Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability Chapter 60: Sub-Tower (6)

[Floor 1 cleared successfully.]

[Move to Floor 2 when ready.]

Going by Floor 1, if I had to predict what kinds of enemies I’d be facing from here on…

I figured each one would probably have so kind of special ability.

“Alright.”

Let’s see what we’ve got.

I sharpened my senses a notch further and moved to the next floor.

[Entered Floor 2.]

In the other Sub-Towers, the monsters changed on higher floors, but the early floors were always the sa.

Goblin, orc, lizardman, werewolf…

The fifth Sub-Tower’s Floor 2 was no different.

The enemy on Floor 2 was an orc.

Except this one’s skin wasn’t green either, it was gray.

It also felt a little bigger than the orcs in other Sub-Towers.

Its weapon was an axe, and it was clad in armor from head to toe.

Gworaaaarr!

The orc roared the instant I entered.

In that mont, a wave rippled out through the air, like sothing had touched the surface of water.

“…?!”

What the hell?

My body had locked up. Wouldn’t move.

The orc charged at while I stood there, frozen.

I stopped ti.

So that’s it. This orc’s ability is paralyzing the opponent with its roar?

Not a dangerous situation.

My Sixth Sense told it was just a mob.

Like the stealth goblin, this thing was just a touch stronger than a regular orc.

Even if I took its attack head-on in this state, it wouldn’t do any real damage.

‘ntal Concentration still works.’

And though I couldn’t move, I could still use skills.

I finished concentrating, released ti, and cast Fla Strike.

Kaboom!

The fireballs that floated up in midair shot forward and blew the orc to pieces.

[Floor 2 cleared successfully.]

Easy clear.

After a bit, the paralysis wore off.

I clenched and unclenched my fists, confirming there was nothing actually wrong with my body.

‘Is it going to keep going like this?’

Just as I’d predicted, monsters with special abilities seed like they’d keep showing up.

It was fine for now since the lower floors ant weak monsters, but the higher I climbed, the more genuinely dangerous it could get.

Next, Floor 3.

Let’s keep going.

[Entered Floor 3.]

The mont I entered, I stopped ti.

The enemy in front of was a lizardman.

I started ntal Concentration.

There was no telling what kind of weird ability the opponent might use, so from here on out, I was going all-out from the start, no exceptions.

I cast a fully-charged Destruction Ray at the lizardman.

Whatever ability the lizardman might have had, it was wiped out before it had the chance to do anything.

[Floor 3 cleared successfully.]

Next, Floor 4.

I waited out the Destruction Ray cooldown and entered right away.

[Entered Floor 4.]

The monster was a werewolf.

Sa routine: stopped ti first, did ntal Concentration, fired Destruction Ray.

[Floor 4 cleared successfully.]

So through Floor 4, it had been smooth sailing.

From Floor 5 onward, the monsters would probably change.

I cycled the Destruction Ray cooldown, recovered my Willpower, and moved to Floor 5.

[Entered Floor 5.]

I stopped ti.

What I saw was… darkness.

Pitch black in every direction.

Hmm, what’s this.

There’s no way sothing’s wrong with my eyes, right?

Skritch…

When I released ti, sounds like tal scraping ca at from several directions.

‘Diul.’

I summoned Diul and used Dark Vision.

Thankfully, my eyes were fine.

Cutting through the darkness, I could see three monsters approaching .

How do I describe them… eight-foot ghouls? [TL: Reference to 팔척귀신, a tall, gangly specter from East Asian folklore.]

Long-limbed monsters like beanpoles, with scythes in their hands.

The tallic noise was the scythes scraping against the floor.

Whoosh!

I cast Fla Strike right away.

The fireballs split into three directions and blew the monsters apart.

[Floor 5 cleared successfully.]

So Floor 5’s gimmick wasn’t the monsters’ abilities so much as the pitch-black environnt itself?

Not that it was any problem at all for , with Diul around.

[Entered Floor 6.]

Floor 6 already.

What I saw upon entering were mirrors.

“…?”

