Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability Chapter 65: Floor 5 (3)

The Zone 1 boss had been around level 20 in strength.

The Zone 2 boss, supposedly, had been around level 40.

So it was natural to guess the Zone 3 boss would probably be around level 60…

That kind of strength I could handle on my own, couldn’t I?

I wouldn’t really know until I faced it directly.

Of course, plenty of others would be after the Zone 3 boss first clear reward too.

Top-tier climbers like Alex, the Security Corps Chief, or Wang Kai.

Of course, I had confidence too.

If I joined a group hunt against the Zone 3 boss, I was confident I could rack up the highest contribution.

But I couldn’t exactly do that.

So if at all possible, I planned to face the boss alone. If at all possible.

Since the Zone 3 boss had never appeared before, no one knew where in Zone 3 it would spawn.

Which ant whoever found it first was just a matter of luck.

What if I was too late and soone else had already taken it down?

Unfortunate, but that would be that.

Or what if I ended up having to fight the Zone 3 boss alongside everyone else?

In that case… I figured I’d just throw on a hood and fight with them.

I couldn’t very well give up a first clear reward just because I didn’t want to be seen.

I’d worry about that when the ti ca.

For now, the priority was filling Zone 3’s Boss Gauge.

[Zone 3 (90.9%)]

Zone 3’s Boss Gauge was currently sitting at about 91 percent.

I had no way of knowing exactly how long it would take to fill the remaining 9 percent.

Still, from what people were saying, at the current pace it was supposed to take roughly another month…

The reason the gauge filled so much slower than Zone 1’s was simply that the monsters were that much stronger.

Zone 3 had monsters going up to around level 30, didn’t it?

A climber needed to be at least mid-to-late level 20 to hunt in Zone 3, which probably put them in roughly the top one percent on Floor 5.

So I figured I’d pitch in starting now.

Stepping into the forest of Zone 1, I summoned Plli and climbed onto her back.

“Let’s go, Plli.”

Plli took off like the wind toward the outer zones.

We blew past the boundary of Zone 1 and into Zone 2 in no ti.

The boundary between zones was impossible to miss: the field environnt changed as if drawn by a ruler.

Unlike the dense forest of Zone 1, Zone 2 was barren earth.

Massive scorpion and spider monsters were prowling around. Ugh, gross.

I ignored them and kept running.

Since the zones grew progressively wider the farther out we went, getting through Zone 2 took longer than Zone 1. Still quick, though.

The mont we crossed into Zone 3, the air turned hot.

The terrain had now shifted into sothing like a lava field.

“Whoa…”

Lava flowed through cracks splitting the ground.

A rocky mountain in the distance even had a lava waterfall pouring down its side.

I admired the scenery for a mont before sliding off Plli’s back.

Hunting ti.

“Run wild, Plli.”

I gave Plli the order to kill any monster she saw. With strict orders never to attack a person, no matter what, and never to be seen.

The instant the order left my mouth, Plli shot off like an arrow toward a Lava Giant lumbering in the distance.

Auto-hunt mode for Plli, while I did my own hunting.

I spotted a massive snake monster slithering off in the distance and got moving.

Alright, let’s wrap up that remaining gauge.

*

Lower-level climbers and those uninterested in boss clearing might not have noticed, but Floor 5 these days had the atmosphere of the calm before a storm.

The reason was the Zone 3 boss that would soon appear.

How strong would the Zone 3 boss be? Could the boss clearing be pulled off without disaster? And who would walk away with the first clear reward?

Tensions rising between the Security Corps and the Black Star Society were a given.

“It would really be a problem if Wang Kai got the reward again…”

At his lieutenant’s worried remark, Security Corps Chief Alex let out a small sigh.

“Tell about it.”

“Are you confident?”

“Hard to say. That bastard Wang Kai is sothing else, isn’t he.”

China’s Hard difficulty top record holder, Wang Kai. Arica’s Hard difficulty top record holder, Alex.

In the end, it ca down to a fight between the two heads of the Security Corps and the Black Star Society. One of them was going to walk away with the Zone 3 first clear reward.

If the Zone 3 boss appeared, it had been agreed that, for the ti being, the Security Corps and the Black Star Society would join forces to take it down. For the ti being.

The sa arrangent had been struck two years ago for the Zone 2 boss fight.

And the result was that Wang Kai had racked up the highest contribution and claid the reward.

The current level gap between Alex and Wang Kai was 4 levels, which was to say a single floor.

Not a huge gap, so it wasn’t that Alex had no confidence, but in any case Wang Kai had the slight edge.

Honestly, this kind of competition didn’t sit right with Alex.

When they had no idea how strong a boss might appear, they ought to have been cooperating to the fullest, but instead they were stuck circling each other like rivals…

But it wasn’t as if the single first clear reward could be split amicably between them, and neither side was about to just hand it over, so this kind of situation was unavoidable.

“Wang Kai’s been showing up on Floor 5 more often these days, hasn’t he?”

“Yes. The Black Star Society seems to be putting everything into hunting in Zone 3.”

“The gauge is going to fill either way, what’s the rush…”

The pace at which Zone 3’s Boss Gauge had been filling lately wasn’t normal either.

It had been around 90 percent, and in less than a week it had crossed 95.

…No, even so, wasn’t that filling too fast?

Was Wang Kai really going all-out in Zone 3?

“Could it be that Person123 is hunting in Zone 3 right now too?”

“…Person123?”

“He’d have reason to go for the first clear reward, wouldn’t he?”

The suggestion wasn’t unreasonable, and Alex stroked his chin.

