The Boss Is Too Easy
It was 11:59 PM. Without fail, I stood before the tower entrance, humming a quiet tune to myself.
This was my utterly ordinary daily routine—waiting for midnight to arrive, night after night.
The moment the clock struck twelve and I stepped through the entrance, a system message appeared right before my eyes.
Would you like to enter the tower?
[YES / NO]
I chose YES without the slightest hesitation.
My vision distorted instantly as that familiar wave of dizziness hit me.
When my sight returned, I found myself standing in a stage that looked like a thick forest.
You have entered the 9th floor of the tower.
Remaining challenges: 5 / 5
Time limit: 00 hours 30 minutes 00 seconds
Would you like to begin?
[YES / NO]
I casually started the stage. Four kobolds immediately burst out from the underbrush.
The moment they spotted me, their eyes gleamed as they raised their daggers.
I extended my right hand toward the one at the front and took aim.
“Lightning Bolt.”
A streak of lightning shot from my fingertips and struck the kobold square in the head.
Crackle.
I targeted the next one and waited for the cooldown.
The cooldown was 1.6 seconds.
Right on time, I spoke the incantation again.
“Lightning Bolt.”
The second bolt of lightning incinerated the kobold on the right.
“Lightning Bolt.”
The third. Another 1.6 seconds.
“Lightning Bolt.”
The final lightning strike took down the remaining enemies.
9th Floor Cleared Successfully!
Clear Time: 00 hours 00 minutes 08 seconds
An incredible feat! You have set a new world record for the fastest clear of this floor!
As a new record reward, all stats permanently increased by +1.
9th floor clear reward granted. Acquired 30g of magic stone.
“Four of them in eight seconds… I could’ve shaved off a bit more, hmm.”
I picked up the magic stone that had dropped to the ground, stuffed it into my bag, and left the stage in a good mood.
Even though I had set a new record, I still felt a little unsatisfied.
“…Oh.”
Come to think of it, if I had used Memorize, I probably could have finished in two seconds.
“Now it’s the 10th floor.”
What lay before me now was the 10th floor.
The first true boss stage.
The 10th floor spawned the Kobold Leader escorted by ten regular kobolds.
It was the so-called wall of despair for beginners.
An infamous section where even parties failed over and over again.
‘…Just to be safe, maybe I should ask?’
They say you should even tap a stone bridge before crossing it.
I returned to my room, took a quick sip of water, then leaned back against the bed and opened the gallery in mid-air.
I was about to write a post like usual when my eyes drifted to the button in the upper right corner.
Live Chat.
…Should I turn it on?
Honestly, the constant flood of real-time chatter usually made me dizzy, so I rarely used it.
But when I needed advice like right now…
“Ahem. Hm.”
I took a short deep breath and activated the live chat.
As if they had been waiting for this exact moment, a window popped up and the messages started pouring in.
“Whoa, slow down. Slow down with the messages.”
Of course, it was my fault.
I had posted something just to vent my feelings and then immediately logged off.
But that was that, and this was this.
“Alright, everyone calm down first. I’m about to head to the 10th floor. Any advice?”
“Hey, Archmage. Explain Memorize to me real quick.”
“Yeah, go ahead and explain.”
“…Isn’t it? You keep them in stacks and use them without consuming extra resources when you need them. Isn’t that the main point?”
All the sighs came at once.
They immediately started roasting me as if they had been waiting for this.
“Designate the point?”
“…Yeah, that makes sense.”
“So… as long as it’s within my line of sight, I can activate any skill stored in Memorize from anywhere I want?”
Suddenly it felt like a giant exclamation mark had gone off in my head.
In other words, what Archmage was saying was this:
As long as it was somewhere my eyes could see, I could manifest any stored skill from any position I wanted.
It meant I could launch surprise attacks from an enemy’s blind spot.
“…This skill is actually completely broken.”
My line of sight became the range itself, and it gave me the ability to attack in an instant with zero warning.
That was the true power of Memorize.
“Isn’t it bad to bow to a ghost?”
“Ah, sorry.”
“Ahaha. Anyway, I should test out Memorize first.”
I ignored the chat that continued to grumble and turned my head.
I activated my mana core, recalled Lightning Bolt, and stored it in the Memorize skill.
The first orb lit up, signaling one stack. I opened my mouth.
“Good. Let’s keep the momentum and add one more.”
The moment I tried to gather mana again to store a second Lightning Bolt—
Cannot store duplicates of an already stored skill.
“Huh?”
I let out a dumbfounded sound without thinking.
I looked at the system message again.
Cannot store duplicates of an already stored skill.
Yep, same message.
Since the only spell I had was Lightning Bolt, I couldn’t fill both stacks.
Haha. How depressing.
“Goddammit.”
“Well, I’ll just have to use what I’ve got.”
It was still incredibly useful as an emergency skill.
Once again, it was 00:00.
I had entered the dungeon and was now standing on the 10th floor stage.
The 10th floor stage was a massive circular colosseum-style arena.
You have entered the 10th floor of the tower.
Remaining challenges: 5 / 5
Time limit: 01 hour 00 minutes 00 seconds
Would you like to begin?
[YES / NO]
I activated Regia and gathered mana at maximum output.
Then I pressed the system window floating in the air.
[YES]
Rumble—!
The moment I pressed the button, the iron gate on the opposite side of the arena opened with a deafening noise.
Ten kobolds poured out through the dust cloud.
And from among them emerged a massive figure three times their size.
The Kobold Leader, its entire body covered in red scars.
In its hand was a gigantic iron mace.
“Grrrrrk!”
At the leader’s roar, all the kobolds charged toward me at once.
Under normal circumstances, I would have prepared to meet their charge.
But I kept my right hand extended and quietly spoke the incantation.
“Lightning Bolt.”
At the same time, blue lightning shot forward from my fingertips.
Crackle— BOOOOOOM!
A blinding white flash. A roar that hammered the ears.
The ten kobolds at the front were swallowed by the massive lightning and collapsed without even a scream.
Smoke rose everywhere.
A moment later.
Just as I had predicted, a huge shadow burst through the smoke.
“KRAAAAAAGH!!”
Its hide was burned pitch-black and one arm was missing.
Despite its horrific state, the Kobold Leader charged with savage fury.
It swung the massive mace with its remaining hand.
That instant felt unbearably long. 0.3 seconds. 0.5. 0.7.
I watched the mace descend toward me through the air.
In this moment where the creature focused entirely on the attack.
I looked at the Kobold Leader beyond the mace.
Now.
I fixed my gaze on the crown of the Kobold Leader’s head and designated the coordinates. Then I activated the skill stored in Memorize.
Memorize: Lightning Bolt
Flash—!!
At the exact spot I had locked onto with my gaze, a blue sphere of lightning formed and slammed straight down.
“K-Keh… Grk…?!”
The Kobold Leader froze in place. The mace that had been inches from my face stopped as well.
Because the lightning had struck its head directly, the entire head had been obliterated without a trace.
The creature’s massive body lost all strength and collapsed at my feet.
Thud.
The fallen body twitched for a moment, then went completely still.
“…Whew.”
Only then did I slowly straighten my posture.
“As expected, a boss is still a boss after all.”
10th Floor Boss Stage Cleared Successfully!
Clear Time: 00 hours 00 minutes 14 seconds
An incredible feat! You have set a new world record for the fastest clear of this floor!
As a new record reward, all stats permanently increased by +1.
10th floor clear reward granted.
I let out a long breath as the system alerts rang out one after another.
Then I looked into the empty air, grinned, and spoke.
“Too easy.”
I wondered what kind of skill would appear this time.