Chapter 122
My family wondered how on earth I had managed to defeat the boss.
Because even non-Climbers could tell that defeating a boss of the same level was completely absurd with most of their abilities prohibited.
“I have another power I can use besides skills and items. I told you, didn’t I, that I got a lot of good rewards?”
Explaining about Demon King would be too complicated.
So I just left it at that.
I always made it a point to explain to my family how strong and special I was, displaying an attitude brimming with confidence.
That way, they would feel even a little more at ease.
Anyway, they all just seemed relieved that I had returned safely.
And so the qualification Proof ended.
The world regained its peace.
“Phew…”
Of course, there was no peace for me.
I just had to keep moving forward.
['I need to tell them I’ll be challenging the 9th Floor soon, too.']
At what interval should I challenge the Tower?
For now, the minimum is three days.
The cooldown for my newly acquired Skill, Radiant Incarnation, was 72 hours.
This 10-minute light-speed movement skill and invincibility skill were my new trump card.
While thinking about the theme of the 9th Floor…
I decided to finish organizing the 8th Floor information post first.
[You have entered the Nightmare Difficulty 8th Floor.]
A Desert.
After breaking through the sandworms and reaching the skeleton corpse, I grabbed the compass.
[1]
Staring at the number on the compass, I clicked my tongue without realizing it.
['This dog-shit thing.']
If I had just shaved off a few more minutes, I wouldn’t have had to draw on my lifespan.
Entering the underground through a Sandworm Hole, I found my way forward.
I reached the cavern with the puzzle.
Just like before, after freezing all the holes the sandworms popped out of, I completed the puzzle faster than last time.
With time stopped, I memorized the puzzle’s maze once again…
Gugu
When I resumed time, a massive vibration rang out.
This time, I didn’t escape outside but waited.
Kwaaaaa!
Soon, the entire cavern flipped upside down.
My body felt like it was floating for a moment before plummeting downward.
I activated skin hardening.
I fell for quite a while, mixed in with the rubble of stone blocks, before landing on the floor.
Is this inside the Antlion Boss’s stomach?
The slimy chunks of flesh covering everything squirmed grotesquely, pulsating.
Small embedded objects resembling luminous stones dimly lit the space.
I looked around and discovered a passage.
Aside from the space I fell into, there was only one path.
As I moved in that direction, a complex path unfolded one after another.
It was a grotesque maze made entirely of flesh.
Now I just had to navigate the path as I had memorized it.
When I cleared it, I didn’t have time, so I defeated the boss using Demon King’s power, but this definitely seemed like the standard route.
Left, left, right, go straight, take the second left path, and go straight…
After breaking through the maze and reaching the destination.
Thump- Thump-
A massive, beating heart appeared.
I immediately fired a Full Charge Line of Destruction.
The Line of Destruction pierced the Boss’s Heart.
Kueeeeeee…
Then, along with a terrible cry, a massive vibration continued before stopping a moment later.
Is it dead?
[0/32,768km]
In the compass, the unit had appeared.
I retraced my steps through the maze.
Returning to the starting point, this time I exited through the passage that had swallowed me…
The Antlion Boss was dead, its massive tongue sticking straight out.
Defeating it like this and reaching the oasis now would be the end.
It took about 30 minutes.
I didn’t bother clearing it to the end and exited.
I started writing the information post while repeatedly going in and out.
The 8th Floor didn’t have any monsters that were difficult to deal with.
The other Nightmare Clearer just needed to shorten their time as much as possible… Wouldn’t it be entirely possible to get it down to the 20-minute mark?
Of course, it wouldn’t be easy.
They could just memorize the puzzle and the Maze as I instructed, but there was also the interference of the sandworms when they were putting the puzzle together.
Still, I figured it wouldn’t be as intense as the 7th Floor.
Were the United States and China planning to challenge the 7th Floor after all?
[Squirrel: I am America’s Nightmare Climber, Taylor Miller. Thank you for your dedication, Person123. And I respect you.
I am leaving you this first and last whisper before boarding the 7th Floor. I truly hope you clear the 8th Floor and see this message when you come out.
Come to think of it, I had also received a whisper like this from the US Nightmare Challenger.
It seemed he had sent it when the 8th Floor clear was dragging on.
