Chapter 40
#40. Ranker
Tower of Trials challengers fall into three broad categories.
Ordinary people kidnapped by the invitation and dragged here against their will, challengers who climb the tower to become hunters, and rankers.
Since there isn't a separate ranking system, there's no clear way to tell who is and isn't a ranker.
Still, what people in the community generally call rankers are the challengers who focus on clearing the tower and stay on the upper floors of the Tower of Trials for a long time.
And the bus drivers who stay on the three Floors that set the Tower of Trials apart.
The 25th, 50th, and 75th Floors.
The Tower of Trials boasts a unique character on every floor, but these three are called Floors and are treated specially by the system.
They don't have a separate labyrinth area of their own, and they only have guardian bosses that disappear once the floor is cleared.
And unlike other floors, you can't move back and forth through transfer gates; you can only cross them by special methods.
That's why the bus drivers don't move on to higher floors and instead take on the role of hauling newbies up to their floor.
“I'm a low-floor ranker living on the 25th Floor. He's been insanely famous lately……”
According to Kim Jina's explanation, Choi Gil-hyun, who had pulled out a spear in front of me, was a low-floor ranker, one of the weakest among rankers.
But because he's called a ranker, you can't look down on him just because he lives on the lower floors.
Being a bus driver who hauls challengers up to the 25th Floor means he can easily take down the bosses on the floors below.
He may not clear them solo like I do, but he has the strength to lead underqualified challengers through to the 24th Floor.
“J-Jinhyuk, what do we do?”
What do we do? What else can we do?
I pushed through the people around us, made Kim Jina and the rest of the party step back, and raised my shield and sword.
Because it's solo play, I'm much stronger than the average 6th Floor challenger even though I'm only tackling the 6th Floor.
But the same goes for him. If he's a ranker, even while staying on the 25th Floor, his specs are going to be far higher than those of a normal 25th Floor challenger.
His level is probably higher than mine too, and naturally, his gear will be better as well.
Just look at that little brother of his, sprawled out over there—he had armor and an axe far beyond what he should have been carrying.
“Yeah, I did.”
I said it to Choi Gil-hyun, the ranker huffing and puffing while gripping his spear.
“Your little brother was camping the dungeon entrance, and when we said we were going in, he started hurling mother-insults.”
His face didn't exactly look like it was open to conversation, but I at least started by talking. The answer I got back was, as expected, not good.
“So you soccer-kicked my brother in the face? Mother-insults? Did your bitch of a mother teach you that?”
“That isn't what happened, but it looks like your brother learned it from you.”
“Shut up, you fucking piece of shit. You're just some overleveled loser, and you're not coming back alive today.”
I thought the little bastard's character was beyond saving, but the older brother doesn't seem much different. Talking this out is hopeless.
If I tried to avoid the fight and settle this peacefully, it didn't seem impossible.
I don't plan to let another mother-insult slide.
**
Judging by the spear in his hands, the class I can infer is the rare class Spear Knight.
Among warrior-type rare classes, it has the most stable and powerful skills, so it's a popular class.
Because of that, a lot of the Spear Knight's main skill info is already out there on the community.
He won't openly use his skills and show his openings, but it won't hurt to keep them in mind.
Still, a spear, huh.
In a duel between melee fighters, differences in reach have a huge impact.
Compared to my sword and shield, that guy's spear has overwhelming reach, and the situation suggests his physical stats are stronger too.
He looks taller than me, and his arms look longer too. His little brother was a bit shorter than me, but maybe he hogged all the nutrients for himself.
I know spear techniques too, so I could pull out a spear and counter him, but I doubt my sloppy spear skills would work on a real Spear Knight.
For now, it's probably better to stick with the close-quarters fighting I'm used to with a sword and shield.
“Die!”
Choi Gil-hyun's face turned bright red as he thrust his spear at me.
As expected from his specs, the speed and force behind the spear thrust were both tremendous.
But maybe because he was too excited, or maybe because he was looking down on me, his stance and motion were awkward.
I held out my shield to deflect the spearhead and stepped in one pace.
Taking that guy's all-out spear thrust head-on would be tough.
-Kak!
Sparks flew off the shield as the spearhead skimmed past. It was only a graze, and it already had that much force. As expected of a ranker.
With my foot now inside his spear's reach, I thrust my sword toward his side.
Maybe he came out undergeared, or maybe he just prefers light gear, but unlike his brother, he's not wearing heavy armor.
At this distance, my stab should be able to sink in well enough.
-Tadak!
But Choi Gil-hyun jumped far back and dodged the thrust.
His strength isn't the only high stat; his agility must be pretty high too. But then why did he jump backward to dodge?
Does he not know my class or skills, so he's being cautious and planning to fight me with outboxing?
If he wants to make the most of his weapon advantage, that would definitely be the right move. That last exchange may have shown him I'm not easy pickings.
But the next move he made was far outside my expectations.
