Second Playthrough (3)
Second Playthrough (3)
- Eurgh, urgh...!
My eyes were shut. Because of that, the pitch-black void in front of me abruptly dissolved into a chaotic mess of colors.
It wasn't pleasant. It wasn't real sight, either. My mind had started to break down, and hallucinations were flickering through my brain.
I had just died.
A single slash severed my waist and wrists. Countless consecutive slashes carved my whole body into pieces.
An axe slammed down from above and split my skull. A hammer swung into my torso and detonated my upper body.
A blade that had coiled toward me like a snake drove into my heart. A scythe's edge sliced through my neck.
Observation had fed me the outcomes through precognition, but my body couldn't respond to them.
Horrific sensations violated my consciousness. The bizarre feeling of a life being severed in an instant, then continuing, wracked my brain.
I didn't die.
I came to my senses.
I was sprawled out on the wasteland where I'd first entered the Tower of Growth, gasping for breath.
'Huff...'
A moment later, a presence entered my observation range. The 2nd Iteration.
From far away, he was trudging toward me.
His inventory opened. An obsidian-black spear slid out from the rippling space. Gripping the shaft, the 2nd Iteration drew closer.
I hauled my body upright. My brain and guts felt like mush, a thoroughly shitty sensation, but my body rapidly prepared for battle.
'I can't afford to die too much.'
A direct confrontation was out of the question.
His skill was overwhelmingly superior from the start. Even without bringing expansion abilities into it, I was pushed back. Even just closing the distance advantaged the 2nd Iteration.
I couldn't just ram into him and die. Every death sharply eroded my mental strength and heart power.
The moment my heart power ultimately bottomed out, a catastrophe would occur—my authorities would deactivate.
'I'll keep my distance.'
If I did that, he'd probably pull out a bow and start rapid-firing archery-type expansion abilities, but if I combined Taesan and Spirit Manifestation, I could endure.
And if I stalled for time...
...
I stopped mid-thought. My body, about to retreat, went rigid.
Perplexity hit me.
Stall for time and do what, exactly?
Gather information? Even with the Observation Authority, the fastest and most accurate way to acquire intel—and to have that skill melt into my body in real-time—is to clash directly.
'...This is the Tower of Growth.'
It's a space for growth. Survival or victory isn't what matters.
Even if I'm ultimately defeated, it's a place where I'm meant to go back having grown.
I don't die here. My meat-shredded body gets restored, and while my mind might be in agony, it remains intact.
The Blessing of Growth is amplified. I'm experiencing it even now. My body is seething and growing in real time, and my skill is rising precipitously.
Not that I'm inclined to, but if I expressed a desire to give up, I could even return to reality immediately.
The time I can stay in this absurdly convenient space is five days at most. An extremely short time.
So what am I so afraid of that I'd keep my distance, safely hold out, and waste time?
It's not even worth considering.
'...Authority Manifestation, Space.'
Clenching my teeth, I opened my subspace. From the countless armaments I'd stowed inside, I pulled out a spear.
A spear similar to the kind the 2nd Iteration used.
I stood no chance in a head-on fight.
His skill was fundamentally overwhelming.
Even without bringing expansion abilities into it, I was clearly outmatched. Intentionally engaging him in close combat was a disadvantageous move.
In exchange, I'd show him even steeper growth.
My body and head would hurt. For some reason, the sensations were rendered as vividly as reality, so it would hurt like hell.
Fear crept in. No matter how much time passes, one's innate nature doesn't change—I'm so terrified by even a pinprick that tears well up.
Right now, I can use that as an excuse to retreat, but going forward, that won't be possible.
During a truly critical moment. A moment when I must never back down. A moment when I must absolutely never collapse.
A situation where it's not simply that a worthless bastard like me dies and it's over, but where people more precious than someone like me would also get hurt.
To overcome a moment like that... I need to grow right now.
I gripped the spear and walked directly toward the 2nd Iteration.
* * *
The space that greeted Baek A-rin when she entered the Tower of Growth was a snowfield blanketed in pure white drifts.
An environment where a river that should have flowed leisurely was frozen solid, and bare tree branches bore white snow blossoms instead of green leaves.
Baek A-rin casually raised her hand.
A tiny snowflake landed on the back of it. It was only a light scattering, not a heavy downpour, yet it somehow landed precisely on her hand.
The snow wasn't cold.
