Floor 21: The Only Path (1)

The difference between Floor 16 and Floor 21 was plain to see. The enemies here were stronger than the lizardman army.

But I had grown too, and there were no truly dangerous moments. If anything, it felt easier than I'd braced myself for — unlike before, the enemies didn't come in an overwhelming flood, but in periodic waves of roughly five hundred at a time.

As I honed my axe work and carved through the oncoming enemies with mechanical efficiency, a thought flashed through my mind.

Now might be the perfect time to test the Shadow Monarch skill.

Until now, circumstances had never really allowed it — even after acquiring Shadow Monarch, I'd used little more than the Shadow Veil for cloaking. I had practiced with it in the training room, sure, but I'd never tried its full range of applications in actual combat. And the enemies swarming toward me were ideal practice targets.

All right — just like I practiced.

The shape I pictured was a spear.

In that instant, I seized control of the shadows of the enemies charging straight at me. The shadows responded at once, and black spears erupted out of the darkness beneath the lead aliens' feet — crude, simple spears of shadow, the most basic form imaginable. Yet not one of them managed to block a spear stabbing up at their backs out of nowhere.

"Kreak!"

"Kek!"

The aliens who'd been skewered without warning crumpled, spitting out bewildered, half-finished last words. Pathetic deaths, compared to the grim resolve they'd worn on their faces just moments before.

The ones farther back recoiled in alarm.

"Spears! Spears are coming out of the shadows!"

"The shadows! Watch your shadows!"

The remaining aliens shouted and began eyeing the darkness at their own feet. They looked at me, then back down at their shadows, then at me again. The simple fact that a spear could burst out beneath them at any moment froze them where they stood. A brief standoff followed.

So that worked, at least... And since physical attacks go through, a shadow shield should work too. No need to test that one.

As I stood lost in thought, the enemies began to stir.

"He can only use the shadows within a limited range! Bring the javelins!"

My range is limited, sure — but that's not why they stopped...

My standing still had apparently led to a misunderstanding on their part. Well, no matter. I'd been planning to test my second method anyway.

Using my shadow, I formed two extra arms. Slightly longer and more flexible than my own, they drew Ronsyark's Dagger, split into its twin blades, one in each shadowy hand. Then I hurled myself straight into the heart of the enemy.

My original arms took the front, swinging the dual axes in broad arcs, while the shadow arms — moving freely, unbound by joints — covered my back, the daggers flashing wherever my will sent them.

"Krek!"

"Th-the shadow monster! Graaagh!"

Controlling four arms perfectly was admittedly a little difficult. The sensation was newly born, and I couldn't wield them as naturally as my real ones. And I have to run Presence Detection at the same time just to see what's behind me... Well, I'd get used to it with practice. Once I had it down, it would be a trump card whether I faced an army or a single foe.

The farther I pressed forward, the wider the passage grew — and the stronger the enemies became. If my ability fell short, I suspected, the intent was to turn back, establish a nest, and dig in along the narrow corridor. But looked at the other way, it could just as easily mean that something waited at the end of this road — something that made the Tower raise the difficulty as I approached.

And so the breakthrough continued.

...Huh?

Mid-swing, my axe still carving through the enemy ranks on autopilot, I realized that I could no longer see the walls or ceiling of the cave passage. What — is it over already? That's way too easy. Frowning at the question, I pushed another ten meters forward, and the end of the cave passage came into view.

The point where the corridor I'd walked simply... stopped.

The first thing I saw was an enormous arched stone bridge — a good hundred and fifty meters long, without so much as a railing. And at its far end, an even wider cavern awaited me. I tilted my head slightly and peered downward, but I couldn't see where the drop ended.

...Something about this feels ominous. Surely nothing was going to pop out from above mid-crossing, right?

It was too dark above and below to check properly. Presence Detection picked up nothing, but you could never be too sure. Focus. I had to be careful not to get knocked off by some unexpected attack.

As I set one foot onto the bridge and glanced into the abyss below, the Guardian's old advice surfaced in my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mind. Didn't he say that in murim stories, there's always hidden fortune beneath a cliff? That whenever you spot a cliff, you should search underneath it?

Should I take a look? Hmm...

But I shook my head almost immediately. This wasn't a cliff in the first place. I couldn't even see the bottom, let alone any way of checking it. If I fell down there, surviving would be the miracle. Enough with the pointless thoughts.

I resumed my careful crossing of the stone bridge. Contrary to my worries, nothing happened — not even when I was halfway across.

Was I worried over nothing?

But the moment I let myself relax, a violent tremor rolled in from the passage on the far side. Kudum. Kudum. I felt the bridge shudder beneath my feet.

I hacked my axe out roughly to drive the aliens back, then focused on the rumbling earth. A familiar vibration. One I'd felt not long ago...

