Chapter 36
The Tower is a place with strange environments.
You can bring anything inside, whether guns or tanks, as long as you can carry it─but weapons made in the modern world cannot be used inside the Tower.
Only things created by [Skills] or made directly from resources gathered inside the Tower can be used.
In the former case, your occupation imposes restrictions, and in the latter, the things you can make are limited. Unless you're in a production occupation, you probably can't make anything better than a stone axe.
Even if you bring bombs or gunpowder inside, they will not explode.
An [Alchemist] or [Shooter] who can use such things can operate with relatively few restrictions, though.
The Tower is a place that tests humanity.
Sooner or later, every method of climbing easily is bound to be blocked.
※※※
....I've always thought about it.
Always, constantly....
Because my body never sleeps, I have always pursued what I liked... what I loved... whatever made me happy.
Now that I had resolved to become happiness itself─when I had stopped floundering over being forced to become a VTuber and decided to walk properly.
The deaths that awaited me in the Tower were physical terror, while the mental terror was the possibility of falling into ruin because of a single slip of the tongue during a VTuber broadcast.
I never let any of it show.
Maybe I had an exceptional aptitude as a Climber.
As I cast off all those countless fears and worries.
Just as countless VTuber pioneers had done before me, I leaped in first so I could be the one to attempt an idea no one else had tried.
A certain professional VTuber once said this.
The most important thing was life, and there was no point in living hesitantly if your life did not shine.
A broadcast is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Once you do it, you can never go back.
I want to ask my believers something.
Am I doing my very best as a VTuber streamer?
But I won't ask, because that would mean admitting that I'm afraid and lacking confidence.
The moment I revealed my own weakness, the imperturbability of my heart would waver.
I had even burned down my own home.
I had dismissed my past existence as fake and erased it myself.
I would never let the red pill called "me"─a VTuber named Wakamo Inarizushi who alone existed and whom only I remembered─be revealed to the world.
I had even cast aside being a man to become the ideal VTuber.
Are you watching, Tower...? This is what resolve looks like.
I had not changed for even a moment from the beginning.
Ever since the instant I decided that climbing the Tower would be my VTuber broadcast content.
A precipice lay behind me. If I retreated, only death awaited.
With the resolve never to retreat, no matter what appeared on the Tower's floors─even if I failed to achieve a Complete-Clear Floor.
I would never die while broadcasting as a VTuber in the Tower.
"I can do this!!!"
Boom─!!
She slammed it hard against the ground.
The contents inside spilled out.
She had learned that attacks composed entirely of Wakamo's [Mana] were completely nullified against the [Mana-Immune Hardsteel Golem].
She had realized it by driving in a kick containing 10,000 Mana. Increasing the weight itself and crushing it was another option, but....
-[Do not use any [Skills] against the [Mana-Immune Hardsteel Golem] (0/1).
Did the Tower intend to kill Wakamo?!
I can't use them!! Any of them!!
Because it was immune to every attack involving Mana, Wakamo's attacks had no effect.
Even if they did work, a blow that was not reinforced with Mana could never destroy that body made of pure metal.
A counter floor that precisely targeted Climbers, the sort of thing that should have existed only near the top of the Tower.
Yet this was happening to Wakamo before she had even reached Floor 20, as though the Tower itself were trying to kill her.
It was such a coercive and unreasonable battle that it seemed to demand she declare [Tower Exit] and run away, never to climb the Tower again. But with a body that never slept and an otaku history of idol worship spanning 20,000 years of watching VTuber broadcasts, she had prepared for every possibility that could arise.
[My Worlds] cannot be used.
No, she would not use it yet.
-What is that? A baseball bat?
-No, fuck. That's the thing, isn't it? A shell!!
-What kind of shell?
-A tank shell!!!!
-That's an armor-piercing shell!!
-Huh? What are you going to do? Don't tell me...?
She ducked deeply at the waist to avoid the Golem's incoming punch, then hurled the armor-piercing shell she had caught in her hand high into the air.
The Golem did not look at it. It drew Mana into a single point in its fist──and focused.
When the spinning armor-piercing shell looked not merely slow but completely stopped.
Boom─!!!
