Chapter 150: Help (1)

[Floor 11 has been cleared on all difficulties.]

[The Tower is calling new participants.]

I was moved to the Reward Room.

The moment I arrived, my clothes and all the destroyed items were completely restored.

More urgently than anything else, I reached up and felt the top of my head.

“Whew.”

Fortunately, my hair had been perfectly restored as well.

Even though I knew it would regenerate, I’d still been a little nervous.

I gathered up all the scattered items and shoved them into Subspace...

Then I immediately checked the rewards.

There was one Epic Skill Stone and one Epic Skill Enhancement Stone.

[Skill: Life Devour (Epic)]

Creates a barrier within a 10-meter radius. Absorbs the life force of targets that die within the barrier. Requires 3 minutes of Mental Concentration to cast.

Classification: Magic-type

Willpower Cost: 60 per second

Cooldown: 1 minute

It was a Magic-type skill.

Life Devour, huh.

For now, it seemed to be an area-of-effect skill like Scorching Zone, and it consumed Willpower per second.

I felt like I had seen something similar a loooong time ago...

After clearing the Floor 1 hidden event.

Was it Life Absorption?

This felt like a higher-tier version of that skill.

If it was called Life Absorption, then I figured its effect probably had something to do with restoring health or healing injuries.

I’d know once I tried it myself.

I decided to test it later.

[You have acquired ‘Skill: Life Devour (Epic)’.]

And with the Epic Skill Enhancement Stone, I enhanced Weakness Insight.

Weakness Insight was now at +4.

One more enhancement and I would be able to obtain its higher-tier Epic+ version.

‘Weakness Insight really carried me this time.’

It helped when I was taking down the golem knights, and it was also how I immediately found the boss’s weak point at the end.

Compared to the other floors, this Floor 11 clear had ended without any major crisis.

It wasn’t just Weakness Insight either.

The Zone boss items had helped me a lot too.

Especially if I hadn’t had Poison Resistance and the Sea Dragon’s Orb, I might have been in serious trouble in the boss room. Luckily, the matchups worked out perfectly.

Then again, after enduring all that bullshit, wiping out every Zone boss, and getting all those rewards at once...

Conscience-wise, the Tower should at least let me clear Floor 11 relatively easily.

Not that the Tower had ever possessed anything resembling a conscience in the first place.

[Difficulty: Nightmare]

[Floor: Floor 12]

[Level: 137]

[Willpower: 10,080/10,080]

[Skills: Radiant Incarnation (Legendary+), Elemental Arrow Barrage (Epic+)(+2), Destruction Ray (Epic+), Weakness Insight (Epic)(+4), Hellfire Eruption (Epic)(+1), Subspace (Epic), Air Walk (Epic), Finger Flick (Epic), Life Devour (Epic)...]

[Nightmare]

Participants: 973,617

Time Limit: 3 years 351 days 4 hours 29 minutes 11 seconds

Highest Floor Reached: Floor 12

After finishing up with the rewards, I checked my status window.

The Nightmare Time Limit had now increased to nearly four years.

And my Willpower had somehow passed 10,000 too.

Though technically, with the effect of Rosalia’s Necklace applied, I had passed 10,000 a while ago.

[Remaining Lifespan: 284 days 20 hours 42 minutes 39 seconds]

I checked the remaining lifespan on the scale as well.

285 days.

Well, there wasn’t much point in checking it every single time anyway.

I put the Broken Scale back into Subspace.

[Would you like to exit the Tower?]

Anyway, Floor 11 had been cleared safely too.

It had taken quite a long time, so my family was probably worried.

I exited immediately.

***

After Person123 delivered his powerful warning through the Communication Channel.

Most Climbers and Climber organizations began lying low.

Especially now, with governments around the world moving busily to strengthen restrictions against Climbers.

The Association, which normally would have thrown a fit, remained completely silent.

All it released was a formal, superficial statement saying that it hoped lawful sanctions would be imposed on the Climbers who had endangered countless lives.

