RMTBGM 40

Chapter 40

Raising the Tower, Becoming the Archmage
Revenge Plan (1)

What makes an Orc Lord?
Is it noble blood?
A powerful army?
Rule by fear?

The young orc lord, Beogh, slowly shook his head.
“For an Orc Lord, those are everything—and at the same time, nothing.”

Beogh was a bastard son born from the debauchery of the previous lord. No one ever imagined he would inherit the throne.
Talent? He wasn’t without it, but compared to several of his brothers who possessed great strength, he was lacking.

And yet, it was he who now led the entire clan.

“One does not survive because he is strong. He becomes strong because he survived.”

He grasped the weaknesses of his brothers, made them destroy one another, and sometimes used sorcery to kill his rivals.
Then, he gently stoked the ambitions of those beneath him—
asking them how long they would cower in this small land, urging them to go forth into a greater world.

“We deserve that much.”

And the result of that was this—

BOOOOM! GRRRR! THUD!

Looking down, Beogh could see his brave warriors forcing weak races like goblins they’d kidnapped to stack stones for an altar.
It was being built tall—so that they could perform a grand-scale ritual unlike anything they had ever experienced.

The shamans screamed their chants until their throats tore,
and the warriors offered up the blood of the enslaved as sacrifice.

Doom! Doom! Doom!
Drums echoed across the barren wasteland, making the very ground tremble.
Each beat stirred the ashes with life force, lost souls, and mana-infused curses swirling together.

This was the great ritual—
a sacred process to open the way to a new land, under a new sky.

“Hmm…”

Yet as Beogh glanced at one section of the altar, he frowned and propped his chin up.
The central part of the altar—

“Fix that broken section immediately!”
“Gather up all the corpses!”

A part of the altar was in shambles, and piles of sacrifices lay heartless and dead.
Beogh already suspected the presence of someone who had been interfering with his rituals and plans.

He had even twisted part of the grand ritual to send out a massive curse using large-scale sacrifices, but—

“…It failed.”

If it had succeeded, the arrogant interloper’s soul should have been ripped apart and dragged before him.
Instead, only the backlash of the curse had caused destruction.

Behind him, one of his guards—formerly one of his brothers—spoke cautiously.
“Shall we prepare a larger-scale ritual this time, my lord?”

“Hmm…”

Beogh waved his hand dismissively after a moment’s thought.
“That won’t be necessary. If they managed to block a curse of this magnitude, increasing its scale will only delay the ritual.”

“But my lord, those who dare stand against us—shouldn’t we crush them—!”

“Did you not hear me? I said it’s enough.”

“Kh—! M-my apologies!”

The guard coughed up blackened blood as he begged for forgiveness—
Beogh’s gaze alone had cursed his heart into agony.

“Leave me.”

“…As you command.”

The captain withdrew, his face twisted with fear and humiliation.
Beogh paid him no attention, his gaze fixed only on the altar nearing completion.

The guard likely thought the interlopers should be eliminated as soon as possible—but that was laughable.
Unless someone struck directly at the place of the ritual, it would proceed as planned.

Though the resources spent on the failed curse delayed things a bit, the mere fact that they had identified the power of the unknown enemy was a victory in itself.
And now that the curse had been blocked, the list of possible suspects was short.

“Whose doing could it be?”
Another lord’s scheme? Or perhaps the resistance of the humans known as Hunters?

“Well, whichever it is… it’s meaningless.”

Standing atop the altar soaked in blood, magic, and screams, Beogh whispered coldly—

“No one can stop me.”

His kingdom would descend upon a new land.

Of course, regardless of how confident Beogh was, Shin Woo was grinding his teeth in fury.

“There’s gotta be a way to screw that damn Orc Lord over.”

When he had barely managed to block the curse, he’d let out a long sigh of relief, thinking he’d escaped death.
But then, a message popped up before his eyes—

[Tip! When the Tower’s Defense System activates, its mana will be consumed.]
[Warning! The massive curse has been blocked, but the Tower’s mana is now completely depleted!]

“Orc Lord… I’ll make you pay for this.”

Sure, compared to his life, the Tower’s mana was a small price—but damage was still damage!
As his mother, Mrs. Kim, always said: “Don’t just take the hits—hit back harder.”
If someone slaps your cheek once, you slap them twice—that’s how revenge works!

“The problem is, I don’t exactly know how to get revenge…”

Unfortunately, with his current abilities, tracing the curse back to its source was impossible.
Honestly, he wasn’t even sure it could be done.
“You’d probably need to be some psychic from the U.S. or something.”

So, there was no clear way to strike back at the Orc Lord—
except for one clue: the mountain where traces of the orcs’ activity had been found.

Apparently, in a mountain where lightning had struck a tree, orcs were preparing a massive ritual.

Just then, Shin Woo received a text from Oh Hana, congratulating him on finishing the Hunter exam.
He decided to casually ask if she knew anything about the place.

Honestly, he wasn’t expecting much—
after all, Oh Hana wasn’t exactly someone who went mountain scouting for fun.

