The 3 No Are Complete
‘Not a bad lineup.’
Yujin nodded to himself.
In pure offensive power, Park Ji-hoo took the top spot. His movements were still rough and unrefined, yet that very lack of polish was what let him unleash such raw destructive force. Having shaken off a good portion of his old aversion to violence, the hesitation that used to flicker across his face had vanished. Give him better gear and he would become a perfect all-out damage dealer.
‘And that one…’
The Sword Empress. There was nothing more to say about her. Offense, defense—she excelled at both. Her talent was simply overwhelming. It was as if she had been born solely to swing a blade. If a freshly forged sword could take human form, it would look exactly like her. Pure sword talent alone already surpassed the Yujin of the first timeline. Reclaiming the title of Sword Empress would not take long at all.
Lastly, Vivian. On that front…
‘No need to even mention it.’
Rear-line dealer and healer rolled into one. The two in front still left a few shaky spots; Vivian filled every one of them. Watching her fling dollars around to support Lee Sia and Park Ji-hoo was enough to draw an involuntary smile.
‘I can work them even harder from now on.’
He had always hated the downtime spent recovering from injuries. That was no longer a problem. As long as they didn’t die outright, Vivian could patch them up in an instant. Sure, an absurd amount of dollars got sacrificed in the process, but so what?
‘It’s not my money.’
Vivian wasn’t just born with a silver spoon—she had been born with about a hundred diamond ones clenched in her mouth. This level of spending wouldn’t even register as a burden.
“Good.”
With that, the 3 No were complete. The slaves who would seize the heels of the End and shore up Yujin’s rear had been perfectly assembled. All that remained was to level up and climb to the higher floors.
GRAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!
While Yujin was lost in thought, a scream—not a roar—finally tore from the Blood Dragon’s maw. Park Ji-hoo’s fist had just burst one of its eyeballs. The dragon twisted its body, but a thick bolt of lightning crashed down and struck it square on the crown of its head.
KRRAAA-KOOM—!
The damage itself was minor, yet for a brief instant its body locked up completely. In that fleeting opening Lee Sia stepped forward.
Black Flash [D]
A black beam of light sliced through the air in a perfect straight line.
Ssshk—!
The beam grazed across the Blood Dragon’s neck—thick enough to measure a full five meters around. One clean, unwavering stroke, and the nape of its neck simply collapsed in silence. That was the end.
KUUUUNG—!
The dragon’s head crashed onto the corpse-strewn earth stained the color of rust. Yujin smiled.
Next stop: the 11th floor.
“…Finally.”
The 5th Floor—Pine Breeze. After the green hell of the previous floors, the place felt like paradise. Somewhere on the breeze drifted a thick scent of pine. Just breathing it in seemed to melt the tension coiled tight in their chests.
“We’re finally on the 5th Floor.”
“We can go outside!”
“We’re the first ones, right? No way anyone else beat us here already?”
Five figures emerged at the top of the stairs, every one of them a filthy mess of monster blood and gore. They scanned the surroundings, checking for any other players.
“Nobody. Looks clear.”
“Knew it. We’re the fastest.”
The blonde man who had been first to set foot on the 5th Floor smiled.
“So we won the bet too, huh?”
“Right—the bet. We did make one.”
The short-haired woman and the man lugging a massive greatsword both laughed loudly.
“Still, it was close. Those guys were on the 4th Floor too. A little later and they might’ve gotten here first.”
The quiet woman who spoke wore form-fitting black clothes and carried a pair of daggers. Age, gender, gear—each of them stood out in their own way. The one thing they shared was that they were all white.
“No point worrying from the start. Like we’d ever lose to a bunch of Asians.”
The greatsword man snorted. Open racism—yet not a single person objected. They all felt the same.
“Anyway, we won the bet, so we get to take that too.”
The short-haired woman wore a deep smile. The stakes of the bet: a D-grade item. The kind of item only a chosen few even possessed. And its effect was anything but ordinary.
A spear the blacksmith Citadel roughly hammered out over the course of a week. Suitable for beginners to use for a short while.
It had been forged at Citadel’s Golden Hammer back on the 1st Floor in Terra, using the seven-colored Heavenly Fire. Players who saw it praised it as a divine spear. The description might have been underwhelming, but its power was anything but—it could skewer a Sulfur Deer in a single thrust.
“Once our leader takes that, we’ll climb even faster.”
“Obviously the better fighter should use it.”
The short-haired woman and the greatsword man both nodded vigorously.
“We don’t know yet. They might already be here. Don’t get careless.”
“C’mon, no way.”
The last member of the group was a man wrapped in a pure-white robe. Judging by his voice he was at least middle-aged, and he carried a certain weight the others lacked. Even the one they called leader listened carefully to him.
