Chapter 32
The golem's weakness was the countless gaps between its parts.
Every single joint.
Every connection between the chunks of iron that made it up was a weak point.
There was no way it had any protection against dust or water.
And not long ago, I had learned magic that could control liquids.
I stared at the place where red blood mist was slowly leaking out.
The Blood Knight's nape.
Keeping my eyes on that spot, I snapped my fingers.
“Blood Command.”
At the same time, I rotated the Second Circle in my dantian.
Whiiiiir-!
The blood mist gushing from the Blood Knight's neck reacted to my mana and began to take shape.
The mist compressed tightly, then soon began changing into drops of blood.
I manipulated the liquid with my fingers, directing it toward the golem's joints.
Shwoooosh-!
Since the golem and Blood Knight were pressed tightly together, it was easy.
Blood flowing from the cross-section of the Blood Knight's neck began worming into the gaps in the armor.
I felt the droplets of blood that had seeped into various places inside the golem.
And then, after imagining grinder blades...
I clenched and twisted my outstretched hand.
Crack-!
Then.
Krrrrrrrk-!!
The blood that had burrowed inside spun like saw blades, wildly churning through the insides of the golem's joints.
Crash-!
Sparks began flying like mad.
The magnetic field that had been glowing blue and binding the Blood Knight flickered irregularly, then...
Pssshiiiii-!
The golem's power completely shut down, spewing black smoke.
The moment the magnetism disappeared.
“Blood Knight. Cut it down.”
Freed from the magnetic force, the Blood Knight unleashed in one burst the power it had gathered in both arms.
The greatsword slashed horizontally toward the breastplate of the golem, which was already battered beyond recognition.
Kwaaaang-!
The blade entered the central core.
The enormous mass of metal split apart vertically and collapsed.
[Successfully defeated the Floor 80 Magnetta Iron Golem]
[You have won the duel with the Floor Master and become the master of this floor.]
[Promotion reward: 7,900G acquired!]
[Level Up! 80Lv -> 81Lv]
[Obtained 3 Stat Points!]
“Phew.”
[Strength stat increased by 1.]
[Agility stat increased by 2.]
After assigning my stats, I took a picture of the shattered golem and the Blood Knight brushing iron fragments off its greatsword.
______
Title: Broke through Floor 80. Won using Blood Command
Author: ㅇㅇ(80F)
{Photo of the Magnetta Iron Golem's remains and the Blood Knight}
This is a picture of the final floor.
It was a monster that used a magnetic gimmick, so I deliberately had the Blood Knight stick to it, then tried using Blood Command with the blood mist.
I put blood through the gaps in the golem, transformed it into a saw-blade shape, and stirred everything up.
Blood Command < This thing seems really good. It can attack like this, and it can heal the Blood Knight too.
______
I pressed refresh.
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ(312F) : ?
ㅇㅇ(249F) : I seriously can't get used to the floor number changing by 20 every time he comes back lololol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(354F) : The basic unit is 20 floors now, yeah.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(568F) : Cleared 20 floors in an hour lol
ㅇㅇ(347F) : Wasn't there anything tough? ;;
ㅇㅇ(635F) : No way, he pushed straight to Floor 80 lololololol
“Huh? True. It's only been an hour?”
Come to think of it, that was record-breaking speed.
Partly because raising my Agility so much had caused my mobility to skyrocket,
but the Blood Knight fighting in my place had made a huge difference.
ㅇㅇ(243F) : No way;;;; You already used Blood Command offensively? A mere Second Circle???
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(643F) : No, with this kind of magical talent, you could probably just stick with it. It's such a damn waste that you put points into Strength and Agility.
ㅇㅇ(513F) : He's not even a vampire, so what the hell is he, seriously.
KnowsTheLeisureOfATeacup : Your ingenuity in using Blood Command to heal an undead body is amazing too! ^^
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : He figured out undead-body healing on his own lol It's seriously ridiculous;;;;;
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(653F) : Guess it's because he doesn't realize he did something difficult lololol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : He seems proud of using it as an attack spell, but healing is actually fucking hard, and he just glossed over the important part in one sentence lololol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(529F) : I can use undead-body healing too, so praise me.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(324F) : ?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : He hasn't even been using Blood Command for a day…
The reactions to my various uses of Blood Command were heated as well.
“I really do seem to have talent.”
Until now, whenever I merely pictured an image in my mind, it had never failed to take shape as I imagined.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(80F)(Author) : Healing was definitely harder. It was difficult to recreate it precisely in the shape it needed to be restored to.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : Why the hell did you make it precise lololololololololololololololol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(80F)(Author) : Gasp. Was I not supposed to?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : It's not that you weren't supposed to; you could've just soldered it roughly...
