Level Up Machine

Chapter 72 The Siege of Talion Fortress (7)

“Watch out!”

Tiria’s voice, filled with desperation, reached his ears.

Yeong-sik turned his head in the direction of the voice. Tiria, with radiant angel wings on her back, was flying towards him.

“Danger?”

Yeong-sik wanted to say it was dangerous, that she shouldn’t come this way.

But before he could say anything, Tiria had already reached him.

“Hold on to me, Yeong-sik!”

Tiria shouted as she desperately stretched out her hand toward him. Yeong-sik grasped her hand. Despite the urgency of the situation, he thought her hand felt soft.

“Call of the Celestial Realm!”

With their hands clasped, Tiria closed her eyes tightly and shouted.

A brilliant light enveloped their bodies and they soared into the air.

Their bodies shot up to the sky at an incredible speed, as if a pillar of light was ascending to the heavens.

-BOOOOOM!

A red beam of destructive light passed through the spot where Yeong-sik had been standing.

Lekras’s breath, which annihilated everything in its path, crashed into a distant mountain, shattering it completely before disappearing into the sky.

“Huff, huff.”

Tiria’s heavy breaths were felt by Yeong-sik. Deactivating his suit, Yeong-sik used a boost to lift his body into the air, holding the panting Tiria.

“Are you alright, Yeong-sik?”

Tiria asked in a faint, almost broken voice, as if she had used a great deal of strength.

Yeong-sik nodded slowly in response to her question.

“Yes. Thanks to you, I’m safe.”

Yeong-sik recalled the moment when Lekras’s breath was about to engulf him.

Thinking about Lekras’s breath sent chills down Yeong-sik’s spine.

Even though Lekras had exhausted his life force to unleash his breath, the suit he wore, with its extraordinary performance that could be called SSS-grade, would have prevented his entire body from being annihilated.

However, the suit would have heated up so much that the user inside could have died from the intense heat.

“Thank goodness…”

Hearing Yeong-sik’s voice, Tiria buried her face in his chest with tears in her eyes.

A sobbing sound escaped from her lips.

Tiria’s shoulders, which were holding Yeong-sik, trembled slightly.

“I was so afraid… I thought you were going to die too, Yeong-sik.”

Tiria spoke in a tearful voice. Yeong-sik gently patted Tiria’s head as she cried.

He could roughly guess what emotions Tiria was feeling right now.

Despite her heavy responsibilities as the guild leader, Tiria had lost her precious family less than a month ago.

No matter if she inherited the power of an angel or if she once led a giant guild, her essence was a kind-hearted woman with a tender heart, who could be saddened by the smallest of things.

**Chapter 72**

**The Siege of Talion Fortress (7)**

She had not yet healed from the wounds of losing her family, and the possibility of losing another family member, a guild member, must have been a tremendous shock to her.

“It’s alright. I’m safe.”

“Thank goodness. Really, thank goodness.”

Tiria, still holding Yeong-sik, cried sorrowfully. Yeong-sik waited quietly until she calmed down.

“Heu… hu…”

Yeong-sik looked down at her, struggling to calm down, and let out a slight sigh.

“It’s good that you value the lives of guild members. But if you get this shocked every time, it will be hard for you moving forward.”

Yeong-sik spoke in a slightly lecturing tone, as he had done to her in the underground prison of the royal castle. Valuing the lives of guild members and considering them like family was a good thing.

However, it would be problematic if she reacted and was shocked every time a guild member was in danger.

To grow the Salvator Guild back to its former glory, or even beyond, there were many obstacles to overcome.

Along this journey, there would be countless times when guild members’ lives would be in danger. In fact, it was highly likely that there would be actual deaths.

As the guild leader, she needed to be somewhat prepared for the deaths of guild members.

“It’s not that.”

“Huh…?”

Yeong-sik tilted his head at Tiria’s faint voice. Tiria, with a slightly stronger voice, spoke again.

“It’s not just because you’re a guild member.”

“It’s because it’s you, Yeong-sik.”

Tiria’s face turned bright red as she spoke.

Yeong-sik opened his mouth, looking perplexed.

“What do you mean by…”

-Ding.

At that moment, a clear ringing sound interrupted his words.

[You have defeated the S-rank boss monster Lekras.]

[Five million experience points and fifty thousand gold will be distributed according to contribution.]

[You have achieved the highest contribution and obtained the ownership of the S-rank rare item ‘Dragon’s Blood’. ‘Dragon’s Blood’ has been moved to your inventory.]

[Item Info – Dragon’s Blood (Rank: S)]

Details: The dragon’s blood contains the power of Kargas, the master of Lekras.

Options: Increases all stats by 20 upon consumption, and grants the skill ‘Dragonization.’

