TL: DDTL
“I’m Chloe.”
“I’m Hyeon.”
After exchanging nas with the woman called Chloe, we made sporadic small talk while we waited.
There were maybe thirty or forty people gathered to take down the Zone 1 boss.
Their weapons varied: swords, maces, axes, you na it. But almost everyone was carrying a shield as their defensive gear.
I didn’t really need a weapon, but there was no point standing out, so I’d brought one along.
A one-handed weapon plus a shield really was the most reliable combo.
The best setup for beginners.
No matter how much Climbers leveled up and turned superhuman, that didn’t suddenly an they knew how to handle a weapon.
Anyway.
Looking around, I noticed the crowd had split roughly in half, with a small gap between the two groups…
The ones on the other side were probably Climbers from the Chinese faction.
“Those guys must be the Black Star Society. Right?”
Chloe said, looking over at them.
“Looks like it.”
The Climbers who’d rallied around Arica and the Climber Association ford the Security Corps side.
The opposing faction, centered on China, was an organization called the Black Star Society.
Put simply, it was the US versus China. That was the power structure on Floor 5.
I had a rough idea of how Boss Raids worked.
Naturally, everyone gathered here to take down the boss had the sa goal as : the First-ti Clear Reward.
In other words, low-level Climbers who’d never killed the boss before.
Maybe level 20 at the very highest? Chloe here said she was level 15.
Leaving Floor 5 was only possible within range of the Portal in Zone 0.
If things got dicey mid-fight, there was no ergency-ejecting out of the Tower the way Repeat Clearing allowed.
So Boss Clearing was, naturally, life-on-the-line dangerous business. But the Zone 1 boss in particular wasn’t supposed to be all that bad…
Because high-level Climbers from both the Security Corps and the Black Star Society ca along to supervise the clear.
Soon, a few people wearing armbands stepped to the front. The Security Corps.
“…?”
One of them caught by surprise.
It was a familiar face. The Section Chief from the Tower Climbing Special Agency.
…What’s she doing here?
Then again, she worked for the governnt, so it made sense she’d be handling Security Corps duties on Floor 5.
Section Chief Shin Su-jin spotted too.
She stared in my direction, and I watched her eyes go wide in surprise.
Damn, she’d recognized .
Ignoring her seed rude, so I gave her a small nod.
Section Chief Shin Su-jin returned the nod and looked away.
One of the Security Corps mbers called out in a booming voice.
“A warning, in advance! Climbers under level 15, step out! Boss Clearing is extrely dangerous, and we will not be held responsible for your lives! One person died on the last raid!
If you’re not at least level 15, you’ll struggle to hit the Contribution threshold for the reward anyway! Don’t even think about coasting along for a free ride!”
It was a preemptive warning for Climbers who weren’t up to the task to drop out.
Soone from the Black Star Society side was calling out a similar warning.
About a fifth of the gathered crowd, looking sheepish, peeled off.
Chloe spoke up, voice a little tense.
“Looks like the Security Corps doesn’t actually step in during the fight, Hyeon. If soone died last ti…”
I answered.
“If they stepped in, there’d be no point. We’re the ones who have to rack up Contribution.”
“R, right. I just thought they’d jump in if things got dangerous.”
“If it really gets bad, they’ll probably step in.”
Still, no response was ever going to be perfect, which was probably why people sotis died.
“Moving out!”
After a bit more waiting, the call ca again from the front.
The raid party left Zone 0 and began entering the Zone 1 forest.
*
Between the Security Corps and the Black Star Society, the Republic of Korea’s Climbers naturally belonged to the Security Corps.
So the work that Shin Su-jin, a civil servant of the Tower Climbing Special Agency, did in the Floor 5 Common Zone consisted mostly of Security Corps duties.
The Security Corps, made up of Climbers from the Association side, aning Climbers from Arica and the Western bloc countries, included people like her who were carrying out their countries’ official duties, and others who simply volunteered, with no national affiliation involved.
In any case, it was an organization that pooled its strength to maintain at least a minimum of order here on Floor 5, where there was no law to speak of.
As a high-level Climber above level 30, Shin Su-jin was an officer-tier figure within the Security Corps.
She’d been assigned to supervise this Zone 1 Boss Raid.
Supervision served two purposes.
One was to protect the Climbers.
They didn’t directly intervene in the boss fight. Doing so would steal away their Contribution.
Their role was to step in for a rescue only when soone’s life was genuinely on the line.
The other was to keep the Black Star Society’s Climbers in check, in case they tried anything funny.
Of course, the Black Star Society had their own supervisor along for the sa reason.
The Zone 1 Boss Raid was, in this way, carried out by mutual agreent.
The First Clear Rewards for this boss were already long gone, so there was no point in clashing pointlessly over it.
