Chapter 1211
"Hmm."
Pressed by the momentum Raon was emitting, the Tower Master released a muffled sound of discomfort.
"Confound it..."
His gaze shifted rapidly, weighing the potential benefits against the risks of a lethal confrontation.
"Hey there, Varikh!"
A lanky, middle-aged fellow shouted the Tower Master’s name while gesturing wildly.
"The prize is doubled—twice the take! Are you truly going to pass that up?"
He mocked him, questioning how he could be such a yellow-bellied coward.
"Your tower would stand three times as tall as its current height. Why do you waver?"
"Besides, your challenger is a greenhorn who hasn't spent a single week in Heaven!"
"No need to fret over a scam, either. With Priest Srude acting as the guarantor, the deal is ironclad."
"I've never seen a lily-livered soul quite like this one."
"Newbie! Forget that pathetic loser and have a duel with me instead!"
The surrounding crowd joined in, jeering at Varikh and calling him a craven, their expressions twisted in disgust at his hesitation.
"I see."
Raon gave a small nod as he observed the spectators berating Varikh.
'They are reacting precisely as I anticipated.'
He had intentionally raised his voice so the entire area knew that a life-and-death struggle against him yielded double the spoils. The onlookers were now manufacturing the very pressure needed to force Varikh’s hand, just as he had planned.
If Varikh retreated now, the stigma of cowardice would be so great that he could never show his face in Heaven again.
'Charlie played his part perfectly.'
Charlie had jumped in at the ideal moment to confirm that Priest Srude was backing the life-and-death duel. That detail had snapped the trap shut.
"Come on! How much longer are you going to waste our time?"
"Leave that spineless man behind and fight me!"
"What a moron, failing to grab such a golden ticket!"
"If you aren't going to fight, then clear out!"
The mob, having found their rhythm in insulting Varikh, pelted him with verbal venom.
"Damn it all!"
Varikh clutched his head and stomped the ground in a fit of frustration.
"Fine! I'll do it! I said I'll do it!"
Backed into a corner with no remaining exits, he screamed his acceptance of the life-and-death duel.
"A sensible resolution," Raon remarked with a calm nod, watching as Varikh gnashed his teeth in fury.
"Let us begin at once."
He signaled his readiness by casually dusting his palms.
"Good grief, looking at their poise, you'd think Varikh was the underdog and that boy was the Tower Master."
"This newcomer has some serious guts."
"Wait, that's him! The freak who wiped out all the rookie-hunters!"
"He's already taking on a Tower Master? That's incredible!"
Despite Varikh finally stepping up, the crowd’s fascination and praise remained fixed solely on Raon.
"Blast it..."
Even though he had agreed, Varikh felt his reputation crumbling and scowled fiercely.
"Quit stalling and just get on with it!"
He channeled all that bitterness into a dense, murderous aura directed straight at Raon.
"The first move is yours," Raon said, giving a dismissive flick of his finger.
"I’m going to end you!"
Varikh summoned every ounce of desire residing within his tower and hurled it toward his opponent. A flood of dark ambition surged forward, with black currents spiraling around the attack like a violent cyclone.
"I'm ready when you are."
Raon gestured for him to bring it on, manifesting the desires from his own tower and draping them over his frame like a suit of impenetrable armor. CRASH! The massive forces of their respective towers slammed together, the impact echoing like giant sledges striking an anvil.
'Impressive.'
Raon felt a spark of genuine surprise at the raw power vibrating through Varikh’s assault.
'Tower Masters are on a different level.'
The weight of the desire pressed down on him with the heaviness of a falling axe. Unlike the amateurs he had dismantled previously, Varikh’s power was sharpened and refined to maximize its lethality.
'I see why they avoid life-and-death duels involving their towers.'
Since such a high level of cultivated power could be stripped away in a heartbeat, he could finally empathize with why these masters were so protective of their status.
Stop acting like you're moved!
Wrath grumbled, sounding irritated.
You have the strength to pulverize him in a second. Quit with the nonsense!
