Chapter 71
The Zone 3 Boss plummeted with its head missing.
The Climbers of the Black Star Society, who were watching the spectacle from a distance opposite the Public Order Squad, were also in a state of immense shock.
In particular, those who had been present at the scene of Wang Kai's death suddenly thought.
Ah, Wang Kai had no choice but to die.
How could a human withstand something that instantly killed even the Zone 3 Boss in a single hit?
\[It doesn't make any sense...\]
Li Zeyan, the Hard Difficulty 14th Floor Climber who became the current external leader of the Black Star Society.
Li Zeyan also gulped.
He had heard the story of how Wang Kai died countless times, but even after seeing it with his own eyes just now, he couldn't understand how such a game-breaking skill could exist.
Were the rewards received by a Nightmare Climber on a completely different level from other difficulties?
Also, it was clearly a Magic-type Skill by the looks of it, so how was he using it without any sign of Mental Concentration...
Clap, clap, clap...
The sound of applause rang out, breaking the silence.
Ye Cheonwi, who had been watching from the front, suddenly started clapping quietly.
The Climbers of the Black Star Society, including Li Zeyan, exchanged glances before following suit and clapping.
Turning around, Ye Cheonwi spoke with an excited smile.
"We were able to witness a precious spectacle. Let's head back."
---
The message announcing I had acquired the First Clear Reward popped up.
The boss's corpse was soon scattered and blew away like ashes.
Unlike Normal Monsters, they said you couldn't harvest Monster Byproducts from a Zone Boss.
Well, even if I could harvest them, I had no intention of taking them.
"So easy."
The Boss Raid had ended more anticlimactically than I had thought.
\[1:51\]
I checked the time on the Warp Device.
There was no need to cancel its activation.
Since I had killed the boss, I could just warp to Zone 0 like this.
I looked around at both sides.
Both the Public Order Squad and the Black Star Society were quietly watching me from afar.
Finding their gazes burdensome, I used Stealth.
\[0:01\]
The time on the Warp Device ran out.
I warped to Zone 0.
I immediately moved to the portal to check my rewards and entered the Reward Room.
The rewards I received for killing the boss were of two types: the First Clear Reward given to only one person, and the Normal Reward given to each individual. The messages popped up like that, too.
The one I was looking forward to was the First Clear Reward.
Now... I wonder what the Zone 3 Boss reward is.
"...A bracelet?"
First off, it was a bracelet.
I picked up the bracelet, which was made of a red scale-like material.
\[Flame Scale Bracelet\]
A bracelet imbued with the power of a Red Wyvern increases the power of Flame-type Skills by 70%.
A simple and clear description.
Its effect was also simply and clearly good.
Wow... It gives a 70% Damage Boost?
Since my Main Skill was Flame Strike, it was an incredibly good effect.
I also had Scorching Zone.
\[It just so happened to land perfectly on the Fire Attribute.\]
What would I have done if it had come out as something like an Electric Attribute power increase when I didn't even have a skill for it?
It was truly a relief that Zone 3 had a Lava Zone concept.
Without bothering to put it in my Subspace, I wore the bracelet on the same wrist where I wore Diul's bracelet.
I should go out and check its effect right away.
And... next was the Normal Reward.
Based on its color, it was a Rare Grade skill stone.
Hoping it would be a Magic-type Skill, I checked the Skill Information.
\[Skill: Flame-style Lesser Arrangement (Rare+)\]
It arranges and strengthens Flame-type magic. The power of Flame-type magic increases by 10%, Willpower Cost decreases by 10%, and Cooldown decreases by 10%. If a Higher-tier Skill exists, the effects do not stack, and only the effect of the Higher-tier Skill is applied.
Category: Magic-type Skill (Passive)
Willpower Cost: None
Cooldown: None
"Oh...?"
Huh?
Something unimaginable popped out.
A Magic-type Skill, but a passive one.
Well, physical types had Passive Skills, so there was no rule saying Magic-type Skills couldn't have them.
