Chapter 76: Nightmare 6th Floor (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 76: Nightmare 6th Floor (2)
The moment I saw the message, I stopped time to organize my thoughts.
[A penalty has been imposed!]
[The number of enemy monster spawns has doubled!]
[Enemy monsters have acquired Tier 1 Resistance!]
The enemy had three Cores in total.
It seemed I couldn't just destroy them in any order I pleased; there was a specific sequence to follow. If I got that sequence wrong, I was slapped with a penalty like this.
Double...
Did that mean six Ogres would spawn at a time now?
It wasn't a total disaster yet, but if they kept doubling every time I made a mistake...
'If I mess up just a few more times, I’m fucked.'
If dozens of Ogres started swarming down each lane, I didn't think I could handle the pressure.
And what exactly was Tier 1 Resistance? Did it mean their defense increased? Regardless, it meant the enemy was receiving some kind of buff, which was never a good sign.
Let’s break this down.
First off, it wasn't Lane 1, so it had to be either Lane 2 or Lane 3. A fifty-fifty chance. If I got it wrong again, the remaining one would be confirmed, and I could just destroy that.
If I failed again out of the remaining two...
Including the one I just failed, I could mess up a maximum of three times. By then, there would be 24 Ogres per lane.
Of course, this was all assuming the order was strictly fixed. What if the sequence reset every time I got it wrong?
'Hmm... That would be completely hopeless.'
I prayed it wouldn't reset.
'Do I have to rely on luck again?'
Or was there some clue that could pinpoint the correct order?
For now, I unpaused time.
Flash!
Immediately, six Ogres spawned.
I unleashed Flame Strike in multiple directions to sweep them all away, then sprinted back toward my base. On the way, I noticed that the destroyed Turrets hadn't regenerated. That was a relief, at least.
I checked Lane 2 to assess the situation. The number of Ogres had increased to six, but Phli was handling them with ease. This side was stable.
I immediately checked Lane 3 as well. The Scorching Zone was also doing an excellent job incinerating the Ogres, preventing them from even touching the Turret.
Alright, I could still hold out against six.
I stopped time again to think.
'Which one should I push...'
I had to choose between Lane 2 and Lane 3. I had no choice but to be cautious. If I got it wrong, the monster count would double again, and that 'resistance' would increase.
...Rather than just taking a wild guess on a coin flip, I decided to observe the field a bit more. There might be a hint hidden somewhere that revealed the order.
'I should clear out the Turrets first.'
If I got the order wrong, the Core regenerated, but the Turrets did not. I decided to sweep through all the Turrets in the three lanes first before making my next move.
I headed back to Lane 1. I pushed all the way into the enemy base and laid down a new Scorching Zone right on the portal where the Ogres spawned.
Fwoosh!
The newly summoned Ogres burned and collapsed instantly. I just had to turn Lane 1 into a spawn-kill zone.
I hastily dashed back to Lane 3, where the Scorching Zone was about to expire. So busy, way too busy. After sweeping away the Ogres approaching our 1st Turret, I destroyed the enemy's 1st Turret.
[You have destroyed Lane 3's 1st Turret!]
[You have destroyed Lane 3's 2nd Turret!]
I cleared the 1st Turret and pushed straight through to the 2nd. Done. Lane 3 was clear.
I dashed over to Lane 2.
"Go block that bridge over there, Phli."
After sending Phli—who had been holding off the Ogres in Lane 2—over to Lane 3, I got to work.
[You have destroyed Lane 2's 1st Turret!]
[You have destroyed Lane 2's 2nd Turret!]
I cleared all the Turrets in Lane 2 as well. Alternating between Phli and the Scorching Zone to block the remaining two lanes, I finished destroying every Turret on the map.
Upon entering the base of Lane 2, I carefully examined the Core.
Hmm...
Of course, there wasn't something as simple as a number written on it. I scouted the base while dealing with the spawning Ogres. It wasn't particularly different from our own base, except for the fact that it radiated a harsh red light, in stark contrast to our base's blue glow.
