Chapter 70
A private meeting in Zhongnanhai, China.
“Must you really challenge it?”
Central Committee Member Xiaolin, who was soon to become a Politburo Standing Committee Member in recognition of his distinguished service in the coup, looked at the man in front of him with a face full of concern.
Surrounded by experts and undergoing a medical checkup, Ye Cheonwi answered calmly.
“Of course I must.”
But why on earth?
The seizure of power within the party had ended more successfully than ever, and he had now reached a position where he only needed to enjoy that immense power.
He couldn't understand why he would go out of his way to continue the Nightmare Strategy here.
Xiaolin had watched over and assisted Ye Cheonwi by his side since childhood, but he was still a person whose inner thoughts were truly hard to fathom.
“Isn't the 4th Floor one that requires heavenly luck, no matter how much your capabilities support you? I am deeply concerned. And the reason you are rushing like this...”
According to Person123's 4th Floor Information Post, no matter how well you prepared for the Nightmare 4th Floor, it was over if you didn't succeed in the gacha.
Even though China's top talents had gathered to thoroughly devise a strategy and prepare for the 4th Floor, the probability of failure was a fixed constant, separate from Ye Cheonwi's capabilities.
Moreover, if he took his time to challenge it, he could obtain more skill stones and such, so why rush the challenge?
A competitive spirit to succeed before the United States?
Xiaolin knew well that Ye Cheonwi had little interest in such things.
“It is because the Zone 3 Boss Gauge will be full soon.”
“...”
“I should hurry and enter the 5th Floor. If luck is on my side, I might have a chance to spectate.”
Xiaolin vaguely knew that Ye Cheonwi held a bizarre admiration for Person123, but...
Honestly, he didn't expect it to be to this extent.
Ye Cheonwi smiled and said.
“Life and death are decreed by fate. If I am destined to die, I will die, and if I am destined to live, I will live, won't I? If I die here, it just means this was as far as I was meant to go, so it can't be helped.”
...Xiaolin couldn't understand at all why jumping into a deadly situation made it something that couldn't be helped, but he nodded without saying anything more. He couldn't stop him anyway.
If Ye Cheonwi were to die, the party's power would be held by Haoran, just as it appeared on the surface.
Xiaolin simply watched what might be Ye Cheonwi's final moments, hoping for his success.
Soon, Ye Cheonwi, having finished his preparations, disappeared...
- China succeeds in a Nightmare Difficulty 4th Floor Clear...
The very next day, such news flowed out as breaking news.
---
“Have you already fully recovered? You look perfectly fine.”
“With my level, something like that heals quickly.”
Public Order Captain Alex returned to the 5th Floor immediately after recovering from his injuries.
The recent atmosphere on the 5th Floor could be described as quiet.
The Black Star Society was exercising self-restraint and lying low, and the Public Order Squad didn't unnecessarily provoke or engage them either.
Since Person123 had no particular stance on the incident in Zone 3 and didn't take either side, they decided to end the matter without further argument. After all, people had died on both sides.
So many things had happened in a short period of time: Wang Kai's death, the coup in China, the revelation of Person123's nationality, China's successful Nightmare 4th Floor Clear...
Alex couldn't be called a government-affiliated Climber, but as America's Hard Difficulty record holder, he was closely connected to the US Climbing Bureau to some extent.
So he roughly knows various internal information related to China and the Black Star Society.
After Wang Kai died, the one currently leading the Black Star Society on the 5th Floor was China's Hard Difficulty 14th Floor Climber, Li Zeyan.
That was the case externally, but Alex knew who was behind him.
“Ye Cheonwi...”
China's Nightmare Climber representative and the mastermind behind the recent coup in China.
Moreover, he was the person who had finally succeeded in the Nightmare 4th Floor Clear just recently, even before America's Taylor.
Matters regarding Ye Cheonwi were top secret, but since Alex also had to do many things against the Black Star Society on the 5th Floor, he received shared information from the US government.
Looking at these things alone, he was a very unpredictable person. Why did he challenge the Nightmare again after seizing all the power through a coup?
...Anyway, he was an extraordinary figure. Wang Kai was dead, but it seemed things wouldn't be easy going forward either.
“By the way... what should we do about the boss?”
At the officer's question, Alex also let out a groan with a troubled expression.
\[Zone 3 (98.9%)\]
Currently, the Zone 3 Boss Gauge has only 1% left.
It was likely that Person123 was hunting in Zone 3.
The current dilemma was what the Public Order Squad should do when the Zone 3 Boss appeared.