She struck its flat end, and the armor-piercing shell shot away with a thunderous roar like a tank firing.
She attacked the armor-piercing shell with pure physical strength, and it flew on its own, slamming directly into the Hardsteel Golem's body and boring into it.
Its body split with a crack.
-So she's going to smash it with that!
-This is the triumph of modern civilization, right?
-If there isn't a tank, I'll become the human tank!!
Because it could not feel pain, the Golem slammed its enormous arm into the ground, scraped at it with all its strength, and swung at Wakamo.
Again, she flipped her body, tossed the armor-piercing shell she had caught with her toes high into the air, and caught it with her hand as she turned a somersault.
With a reverse rotation that seemed to ignore gravity, Wakamo spun through the air and landed atop the Golem's arm.
A camera glided through the air toward the Golem, changed direction, and captured Wakamo standing atop its arm in a poised stance.
Boom─!!
The armor-piercing shell smashed into the camera.
The Golem was not the target.
The camera shattered, and the pitiful Golem behind it was struck by the armor-piercing shell once again.
She spent Mana to resummon a camera, which filmed Wakamo sprinting across the Golem as the opposite arm shot sideways toward her; the scene was shown from an overhead angle.
Wakamo drew close enough to touch the viewers in an instant, then planted her foot on the armor-piercing shell she had thrown.
It was a wondrous sight that completely ignored the laws of physics.
Upside down, she rotated half a turn as though her body were attached to the spinning shell, then stamped down on the round with all her strength and leaped up once more.
At the instant the arms crossed, the armor-piercing shell pierced through, hidden behind the arm, yet the ground split with cracks visible even through it.
Clatter, clatter──
Three cameras spun magnificently around Wakamo.
One camera took up a position that provided the perfect angle, while another flew toward Wakamo.
The believers were startled when a 『Four-Hook Anchor』 emerged from Wakamo's trembling tail.
Whirr whirr whirr──!!
The cable made of carbon fiber spun at a vicious speed, touched the camera, and bent.
To the viewers, it looked as though it had bent on its own in midair.
The anchor traced a semicircle, caught on something, and changed course sharply. It hooked onto the arm, passed behind the Golem, and emerged over its shoulder.
─Only then did the believers realize why she had thrown the armor-piercing shell.
Clack─
The hook anchor made a precise sound as it caught in the crack.
Was she going to pull it with her strength? Unfortunately─that would not be elegant.
The skin of the arm hidden inside Wakamo's black sleeve began spinning rapidly, winding around the cable and reeling it in.
From there, she kicked away the camera that had served as her foothold and leaped powerfully once more.
Wakamo shot upward like a rocket, and the Golem heaved and rose from the ground after her─
[Stats]
Mana: 512,332 -> 371,246.
The Golem was thrown above Wakamo in an instant.
Now that the Golem had no ranged attacks, it had completely lost the advantage of crushing smaller beings with its immense size and weight.
[Stats]
Mana: 371,246 -> 200,056.
Vrooooom──!!!
Faster than a hammer thrower in track and field.
[Stats]
Mana: 200,056 -> 127,541.
She firmly fixed the Golem to the anchor in midair and spun it so quickly that its afterimage looked like a circle.
With the force of grinding it up in a blender.
The centrifugal force was so strong that instead of falling from the recoil, she nearly rose a little into the air as she spun faster and faster!!
[Stats]
Mana: 127,541 -> 36,552.
"Baekdu Mountain─!!"
And finally.
"Drop!!"
With the technique's name shouted until her throat nearly burst, the Hardsteel Golem collided with the ground.
Cracks spread throughout its body from the impact, and with an intense metallic shattering sound, its entire body broke apart and scattered in every direction.
A giant throw that struck home without using even a single [Skill] against the "Hardsteel Golem"!
"A fantastic harmony created by artistic muscles and artistic technique! This can only be called excellent and elegant."
-Do you understand the art contained in this brute force?
-So she became muscle that nullifies every kind of magic!!
-Does the boss even use sorcery?
-The ultimate sorcery that uses muscle instead of Mana....
-Isn't that just brute physical strength rather than magic?
-That's the sort of thing some alchemist would do....
