Chapter 28
The time limit for Nightmare difficulty is now under three months. Floor 3 still remains uncleared, and…
Time really did pass quickly.
And the time had come for me to start feeling the pressure again.
This was already the third time, but this pressure wasn’t something I could ever get used to.
If I failed, the world would end.
I would die.
Since I was just an ordinary person, what honestly scared me more was my own death.
The sensation of dying on Floor 1 was still vivid, even after years had passed.
In the end, all I could do was prepare as hard as possible.
I entered and left the Tower, increasing my proficiency with the new skills I had obtained.
There wasn’t much to practice with Blade Gale, but Fairy Light Bullet was different.
Controlling and firing multiple light orbs freely definitely required practice.
\[Skill: Fairy Light Bullet (Normal+) (+1)\]
Fires small light bullets imbued with the power of light. Up to five can be created, and the Willpower cost stacks by 5 for each additional orb. Requires 10 seconds of Mental Focus to cast.
Type: Magic
Willpower Cost: 20, 45, 75, 110, 150
Cooldown: 5 seconds
I used the Normal+ Skill Enhancement Stone that Bilon gave me on Fairy Light Bullet.
I did have the Normal+ passive skill Lesser Toxic Resistance, but of course, the priority was using it on a magic-type skill.
After enhancing it, the maximum number of light orbs increased to five.
And the Willpower cost increased accordingly.
Flame Strike’s cost hadn’t increased when I enhanced it, though.
I thought the enhancement efficiency was kind of bad, but Willpower wasn’t an issue for me anyway.
Bang, bang, bang!
For a while, I played around with the minotaur and raised my proficiency with Fairy Light Bullet quite a bit.
I became fairly capable of controlling five light orbs freely.
Moooooo…!
The minotaur staggered after getting hit by a barrage of light orbs.
I finished it off with Flame Strike.
Kwaaaang!
For reference, Flame Strike had also grown a bit stronger compared to when I first obtained it.
Separate from skill enhancement, it seemed like magic-type skills also grew stronger to some extent in proportion to my level. Not dramatically, but still.
Most physical-type skills also scaled with the Climber’s physical ability, so if you thought about it, that was only fair.
\[Nightmare difficulty Floor 2 has been cleared.\]
After finishing the repeat clear, I came back outside.
I opened the communication window.
\[Hondo: Is the world really ending this time? Are we doomed?\]
\[Sun and Moon: Person123! When the hell are you clearing Floor 3?!\]
\[Dalikanwas: Stop making such a fuss. Last year, Floor 2 was cleared when there were around 20 days left.\]
\[Frying Pan: I believe in Person123. He’ll clear it again this time.\]
\[Pad Thai: But what if he already failed and died…?\]
\[Faith of Fate: What else? Then we’re fucked.\]
\[Hera: Wasn’t the Nightmare count dropping last month because of India?\]
\[Great White Shark: Who knows? We’d need something to actually get posted in the Nightmare communication window. That place is a silent meditation room 365 days a year.\]
\[Snail Horn: Lmao the world can end for all I care. I’m gonna be part of the surviving 1%.\]
\[Ghost: This guy has completely lost it.\]
The current Nightmare time limit was now under three months.
Around this point, a sense of anxiety slowly began spreading through the communication window.
\[Nightmare (11)\]
For reference, the number of Nightmare clearers had now increased to eleven.
It had originally gone up to twelve, but someone must have died attempting Floor 2 last month, because the number had dropped by one.
And two Floor 2 clearers had appeared.
How did I know?
Because America and China had announced their success directly.
In other words, including me, there were now three people.
Three people who had the qualification to challenge Nightmare Floor 3.
The human heart was a fickle thing. Even though I had made up my mind, once I saw a little hope, I found myself wondering, *Maybe?*
Let’s not do that.
I wasn’t going to rely on others anymore.
I had already decided I would be the first one to go.
My plan was to enter when there were 20 days left.
And now, I was thinking of properly letting people know that.
What I meant was, I was considering announcing through the communication window, “From now on, I’ll attempt the next floor whenever the time limit reaches 20 days.”
There were two reasons I had started thinking that way.
First, for the other Nightmare clearers.
Since I was going to attempt it anyway, someone might go in before me and die for nothing.
The purpose was to kindly let them know that if they wanted to try, they could do it after I failed.
