Chapter 19
Today, too, I opened the door leading to the 10th floor without hesitation.
Even if it was a boss fight, I wasn't afraid anymore.
After obtaining the Eye Opening skill, I had become incomparably stronger than before.
[Entering the Tower's 10th Floor (EXTREME).]
The scenery before my eyes was clearly different from what I'd seen up to the 9th floor.
It wasn't a vast grassland, nor a damp cave.
The stage of the 10th floor was a crude circular arena built from massive stone.
It was a space that reminded me of an ancient colosseum.
And in the middle of the arena, one guy was sitting on a stone throne.
A build on a completely different level from any orc I'd seen so far.
Scars covered his entire body, and he wore menacing bone armor. On top of that, a huge double-bladed axe, as large as the upper half of a human body, rested on his knees.
At a glance, it was obvious he wasn't an ordinary orc.
I decided to name him the Orc Warchief.
The guy slowly lifted his head. His red eyes pierced me.
I calmly spread both hands.
“Sand Swamp.”
The stone floor beneath my feet cracked as sand surged upward.
I immediately cast Sand Totem.
This time, I made the body double 2 meters tall, larger than usual.
For good reason too—if that guy swung once, an ordinary totem would probably get smashed.
The sand instantly clumped together, creating two copies of myself.
I thrust my fingers into the copies and linked my consciousness to them. They opened their mouths at my command.
“This is our territory.”
“Yeah, scram already.”
The two sand dolls that looked like me stood on either side and said arrogantly with their arms crossed. They looked pretty cool.
But the Orc Warchief didn't even snort.
He simply rose silently from the throne and slung the massive axe over his shoulder.
“Krooooooar!”
A roar that seemed to shake the entire building.
The moment he kicked off the ground, the whole arena rang out. The way he charged looked like a giant truck.
I immediately sent the duplicates forward.
A head-on collision was impossible.
My goal was to buy time.
But the guy's speed far exceeded my expectations.
Before the duplicate could even react, the massive axe sliced through the air like a flash of light.
CRACK!
The sand duplicate was split clean in two at the waist. In a single blow.
“What kind of attack power is that...”
I controlled the remaining duplicate to slip around to the side.
It was aiming for his flank.
At the same time, I stepped back and fired a hail of sand bullets.
From Sand Swamp, dozens of bullets shot toward the Orc Warchief like a rainstorm.
Ssh-sh-sh-shk—!
As if the orc didn't even register the duplicate charging in from the side, he swung the axe like a giant shield and blocked the bullets.
Clang-clang-clang!
With the unpleasant screech of metal scraping, most of the bullets were deflected.
Those sand bullets had torn through thick shields without fail until now.
And he was knocking away dozens of them and still fine?
That weapon was no joke.
A few of the shots did lodge in his armor, but they couldn't bore in deeply.
In the meantime, the duplicate that had slipped to the side grabbed onto his leg and latched on.
“Worrah!”
The orc casually swung his foot once, as if annoyed.
The duplicate was kicked away like a soccer ball, slammed into the arena wall, and shattered to pieces.
The two duplicates vanished in vain within just a few seconds.
I was sweating cold as I poured the emergency sandbag I had brought onto the floor.
Enough sand for two sand totems piled up in front of me.
I scooped up even the sand scattered far away and summoned the totems again.
This time, I went all out and created four at once.
Fortunately, I still had plenty of mana left.
The four duplicates charged the orc from all sides at once and clung to his thick legs.
“You damn pig...”
“...I won't let go.”
Four sand dolls with my face shouted in different voices as they clung to him.
Apparently even he couldn't shake off four at once, because he was standing his ground, swinging his axe and smashing each totem's head one by one.
Taking advantage of that opening, I prepared another bullet.
This time, it wasn't just any ordinary bullet.
I mobilized all the mana I had gained through Eye Opening.
I had to gather every last bit of mana and pour it into a single shot.
I braced one arm with the other.
That was the maximum area I could turn into sand.
My entire right arm transformed into a thick, elongated bullet.
It was a spell I had only ever imagined in theory and never actually tested, because I was worried it might obliterate the school athletic field.
I slowly spun the elongated bullet.
The bullet spinning on top of my arm radiated a presence far more oppressive than the ones before it.
It looked less like a bullet and more like a stake—a pile bunker.
The Orc Warchief seemed to sense the danger too.
He roared as he desperately shook off the duplicates clinging to his body.
One by one, the duplicates burst apart, but I didn't care.
‘Now.’
The moment he brought his axe down on the last duplicate.
I fired the bullet, pouring my full strength into the heart that was laid bare and defenseless.
BOOOOM—!
With a deafening blast that shook the arena, a huge hole was blown through the Orc Warchief's chest.
The Orc Warchief's red eyes widened in disbelief.
The bullet kept flying until it hit the arena wall.
KWAANG!
