Chapter 116
There was no answer in just moving like this.
I desperately looked for other methods.
I went back into the Sandworm Pit and searched underground.
A sliver of hope that there might be another hidden gimmick to reach the oasis, a mere handful of expectation.
But further searching underground only revealed endless ant-tunnel-like passages…
Nothing came out of it.
I also stared at the notebook and compass left by the skeleton until my eyes hurt.
I hoped there would be some other hidden hint, but I couldn’t find anything of the sort.
What if I went in the opposite direction of the oasis, or to the side?
The displayed distance just increased.
I kept going up into the sky using Ma-wang’s flight ability.
Thud!
At a certain point, my body hit a transparent barrier, blocking any further ascent.
It was like an out-of-bounds area blocked off in a game.
It felt like the Tower was mocking me.
It was telling me to stop doing useless things and just travel the set distance.
That it was the only way to handle it…
I stopped time and thought for a long while.
As expected, no answer came to me.
I ran across the Desert again.
I knew that the result was already set in stone no matter what I did.
Still, all I could do was move toward the unreachable oasis.
Wouldn’t something change if I crossed a certain distance? Wouldn’t it?
I harbored even a thread of hope.
I ran and ran.
I warped and warped again.
Warping the maximum distance every 10 minutes was a test of my mental limits.
But I still did it.
I ran to the limits of my stamina, and when I got tired or needed to sleep, I summoned Flee, riding it to recover while still moving.
Whenever I recovered from the strain, I also used Ma-wang’s flight ability.
It was a desperate struggle to move even a little bit faster.
The desert sun was disgustingly hot…
When the sun set and night fell, a cold no different from a snowfield arrived in contrast. It was an insane temperature difference.
With ice magic and fire magic, both the heat and the cold were bearable.
For food, I sparingly ate the biscuits and energy bars I had stocked up in my Subspace.
And when they were almost gone, I started hunting sandworms and cooking them to eat.
They tasted disgustingly bad, and eating them paralyzed my tongue.
Fortunately, the toxicity wasn’t enough to cause problems with moving my body.
And so, the exhausting journey continued.
Moving, moving, and moving again…
“…”
[16,254,931/134,217,728km]
I stopped my legs and looked at the remaining distance.
It was impossibly far.
I lay down on the sand as if collapsing.
[Nightmare]
Participants: 476,805
Deadline: 7 days 6 hours 28 minutes 5 seconds
Reached floor: 8th Floor
Nearly 13 days had passed since I entered the 8th Floor.
Now, the remaining deadline for the Nightmare was one week.
I had traveled over 10 million kilometers.
But nothing had changed.
Something changes after moving a certain distance, my ass…
It was just a baseless wish.
It was all ruined.
I knew it was ruined from the start.
This was truly ruined.
“Demon Lord.”
- What is it.
“Have you never experienced this: failing a Hada because you ran out of time?”
Ma-wang replied.
- I haven’t, because I didn’t wait a year at a time to clear the Tower like you.
Is that so.
Was that my cause of defeat?
If only I had had enough time left, I could have cleared the 8th Floor too.
…I really couldn’t have imagined something like this.
The previous floors took a few hours at most.
Let alone 20 days, I had never even considered a case where a Hada would take more than a day.
I was completely caught off guard.
And so, the world was on the verge of destruction.
How is the outside world right now?
The number on the Nightmare Communication Channel would be the same, so they would know I was still attempting the Hada.
But since I still hadn’t cleared it, it must be quite chaotic.
My family must have seen my will too…
I squeezed my eyes shut once and opened them.
This wasn’t the time to worry about the outside.
At this rate, it was really the end.
The world would be destroyed.
I opened my palm and looked at it.
The unidentified object the Sage had given me existed.
The thing I needed the most.
It was now.
Now was when I desperately needed anything.
“If I can’t have it now, it’s all over…”
But even if I stared intently at my palm, shook it, or tapped it,
Nothing changed.
Stab!
I even summoned the light Sword and stabbed my palm.
Only blood poured out.
I soon gave up. The wound quickly regenerated thanks to the Frozen Hydra’s ability.
…Fuck, seriously, this useless piece of trash.
I should have chosen the Book of Omniscience instead of this.
- It seems this is as far as you go.
Ma-wang said.
I could only feel a slight sense of regret from Ma-wang; he seemed detached.
“You speak as if it’s someone else’s problem. We share the same fate.”
- Then what do you want me to do? Accept what must be accepted. It is your defeat.
“…”
- As expected, it was too much to hope for. To beat this Monster… For a mere insignificant creature, you have climbed quite high.
I quietly looked up at the sky.
“…I still have one left.”
- Hm?
I took out an item from my Subspace.
[Special item: Scales of Life]
It sacrifices the user’s lifespan to obtain a corresponding reward. You can sacrifice a minimum of 1% to a maximum of 99% of your remaining lifespan. Once used, the scales will break, and the user’s remaining lifespan will be displayed.
I took out the scales and quietly read the description.
- Hah, you had an item like this too?
Scales of Life.
A reward I obtained in the past from clearing a Branch Tower which I had never used until now.
I had kept it in mind from the beginning.
However, since it used my lifespan, this was my last resort.
I pondered whether I should look for another method during the remaining 7 days, but I decided.
‘…Let’s use it.’
Right, let’s use it.
I had already tried everything I could, hadn’t I?
There was no other way.
Also, I was worried about what would happen to the outside world if the deadline was pushed to the limit.
