The Growth of 「Breakers」
Generally speaking, the growth of awakened 「Breakers」occurs in two main ways.
The first is the inherent level of the 「Breaker」 itself. This was achieved through leveling up by gaining experience points from climbing the Tower. Experience points for growth could only be obtained inside the Tower—in other words, the 「Breaker」 was unique in that leveling up was possible solely through experience. This has been an unchanging fact ever since the 「Demon Lord's Tower」 first appeared.
The second was the level of the 「Unique Trait.」 Apart from one's inherent level, a powerful 「Unique Trait」 was important enough to turn any situation around. One peculiar point was that this 「Unique Trait」could grow rapidly regardless of Tower climbing.
The 「Unique Trait Enhancement Rune.」
It was precisely through this rune that leveling up was possible. This was also the reason why so many Breakers in the Tower's early days displayed tremendous power.
But as time passed… things are different now. Growing the 「Unique Trait」 is no longer an easy task.
The reason? Very simple.
It's because 「Unique Trait Enhancement Runes」have become rare. Originally, this item dropped only at a low probability from floor 20 of the 「Demon Lord's Tower」and above, specifically from boss floors.
Of course, even with a low probability, the global production volume wasn't small. The problem was that over time, the drop rate had decreased drastically. As a result, the difference in supply between the Tower's early days and now was enormous, and nowadays, these runes were even classified as national strategic assets.
This was the same situation for every country. For unknown reasons, the drop rate of 「Unique Trait Enhancement Runes」 was currently considered abysmal, and they were becoming harder and harder to obtain as time went on.
And yet—
that precious item had already fallen into Ha-min's hands twice. Of course, no one else could possibly know that fact.
Except for the person in question…
***
Ding!
▶ Unique Trait
― Name: Absolute Command
― Level: Lv.3
― Command Options: 3
― Uses remaining: 3/3
You can issue absolute commands to your target.
Command List
- Annihilation
- Summon (Compendium)
- Abyss
A new ability.
Along with the trait level-up, a command called "Abyss"had been added.
'Abyss, huh...'
Just hearing the word made it feel like something fearsome again.
Why did all the names have to be like this? Couldn't they be a bit more friendly? Typical of the demon world—every name was grim and gritty.
'Still, let me check it out first...'
Ding!
▶ Abyss
Allows you to temporarily conceal yourself within the world of the Abyss. You can escape all interference from any system.
'Hmm?'
What's this?
As always, the description was vague. From the looks of it, this 「Absolute Command」seemed to be some kind of stealth skill.
That was unexpected, though. Stealth?
It felt a little out of place—somehow mismatched with the previous commands. On top of that, what stood out was the description attached to the ability itself.
'"Escape all interference from any system? What does that mean?"'
He couldn't grasp the exact meaning of those words. Maybe that was why it didn't immediately strike him as an amazing ability.
As far as Ha-min knew, stealth skills were known to be possessed by some illusion-type 「Breakers」, but compared to their rarity, their performance and efficiency were reportedly very poor.
Why?
Unfortunately, it was because the detection-type magic of the mage class was overwhelmingly powerful. Moreover, even outside of magic, there were many other classes and traits that could detect stealth.
A prime example were the 「Breakers」 with beastification traits from the enhancement class. In their case, they could catch stealth abilities with just their enhanced bodies and senses alone.
That wasn't all. Though limited to some, there were also abilities among the recovery and manipulation classes that reacted to stealth skills. Actually, up to this point, it might still be somewhat understandable—but the real problem lay elsewhere.
It was the monsters. Monsters fundamentally had far more developed senses than humans, and these abilities reacted even more sensitively to detection traits.
Moreover, they were beings made of magic. Perhaps that was why they responded particularly quickly to the flow of magical energy. As a result, it was known that these stealth-type traits were very low in preference, both inside and outside the 「Demon Lord's Tower.」
'Hmm... Well, it's not like I'll have any use for it right away.'
Given the limited uses, he needed to be cautious when using 「Absolute Command」 from now on. From that perspective, he wondered if there would be any need to go into the 「Demon Lord's Tower」 and use stealth in the near future.
'The effect is still unknown too...'
The cost of testing it out was too great. The other commands were just too absolute...
'Still, well...'
Having more commands on the 「Absolute Command」 list was a good thing, no matter what. It meant more options.
Just then—
"Oh ho! This feels like something I've seen somewhere, I say."
"Pardon?"
"This command. It feels oddly familiar, I say."
It was Bellamon.
"Do you know anything about Abyss?"
"Yes. I'm sure I've seen it somewhere... but the memory is hazy..."
Just like last time, he didn't seem to remember clearly. What was the issue?
"Do you happen to have any idea what kind of ability it is, even just a little?"
"In my opinion, if you use this, you'd probably be able to avoid any threat, sir?"
"Avoid?"
"Yes. The 'interference from any system' mentioned here is quite a broad term, sir. If interpreted as the world's meaning... Perhaps it means being unaffected by all skills and debuffs? That would be my guess, sir."