The other reason was for the world.
As the Nightmare time limit approached, anyone could see from the news that the world was turning into a mess.
Crime rates were skyrocketing, stock prices were going crazy…
It was honestly impressive that the world was still functioning at all.
But if I set and announced a clear time for my attempt, wouldn’t that reduce the chaos at least a little until then?
After all, what made people anxious was the uncertainty that the world might end.
By using the time of my attempt as a clear standard, people could live with at least some sense of relief until the time limit reached 20 days.
Of course, on the other hand, if I failed, the remaining 20 days might become even more of a disaster.
But I was in no position to think about what would happen after I failed.
I had to think only about succeeding.
I asked Bilon for his opinion too, and he replied that it seemed like a good idea.
\[Person123: From now on, whenever the Nightmare difficulty time limit reaches exactly 20 days, I will challenge the next floor. The same applies to Floor 3 this time.\]
\[Person123: If I am unable to challenge it at the 20-day mark due to unavoidable circumstances, I will announce it in advance through the communication window.\]
That should be enough.
I finished writing the short post and closed the communication window.
---
For the sake of clearing Nightmare Floor 2, the U.S. Climber Bureau had built a training set that recreated Floor 2’s conditions almost exactly, based on Person123’s information post.
Taylor trained there again and again, ran hundreds and thousands of simulations, and received various forms of support from the Climber Bureau.
At last, she succeeded in clearing Nightmare Floor 2.
However, that success also became another opportunity for her to feel her limits.
Even though she had known all of Floor 2’s information and had prepared so thoroughly, she had only succeeded by a hair’s breadth.
The final boss, the minotaur, had been truly hopeless.
Even after she exhausted all her Willpower attacking it with skills, its overwhelming toughness showed no signs of giving out.
If it had had the strength to charge one more time, she probably would have died, and the clear would have failed.
Taylor had long since acknowledged it.
She could not stand at the front of Nightmare difficulty.
“It seems the Bureau’s policy is about to change too. From now on, they won’t aim for first clears.”
While drinking coffee with Max, Taylor nodded.
Although she had succeeded in clearing Floor 2, the original goal of the Nightmare Project had already faded.
After all, America’s original intention had not been to chase after someone else, but to cultivate a Climber who would stand at the forefront of Nightmare difficulty.
Perhaps it had been an impossible goal from the start.
More than that, what they were concerned about now was China.
Not long after Taylor successfully cleared Nightmare Floor 2, China announced that it had also cleared Floor 2, as if refusing to fall behind.
The competition between the two countries’ Climbers was intensifying with each passing year.
China had already achieved the highest record in Hard difficulty.
The U.S. government did not seem willing to accept falling behind China even in Nightmare.
Of course, even that was ultimately only a competition for second place.
“Are you still in contact with Person123?”
At Taylor’s question, Max nodded.
“We still talk occasionally. Last time, he was the one who asked whether any Floor 2 clearers had appeared.”
“…Really?”
Was Person123 also hoping for the other Nightmare clearers to climb higher as quickly as possible?
Of course he was.
That must have been why he posted information in the communication window without asking for any compensation.
But since Taylor had lost much of her confidence, she felt ashamed, as if she were betraying those expectations.
Then, while checking the communication window, Taylor saw a new post in the Nightmare window.
Her eyes widened in surprise.
“Person123 posted something.”
“Yes?”
\[Person123: From now on, whenever the Nightmare difficulty time limit reaches exactly 20 days, I will challenge the next floor. The same applies to Floor 3 this time.\]
With several months still remaining before the Nightmare time limit, Person123 had posted something new.
The news shook the world once again.
\[Kram: Whew, so he’s going to try again this time too.\]
\[One Inch: Stay strong, Person123! You’re humanity’s hope!\]
\[Mercurian: But he’s been challenging floors without saying a word until now. Why announce it this time? Did something change?\]
\[Humanist: Isn’t he saying, “The first clear is mine, so don’t even think about it”?\]
\[Panda: It’s the opposite, dumbass. He’s doing it so the other Nightmare clearers don’t try first and die for nothing. If he were that kind of person, why would he have written information posts until now?\]
\[Potato Pancake: Official declaration that you’re all useless, so he’ll just do it himself ㄷㄷ\]
Person123 had made his Nightmare challenge official.
