Chapter 102: 7F Hidden (1)

The Zone 3 boss lay defeated.

Naturally, since I had already claimed both the first-clear reward and the standard reward, no reward message appeared for me.

As I watched everyone celebrating, a thought crossed my mind.

‘Did I hit it too hard?’

Someone had been in genuine danger, so I had ended up stepping in.

Still, I might have misjudged my strength a little.

I had probably taken a considerable share of the boss Contribution.

Well, no one died, and that was what mattered.

‘Anyway...’

I looked toward the man and woman.

I had never seen either of their faces before, but after watching them fight, I could tell instinctively who they were.

Those two were the leading Nightmare clearers of America and China.

I had assumed a flying boss would be troublesome to deal with.

But the Chinese Nightmare clearer had acted first, piercing its wing and forcing the boss back down to the ground.

By taking away its ability to fly at the very beginning, he had made the entire battle go much more smoothly.

The American Nightmare clearer had put on quite a display as well.

Those two had probably earned the highest Contribution.

Either way, the battle had ended without a single death.

All was well.

I moved to Zone 0.

***

“Are you all right?”

Li Zeyan approached Ye Tianwei, who remained standing motionless, and spoke to him.

Still staring at the boss’s corpse, Ye Tianwei muttered with a hint of regret,

“I should have put on more of a performance for him...”

“Sorry?”

Because one fool had caused trouble, the man himself had been forced to step in.

“Don’t concern yourself with me. Tend to the wounded first.”

“Ah, yes. Understood.”

As he turned toward the Security Corps, Ye Tianwei’s gaze suddenly met Taylor’s.

He smiled and gave her a small nod in greeting.

Taylor returned it, though somewhat awkwardly.

“Hahh...”

She exhaled and looked around.

She tried to find Person123, but he was nowhere in sight.

Had he already left?

Security Corps chief Alex was making his rounds, checking whether any of his members had been injured.

Deputy Commander Justin, meanwhile, was busy tearing into Vince, who sat slumped on the ground.

“Are you out of your goddamn mind? You do realize you almost died, right?”

Even after all those warnings, the brat had gone and caused trouble again.

Had Person123 not intervened and saved him, he would have taken the breath attack head-on and been reduced to ash.

“...I’m sorry. I thought I could do it too.”

Vince stared blankly at the boss’s corpse, his eyes somehow shining.

“But, Deputy Commander.”

“What?”

“That was insane. You saw it, right? He knocked that monster flat with a single punch...!”

Vince spoke with obvious excitement.

Justin clicked his tongue.

The idiot had nearly died and still had not learned a thing.

“Good work. How many wounded?”

Taylor walked over to Alex and struck up a conversation.

Alex replied,

“Two, but neither is seriously injured.”

“That’s a relief. I’m glad it ended without incident.”

“Did you receive a reward?”

“Yes. What about the others?”

“More people came away empty-handed than I expected.”

That was likely due in part to Person123 stepping in and taking such a large share of the Contribution.

Taylor and Alex looked toward the boss’s corpse.

Its body was covered in countless wounds, but the most striking was its crushed snout.

The mark left by Person123’s fist.

Alex muttered in awe,

“At this point, I’m getting tired of being surprised.”

Taylor felt the same way.

Of course, Person123 already had a history of killing the Zone 3 boss in a single strike.

But that had been with a skill.

As the highest-ranked Nightmare clearer, it was at least possible to assume he had received an equally extraordinary skill as a reward.

But this had been different.

The boss’s head had not so much as flinched when the strongest climbers concentrated their attacks on it.

Yet Person123 had nearly smashed it apart with a single punch.

And he had not appeared to use any special skill at all.

Even his raw physical ability existed on an entirely different level.

Before long, the boss’s corpse vanished.

Once again, Alex was struck by the realization.

Person123 was becoming an entirely different kind of being, all on his own.

***

[Kaibeu: is it true person123 killed the boss with one punch?]

[Rudeness: not killed exactly, just knocked it out for a sec apparently. someone almost died so he stepped in.]

[Sparrow: how strong is this guy even, geez]

The Zone 3 boss battle had concluded without incident.

It was time to enter and challenge the 7F Hidden.

How should I describe the seventh floor?

Compared to the others, it was a merciless test of pure ability.

Especially the Left-Right Reversal of the body.

I could overcome it °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° using my Time Stop Ability, but everyone else had to deal with it through their own skill alone.

And this was not something a person could overcome merely by understanding it intellectually.

It was a gimmick that was practically impossible to adapt to on the spot.

Nor was there any way to practice it outside the Tower...

Should I at least recommend some kind of mental rehearsal?

I doubted whether the other Nightmare clearers would be able to manage it even if they knew what was coming.

Still, I decided I should post the information.

I left the house, booked a motel room, and entered the seventh floor.

[You have entered Nightmare difficulty Floor 7.]

A cavern riddled with holes greeted me.

Bang! Bang!

I dodged from side to side as arrows flew toward me like missiles.

‘32, 33, 34...’

This time, I made certain to count every arrow.

I remembered every question the final statue had asked.

There were 305 in total.

I avoided every last arrow and continued to the next gate.

The question at the second gate concerned the number of arrows fired at the end.

I had guessed 25 the first time and gotten it right.

To be safe, I stopped time and counted again.

There were indeed 25.

Next came the third gate.

Fwooosh.

The pattern lit up, and the damned Left-Right Reversal activated.

I dropped back into my four-legged beast posture and dodged the arrows while repeatedly stopping time.

Hmm...

Yeah, there really was no conventional way through this.

For the other Nightmare clearers to pass, they would need to memorize every arrow pattern perfectly just to have a chance.