One side of the arena wall collapsed without resistance.
“Krrrk...”
The Orc Warchief's massive body slowly toppled forward.
A thick cloud of dust rose, and the short but grueling battle came to an end.
“Haa...”
I slumped down right there and drew in ragged breaths.
I was completely drained of mana.
Then, a familiar yet unfamiliar message appeared.
[The Orc Warchief remembers you.]
“Ah, shit. What the hell is this ominous message?”
I couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling.
It was an ominous message, as if it promised something to come.
I forced the message out of my mind and walked toward where the orc had fallen.
At the spot where the boss collapsed, one item lay on the ground. It was the huge double-bladed axe he had been using.
[Orc Warchief's Battle Axe]
[Rank: Unique]
[On attack, 5% chance to absorb HP equal to 10% of the damage dealt]
[Strength +30]
“Life steal and a +30 stat? That's insane.”
As expected of a Unique-rank item, the options were excellent.
“Heave-ho.”
I lifted the axe with both hands.
Its heavy weight traveled through my arms.
But thanks to the all-stat bonus I'd stacked up bit by bit, it wasn't too heavy to lift. I had enough strength.
I squeezed out every last drop of mana I had left and summoned one sand duplicate.
Then I had the duplicate pick up the axe. The duplicate also held it steadily without wobbling.
Good, so at least I can use it.
I controlled the duplicate and had it swing the axe.
Whoosh—
The sound cutting through the air was heavy, but that was all.
Even to an amateur like me, the motion was clumsy beyond belief.
Its center of gravity wobbled all over the place, and the attack trajectory was a mess.
It was like a child trying to swing a hammer meant for adults.
“This isn't going to work.”
I let out a short sigh.
The duplicate only copies my movements exactly. Its limits were my own knowledge and experience.
And I was a shut-in NEET who had never properly held even a tool in my life, let alone an axe.
I didn't have even a speck of combat sense.
There was no way a duplicate controlled by someone like me could use an axe properly.
In the end, I had no choice but to give up.
“Can't be helped. I'll have to sell this.”
More than anything, lugging around a ridiculously huge axe like this would draw way too much aggro.
Quietly climbing the tower like this would be impossible.
“Haa... Do I have to see that old man again?”
I sighed and thought of the broker.
The fact that I had to meet that old man, who gave me such a strange feeling, again really didn't sit right with me.
[Do you wish to leave the tower? Y/N]
I looked around me.
There might be a hidden piece tucked away somewhere in this vast arena, like on the 5th floor.
But I decided not to search any further.
I had no intention of meeting that crazy mage again and having my arm ripped off.
Besides, it seemed like the Magic Gallery users didn't know about the 10th floor hidden piece either.
I selected Y without hesitation.
With the familiar sensation of being pulled out of the tower, a new window appeared before my eyes.
[Special reward for clearing the 10th floor has been granted!]
“Huh? Something like that existed?”
Apparently, special rewards are given every ten floors. The contents of the reward were simple.
[Reward: Gold Skill Book]
Gold rank? Not bad.
Other people would probably bow and accept it, but with a Platinum skill, it was just so-so to me.
“I wish I could get a decent attack skill soon...”
Right now, I was starting to feel the limits of Sand Bullet.
Then, one alert after another appeared.
[You are the first to clear EXTREME difficulty!]
[First-clear bonus has been applied!]
[The rank of the skill book has increased!]
With a flash of light, the golden skill book transformed into a dazzling platinum-white.
“Huh? That applies here too?”
I hadn't expected the clear bonus to apply to the special reward as well. My heart started pounding.
If so, then could it be.
“W-What?”
[Rank 1 bonus has been applied!]
[The rank of the skill book has increased!]
My prediction was exactly right.
The skill book, which had been shining platinum-white, now began to gleam brilliantly with an indescribable rainbow light.
“This is insane...”
The A-rank Refrigerator.
A Rainbow-rank skill that even she supposedly had only one of.
It had appeared on the 10th floor.
With trembling hands, I pointed my phone at the skill book floating in the air.
I absolutely had to capture this historic moment in a photo.
Click, click—the shutter sounded again and again.
“If I post this, I'll get blocked instantly... but it's not like they can block me anyway, right?”
No matter how much money you had, or how good your gear was, so what?
The real value comes from social relationships.
In other words, if you obtained loot, you had to brag about it for it to truly be worth its price.
Just thinking about flexing already made me happy.
After finishing the photos, I reached out toward the rainbow-colored skill book with a solemn heart.
Maybe because it was rainbow-colored, even the feel of it seemed different.
The sensation at my fingertips was no ordinary one.
The skill book turned into light particles and seeped into my body. I checked the skill information with anticipation.
[Adaptive Skill: Weathering]
“Just hearing the name alone, you can tell this thing has a completely different vibe...”
I smiled in satisfaction.