Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability Chapter 5: Nightmare, 1st Floor (4)

The Situation Room of the White House.

Every key figure from the governnt and military of the United States of Arica was gathered there, the President included.

In the solemn atmosphere, all eyes were fixed on the massive screen.

[02:46:32]

As the countdown on the display ticked lower, the shadows on their faces deepened with it.

The Ti Limit for the Tower’s Nightmare difficulty.

The clock counting down to humanity’s extinction.

“What’s the situation, Director Ban?”

The President broke the silence.

Ban, director of the newly established Tower Climbing Managent Bureau, answered while staring into the empty air before him.

“The rate of attrition is accelerating. We’re currently at around 76,000… but if the Ti Limit drops further, we may see a massive drop in numbers all at once.”

He felt no desire to bla them.

Tens of thousands had died, and still no one had managed to clear it.

Extinction may have been breathing down their necks, but what human being would willingly throw themselves into a death trap with a zero percent survival rate?

If anything, the more than 20,000 who had challenged it so far deserved admiration for their courage.

Who could have imagined this, even just a year ago?

Not climate change, not nuclear war, not an asteroid impact, but the end of the world arriving like this.

The Tower had appeared. Climbers ascended it. They brought back a new substance called Magic Stones, and the world was transford overnight.

It hadn’t taken nations long to realize that the future would be reshaped entirely around the Tower and its Climbers.

The United States had been quick to prepare for the coming upheaval, but in the end, it had all been for nothing.

Even the Hard difficulty, supposedly brutal in its own right, had already pushed past the sixth floor.

So what in the world made Nightmare so impossible that not a single floor could be cleared?

Soon, the curse the Tower had promised would descend.

When ti ran out, 99% of humanity would die.

It was absurd beyond belief, yet how could anyone dismiss it?

This was a prophecy handed down by a transcendent being, one that had raised a colossal tower in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, chosen random people across the globe and granted them supernatural powers. Sothing capable of all that.

It wouldn’t be strange at all if it could wipe out humanity in the blink of an eye.

The only act of defiance left was to turn the full firepower of the technology humanity had built up against that incomprehensible Tower.

Preparations were already complete.

If no one managed to clear it by the ti the Ti Limit hit thirty minutes, nuclear bombardnt of the Pacific Tower would comnce. That was the final line they had drawn.

A last-resort operation coordinated with China, Russia, and every other major power. Humanity’s final gambit.

But everyone in the room already sensed the truth. It would be pointless.

The conclusion had been reached long ago that the Tower in the Pacific, its roots believed to extend all the way to the Earth’s inner core, was indestructible by any ans.

The unidentified energy barrier coating its surface seed to exist outside the laws of physics entirely, blocking all external physical force.

So this was nothing more than a final, desperate act of defiance.

“God help us…”

All they could do was pray.

That soone among the remaining Climbers would succeed. That, please, a miracle would happen.

“If the Ti Limit drops to one hour, I’ll enter the Tower myself. I’ll call in soone else to handle status reports.”

All eyes turned to Director Ban.

He, too, was a Climber assigned to the Nightmare difficulty.

“Tens of thousands have given their lives. As director of the Tower Climbing Managent Bureau, shouldn’t I at least fulfill my final duty?”

“…Understood. Thank you for your dedication, Director Ban.”

The room responded with grave nods.

Adding one more person would bring the odds of turning this catastrophe around to virtually zero.

Ban, his expression equally somber, turned to check the remaining numbers once more when…

[All difficulties’ Floor 1 have been cleared.]

[The Tower calls for new Climbers.]

ssages materialized before his eyes.

Ban blinked, then his eyes flew open so wide they looked ready to tear as he checked the Nightmare difficulty status.

[Nightmare]

Personnel: 175,837

Ti Limit: 1 year, 2 hours, 39 minutes, 2 seconds

Reached Floor: 2

“It’s… it’s done!”

Ban forgot all composure and shouted at the top of his lungs.

Everyone stared at him in shock.

“Holy fucking shit! It’s done! It happened! Nightmare Floor 1 has been cleared!”

“…Is that true?!”

“A ssage just appeared saying all difficulties’ Floor 1 have been cleared! The Nightmare Ti Limit has been extended by a year, confird! Hahaha!”

RAAAAH…!

People threw their arms around each other, erupting in joy. So wept with relief.

Director Ban embraced his deputy director, Samuel, and laughed.

“What a relief, Director!”

With this, humanity had survived.

It was rely a one-year reprieve, but no one cared about that right now.

“Each difficulty’s personnel count went up by 100,000 too. It happened right when the ssage about all Floor 1 clears ca through.”

“Really? Could it be that personnel increase every ti a full floor is cleared?”

The joy was short-lived. There was work to be done.

The clear of Nightmare Floor 1, and the new Climbers.

A new phase was beginning, and it seed like there wouldn’t be a mont to breathe.

