Chapter 123
Sisyphus’s Punishment.
This is a famous story from Greco-Roman mythology.
The human Sisyphus received the eternal punishment of having to push a heavy rock up the Mountain Peak in exchange for deceiving the gods.
The theme of the 9th Floor brought that story to mind.
It was simple.
Moving the given rock to the top of the mountain was the Clear Condition of the 9th Floor.
Of course, the size of the rock, and the slope and height of the mountain varied by difficulty.
As for Nightmare Difficulty…
[You have entered the Nightmare Difficulty 9th Floor.]
As soon as I entered, I stopped time.
I checked the information displayed before me.
Gloomy weather with a faint mist.
What I saw before my eyes was a rock mountain of dizzying height.
And on the surrounding plains, countless rocks were placed.
'…?'
For a moment, I doubted my eyes.
Why isn’t there just one rock?
Don’t tell me I have to move all of these to the top… It couldn’t be that, right?
Time Release.
First, I walked around and took a closer look.
There were massive round rocks that looked to be 4 or 5 meters in diameter.
Whichever direction I went on the plains, the rocks seemed endless.
Not metaphorically, but truly endless. What is this?
Returning to the very bottom of the mountain, I thought for a moment.
…Well, I should give it a try first, right?
I picked one of the nearby rocks.
Then I applied force to move the rock.
The rock was massive, but with my strength, it was at a level I could easily move.
However, I wasn’t just moving this on flat ground, but all the way to the top of the mountain…
I raised my head and looked at the mountain.
The slope was quite steep.
Wouldn’t it be close to 30 degrees?
Furthermore, the top was dizzyingly far away.
They said the other difficulties were about the size of a small local mountain, but this was a real mountain.
A thought suddenly occurred to me, so I asked Demon Lord.
“Demon Lord, is it possible to freeze this and move it to the top?”
With Demon Lord’s abilities, it would be a simple task.
It wasn’t that Ma-wang could use something like telekinesis magic.
But if he covered the rock in ice and then manipulated the ice, it was no different from telekinesis.
- It is possible.
“Hmm…”
Still, I should probably move it myself first, right?
I needed to save Ma-wang’s power a little bit.
The fact that there were countless rocks also made it seem like moving just one wouldn’t be the end of it…
Kuung!
I started climbing the mountain by rolling the rock.
Every time I took a step, the stone ground crumbled and caved in.
It was more manageable than I thought.
That’s because the rock itself was manageable enough for other Nightmare Climbers.
There was no way I, given my higher level, wouldn’t be able to move it.
As I rolled the rock up the mountain slope like Sisyphus in the myth…
'Ah.'
Wait a minute.
Come to think of it, I can just have Flee do it, right?
I summoned Flee.
Flee, who had become stronger than before due to the effect of the Ring of Revilus.
“Try pushing and moving this, Flee, boy. Good boy.”
Flee began to push and roll the rock with its head without difficulty.
This guy has infinite stamina, so he won’t get tired.
'Sweet.'
I left the rock to Flee and walked alongside him.
Now that I was freed up, I kept a stronger guard on my surroundings.
It hadn’t even started yet.
They said that in other difficulties, monsters would pop out as you climbed the mountain.
In Nightmare, even if it wasn’t monsters, anything could pop out.
Flat sections appeared here and there on the slope, but we didn’t bother resting and kept rolling the rock.
We had come up quite a long way.
“…”
But why isn’t anything coming out?
Until we climbed about halfway up the mountain, not a single thing popped out, let alone a monster.
Of course, I didn’t let my guard down in the slightest.
What is this wicked thing planning to do by being so quiet…
Am I perhaps doing something wrong? That’s a possibility too.
But since I came this far, I had to try moving the rock to the top first. There was nothing else to try anyway.
Even until we reached the top, absolutely nothing happened.
No, more than that…
“What is that now.”
Looking at it now, I found the terrain at the top strange.
That is, the flat area of the Mountain Peak was so narrow that it could barely fit a single foot.