Of course, it wasn't because of the issue of claiming the First Clear Reward. Naturally, Person123 should take the First Clear Reward.
They were simply worried about his safety.
Although no one knew the limits of Person123's capabilities, even though Person123 had killed Wang Kai in the blink of an eye, no one knew how strong the Zone 3 Boss would be either.
Looking at it now, Person123 seemed to be planning to do a solo Boss Challenge.
They couldn't help but worry that something might go wrong. The US Government had also expressed serious concerns about this matter.
So, they had even sent a whisper from the Public Order Squad, saying they wanted to help Person123.
\[Person123: I'm fine.\]
Only a cool reply, saying it wasn't necessary, came back.
“I don't know if it's really okay, leaving Person123 to fight the boss alone.”
At that time, Shin Sujin, who was listening, offered an opinion.
“When it's time for the boss to appear... how about we also prepare and move to Zone 3 for now?”
“...Didn't Person123 say he didn't need help?”
“But he didn't say we shouldn't even enter Zone 3. If we discover the boss first, we can wait from a distance, and if we find Person123 fighting the boss, we can observe the situation.”
Shin Sujin was also more worried about Person123's safety than anyone else. He was a truly amazing person, but you never knew how things would turn out.
She thought this would be the best the Public Order Squad could do without interfering with him.
Alex pondered before nodding.
“Then let's do that. Contact all the hunting teams in Zone 3.”
---
It had been about a week since I started hunting to fill the remaining gauge in Zone 3.
KABOOOM!
Two pterosaurs descending to attack me were blown up by the Flame Strike I launched and plummeted.
I checked the gauge.
\[Zone 3 (99.9%)\]
Okay...
Now it's just 0.1 percent.
Soon, I would be challenging the Zone 3 Boss Raid.
Honestly, I wasn't particularly nervous.
I figured the Zone 3 Boss's strength would be in the Level 60s, or at most the Level 70s...
It wasn't like a Nightmare Floor Clear where you had to clear it to leave.
Even if a situation arose where I thought, ‘Ah fuck, this isn't going to work?’, I was confident I could escape.
\[Sanmaek: Person123, would it be alright if our Public Order Squad joined you for the Zone 3 Boss Raid? We want to help you obtain the Zone 3 Boss First Clear Reward.\]
I had received a whisper through the communication window earlier.
The Public Order Squad said it would help with the Zone 3 Boss Raid.
\[Cheonji: Person123, if you need any help from the Black Star Society for the Zone 3 Boss Raid, please feel free to tell us anything.\]
Even the Black Star Society had reached out.
But honestly, I didn't really want any help.
There were many reasons.
Fighting alongside other people was just burdensome.
I was going to fight by spamming magic, and if other Climbers were stuck to the boss hitting it, I felt they would just get in the way.
Also, if it was a boss I couldn't defeat alone anyway, I didn't think other Climbers would be of much help, and a lot of them would just end up dying.
So I just sent replies to both saying I was fine.
But telling everyone not to interfere because I was going to face the boss alone was a bit... much.
Even if it wasn't the First Clear Reward, other people would want to get the Zone 3 Boss First-time Reward too, wouldn't they?
Well, there probably weren't many Climbers at a level where they could fill the contribution requirement anyway.
Anyway, I didn't have the right to stop them.
So my mindset was just to let everyone do as they pleased.
I spotted a Lava Giant passing by in the distance and launched another Flame Strike to smash it.
After defeating a few more monsters like that...
\[Zone 3 (100%)\]
\[The Zone 3 Boss is appearing.\]
The message finally popped up.
“Let's go, Flee.”
Now it was time to find where the boss had spawned.
I pulled up my hood and took out a mask from my Subspace to put on.
Preparations were complete in case I ran into other people again.
After summoning Flee, I climbed onto his back and ran.
I planned to run all the way through Zone 3 clockwise, starting from the innermost district towards the Exterior.
If I roamed around like this, I would be able to find the boss.
While sprinting for a long time like that
“...!”
I finally spotted something and stopped.
*Far away, atop a small rock mountain, a rather massive figure was lying down.*
It had wings. Of course, it was incomparably larger than a pterosaur.
...A dragon? A wyvern?
Those were the words that came to mind as soon as I saw it.
Looking at the wyvern with its entire body covered in deep red scales, I took out the Warp Device I had pre-charged from my Subspace and activated it.
\[9:59\]
This was insurance just in case.
If the boss was much stronger than I thought, I had to run away immediately.
If I canceled the activation once, it would take another 10 minutes from the start, so it was impossible to warp right away during combat when I wanted to; I had to activate it in advance before fighting.