I swapped the positions of Phli and the Scorching Zone to examine the bases in Lane 1 and Lane 3, then did the same for our own base. I wandered around for a long time, observing every nook and cranny of the field, but...
There were no notable findings.
I stopped time again and fell into deep thought.
...Are they really just telling me to guess blindly?
Hah, I really hate that. Having PTSD from the 4th Floor, I was genuinely repulsed by anything that relied on pure luck. But what could I do if there was no other way?
Without pondering for too long, I decided to destroy Core 3... or so I tried, before reconsidering.
No, wait. Let's try to gauge the Tower's intentions for a moment.
My picking Lane 1 first? That might have been intended by the Tower as well. If there are numbers 1, 2, and 3, it's common for people to just pick 1 without thinking.
Then what about the next? Human psychology is tricky. If someone picks 1 and gets it wrong, instead of just going in numerical order to 2, wouldn't they usually jump to 3?
But what if even this train of thought was being guided by the Tower?
...Forget it, my thoughts are just getting tangled. This isn't rock-paper-scissors; overthinking it is pointless. Let's not play unnecessary mind games. It would piss me off even more if I changed my answer and got it wrong, so I decided to stick to my initial decision: Lane 3.
Before smashing Core 3, I moved to Core 2 first. Shaving down Core 2's health beforehand would save me a lot of time later. After I chipped Core 2's health down to nearly 1%, I charged up the Warp Device and designated this spot as the warp point.
With this setup, if Core 3 turned out to be the wrong answer, I could immediately warp here and finish Core 2.
[9:59]
I activated the Warp Device. With Lane 2 blocked by the Scorching Zone and Lane 1 by Phli, I moved to Core 3.
Since I'd need to cast a new Scorching Zone in Lane 3 before warping to Core 2, I factored in the time it would take to break the Core and the cooldown of the skill. I began smashing Core 3, timing it so there would be about 160 seconds left on the Warp Device's activation.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
I'm not asking for much. It's a fifty-fifty chance, so please let me have at least this much luck...!
I soon destroyed Core 3 while dealing with the spawning Ogres.
[Incorrect order!]
[A penalty has been imposed!]
[The number of enemy monster spawns has doubled!]
[Enemy monsters have acquired Tier 2 Resistance!]
"Fuck."
A curse slipped out the moment I saw the message. Nothing ever goes smoothly.
The destroyed Core 3 regenerated instantly. I immediately deactivated the Scorching Zone on Lane 2's side, waited for the cooldown, and cast it anew on Lane 3.
[0:01]
Right on time, I warped over to Core 2.
"...?"
But when I arrived at Core 2 and looked, the health I had meticulously whittled down to 1% was back to full.
Ah shit, don't tell me... Does the health of all the other Cores regenerate if I get the order wrong?
I clicked my tongue and started bashing the Core with my Mace. Anyway, this was the last one. Unless the order had been reset, Core 2 had to be the right answer.
Ogres spawned from the portal. Doubled once more, there were now a whopping 12 of them. The Ogres rushed toward me as I attacked the Core. I fired off my skills in response. However...
'...They've gotten sturdier.'
I could feel it. The Ogres had become significantly tougher. As expected, 'resistance' meant their defense had increased. Still, I handled them without much issue and continued smashing the Core.
I was more worried about the lanes I’d left empty than this side. At this rate, Phli would probably find it tough... Was the line being pushed back? Since I couldn't go check right now, my only option was to destroy the Core as fast as possible.
'...This has to be the right answer, right?'
It wasn't actually going to reset the order every time I got it wrong, right? Right? Honestly, that kind of bullshit would be crossing the line.
Suppressing my anxiety, I completely destroyed Core 2.
And...
[Incorrect order!]
[A penalty has been imposed!]
[The number of enemy monster spawns has doubled!]
[Enemy monsters have acquired Tier 3 Resistance!]
"..."
Why are my ominous premonitions never wrong?
I instantly stopped time.
This was driving me crazy. So it really did reset the order every time I guessed incorrectly? Now there were 24 Ogres. Tier 3 Resistance. It was progressively heading into territory that was impossible to handle.