There were also some famous Climber influencers of a certain kind.

People who claimed that they were a chosen new humanity, or openly displayed elitist beliefs by saying Climbers were superior to Non-Climbers.

Well, some of them had probably made deliberately provocative statements just for attention.

Either way, one amusing sight began playing out as their old social media posts disappeared one after another.

Person123’s warning had clearly been directed not only at the Climbers who participated in the Joint Battle, but at every other Climber as well.

Who could have imagined that Person123, humanity’s savior, would come out this aggressively?

Many Climbers were now reading the mood, thinking that if they crossed the line, they might genuinely end up dead.

There were even rumors slowly beginning to circulate.

That the Climbers who had chosen Round 6 during the Joint Battle were disappearing one by one.

Of course, no one knew whether those rumors were actually true.

Ordinary people, meanwhile, were worshipping Person123 even more fervently.

Climbers alone had already received the Curse Immunity reward.

Naturally, people couldn’t help but feel uneasy about the situation, with the position of Climbers becoming more and more overwhelmingly powerful.

And at a time like that, Person123 had stepped forward and issued a powerful warning.

The strongest Climber and humanity’s savior was protecting ordinary people.

There was nothing they could do but worship him.

[Floor 11 has been cleared on all difficulties.]

[The Tower is calling new participants.]

Then, in the middle of all that, news arrived that Nightmare Floor 11 had been cleared.

It had been about ten days since Floor 10 was cleared.

Person123 was still continuing his absurdly fast Nightmare progression.

[Tero: Kya! Floor 11 clear just dropped!]

[Destruction: He’s seriously clearing these at a terrifying speed... Is he determined to make absolutely sure he never runs short on time like he did on Floor 8?]

[Explorer: I can only praise him. Person123! Person123! Person123! Person123! Person123! Person123!...]

Meanwhile, somewhere in the forest of Zone 1 on Floor 5.

Taylor stared with a stiff expression at the person who had arrived before her.

Ye Cheon-wi greeted her with a smile.

“Welcome, Taylor.”

Taylor raised her guard even further as she approached.

Ye Cheon-wi, China’s representative Nightmare Climber.

They had happened to run into each other and spoken a few times before, but they weren’t close enough to meet privately like this.

Nor had there ever been any reason to.

Ye Cheon-wi looked around with an easygoing expression.

“I’m always happy to have a conversation with you, of course, but we could have met at Drake Restaurant. Why did you call me somewhere so secluded?”

Taylor was the one who had called him here today.

They already knew each other’s Communication Channel usernames because they had exchanged them before.

She had called him because there was something she absolutely needed to ask.

Taylor got straight to the point.

“Was it you?”

At the abrupt question, Ye Cheon-wi asked back.

“What do you mean?”

“John Davis. Daniel Moore.”

The two were Climbers affiliated with the Security Corps.

They had also been identified as people who chose Round 6 during the Joint Battle.

And not long ago, both had disappeared.

On Floor 5.

Taylor believed they were already dead.

And she was half-convinced she knew who had killed them.

Ye Cheon-wi nodded.

“I took care of them.”

The admission came so readily that it was almost bewildering.

Taylor glared at him.

“...Why did you?”

Taylor had no intention of caring whether Climbers from the Black Star Society lived or died.

That was their own business.

But killing Climbers who belonged to the Security Corps was a completely different matter.

Ye Cheon-wi smiled and asked her in return.

“I heard the Security Corps had already expelled them. If that’s the case, why should you care what happens to them anymore?”

“You killing them is a different matter.”

“Different or not, the Security Corps is too soft. That’s why I stepped in. Don’t you agree, Taylor?”

“...Measures against them were still being discussed. Once the review was finished, they would have been punished under the law.”

“That is exactly what I mean by too soft.”

Ye Cheon-wi shook his head.

“Vermin who refused to listen even after He Himself bestowed a warning upon them. Blights upon humanity who would be of no use whatsoever on the path of salvation He walks.”

