Chapter 29: Nightmare 3rd Floor (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 29: Nightmare 3rd Floor (1)
There’s a game called Vampire Surrounded.
It’s a simple game where your only goal is to defeat enemies while weaving through the endless swarms closing in on you. Because it was such a massive hit—thanks to its simple controls and addictive gameplay—countless similar titles cropped up like mushrooms after a spring rain. Eventually, they became known as "Survivor-like" games.
Of course, I had played it too. It was so addictive that the first time I picked it up, I was hooked for days.
The theme of the 3rd floor felt remarkably similar to those games.
The clear condition for the 3rd floor was survival. In an open field with zero cover, I just had to stay alive against the attacking undead until the sun rose.
Naturally, the strength of the undead varied by difficulty. On Hard, it was said that "fairly" strong undead swarmed in "fairly" dense numbers. To be specific, those undead had a combat power level of about 3 or 4. Aside from attacking with their rotting bodies, they had no special abilities.
But that was Hard difficulty. I was about to find out what Nightmare was like.
In Nightmare, survival might not even be the only clear condition. This was a place that shared only a theme with the lower difficulties while presenting an insane variation of absolute bullshit on a whole different level.
[You have entered the 3rd floor of Nightmare difficulty.]
As always, I stopped time the moment I entered and surveyed my surroundings.
An endless plain stretched out in all directions, dotted with sparse trees and rocks. Various weapons were thrust into the ground right in front of me. And then, there were the undead.
As expected, they were crawling everywhere. But then again, there weren't that many. It wasn't at the level where I’d immediately think, Oh, here we go with the bullshit again.
For some reason, that gave me a bad feeling. There was no way Nightmare would be this easy.
Are the undead incredibly strong, maybe?
Or there was definitely a catch. Well, let’s just try it. I’d find out soon enough.
The sky was dark, but a faint light was bleeding over the horizon, like the break of dawn. On Easy, Normal, and Hard, it reportedly took about ten minutes for the sun to rise. Perhaps the sun just rose much later here.
I finished my mental preparations and resumed time.
The moment time flowed again, the undead swarmed from all directions. I immediately used Flame Strike. I fired three fireballs in a triangular formation and let them detonate.
KABOOM!
Dozens of undead were blown apart, their rotten flesh scattering into the air. I reached down and snatched a mace from the ground. Then, I moved quickly toward an area where the crowd was thinner.
The weakness of the undead was the head. Rather than a "weakness," it was more that you had to crush the skull to ensure they stayed down. Otherwise, they’d just keep crawling.
I swung the mace at the undead lunging at me.
Thwack! Crunch!
Their heads shattered easily. They weren't particularly sturdy. After taking down a few, I made a rough assessment.
Their combat power isn't that high.
Judging by their movements, their physical abilities seemed to be around level 10. And perhaps because their bodies were rotting, their durability was even lower. They weren't enough to stop me; individually, they posed no threat.
Groaaaaar—
The problem, however, was the sheer number. If I didn't keep moving, I’d be buried in seconds.
I continued to crush skulls with my mace while weaving in Fairy Light Bullet.
Pop-pop-pop-pop!
Five light bullets spiraled through the air, bursting the heads of the undead. I kept moving, carving a path through the gaps in the horde. Smashing with the mace, firing light bullets, and using Flame Strike to blow up clusters of them.
Ugh, the stench was unreal. Since the place was crawling with corpses, the nauseating smell was no joke. The fact that I even had the mental capacity to complain about the smell meant I was still doing fine.
When my willpower ran low, I stopped time and refilled it. With more magic skills in my arsenal, my willpower certainly drained faster, but I was clearing the undead just as quickly. My magic was blowing them up much faster than they could swarm me. As long as I kept refilling my willpower, I could spam magic all day if I wanted to.
And these undead were much stupider than I expected. They’d chase me with guttural groans, but the moment I moved behind a rock and out of their line of sight, they’d just stop in their tracks. It seemed their intelligence only allowed them to react to what was directly in front of them.
Unfortunately, since they were coming from every direction, I couldn't really use any cheap tricks like hiding.
After refueling my willpower to the max, I set off again.
Boom! Crash!
I advanced, relentlessly obliterating the undead with magic and steel. As I fought, an efficient combat strategy naturally formed: Flame Strike for the large clusters, Fairy Light Bullet for secondary thinning as I moved, and finally, crushing the heads of the few that managed to get close with my mace. Then, refill willpower when it ran out.
I didn't even need to use Blade Gale. There was no reason to wait for them to surround me when my current method worked just fine.
While I was busy breaking through the horde, I stepped onto a patch of ground that, unlike the surrounding area, didn't have a single blade of grass.
"...?"
For a moment, the sensation under my foot felt subtly strange, making me tilt my head in confusion as I passed.
Anyway, was this really it? The numbers were high, but it didn't feel particularly difficult.
This is actually manageable...
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I flinched.
No, you idiot. Don't let your guard down.
In Nightmare, it was only normal to think, I'm screwed. Thinking "this is manageable" was impossible. If it felt that way, it was a wicked trap. There was definitely something more.
