Chapter 23
[Mage Tower Lord Strategy (Incomplete)]
[Lately, thanks to a streamer, a lot of people are trying to take down the ruler, so I’m sharing what I know about the Mage Tower Lord. (Heads up, this is in casual txt. Also, I’ve never beaten him myself. Calling this a guide is kind of embarrassing.) The setting is the top floor of the Mage Tower, where the sky is visible through the ceiling, on the 8th floor—the Mage Tower Lord’s office.
From what’s been confirmed, the Mage Tower Lord has two phases.
Phase 1 uses standard spells.
Fireball, Ice Arrow, Forest Binding, Earth Barrier, Teleport, etc.
If you enjoy going on a rampage and have experienced many spells from earlier floors or city quests, these are dodgeable, though a bit tricky.
Why tricky? Because the Mage Tower Lord’s spells are either larger in scale, cast much faster, and come at you nonstop.
He also occasionally uses multi-casting.
I recommend equipping utility skills and gear with high defense.
Anyway, if you’re a player confident enough in your controls to love going ham, you’ll get through Phase 1.
But Phase 2 is where things get problematic.
Once you land a hit, he immediately enters Phase 2, and from there, the Mage Tower Lord puts up a barrier.
Damn.
Normal attacks don’t work.
I used high-damage bombs, and they can pierce the barrier to deal a tiny bit of damage.
But then he just casts barrier again right away.
So you might ask, then just stock up on bombs and go in, right?
Sure, but the real issue is surviving long enough to whittle his HP down.
From Phase 2, the Mage Tower Lord throws lightning.
And this lightning is insanely fast.
(Video)
You can see it’s really hard to dodge.
And he spams it indiscriminately.
How much mana does he have?
I even called a friend to act as a lightning rod beside me, but against infinite mana, nothing works.
(And don’t bring a friend. The game "balances" it by making the spells twice as powerful.)
I’m off to look for other special items or something. Since the game is so vast, there must be multiple ways to crack this.
There might even be a Phase 3.
It’s only been a day, so I’ll keep researching.]
* * *
"I see."
Seojun opened his inventory with an awkward expression.
All he had was a worn guard's sword, a basic hood, and about 40 machetes collected from wiping out gangs.
It was a bit pathetic.
- lololololol he's got nothing
- Even if he can handle the lightning somehow, he can't break the barrier
- Just go for assassination now lol
- Infiltrating the 8th floor is the most fun anyway. Packed with traps the Mage Tower Lord set up himself.
"Well, there’s got to be a way. From the mission details, assassination counts as a success too. But I’ve got a conscience, so I won’t do that."
The mission never explicitly said not to assassinate.
Of course, if Seojun tried that, the viewers would riot.
"Anyway, I still can't figure out the flow of magic, and... hmm. I might die for the first time. Looking at the barrier, it's just a circle—I doubt there’s even a flow to it."
Seojun played the video from the guide.
It wasn't as fast as lightning in reality, but to a human, it was so fast that the distinction was meaningless.
- Honestly, even using Weakness Detection you couldn't cut that. Too fast.
- This is a mission fail for sure.
- Safe asset, yeah.
As Seojun finished speaking, a notification sound rang.
And Seojun grinned.
[+5,000 won added]
[+7,000 won added]
[+3,000 won added]
.
.
.
Once the first notification popped, the bounty soared in a chain reaction.
In Travel's mission system, once a streamer accepts a mission and it goes up on the broadcast screen, anyone can freely add to the bounty.
Viewers who thought Seojun's words meant a higher chance of mission failure were now throwing money in.
After all, if he fails, they get it back—the so-called safe asset.
[Clear without using Weakness Detection against the Mage Tower Lord — Mission Reward: 1,230,000 won]
- lololololololol
- Don't fall for it, guys!
- Him acting weak is so obviously calculated. Look, he replayed the video just to get more bounty. He's probably already figured out what to do in his head.
- That familiar scent of capitalism.
- Tch, this is why perceptive brats are...
When Seojun smiled, viewers started catching on.
"No way. How could I possibly know what to do? I’m not a game dev or something."
- Gasp.
- Could it be??
- My kingly gut feeling is tingling.
- No wonder he was so confident when he turned himself in before ㄷㄷ
Seojun closed the chat window and opened the door to the 8th floor.
"I said I'm not... Ugh, fine. Let's just go in."
- lololololol
* * *
"Hmm? And who are you?"
A young man sat with his fingers interlocked on the desk.
Neatly swept‑back white hair, a crisp angular uniform, and white gloves on his hands—a tidy style.
Duke, the Mage Tower Lord.
His office was surrounded by towering bookshelves crammed with books, and the ceiling was open as if showing the sky.
Behind the Mage Tower Lord was a corridor, where strange mechanical devices and arcane formulas were faintly visible.
"I’m a nobody."
Seojun answered the Mage Tower Lord's question.
"A nobody, is it. Then why have you come here? No, how did you get here?"
"That is..."
Whoosh!
Seojun stopped mid‑answer, drawing his sword to slash apart the magic that flew at him suddenly.
"Seems you have some skill. A pity. This could have ended quickly."
With a single gesture, three fireballs formed again and shot toward Seojun, as the Mage Tower Lord slowly rose from his seat.
Seojun, without a single unnecessary movement, used only his arm to dispel the fireballs.
Step.
He took a step forward.
"My, how rude. Don't you think?"
"Are you speaking to me?"
Another gesture, and over ten ice arrows appeared.
