Three Seconds, Then Zero
The Tower Threat Agency of the United States — the TTA — had been thrown into chaos by an announcement no one saw coming.
“Director! Director! We’ve got a serious problem!”
“What is it, Team Leader Coleman? Must you make such a scene?”
“The Floor 1 world record was just broken. Three seconds!”
“...What?”
“The Super Soldier plan is about to fall apart!”
The Super Soldier plan. It was exactly what the name promised. Among the newly Awakened, they would single out anyone who showed real promise, pour proper training and every resource they could spare into them, and overwrite the records from the very first floor.
Cutting eight seconds down to seven was a record. Cutting seven down to six was a record too. The whole scheme had been to nibble the times down bit by bit and wring out every last drop of profit the rewards would yield.
“Where?”
“Daejeon Tower. In Korea.”
“...Korea?”
Director Ethan Harper let out a long, bitter sigh.
“Korea? Not Europe — not even China?”
“There were no signs at all. Korea’s Awakener Management Agency hadn’t shown any unusual movement either.”
“...And Kim’s simulation scores?”
“His best is six seconds. He has never once recorded a time in the fives.”
“Damn it...”
Complacency. That was all it had been. He had known Europe and China hadn’t even drawn near the ten-second range, and so he had meant to wait — to watch until the records settled a little further before they made their move.
“Don’t tell me it’s that healer.”
“Unknown. We assess the likelihood as high.”
“Pin down his identity. This is a man we have to bring over to our side.”
“Yes, sir. And Floor 2? Should we launch the clear now?”
“No. Surely they won’t push straight into Floor 2.”
Floor 2 fielded its enemies in formation — twenty goblins, or ten orcs. Either way, a troublesome mix to take head-on without proper training. More than that, the only nations on earth with a tower simulation were the United States and China. However strong a Korean Awakener might be, getting under eleven seconds with no training at all would be anything but—
Brrrrrrng—!
“Forgive me. I should take this.”
Coleman answered the phone.
“What...?”
The phone slipped from his hand and hit the floor.
“What is it?”
“Four seconds... sir.”
“Four seconds of what.”
Surely not.
“They finished the Floor 2 clear in four seconds.”
Korea turned inside out. Across the networks, cutting off whatever was on the air and slamming into special coverage was simply what you did.
“Almighty.”
Kim Minsung spoke with a grave seriousness.
“There is no need whatsoever for you to do anything, Almighty. I have only to charge the center and cut down every watchtower pillar myself.”
Kim Minsung’s plan ran like this. He would bring down, one by one, the watchtowers triangulated around the orc village, and crush the orcs on the ground beneath the wreckage. It was, without question, a sound strategy. It also carried risk. He would have to weather the axemen’s attacks the whole way through, and when the towers came down, Kim Minsung himself could be buried with them.
So my plan ran like this. While Kim Minsung held the axemen, I would spend this overflowing power of mine and drop the towers myself. It would have been perfect cooperation. Kim Minsung, however, was digging in his heels, insisting he was worried for my safety.
“You need only bestow your healing upon me, Almighty. There is nothing to worry about.”
He isn’t wrong. Still... shouldn’t I be doing something?
“Then, if you would watch how the situation unfolds, and deal with any that flee. To clear this swiftly, we must not let a single one escape.”
Okay. That’s reasonable. The time I could keep him summoned was already draining away, and I had no interest in wasting any more of it.
“I shall go.”
For the first time, Kim Minsung strapped his armor on. As expected, even an orc axeman could land a hit — fifth floor or not. It didn’t matter. So long as the blow wasn’t instant death, healing would cover it, and nothing on this floor could hit hard enough to kill Kim Minsung outright.
He blew past the safety line and charged, reckless and headlong. The orc axemen caught the intrusion at once. Horns blared in a panic, a long braying note rolling over the village as they scrambled to rally, and from the watchtowers the crossbows cracked in unison — a storm of bolts, every one of them trained on Kim Minsung.
“How is this supposed to be Floor 5...”
So this was why half of all climbers gave up the ascent right here. Lure them out one by one and it was doable, people said — but this was no game. You fought with your life in your hands. Let the orcs swarm you by a single mistake, and most would piss themselves where they stood. Kim Minsung, though, was a warrior the Tower had long since beaten the fear out of.
Wood shrieked. The structure groaned, and in a few strokes of his blade the eastern watchtower came crashing down.
