Chapter 152: Help (3)

Before meeting Taylor, I entered Floor 7 again and perfectly memorized all the arrow patterns.

So I could recreate the environment here in the Mental World.

Arrows poured in from every direction.

Taylor ran all around the cavern, dodging them.

I watched with my arms folded.

'She’s good at dodging.'

She had looked a little flustered at first, but she quickly regained her composure.

Since she had trained based on the information I posted, Taylor seemed to know exactly where the next arrow would come from.

Her movements gradually became more relaxed, and there were even arrows she dodged without looking.

I could tell just how brutally hard she must have trained all this time.

Finally, arrows came flying from every direction at once.

Taylor timed it perfectly and leaped upward to evade them.

She avoided the entire barrage of hundreds of arrows without being hit even once.

I stopped the arrows.

“That was excellent.”

Taylor answered with an awkward smile.

“Ah... no. I still have a long way to go.”

“Do you happen to have Sixth Sense?”

“...Sixth Sense? No, I don’t. You mean the skill Fernando, the top-floor Hard Difficulty Climber, is supposed to have?”

Taylor tilted her head.

The Sixth Sense skill I possessed wasn’t completely unheard of among the public.

If Taylor had it too, it would have been a huge help in clearing the floor...

But there was nothing to be done.

The Skill Stones Climbers received as clear rewards were completely random.

Rare, especially Rare+ rank, wasn’t something you could simply buy even if you had money.

I’d heard that very few Climbers received rewards of that rank in the first place, and almost none of them ever entered the market.

It made me newly grateful to Bilon for working so hard to obtain various skills for me all this time.

Thanks, Bilon.

Well, if she didn’t have it, she could just train herself half to death without it.

“How many defensive and movement skills do you have?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a defensive skill, but I have a passive skill called Toughness. I don’t have any skill that can block these ridiculous arrows.”

Toughness was the skill that slightly increased the durability of the body, wasn’t it?

Of course she didn’t have a defensive skill capable of blocking these arrows.

Even when I cleared Floor 7, I hadn’t dared to try blocking these ridiculous things. There was no way another Nightmare Climber could.

“For movement skills, I have Flash Step, Blessing of Wind, and several others at Common rank or below, including Leap...”

Blessing of Wind?

What kind of skill was that?

It sounded fairly high-ranked, yet Taylor told me everything without holding anything back. Though I was the one who had asked.

I nodded.

“The goal you need to achieve through training here is simple. Build enough ability to clear every trial perfectly even without the help of skills. Excluding the boss room, of course.”

That was the best way to clear Floor 7 with as few variables as possible.

And it was certainly possible.

“...Yes! Understood.”

Taylor answered with determination written all over her face.

“Let’s move straight on to the next trial.”

The door leading to the next trial opened.

As she approached, an arrow suddenly shot at her in a surprise attack.

Taylor shifted her body sideways, dodged it, and went inside.

The second trial was the trial of darkness.

I waved my hand, and every light in the cavern went out.

I watched to see how Taylor would respond.

'Of course she does that.'

Taylor created a ball of light in midair and illuminated the darkness.

It was Light Orb, a Common-rank Magic-type skill.

Its Mental Concentration time was only three seconds, and it consumed just 1 Willpower per second, making it practically the only Magic-type skill other Climbers could use like a flashlight.

I spoke to Taylor.

“Turn it off.”

“What?”

“Try dodging without looking. You’ve memorized all the patterns, so you can do it, right?”

The harsher the training, the better.

Taylor nodded with a slightly flustered expression and extinguished the light.

Pitch-black darkness settled over the cavern again.

The arrows began firing.

Taylor moved through the darkness, dodging them.

As expected, she did well.

There were a few close calls, though.

Finally came the rain of arrows falling from the ceiling.

Taylor timed herself and slipped neatly between them.

Excellent.

But this time, it wasn’t perfect.

I lit up the space.