But I had never heard of a passive Magic-type Skill before... Was it somewhat special because it was a boss reward?
\[The effects are quite... good, too?\]
Skill power increase, Willpower Cost decrease, Cooldown decrease.
A whopping Three-piece Set Effect!
I didn't care about willpower, but the power increase and Cooldown Reduction were very good. especially the Cooldown Reduction...
Of course, 10% wasn't a very high number, but... skills could be enhanced, right?
And fortunately, this was also a Flame-type Skill.
I hadn't expected much from the Normal Reward, but something better than I thought popped out.
\[You have acquired “Skill: Flame-style Lesser Arrangement (Rare+)”.\]
By the way, would the power increase effect from the bracelet and the skill be a multiplicative calculation? I hope so.
Having finished checking my rewards, I returned to the 5th Floor.
Since I killed the Zone 3 Boss, Zone 4 should be open now...
\[Zone 1 (39.1%)\]
\[Zone 2 (20.5%)\]
\[Zone 3 (0%)\]
\[Zone 4 (0%)\]
Checking the Boss Gauge, I saw that the Zone 4 indicator had appeared.
I decided to head straight to Zone 4 to test how much the power of my flame skills had increased.
Riding Flee, I dashed over and arrived right in front of Zone 4.
Whoosh!
As soon as I crossed the boundary, the air instantly changed from a heatwave to a cold snap.
An Ice Zone where freezing, piercing winds howled.
The clothes I was wearing were thin, but at my level, ordinary heat or cold had no effect on me.
"Where are you, monsters?"
Entering Zone 4, I wandered around, crunching through the piled snow.
Soon, I spotted one.
It was a furry monster that brought the word 'yeti' to mind.
The yeti also spotted me and lunged like a lion that had found a chunk of meat.
I reached out my hand.
Fwoosh!
As I cast Flame Strike, fireballs bloomed in mid-air.
\[Oh.\]
The size of the fireballs had noticeably increased.
Five massive fireballs shot toward the yeti.
BOOM!
A massive explosion.
The yeti was blown to pieces right then and there, engulfed in the raging flames.
When I looked at the destructive power of the explosion, it seemed almost twice as strong. I could definitely feel the effect.
"Nice."
I wandered around looking for another monster.
This time, I found a floating chunk of ice that felt like some kind of spirit.
That's... a monster too, right?
I was a bit unsure, so I stood still and watched it for a moment.
*At that moment, a blue aura sparkled around the Ice Spirit.*
My Sixth Sense rang a faint warning.
CRUMBLE!
Suddenly, sharp spikes of ice shot up from the ground and surged toward where I was standing.
I lightly leaped back and dodged the ice.
This guy uses quite a grandiose technique, huh?
Anyway, it really is a monster.
I immediately fired a Flame Strike and blew the Ice Spirit apart.
As I continued to roam Zone 4, I encountered various other monsters.
Wolf-type Monsters as white as snow.
Unlike the other monsters, they formed packs in large numbers.
They prowled around, surrounding me as if they had marked me as their prey, so this time I tried using Scorching Zone.
A few wolves within the range burst into flames in an instant. I could feel that Scorching Zone's power had also increased significantly.
Perhaps they had high intelligence, because as soon as a few died like that, the rest immediately fled.
Buzzzzz!
And then I also encountered a Giant Hornet covered entirely in something like Ice Crystals.
It flew at me, with a loud roar as if a helicopter had taken off.
Its stinger, in particular, gave off a dangerous feeling, it seemed to be venomous.
I fired a Flame Strike without giving it a chance to approach.
The hornet was even quite fast. It dodged a few of the fireballs with an Aerial Evasion Maneuver.
It couldn't dodge the rest and eventually exploded and died.
Yetis, Ice Spirits, wolves, giant hornets...
These were roughly the types of monsters appearing in Zone 4.
As expected, they all seemed to be around Level 40.
The levels were one thing, but... it felt like the Hunting Difficulty of the monsters had become trickier compared to Zone 3 overall?