“Stop, Flee-ya.”
I stopped the rock right before the peak for now.
In other difficulties, moving the rock to the top meant clarity.
I waited with the rock stopped.
I waited for quite a while, but nothing happened.
I furrowed my brow and looked at the pointed peak.
…Don’t tell me I have to stand this large rock up on that?
It seemed like I had to try it.
“You go to the other side and support it, Flee-ya.”
I sent Flee to the other side and moved the rock myself again.
Moving it little by little, I carefully raised it onto the ledge of the peak.
“…!”
The rock tilted precariously toward Flee.
As ordered, Flee supported it with its body, so it didn’t roll down.
“…Try pushing it just a little, Flee-ya. Just a little! No, don’t push! Stop!”
Finding the center of balance was quite an ordeal.
Fuck, is this even possible?
I struggled for a long time, but I still couldn’t find the balance point.
…Should I slightly smash the bottom of the rock and try standing it up?
But I couldn’t tell if it was okay to break the rock.
I stopped time and thought about it before deciding to use another method.
“Demon Lord, help.”
It would be simple if I froze the bottom of the rock strongly to fix it in place.
Let’s just use a little bit of power.
As requested, Ma-wang froze the part where the rock and the peak met.
Having received my body back, I took my hands off the rock and stepped back.
The rock no longer tilted and was perfectly fixed in place.
Is it done now?
Of course, there was no way Nightmare would end just like this.
As I waited for a moment, hoping for something to progress…
Crack!
Suddenly, the rock cracked and split in half.
I stepped further back to avoid the debris.
A Monster popped out from the broken rock.
“…A monkey?”
A monster with the appearance of a silver-furred monkey, as massive as the rock, appeared.
Kkigigik-
The monkey, which had been looking around, stared in this direction.
It immediately lunged at me with a fierce momentum.
I responded in kind.
Crackle!
The guy hit by the Shockwave Skill had his torso blown apart and died instantly.
I looked at the corpse and then stared at the broken rock again.
“…”
What… am I supposed to do?
There’s no way that guy just now was the boss.
I waited for a long time again, but nothing happened.
I looked around the Summit, looking to see if there was anything else.
But I couldn’t find anything particularly special.
Eventually, I came back down to the bottom of the mountain.
“Hmm…”
What am I really supposed to do?
The information obtained so far.
If you succeed in moving the rock to the top, a monster pops out from it. The end.
I looked around at the surrounding rocks.
Don’t tell me I really have to move all of these?
So defeat all the monsters inside the rocks… Is that it?
“That makes no sense.”
That was just mindless, simple labor.
It wasn’t like Nightmare.
In the first place, the visible rocks alone were endless.
It feels like there should be some other gimmick…
For now, I am trying to move one rock to the top again.
Crack!
Likewise, the exact same monkey monster popped out of the rock.
This time, I didn’t deal with it immediately and observed it.
The monkey monster was quite agile and strong.
Would it be around the Level 60s, from what I could sense?
Of course, to me, it was at a level I could easily handle.
I dodged the monkey’s attacks and circled around the top, but as expected, there was nothing special.
I unleashed a Flame Strike to deal with the monkey bastard and came down the mountain once again.
I repeated that about three more times and came up empty-handed.
Then, this time, I tried destroying the rock at the bottom of the mountain without moving it to the top.
Kkigek-! Kkek-!
Perhaps it wasn’t necessary to move it to the top, and a monkey popped out from the broken rock.
What is this, really…
After dealing with the monkey, I just fired magic in all directions.
Boom! Boooom!
The monkeys were exploding refreshingly along with the rocks.
I only stopped after killing dozens of them.
Even after doing this, it didn’t seem like anything was progressing.
“Phew…”
I don’t know.
Well, if it were easy, it wouldn’t be Nightmare.
I fell into thought with time stopped.
“Demon Lord, can you think of anything?”
- No.
Ma-wang gave off an annoyed vibe, so I should figure it out myself.