He had one hand behind his back—a thoroughly annoying posture.
"There’s no one else here to talk to."
Seojun dodged the arrows and closed in on the Mage Tower Lord.
Step.
"Is that so? So how did you get here?"
Shhhk.
Rumble, rumble.
Vines rushed to bind him, and sharp rocks surged up sequentially to crush him once caught.
Seojun slashed through the vines, stabbed his sword into the rocks to break the spell, and took another step.
Step.
"I just walked in. The doors were all unlocked."
- So cool
- Fact) true
- Lol yeah, should’ve managed the doors better ㅋㅋ
- It’s easy so far
"Hmm... Can you dodge this as well?"
Another wave of magic crashed over him.
But no matter how much faster and stronger they became, they were fundamentally the same spells.
"Yeah. I can dodge them with my eyes closed."
Step.
- Fact) true 22222
- That streamer mouth ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Thinking about how he dupes his viewers, his personality is obviously not great ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
"We've gotten quite close, haven't we?"
Unlike before, Seojun closed the distance in an instant and slashed his sword from left to right.
Schwing!
The Mage Tower Lord quickly teleported back, but a fine line was drawn across his neck, and blood spurted.
He had been just a little too slow.
Yet the Mage Tower Lord showed no sign of surprise. Instead, his expression was the same calm one Seojun always wore.
"Hmph. Very well. I'll face you with full power."
The Mage Tower Lord removed his white cotton gloves and brought both hands together.
Then, blue sparks began to crackle around him.
- Phase 2
- Get some distance first
- Run away!
Crackle!
The Mage Tower Lord stretched out his hand toward Seojun.
The air ruptured, and thunder boomed.
KWA‑KA‑KANG!
A vivid blue bolt of lightning, like something from a Tesla coil, shot past Seojun's side in an instant and slammed into the floor.
The magic lingered in the air for a moment before vanishing, leaving only a scorched, gouged-out floor.
'Huh.'
It was far faster than even the quick-draw swords of absolute masters he had faced in his past life. "How am I supposed to deal with this?"
Seojun broke out in a cold sweat.
A speed of 100,000 kilometers per second.
Even slowed down ten thousand times from its original speed, it was still 10 kilometers per second.
Thank goodness I watched that video.
- How'd he dodge that ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Isn't this pro level? Why's he streaming?
- The streamer is a broadcasting junkie ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Dodging by sight was impossible.
Instead, he could watch the Mage Tower Lord and time his evasions by prediction.
Crackle!
Sparks flew from the Mage Tower Lord's hand as electric current gathered again.
Seojun kept his eyes fixed on that hand.
KWA‑KA‑KANG!
Lightning struck the floor once more.
The magic grazed past Seojun’s right shoulder.
In a fight, Seojun believed the most important thing was observation.
Crackle!
Electric charge gathered in the Mage Tower Lord's hand.
KWA‑KA‑KANG!
And the lightning spell struck down again.
Crackle!
This time, Seojun threw his body to the left to dodge.
KWA‑KA‑KANG!
Unlike a bullet that fires the instant the trigger is pulled, magic had a slight delay before activation. Seojun used that lag to evade and kept observing.
After several exchanges that left the office in shambles, Seojun was able to pick up on a few things.
First, the Mage Tower Lord.
'For some reason, he doesn't seem to want me getting close to that area behind him.'
Whenever Seojun moved right, the Mage Tower Lord would hurl his magic even further right, steering him back to his original position.
'It's the same if I go left.'
Even when he narrowly dodged the lightning in a straight line and closed the distance, the Mage Tower Lord wouldn't step back. Instead, he'd use a shield to push Seojun away and hold his ground.
Since Seojun had no way to break the shield, he was forced to fall back.
In that case, it was obvious.
'Looks like he has to protect something important back there.'
Seojun gazed at the wall behind the Mage Tower Lord. There, a ring-shaped object the size of a soccer ball floated inside a glass tube.
'I'd like to mess with that.'
Seojun pulled a machete from his inventory and threw it.
But it was blocked by the Mage Tower Lord's shield, which spanned nearly three meters.
- Nope, no touching.
- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ How long are you gonna dodge?
- There’s no answer, right? Time for a retry?
- Let's at least go get some bombs.
'As expected.'
He’d figured it might be like this.
Crackle.
"You dare!"
The Mage Tower Lord shouted, stretching out his hand.
He seemed agitated.
KWA‑KA‑KANG!
Seojun tilted his head to the side, dodging the lightning, and thought.
'That’s the second question.'
He took in the sight of the blue lightning lingering in the air for about a second.
It was beautiful.
From a distance, it was just a single bolt, but up close, multiple thin strands of blue light clustered and split, forming a single shape.
'Why did the mission specifically ban the use of Weakness Detection?'
After all, lightning could never be cut or broken.
That was impossible even if Seojun had brought his past life’s body and cultivation.
'Just something a random person said?'
Then they spent a million won on it?
Even aside from the sum, Seojun had a gut feeling the person who posted the mission was connected to the game developers.
And that feeling grew stronger the more he looked at the lingering lightning.
There was something there.
Seojun steadied his mind and surrendered his body to instinct.
KWA‑KA‑KANG!
The sound of rupturing air, and before Seojun’s eyes, a fantastical stem of blue electric charge shot past in an instant.
Like a shattered window, countless branches of lightning gathered and scattered.
A crossroads where the tiny branches overlapped—the central point.
In that fleeting instant, Seojun followed his instinct and stabbed his sword into it.