Chapter 14
"Keuruk!"
I drove my sword into the Goblin Centurion's heart.
I had planned to cut off everything below its knees as punishment for daring to look down on me, but the height difference was too great for me to do it as intended.
"Well, that was a decent warm-up."
Still, compared to the other riffraff, it was fairly satisfying to slice up. I suppose that's what it meant to be a mid-boss.
Ding!
[You have cleared Floor 5 on Nightmare difficulty!]
[Clear Time] 30 seconds
[Clear Rank] SSS
The message was now all too familiar.
"The Tower seems to like me quite a lot."
If the Tower had a consciousness, it must have been especially fond of me.
Judging by how it handed me an SSS rank every time, whether I cleared the floor quickly or slowly, it felt as if it was testing just how far I could go.
"Hmm, the rankings have changed a little."
[Challenger Rankings]
[1st ; Heavenly Demon (天魔) SSS]
[2nd : -SUPER- S-]
[3rd ; Maestro A]
[You will be transferred to the Reward Room shortly.]
There had been a small change in the challenger rankings, which hadn't changed once until now.
Super, who'd been in first place, had still been pushed down to second because of me, but the third-place spot had changed from Blood Demon to 'Maestro.'
"Maestro..."
It was a name no magic-type Awakened could fail to recognize. It was also a name I could never forget.
The undisputed number one mage in the rankings.
The Maestro of the Battlefield.
The only mage Awakened in the top ten, and the one and only S-rank Awakened Korea possessed.
Mages were inherently ill-suited to solo play. That meant they were bound to be at a disadvantage in the rankings, where solo clears earned a high bonus.
And yet, this monster always maintained a place near the top.
And they were my goal, my hero, and my enemy.
"...Third place on Nightmare Floor 5, huh."
Mages had a relative advantage when facing large groups, so it seemed Maestro had overtaken Blood Demon, a conventional warrior type, on this floor.
This guy had been so far ahead of me even back then.
"Still a long way off, but..."
It wasn't over yet.
Though I'd gotten a late start compared to you, one step of mine was worth eight of yours. I'd catch up to you soon.
And someday...
"I'll make you chase after me, watching my back."
Of course, for now, it was only a fantasy.
Maestro was probably clearing floors above 50 by now, while I'd only just made it past Floor 5.
Instead of wasting time imagining things like that, I should focus on taking care of what was in front of me.
"But..."
Why wasn't I being transferred?
The heightened state unique to the Heavenly Demon trait had ended a while ago.
In other words, I should've already been in the Reward Room, opening the chest.
"Why am I not being transferred to the Reward Room?"
Ding!
[Would you like to move to the Reward Room?]
"Of course..."
Just as I was about to nod without thinking, a powerful sense of doubt flashed through my mind and stopped me.
Why was it asking me all of a sudden?
Until now, my wishes had never factored into being sent to the Reward Room.
I'd simply been engulfed in a swirl of light and forcibly transported as soon as the message appeared.
‘That means...’
There's something here.
"What if I don't want to move?"
[Would you like to move to the Reward Room?]
It didn't seem to have any intention of answering my question.
Still, there didn't seem to be any time limit on the choice.
"There's something here."
Something was hidden in this vast plain.
A hidden piece.
The Tower had hidden elements that couldn't be obtained through a normal clear.
It could be a hidden boss monster, a secret item or area, or even a special NPC.
Whatever it was, finding it was guaranteed to be worthwhile.
They had valuable things you couldn't get through an ordinary clear.
"But searching the entire plain is impossible."
With this short, squat body, I could only run around so much.
Even with unlimited time, the area was far too vast to search thoroughly.
"This is what magic is for."
I'd gotten fairly used to handling magic.
The trait might have warped my way of thinking toward a much more hard-edged outlook, but it hadn't erased my memories of that time.
My combat instincts were still vivid.
In other words, I could still manage to cast magic far beyond my current abilities.
‘Besides, there's plenty of mana inside the Tower.’
If I borrowed that power, searching the entire plain shouldn't be too difficult.
I drew the dense mana flowing beneath the ground deep into my body.
I felt the immense energy rush through my veins.
"Kgh!"
