Chapter 9
Chapter 9
A moment later, the names of ordinary battlefields appeared one after another on the three panels above.
All three were marked Easy.
Below the newly appeared dark-red option, however, a different set of information appeared.
[Battlefield Name: <Battlefield of Collapse>]
[Classification: Hidden]
[Difficulty: Unmeasurable]
[Rewards will vary depending on how the battlefield is cleared.]
Sang-hyeok's gaze stopped on the last line.
Rewards would vary depending on how the battlefield was cleared.
It was a condition that did not exist in ordinary battlefields.
When Sang-hyeok reached toward the dark-red option, a warning appeared.
「If you select <Battlefield of Collapse>, you cannot change it to an ordinary battlefield.」
「If you fail, today's 1st-floor challenge ticket will be consumed.」
Failing did not mean dying.
Fatal wounds sustained during Solo Climb were restored upon returning to reality.
Instead, today's challenge ticket and all rewards obtained in the battlefield would vanish.
From the very first day, his goal of "one floor per day" could go off course.
But this was an opportunity gained through an impossible achievement.
It was more than worth wagering a single challenge ticket.
Sang-hyeok placed his hand on the dark-red panel without hesitation.
'Battlefield of Collapse.'
「Entering the hidden battlefield <Battlefield of Collapse>.」
The three ordinary battlefields floating above vanished simultaneously.
With them, a dark-red light spread rapidly and swallowed Sang-hyeok's vision.
Fwoosh!
Soon, as the ground seemed to give way beneath him, Sang-hyeok dropped.
Thud!
Sang-hyeok's feet landed on a cracked stone floor.
Dark-red dust kicked up by the impact rose to knee height.
As a hot wind swept the dust away, the ruined battlefield came into view.
A land split to the horizon.
A ruined tower leaning at an angle.
Black debris filling the spaces between.
[Hidden Battlefield: <Battlefield of Collapse>]
[Basic Objective: Survive the collapsing battlefield.]
[Time Limit: 30 minutes]
[Hostile entities grow stronger as the collapse stage progresses.]
[Time Remaining 30:00]
The moment the number ticked down to 29:59, a rough tremor rose from beneath Sang-hyeok's feet.
Crrrack!
The stone floor split.
Black fingers shot out through the gaps, and soldiers clad in stone armor pushed through the ground and rose.
One.
Two.
The same sound rang out in succession across the battlefield.
In an instant, dozens of collapse soldiers surrounded Sang-hyeok.
[Collapse Soldier]
[Lv.3]
Sang-hyeok was Lv.1.
The level gap was so large that an ordinary new player would have to risk their life just to face one.
At that moment, the nearest collapse soldier raised its stone sword.
The thick blade fell toward Sang-hyeok's head.
Whoosh!
Instead of stepping back, Sang-hyeok raised his right hand and reached toward the flat of the stone sword.
'<Erasure>.'
Sssss!
Before the stone sword even touched his palm, it was dyed black.
The blade turned to black sand on the spot, and the force raced through the hilt and up the collapse soldier's arm in an instant.
Fsssssh.
As the collapse soldier, now missing an arm and shoulder, pitched forward, Sang-hyeok pressed his palm against its approaching chest.
Crunch!
Even the remaining body turned to black sand and poured down.
At that moment, three collapse soldiers following behind swung their weapons simultaneously.
This time, Sang-hyeok swept his right hand to the side.
Fwoosh!
The black force spreading from his fingertips covered the stone sword and spear at once.
Neither the sturdy weapons nor the thick stone armor were anything more than sandcastles before <Erasure>.
Ssssss!
The stone sword and spear scattered into black sand first.
The black force swallowed those three, then swept up three more collapse soldiers charging from behind.
FSSSSSH!
Six collapse soldiers collapsed at once, leaving only black sand on the ground.
Rrrumble!
The remaining collapse soldiers kicked off the ground in unison and swarmed in from all sides.
Far from retreating, Sang-hyeok drove into the middle of them.
A stone spear flew toward his face.
Sang-hyeok struck the spearhead away with the back of his hand, wreathed in black force.
Crunch!
The entire stone spear scattered into black sand.
When a collapse soldier thrust its shield forward to block his path, Sang-hyeok pressed his palm against the center of the shield.
Sssss!
The shield and the body behind it crumbled into black sand together.