“Edgar’s right. Complacency is dangerous. If they really got here first…”
The stakes were simply too high. The other side had put up the Spear of Beginning [D], so their own party had been forced to wager an item of equal value.
“Don’t worry, everyone. We were the fastest.”
The blonde man—Eliyah Ventrick, the unspoken leader of the group—smiled faintly. Even covered in filth, his handsome face seemed to shine.
“Well, if Eliyah says so, then we won.”
“Detection [E] really is handy. That’s how you know?”
“Yeah. We’re the only players in the area.”
Eliyah nodded. They had won the bet. In return they would claim the monstrous weapon known as the Spear of Beginning [D]. The thought alone made it impossible to hide his smile.
“Let’s head into the village first. Wash up and rest a bit.”
“But this is the 5th Floor. We can go outside, right? Shouldn’t we do that first?”
“Oh yeah! That’s right!”
They had clearly heard as much from Didascalia back on the Tutorial Floor.
“Then…”
“Going outside can wait.”
Eliyah decided to put it off for now.
“Even if we leave, we collect what’s owed first.”
“Ah… yeah.”
If their paths crossed while they were outside, it would be a disaster. The whole reason they had pushed themselves half to death, skipping sleep, was this very bet. To claim their prize they had to wait right here for the other party.
“When do you think they’ll show?”
“They’ll be here soon.”
The dagger woman—specialized in reconnaissance, intelligence, and assassination—answered.
“The distance between us wasn’t that great. No matter how late they are, they’ll reach the 5th Floor today.”
“That’s a relief. If they’d been too far behind it would’ve been a problem.”
Eliyah gave her a bright smile.
“Then stop worrying and let’s go in. It’s a small village, but there should at least be an inn.”
He took the lead and strode into Pine Breeze. The five of them headed toward the cozy little town nestled in the middle of the pine forest.
“Players.”
“About time some showed up.”
“Five of them this time?”
Whispers from the NPCs who lived in the village drifted over.
‘…This time?’
That single word snagged in his ear. “This time” implied there had been a previous time.
Without realizing it Eliyah frowned and looked toward the voices. A pair of middle-aged men. They continued chatting, completely unbothered by his gaze.
“Handsome bunch. These players don’t look like the type to trash the place, thankfully.”
“Ugh, just thinking about last time…”
“By the way, is Pine Hill all fixed up? Needs to be ready if we’re taking guests.”
“Finished yesterday. It got wrecked so badly the repairs took forever.”
“Real monsters, those ones. How long had they even been in the Tower and they were already that strong?”
“Exactly. Never seen anything like it.”
That was all Eliyah needed to hear. He was certain.
‘There are people faster than us.’
And it wasn’t a matter of a day or two. At least a week. Judging by the fact that a smashed inn had already been repaired, that much time had clearly passed.
‘…How?’
Eliyah’s face twisted with pure incomprehension. He had not rested a single day—hunting and leveling nonstop. Unlike the cowards who hid in Terra drowning in despair and fear, the moment he recovered his wits he had gathered companions and left the city. On top of that, though he had told no one, he already possessed a C-grade skill. A grade no one else had even glimpsed.
And yet…
‘I’m late?’
Without meaning to, he changed direction and headed straight for the chatting NPCs. His companions tilted their heads at the sudden, foul-tempered turn of his steps.
“May I ask you something?”
Regardless of his mood, Eliyah kept his tone polite.
“Uh… sure.”
They looked a little startled, but not afraid. They seemed thoroughly used to the existence of players.
“The conversation you just had.”
“Ah, so you heard that. Must’ve learned some kind of sharp skill, eh?”
Curious eyes lit up. Eliyah deliberately ignored the interest and pressed on.
“It sounded like someone reached this place faster than we did. Is that true?”
The NPC laughed heartily and nodded—as if he had been waiting for exactly that question.
“Normally you’d have been the fastest. Talented players usually arrive around this time.”
But not this cycle.
“This round, though… damn if there aren’t a lot of monsters. You’re the fifth. About a month ago three of them showed up. Then last week one more came through.”
Fifth. That alone was startling, but the real shock was the timeline.
‘…A month? A whole month ago?’
Was that even possible? Yet there was more to come.
“But last week, one of those first three came back here again. You know what that means?”
Eliyah had no idea. The NPC kindly explained.
“It means they reached the 10th Floor. To move down to a lower floor you have to pass through the stone pillars that stand every five floors.”
The 10th Floor. At those words Eliyah’s mouth simply closed. It refused to feel real. The thought that they might be mocking him rose unbidden.
Then the NPC continued.
“You all look pretty talented yourselves, but that guy is a monster. The white-haired woman who came up last week is a monster too. Because of those two, the only inn in the village got completely smashed. You almost wouldn’t have had a place to stay.”
Eliyah’s handsome face quietly twisted—along with what remained of his pride.