The rough, wave-like mana tore through my circuits. Even as I tried to suppress it, a groan escaped me.
How had I ever managed to endure this when I was under the influence of my trait?
Still, as painful as it was, I could bear it for now.
I brought the incoming mana under my control and gave it direction.
At last, I managed to stretch out my trembling hand and release it into the air.
"Search!"
Vwoom!
The enormous mana surged like a giant wave, sweeping across all of Floor 5.
Search magic.
A second-tier spell used to locate and track enemies.
Normally, it could only scan a radius of ten meters, or fifty at most.
But what if I used the mana overflowing in the Tower as a catalyst? I could easily search an area with a radius of a kilometer, let alone fifty meters.
"Ugh!"
Of course, I regretted it the moment I did it.
Search magic transformed the surrounding terrain into a kind of minimap and slammed it directly into my mind.
In other words, an enormous amount of information from a one-kilometer radius was being crammed into my head all at once.
Thanks to that, I felt like my skull was about to burst any second.
"Krrgh!‘
I gritted my teeth and poured all my strength into processing the incoming information.
"Found it."
Something was out there on the vast plain, not too far away.
The moment I confirmed my target, I forcibly ended the search spell.
Drip!
Blood ran from my nose.
I really thought my head was about to burst.
If I'd kept the spell going even a little longer, my brain might really have melted.
Still, I'd found what I was looking for.
‘I'll have to control it better next time.’
I now understood in my bones why people limited the radius of search magic to fifty meters, or a hundred at most.
If you went any farther, your brain couldn't withstand the overload and would burn out.
I was lucky my body had become abnormally sturdy after gaining the Heavenly Demon trait and changing into a little girl's body. Otherwise, my brain would have cooked, too.
"It's close."
The location I'd sensed was right nearby.
It was the exact spot where the Goblin Centurion had first stood.
During the Asura Sword Dance, both the centurion and I had moved far from our starting positions, which was why I hadn't found it sooner.
If I'd known, there would've been no need to strain my brain with such a wide-area search spell.
‘Well, you learn and grow from your mistakes.’
The place I returned to had a distinctly strange atmosphere.
A huge stone gate sat in the middle of the vast plain, practically shouting, 'I'm suspicious!' Anyone could tell at a glance.
"The carvings are a little unusual, though."
Two dragons had been intricately carved into the gate, each gripping one of the door handles.
They weren't the winged dragons that usually came to mind in a fantasy setting, but unmistakably East Asian dragons (龍), with long whiskers and sleek, serpentine bodies.
"Hmm."
After fighting nothing but Western monsters all this time, suddenly coming across an East Asian relic was pretty fascinating.
Well, the Heavenly Demon trait existed, too, so it wasn't as if there was any reason to find it strange.
"The problem is how to open this thing."
The enormous stone gate in front of me looked to be at least three times my height.
In other words, it was easily over three meters tall.
On top of that, it was embedded in the ground, so instead of pushing it forward, I'd have to lift the heavy stone gate straight up with my whole body.
That left me with no clever way to open the ridiculously huge gate.
"Should I just break it?"
I didn't know what might be behind the gate. Was it really right to smash it without a second thought? But I couldn't think of any way to open it besides breaking it.
It was quite the dilemma.
Smash it, and I might damage an NPC or treasure on the other side. Leave it alone, and I had no way to get through.
"What should I do?"
I had plenty of time. There was no harm in thinking it over slowly.
"Hmm."
Of course, that didn't mean thinking would suddenly give me a clever solution.
"Let's just break it."
After thinking it over for a while, I made my decision.
No matter how much longer I racked my brain, I wasn't going to find an answer.
As much as I hated to admit it, I wasn't particularly smart.
There was no point expecting some ingenious solution. Simple and straightforward was best.
Don't make the mistake of thinking all mages are intelligent and rational.
"What should I break it with?"
This was my first time performing a technique with a clear head, but it shouldn't be impossible.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art (天魔神功).
If I circulated its distinctive energy, even I should be able to...
"Huh?"
The moment I tried to summon the Heavenly Demon Divine Art to perform a technique...
Rumble!
The heavy stone gate began to shake violently.