Chapter 24
Chapter 24
The next day.
Sssssss!
Sang-hyeok's right hand grazed the ironwood soldier's chest.
As the red core inside the armor scattered into black sand, the massive body collapsed forward, limp.
THUD!
[Floor 11 Solo Trial: <Ironwood Barracks>]
[Ironwood Soldiers Defeated: 29/30]
[Times Hit: 0]
[Combat Interruption Time: 0.00s]
It was a trial where, after felling one soldier, he had to attack the next within three seconds to maintain the consecutive-defeat count.
Sang-hyeok used <Demonic Dragon’s Eye> only on the first soldier that appeared.
Wrists and knees.
The red core inside the armor.
Once he confirmed that every soldier shared the same structure, there was no need to examine their weak points again.
Each time his right hand grazed them, the ironwood soldiers' weapons and cores scattered into black sand, and Sang-hyeok moved past the collapsing bodies to charge straight at the next opponent.
While felling twenty-nine of them, his stride never once stopped.
Rrrrrumble!
The iron gate at the end of the barracks opened, and a giant twice the size of the previous soldiers strode out.
[Ironwood Captain]
[Lv.14]
As the creature raised its massive axe, new numbers appeared.
[Consecutive Defeat Maintenance Time: 02.41s]
Sang-hyeok did not wait for the axe to fall.
Whoosh!
Kicking off the floor, Sang-hyeok closed the distance in an instant, slipping inside the creature's guard.
The ironwood captain hurriedly brought the axe down, but—
'<Erasure>.'
Sssssss!
The black energy erased the axe blade and arm in one stroke, then drove straight into its chest.
The red core inside the armor darkened to black.
Crack!
The ironwood captain's enormous body dropped to its knees before Sang-hyeok.
[Ironwood Soldiers Defeated: 30/30]
「Floor 11 Solo Trial completed.」
[Times Hit: 0]
[Combat Interruption Time: 0.00s]
[Clear Time: 01:46]
[Conquest Rating: SSS]
「Your level has increased.」
[Lv.11 → Lv.12]
「<Flawless Climb> consecutive record updated.」
[Consecutive Solo Climb SSS Ratings: 11]
Sang-hyeok flexed his right hand and checked his remaining mana.
Even after felling thirty soldiers without rest, more than half remained.
<Spirit Vein Bracelet: Budding> drew in ambient mana to replenish what he spent, and <Demonic Dragon’s Bloodflow> circulated the mana passing through his heart throughout his body without obstruction.
Thanks to that, even while sprinting at full speed and unleashing <Erasure> in succession, neither his speed nor its power dropped in the slightest.
'Sustained combat is no problem now.'
Having confirmed that, Sang-hyeok closed the settlement window.
* * *
At the same time.
A new record appeared in the private observation room of the Second Seat <Limitless> in the United States.
[South Korea Undisclosed Player: 01:46]
[Second Seat <Limitless>'s Rookie-Era Record: 01:50]
An attendant checked the two records and reported.
"It is four seconds faster than the record the Second Seat set during his rookie days."
The difference was a mere four seconds.
But this was the first time anyone had surpassed a record Limitless had left on the lower floors.
"Someone has beaten one of my records."
There was no displeasure in Limitless's voice.
Rather, his gaze moved past the clear time to the detailed records attached below it.
[Times Hit: 0]
[Combat Interruption Time: 0.00s]
While facing thirty ironwood soldiers, his attacks and movement had never once been interrupted.
Nor had he abandoned defense to increase his speed.
"It isn't a record forced out by overexertion."
The attendant cautiously added an opinion.
"It is also possible that player's Trait was particularly well suited to consecutive defeats."
"That could be."
Limitless did not draw a conclusion from a single Floor 11 record.
Instead, he pulled up all the records the Undisclosed player had accumulated so far.
Two impossible achievements in the tutorial.
First complete conquest of the Floor 5 hidden trial.
First complete conquest of <Frozen Gorge>.
Looking only at the public results, there were no gaps.
But there was no way to know how they had cleared them, or how much mana and equipment they had expended in the process.
Limitless did not believe perfect results were given without any cost.
The trials and battlefields he had passed through had always demanded someone's burden, and Limitless had always taken the heaviest share himself.
Was that player also paying a price that did not show in the records?
Or did that player truly possess a solution Limitless did not know?
To confirm the answer, he needed more information than he had now.
"From now on, don't just report that they received the highest rating."
The attendant straightened.
"Attach the trial type and evaluation criteria. Every detailed record that can be confirmed."
"Understood."
Limitless gazed at Impossible One's record remaining on the screen for a moment longer.
He didn't simply want to know how many more times the SSS streak would continue.
What choices that player made in each trial, and what price they paid in the process.
From the next record onward, he intended to examine the process as well.
* * *
Three days after that.
Sang-hyeok climbed the tower without missing a single day.
Floor 12 <Crumbling Stone Bridge>.
As Sang-hyeok sprinted forward, the stone bridge behind him collapsed section by section.
