Chapter 113: Nightmare, 8th Floor (1) |
Back on Floor 6.
The Tower had tried to block my challenge entirely, with the Ark as the price.
But this penalty…
[Penalty: While ‘Person123’ is making the first clear of Floor 8, one of the items in his possession is randomly prohibited from use.]
One random item banned.
That was it.
What was the point of this?
The Tower was making an offer that was completely unbalanced.
Could it be that this thing had gone haywire from fixing bugs because of the Sage…? No, that couldn’t be it.
I crossed my arms and leaned back into the chair.
Knocking off the idle thoughts, I started thinking seriously.
I know.
There’s definitely some scheme behind it.
Because there’s no way the Tower would make an offer like this for my benefit.
And yet, the reason my thoughts kept multiplying was…
‘The terms are too good, though.’
Just one item.
One out of the many I owned.
Even if the Tower rigged it so it wasn’t random and banned whatever item it wanted…
What’s my most important item? Diul?
Anyway, whatever got banned, it wouldn’t be enough to seriously dent my combat strength.
But what I could get in return.
A full ten-kilometer-radius Ark, no less.
A last line of defense so that, even if I failed now or somewhere down the line, humanity could survive even a little.
Once an Ark was activated it lasted forever, they’d said, so even if I died, the Ark would keep holding.
I couldn’t help being tempted.
Yeah, it was obviously some dirty trick. Obviously, but…
I’d pulled it off on Floor 4 too, hadn’t I?
And this penalty was way weaker than the one on Floor 4.
─ Do not accept it.
The Demon King spoke then.
─ Merely taking this monster’s temptation seriously is to let it toy with you. Do you not see that?
The Demon King was strongly insisting I kick the offer aside.
Come to think of it, the Demon King had said something like that before too.
He had no memory of when his world was destroyed, but the Tower had apparently offered him something back then.
So the Demon King really must have been badly burned by the Tower’s offer at some point.
“Still, I succeeded back on Floor 4 after taking an offer too. Isn’t this another gamble worth trying?”
The Demon King sneered.
─ Then accept it, if you like. I won’t stop you.
I laughed too.
The Demon King already knew which way my heart had leaned.
This was another global announcement, so the Communication Channel and the news were both in an uproar.
Whether to take the offer or not, people were going at it in furious debate, but…
I’d already made my decision anyway.
[Nightmare]
Population: 476,805
Time Limit: 20 days, 1 minute, 1 second
Reached Floor: Floor 8
A day passed.
I steadied myself and finished my preparations.
I ignored the offer window and stood in the middle of the hotel room.
“Let’s get going.”
I would not accept the offer.
I’d definitely felt the pull, sure.
But it was also true that, beyond that, it reeked of something fishy.
The thought even crossed my mind: what if one of my items was something I absolutely needed for this Floor 8 clear?
The Masked Auction had been like that too.
This was, if anything, faith in the Tower.
Faith that this thing, packed solid with malice, would never do anything to my advantage.
So I won’t waver.
I shook off every last trace of regret.
[Do you wish to enter Nightmare Difficulty, Floor 8?]
After one last deep breath…
“Enter.”
My vision changed.
*
The field of Floor 8 was a desert.
The theme was nothing special.
Knock down or dodge the Sandworms that burst up through the ground, reach the destination, and it was cleared.
That was for the other difficulties, of course.
As for Nightmare, I’d have to see what kind of spicy sauces got added.
[You have entered Nightmare Difficulty, Floor 8.]
[The Tower’s offer has been nullified.]
The moment I entered, I stopped time.
And checked the information in my field of view.
The middle of a desert.
Sand stretched out endlessly in every direction.
North, south, east, west, no matter where I looked, the same scenery.
I let time flow again.
‘They said ten minutes.’
The Sandworms would attack soon.
And if I held out fighting them off, it would appear after ten minutes.
The oasis, the destination I had to reach.
Under the blazing sun, I waited quietly.
But it sure is pretty hot, though.
At my level it’s this bad, so this is the kind of temperature that would cook an ordinary person alive.
Rumble, rumble…
Then a vibration rose up beneath my feet.
To the left.
With my now-sharper Sixth Sense, I prepared for the ambush with ease.
FWOOOSH!
The desert surged up and cast a shadow. Sand and dust scattered like a storm.
A monstrously huge larva of a creature.
A single Sandworm that had burst onto the surface lowered its head as if looking down at me.
Its cylindrical head was studded with tiny, revolting teeth.
Hm… damn, it’s big.
A Sandworm on Hard difficulty was supposed to be about the size of a five-story building, was it?
This thing was practically a skyscraper.
Of course, this much was well within expectations.
Rrrrrrr…!
The Sandworm bent its massive body and came lunging toward me.
I stopped time.
I performed Mental Concentration and launched a Flame Strike.
KABOOOM!
A vertical row of flame orbs slammed into the Sandworm’s body, hitting it evenly all over.
SKREEEEEE-!
An ear-splitting shriek.
Without my needing to attack again, the Sandworm’s body blew apart in one shot.
It twisted its body and gushed greenish fluid like a waterfall.
I dodged backward to avoid the spraying fluid.
It must have been toxic; I saw the sand where the fluid landed melt away.
THOOOM!
Soon the Sandworm collapsed.
I looked at the corpse.
‘Nothing to it…’
It was just disgustingly big, that was all.
For other Nightmare challengers, maybe, but to me it was just trash-mob-level. Ordinary.
Of course, I didn’t let my guard down even a little.
This was only the very beginning.
Rumble, rumble.
The vibration rose again.
And more Sandworms burst out.
Two of them this time.
One I hit with another Flame Strike, the other with Lightning Strike and other spells.
I didn’t bother closing in to fight; I just hurled spells. Because of the splashing fluid.
