The Rest Stop (2)

The 20th floor of Ha Heijeong's second regression — the Rest Stop. A gathering place for the dead.

Alexei looked my way and gave a light smile. In the meantime, the old man and Cole were trading greetings with his party members.

It made sense — they'd fought side by side, holding the left section of the wall back on the 16th floor, so some bonds must have formed while I wasn't looking. I nodded and smiled back.

"Good, good."

"Yeah? Then let me properly introduce my party. You weren't at the wall that time."

I knew their names and faces roughly from the last Rest Stop, but this was the first time we'd actually talked. I exchanged light greetings with each climber Alexei introduced — Karim, Handrake, Tara... Two warriors, one mage, one archer, two priests. An ideal party composition.

Afterward, we moved to a slightly larger spot and the conversation began in earnest. What we used to do on Earth, what the next floor might hold. Idle chatter giving way to genuinely productive talk about the Tower.

Just as the mood was ripening, Handrake carefully edged over to the seat beside me.

What's this?

He glanced my way briefly, but the person he wanted to talk to wasn't me. It was Dobby, sitting right next to me. I couldn't tell why, but he was a scholar at heart, so perhaps something about Dobby had piqued his curiosity.

I teased him lightly. "Handrake, you're not planning to steal Dobby away, are you?"

"Pardon? Haha, of course not. He's your companion, Kwon Suhyeok — what would I possibly... My party is already full besides. I was simply curious about the other races and wanted to ask him a few things."

"Ah, I'm joking. Haha."

Handrake's earnest answer left me grinning sheepishly, and he scratched his head with an embarrassed look.

"Ah... please, talk as long as you like."

"Thank you."

Handrake nodded, and the questions began pouring out of him. What kind of place had Dobby lived in? What was his culture like?

Dobby's memory was incomplete, so his answers didn't quite hold together — but while I was watching him do his best to respond, Alexei rapped his knuckles on the table in front of me.

"So, how'd you do it?"

"Do what?"

"The dragon. We didn't even get to see it properly. One moment it was flying, and the next it came crashing out of the sky with lightning wrapped around it. How did you kill it? And that armor that appeared out of nowhere — what's that about? An extra reward?"

Alexei's party members, who'd been on the western wall, clearly shared the curiosity — their eyes lit up at his question. From everyone else's perspective, the dragon must have fallen in the blink of an eye. Some climbers even took to jokingly hailing me as the Lightning God.

As I started quietly telling the story of the dragon, the tables around us fell silent too. Alexei's voice really does carry. The climbers nearby, who'd been harboring their own curiosity about how the dragon fell, leaned in to listen.

Surrounded by all those watching eyes, I explained. The teleportation, the Shadow Monarch, the buff potions...

At the mention of the buff potions, Alexei let out a quiet sigh. "Hoo. So the potion did have an effect after all. I was about to give up on this completely. Well... the gap is still beyond words, but..."

I could understand where he was coming from. Wielding the same weapon, he'd surely set me as his benchmark. If I were honest, I suspected I could have killed the dragon even without the potion — but I kept my mouth shut. Alexei was a top-tier climber. Breaking the pride of a man like that served no one.

As I was thinking, Alexei leaned in close to my ear and whispered. I felt Ha Heijeong's gaze lock onto me at the sight.

"Anyway, putting that aside — you remember what you promised, right?"

Promise? What was he talking about?

The moment my face went blank, Alexei frowned. "Teaching me how to use the axe. Ring a bell?"

Oh, right. That had happened. We'd only exchanged a few messages in the Waiting Room, so it had slipped my mind. A promise is a promise — forgetting it was my fault. I scrambled to make ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠excuses to smooth things over.

This is a white lie. A well-intentioned one.

"Ah, my bad. I did promise to teach you the axe. I had a few drinks, so I guess it slipped my mind. I'll teach you."

I made a point of saying teaching the axe loudly, just loud enough for Ha Heijeong to hear. Her glare softened. In exchange, Alexei's brow creased slightly.

"Your Constitution stat is what, and you're blaming a few drinks?"

Hm, was that excuse too obvious? Honestly, I wouldn't have bought it either. But perhaps because I'd committed to the lesson, Alexei didn't press further.

"Haha... so when works for you?"

"How about now?"

Now's a bit awkward... I was in the middle of drinking with my party members, and I wanted a little time to rest too. Reading my expression, Alexei snorted. "I'm kidding. Tomorrow morning — how's that?"

That didn't sound like a joke. Alexei's eyes burned with pure competitiveness. I gave a noncommittal nod. "Morning? Sure, sounds good."

"Right. See you then."

The promise made, I was just raising my beer for a sip when Alexei whispered once more. "And... how about tonight?"

I had a pretty good idea what he meant. He'd barged in out of nowhere like this at the 10th floor Rest Stop too. Ha Heijeong's piercing stare burned into my back.

I answered with a faint smile and silence. Alexei laughed as if he'd expected exactly that, and raised his glass. "Fine, fine. Let's just drink."

"I've made an astonishing discovery!"

And at that moment, Handrake shouted, startling everyone. Every eye in the room swung toward him.