At the same instant, two points of flame appeared in the wide cavern opposite. Twin fires advancing through the darkness, growing larger with every thundering footstep.

And in that moment, I knew exactly what was causing the tremor.

The Burning Nephla from Floor 16. The Nephla was charging.

"Dobby! Get back! ...Damn it!"

I spun around and snatched Dobby into my arms. I had to run — back the way I'd come, now. The one on Floor 16 had been draped in magic explosive bundles. If this one was too, then on this narrow stretch of bridge, there was nowhere to run from the blast.

I used Flash Step and slipped back into the passage I'd come through, then whipped my head around. Kudum. Kudum. The Nephla burst out of the passage and thundered onto the bridge, running so violently it was a wonder the stone didn't crumble beneath it. And sure enough — explosives strapped to its body.

Was this the difference between Floor 16 and Floor 21? The Nephla was faster than I remembered. A charge that paid no heed to its own allies — like watching a dump truck barrel down a highway.

The Nephla slammed into the alien soldiers lined up on the bridge, trampling them under its hooves or shoving them bodily over the edge. "Kieeeek!" "Kuaaaaaaa—" The screams of the falling aliens echoed off the stone and faded into the dark.

Then an ominous hypothesis struck me. Is it trying to collapse the bridge? There was no reason for a Nephla — a creature that filled an entire tunnel wall to wall — to charge down this cramped path while slaughtering its own troops. And it had appeared at exactly the moment I reached the bridge's midpoint. If the goal were simply to attack me in a confined space, it could have waited for a lull in the soldiers, or charged the instant I moved on to the next passage. And then there were those explosives...

I hastily used Flash Step again. Not to move — to buy myself time to think.

My goal was to reach the end of this path.

If that bomb goes off and the 150-meter bridge collapses... can I make it across?

One hundred and fifty meters. Kashatum's Sky Shoes would let me kick off empty air twice, but two leaps wasn't nearly enough to cover that distance. It seemed vaguely possible — but if I got it wrong, it was over. There would be no taking it back. And if I just stood here, the bridge would come down regardless.

I have to move. Now.

I couldn't stop here. Any later, and I'd never reach the end. True, the enemies wouldn't be able to cross either, and I'd clear Floor 21 without incident... but that was never what I'd fought my way this far for.

I have to leap over the Nephla.

There was no more time to hesitate. I had to cross the bridge again. I tucked Dobby into my arm, kicked off the ground, and ran.

The flames closed in within the blink of an eye.

"Uuuuoooh."

The Nephla's roar crashed against my ears in slow motion. Seven meters in front of it — the moment I tensed my legs to leap—

"Heung!"

"Dobby, shield!"

"Kkiik!"

The Nephla exploded. KWA-BOOM! Before its cry had even finished, the blast followed. At that range, a wave of searing heat and crushing pressure wrapped around me from the front. A beat too late, Dobby's barrier snapped into place — but I was already being shoved backward by the shockwave.

From the middle of the bridge, the shattered remains of the stone began their slow descent into the darkness below.

Damn it.

Forward or ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠back. I had to choose. The blast had thrown me toward the rear, so retreating would carry me safely back to the passage. But if I wanted the hidden mission, I had to push ahead.

Decide fast. Hesitate a moment longer, and even the remaining wreckage would be gone. In the syrup-slow crawl of time, my mind raced.

Forward. With Flash Step, I can manage it.

No risk, no reward. I'd come this far on the gamble — there had to be something waiting on the other side of it.

Still tumbling backward, I twisted my body and kicked the empty air behind me with everything I had. The recoil launched me forward like a bolt — but I was already falling. The far passage rose up into the top of my vision, and the collapsing rubble of the bridge hurtled closer.

I planted my foot on a chunk of falling stone and leapt. Once. Twice. Three times. Four. I bounded off the debris as it dropped, and where there was no rubble beneath my next leap, I simply stepped on the air itself.

"Kki-hiii-iik!"

Dobby's scream, clamped to my left arm, stretched thin and reedy through the slowed world.

Six more leaps, one after another. And at last, barely — barely — my foot found the stone of the opposite passage.

Even with Flash Step, it had come down to a hair's breadth.

"Kkikiik! Kkikiik!"

Dobby, half out of his mind with the terror of the fall, thrashed wildly in my grip. Goosebumps crawled over me a moment too late. They said the army on a floor-clearing floor was the easy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠part — and a trap like this was hiding inside it.

Without Flash Step, I would have plunged off the bridge before I could even retreat, and I never would have made it over to this side of the chasm. For the first time in a long while, a curse burst out of me, loud and unfiltered.

"...Shit. Focus."

The bridge was severed. There was no going back now. I had no idea what lay ahead — but it was time to move forward again.