Chapter 76
My current level was 166.
My Strength, Agility, Sense, and Intelligence had all reached around 135.
But that was no reason to feel reassured.
I had no confidence that I had reached the level needed to face that enormous army.
I pressed refresh.
Reactions poured into the gallery beneath my report that the Blood Knight had been defeated and that there were dozens of intruders.
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ(349F) : You said they came earlier. They came again?
ㅇㅇ(312F) : Fuck, why are so many of them suddenly coming? What the hell?
ㅇㅇ(426F) : Spirit Entity No. 1 dead ㅇㅇ
ㅇㅇ(636F) : At least forty? We're screwed…
ㅇㅇ(543F) : No, why are there so many?
ㅇㅇ(702F) : They're ganging up on the Blood Knight ㅠㅠ
ㅇㅇ(340F) : We won't know for sure what kind they are until they reach the Beholder floor on the 140th floor…
ㅇㅇ(249F) : I hope they checked that there were no gold coins and went back down.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : If there aren't any, they'll come farther up looking for them.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(351F) : Is that so;;;
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(249F) : It's fine. If we hit them with the Sun God, they'll die~
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(468F) : Even after thinking about it again, not giving us a break is fucking absurd. Why does the Demon King get to do whatever the hell he wants?
That was when it happened.
The user on the 574th floor, who always offered sharp advice, appeared in the comments.
ㅇㅇ(574F) : Newbie, please kill all the monsters with your scythe from now on and nullify their resurrection. You know that now, right?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(324F) : ?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(754F) : Isn't that a bit much right now…
The discussion was about whether I should leave the Tower's monsters alive while climbing.
Ever since it was revealed that my scythe possessed the power to nullify resurrection, it had always been a contentious topic in the gallery.
The user on the 574th floor had always argued for keeping the Tower as empty as possible, and was reiterating that opinion at this particular moment.
Earlier, I had decided to revive the monsters once every twenty floors.
I had no choice but to choose that compromise.
Both sides had reasonable arguments.
First, those who thought the monsters should be eliminated argued that there was no reason to give the intruders experience.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(399F) : 574F is right. We could just meet them quickly and burn them all with the Sun God, so why are we needlessly making them stronger?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(643F) : Because they'll taste better after we've raised them.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(399F) : Fuck offㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Insect King : They would get more experience, thoughㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Then came a succession of opinions from those who believed the monsters that could serve as breakwaters should be left alone.
ㄴ Fenrir : Why are you trying to clear the way for them? We need to wear the intruders down with fatigue first, I told you???
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(324F) : For real, for real.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(249F) : Agreed. I was about to learn Death Half or whatever, so I need to buy time to train.
That made plenty of sense. The Tower offered ways to grow stronger besides experience.
But there was a flaw in that last comment.
Death Mark and Death Half were single-target skills.
They didn't seem like they would be effective against an army of dozens.
So for now, they had been pushed entirely off the priority list.
Thinking that, I faced the owner of the 162nd floor standing in my way.
[Defender: Corrupted Werewolf (162F)]
I left the gallery window open as I faced its clawing attack.
“Black Shift.”
As I teleported behind it, I chained together four forms.
“Full Moon.”
Kwoooong—!
A round hole appeared in the werewolf's torso.
That's right.
I had chosen to empty the Tower, as the user on the 574th floor had suggested.
Watching it turn to ash and disappear, I typed on the keyboard.
ㅇㅇ(162F)(Author) : I've been climbing from the 142nd floor, killing as many monsters as possible with my scythe. I'm still doing that now.
As soon as the comment went up, the gallery fell silent for a moment.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(461F) : You really decided to do that…?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(312F) : Huh? Why did the number in Newbie's username just go up by one in real time?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(249F) : He's serious, fuckㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(420F) : No, it's going up right now?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(162F)(Author) : I'm running the gallery with one mind.
ㄴ SSS-Rank Gearhead : Amazingㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎ
ㄴ Fenrir : Is this guy seriously insane?????
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(405F) : Wow, climbing while looking at the gallery? What the fuck, is this another new technique…
ㄴ Seol Harin : Seoyun… I don't think this is right…
Even the mage gallery users, who must have had multiple selves like me, were amazed.
But thinking about it, the mages had no choice but to be surprised.
Mages had to use Multicasting during promotion matches, so they wouldn't have any consciousness to spare.
But I was using a scythe, so I had one consciousness left over.
Because I had to prevent the monsters from reviving.
ㅇㅇ(574F) : As expected, you knew without me having to explain?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(710F) : What? Did you two just understand each other?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(249F) : What are you talking about?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(574F) : Think a little. Magic hits a wall starting at the 7th Circle.
“Oh.”
The user on the 574th floor had mentioned Circles.
It became clear that his thoughts and mine had aligned perfectly.