[Incheon Tower Floor 18 has achieved the Platinum conditions and is now open to all humanity!!]
[Rewards are being settled due to the Tower's Platinum clear]
[[Video Recording] Skill has gained the [Summon Additional Camera] function]
[[Worshiped God] Skill has gained the [Increased Mana Recovery] function]
[[My Worlds] Skill has been upgraded to [Detached House with a Yard]]
[[VTuber Model]'s number of registrable models has increased]
[You acquired 10 【Broadcast Points】. Current: 14]
'What about the Skill?'
It seemed the Broadcast Points had gotten out of the red through broadcasting.
Was the entire reward just Skill upgrades? But there were far more rewards than usual.
Did the rewards increase along with the difficulty?
Was the Tower saying it would reward Wakamo if she won, even while forcing her to deal with unreasonable conditions against impossible odds?
"Huh─"
Wakamo extended a foot toward the next floor.
It was an impulsive act driven by emotion.
Wakamo had disliked the Tower's scolding, as though it were telling her to give up the Tower-climbing content she was doing as a VTuber idol.
As though it were telling her to stop pursuing Complete-Clear Floors, she had gone and done it.
[You are climbing the Incheon Tower Floor 19 World]
-[Wakamo Inarizushi]'s achievements as a Climber increase the difficulty!
-Overcome the [Elite Monster]!
-Defeat the [Orc Shaman Who Burns Mana].
[Platinum Achievement Conditions]
-[Defeat the Orc Shaman Who Burns Mana] (0/1)
-[Suffer damage from the [Mana Burn] of the Orc Shaman Who Burns Mana] (0/1)
He was old and ugly, but his massive body had muscles comparable to those of an average bodybuilder.
Before the Orc Shaman, carrying a staff made from human and beast skulls and gripping an axe in his other hand, could make his eyes flash, Wakamo unleashed a burst of light and robbed him of his vision.
[Mana Burn] was a [Skill].
At Wakamo's request, Manager Won Da-hye had explained how the Skill manifested.
Magic revealed its characteristics before it was used. Therefore, because she would not know what magic was coming, she had to be wary of everything.
It could manifest through the hands or a weapon. Therefore─she must never enter the range of that arm's swing.
The Four-Hook Anchor had already been destroyed against the Golem. Because she had used the armor-piercing shells so liberally, she had only one left.
It was a desperate crisis, but had dopamine exploded within her? Or was her anger at the Tower keeping her too excited to calm down?
Wakamo, as though someone had provoked her reverse scale, did not stop.
Fwoosh──!!
Flames burst from her mouth and surged toward the shaman, but as the Orc Shaman chanted and caught them with [Mana Shield], lightning shot out and sliced across Wakamo's shoulder.
The believers' excited chat sped up at Wakamo's reflexes as she saw the lightning and dodged it, but Wakamo's perception had sharpened enough for her to read every single message clearly.
How far could her body go, and what could it do?
Even while bending her knees and leaning backward, Wakamo did not fall. She remained standing with her feet planted without a tremor, knocked away the incoming Mana spear with the edge of her hand, and fired the armor-piercing shell.
Despite having her eyes closed, the shaman seemed to sense the shell's trajectory and knocked it away with his axe as it shot toward him with a thunderous Boom─!!!
When the axe and armor-piercing shell collided, both cracked and shattered into countless pieces.
The fact that the axe had withstood the armor-piercing shell meant it was not an ordinary weapon either.
A ripple spread through space.
The Orc Shaman used a short-range leap Skill to close the distance in an instant, but Wakamo stopped his kick by pressing down on the top of his foot with her hand.
She delicately controlled her flying long hair with [Mana Manipulation] so it would not brush her hand, then launched the spear hidden inside her sleeve.
She twisted her arm in circles like rubber, and at the instant she thrust, her sharpened hand-spear spun like a drill and pierced her opponent─a secret technique possible only for Wakamo, whose body could freely change form.
Even when that vicious blow tore away his flank as though it had been bitten off and sent blood spraying, the Orc Shaman let out a roar rather than a cry of pain and cast a buff on himself.