“Ah...”

Taylor groaned as she looked down at her right arm, which had been half torn off.

She had failed to dodge one arrow and had only barely been clipped by it.

Of course, since this was the Mental World, it regenerated quickly.

“Let’s repeat it until you can do it perfectly.”

“...Yes!”

Without giving her even a moment to rest, I turned the lights off again.

Why would she need rest when she couldn’t get tired?

“Try to dodge using the absolute minimum amount of movement. In reality, you’ll need to worry about stamina too.”

Of course, she could rest as long as she wanted between trials, so running out of stamina probably wouldn’t be an issue.

Still, I intended to push Taylor to the absolute limit.

Until she could clear Floor 7 perfectly without even the slightest crisis!

We had infinite training time.

There was no reason not to.

Booom! Booom!

Had we repeated it more than thirty times?

Taylor finally succeeded in casually dodging every arrow even in total darkness.

She looked toward me with a flushed expression.

I clapped.

“Excellent.”

“...Thank you!”

“Let’s move on to the next trial.”

At last, we had reached the dreaded third trial.

That goddamn left-right body reversal gimmick.

Even I still wasn’t sure whether it would actually be possible to train for that in the Mental World.

“Taylor, this is the Mental World. Anything is possible here.”

I tapped my head with a finger as I spoke.

“Try imagining it yourself. Imagine that the nerves on the left and right sides of your body have been switched. When you try to move your right hand, your left hand moves. When you try to move your left foot, your right foot moves.”

When I had tested it myself, it worked reasonably well.

But Taylor had only just entered the Mental World for the first time and had no experience manipulating her mental image.

She was different from me, who had spent an unimaginably long time inside the Mental World.

“Yes, I’ll try.”

Taylor nodded and furrowed her brow.

She moved her body around, apparently trying to continuously imagine the left-right reversal...

But it didn’t seem to work the way she wanted.

After quite some time had passed, Taylor spoke with a dark expression.

“I’m sorry. It’s not working very well... I’ll keep trying.”

I rubbed my chin.

As expected, it was probably far too difficult at Taylor’s current level of proficiency.

After all, this was a matter of consciousness.

...Then what if I simply forced the change directly?

“Demon King.”

I called the Demon King.

He smoothly appeared beside me.

“What is it?”

“You were watching everything, weren’t you? Can you do it? Switch her left and right nerves directly.”

I had become much better at controlling the Mental World compared to when I first entered it.

But compared to the Demon King, I was still at the level of a toddler.

There was a fundamental difference in our very rank of existence.

The Demon King was capable of recreating countless people so realistically that they seemed genuinely alive.

The Demon King clicked his tongue and waved a hand.

Taylor suddenly tilted sideways and fell over.

“Huh?”

She flailed around in confusion.

She kept trying to stand up, only to fall over again and again.

I suppressed a laugh and asked,

“Did it work?”

“I-I think it did.”

“Then let’s start adapting.”

No matter how powerful a superhuman body she possessed, adapting to this left-right reversal was entirely a matter of the mind.

The method Taylor chose to regain control of her body was simple.

Just like I had, she abandoned walking on two legs and dropped into a four-legged posture.

I guess people all think the same way.

Though that really was effective.

“Arrows incoming.”

The arrows began firing.

Taylor barely managed to hop sideways and dodge the first one.

But the moment she landed, she immediately lost her balance.

The second arrow pierced straight through her body.

“All right, again~.”

The instant Taylor’s body regenerated, I restarted the trial.

What other method was there?

If I just kept driving her until she dropped, she would eventually adapt.

It was impossible to consciously move each part of her body and dodge every arrow one by one.

Not unless she had something like my Time Stop ability.

The third trial could only be cleared once the reversed sense of left and right had been completely ingrained into the body.

Taylor repeatedly jumped around like a frog in a frenzy, only for arrows to blow her body apart.

Her movements gradually improved.