Seeing that the Nightmare Communication Channel Personnel hadn’t decreased, it seemed he fortunately hadn’t entered yet.
When giving strategy consultation to the United States, I had only communicated through Mr. Rhinoceros, so I had never exchanged whispers directly with the US Nightmare Challenger until now.
['Taylor Miller…']
This person was quite an amazing person too.
People who climbed the Tower risked their lives for the world.
After experiencing this Quarantine Sector incident, I was struck anew by that thought.
I sent a slightly late reply and finished writing the 8th Floor information post.
* * *
After the Quarantine Sector incident ended, the Upper floors Climbers of each difficulty found it hard to avoid public criticism.
[Elizabeth: They’re just shameless bastards with no conscience. All three of them.]
[Ant: Tens of millions of lives were on the line, and they just picked 0 to save their own skins lololol]
[Vodka: It’s honestly embarrassing that trash like them is the representatives for each difficulty.]
[Coin: That guy Dmitry once said some bullshit about becoming the Person123 of Hard Difficulty. What an absolute joke.]
[Mage: lol Tell them to at least try to follow a fraction of Person123's example.]
Of course, even among the people cursing and mocking them like that, how many would actually risk their own lives if put in the same position?
Regardless, the Upper floors Climbers were busy keeping their heads down and lying low.
The Normal Difficulty Top Climber, Gabriel, even resigned from his position as a director of the Climber’s Association.
Anyway, this Quarantine Sector incident was an event that once again engraved the difference between Person123 and other Climbers.
Not just a difference in ability, but a more fundamental difference in class.
“How on earth did Person123 defeat the boss with 9 penalties?”
“Perhaps there is a third element that hasn’t been revealed yet, aside from skills and items. Among the rewards of nightmare difficulty…”
People were busy guessing how Person123 had managed to handle 9 penalties.
Some said there must be a special reward unique to nightmare difficulty.
Some even speculated that Person123 wasn’t humanity, but was truly some sort of divine being.
The Person123 Church, in particular, strongly advocated the latter.
Since Person123 didn’t clarify anything, the truth remained unknown to everyone.
[Tree: I was a perpetual 2nd Floor Climber, but I cleared straight to the 4th Floor today.]
[Doberman: I’m finally entering the 5th Floor too lol Don’t even try talking to me if you’re below the 5th Floor from now on.]
[Durandal: Should I give it a try too…? I’m still a bit scared though.]
[Eunha: What’s there to be scared of? Just be a little careful with the 2nd Floor platforms and it’s a direct shot to the 4th Floor.]
[SuperHumanity: Easy is seriously nothing. Why even be a Climber if you can’t do this lol?]
[Jet: Alright, shall we all offer a prayer to Sir Person123 who bestowed upon us the grace of 2 levels?]
[Cerberus: I just worship and worship him, the greatest GOAT in human history.]
On another note, Person123 is choosing the 2-level special reward.
Climbers in Easy and Normal difficulty, in particular, went wild.
In Easy and Normal, 2 levels equated to the reward of one or two floors.
With their physical abilities increased by that much, it was almost impossible not to clear the lower floor sections, which weren’t even that difficult to begin with, unless they were truly incompetent.
Of course, since the reward only applied to existing Climbers on the 2nd Floor or higher, not all Climbers gained 2 levels.
But it could be expected that the climbing speed of other difficulties would accelerate further in the future.
[Person123: This is the strategy guide for the nightmare difficulty 8th Floor.]
In the midst of that, the 8th Floor strategy post was also uploaded.
The compass and the puzzle, the Antlion Boss, the maze, and the oasis distance that doubled every 2 minutes.
Only then could people understand why the 8th Floor clear had taken so long.
[Master: It was a cube on the 3rd Floor, and now a puzzle pops out shiver]
[Boatman: Ugh, just looking at the difficulty makes me want to throw up…]
[Robelon: If it doubles every 2 minutes, the distance becomes absurd after just 1 hour, doesn’t it? It’s over 1 billion kilometers.]
[Blue: 1 billion, fuck lololol is this interstellar travel?]
[Crane: How many kilometers did Person123 travel? He didn’t share that part.]
[Pegasus: Still, I think he probably cut it under 40 minutes. Any more than that and the numbers don’t make sense.]