I planned to start fighting when the time had about 3 minutes left.
3 minutes would be enough time to judge whether it is doable or not.
If I thought it was doable, I would cancel the activation, and if not, I could just use the Warp Device to flee 3 minutes later.
But by the way...
I looked around.
I wasn't the only one here; I could see people far off to the left and right.
On the right were the Climbers of the Public Order Squad. I could recognize the face of Mr. Alex standing at the front.
And on the left... it seemed to be the Black Star Society.
I said I was fine, but did they come to help me?
It seemed everyone happened to find the boss by chance at a similar time.
There was no need to pay attention to them. I just had to do what I needed to do.
\[3:30\]
The Warp Device's time had about 3 minutes left.
With this, preparations were complete.
I sprinted towards the boss.
As I approached closer, the boss reacted.
It raised its body from the top of rock mountain and flapped its large wings.
Then, flames swirled, and a hot wind rushed all the way to where I was.
“Mmm...!”
It's hot.
The boss was indeed powerful, as my Sixth Sense felt it.
But I didn't get the feeling that it was an opponent I shouldn't fight at all.
Was it really around the Level 60s? It seemed doable.
ROOOAR-!
The boss let out a massive roar and took flight with a powerful flap of its wings.
I was now almost completely close to the boss.
The strategy I had set against it was simple.
1. Just shoot the Line of Destruction.
And pour out all my other Magic Skills as well.
“The question is how effective the Line of Destruction will be.”
Could it perhaps... be a one-shot?
I wasn't sure. Zone Bosses were said to have incredibly tenacious vitality by nature.
I planned to get as close as possible and shoot the Line of Destruction towards the boss's head.
“...Jump!”
Towards the boss floating high in the sky.
Flee leaped up, and I stepped on Flee's back to jump one more time.
*At that moment, the boss opened its maw wide towards me.*
Was it trying to shoot something?
I used Time Stop.
After finishing 300 seconds of Mental Concentration.
As soon as I unpaused time, the boss spewed out a massive flame like a Breath Attack.
I simultaneously cast a fully charged Line of Destruction.
...KWA-BOOOOM!
The Jet-black Ray instantly extinguished the flames and advanced to pierce through the boss's head.
And that was the end.
I was preparing to launch the rest of my skills right away, but I paused.
The boss, with its head gone and only its long neck remaining, flapped its wings as if in a post-mortem spasm before plummeting to the ground.
...Huh?
THUD!
\[The Zone 3 Boss has been defeated.\]
\[You have acquired the Zone 3 Boss Defeat Reward.\]
\[You have acquired the Zone 3 Boss First Defeat Reward.\]
Looking at the messages popping up before my eyes, I also landed below, following the descent.
Staring at the boss's corpse, I only let out a short exclamation.
“Wow.”
This really resulted in a one-shot?
Even knowing its power, I'm surprised anew every time.
Line of Destruction... is too powerfuuuuul!
---
\[The Zone 3 Boss is appearing.\]
The Public Order Squad, who had entered Zone 3 around the time the gauge was almost full, was present.
As soon as the message popped up that the boss had appeared, they hurried to find the boss.
And luckily, they soon found it.
*Far away, the winged monster was visible atop the rock mountain.*
“...It's the boss!”
It was a size that couldn't even be compared to the pterosaurs, the normal monsters of Zone 3.
“What is that...”
“It doesn't even compare to the Zone 2 Boss, does it?”
The momentarily overwhelmed security officers were just looking at the boss from afar.
Something was seen rushing towards the boss.
A pitch-black beast and a person riding on top of it.
Shin Sujin shouted.
“It's Person123!”
The gazes of all the security officers concentrated on him.
As if planning to face the boss right away, he was approaching the vicinity of the boss.
“S-shouldn't we move too?”
“...Run for now!”
The Public Order Squad also became urgent and moved towards the boss.
*At that moment, the boss raised its body and flew up into the sky.*
The Public Order Squad was still a long distance away, but Person123 had approached right up to the boss.
Person123 soared into the sky, and the boss spewed flames towards him.
The security officers were horrified by the situation where he would be engulfed by the flames.
A Jet-black Ray stretched out from Person123.
The very skill that had evaporated Wang Kai, the Black Ray, completely extinguished the boss's Breath Attack.
And after the boss's head was blown away, it shot out as if to reach the sky before slowly disappearing.
\[The Zone 3 Boss has been defeated.\]
“...”
The Public Order Squad, who had stopped running, couldn't close their mouths and blankly watched the plummeting boss.