Chapter 54
Chapter 54
Chapter 54 War.
In the end, 10 minutes passed.
The mana used for the buff returned, and the clone's balloon-like inflated muscles shriveled up even more than when they had been inflated.
The balloon muscles that had been temporarily pumped up by Black Magic evaporated along with the penalty.
"If you had fun beating me up... now it's time for you to get beaten up, right?"
This time, I cast a Black Magic buff on myself instead and beat the clone, which was groaning from the penalties, to death.
The clone tried to endure using only two defensive divine authorities like before, but its body, covered in all sorts of penalties, couldn't withstand my attacks enhanced by Black Magic.
I destroyed its mana core and burned its body with Hellfire so it couldn't regenerate. Even after the fire went out, I stomped on the remaining ashes with my foot to make sure it was dead.
'It's my clone, so I'm worried unless I go this far.'
It might suddenly POOF and regenerate to stab me in the back. I have more than one or two regeneration-related abilities after all.
I must never let my guard down until the system confirms it.
A short while later, my stats increased slightly along with a message.
[You have cleared the Hell difficulty 6th floor trial of the Testing Floors for the first time.]
[Rewards are enhanced.]
[You have cleared at the fastest speed for this difficulty level.]
[Rewards are greatly enhanced.]
[You are currently under penalty.]
[Rewards are very greatly enhanced.]
[Rewards have reached the maximum level.]
[Rewards from floors 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are stacked.]
[Would you like to receive the rewards?]
[Yes / No.]
Clearing at the fastest speed was the condition for greatly enhanced rewards.
That means people who reach Hell difficulty 6th floor after me will permanently be unable to achieve one of the reward enhancement conditions.
"Even I, who knew the weakness, had such a hard time defeating it... how are other people supposed to defeat this?"
[All beings in Pantheon and Pandemonium agree.]
Seeing that even the transcendents acknowledge it, I must have raised the difficulty of the Hell difficulty 6th floor trial to an absurd level.
Thanks to that, I remembered one of the things Estelle had said.
There are also rewards based on records, so I recommend entering quickly.
Those words weren't empty words but the truth.
If someone entered at an ambiguous timing, the 6th floor trial could return with an absurd difficulty level.
Of course, I doubt there will be more people who can challenge Hell difficulty besides me, but aren't there 6 more regressors besides my party?
Among them, someone might actually appear in the second tutorial who, like me in the first round, trains to death to meet the conditions for Hell difficulty and enters the tower.
'If there is such a person, well... that's unfortunate.’
I deliberately excluded information about the tower's trial contents when receiving information from my companions, so I never expected something like this to happen.
But this isn't the kind of thing that could be prevented even if I knew about it, so it wouldn't have any meaning anyway.
All I could do was express my condolences. I briefly observed a moment of silence and checked the additional message that appeared below.
[You have successfully completely subdued a special entity.]
[Title: Conqueror of the Unknown (Unique) rank increases.]
[Conqueror of the Unknown (Unique) is promoted to Conqueror of the Unknown (Legendary).]
'Oh, sweet. So sweet.'
This was exactly why I gave up on taking the easy way out. Now it's become an overpowered title that raises all stats by 4 and inflates all stats by 48 when equipped.
I think Mythic grade is probably the last one, but I'm starting to hope there might be something beyond that.
[Rewards have been skipped.]
[The value of the rewards will be stacked onto the next floor's rewards.]
Space began to collapse, so I immediately pressed skip and threw my body toward the blue portal.
When I arrived at the waiting room, I felt as comfortable as if I had come home.
'Eve... I should call her after clearing the next floor.'
Originally, it should have been a trial that took much longer, but it ended too early because I was the first to reach it.
Didn't the words ‘take your time’ imply that I should come slowly?
So in this waiting room, I planned to review the fight with the clone alone.
'Of course, after eating first.'
I heated up a pan and mixed the beef from the refrigerator with salt, pepper, and cooking oil, then when the pan was properly heated, I melted butter on it and grilled the meat.
I cooked it slowly over low heat to make a tender steak and ate it with wine from the refrigerator.
"There's nothing missing in the waiting room."
It was really a great space, except for the lack of entertainment. I could make and eat whatever I wanted.
Of course, my stomach couldn't be filled with just one beef steak, so I additionally grilled pork belly and kimchi and ate them with soju, then after dispelling the alcohol with mana, I started reviewing.
'It used two divine authorities simultaneously, right?'
The last time I used divine authority was before entering the tower, and at that time I was in a state where I could only use one divine authority at a time.
My proficiency with Transcendence Limitless Path was also low, and I wasn't very familiar with handling divine authority itself.
But the clone was pioneering a realm that even I hadn't reached.
"I can't know for sure since I can't try using it directly myself."
It didn't make sense that a clone created based on me accomplished something I couldn't do.
Maybe it means I'm also in a state where I can handle two divine authorities simultaneously now?
Assuming that was the case, I thought about how to incorporate divine authority into my current fighting style.