The flake clinging to her hand didn't melt from her body heat.
There was no reason for it to melt—her body temperature was similar to the snow's to begin with.
Baek A-rin's Azure Sea was a lineage especially specialized in cold energy. While she also handled water energy at an above-standard level, Baek A-rin's talents were focused on cold energy.
As a result, Baek A-rin's body had a constitution that easily contained cold energy.
The energy flowing through her mana circuits was a chill cold energy, to the point that even the crimson blood running through her veins could be deemed cool.
Her bones, muscles, and skin were all cool, without a trace of warmth.
Her body, frozen solid like that, also had dulled senses.
'It's cold.'
Yet Baek A-rin perceived the snow as cold. Even though it was close to her body temperature—or rather, a higher temperature—she felt it as cold.
In fact, it wasn't only the snow. The mana inside her body, her own blood... she simply perceived her own body as cold.
That felt profoundly unpleasant. A physiological revulsion rose. She was sick and tired of this body that showed no sign of thawing no matter how much flame was applied to it.
Baek A-rin brushed off the snow and turned her head.
The surroundings were markedly different from when she'd first entered.
The pure white snow that had once layered the ground had long since been blown away entirely. The barren dirt, ravaged and turned into a mess by the aftermath of battle, was starkly visible.
"Can you speak?"
She casually turned her head and asked the thing embedded at the bottom of a large crater.
Pure white frost had settled over its body, and the cross-sections of its torn-off limbs were frozen solid, not a single drop of blood seeping out.
It was Baek A-rin's replica, created by the Tower of Growth.
"No conversation, hm? Is it a functional issue, or was it deliberately blocked off..."
The replica couldn't communicate. She'd tried dialogue, but the replica simply came lunging at her with nothing but killing intent aimed at the challenger.
"Then again, if you could talk to your replica, that'd be creepy in its own way."
Talking to a replica she was meant to beat to death anyway... it probably wouldn't be a pleasant experience.
Baek A-rin nodded to herself.
She had just finished subduing the replica, after all.
Of course, Baek A-rin wasn't in completely pristine shape, either.
Her hair was disheveled, and while she had wounds here and there, there was no pain. And she wasn't in a pitiful state like the replica.
'That took about four days...? Rough.'
She'd first subdued the replica from the very first day.
After all, since the ability and skill were identical, if she fought it head-on immediately, the odds of winning were fifty percent.
But reaching the point where she could suppress it with relative ease like now had taken four days.
'I wonder if Yeon-hwa was faster than me? She's such a fight-fiend that she probably caught hers quickly and is already fighting other summoned monsters or embodiments.'
In other words, in four days, Baek A-rin had grown to the point where she could effortlessly subdue the version of herself that had first entered the tower.
'Towers really are broken...'
The Blessing of Growth and the effects of Tower entry alike—they were all absurdly overpowered effects.
Thanks to that, the young superhumans' guardians wouldn't dare defy Siyoram and would be forced to grovel, wouldn't they?
'I want to come in here every week.'
Then she figured she could probably hit the top-grade level with ease within half a year. Though, that was realistically impossible, of course...
- C-crackle...
While Baek A-rin was taking a moment to rest her mind and body.
The replica, with the same emotionless eyes it had worn from the start, stared up at Baek A-rin and writhed.
It was a motion as if trying some kind of resistance, but the stakes of ice firmly driven throughout its body completely sealed off any attempt.
They were stakes loaded with curses of suppression and wound aggravation. With so many of those driven in, movement was impossible.
Furthermore, its core and circuits had been smashed, and it had no remaining mana, so any possibility of a counterattack was nonexistent.
"......"
Baek A-rin stared down at the replica. Its limbs torn off, squirming on the ground, it was practically like an insect.
The replica bore the exact same outward appearance as Baek A-rin.
Eyes the color of a clear sea and softly grown long hair.
The voluptuous curves of its body and its facial features were identical, as were the mana circuits and core within its body and the very properties of its mana.
Yet it was different.
The replica didn't smile. Its eyes were emotionless, and the corners of its mouth drew no curve.
That alone completely flipped the impression that others had of Baek A-rin by a hundred and eighty degrees.
If her previous impression was a vast blue sea and a gentle demeanor, now she looked like a cold-frozen, silent glacier.
"Tsk."
She loathed the sight of that cold, dull-witted body of hers and the impression that sank into that grimness whenever she wasn't grinning like an idiot.
