Chapter 75
If the 4th Floor's theme was defense, the 6th Floor added offense to the mix.
Units clash on the Forward Lane, and the first side to push into the Enemy Base and destroy it wins. It is a game genre everyone has likely encountered at least once.
League of Heroes.
There was a very famous game that, while not as popular as it used to be, was still practically the national game of Korea.
The 6th Floor was easy to understand if you thought of that game's format.
There was a Forward Lane, and Monsters spawned from the Base advanced along the Forward Lane.
There were turrets placed intermittently along the Forward Lane, and you won by pushing into the enemy base and destroying the core.
Of course, the difference was that it wasn't a 5v5 Team Match, but Solo Play where I was on my own.
Also, League of Hero had two types of maps.
A map with three Forward Lanes and a map with one.
You just had to think of the 6th Floor as being set on the map with one lane.
\[You have entered the 6th Floor on Nightmare Difficulty.\]
\[Absorbing the 5th Floor's Power.\]
\[Level Increased.\]
\[Level Increased.\]
\[Level Increased.\]
.
.
.
Messages popped up one after another as soon as I entered.
By the time I entered the 6th Floor, I had obtained the 5th Floor level rewards just as I knew I would.
\[Level: 70\]
I used Time Stop immediately.
As always, I checked the information coming into my field of vision first.
The sky was full of dark clouds, looking as if thunder would strike at any moment.
Spread out before my eyes was a massive overpass.
That Bridge was the Forward Lane.
And visible far, far away across the Bridge was... the Enemy Base.
With my eyesight, even the Enemy Base was clearly visible. The Enemy Core was clearly visible too.
Did they say the Bridge's length was about 500 meters?
When the distance was judged, it seemed Nightmare Difficulty was about the same as the other difficulties.
I unstopped time and looked around.
My current location was Our Base.
I could see a massive red jewel floating slightly in the center of our base as well.
It was Our Core.
*Above the core, a health bar was displayed just like in a game.*
“...?”
That was that.
...This is strange.
Why are there three Bridges?
Looking around, I realized it wasn't just the Bridge in front of me.
Two more Bridges were connected as if surrounding the base. Each was pointing toward the vertices of a triangle.
Meaning that there were three Forward Lanes.
Ah\~ I understand.
Enemies are coming from all three directions, huh?
“Damn it.”
I wasn't even surprised.
Unlike the other difficulties that only had one lane, Nightmare seemed to have three.
Right, right... This is Nightmare.
Does this mean I have to cover all three lanes by myself?
And I have to destroy three Enemy Cores too.
‘It won't be easy.’
Whatever it takes, I have to do it. This time too.
I got ready.
They said Monsters would spawn exactly 30 seconds after entry, so it would start soon.
I briefly checked my body, which had grown stronger as my level rose to 70.
I picked up a mace from among the weapons hanging on one side of the base.
\[The match Starts!\]
\[Destroy all Enemy Cores!\]
A moment later, messages popped up before my eyes.
Flash.
*At the same time, three blue portals formed near the core.*
A Goblin was summoned from each of them.
As soon as the Goblins were Summoned, they each began to advance toward their respective Forward Lanes.
The numbers 1, 2, and 3 were kindly written on the floor near the Entrance of each Forward Lane.
I moved to Lane 1 for now.
I passed a pair of towering blue colossi standing at the Bridge's Entrance and followed the Goblin.
Woooosh-
Looking over the edge of the Bridge, I saw a bottomless Abyss. A cold aura rose from below.
It felt as if a massive field shaped like a fidget spinner was floating in mid-air.
I shifted my gaze back to the Goblin.
Kerek- Kerek-
The Goblin walked on, kereking without paying any attention to my presence.
Did they say I couldn't give it any commands just because it was our unit?
I just had to assume that following the Forward Lane and fighting the enemy were the entirety of its programmed commands.
The turrets consisted of a First Turret and a Second Turret.
The pair of colossi I had just passed at the Bridge's Entrance was the Second Turret.
And the single colossus located closer to the middle of the Bridge was the First Turret.
The number and placement of the turrets were the same for the enemy side.
So, to summarize.
I just had to destroy the enemy's First Turret, destroy the Second Turret, push into the base, and destroy the core to finish it.
