Meanwhile, at that very moment, in the upper levels of the White Tower.
—Grrrr-ruuuuummmble!!
A massive, 9-meter-tall Frost Guardian raised a giant ice flail, crafted from azure chill, high above its head. At its feet, the frontline fighters who had been trying to hold the behemoth back scattered in all directions like frightened ants.
"We can't block that! Scatter, scatter!"
"Getting hit might be our job, but there's a limit! How the fuck do we block that?!"
Judging that the strike would be a fatal, unblockable blow, the frontliners scrambled. The damage dealers waiting in the backline also hurriedly dove into pits created by earth mages or ducked behind magical barriers.
"It's coming down!"
Kooooooo-booooom—!!
As soon as Nam Ju-hee—Lee Hwa-rin’s best friend and most trusted comrade—shouted the warning, the colossal Frost Guardian’s flail slammed into the ground. The earth shuddered violently, forcing the retreating frontliners to tumble across the floor.
"Shit pattern!"
"Can't block it, and even if you dodge, the shockwave and ground tremors stun you! What a fucking garbage mob!"
An area-of-effect stun that ignored whether you were in the front or back.
If you tried to jump over it like skipping rope, the massive wind pressure and shockwave generated from the flail smashing the floor would knock you out of the battlefield entirely, even if only for a moment.
To the sows of a certain pig farm, getting hit by this would be nothing more than being pelted by a slightly large chunk of ice. But unlike those heroes who had essentially become monsters themselves, for the ordinary people of this world, this was a truly vicious and malicious attack pattern.
Thuuud—!
"Hwa-rin took down another one!"
"Just hold out a little longer! Don't let this bastard get near her!"
Unlike the lower floors they had broken through, the levels of the Frost Guardians had clearly spiked as they ascended the upper layers.
In the lower layers, the guardians waited like polite dungeon mobs to be defeated one by one. But here, the guardians coordinated. As soon as the intruders ascended, they swarmed, employing a new pattern specifically designed to separate Lee Hwa-rin—the only one capable of soloing them—from her party, forcing them into a desperate struggle.
"Frontline, regain balance!"
"Stop that bastard from lifting the flail!"
"Sit on it, break it, do whatever you have to!"
While Lee Hwa-rin was busy slaughtering the smaller fry, her party’s role was to tie down this colossal Frost Guardian until their ace returned.
Slowly, the giant golem began to drag its flail back to recover it. Matching its movement, the frontliners, armed with hammers and armfuls of massive stakes—resembling oversized tent pegs—charged in unison toward the guardian's hand and weapon.
"Break it! Smash it to pieces!"
"Melt it, crush it, just don't let the fucker swing it again!"
"It's so damn hard!"
Grit and desperation fueled the frontliners as they hammered their tools into the Frost Guardian’s flail, trying to weaken it even slightly. The damage dealers in the back, having barely recovered from the shockwave, poured their magic onto the guardian to support them.
Thud, Ka-blaaam! Booom—!
Fire and lightning erupted. Explosions that would turn an ordinary person into a doomsday prophet rocked the hall, sending clouds of steam billowing outward.
Having fought these guardians since the lower floors, they knew all too well how absurdly hard their bodies were. No one dared to utter the cursed phrase, "Did we get him?"
"Hey! Dealers, pour more damage! Just for a second, his hand movement slowed down!"
"It's seriously not going in!"
Clang-clang—!
Like driving stakes for a massive circus tent, Nam Ju-hee kept shouting orders while relentlessly hammering pegs over the spots her teammates held down. The damage dealers responded to the frontline’s call, focusing their firepower on the guardian's arm and torso.
"Oh, it went in!"
"Really?!"
This Frost Guardian might possess the most overwhelming destructive power of any they had faced, but that power came entirely from the massive weight of its flail. Its body was just as sluggish as the others. If they could neutralize the weapon, the rest would be a piece of cake.
Lee Hwa-rin’s firepower was the strongest among them, but the rest of the party were still top-tier Hunters, ranked among the best in the country—no, the world.
One by one, the pegs drove deep. With a final, decisive strike from Nam Ju-hee’s hammer, cracks began to spread from the embedded spikes, connecting like a dotted line.
"Stomp it! Stomp on it!"
"It's cracking! It's cracking!"
As the Frost Guardian tried to pull its hand back, the tension caused the cracks to widen further. Sensing victory, the frontliners jumped up and down on the shaft of the flail, hammering wildly.
"It's breaking!"
"Jump off! We're higher up than we thought!"
"When did he lift it this high?!"
With a shower of shattering ice shards and debris from the destroyed flail, the frontliners, including Nam Ju-hee, leaped off the Frost Guardian’s body.
But in that instant—
"Something's wrong..."
"Frontline! Shields up! Shields up immediately!"
"That bastard is acting weird. He abandoned the weapon!"
"Raise your shiel— No, dodge!"
Kwa-aaaaa-aaaang—!!
It sounded as if a thunderbolt had struck.
A deafening roar erupted in the blink of an eye. The frontliners who had been at the epicenter were blasted outward, rolling helplessly across the floor.
"This fucker... he punched... and he's fast...!"
