The Poison Demon’s Strategy for the Martial Tower Chapter 77

Novel: The Poison Demon’s Strategy for the Martial Tower Author: IPPO Updated: Jun 19, 2026

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Now reading: Chapter 77 from The Poison Demon’s Strategy for the Martial Tower, a Action novel by IPPO.

Chapter 77: Fight, You Can Win (2)

"Damn it……."

"Huff. Huff……."

Park Seon-su gasped for breath.

Tower, 29th floor.

Kill 10 Black Bears to clear the floor.

He'd already killed 6 over the past 12 hours, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that things were going terribly wrong.

He cursed under his breath.

"Son of a bitch……. Why is this happening. What's with 6 of them already showing up?"

"Right. Ugh. Hey! Seong-chan, take it easy."

Gong-ju scread as Seong-chan wound a bandage tightly around her deeply lacerated shoulder, torn open by a Black Bear's claws.

Ryu Hyeon-gyu pressed his hand against the throat of a fallen climber, then shook his head and approached.

"He's dead."

"For crying out loud. 30 people ca in, and now there's only 6 of us left?"

"24 dead for 6 kills—that's a terrible trade."

Hwang Jin-tae let out a long, heavy sigh.

He too had bandages wrapped around his chest.

Gong-ju shouted.

"Aagh! Son of a bitch, I said take it easy! Seon-su oppa, I think we should call it quits?"

"What are you talking about? If we stop here, it's all over."

"Joining the Red Dragon Gate is great, and you taking over as Section Chief instead of Director Seong Chu-hyeon sounds great too—but at this rate, we're all going to die. Just look."

"……."

Park Seon-su clenched his teeth.

Even he had to admit the situation was a complete ss.

"Why is this happening, though? There's never been a ti Black Bears showed up 3 or 4 at a ti before."

"How would I know?! They must've gone crazy all of a sudden."

Then the bear-like man, whose build rivaled the Black Bears themselves, spoke quietly.

"I sll honey."

"What? Out of nowhere."

"Focus. There is a sll of honey."

"Hey! Are you a bear yourself, sniffing around for honey?"

"Son of a bitch! Gong-ju, shut it!"

Park Seon-su barked at Gong-ju and sniffed the air.

"You're right. There really is a faint sll of honey."

Seong-chan spoke.

"The bears that attacked earlier also slled of honey."

"What kind of honey would be in this cave……."

"Ugh! What the hell. This is so annoying! Sothing's wrong here!"

Gong-ju groaned irritably and buried her face in both hands.

Ryu Hyeon-gyu asked.

"Vice Master, what would you like to do?"

"……."

"If we stay here for 3 days, we can go back. The mission will be a failure, but."

"Then the Red Dragon Gate entry is down the drain too."

Park Seon-su's expression was resolute.

"Does everyone not know? The deadline is the day after tomorrow. We went in as prepared as possible, scraping together the strongest people we could."

"Even so……."

"Then what?! Stay diocre climbers forever? Son of a bitch! My uncle racked up over 10 billion in debt in bribes just to get into the Red Dragon Gate, and I personally guaranteed every last bit of it—, right here!"

Bang bang!

Park Seon-su beat his own chest.

He pointed his great blade at everyone and shouted.

"Are you going to pay off my debt? You, Gong-ju? You, Seong-chan?!"

When he pointed the great blade, Gong-ju and Seong-chan both averted their eyes.

"You bastards. If you're going to bail, bail now. But don't even think about leeching off if I succeed."

"Vice Master!"

"I'm going all the way. Just 4 more. Kill 4 more and it's all over. Then our lives are set for good!"

Park Seon-su slung his great blade over his shoulder and strode forward.

The party watched his back, then followed him with resigned expressions.

And then.

Swish—.

Deep in the darkness of the cave they had passed through.

I revealed myself.

‘Wow……! That guy, is he actually a bear? Good nose for honey.’

I readjusted the knapsack on my shoulder.

‘Let's see, let's see.’

‘Just a little further to the Black Bear Demon Beast at this rate. In that case, until then.’

"Let call 3 more."

* * *

"Son of a bitch! Son of a bitch! Son of a biiiitch!"

Park Seon-su scread until the cave walls shook, drenched head to toe in blood.

Bears had appeared again.

This ti, 3 showed up all at once.

The bears that had been sniffing around for sothing flashed red eyes the mont they spotted Park Seon-su's party.

A desperate battle followed.

Park Seon-su and his party had fought through multiple battles against Black Bears across 27th, 28th, and now 29th floors, so they fought far better than before.

