Chapter 171: Nightmare Floor 15 (3)

I looked toward Kanyuk with startled eyes.

...Had he been keeping an eye on me this whole time?

Otherwise, there was no way he could have reacted that fast just now.

The spear had pierced through the demon and continued flying far beyond it without losing any force.

Using Leap together with Air Walk, I chased after the spear.

I felt a little awkward.

I had been so busy watching him in case he tried to ambush me, while apparently he had been keeping an eye on me because he was worried I might get taken down by a demon.

GRAB!

I caught up to Kanyuk’s spear and grabbed it.

[Item: Daran’s Glaive]

A glaive crafted by the legendary blacksmith Daran. It can never be destroyed.

The information appeared as soon as I grabbed it.

So it was an item. Indestructible?

That was one hell of a simple effect.

After blasting away the demons that had followed me with Destruction Ray, I flew back toward Kanyuk.

Even without his weapon, Kanyuk was handling the demons with ease.

Because of the vermilion energy rippling around his entire body, he almost looked as though he were engulfed in flames.

With every single blow, the demons’ bodies burst apart mercilessly.

Kanyuk actively used not only his fists and feet, but also his tail in combat.

At the end of his thick, lizard-like tail was a large harpoon-like spike, which was practically another spear in itself. His tail moved with frightening speed and flexibility, piercing through the demons.

“Kanyuk!”

I threw the glaive toward him.

Kanyuk caught it, burst into a “Kyak-kya!” laugh, and swung the glaive in a wide arc.

Vermilion energy whirled outward and swept through the demons around him.

ROAAAAAR-!

I lowered my guard toward Kanyuk a little and resumed fighting.

The demons kept pouring out endlessly.

Thanks to Life Devour, I could keep recovering my stamina while fighting, but Kanyuk was an absolute monster.

Even though he didn’t seem to be using any particular skills, he slaughtered demon after demon without showing the slightest sign of fatigue.

Then, at one point, a demon standing behind another demon that Kanyuk had smashed away with his tail was sent flying all the way toward the edge of the cliff with only its wings torn off...

I spotted it about to fall into the abyss below and tried to finish it off with Destruction Ray.

[Eliminate all summoned monsters.]

The message had told us to eliminate every summoned monster.

If one of them fell into that bottomless abyss while still alive, I had no idea how the Tower would judge it.

BOOM!

But before I could fire Destruction Ray, Kanyuk leaped first at tremendous speed.

Then he blew the demon’s head off, killing it instantly for certain.

I watched the scene in silent surprise.

He had looked like he was just rampaging around without thinking about anything, but Kanyuk had actually been paying attention even to small details like that.

As expected, that guy wasn’t simply straightforward.

There was no way someone who had cleared Nightmare all the way through Floor 14 would be.

After that, the two of us continued killing demons for a long time...

Only after more than half a day had passed did the demons finally stop being summoned.

ROAAAAAR!

I blew away the final remaining demon with Decisive Strike.

A message appeared.

[You have cleared the first round.]

[The second round will begin shortly.]

[29:59]

A thirty-minute timer.

So they gave us a fairly long rest period between rounds.

Catching my breath, I turned toward Kanyuk.

Kanyuk was looking at me too.

I approached him and thanked him first.

“Thank you for helping me earlier.”

After thinking for a moment, I spoke again.

“Why did you help me? The floor clears immediately even if one of us dies...”

Of course, I would have dodged with Phantom Shift even if he hadn’t helped.

Either way, from Kanyuk’s perspective, there had been no reason to help me.

It would have been fine for him if I died to the demon. If I didn’t die, that was fine too. And if I had been injured, he could have looked for a chance to finish me off himself.

If he had simply watched the situation unfold, he would have had any number of additional options.

At my question, Kanyuk asked me one in return.

“Can’t both of us survive and clear all the way through the third round?”

“...That’s true.”

“There is no need for either one of us to die. We can both successfully clear Floor 15 together. Or Hyeon, do you think differently?”

Kanyuk stared directly at me.

I had deliberately asked to test his reaction, but when he responded with such an obvious and reasonable answer, I had nothing to say.

I shook my head.

“Of course not. I’d also like it if we could both succeed together.”

Kanyuk laughed, “Kyak-kya-kyak!”

“Let’s trust each other, Hyeon. You seem like a good guy, so I’ll trust you.”

There was no way he hadn’t noticed that I had been fighting while remaining wary of him.

‘Trust each other...’

I had no idea what exactly made him think I seemed like a good guy.