Ahead, guardian soldiers blocked the path.
Sang-hyeok did not slow down.
He erased only the knees of those blocking his way with <Erasure>, and the guardian soldiers lost their balance and toppled.
The moment the path opened, he slipped through the gap in an instant.
[Stops: 0]
[Times Hit: 0]
[Conquest Rating: SSS]
[Lv.12 → Lv.13]
[<Flawless Climb>: 12 Consecutive]
On Floor 13 <Twin Guardians>, whenever one fell, the other revived its comrade.
It was a trial requiring both cores to be destroyed simultaneously.
Sang-hyeok lured the two guardians into charging and made them collide with each other.
As he drove his right hand between their touching chests, <Erasure> swallowed both cores at once.
[Twin Guardians Defeated Simultaneously]
[Defeat Time Difference: 0.00s]
[Conquest Rating: SSS]
[Lv.13 → Lv.14]
[<Flawless Climb>: 13 Consecutive]
Floor 14 <Mana-Depletion Chamber> continuously drained the mana of any player who entered.
Using the recovery stations placed throughout could replenish spent mana, but then an SSS rating was impossible.
Sang-hyeok passed by all three recovery stations.
Instead, <Spirit Vein Bracelet: Budding> drew in ambient mana, and <Demonic Dragon’s Bloodflow> rapidly circulated the newly drawn mana through his entire body.
Thanks to that, even after erasing the final gatekeeper with <Erasure>, he still had mana to spare.
[Recovery Stations Used: 0]
[Remaining Mana: 42%]
[Conquest Rating: SSS]
「Your level has increased.」
[Lv.14 → Lv.15]
「<Flawless Climb> consecutive record updated.」
[Consecutive Solo Climb SSS Ratings: 14]
[Until 15th Milestone Bonus: 1]
[Until Second Seat <Limitless>'s Best Record: 6]
Consecutive defeats.
Breaking through collapsing terrain.
Simultaneous defeat and mana management.
Over four days, the abilities demanded by the trials kept changing.
Yet the results never once changed.
Sang-hyeok opened the Iron Rookie League notice.
[Until Current Channel Season Ends: D-27]
He had five floors left until obtaining the right to enter Floor 20.
At his current pace, he could reach Lv.20 with twenty-two days left before the season ended and enter the Iron Rookie League.
From then on, an entirely different stage would open.
Not trials issued by the tower, but the Channel League, where he would face players of the same level range directly.
It was the first stage where Sang-hyeok would make his existence known to the world in earnest.
There, he had to prove his strength and climb higher.
To lift South Korea, stuck at the bottom of the Eastern Channel, and to lay the foundation for blocking the otherworldly monsters that would invade in the future.
Entering the Channel League was the first step that would begin all those plans in earnest.
His Solo Climb record had also entered a critical stretch.
If he kept the SSS streak through Floor 19, <Flawless Climb> would reach nineteen consecutive.
If he broke through Floor 20 with an SSS as well, he would stand level with Limitless's twenty consecutive, and on Floor 21 he would finally surpass that record.
His first Channel League match and breaking the all-time record.
Both goals were now close enough to grasp.
'Not much left now.'
Just as Sang-hyeok was about to close the notice, a new alert appeared below it.
「Lv.15 Restricted Cooperative Battlefield is now open.」
Having finished his Solo Climb, Sang-hyeok returned to reality before entering the Cooperative Battlefield.
* * *
That evening.
On Kim Do-hyeon's desk lay a spread of inquiries that had come in from outside.
[Request to Purchase List of Recently Awakened Conditional Awakeners]
[Request to Confirm Whether Any Player in the Ilseong Family Has Awakened]
[Inquiry to Purchase Kim Sang-hyeok's Recent Movements and Research Building Access Records]
Most were requests that had come through partner companies and information brokers.
The commissioning parties were not revealed, but their purpose was clear.
What they were looking for was a trail leading to Impossible One.
"They haven't identified you as Impossible One yet."
Kim Do-hyeon closed the inquiry list.
"But it's clear they're viewing you as one of the candidates. The higher your level rises, the more they'll narrow down the list."
"The Association will start moving again too."
"It won't only be the Association."
Kim Do-hyeon's gaze swept over the contact routes organized on one side of the screen.
"Domestic guilds and corporations, of course, and even overseas information brokers are looking for the same person."
Sang-hyeok also kept in mind the possibility that China and Russia had already sent people.
Once more records accumulated, they wouldn't stop at indirect inquiries like now.
"You won't be able to keep hiding for long."
Kim Do-hyeon brought up new personnel materials on the screen.
[Kim Sang-hyeok]
[External Position: Tower Material Structure Analysis / Equipment Field Inspection]
[Data Acquisition Route: Chairman's Direct Private Cooperation Network]
"How about we publicly disclose what you actually do as your external position instead?"
Sang-hyeok slowly scanned the newly written position.
He had been considering a similar method himself.
If they tried to erase every remaining trace, the gaps themselves would invite suspicion.