For the one lunging from the side, all it took was a light brush of his fingertips across its neck.
Thump.
The neck vanished, and the head dropped to the ground.
A kick aimed at Sang-hyeok's knee also vanished, leg and all, the moment it touched his fingertips.
With every step Sang-hyeok took, one collapse soldier disappeared.
Twenty became ten in an instant, and soon only the last one remained.
Before the final collapse soldier could even raise its stone sword, Sang-hyeok closed in right in front of it.
He pressed his palm against its chest.
Sssss.
The collapse soldier's body turned to black sand from the chest outward and spilled at his feet.
[Time Remaining 29:31]
Not even thirty seconds had passed since the battle began.
「All hostile entities of Collapse Stage 1 have been annihilated.」
Even after the notification appeared, the battlefield did not move on to the next stage.
Instead, the stone fragments scattered across the battlefield writhed and gathered atop the black sand.
「Attempting reconstruction of hostile entities.」
Crrk.
The stone fragments clung to one another and began rebuilding the collapse soldiers' bodies.
But any stone that touched the black sand immediately turned black and scattered.
Collapse soldiers once swallowed by <Erasure> could not rise again.
「Reconstruction failed.」
A moment later, a notification followed, one beat slower than usual.
「Hostile entities have been completely annihilated.」
「Recalibrating battlefield difficulty.」
Rrrrrumble!
The instant the last notification ended, the leaning ruined tower collapsed.
Boulders poured from the ruined tower, rose into the air, and clung together to form a massive golem.
[Collapse Golem]
[Lv.5]
The completed golem immediately raised a fist the size of a house.
Whoooom!
The enormous fist dropped toward Sang-hyeok's head.
The fierce wind pressure driven by the fist bore down on Sang-hyeok's entire body.
But Sang-hyeok did not dodge.
Instead, he thrust his own fist, wreathed in <Erasure>, straight forward.
FSSSSSH!!!
There was no sound of impact.
The moment it met Sang-hyeok's fist, the golem's fist simply crumbled into black sand.
The force of <Erasure> raced up the arm and swallowed the golem's shoulder and torso.
Rrrrumble!
The body, massive as a tower, lost its form within seconds.
When even the head finally turned to black sand and poured down, Sang-hyeok lowered his arm.
The instant the golem vanished, dark-red flames rose over the ruins.
Within the flames, humanoid mana constructs emerged one by one.
[Collapse Mana Construct]
[Lv.4]
The creatures, their entire bodies made of flame, stretched both hands toward Sang-hyeok.
Whooosh!
Dozens of fireballs poured down at once, filling the space before Sang-hyeok.
Again, Sang-hyeok did not dodge, but extended his right hand forward.
'<Erasure>.'
Fwoosh!
The black force bursting from his palm spread wide.
The fireballs it touched were dyed black and extinguished one after another.
The black force did not stop there, but swept over the mana constructs behind them.
FSSSSSH!
The bodies made of flame turned to black ash all at once and scattered.
「All hostile entities of Collapse Stage 2 have been annihilated.」
[Time Remaining 28:47]
Not even two minutes into the battle, Stage 2 was already over.
And yet he still had plenty of mana to spare.
When fighting the Indestructible Guardian, he had to pour out every drop of mana even with direct palm contact.
The enemies before his eyes, by contrast, were far below the Guardian in caliber.
<Erasure> was enough to sweep them away with only a small amount of mana.
Sang-hyeok looked at the dense black force still gathered over his palm.
'At this level, I can keep going as long as I need to.'
The battlefield seemed to realize that Sang-hyeok still had room to spare.
「Opening Collapse Stage 3 early.」
「Deploying the final stage's hostile entities simultaneously.」
Rrrrrumble!
The entire battlefield shook violently.
At the same time, knights wearing horned helms burst up through the ground.
From the sky, three dark-red pillars of light slammed down onto the ruins.
* * *
At that moment.
Korea Players Association, National Crisis Analysis Office.
The front screen displayed the Republic of Korea's current quarterly projections.
[Tutorial Special Achievements: 2]
[Republic of Korea Achievement Points: +120,000]
[Projected Point Shortfall This Quarter: 29,720]
[Projected Risk: Small and medium rift occurrence range]
[Confirmed National Ranking: 64th / 64 countries]
They had escaped the range for large rift occurrences.