“...”

“They deserved to be purged. This is about all I can do for now. So that I might be of even the slightest help to Him.”

Taylor flinched at those words.

“Isn’t that right, Taylor? With this Joint Battle, He has defeated every boss all the way through Zone 10. Truly, an unbelievable achievement.”

Ye Cheon-wi’s smile vanished as his gaze settled on her.

“He must have obtained all the boss rewards as well. There is nothing left for Him to gain on Floor 5 now. Even if we hunt monsters and fill the Zone gauge, it no longer means anything.”

As though he had said everything he wanted to say, Ye Cheon-wi walked past Taylor.

“Instead of calling me here to argue over trivialities, shouldn’t you be doing something useful? I have a question for you too, Taylor. How do you intend to help Him now?”

“...I...”

Taylor couldn’t answer.

She simply stared at his retreating back.

For a long while, she stood there blankly, unable to move.

***

Taylor did not drink alcohol.

She already felt as though there weren’t enough hours in the day even if she devoted herself entirely to training for the Tower.

When would she ever have time to sit around drinking?

She had never particularly enjoyed alcohol in the first place, but the same applied to other forms of leisure.

Taylor generally did not allow herself free time.

“Haa...”

So seeing her sitting alone at a bar, slowly sipping alcohol, was unusual enough to be called bizarre.

If Max or any of the other U.S. Climber Bureau staff had seen her, they probably would have rubbed their eyes and looked again.

Taylor set down her whiskey glass and lowered her head.

Her thoughts were a complete mess.

Her mind had already been troubled before, but after her conversation with Ye Cheon-wi, she could no longer make sense of anything.

‘I have a question for you too, Taylor. How do you intend to help Him now?’

Taylor wished someone would tell her too.

What the hell was she supposed to do?

Just as Ye Cheon-wi had said, hunting monsters on Floor 5 no longer helped Person123.

No.

Had it ever really helped him in the first place?

He had filled several dozen percent of the Zone 5 gauge by himself in an instant.

Her Nightmare progression was still stuck on Floor 7, so she couldn’t even serve as a backup.

Meanwhile, Person123 had already cleared Floor 11.

She was continuing to prepare for Floor 7 with help from the government and the U.S. Climber Bureau, but even now, her odds of success remained extremely low.

...Was doing something like Ye Cheon-wi really the only way she could be useful?

Taylor couldn’t deny the thought.

She tilted her whiskey glass again.

A superhuman body above Level 60 did not allow her to get drunk easily.

Taylor kept drinking bottle after bottle of strong whiskey until she finally managed to become intoxicated.

Then, suddenly, she opened the Communication Channel.

Part of her wanted to just ask Person123 directly...

What she should do.

She pressed hard against her temples, then shut the Communication Channel again.

She hadn’t lost enough of her mind to actually do something like that.

She drank again.

Tonight, she simply wanted to drink.

.

.

.

“...Mm.”

Taylor woke up and sat upright.

She was in bed.

She remembered getting drunk and making it home.

Frowning, she spent a moment retracing her memories...

Then a memory that absolutely should not have existed surfaced in her mind.

She hurriedly opened the Communication Channel.

[Squirrel: What am I supposed to do. No matter how much I think about how I could possibly be of help to you anymore I just don’t know. I’m really sorry for being completely uselss whaat am I even doign anymore]

A record of the private message she had sent to Person123.

The moment Taylor saw the catastrophe she had committed the previous night, she was stunned into complete paralysis for several seconds.

“...Fuck.”

There was still no reply.

She hurriedly sent another private message.

[Squirrel: I’m sorry. I was drunk and made a mistake. That was extremely rude of me.]

Taylor shut the Communication Channel as though swatting it out of her sight, then collapsed back onto the bed.

“Aaaagh...”

Her ears bright red, she grabbed at her hair before rubbing both hands down her face.

She seriously wanted to die.