After that, the user on the 574th floor went on to recite exactly what I had been thinking.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(574F) : Let me explain. Newbie can currently train in three broad areas.
…
…
There were three main things I could currently train.
1. Black magic derived from instant-death skills.
2. Weapon arts.
3. Magic.
Those were the three.
For number one, the black magic derived from instant-death skills, my next step would be Death Half. But as I said earlier, learning a single-target skill right now would be an enormous waste of time.
As for number two, weapon arts could be trained while climbing the Tower.
That meant the only thing worth buying training time for by leaving the Tower's current monsters as a breakwater was number three: magic.
More specifically, gaining Circles. I would have to sit cross-legged, after all.
Thanks to mastering Circle Overdrive, I could use magic up to the next Circle.
Therefore, if I gained the 5th Circle, I could learn magic up to the 6th Circle.
But I had heard that the difficulty rose sharply starting with 7th-Circle magic.
Because of that, obtaining two or more Circles would be inefficient.
In other words.
The training time I needed for maximum efficiency had already been allocated.
Since I could gain one Circle right away, even a little time would suffice.
So there was little reason to buy time for training.
I judged that this wouldn't be more efficient than killing monsters for experience; if the intruders gained experience, they might even close the gap.
That was the logic behind why I had started killing monsters with my scythe from the 142nd floor.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(574F) : Do you understand now?
…
It was astonishing that I had arrived at exactly the same detailed line of reasoning as the user on the 574th floor.
The gallery users continued reacting afterward.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(643F) : I understand perfectly! (I don't understand)
ㄴ Fenrir : …It does sound plausible.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(436F) : You think so?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(587F) : Is this what thinking alike looks like?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(557F) : It's a bit of a leap to be sure that 6th-Circle magic can be used with Overdriveㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Seol Harin : No… If it's Seoyun, I think it's possible…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(557F) : Seriously?
Then someone asked a fundamental question.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(312F) : Ah, but do the intruders actually gain experience when they kill monsters like we do?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(643F) : It would be hilarious if they weren't getting stronger and had just been shadowboxing this whole timeㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(574F) : Then that's a good thing. And we'll find out when the intruders reach the 140th floor and Newbie observes them through the Beholder. I left all the monsters from the 122nd to the 139th floors alive.
After that, the user on the 574th floor said this to me.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(574F) : Newbie, we'll need to compare and analyze the intruders when they reach the floor with the Beholder, so tell us in more detail about the fluctuations you sensed from the Blood Knight. What did their combat power feel like?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(162F)(Author) : Okay, okay…
I could tell how many variables the user on the 574th floor was taking into account.
Since the Blood Knight had no head and therefore possessed a sensory system unfamiliar to me, I might not easily notice the difference between what I observed through the Beholder and what I had sensed through the Blood Knight.
Therefore, as the user on the 574th floor requested, I had to describe in greater detail the sensation of the intruders' strength that I had felt through the Blood Knight.
Some of the gallery users probably had sensory systems similar to the Blood Knight's.
At that moment, someone offered an optimistic opinion.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : But even if the intruders level up and grow stronger, wouldn't the Sun God's Wrath wipe them all out in one hit?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(574F) : We have to assume the worst.
The immediate answer from the user on the 574th floor resonated deeply with me.
I might be able to burn those intruders to ashes easily with the Sun God's Wrath.
It was also possible that the intruders had no concept of experience at all and wouldn't grow any stronger even if they killed the Tower's monsters.
Or perhaps they had already confirmed that the 100th floor was empty of treasure and turned back.
They might even die to the monsters on the middle floors that I had left alive without preventing their revival.
But all of that was wishful thinking in my favor.
It was better not to entertain such naive thoughts.
The value of preparation was revealed precisely when you planned for the worst.
ㅇㅇ(162F)(Author) : I want to train at the same time while I'm here. Users with named accounts, please post anything I can learn right now.
ㄴ Fenrir : Didn't you say you're climbing…
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(351F) : He says he's learning while fighting at the same timeㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(249F) : What a lunatic.
I summoned all my masters.
There was no time to learn them one by one.
This was an emergency. I had to get into combat readiness.
It was time to mobilize every means at my disposal and raise my capabilities.
I would become as strong as possible in the shortest time.
When I made that emergency plan in my mind, the weapon arts master's comment arrived first.
ㄴ Sword Venerable Jihee : Hone the fifth form of Moon Wheel Swordsmanship, Full Moon, and increase the size of the moon. When the diameter of Full Moon fills half a wall, I have a secret technique to teach you.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(162F)(Author) : Understood.
Next came a comment from the necromancer with the named account.
