Chapter 15
As soon as I passed through the door, a staircase unfolded before my eyes.
Is there still something left?
I dashed up the stairs.
The overflowing lava also sloshed and surged up the stairs.
I was faster.
I continued up the stairs without being caught and burned to death by the lava.
As I ran, I noticed that the shape of the staircase was a large spiral.
Only then did I realize that this place was the inside of a massive tower.
I kept climbing the stairs.
Whether it was a tower or a castle, that didn't matter.
Shouldn't the end be coming up soon? I had been running for quite a while.
Roughly every time I completed a lap, a window appeared, and outside was a moonlit night.
...I kept climbing the stairs.
“Huff, huff.”
Something is strange.
I slowly felt a sense of bizarreness.
The stairs aren't ending.
Is the tower just incredibly high?
Exhausted, I slowed down from the full sprint I had been maintaining.
Rumble-
Since I had run much faster than the lava for a long time, it would have been normal to have some leeway, but as soon as I slowed down, the lava peeked out from behind.
Fuck, what is this?
I ran, maintaining just enough speed to barely avoid being caught.
It felt like my senses were being toyed with.
It's strange. Something was definitely strange.
A window appeared again.
As I passed by, I punched the wall next to the window. The bricks shattered, leaving a mark.
I kept running until a window appeared again.
The shattered mark on the wall... was there.
A physically nonsensical situation where I was climbing upwards.
Only then could I be certain of the situation I was in.
I was just going around in circles in the same place.
Infinite Stairs? Möbius? What is this?
At this rate, my stamina will only be depleted.
First, I used Time Stop.
I had to find a way to escape from this infinitely repeating space.
'How?'
I thought about it for a long time, but no proper method came to mind.
Behind me was lava, and ahead of me were just stairs.
The Ceiling, when looked up at, was naturally blocked off.
It wasn't like there was another path anywhere.
Could I be under a hallucination?
Or maybe this is some dream-like space?
Actually, the strange one wasn't the world but I—that sounds plausible.
I unpaused time and slapped my cheeks as I ran again.
I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them; remembering something I heard of called an RC Check, I even tried bending my fingers back.
But there was no particular change.
I ran another lap and returned to the window with the shattered mark.
I used Time Stop.
...What do I do?
I think I'm fucked. What am I supposed to do about this?
I felt cold sweat trickling down.
It was a completely different kind of pressure from the obstacles I had faced so far.
If I couldn't get out, I would eventually run until I collapsed from exhaustion, only to be caught by the lava and burn to death.
Let's stay calm and think calmly.
Doesn't this kind of infinite loop cliché appear a lot in movies and comics?
How did the protagonists escape in those?
I don't know. Nothing in particular comes to mind.
I should have enjoyed more cultural media in my life...
“It can”t just be telling me to die like this.'
There must definitely be a way to escape.
It surely wouldn't be something like successfully clearing it by running for 10 hours without resting.
Another path to escape... another path?
*At that moment, what suddenly entered my vision was the window.*
Wait a minute.
'...That's the outside, isn't it?'
Is it seriously telling me to go out the window?
It seemed like an absurdly simple method, but that actually made it plausible.
I couldn't be sure if it was the right answer, but there was no other way.
I unpaused time and hopped up onto the windowsill.
The lava surged in without giving me a moment to hesitate.
I urgently pulled my body outward, then stepped on the windowsill and jumped.
I grabbed the wall above the window and pulled myself up with my arm strength.
Right after that, the window spewed out lava.
A waterfall of crimson fire poured down toward the dizzying depths below.
I caught my breath and looked down at the sight before climbing a little higher.
...Is it a success? Did I succeed?
I turned my head again and looked around at the scenery.
The tower I was hanging from was, as expected, an incredibly high and massive tower.
And on the surface below, a forest spread out.
It had a somewhat eerie atmosphere.
It was reminiscent of Count Dracula's castle in the middle of an isolated forest.
I looked up again.
For now, it's probably right to keep climbing up, right?
I started climbing up the wall as if rock climbing.
The wall was uneven, so there were plenty of places to grab.
With my current muscle strength, this much didn't even take much effort.
As I climbed, I could see the top of the tower getting closer.
Fortunately, it seemed I had escaped the infinite space loop.
“Phew.”
Is this the end?
I wonder what else will appear when I get up there.
I decided just not to expect anything anymore.
I was slowly realizing the proper attitude to have when dealing with Nightmare Difficulty.
I arrived at the top of the tower
“Ugh.”
I dragged my exhausted body and climbed over the railing wall.
The rooftop. I don't know if I should call it a rooftop, but anyway.
The space at the top of the tower was fucking vast.
*Far away, right in the center, there was a door along with a structure sticking out all by itself.*
I walked for a long time and approached the door.
Like before, it was a large gate that opened on both sides.
And for some reason, weapons were scattered on the ground around it. Swords, spears, maces...
Suddenly, they were giving me weapons again.
