Chapter 27: Before the 3rd Floor (1) |
TL: DDTL
Time passed after the Seo Dong-woo incident.
The news reported that Seo Dong-woo had ultimately been shot and killed by an agent from the Tower Climbing Special Agency’s Tower Monitoring Division.
Nothing particular happened even as time went on, so it seemed my existence had fortunately gone undetected.
[Lotus: Thank you.]
A random thank-you message came through as a Whisper on the Communication Channel. It was from Section Chief Shin Su-jin.
We exchanged a few words asking after each other’s health, and that was it. No further contact.
It wasn’t like I was a criminal, but something about a Tower Climbing Special Agency official just made me uneasy.
…Well, actually, maybe not entirely innocent? Failing to register as a Climber and falsely reporting one’s difficulty tier was technically illegal.
Anyway, she seemed like she’d keep the secret going forward, so there was probably nothing to worry about.
“Wouldn’t it be better to stay hospitalized a bit longer, Dad?”
“Oh, enough. They said the bones have all healed, so what’s the point? I’m going stir-crazy sitting around.”
Thankfully, Dad recovered without any major complications and was discharged.
The more I thought about it, the luckier we’d been.
That psychopath had nearly taken my father from me for good.
– Isn’t this Seo Dong-woo incident telling us something? Climbers are dangerous! They’re nothing short of walking weapons!
– We need to refrain from that kind of generalization. Seo Dong-woo was a vicious murderer imprisoned for massacring his entire family. This incident was, at its core, what happens when an already deeply troubled individual gains power. It’s not right to lump in and slander the vast majority of law-abiding Climbers.
– But you can’t deny that Climbers are dangerous, can you? A single person’s rampage turned the entire country upside down. They’re no different from ticking time bombs that could go off at any…
– Isn’t it the government’s lax preparedness and response that led to this disaster? We need stronger restraints on Climbers!
– We especially need proper countermeasures for high-level Climbers. In just a few years, the average Climber level is going to skyrocket, and if a second Seo Dong-woo emerges, they’ll be far more powerful than…
– And how exactly do you propose we prepare those countermeasures? Don’t just talk. Give us a concrete plan.
– Who climbs the Tower if not Climbers? There’s a misunderstanding here. Climbers are the future of this world! We should be thinking about preventing crime through friendlier policies. If you take a heavy-handed approach and Climbers start leaving for other countries, then what? Realistically…
Whenever I watched those kinds of news debates, that was all anyone talked about for a while.
I wasn’t particularly interested, but the treatment of Climbers had always been a hot topic.
People’s anxiety was perfectly understandable.
As for Climbers being walking weapons, well, the phrasing was harsh, but it wasn’t exactly wrong.
If I hadn’t been a Climber myself and my father had suffered something like this, I probably would have grown to resent Climbers quite a bit too.
But nutcases like that were the minority, in the end.
Since I was a Climber now, though, it did sting a little to watch public opinion sour so badly.
Then again, maybe I wouldn’t mind if I were actually reaping some benefits.
I wished I could just coast through life doing Repeat Clearings on the 1st floor.
[Flyboy: Korean Joker dead?]
[GoldSilver: Dead. Heard some Korean Climbing Bureau agent went mano a mano and took him out]
[1rururu1: That guy hogging the Communication Channel and spouting all that nonsense was pretty entertaining though]
[Horororo: But he really was insane. Didn’t he bust out after mowing through armed guards?]
[LastLeaf: I heard he was over level 20? High-level Climbers are seriously no joke]
In any case, the Seo Dong-woo incident had made waves not just domestically but worldwide, though public interest gradually faded with time.
As the clock of doom ticked on, people’s concerns inevitably converged back to a single question.
Will the world survive another year?
I was curious too.
Whether I could clear the 3rd floor or not.
[Nightmare]
Personnel: 258,326
Time Limit: 185 days, 1 hour, 34 minutes, 59 seconds
Reached Floor: 3
About half a year had passed since I cleared the 2nd floor.
My daily life hadn’t changed much in that time, aside from dropping out of college.