Even after all her efforts to overcome it, no major change had occurred. The small hope she'd placed in Hong Yeon-hwa was all she had.
But recently, a major possibility had emerged.
Baek A-rin smiled brightly and jumped down.
She approached the replica, which was sprawled at the bottom of the crater.
After casting a glance at the squirming replica that still hadn't given up, she gripped a spear of ice crafted from the Azure Sea.
The spear tip, gleaming with sharp energy, aimed at the replica.
"Well then... shall I summon some monsters too?"
- Crunch!
The descending spear blade pierced the replica's chest.
* * *
- Crunch!
In a single flash, a spear pierced my chest.
I could feel the chill, sharp energy boring into my flesh.
Crack! I barely managed to twist and seize the spear shaft as it tried to drive deeper in. The trembling spear tip stopped, scraping against my ribs.
A brief contest of strength followed.
At this rate, I'd be skewered and finished.
I slammed my fist into the spear shaft.
All-Rounder Expansion Ability
Myriad Transformations - Horn Iron Staff Break
Crack! The shaft, made of black iron, snapped powerlessly like a reed stalk.
The 2nd Iteration abandoned the spear without hesitation and moved both hands. A hand cloaked in crimson aura lunged for me.
I'd already faced this countless times before. The moment I was caught, my skeleton had been ripped out, killing me. I'd let consecutive strikes through and died when my heart and head burst apart.
I extended a hand to match.
Swa-swish! Leaving white and crimson afterimages, our hands tangled dizzyingly.
The 2nd Iteration's eyes fixed on me.
A hand that darted out like a bolt of lightning. The instant it snatches hold, it twists the limb.
I reacted. My elbow, responding at super-speed, slammed down onto the forearm.
After deflecting the attack once, I countered by extending my hand.
The movement differs from the 2nd Iteration's. A motion where the form is obscured as if smothered in fog aims for the 2nd Iteration's throat.
'Expansion Ability.'
Deflect. I grasped the form, then twisted the trajectory. Immediately after, the 2nd Iteration's eyes found a tiny opening.
Boom! A short True Step pushed the body forward. The torso twisted, and a shoulder was thrust out.
Myriad Combat Arts Expansion Ability
Hoof Advance - Mountain Breaker
A body blow contained within an expansion ability. The 2nd Iteration's bulky frame slammed into me.
- Kwa-boom!
A massive shockwave exploded. The patch of earth quaked.
Immense impact surged into me. I calmly stomped the ground.
- Crash!
The ground collapsed in an instant. The clods of earth that had absorbed and diverted the impact crumbled into dust and dispersed. After adeptly diverting the shock, I unfurled a hand.
Aura whirled around the elbow like a vortex.
I manifested the Vortex Water Palm I'd learned before—using aura instead of water energy—and thrust out the palm strike.
- Whoooooosh!
A pure white whirlwind expanded. In the direction of the palm strike, a vortex of aura surged forth, sweeping away everything in front of it.
Just before the whirlwind expanded, the 2nd Iteration, having extracted its body from the impact zone, widened the distance and landed with a featherlight step.
The vortex that had raged outward gradually subsided.
Dust clouds obscured the surroundings, but the 2nd Iteration's eyes accurately locked onto Lee Ha-yul.
Shaking off the vortex that had wrapped around his arm, Lee Ha-yul turned his body.
'......'
Observing that, the 2nd Iteration analyzed the earlier clash.
Lee Ha-yul as of the moment he'd first entered the Tower of Growth.
He'd had many talents and decent skill, but subduing him had been possible. Even when he revealed his talents, that held true, and Lee Ha-yul who insisted on close combat was even easier to subdue.
Right now...
'I can't subdue him easily.'
Even while revealing a fair amount of skill, subduing him is proving difficult.
In fact, the reality is that I'm taking counterattacks.
Only a few days have passed at most, yet Lee Ha-yul's skill is rocketing up like mad.
I had indeed intended for this, but even factoring in the Blessing of Growth, as the 2nd Iteration, it was a mind-boggling rate of growth.
'Is it that the original is just different?'
Also, though it was a foolish thought, it was somewhat disheartening.
Hiding a sense of bitterness, the 2nd Iteration faced the charging Lee Ha-yul.
* * *
[Unique Ability "All-Rounder" is growing rapidly.]