficult to pierce through the maze walls all the way to the end with that single strike, even with the partial eclipse double overlap.

'It's a shame I won't be able to use it on the second floor.'

Just as Zion was about to send Eclaxia back,

WHOOSH!

The darkness he had seen when entering the tower once again obscured his vision.

As that darkness lifted, it revealed a not-too-large cavern, completely different from before.

Along with this,

-You have entered the trial of the second floor.

The Trial Helper's cold voice continued to ring in Zion's ears.

-Work together with other participants to defeat two boss monsters.

-The types of monsters are random.

-Points will be awarded differentially based on contribution and ability to handle special situations.

-The trial will begin immediately.

No sooner had that voice ended than, WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

People who had passed the first floor's maze began to be summoned around Zion.

The additional people who appeared totaled four.

'This is getting interesting.'

Zion smiled slightly as he spotted Rain Dranir among them, staring at him with wide eyes.

It seemed like a good opportunity to see how much stronger she had become compared to before.

'But first, I need to sort things out.'

As Zion recalled the Trial Helper's last words,

"It looks like the five of us will have to clear the second floor together."

The giant with an impressive bald head covered in tattoos spoke up, having finished his assessment of the situation.

"Then shall we start with introductions? My name is Deshawn. You've probably heard of me at least once. I passed the first floor in 14th place."

Deshawn Weiss.

Despite his warrior-like appearance, he was a sorcerer of outstanding skill, renowned in the southern part of the empire.

Perhaps because his skills backed him up?

His eyes naturally held a look that seemed to look down on others.

"I-I'm... Dayla. I'm a priestess serving the Earth God. I'm not much, but I can use healing and support spells."

Following Deshawn's words, a woman with earth-colored hair and a fragile impression introduced herself in a small voice.

But her voice trailed off after that.

"Well, since the rest don't seem inclined to reveal anything, let's get straight to the point."

Deshawn shrugged and spoke again.

"According to the voice we heard, the trial of the second floor is for us to work together to catch two boss monsters. Those monsters probably exist beyond that door."

Deshawn pointed to a massive door on one side of the cavern.

"There's no way to know what kind of monsters are in there anyway, and we'd just be wasting time standing here, so I'd like to go in soon."

Just as Deshawn was about to step towards the door with those words,

"Do you have no thoughts at all?"

A cold-looking fairy, hugging a longsword to her chest, who had been quietly watching, spoke up.

"What? What did you just say?"

The sorcerer turned towards the fairy, his eyebrow twitching.

"I said you have no thoughts. Trying to rush in without any preparation. Do you have multiple lives or something?"

"Then do you have a way to figure out what monsters are behind that door?"

"No, I don't. But I do have enough brains to assess the strength of the people here and arrange a formation before going in."

The fairy answered cynically, meeting Deshawn's eyes directly.

"Ha, what assessment! You won't even reveal your name."

"That's because of your attitude that seems to look down on others."

"Um, please calm down first..."

Dayla, the Earth God's priestess, tried to mediate between the two, but to no avail.

"Just because of such a reason!"

"Of course, I also don't like you trying to take charge of the situation. Did you think I wouldn't notice your intention to boost your own contribution?"

The atmosphere grew increasingly tense.

'It's really flowing exactly the same way.'

Rain thought to herself as she watched these people from the side.

In fact, the conflict unfolding before her eyes was something the tower itself had intended.

These five people were deliberately grouped together from among those who had passed the first floor's trial, chosen for their distinct personalities and conflicting natures.

Moreover, they were all powerful individuals with nothing to lose, so conflict was inevitable.

This was the content Rain had already heard from the silver-haired woman before entering the tower.

'She said that uniting these people was part of the trial itself.'

Probably the "special situation handling" the Trial Helper had mentioned earlier referred to resolving this situation.

Since the boss monsters appearing here were random, even Rain, who knew the tower's information, had no way of figuring them out.