Technically I’d filed it as a leave of absence, but since it couldn’t be extended indefinitely, it was as good as dropping out.
“Wow, even Seo-hyeon ended up becoming a Climber? Wild.”
“Think there’s something about our school that attracts it?”
“Come hang out sometime. Buy us a meal when you do.”
I’d told my friends I became an Easy-tier Climber and was leaving school.
They were all good people, so it was a shame I wouldn’t see them as often.
Oh, and my younger sister had also graduated high school and started college.
Said she bombed the CSAT, but ended up at a pretty decent school anyway. I bought her a laptop as a gift.
“Let’s go, Diul.”
I now had my parents’ full blessing for my Climber activities.
With nothing but free time on my hands, I entered the Tower whenever I got the chance.
Part of the reason was to keep my body sharp, but the main goal was obviously bonding with Diul.
Still, I hadn’t managed to unlock any new abilities yet.
The connection definitely felt like it was getting clearer, but…
When this little guy was actually going to show me a new ability, I had absolutely no idea.
“Diul, haven’t we gotten way closer by now? I’m starting to feel hurt here.”
No matter how I tried talking to him, all that came back was the same snooty, dismissive vibe, like a snort of contempt.
I wasn’t asking for much. I just hoped something, anything, would change before I challenged the 3rd floor.
[Nightmare (8)]
The Nightmare headcount had changed too.
It had grown from five to eight, with three new additions.
Beyond the U.S., China, Russia, and India, apparently Australia had produced one as well.
Whether anyone had actually managed to clear the 2nd floor, though, was impossible to know.
A global announcement would pop up if someone set a new highest-floor record, but nothing was announced for anything else.
[Person123: Has anyone successfully cleared the 2nd floor?]
I was curious, so I’d asked Rhino about it once.
[Rhino: I’m embarrassed to say, not yet.]
That was the answer I got, but…
Still, it seemed like they were just preparing, not that anyone had died attempting it.
But no matter how I thought about it, the 2nd floor should have been easier than the 1st, given the right information…
Or was it? I honestly couldn’t be sure.
I’d challenged it at level 15 thanks to the hidden reward, but for everyone else starting at level 10.
The Minotaur might have been a brutally tough boss at level 10.
At this point, I’d honestly stopped expecting much from the other Nightmare Climbers.
I’d already decided on my own that I’d take the vanguard role.
If someone actually caught up and managed to clear a new floor before me, good for them.
Nice if it happened, no loss if it didn’t.
That was about the extent of how I felt.
[Chicken Sandwich: Mr. Kim, I’d like to deliver some Skill Stones to you.]
I also received word from Bilon, after quite a long gap, that he had Skill Stones ready for me.
He’d apparently been collecting them to deliver all at once, because this time there were three.
[Chicken Sandwich: …A Rare-grade Magic Type skill called ‘Blade Storm,’ and a Normal+ grade Magic Type skill called ‘Fairy Light Bullet.’ And one Normal+ grade Skill Enhancement Stone.]
Two Skill Stones and one Skill Enhancement Stone.
The important thing was that both Skill Stones were Magic Type. One of them was even Rare-grade.
It couldn’t have been easy to acquire them, but Bilon gave nothing away as usual, offering only the skill descriptions.
[Chicken Sandwich: Going forward, I’ll have Skill Stones delivered through the Magic Stone Courier as well. I’d love to meet you in person, Mr. Kim, but it seems best that we avoid direct contact as much as possible.]
According to Bilon, he’d tried to procure the Skill Stones discreetly, but couldn’t entirely escape the Climbing Bureau’s notice.
There was a chance they were under some surveillance, so from now on the Magic Stone Courier would handle Skill Stone deliveries too. I said I understood.
The man was busy enough as it was; there’d really been no need for Bilon to come and go in person to begin with.
[Person123: Then I’ll pass the Supreme Magic Stones through that person as well. That works, right?]
On the scheduled day, I received the Skill Stones along with my usual Magic Stone pickup.
