Chapter 45: Nightmare 4th Floor (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 45: Nightmare 4th Floor (1)
Tower Defense.
It’s a strategy game genre where you build towers to stop enemies from marching along a set path. It’s a familiar concept, one that almost everyone has played on their phone at least once.
The theme of the 4th floor was remarkably similar to that.
Except, instead of building towers, I had to personally stop the enemies from descending a restricted path.
[You have entered the 4th Floor, Nightmare Difficulty.]
I stopped time the moment I entered.
I scanned my surroundings, taking in the visual information. It was a vast space that brought to mind words like workshop, factory, or machine shop.
A winding path cut through the room. Blending in with the industrial background, it looked like a conveyor belt used to move products through a factory.
A massive, rectangular entrance resembled a loading dock. The path started there, stretched out in a straight line, and then curved in a U-shape four times before reaching the exit. It was essentially a zigzagging path, like two 'S' shapes stacked on top of each other.
I was currently standing on top of the walls that filled the spaces between the paths. There was about a five-meter height difference between the path and the top of the wall.
Reconnaissance complete.
The location and structure itself didn't seem different from the lower difficulties.
‘Whew.’
In the end, I’d chosen a penalty and entered.
I had no regrets. If anything, my mind was at ease. Or maybe not? I might regret it when the raid fails and it’s time to die, but for now...
I shook off the useless thoughts.
[1. Physical abilities reduced by 50%]
The penalty I chose was number one.
The reason was simple: I chose to preserve my skill power over my physical strength. Number three was too much of a gamble, and number five—the item ban—would have made it impossible to summon Phligas.
In terms of pure physical power, Phligas was stronger than me anyway. Plus, as long as his health didn't run out, I could maintain his summons indefinitely.
I decided it was better to keep Phligas at full strength even if my own physical abilities were cut in half.
Well... ultimately, since I had no idea what would happen on the 4th floor, it was a choice based more on intuition than anything else. I’d find out soon enough if it was the right call.
I’d made the decision based on the theme as much as possible, but Nightmare was a "do-whatever-the-hell-it-wants" difficulty where you never knew what kind of curveball would be thrown at your head.
Still, I might as well try to think positively.
Who knows? Maybe the 4th floor would be easier than I thought. Maybe the Tower gave me a penalty because it thought I’d clear it too easily otherwise? Hahaha.
...I really hope that’s the case.
I resumed time.
The moment I did, I felt the strength drain from my body as the physical reduction penalty kicked in.
Soon, a mechanical voice laced with static echoed through the air.
— The golems inside the workshop are currently malfunctioning and going berserk. Employees are instructed to dispose of them immediately upon discoveryyy...
I looked toward the entrance of the path.
A blue light was lit on the indicator above the entrance. When that light turned red, golems would start emerging.
According to the data, Hard difficulty consisted of three stages with 3, 6, and 10 golems respectively. The golems had high defense, no specific weak points, and were not offensive units.
Meaning, they didn't attack; they just moved.
They would emerge from the entrance, advance along the path, and leave through the exit. That was it.
But as with any defense game, you couldn't let the golems reach the exit. If even one got through, the voice I just heard would announce that a "Great Incineration" was being initiated throughout the workshop and start a ten-second countdown.
"Incineration" likely meant being burned to death, but no one had ever lived to confirm it. If they saw the countdown, they were already dead.
In short, if even a single golem reached the exit, the raid was a failure. I would likely end up as ash.
So, my job was to destroy every golem coming out of the entrance to prevent their escape. In this tower defense, I was the tower. Except I could move around as I pleased.
Looking at the more detailed data for Hard difficulty:
The golems spawned at five-meter intervals, and it took them 150 seconds to move from the entrance to the exit. That meant each straight section took 30 seconds to cross. There was a one-minute break between stages.
Of course, that was just for reference.
Since this was Nightmare, there could be more golems, they could move faster, they could actually attack, or strange variants could appear. Some bizarre gimmick or trick could change the clear conditions entirely. Or, knowing my luck, all of the above.