Five mirrors hung on the walls, surrounding on all sides.

What’s this… are the mirrors the monsters?

I finished ntal Concentration and released ti.

For starters, I tried firing Fla Strike at the mirror in front of . And then…

Tung!

The fireball ricocheted off the mirror and ca right back at .

What the heck?

Kaboom!

The fireball slamd straight into the spot where I’d been standing a mont before.

Diving sideways to dodge, I stared at the mirror in disbelief.

‘Attack reflection?’

Just then, the borders of the mirrors suddenly turned red.

And sothing appeared in one of them.

Kyaak!

A face like a demon’s.

When it shrieked, a heat-haze shockwave shot out of the mirror.

I dove sideways again to dodge.

The shockwave hit the floor and burst.

Kyaak! Kyaak! Kyaak! Kyaak! Kyaak!

Demon faces appeared one after another in the other mirrors, all shrieking.

Then, just like before, more shockwaves ca at .

I weaved around, easily dodging every last one. Dodging wasn’t hard.

The borders of the five mirrors returned to normal.

The demon shapes stopped appearing, and the attacks ceased.

I tried attacking the mirrors again.

This ti, instead of Fla Strike, I used Light Bullet.

With a clear ringing sound, the Light Bullet bounced right back at , no exceptions.

I stepped neatly aside and frowned.

“Hmm…”

So, attack reflection. An ability exactly like a mirror.

Wow, but thank god.

If I’d just blasted off Destruction Ray right after entering, I would’ve been totally screwed.

I stopped ti and calmly thought through how to clear this.

What if I didn’t use magic and just hit them directly? Wouldn’t that break them?

I released ti, lunged at one of the mirrors, and punched it.

Tung!

I felt the recoil through my fist, and my body got bounced back.

So it reflects physical attacks too. Not the answer.

Just then, the mirror borders turned red again.

Kyaak!

The demon shapes appeared once more and fired their shockwaves.

I stopped ti.

‘Wait, am I supposed to attack those things?’

Maybe attacking them when they appeared was the answer?

They popped up on the mirrors only briefly before vanishing, but that was plenty of ti to attack.

I finished ntal Concentration and fired a Light Bullet at the demon shape.

Pop!

This ti, the attack wasn’t reflected.

The demon shape scattered like black smoke.

That was definitely the answer.

Kyaak!

A demon shape appeared in another mirror.

Pop pop pop pop!

I took out the rest of the demon shapes in the other four mirrors too, blasting Light Bullets like I was playing whack-a-mole.

[Floor 6 cleared successfully.]

Cleared.

Before moving on to Floor 7, I paused for a second to think.

‘The gimmicks are starting to get layered in…’

Put another way, the clear thods were getting ssier.

Still, for now it felt manageable. Doable.

After all, the basic structure, defeat the enemy and it clears, was still intact.

Compared to Nightmare, where there wasn’t even that, this was nothing.

Alright… let’s keep at it.

I moved to the next floor, Floor 7.

[Entered Floor 7.]

The enemy on Floor 7 was… just a monster.

The reason I say “just a monster” is because no specific word ca to mind for what it looked like.

It was about the size of an orc, with a lumpy body that brought streusel buns to mind, and a mace in its hand.

I kept ti stopped while doing ntal Concentration.

Since the previous floor had pulled out a reflection ability, I tried Fla Strike instead of Destruction Ray.

Kaboom!

A massive explosion.

When the flas cleared, the monster was completely fine.

Just like when Skin Hardening was active, but in a different color, red scales now covered the monster’s entire body.

I was a little startled at the sight.

…No damage at all?

Grrooohh.

The monster let out a low growl and charged at .

I stopped ti again and did ntal Concentration.

It didn’t seem to be an attack-reflection ability, so this ti I used Destruction Ray.

The pitch-black beam swallowed the monster whole.

But…

“…!”

This ti I really had to be surprised.

Even after taking a direct hit from Destruction Ray, the monster wasn’t annihilated. Far from it, it was unscathed.