“…?”
As Shin Su-jin scanned the people gathered for the raid, her eyes suddenly ca to rest on one man, and she tilted her head.
Sothing about him felt familiar…? Where had she seen him?
Their eyes t.
It hit her in a flash, intuition piecing together his identity, and Shin Su-jin’s eyes widened.
‘…Person123!’
She wasn’t mistaken. He glanced her way and gave a small nod.
Without realizing it, Shin Su-jin nodded back and looked away.
‘So he’s made it to Floor 5…’
This was the first ti she’d actually gotten a proper look at his face.
She imdiately understood why Person123 was here.
He could obviously take down the Zone 1 boss on his own.
But surely he was being considerate, since the others needed their rewards too.
He probably planned to blend in with the raid party and put in just enough Contribution to claim the reward, nothing more.
Such a kind person after all, Shin Su-jin thought.
Showing she was aware of him would probably make him uncomfortable, so she did her best not to look in Person123’s direction.
But she couldn’t help her hearing zeroing in over there.
Person123 was making small talk with the person beside him, soone he’d apparently just t…
Shin Su-jin found herself, sohow, a little envious.
…I’d like to talk with him in person too, not just through the Communication Channel.
Still, she had picked up one new piece of information: Person123’s na was Hyeon.
*
The raid party cut through the forest path, heading for the spot where the Zone 1 boss had spawned.
Along the way, monsters popped out here and there.
Goblins to start with, then Orcs, Horned Deer, packs of Wolves, and so on…
The regular monsters that appeared in Zone 1 capped out at around level 10.
The raid party dispatched them easily and pushed steadily on toward the boss.
“We’ll be there shortly. Prepare yourselves.”
The Zone 1 boss’s na was Forest Giant.
It wasn’t a na from any system ssage, just one the Climbers had given it.
As for why “Forest Giant”…
The mont I saw it for myself, I thought the na fit perfectly.
Grooooo…
A massive tree, a creature that also vaguely brought to mind an inchworm.
The Forest Giant, boss of Zone 1, was moving sluggishly in the middle of the forest.
‘Bigger than I thought.’
The others must have been thinking the sa thing; their faces tightened with tension.
Section Chief Shin Su-jin stepped forward and addressed the group.
“I’m sure you’ve all reviewed this already, but I’ll go over it once more.
The Forest Giant’s primary attack is its arm swing. With four arms, it can attack in any direction, so stay alert. The impact is sothing a Climber level 15 or above can fully absorb with a shield, so make active use of your shields.
…So splitting roles, with one group focused on blocking the arms and another on attacking, will make things easier. Each of you, take on the role that suits your skills.”
Section Chief Shin Su-jin’s brief rundown on the boss ca to an end.
The supervisors from both the Security Corps and the Black Star Society stepped off to the side.
The remaining Climbers exchanged glances, then began creeping toward the boss.
Once we crossed a certain threshold, the Forest Giant reacted and started lumbering toward us.
Graaaah…
Just then, a few Climbers from the Black Star Society side let out battle cries and charged the Forest Giant.
Taking that as a signal, the other Climbers sward in after them.
At the end of the day, no Contribution ant no reward. Each Climber had to look out for their own share.
I followed along at a asured pace, closing in on the Forest Giant.
“Hngh…!”
“N, now! Attack!”
The Climbers were holding their own pretty well.
When a few of them blocked an incoming arm swing with their shields, the rest would either strike at that arm or close in on the body to hack at its legs.
Wham!
I took one of the arms myself and blocked it with my shield.
A light impact, like Styrofoam.
I kept up the blocking at a steady pace, giving the Climbers around openings to attack.
Chloe was right up by the boss’s leg, swinging her mace away with everything she had.
Then there were others off in the distance who’d spend ages on ntal Concentration before launching off a magic skill.
Wow… seeing it from this angle, Magic Type skills really were total trash.
The fight kept rolling along without any trouble.
Zone bosses, supposedly, had life that was disproportionately tenacious for their strength.
In a word: huge HP pools. Like an actual video ga boss.
Just as advertised, the Climbers were pounding away, even burning skills, and yet the Forest Giant just refused to go down.
‘Maybe I should throw in so attacks too?’
Originally, I’d planned to stick to defense.
Blocking attacks counted toward Contribution as well, so I hadn’t seen any reason to bother attacking.
But I was getting a bit uneasy that I might not hit the Contribution threshold for the reward.
After all, Contribution wasn’t displayed as a real-ti number.
Just a light tap, I told myself, and moved over toward the boss’s leg.
This kind of half-asure on power was always the hardest part.
Hitting at a normal-person level, weak as could be, was no problem; I did that every day.
