There’s a well-known genre of gas out there.
Gas where the player makes a character jump from platform to platform until reaching the goal. They’re commonly called jump maps, or platforrs.
What makes these gas infuriating is that after spending hours painstakingly climbing up, one tiny slip can send it all crashing back to the starting point.
Still, at least with a ga, there was always another try.
When it beca reality, it was a death climb with no second chances.
[ChickenCurry: Don’t attempt Floor 2 unless you’re absolutely sure. Clearing Floor 1 alone is enough for everyone to get by]
[Clankbang: fr it’s twice as brutal as Floor 1]
Supposedly, no monsters appeared on Floor 2.
All anyone had to do was hop across platforms suspended in midair until reaching the finish point, and they’d clear it.
The only catch was that one wrong step ant a slow roast in the lava creeping up from below.
To use Hard difficulty as an example:
The gaps between platforms were roughly five ters, and the platforms themselves were about 50cm by 50cm.
Apparently, none of the difficulty tiers made the gaps physically impossible to jump, but continuously leaping across narrow platforms over a sea of boiling lava wasn’t exactly sothing a sane person could handle.
I’d done my own training regin tailored for Floor 2.
At the end of the day, the key to clearing Floor 2 was the ability to jump and land precisely where needed, consistently.
To build that up, I’d spent a lot of ti in the Floor 1 cave drawing circles on the ground and jumping between them.
Under conditions far harsher than Hard difficulty, of course.
Because it was obvious this ti would be unimaginably worse.
[You have entered Nightmare difficulty, Floor 2.]
The mont the scenery changed, a wave of heat slamd into my skin.
I stopped ti the instant I entered.
And slowly surveyed the scene before .
‘Hmm…’
Yep. Absolutely brutal.
Nightmare Floor 2 never failed to et my expectations.
The setting wasn’t outdoors but an enclosed space.
It felt like the interior of so impossibly massive building.
Black stone platforms hung in a line through the air, angling upward.
As expected, molten lava churned and bubbled across the floor below. It was practically an ocean of lava.
But the size of the platforms and the distance between them were even worse than I’d anticipated.
I was standing on a platform myself from the start, and the thing was barely wide enough to fit both feet.
Those breaking boards, the ones they use in taekwondo demonstrations.
It was about that size.
They expected to jump from this thing? To the next platform?
Seriously, wasn’t this a bit much?
The gaps between platforms looked to be just under ten ters.
They felt slightly shorter than the maximum range of Teleportation, so maybe around nine ters.
My sense of distance, honed through all that Teleportation practice, was reasonably accurate.
Not an impossible distance to jump.
With my current physical abilities, I could clear it with room to spare.
The problem was that the platforms were absurdly tiny.
If my landing was off by even fifteen centiters, I’d fall straight down.
Was I confident? Not a chance.
But, thankfully.
I had the Teleportation skill.
Just using Teleportation alone, I could safely warp to the next platform for an easy ride.
I just had to keep in mind that the lava below would be steadily rising, and my Teleportation cooldown was one minute.
…But shit, sothing felt off.
I did have a great skill, sure, but could it really be this easy?
It was just a gut feeling.
Sothing told I shouldn’t use my skills carelessly.
‘Then again, I could just save Teleportation as a lifeline.’
I’d cross by jumping normally, and only use Teleportation if I slipped up.
For reference, using Teleportation also canceled any kinetic energy acting on .
aning even if I was falling in so weird direction, I could teleport onto a platform and land perfectly fine.
Alright, so I’d conserve Teleportation for now.
I finished steeling myself and released the ti stop.
Rummmble…
God, it was hot. The air itself was scorching.
The sound of lava boiling below was murderous.
I focused on the next platform and took a deep breath.
“Phew.”
One, two,.. jump.
I pulled my torso back as far as I could, then leaped.
My body cut through the air, soaring toward the next platform.
About eighty percent of the way there, I knew. I’d made it.
Thud!
I landed a little unsteadily but quickly found my balance.
“Holy…”
I actually did it.
The approach shoes I’d specifically bought for Floor 2, with their insane grip, were doing their job perfectly.
Was this more doable than I thought? Maybe it wasn’t that bad?
I looked down.
The lava was rising pretty fast.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and prepared to jump to the next platform.
They say the brain can’t process negatives, so rather than imagining “don’t fail,” visualizing “I’ll succeed” supposedly raises the odds of pulling off the action. Or sothing like that.
So I visualized myself sticking the landing and leaped toward the second platform.
Aagh, shit.
I knew the instant I left the ground. Too much force.
My body sailed powerfully through the air and flew clean past the second platform.
Before I could drop, I locked eyes on the third platform and froze ti mid-air.
Lifeline activated.
I completed ntal Concentration and released the ti stop.
The instant it released, I used Teleportation and warped straight to the third platform.
“Whew…”
That was way too close.
Who’s the bastard that ca up with that pseudoscience about negatives? I almost died.
I threw so pointless bla at science and got my composure back.
On the bright side, I’d cleared two platforms in one go.
[Willpower: 50/200]
My willpower was nearly drained from the Teleportation.
I’d wait until it recharged.
I stopped ti and waited a full hour, then released it.
I waited an additional minute to also reset the Teleportation cooldown, then prepared to jump to the fourth platform.
“One, two…”
Jump toward the platform.
This ti… good. Made it.
I braced for a stable landing on the platform.
And the mont my feet touched down.
The platform suddenly turned translucent and my feet phased right through, plunging downward.
“…!”
Wh, what the.
I froze ti in a panic.
…What the hell? A fake platform?
Even with ti frozen, my mind was racing as I forced myself into ntal Concentration.
I teleported imdiately, escaping the open air.
The fifth platform was just barely within Teleportation range.
