Chapter 44
#44. Tower of Trials 7th Floor
I received one new item and one new skill as the clear reward for clearing the 6th floor.
[Death Knight Greatsword], as the name suggests, is a heavy greatsword used by a death knight.
Its simple design looks easy to handle, and I really like its moderate weight and size.
[Sword Mastery Lv. 1]
- One-handed sword proficiency (497 / 999)
- Two-handed sword proficiency (341 / 999)
The two-handed sword proficiency under [Sword Mastery] has also gone up quite a bit, so it'd be perfect as my main weapon.
The new skill I obtained is a passive skill called [Night Vision].
I thought it was some kind of hypnosis technique because of the name, but it's just a skill that helps you see better in the dark.
They hand out something like this after clearing the gloomy 6th floor; even the system is late to the party.
Of course, there'll be plenty of dark maps ahead too, so it's not exactly useless.
“I wonder if this works on curses too.”
What I'm curious about is whether it works on the vision-disrupting magic used by the lizardman shaman on the 3rd floor or the lich boss just now.
Since the next floor apparently has a fair number of magic-type enemies too, let's take our time and see.
Seo Jinhyuk Lv.53 (Warrior)
HP : 800/800
MP : 410/410
Strength : 83 (69+14)
Agility : 68 (64+4)
Endurance : 74 (68+6)
Intelligence : 62 (60+2)
With my current full-gear setup, these are my stats. I leveled up once, but a lot of the stat gains had nothing to do with leveling.
Except for Intelligence, they don't even look like the stats of a level 53 Warrior.
Especially my Strength, which has climbed to 83, is far beyond other challengers of the same level.
Just looking at my stats, you'd think I had a Unique or Epic class, but I'm still a plain old Normal-class warrior.
[You can activate the Tower of Trials 6th Floor teleport gate.]
I finished sorting through the boss fight's rewards and touched the teleport gate. The activation notification appeared, and I accepted it right away.
“Yes.”
With a slight dizzying sensation as I passed through the teleport gate, a new world soon spread out before my eyes.
The scenery that appeared was in the middle of a forest thick with trees, completely different from the gloomy atmosphere of the 6th floor.
In fact, this 7th floor was one I had been looking forward to in many ways.
Compared to other floors, the overall map is much larger, and there are quite a lot of NPCs and quests too.
On top of that, it's also the floor where you can start the large-scale faction quest that connects to other floors.
It apparently varies depending on how you proceed, but in some cases it can keep going all the way to around the 20th floor.
I wonder what the first-clear reward for such a massive quest will be.
-Bzzzzzz!
Filled with anticipation, I moved forward and soon encountered the 7th floor's first monster.
I'd heard that the first thing you meet on this floor is almost always some kind of living tree monster, but instead a swarm of hornets showed up.
Naturally, since they're monsters, they're not just ordinary hornets; each one is about the size of a Chihuahua.
“That’s disgusting.”
But if they're hornets, they should have venom too, right?
**
To cut to the chase, hornet venom didn't help my resistance at all.
In the first place, the hornets were so weak that they could barely even pierce my skin and sting me.
And even when a few special ones somehow managed to get their stingers in, all I felt was a brief sting, with no effect at all.
I heard that this hornet-type monster appears all over the place even outside the 7th floor, and that they all have venomous stingers.
There's no way these guys are the exception and just have no venom, so my resistance stat must simply be too high.
Well, poison arrows aside, my stats from tangling with zombies on the 6th floor were already pretty high.
[Killer Bee Stinger]
Just looking at the name of the dropped item makes it hard to think they don't have venom.
-Crunch!
I brought my sword down on a hornet lying on the ground and finished it off. A crackling effect sparked here and there.
That crackling effect is from the [Lightning Charge] I picked up on the 3rd floor.
While I was grinding my resistance on the 6th floor, the skill level of [Lightning Charge] also rose a bit, and now it even has a proper visual effect.
Of course, I don't know whether it adds extra electric damage or a stagger effect or anything like that, but hey, at least it has an effect.
If I raise it a few more levels like this, maybe I can use it for lightning resistance at least.
Then, just as I sheathed my sword and was about to move again.
-Thud, thud, thud!
A heavy sound echoed repeatedly from far away. Of the sounds I've heard, it's most similar to the Goblin Lord's footsteps.
