Surviving the Forest (1)

“Haa….”

I let out a deep sigh as I looked at my phone.

Z-63, the administrative code, the central office. And then that inexplicable ambush….

Even when I tried to think it through on my own, everything I had was useless fragments. Nothing made sense right away, and unless I sat with it for a long time, I couldn’t even begin to guess.

That didn’t mean I could go over each piece one by one with the gallery and puzzle it out together, either.

What on earth is hidden in the Irregular?

Or was this tower the one that wanted something from me?

……I do want to keep thinking about the anomaly.

I shook my head, trying to clear away thoughts about the unknown.

I still had two more 50th floors to clear. Since I might run into another anomaly here too, wasting time obsessing over it now was pointless.

I’d seen it happen on the 50th floor of the Tower of Trials, and on the 50th floor of the Tower of Luck as well. It was only reasonable to assume I’d run into it in the other two towers, too.

If I don’t, then… maybe seeing an anomaly requires some special condition or other.

I still didn’t know what that condition was, but simply being able to conclude that one existed would already be an advantage.



[Current TP: 6,280]

“Should I be happy about this or not?”

After finishing my thoughts, I looked at the TP displayed on my phone and let out a dry laugh.

At least from what ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was written there, it was obvious I’d cleared it in just a few minutes. In reality, I’d suffered for at least several dozen minutes, but….

The unlock for [???] had also clearly shown the Tower of Luck as 50/50.

Getting a bonus on top of that makes it even weirder.

I’d earned six thousand TP in three minutes.

Wow! That’s two hundred thousand won for every three minutes!

“Can I really be this happy about it?”

I’d never experienced anything like this before, which made my head hurt even more. Was skipping an entire tower really a good thing?

“……Actually, it is good?”

I knew the secret, got a free ride, and earned TP on top of it. Wasn’t that basically a crazy windfall?

Yas.

If I could, I wanted to run into an anomaly in the Tower of Mind and the Tower of Trials like this too.

As long as I didn’t die, honestly, I cared more about solving this mystery than climbing the tower.

I really didn’t want to keep risking my life just to climb.

My head still hurts, and the warmth behind my eyes is kind of agonizing, but….

As long as I could open them again, I could endure that much.

“You’ve opened your eyes… come to the tower gallery….”

Click!

I took a picture of the timer floating in midair and let out a slow breath.

I’d been startled by the sudden situation, but I still should’ve taken a photo of the clear. I’d been taking them every ten floors, and now that the Tower of Luck’s 50th floor was missing, it felt like my collection had one slot left unfilled.

Swish.

The moment I finished taking the photo, I headed straight for the Tower of Trials.

My body recovered quickly enough. It didn’t seem like I needed any special rest.

The time’s definitely recorded.

The reason I’d taken the picture was to see whether the flow of time would be similar if I experienced another anomaly.

And there was one other reason—

…I wanted to brag to the gallery about it!

Fwip-fwip— seriously, that little act was infuriating.

I laughed weakly as I looked at the post I’d written.

It was still an incomprehensible kind of charm, but whatever. Just looking at it was annoying. I didn’t know why, but it pissed me off.

I didn’t even fully understand the vibe I was copying, but if it made me feel bad too, then fine.

And I’ve already thought of a way to fix that, so whatever.

You could call it one step of making myself look obnoxious for the sake of two steps of favor.

Ding-ding-ding-ding—

“Yeah, yeah. I’m the big brother here.”

I’d hand out something tasty, so hang in there just a little longer until big bro finishes all the 50th floors, okay?



* * * * *



[Tower of Trials]

Maybe I should’ve gone to the Tower of Mind after all.

I’d thought it over and picked the Tower of Trials, but now I was starting to regret it a little.

My original plan had been to clear the Tower of Luck and the Tower of Mind first, then use the TP to train new skills or buy more magic stones. That was why I’d gone to the Tower of Luck first.

I already have more than enough magic stones, and learning new skills now wouldn’t mean much anyway.

Sure, I could use magic with a snap of my fingers, but the water and lightning I already had were enough. Even if I gained more skills, I didn’t think the situation would change all that much.