The morning sparring session with Alexei didn't wrap up until lunchtime. Though with the gap between us being what it was, "sparring" was generous — it was closer to private tutoring.

I was satisfied. It was no accident that the man was a high-tier climber; his talent was outstanding. He absorbed everything I taught at speed and even produced his own applications on top of it.

And I picked up a few things from him too.

Alexei's axe work centered on destruction. Rather than trade blows, his whole mindset was to come out swinging first and crush the enemy outright. Naturally, there was plenty for me to learn — I took his best movements and made them my own.

It was a fruitful time, and we parted ways, promising to meet at the next Rest Stop. Then Heijeong and I headed for the shop, but sadly there was nothing worth buying. I swung a few axes around, but none fit my hand better than the one I was already using.

I was planning to buy a new one in the next Waiting Room anyway...

In the end, I decided to just have it repaired here and keep using it. It synergized with my Bloodburst skill, and I had no desire to spend tens of thousands of achievement points on a weapon I didn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even like. It was an axe I'd found in a hidden room, after all — more than serviceable for now. Truthfully, the edge never would have chipped if I hadn't struck the dragon's scales directly.

"So, was it good?"

"Hm? What was?"

"The training with Alexei. Was it good?"

"It was. I learned a few things myself."

Heijeong stared at me with something suspiciously close to resentment in her eyes.

What? If ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you've got something to say, say it. But instead of speaking, Heijeong began rummaging through her pocket and pulled something out.

"Here, take this."

As we were leaving the general store, having sold off the odds and ends she'd accumulated, Heijeong handed me a note.

"What's this?"

"Things to buy before you enter the 21st floor."

Unfolding the paper, I found it densely packed with a list of potions, herbs, flintstones, and various other items, each with an explanation.

"I've barely needed any of this stuff so far, but I used to carry all the essentials with me on my own runs. Now that you're moving solo, you'll need them too."

"Ah... thanks."

"This should cover you through the 30th floor. Your personal floors could be anything, so I wrote down everything that might come in handy. Just stuff it all ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into Mimic and you're set."

I was struck all over again by how thoughtful she was. She'd accounted for my running as a one-man party down to the smallest detail.

When I looked up, Heijeong was wearing the same expression a mother wears when her son leaves for the army.

You don't have to look that worried.

But the next floor was a personal floor — of course it would weigh on her.

"Thank you. Really, thank you."

"Don't go getting hurt out there. Not that you will."

After buying every item Heijeong had listed in the Waiting Room and stuffing them all into Mimic, I entered the 21st floor.

I focused immediately on the Tower's message. It was brief, but I had to read it calmly — there might be something hidden in it again.

The first thing that registered was The Only Path. As with the 6th and 8th floors, a floor's name carried far more meaning than it appeared to.

True to its name, what spread out before me was a massive straight corridor running through a cave. A passage roughly five meters wide. Apparently the enemies would come pouring through it.

Blocking the entrance... no, more like a defense game?

Simply put: kill everything that came down the corridor. On the face of it, the instructions didn't seem that complicated. The only sticking point was the time limit — twenty-four hours. I had to hold out for an entire day.

Enduring a full day wasn't something I'd done before, but physically, I didn't think it would be a problem. Still, I couldn't let my guard down completely. I had no idea how difficult this 21st floor would prove to be.

And since it was a personal floor, whatever came would be stronger than Lizardman's armies I'd faced before. However much I'd grown, personal floors always demanded caution.

Wait — is it really a defense game?

The spot where I stood was a dead-end cavern. I looked it over briefly, but nothing seemed hidden there. There was only one way out.

Presumably the corridor the enemies come through. So what waited at the end if I pushed through it myself?

The floor's name was literally The Only Path. If I followed it to its end, there might be a hidden mission waiting. I couldn't be certain, but the odds felt good.

Right. Let's see where this road ends.

"Kkiik! Suyeok! Done thinking?"

"Yeah. Thanks for waiting."

Reading my expression, Dobby had come up from behind and spoken. Well, I raised him right. Seeing him sit quietly while I thought — the fruit of all that training — stirred something new in me. These days, even entering a personal floor alone with Dobby didn't worry me much. We'd drilled combat hard together; he wouldn't be dead weight.

"Stick close and keep up."

"Kkiik! Got it!"

"GRAAAAGH!"

The moment Dobby's answer ended, a monstrous roar rolled out from deep within the corridor, followed by the heavy, guttural thunder of footsteps marching in step.

It was beginning. I tightened my grip on the axe and walked slowly toward the corridor.

"Kyaaah! Human!"

As soon as I set foot in the passage, armed figures came into view in the distance. Goblins, orcs, seraphim — and other races I couldn't even name. Different species, all of them, yet arrayed like a well-ordered army. An army of some five hundred foreign races was advancing down the corridor before me.

Any other climber would have gone weak at the knees at that sight...

To me, it meant nothing. The trials on Soboan's world had taught me that — numbers no longer meant a thing. Only the strength of my enemies mattered now.

What I needed to focus on wasn't the enemies themselves, but the hidden mission buried in this floor.

I readjusted my grip on the axe.