Chapter 113: Nightmare, 8th Floor (1)

Back on Floor 6.

The Tower had tried to stop me from challenging the floor altogether, offering the Ark in exchange.

But this penalty...

[Penalty: While ‘Person123’ is making the first clear of Floor 8, one of the items in his possession is randomly prohibited from use.]

One random item would be banned.

That was all.

What was the point of this?

The Tower was making an offer so lopsided that it barely made sense.

Could the thing have gone haywire while fixing the bugs caused by the Sage...? No, that couldn’t be it.

“Tsk...”

I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair.

Pushing aside the useless thoughts, I began to consider it seriously.

I knew.

There had to be some kind of scheme behind this.

There was no chance the Tower would make an offer like this for my benefit.

And yet the reason I couldn’t stop thinking about it was simple.

‘The terms are just too good.’

Only one item.

One out of the many items I owned.

Even if the Tower rigged the selection so that it wasn’t really random and simply banned whichever item it wanted...

What was the most important item I had? Diul?

Whatever it chose, losing access to a single item still wouldn’t be enough to seriously cripple my combat strength.

And in return...

I could obtain an Ark with a full ten-kilometer radius.

A final line of defense that could preserve at least some of humanity even if I failed here—or somewhere further down the line.

Once activated, an Ark lasted forever.

That meant that even if I died, it would remain.

I couldn’t help being tempted.

Yeah.

It was obviously some kind of dirty trick.

Obviously, but...

Hadn’t I succeeded on Floor 4 even after accepting the Tower’s offer?

And this penalty was far weaker than the one I had taken back then.

─ Do not accept it.

The Demon King spoke.

─ The moment you seriously consider that monster’s temptation, you are already allowing it to toy with you. Can you not see that?

The Demon King was adamant that I reject the offer outright.

Come to think of it, he had said something similar before.

He had no memories from the period when his world was destroyed, but apparently the Tower had made him an offer back then as well.

The Demon King must have been badly burned by one of the Tower’s proposals at some point.

“Still, I accepted an offer on Floor 4 and came out on top. Isn’t this another gamble worth taking?”

The Demon King sneered.

─ Then accept it if you wish. I will not stop you.

I laughed.

The Demon King already knew which way my heart was leaning.

Since the proposal had once again been announced globally, both the Communication Channel and the news were in an uproar.

People were fiercely debating whether I should accept the offer or reject it, but...

I had already made my decision.

[Nightmare]

Population: 476,805

Time Limit: 20 days, 1 minute, 1 {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} second

Reached Floor: Floor 8

A day passed.

I steadied myself and finished all my preparations.

Ignoring the proposal window, I stood in the middle of my hotel room.

“Let’s go.”

I would not accept the offer.

Of course I had been tempted.

But it was equally true that the whole thing smelled suspicious.

A thought had even crossed my mind.

What if one of the items I possessed turned out to be absolutely necessary for clearing Floor 8?

Something similar had happened with the Masked Auction.

In a way, this was faith in the Tower.

Faith that this thing, packed to the brim with malice, would never willingly do anything to my advantage.

So I wouldn’t waver.

I cast aside every last trace of regret.

[Do you wish to enter Nightmare Difficulty, Floor 8?]

After taking one final deep breath...

“Enter.”

My vision changed.

***

The field of Floor 8 was a desert.

The basic theme itself was nothing remarkable.

Defeat or avoid the Sandworms that burst up from beneath the ground, reach the destination, and the floor was cleared.

That was how it worked on the other difficulties, anyway.

As for Nightmare...

I would have to see what kind of extra spice they had added.

[You have entered Nightmare Difficulty, Floor 8.]

[The Tower’s offer has been nullified.]

The instant I entered, I stopped time.

Then I checked the information in my field of view.

I was standing in the middle of a desert.

Sand stretched endlessly in every direction.

North, south, east, west.

No matter where I looked, the scenery was exactly the same.

I let time flow again.

‘They said ten minutes.’

The Sandworms would begin attacking soon.

And if I held out against them, it would appear after ten minutes.

The oasis.

The destination I had to reach.

