Carry (2)
The 4th Floor Ascension Exam.
Unlike before, one had to achieve results by cooperating with other Ascenders.
This had been a defining feature ever since the 3rd Floor.
Upon first setting foot on the 3rd Floor, the Sky Tower forcibly forced Ascenders to team up in the Trial of Qualification.
And that wasn't all.
The dungeons of the 3rd Floor, unlike those of the 1st and 2nd, demanded far tighter coordination with other Ascenders.
Of course, Hajun had swept through every dungeon on the 3rd Floor alone, devouring them single-handedly with damage that leapt entire tiers thanks to the Sage's Aura—but still.
Anyway.
The tendency toward teamwork that had emerged on the 3rd Floor reached its apex in the Ascension Exam leading to the 4th Floor.
Starting immediately on the 4th Floor, field bosses appear in staggering numbers out in the open terrain.
Accordingly, the Hall of Fame rankings are recorded in real time.
And so, cooperation between one another becomes not a choice but a necessity.
It's telling that even James formed a clan on the 4th Floor.
Ascension, led by James, was founded at exactly that time.
In any case.
The 4th Floor Ascension Exam wasn't merely about performing well yourself—you needed solid teamwork, and you needed luck with your team.
Out of nowhere, news of Unknown was making waves again.
It had barely been any time since his name set the 3rd Floor's Trial of Qualification ablaze, and already his name was burning white-hot once more.
The Ascender Community's point betting system.
It was a system where you wagered points on match or outcome predictions, losing or earning points accordingly.
The points held no real monetary value; they existed for the sake of climbing the Community's points leaderboard.
The initial mood was split down the middle.
But gradually, the sentiment spread that this time, truly, the words "if it's Unknown" wouldn't save him.
And how could it be otherwise?
The explanation went on and on.
In summary, it went like this:
In the 4th Floor Ascension Exam, a team of up to 100 had to face a Level 50 Special Boss—a creature whose sheer bulk was the size of an entire mountain.
Enormous magic stones were embedded across its body in ten exposed locations: the head, the tail, the back, the belly, the forelegs, the hindlegs, and so on.
As the stones were relentlessly attacked, their color shifted from green → red → black, and the black state had to be continuously maintained.
If you failed to keep dealing sustained damage, the stones would revert from black to their original color.
With the condition that all ten magic stones had to be turned black and held that way for five whole minutes, no matter how extraordinary an Ascender might arrive, one could only conclude: this trial, above all, was a pure test of team luck.
Every situation was clamoring for Unknown's despair.
And yet, some still believed in him.
And so, with every eye in the community fixed on Unknown, the 4th Floor Ascension Exam of Unknown began.
A plain blanketed in thick mist.
This was the site of the 4th Floor Ascension Exam.
'So all I have to do is get inside its mouth, right?'
'Okay.'
Hearing Aleon's strategy for the 4th Floor Ascension Exam boss, I felt the corners of my mouth curl upward.
As expected of Aleon, the master of all trades.
I'd been slightly worried when I heard that facing this boss required coordinated group assaults—but according to Aleon's strategy, this was a situation I could chew through and swallow entirely on my own.
Would people ever believe it?
That a strategy like this even existed.
This was a method no one could know unless they were a Great Sage like Aleon.
Participating Ascenders: 100
Maximum difficulty will be applied.
The 4th Floor Ascension Exam will begin shortly.
Once Aleon had passed on his strategy to me,
a system message materialized above our heads.
"Hooooah! Lord Unknown! We're in your hands!"
"Ahh... I was on my seventeenth consecutive failure... and now I get to attempt it alongside Lord Unknown. The heavens must have taken pity on me and granted me this chance—!!"
"I believe in Lord Unknown and no one else! God-Known!"
As I gazed up at the system message, countless people crowded around me and began to clamor.
'...Goodness me.'
I'd thought I'd more or less adapted to all the attention lately.
But the reactions pouring in now were even more fervent than usual.
I let out a short snort at Aleon's words.
And where had he learned the whole "riding the bus" idiom?
'Well, he's not exactly wrong.'
Everyone chattering around me wore expressions brimming with the expectation that I would super-carry them through the 4th Floor Ascension Exam.
In other words, they were hoping I'd chauffeur them all the way up.
This is it. I've officially become a bus driver.
No freeloaders allowed. Everyone off the bus!
...I could have said that, sure.
'But my mood says otherwise. Why not play bus driver for real today?'
After all, here I was—spirits high, condition at its peak.
Maybe it was thanks to Han Gain, who had stood up for me in front of Lee Yeonhee just yesterday.
Or maybe it was because the Sage's Tome's promotion to 3-Star was finally within reach.
Whatever the reason, I'd been in a rather good mood since yesterday.
Grinning, I addressed the Ascenders around me.
"Everyone."
"Yes!"
"Speak to us, Lord Unknown!"
Impressive responses from every last one of them.
"You all want to reach the 4th Floor, don't you?"
"YES!!"
"Please, Lord! We're nearly at fifty attempts already! I have to get up there!"
"Geez, I'm only at twenty attempts. I can't even show my face around here."
The answers to my question swelled even louder.
And from every direction came voices thick with desperation.