And since I couldn’t know what might suddenly pop out, I held off on Destruction Ray and Hellfire Eruption, saving them.
Even after I’d killed the two, the Sandworms kept bursting out.
I ran across the desert, picking them off one by one with magic.
After I’d killed somewhere over ten of them…
Had ten minutes passed?
At some point an oasis had appeared in the distance.
‘Is that it.’
I moved toward the oasis.
Reaching it would mean success… no way, obviously not, right?
This wasn’t even warm-up level yet.
Either something else would start once I arrived, or something would pop out on the way.
As I ran while keeping my senses razor-sharp.
The sand churned again and Sandworms burst out.
There were more of them than before.
Not a problem at all.
Even if I just ignored them and ran, they wouldn’t catch up to my speed.
But in case leaving them be turned into a nuisance, I went out of my way to deal with every last one as I pushed on toward the oasis.
The oasis got close quickly.
It was far off, but with my physical ability it was a few minutes’ run.
Just as I was almost there.
“…!”
My Sixth Sense rang a faint alarm.
I immediately kicked off the ground and leaped high into the air.
FWOOOOSH!
A wide stretch of sand suddenly caved in, and…
at the last second, a whole heap of Sandworms came pouring out.
“Heh.”
Hovering in midair, I bombarded the ground below with magic.
KA-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
All bunching up did was make them easier to deal with.
The Sandworms blew apart spectacularly.
As I dropped back to the ground, I cast Blade Storm in the middle of the remaining Sandworms.
‘Demon King.’
And I handed my body over to the Demon King.
He flew us out past the caved-in zone.
After that, finishing off the few survivors was all that was left.
So this was the trap…
It was honestly too pathetic to even call a trap. For a Nightmare, anyway.
I brushed the dust off and pressed on toward the oasis, not much distance left.
But then…
“…?”
With less than a hundred meters to go.
The oasis suddenly vanished. Like a mirage.
I wasn’t flustered.
Because I’d never once thought it would end this simply.
‘…a skeleton?’
In the spot where the oasis had been.
A single human skeleton lay propped back against a cactus.
It wasn’t an Undead monster, was it?
I approached cautiously. My Sixth Sense didn’t react.
It was a skeleton dressed like some kind of traveler, and…
something was clutched in its hand.
A notebook, and a compass.
I checked the notebook first.
When I opened it, it was all torn up, only one page left.
A passage was written on it in red letters.
[No matter how far I walk, it refuses to come any closer. Have I gone mad? Or is this desert cursed? I should never have set foot in this place. I should never have set foot…]
…what is this?
From the content, it seemed like this person had wandered the desert and died.
Should never have set foot in this place, huh.
I’d already come in to clear it, so what was I supposed to do about that.
Was it kindly informing me that I was screwed?
I pocketed it for now.
I checked the compass too.
[1]
The moment I touched the compass, a number suddenly appeared.
‘…1?’
What did this mean now.
I tilted my head and examined the compass.
The compass needle was pointing in one direction.
When I raised my head and looked that way… hm?
Far off, an oasis had appeared once again.
I dug through the skeleton’s clothing some more.
Apart from the notebook and compass, nothing else turned up.
“Hmm…”
I looked at the oasis again.
I had a somewhat ominous feeling, but… for now there was no choice but to go, right?
FWOOOSH!
More Sandworms burst out while I was on the move.
I dealt with them lightly and sprinted across the desert.
And as I pressed on toward the oasis…
“…?”
I noticed something off.
The distance… didn’t seem to be closing?
After running a while longer, I became certain.
It really isn’t getting any closer at all.
…So this was what “no matter how far I walk, it never gets closer” meant?
I checked the compass. But.
[2]
The compass number had grown to 2.
…what is it hinting at?
“Ah.”
It grew to 4 again.
I kept staring at the number, and a moment later I caught the rule.
The compass number seemed to be doubling every two minutes.
[16]
…what is it? What is it hinting at?
It was deeply unsettling.
Because a growing number didn’t seem like a good thing for me. It hadn’t been on Floor 7 either.
I pulled out the Warp Device.
For now, let me warp to the oasis at maximum distance.
I always kept my Willpower topped up in advance, so it was full.
After waiting ten minutes, I warped toward the oasis.
And…
“…goddammit.”
I muttered a curse toward the oasis.
Not one bit closer.
Even after moving a full 10,000 kilometers.
So it really wasn’t a matter of physical distance, then?
I tried going not just in the oasis’s direction but in the complete opposite direction too, and off to the side.
But no matter which way I went in the desert, only the same scenery repeated.
The oasis neither moved farther from me nor came any closer.
And through it all the Sandworms kept annoyingly bursting out and attacking…
KABOOOM!
[512]
After dealing with a Sandworm, I stopped time.
Let me sort out the situation.
The oasis won’t get closer.
And the cryptic compass number keeps climbing.
…Finding a way to reach that oasis might be the condition for clearing Floor 8 this time.
But what the hell kind of gimmick is this.
‘Demon King, anything come to mind?’
I asked the Demon King for his opinion.
─ Nothing.
‘…Then please think it through with me.’
At this rate there was no answer, anyway.
I had to find some other way out.
I sank into thought.
Come to think of it… was this similar to Floor 2?
The infinite staircase that just looped around the same spot.
This wasn’t all that different now.
Back then I’d broken the gimmick by slipping out through a window into an entirely different space, but…
here it was endless desert in every direction.
There was nothing that could be called a different space.
‘…’
No.
Or was there?
At a thought that flashed through me, I looked at the dead Sandworm in front of me.
At the pit in the sand it had burst out of.
Join our discord server: https://discord.gg/Bv5qu2Qbb
Read more chapters on my Patreon: https://patreon.com/DDTL
Comments 1