I hopped along the top of the wall until I reached the start of the path where the golems would emerge.
For the record, every structure in this place except for the golems was an indestructible object. This meant it was impossible to alter the terrain of the path.
I summoned Phligas immediately.
"You have a big role to play, Phligas. Got it?"
Phligas leaped down onto the path.
I remained on top of the wall. Phligas would attack the golems directly on the path, and I would support him with magic skills from up here. My body was weakened anyway; fighting on the path would only get in Phligas's way.
I’d chosen the first penalty with this division of labor in mind.
Ding—
Along with the chime, the indicator light turned red. The entrance doors slid open.
Alright, come on out.
I watched the entrance, my muscles tensed.
Thump. Thump. Thump...
The sound of heavy footsteps echoed.
The first golem emerged from the entrance.
It was a bipedal construct, slightly larger than Phligas. Its body was made of a white, rock-like material, and a blue, core-like object was embedded in the center of its torso.
Kaaaaa—!
As soon as the golem appeared, Phligas pounced. He slammed his front paw into its head, and the golem crumbled instantly.
One down... wait, what?
I had been ready to cast a skill, but I tilted my head in confusion. Golems kept coming out one by one, but Phligas was smashing them all with a single blow.
They broke the moment they emerged. One after another.
There wasn't even a need to use skills, so I just watched.
‘...Is it easy because it’s only Stage 1?’
Of course, Phligas was strong. He had the physical stats of a Ranker in their 50s.
Ding—
A total of five golems had emerged.
The indicator light turned blue, and the entrance doors closed again. The first stage was over.
So Nightmare had five golems. Would the next one have ten?
Only the shattered fragments and cores of the golems remained on the path, destroyed by Phligas. According to what I knew, the second stage would start in one minute.
I spent that time walking around and observing.
A slight sense of suspicion was already starting to bubble up. The most terrifying thing about Nightmare was that it set traps that were impossible to anticipate on the first try.
The Crossbow Goblins on the 1st floor, the Illusion Platforms on the 2nd, the underground space on the 3rd...
Actually, it wasn't that they were impossible to know; it was more accurate to say that by the time you realized the trick, it was already too late.
Surely, the 4th floor had something up its sleeve too.
But nothing stood out yet. Did I need to progress further? Or was I missing something? Ugh, the PTSD from the 3rd floor was kicking in.
Ding—
The light turned red.
As the next stage began, the remains of the golems on the path turned to dust and vanished.
Returning to the start of the path, I watched the entrance. The same type of golems as Stage 1 emerged. One hit per golem—Phligas tore through them like they were made of styrofoam.
As expected, Stage 2 had a total of ten golems. Every single one was spawn-killed before they could take more than a few steps from the entrance.
Once again, I didn't need to use a single skill.
Since Hard difficulty was 3, 6, and 10 golems... the next one would probably be a bit more than fifteen? But with golems this weak, it didn't matter how many came out.
If it ended with Stage 3 like the other difficulties, I would have already completed two-thirds of the raid.
But that made no sense. There was no way. It would be more rational to believe the Earth was flat than to believe Nightmare was this easy.
I couldn't let my guard down. I kept moving my body left and right to maintain the Exhilaration effect while waiting for the next stage to begin.
Ding—
The red light. Stage 3 began.
The golem remains on the path vanished. The entrance opened, and more white golems came out.
There were twenty in total, and Phligas easily smashed them all.
Stage 3 ended quickly.
Could it be that I’d become so strong that it was actually easy?
I held onto a fleeting hope that the clear message might actually pop up, but nope—no such luck.
Instead of a message, the announcement voice echoed again.
— Not only the standard golems, but even the special golems our workshop poured its heart and soul into creating have escaped control and are malfunctioninggg... Dispose of them all, dispose of them all—
— Blue Golems ignore almost 99% of physical damageee... Please exercise caution in your responseee...
What?
The light turned red, and the entrance opened.
A blue golem, different from the previous ones, emerged. Only the color was different; its shape and the core in its chest were the same.