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

[You have reached the maximum level of 73. You will not level up any further. Remaining experience points will be accumulated and applied when the maximum level increases.]

A dizzying number of blue message windows appeared in front of Yeong-sik’s eyes.

“What is this?”

Yeong-sik’s eyes sparkled as he checked the rewards. What caught his attention the most was the S-rank rare item, “Dragon’s Blood.”

‘I’m lucky.’

From what Yeong-sik had heard, the drop rate for rare items of A-rank or higher was extremely low, so even if you defeated a boss monster, it was more likely that nothing would drop.

But this time, he was lucky enough to get an S-rank rare item.

‘First place in contribution, huh.’

Yeong-sik recalled the Lekras that had been battered by the Jericho missile. The decisive reason for its death was that it sacrificed its life to use its breath attack, but the massive damage Yeong-sik had inflicted prior to that naturally made him the top contributor.

‘I didn’t use the weapon expecting this kind of result.’

Yeong-sik hadn’t anticipated that the Jericho missile would be this powerful, so he felt a bit bewildered.

He looked at the item information for “Dragon’s Blood” in the message window.

Upon confirming the item information, Yeong-sik let out a short exclamation. He didn’t know exactly what the skill “Dragonization” entailed, but the fact that it increased all stats by 20 was incredible.

As a simple example, Yeong-sik currently possessed strength incomparable to other summoners of the same level due to additional stats gained through the memory cube.

Although his level was only in the 70s, his actual power was comparable to that of a summoner in the 90s.

The reason summoners who surpassed level 100 were specially referred to as “Rankers” was because their stats increased explosively when they transitioned from level 99 to 100, giving them power incomparable to before.

‘If all my stats increase by 20, I’ll have stats almost equivalent to a Ranker at level 100 at my current level.’

Yeong-sik’s eyes sparkled at the thought. Generally, it was better to have a high level with average stats than a low level with high stats because health and mana increased with level-ups, excluding the stats.

But Yeong-sik was different. He knew how to increase his level cap.

‘If my level cap exceeds 100 at this rate, it would be incredible.’

Thinking this, Yeong-sik smiled contentedly.

‘Let’s check how much gold I’ve earned.’

To increase his level cap, or more precisely, to level up his Structural Analysis skill, he needed a massive amount of gold.

The materials necessary for crafting skills, such as iron ore or mana-infused minerals, were extremely expensive.

Especially the mana-infused minerals, which were so costly that it would make one’s jaw drop.

‘35,000 gold.’

Considering that four people, but effectively only three, had defeated Lekras, it was indeed a substantial amount.

‘Converted to Korean won, that’s hundreds of billions…’

Yeong-sik smiled at the unrealistic amount.

With this amount, he wouldn’t lack materials for enhancing his crafting skills or reinforcement skills.

“Yeong-sik…?”

As Yeong-sik spoke and then got distracted, Tiria looked up at him with a puzzled expression.

Distracted by the recent rewards, Yeong-sik turned his attention back to her with an awkward smile.

“Oh, sorry. I was thinking about something else for a moment. What were we talking about?”

“…Hmph. It wasn’t anything important.”

For some reason, Tiria turned her head away with a pouting expression. Seeing her like that, Yeong-sik scratched his head awkwardly.

“What should we do now, Yeong-sik? Should we go down as we are?”

“Hmm. No. I’d like to keep our identities hidden as much as possible, so I’ll join the guild members and come back here. Tiria, go down and make sure to secure that item we talked about before.”

“You mean the Black Cube?”

“Yes.”

Yeong-sik nodded and continued speaking.

“And if anyone asks about me or your identity, come up with a suitable excuse. Can I leave that to you, Tiria?”

“Yes. I’ll manage to explain things well.”

“Then I’ll bring the guild members, so please wait for me there.”

“Alright. See you in a bit.”

Tiria responded with her characteristic gentle smile.

Yeong-sik looked at Tiria, who was complying so readily, with a complicated expression.

‘It feels like the roles of the guild leader have been reversed…’

In fact, from the current situation, one would think that Yeong-sik was the one in charge.

‘Well, it’s good for me.’

Having the guild leader’s unwavering trust and obedience wasn’t a bad thing for him.

‘As long as it benefits the guild, this kind of relationship shouldn’t be a problem.’

Yeong-sik himself couldn’t understand why he was so adept at handling groups and giving orders.

Even though fragments of his past had surfaced after unlocking the seventh security level, he still couldn’t piece together his entire identity.

But what was certain was that his actions were all benefiting the Salvator Guild.

Yeong-sik separated from her and spoke.

“Just wait a little longer.”

He said, turning his head. Tiria looked somewhat regretful as they parted.

“Yeong-sik…”

“Yes?”

Yeong-sik turned his head towards Tiria, who was calling him.