Slamd all the way back into the wall, the monster picked itself up and charged again.

I dodged the mace it swung and counterattacked.

Kwang!

The monster, having taken a punch, was sent flying back into the wall.

And again, no damage. It got right back up.

It felt like the red scales covering the monster’s body were absorbing the impact.

‘Invincibility…’

Could this be so kind of invincibility ability? Nothing I throw at it works?

Still, the monster’s actual physical capabilities were way below mine. Maybe Level 40-sothing at best.

Khaaaooooh!

I summoned Plli too, and the two of us started laying into the monster.

We pounded it, kept on pounding it, the monster bouncing around like a ball, getting slamd into walls, getting chomped up by Plli.

A one-sided fight that wasn’t one-sided.

No matter how much Plli and I hit it, the monster took zero damage.

The monster wasn’t a threat to , but I couldn’t kill it either.

“Phew.”

I rolled my wrists.

How am I supposed to kill that thing?

Plli had pinned the monster down beneath its body, holding it still.

Those red scales were definitely absorbing all the damage.

The fact that it was still fine after all that beating ant the scales probably weren’t a consumable resource.

I’d thoroughly thrashed every part of its body. There wasn’t a single spot left uncovered by scales.

…wait, hold on.

There was actually one place I hadn’t checked.

I walked over to the monster.

“Hold it down good and tight, Plli.”

I planted my foot on the flailing monster’s forehead and pried its mouth open with both hands.

I peered inside carefully…

“…not there?”

The inside of the mouth wasn’t covered in scales. Bingo.

Kwak!

I shoved my hand into the monster’s mouth and stopped ti.

ntal Concentration, then Destruction Ray, fired straight in.

This ti, the monster’s head was annihilated.

[Floor 7 cleared successfully.]

Cleared.

I cycled the Destruction Ray cooldown and topped off my Willpower.

Then I moved straight to the next floor.

[Entered Floor 8.]

“…!”

I stopped ti.

What is it this ti…

The mont I entered, I was underwater.

I released ti, held my breath, and looked around.

There were no monsters in sight.

The location was identical to the previous floors, but the space was full of water.

For starters, I swam upward.

The water filled the room all the way to the ceiling, without even a sliver of air.

On the other hand, sand was spread across the floor, as if to recreate the bottom of the sea.

I stopped ti again.

Hmm… this is a little disorienting.

Suddenly underwater, no monsters in sight.

And since I don’t have gills, there’s a ti limit on top of everything.

Breaking through the wall to escape isn’t an option either.

I already knew from earlier battles that the walls of these clear stages were made of indestructible material.

I stopped ti again to conserve my breath.

…let think.

The basic clear structure shouldn’t have changed. Defeat the enemy and it ends.

Which ans there’s an enemy sowhere in here too… and it’s hiding very, very well.

My Sixth Sense isn’t picking up any hostility or killing intent.

Which ans it has no intention of attacking right now. Why?

Because it knows I can’t hold out if it just waits?

…I’d co up with one approach worth trying, even if it might not work.

I released ti.

Letting my body go limp, I slowly sank toward the bottom.

Once I reached the sandy floor, I lay there motionless.

“…”

A mont later.

A faint trace of killing intent reached , and I cracked my eyes open a sliver.

The sand in front of was slowly rising, its color shifting.

A giant lobster.

‘Wow…’

I hadn’t noticed sothing that big?

That was insane camouflage. Even an octopus couldn’t pull that off.

Building up its killing intent, the lobster crept closer to as I played dead.

I casually got up and reached out a hand toward the lobster.

Should’ve been more careful, you stupid crustacean.

I fired a fully-charged Destruction Ray.

Being underwater didn’t reduce Destruction Ray’s destructive power in the slightest.

A clean hole was punched straight through the lobster’s body.

[Floor 8 cleared successfully.]

I’d been a teeny bit nervous about drowning, but Floor 8 was a success too.

[Move to Floor 9?]

Only two floors left now.

I moved straight to Floor 9.

Read more chapters on my Patreon: /DDTL