Just as his green skin turned red and his muscles seemed to swell slightly beyond their previous size, the Orc Shaman drove his elbow into Wakamo's shoulder.
She dodged the hand trying to seize her, shrank into child-sized Wakamo to create distance, and just as though he had been waiting for it, the Orc Shaman's eyes flashed open.
[Stats]
Mana: 593,002 -> 592,002.
A veil of illusion created through [Idol's Form].
When that illusion, enlarged as much as possible and containing 1,000 Mana, was engulfed by [Mana Burn]─her vision turned white, and it exploded with a thunderous boom, rough flames swallowing Wakamo and hurling her far away.
Though she happened to be in midair─Wakamo had tasted the power of a [Skill] that might as well have existed solely to kill her.
[Stats]
Mana: 592,002 -> 174,562.
The [Mana Burn] that spread through the illusion pierced [Idol's Form] and reached Wakamo even though she had used Substitute.
Lying facedown, she watched the scene of what had once been her Mana burning the air, the earth, and everything around it.
A direct hit would have killed her instantly.
This was all she had suffered even with the attack partially blocked.
Moreover, the caster of [Mana Burn] had his eyes closed as though the explosion of Wakamo's Mana had done no damage to him at all. Maybe the explosion's damage could not affect him, but its light still could...?
The weakness throughout her body was severe.
Her vision split in two, her ears rang, and she even felt dizzy. Her entire body felt as though it had sunk underwater.
She understood how vulnerable an existence made entirely of Mana was to [Mana Burn]....!!
In a battle to the death, neither side could always have an overwhelming advantage.
Four hundred and twenty thousand from a graze...!! An instant death upon contact!!
But.
Without a moment's hesitation, this was a technique I could use on myself!!
She rose from the spot and hunched her body.
Without giving the Orc Shaman, who seemed to realize what she was about to do and tried to move, even a chance to react, she quickly slipped into his embrace.
The Orc Shaman glared at her, his eyes blazing as if ready to burn Wakamo to death─but there was nothing there.
With ghostlike footwork, Wakamo slipped behind him, and the wrist of the hand he had thrust toward her was already trapped.
The Orc Shaman was startled and tried to turn around, but he could not.
"......I'm lucky."
Wakamo's voice came from behind him as she grinned.
"To throw a punch carelessly at a master.... I'll be grateful that you don't understand how reckless that is.... because you're a monster."
The sensation she felt clearly told her that her back was pressed against his back.
"I can't use something like this on a Golem."
A technique that did not exist in taekwondo.
Without giving him even a moment to perform a breakfall, she seized his arm, swung him around, and slammed his head into the ground.
『The Throw』 she had learned from the Fist King!!
Boom─!!!
His head struck the ground with all her strength, but what Wakamo saw was something translucent.
He had protected himself with [Mana Shield].
Of course. He was a shaman, after all.
But even that had apparently reached its limit from the impact of [Mana Burn], because cracks spread across it before it shattered.
His head was hidden beneath Wakamo's figure, while his arm dangled limply, dislocated from being thrown.
Showing a momentary opening to a master was a fatal mistake. He would never have another chance to rise.
Crack─!!
[Incheon Tower Floor 19 has achieved the Platinum conditions and is now open to all humanity!!]
[Rewards are being settled due to the Tower's Platinum clear]
She brushed the dust from her shoulder.
A clean, flawless, perfect finish.
Wakamo was still dizzy as though drunk, but she remained standing.
She stood there as if to show the Tower clearly that she was someone it could not kill.
This was a silent protest and demonstration.
[Please choose 1 reward]
[Idol's Protection]
-Bestows a buff on believers in proportion to the floor number.
[Companion Buff]
-Believer recovery speed +50%.
[Blessing Acquired]
-Believer disease resistance (Small)
"Hoo....."
[You acquired the blessing [Believer Disease Resistance (Small)]!]
Occupation-Specific Skill 【Broadcast Points】
-The points accumulated from broadcasting can be used to bestow a blessing upon believers.
Current Points: 37
[Believer Disease Resistance (Small)-1 point per person]
"That's awfully minor, Tower."
Well, an idol was not a god, so perhaps that was only natural.
There was no [Attack Skill].
