Chapter 134: Nightmare, 10th Floor (7)

[Floor 10 has been cleared on all difficulties.]

[The Tower summons new climbers.]

[A new rule is added.]

[In 24 hours, the ‘Joint Battle’ will begin.]

[When the time comes, 100 climbers who have cleared Floor 10 will be randomly summoned to Floor 5.]

[While the ‘Joint Battle’ is in progress, climbers other than those summoned cannot enter Floor 5, and any already inside will be forcibly expelled.]

[Time remaining: 23 hours 59 minutes 50 seconds]

I had been moved to the Reward Room.

I let out a sigh as I stared at the messages.

I’d cleared an even-numbered floor, which meant it was time for the Tower to pull some bullshit again.

‘Joint Battle?’

A hundred climbers who had cleared Floor 10, randomly summoned to Floor 5...

Was it some kind of event where climbers teamed up and fought together?

I didn’t bother speculating any further.

Given everything that had happened so far, there was no point trying to guess what the Tower would throw at us next.

I’d find out soon enough when the time came.

‘It’ll probably screw with people’s lives again.’

Come to think of it, every rule that had appeared so far had been like that.

Take ordinary people’s lives hostage, then force the climbers to make a choice.

Something along those lines.

I had a bad feeling this would be more of the same...

Instead, I checked the rewards.

An epic-grade Skill Enhancement Stone and... an item.

It was a glossy black crown.

[Item: Pankera’s Crown]

The crown of Pankera, the Dream Demon King who governs dreams and illusions. While the crown is worn on the head, the wearer may move to the Mental World. Targets in direct physical contact with the wearer’s body can also be pulled into the Mental World. Time flows identically in reality and the Mental World.

“Hmm...”

What was this?

The Mental World sounded like some kind of dream realm.

So, basically, it let me have lucid dreams?

‘Not much use in a fight...?’

I tilted my head.

It didn’t seem like an especially useful item.

Still, I decided to test it right away.

I placed the crown on my head.

Then, the moment I thought about entering the Mental World...

“...!”

The scenery before me changed.

I found myself standing in a pitch-black space where nothing was visible.

“Huh.”

I thought it would be nice if things were a little brighter, and the entire space instantly turned pure white.

Could I control this place?

As I looked around...

“Ho. And what might this be?”

A voice came from behind me.

I turned around.

A man was standing there.

I stared at him blankly for a moment before asking,

“Demon King, is that you?”

The Demon King answered in his usual arrogant tone.

“It is I.”

...Why had the Demon King been dragged in too?

The item description did say that anyone in direct physical contact with me could be pulled into the Mental World...

Since the Demon King shared my body to begin with, I supposed the two of us counted as a package deal.

I studied him with open curiosity.

After all, this was the first time I had ever seen his face.

From his voice alone, I’d always imagined some ancient old man, but he looked surprisingly young.

He had long, snow-white hair, pale skin, and a towering frame that had to be well over two meters tall.

“Is that your original form?”

He looked far less like a Demon King than I had expected.

In fact, apart from his unusual appearance, he looked perfectly human.

The Demon King ignored my question and merely swept his gaze around the space.

Whoooosh-

The pure-white void transformed into a vast snowfield, a raging blizzard howling across it.

“Not bad, this place.”

Apparently, he too could reshape the space with nothing more than his thoughts.

The scenery continued shifting from one landscape to another, changing so quickly it made my head spin.

So this really was something like a dream world.

I left the Demon King to entertain himself and tried experimenting on my own.

I pictured a sword.

A sword appeared in my hand.

It seemed I could manifest just about anything I imagined, but...

Well.

It was interesting, sure.

But that was about it.

What was I supposed to do with this in the real world?

The moment I decided to leave the Mental World, I found myself back in reality.

– Why are you leaving already? Stay a little longer.

I casually ignored the Demon King’s complaints and removed the crown.

I could investigate it properly later.

‘As for the Enhancement Stone...’

