The Grim Reaper's First Steps in Hell
Seong Yujin let out a low groan.
If Lee Sia and Park Ji-hoo saw this status window, they’d be terrified beyond words—possibly even passing out cold.
The numbers on the traits and skills were already insane, but the grades were straight-up impossible.
The highest grade among the traits and skills the two of them possessed was at most C-grade.
Lee Sia alone held even that one.
Her Sword Heart [C] had evolved and risen accordingly.
Yujin, on the other hand, had one EX-grade and three S-grades.
Of course, two of them were locked with slashes, so they weren’t usable right now.
But even that made it terrifying.
The status window even had items the two of them didn’t possess at all.
It was enough to make anyone doubt it was the same player.
Yet Yujin’s face remained completely expressionless.
“When did you guys even level up?”
They were weak.
Shockingly, stupidly weak.
Excluding the two S-grade traits, Tableau of Duplicity [D], and Chunbae’s Gluttonous Avarice [A], everything else was trash.
No growth potential, nothing worth using.
The only tolerable ones were Insight [C] and Cleave [D], but still…
“Can’t be helped. Decent skills only unlock after at least thirty floors.”
It stung to admit, but this was the best they could manage right now.
“Hmm. If I’m this broken, how completely wrecked must those two be?”
He figured he’d do a check around the tenth floor.
But he needed to verify sooner rather than later.
He’d been focused on levels, so other things had slipped his mind and now he was curious.
“Still, the Sword Empress has Black Wing [C] too, so at least some compensation is possible.”
The real problem was Park Ji-hoo.
He didn’t have any proper equipment yet.
He’d been using trash from the tutorial floor the whole time.
“That was decent for what it was, but it’s at its limit now.”
It was only usable before the tenth floor.
Anything past that was basically junk.
It was obvious it wouldn’t land a proper hit on anything from the eleventh floor onward.
Those were the floors where irregular monsters like Raids and Grimm Reapers started spawning.
“The absolute priority is getting the Champion Gauntlet [C].”
Fortunately, it was obtainable at the Coliseum city on the tenth floor.
Even if the method was a little convoluted.
“I also need to grab a few other things.”
Park Ji-hoo’s support was overall a bit lacking.
War God’s Aura [D] was a good trait for growth, but it was of the waiting type.
It would take a long time to fully unleash its power.
To get a serviceable one-person option right away, he’d need to find some usable skills and traits quickly.
“Anyway, that’s all the worrying I’m doing.”
Yujin scanned his surroundings.
No movement in sight.
The countless zombies that had been roaming around were all dead.
Not a single one was still walking around.
Every last one had been shattered into pieces by Sun God’s Blessing [D] and Yujin’s bare hands and feet.
A total of over ten thousand.
“Zombies really are inefficient.”
Even so, his level had only risen by three.
They were just too weak, and they dropped way too little experience.
If he’d killed that many red goblins on the first floor, he’d have at least hit ten levels.
Chuckling to himself at his own thought, Yujin began peeling the chunks of flesh off his face.
Quest completed.
Rescued 100 survivors.
Achievement ‘I Kept My Promise in the Apocalypse’ unlocked.
Quest completion reward: Skill 『Heaven-Slicing Blade [D]』 awarded.
Achievement reward: Item 『Heavenly Silk Thread [C]』 awarded.
“Whoa?”
Yujin’s eyes widened slightly.
The rewards were no joke.
He knew Heaven-Slicing Blade [D] well.
Heaven-Slicing Blade [D]: Sever the opponent countless times with a flying sword.
Just looking at the description was enough to show its power.
Limited to lower floors, it was still the best reward you could get from the sixth floor.
But the real highlight was the other one.
Heavenly Silk Thread [C]: Silk thread spun from the cocoon of a heavenly silkworm. Incredibly tough, almost impossible to break, and exceptionally sharp. Its length scales with the user’s level.
A full C-grade item.
And the description was even more telling.
Extremely… and outstandingly so.
To the hyper-critical Akasha System, that was high praise.
Only one trait Yujin had ever seen with descriptors like that had been Divinely Embodied Body [S].
Plus, the length scaling with the user’s level meant it was definitely a growth-type item.
“Even at C-grade, it’s this good?”
Yujin let out a chuckle.
“Heavenly Silk Thread [C] followed by Heaven-Slicing Blade [D].”
The synergy between these two rewards was endless.
Just thinking of immediate uses already gave several options.
And the more Yujin’s level rose, the more options would appear.
“Insane.”
The more he thought about it, the more perfect the combination felt.
It was almost as if the Akasha System had been listening to his aspirations.
The system had granted him enormous rewards.
“Is this thing listening to me?”
The phrase “listening device” popped into Yujin’s head unprompted.
Uneasy, he carefully picked up the Heavenly Silk Thread [C] from Chunbae’s mouth.