Therefore, the only way to earn additional points on the second floor was to unite the people.

'To think I'd see him again here...'

Having organized her thoughts, Rain glanced at the black-haired man standing to one side with an indifferent expression.

Zion Harness.

The man who had suddenly disappeared after the Black Forest incident was right here.

'So I wasn't mistaken when I saw him in front of the tower.'

Where had he been all this time, and what had he been doing to show up now?

Rain wanted to immediately acknowledge him and bombard him with all the questions she had accumulated, but she suppressed that urge.

For now, dealing with the situation in front of her took priority.

'It seems like it's time for me to step in.'

With that thought, Rain turned her gaze back to the arguing people.

The conflict had already reached its peak.

"Isn't it natural for the strongest person to lead the situation?"

"I agree with that, but that doesn't mean it's you. And I passed the first floor in 13th place."

"Oh really? Then shall we prove who's stronger right here?"

WHOOSH!

With those words, the tattoos all over Deshawn's body began to glow, radiating an immense magical power.

"That's the first thing you've said that I like."

The fairy smiled coldly as she drew her sword from its sheath.

Sharp sword energy flowed from her, cutting through the surrounding air.

"W-We shouldn't fight among ourselves!"

Dayla cried out urgently towards the two as the situation escalated to the brink of explosion.

As if deaf to the priestess's words, Deshawn and the fairy were about to launch fatal strikes at each other when,

"That's enough."

Along with a calm voice, CRACKLE!

A streak of pure white lightning struck between the two just before they clashed.

The cavern turned completely white for a moment due to the tremendous thunder power that burst from that lightning.

After a brief moment, as the cavern returned to its original color,

"What...!"

People could see.

Rain's form, somehow positioned between Deshawn and the fairy, easily blocking both their attacks.

"Didn't you just say the strongest person should lead the situation?"

Rain grinned at the sorcerer and swordsman, who were looking at her with shaking eyes.

"Then I'll be in command here. Neither of you have any objections, right?"

"......"

Deshawn and the fairy remained silent, unable to refute Rain's words.

The attacks they had just launched at each other, though not full power, had contained a fair amount of sincerity.

For someone to casually block such attacks by intervening between them, they couldn't even begin to imagine how powerful she truly was.

Moreover, the thunder power still faintly emanating from Rain's entire body contained such tremendous strength that it made their skin crawl.

'Where did such a powerful person suddenly come from...'

In truth, they could have guessed Rain's identity to some extent from her appearance, but Deshawn and the fairy failed to do so.

They couldn't imagine that she might be that 'Rain Dranir' of the Northern Seven Outlaws.

The difference in power was simply too great.

"Oh, by the way, I passed the first floor's trial in 4th place."

Having neatly established the hierarchy by revealing her first floor performance, Rain was about to speak again when,

"Now then..."

"Are you finished sorting things out here?"

Zion, who had been silently observing the situation calmly without saying a word, spoke for the first time.

His voice, though not particularly loud - in fact, so quiet one had to strain to hear it - clearly reached everyone's ears.

'Zion...?'

As people's gazes naturally focused on him, passing over the others,

Thud, thud.

Zion began to walk.

His steps were extremely slow, but people couldn't take their eyes off him.

As if something was forcibly drawing their gaze.

Having captured everyone's attention in an instant and walked to the center, Zion's low voice flowed out,

"Then let's finish sorting out the other side and begin."

"...?"

As everyone's eyes filled with confusion at these incomprehensible words,

CRACK!

Without any warning, Zion's Gigaperses swung, vertically splitting the body of the priestess Dayla standing next to him.

---

Heya! So Rungir (previous tl) has some time to proofread so he has proofread this chap and the next 4. He's looked over the notes as well and fixed the spelling for some. Hopefully we run into more characters and terms so he can sort them properly in my notes before he's busy again.

6/7 Enjoy the chappy!

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