Irresistible Force
There is a saying: irresistible force—like splitting bamboo.
It meant roughly the same thing as smashing everything in your path and charging forward without the slightest hesitation.
That was exactly how Yujin looked.
The 13th Floor in particular might as well have been a battlefield made just for him.
Moonlit Night Black Divine Robe [C] cloaked his form completely, while Dawn [C] turned every Noctivar hiding in the shadows into so many skewers.
It was nothing short of a massacre.
The spectacle was so overwhelming that the Akasha System 2.0 even granted Yujin the achievement Genocide.
The reward for that achievement was the trait Reaper's Touch [C].
Reaper's Touch [C]
Upon consecutively killing 100 living creatures of the same species, attack power against that species rises considerably.
Even a modest modifier would have been welcome—yet here it said considerably.
This was more than merely pleasing; it was something worth cheering over.
With Reaper's Touch [C] in hand, Yujin became a god of death to the Noctivars.
Creatures he had already been skewering one after another now exploded the instant the tip of Dawn [C] so much as brushed them.
Yujin went about popping them with pure delight.
He never forgot to keep using Fleeting Instant [D] to raise its proficiency along the way, and he cleared the daily quests the Akasha System 2.0 assigned him as well.
As a result, Yujin blasted past level 40 in no time.
His current level stood at 41.
Originally he had planned to head straight for the 14th Floor the moment he leveled up, but the sheer fun of detonating Noctivars had tempted him into grinding one more level.
Still, it was about time to move on.
At his present level, hunting on the 13th Floor was no longer particularly efficient.
Besides, once he reached the 14th Floor he would only need to kill another hundred of whatever lived there for Reaper's Touch [C] to trigger again.
There was no reason to cling to this place.
"Yeah. Time to go up."
Even as he made the decision, he swept his spear and burst three more Noctivars that had been lurking nearby.
"This place is nice for that."
Amorphous monsters left no remains.
No blood, no flesh, no brains or entrails—none of the filth Yujin had always been forced to wear before.
It stayed clean.
No desperate need for a shower, no heavy limbs.
On top of that came generous experience and easy hunting.
If he could, he would have liked to push all the way to level 100 right here.
Of course that was impossible, so up he had to go.
Yujin gave Dawn [C] a casual spin and walked toward one particular direction.
Nothing was visible in the darkness, yet he knew exactly where to go.
He continued for some time, popping every Noctivar he encountered, then finally stopped.
"Here."
The staircase leading to the 14th Floor—and the place where the boss monster guarding it waited.
"Let's see."
Yujin scanned his surroundings.
Aside from the Noctivars, nothing caught his eye.
That meant the 13th Floor boss's stealth surpassed even his own vision.
For players without detection-type skills, the situation would have been quite dangerous.
Yujin, however, felt no particular concern.
He simply raised a hand and drew up his mana.
Wooooooom—.
The darkness cloaking his body vibrated.
Mana compressed to its absolute limit shook the air around him.
Without hesitation Yujin poured that mana into the silk thread still floating freely through empty space.
Then he activated it.
"Thousand Slashes, Myriad Slaughters [D]."
The Heavenly Silk Thread unfurls and carves everything within its reach.
Pararararararararararak—!
The Heavenly Silk Thread [C], lengthened to fifteen meters with his rising level, expanded its domain and shredded the surrounding darkness to pieces.
No—it sliced it.
Literally a thousand slashes and ten thousand killings.
Kyaaaaaaaaaaaa—!
The boss monster that had been hiding its body within the shadows—the Ink Dragon—suffered the same fate.
Its entire form was diced by the impossibly fine threads that cut through everything they touched.
Dozens, hundreds, thousands of pieces.
In the end the Ink Dragon, for all its impressive name, never once managed to display its presence.
It simply died, torn apart.
Whirrrk—.
You have defeated the boss monster: Ink Dragon.
His level rose.
He was now level 42.
A light sense of fatigue washed over Yujin, and he smiled in satisfaction.
Both the skill and the item pleased him greatly.
"Almost a waste to use them only on the lower floors."
Still, their grades left something to be desired.
No matter how outstanding their performance, C-grade equipment and skills would struggle to shine past the 50th Floor.
If they could just reach B-grade, he felt he could keep using them for a long while.
"I'll try to get a few more Enhancement Stones."
Those stones were not exclusive drops from the golden goblin known as the Light-Ray Crow.
There were other ways to obtain them.
The difficulty was never low, of course, but the odds were far better than waiting for the luck of stumbling across a Light-Ray Crow.
"Good."
He decided then and there to take both the Heavenly Silk Thread [C] and Thousand Slashes, Myriad Slaughters [C] all the way to the end.
Well, if he failed to find Enhancement Stones or obtained something even better, that would be that—but for now he had made up his mind.
Humming under his breath, Yujin stepped onto the newly formed staircase and began to climb.
The 14th Floor.
That place, too, would be a sweet hunting ground where he could scoop up honey to his heart's content.
Kang Mu-hyun climbed the stairs, breathing hard.
A quiet pine forest and a small village nestled among the trees came into view—an entirely different world from the jungle he had just clawed his way out of.
He collapsed onto the ground and worked to steady the breath that had climbed all the way to his throat.