We had already repeated it hundreds of times.

Even if her body didn’t get tired, her mind should have been exhausted by now, yet Taylor was still devoting herself completely to dodging the arrows with a serious expression.

Well, I suppose only someone with this much determination could have climbed all the way to Floor 7.

'She’s pretty satisfying to train.'

Had Seri felt something similar when she sparred with me?

Feeling slightly pleased, I continued summoning arrows without pause.

How much time had passed?

After thousands of repetitions.

Then tens of thousands...

Clap, clap, clap—

I applauded.

She had finally done it.

Taylor had successfully dodged all several hundred arrows.

Perfectly.

“Excellent. Good work.”

The Demon King released the left-right reversal.

Taylor immediately fell over again instead and looked toward me.

She let out a dry laugh and muttered,

“Now my original body feels strange instead. I guess I’ll have to adapt to this again too.”

What admirable ambition.

I nodded.

“Right. Let’s train until you can switch perfectly between both {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} states.”

***

Training continued after that.

After countless more repetitions, Taylor became capable of moving perfectly both with her normal bodily senses and with her left-right senses reversed.

Once she cleared the third trial, which had been the biggest hurdle, everything after that was easy.

The fourth trial, where she had to knock away arrows of specific colors.

The fifth trial, where she had to shoot a bow and hit statues.

And finally, the boss.

We finished simulating all of them.

We then repeated a complete run from the first trial all the way through the final boss room dozens of times.

Taylor performed perfectly.

And I didn’t stop there.

There was no such thing as being too prepared.

With the goal of raising Taylor’s raw ability itself as much as possible, I started altering the patterns, sending more arrows at her and making them faster.

Time was infinite.

Taylor followed the training all the way to the end with unbreakable determination.

Even so, though she didn’t say anything, she was clearly starting to look mentally exhausted.

Like that, we prepared her to clear Floor 7 as perfectly as we possibly could.

No.

Even more perfectly than that.

“Good work, Taylor. I think this should be enough.”

We finally left the Mental World.

Taylor stared blankly around her surroundings for a moment before looking at me.

“...Thank you. I feel like I’ve been reborn.”

That was a bit much.

I asked,

“What are you planning to do now?”

I figured she would go back and challenge Floor 7 sometime soon.

Instead, Taylor said something completely unexpected.

“I’m going to challenge it right now.”

“...What?”

“I’m in the best possible condition right now.”

Taylor’s eyes gleamed sharply.

It was true that right now, while the senses she had sharpened to the absolute limit were still even slightly fresh, was probably the best possible time...

I nodded.

“Go ahead. I’ll wait.”

Something suddenly occurred to me, and I pulled an item out of Subspace.

[Item: Organic Destroyer’s Superpowered Photon Cannon]

A photon cannon created using the Organic Destroyer’s core component. When used, it fires an ultra-powerful photon cannon in a straight line. Once used, it can be used again after 1 hour.

The reward I had received for defeating the Zone 6 boss.

I handed it to Taylor.

“I’ll lend you this. You should be able to kill the boss easily with it.”

Of course, Taylor had already perfectly prepared for the boss fight inside the Mental World.

But if she used this, she could defeat the boss without having to expend much effort.

Taylor read the item description with a surprised expression.

Then she held the item back out to me.

“I’m truly grateful, but... I want to clear it with my own strength. That’s what all that training was for.”

Well, if that was what she wanted.

I put the item away again.

Taylor moved her body around a few times and said,

“Then I’ll enter immediately.”

I gave her one last word of encouragement.

“Good luck. You’ll succeed.”

Taylor nodded.

“I’ll make sure all the effort you put into me pays off.”

The next instant, Taylor disappeared.

I stood there quietly and waited for her to return.

I was 99.9% certain she would succeed.

We had trained that thoroughly.

And about an hour later...

“...Congratulations.”

Taylor returned safely.

I grinned and congratulated her.