I waited quietly beneath the blazing sun.

Still...

It really was hot.

If even I could feel the heat this strongly at my current level, an ordinary person would probably be cooked alive out here.

Rumble, rumble...

A vibration rose from beneath my feet.

To the left.

With my now-sharpened Sixth Sense, I prepared for the ambush with ease.

FWOOOSH!

The desert erupted upward, throwing sand and dust into the air like a storm.

A grotesquely enormous larva-like creature emerged from beneath the ground.

The Sandworm rose over me, lowering its head as though looking down at something insignificant.

Its cylindrical maw was packed with countless tiny, revolting teeth.

Hm...

Damn, it was huge.

A Sandworm on Hard difficulty was supposed to be about as large as a five-story building, wasn’t it?

This thing was practically the size of a skyscraper.

Of course, even that much was still within expectations.

Rrrrrrr...!

The Sandworm bent its colossal body and lunged toward me.

I stopped time.

After completing Mental Concentration, I launched Flame Strike.

KABOOOM!

A vertical line of blazing orbs slammed into the Sandworm’s body, striking it evenly from head to tail.

SKREEEEEE-!

An ear-splitting shriek tore through the air.

I didn’t even need a second attack.

The Sandworm’s massive body burst apart in a single blow.

It writhed violently as greenish fluid poured from the wound like a waterfall.

I jumped back to avoid the spray.

The liquid had to be poisonous.

The sand melted wherever it landed.

THOOOM!

A moment later, the Sandworm collapsed.

I stared at the corpse.

‘Nothing to it...’

It was disgustingly huge.

That was all.

For another Nightmare challenger, maybe it would have been dangerous.

To me, it was little more than an ordinary trash mob.

Still, I didn’t lower my guard in the slightest.

This was only the beginning.

Rumble, rumble.

The vibrations returned.

More Sandworms burst from beneath the sand.

Two this time.

I hit one with another Flame Strike and dealt with the other using Lightning Strike and several other spells.

I didn’t bother closing the distance to fight them directly.

There was no reason to risk getting splashed with that fluid.

And because I had no idea what might suddenly appear later, I refrained from using Destruction Ray or Hellfire Eruption.

I wanted to keep them in reserve.

Even after the two were dead, more Sandworms continued bursting from the ground.

I ran through the desert, eliminating them one after another with magic.

After I had killed more than ten...

Had ten minutes passed?

At some point, an oasis had appeared in the distance.

‘Is that it?’

I headed toward it.

If I reached the oasis, would the floor be cleared?

...No way.

Obviously not.

This wasn’t even enough to qualify as a warm-up.

Either something would happen once I reached it, or another obstacle would appear along the way.

I kept running with my senses sharpened to their limit.

The sand churned once again.

More Sandworms burst out.

There were more of them than before.

Still, they weren’t a problem.

Even if I simply ignored them and kept running, they wouldn’t be able to match my speed.

But there was no telling whether leaving them alive would cause trouble later, so I went out of my way to eliminate every last one as I advanced toward the oasis.

The distance closed quickly.

It had looked far away, but with my physical abilities, it was only a few minutes away on foot.

Just as I was about to reach it—

“...!”

My Sixth Sense gave me a faint warning.

I immediately kicked off the ground and launched myself high into the air.

FWOOOOSH!

A vast section of sand suddenly collapsed inward.

And at the last possible moment—

a whole swarm of Sandworms erupted from beneath it.

“Heh.”

Hovering in midair, I unleashed a barrage of magic at the ground below.

KA-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

By clustering together like that, they had only made themselves easier targets.

The Sandworms exploded spectacularly.

As I descended, I cast Blade Storm into the middle of the survivors.

‘Demon King.’

Then I handed control of my body over to the Demon King.

He flew us beyond the collapsed section of desert.

After that, all that remained was to finish off the few survivors.

So that had been the trap...

Honestly, it was too pathetic to even call a trap.

At least for a Nightmare floor.

I brushed the dust from my clothes and continued toward the oasis, which was now only a short distance away.

But then...

“...?”

With less than a hundred meters left—

the oasis suddenly vanished.