He snorted, wondering why Raon was feigning shock when he could shatter Varikh’s desires with a single focused strike.
'That may be, but...'
Raon kept a look of deep struggle on his face against Varikh's fierce barrage.
'The surprise is real. I hadn't given them enough credit.'
He had assumed most residents of Heaven—Masters and priests alike—were merely high-functioning dregs, but it was clear that while their path differed from traditional martial arts, they had forged their own unique brand of strength.
'However...'
A faint smirk touched Raon's lips.
'Victory is still easily within my grasp.'
Just as Wrath noted, he could simply condense his intent into a point and pierce through Varikh's defenses whenever he chose.
Then finish it. Why are you dragging this out?
Wrath tilted his head in confusion.
'If I don't make a show of it...'
Raon bit his lip, surreptitiously glancing at the crowd watching the spectacle with rapt attention.
'The rest of the marks will bolt.'
Tower Masters were perceptive. If he won too easily or looked too untouchable, no one else would be foolish enough to gamble their towers against him later. The best strategy was to make it look like a grueling, narrow victory.
"You arrogant brat!"
Believing he had gained the advantage, Varikh sneered and intensified his offensive.
"If you had just stayed in your place, you could have enjoyed your life as a Tower Master!"
Ignoring the rules against killing in Heaven, he pushed his bloodlust to the limit and unleashed a heavy tide of desire.
"Haaa..."
Raon began to pant, sweat beadling on his forehead as if he were reaching his breaking point.
"Is Varikh actually going to win?"
"A rookie is still just a rookie, I suppose!"
"He put up a good fight for a newcomer, but you can't beat that kind of experience."
"Does this mean Varikh moves up to the middle tiers? What a stroke of luck for him."
The spectators began to call the match for Varikh, their eyes filled with envy at his impending windfall.
"Where is all that bravado now?"
Varikh gloated, convinced that the duel was effectively over.
"Perish!"
He roared that this was the end, releasing the most massive wave of desire he had ever conjured.
'Now.'
Blinded by the proximity of victory and wealth, Varikh had let his power become bloated and unfocused. PIERCE! Raon seized the moment, sharpening his remaining reserves into a needle-thin point that tore through Varikh’s wide, sloppy attack.
"Wh-what? Argh!"
Having committed every drop of his power to the final blow, Varikh was defenseless. Raon’s focused intent drove straight through his soul.
"Aaaaaagh!"
Varikh tried to hold his ground, but Raon’s desires latched onto his spirit, twisting and crushing it with merciless force.
"This... this wasn't supposed to..."
Varikh finally slumped over, unconscious. The outcome was undeniable. RUMBLE! The tower standing behind Varikh disintegrated like a sandcastle in a storm, and the essence of desire within it was drawn entirely into Raon.
"Varikh... lost?"
"But he was winning just a second ago!"
"What the hell happened?"
"Varikh was an idiot. He let his guard down at the finish line, and the kid pounced. Total luck."
"That wasn't luck, it was composure. Keeping your head until the end is what matters."
"Regardless, that was not what I expected."
The crowd, who had been ready to celebrate Varikh, now stared at Raon with wide, flickering eyes, stunned by the reversal.
'The volume is staggering.'
Raon felt a rush of satisfaction as a mountain of desire—more than he had gathered in all his previous fights combined—settled into him. But he wasn't finished yet.
"I didn't think you'd dive into a tower duel so quickly, but you truly are something else."
Priest Srude, his blue hair swaying, stepped out from the bewildered crowd.
"I'm not the type to let a good chance slip by," Raon replied, tilting his head toward the Priest.
"And I am a man of my word."
As Srude smiled and brought his hands together, radiant white wings sprouted from Raon’s back.
"This feeling..."
Raon felt the massive influx of energy he’d taken from Varikh suddenly double in size. He swallowed hard; the sheer volume of desire was almost overwhelming to manage.
"Since your vessel is currently overflowing, I shall manifest these desires into your tower as requested."
