Chapter 121: Proof of Qualification (4) |
[1. All Climbers Immune to the Tower’s Curse]
[2. All Climbers Above Floor 2 Gain 2 Levels]
Two options had been laid before me.
I checked the first reward and couldn’t help being stunned.
[1. All Climbers Immune to the Tower’s Curse]
All Climbers permanently gain the effect of not dying from the Tower’s Curse.
‘All Climbers…?’
Back when I’d cleared the final Subtower.
That time too, something called a Curse Immunity Pass had come up as one of the special reward options.
This time it was actually every single Climber?
In other words, even when the Tower’s Time Limit ran out, every last Climber would be able to escape death.
That is, if I chose this.
…Were they serious?
They were really offering a reward like this?
Of course, if all of humanity outside the Climbers died and turned into the Fallen, the world would become hell anyway.
Thinking of it that way, maybe it didn’t carry much meaning…
No, wait. Climbers could still enter the Tower, couldn’t they?
Even if the world descended into chaos, it wasn’t impossible for Climbers above Floor 5 to go on living inside Floor 5.
Even if the world someday came to ruin, the Climbers at least would survive.
That was the kind of reward it was.
And Climbers were strong. They could keep growing, too.
If the surviving Climbers slowly chipped away at the Fallen, then someday returning the world to normal might even be…
I let my imagination run for a while before turning my eyes to the second option.
[2. All Climbers Above Floor 2 Gain 2 Levels]
The level of every Climber above Floor 2, across all difficulties, increases by 2.
The second reward.
Every Climber above Floor 2 gains 2 levels.
It meant the overall fighting strength of all Climbers would be reinforced.
Two wasn’t something to scoff at. Two levels made a considerable difference.
In terms of the Easy difficulty, it would be like getting two floors’ worth of level rewards completely free.
Still, that first option, the Climber Curse Immunity…
“…Hmm.”
I glared at the choices and crossed my arms.
I stopped time and thought.
That was when the Demon King spoke.
– Choose the second one.
‘…And the reason?’
– Because the first is a worthless temptation.
I knew it too.
What the Demon King meant was to never, under any circumstances, trust the Tower.
Even supposing the Climbers became immune to the Tower’s Curse… once the Time Limit ran out and the Curse came down.
Would the Tower’s system still operate the way it did now?
What if Climbers could no longer enter the Tower at all?
And even if they could enter, living inside Floor 5 meant living inside the Tower itself.
It was no different from living inside a tiger’s jaws.
Above all…
I was thinking about insurance for if I failed again.
A reward to prepare for the world’s destruction, or a reward that would help, even a little, in conquering the Tower going forward.
Which should I choose?
‘…’
And then a thought like that comes to me, too.
If I chose the first reward, and the Climbers were thereby freed from the Tower’s Curse.
…would the Climbers of the other difficulties still claw their way up the Tower so desperately after that?
For now, only the Nightmare difficulty was a problem.
But if I kept succeeding in my conquest, the other difficulties would become a problem too.
The other difficulties could also find themselves hounded by a Time Limit in the not-so-distant future. Starting with Hard.
Even now, not a single one of the current Top-Floor Climbers had selected even one Isolation Zone.
If a path to survival opened up, expecting Climbers to still risk their lives ascending the Tower just to extend the Time Limit…
That was hard to hope for.
Sure, there would be plenty of Climbers like that too, but I was speaking purely in relative terms.
On top of that, the balance between ordinary people and Climbers would collapse entirely.
The Climbers would end up holding far too much of the upper hand.
Because Climbers would have a minimum of insurance even if the world fell apart, while ordinary people would not.
And there was no guarantee that the Climbers wouldn’t try to exploit that difference in position with malicious intent.
I wasn’t on the Climbers’ side, nor on the ordinary people’s side.
But if I had to pick, it was the latter, who vastly outnumbered the former.
Making the choice that served as many people as possible was the obvious thing to do.
By comparison, the second option.
It was clean.
The overall fighting strength of all Climbers would rise. That was all.
If I chose the second, it would help every Climber conquer the Tower going forward.
And, of course, it would help me a little more too.