"I-I almost died."
Two figures staggered up behind him and dropped as well.
"They called it a Flame Dragon, and I really thought we were going to burn to death."
Kim Jihye and Lim Ayeong.
The companions who had chosen to climb the Tower with Kang Mu-hyun.
All three of them sat there, hot steam still rising from their bodies, expressions completely drained.
"Is everyone all right?"
Kang Mu-hyun turned and asked.
He had asked the same question several times on the way up, yet his companions only nodded without the slightest annoyance.
"Thanks to you."
"I already knew, but you're really strong, Oppa."
The sight of the brilliantly shining silver spear punching a hole through the Flame Dragon's skull had been so magnificent that admiration piled upon admiration.
The only reason they had managed to cross the 4th Floor and reach the 5th was entirely thanks to Kang Mu-hyun.
"But what do we do? I think we're late…"
Lim Ayeong suddenly pulled a tearful face.
They had made it up, yes, but far too late.
On any other occasion simply arriving would have been more than enough, yet not this time.
A wager was on the line.
And the stake was the spear Kang Mu-hyun cherished more than anything—the Spear of Beginnings [D].
"Nothing we can do about it."
Kang Mu-hyun's expression turned bitter.
If they had been just a little faster, they would have won.
Eliyah's party had been a few steps ahead, and they had lost the chance to take the Flame Dragon.
As a result they had been stuck on the 4th Floor until the boss respawned.
In the end they had lost the bet.
"That spear is the one you treasure."
Kim Jihye spoke with an equally dark look.
"It is."
In Terra he had happened to visit a forge—Citadel's Golden Hammer.
The owner, Citadel, had made a few requests, and the spear had been the payment for granting them.
A genuine D-grade item.
He had never even glimpsed a grade like that while climbing from Terra all the way to the 4th Floor.
He had never even heard rumors of anyone else owning one.
Players climbing at a similar pace to him were already quite capable, yet even they lacked such a thing.
That was how precious the item was—and now, because of a lost wager, it was about to be taken by Eliyah.
"Still, a bet is a bet."
Kang Mu-hyun forced himself to speak evenly, unable to tear his gaze from the silver spear in his hand.
"Can't we just run? By now those racist bastards should all be outside. This is the 5th Floor. If we use this chance and head straight up…"
"No."
Kang Mu-hyun shook his head at Lim Ayeong's words.
It was a matter of trust and pride.
He would not betray his own principles over a single item.
Better to hand over what must be handed over and live with a clear conscience.
…Of course, climbing the Tower would become a little harder afterward.
"For now let's go into the village. We need to wash up, eat something, and head outside as well."
Why had they pushed themselves so hard to reach the 5th Floor?
Because this was the floor from which one could finally leave the Tower.
There was a one-week limit, yes, but even that alone made the struggle worthwhile.
They had to see family, see friends.
And they had to tell the outside world what every player was going through right now.
"…Right."
Kim Jihye rose with a small sigh.
Kang Mu-hyun was as reliable as his name suggested, yet he could also be stubborn like this more often than not.
A silly bet like that—there was no real need to honor it.
Especially not against those racists.
But perhaps that very consistency was what made him so trustworthy.
A person who stayed the same.
Kim Jihye and Lim Ayeong shook their heads and walked with Kang Mu-hyun down the narrow dirt path.
"This place is really pretty."
"Yeah. No monsters, and none of that damned jungle either."
The faint scent of pine needles drifting past their noses soothed even their hearts.
"What day is it today? More players already."
"About time they showed up. There'll be more and more from now on."
"We'll have to stock up on wood. Pine Hill is going to get busy."
NPCs watched them with kindly smiles.
Kang Mu-hyun carefully observed them as he continued walking, searching for an inn.
[Pine Hill]
A signboard bearing the same name the NPCs had just mentioned came into view.
"That must be it."
When Kang Mu-hyun pointed, the two women's faces brightened.
"Hurry."
They wanted to wash as soon as possible—to scrub away the monster remains still coating their entire bodies.
Their steps quickened.
They reached the door and opened it.
"You finally made it."
"We've been waiting forever, you monkeys."
Those damned racists were there to greet them.
Among the five white men, a smiling blond in the center—Eliyah—raised a hand in greeting.
"A little late, Kang Mu-hyun. Looks like luck was on our side this time. Don't you think?"
Luck, my ass.
Kim Jihye almost shouted without thinking, but somehow swallowed the words.
Three on their side, five on the other.
Worse, that piece of trash Eliyah was a powerhouse who could stand shoulder to shoulder with Kang Mu-hyun.
If a fight broke out, their side would inevitably take the losses.
Damn it, the way I feel right now…
She wanted to start a riot that very second.
While Kim Jihye seethed, Kang Mu-hyun opened his mouth with a calm face.
"I lost, Eliyah."
He lifted the hand still holding the Spear of Beginnings [D].
"This is yours now."
Eliyah's smile deepened.
"Well, how am I supposed to thank you? I'd like to give you something in return."
After a brief moment of thought he clapped his hands as if struck by inspiration and continued.
"The bread here is pretty good. I'll treat you to that much. How about it?"
Blatant mockery.
Kang Mu-hyun's face hardened ever so slightly.