Chapter 17
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: The Fact That I Don't Die - 4
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· 1st Round, 2nd Floor
A few minutes of looking around after crossing the gate was enough to confirm that our rational judgment hadn't been wrong.
Unlike the 1st floor, which formed a proper village, the scenery on the 2nd floor was close to the wild.
All that remained here was what had once been a village.
"There are no residents on the 2nd floor?"
"It's completely in ruins, isn't it?"
Not a single building's outer wall was intact, and it was far too quiet for anyone to be living there.
There wasn't a single person around who could kindly explain the 2nd floor to us.
"For now, let's find the gate to the 3rd floor."
The immediate task was clear.
To move on to the 3rd floor, we had to conquer the 2nd floor, and the gate to the 3rd floor would list the conquest conditions for the 2nd floor.
Just like how we'd received the Adventurer's Proof from the village chief to come to the 2nd floor.
"It doesn't seem like it'll be as easy to clear as the 1st floor."
The pressure from the environment had a greater impact than expected.
Unlike the 1st floor's peaceful atmosphere, kind residents, and abundant living conditions, there was nothing here.
A clear intuition lingered among everyone that it wouldn't be a simple conquest condition that could be completed with a single conversation like before.
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The starting point had a gate back down to the 1st floor.
It couldn't be used until the current floor's conquest was complete, but it was very useful as a reference point for pinpointing the location of the gate to the next floor.
The gate to the 3rd floor was much closer than we'd thought.
After passing two buildings from the 1st floor gate in the direction of the entrance, it was inside a massive structure that looked like a village hall.
[3rd Floor Gate]
· Condition - Goblin Captain Defeated (0/1)
"Goblin?"
Everyone nodded at the familiar name.
It was the poster child for basic monsters, as famous as slimes, to the point where its appearance naturally came to mind.
In an environment where not even residents, let alone proper food supplies, could be found...
Fortunately, we didn't have to drag it out for long.
A group of goblins was approaching us directly.
"That one with the hat must be the captain."
The goblin captain, the conquest condition, was plainly visible.
It had some decorative item on its head that the native tribe might wear.
We gripped our identical swords and faced the goblin horde while maintaining tension to the end.
The goblins had the distorted appearance we'd imagined.
They were smaller than expected in height, and even slower in speed.
Despite their annoying looks, they weren't much of a threat.
Their short arms made it possible to dodge their attacks just by watching with your eyes.
- Crunch!
The downside was that the sensation of thrusting a sword into flesh, unlike with slimes, wasn't pleasant.
The spurting fluids and chunks of meat were just disgusting every time.
"There's just a lot of them. If we take them one by one, it's not a big deal, right?"
The mistake started from then.
Goblins are weak.
Slower than adventurers, lacking in strength, at a severe disadvantage in reach, and their tools weren't particularly good.
But there was a difference in how they handled pain.
They seemed incapable of feeling fear.
Even if a goblin in front had a sword embedded in its head and collapsed limply, the ones behind advanced without hesitation.
Humans aren't like that.
We were more sensitive to pain than we'd thought.
We'd just temporarily forgotten that fact due to the special nature of the tutorial village.
Even in training spars between adventurers, the cuts weren't deep, and protective measures dulled the pain anyway.
So, we'd only truly completed the tutorial, nothing more.
Real combat started now.
"Argh! My foot! My ankle!"
"I told you not to let your guard down!"
Now we were relearning that modern, ordinary humans freeze up at the mere sensation of a paper cut.
Stance crumbles like that.
· 1st Round, 6th Floor
There was a crisis, but it was only momentary.
The conquest turned out simpler than expected.
The time we'd spent preparing on the 1st floor seemed wasted as we blitzed through four floors in a row.
If we'd challenged it alone, it definitely would've been dangerous.
On the 2nd floor, we'd fully experienced the sensation of blade cutting into flesh for the first time, and the injured panicked immediately from the pain.
But our numbers gave us an overwhelming advantage.
The goblins numbered barely ten at most, while we had over thirty.
With three times as many people united, slaughtering the monsters needed for conquest meant injuries during battle couldn't halt the climb.
The 3rd, 4th, and even 5th floors were the same.
The monsters weren't strong enough to overcome their numerical disadvantage.
Even if they exploited gaps for occasional successful attacks, other adventurers were always around the injured ones.
Whether panic set in or not, the adventurer next to them just needed to thrust their sword.
