15 - The 3rd Floor Wasn't Easy, Verily

"An irregular monster has appeared in Korea."

"A monster?"

Eunseol Baek furrowed her brow as she asked back.

"Yes. To be precise... perhaps I should say monsters." Kim Taesung continued, "While you were inside the gate, Hunter Baek Eunseol, Korea has been turned upside down twice."

The Hunter Association President sat down and began summarizing everything that had happened for her.

The unprecedented unregistered awakener, 'True Ancestor,' who cleared the Nightmare difficulty of floors 1 and 2 of the Tower of Trials in a single second.

And the sudden annihilation of 'Black Cow,' the massive underworld guild that dominated the shadows of Gangnam.

"Nightmare floors 1 and 2... in one second...?"

Eunseol Baek's blue eyes wavered after hearing the full story.

"And Black Cow was wiped out overnight?"

"Yes. They were quite literally erased." Kim Taesung emphasized the word. "This wasn't just losing a turf war. From the organization's leadership to every branch—they were thoroughly eliminated."

"No idea who did it?"

"Correct. We haven't pinned it down yet. The methods at the scenes are similar, so we suspect a small elite group, but that's all."

"However, there's one more point we need to pay close attention to."

He placed a single photo on the desk.

A gruesome photo of a black monster's corpse.

"A dead A-rank monster, the parasitic demon beast 'Dark Oculus,' was found inside the body of a Black Cow high-ranking executive."

"......"

"In other words, Black Cow's upper echelons harbored a demon who had implanted a parasitic monster in their body. Something ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even our Association or the government had no clue about."

A demon had been planted in Black Cow.

Yet that organization was obliterated in an instant.

Which meant...

"The mysterious group that crushed Black Cow... likely knew about it in advance and eliminated it."

"As expected, you catch on quick. Exactly."

Kim Taesung nodded.

Eunseol Baek let out a short sigh.

Haa. Came back from work and now I've got two headaches.

Unregistered prodigy 'True Ancestor.' And a mysterious group with insane intel and firepower.

Either one was a massive variable tied straight to national security.

Kim Taesung shifted the topic again.

"For now, the whole world is focused on 'True Ancestor's' movements. Based on the climbing pattern so far, there's a very high chance they'll tackle Nightmare floor 3 tomorrow."

"Mm."

"At first, everyone was freaking out about what class could be that powerful. After experts ran simulations for two weeks, a leading hypothesis has emerged recently."

Kim Taesung's eyes sharpened.

"The hypothesis is that True Ancestor doesn't just have overwhelming strength, but rather a conditional ability with significant penalties."

He spread his hand on the desk as he explained.

"For example, an ability that instantly kills targets below a certain level just by touching them. There are S-rank classes with unique skills like that, after all."

"Hmm..."

Eunseol Baek nodded slightly.

"Nightmare floors 1 and 2 only spawn a single boss each. If it's a skill like that, it would definitely..."

"Exactly. That's why floor 3 is crucial."

Kim Taesung emphasized firmly.

"Floor 3 spawns a massive horde of monsters all at once. If they pull off something as ridiculous as floors 1 and 2 here... then that thing is truly a monster beyond reason."

Click.

After the briefing, Eunseol Baek left the president's office and walked the hallway, lost in thought.

The mysterious entity climbing Nightmare floor 3 tomorrow, True Ancestor.

What class and skills did they have?

Why hide their identity and refuse all contact?

And what did the nickname True Ancestor even mean?

As her head grew heavy with questions...

...Ah. That friend said they were climbing floor 3 too.

She recalled her game friend from earlier mentioning they planned to climb floor 3.

That thought lightened her heavy mind a bit.

Hehe. Hope they don't chicken out 'cause floor 3 scares them.

And she felt a little worried too.

Of course, knowing her friend's personality, they'd pick the safest difficulty for sure...

But the Tower was always full of unexpected dangers.