“By the way, who on earth could it be? The hero who cleared Nightmare.”

“That’s what we’ll have to find out.”

The first-ever clear of Nightmare difficulty, where not a single person had returned alive until now.

Whoever it was, whatever country they were from, an announcent would likely surface soon enough. Unless they happened to be an Unregistered Climber who had never reported to their governnt.

Regardless, one thing was certain.

That person had saved humanity from the brink of extinction, this once.

My eyes opened.

I sat up and looked around.

“…?”

I’m alive?

I checked my body.

The arrow that had punched through my stomach was gone without a trace, everything perfectly intact. My neck was fine too.

No bloodstains, and even my torn clothes were intact. As if everything had been perfectly restored.

Right before I blacked out, I thought I saw a ssage saying I’d cleared it… did I actually pull it off?

If clearing it had healed my body, then yeah, it must have worked.

I checked the Nightmare difficulty status and was sure of it.

[Nightmare]

Personnel: 175,830

Ti Limit: 1 year, 2 hours, 38 minutes, 31 seconds

Reached Floor: 2

The floor had changed to 2, and the Ti Limit had gained a year.

For so reason, a hollow laugh escaped first.

“Haha…”

I actually did it.

The world isn’t ending after all.

Joy, relief, a tangled ss of emotions.

It felt like winning a bet where I’d put everything on the line. Which, in truth, was exactly what it had been.

…But what’s with the personnel increase?

Not just Nightmare, every difficulty’s numbers had jumped by 100,000.

I tilted my head, puzzled, then looked around again.

A round, spacious chamber, just like the cavern from before.

I had a pretty good idea where this was.

The Reward Room, maybe.

Climbers didn’t just exit the Tower after a successful clear. They were supposed to receive their rewards first in a place called the Reward Room.

Ah, the ssages that had appeared right before I lost consciousness were starting to co back to .

I murmured quietly.

“Status Window.”

[Difficulty: Nightmare]

[Floor: 2]

[Level: 10]

[Willpower: 100]

[Skills: – ]

A simple window materialized before my eyes.

So this is the Status Window.

The universal reward given to Climbers who clear the Tower’s first floor for the first ti.

Through this, Climbers grew stronger and eventually superhuman the higher they ascended.

There was also sothing called the Communication Channel… I’d check that later.

I got to my feet.

Energy had been surging through my body for a while now, so I tried a standing jump.

My body shot up effortlessly, several ters into the air.

“Whoa.”

Enhanced physical abilities from leveling up.

I bounced around, threw a few punches, feeling out a body that had beco sothing entirely different.

This is pretty insane.

But why is my level so high? 10?

I knew that higher difficulties ant bigger level gains. Was it because of Nightmare?

I decided to stop testing my body and check the rewards instead.

Two stones, each radiating a different light, lay scattered on the ground nearby.

I approached the one glowing gold first.

[Supre Magic Stone]

A Magic Stone of supre quality.

Information surfaced the mont I picked it up.

“So this is a Magic Stone.”

One of the rewards obtainable from the Tower.

Climbers supposedly made a fortune selling these.

People treated them as an incredible resource, saying they could significantly advance human civilization. I didn’t really know the details.

I set it back on the ground and examined the other stone.

A teardrop-shaped stone radiating green light.

[Skill Stone: Fla Strike (Rare)]

Using this will grant ‘Skill: Fla Strike (Rare).’

[Would you like to use ‘Skill Stone: Fla Strike (Rare)’?]

Ah, a Skill Stone.

A stone that grants a skill when used.

But I didn’t think Skill Stones were supposed to drop as early as the first floor. And a rare grade, at that?

“Fla Strike… so it shoots fire?”

The na alone gave a rough idea of what it did.

I acquired the skill imdiately.

[‘Skill: Fla Strike (Rare)’ has been acquired.]

The Skill Stone in my hand dissolved into motes of light that scattered and absorbed into my body.

[Skill: Fla Strike (Rare)]

Launches a concentrated blast of fla that explodes on impact. Requires 20 seconds of ntal Concentration to cast.

Classification: Magic Type

Willpower Cost: 100

Cooldown: 30 seconds

I read through the description.

Can I try it out right here?

“Oh.”

Then it hit . The outside world.

I shouldn’t be wasting ti in here. I needed to get ho, fast.

Judging by the Ti Limit, over thirty minutes had passed since I’d entered.

[Would you like to exit the Tower?]

The ssage appeared the mont the thought crossed my mind.

“Exit.”

The scenery before my eyes shifted.

I was back in the alley where I’d entered, exactly as I’d left it.

I stuffed the Magic Stone into my pocket, stepped out of the alley, and headed ho.

When I get back, will the family be sighing in relief too?

The alarm I’d set shouldn’t have gone off yet, so they probably hadn’t found the letter I’d left behind.

Yeah, for now… let just rest.

All I wanted was to get ho and collapse into bed.