[Atrocious: A 100-piece puzzle and the maze look fucking complicated based on the description… If he cut through all that in under 40 minutes on his first try, he’s truly superhuman.]
People were busy chattering excitedly about the undeniably terrible clear difficulty.
“Taylor, did something good happen?”
Max, who had visited the training ground, found Taylor smiling while looking at the communication channel.
Taylor turned his gaze.
“No. It’s nothing special.”
“Have you seen the 8th Floor strategy post? Still, if you prepare for it, the conditions look better than those on the 7th Floor.”
Taylor nodded.
“I need to hurry up and get through the 7th Floor first.”
Max spoke as if he were worried.
“You shouldn’t rush, Taylor. They say DARPA is still continuously researching the training system, so…”
“Yes, I have no intention of rushing. I need to raise the probability of success by even a speck.”
After ending the conversation with Max, I left.
Taylor checked the whisper in the communication channel again.
[Person123: Thank you. I’m glad to see you seem to be safe.]
A whisper from Person123.
It was a reply to the message he had sent right before boarding the 7th Floor last time.
Should he call it a fullness of heart?
Receiving such a reply from him gave the recipient a strange feeling.
What was certain was that it gave him strength.
Taylor began his training again.
To be of even a little more help on the path ahead of him.
* * *
A few more days passed after the Quarantine Sector incident ended.
The cooldown for Radiant Incarnation had fully reset.
I prepared slowly to enter the 9th Floor.
But I had to tell them before that - my family.
I would have to climb the Tower much faster from now on.
I couldn’t just enter without saying anything anymore.
“From now on, I have to clear a floor once every three or four days.”
Hearing my words, my family looked as if they had been struck by lightning.
“…What do you mean by that?”
I couldn’t talk about my lifespan.
And using the excuse that I was clearing it early because it might take a long time like the 8th Floor was too much of a stretch.
But they wouldn’t accept my saying I’d clear a floor every few days just because.
So I decided to make up a new excuse.
“The truth is, I made a separate contract with the Tower.”
I told them I made a separate contract with the Tower because I didn’t think I could clear the 8th Floor within the Time Limit.
In exchange for getting what I needed to clear the 8th Floor, I received a penalty that required me to clear at least one floor a week from now on. Otherwise, I would die.
It was a known fact to the whole world that the Tower only made proposals to me, so it wasn’t a strange story.
Honestly, would this really be much different from being terminally ill…
Still, I figured this was at least better.
“You don’t have to worry too much. The Tower often makes proposals to me, right? As I climb, there will probably be a way to cancel this too… Yes? Please don’t cry.”
My mother eventually showed tears again. My younger sibling did too.
I felt there was truly no greater unfilial piety than this. But what could I do?
After my family calmed down, my father spoke.
“Let’s just promise one thing, Seohyeon. Never enter without telling your family.”
I answered that I would.
That was why I brought this up in the first place.
['A way to extend my lifespan…']
I really hoped something would come out of the upper floor rewards.
Or maybe something else would come out of a special reward like in this Quarantine Sector incident.
It seemed like all sorts of unique things came out of special rewards.
I also told Billon about the situation I was in.
I felt like it wouldn’t matter if I just told Billon the complete truth… but for the time being, I told him a story similar to what I told my family.
[Chicken Sandwich: Oh my god…]
Billon seemed very surprised, but he accepted it calmly anyway.
After finishing all my preparations.
“I’ll be going then.”
I shared hugs with my family in the living room of our house.
Still, one good thing about revealing it was…
The fact that I could receive a final send-off from my family like this.
“Have a safe trip. Be careful.”
“Fighting, Oppa!”
I could feel my family making an effort to send me off with bright expressions.
I also smiled and waved my hand.
“I’ll succeed lightly and be back before lunch.”
Come to think of it, isn’t the Tower going to make another proposal?
Well, the Item Prohibition on the 8th Floor last time seemed to be a ban aimed at the scale in the end anyway.
Though I had almost no intention of accepting whatever proposal the Tower made.
The Tower’s proposal didn’t come until right before I entered.
[Would you like to enter the Nightmare Difficulty 9th Floor?]
Alright… shall we go?
While I was entering, my vision flipped.