What was even more dizzying was that I still hadn't managed to destroy even a single Core.
...As always, clearing Nightmare was a horrifying ordeal.
I calmed down and forced myself to think. It's fine. When I failed the draw on the 4th Floor, it was far more hopeless than this. But I ended up finding a way in the end.
'Think.'
Let's think. Think.
Does the order truly reset every time I guess incorrectly? If so, having guessed wrong three times in a row, I was already as good as doomed. It felt like if I got it wrong just one more time, it would become completely unmanageable. Unless I got everything perfectly right from here on out without a single mistake, there was no way this was clearable...
I'd rather hope I was just missing something. But even after wandering around and observing the field earlier, I hadn't found a single hint regarding the order.
'...Destroy all three Cores simultaneously?'
What if I utilized Phli and the Scorching Zone to destroy all three Cores at the exact same moment?
...There was no way that was feasible. How would I destroy them at the same time without the slightest margin of error? And even if I did, there was no guarantee it would be accepted as the correct answer. If things went wrong, it could instantly trigger three incorrect answers in a row.
I thought and thought within the frozen time. I was in a situation desperately in need of a flash of inspiration.
'Come on, put some effort into it, brain cells, neurons. If you can't come up with something, I'm literally going to die!'
It felt like I had spent a solid half-day keeping time stopped just racking my brain, but still, nothing came to mind. It was at the moment the thought crossed my mind that I really had to leave everything to luck now that...
'...?'
Suddenly, my eyes landed on the Core of our base, far across the bridge.
A Red Core.
...Come to think of it, why was our Core red?
Looking at it, the colors of our side and the enemy's side were entirely contrasting. For our side, the base was blue, the portals were blue, and the Turrets were blue. Conversely, the enemy's side was entirely red.
But uniquely, only our Core was the same red as the enemy's Cores. I had noticed it earlier, but I had just glossed over it, assuming that was just how it was...
'...Could it be?'
An unthinkable notion came to mind. What if that wasn't our Core, but the enemy's Core?
It was an absurd idea, but Nightmare Difficulty was never normal to begin with. The thing sitting right in the middle of our base, which I thought was our Core, was actually the enemy's Core. The possibility that such a bullshit trick was set up... wasn't zero.
No, the more I chewed on it, the more plausible it seemed. I mean, it was strange—everything else was blue, so why was only the Core red?
'Then where is our real Core?'
That, I didn't know. In any case, I had to choose whether to try destroying it or not. I couldn't choose easily. What if it was just my delusion? What if that really was our Core? It would just end with me foolishly self-destructing.
After agonizing over it for a long while, I finally made a decision.
...It was a hopeless situation anyway. Rather than praying to flawlessly destroy the three regenerating Cores without getting the reset order wrong again, I might as well pray that this was the correct answer.
I unpaused time and sprinted toward our base. Reaching the base in an instant, I began smashing the Core with my Mace.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
The Core's health drained little by little.
Ah... Wait, is it not? Is this really it?
Even while smashing it, my mind kept wavering. No matter how I thought about it, it felt like I was doing something completely insane. But then again, Nightmare wasn't something meant to be cleared with a sane mind anyway.
I don't know anymore, fuck it. If I'm wrong, I apologize to all of humanity.
[Your Lane 2 1st Turret has been destroyed!]
A message popped up.
'...Already?'
Our Turret had been destroyed. It seemed the 1st Turret in the empty Lane 2 had already been overwhelmed. The Ogres had multiplied to 24, so there was no way it could hold out...
I didn't stop. I kept smashing the Core.
The last 1 percent of its health.
My hand hesitated for a brief moment, but I shut my eyes tightly and brought down the final strike.
And...
Craaack!
The Red Core collapsed and crumbled away. What revealed itself from within was a small Blue Core.
[You have destroyed the enemy's Core!]
[Destroyed Cores (1/4)]
"...Hah."
Looking at the messages popping up, I let out a hollow laugh.
It was truly an insane bastard, this Nightmare.