Kanyuk was probably a good person.

Even by my instincts, I couldn’t sense any lies or pretense in his attitude.

But that still didn’t mean I could trust him completely. The situation itself made that impossible.

We still had no idea what the remaining two rounds would involve.

There was still a possibility that we might be forced to fight each other, or that a mission would appear where one of us absolutely had to fail.

I had Earth, and Kanyuk had Kanyuk’s world.

No matter how good a person someone was, they could still make ruthless decisions if it meant protecting something precious to them.

Of course, I would do the same...

I could only hope nothing like that would happen.

I left a small amount of caution and doubt in my heart.

Kanyuk strode over toward the rock where the water and food were.

Sitting down beside the rock, he began crunching away at the black dumplings.

“Hyeon! Aren’t you going to eat? Shouldn’t you replenish your energy?”

I walked over near the rock as well.

The black dumplings said to be Floor 15’s only food... looked even more unappetizing up close.

To put it bluntly, they looked like carefully rolled balls of dung made by a dung beetle.

Yeah, I really didn’t want to try one.

“I brought my own food.”

I took food out of Subspace.

Kanyuk’s gaze locked onto the chocolate bar in my hand.

His nose twitched, and his eyes widened.

“That smells sweet.”

“...Want some?”

“Really? If you’re willing to share, I’ll gladly eat it!”

The moment I handed him the chocolate bar, Kanyuk stuffed the entire thing into his mouth and chewed.

“Delicious! Kyak-kya! This is good!”

Did even nonhuman races from other worlds have similar tastes?

Then again, after eating nothing but mysterious dumplings for an entire year, anything probably would have tasted good.

He looked like he wanted more, so I gave him some. Kanyuk devoured several chocolate bars in no time.

Chewing on one myself, I asked.

“Kanyuk, are you the highest-floor Nightmare Climber in your world?”

Kanyuk smacked his lips before answering.

“Probably. I’ve never personally seen another Nightmare Climber besides you, Hyeon, but every time I cleared a floor, the highest floor reached on Nightmare Difficulty increased.”

Hadn’t he said he had only ever lived in his tribe’s homeland?

I didn’t know what kind of world Kanyuk came from, but it seemed like he lived in an area isolated from the outside.

“What about you, Hyeon? Are you the highest-floor Nightmare Climber in your world?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Then this Floor 15 will be a first clear for you too.”

“If I clear it, yes. Do you also get a hidden route as a first-clear reward, Kanyuk?”

“Kyak-kya! That’s right! You too, Hyeon?”

From what he said, Kanyuk had started receiving hidden rewards from Floor 10 onward.

Apparently, before Kanyuk began climbing the Tower, there had already been another Nightmare Climber who had reached Floor 10 ahead of him.

That meant he had only received hidden rewards for five floors, so his level was probably similar to mine...

And yet, considering how strong he was, Kanyuk really did seem to be one of those naturally powerful types like the Demon King and Seri.

We talked about various things.

Kanyuk and I had a lot in common.

Kanyuk was also the vanguard of Nightmare Difficulty in his world, and he said he posted clear information in the Communication Channel for those who came after him.

Even the part where those later Climbers were struggling to catch up was the same.

“The other difficulties still have some breathing room, but Nightmare is the problem. I wish more Nightmare Climbers would reach the higher floors, but judging from the posts in the Communication Channel, it doesn’t look like anyone besides me has made it past Floor 10.”

“Ah... So it’s the same for you too, Kanyuk.”

On our side, aside from Taylor and Ye Cheon-wi, there wasn’t even anyone close to Floor 10.

And even they had all been devastated by the Floor 14 Sacrificial Lamb penalty.

“There’s nothing to be done about it. All we can do is keep trying our best until the day comes when I finally fail. Kyak-kya! You climb the Tower with the same mindset, don’t you, Hyeon?”

We were in positions where we could deeply relate to each other.

If what I had felt toward Seri was more pity and sorrow, then with Kanyuk, I felt a stronger sense of kinship.

Because Kanyuk was someone struggling through the same point in time as the current me.

[0:37]

As we talked, the time quickly passed.

Round 2 was about to begin.

“Kyak-kya-kyak! Let’s breeze through Round 2 too.”

Kanyuk and I finished preparing and took our positions.

The timer reached zero, and a message appeared.

[The second round begins.]

[Each challenger must move into their respective circle.]

POP.

Two circles appeared on the ground some distance apart.

Along with a large stone slab beside each one.

