Chapter 49: Nightmare, 4th Floor (5) |
“…hurrghh!”
The moment I came to, I jerked upright with a ragged, gasping sound clawing its way out of my throat.
Reflexively, my hands went everywhere, patting myself down.
Smooth, unbroken skin. Not a single wound.
I sucked in ragged breaths, and once I confirmed the space around me was the Reward Room, I collapsed flat on my back again.
Holy…
Holy shit……
I really thought I was going to die.
Is that what it feels like to fall into hellfire? An absolutely unbearable experience I never, ever wanted to go through again.
[4F clear on all difficulties has been completed.]
[The Tower is calling new participants.]
[A new rule is being added.]
[From this point on, five Sub-Towers will appear at random locations at 7-day intervals.]
[Time until first Sub-Tower appearance: 6 days 23 hours 59 minutes 32 seconds]
“…you son of a bitch.”
At least give me a minute to breathe before you spring this on me.
Something about it felt inevitable. The second I voided the 3-Year Rule, a new rule came popping right out to take its place.
Sub-Towers, random appearances?
I had no idea what they were, but just the word “tower” was bad news.
So there are going to be more towers besides the one in the Pacific?
Rules appeared on Floor 2 and Floor 4, but not on Floor 1 or Floor 3.
Just like I’d suspected before, it really did seem like rules were being generated every other floor.
Agh, whatever… I’ll think about it later…
My body had fully recovered, but the aftershock of that full-body burning agony still lingered, leaving me tingling all over.
That was on a whole different level from any pain I’d ever felt before.
Look at this. Look at my fingertips. They’re still shaking.
[Item: Celestial Music Box]
A lost holy relic of the Paeli Order. When activated, it plays a melody that calms the mind and body. Consumes 1 willpower per second to operate.
I pulled the music box out.
The item I’d picked up from the Floor 3 hidden clear.
Since it was still an item, I’d brought it along with me, just in case.
Thinking it might actually do something, I switched it on.
♫ ♪
As the music box’s melody filled the air, my nerves started to settle.
“Haaa…”
Oh. So this wasn’t useless after all.
The Tower had tossed me a mental recovery item so I wouldn’t develop PTSD while climbing. How thoughtful.
Anyway, jokes aside, the effect was real and it was unmistakable.
I kept the music box playing until my willpower ran out.
Okay. Mental reset complete.
I finally got up.
[Level: 55]
Ten levels gained. I was at 55 now.
I could feel it, my body had taken another noticeable leap in power.
Whoom!
I threw a punch into the air and the sound of air ripping apart was thunderous.
Maybe at this point I could go bare-knuckled and actually trade blows with a fully-enhanced Floor 3 boss like Plina?
I checked the rewards.
Skill Enhancement Stones scattered across the floor.
No Skill Stones… huh? Just two Skill Enhancement Stones?
[Rare+ Skill Enhancement Stone]
When used, can enhance one rare+ grade skill.
Two Rare+ Skill Enhancement Stones.
Enhancement Stones were rarer than Skill Stones, so I guess I should call myself lucky.
Skills were a case of the more the merrier too, but whatever, this wasn’t bad.
No, actually, this was better.
Because I now knew that hitting +5 on a skill granted a higher-tier version of it.
[Difficulty: Nightmare]
[Floor: 5F]
[Level: 55]
[Willpower: 1,800]
[Skills: Destruction Ray (Epic+), Teleportation (Rare+), Sixth Sense (Rare+), Rapid Regeneration (Rare+), Scorching Zone (Rare+), Flame Strike (Rare)(+5), Blade Storm (Rare), Exaltation (Rare), Skin Hardening (Rare), Fairy Light Bullet (Normal+)(+1), Minor Poison Resistance (Normal+), Minor Burn Resistance (Normal+), Leap (Normal)(+1), Swing (Normal), Thrust (Normal), Frost Shot (Normal)]
Come to think of it, I hadn’t enhanced a single one of my Rare+ skills yet.
‘What should I pick?’
Teleportation, Sixth Sense, Rapid Regeneration, Scorching Zone.
Teleportation would probably get a range boost.
Sixth Sense… I guess the gut feeling would just get sharper? It wasn’t really a skill measured in numbers to begin with.
Rapid Regeneration would get better healing output, and Scorching Zone would get more damage or a wider area.
In my head, the obvious pick was Teleportation.
Rapid Regeneration had pulled serious weight this time around, sure, but the cooldown was too long and it was a physical-type skill.