My intuition skill was starting to react a little. A monster—an especially huge monster—is coming this way.
I don't know what it is, but if it's a big one, I should use a big weapon.
[Death Knight Greatsword]
Attack Power +85 (Slash)
Critical Damage: x 2.5
Durability 350/350
Unique Effect: Wound Rending
Damage dealt to an enemy you have critically hit at least once increases by 1.5 times.
Enhancement attempts available: 6
The [Death Knight Greatsword] has superior base attack power, high critical damage, and a useful unique effect.
I'm not the type to use such a strong item carelessly, but it was worth testing its performance at least once.
-Thud, thud, thud!
As the heavy footsteps drew closer, the monster emerged, parting the bushes.
It was a giant bear covered in black fur. With the strange sigil carved into its forehead, it had to be a [Rune Bear].
A unique monster that seems to turn up in any environment where wild animals might live.
Wasn't it the kind of monster that's said to be even harder to deal with than most field bosses because of its agility, which doesn't fit its massive size?
But so what if some beast is agile?
I pulled back the greatsword and charged straight at the Rune Bear rushing toward me.
A high-power two-handed sword skill, Brave Slash, activated as the greatsword's blade gleamed with a dark light.
But the moment I used the skill and its motion kicked in, an arrow lodged in the Rune Bear's back caught my eye.
What, why is there an arrow stuck in it?
Did it run over here while being chased by an NPC? Then where's the NPC that was chasing it?
-Whoosh!
At that moment, an arrow flew from behind the Rune Bear and aimed for the middle of my forehead.
**
The instant I leaped in and triggered the skill motion, an arrow appeared right in front of me.
It probably wasn't aimed at me, but the timing was just too perfect.
And because I'd just entered the skill motion, I couldn't even take an evasive move. This is why I don't use skills all that often.
After briefly thinking about how to deal with it, I activated one more skill in that state.
[Iron Wall]
-Ping!
This was the first time I'd used [Iron Wall] to shield my face, but it activated successfully and deflected the arrow.
And the skill motion continued as my greatsword swept through the Rune Bear's shoulder blade and cut deep.
-GROOOAR!
Thanks to its overwhelming attack power, the Rune Bear's shoulder was practically torn off in one blow, and I swung the greatsword again without pausing.
A flashy red effect burst out with the slash. It was a critical hit.
After those two attacks, the Rune Bear completely lost the strength to keep raging and collapsed. All that was left was to finish it off, but I stopped my sword and waited for a moment.
“Hey, it’s dangerous!”
A man who seemed to be the owner of the arrow from just now ran toward me with nimble steps.
He was a very handsome man with slightly long blond hair and snow-white skin.
He had the sort of look you'd get if you took the blonde, blue-eyed pretty-boy stereotype and softened it a bit. He looked like a game character.
But the most striking thing about the man's appearance was his distinctly shaped ears.
The 7th floor is an extremely vast floor, with a huge map, lots of quests, and many NPCs.
There are three factions that make up the core of the faction quest, one of the 7th floor's biggest features.
“W-what? Why is a human here!”
**
The elf with the longbow on his back glared at me with wide eyes.
Elves are one of the must-have races in fantasy fiction.
Even in the Tower of Trials world, which has a very game-like feel, elves exist, and their traits aren't all that different from the way they’re depicted in fiction.
They have pointed ears and beautiful faces, live in harmony with forests and nature, have very long lifespans, and are good with bows.
Of course, elves vary from individual to individual, so not all of them are like that, but at least the high elves on the 7th floor are.
“Did you bring down the Rune Bear? Why are you wandering around in a place like this, human!”
The high elf man asked, glaring at me with wary eyes.
I hadn't expected to run into elves this soon. Naturally, I still hadn't thought about what I should say in a situation like this.
While I was hesitating and choosing my words, the high elf man suddenly shouted as if he’d lost it.
“What is that ominous black sword! So you’re one of those evil human groups that’ve been rampaging through the forest!”
Then he suddenly drew a dagger from his waist and charged at me.
Just so you know, I haven't said a single word yet.
Just because the sword you're holding is a little black and has a skull decoration on it doesn't mean you can attack someone out of nowhere.
This is straight-up fucking self-defense.