With a thunderous clang, the door to the temple caved in, revealing an interior filled with glossy surfaces. Vur took a step inside and looked around while Stella popped out of his chest and did the same. The fairy queen tilted her head to the side. “What kind of element is this place supposed to be? Metal?”

Tafel entered the temple behind Vur. “It looks like an armory,” she said, walking over to the cold weapons displayed on the wall. Despite the luster of the walls, she couldn’t see a reflection of herself.

“This is the Temple of the Martial Lord,” Kim Hajun said after taking one glance at the temple’s interior. “He’s a fighting savant, someone who’s capable of creating skills and techniques on the fly depending on the situation. Every martial artist within the tower looks up to him, and he liberally gives out the techniques he creates. The techniques I was using to fight with ant mandibles were actually part of the dual-wielding scythe style he created.”

“For someone who hasn’t stepped foot beyond the first floor, you’re certainly quite knowledgeable,” Ashley said, causing the group to turn around.

Tafel blinked. “If you were going to follow us here, why didn’t you ask Vur for a ride?”

“And be held in his claws like a dead fish?” the Light Lord asked and snorted.

“It’d be nice if we were held like dead fish,” Miranda said and sighed. “We’re all packed together in one claw; it’s more like we’re sardines in a can.”

The Light Lord glanced at Miranda before turning her gaze back onto Kim Hajun. “Where did you get your information from? Did you purchase it from an information dealer?”

“Kim Hajun here is an information dealer,” Stella said, flying over before the well-dressed man could speak for himself. “He’s a prophet who sees the future with prophetic dreams. He’s climbed the whole tower and knows everything there is about it except for the things he doesn’t.”

Ashley raised an eyebrow. “Is that how you recognized me right away?” she asked. “In your dream, did we meet?”

Kim Hajun furrowed his brow. Of all the lords, Ashley was the easiest to get along with, but that didn’t mean he could tell her all his secrets. In fact, he didn’t want to reveal the existence of his prophetic dream at all, but the fairy queen was a blabbermouth hellbent on making his life harder than it needed to be for some reason. It was as if the creature thrived on making mischief and causing chaos.

“Not only did you meet, but I bet you fell in love with him too,” Stella said, grinning from ear to ear. “All the women he’s pointed out so far have been in love with him, so I wouldn’t be surprised if your loins are burning up as we speak.”

Ashley’s expression darkened, and her hair fluttered despite there being no wind.

“N-no!” Kim Hajun said, stumbling over his own tongue as he blurted out the word. Whenever Ashley gathered her mana, because it was so dense, the fluctuations caused her hair to move, and the Light Lord wouldn’t be gathering her mana for no reason. “It’s true that I met you in my prophetic dream, but we weren’t lovers or anything of the sort. We were companions who fought the Oebu Sin together!”

Ashley’s eyes widened, and she seized Kim Hajun’s collar, lifting him off the ground with one hand. Her white irises shone like the moon as she glared at Kim Hajun. “What do you know about the Oebu Sin?”

“Ooh, this is getting good,” Stella said in a voice low enough to avoid drawing Ashley’s attention. She flew over to Tafel and tugged on the demon’s sleeve. “Take out some snacks.”

Kim Hajun let his body hang limp, his arms dangling by his sides. “I know they’re enemies from beyond the tower bent on its destruction.” Kim Hajun stared Ashley straight in the eyes despite how brilliantly they shone. “And I know they succeed in the end, slaughtering everyone and everything I hold dear. That’s why, using all my knowledge, I’ll climb the tower, hone my abilities and power to heights unimaginable, and defeat every one of the Oebu Sin with my own two hands.”

Ashley maintained eye contact for a few more seconds before lowering her arm, placing Kim Hajun back down onto his feet. Her eyes stopped glowing as she let out a sigh. “In your dream, how many Oebu Sin were there, and how many did we kill?”

A bitter smile appeared on Kim Hajun’s face. “There were three: a cloud made of insects, a giant cephalopod with innumerable tentacles, and a severed hand that covered the sky. The combined forces of the tower killed half the insect cloud. When the severed hand appeared during the fight, the lords stepped up and fought it to a standstill. Then, the cephalopod appeared, and the tower collapsed.”

“How is it?” Stella asked, flying over to Ashley and Kim Hajun with a drumstick grasped by both her tiny hands. “Is his dream accurate? Can we count on extracting valuable information from him?”

Ashley exhaled. “I’ve seen the severed hand,” she said. “It’s observing the tower as we speak. The lords have been trying to come up with a way to deal with it since it’s the mission given to us by the tower.” Her eyes narrowed at Kim Hajun. “You truly believe you’ll be strong enough to defeat the Oebu Sin by the time you finish climbing the tower?”

Kim Hajun scratched his head. “I did….”

Ashley’s brow furrowed. “Did something change?”

Kim Hajun glanced at Vur. “Variables outside of my dream appeared,” he said and sighed. “And to be honest, I didn’t even know there were pieces hidden within the lords’ temples. Things have already diverged so much from my dream, it’s hard to predict what will happen; regardless, I’ll do my best to prevent the tower’s collapse, and I think I have a method.”

“Really? And what method is this?”

Kim Hajun took in a deep breath and turned towards Vur. “You’ve heard everything,” the well-dressed man said. “I’m not going to ask you to help us fight the Oebu Sin, but … the insects making up the cloud are pretty damn tasty according to the Gluttonous Gourmets, and I’m willing to bet the cephalopod is more delicious than any piece of Takoyaki you’ve ever had.”

Ashley gave Kim Hajun a doubting expression, but her eye twitched when Vur’s stomach grumbled like thunder as he swallowed down his saliva.