Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Those Preparing for the Wave (1)
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“……We, we're alive. We made it back.”
The twenty members emerged from the portal.
They were covered in wounds, their faces gaunt and drawn, but smiles began to creep onto their lips.
“We survived……!”
“We did it!!”
Joy at their safe return.
Breathing in the kingdom's unique sunlight and the scent of the grasslands, they began to cheer.
Even onlookers could tell their journey had been dramatic.
“It's like a festival atmosphere.”
Greg smirked as he took in the scene.
“The west has been longing for this for so long. Impressive—they brought back all twenty alive.”
“……”
“After repeated failures on the 15th Floor, everyone had lost hope…… but they pulled it off.”
East, west, south, north.
Of the kingdom's four regions, only Tower 1 and Tower 5 had yet to conquer the 15th Floor.
The others had already pushed past to the 16th and 17th Floors.
‘Strictly speaking, Tower 5 between the east and north hasn't been properly raided either, but it's always been off-limits anyway.’
Tower 3 and Tower 5 belonged to no territory.
Unlike Tower 5 in its harsh wilderness, Tower 3—straddling the borders of multiple territories—was seeing active raids.
Its high mana density made it especially popular with elves.
The western raid party had failed time and again.
Now they returned triumphant, heading for the checkpoint.
“It's amazing. When we first met, Leggin…… bodies were pouring out.”
“……Yeah.”
“Back then, conquering the 15th Floor seemed impossible, but to think so many would return alive.”
“……”
Leggin fell deep in thought, watching the raid party's backs.
Honestly, it was bewildering.
‘No matter how I think about it, the 15th Floor wasn't conquered at this point in time.’
Something had changed.
He racked his brain, but no similar case came to mind.
‘The 15th Floor conquest event…… only triggers when all conditions are met.’
The full conquest of the 15th Floor was essentially a fixed-time event.
Leggin knew he wasn't mistaken.
It triggered many changes, and playstyles shifted from that point on.
By all accounts, it should have happened in two or three months.
“Leggin?”
“……Yes?”
“I asked if we should head to the checkpoint too, but you weren't answering.”
“Oh.”
Leggin forced his feet to move, lost in thought.
His gaze fixed on the raid party ahead.
The twenty-odd survivors stood in line.
Laughter echoed nonstop from inside the checkpoint.
Each boasted of their exploits, praising one another's feats.
“No casualties, it seems?”
“Looks that way.”
It felt off.
All twenty were intact.
“They must have gotten a solid hint from the previous expedition.”
“……Maybe.”
He said it, but it was impossible.
The last raid party had only two or three return.
Before that, all but one or two had perished, as Leggin had witnessed.
‘……The omens definitely weren't complete.’
Maybe he missed something.
Leggin tore a scroll for hints.
Not a combat scroll, but a utility one with multiple uses.
Riiip—
‘Hearing Amplification.’
A spell to hear distant sounds more clearly.
Mana linked the raid party's gathering spot to Leggin's ears.
Soon, their conversation flowed through the mana.
— I really thought it was over, but we got lucky. The ogre's skill suddenly missed.
— Tell me about it. I was bracing for death…… then it felt like a rope dropped from the heavens.
— That's not all. After that, every attack hit the ogre's vitals!
— We got lucky.
— Idiot……! It's the Goddess watching over us!
— Heh, yeah. We survived thanks to the Goddess's blessing.
A few raid members waiting their turn reminisced about the brutal fight.
From what he heard, the ogre conquest hadn't gone smoothly.
The ogre was the 15th Floor boss monster, blocking the portal—impassable without killing it.
A roadblock monster, its name carrying weight with freakish difficulty.
‘This raid party wasn't especially well-prepared. The ogre's attacks started missing, and their strikes landed critical hits, barely succeeding.’
No debuffs like mana drain, which past members mentioned.
The ogre's stats were tough, but that debuff was the real raid-killer.
Leggin pieced it together.
‘They credit the Goddess…… luck played a huge role.’
Then it hit him.
His eyes sharpened.
‘I get it.’
For some reason, the preconditions for the 15th Floor conquest were met.
The world's causality shifted, enabling success.
As if a god or system intervened.
* * *
[Guys, the 15th Floor full conquest event—the one before the First Wave. You know the timing shifts slightly each rerun?]
One of Leggin's old posts.