Kaboom!

Then came the final volley.

When I counted the arrows, there were 26.

Next was the fourth gate.

Colored arrows.

The question had asked for the color of the tenth colored arrow.

I deflected the arrows with my swords and checked the tenth one.

It was green.

– See? Did I not tell thee it was green?

The Demon King spoke.

I was slightly taken aback.

He still remembered that?

In any case, I passed through and reached the fifth gate.

A red dot appeared on the statue.

I gave up on trying to hit it with an arrow and simply fired every shot into empty space.

Once all my chances were exhausted, the statue raised its bow toward me.

Using the same method as before, I waited until the arrows were just about to touch my body, then teleported and let them pass harmlessly through the space where I had been.

The statue crumbled, and I continued into the final boss chamber.

[How many arrows in total were fired at the first gate?]

The question appeared on the stele.

Naturally, it had not changed.

“305.”

[O]

I answered each question correctly in turn.

Circle marks appeared one after another, and the number above the stele never materialized.

Crack!

The questioning ended.

The stele shattered, revealing the boss.

Perhaps because I had answered every question correctly, no arrows were fired at me at all.

I launched a Destruction Ray directly at the boss.

The attack struck it head-on, splitting its body cleanly into upper and lower halves before it collapsed.

Since the stele’s timer had never increased, the boss had not received its invincibility buff either.

The boss was defeated.

I looked around.

Now it was time to find the Hidden Route, but...

‘Where am I supposed to go?’

Aside from the path leading back to the previous gate, the cavern was sealed on every side.

There was no longer any door leading to another chamber.

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

Just then, another tremor echoed through the cavern.

A section of the wall collapsed, revealing an entrance.

...That had to be it.

I waited for the cooldown on Destruction Ray to end.

Then I approached the newly revealed passage.

A long, straight corridor stretched ahead.

Still somewhat wary, I proceeded one careful step at a time.

“...?”

Once again, the corridor opened into a vast cavern.

There were people inside.

Three of them.

Their gazes turned toward me.

“Another one has arrived.”

A middle-aged man in ornate golden armor spoke with his arms folded.

“Welcome. You came this far after passing the Sage’s Gate as well, didn’t you?”

A woman dressed like a mage, wearing a red robe and holding a staff, spoke next.

Then,

“Ha. Why do the numbers keep increasing? Three was already too many.”

The last was a man dressed like a free-spirited wanderer, with numerous dagger-like weapons hanging from his waist.

Each of the three offered a remark as they looked me over.

So...

This appeared to be some kind of medieval setting.

‘The Sage’s Gate?’

Looking around the cavern, I saw that there was one entrance in each of the four cardinal directions.

North, south, east, and west.

Including the one I had just emerged from.

Had these people passed through gates and arrived here just as I had?

And...

‘They’re strong.’

My sixth sense told me that none of the three were ordinary fighters.

Whether they were allies or enemies, I could not yet tell.

For the moment, however, I sensed only mild wariness from them.

No hostility.

First, I needed to understand the setting.

I approached the three of them and spoke.

“Hello. Did all of you pass through the arrow traps as well?”

The mage woman, whose tone was the friendliest of the three, answered.

“That’s right. We each passed through the gates and happened to meet here.”

Judging by the atmosphere, the three of them seemed to be complete strangers.

I was not the only one being watched cautiously.

They were wary of one another as well.

The woman looked around and said,

“Four corridors and four people... Perhaps everyone has gathered now. Why don’t we at least introduce ourselves?”

Introductions seemed reasonable.

But the wanderer responded curtly,

“Introductions, my ass. Aren’t we rivals? You lot came all this way for the Sage’s Treasure, same as me.”

The woman snorted.

“I’m not particularly interested in the treasure. I only came to investigate because the dungeon supposedly built by the Sage fascinates me.”

“Is that so? Even then, wouldn’t your eyes pop out if the legend turned out to be true?”

The wanderer clenched his fist and shouted,

“Whoever gets their hands on the Sage’s Treasure will learn every truth in the world!”

...

As I listened to them, I tried to piece together the background of this place.

For one thing, the word “Sage” kept appearing.

This was a dungeon built by the Sage.

And somewhere inside was the Sage’s Treasure, an object said to reveal every truth in the world.

Was finding that treasure the clear condition?

“Especially you mage types. Aren’t you the ones obsessed with uncovering the truth? So drop the ridiculous act.”

At the wanderer’s words, the woman frowned in displeasure and struck back.

“On the contrary, the Sage’s Treasure hardly seems useful to someone like you. You look very far removed from the pursuit of knowledge.”

The man grinned, entirely unfazed.

“How’d you guess? You’re right. I don’t give a damn about any of that. I’ll get the Sage’s Treasure, sell it for a fortune to some emperor or other rich bastard, and live comfortably for the rest of my life.”

The woman clicked her tongue in contempt.

The knight remained silent, his arms still folded, refusing to join the exchange.

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

At that moment, a violent tremor shook the cavern.

The four entrances to the north, south, east, and west—

In an instant, the walls closed over them.

Every entrance vanished without a trace.

Kabooom!

The knight immediately drew his sword and swung.

A massive Sword Aura tore through the air and struck the sealed wall.

It left no mark.

The knight clicked his tongue.

“...How curious. It has been filled in completely, without leaving a trace. What sort of magic is this?”

The woman studied the sealed entrance with interest.

“Is this really the time to be wondering about that? Every exit is sealed. We’re trapped.”

The wanderer walked over to one of the blocked passages and ran his hands across the wall.

At that moment—

All four of us, myself included, turned toward the empty air.

Letters appeared before us.

[Find the Sage concealing their identity among the four.]