“You fucking bastard!”
Instead of coming at me with outboxing, Choi Gil-hyun charged straight at me, shouting the same curse as before.
What the hell is this guy?
I dodged the thrust that came at me in the same awkward stance as before with a slight sidestep.
Even though I moved to the side, Choi Gil-hyun didn't try to alter the trajectory or swing the spear shaft to respond.
Far from it, he just took two more steps forward, as if he couldn't control the momentum of his thrust.
I smashed the shield into Choi Gil-hyun's temple, which was left wide open by his overcommitment.
-WHAM!
Maybe because his defense is high, it feels like I'm bashing a rock.
Choi Gil-hyun, hit in the head, staggered once, then twisted his body and thrust his spear at me again.
The spearhead gave off a bluish light. I know that skill. Spear Buster, the three-hit thrust attack.
-Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
Since he was using a well-known skill so blatantly right in front of me, there was no way I could just take it.
After dodging to the side again, this time I swung my sword instead of my shield and aimed for Choi Gil-hyun's neck.
Looking at his defense, even if I hit him like this, his neck probably wouldn't be sliced off.
“Kuhk!”
After the blade smashed into his Adam's apple, Choi Gil-hyun looked like he was going to topple backward, but then he sprang up and got back into stance.
It was exactly the same stance as before.
Could this bastard really only thrust from that stance?
No, impossible. He's a ranker.
“Haaah!”
With a shout, Choi Gil-hyun thrust at me again, this time from a slightly different stance.
I slipped to the side, and this time he swung the spear wide to attack me properly from the side.
But somehow it feels more like he's using a staff than a spear. It's not so bad I can't watch, but, well.
Why is this bastard so bad at fighting?
**
After trading blows for several minutes, I came to a conclusion.
This bastard is trash.
Honestly, I thought something was odd from the very first attack. But I figured it was just because he was agitated.
But the more I looked, the more pathetic his skill became. Having fought lizardmen with many experienced spear users for a long time, I can say that for sure.
This guy doesn't deserve to be called a Spear Knight. 'Spear Technician' fits him perfectly.
Being a ranker means his physical stats are strong, but his skill with the spear is sorely lacking.
If I had to compare him, he'd be around the bottom rung of a mid-tier lizardman warrior.
Maybe because his agility stat is high, his reaction speed is quick, and sometimes he does land a sharp strike.
Even including that, he still only looks like the bottom rung of a mid-tier warrior. Even if he's a low-floor ranker, how is this garbage a ranker?
That's even more screwed up than our party, where there's a paladin carrying a hammer around like it's a wand and a dual-sword freak who uses twin blades instead of a shield.
I wondered why those two were so bad, but even that level was a decent one among challengers.
Even worse, this guy was already messed up from the way he approached combat.
-WHAM!
I kicked Choi Gil-hyun hard in the ankle as he charged at me like an idiot.
That ruined his footwork so badly that he lost his balance and went sprawling.
“Is he an idiot...? Who wears insoles into a fight?”
He looked like he was quite a bit taller than his younger brother, but he was wearing height-increasing insoles in his shoes. And pretty thick ones at that.
If you subtract the height of those insoles, he'd probably be shorter than his brother.
At this point, calling them shoes is wrong—they're more like a personal vehicle or a mount.
“Huff, huff... fuck, bastard, gaa...”
Choi Gil-hyun, who had charged in with all his strength and spent the whole time getting beaten down by me, was on the verge of exhaustion.
After getting beaten to a pulp, he's still not coming to his senses and keeps spitting out curses.
“Shut your trap.”
-Clang!
I brought my hand down hard on the top of Choi Gil-hyun's gasping head.
Once I'd properly gauged Choi Gil-hyun's ability, I sheathed my sword and started swinging something else as a weapon.
What I had in my hand right now was the mithril wand I got on the first floor.
It was something completely useless to me as a warrior, so I'd just been stuffing it in my inventory for a while.
But because it was made of mithril, it was very light and sturdy, making it perfect as a club for beating down this high-defense bastard.
-Clang! Clang! Clang!
Choi Gil-hyun was offering up his head to the mithril wand like a xylophone being struck by mallets.
At first the onlookers wore serious expressions, but as they watched a ranker getting beaten senseless and unable to do anything, they gradually started laughing.
Afraid of what might happen later, they couldn't laugh openly, but a few gutsy ones were grinning as they used the system's capture function.
By now, there was probably a joke post in the community with a title like [Live: 25th Floor Ranker's Humiliation.jpg].
Honestly, as a fellow man, seeing his pride shatter in real time made me feel a little sorry for him.
“Y-you fucking, motherless, goddamn bastard.”
Seeing him spit out mother-insults out of habit while getting his head bashed in just makes my hand swing on its own.
“Shut your trap.”
-Clang!
That day, Choi Gil-hyun's photo got 300 upvotes in the community.