Fully enhancing Scorching Zone would probably net me a fire-attribute epic-grade magic skill, but I already had Destruction Ray as a perfectly excellent offensive option.
Teleportation looked like the best bet: longer teleport distance, plus maxing it out might give me a higher-tier movement skill. And yet.
‘Sixth Sense…’
For some reason, I kept getting drawn to Sixth Sense.
When it came to tackling a new floor, there was no skill more reassuring than this one.
And besides, what even was the upper-tier version of Sixth Sense?
I was curious. It felt like it would be something really good.
Splitting the enhancements would be inefficient, so I had to dump everything into one skill anyway.
I could’ve put off the decision, but I made up my mind right then and used both Enhancement Stones on Sixth Sense.
[‘Rare+ Skill Enhancement Stone’ has been used on ‘Skill: Sixth Sense (Rare+)’.]
[‘Rare+ Skill Enhancement Stone’ has been used on ‘Skill: Sixth Sense (Rare+)’.]
[‘Skill: Sixth Sense (Rare+)’ has been enhanced, further strengthening danger detection ability.]
I couldn’t tell the difference right away.
It only triggered when there was actual danger, so I’d have to check later.
[Nightmare]
Participants: 283,157
Time Limit: 1 year 19 days 22 hours 39 minutes 16 seconds
Floor Reached: 5F
After sorting through my rewards, I confirmed that the Nightmare Time Limit had been extended.
Once again, I had survived. And again. And again.
The world had bought itself another year.
Though this round, admittedly, had been an unusually eventful one…
‘What even is the Tower?’
Did it actually bear some kind of grudge against me?
The Tower dangling the 3-Year Rule as bait to offer me penalties felt like a fairly blatant display of malice.
And this run too… the gacha refusing to give up Ability Nullification like that, could the Tower have been pulling strings behind the scenes?
Or maybe it was just plain bad luck. I couldn’t say for sure.
Honestly, thinking about it rationally, it was probably just the latter.
Because if the Tower really wanted me dead, and if it could meddle with the climb however it pleased…
Then it could just seal off every last pinhole and leave me no path to survival whatsoever, couldn’t it?
But the fact that it didn’t do that might mean the Tower itself had some rules or limitations it had to abide by…
At least, that was my best guess.
No point agonizing over it when no answer was coming.
The Tower was incomprehensible. In the end, all I could do was keep climbing.
‘Still, though…’
One thing was absolutely clear: it really, really wanted me dead.
Yep, guess what? Didn’t die this time either.
Took all that cheating and still walked away alive, didn’t I?
[Do you wish to exit the Tower?]
“Had a great time.”
Great time my ass, it had been a horrific clear I never wanted to repeat.
But hoping the Tower was listening, I made a point of laughing out loud with deliberate mockery as I exited.
I’m exhausted… time to rest.
*
After Person123 had chosen the penalty.
In every corner of the world, people gathered in the streets and, as if by unspoken agreement, all behaved the exact same way.
Men and women, adults and children alike, held their breath and prayed.
Person123 choosing the penalty meant that right about now, he was inside Floor 4 attempting to clear it.
Even the live news anchors, forgetting their duty to broadcast, had fallen into sparse, halting speech.
A minute passed, then another.
As the silent minutes dragged on, people’s faces grew tangled with anxiety, fear, restlessness, desperation, a raw pleading hope.
[Honeybee: Isn’t this… taking a while?]
[BlackDragonSky: What was the average Nightmare clear time again?]
[Rewer: Around 20 minutes. But with floor-to-floor variance it’s meaningless. First clear and all.]
[WarriorOfStruggle: The Nightmare channel count hasn’t dropped yet]
[Savannah: Please, Person123. Please…]
Over an hour had passed since Person123 chose the penalty.
Climbers in the Communication Channel could at least confirm the participant count hadn’t dropped, but civilians, cut off from real-time information, could only tremble with mounting dread as time crawled forward.
Some chewed their fingernails. Some bowed their heads lower and prayed harder. Some frantically scrolled through news feeds on their phones…
Parents comforted crying children. Even six-year-olds understood the gravity of the situation.
“…I told you! He shouldn’t have picked the penalty! It’s over, it’s all over!”
Some screamed in despair. Others turned on them in fury.
“Shut up and pray! He’s still in there!”
“If you’re gonna talk shit, get the fuck out!”
The negative mood was beginning to ripple outward when,
“Oh!”
“Hey…!”
Here and there in the crowds, a handful of people let out stunned gasps.
They were Climbers. The ones who could see the message announcing the 4F clear on all difficulties was complete.