Even though she was about to climb to Floor 20, what could the Tower possibly be trying to tell her?
Was it telling her that since she had not chosen it, she should bear the consequences of her own foolishness?
The one who wants to win more─controls the contest.
The resolve that showed who wanted to win more in this contest.
That would, naturally, be the climb.
"Shall we go?"
With her hair flying behind her, Wakamo stepped forward without hesitation.
-Fuck, am I really seeing what I think I'm seeing...?
-Why is the boss from the British Tower's Floor 50 here??
-Boss, get out of the Tower right now. You'll really die.
-Why is it so scary today... Boss... take it slow...
-Something is wrong. I'm scared, boss....
[You are climbing the Incheon Tower Floor 20 World]
-[Wakamo Inarizushi]'s achievements as a Climber increase the difficulty!
-Overcome the [Elite Boss Monster]!
-Defeat the [Devourer of Spirit and Flesh by Mana Burn].
[Platinum Achievement Conditions]
-[Defeat the [Devourer of Spirit and Flesh by Mana Burn] (0/1)
What appeared before her was a gigantic ghost.
The undead monster looked like a screaming figure covered by a blanket, and it could not even be struck without a Skill of the [Holy] type.
It was as though the Tower had produced an opponent Wakamo could never defeat, reminding her that an idol was only an idol─not a god.
Because it was a ghost, physical attacks had no effect.
The burning [Devourer of Spirit and Flesh] was on fire because its Mana was being consumed by [Mana Burn], so contact would kill Wakamo instantly.
The way to clear it was to leave the Tower, request support from Britain, and bring in consumables.
[Kusanagi's Sword] was only Mythic in rank and did not possess anything like [Holy], so it would not work.
But Wakamo merely smiled.
This time, there was no [Tower Exit] penalty.
She had realized the reason Floor 19 existed the moment she reached Floor 20.
─That even if the Tower was unreasonable, it always left open the possibility of victory.
That it made the Climber choose every option for themselves.
She summoned [My Worlds] somewhere the camera could not see and greeted the viewers.
"Thank you all for watching my broadcast─and we reached 600,000 subscribers! Love you all~"
Thanks to climbing three floors in a row, her subscribers in both Korea and Japan had risen sharply, and she had finally reached 600,000.
Even if the Tower did not recognize her, if her believers did, then Wakamo had won, and Wakamo was happy.
Therefore─no matter how unreasonable it was.
She had no intention of quitting either VTuber broadcasting or climbing the Tower.
[Stats]
Mana: 605,321.
She squeezed every last bit of her Mana to its limit, packed it into her fingernail, and fired it away.
In practical terms, it had very little power.
It simply contained a lot of Mana.
They said that a [Wizard] who had reached Floor 20 had around 2,000 Mana.
If that was true.... What about my 600,000 Mana?
[Stats]
Mana: 605,321. -> 112.
Before her fingernail could burn in Mana Burn and its light spread, she closed the portal.
She sat in a chair and took a sip of the tea Yu Ying had prepared.
"As expected, a cup of tea after a broadcast is nice."
As her Mana was shaved away, Wakamo drank the Mana Potion Manager had prepared for her─a potion made with poison by Yu Ying, but one that restored Mana─and waited calmly.
And finally.
[Incheon Tower Floor 20 has achieved the Platinum conditions and is now open to all humanity!!]
[Humanity's first successful achievement of 20 consecutive Platinum floors]
[The area 『Wakamo Inarizushi Floor 1』 has been additionally provided within Korea's Incheon Tower of 100 floors!]
[This floor combines every area from Floor 1 through Floor 20 into a new environment and consists of an area measuring 630㎢]
She opened the portal again and crossed over. Seeing the hellish sight of Floor 20, so devastated that it was impossible to recognize anything, Wakamo gasped in admiration.
Standing before a blast crater that looked as though it would have taken a nuclear explosion to create, Wakamo turned on the camera and began recording.
"Well, well, who would have thought the British Floor 50 boss would commit suicide with [Mana Burn]? What a pathetic finish♠"
She smiled so the believers would think well of her─and so the Tower would hear her.
"Well then, I suppose this contest... is a victory for me, the one who survived♣"