The remaining decision was how much lifespan to sacrifice.
I could sacrifice 1% to 99% of my lifespan.
The more I sacrificed, the better the reward would be.
…What if I sacrificed a half-hearted amount and ended up with a half-hearted reward?
Then there would be no answer.
Even if I sacrificed the maximum amount, my expectations of resolving this situation were low.
The best option was to go all-in, an act of grasping at straws.
[Would you like to use “Special item: Scales of Life”?]
[Please determine the lifespan to sacrifice.]
…If I sacrificed 99%, how much longer could I live?
Would I be lucky to live even a year?
Well, that was a problem to think about after clearing the 8th Floor.
I was hoping to obtain something that could break through this hopeless situation.
“99%. The maximum.”
I stated the amount of lifespan to be sacrificed.
[Sacrificing 99% of your lifespan to the Scales of Life.]
Along with the message.
A red aura, like life force, flowed out of my body.
“…!”
The red aura gathered into the shape of a ball and was placed on one side of the scales.
The scales tilted heavily.
Sssss…
Following that, a black aura flowed out from the scales.
It gathered before my eyes and transformed into a human-like shape.
It was the Grim Reaper.
As I stared blankly, I could hear the Grim Reaper’s voice.
- Wish for it. I shall grant you a reward as close to your desires as the lifespan you have sacrificed allows.
…Wish for it?
I thought of what I wanted, just as the Grim Reaper said.
There was only one thing.
An ability that could close the insane distance of over 100 million kilometers in an instant.
Anything was fine, even an ultra-long-distance teleportation beyond warp.
Swaaaa -
The Grim Reaper opened his hand.
The black aura gathered and went up onto the opposite side of the scales.
Then, the scales, which had been tilted toward my sacrificed lifespan, rose back up.
The scales balanced out.
The Grim Reaper disappeared like smoke.
The black aura vanished.
I looked at what remained on the scales.
“…”
An orange skill stone.
I had seen one during the masked auction too.
It was a legendary-grade skill stone.
Crack.
At that moment, the scales split in half.
[Broken Scales of Life]
As I read the item description, my remaining lifespan was displayed.
“…Hah.”
Is this all that’s left?
I picked up the skill stone, my body completely tense.
What could have possibly come out…
[Skill: Radiant Incarnation (Legendary+)]
It borrows the power of sacred radiance to transform the physical body into light. While maintaining the skill, you take no damage and can move in all directions at the speed of light. It requires 1 hour of Mental Concentration to cast. The skill can be maintained for a maximum of 10 minutes.
Category: magic-type skill
Willpower cost: 5,000 per second
Cooldown: 72 hours
“…”
Legendary+ grade.
As I read the skill’s description, my eyes widened.
…It was a magic-type skill that actually allowed movement at the speed of light.
Something unimaginable had popped out.
“Wait a minute.”
[16,254,931/134,217,728km]
Let’s calculate this.
The remaining distance was about 120 million km.
The speed of light is 300,000 km per second.
It was 400 seconds, meaning it was a distance I could reach in less than 7 minutes.
The willpower cost was immense, but it wasn’t a problem.
The skill could be maintained for a maximum of 10 minutes, so… it was possible.
Reaching the oasis was possible!
“…Demon Lord.”
I said, letting out a hollow laugh.
“I think I’ve got this.”
I had paid too high a price, though.
Regardless, it seemed I could handle the 8th Floor with this.
- The reward is certainly decisive.
“Tell me about it.”
I used the skill stone while looking at the oasis.
[Acquired “Skill: Radiant Incarnation (Legendary+)”.]
Let’s end this now.
I was at a loss as to what to do after clearing it but…
First, I had to get out - to the outside.
I stopped time and began my Mental Concentration.
After finishing the 1-hour long Mental Concentration…
I used the skill.
Fwoooosh!
Then, my entire body emitted a blinding golden light.
No, I became light itself.
I immediately moved toward the oasis.
My body shot forward at the speed of light.
“…!”
The surrounding scenery distorted strangely.
Perhaps my speed of thought adjusted to match while I was moving at the speed of light… time seemed to slow down.
Because of that, there was no issue of my inability to control my speed.
I stopped time and recovered my willpower the moment it began to drop.
[32,384,923/134,217,728km]
The distance that had seemed so impossibly far was closing unrealistically fast.
The oasis, which had never gotten closer no matter how much I advanced as if by a divine skill, was visibly getting closer.
[53,149,112/134,217,728km]
[79,042,368/134,217,728km]
[104,592,139/134,217,728km]
.
.
.
[134,217,728/134,217,728km]
I deactivated the skill.
I looked at the lake in front of me.
The surface of the water was sparkling golden under the sunlight.
“…Phew.”
The oasis.
I had arrived.
I was looking at the messages popping up before my eyes.
I raised my head and let out a deep breath.
[Successfully cleared the nightmare difficulty 8th Floor.]
[Absorbing the floor’s Power.]
[Level increased.]
[Level increased.]
[Level increased.]
.
.
.
[Level increased.]
[Successfully cleared nightmare difficulty 8th Floor for the first time.]
[They are moving to the Reward Room.]
.
.
.
[Special item: Broken Scales of Life]
It sacrifices the user’s lifespan to obtain a corresponding reward. You can sacrifice a minimum of 1% to a maximum of 99% of your remaining lifespan. Once used, the scales will break, and the user’s remaining lifespan will be displayed. (This item has already been used.)
Remaining lifespan: 305 days 23 hours 16 minutes 45 seconds