TL: DDTL
Saturday afternoon, the weekend.
I’d fallen asleep in the early hours and didn’t get up until nearly lunchti.
“Did you stay up late last night?”
“Yeah, I was working on sothing.”
The whole family sat together in the living room, eating lunch and watching TV.
─ Breaking news: Nightmare difficulty on the Tower’s 2nd floor was cleared at approximately 2 AM this morning. The identity of the person who cleared it has not yet been revealed…
My handiwork was being broadcast on the midday news.
“See? I told you soone would clear it. The world ends if nobody does, so of course people were preparing like crazy.”
Dad said it with a told-you-so look, then cleared his throat with a conspicuous ahem when Mom shot him a look.
Everyone already knew, but hearing the world might end wasn’t exactly pleasant.
My younger sibling sat there with a completely vacant expression, stuffing their face with all the ham.
Still, they’d been in a funk for a while now, and today they at least seed to be in decent shape.
Was this going to be the new normal from now on? Everyone living with the constant anxiety that the world might end every year.
At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole population ended up with mood disorders.
Maybe it was sothing to be grateful for, getting to keep living even with that anxiety hanging over us. Better than the world actually ending, at least.
─ As with the previous occasion, the clearing of all difficulties on the 2nd floor was accompanied by an influx of 400,000 new Climbers. However, this ti there was an additional developnt: the Tower has introduced a new rule.
─ According to the rule, Climbers who fail to enter the Tower at least once within three years of being selected will die. This reportedly applies retroactively to both First-wave and Second-wave Climbers, calculated from the date they originally received the Tower’s summons…
That was another problem.
The Tower was introducing new rules to kill even more people.
Having to enter the Tower at least once essentially ant clearing the 1st floor.
Climbers who had never set foot inside the Tower would now die if they didn’t attempt it.
On top of that, First-wave Climbers like , who’d been called at the very beginning, had just over a year left.
‘The other difficulties aside…’
Getting Easy or Normal would at least be manageable.
But people stuck with Nightmare? They’d be completely screwed.
I looked up from the news and asked my family.
“None of you got chosen as Climbers, right?”
“Oh, co on. As if.”
Mom answered as though I shouldn’t even worry about it.
Dad shook his head too, and my sibling didn’t even bother responding.
Right, what were the odds of that happening?
Statistically, 400,000 out of eight billion people. What did that co out to?
One in 20,000.
I’d read sowhere that the lifeti odds of getting struck by lightning were about 1 in 15,000. This was even lower than that.
‘So why the hell did I get picked?’
Now that I thought about it, it was absurd…
Then again, the world hadn’t ended yet precisely because I’d been picked.
Damn. I couldn’t even complain about it.
Anyway, one person getting struck by lightning in this family was more than enough.
After finishing the al, I flopped onto my bed and scrolled through the Communication Channel.
I’d cleared the 2nd floor, so I needed to post information.
I decided to put it off for now.
There were still too many inaccuracies and unknowns.
Were there more Illusion Platforms besides the one I’d stepped on? Where exactly was the trap that made the floor shoot up? Did the positions of the trap platforms change with each entry?
It would be better to confirm everything through Repeat Clearings, then compile and post the information.
The last thing I wanted was people going in to attempt the clear based on inaccurate info.
“Let’s do the Hidden Route clear first.”
Going back into the 2nd floor ant doing the Hidden Route anyway.
I’d already confird last ti that just leaving without attempting it would waste one of my chances.
*
[You have entered Nightmare difficulty, Floor 2.]
That night, I entered the 2nd floor imdiately.
The instant I arrived, the searing heat of lava assaulted my skin, right on cue.
I surveyed the platforms ahead.
This ti, even if I fell into the lava, I could just Exit right before impact. No risk to my life.
Let’s see, the Illusion Platform was the fourth one.
‘What if I jump straight to the fifth platform in one go?’
With my enhanced physical abilities from leveling up, plus the Leap and Teleportation skills, it seed more than doable.
I made my decision and crouched low.
I aid roughly in the right direction and launched myself toward the target with a powerful Leap.
After soaring through the air, I Teleported onto the fifth platform.
More than half the distance covered in a single move.
I waited for the skill Cooldown, then jumped again.
In just two leaps, I reached the large midpoint platform.
Next, the glowing platform.
Looking at it, the positions hadn’t changed from last ti. Fixed, then.
After passing through easily, the path leading to the door appeared.
I moved forward one step at a ti, slowly.
It was around here, if I rembered right?
Thud!
Sure enough, as I reached roughly the middle of the passage, the floor shot upward.
Okay, so it was exactly this spot. Confird.
I Teleported back, then waited for my depleted Willpower to refill.
At least now, with 450 Willpower, I could use Teleportation up to three tis without the hassle of refilling in between.
Once my Willpower was topped off, I fired Fla Strike at the door.
The mont the door shattered, the lava went into a frenzy, and I rrily sprinted for the staircase.
Still, the 2nd floor seed more manageable than the 1st for other people, as long as they had the information.
Or maybe not. Never mind.
I climbed out through the window and scaled the Tower’s outer wall.
Last up: the boss.
I didn’t pick up a weapon and simply waited by the door for it to erge.
CRASH!
The door exploded and out ca the Minotaur.
The mont it spotted , it charged straight at .