If Person123 really had entered Floor 5, Alex and the Security Corps were perfectly willing to defer the reward to humanity’s savior. The Black Star Society probably wouldn’t be, but still.

If he could serve as a rallying point, uniting the climbers of Floor 5 wasn’t impossible, but he was soone who showed no inclination whatsoever to reveal himself…

“In any case, I’m curious. How strong is Person123, exactly? What do you think?”

That Nightmare difficulty granted 10 levels per floor as a reward was now common knowledge to everyone.

The lieutenant answered.

“Looking at the difficulty of the Sub-Towers he’s cleared, he can’t just be at level 40.”

“Stronger than or Wang Kai?”

“That, I couldn’t say.”

In any case, at this rate the Zone 3 boss would appear within the week.

If Wang Kai ended up taking the reward again, there wouldn’t be much they could do about it…

More than anything, Alex hoped the boss fight would end without too many people dying or getting hurt.

*

Looking down into the canyon, I could see Red Snakes packed together below.

“Whoa, jackpot.”

I split my Fla Strike and rained fire down on them indiscriminately.

KABOOM!

About half were blown to pieces, and I went down to finish off the rest with my other skills.

About a week into seriously hunting in Zone 3.

Whenever I had ti, I ca into Floor 5 and worked hard to fill up the Boss Gauge.

There were three main types of monsters that appeared in Zone 3.

Lava Giants.

Their bodies released lava instead of blood when broken open, so close-range attacks could backfire.

Red Snakes.

The ones I’d just killed. Massive in size, no special abilities to speak of, but on the faster side.

And lastly, Pterosaurs.

Skreeeeeee-

One was screeching its way through the sky right above at that very mont.

It was nad Pterosaur because it just blatantly looked like a pterosaur.

I shot a Fla Strike up and brought it down.

Zone 3’s regular monsters topped out at around level 30.

They posed zero threat to , so the hunt was going smoothly enough.

That said, early on I’d been hoping for so satisfying RPG-style mob clearing…

Cases like this where monsters were grouped up were rare. Most of the ti they wandered around in ones and twos, scattered far apart, so progress wasn’t moving along as briskly as I’d hoped. I really wished the field had a higher monster density.

For the record, I had run into other climbers before.

Just two or three tis, given how vast Zone 3’s field was. Naturally, I just slipped past with Concealnt.

Watching them hunt, it looked like everyone was struggling.

[Zone 3 (95.1%)]

Zone 3’s Boss Gauge had now climbed past 95 percent.

It looked like it would hit 100 within the week.

“Ugh, the sll of burning.”

I walked past the charred remains of the Red Snakes I’d blown apart.

Killed monsters disappeared after a certain amount of ti, so apparently anyone after the drops had to butcher them quickly and haul the parts outside the zone’s boundary.

I’d heard Red Snake scales sold for quite a high price, too.

Naturally, I hunted monsters but didn’t bother collecting drops.

Where was I going to sell them, anyway? Even if I could, dressing each one out was too much of a hassle.

I left the canyon area and moved on.

After traveling for a while, I reached the edge of Zone 3 again…

Beyond Zone 3, the next area, Zone 4, was a frozen blizzard zone. The environnt changed as if drawn by a ruler.

I still couldn’t enter Zone 4. Try, and an invisible barrier blocked the way.

Each zone only opened once the previous zone’s boss had been defeated.

To get into Zone 4, the Zone 3 boss had to be defeated first.

“I wonder if I could pull off the Zone 4 boss too…”

Lately I’d been thinking about whether, after taking down the Zone 3 boss, I could go after the Zone 4 boss as well.

I was always in a position where I needed to squeeze in as much of a stat boost as possible before challenging the next floor.

Take down the Zone 3 boss first.

I kept moving and hunting, looking for monsters.

*

Team 3 of the Security Corps, who were continuing their hunt in Zone 3, spotted a Red Snake approaching from a distance.

“Red Snake! Heads up!”

The mbers deftly readied themselves for combat and engaged the Red Snake.

But the Red Snake was already badly wounded. The hunt was over quickly.

“…Looks like soone else was hunting it and let it slip away. Team 2’s side, maybe?”

The mbers exchanged glances over the corpse.

People were now approaching from the sa direction the Red Snake had co from.

The team’s expressions hardened. They weren’t Security Corps, they were Black Star Society climbers.

The Black Star climbers, drawing closer, also stiffened upon seeing the Red Snake’s corpse.

“That was one we’d nearly finished off… You’re really going to swipe it like this?”

The Security Corps Team Leader stepped forward, incredulous.

“You’ve got to be kidding. If you let it get away, that’s on you. And this is our zone, so what do you think you’re doing here?”

The Security Corps in the eastern area, the Black Star Society in the west.

That was the unspoken rule maintained to avoid conflict.

The territories weren’t divided exactly down the middle, but in any case this place was unmistakably Security Corps hunting ground. And the other side had just trespassed on it.

A Black Star climber smirked.

“Our zone? Says who. You talk like soone actually agreed to that.”

“You son of a bitch…”

“Anyway, that’s ours. Hand it over and clear out.”

“Cut the crap and get lost yourselves. Unless you want to die.”

The atmosphere turned ugly.

It wasn’t as though running into each other like this never happened during hunts.

And every ti, they’d traded barbed words and backed off without incident. It had never escalated to actual violence.

But right now, with the Zone 3 boss looming over both sides, the nerves of the Security Corps and the Black Star Society had been worn raw…

Like a taut string snapping.

“…Gaaagh!”

“You, you crazy bastards!”

“They attacked first! Kill them!”

In the end, things finally boiled over.