Kanyuk and I exchanged glances.

“I’ll go over there.”

“Got it. Then I’ll take that one.”

Without much discussion, we each moved toward the circle closest to us.

I stepped inside the circle and looked at the stone slab in front of me.

This is...?

WHIRRR-

At that moment, I felt something strange around my ankles.

I looked down and saw that rings made of light had somehow locked around both of my ankles like shackles.

Chains extending from the rings stretched outward and anchored themselves to the edge of the circle.

When I looked at Kanyuk, the same thing had happened to him.

Both of us had our feet restrained.

[Solve the puzzle assigned to each of you within the given time.]

[Your restraints will be released once you solve the puzzle.]

[Both puzzles must be solved within the time limit to clear the round.]

More messages appeared.

I stopped time.

‘Another puzzle...’

Round 1 had tested our bodies, so it seemed Round 2 was testing our brains.

A five-by-five square board roughly two meters wide and two meters tall.

There were twenty-four tiles, each engraved with a different symbol, with the exact center space left empty.

I immediately recognized what kind of puzzle it was.

‘It’s a sliding puzzle.’

A puzzle where you use the empty space to move the tiles around until they’re arranged in the correct order.

Only instead of numbers, these tiles had symbols.

In one corner of the stone slab, the twenty-four symbols were arranged like an answer key.

So I was supposed to arrange the puzzle in that order.

I released Time Stop again.

[5:00]

A countdown appeared.

Like the shameless bastard it was, the Tower was giving us only five minutes to solve this thing.

I immediately took out Pankera’s Crown.

Well, regardless of the Tower’s complete lack of conscience...

‘Five minutes?’

I’ll finish it in under one.

With time stopped, I memorized the exact arrangement of the symbols on the stone slab in front of me, along with the entire target arrangement.

Then I entered the Mental World.

I recreated the stone slab exactly.

With time outside still stopped, I began solving the puzzle.

I moved the tiles around one by one, arranging them in the correct order.

It wasn’t enough to simply find the answer and be done with it. I had to memorize the entire sequence of moves, so naturally it took much longer.

But it didn’t matter how long it took.

I took my time and found the fastest route I could to the solution. Then I memorized it perfectly.

I returned to reality and began solving the puzzle.

[4:31]

It took less than thirty seconds.

Once I completed the entire puzzle, the chains binding my ankles disappeared.

I stepped out of the circle.

Kanyuk was still struggling, moving the tiles around.

When I approached and took a look, the order he had to arrange his puzzle in was different from mine.

[Both puzzles must be solved within the time limit to clear the round.]

We had to solve both puzzles to clear Round 2...

Which meant if even one person failed, we were screwed.

I glanced at the chains binding Kanyuk’s ankles.

‘So they really are trying to make us fight.’

If it looked like the other person was going to fail the puzzle, the idea was to kill them.

The person who couldn’t solve the puzzle would still be restrained by the chains, so the one who finished first would have an overwhelming advantage in a fight.

Of course, I had no intention of doing that.

Kanyuk glanced at me and shouted.

“Hyeon! You already solved yours? Then help me out!”

He must have understood the situation too, but even though we had agreed to trust each other, he showed literally zero caution.

I nodded and walked over beside Kanyuk.

“I’ll help you.”

“Kyak-kya! Thanks!”

“Don’t touch anything else. Just leave it exactly as it is.”

Once again, I stopped time and memorized Kanyuk’s entire puzzle.

Then I entered the Mental World.

After finding the solution and memorizing the entire sequence, I returned to reality.

“Move the tiles exactly where I point.”

Just in case, I didn’t move the tiles myself. I only pointed with my finger and had Kanyuk move them.

It took a little more time that way, but we still had plenty to spare.

[2:35]

Before even half of the five minutes had passed, Kanyuk’s puzzle was completed too.

[You have cleared the second round.]

[The third round will begin shortly.]

[29:59]

Along with the message, the stone slabs and circles disappeared.

Kanyuk slapped me hard on the back.

“That was amazing! If it weren’t for you, Hyeon, I never would’ve finished it in time! How were you so fast?”

“I’m pretty good at puzzles, so I got lucky.”

Thank goodness Pankera’s Crown had basically made me completely immune to puzzle problems by now.

If things had gone as badly as possible, I would have had to kill Kanyuk. We couldn’t both fail...

I was really glad it hadn’t come to that.

Kanyuk stared at me for a moment, then laughed, “Kyak-kya!”

“As I thought, you’re a good guy, Hyeon.”