Orc Axeman 23 / 100
Orc Crossbowman 5 / 15
Shards of the tower poured down across his back.
“Kh—!”
His knees folded, just a little. I raised my hand at once.
Heal: EX
Radiance detonated, and Kim Minsung shot upright from where he had fallen. I had only ever watched the healing through a screen, and I hadn’t imagined the real thing would hit with this kind of force — less a heal than a supernova bursting open. The monsters locked up in shock, and in that opening Kim Minsung tore through them and brought the southern watchtower down as well.
Orc Axeman 59 / 100
Orc Crossbowman 10 / 15
The debris caught him again. It wasn’t a problem.
Heal: EX
With my healing on him, Kim Minsung might as well have been invincible. Only one watchtower remained — the western one.
And then—
“Chwik!”
“That one is using some strange power!”
“Chwik! We have to catch him!”
The orcs had turned toward me. They’d realized I was the source of the healing.
“Kill him!”
Three orcs with axes broke into a run, straight at me.
“Kuoohhhhh—!”
An orc barreling in behind a war cry — the sight sent a weakness through my knees before I could stop it. Killing intent, and malice, thicker than anything I had ever met. I couldn’t run. I couldn’t even bring myself to meet them. The axe was suddenly right in front of me. On pure reflex I clenched my eyes shut and threw an arm up to block.
Whump—!
“...Huh?”
“Ch-chwik?”
The axe hadn’t bitten into my arm. Forget pain — I had barely felt it at all, like a small child patting at me with soft little fists. The orcs edged back, step by uncertain step.
This... could I actually handle this?
I took a swing with the wooden sword. There was no stance to it, nothing you could honestly call a proper attack. The orc’s head, barely grazed in passing, burst. A foul reek of blood rolled over me, and filthy fragments drummed against my whole body. Deeply unpleasant. And yet it amounted to far less than I had imagined.
“Maybe I’m... strong?”
Is this just my level and stats carrying me?
“Almighty!”
Kim Minsung came running, a beat too late. The orc village was already dead — every watchtower collapsed, the place in ruins. All that remained were the two orcs standing in front of me.
I swung the wooden sword again. One of them jerked its axe up, frantic to block. With a splintering crack the wooden sword broke the axe and sheared straight through both orcs.
“A-Almighty...”
Kim Minsung’s face had gone slack with shock.
“Just how great is your strength?”
35.5.
“......Higher than my own, you say?”
That was the truth of it. Count the bonus to efficiency, and it was fair to call the gap nearly double.
Kim Minsung broke into a grin.
“What a relief! There was nothing to worry about. Even so, please do not push yourself too far. Leave the fighting to me.”
Solid words. Reassuring ones. Except we’d killed every orc, hadn’t we? So why hadn’t the clear come up?
Orc Axeman 99 / 100
Orc Crossbowman 15 / 15
Ninety-nine...?
We’re one short.
“What?”
Kim Minsung flinched and spun, sweeping the surroundings. Look wherever you liked — there wasn’t an orc in sight. And then I saw it. Far out, a single orc was scrambling away in a blind panic. A long way off. Two hundred meters, if it was a step.
“I will go!”
Kim Minsung launched himself forward at a tremendous speed. But rather than running after it...
I looked around. Not far from where I stood lay a crossbow an orc crossbowman had dropped, already loaded.
You have temporarily acquired a weapon. It will vanish when you leave the floor.
I took in the faintly disappointing notice and lined up on the fleeing orc. The range was long enough that I wasn’t sure I could hit it. Maybe it was the Agility. The moment I took aim, the running orc seemed to swell larger and larger in my sight, and my arm was already making tiny corrections before I was even aware of moving it. A feeling settled over me — aim locked.
The arrow tore away at a ferocious speed.
“Gwek—!”
Far off, the orc screamed and crumpled.
Orc Axeman 100 / 100
Orc Crossbowman 15 / 15
Time Elapsed: 00:01:01
◈ EXP 4,394(First Clear Bonus)
◈ Mana Stones 10 kg(First Clear Bonus)
◈ Coins 10(First Clear Bonus)
Whew.
It had ended sooner than I’d expected. The world record was broken, and with room to spare. Still, it was a shame. A time in the fifties had been there for the taking. Not that the rewards would have changed — and if someone else broke the record after me, that person could claim an additional reward of their own. Taken as a whole, there was nothing to complain about.
“Huh...?”
There was a reward among them I had never seen before.