I stood on the platform and looked back.
The Illusion Platform had vanished, and a different platform had materialized off to the side.
“No, what the…”
I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even speak.
What kind of trap was this…?
I’d never even heard of sothing like Illusion Platforms.
They only appeared in Nightmare difficulty.
‘This is basically “die if you don’t know,” isn’t it?’
Unless soone had a movent skill that worked in midair.
Not burning through Teleportation from the start had been the right call.
If I had, I’d be dead at the Illusion Platform.
I was too stunned to feel anything but awe. I had a pretty good idea now of where the person who’d attempted this before had died.
I kept ti frozen and recharged my willpower.
The lava had risen fast enough to swallow the platform where I’d started.
And I was currently on the fifth platform.
Three more platforms remained ahead.
Beyond the last platform, a large floor hovered in the air, as if marking the finish line.
Could that really be the end?
‘No way.’
There was no chance sothing this simple was all there was.
It was probably a midpoint. I could see sothing more beyond it.
In any case, this was where things got truly dangerous. No more room for mistakes.
The lava wasn’t the problem.
The problem was that another Illusion Platform could appear at any mont.
If I botched a landing and teleported to the next platform, what if that one was an illusion too?
Straight into a lava dive.
I gauged the remaining distance and thought it over.
‘If I can just clear one more platform…’
Could I possibly skip the last two in a single bound?
With the Leap skill plus Teleportation, it looked like I could reach that large floor in one shot. No, more than enough.
Alright, one platform.
I just had to nail this one.
If I failed, then I’d truly have to leave it to divine luck.
…Surely the remaining platforms weren’t all illusions, right? That’d be crossing a line, even for this place.
I carefully prepared my jump.
And the mont the Teleportation cooldown reset, I leaped for the next platform.
By a hair…! Made it!
Thankfully, this one didn’t vanish.
Both my feet landed solidly on the platform.
“Phew.”
Honestly, wasn’t I doing pretty well?
I’d basically succeeded every ti except once.
I glanced down at the lava, then up at what lay ahead.
I prepared for the final jump. Going all the way in one shot.
I activated the Leap skill and jumped with everything I had.
My body rocketed upward, sailing past the remaining platforms.
I was almost at the large floor. But just short.
I froze ti in midair.
I covered the remaining distance with Teleportation.
I touched down safely on the large floor.
A perfect success.
“…So, that’s it?”
I muttered it just for the hell of it.
If this were Hard difficulty, it probably would have ended here.
Of course, no clear ssage appeared.
Yeah, I know. Wasn’t expecting one.
I looked up at yet another line of platforms stretching above .
Platforms floating in rows of three.
One out of every three was emitting a blue glow.
The gaps between platforms and the platform sizes were far more generous than the previous section.
What? There was no way it was this easy… I was thinking, when.
Suddenly, the blue glow on the platforms began to fade.
I froze ti before the light vanished completely.
Ah, I got it now.
morize the positions and jump across, right?
But giving less than five seconds to morize them? That was just rude.
Of course, ti was no issue for .
With ti frozen, I morized the positions of all the glowing platforms and recharged my depleted willpower.
There were thirty platforms in total, ten rows of three, and another large floor waited at the end.
And what looked like a door.
Could that be the end? I sure hoped so.
With quiet optimism, I committed every glowing platform’s position to mory.
Starting from the left as 1: 1231321232.
I released the ti stop and waited for the Teleportation cooldown to reset.
Then I jumped to the first glowing platform.
The instant I landed, the platform gave way beneath . Huh?
I imdiately froze ti.
It took about half a second to figure out what happened.
‘Are you actually insane?’
Apparently, the glowing platforms weren’t the right ones; they were the trap platforms.
They actually pulled this kind of garbage fake-out?
Unbelievable. Just unbelievable.
I teleported to the next non-glowing platform.
It didn’t give way.
Just to be safe, I recharged my willpower again before jumping to the next one.
I hopped along, picking only the platforms that hadn’t been glowing.
I reached the large floor without much trouble.
A massive gate stood before .
Please, could this be the finish line?
I prayed silently as I walked toward the door.
In that instant.
The floor beneath suddenly heaved upward, launching my body sideways into the void.
“…!”
I froze ti while mid-flight.
Right, of course. Traps like this too.
I wasn’t even surprised anymore.
I calmly teleported back to the floor.
“Could you tone it down? Please?”
Normally, I’d already be dead ten tis over, you piece of shit.
Worried about more traps, I had to recharge my willpower and Teleportation cooldown before moving again.
How many tis had I refilled my willpower now? I’m exhausted. Just drained.
In real ti, probably not even ten minutes had passed since I’d entered, but in terms of the ti my consciousness had experienced, I’d been at this for hours.
Fortunately, there were no more traps.
I made it safely to the gate.
I tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge.
I pushed. I pulled. Not an inch of movent.
No keyhole or anything visible either.
Now what was I supposed to do with this…
I looked around, but there was nothing else to find. The lava was still rising.
Maybe breaking it down was the answer? I tried hitting it with my fist.
WHAM!
The thick wooden door cracked and splintered.
But at the sa ti, an ominous sound filled the space.
RUMMMBLE!
“Huh?”
I looked down.
The lava had suddenly started surging upward at an insane speed.
Oh, you’ve got to be, wait, hold on please.
I frantically began hamring the door with everything I had.
It was breaking, sure, but the door was so massive it wouldn’t collapse.
A searing heat, like my body was being cooked alive, surged up from below.
I stepped back from the door and cast Fla Strike.
KABOOOM!
The gate blew apart spectacularly.
At the sa mont, the risen lava spilled over and flooded the floor I was standing on.
“AAAAAAH!”
I scread and dove through the doorway by a hair’s breadth.
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