Srude snapped his fingers. SNAP! At that sound, Raon’s tower of desire shot upward like a serpent striking, its height tripling in the blink of an eye.
"He actually doubled it?"
"Unbelievable! He's become a mid-tier Tower Master in a single day!"
"We can't even call him a newcomer anymore."
"Varikh, you fool! You threw away the chance of a lifetime!"
The onlookers looked at Raon with intense jealousy while continuing to heap scorn on the fallen Varikh for his failure.
"Not bad at all."
Raon looked up at his soaring tower, satisfied with the progress.
'But it still hasn't touched the heavens.'
It was tall, certainly, but because he had started from zero, even a tripled height left it far beneath the sky.
"I look forward to our continued partnership," Priest Srude said with a polite bow, as if encouraging Raon to keep risking everything in these duels, before heading back to the temple.
"Wait! This wasn't just a one-off deal?"
"You mean anyone who fights him gets double the stakes?"
"That's insane! Why does he get that kind of treatment?"
"I heard he was the only one crazy enough to put his tower on the line in a life-and-death match."
"So that's the trade-off? The kid has balls of steel."
"Hey! New guy! Duel me next!"
The crowd's envy shifted into predatory greed as they looked for a way to steal Raon's newly acquired power.
'Go ahead.'
Raon smiled inwardly at the sight of the people's blossoming greed and their own tall towers of desire.
'I might reach the top much sooner than I thought.'
"Mmm!"
Priest Srude took a sip from his cup, a look of pure contentment on his face.
"The aroma is divine."
He wasn't referring to the tea. His smile stretched wide as he savored the current turn of events.
"You seem to be in high spirits," Vayph remarked, standing behind him.
"And why shouldn't I be?"
Srude set his cup down gently and rested his chin on his hand.
"Thanks to that 'pig' you delivered, tower-staked life-and-death duels are skyrocketing."
He noted that because of Raon, high-stakes duels that hadn't occurred in months were now a daily occurrence.
"I didn't foresee it going quite this far," Vayph admitted, rubbing his forehead.
"I expected everyone to just target Zilfen, but now they're starting to tear into each other as well."
He let out a sigh at the chaotic momentum the newcomer had sparked.
"The spark of ambition has been relit. Even the trash has a little bit of fire left in them, it seems."
Srude sneered at the human population of Heaven.
"Regardless, the harvest is ahead of schedule. The more desire they wager, the more energy we can siphon into this land."
He laced his fingers together, noting that they were exceeding their usual quotas.
"Still..."
Vayph stepped closer, his eyes narrowing.
"Zilfen’s tower is growing alarmingly tall. If he wins one more match against a high-level opponent, he might actually reach the sky."
He cleared his throat, implicitly asking if they should intervene.
"It has grown quite a bit," Srude conceded, looking out the temple window at Raon’s tower, which was now so tall its peak was difficult to see.
"You're right; one more big win could bring him to the heavens. But that isn't going to happen. His next opponent..."
He let out a dark, rattling laugh.
"Is no mere mortal."
"So this is the very first tower built here?"
Raon stood before a structure that shimmered with golden light and looked up.
"It’s massive."
Through his relentless winning streak, his own tower was now the second tallest in Heaven. However, the golden tower before him was on another level entirely, its summit seemingly piercing the firmament.
If he could defeat the owner of this tower and claim their power, his own tower would surely breach the sky.
"Time for the final bout..."
Just as Raon prepared to issue his challenge.
"No! You can't do this!"
Charlie grabbed Raon’s leg, his head shaking frantically.
"The master of this tower, Kurrk, was the first resident of Heaven. He is an undefeated nightmare! Just take a few more small towers instead!"
He pleaded with Raon not to throw his life away.
"A nightmare?"
Raon squinted at Kurrk’s tower.
"You aren't wrong. That thing is a monster."
And not just any monster. The master of this tower wasn't a human at all—it was an Angel.
"But don't worry," Raon said, his hand tightening into a fist as if he were already crushing the tower in his palm. His lips curled into a confident grin.
"The one who hunts monsters has always been... a human."
