Floor 4: Forward or Backward (1)

I'd given Heejeong a rough rundown of the journey up to Floor 3, and ever since then all she'd been saying was you've been through so much.

Sending back a message with a trace of irritation in it, she caught my mood at once and changed the subject.

So there was even a shop, huh. And skill books, no less — could someone like me, with no status window, even learn from those?

I stood there dumbfounded. So everyone gets a status window the moment they clear the tutorial.

So even Ha Heejeong, the regressor, had things she didn't know. And here I'd assumed she knew everything.

The same went for this tutorial I was climbing now. It would be nice to know what awaited on Floors 4 and 5.

Floor 6. I would see Heejeong on Floor 6. Then the regressor would work everything out and pave the way ahead of me.

Floors 4 and 5. Just two more floors to climb.

At Heejeong's message, I checked the notification window.

Not that much time was left. The fatigue in my body was considerable. Karakshi, Faraktus — Floor 2 had been a grueling journey of its own.

Heejeong must have realized as much, because she urged me to rest over message.

Busted. I'd been planning to browse the community a little before sleeping.

Well, to be fair, I was already worrying about what would show up on Floor 4. Another bastard like Karakshi could come crawling out.

'Let's just sleep first.'

I was tired, after all. I'd take a nap, then flip through the community with whatever time remained. The moment the thought formed, the waiting room dimmed around me.

Lying down on the bed, a wave of drowsiness washed over me.

"Dobby, good work today. Get some sleep."

"Kkiik! Human! Rest!"

I had slept for roughly eight hours.

There was still a fair amount of time left before entry into Floor 4. Whether the climb itself had raised my base stamina or not, I couldn't feel a trace of fatigue.

I opened the community. The moment it loaded, one post jumped out at me.

I watched the community for a while, then quietly closed it.

A million people had been summoned to the Tower. I had no idea how many of them were still alive, but skimming through the community, everyone else's tutorials did not look particularly difficult.

Eight hundred thousand or more had probably survived.

Maybe that was why the sheer volume of posts made it hard to dig out anything actually useful. There were plenty of lunatics mixed in, too.

Still, there were posts searching for family or acquaintances, and ones sharing genuinely helpful information... but honestly,

it seemed far less stressful to just ask Heejeong directly.

Hm. No reply came. Heejeong was probably asleep as well.

I lay on the bed, letting the time drift by with my eyes on the ceiling.

And as I lay there, the orc paladin's final words suddenly began circling through my mind.

'Kar-lein is with us...'

Words spoken by a paladin. Kar-lein was, apparently, a god.

Yet the name Kar-lein felt strangely familiar. As if I'd heard it somewhere before.

'Where did I hear it?'

When the sinjwa had offered their sponsorship contracts? No, that wasn't it. No names appeared in the sponsorship contracts.

Let me dig through my memory.

Definitely not before entering the Tower. I had never heard a word like that back on Earth.

Floor 1. Ah — Floor 1!

The goblin paladin in the Floor 1 boss room. It had most certainly shouted, 'Kar-lein is with us!'

What on earth was Kar-lein? It was certainly a god, but did it make any sense for orcs and goblins to worship the same one?

'...Huh?'

Come to think of it, Dobby the goblin's god was Fenrike.

And Fenrike had been trapped inside Dobby's necklace.

"Dobby."

"Kkiik?"

"Who is Kar-lein?"

"Kkiik! Don't know!"

Judging by the look on his face, he genuinely had no idea. But the questions didn't stop there.

"You said Fenrike is the god of the goblins."

"Kkiik! Fenrike! God!"

"Then how does the goblin paladin use holy spells while praising Kar-lein? Fenrike is the goblin god, isn't he?"

"Kkiik! Goblin! God, taken away! Kar-lein! Don't know!"

God, taken away?

"So Kar-lein imprisoned Fenrike?"

"Kkiik! Don't know! Old times! Long ago!"

"Long ago?"

"Kkiik! Before! Goblin! Born!"

Before the goblins were even born? Then how did Dobby know about Fenrike at all?

"Then how did you come to believe in Fenrike, Dobby?"

