The Proof of Non-Possession

The first floor of the Tower of Trials. The waiting room that connected one floor to the next… a space where only those who had passed through could remain.

It was a completely empty expanse of pure white. And there, Yuhwa stood with an air of lofty dignity.

‘Maintaining the concept is harder than I thought.’

Maintaining the dragon concept was tough…. Yeah. Let’s take it easy here.

With a soft thud, Yuhwa immediately sprawled out on the floor and crossed her legs. She stared up at the ceiling, replaying the first floor of the tower she had just cleared.

“Easy, Normal, Hard… Hell.”

Easy difficulty.

Clear time: 13 seconds.

The moment she entered, what she saw was a plain. And a single goblin charging toward her, clutching a rusty dagger.

‘It felt a little off-putting.’

The reason it took a whole 13 seconds was nothing complicated. It was the time it took for her to steel herself to take a life.

She flicked her finger lightly, as if brushing away dust.

In that instant, a wave of condensed mana shot through the air and completely vaporized the goblin’s upper body without leaving so much as a drop of blood.

‘Seeing it die like that, it doesn’t feel so bad after all.’

That was a relief. If it had been all messy with bodies exploding and blood and flesh flying everywhere… that would’ve been rough.

Wahhh… I’m just a little baby. Scared of blood…

Normal difficulty.

Clear time: 10 seconds.

This time it was a wide wasteland where three wolves attacked from all directions in a coordinated assault. It was a fairly instinctive beastly combination aimed at blind spots in her vision… but it wasn’t anything special.

‘This might actually be tough for ordinary humans, huh?’

To start from the first floor like this… wasn’t this the Normal difficulty of the first floor?

With those thoughts in mind, Yuhwa lightly tapped her foot against the ground.

BOOM—!

The earth shook violently as three massive spikes erupted upward, piercing straight through the beasts’ bellies and ending the fight in an instant.

Hard difficulty.

Clear time: 5 seconds.

Above a poisonous swamp filled with toxic gas, ten gargoyles spewing acidic venom blanketed the sky. According to So-i, they were the worst wall of despair—impossible to hit while flying, slowly melting your body into the swamp.

‘So this is it…’

Should she call it the Dragon’s Gaze? Or Dragon Fear?

Yuhwa met the gargoyles’ eyes. Their movements froze mid-air. Their wings stopped flapping naturally, and they plummeted straight into the swamp. The ones that shattered on impact broke into pieces, while the survivors slowly sank into the toxic mire. It took exactly five seconds for them to disappear completely.

Hell difficulty.

She had to admit it. There was a good reason it was called hell.

To put it precisely: if the previous difficulties had been so trivial they could be cleared just by breathing, then from Hell difficulty onward… you had to put in the tiniest bit of actual effort.

The memory from moments ago replayed vividly in her mind.

The moment she entered, she was met with a red wasteland reeking of acrid sulfur.

‘This place…’

Before she could even properly open her eyes, a massive shadow swallowed her entire field of vision and came crashing down from above.

‘That startled me.’

In a split second, Yuhwa recognized what the shadow was. An enormous ogre, roughly eight meters tall. A grotesque mass of muscle the height of a four-story building had swung a gigantic ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠club down the instant she entered.

KWAAAAA—!

Anyone other than someone like her would have been crushed into a pulp of meat by that insane mass, even if they had seen it coming.

An unreasonable guaranteed death right from the start. That was the true essence of Hell difficulty.

‘The Vatican Holy Knight… it’s honestly more surprising that she cleared it.’

Thinking that, Yuhwa reflexively thrust her right arm upward.

BOOM—!

The club and Yuhwa’s palm collided head-on. The result was obvious. Her palm didn’t budge even a single millimeter, holding firm in place, while the club—carrying all that kinetic energy—couldn’t withstand the recoil and shattered into pieces.

Then Yuhwa lightly flicked her outstretched hand upward.

KWAGWAGWAGWANG—!

An overwhelming storm exploded from her fingertips and literally vaporized the eight-meter ogre’s upper body. The monster couldn’t even let out a single scream. Only its massive lower half collapsed powerlessly, scattering sparks. Before those sparks could even touch the ground, the System’s mechanical voice rang out.

Even now, thinking back on it was fascinating. Just how on earth had that Vatican Holy Knight cleared Hell difficulty? If you’re talking Holy Knight, the standard is holy power. Did she literally die and come back to life to clear it…?

‘I’m curious…’

All that remained now was the settlement.

The Tower’s System awarded coins each time a floor’s difficulty was cleared. Yuhwa hadn’t spent the coins she earned from Easy difficulty at the waiting room shop. She had gone straight into Normal. She hadn’t spent the coins from Normal either and moved on to Hard. And she had entered Hell still holding onto the coins from Hard.

Of course, the strategy guides said to buy buffs or skills… but she didn’t need any of that, did she? The skills the guides told people to buy were nowhere near as numerous or powerful as the things she could already do.

‘Ugh, why is this taking so long?’

She had already been waiting ten whole minutes! The previous difficulties had settled in a snap, so why was Hell taking forever!

Finally, brilliant golden particles began to gather in the air, and a massive amount of coins appeared before Yuhwa’s eyes as a numerical total.

What should she do with all these coins?

She had been leisurely pondering that very question when—

Ding—!

“A hidden achievement?”

Yuhwa tilted her head slightly. The System window smoothly changed and began displaying the details.

Only then did Yuhwa realize what this achievement meant.

In all the time since the Tower had appeared on Earth, this condition had been a locked gimmick that no human could possibly achieve. The moment a human entered a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠higher difficulty without raising their specs using coins, they would face guaranteed death. Given the structure that forced desperate coin consumption for survival, the very idea of pushing all the way to Hell difficulty without spending any coins was impossible.

After all, the only person who had ever cleared Hell difficulty was that Holy Knight.

Therefore, this was an achievement only she could accomplish—the first and only renewal of its kind in the entire world.

And then, as if to celebrate the achievement of this grand feat, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠more System windows appeared.

A difficulty that surpassed even hell. A one-of-a-kind trial where failure meant no second chance would ever be given. Red-glowing System windows flashed warnings of danger.

And then—

“Oh…”

What escaped Yuhwa’s lips was pure admiration. There was no reason to refuse. Was it confidence? Or the arrogance of a dragon?

If she could try again later she might have hesitated, but since it was one-time only… she had to do it. Right?

“I shall enter.”

The moment the words left her mouth—

RUMBLE….

The entire waiting room began to shake violently, as if struck by an earthquake.

Something about this is exciting. Just how strong will it be? How fun is it going to be?

She could feel the flow of the atmosphere changing. She stretched out her senses.

She could sense presences. Frail yet burning hot energies of living beings.

Prick. Prick. Prick….

She felt sensations that seemed to take physical form as killing intent. Sharp, well-honed energies capable of slicing through her entire body closed in from every direction of the ruins.

‘This is interesting…’

Let’s give it a try.

Scales began to sprout across Yuhwa’s face.