But the mont they brought down all 3—

"Ngh……"

Seong-chan lay on the ground writhing, Ryu Hyeon-gyu had lost his left arm, and Hwang Jin-tae's face had been crushed to a pulp—barely clinging to life.

Gong-ju and the bear boy were in no better shape.

No—Gong-ju had nearly lost her mind entirely, muttering sothing to herself.

"So annoying……. So annoying, so annoying……."

The bear boy clutched his stomach as if his intestines were about to spill out and groaned.

The deeper into the cave they went, the cold gnawed at their bones.

The torches they'd brought in were on the verge of going out.

The dicinal salves and bandages they'd packed had all run out, making treatnt impossible.

Park Seon-su forced strength into his trembling hand.

The great blade that had once swung lightly now felt unbearably heavy.

He held himself together, on the verge of collapse.

And he shouted to his party.

"Just 1 left!"

"……."

The party said nothing. They already knew.

Having co this far.

Turning back was no longer an option.

They'd need to hold on for at least 2 more days, but in their current state it was clear they wouldn't survive even 1.

"Hold on just a little longer."

Park Seon-su cried out and raised his great blade, heavy as a thousand stones.

At that mont.

"You've all worked hard."

A voice ca from the darkness behind them.

"……!"

Everyone turned their heads at once, and soone slowly walked out of the dark.

"It's been a while. Everyone doing well?"

"W-who's there!"

"It's . Samcheolli."

I smiled and picked out a rock in the cave to perch on.

I set the knapsack I'd been carrying down on the ground and opened it.

"S-Samcheolli?"

"Rember?"

"……!"

Park Seon-su pointed at with an expression of disbelief.

I grinned and pulled a bamboo flask and Bungeoppang out of the knapsack and popped them in my mouth.

"Oh! Delicious!"

I swallowed the Bungeoppang whole and tilted the bamboo flask back for a long drink.

"This too—delicious!"

At that, Gong-ju's eyes flew open.

"H-hey. too!"

"Hm?"

"So water……."

Her lips were cracked and parched.

She seed so tornted by thirst that she couldn't even register the fact that I was standing here right now.

Well, it wasn't just Gong-ju—everyone here was suffering from hunger and thirst.

They had lost their food supplies mid-battle.

"Thirsty?"

Gong-ju nodded, and just as she started to approach —

"Stop."

Park Seon-su stepped in front of her.

"Why, why?!"

"Snap out of it! This makes no sense. Why would Samcheolli suddenly show up?"

"Then what?"

"It's a hallucination. We're all seeing things."

Pfft.

I let out a quiet laugh and tilted the bamboo flask in my hand, letting the water dribble onto the ground.

"Is this a hallucination too?"

"W-water!"

Gong-ju shoved Park Seon-su's arm aside and ran over.

She snatched the bamboo flask from my hand and tipped it into her own mouth.

But—drip, drip.

The flask I'd already emptied had only a few drops left.

"Son of a bitch!"

Crack!

Gong-ju threw the bamboo flask to the ground and smashed it.

And the mont she turned her eyes toward where I'd been sitting—

Thud!

I shot out like lightning, dropping low, and drove my shoulder straight into her.

"……!"

She flew and crashed into the wall.

The impact was so severe she couldn't even scream.

Only a faint, strangled wheeze escaped her.

【Kim Tae-yang delightedly approves. 1,000,000 Happiness】

"You just—!"

Park Seon-su tried to shout at , but I was already gone.

When he turned to find , I had already taken hold of Seong-chan's arm.

"You were a middle schooler back then, but you've grown a lot."

Seong-chan's eyes, trembling on the ground, stared up at .

"When you see your senior, you should greet him. Cat got your tongue?"

"……!"

"Was it like this back then?"

Crack-crack!

I twisted the arm and broke it starting from the shoulder.

"Aaaaaugh!"

"See? You can speak just fine."

【Kim Tae-yang is causing a scene demanding the other arm be broken too. 2,000,000 Happiness】

"Samcheolli!"

Park Seon-su bellowed.

He still seed unable to fully grasp what was happening.

"Park Seon-su. Do you rember my na?"

"What?"

"I'm asking if you rember my na."

I asked him that and moved toward Ryu Hyeon-gyu.

Ryu Hyeon-gyu flinched under the weight of my presence and stumbled backward.

"S-Seon-su!"

He looked at Park Seon-su and cried out in desperation.

I kept walking toward Ryu Hyeon-gyu.