The clone had a strong feeling of fighting mainly with divine authority rather than my personal abilities, but I had no intention of fighting that way.
'I just crushed the clone that relied solely on divine authority without using divine authority myself.'
The conclusion I reached on the 2nd floor hadn't changed. Focus on improving individual skills, and use divine authority merely as support to help me.
I was still struggling just to follow Baal. If I tried to do too many things at once, I would surely mess things up.
In that sense, Black Magic, which grows by itself without me having to worry about it, was really like a dutiful son.
Knowledge about necromancy was just engraved in my head, and while I can't summon Death Knights or Liches yet, I can summon Skeleton Warriors or Mages.
Now I can command undead entities that can use swordsmanship or magic.
'But it seems to be growing faster than expected... don't tell me I have talent in Black Magic?'
Black Magic didn't exist in the tutorial so I couldn't try it, but it turns out I might have talent in Black Magic even if I have no talent in regular magic.
If Black Magic had existed in the tutorial, I might have become a famous Black Mage in the first round.
"How about... can't I visit the tutorial once? I want to add Black Magic to the newbie encyclopedia too."
There must be people like me who have more talent in Black Magic than regular magic, and it's unfortunate that they can't bloom their talents.
It can buff, debuff, use curses and poison, and summon quantities, it's an all-purpose field.
At first I felt resistance due to its image, but the more I use it, the more I'm amazed by its convenience.
Even when dealing with the clone earlier, without Black Magic I would have been punching all day long until I broke through Diamond Body and the protective barrier.
I would have defeated it eventually, but Black Magic shortened that time by dozens of times.
'I have one more source of income.'
Martial arts, Blacksmithing, and now Black Magic too. If I add divine authority after clearing the 10th floor, I'll become a true all-rounder.
Usually, things called all-rounders have flaws somewhere, or even if they're hexagonal, they're small hexagons, but in my case, it's a large hexagon.
There aren't many martial artists who have reached the extreme of Hamonry, there aren't many artisans who can make Legendary-grade artifacts, and Black Magic is also advancing to a high level by itself, isn't it?
When it comes to divine authority, among mortals, probably only apostles handle divine authority better than me.
'Considering Primordial Blood, I might handle it even better.'
They wouldn't receive the highest level correction when using divine authority.
In the end, what's important is balance. Growing while maintaining balance without leaning too much to one side.
If I continue steadily as I'm doing now, I firmly believed that together with the strengthened Earthlings, I could change the terrible future.
'Where can I get more Dragon Hearts?'
If I could obtain Dragon Hearts related to magic, the only area where I'm lacking, that problem could be solved too.
I'd like to eat about 3 more and try making a quad-core Dragon Heart. I don't know if such a thing is possible though.
Actually, I think I'd be satisfied with just a dual-core. I just fervently hope to meet new dragons.
[Time remaining until next floor opens: 11 hours 58 minutes]
"Phew... I think this review is enough."
I got up from my seat. I've run enough simulations for when I can use divine authority, so now it's time to move my body again to improve my skills.
Review is important, but improving my skills to better use the data obtained through that review was also very important work.
I moved my body forgetting even the remaining time, and time passed quickly until a red portal appeared before my eyes.
Maybe because my skill proficiencies were already high, there was no message about level increases, but I, the person involved, clearly felt the difference.
At least the current me was much better than I was 12 hours ago. When I entered the portal, a completely different type of place from before appeared.
Countless dwarves were madly charging to break through a castle made of trees and vines, and the long-eared beings on the castle were desperately using spirit magic to block the enemies.
Usually it was quiet until messages related to the trial appeared, but this place already looked urgently tense.
"Siege weapons forward! We can break through with just a little more!"
"Block them! We must protect this place no matter what!"
'Elves and... Dwarves?'
At least they weren't humans. Their body structures were different from humans. They were definitely other races.
[Testing Floors Hell difficulty 7th floor trial.]
[Choose one of the two factions and lead the war to victory.]
[The rewards you receive will differ depending on the faction you choose.]
[While progressing through the Testing Floors, the use of Limit-Breaking stats, divine authority, and manifestation is restricted.]
[Due to the penalty, the trial rewards are further enhanced.]
[Current power state Elves 25 : Dwarves 75]
The concept of the 7th floor trial was to intervene in a war between different races and lead one side to victory.
And looking at the immediate situation, the Dwarf side seemed several times more advantageous.
If I helped them just a little more, they could break through the castle quickly?
Conversely, the Elf side was in a very disadvantageous state, so it would take a lot of effort to make them win.
'Then the answer is decided.'
[You choose the Elf faction.]
There's a high probability that leading the more difficult faction to victory is the condition for enhanced rewards.
And since Blacksmithing is already a field I handle at a decent level, but I'm a complete outsider to spirit magic, I calculated that if I chose the Elves, I could obtain things related to that.
If I helped the Dwarves win, wouldn't they just give me equipment?
'Pointy-ears. Big brother is coming.'
If I win the war for them, they'll give me something like World Tree fruit.
Big brother believes it without a doubt.