Should I send them some newbie gear?

Eunseol Baek walked on, pondering lightly.

The next day.

I woke up refreshed after a good night's sleep.

Today was the day to climb Tower floor 3.

I searched online first to see what it was like.

Let's see. Floor 3 gimmick is a graveyard?

Floors 1 and 2 were arenas, but floor 3 changes the backdrop.

A creepy graveyard. Monsters: zombies.

Ugh... I hate zombies. They're gross.

I never even play horror games with zombies.

Having to face them for real? I'd probably quit if I had to fight myself. Thank goodness for my trusty familiars.

Anyway, zombie stats are just a bit stronger than a normal human—super weak.

But.

200 of them...?

Floor 3's concept: swarm battle.

Nightmare difficulty spawns a whopping 200 zombies.

Plus a mother zombie controlling and spawning more.

Are you kidding me?

How's a normal person supposed to clear this?

Anxious, I logged into Hunter Gallery and posted a question.

Whoa. Sounds insanely hard.

The more comments I read, the more anxious I got.

They say it's a whole different league.

Even with my OP familiars, seeing everyone warn against it made me nervous.

I set down my smartphone and glanced alternately at Katarina and Siyeon standing side by side.

"Ahem."

At my fake cough, both familiars turned to me.

"Today's trial features some 200 zombies swarming us, plus a giant zombie. Think you two can handle it?"

I probed subtly while keeping my haughty air.

If they seemed even a little strained, I'd drop the difficulty right away.

But.

Katarina and Siyeon looked puzzled by my question.

"My lord. Zombies, you say? No matter if hundreds or thousands of walking ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠corpses swarm, they shan't bar your path."

Katarina replied as if it were obvious.

"Agreed. Not an opponent worth Master worrying over."

Siyeon nodded calmly too.

Both so serene and confident.

Speaking with such conviction.

Phew. Good.

I sighed inwardly in relief and nodded.

"Very well. Let us proceed."

My vision flickered, and an unfamiliar landscape unfolded before me.

A foggy, pitch-dark graveyard. Chilly and damp—gave me the creeps.

The moment we stepped in.

-Grrrrowl... -Kraaaack!

Zombie hordes burst from graves all around.

And at the graveyard's center, a house-sized blob of flesh—the giant mother zombie—growled at us.

A wave of foul, rotten stench hit us.

Ugh! Visual legend. And the smell too...!

A horrific sight assaulting sight and smell—I screamed internally. Wanted to plug my nose and dry-heave.

But my passive skill Noble Bearing kicked in mercilessly, arms crossing, chin up.

"Tch. Revolting corpses."

I cast a cold, arrogant glare at the zombie swarm and commanded.

"Clear them."

Short and sharp.

At the order, Katarina and Siyeon bowed their heads.

"Mission accepted, Master."

"As you command, my lord."

Katarina lightly raised her hand above her head. Then.

Boom-boom-boom-crack!! Burst-burst-boom!!

"Graaaargh...!"

The 200 zombies were shredded in an instant. Like buckshot from a shotgun ripping them apart.

?! What the—? She must've shot blood droplets into the sky, then rained down omnidirectional AoE bombardment.

The mob horde filling every direction vanished in one shot.

And in that split-second the view cleared.

Fwoosh!

Siyeon, vanished from my side, was already at the mother zombie's nose.

Her nails transformed into red claws.

Squish—!

Blood Claw pierced the mother zombie's massive face clean through.

"——!!"

Thud!!

With a heavy crash, the mother zombie collapsed, and silence fell.

Katarina lowered her hand from the sky.

Siyeon emotionlessly shook zombie fluids from her nails.

That was it.

Hmm. Indeed.

Surveying the graveyard littered with zombie corpses, I thought.

As everyone said, floor 3 wasn't easy.

Even for them, with the numbers and an extra boss, it physically took more time than previous floors.

So.

This time, a 3-second clear.