With that thought, I silently continued clearing the undead. But even as I looked around, there were still no unusual signs. Was I really just supposed to survive like this until the sun rose? There was no way.
My paranoia kicked in, and my mind began to race. I was about to crush the head of an undead that had lunged at me when my Sixth Sense screamed a warning.
"...!"
Don't hit it.
But my perception was a split second too late; the mace was already crushing the creature's head. The body of the headless undead suddenly swelled a bright, angry red.
I stopped time immediately. I focused my mind and used Teleportation to get as far away as possible.
KABOOOOM!
A massive explosion erupted. The blast was even more powerful than a Flame Strike. Having narrowly escaped, I clutched my chest, heart racing.
"That's insane."
Undead that explode when touched? What, are they Creepers?
I knew it. There was more to this.
Now aware of the Explosive Undead, I sharpened my focus and honed my senses. I had accidentally hit one because I was distracted, but if I stayed focused, I could filter them out with my Sixth Sense.
I was about to crush another undead's head when my Sixth Sense signaled me to stop.
Ah, these guys have redder eyes.
Looking closer, I realized the eye glow of the Explosive Undead was much more intense than the normal ones. I kept my distance and intercepted it with a light bullet. It stopped mid-chase and exploded spectacularly, taking the surrounding undead with it.
The Explosive Undead were like mines scattered among the crowd, but they weren't a big deal once I knew about them. The scary part was being caught off guard; once you knew the trick, it was fine. I didn't allow them to get close, picking them off from a distance.
That was all well and good, but...
...Are there more of them?
The Explosive Undead weren't the only change. The number of swarming undead was increasing at a palpable rate. I began using magic more aggressively and refilling my willpower more frequently.
From that point on, I also started using Blade Gale.
WHOOOOSH!
I used the Leap skill to vault into the air, then dropped into a cluster of undead and unleashed a Blade Gale. The undead were shredded and blown back, the force even pushing away the ones behind them. The knockback power was certainly no joke. If only the cooldown were shorter.
Now this feels like Nightmare difficulty.
I was finally starting to feel the pressure. In fact, I had been feeling uneasy because it had been too easy until now. I carved a path forward, dealing with the ever-increasing swarm.
Bark! Snarl!
Now what were those? Beast-type undead were starting to appear. I used the Swing skill to crush the head of a Wolf Undead that lunged at my throat. I intercepted the following nutria-like undead with light bullets. These things were much faster and stronger than the typical humanoid undead.
It felt like the difficulty had jumped another 20%.
...Fine, damn it. This is what Nightmare should be like. I had fully expected this much.
But it wouldn't get even harder, would it? I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. Swinging, killing, exploding, breaking through. As I fought my lonely battle against the corpses, I checked the sky.
When is the sun going to—
...Huh?
Only then did I realize something was wrong. It had been dark like dawn from the start. But looking at it now, the sky wasn't getting brighter; it was getting darker. Even the faint light on the horizon had vanished.
Oh... for fuck's sake. Wait a minute.
Don't tell me the sun wasn't rising—it was setting?
Then what happens now?
On other difficulties, you just had to hold out until dawn. If it was the opposite here...
Groaaaaar—
I didn't even have time to be bewildered as I fought the swarming undead. Grimacing, I moved my body without rest, spamming magic. In reality, only about five minutes had passed since I entered, but having refilled my willpower over ten times already, it felt like a marathon.
Soon, the sky was dyed in complete darkness. At the same time, my Sixth Sense began to scream like crazy. The source of the danger was everywhere.
Nightmare. Right, Nightmare. It should... at least... be this...
"..."
Nightmare, you crazy bastard.
The horizon was covered in black dots. As they drew closer, they turned into a black tidal wave. They were all undead. Without exaggeration, tens of thousands of undead were swarming from all directions.
I stopped time.
No, no, wait a minute... This makes no sense. You have to give me something physically possible. How am I supposed to survive this?
God damn it.
Right. This was exactly what Nightmare was. Now I finally felt like I was truly screwed.
Despite the overwhelming sense of despair, I racked my brain to survive. Was I... missing something? There was no way the clear condition was just to survive against a swarm of undead like a plague of locusts. No matter how I looked at it.
Unlike the other difficulties, the sun had set. It was confusing, but it was also proof that this wasn't a stage you could clear just by holding out.
Suddenly, I remembered the situation on the 1st floor when the iron spheres were rolling down. Back then, I thought I was dead for sure, but there had been a way out.
...!
In that moment, what flashed through my mind was that patch of ground that was strangely devoid of grass. The one that felt weird when I stepped on it earlier. It had a hollow ring to it, as if there was empty space beneath.
Where was it?
I resumed time and quickly scanned my surroundings. I was sure it was over there... Found it!
I immediately ran toward the strange patch of ground. I spammed magic, blowing up the undead blocking my path. The massive wave of undead was closing in, and my heart was hammering against my ribs.
I arrived at the strange ground. The moment I saw it, I fired a Flame Strike.
KABOOM!
The ground shattered. As the dust and flames cleared, a large hole was revealed in the earth. It was a passage, after all!
Without hesitation, I threw myself into the darkness to escape the swarming tide.