I didn’t use Fla Strike.
At level 15, there had still been a sense of danger, but now I just knew.
I could take it in a fistfight.
I sidestepped the charge and drove a straight punch into its torso.
CRUNCH!
The sensation of bones shattering traveled up through my fist.
The Minotaur howled in agony and brought its fist crashing down at .
I dodged again with ease. Its fist pulverized the floor.
Dodge and hit. Dodge and hit. We traded blows at point-blank range.
The Minotaur’s crude, brainless attacks were almost impossible to get hit by, given how much more agile I’d beco after leveling up.
My punches, on the other hand, were steadily tenderizing the Minotaur’s body into ground at with every hit.
On top of that, my new skill Exaltation kicked in, and before long I was completely overwhelming the Minotaur.
WHAM!
The battered Minotaur took a hit to the head and staggered.
I leapt up and smashed its skull one more ti.
Finally, its head caved in and the Minotaur collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.
“Dead?”
No answer, so I’d take that as a yes.
If it was dead, ti to go.
I scooped up a sword that had fallen to the ground and bolted for the railing.
Monts later, tremors ripped through the floor as it crumbled and caved in.
I perched on the railing.
As the Exaltation effect gradually faded, I felt the heat draining from my body.
That was the warm-up.
Now it was ti to find the Hidden Route.
“Where could the Hidden Route be…”
The Tower had turned into a lava bath, as anyone could see.
So the only option was to go down, right?
I peered over the edge into the dizzying drop below.
With a bit of exaggeration, it looked about as high as the 63 Building. [TL: The 63 Building is a famous 250m skyscraper in Seoul, a common Korean reference for extre height.]
A little nerve-wracking, sure, but there was nothing to be afraid of. I jumped straight off.
Whoooosh…!
I’d never done a bungee jump in my life, and here I was experiencing one like this.
Of course, this was a bungee without the cord, so hitting the ground as-is would have splattered spectacularly.
Just before reaching the surface, I stopped ti and Teleported.
The kinetic energy from the fall dissipated, and I landed lightly on the ground.
“Whew.”
The area around the Tower was nothing but forest.
A pale blue moon hung in the night sky. The atmosphere was spot-on.
From here on, there was no telling what might jump out, so I cranked up my alertness.
First, I circled the Tower’s periter to get a look around.
From the window I’d escaped through, lava was still pouring down like a waterfall, pooling on the ground below.
Before long, I found what appeared to be the entrance: a massive gate. There too, overflowing lava had settled into so state halfway between solid and liquid, writhing and pulsing.
So the forest was the way to go after all?
A path led from the castle entrance into the depths of the forest.
“…Creepy.”
The darkness within the forest seed to gape open like the maw of so beast. Deeply unsettling.
It was painfully obvious that this was where I was supposed to go, given it was the only actual path.
With no other choice, I followed the trail cautiously. Sword slightly raised in my grip.
It grew even darker once I entered the forest.
Still, the moonlight was bright enough that I could see ahead without much trouble.
Leaves rustling in the wind, the occasional chirp of insects…
The atmosphere felt like sothing could leap out at any second.
When I’d looked down from atop the Tower, the forest had seed enormous. I had no idea how far I’d need to go.
I pressed on, ready to Exit the mont anything felt dangerous.
Rustle.
A faint sound ca from behind .
The crinkle of leaves.
It sounded just slightly off for sothing caused by the wind. I whipped my head around.
A blade, inches from my face.
I stopped ti just before the sword pierced my throat.
What the hell…
Half a second later and I’d have been dead.
Heart hamring, I examined the thing that had ambushed .
‘A woman?’
It looked human, but it wasn’t.
Pale skin. Horns. And those pupils, slit vertically like a reptile’s.
The word Demon ca to mind naturally.
In any case, it had attacked , so it was an enemy.
Was this Demon the boss of the Hidden Route?
It was already too late to dodge the attack, so I focused on ntal Concentration.
The instant I released the ti stop, I Teleported behind the Demon.
Imdiately, ti stop again.
This ti, I prepared Fla Strike.
A pair of fireballs hurtled toward the Demon’s exposed back.
Effectively, the fireballs had launched almost simultaneously with the Teleportation.
The Demon spun around desperately and tried to dodge.
“KYAAAH!”
But it couldn’t fully evade the blast and was caught in the explosion, sent flying.
Not dead?
I approached the Demon where it had crumpled to the ground.
It was struggling to get back up.
But the damage must have been severe; it couldn’t seem to control its body. It was already badly burned.
“You human scum…!”
I stopped at a distance.
I watched the Demon warily as it writhed on the ground.
Glaring at with eyes full of hatred, the Demon cried out, seething with bitter resentnt.
“Ugh… Kill !”
That was the plan.
As soon as the skill Cooldown was up.
Rather than closing the distance, I waited a safe thirty seconds, then fired Fla Strike again.
KABOOM!
“Phew.”
Target eliminated.
Wasn’t that a bit easy, though?
Nearly died, sure, but still.
[You have failed to clear the Nightmare difficulty Floor 2 Hidden Route. (2/3)]
[You will be Exited from the Tower.]
“Huh?”
What.
That wasn’t it?
I was ejected from the Tower in total bewildernt.
User Comments
0 comments from readers