…Even so, the first option was a sweet one.
Probably because I didn’t have much time left to live, so I kept finding myself thinking about what came after the end.
– Don’t waste a thought on what comes after failure. Whatever preparations you’ve made, by then it’s already over.
The Demon King said.
After long, drawn-out anguish…
I made my decision.
[You have selected ‘All Climbers Above Floor 2 Gain 2 Levels’ as your reward.]
I couldn’t be certain it was the right choice.
But the time to regret and look back on every little thing was a luxury now.
[The level of every Climber above Floor 2 increases by 2.]
[Difficulty: Nightmare]
[Floor: 9]
[Level: 107]
[Willpower: 6,270/6,270]
[Skills: Destruction Ray (Epic+), Hellfire Eruption (Epic)(+1), Subspace (Epic), Air Walk (Epic)…]
[Do you wish to exit the Tower?]
I exited immediately.
I was back in my living room.
– …we’re told that every Isolation Zone, including those across South Korea, has vanished! A true miracle has taken place! Person123 single-handedly selected all nine Isolation Zones and succeeded in slaying the boss…!
The moment I returned, the voice of an excited news anchor came pouring out of the TV.
My family was staring at me with faces on the verge of fainting from shock.
“Seo-hyeon, you… you…”
Father couldn’t even string the words together.
I scratched the back of my head, gave a little smile, and said,
“Took him down no problem. It was nothing, really.”
I felt bad for startling them.
But I’d instakilled the boss the second I walked in, so they probably hadn’t even had time to freak out, had they?
In any case, I’d made it home safe.
*
Shin Su-jin and Kang Ju-hyeok of the Tower Climbing Special Agency stood at the boundary of the Isolation Zone.
The entire city of Seoul had fallen within the Isolation Zone’s range.
In front of the barrier, the place was packed with citizens trembling in unease and fear.
“It’s vicious. Truly vicious…”
Staring at the translucent blue barrier, Kang Ju-hyeok muttered grimly.
Shin Su-jin appeared composed as well, but inwardly she was swallowing despair and helplessness.
Not even up through the Hard difficulty had a single person selected an Isolation Zone.
[The current Top-Floor Climber of the Nightmare difficulty, ‘Person123’, is selecting Isolation Zones.]
[Time remaining for selection: 59 seconds]
All that was left was the Nightmare difficulty, Person123’s choice.
In the end, once again, the entire burden had come to rest on his shoulders.
But this time, it was something even he could do nothing about.
The absurd penalties that came attached to selecting even just a handful of Isolation Zones.
Even Person123 had his physical limits.
Shin Su-jin looked around at the people in despair and bit down hard on her lip.
‘Korea…’
Surely he’d choose Korea, at least.
Even now, a self-serving corner of her heart was clinging to that hope.
As long as she was human, she couldn’t help but put her own country first.
But if Person123 took on the penalties and ended up dying…
Her heart was in turmoil over what she should even hope he would choose.
Was he agonizing over it right now too?
Just as he’d taken on the penalty back on Floor 4, he had always made the choice that saved everyone.
But this time, no matter how she looked at it, saving everyone was impossible.
Shin Su-jin could hardly fathom how agonizing that must feel.
All she could do was pray he wouldn’t make a reckless decision.
If a 30% reduction to physical ability and Willpower was a penalty even Person123 couldn’t withstand, then South Korea too would have to be given up, which was only the right…
[The Top-Floor Climber of the Nightmare difficulty, ‘Person123’, has selected Isolation Zones 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.]
“…?!”
The message that surfaced before her eyes.
Shin Su-jin went blank, then turned ashen.
“N-no…!”
Why would he make a choice like this…!
[The Top-Floor Climber of the Nightmare difficulty, ‘Person123’, has slain the boss monster.]
[Isolation Zones 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 have been deactivated.]
“…Huh?”
A dazed sound slipped out of Shin Su-jin.
“Uh… what? What?”
Beside her, Kang Ju-hyeok blinked blankly too, as if he couldn’t make sense of it.
It was the same on the Communication Channel.
After Person123 selected every Isolation Zone, from one through nine.