I handed the courier a hefty bundle of Supreme Magic Stones in return.
The foreign man, as always, gave a wordless bow and left without fuss.
I’d heard in passing from Bilon that he was using the Magic Stones to conduct various research projects…
Well, however he used them, I hoped he’d put them to good use.
I headed home and cracked open the Skill Stones.
[Skill: Blade Storm (Rare)]
Creates a razor-sharp gale within a 3-meter radius, dealing damage to and knocking back all targets in range. Requires 50 seconds of Mental Concentration to cast.
Classification: Magic Type
Willpower Cost: 150
Cooldown: 1 minute
[Skill: Fairy Light Bullet (Normal+)]
Fires small light projectiles imbued with the power of light. Up to three can be generated, with Willpower cost stacking by 5 for each additional projectile. Requires 10 seconds of Mental Concentration to cast.
Classification: Magic Type
Willpower Cost: 20, 45, 75
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Blade Storm. This one felt like an AoE skill, no question.
And Fairy Light Bullet,
The description on this one was a bit curious… but the cooldown was incredibly short?
I absorbed all the Skill Stones.
[Would you like to enter Nightmare difficulty, Floor 2?]
I entered the Tower right away to test them out firsthand.
If the Goblin Knight had been my skill test dummy on the 1st floor, on the 2nd floor it was the Minotaur.
Across the lava stepping stones, up the tower climb, all the way to where the Minotaur waited.
MOOOOOO-!
“Yeah, good to see you too.”
The Minotaur seemed just as happy to see me, charging full force in my direction.
I stopped time.
First, I tried Fairy Light Bullet.
Vwiiing-
The moment I activated the skill, tiny lights like fireflies rose up around me.
I launched all three at the Minotaur.
The lights burst one after another, pop pop pop, striking the Minotaur on impact.
Hmm, so that’s the kind of power we’re looking at?
Visually, the explosive force wasn’t all that great.
If Flame Strike was an artillery shell, this was more like a rifle round.
The Minotaur flinched for a moment, then bled and charged at me again.
I dodged easily and fired Fairy Light Bullet once more.
Pop pop pop!
The power didn’t come close to Flame Strike.
But after actually using it, I noticed a distinct difference from Flame Strike.
Once fired, Flame Strike could only travel in a straight line.
With Fairy Light Bullet, I could control the trajectory to a degree.
If I wanted, I could send them on curved paths or even zigzagging routes.
“Not bad at all?”
A razor-short 5-second cooldown.
Up to three projectiles, with relatively free guided-attack capability.
Above all, that overwhelmingly short cooldown was what I liked most.
The Willpower cost did stack up with each additional projectile, but…
Cast time and Willpower cost meant nothing to me, so that wasn’t even worth worrying about.
GRAAAAGH-!
And to be fair, it was only weak compared to Flame Strike. Fairy Light Bullet’s power wasn’t actually low.
The Minotaur, having already taken several hits from the light projectiles, was bleeding heavily.
Enraged, the Minotaur bellowed and charged once more.
Time for the main course.
I waited until the Minotaur closed in, then stopped time.
After completing Mental Concentration, I cast Blade Storm.
KABOOOOM!
A violent roar erupted as a whirlwind tore through the space around me.
The Minotaur, caught in the blast radius, was flung away as if launched from a catapult.
“Oh.”
Even while mid-charge, it got knocked back that hard?
I walked up to the fallen Minotaur.
The destructive power was considerable, too.
That single Blade Storm had shredded the Minotaur’s entire body to ribbons, reducing it to a mangled heap.
The accumulated damage from Fairy Light Bullet probably contributed, but the Minotaur was already dead on the spot.
An AoE skill striking everything within a 3-meter radius.
One-minute cooldown, with that kind of power.
Three meters wasn’t exactly a generous range.
But the fact that it hit every enemy in a full 360 degrees around me was a clear and distinct advantage.
I grinned.
“Thanks, Bilon.”
Considering the 3rd floor’s theme, it seemed like I’d picked up some pretty excellent skills.
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