They said I had to destroy all the turrets first before I could destroy the core, so changing the order was impossible...
Since there were three Forward Lanes, I would have to repeat this three times.
Of course, since it was Nightmare, there was no telling what other cute gimmicks might be hidden.
For reference, while one Monster spawned on our side, three spawned for the enemy.
Since the enemy side didn't have a player like me, it was natural for them to have more Monsters.
The difference between difficulties lay in the Monsters.
Easy had Goblins slightly stronger than the 1st Floor Goblins.
Normal had Orcs.
Hard supposedly had Orcs much stronger than those on Normal.
Then why did a Goblin come out for me when I was on Nightmare?
There was no need to wonder.
Because the Enemy Monster wasn't a Goblin.
“Hah.”
They were reaching the middle of the Bridge.
I looked at the Enemy Monsters and laughed. A hollow laugh, of course.
Green-skinned giants much larger than Goblins.
They looked like they could crush a Goblin with one hand.
They probably weren't Orcs... Maybe Ogres?
From what I remembered, they looked slightly different from the trolls I had seen in the Branch Tower before.
Anyway, that wasn't what was important.
What was important was that we had one Goblin, and they had three Ogres. This was a completely insane imbalance.
Not only were there three lanes, but the Monsters were spawning like this too.
It was an absurd unreasonableness, but I decided to think positively.
Still, they weren't popping out ten at a time, yet how generous was this!
Guaaah-!
The Ogres charged toward this side.
Our Goblin also charged at them like an ant rushing at an elephant.
I stepped up first before the Goblin could be brutally murdered.
I leaped up and smashed the head of the foremost Ogre in a single blow.
CRASH!
I blew up the remaining two by firing Flame Strike.
Fortunately, the Ogres weren't that strong.
Maybe around the Level 20s?
The corpses of the dead Ogres quickly disappeared.
I looked at the enemy's First Turret.
A red colossus that was identical in shape to our First Turret, differing only in color.
With all the enemies dead, the Goblin continued advancing straight toward the enemy's turret.
Flash!
A laser shot out from the turret and erased the Goblin.
I used Time Stop.
‘Let's see.’
Let's organize things a bit now.
Even if it was Goblins versus Ogres, the difference in unit combat power between our side and the enemy side wasn't an issue since I was here, but...
The problem was that there were three lanes.
While I pushed one lane, the other two lanes would constantly be attacked.
Because he was against three Ogres, our Goblin was practically non-existent.
A solution quickly came to mind.
I unstopped time and hurriedly returned to the Base.
“Pli.”
I Summoned Pli and sent him to Lane 2.
Three Ogres that were in their Level 20s at most could easily be handled by Pli alone.
With this, Lane 2 was resolved.
I ran to Lane 3.
I spotted an Ogre pounding away at the First Turret.
Just then, the laser fired by the turret blew up the remaining Ogre.
Did they say the turret's laser attack Cooldown was 10 seconds?
The turret's attack seemed to instantly kill even an Ogre in one hit, but since the Ogres came three at a time, the turrets in the empty lanes were bound to take damage little by little.
The Monster spawn interval was 30 seconds.
Soon, the next three Ogres appeared.
Fwoosh!
I spread a Scorching Zone in the middle of the Bridge on Lane 3.
The Ogres that stepped into the Scorching Zone burst into flames.
With the Zone 3 Boss's bracelet + the fire magic passive obtained, the power of the Scorching Zone had also grown significantly stronger, so even though it was a Sustained Damage Skill, the Ogres dropped dead in an instant.
\[Skill: Scorching Zone (Rare+)\]
It creates a Scorching Zone with a 5-meter radius within a 10-meter distance. Enemies that enter the range take continuous burn damage. It requires 50 seconds of Mental Concentration to cast.
Category: Magic
Willpower Cost: 30 per second
Cooldown: 1 minute
What was the advantage of this Scorching Zone?
The 10-meter distance was the standard when casting the Skill, and once the Skill was cast, it was possible to maintain it continuously no matter how far away I was from it.
In short, I could spread the Scorching Zone here on Lane 3.
And I could be on Lane 1.
Of course, the Scorching Zone would end up team-killing our Goblin as well, but...