“S, success! Floor 4 has been cleared!”
That cry was the spark.
The restless crowds exploded a moment later into roars loud enough to shake the streets.
Whooooaaaaah!
– This just in. Nightmare difficulty Floor 4 has been cleared just moments ago!
– Ah… we’re also hearing that the Tower has added a new rule. Reports indicate that Sub-Towers will appear at random locations at seven-day intervals…
The news broadcasts carried the word out.
People embraced strangers without a second thought, weeping tears of joy. The euphoria ran as deep as the anxiety that had preceded it.
[ConfidentStride: We lived! Another year alive!]
[KimchiStew: Person123 is a god! He’s a god! He’s a god! He’s a god! He’s a god! He’s a god! He’s a god! He’s a god! He’s a god! He’s a god!]
[Kenshong: No but how the hell?? He picked one of those insane penalties and STILL cleared it?]
[Megaphone: You STILL doubting Person123? Man you are something else]
[Poseidon: Ugh… my heart literally dropped when he was picking that penalty]
[Beast123: But seriously what’s with the Sub-Towers. Makes me nervous]
Another new rule had dropped, but no one cared about that right now, everyone was too busy celebrating.
Person123! Person123! Person123!
His name echoed through the streets in every direction. The name of the hero who had saved humanity again and again, and who refused to abandon even a handful of people, saving every last one of them.
“Haha… you really are just…”
Bilon Must’s office.
Bilon let out a hearty, exhausted laugh as his tensed-up body went slack against his chair.
He had hoped Kim Seo-hyeon wouldn’t choose the penalty.
Weighing the risks, the correct answer had been painfully obvious.
But Kim Seo-hyeon had chosen to save everyone, without a single exception.
And in the end, he’d gotten everything.
Even Bilon, who had always chosen high-risk, high-reward paths in his own life, knew that if he’d been in Kim Seo-hyeon’s position, he absolutely would not have picked the penalty.
…Incredible. Beyond incredible. Awe-inspiring.
Bilon closed his eyes and quietly celebrated his partner’s safe return.
The Tower Monitoring Division office at the Tower Climbing Special Agency.
[4F clear on all difficulties has been completed.]
“…Yes!”
The instant the message appeared before her, Shin Su-jin blurted the word out without thinking.
Kang Ju-hyeok, seated beside her, had already been startled by the message itself, and her outburst made him jump a second time.
A beat later, looking slightly embarrassed, Shin Su-jin cleared her throat.
“Whew, he actually pulled it off. How does someone pick one of those penalties and still clear Nightmare… he’s something else, truly.”
Kang Ju-hyeok kept shaking his head in admiration as he stared at the message.
The man had taken on a crippling penalty and then gone and cleared the floor anyway as if it were nothing. There was no gauging just how capable he actually was.
Shin Su-jin felt her heart racing and quietly rejoiced on the inside.
She was so relieved he’d made it back safely.
“…And with this, He has granted us a fourth salvation.”
Inside a dim cathedral.
Far more people had gathered than a year ago, filling an even larger space.
The man at the pulpit spoke in a voice that sounded on the verge of breaking into tears.
“The wicked Tower has played its tricks. Exploiting His benevolence, it held the lives of people hostage, seeking to obstruct the path of salvation He walks.
Ah, why did He not turn away? Why would He not bend, even the slightest bit? He would never, never forsake even a single pitiful life. He willingly bound heavy shackles to His own feet, threw Himself into hell, and saved us all.”
The man’s voice nearly broke into open sobs as he went on. The devout listeners bowed in reverent prayer could no longer hold back their tears, sniffling openly.
“No matter how base, how cowardly, how contemptible the schemes of the Tower may be, today we have proof that none of it can stop Him. Until the glorious day when He saves all of humanity, we will trust in Him, and follow Him, to the very end.”
“We believe, we believe…”
“Tonight, brothers and sisters, I beg you, rejoice to your heart’s content. Give thanks that by His grace, we are granted yet another year of life. Give thanks for His endless devotion, for His unending sacrifice…”
When the prayer ended, the people threw their heads back and poured out a wave of cheering.
That night, everywhere in the world, the name Person123 and the cheers that followed it never once fell silent.
*
The second I got out of the Tower I blacked out, crashed hard, and didn’t wake up until the dead of early morning.
Peckish, I called down for room service and got a late-night meal.
I sliced up a beautifully tender steak and shoved the pieces into my mouth.
“So goooood.”
Food tasted like heaven when it was eaten after a clear.
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