ㄴ Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : Now that the Blood Knight has died, there are two slots again for spirit entities that can undergo the Blood Spirit Tea Ceremony ^^ I'll compile a list of monsters suitable for becoming spirit entities on floors near Newbie ^^
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(162F)(Author) : Thank you for looking for them personally!
And I spoke to my magic teacher, Seol Harin.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(162F)(Author) : Could you send me links to the magic circles and incantations for 4th- and 5th-Circle spells? I want to use them in combat right now.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(461F) : Is 5th-Circle Overdrive the default now? Didn't you say you were killing them with a scythe?
ㄴ Seol Harin : So you're planning to use the scythe only for the final blow…?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(162F)(Author) : Yeah.
I would soften the monsters with magic until they were on the verge of death, then finish them with my scythe to prevent revival.
That was the idea I came up with.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(312F) : Oh. That should work.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(543F) : No way, you're planning to learn spells beyond your current maximum Circle while fighting?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : You already one-cast-cleared the 5th-Circle spell Blinkㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Seol Harin : All right, Seoyun… If it's you, maybe it's possible.
‘Good.’
After I showed my intention to accomplish all of this while climbing the Tower, shocked reactions poured in.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(439F) : …Is this really okay?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(335F) : His jack-of-all-trades behavior is seriously insaneㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Fenrir : In all my life… What kind of speedrun is this…
ㄴ SSS-Rank Gearhead : This is so funㅎ
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(643F) : No one's chasing you from the floors below, so why are you in such a hurry?;;
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(162F)(Author) : ?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(345F) : They're messing with Newbieㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
At the same time as I read the comments teasing me, I opened the door to the 163rd floor.
[Defender: Steel-Thorn Taurus (163F)]
A minotaur covered from head to toe in steel horns.
It was a typical tank-type monster.
The resistance of carapace-type monsters like this made them difficult to cut with a scythe, so I had to stab their joints.
Even without the strategy I had just decided on, it would have been difficult to use the scythe right away against this one.
I clicked the link to the collection of 4th- and 5th-Circle spells that Seol Harin had uploaded.
And in that moment, I was taken aback.
It wasn't one of the old posts that had already been on the gallery.
It was a fresh post that had just been written.
She was even still editing it.
Thankfully, she was organizing, one after another, the 4th- and 5th-Circle elemental spells that would be useful against the monsters appearing from the 163rd floor onward, tailored to their affinities.
‘She said she started with the 12th Circle in the 700s…’
She had clearly memorized not only every magic circle and incantation for every spell with information available in the gallery, but also the Demon King's Tower's monster list and the methods for defeating them.
<Kroaaaah—!!>
The minotaur on the 163rd floor charged at me with its steel horns first.
I read the incantation in the gallery with one eye while moving my lips.
At the same time, I gathered mana at my fingertips and drew a magic circle in the air.
“◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆… Lightning Shot!”
Zzzzt—! Kwoooong—!!
The lightning missile fired from the magic circle struck its steel carapace head-on.
The current coursed through its armor and tore through its insides.
<Grrrk…!>
It was electrocuted, stopped in its tracks, and staggered.
I didn't miss that opening.
“Black Shift.”
I moved behind it and slashed toward the spine of the creature whose shell had been damaged.
“Full Moon.”
Shaaak—!
Krrrck—!
[Successfully defeated the Steel-Thorn Taurus on the 163rd floor]
The finishing move was always the same.
But unless the Tower's monsters had a group chat of their own, there was no way they would discover my one-pattern strategy.
“I do have something like a group chat.”
*
I continued climbing based on that overwhelming information advantage.
164 165 166…
170 171 172…
180.
I finished climbing all the way to the 180th floor in one go.
As I continued using the scythe, the circle drawn by Full Moon's slash grew larger and larger, just as Sword Saint Jihee had said. It seemed it wouldn't be long before its diameter filled half a wall.
Every spell Seol Harin uploaded activated as soon as I recited its incantation and drew its magic circle.
Even I had to admit that was incredible.
Wasn't the gallery hologram floating beside me practically a spellbook containing all the magic I could use?
Then came the 181st floor.
Whiiiiir—!
“◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆…Hydro Burst”
Using the water magic of 5th-Circle Overdrive, I drove the monster to the verge of death, then finished it with my scythe.
[Successfully defeated the Blaze Raptor on the 181st floor]
[Level Up! 184Lv -> 185Lv]
[Acquired 3 stat points!]
“Phew…”
I stopped and shook the droplets of water off my clothes.
I allocated my stat points.
[Agility increased by 1]
[Sense increased by 1]
[Intelligence increased by 1]
My Strength, Agility, Sense, and Intelligence were now all 149.
I had climbed twenty floors, so according to the plan I'd had before the emergency, it was time to meditate and gain a Circle.
But.
I was currently under a combat-readiness DEFCON alert.
I decided to try something a little different.
“I still have some room to spare.”