Chapter 44

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: MadScientist

Chapter: 44

Chapter Title: Tower of Struggle 10th Floor

-----------------------------------------------------------------

After that, I asked Lavris a bunch of questions about the tower.

But she said she was bound by restrictions and couldn't tell me.

If I wanted to hear more, I'd have to climb to the 50th floor where she was from and break free of those restrictions herself. With that, she clammed up.

'In the end, I still have to climb the tower, huh.'

Everything circled back to that original goal: climb the tower.

Through Lavris, I moved to the hidden 10th floor.

-Ding!

"?"

...What was that?

For a split second, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thought I saw a difficulty alert window flash in front of me.

Was it just my imagination? I asked Lavris about it.

['Lavris' praises her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠master's exceptional dynamic vision, saying it vanished too quickly for normal people to see.]

So it wasn't my imagination...?

Wait, that means...

"Then other climbers go in without knowing the difficulty went up?"

['Lavris' nods, confirming it.]

"Isn't that a bit... unfair?"

['Lavris' snorts, saying that's part of proving your struggle—if you miss it, that's on you.]

"You... you're more sinister than I thought."

['Lavris' protests, asking what that's supposed to mean—she's not sinister at all!]

"No, you're super sinister. You've got talent for it."

['Lavris' goes !@##!$@!.']

Anyway.

I ignored Lavris's unintelligible chatter and looked around for the monster that had already spawned.

"It's all red."

That was the first thought that came to mind as I scanned my surroundings.

Everything in sight was red.

The grass, the trees, the massive lake ahead—even the sky.

It was a bizarre floor dyed entirely in crimson.

"Daddy-nyang... Lulu hates it here-nyang... eyes hurt-nyang..."

"Hmm... this place feels off... it makes me uncomfortable..."

Maybe that's why my two daughters—who'd normally dash off excitedly with a udada-! into any new place—were clinging to my legs like they didn't want to let go.

That said it all about how creepy this floor was.

'Gotta clear it quick.'

For the sake of my two girls, who were grimacing and thumping their tails against the ground.

I headed straight for the red lake, assuming that's where the boss would be.

A moment later...

Sploosh-!

"Kieeeek-!!!"

My guess was spot on.

Something grotesque erupted from the lake's depths—a serpentine body with a head turned into a writhing mass of tentacles.

It let out a screech like nails on a chalkboard.

"Ugh, hey. That's less scary and more gross, isn't it? How do you stick kids with something like that?"

['Lavris' is bewildered by her master's calm demeanor amid the panic.]

['Lavris' asks her master why he's fine.']

"Huh? Fine with what?"

['Lavris' mutters that the monster's roar deals massive mental damage—even her master's mental strength shouldn't hold up...]

"Oh?"

Hmm... now that she mentions it, something does feel off.

Normally, I'd be clutching my head and yelling, "Lulu! Arin! Save Daddy-!!!" by now.

But right now...

"...It doesn't bother me at all?"

Just a bit of physiological disgust at the tentacle head.

No panic from the grotesque form or the nerve-grating screech.

If anything, I was thinking I needed to kill that nasty tentacle head quick—for my daughters, who should grow up seeing only good things.

Yeah. Chop off its head, grind it up nice, and it'd make great alchemy material...

'...What the hell was I just thinking?'

Chop its head and grind it up? Me?

The guy who shrieks and freaks out at bugs in the house?

"No way... is this the effect of my skills and traits?"

I was stunned at turning into such a stoic badass.

But thinking it over, my skills and traits...

And the monster essence rooted in me, influencing everything—it all made sense.

It hit me anew how insane Mental Abnormality (S+) was to pierce all that and still affect me.

'But how am I even alive?'

The thought crossed my mind.

With that level of negative traits, normal life—let alone sanity—should be impossible.

Why only mild menhera stuff, no severe psychosis or idiocy?

Maybe... there's some unlisted trait or hidden something in me?

"Gueeeek-!!!!!"

['Lavris' urgently calls out to her master, who's suddenly standing there dazed!]

"...Oh, right. I'm in the middle of a fight?"

['Lavris' urges her master to wrap himself and her in battle aura first!]

['Lavris' yells that touching that acidic fluid will weaken her weakened state even more—please block it!]

Anyway. I don't know why, but...

Lavris getting weaker would be bad for me too.

Focus on the monster now. Following her advice, I tried wrapping my body in battle aura...

"...But how do you wrap battle aura around your body?"

Of course, with my Battle Aura Proficiency at 1%, I had no clue.

['Lavris' is aghast—how can he not know that?!]

['Lavris' yells there's no time to explain: max out the battle aura and release it!]

Okay, max out battle aura and release it...

'...How do I even do that?'

...But 1% proficiency meant I didn't know that either.

Eventually, in my own attempt at "release(?),"

I recalled a transformation scene from those blonde battle-race aliens I used to watch and mimicked it.

"I'm really pissed off now-! Lake Ruler-!!!"

And it worked.

Golden battle aura spread from my heart through my body, rising from every part.

This led to great results, like auto-acquiring a new skill just like with Alter...

"...Huh?"

['Lavris' is ???]

"Kiek?"

"W-Wait! Cancel! Cancel the skill! Cancel-!!!"

"Ow, shit. We're screwed."

['Lavris' screams, what the hell is this crazy master doing...]

"Ki, kieeeek-!?!!"

"...Farewell. Lavris... Lulu... Arin... and... Professor!"

"Whew, that was close to death."

['Lavris' scolds her master to be grateful for his ridiculously tough body.]

Long story short.

Thanks to the Half-Human Half-Dragon (S+) I got this time, I survived the tower with all limbs intact—though it hurt a bit.

['Lavris' says she can't comprehend how he could explode from there. It makes no sense.]

"Sorry, I swear it wasn't on purpose. I just powered up full blast and released(?), and it blew up on its own?"

['Lavris' yells that's even worse!]

['Lavris' sighs that her master's battle aura control is more unstable than expected—real combat experience isn't the issue.]

['Lavris' advises that he's basically a walking battle aura bomb right now and needs basic training from the ground up.]

"I think so too."

I felt a bit wronged since it really wasn't intentional.

But I learned my flaws from this, so silver lining.

['Lavris' offers to teach him how to sense and move battle aura—watch her demonstration closely.]

And conveniently, my self-explosion counted as "struggle," so Lavris regained part of her old form: the rusty double-bladed axe became a crude double-bladed one.

Thanks to that, she could now manipulate battle aura and volunteered as teacher, so I added battle aura training to my daily routine starting today.

As for my biggest worry after self-destructing—the safety of my two daughters...

"Daddy-nyang... really okay-nyang?"

"All the pain gone...?"

"Daddy's fine. I was more worried you two got hurt."

"We're okay-nyang! Cloak-nyang wrapped us-nyang!"

"There was lots of water around, so I made a giant shark to block it!"

<Shaa-!>

...Not a single hair out of place, thankfully.

They were a bit distant, too.

The cloak and shark cushioned them perfectly—huge relief.

"Then we'll go wash up-nyang!"

"Be right back~!"

With the chaotic tower climb finally over, my daughters headed to the bathroom.

I sat on the floor as usual to check rewards from the tower, pulling up the alerts.

Maybe because I skipped two floors.

Or the 10th floor reward was special.

Either way, it was different from usual.