Of course, it wasn't a problem for me, but it seemed like other Climbers would suffer heavy losses if they carelessly entered Zone 4.
\[I should post this information, too.\]
For the sake of public safety, I decided to organize the information on the monsters in Zone 4 and post it in the community window.
I checked the Zone 4 gauge.
\[Zone 4 (0.1%)\]
The monster density felt even lower than in Zone 3.
I did want to try challenging the Zone 4 Boss before attempting the 6th Floor, but...
\[Would it be possible?\]
The Zone 4 Boss would be at least around Level 80.
A one-shot kill with Line of Destruction... No matter what, the Zone 4 Boss would be too much, right?
My level is currently 60.
Trying to get a free ride with a simple click against a boss that was at least 20 levels higher was a bit too shameless.
Before that, would I even be able to fill the gauge completely before challenging the 6th Floor?
I felt like I'd only know if I tried.
Anyway, my First Exploration was roughly done at this point.
I should head back now.
---
By the time the Zone 3 Boss appeared, rumors had already spread that Person123 would challenge the Zone 3 Boss.
\[Jangnanggam: Is it true that Person123 is going to challenge it alone?\]
\[Dokbyeong: I heard the Public Order Squad offered to help, but he refused.\]
\[Spaghetti: No, why challenge it alone when he could just do it with other people?\]
\[Sigye: Maybe he just doesn't want to show his face to people anymore.\]
\[France: I know he's strong, but I'm so worried... It's still a boss, after all.\]
People naturally trembled with anxiety.
Everyone now knew that Person123 was strong enough to kill the Level 60 Wang Kai in an instant, but a boss would be a bit different, wouldn't it?
However, as if to mock those anxious worries,
\[Fried Chicken: The Zone 3 Boss is dead! The message just popped up.\]
\[Baksa: What happened? Person123 is safe, right?\]
\[Olkar: I heard from a security officer that he one-shot the boss...?\]
\[Raiter: They said the boss was some kind of dragon. I heard it even shot a Breath Attack.\]
\[Maekju: I'm a Black Star Society Member who saw it firsthand, and it's true he one-shot it. He instantly killed it by blowing its head off with the Black Ray that killed Wang Kai, and I was just dumbfounded watching it.\]
\[Geubugeu: Lololol Just how strong is he! Person123!\]
\[Allyak: But no matter how you look at it, isn't that a Magic-type Skill? How does Person123 use it during combat?\]
\[Ratilta: It might be an Item Effect, not a skill. Whatever it is, it's a ridiculously overpowered technique.\]
The rumor that Person123 had one-shot the Zone 3 Boss spread far and wide, and people were astonished while finally being able to feel relieved.
Similarly, the national governments, who had been anxiously watching the situation, also breathed a sigh of relief.
Person123's life was the life of the world.
If he did anything even slightly dangerous to his personal safety, it was a threat to the nations on the level of a nuclear switch about to be pressed.
Anyway, Person123 was far more absurdly strong than people thought, and the Zone 3 Boss battle ended safely without a single deceased person.
As a bonus, Person123 uploaded information about the Zone 4 monsters after that.
\[Parangsae: Wow, even Zone 4 info right away.\]
\[Yullu: Person123... Just how altruistic can you beeeeee!\]
\[Ssauneunjeonsa: Thank you always. I didn't know which direction you were in, so I bowed to the north, south, east, and west every day, but now I'm bowing in the direction of Korea.\]
For the Highest Floor Climbers who would be entering Zone 4 for the first time, it was information worth its weight in gold.
Monster Byproducts were resources as important as magic stones, especially for new monsters whose material and composition were unknown.
Hunts gradually began taking place on the 5th Floor, Zone 4, and reality outside the tower flowed busily as always.
---
\[Nightmare\]
Participants: 379,561
Time Limit: 64 days, 2 hours, 33 minutes, 10 seconds
Reached Floor: 5th Floor
Time flowed quickly.
The time limit for Nightmare Difficulty was steadily approaching.