…This fellow seems to really hate using his brain, so how did he clear the 20th Floor?
- You, lowly creature, are having impure thoughts.
Anyway, I needed some kind of idea.
It was obvious that just rolling and breaking rocks like this wasn’t the answer.
“…Is there a special rock?”
I released time and examined the rocks again.
They were all rocks of the exact same size and shape.
Should I try looking from up in the sky?
Boom!
I used the Leap Skill to jump high up.
And using the newly acquired Sky-Treading Steps, I continued to ascend straight up.
I went up much higher than the top of the mountain.
After going up for a long time, I looked down at the dizzying depths below.
It felt like I had come up over 1 kilometer.
Even so, the piles of rocks spread out on The Surface were still so endless that they didn’t all fit in my field of vision.
I walked through the Void, examining the overall landscape, until…
“…?”
I discovered something strange.
The rocks were placed at generally regular intervals, maintaining a distance from each other.
But there was a part where the gaps narrowed subtly.
Narrowing my eyes and focusing on it…
Along that line, a single large shape seemed to be faintly drawn.
“…A Buddhist Swastika?”
Then, a thought suddenly flashed through my mind.
Rock… monkey… mountain… Flower Fruit Mountain? Journey to the West?
Isn’t Journey to the West deeply related to Buddhism too?
Thinking about it that way, it really did seem to be the shape of a Buddhist Swastika.
The rock intervals narrowed right in the middle of the Buddhist Swastika shape.
A single rock placed far away, as if keeping its distance from the others.
“…”
I descended toward that rock.
On the outside, it was no different from the other rocks.
But somehow, I have a feeling that this is it.
I had Flee move the rock toward the mountain.
We rolled the rock and started climbing toward the top of the mountain again.
Had we gone up about one-third of the way?
Kugugugu-
Suddenly, the ground rumbled.
Looking up, I saw dirt, dust, and boulders rushing down in droves.
It was a landslide.
…Nothing happened when I was moving the rocks earlier, but suddenly…
“This is it.”
I actually prefer this.
When I saw the bullshit start, it seemed I had indeed picked the right answer.
“Keep pushing, Flee-ya.”
I made Flee keep rolling the rock without stopping.
I stood in front of it.
I fired magic toward the rolling boulders.
Boooom!
I alternated between Flame Strike, Lightning Strike, and Blade Storm to block their approach to the rock.
For the small debris, I wrapped myself in Skin Hardening and just took the hits with my body.
It was nothing much.
It would have been annoying to deal with if I were moving the rock myself, but thanks to Flee, my body was free.
I blocked the interference without difficulty and smoothly rolled the rock.
The landslide continued without stopping and only ended when we almost reached the top.
Will it end if I stick this on the top now?
I came right in front of the peak with that thought, but…
Bang!
In an instant, the ground shot up, and Flee and the rock flew high into the sky together with tremendous momentum.
I stared blankly at the sight, then clapped my hands and muttered.
“Wow, home run.”
This motherfucker.
Pulling this bullshit right at the end.
It was a trap that reminded me of the 2nd Floor.
But my Sixth Sense didn’t trigger when I passed by earlier.
Is it the kind of trap that only triggers when the rock itself gets caught in it?
“Demon Lord.”
I Unsummoned Flee and, having no other choice, handed my body over to Ma-wang.
I didn’t know what would happen, and the rock would be destroyed if it fell like that.
Shoooosh!
Ma-wang, who flew up into the sky, froze the surface of the rock in the Void and grabbed it. The rock came to a stop.
If it were going to be like this, I pushed it all the way up here for nothing.
Ma-wang returned to the top with the rock just like that.
After freezing and fixing the rock to the peak, the Demon Lord rested.
I received my body back.
Now, it’s all done.
What’s going to happen now?
As I stepped back a little and watched the rock from a distance…
Soon, the rock cracked and split apart.
Flash!
From inside it, a bright gold light burst forth.