Besides, carrying the iron sword around was heavier than I’d expected, and if I got hit by another anomaly and wore myself out for nothing, I might not be able to react in time during an attack. That would be a disaster.

The Tower of Mind honestly didn’t scare me that much, so I figured I might as well take the punishment first and came into the Tower of Trials.

It’ll work out somehow.

I’d trained enough. Every day, without taking a break, I’d worked myself to the bone for hours on end. It was the first time in my life I’d ever practiced something with that much intensity.

I cleared the 40th floor and the 45th floor without much trouble, too.

I doubted the 50th floor would be easy, but maybe all that effort would finally pay off.

“Huu.”

Rumble…!!

After checking the shield on my left arm and my magic stones, I opened the tightly shut door. I gripped the iron sword hard, tense as I wondered what kind of bastard would welcome me this time.

Thunk!

“……”

The moment the door shut, the scenery in front of me changed.

The 50th floor of the Tower of Luck… no, it wasn’t even the 50th floor, really.

Either way, what was in front of my eyes now definitely wasn’t a tower.

Chirp-chirp—!

Rustle-rustle-rustle—

“……A forest?”

No matter where I looked, it was a forest.

The sound of birds calling, small animals brushing through the grass, a stream flowing at my feet, and towering trees reaching high overhead.

The fresh scent filling my nose was so pure it practically scrubbed my mood clean. It was unmistakably a forest.

Survive….

Another line I’d never seen before appeared.

The time was counting down one second at a time. I guessed that meant if I survived in this forest for ten hours, it would be over.

……Isn’t this too easy?

I couldn’t be sure, but just survive? I didn’t know what kind of ecosystem this place had, but didn’t that just mean I could keep running or hide somewhere?

Ding!

“You were alive after all, Wiki…!”

I smiled at Wiki as he proudly declared his resurrection.

It wasn’t a very useful strategy yet, but hey, at least he was alive. That was enough.

Once the analysis was done, he’d definitely help me. That was all I needed.

Swish.

So the question was what I should do now….

I slowly looked around.

This definitely wasn’t a normal forest. There would be monsters here, and maybe even traps.

For now, I should probably search the area carefully and find a place to hide first. That ought to be my top priority.

I’ve got my weapon and magic stones in proper order.

My body felt fine too.

It was a little awkward, since I’d only been fighting nonstop lately—colosseums, caves, one battle after another—but if this was the Tower of Trials, then maybe this was exactly the kind of situation it meant to put me in.

If all it did was make me fight, then it had nothing to do with trials.

That was part of why I’d paid so little attention to the simple grind floors.

Rustle—

Stepping through the grass that had sprung up around me, I decided to leave the forested area first.

I needed a clear line of sight. I needed to understand what this place actually was.

It might not help me hide right away, but I moved anyway, because I needed to learn something—anything.



* * * * *

Splaaaash!!

“Slimes are even grosser than I expected….”

I frowned as I peeled the sticky mass off my sword.

Every time one showed up, it just lunged at me mindlessly, so I kept cutting them down, but cleaning up afterward was a complete pain in the ass.

I even tried wiping some on my clothes just in case, but unfortunately it didn’t have the nice effect of only melting clothes.

I’d thought about bringing some back separately… damn, what a shame.

Wonder if this’ll wash off in water.

Crunch.

I’d spent two hours roaming the forest and gathering information, but I hadn’t found anything particularly special.

Along the way, I’d found a bear and even a white wolf that didn’t fit the forest at all. It really was a fantasy world, because monsters like slimes and even some huge birds existed here too—but—

Is surviving here really all there is?

I couldn’t stop wondering whether this was really the kind of difficulty a 50th floor should have.

Honestly, it was too easy. None of the creatures I’d seen looked that dangerous.

Wiki was still a complete mystery.

Babble-babble-babble—

“Fuck, even the water won’t wash it off.”

I grimaced as I scraped the sticky blobs off what I had to call the slime’s corpse… though calling it a corpse felt a little weird.