Taylor, her face flushed with excitement, smiled as though she couldn’t contain her joy.

“Thank you. Seriously, thank you! Finally, I...!”

At last, one of the Climbers following behind me had succeeded in breaking through the dreaded Floor 7.

I couldn’t help feeling proud too.

Using the Mental World to help another Climber clear a floor.

It really was possible.

'Not just Taylor...'

There was one more Nightmare Climber stuck on Floor 7.

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

It occurred to me that I could help him clear it too.

All the other Nightmare Climbers were still on Floor 4 or below, so there wasn’t much I could do for them yet, but if I helped these two, they should definitely be able to clear through Floor 9.

“Taylor.”

“Yes!”

“Want to keep training? I’ll help you clear through Floor 9.”

“...Yes! If you’re willing to help, then of course I’d be happy to!”

I nodded and muttered,

“I’m also thinking of bringing in China’s Nightmare Climber so we can train together...”

“...By China, do you mean Ye Cheon-wi?”

“Yes, him. Though I’ve never contacted him before.”

Ye Cheon-wi and I had never directly exchanged messages through the Communication Channel.

Of course, China also received Nightmare strategy advice from me, so there were plenty of channels I could use to contact him if I wanted to.

Still, wouldn’t it feel a little out of nowhere if I suddenly offered to help him train for Floor 7?

At that moment, Taylor spoke cautiously.

“Um... then would you like me to tell him?”

“You, Taylor?”

“Yes. I’ve met him before. If you want, I can ask Ye Cheon-wi whether he’s interested. I’m sure he’ll accept.”

So they knew each other.

I nodded.

“Then I’ll leave it to you.”

***

After successfully clearing Nightmare Floor 7.

Taylor did not immediately inform the U.S. Climber Bureau that she had succeeded.

She had to go straight back to Person123 for more training, and she had no desire to deal with all the hassle that would follow.

Besides, she had challenged Nightmare on her own authority.

It wouldn’t be too late to tell the Bureau after she had cleared all the way through Floor 9.

Instead, she sent Ye Cheon-wi a private message asking him to meet her again at the place where they had met recently.

The possibility that Ye Cheon-wi would clear Floor 7 too?

Taylor didn’t care about that in the slightest.

It wasn’t as though she felt absolutely no sense of rivalry toward Ye Cheon-wi...

But competition between the United States and China, or petty personal rivalry, was completely useless and unnecessary.

The more capable Climbers there were following behind, the more help they could be to Person123.

That was the only thing Taylor cared about.

The forest of Zone 1.

Taylor looked toward the person who emerged through the bushes.

Ye Cheon-wi seemed slightly surprised when he saw her.

He asked,

“...Did you successfully clear Floor 7?”

Apparently, he had immediately noticed that her level had increased.

Taylor was a little surprised too.

It was true that the higher one’s level became, the more sensitive one’s ability to gauge another person’s strength tended to become, but she hadn’t expected him to notice immediately.

Did he perhaps possess a skill of that type?

Taylor nodded.

“I succeeded not long ago.”

Ye Cheon-wi’s reaction was unexpected, in a way.

There wasn’t the slightest trace of envy or jealousy on his face.

Instead, he smiled as though he was genuinely congratulating her.

“Congratulations. You worked hard so that you could be even slightly more useful to Him.”

“...”

“That’s truly impressive. How in the world did you manage to succeed? I need to follow your example and clear it soon as well. It’s shameful that I’ve fallen this far behind.”

Taylor let out a small sigh and said,

“Actually...”

“...?”

“Person123 helped me clear Floor 7. I received special training from Him personally.”

The instant she said those words.

The smile vanished completely from Ye Cheon-wi’s face.

Taylor flinched when she even felt a flash of killing intent from him.

“He...”

The gaze that had always seemed so composed suddenly lost its focus and trembled.

“Why would He... help you?”

Why only you?

...Taylor was probably not imagining that implication.