I used the epic-grade Skill Enhancement Stone on Weakness Insight.

That took care of the rewards.

[Difficulty: Nightmare]

[Floor: 11F]

[Level: 127]

[Willpower: 8,710/8,710]

[Skills: Radiant Incarnation (Legendary+), Destruction Ray (Epic+), Weakness Insight (Epic) (+2), Hellfire Eruption (Epic) (+1), Subspace (Epic), Air Walk (Epic)...]

[Nightmare]

Population: 873,619

Time Limit: 2 years 361 days 9 hours 58 minutes 3 seconds

Reached Floor: 11F

“Somehow pulled it off again...”

I let out a long breath.

Floor 10 had certainly been strange.

And it had left a faintly bitter taste in my mouth.

It felt as though I’d witnessed one of a game’s bad-ending routes.

Except the protagonist had been me.

A world like that really existed...

No.

Let’s not think about it.

Dwelling on it only made my chest feel heavier.

Anyway, the other me had cooperated in the end, which was how I’d managed to clear the floor.

‘At least I learned one thing for certain.’

After seeing what happened on Floor 10, I knew for sure that accepting the Tower’s offer was something I should never do.

And that a world where the Ark had been deployed wasn’t going to end well either.

...Which made me wonder.

Had I simply been unbelievably lucky when I accepted the Tower’s offer on Floor 4 and still managed to clear it?

Maybe I had.

[Would you like to exit the Tower?]

I chose to leave.

The moment I stepped outside, my family rushed to greet me.

“...Seo-hyeon!”

I wrapped my arms around my mother and father.

“You’re not hurt anywhere, are you? Are you all right?”

Even though they knew that any injuries would be completely healed once a floor was cleared, they still looked me over with worried eyes.

I smiled.

“Floor 10 was ridiculously easy. I’ve gotten so strong that even Nightmare can’t handle me anymore.”

After having lunch with my family, I returned to my room.

Then something occurred to me, and I pulled out the broken scales.

[Special Item: Broken Scales of Life]

Offer up the user’s lifespan to obtain an equivalent price. You may offer from a minimum of 1% to a maximum of 99% of your current remaining lifespan. Once used, the scales break, and the user’s remaining lifespan is displayed. (This item has already been used.)

Remaining lifespan: 295 days 2 hours 10 minutes 31 seconds

“...Hm.”

I’d wondered whether dying and coming back to life might have reset my remaining lifespan.

But when I checked, nothing had changed.

Wishful thinking, I suppose.

‘Still... maybe I found one possibility?’

The Resurrection skill.

I had learned that a skill capable of bringing the dead back to life actually existed.

There had to be plenty of ways to deal with my lifespan problem too.

As long as I kept climbing the Tower...

Huh?

Wait a second.

Couldn’t I get the Resurrection skill for free just by Repeat Clearing Floor 10?

[You have entered Floor 10 of Nightmare difficulty.]

Without even stopping to rest, I went straight back into Floor 10.

Floor 10 was such an unusual place that I’d wondered whether Repeat Clearing might not work there, but...

Apparently, it did.

The pitch-black city of Seoul.

The enormous Ark.

It was exactly the same beginning as before.

I flew into the sky and immediately set out to find Person123.

Heading south toward Busan, I began searching the area.

Since I had entered at a different point in time than during my first clear, he wasn’t in the same place as before.

As I searched...

Before long, I spotted Person123 hunting the Fallen alone.

Thud!

I landed heavily right in front of him.

“Hey.”

“...?!”

He stared at me in shock.

At a face identical to his own.

Tch.

Just a little while ago, we’d practically bared our souls to each other...

Seeing him reset like this, no different from the Repeat Clearing of any other floor, left a bitter taste in my mouth.

“I’m you.”

I already knew exactly how to clear the floor.

But since there was no telling how he would react, I decided to go through everything exactly as I had the first time.

So I explained that this world was actually Nightmare Floor 10 and that I wanted to talk to him, and...

“If what you’re saying is true, what reason do I have to cooperate with you?”

