1 Prologue (1)

"Haa—! Haaa───!"

A girl was panting heavily, her cheeks reddening like tomatoes, as she ran without any sign of pause. She had two coils tied by a pink ribbon with the symbol of a beautiful flower in her loose shiny black hair. Her pink eyes that showed great signs of exhaustion, carefully watched every extremity around her as she ran. In addition, her bright pink lips were frowning, as were her eyebrows.

She was wearing an expensive-looking white blouse with reddish details, along with black sleeves covering from the top of her shoulder to her elbow. She also wore a red skirt that went all the way up her thigh, as well as black pantyhose that covered her entire leg.

Her sweat-covered body and dirt-stained soft white skin, along with her downcast expression incited her enormous exhaustion and fatigue. Despite this, she refused to stop her run and forced her legs to move while gritting her teeth with tears gathering around her eyes.

'Mom... Father...'

The girl squeezed her eyes tightly shut, stopping the tears from flowing. She remembered the figure of her parents when they asked her to run away, at the same moment that "they" arrived.

The girl's name was Asuka. She and her parents were living peacefully outside the tower when they suddenly appeared and turned the place upside down. Asuka gritted her teeth in hatred, when—

"Oh, look who we have here."

"—!"

A woman approached her a few feet away with a dismissive smile. Asuka immediately stopped her steps and squinted her eyes at the woman.

"That traitor's daughter."

A mocking laugh came out of the woman's mouth.

Asuka bit her lower lip and shouted, "My mother is not a traitor!"

"Huhu. Didn't she tell you the reason she is considered a traitor? Actually, there are several."

The woman continued as she licked her lips.

"I wonder about Yurika's reaction upon learning that I killed her daughter, that is if she is still alive."

"You—! Don't put my mother's name in your damn mouth!"

Anger simmered inside Asuka's body as she trembled with a fist and clenched teeth. At that moment, all Asuka wanted most was to run toward this woman and rub her face on the ground, but she didn't dare do anything rash. It was because she knew what the person in front of her was — a person who had already climbed to the top of the tower.

'A Ranker.'

No matter what she tried, Asuka was absolutely certain that she would not be able to face the Ranker in front of her.

'Damn... I can't even see an escape option.'

Asuka clenched her fists so hard that her nails were piercing her skin and reaching into her flesh. No matter how hard she thought, there was no chance she could escape from Ranker's eyes. Even if she managed to escape his eyes for a while, it would only take a few seconds for her to be captured.

That is the difference between her and a Ranker. An ant and an elephant— no, an ant and a giant dragon.

"Hoho. You seem to have realized your situation. So, will you surrender or will I have to kill you myself?"

The woman sneered at her with a dismissive smile.

"I..."

Booom—!

Interrupting Asuka's speech, the wind blew along with a thunderous roar coming out of nowhere. Before the woman could make a move, a huge white explosion spread around her and engulfed her.

Tap—

At the same time, someone landed lightly next to Asuka. To her surprise, it was someone she knew.

"Asuka, are you okay? Haha..."

"F-father..."

Her father had appeared in front of her. However, unlike the joy Asuka thought she would show at this reunion, only a faltering, shocked voice came out of her mouth. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at the state of her father. Torn clothes, blood dripping from every corner of his body, and skin that looked as if it had been burned — his father was in a precarious state.

"Are you okay, Asuka?"

"F-father—! Your injuries—!"

"Ah, that. I—"

Just as he was about to answer, Asuka's father suddenly stopped talking and grabbed her, and immediately jumped to a further place. Surprised by her father's action, Asuka was about to ask the reason for it, but was silent upon seeing "it."

Kwang—!

A gigantic whip, thicker than a human head, landed on the spot where they were previously and opened a huge crack in the ground with just one crash. Upon closer observation, Asuka realized that that whip was actually a snake.

The huge snake began to move backward as if it were crawling on its back. At the same time, a person emerged from behind.

"Tsk— What was that? A surprise attack, that was unexpected, I thought you were dead."

It was Ranker who was shot by Asuka's father a few seconds ago. In place of one of her arms was the snake that looked like a whip. She had a bored expression on her face as she called the snake back under the sleeve of her blouse.

Asuka's father frowned and stepped forward.

"Dad—!"

Realizing her father's intent, Asuka hurriedly grabbed her father's arm tightly. Her father looked at her from the corner of his eyes and said, "Asuka. Run away."

"W-what? Father..."

"Run away, now! Your mother is fighting other Rankers, this is your chance! Are you going to let our efforts be futile?!"

"..."

Asuka was silent. The tense air around her and her father's serious expression made her motivation to accompany him to face the woman drop. Remembering her mother, who had stood alone facing several Rankers, Asuka looked at her father and nodded as she bit her lower lip hard.

Her father watched her and nodded, smiling. Asuka began to run away from that place. At that moment—

"Poxa, trying to run away in front of me?"

Whooosh—!!

A gigantic snake slithered through the air like a whip, toward Asuka. However, before it could reach her, Asuka's father swung his fist forward with all his might.

BOOM—!!!

A white explosion spread from his fist and pushed the snake away.

"Dad... goodbye."

With that opportunity open to her, Asuka kept running. She did not look back for a moment as she remembered the figure of her father and mother. Instead of tears, her eyes contained hatred — a hatred that burned without end.

No matter how long it takes. Mother, father, one day I will avenge them!'

She swore through clenched teeth.

***

"Holy shit! It's over for Baam!"

A boy looked at his cell phone screen with wide eyes. He was on an app called Webtoon, reading a webtoon called Tower of God. Today, he came home from school quickly feeling anxious for the release of a new chapter, but he hadn't expected this unfolding of the story.

'Has Baam's master been killed? Will Baam succeed in facing Kallavan? Maybe Urek Mazino will show up to save everyone?'

Uriel's eyes sparkled as he held the cell phone in both hands. He could barely hold back his urge to read the next chapter quickly.

Actually, he couldn't hold his will — as he kept reloading the page non-stop, hoping that the author had been kind and released two chapters today. However, only a disappointing sigh came out of his mouth as he saw the last chapter marked as read.

"Haaa... I don't know if I can wait until next week to read..."

Uriel dropped the cell phone on the bed and fell back against the soft platform of the bed.

A lot had happened in the chapter he had just read, the chapter 333. Baam's master had to face Princess Machenny and Kallavan alone, had revealed a part of Princess Yuri's story, Baam had absorbed the Dark March, and finally, Kallavan had appeared on the battlefield just as Baam and his companions were fleeing.

Since he was 12 years old, Uriel had started following the Tower of God, and today he was 16 years old. So it was not wrong to say that he was a big fan of the work.

Being an avid fan of webtoons, manga, and anime, among all the works he had ever seen, Tower of God was without a doubt at the top. The story itself was something very engaging and simple — a tower that people must climb to become a Ranker, or, if they reach the top, to have their wishes fulfilled. The characters in Tower of God also had a great charm that enchanted its readers — it was impossible for a reader not to identify with a character.

Although, there were characters that were hated by almost every reader.

'Tsk. I have always been suspicious of this author ever since he left Rachel alive. And now he stops the chapter at the best part and makes us wait a week for a new chapter, he must have done that just to torture us — the readers...'

Kroooonc~~~~

Uriel, unfortunately, had to stop making his crazy theories about the author, because his stomach rumbled hard. For starters, he had reread some of the past chapters and had been waiting for the new chapter of Tower of God for hours — this without eating even once — so inevitably he would feel hungry.

"Urgh... I should go buy something to eat."

Uriel stood up quickly. At least eating would distract his enormous curiosity about the next chapter.