A DAT epiphany, posted to the community.
It detailed the conditions for the event.
[There are preconditions, about three main ones. When they align, the raid takes down the ogre.]
He hadn't thought much of it then.
Triggers for events were common in games.
Devs set the system, NPCs followed, creating the event—obvious.
‘That's why it's confusing. These people don't seem bound by any system.’
Why Leggin expected the conquest at a set time.
He'd lived among NPCs who felt like real people.
No system, he judged.
If conquest happened, visible omens would precede it.
‘Overlooked that.’
Forgot this world had a system equivalent.
Creation God Iella.
Commonly called the Goddess.
Just before entering the checkpoint, Leggin's gaze lifted to the sky.
‘The god DAT priests worship, source of divine power.’
Among countless gods here, the most mentioned, overseeing most affairs.
‘Was it you?’
Leggin asked the sky silently.
‘Did you intervene the moment conditions were met, altering the raid party's fate?’
No answer came.
The blue sky just shone brightly.
But Leggin felt he had his answer.
‘God or system—something intervened. That's certain.’
One more certainty.
……He, Leggin, fulfilled those preconditions.
Leggin inhaled sharply, recalling the post's end.
[Don't worry too much. Even knowing them, you can't trigger early.]
He regretted the bravado. Fair at the time, though.
[First condition: New owner of the Saint's Sword appears.]
Time-based, so fine.
[Second: Two or more core Back Path members die.]
Rare encounters at this stage, both needed to die.
[Last: Demon-Dragonkin war. Tower 2 and 3 break 18th Floor; other NPCs handle it—players uninvolved.]
……Conditions impossible this early.
Clench.
Leggin gripped his fist, eyes shut tight.
‘But I fulfilled them all.’
He sparked the Demon-Dragonkin war—just now.
Honestly, forgotten.
True Dragonkin only at 18th Floor, event for faster-progressing towers.
Leggin never realized he'd trigger it on 8th Floor.
……Never considered ghost Dragonkin counted.
‘Then the second condition…… We killed only one demon.’
The one in the 8th Floor portrait room.
No others.
Where did the extra death come from?
‘Demons don't die easily……’
Then it struck.
A chilling sensation brushed him.
6th Floor memories surfaced.
‘That bastard Kaluan……’
A hypothesis formed.
"Demon" had a broader scope.
Leggin defined it in preconditions.
His post based solely on his data.
‘Either Kaluan was a demon, or demons aren't the only ones.’
Kaluan's death, plus 8th Floor demon.
Two deaths completed every precondition.
“Let's go in.”
“Yeah.”
Entering the checkpoint, Leggin's expression grew graver.
Confusion gone, only focus on what came next.
‘Reason clear. Can't be helped—must prepare.’
15th Floor conquest brings changes.
Now they can reach 16th Floor.
Unlike relying on other regions for high-floor resources.
West gains self-sufficiency; nobles run houses with ease.
Above all…… explorers' levels rise rapidly.
“The tower's gonna get lively. Lots of changes coming.”
Leggin nodded at Greg.
Truly, much changes. The so-called First Wave hits.
“We all adapt somehow.”
Leggin steeled himself amid it.
He summoned this calamity—no turning back.
* * *
After the raid party passed, Leggin's group underwent inspection.
They showed tower loot; taxes assessed proportionally.
Exiting, Greg's voice trembled.
“The tax……”
He shook, staring at the notice.
“……This is bigger than the haul!”
He near-whimpered.
Taxes over 30 gold each.
Worlds apart from last's 4 or 5 gold.
“We brought a lot. Skeleton Knight gear was huge.”
“……”
“Plus nearly all ores from Witch's Garden. No helping it.”
Selling all would profit post-tax.
Taxes at 20%, so 150+ gold each.
“But we hurry.”
No room for leisure.
“Sell everything today.”
“Today? Better rest a day?”
“No.”
Leggin usually sold on black market, but not today.
‘Registered valuables already, no need to wait.’
Bag items—not inventory, due to eyes—plenty.
Sell those first, quick as possible.
“Don't sell today, and it's just a tax bomb.”
“……What?”
Leggin's summoned calamity.
Not quite—situation just accelerated.
Focus intact, thankfully.
No zoning out.
‘All item prices readjust.’
Countermeasure unchanged.
‘Sell high-value stuff first.’
One week to the grand First Wave event.