I still hadn’t found anywhere I could hide. I’d thought maybe there’d be a cave somewhere, but it was just forest, forest, forest.

Taller and denser trees than I’d expected, plenty of streams, and a wide variety of life.

Just a slightly unusual fantasy forest.

If the goal were to kill all the life in the forest, I could’ve accepted that.

When I’d met the bear or the wolf, I’d backed off instead of fighting. My goal was survival, after all.

I did want to see the results of my training, but I wasn’t the kind of maniac who needed to slash apart everything in sight to feel satisfied.

Maybe some event will happen?

Like the forest getting destroyed, or the forest shrinking little by little.

With my puny brain, that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was about all I could come up with for now.

“Kwooaaaar—!!”

“……Is that the bear from before?”

I swallowed hard at the howl echoing through the forest.

When I’d run into it about an hour ago, I’d actually been scared, even while holding the iron sword, shield, and magic stones.

Even if it had been a normal bear, I would’ve been terrified, but this one was different from any bear I knew.

After all, what kind of bear had dozens of unknown scars running across its entire body?

Besides, there’s no way a human could fight a bear.

If an UFC champion fought a bear with bare hands, would he win?

Yeah, no. Absolutely impossible, in my opinion.

At least impossible against the bear in this forest.

Grrr….

Food’s something I’m going to have to find myself too, huh.

Ten hours wasn’t impossible to endure, but keeping myself hungry wasn’t exactly ideal.

It wasn’t good to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gorge myself either, of course… but this didn’t seem like a place where food was easy to find.

Tree fruit or fish, maybe…?

I couldn’t exactly chew on slime globs, so that was probably my best option.

Rustle—

I kept looking around for food for a while.

Ding!

“Oh.”

Apparently the analysis had finished. I immediately checked Wiki at the cheerful notification.

“Right… so it really wasn’t going to be normal, huh?”

Thirty minutes from now meant there would be exactly seven hours and thirty minutes left.

An event every two and a half hours.

Maybe a total of four events would happen.

That sounded like exactly the kind of thing the Tower of Trials would do, and exactly the kind of thing a 50th floor would do. Being recognized as prey meant I’d probably be treated as food or a toy.

……

The scar-covered bear I’d seen earlier. The wolf.

And all the other forest creatures I hadn’t found yet, seeing me as prey….

I still didn’t know how large this forest was, or how wide the pheromone’s range might be, but—

I’m fucked.

I understood one thing very clearly: this was a deeply unwelcome situation.



* * * * *

I stuffed my phone into my pocket while watching Wiki announce that it was about to begin.

Clench—!

I gripped my sword tightly, bound the shield securely to my arm, and prepared myself so I could throw a magic stone at any moment. Then I waited for the countless forest creatures that might come swarming toward me.

Below a towering cliff that left no room for attacks from behind. With especially tall, thick trees to both sides, and ahead of me a stream wider ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and deeper than the others, this was the best place I could find.

“Huu.”

I let out a quiet breath, telling myself there probably wasn’t a better spot than this.

Swish….

The moment the event began, a pale pink mist-like thing seeped out of my body.

I had no idea how far it spread, or how wide the range was.

There were still more events to come, so it probably wasn’t that large yet. I lightly loosened my body, assuming all the life in the forest wouldn’t come charging at me from the start.

Besides, if they all did come, wouldn’t they just start tearing into each other?

Swish.

“Grrr?”

“Nice to meet you?”

As if it had been nearby even before the event began, a wolf soon appeared, snuffling the air.

It wasn’t very big—honestly, it looked closer to a stray dog than a wolf.

Watching it drool and smack its lips the moment it saw me, I couldn’t help but smile faintly.

Tap-tap-tap!

“Kraaaah!!”

At the sight of the wolf charging me at full speed, I tightened my grip on the iron sword.

Brand of the Prey, huh….

If everyone in this forest saw me as food, as a toy—

Slashhhhh—!!!

“I’ll show you who the real predator is.”

Go ahead and try eating a prey stained with a predator’s blood.

I hadn’t spent my time rolling around like some easy target, only to die meekly that way.