Chapter 18
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Not Dying - 5
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· 18th Turn, 25th Floor
Met Ryu Jae-hyun.
The adventurer who had confidently chosen to climb solo was eventually overtaken by those cooperating with each other.
And rightly so.
From the 10th floor onward, the conquest conditions grew increasingly peculiar.
It wasn't limited to simply defeating special monsters anymore.
Tasks like finding hidden artifacts in caves indistinguishable from labyrinths or protecting escort targets from swarming enemies became more prominent.
There was still no adventurer who could match him in raw combat power, but when it came to conquests, numbers held an overwhelming advantage.
"I have no intention of doing that."
I proposed teaming up with Ryu Jae-hyun, but he clung to his pride until the bitter end.
Or perhaps he simply didn't know when to quit.
"See? What did I tell you? I said this was a waste of time."
The adventurer I'd met again on the 9th floor no longer regarded him kindly.
We weren't benevolent enough to extend the same offer twice.
We hadn't failed even once while conquering the 25th floor, so there was nothing to fear.
We had faith that we could tackle the 26th floor, no matter what it threw at us.
In truth, it was because all the failed turns had simply been erased from existence.
"By the way, how do you find the paths so well?"
"Right? Isn't your trait something like Pathfinder?"
Everyone was curious about my trait.
It might not shine in combat, but it was perfectly suited for conquering floors, so it was only natural they'd want to know.
"Just got lucky."
Having witnessed the healer adventurer growing more haggard with exhaustion each day, I opted for humility once more.
· 167th Turn, 86th Floor
Damn it.
Died again.
7th time already.
Taking down the boss mob went fine, but afterward, I died for reasons I couldn't fathom.
Without any warning whatsoever, my head exploded, and the same message greeted me thereafter.
【87th Floor Gate】
Will you challenge the 87th floor?
"If everyone's ready, we're going in."
What the hell was the issue?
· 170th Turn, 87th Floor
What utter bullshit.
I figured it out only after dying three more times.
It was a petty little shit that acted true to its appearance.
The mad bastard cast an instant-death curse on the adventurer who dealt the finishing blow.
Since I—who knew the strategy—was always at the front, I kept landing the killing strike and dying every time.
"Mi-Mina! Healer! Hurry!"
"They're already dead. I told you I can't revive the dead. I've said it a million times."
"Fuck, do something!"
"Ha... Why are you always taking it out on me?"
The moment the boss mob showed signs of dying, I pretended my arm was injured and fell back.
Thanks to that, another adventurer took the curse instead.
"Wasn't your arm injured?"
"I thought it was, but it must've just been a muscle strain."
In the end, I drew suspicious glares from the healer.
That adventurer yelling at the poor healer seemed to have a special connection with Mina, the adventurer who'd taken the curse in his place.
Not only did they exchange loving glances, but there were plenty of rumors about them slipping into the same room together.
They'd spent a long time together, after all, and feelings of love could easily bloom amid repeated brushes with death. I got that.
But that didn't make it okay to undermine the unity among adventurers.
"Hic... Hic..."
Already five dead.
This incident became the breaking point—even the adventurers who'd been holding it together started crumbling mentally.
We'd clearly succeeded in the conquest, yet we couldn't advance to the next floor.
The cursed adventurer who'd died had been close to many others thanks to their innate affability.
They were the glue holding our unity together.
In the countless turns where I'd died, had they reacted like this?
I had no idea.
For me—who was granted endless opportunities to challenge—there had always been a way to rewind even when other adventurers perished.
But I chose not to, viewing even a single death as the bare minimum sacrifice needed for conquest.
No matter how many restarts I had, dying hurt like hell and was terrifying.
I wasn't compassionate enough to endure multiple deaths and repeat all that hardship just to save one person on a floor we'd already cleared.
But this time was different.
We'd succeeded in conquering the 87th floor... but we'd also failed.
I considered shoving another adventurer to the front in the next turn, but there was a better option.
The Ring of Protection from the 83rd floor.
It blocked death once.
Ridiculously, it'd been used up right away on the 84th floor, but since it belonged to another adventurer at the time, I had no grounds to complain.
Thanks to my trait rendering death meaningless, I'd never coveted the ring's effect anyway.
"What're you doing? No monsters around—why draw your sword all of a sudden—?"
- Crunch!
"You crazy bastard! What the hell are you doing?!"
I finally got to experience the rare novelty of taking my own life.
And not just once, but several times.