But they were still short by 29,720 points.
"Can it be covered by the existing players' climbs alone?"
At the government liaison's question, the analyst shook his head.
"This figure already reflects all major clear results scheduled for this quarter. Unless a first clear or special achievement is added, small and medium rifts will be difficult to avoid."
The government liaison's gaze moved to the top of the screen.
[Achiever’s Public Name: Undisclosed]
[Affiliated Nation: South Korea]
"In the end, we'll have to find that player."
"Among the registered new players, there is no one who meets the conditions. If they haven't filed an awakening report, it will be difficult to identify them until they leave traces outside the tower."
"It will be even more troublesome if China or Russia finds them first. Expand the scope to the Conditional Awakener records and at least narrow down some candidates."
An association executive brought up the Conditional Awakener management list on the screen.
They were people who had been diagnosed at a past awakening research institute in search of their awakening conditions, but who remained listed as unawakened in the association's records.
If one of them had recently fulfilled their condition and entered the tower without reporting it, they could be the Undisclosed player.
The staff cross-checked names and diagnostic records one by one.
Then one staff member stopped scrolling down the screen.
"What about this person?"
[Kim Sang-hyeok]
[Identity: Ilseong Group Chairman's Family]
[Registration Status: Conditional Awakening]
[Awakening Report: None]
[Official Tower Climb Record: None]
"He recently appeared at Ilseong's equipment verification site. There are also rumors going around that he awakened not long ago."
"His Trait?"
"Nothing has been confirmed. But because there are reports that he was involved in identifying the equipment defects, he's presumed to be a research- or analysis-type player."
Thanks to Kim Do-hyeon's information control, Sang-hyeok's exact abilities and the existence of the record stone had not leaked outside.
However, the sight of him standing in Ilseong's technical area on the day of the verification had been witnessed by several people.
With the recent talk of his awakening added on top of that, the speculation had emerged that Sang-hyeok had been involved in identifying the equipment defects.
The association executive displayed the anonymous player's two achievements beside Sang-hyeok's profile.
[Adamant Dummy Destroyed]
[Indestructible Guardian Defeated]
Both were achievements that could not be earned without overwhelming destructive power.
The records were far too destructive to attribute to a newly awakened research- or analysis-type player.
"Hmm. No matter how I look at it, they don't seem to be the same person. Still, don't remove him from the list entirely."
The staff member added Kim Sang-hyeok's name to the candidate list.
[Candidate: Kim Sang-hyeok]
[Presumed Type: Research/Analysis]
[Tracking Priority: Low]
[Action: Confirm Additional Information]
The correct answer had made it onto the candidate list, but it had been pushed to the very bottom.
* * *
At that moment, the Battlefield of Collapse.
Boom!
Three dark-red pillars of light struck the ruins.
Where the light receded stood three massive forms carved from stone.
Each of them bore only a single wing, and the shapes of the wings were all different.
[Collapse Executor]
[Lv.9]
Before the executors, horned knights had also formed ranks.
[Collapse Knight]
[Lv.7]
That was not all.
In the meantime, new golems and mana constructs had appeared one after another across the battlefield.
With the knights and executors added, the ruins were filled with enemies.
Enemies that would normally have appeared only at the very end of the time limit had been deployed all at once in under two minutes.
[Time Remaining 28:31]
Sang-hyeok slowly looked around at the enemies surrounding him.
The numbers were greater than at the start, and the levels were far higher.
Still, nothing would change.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The collapse knights locked shields and charged in unison.
Thick stone armor and overlapping shields formed a massive wall pressing toward Sang-hyeok.
Sang-hyeok did not dodge, but reached toward that wall with a hand wreathed in <Erasure>.
Ssssss!
The front shield turned to black sand.
<Erasure> kept pushing through, swallowing the shields and armor behind it one after another.
FSSSSSH!
The seamless shield wall collapsed from the center.
Sang-hyeok walked forward, pushing through the scattering black sand.
At that moment, the mana constructs on both sides unleashed dark-red flames.
Sang-hyeok spread both hands and unfurled <Erasure> wide.
FSSSSSH!
The flames that touched the black force died down one after another.
The black force surged into the space where the flames had vanished and swept over the mana constructs as well.
Pfft!
The flames composing the mana constructs' bodies died down all at once.
Only black ash remained, drifting through the air.