The monsters faced numerous blades piercing their bodies before they could even rejoice.
"Thanks to that, the difficulty dropped big time."
"If it weren't for you, we would've been in real trouble. Thanks."
Like the tutorial village on the 1st floor, the 6th floor also had a village where people lived.
After encountering nothing but monsters in succession, arriving at a place with people felt like a breath of fresh air.
With no rush, we decided to use this place as a short-term base.
With the climb paused for a bit, a warm atmosphere prevailed at the center of the adventurer group.
The top contributor to our consecutive tower conquests was the star of that mood.
"I'm jealous. A Unique trait? It's like a superpower."
That adventurer could heal the injured.
We hadn't heard the trait's name, but the effects demonstrated made the Unique grade seem understated.
We had no idea how the healing worked.
But the key point was that injuries during conquests became meaningless damage.
It couldn't revive the dead, but put differently, as long as you didn't die, it was within acceptable limits.
That was why we'd been able to conquer multiple floors in a row despite the shock of unexpected pain.
"Do you have a sense of what trait it is?"
"No. Not yet..."
Sua asked me about the trait, but I decided to dodge the answer again this time.
Bragging about a trait whose ability we didn't even know, based only on its grade, didn't feel advantageous.
Just looking at that adventurer who'd gotten a Unique trait, the surrounding expectations were starting to turn into a burden.
The adventurers slung arms around him, asking him to keep helping out.
"Did you figure out what ability that one has?"
"Not yet. Just that it doesn't seem bad?"
Sua's trait was also Unique grade, and we'd soon learn its performance was outrageous.
There was a magic tower at the center of the 6th floor village, allowing us to learn magic.
When Sua wiped out the boss monster—the conquest condition—with a single burst of flame, no one could keep quiet.
It only fueled our climbing speed further.
· 1st Round, 9th Floor
We met adventurers.
To be precise, we ran into the adventurers who'd left the 1st floor first.
"Where are the other adventurers? Why are you the only one left here?"
We'd expected to meet up with those who'd gone ahead while climbing the tower, but no one had hoped for a reunion like this.
They'd failed the conquest.
And the price was gruesome.
"They're dead."
"......"
"Th-they're all dead. I'm the only one who survived."
They'd split from the large group of adventurers to form their own small one because they didn't want to waste time dawdling.
There was confidence behind that action.
Confidence that a small group could conquer the tower without issue.
And even that confidence had a focal point.
The overwhelmingly strongest adventurer among them.
"Did Ryu Jae-hyun die too?"
"No. That bastard's probably already gone higher."
"Weren't you climbing together?"
The curse in his hollow voice clearly illustrated their situation.
Even saying he was the only survivor implied Ryu Jae-hyun hadn't even been treated as a fellow member from the start.
Forming the small group had been Ryu Jae-hyun's doing, in retrospect.
He'd split the adventurers and gone to the 2nd floor first, then even ditched those who'd come along to move solo.
Arrogant.
No one could question it because his arrogance was backed by matching skill.
He'd conquered the 9th floor alone and moved on higher.
Naturally, emotional conflicts had arisen among the adventurers in the process.
They'd followed him believing in his strength, but being abandoned made them feel discarded first.
"Even without that guy, I thought we could do fine on our own."
"......"
"Howon and Suhyeon died too. Everyone died. We shouldn't have followed that bastard."
We extended a hand to him.
He was an adventurer who'd failed once, but he was still alive.
He hadn't given up even in despair.
He decided to challenge it a second time with us.
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[10th Floor Gate]
- Will you challenge the 10th floor?
· Condition - Titan Golem Defeated (1/1)
"See? We can do it if we all work together."
"Let's push all the way to the 10th floor like this."
The adventurer who'd lost comrades could stand again.
Even the 9th floor, where he'd failed once, was conquered with new allies.
We, who'd built bonds day by day, headed to the next floor without fail.
· 5th Round, 9th Floor
[10th Floor Gate]
- Will you challenge the 10th floor?
· Condition - Titan Golem Defeated (1/1)
"See? We can do it if we all work together."
"Let's push all the way to the 10th floor like this."
I learned that there are things even a group can't accomplish after being mauled to death by that beast four times.
Even those voices grate on me now.
They were the two adventurers who'd fled first when things went south.
Endless Challenger《LEGENDARY》
I finally understood what the descriptor on my trait meant.