Like a mirage.

I wasn’t particularly surprised.

I had never expected things to end that easily.

‘...A skeleton?’

In the exact spot where the oasis had been...

a human skeleton sat slumped against a cactus.

It wasn’t an Undead monster, was it?

I approached cautiously.

My Sixth Sense gave no reaction.

The skeleton was dressed like some kind of traveler.

And there was something clutched in one of its hands.

A notebook.

And a compass.

I checked the notebook first.

When I opened it, I found most of the pages torn away.

Only a single page remained.

A passage had been written across it in red letters.

[No matter how far I walk, it refuses to come any closer. Have I gone mad? Or is this desert cursed? I should never have set foot in this place. I should never have set foot...]

...What was this?

Judging from the contents, whoever this person had been, they had wandered through the desert until they died.

They should never have set foot here, huh.

Well, I had already entered the floor to clear it.

What exactly was I supposed to do with that warning now?

Was it just kindly informing me that I was screwed?

I pocketed the notebook for the time being.

Then I examined the compass.

[1]

The moment I touched it, a number appeared.

‘...1?’

What was that supposed to mean?

I tilted my head and studied the compass.

Its needle was pointing in a particular direction.

When I raised my head and looked that way...

Hm?

Far in the distance, the oasis had appeared again.

I searched through the skeleton’s clothes more thoroughly.

But other than the notebook and the compass, there was nothing.

“Hmm...”

I looked toward the oasis again.

I had a bad feeling about this.

Still...

I didn’t exactly have another option.

FWOOOSH!

More Sandworms erupted while I was on the move.

I dispatched them without much effort and sprinted onward through the desert.

And as I continued toward the oasis...

“...?”

I noticed something strange.

The distance...

Wasn’t getting any shorter?

After running a little longer, I became certain.

It really wasn’t getting closer at all.

...So this was what the notebook meant by “no matter how far I walk, it refuses to come any closer”?

I checked the compass.

But—

[2]

The number had increased to 2.

...What was this supposed to be telling me?

“Ah.”

A little later, it increased again.

[4]

I stared at the number.

Then, after another moment, I realized the pattern.

The number on the compass was doubling every two minutes.

[16]

...What was it?

What exactly was this thing hinting at?

It was deeply unsettling.

A number that kept increasing couldn’t possibly mean anything good for me.

It certainly hadn’t on Floor 7.

I pulled out the Warp Device.

For now, I would warp the maximum possible distance toward the oasis.

I always kept my Willpower fully restored in advance, so I had plenty to use.

After waiting ten minutes, I activated the Warp Device and warped toward the oasis.

And...

“...Goddammit.”

I cursed at the distant oasis.

I hadn’t gotten even slightly closer.

Not even after moving ten thousand kilometers.

So this really had nothing to do with physical distance?

I tried moving in the exact opposite direction.

Then sideways.

But no matter which direction I traveled through the desert, the same scenery simply repeated itself.

The oasis never moved farther away.

But it never came any closer either.

And all the while, Sandworms kept annoyingly bursting out of the ground to attack me...

KABOOOM!

[512]

After killing another Sandworm, I stopped time.

‘Let’s sort this out.’

The oasis wouldn’t get any closer.

And the mysterious number on the compass kept climbing.

...Finding a way to actually reach that oasis was probably the clear condition for Floor 8.

But what the hell kind of gimmick was this?

‘Demon King. Anything come to mind?’

I asked for his opinion.

─ Nothing.

‘...Then at least think it through with me.’

Because at this rate, I had no answer.

I needed to find another way.

I sank into thought.

Come to think of it...

Wasn’t this somewhat similar to Floor 2?

The infinite staircase that kept looping around the same place.

This situation wasn’t all that different.

Back then, I had broken the gimmick by climbing out through a window and entering a completely different space.

But here...

There was nothing but endless desert in every direction.

There was nowhere that could be called a different space.

‘...’

No.

Or was there?

A thought suddenly flashed through my mind.

I looked at the dead Sandworm lying in front of me.

Then at the hole in the sand it had burst out from.