As the mana constructs vanished, two golems, one on each side, brought their enormous fists down.
Sang-hyeok lowered his body and pressed his palm to the ground.
'<Erasure>.'
Fwoosh!
The black force spread wide beneath his palm and covered the ground under the two golems' feet.
FSSSSSH!
The golems' legs turned to black sand simultaneously and crumbled.
The massive bodies lost their balance and toppled inward from both sides, colliding with each other.
Crash!
Their heads and torsos shattered to pieces.
The debris that fell onto the floor where <Erasure> had spread also turned to black sand and scattered.
At that moment, one collapse knight leaped over the collapsing golems.
The knight swung a greatsword rippling with dark-red mana toward Sang-hyeok's neck.
Sang-hyeok reached toward the incoming blade.
Fsssssh.
The greatsword, too, turned to black sand and vanished the instant it touched his fingertips.
The moment the knight's two hands sliced through empty air, Sang-hyeok stepped inside.
His palm pressed against the creature's chest.
Sssss!
The collapse knight's body turned to black sand from the chest outward, vanishing helm and armor and all.
As the collapse stage increased, the enemies grew stronger.
But the speed at which they vanished before <Erasure> did not change in the slightest.
[Time Remaining 27:46]
The last collapse knight scattered into black sand.
「All hostile entities of Collapse Stage 3 have been annihilated.」
「All ordinary hostile entities of the final stage have been annihilated.」
The battlefield fell quiet again.
No sound announcing reconstruction followed.
After several seconds of silence, a new notification appeared.
「The battlefield's highest-tier hostile entities are entering combat.」
The three collapse executors, who had only watched the battle from behind until then, finally moved.
As they spread their wings simultaneously, a fierce wind swept through the ruins.
The executor at the very front raised a massive axe above its head.
VMMMM!
Dark-red mana gathered along the axe blade.
The blade was so enormous it could have hidden Sang-hyeok's entire body.
The executor brought the axe down.
Whoooom!
The massive axe blade split the wind and fell toward Sang-hyeok's head.
But Sang-hyeok did not dodge.
Instead, he raised his right hand toward the falling axe blade.
'<Erasure>.'
The axe blade and his palm met.
Sssss!
The dark-red mana died down first.
Then the massive axe blade turned to black sand before Sang-hyeok's palm.
The force of <Erasure> swallowed the axe handle and the executor's arms as well.
Sssssss!!
The executor belatedly tried to pull back, but it was already too late.
Its massive body, blackened up through the chest and head, collapsed where it stood.
FSSSSSH!
「A Collapse Executor has been annihilated.」
'One down.'
Two remained.
This time, Sang-hyeok moved first.
Passing through the first executor as it scattered into black sand, he drove straight between the other two.
Fwoosh!
The executor on the right aimed its longsword at his neck, while the executor on the left thrust its spear at his chest.
Sang-hyeok seized the sword blade and the spear tip with both hands wreathed in <Erasure>.
Ssssss!
The longsword and spear turned to black sand in his grip and scattered.
Sang-hyeok did not stop, but extended both arms further.
His two palms touched the executors' chests simultaneously.
FSSSSSH!
The remaining two executors collapsed into black sand at once.
[Time Remaining 27:31]
Not even three minutes had passed since the battle began.
In that short time, every enemy the hidden battlefield had prepared had vanished.
「No hostile entities remain on the battlefield.」
「The annihilated hostile entities cannot be reconstructed.」
The notifications paused there for a moment.
More than twenty-seven minutes remained, but there were no more enemies to attack Sang-hyeok.
At last, a new notification appeared.
「The basic objective can no longer be maintained.」
「Suspending the survival trial.」
「Forcibly converting to a Defeat Trial.」
Rrrrrumble!
The dark-red sky split from the center.
Through the gap, a red heart the size of a building slowly descended.
Thud!
With a single beat of the heart, the entire ruined battlefield shook violently.
Debris on the ground leaped into the air, and the cracked land split even wider.
A new objective appeared before Sang-hyeok's eyes.
[Changed Objective: Destroy <Heart of Collapse>.]
[Time Remaining 27:30]
This time, what he faced was not an enemy created by the battlefield.
It was the battlefield itself.
Sang-hyeok raised his head toward the <Heart of Collapse>.
'Now I finally have something that can bring this to an end.'