It was better to reveal a limited amount and give him a public-facing role anyone could verify; that would make the real information easier to hide.
His visits to the research building and his awakening history could then be explained as part of his work analyzing tower materials and inspecting equipment.
"Let's do that."
Kim Do-hyeon nodded.
"Then we just need to make the remaining traces connect to this position."
Externally, Ilseong would bring in tower records and materials through the chairman's direct cooperation network, and Sang-hyeok would analyze the delivered data to set the research direction.
Once Kim Seo-yun and the research team implemented that as actual equipment, Sang-hyeok would verify its field performance.
It was all work Sang-hyeok was already doing.
The only thing being concealed was the fact that the player procuring the materials and the person analyzing them were one and the same.
"For equipment we release going forward, we'll leave your analysis and inspection records alongside Seo-yun's and the research team's design and production records."
The more results Ilseong produced, the more Sang-hyeok would become known not as Impossible One, but as the key talent who discovered new technologies.
"In the tower, keep climbing as Impossible One, just as you have been."
Kim Do-hyeon looked at his son.
"In reality, I'll make sure you're firmly established as a separate person from Impossible One."
"Understood."
Sang-hyeok met his father's eyes and nodded.
* * *
Back in his room, Sang-hyeok opened the Cooperative Battlefield information he had set aside.
[Floor 15 Restricted Cooperative Battlefield]
[Battlefield Name: <Masterless Legion>]
[Default Match Size: 4 Players]
[Basic Objective]
- Capture the four Command Strongholds.
- Defend the four captured Command Strongholds for three minutes.
- On success, the central Command Stone will temporarily stop.
[Battlefield Information]
- Legion soldiers are classified as demonic creatures.
- The central Command Stone controls the legion soldiers with the aura of a false commander.
- While the Command Stone is active, fallen legion soldiers rise again.
- A Command Stronghold remains captured even if the player leaves it.
- If legion soldiers retake a Command Stronghold, its captured state is removed.
- Each time a Command Stronghold is captured, the central Command Stone's barrier output decreases by 25%.
Sang-hyeok opened the video with the highest clear rate on PlayerNet.
It was footage recorded and released by a participant with a record-type Trait who had saved the battle at the time.
The four people in the video were top-tier super rookies gathered by the Eastern Channel's major guilds at the time for a complete conquest.
All four were ranged-type players who could defend their points while also attacking the center.
As the four of them captured one Command Stronghold each, the central Command Stone's red barrier vanished.
[Command Strongholds Captured: 4/4]
[Capture Hold Time: 03:00]
[The central Command Stone’s barrier is lifted.]
The moment the barrier disappeared, all four attacked the central Command Stone simultaneously.
BOOOOM!
Flames, arrows, and mana bolts poured onto the Command Stone without pause.
But they couldn't focus solely on attacking.
Crrrunch.
The fallen legion soldiers rose again and swarmed toward the four points.
Each time the players pushed back the legion soldiers, they briefly poured attacks toward the center.
The strategy was to defend the Command Strongholds while attacking the Command Stone at the same time.
But as time passed, the revived legion soldiers piled up.
The openings to attack the Command Stone shrank steadily.
[Capture Hold Time: 00:00]
「The four Command Strongholds were defended for three minutes.」
「The central Command Stone temporarily stops.」
「Basic clear successful.」
[Central Command Stone Durability: 71%]
[Complete Conquest Condition: Unmet]
The video ended there.
Even with four players specialized in ranged firepower pouring attacks for three minutes, they couldn't shave off even 30% of the Command Stone's durability.
Countless teams challenged it afterward, but no record ever lowered the durability below 70%.
Four people to defend the points.
And one person to attack only the central Command Stone.
The default match size was four, but the required roles were five.
That was why players called this place a battlefield that needed a fifth member.
Along with the claim that a complete conquest was practically impossible.
Sang-hyeok checked the complete-conquest information displayed below the video.
[Current Complete Conquest Record: None]
[Complete Conquest Reward: 1 Authority Factor]
[Currently Held Authority Factors: 1]
[Until New Authority Candidate Confirmation: 2]
If he obtained this reward, he would have two Authority Factors.
Only one more would remain before he could confirm a new Authority candidate.
Moreover, he had to finish the Floor 15 Cooperative Battlefield before the next Solo Climb would open.
Sang-hyeok recalled the 71% durability that had remained on the Command Stone until the video ended.
Any other player would have had no choice but to give up on a complete conquest after seeing that number.
But <Erasure> was not an Authority that shaved durability down bit by bit.
If it merely touched the Command Stone, it could erase the whole thing from that point onward.
The solution Sang-hyeok had thought of was simple.
Four people capture one point each and remove the barrier.
The instant that happens, Sang-hyeok leaves his own point and heads for the center.
Even if he left, the barrier would not revive until legion soldiers recaptured the point.
In that brief window, he simply had to erase the Command Stone first with <Erasure>.
'There's no need for a fifth member.'