"Oh. If that's the case, that's really amazing."
Even if not right away, it seemed like something that would definitely come in handy at some point.
"That aside... let's check something else this time."
"Something else, you say?"
Ha-min had something he wanted to verify from this level-up.
And that was—
Ding!
▶ Compendium Upgrade!!!
― Maximum Members: 2 (Currently: 1)
Randomly summons a demon from the demon army's compendium.
'As expected!!!'
The maximum number of summonable members had increased. As Absolute Command leveled up, the summon command had been upgraded along with it.
At that—
"Gasp! Hamin-nim, this is!!?"
Bellamon was startled.
"What's got you so surprised? Haha"
Hehe!
A smile naturally spread across Ha-min's face. Now, he could summon one more demon to his side.
"Let's do one draw before heading to the 5th floor."
"Whoa!!!"
...
And so, there was another reason to clean his room. (T/N: Remember that it's Ha-min's ritual to clean whenever he is about to do something important.)
The difference from last time was that this time, Bellamon was with him.
"Let's do a proper room cleaning!"
The draw was all about sincerity! Ha-min was the type to put extra care into the most unnecessary things.
***
「Unique Trait」
As far as Ha-min knew, strengthening a 「Unique Trait」meant enhancing the trait one already possessed. And most unique traits only had a single ability.
But—
「Absolute Command」
Ha-min's trait, 「Absolute Command」, was a bit different. Uniquely, it had a separate command list within it, and each time the unique trait was strengthened, additional commands were added. That raised a question.
When the unique trait was strengthened, what happened to the existing commands?
Originally, the 「Unique Trait Enhancement Rune」 was meant to raise the trait by one level.
So, aside from the newly added 「Abyss」, would the other two commands be unaffected?
In fact, when the trait level rose from Level 1 to Level 2, 「Annihilation」 was not affected.
But would the Compendium be the same?
The answer was exactly as Ha-min had expected.
***
That evening.
"Hamin-nim! Everything is ready, I say."
"Hoo... I'm nervous for no reason."
Ha-min and Bellamon were seated neatly in his studio apartment. The two of them sat in an almost overly tidy manner. In front of them sat a small bowl of water.
With this much sincerity... surely he'd get something good?
"Alright, let's begin."
Ha-min started using the Compendium.
Ding!
【Select an Absolute Command.】
- Annihilation
- Summon (Compendium)
- Abyss
'Use Compendium, number 2!'
【Would you like to summon a demon from the demon army's compendium?】
Ha-min hesitated for just a moment again. But he didn't deliberate any further. Having already gone through Bellamon, he was confident that no matter what demon was summoned, he wouldn't be too flustered.
'Anyway, hoarding it won't do me any good!'
It had been the same before, and his thinking hadn't changed. Unless he was going to completely seal off this Archive command, adding one more was bound to be a net gain.
Wasn't it obvious? Two was better than one, and three was better than two. Throughout all ages and across all nations, there was no beating a numbers advantage.
It wasn't like demons were any different. They'd hurt like hell if they got jumped too.
And he meant really hurt...
That was Ha-min's philosophy. It wasn't some grand doctrine or anything—just that getting hit hurts...
Anyway,
'Summon!'
The moment Ha-min made the decision to summon—
"GO!!!!!"
Bellamon suddenly let out a loud battle cry right next to him.
'Ack! You scared me!'
The roles seemed to have reversed between the two of them.
Ding!
【Summoning a demon from the demon army.】
Immediately after, a massive surge of magical energy began to erupt before Ha-min's eyes. A scene he'd seen once before. No different from last time.
Whoosh!!!
Once again, the red magical energy before him began to coalesce, and a violent storm of magical power erupted, as if sucking in all the surrounding energy.
'Ooh!!!... Could this be a jackpot?'
This time too, it felt like there was an aura of something big.
Yes! That's it! Good!
WHOOOOSH!!
The red magical energy gradually took shape...
...
"Huh?"
But—
Something about the silhouette was off.
'A p-person. It's definitely a person...'
The silhouette was clearly humanoid. A man, at that? The problem was that it looked quite different from Bellamon's form last time. It seemed somewhat... round?
"Huh? Huh? Huh? Could it be that guy?"
As if sensing something, Bellamon reacted first.
"What? Why? Did something go wrong?"
!!!!
Zzwaaang!!
The red glow grew even more intense as the summoning began to finish. Brilliant light filled the entire studio apartment.
'Ngh!'
Ha-min closed his eyes for a moment.
And then—
Ding!
【Successfully summoned a demon from the demon army.】
Oh! Summoning successful!!
So what's the result???
...
Ding!
【Demon Army Cook Gruta has been summoned.】
!!!!
'D-did he just say... what?'
Did he hear that wrong?
A completely unexpected "military branch"had appeared.
...A c-cook?
Ah, right. That's true.
A cook could still be part of the army.
Why hadn't he thought of that?
Of course, this was the first he'd learned of it. That the demon army even had cooks....