Phligas immediately pounced and struck the golem's head with his paw.
Boom!
The golem was knocked down, but it didn't break. Phligas grabbed and bit the golem as it tried to stand up and advance, but it still took no damage.
Right, so here comes the variation.
"Phligas, back off."
Phligas, who had been gnawing on the golem like a chew toy, leaped backward.
I fired a Flame Strike at the fallen golem and the others following it out of the entrance.
KABOOM!
Five fireballs caused a massive explosion. Two golems were blown to pieces.
Blue Golems ignored 99% of physical damage. Phligas's attacks wouldn't work. On the other hand, my magic skills worked perfectly.
Three more golems emerged from the entrance.
Rather than wasting firepower, I had Phligas block the path. Since the golems didn't attack, Phligas just had to hold one back, and the golems behind it were stuck, unable to advance.
I waited for the 30-second cooldown, had Phligas move out of the way, and fired another Flame Strike at the clustered golems.
KABOOM!
A clean sweep.
The light turned blue, and the entrance closed.
Would the next stage, Stage 5, have ten blue golems? At this rate... I could probably clear up to twenty without much trouble. I could even use Destruction Ray to wipe them all out at once if I just lined them up in a straight section.
But there was no need for that yet. Destruction Ray had a three-minute cooldown, so I had to save it.
The golem remains vanished, and Stage 5 began. As expected, ten blue golems emerged. I had Phligas block them again, and once they were all bunched up, I used my skills to hunt them down.
The twenty golems in Stage 6 were cleared in the same manner without any issues.
Before Stage 7 began, the announcement voice rang out again.
— Red Golems ignore almost 99% of magic damageee... Please exercise caution in your responseee...
Magic damage immunity this time?
The golem remains vanished, and the entrance opened. A red golem emerged.
Again, it was identical in shape except for the color, with a core in its chest. It was Phligas's turn to shine again.
Phligas attacked the red golem as it crawled out. It seemed the Red Golems had higher base stats than the white ones, in addition to their magic immunity. They withstood Phligas's attacks better and pushed forward more forcefully.
But in the end, they still broke. Phligas handled all five before they could even pass the first section of the path.
Stage 8 began.
Ten golems were a bit more of a struggle. Still, Phligas finished them all before they passed the middle of the second section.
For the final Stage 9, I stepped in as well. I jumped down onto the path and tried hitting a red golem... but my attacks, weakened by the 50% physical reduction penalty, barely did anything.
Whoosh!
Instead, I used my skills just to stall their progress. Even if I couldn't deal damage, it didn't mean they couldn't be pushed back. Using Blade Gale and other skills successfully knocked them away.
While I did that, Phligas took them down one by one.
We managed to block all twenty golems in Stage 9 before they passed the second section, clearing it without much difficulty.
"..."
A sense of incongruity washed over me.
Something felt off. It wasn't a warning from my Sixth Sense, just my own intuition.
‘This isn't Nightmare's style.’
The golems were getting stronger, and the difficulty was increasing. But this wasn't a gimmick or a trick... it was just a pure test of power.
On the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors, no matter how cruel the difficulty was, other Nightmare climbers could have cleared them physically as long as they knew the solution.
But was this something a Level 30 climber could handle...?
The Blue Golems, immune to physical damage, would be a disaster for other climbers who struggled to use magic skills properly. And the scaling stats of the golems were now reaching a point where even Phligas was starting to feel the strain.
I looked around.
I’d been searching during every break to see if there were hidden spaces or devices like on the 3rd floor, but I hadn't found a single thing. The only passages here were the entrance where the golems came from and the exit.
I couldn't go through the exit, as I’d been told the incineration countdown would start if anything passed through it. I’d tried approaching the entrance while it was open during a stage, but my Sixth Sense had blared a warning, so that didn't seem like the way either.
I couldn't tell... Nightmare was always like this.
‘But just how many stages are there?’
Just as the sense of unease grew deeper, the announcement voice rang out once more.