It didn't matter since the Goblin wasn't going to destroy the turret on its own anyway.
Lane 2 with Pli, Lane 3 with the Scorching Zone.
With this, the problem of empty lanes was solved.
While running Auto-hunt on those two lanes, I just had to push Lane 1 then!
I returned to Lane 1.
The turret's laser attack range was about 10 meters.
They said the attack priority was units before Climbers, so normally, the standard tactic would be to use the Goblins as meat shields while attacking the turret, but...
I didn't necessarily have to do that.
Because I could attack from outside the turret's attack range with a Magic Skill.
I used Stop Time and did 300 seconds of Mental Concentration.
They said turrets had considerable defense, so it took quite a bit of time to destroy them, but...
Would a simple click of Line of Destruction work on the turret too?
\[You have destroyed the First Turret of Lane 1!\]
It worked.
When I fired a fully charged Line of Destruction, a gaping hole was blown through the turret, and it collapsed just like that. Then the message popped up.
It really is powerful, Line of Destruction...!
Since my willpower had quickly run out, I used Stop Time again and recovered.
Since I also had the Scorching Zone spread out on Lane 3, the Willpower Cost was considerable.
If my willpower ran out completely, the Scorching Zone would Deactivate, so I had to recover it just in time.
After fully replenishing my willpower, I advanced to the Second Turret.
The Second Turrets standing side by side like gatekeepers at the Bridge's Entrance were a pair.
Line of Destruction was on Cooldown, so I fired Flame Strike and other Skills.
BOOOOM!
I couldn't destroy it in one hit like with Line of Destruction, but as I saw the debris falling, it seemed the damage was going in well.
I continued to indiscriminately bombard the turret while dealing with the Ogres.
Soon, the left turret collapsed, leaving only the right turret.
“This is easier than I thought...”
At this rate, I would easily destroy the core and Lane 1 would be finished.
And I just had to push Lane 2 and Lane 3 in the exact same way.
But smooth progress on Nightmare Difficulty?
That doesn't make sense, right?
Of course, three lanes popping out was plenty of Nightmare-esque bullshit... but it didn't seem like this would be the end. You're not just at this level, are you?
\[You have destroyed the Second Turret of Lane 1!\]
Soon, the right turret also collapsed, and the Second Turret was completely destroyed.
I left the Bridge and entered the Enemy Base.
Now, all that was left was the core.
The red-glowing core is located in the middle of the base.
Unlike Monsters or turrets, a health bar was displayed on the core.
The Cooldown for Line of Destruction had refreshed, so I immediately fired a fully charged Line of Destruction at the core, but...
Unlike the turrets, the core wasn't destroyed even after being hit by Line of Destruction.
Its health had only decreased by a tiny amount. It dropped by 1 percent.
As expected, the core can't be done in one hit.
Since I had already expected it, I didn't panic.
They said it was impossible to destroy the core in one hit on all the other difficulties too.
1% of its health per second.
The Maximum Damage that could be inflicted on the core was fixed like that.
In short, it unconditionally required a minimum of 100 seconds to destroy it.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
I started pounding the core with my mace.
The Ogres that spawned from the red portals right near the core drew aggro toward this side and attacked me.
I dealt with the Ogres using Flame Strike and continued to attack the core.
I was blocking all the other lanes, and I just had to destroy the core while dealing with the Ogres in this lane, so the time it took wasn't a problem.
Like that, I continuously chipped away at the core's health by 1 percent per second.
CRACK!
After 100 seconds passed, the massive core cracked and began to collapse.
\[You have destroyed the core of Lane 1!\]
A message popped up.
However...
“...Huh?”
My eyes widened.
The fragments of the destroyed core suddenly floated back up into the air.
They clumped together and regenerated, instantly restoring it to its original state.
\[Incorrect Order!\]
\[Destroy all Enemy Cores in the Predetermined Order!\]
\[A penalty is imposed!\]
\[The number of Summoned Enemy Monsters doubles!\]
\[Enemy Monsters acquire Stage 1 Resistance!\]
Ah...
There was an order to this?
“I should have known.”
It had begun.
The Nightmare-style Unfairness where you get beaten up if you don't know.