The desperate gamble that could have been suicide had thankfully been the right call.
The red Nexus really had been the enemy’s Nexus.
Our true Nexus had been hidden inside it.
I stared at the blue Nexus before , stopped ti again, and thought.
For now, I’d sohow managed to see through the trap, but…
The situation had only improved a sliver from the absolute worst case.
There were still three Nexuses left for to destroy.
The Ogres spawning every 30 seconds had ballooned to 24 a wave.
And Lane 2’s First Turret had just fallen. The other two lanes wouldn’t hold much longer either.
…From here on out, it really ca down to luck.
I released ti.
I sprinted toward the Ogres pressed up against Lane 2’s Second Turret.
KRAAAAASH!
Fla Strike first, then I dove into the cluster and unleashed Blade Storm and Lightning Strike.
With Resistance now up to Tier 3, the Ogres were considerably tougher.
The few that survived the magic barrage I caved in with my mace.
After clearing the Ogres as fast as I could, I sprinted down the lane straight to the enemy Base.
Arrived at Nexus 2.
I deployed Scorching Zone so that both the Nexus and the spawn portal fell inside its range.
That way I could chip at the Nexus’s HP while still landing so damage on the spawning Ogres.
Once 100 seconds passed, Scorching Zone would destroy Nexus 2, and…
Without even a breath to spare, I made for Lane 1, where Scorching Zone would have already deactivated.
[Lane 3’s First Turret has been destroyed!]
[Lane 1’s First Turret has been destroyed!]
On the way, the First Turrets of two lanes fell almost simultaneously.
Looked like even Plli couldn’t hold them back any longer.
Now the First Turrets on all three lanes were gone.
All I could do was claw and grind to keep the Ogre push at bay and pray Nexus 2 was the right answer.
‘No way I can stop them all…!’
Locking down the rest of the lanes with just Plli and Scorching Zone wasn’t an option anymore.
I sent Plli a telepathic ssage: hold the Ogres back, but don’t push too hard.
If sothing went wrong and Plli got desummoned, that’d be a far worse loss.
After dealing with the swarm of Ogres charging Lane 1, I made it to Nexus 1.
I attacked the Nexus while taking out the Ogres that kept spawning.
Defending Lane 1 and chipping at the Nexus’s HP, all at once.
The plan: if Nexus 2 turned out to be correct, I could blow through Nexus 1 right after.
On the flip side, if Nexus 2 wasn’t right, Nexus 1’s HP would just regenerate, so it’d be aningless. But the right call was still to whittle it down.
All the while, Lanes 2 and 3 had to be getting pushed back, and the pressure gnawed at .
I considered just telling Plli to drop defense entirely and head to Nexus 3 to chip its HP, but…
I wasn’t sure Plli could actually damage the Nexus while dealing with the spawning Ogres, and doing that would leave the Second Turrets completely exposed.
Since the Second Turrets all sat right outside the Base, having Plli defend at the Base was the better play.
Still, the Second Turrets should hold a bit longer… right?
If even those fell, there’d be no defensive line left.
A one-in-three chance.
I prayed with everything I had that Nexus 2 was the answer.
Twenty-four was already unmanageable; if it beca 48 and Resistance went up another tier…
I’d be straight-up screwed.
I’d already gotten hosed plenty back on Floor 4. The universe could throw a bone for once, right!
The 100 seconds had almost run out.
It was ti for Nexus 2 to fall.
And the result…
[Incorrect order!]
[A penalty is being applied!]
[The number of enemy monsters spawned has doubled!]
[Enemy monsters have gained Tier 4 Resistance!]
“You son of a…”
For an instant, my head spun.
I stopped ti.
…Steadied myself, then released ti again.
Despairing wouldn’t help one bit.
I deactivated the Scorching Zone I’d set on Nexus 2 and started pounding Nexus 1 again.
Scorching Zone had a one-minute cooldown.
The cooldown only started after deactivation, so casting a fresh Scorching Zone here and then heading back to the Base wasn’t an option.
Nothing I could do about it.
Now Ogres ca at 48 per spawn, 144 total flooding out every 30 seconds, and…
Going back to the Base to defend wouldn’t get anywhere.