The boss-defeat message that followed right behind it gave them no time even to panic.
[Banta: ???]
[Steak Seasoning: ?????]
[Petty Citizen: Huh?]
Maybe five whole seconds passed.
For that instant, no one could quite accept what had just happened.
Even the Communication Channel froze for a moment, then exploded.
[Coconut: WHOAAAAAAAAasdlkjaslkdjalskdjalksdjalksd]
[Loki: Insane. Is this for real?]
[Da Vinci: The Isolation Zones are disappearing!]
[Justice: Whoa…]
[Asteroid Collision: Person123 is a god! Person123 is a god! Person123 is a god! Person123 is a god! Person123 is a god!]
The Isolation Zones across the entire world vanished all at once.
– The Isolation Zones have disappeared! Person123! A hero of humanity has…!
The citizens who had been despairing and resigned cheered as if witnessing a miracle.
Whooaaaaaaaaa-!
“Hng… we’re alive! We’re alive!”
“Did Person123 choose our Isolation Zone?!”
“Look at the news! They say Person123 picked all nine zones!”
Person123 had selected every Isolation Zone and deactivated them.
But how on earth?
[Armor: …He took on nine penalties and brought down the boss? With a 90% level cut, skills banned, items banned?]
[Cyclops: And it didn’t even take a few seconds. What just happened?]
[Phoenix: how the fuck did he do it lmaooooo it makes no sense lmaooooooo]
[Celly: Is he even human? How is this possible?]
[Theseus: He’s not human, he’s a god!]
[Tubatu: no but seriously… this is basically a god for real…]
There was no way anyone could comprehend it.
The Top-Floor Climbers of the other difficulties couldn’t handle even a single penalty.
Person123, on the other hand, had essentially taken down a boss of his own level while all but powerless. And in a matter of seconds, no less.
All of humanity shuddered and went wild.
Beijing, China.
Ye Tianwei, who had been staring at the message, let out a low gasp of awe.
“Aah…”
Person123’s power was absolute.
It was a fact Ye Tianwei believed in more devoutly than anyone.
But even he could never have dared to imagine this.
Not just a few, but actually selecting all nine Isolation Zones and bringing down the boss…
Ye Tianwei didn’t think too hard about how such a thing could possibly be done.
Soon he rose from his chair and dropped to his knees on the floor.
Clutching a Person123 Church rosary, he bows in reverence.
It was an act of worship directed at humanity’s god, who might now have truly become something like a transcendent being.
Meanwhile, at one branch of the Person123 Church.
“…He has now transcended even the laws of the Tower.”
Before the kneeling, praying believers, a man who looks like a pastor goes on in a trembling voice.
“Even after losing nearly all of His power, He thwarted the wicked Tower’s scheme. Once again, He saved every last one of us, not one soul left behind.”
“Aah…!”
“It is proof that He no longer even needs the Climber’s power the Tower threw at Him. He is shedding the mortal form, and at last He walks the path toward true godhood!”
The believers wept, overcome with emotion.
After the conquest of Floor 8, the Tower’s vicious malice had been thwarted yet again.
The believers could not help but worship their god all the more deeply.
[A special reward is granted to the Top-Floor Climber who deactivated the most Isolation Zones.]
[‘Person123’ is granted a special reward.]
[‘Person123’ is currently selecting a reward.]
[The level of every Climber above Floor 2 increases by 2.]
And then a message like that surfaced as well.
A 2-level increase for every Climber above Floor 2.
[Shark: whoa what? my level went up!]
[Stairway to Heaven: Did Person123 pick this as his reward?]
[Azure Dragon: Don’t tell me he passed up the reward that’d benefit himself and chose the one for everyone?]
[Geppetto: The great Person123… just how endlessly selfless can one man be?!]
[Random Number: This man is humanity’s god. I’m not kidding, I genuinely believe he’s a real god now]
And so, even the rule of Floor 8, which had felt so utterly hopeless, was brought to an end in a single stroke by Person123, alone.
All of humanity praised him again and again.
Join our discord server: https://discord.gg/Bv5qu2Qbb
Read more chapters on my Patreon: https://patreon.com/DDTL