Nam Ju-hee, the only frontliner who managed to stay conscious, stared through the frosty mist. There stood the colossal Frost Guardian, its fist buried in the ground as if it had just smashed through a stack of roof tiles.
The moment its weapon broke, it didn't hesitate. It let go and immediately clenched its fist to smash the ant-like humans jumping off its body, driving a punch straight into the floor.
" The pattern changed the moment the weapon broke..."
"Forget that, did you see that speed? How does a 10-meter thing move like a martial artist?!"
"Talk later! Healers, pour heals now! Someone grab Ju-hee!"
It was a heavy, solid, and sharp strike. If they hadn't been hardy frontliners, they would have been reduced to meat paste on the spot, their limbs torn off like broken Lego figures.
Even Nam Ju-hee, the only one who withstood the blow, was clearly struggling to stay upright, her vision swimming from the shockwave.
Just as the damage dealers prepared to break formation to retrieve her, a thunderous Thuuud echoed from somewhere, and the last remaining Frost Guardian of the floor collapsed.
Simultaneously, someone shouted.
"Hwa-rin is here!"
As soon as the words were spoken, crimson flames began to engulf the colossal Frost Guardian's entire body, accompanied by a massive explosion of steam.
It looked like a giant steamer had been opened. Steam billowed out through the windows of the tower, visible even from a distance. The colossal guardian, which had been posturing to charge at the party, lost all its terrifying majesty and melted down rapidly.
Relief washed over Nam Ju-hee, and her legs finally gave out. But as she slumped, she was caught by a familiar pair of arms and a flash of red hair. She let out a sigh.
"Bitch... took you long enough."
"Should I have let you take one more hit? Is that what you say to someone who rushed over worried that your ugly face would get smashed in?"
"Always acting cool by yourself. I was just, you know? I was just about to shoulder-throw that bastard, couldn't you tell?"
Despite her grumbling, Nam Ju-hee chuckled, seeing Lee Hwa-rin dripping with sweat from rushing over to save her best friend. But her amusement was short-lived. Noticing something incredibly strange about Hwa-rin’s appearance, Ju-hee spoke in a low, stunned voice.
"...Hey, why aren't you wearing any clothes?"
"Huh? It was stuffy. I kept getting hot, so I just stripped it all off...♥"
Turning at an angle Nam Ju-hee couldn't see, Lee Hwa-rin flashed a lewd, erotic smile that rivaled her teacher's, her body trembling with arousal.
'I'm being watched...♥'
At first, it really was just the heat. Seeing her comrades struggling made her anxious, so she threw off her cumbersome armor. Then, in the heat of the moment, she cast off her clothes as well.
With every layer she discarded, a thrilling jolt of pleasure shot through her. And with every piece of fabric removed, her power visibly increased. By the time she was completely naked, as she was now, it felt less like she had removed clothes and more like she had cast off her humanity.
The moment she thought about saving her friend, she found herself instantly in front of the colossal Frost Guardian that was about to turn Ju-hee into a pancake.
A tremendous power, one even she couldn't fully comprehend, was manifesting from her flesh.
'The moment I got naked, power started overflowing. I feel like I've grown another stage...♥'
Becoming stark naked triggered an overwhelming surge of strength capable of melting a giant ice golem in an instant.
She had only stripped to fight more comfortably, to indulge in the pleasurable sensation of exposure... she had merely accepted that she was an exhibitionist pervert. Yet, to think she would gain such power in return.
Compared to the meager growth of the past few days, this was a massive leap.
'As expected of Master Eleonora. She knew I was this kind of pervert, so she trained me to walk around naked. And...♥'
Her womb began to throb with heat—a mix of reverence for Eleonora, who hadn't given up on her despite her initial doubts, guiding her down the path of the exhibitionist, and a strange, twisting lust for Shin Seon-dong, the man who had broken her into this state.
As if it were the price for this immense power, a corresponding, insatiable lust began to coil around her.
'Cock... I need a cock... Not some pathetic twig, but that man's massive cock...♥'
Perhaps it was the heat of battle, but she suddenly craved Shin Seon-dong's penis with a desperate intensity.
'My danger days are ending soon... If we're going to do it, we need to do it now... What do I do?'
The enemy was down. Her party was in no shape to advance further. Now, Lee Hwa-rin’s mind was entirely filled with thoughts of getting impaled on Shin Seon-dong's cock. Saliva began to pool and drip from the corners of her mouth as she fantasized.
Seeing this, Nam Ju-hee, who had been stunned into silence by Hwa-rin's earlier answer, suddenly shrieked.
"Stuffy my ass! Has this bitch finally lost her mind?! I knew you were a gloomy closet pervert from way back, but to act... Wow, just wow... You're literally buck naked right now!!"
"You're too loud! And who's a gloomy pervert?!"
"You! You! The one standing here completely stark naked!"
Ju-hee had thought Hwa-rin’s body felt unusually slender when she was being supported, but seeing her friend standing there without a single stitch of clothing made her face flush bright red. Worried that others might hear, she screamed.
Highly aroused and shameless, Lee Hwa-rin shrieked back, and the two friends began to grab each other by the hair, screeching like cats.