· 171st Turn, 86th Floor
【87th Floor Gate】
Will you challenge the 87th floor?
"If everyone's ready..., what are you—?"
- Crunch!
· 175th Turn, 82nd Floor
【83rd Floor Gate】
Will you challenge the 83rd floor?
Back on the 82nd floor.
Right before challenging the 83rd.
I already knew the strategy.
Naturally, I'd contributed the most to conquering the 83rd floor, so no one could complain if I took the ring.
I'd handled most of the 84th floor conquest solo as well.
Now the ring was mine, and the adventurer who'd squandered it in previous turns had no means of revival even if they died.
Better for me to take point than risk disruptions from carelessness.
Thus, on the 87th floor—even if the ring crumbled to dust as I slit the boss's throat—I wouldn't have to see that damned challenge message again.
No cracks in the alliance, either.
It went exactly according to plan.
And yet... I was starting to understand Ryu Jae-hyun's mindset.
The companions climbing the tower alongside me were beginning to feel like nothing but obstacles.
· 243rd Turn, 101st Floor
The prediction that the 100th floor would be the last went spectacularly awry.
We couldn't build momentum like before.
Now pride had set in—I didn't want to quit.
The other adventurers didn't seem to have the luxury for greed anymore.
The village on the 101st floor was far larger than anticipated—practically a small nation.
Plenty of cozy space for those who'd given up to settle down and relax.
As a result, the adventurer alliance splintered into three factions.
"Quitting here? After reaching the 101st floor?"
"That's exactly why I can't go on. I just want to rest now."
I'd suffered several times over to uncover the strategies.
These were the ones declaring they'd halt their ascent, unable to gauge the tower's end.
"I'm heading back down."
"We can't push further with this group. We need to recruit new adventurers and build our influence."
These were the ones offering to guide incoming rookies.
We'd charged ahead without looking back, so this was the first proposal to turn around.
In a way, it was the birth of the guild structure.
"We climb the tower."
Finally, the six of us—including me—decided to press on with the conquest.
A handful of resolute adventurers banded together, but the growth elements earned from scaling 100 floors had already been divvied up among over 30 people.
We were taking only about 20% of those gains, at best.
Come to think of it... had there really been any need to climb with so many?
From the 80th floor onward, two or three would've sufficed.
What if I'd monopolized the rewards from the start? What if I hadn't cooperated with the quitters?
· 291st Turn, 108th Floor
Companions dropping dead left and right.
No healer.
Insufficient manpower.
Every time we lost strength, I'd ram my sword down my own throat to restart the challenge. It took nearly 50 turns just to claw our way up seven more floors.
Each turn was plenty long, too.
That gave him more than enough time to catch up to us.
"Sword Saint."
Now there was an adventurer known by that moniker.
Solo, he'd greedily devoured all those growth elements.
Exceptional talent, a trait of undoubtedly high grade, and monopolized growth—it birthed a monster.
I admitted he was right. We were wrong.
From the very start, I resolved to begin everything anew.
The Sword Saint had already grown too strong to need my help, so I had to rewind far back.
I needed to make him see me as an indispensable ally.
Moments like this made my trait feel downright unfriendly for its grade.
If only I could return to any desired point in time.
Dying once per floor just to drop back down was seriously tedious.
· 374th Turn, 25th Floor
Sword Saint—at this point, he didn't have the title yet, so calling him by name was right.
I'd returned to the 25th floor, where we'd previously caught up to Ryu Jae-hyun.
I left the alliance I'd been part of and approached him, whom I'd assumed was lagging behind.
I spoke a bit more sincerely, tailoring my words to suit a fellow social misfit.
He bristled at first, insisting he had no need for my help, but once he realized our conversation clicked, he agreed to team up.
"How did you know this item was here?"
I uncovered strategies with astonishing speed.
I unearthed hidden growth elements in uncanny ways.
Having rewound to the past, I'd relinquished the powers I'd gained before, so my combat strength still lagged behind the Sword Saint's.
But information was just as vital to conquests as raw power.
Before long, even the Sword Saint started asking me.
"What do we tackle first on this floor?"
"There's a shop in the back alleys."
"Need to buy weapons?"
"No, deadly poison to coat them with."
How did I know there was a shop here?
Why was the deadly poison necessary?
The Sword Saint never questioned the source of my info.
Just as I never pried into the origin of his power—we both assumed it was down to each other's traits.
We blazed through the 100 floors in a fraction of the previous time—utterly incomparable.
We didn't stop there, pushing all the way to the 200th.