That was how people interpreted it.
- It can also be interpreted as an attempt to reduce social chaos. If he sets a clear challenge time, then people will have one distinct standard. Until there are 20 days left, there is still hope, so to speak.
- From now on, the fate of the world may be decided whenever the time limit reaches 20 days. If Person123 fails, then among the remaining Nightmare Climbers, who could possibly replace him…
Time continued to flow.
And the eyes of the entire world focused solely on his challenge.
The day of the decisive battle drew near.
After receiving Blade Gale and Fairy Light Bullet last time, I had received one more skill stone and one more skill enhancement stone from Bilon.
\[Skill: Thrust (Normal)\]
Momentarily enhances the power of a thrusting attack.
Type: Physical
Willpower Cost: 10
Cooldown: 10 seconds
Thrust, a Normal-grade skill.
It felt like a set with Swing.
The skill enhancement stone was also Normal-grade.
It wasn’t enough to meaningfully increase my combat power, but the more, the better.
I used the Normal enhancement stone on Leap.
And then there was the Rare Skill Enhancement Stone I had obtained as a reward for clearing Floor 2, which I still hadn’t used.
I was debating where to use it.
Flame Strike or Blade Gale.
If I enhanced Flame Strike, the number of fireballs would increase by one, making three.
If I enhanced Blade Gale, its range would probably increase.
There was almost no enhancement information on Rare-grade skills, especially magic-type skills, so there was no way to know the exact result until I tried enhancing one myself.
After thinking about it, I ultimately decided to enhance Flame Strike.
I figured Flame Strike would be more efficient since it had the shorter cooldown.
\[Skill: Flame Strike (Rare) (+2)\]
Fires three condensed flames that cause explosions. Requires 20 seconds of Mental Focus to cast.
Type: Magic
Willpower Cost: 100
Cooldown: 30 seconds
\[Difficulty: Nightmare\]
\[Floor: 3\]
\[Level: 30\]
\[Willpower: 600\]
\[Skills: Teleportation (Rare+), Sixth Sense (Rare+), Flame Strike (Rare) (+2), Blade Gale (Rare), Elevation (Rare), Fairy Light Bullet (Normal+) (+1), Lesser Toxic Resistance (Normal+), Leap (Normal) (+1), Swing (Normal), Thrust (Normal)\]
With one day left until the Nightmare time limit reached 20 days, my power-up preparations came to an end.
This was already the third time I had written a will.
Honestly, there wasn’t much to change, so it was almost copy-pasted from the one I wrote before entering Floor 2.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“Okay. Be careful and come back safely.”
The day before, I went on a trip alone.
I felt like I wanted one last refresh before challenging Floor 3.
I went down to Busan, saw the sea, and ate a lot of delicious food.
After enjoying myself for two days, I was in my hotel room that evening.
I took the items I had packed out of my bag one by one and equipped them.
The bracelet containing Diul.
In the end, I still hadn’t unlocked a new ability.
Maybe the way I was trying to increase our affinity had been wrong from the start.
“Diul, if I die, there won’t be any more night walks. You know that, right?”
Diul seemed to snort at me.
Sigh.
It was unfortunate, but there was nothing I could do.
Next was the ice dagger I had taken from Seo Dong-woo.
Since its cooldown was 24 hours, its freezing range and power were fairly decent.
It would be useful at least once in an emergency.
\[Item: Pligas’s Blood Necklace\]
A necklace mixed with the blood of Pligas, a predator of the Demon Realm. If you summon Pligas into the present world and defeat it, you can form a master-servant contract. If you fail, the necklace will be destroyed. Recommended level: 50 or higher.
And lastly, the necklace.
I still hadn’t tried forming the contract, but I brought it with me anyway.
Who knew? Maybe I could use it somehow.
Finally, I scheduled a message to my parents telling them to find and read the will hidden in my room.
If I failed to clear Floor 3, it would be sent.
\[Nightmare\]
Number of Participants: 250,161
Time Limit: 20 days, 1 hour, 1 minute, 25 seconds
Highest Reached Floor: 3
After finishing all preparations, I stood in the middle of the spacious room.
\[Would you like to enter Nightmare difficulty Floor 3?\]
Alright…
Let’s go.
I’ll survive this time too, damn it.
“Enter.”
The scenery around me changed.