But maybe the heavens pitied him for being struck by that curse, because her reply came like a bolt of lightning—

[Actually, I know someone who might know about that! I’m supposed to meet her soon. If it’s urgent, I can ask her right away.]
[No, no! Just asking for me is more than enough. I really appreciate it, even without a favor ticket.]
[Haha, come on. From what Professor Cheolsu says, you’ll be my junior soon anyway, so consider it a senior’s gift. @v^]

Smiling at her cheerful message, Shin Woo replied with a thumbs-up emoji.
“I don’t know who her friend is, but if Oh Hana’s that confident, there’s a good chance.”

Of course, even if he found out where the ritual mountain was, he wasn’t going to go there himself.
Why would he walk straight into a possible demon stronghold?

“I’ll just report it.”

A post on Hunter Gallery or the Hunter Association site saying ‘I spotted orcs’ would be enough to send pro hunters running over.
Then, Shin Woo could enjoy sweet revenge from the comfort of his chair.

“Hehehe.”

But his sinister laugh faded when he remembered the Tower’s depleted mana.
He checked if he had any magic stones to throw into the “Black Furnace” to replenish it—

“Damn, none left.”

He’d been too busy preparing for the Hunter exam to do any hunting lately.
Now he’d just have to wait for the Tower’s mana to recover naturally.

But he was Korean—and patience wasn’t exactly in the national DNA.

“Let’s see… what can I hunt today…”

It’d be tiring, sure, but combat was a mage’s business, and both of his summoned mages had reached the lower rank now.
He doubted they’d face real danger from most monsters.

“Orcs would be annoying, sure, but it’s not like it’s Thursday or anything.”

So, he checked the day’s hunting schedule—

[Hunting]
[Sunday: Random]

“…Random, huh.”

Meaning he had no idea what kind of monsters he’d get.
If he was unlucky, maybe orcs again—
which could mean another curse.

But as he thought about it, his anger flared again.
“Why the hell should I be scared? I’m the victim here!”

Yeah, if the orcs wanted to show up again, bring it on!

Now that he understood curses better, he knew the Orc Lord’s type of curse wasn’t one that could be spammed easily.
They’d needed tons of sacrifices just to send that one—so they must’ve taken a hit when it failed.

“Even if they know nothing about my Tower’s mana being drained, there’s no way they can afford another one right now.”

So really, even if orcs appeared again, it didn’t matter.
“No, actually—I hope they do. I’m in the mood to butcher something today.”

Grinning, Shin Woo activated the Hunting function.

[Function: “Hunting” activated.]
[Gate detected!]

Oh? The gate appeared faster than usual—probably because it was random today.
A red gate appeared near the Field of Hellfire, and out of it cautiously stepped…
a bipedal hyena.

“Oh, a gnoll, huh.”

Gnolls—monsters resembling humanoid hyenas.
They had excellent hearing, smell, leaping power, and bite strength.
But what made them most dangerous was their pack instinct.

“Yeah, they hunt in groups like real hyenas.”

Sure enough, the first gnoll that stepped out gave a signal, and a whole pack—at least twenty—burst out of the gate.
Fortunately, spotting the boss among them was easy—

[Gnoll Assault Captain (Boss)]

Standing nearly three meters tall, the captain dragged a huge hammer made of animal skulls.
He looked slow but devastatingly strong—a type B liked to fight up close, so Shin Woo had to be cautious.

But then—
“What the hell is that…?”

Shin Woo’s eyes widened as he saw his two mages dragging something from behind the Tower.
A seesaw-shaped structure, with a scoop-like end—and a massive boulder resting in it.

A catapult.

“When the hell did they build that?!”

Had they made it while he was busy with the Hunter exam?

Even the gnolls, charging with great momentum, stopped in their tracks at the sight of the intimidating contraption.

The gnoll captain, however, growled in displeasure.

Grrrraaaahh!

Baring his fangs, he roared, and the gnolls began moving again—
a clear message: Anyone who hesitates gets crushed by my hammer.

Fear fueled their charge across the scorched field toward the Tower.

That was when B stepped forward beside the catapult.

Crackle—
A wide frost mist spread out, freezing the gnolls’ legs.

Then, A used telekinesis to aim the catapult and flicked the release.

Thunk!
Whoooosh—!

A boulder flew through the air in a perfect arc.
The captain, being heavier and slower, wasn’t caught by the ice,
but the rest of the pack was in for it.

“Even if it takes out half of them, that’s a win.”

Even if the boulder just rolled across the ground, it would crush a good number.

“Hmm, if only they could break it apart midair, scatter it like shrapnel…”

Mages didn’t really understand the concept of shrapnel, so that was wishful thinking—

BOOM!

The boulder slammed into the ground.
The gnolls it struck were pulped like crushed tomatoes, and their comrades screamed—

“Ooh, that’s a good—”

FLASH—BOOOOM!

The embedded boulder exploded in a blinding flash.
Stone fragments flew out like shrapnel, shredding the screaming gnolls into honeycombs.

“…”
“…”

For a moment, Shin Woo and the lone surviving gnoll captain seemed to share the same thought.
…Probably not a coincidence.

“First it was one of them… now they’re both causing trouble together.”