All I could do was smash the Nexus 1 in front of while praying to whatever god there was that this ti it’d be the right one, and that the Second Turrets would buy even a little more ti.
Whoosh.
Ogres spawned. Forty-eight of them.
Most aggro’d onto , but with so many of them, so peeled off and headed down the lane.
I unloaded magic skills on the Ogres.
KRAAAAASH!
With both their numbers and Resistance climbing, the Ogres just refused to go down.
Before I’d even cleared them, 30 seconds passed and another 48 spawned.
This was driving crazy.
GROOAARGH!
With Skin Hardening up, I battled through the swarming mass of Ogres, painfully grinding the Nexus’s HP down.
…My stamina was starting to give out.
Nexus 1’s HP was down to 5 percent.
‘Please.’
One in two odds. One in two!
So please! Just this once!
CRACK!
Nexus 1’s HP hit zero.
[You have destroyed an enemy Nexus!]
[Nexuses destroyed: 2/4]
…At last, the ssage I’d been begging for appeared.
A breath of air, just barely.
I stopped ti at once and gathered my thoughts.
Nexus 2 and Nexus 3.
Two left.
Even with the right order, smashing both would take at least 200 seconds.
The question was whether our Nexus could hold up that long.
What I had to do now was simple.
The mont I released ti, race to Nexus 2 and deploy Scorching Zone.
Then sprint back to the Base and hold the Ogres off for dear life.
If Nexus 2 wasn’t the right one, no point thinking about it.
That’d just be the end of the line.
Even if I got the order right, it was anyone’s guess whether I could last.
Still, there was hope enough to keep going.
With that, I steeled myself one last ti and released ti.
But…
[Lane 2’s Second Turret has been destroyed!]
The instant ti started up again, the ssage popped.
The hope I’d just been holding evaporated.
‘Ah.’
Goddammit.
The Second Turret had finally broken.
I used Leap to break out of the Ogre encirclent and bolted down the bridge at full speed.
The Second Turret had been breached far faster than I’d expected.
[Lane 3’s Second Turret has been destroyed!]
Another ssage appeared.
Cold sweat ran down my back.
What I saw when I reached the Base…
An endless tide of Ogres pouring in, and Plli fighting tooth and nail in the middle of it.
I jumped right in.
KRAAAAASH!
Fla Strike, Scorching Zone, Blade Storm, Lightning Strike, Fairy Light Bullet, Frost Shot…
I emptied every magic skill I had into them.
Weaving through the Ogres, my hands never stopped swinging my weapon.
Cracking skulls, shattering legs, kicking, body-slamming, ripping, shoving, firing off magic the second cooldowns ticked back up.
“Raaaaagh!”
I shouted myself raw and went berserk with everything I had.
But kill one, two more pushed in. Kill two, four more pushed in.
Too many. Way too many.
No matter how hard I tried to keep them away from our Nexus… it just wasn’t enough.
The Ogres flooded into the Base from every direction, endlessly.
[Lane 1’s Second Turret has been destroyed!]
I stopped ti.
…I’d lost.
There was no stopping this, no matter what I did.
Even if I clawed out a little more ti, there were still two Nexuses left to destroy.
I couldn’t see any way through.
In frozen ti, I quietly chewed on the despair.
‘…’
Was there one straw left to grasp at.
I pulled an item out of Subspace, then stopped ti again.
[Special Item: Scales of Life]
Sacrifices the user’s lifespan to receive a proportional reward. Can sacrifice from a minimum of 1% to a maximum of 99% of remaining lifespan. Once used, the scales break, and the user’s remaining lifespan is displayed.
The special reward I’d received for clearing the last Sub-Tower.
Sacrifice lifespan, gain a reward proportional to it.
What that reward actually was, I had no clue.
Either way, at this rate, the run was a failure.
Then I might as well at least try it.
[Will you use ‘Special Item: Scales of Life’?]
[Determine the lifespan to sacrifice.]
I was about to release ti and use the Scales of Life right then.
“…?!”
Diul?
Out of nowhere, Diul sent a surge of emotion, like it was frantically trying to stop .
Before I could even wonder why…
SHHHHHH!
Diul shot out of the bracelet and began spewing what looked like black mist in every direction.
In an instant, the entire Base was drowned in darkness.