It only seemed to mean that I would soon be fighting an enemy.
I picked up a sword and stepped closer to the door.
Remembering how the lava had thrown a fit when I touched the door wrongly earlier, I only observed it carefully for a moment.
Thump, thump, thump, thump...!
Wh-what.
I haven't even touched it yet.
Suddenly, a vibration rang out and gradually got closer.
Something is coming up.
Sensing something ominous, I backed far away from the door.
CRASH!
The door shattered, and something massive popped out.
The dim figure illuminated by the moonlight had the head of a cow.
A large, muscular monster with a cow's head.
“...A Minotaur?”
I muttered the word that immediately came to mind.
Is the finale a boss battle this time too?
Snort-
I heard the sound of it roughly blowing air from its nose.
The Minotaur charged toward me without a word.
An attack for an attack.
I immediately launched Flame Strike as well.
The Fireballs, which had become a two-for-one deal through enhancement, shot side-by-side toward the monster cow.
BOOOOM!
The Minotaur fell backward from the explosion. It didn't go flying.
That alone was surprising.
It took a direct hit, but it withstood this explosive power.
Mooooooo-!
With its body on fire, the Minotaur roared in pain.
It wasn't in good shape.
I could see the front of its body was gouged out, exposing even its bones.
The guy, who had been thrashing in place, locked onto me as a target again and lunged.
Since it was just a simple straight charge, I threw my body to the side to dodge.
Losing his target, the guy stumbled and fell. Oh, really?
It seemed it had already lost its marbles after taking one hit.
The Minotaur repeated its drunken charges as if it were intoxicated.
Like a matador, I dodged this way and that while waiting for 30 seconds.
Why would I risk fighting it up close?
Once my Skill Cooldown finishes, I'll cook you well-done.
I leaped high upwards to dodge its final charge.
Casting Flame Strike after using Time Stop in mid-air.
The fireballs struck the Minotaur below.
I landed on the ground, and the Minotaur, its body completely blown apart, could no longer move.
It wasn't much of a big deal after all.
Is the boss battle really the easiest part of this?
Then again, normally it would have been impossible to defeat it this easily.
Being able to instantly cast powerful attack magic even during combat was definitely a cheat-like advantage.
Déjà vu.
I remembered the 1st Floor boss battle and quickly scanned my surroundings.
Nothing else was visible.
However, the Clear Completion Message still wasn't popping up.
You can't let your guard down until the very end with this Nightmare bastard.
I didn't know where another ambush might fly in from.
I used Time Stop, fully replenished the Willpower that had bottomed out from repeatedly using Flame Strike, and then unpaused it.
“...”
I'm not falling for it. Come out quickly.
The message hasn't popped up yet.
Rumble, rumble-
Suddenly, a vibration rang out from under my feet.
If the vibration when the Minotaur appeared earlier was a 1, this was a 10.
“What...”
Panicking, I instinctively ran toward the castle wall's railing.
RUMBLE!
A few seconds later, the floor began to collapse with a roar.
I barely managed to use the Leap Skill to jump.
The floor caved in all at once.
*Below was boiling lava.*
“Uwaaah...!”
Flailing my arms as I flew through mid-air, I lost momentum and began to fall; then I used Time Stop.
It seemed the Teleportation distance would barely reach the wall.
After finishing my Mental Concentration, I unpaused time and used Teleportation. I clung to the wall.
Rumble-
I-I almost died...
Feeling the heat rising from below my feet, I scrambled up the wall like a lizard.
Only the rim of the castle wall hadn't collapsed and had maintained its shape.
I climbed up onto the railing.
I could see the lava that, like a volcanic crater, filled the entire inside of the tower, swallowing all the debris of the collapsed floor.
I could also see the Minotaur's corpse burning and sinking down there.
Poor guy. You didn't become well-done; you just became burnt meat.
I caught my breath while having such trivial thoughts.
\[Successfully Cleared Nightmare Difficulty, 2nd Floor.\]
The message popped up before my eyes.
It was finally over.
To think it prepared a surprise event like this until the very, very end!
I felt it on the 1st Floor too, but it was to the point where I could even feel a certain malice.
I muttered, completely fed up.
“Awful, just awful...”
But what can you do?
I survived this time too, didn't I? Hahaha.
Feeling a mix of relief, fear, and thrill, I burst into loud laughter for no reason.
It was a sneer directed at the Nightmare Difficulty that failed to kill me despite its pulling all sorts of bullshit.
With this, the world had its life extended by another year.
I should also thank Mr. Billon Must.
The Leap Skill he went out of his way to deliver was truly a huge help.
\[Absorbing the Floor's Power.\]
\[Level Increased.\]
\[Level Increased.\]
\[Level Increased.\]
. . .
\[Level Increased.\]
\[Successfully Cleared the Nightmare Difficulty 2nd Floor for the first time.\]
\[2nd Floor Hidden Route is unlocked.\]
\[Moving to the Reward Room.\]