Carry (3)

"Good heavens……."

Lee Joo-won stood staring at the system message floating before his eyes, his jaw hanging wide open.

Atlantis is appearing already?

He was a permanent fixture of the 4th Floor Climb Exam, a man who had failed it more times than he cared to remember. A hundred times, at the very least. Somewhere past the third digit, he'd simply stopped counting. When the others earlier had thrown around talk of twenty tries or fifty tries, it had sounded to him like a child lecturing an old soldier. He had seen every conceivable disaster this exam arena could produce.

But this is a first.

Record-breaking. That word wasn't strong enough for the pace they were setting.

He swept away every last one of the Baby Atlantises in the blink of an eye.

Did this even make sense? Each of those things was a semi-boss in its own right.

Maybe Unknown is actually a higher-floor Ascender who, for some reason, got the chance to climb again from the bottom?

Only that theory explained any of it.

This is legend. No—this is a scene straight out of myth!

Unknown. He was certain now that the man's footsteps would carry him past legend and into myth itself.

Could it be that I'll finally make it to the 4th floor too?

His team luck had always been a desert—barren, cursed team luck. But if he could slip past that curse this time, a spark of hope came bubbling up: this might truly be the day he set foot on the next floor.

Ah! Unknown! My lord Unknown!

He shouted the name in his heart as tears streamed down his face. If he passed the Climb Exam this time, Unknown would be his light and his savior for the rest of his life.

And so another devotee joined the growing flock.

Show us! Show them all, Unknown!

He fully expected Atlantis to be smashed to pieces just as easily—

Or so he thought, until—

"Huh?"

A single bewildered syllable slipped out of his mouth. A hundred-plus attempts at this exam had taught him, through his very skin, the rhythm and flow of the battlefield—and instinct told him that the flow right now was very, very wrong.

And in that moment—

Tsha-aaaaaaah!!

From the mountain-huge bulk of Atlantis, black streams began to pour out.

Te—tentacles?

Those black streams were a dense mass of thrashing tentacles.

Wh—what the hell is this?!

Not once, not a single time in over a hundred attempts, had Atlantis ever attacked like this. The pattern unfolding before him defied every expectation, and Lee Joo-won's mind went utterly white.

"What the hell?"

I let out a puzzled sound as I watched the black tentacles come cascading down. Atlantis was showing a pattern unlike anything I'd read about.

"Ugh, urk!"

"Wh—what is that thing!"

The other Ascenders had plunged into confusion as well.

You displayed power that exceeded the allowed standard, so some portion of that creature's restraints have loosened.

At Aleon's words, my face twisted in disbelief.

You mean some kind of constraint of causality?

Exactly.

Hah. This was just like that battle between the Abyss and the dragons I'd witnessed not long ago. Once the restraints between them fell away, hadn't they gone berserk, flinging around destruction beams and the Dragon Tongue like there was no tomorrow?

Unbelievable.

I hadn't expected side effects like this.

In any case, thought fast, act faster. If I left things as they were, every single one of us was going to be skewered by those black tentacles.

"Freezing Orb & Freezing Orb."

Fortunately, I was still just inside the ten-second window, letting me chain out two more Freeze Orbs under the buff of Spirit Amplification.

Psheeeeeeeeh!!

Even with its restraints loosened, the creature was only a level or so above the 30th-floor tier—and Freezing Orb worked beautifully on its tentacles too.

You couldn't freeze them all!

I know. The thing was so enormous, and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it had launched the tentacles in a mass from its entire body—two Orbs hadn't been enough to cover everything.

But the rest of the tentacles? No worries there.

Why?

I will hold those things back.

Because I wasn't alone.

"Kyahahaha! Not a single one of those things will make it through to this side, Master!"

Having read the will behind my intent to carry them all, the two of them had already begun moving to block the tentacles—without a single word of instruction from me.

Vine Barrier.

A 3-Star (★★★) Hero-rank defensive skill Dryas had gained upon reaching Level 30. Countless vines erupted from the earth below, barring the path of the pouring tentacles.

KA-DRRRRK! KRAK-KRSSH! KA-DRRRRK!

The tentacles smashed their way forward, crushing vines as they went—but the vines gushed up without end. In the end, dozens of vines coiled onto every single tentacle, strangling their advance completely.

"Khekhek. Not bad at all, plant-boy."

And through that gap, Snikle closed in on Atlantis's main body.

"Shadow Leap!"