He even gave me the exact same line.

Everything afterward played out more or less the same way.

Subdue him without going too far.

Ask what happened to his family.

Listen to his story.

Then go to the graves.

“...So killing you is the clear condition.”

“Then kill me. I don’t care.”

After hearing the full explanation, Person123 pulled the Resurrection Skill Stone from his Subspace.

The instant I took it, I tried to learn the skill.

But—

[The skill cannot be learned.]

A message appeared before me.

‘Tsk...’

So it really didn’t work?

Not that I was particularly surprised.

If this method worked, Floor 10 would become nothing more than an infinite farming ground for Skill Stones and Enhancement Stones.

There was no way the Tower would allow something that convenient.

I left Floor 10.

Then I stood there with my arms crossed, lost in thought.

But wait.

Even if I couldn’t learn Resurrection myself...

Person123 could still use it on me, couldn’t he?

Then couldn’t I just enter Floor 10 right before my lifespan ran out and have him resurrect me after I died?!

Just as I was congratulating myself on this brilliant stroke of genius, the Demon King cut in.

– That will not work.

“...Huh? Why not?”

– Because the death awaiting you when your lifespan runs out is not an ordinary death. It is a fixed death.

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

The Demon King explained.

– How do you think lifespan is determined in the first place? Even a lowly creature that tempers its body and advances through the realms slows its aging. Its lifespan naturally increases.

– By that logic, your remaining lifespan should have increased, even if only slightly, as your level rose. And yet, what happened?

I answered,

“It didn’t increase.”

I had already confirmed that gaining levels hadn’t added so much as a single minute to my remaining lifespan.

– Precisely. That is why your death is unavoidable. Those scales did not simply take away part of your lifespan. They fixed the lifespan you had remaining. Would it be easier to understand if I told you that your death 295 days from now has already been determined as part of your fate?

“...I think I get it.”

In other words, my death had been firmly decided in advance.

So firmly that not even Resurrection could bring me back.

The tiny spark of hope that had just begun to rise inside me was thoroughly crushed.

Still, I tried to argue.

“But you could be wrong, couldn’t you? Maybe Resurrection would work anyway?”

The Demon King replied in a tone that sounded almost pitying.

– Once one reaches a realm such as mine, one becomes capable of vaguely perceiving fate itself. Regrettably, from the moment you used those scales, your death was set in stone.

Son of a...

And through our shared soul, I could tell he wasn’t lying.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

– I did tell you. If you intended to burn away even your own lifespan, then cast aside such trivial concerns and devote yourself to climbing.

“What the...”

Even so, somewhere deep down, I’d always believed that if I just kept climbing the Tower, I might eventually find some way to restore my lifespan.

What the Demon King had just told me shattered that hope completely.

So when my time ran out...

I was simply going to die.

No loopholes.

No way around it.

– Who knows? Perhaps the Tower may someday offer to alter even your fate.

“...You’re the one who told me never to accept the Tower’s offers.”

– Then twist your fate yourself.

Twist my fate myself?

How?

– Become a god. Then you may cast off the yoke of fate.

What kind of nonsense was that...?

And yet the Demon King didn’t sound as though he were joking.

“...Is that actually possible? How do you become a god?”

The Demon King scoffed.

– Impossible. How could a lowly creature ever attain divinity? Even I barely managed to place one foot beyond that threshold, and that was as far as I could go.

“Are you screwing with me?”

– Still, there is one thing that bothers me. That ti... No. Never mind.

He stopped himself mid-sentence.

Something occurred to me.

“Is the Tower a god too, by any chance?”

The Demon King fell silent for a moment before answering.

– I do not know. That thing is simply beyond comprehension.

I groaned and collapsed backward onto my bed.

Gods or whatever...

I just wished someone would save me...

“...Enough whining.”

After arguing back and forth with myself like a lunatic, I immediately sat back up.

Time to get to work.

One way or another, there was only one thing I could do.

Keep climbing the Tower.