Listening to them, the corners of my mouth drew another smooth arc.
"Today, I'll be driving this bus properly, all the way to the end. Destination: the 4th Floor. No mid-route stops, and the ride may get a little rough—so everyone, please hold on tight to your safety bars!"
"WOOOOOOOAH!"
"Yes, sir!! Safety bars locked and loaded!!"
"ALL ABOARD THE UNKNOWN BUS—!!"
"LET'S GOOO!!"
The atmosphere ignited in an instant.
Ascenders with their morale charged to the maximum let out thunderous roars.
Drunk on the frenzy, their voices only deepened the smile on my lips.
"Lord Unknown!! When Atlantis appears, how will the magic stones be assigned?"
Atlantis.
The mountain-sized, turtle-like monster that appeared in the 4th Floor Ascension Exam.
By the book, one was supposed to assault the ten magic stones embedded across its body.
But I had no need for any of that.
"Just split them up among yourselves however you like."
"...However we like, sir?"
"Yes. However you like."
"Yessir! Understood!!"
I tossed out an answer as vague as mud, and they absorbed it like a sponge.
The first person who had asked me stepped forward and began organizing teams on his own initiative.
I watched the scene for a moment, then turned my gaze forward.
Grrrrrrrrrr.
A massive echo rumbled from far in the distance.
At the same time, monsters a meter tall began bursting through the mist in droves.
"Baby Atlantis! They're here!"
"Everyone, battle stations—!!"
The first phase of the 4th Floor Ascension Exam.
It was to hold back the Baby Atlantis wave.
The turtle-like creatures pounded forward on all four legs, pushing toward us like a living tide.
Their number, at a glance, was easily in the hundreds.
Level 30 — Semi-Boss
Whoohoo.
Every single one of those things registered as a Semi-Boss.
They said plenty of people washed out in the very first phase, and now I understood why.
They overwhelmed you with sheer numbers—and the moment you slipped up and got surrounded, death was all but guaranteed.
"Everyone, fall back."
"Ah—it's dangerous, my lord! Allow us to cover you—"
Someone worried for my safety.
I answered that no such concern was necessary—not with words, but with action.
"Snikle. Dryas. Come forth."
FWOOOOOM!
Hsssssss!
Black demonic energy and green spirit force swirled together out of thin air.
"Kekakaka! Snikle of the Shadows hath descended, answering his Master's summons!"
"It has been a while, Master."
Summoning the two of them simultaneously no longer strained my mana in the slightest.
Ahh.
So this was the power of a Mana stat that had climbed into the sixties.
To summon both familiars at once and feel nothing!
"A—a demon!"
"And a spirit...!"
"Good heavens! So the rumors were true after all!"
"Whoa. I thought he was a magic-type? But his real specialty is summoning?"
"A dual-trait? How is that even possible?"
The Ascenders who laid eyes on Snikle and Dryas murmured in a fresh wave of astonishment.
"Uh—um—"
The Ascender who had stepped up to shield me stammered, mouth agape, and retreated backward.
It was a reaction born of the obvious: Snikle and Dryas looked far, far more formidable than any of them.
"Now, then."
Grinning wide, I raised my hand toward the charging Baby Atlantises.
Showtime.
Sage's Aura.
FWOOOOOM!
Golden radiance surged up from my body.
'Spirit Amplification.'
My consciousness soared skyward, knowing no bounds.
With this, for the next ten seconds, the power of my skills would blow clean past 3rd-Floor levels into another dimension entirely.
"Freezing Orb & Freezing Orb."
With Double Casting, I released two Freezing Orbs simultaneously.
One toward the left diagonal.
The other toward the right.
KRAKOOOOOOOM!!
The Freezing Orb froze everything in its path solid.
Baby Atlantises?
Level 30 Semi-Bosses?
Meaningless. All of it.
A Freezing Orb buffed by the Sage's Aura and Spirit Amplification had long since transcended 3-Star power by a mile.
CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE—!!
The Baby Atlantises froze solid one and all, and cryogenic zones bloomed across the field.
In an instant, the terrain before us transformed into a winter kingdom.
Even the thick mist hanging in the air froze over.
"G—good heavens."
"Insane..."
"He—he froze all of them in a single strike?"
"That's batshit crazy. Whoa. Damn. Look at my arms—goosebumps everywhere."
"So THIS is why everyone goes on about Unknown."
Before my transcendent presence, they poured out gasps brimming with awe.
Tunk!
At the sound of my snapping fingers—
SHATTER-SHATTER-SHATTER!!
The frozen Baby Atlantises crumbled into pure white particles.
"WOOOOOOOO!!"
The Ascenders let out thunderous cheers before that awe-inspiring—no, outright beautiful—spectacle.
Well? What did you think, dear passengers?
This, right here, is the one and only Unknown Express~!
Curling my lips into a smirk, I turned my gaze forward once more.
Now, it should be coming out, shouldn't it?
Grrrrrrrrrr—!
A colossal bellow tore through the mist from far away!
It was the sound of the second phase beginning at the fastest pace in recorded history—
and the roar announcing the arrival of Atlantis, the Special Boss who was the true master of the 4th Floor Ascension Exam.