Another Hero-rank 3-Star skill Snikle had acquired upon reaching Level 30. Snikle's form blurred, and he materialized out of the shadow at Atlantis's very feet.

GRRAAAAAAAHHH!

Had it noticed Snikle's approach? Atlantis let loose a furious, keening roar.

"Kyahahaha! Too late!"

Snikle drove his shadow scythe—taller than his own body—straight into the top of Atlantis's foot.

"Shadow Blade!"

KWAAAAAAAH!

Black shadow blades came pouring off the scythe as Snikle swung. Spreading out from the top of the foot, they whirled round and round as they climbed up the length of Atlantis's leg.

KAGAGAGAGAGAK!!

Countless fresh gashes carved themselves across the boss's rock-hard hide.

"Dear god! He's burying it in damage!"

"In—insane. What's his attack power even at?"

The Ascenders who had faced Atlantis before felt chills crawling up their spines as they watched Snikle's assault. They had just realized the truth about that small demon—a familiar whom dozens of them clinging together could never have handled.

GRRAAAAAAAAHHH—!

Enraged by Snikle's attack, Atlantis's voice came out even heavier and more thunderous than before.

Nice. Snikle.

The aggro had pulled completely onto Snikle. Atlantis no longer directed its attacks toward our side at all.

"Now's our chance!!"

"Everyone, break into the teams we agreed on and get ready to go for the magic stones!!"

"Woooooah! Let's go!! We have to seize the opening God-Known has made for us!!"

The Ascenders who had been watching all of this from the back, breath held, realized that this was the chance of a lifetime. They began breaking into the teams they'd discussed earlier and surging toward the magic stones—

But I moved one step faster.

"Everyone, hold your positions!"

I threw out that one line and started sprinting forward.

"Huh? Huh?"

"Lo—Lord Unknown?"

"Wh—what is it? Why all of a sudden……?"

To their eyes, I must have looked like a man charging willingly into the jaws of death. Bewildered voices came pouring out behind me.

It's not like I can stop and explain everything I'm about to do.

I let out a small chuckle and pushed my speed even higher.

GRRAAAAAAAAHHH!

Had it noticed me closing in? I could feel Atlantis's gaze swinging around toward me.

All I had to do now was get inside its mouth.

"Dryaaaas——!!"

With my shout, a massive tremor began to rise beneath my feet.

KWAAAAAAAANG!!

A thick tree trunk burst up through the ground. The trunk carrying me began climbing skyward without end.

"Wh—what is he doing?"

"He's getting way too close, isn't he?"

"Am I seeing that right? Shouldn't we stop him?"

"He must have a plan, right? He wouldn't just—"

"Y—yeah, has to be. He's Unknown, after all…… surely."

All manner of voices rose behind me as I drew nearer and nearer to Atlantis's head.

This much is well within firing range.

I immediately stretched out my hand toward its head. The thing was so colossal that facing it felt like standing before a mountain peak.

"Thunderbolt—!!"

KRRRRRRAKA-BOOOM!!

The fastest spell in my entire arsenal. The Thunderbolt, amplified through Sage's Aura, flew straight and slammed into the creature's head.

PSHAAAAAAAHH!

The effect was superb. The damage itself didn't seem substantial, but I could feel the beast's rage climbing, shade by shade, toward the red.

KWAGAGAGAK!!

With a crushing sonic boom, the massive mountain peak came falling down on top of my head.

BOOOOOM!

At the heart of the descending mountain yawned an enormous black pit.

Its mouth.

CHOMP!!

And just like that, it swallowed me whole.

"……!!"

"Wh—what the hell!"

"Wh—what ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠do we do? It—it ate him?"

"Good heavens…… I had a bad feeling about this."

"No way. Did he really just get taken down like that?"

"Holy shit!!"

"What is even happening right now?"

The Ascenders left on the ground spiraled into complete meltdown at the totally unforeseen turn.

The moment Hajun was swallowed by Atlantis, the Ascender community was still burning white-hot with talk of him.

GRRAAAAAAAHH!

The instant Atlantis swallowed me, crushing pressure clamped down over my entire body. This was the kind of force that could turn a man into a burst sack of meat. A simple barrier would never have held—but I was calmer in that moment than I had been at any other point, measuring the timing.

Now!

My eyes flashed at almost the exact same instant Aleon's shout rang out.

Time Protection!