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(643F) : You were making it harder than it needed to be lololololololol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(279F) : How did he make the shape so precisely...? The Blood Knight's armor looked really complicated.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(529F) : Me too! I can sculpt with blood!! Want me to show you???
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(354F) : Please, bro.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(529F) : ㅠ
Everyone was praising my talent.
But.
The [Death Mark] I'd set as my goal was still something I hadn't learned.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(80F)(Author) : But I stared at 19 corpses, and still nothing has happened? Why is Death Mark so hard to learn?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : Hey, you crazy bastard lol
A sudden barrage of profanity came flying at me.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : Do you have any idea how long it's been?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(702F) : Looooooooool
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : Someone with less than 100 Intelligence is asking why he hasn't learned a branch of instant-death black magic in an hour lolololololol
Hmm.
Is an hour too short?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : Even if you learned Evil Eye, mastering it in an hour is ridiculous. That...
ㄴ DeathNoteTripitaka : Of course! It's a technique that takes at least years of training just to grasp the first clue!
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : But everything so far was supposed to take years, and he learned it right away, didn't he? lol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(648F) : Seriously, why is he the only one playing in units of hours...
Is that how it is?
Maybe trying to learn in an hour what took others years was simply my own greed.
Even so, I decided to at least explain how things had progressed so far.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(80F)(Author) : But earlier, whenever I looked at the corpses, I focused mana into both eyes, and I could faintly see red and black lines like heat haze over them... What exactly should I do from here? I climbed while continuing to imagine driving mana into the places where those lines overlapped.
And a few seconds later.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : ?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : ????????
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : Hey, wait a second.
ㄴ DeathNoteTripitaka : …
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : What's going on?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(312F) : Did Newbie cause another incident?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : Then didn't some kind of mark appear on the surface of the corpses?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(80F)(Author) : Oh, yes. It was only for a very brief moment, but something appeared and then disappeared.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : That's impossible...
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : What is it lol
The answer that came back was astonishing.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : You already know how to do it...
Huh?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(465F) : ????????
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(643F) : Lololol, you already learned it?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(358F) : Mastered the second technique of Reaper black magic in one hour lololololol
ㄴ DeathNoteTripitaka : If a red mark appeared... then there's no doubt.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : He thought he hadn't learned it lol
“Seriously...”
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(80F)(Author) : The explanation was really long... so I thought it would take a long time.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(676F) : Slight paraphrase: It's because you gave such a long-winded explanation of this piss-easy skill.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(241F) : Looooooooool
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : …You should be able to use it now...
“Good. I'll try using it after I wake up.”
I was fairly exhausted.
It seemed the speed at which I'd defeated them had nothing to do with my fatigue.
“It seems fatigue is determined only by the monsters defeated.”
After that, I checked the remaining time exactly.
[Guardian duty will be temporarily suspended for 07:05:12!]
“Seven hours!”
I could recharge fully again.
I could use up all my fatigue.
Though it hadn't been long since I'd woken up, the thought that I could sleep again made me incredibly happy.
Why did this make me so happy?
I hadn't even been the kind of person who liked sleeping that much.
Could it be because of what I'd accomplished during this period awake?
There had been plenty of noteworthy achievements.
Obtaining the Second Circle.
Breaking through Level 81.
And the instant-death-derived black magic I'd just discovered to have awakened: Death Mark.
Those were things I'd gained in just three hours since saying I would walk the hexagonal path.
“I'll eat and then go to sleep.”
I set up camp again.
After taking out a chair and table, a tent, and all the necessary equipment...
“Nom nom.”
After finishing my meal...
I asked the Blood Knight to set an alarm, just as last time, and
went into the tent and lay down with a snack bag under my head.
“I'll sleep soundly and wake up... mmm...”
Somehow, I was now looking forward to meeting the monster on the next floor.
Zzz-.
.
.
.
I opened my eyes wide and raised my upper body.
The Blood Knight was holding my arm.
“Good job.”
I stretched and checked the holographic time.
[Guardian duty will be temporarily suspended for 00:03:15!]
“Back from vacation...”
There were exactly three minutes left.
“Perfect.”
The thought that I could reach Floor 100 in this cycle gave me a special feeling.
It had been verified that no intruder had ever entered any floor beyond Floor 100 in history.
Therefore, as long as I didn't kill the Floor 100 monster with my scythe, as I had done all the way from Floor 61 onward... the monster would revive, and by extension, I could reach a floor whose safety had been confirmed.
The reason I'd been going full throttle until now.
Was to reach Floor 100.
I swept the tent and assorted junk into my inventory and gripped my scythe.
“Your name was Voidside… You'll be sealed for a while, but wait for me.”
It was the trump card I'd use in dangerous moments when I absolutely had to use an instant-death skill.
Instead, my current main fighter was this guy.
“Let's go.”
The Blood Knight.
It followed behind me.
[Apply for promotion match]