But calibrating to land a decent hit on a level-20-range boss?
Hmm… that was tough to get a feel for.
Once I’d closed in on the boss’s leg, I swung my sword with what I figured was a reasonable amount of force.
‘This much should do it.’
Crack!
Apparently not.
The instant my blade hit the leg, the boss’s whole body lurched.
“Oh! It’s going down!”
“Focus the legs! Hit the legs harder!”
Energized, the Climbers piled onto the boss with even more enthusiasm.
Sweating buckets on the inside, I quietly backed away from the boss instead.
I an, what was I supposed to do if it couldn’t even take that?
I’d nearly shattered the leg outright.
In any case, after that, the Climbers gleefully ganged up on the off-balance boss…
Thud.
And before long, it went down.
[The Zone 1 boss has been defeated.]
A ssage popped up the mont the boss fell.
[You have acquired the Zone 1 boss kill reward.]
Having racked up enough Contribution, I naturally received the reward.
Most of the Climbers seed to have gotten theirs too, going by how cheerful they all were.
Only a handful, wearing the kind of expression that ca with biting into a bug, must have co up empty.
“Yes! Thank god!”
Chloe was clearly delighted; she’d successfully gotten her reward.
“Hyeon! How about you?”
“I got mine too.”
“Congrats! Thank goodness we both got ours.”
As thrilled as if it were her own news, Chloe grabbed my shoulder and bounced up and down.
Bothered by what had happened earlier, I snuck a glance over to where the supervisors were.
Nobody seed to be paying any particular attention.
I hadn’t been the only one attacking the legs, and it had been a chaotic lee, so surely no one had caught it.
Either way, the Zone 1 Boss Raid had wrapped up without incident.
There seed to be a few injuries, but no one had died.
“Ah, I wonder what reward I got.”
“Please, anything but Magic Type…!”
With the boss down, the raid party broke up on the spot.
Just like with floor clears, rewards could be confird inside the Reward Room.
And on Floor 5, the Reward Room was accessible through the Portal, so I watched people scramble back to Zone 0.
“Hyeon!”
Just as I was about to head back to Zone 0 myself, Chloe caught my arm.
“How about we head back and grab a drink together at Drake’s Restaurant? To celebrate killing the boss!”
Hmm…
I declined, a touch apologetic.
“Sorry. I have to head out right away.”
“Oh… really? That’s a sha.”
Chloe didn’t push it any further.
We hadn’t known each other long, but she seed like a good person.
Even so, getting close to people on Floor 5 wasn’t really my thing.
If it ever got to the point of swapping Communication Channel handles… ugh.
On Floor 5, the right move was to keep my head down and focus on what I was here to do.
I waved Chloe off as she headed out first, then took a look around.
And my eyes t Section Chief Shin Su-jin’s.
We exchanged another awkward little nod, and I got moving too.
Right… so what had I gotten?
It’d be Normal grade at best, so I wasn’t expecting much. Still, I had to check.
Back at Zone 0, I rode the Portal to the Reward Room.
[Skill: Low-Tier Frost Resistance (Normal )]
Grants a slight resistance to freezing.
Classification: Physical Type (Passive)
Willpower Cost: None
Cooldown: None
“Oh.”
All things considered, that wasn’t a bad pull.
A Frost Resistance Skill Stone had dropped, and I learned it on the spot.
That brought my Low-Tier resistance skills to three: Poison, Burn, and now Frost.
Minor, sure, but there was no telling when those small things might end up mattering.
[Zone 1 (0%)]
[Zone 2 (10.5%)]
[Zone 3 (90.9%)]
I checked the boss gauges.
Zone 1 boss reward, claid.
That left Zones 2 and 3.
But Zone 2’s gauge still had a long way to go… and Zone 3’s was almost full.
Which was just as well. Zone 3 was the main course anyway.
The Zone 3 boss had never once been killed, and once the gauge filled and it spawned, this would be its first appearance.
And just like with floor clears, the Floor 5 bosses supposedly also had First Clear Rewards.
A reward given only to the first person to kill the boss, or, when multiple people had a hand in it, only to the one with the highest Contribution.
First Clear Rewards were, of course, in a whole different tier from the per-person First-ti Clear Rewards.
In a word, it was the biggest prize available on Floor 5 before challenging Floor 6.
“That one’s mine.”
Naturally, I had zero intention of handing it off to anyone else.
*
“The Zone 3 boss is coming up soon, isn’t it?”
After receiving the report from a Black Star Society officer, Wang Kai gave a small flick of his fingers.
“Pick up the hunting pace. Don’t worry about those Security Corps bastards.”
“Understood.”
“Guess it’s about ti I headed in myself.”
A thin, predatory smile curled at the corner of Wang Kai’s mouth.
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