Time Protection (9-Star ★★★★★★★★★), built into the Sage's Robe. Usable once per day, it nullified all damage completely for one second—an invincibility frame. This was the moment Time Protection, a cheat among cheats among cheats of a skill, first revealed itself to the world.

KWADUDUDUDUDUDUDUDEUK!

A bone-chilling sound of rupture tore past my ears. But I had bitten clean through that instant of pressure with Time Protection, and not a shred of the damage reached me.

Mana Shield!

Layering Mana Shield on top of Time Protection, I weathered the aftershock of the impact perfectly as well.

KWAAAAAAH!

Sheathed in Mana Shield, I was carried sliding down the length of the creature's gullet, whisked away to somewhere far below. An endless drop. It felt like a ride at an amusement park from childhood. Given its sheer size, its throat was unfathomably long.

When exactly am I going to reach its stomach?

Just as that thought formed, the passage opened up all at once, and below me I saw a seething, bubbling lake giving off a sour reek.

That's its stomach acid!

This was the beast's stomach. I immediately extended the Forest Guardian Staff and manifested Freezing Orb.

PSHEEEEEEEH!!!

The stomach acid flash-froze into a sheet of ice in an instant.

GRRAAAAAAAHH!

A pained roar shook everything around me—the beast was thrashing and screaming now that its stomach had frozen over.

TADADADADA!

I ran across the ice sheet, sprinting toward the spot where its heart should have been. My target was Atlantis's heart.

I can feel a massive current of mana flowing from over there.

Its heart—and its core: the enormous magic stone.

Burrowing through the stomach wall to get there won't be easy.

Even inside its body, punching through the stomach wall of a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Level 50 Special Boss was questionable at best.

But I had a way.

Astral Arrow.

FAAAAAAASH!

Arrows of starlight gathered into my hand. The magic stone at its heart was beyond my spell's range.

But—my target wasn't the stone. It was the soft flesh beyond it.

THWUMP—!

KWAAAAAAAAAAAH!

The arrow passed through the stomach wall, and a great storm of starlight erupted in the softer flesh beyond it.

PSHAAAAAAAAAAAHH!

As the stomach wall heaved and convulsed, the beast's roar grew louder still.

It's getting through!

I unloaded Astral Arrow after Astral Arrow, and now the creature's cries had come to sound almost like sobbing.

GRRA—GRRAAAAH! GRRAAAAAAARGH!

And then—the anomaly began.

Fwump, fwump, fwump, fwupupupupush!

Rust-red creatures with long, serpentine bodies burst up through the stomach wall.

Level 40 parasites—an entire horde of them. Countless tentacles sprouted from both flanks of their bodies and from the places where legs should have been. The tentacles were a grotesque hybrid of dragon scales and slimy secretion, and patches of dragon scales studded their serpent-like bodies in irregular clusters. Parasites with traces of dragon blood running through them.

They were the creatures living in symbiosis with Atlantis.

There's a disgusting number of them.

Not a hundred—there were comfortably over a thousand. Could I possibly deal with them one by one? I was already tired just thinking about it. Fortunately, I didn't need to fight them at all.

Why?

Because every last one of them had bowed its head toward me, all at once.

The sight of thousands of heads bursting through the stomach wall, all paying homage in my direction, was a spectacle to behold. The one flaw in the tableau was that looking at their appearance made me feel vaguely like I'd been appointed commander of some alien legion.

Regardless—

A blessing in disguise!

Grinning at Aleon's words, I issued my command to the Dracophages.

"Open a path to its heart!"

KSHEEE-KRAKAKAKAK!

At my words, they fell upon Atlantis's flesh as one, gnawing and burrowing, carving out a massive tunnel leading straight toward the beast's heart.

GR—GRRAAAAAAAARGH!

Atlantis was shrieking now—a howl closer to a death wail than anything else. The beast had never once imagined it. That the Dracophages, its symbiotes, would betray it all at once.

Through the tunnel the Dracophages had carved, I reached its heart in no time at all, and raised my hand toward the magic stone—the beast's heart, scattering an immense torrent of mana in every direction.

Mana Drain!

The instant Mana Drain activated, the beast's magic stone began shedding its light at a rapidly accelerating pace.

And that meant this: for the first time since the Sky Tower had appeared, Atlantis—the boss never once killed in the entire history of the 4th Floor Climb Exam—was being hunted.

At last—

Every Ascender ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠present in the 4th Floor Climb Exam arena beheld it.

It was a system message whose contents no one in the world had ever imagined.