"Kkiik! Suddenly! Fenrike! Voice! Heard! Necklace! Appeared!"

"Hmm... but Fenrike was trapped inside the necklace. How does that work?"

"Kkiik! Goblin! Don't know!"

Well, fair enough — Fenrike was a god. There must have been some way. Was Dobby chosen by Fenrike precisely because he was special?

I couldn't tell. Dobby didn't know much. The information I could extract from him was limited.

Think. So then — Kar-lein had imprisoned the gods of the goblins and orcs and usurped their thrones?

Or was Kar-lein the god of the orcs? Unlikely.

If Kar-lein were the orc god, then why had Karakshi, the great orc warrior, been left dead, wandering like a wraith through a hidden chamber?

The same went for Faraktus.

And Dobby, the goblin saint, had been drifting aimlessly through the Tower himself.

Karakshi and Faraktus were probably cases much like Dobby's.

If their races' gods had still been present, none of that would have happened.

'Damn it.'

My head was a tangled mess. Who exactly was Kar-lein, that he could rob other races of their gods' thrones?

If my guess was right, then somewhere on Floor 2, the orc god might have been sealed away just like Fenrike.

And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I had simply failed to find it?

...Or was it Faraktus?

He was definitely no ordinary orc, but I couldn't be certain.

'And yet...'

The orcs and the goblins had gods.

Then who was the god of us humans?

Jesus. Buddha. Allah...

I racked my brain for the names of every god I knew. Had Earth really ever had gods at all?

And if it had, why had that god simply stood by while we were thrown into the Tower?

Was it unavoidable, even for Earth's god?

The message at the pub had said that Earth's green belt had been lifted. Could Earth's god truly have been powerless to do anything?

'Or was humanity's faith simply too thin?'

Not a single person on Earth could cast holy spells. Was that a punishment from Earth's god upon a faithless people?

Surely the god wasn't going to pop out with a ta-da! the moment we cleared the Tower.

Questions abounded; clear answers did not.

I didn't know. I'd have to ask Heejeong once she woke up.

Idling away the hours in the waiting room, it seemed every stray thought in existence wanted a turn ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in my head.

Part of me just wished we'd hurry up and get to Floor 4 already.

Once ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you stepped into a floor, you focused entirely on that floor and the stray thoughts melted away. Traps that could spring at any moment, the tension of combat. There was nothing to do but push forward.

"Dobby."

"Kkiik?"

"Give me some water."

"Kkiik! Okay!"

Dobby got up from his spot ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and brought me a water bottle. Forty minutes remaining. What should I do with it?

'Prepare for Floor 4...'

...Hm. The problem was that I had no idea what would be waiting there.

My thoughts had hit a wall. There was nothing I could do at the moment. Fine — I'd just play around with Dobby until the time ran out.

Spread out before me was a corridor of stone walls.

Much the same structure as the previous floors. Three meters wide, a ceiling four meters high, torches flickering along the passage.

But something was different this time.

The straight thoroughfare, its downward grade growing steeper and steeper, stretched on without any visible end.

A sudden, ominous thought surfaced. The colossal rolling-boulder trap I'd faced on Floor 2.

'Why would Floor 4 be a downhill?'

I whipped my head around.

Unlike the previous floors, where the path behind had been sealed off, behind me stretched a steep uphill slope.

...Ah. I had a really bad feeling about this.

The sense of dread wouldn't leave. Running alone was one thing — but I'd have to haul Dobby along with me.

'...Huh?'

Dobby wasn't there. This had never happened before.

Even on Floor 2, Dobby had always been transported into the floor alongside me.

In that instant, the notification window's message refreshed.

The moment the message refreshed, a low, rumbling tremor came rolling down from the far, invisible end of the uphill path.

The same vibration I had felt on Floor 2.

The message made it unmistakably clear: Escape. Right now, a colossal boulder is descending from up there.

And the time limit had been slashed to a brutal two hours.

This was a speed run.

I had no idea how long this path could possibly be, that they'd grant a full two hours... but

there was no time to stand around thinking. Run.

I kicked off the ground and broke into a sprint.