Wha, what was this.
Eyes wide with shock, I stared at the Ogres.
The Ogres caught in the darkness… started flailing, then collapsing.
It wasn’t just because they couldn’t see.
As though they’d lost their entire sense of balance, hundreds of Ogres toppled like dominoes.
I, of course, was perfectly fine, and Dark Vision kept my sight crystal clear.
…What kind of ability was this?
Sothing that cut off their senses entirely?
‘Diul, you…!’
Whatever it was, Diul had unlocked a new ability for !
I tossed the Scales of Life back into Subspace.
Without a second to waste, I moved.
Leaving the dazed Ogres where they were, I broke out of the Darkness Zone blanketing the Base and tore down Lane 2.
Ignored every Ogre I crossed and pushed straight across the bridge.
Made it to Nexus 2 and deployed Scorching Zone.
Then headed straight for Nexus 3.
“Haa… haa…!”
My stamina was hitting its limit too.
Because I’d been fighting and running nonstop without a single break.
And it was the sa for Diul.
I could feel it through our Soul Connection: Diul had pushed past its limits to crack open this new ability just to save .
The Darkness Zone over the Base wouldn’t last long. It burned through far more energy than Concealnt.
So I had to take out the remaining Nexuses before the Darkness Zone vanished, which would happen any second now.
This was the priceless final chance Diul had given .
Reached Nexus 3.
BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!
I started hamring the Nexus with my mace.
At almost the sa mont, Diul hit its limit. I felt the Darkness Zone co undone.
The Ogres at the Base would snap out of it and start attacking our Nexus.
…All or nothing now.
If Nexus 2 wasn’t the answer, I was done. Fifty-fifty odds.
The spawned Ogres ca swarming in to harass again.
With Skin Hardening up, I tanked every hit and kept hamring the Nexus.
The Scorching Zone on Nexus 2 was nearing its 100-second mark, and…
[You have destroyed an enemy Nexus!]
[Nexuses destroyed (3/4)]
The instant the ssage popped up, it felt like I’d just clawed my way back from the brink of death.
‘I got it right…!’
So I did have a tiny crumb of luck left after all!
Finally getting so luck right at the end… huh?
[Only the final Nexus remains!]
[A boss is being summoned!]
Another ssage popped up just then.
Crimson smoke began curling up from the spawn portal, and…
A massive red-skinned super Ogre, far bigger than the others, erged.
Shit, co to think of it, the boss hadn’t shown up yet.
“Get lost!”
The second I saw the summoned boss, I locked into ntal Concentration and unleashed a Full Charging Destruction Ray.
A pitch-black beam tore through every Ogre in its path and punched right through the boss’s head.
With its head and the upper part of its torso blown away, the boss tilted and toppled.
[Boss defeated!]
The cooldown was so long that I’d been holding off on it during the Ogre fights, saving it for an ergency, and…
Glad I saved it! Destruction Ray!
I went back to grinding down Nexus 3’s HP.
By now our Nexus had to be in the thick of an Ogre assault.
Since the Base’s Darkness Zone had lifted almost the mont I started hitting Nexus 3…
There was no telling which one would fall first.
Success or failure.
Live or die.
Standing at a crossroads where I couldn’t see an inch ahead, I just kept smashing the Nexus.
And the mont I shaved off that last 1% of HP.
CRACK!
[You have destroyed an enemy Nexus!]
[Your Nexus has been destroyed!]
Two ssages popped up back-to-back.
The Nexus before collapsed, and the Ogres around all crumbled to dust and scattered.
Catching my ragged breath, I stared at the ssages.
…What had just happened?
The next ssage answered that question.
[Nightmare difficulty Floor 6 has been cleared successfully!]
I’d been the faster one.
The strength drained out of my body all at once.
“Heh.”
I let the mace clatter to the ground and finally allowed myself a smile.
Why did every single one have to be such a knife’s edge…
Not one single ti had been easy. Not once.
[Absorbing the floor’s power.]
[Level up.]
[Level up.]
[Level up.]
.
.
.
[Level up.]
[You are the first to clear Nightmare difficulty Floor 6.]
[Floor 6 Hidden Route has been unlocked.]
[Moving to the Reward Room.]
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