With his eyesight, it looked impossibly thin.
“This is thinner than hair.”
Nanometers or something. He was certain.
“Good. I don’t need this anymore.”
Sun God’s Blessing [D].
It had been decent, but since an even better item had dropped, there was no reason to keep carrying it.
“Still, you never know.”
He’d store it for now, and pull it out only if he ever needed it.
“Chunbae, open your mouth.”
“Kkyaaaang-!”
As if he’d been waiting, the little beast opened his jaws wide.
Yujin dropped both Sun God’s Blessing [D] and Heavenly Silk Thread [C] inside.
“Even this little trick, you’ve adapted.”
Of course, pulling them back out still felt a bit uneasy.
But it didn’t matter.
No matter what, the performance was leagues above anything the Subspace could offer.
“Just being able to store real-world items and bring them into the tower is already cheating.”
Yujin stroked Chunbae’s head.
“Kkyaaaang-!”
Delighted, the beast closed his eyes and whimpered.
“Now that I think about it, this guy probably has some secrets too.”
Yujin checked his status window once more.
Gluttonous Avarice [A]: Eats anything.
As he’d seen before, the description was short—almost comically so.
But that couldn’t be the whole story.
If it was, it shouldn’t have been A-grade, and the alchemy guild master who’d been terrified of Chunbae wouldn’t have looked so shaken.
“I’ll get to the bottom of this later.”
“Kkyaaaang-!”
Whether the beast understood or not, he just whimpered as usual.
Yujin stroked his head once more, then turned to leave.
“The quest alert also popped up, so I guess they wrapped up over there too.”
They’d actually handled it better than expected.
With that, the second quest was ready to begin.
“I hope no one got hurt.”
Otherwise he’d have to waste time.
He really hoped that didn’t happen.
Throwing away even seven or eight or nine floors was something he could never forgive.
“Getting a healer as the final slave would be best.”
To avoid any disruptions to the plan due to injuries, Yujin decided to find a healer.
“I’ll go down later and look around.”
Who was a good healer again?
Recalling names, he walked for a while.
“Oppa!”
He heard Lee Sia calling from ahead.
“Hm?”
Lifting his head, he saw the guy waving his hand inside the safe zone.
“A mess.”
He hadn’t even been back in the tower long, yet the spotless appearance had turned into something pitiful.
It was worse than when they’d climbed to the fifth floor.
And it was the same for Yujin.
“Zombies really are…”
It irked him.
Muttering to himself, he entered the safe zone.
“Whoa, you guys rolled around in a sewer or something?”
“You’re talking nonsense again. Go look in the mirror first. Or did you go on a Southeast Asia vacation? Your skin is completely red.”
Through the zombie blood covering him, his skin looked bright red.
Like a snorkeling tourist who’d forgotten sunscreen.
“That’s not what happened!”
Lee Sia pouted and tried to explain, but Yujin raised his hand to stop her.
He wasn’t really curious.
“Speaking of which, where did the little one go?”
Park Ji-hoo wasn’t around.
“Oh, he’s running around guiding the rescued survivors.”
“Doing useless things again.”
Guiding? Of course he was.
They were all going to die during the second quest anyway.
Yujin shook his head in dissatisfaction.
But he didn’t stop him.
He didn’t feel like meddling.
As long as he did his own job properly, that was enough.
“Anyway, good work. The second quest is probably about to start soon, so prepare.”
It was fortunate no one looked injured.
“No break, we start right away?”
Lee Sia asked with a look of dread.
“Isn’t that obvious?”
Yujin chuckled.
“Apocalypses are like that. When you want to rest, you rest. When you want to fight, you fight. You’ve seen those zombie movies where the main character just decides?”
“I haven’t.”
Lee Sia had never even considered watching zombie movies.
“Even in movies they do that, but in reality? No way. Even if it’s worse, it’s worse.”
He was right.
The Tower of Light wouldn’t treat players kindly.
Dragging them in suddenly, making them die, and forcing them to kill—kindness didn’t enter the equation.
“So prepare. It’s starting.”
Just as Yujin finished speaking, the quest alert popped up.
You have entered the safe zone.
Second quest activated.
Defend the safe zone for 24 hours.
Offering a sacrifice reduces remaining time by 10 minutes.
“What does this even mean?”
The first part was clear enough.
It was basically kindergarten-level instructions—hold back the zombies for twenty-four hours.
But the last line was the issue.
“Sacrifice? Ten minutes gone?”
To be honest, he understood.
Yet Lee Sia clearly didn’t want to accept it.
Yujin didn’t answer.
He simply reached into Chunbae’s mouth in silence and pulled out the Heavenly Silk Thread [C].
Hidden zombies awaken.
Variant zombies appear.
Zombie wave has started.
Be sure to defend the safe zone.