I turned my head and asked Park Seon-su again.

"Say it. My na."

"I, I wouldn't know how to—"

Thud!

In an instant my hand flashed, and Ryu Hyeon-gyu's remaining right arm was gone.

"Aaaaaugh!"

I turned and leveled the Flying Cotton Palm dagger at Park Seon-su.

"Park Seon-su! Do you rember my na?"

"Kim Tae-yang!"

Crack!

This ti I stomped down and crushed Hwang Jin-tae's head.

Park Seon-su's jaw began to tremble.

【Kim Tae-yang leaps to his feet and jumps up and down. 2,000,000 Happiness】

"Soone once told . A na is 'aning'"

I approached Park Seon-su.

"Not even being able to rember my na—it ans I was soone who held no aning whatsoever to you. And yet."

I stood before him.

"Why did you tornt ?"

"You…… you!"

At that mont, the bear boy stepped in front of Park Seon-su to block .

"Stand back."

"Bear boy, long ti no see."

"My title is White Bear."

"Sounds like a knockoff."

A sneer curled onto my lips.

"What are you talking about?!"

"Have you completed that art?"

"……What?"

Grab. I seized the bear boy by the collar.

"This one."

I hurled him straight into the stone wall.

Whooom—! Crash-bang!

He smashed into the wall and slid down to the floor.

The bear boy's body was bent at grotesque angles.

The impact had finally ruptured his abdon, spilling his intestines.

He was barely still breathing.

【Kim Tae-yang shouts that serves him right. 2,000,000 Happiness】

"K-Kim Tae-yang!"

Park Seon-su finally rembered the na.

"That's right! Kim Tae-yang, Kim Tae-yang. You…… Why exactly are you here?!"

"What an honor. To finally be soone of aning to Park Seon-su."

I stepped back slightly and moved toward the wall.

It was a stone wall thickly covered in moss.

Park Seon-su shouted.

"Kim Tae-yang! Hey, you crazy bastard! I don't know why you're doing this, but let's stop. We're not in the mood to fight you right now."

Pause.

My hand, feeling along the stone wall, stopped.

I slowly turned my head toward him.

"Was I…… In the mood back then?"

"……!"

In that instant, force surged from my palm.

My energy rushed forward like a tide and was loaded into the secret technique of the Flying Cotton Palm, and I struck the stone wall with all my strength.

Craaaaash!

It was only a single strike, yet the entire cave lurched like it had been hit by a battering ram, and the stone wall burst apart.

"How about that—I've gotten a bit stronger, haven't I?"

"Good lord!"

Park Seon-su's eyes went wide at the force packed into my single strike.

Rumble rumble.

Dust and gravel rained down like a shower.

Through the falling gravel and dust, I slowly turned around.

Radiating a green light from my eyes, I spoke to him.

"You can get stronger too."

Just then!

Grrrrrrr.

A bone-chilling, low rumble resonated from the deep abyss of the cave.

"……!"

Park Seon-su's pupils quivered.

His instincts as a martial artist must have been screaming a warning.

That death was approaching.

The interior of the cave was thick with darkness like the mouth of another world, and—

Thud—.

Along with sounds that seed to shake the earth's axis, 2 hellish eyes erged walking from within.

A black mountain.

The Black Bear Demon Beast.

【Kim Tae-yang grips his hands with sweaty palms and shouts 'It's starting now!' 2,000,000 Happiness】

"Wh-what, what is that……!"

Park Seon-su's voice trembled.

His heart must have instinctively sensed the danger.

Head to fingertip, every hair on his body visibly stood on end.

Crack!

Beneath the house-sized front paw the Black Bear Demon Beast had stepped down with, the bear boy whose body had been twisted grotesquely was crushed flat.

‘See, I told you—you're a knockoff.’

The armless Ryu Hyeon-gyu scread and tried to flee, and before a single one of his steps could even land, the Black Bear Demon Beast's sweeping paw tore his body apart in the most literal sense.

Boom!

Bones shattered, flesh flew.

Ryu Hyeon-gyu, reduced to only his lower half, crumpled down.

【Kim Tae-yang shouts 'That's exactly it!' 2,000,000 Happiness】

The Black Bear Demon Beast snarled and lifted its muzzle over the shredded flesh, wooo—huff huff, heaving hot breath as it fixed on its next target.

Gong-ju.

"So annoying……. So annoying, so annoying."

She was sitting with both hands clasped over her head, face buried in her knees.

Complete panic.

Huff—.

She slowly raised her head at the heat she could feel approaching.

"……!"