The Adventure Begins

"The Crest of the Fallen King… True Name: Beelzebub?"

There it was, written beneath the yellow-bordered skill.

A contract? What contract had I made? Don't tell me…

And then a single memory surfaced.

The basement of the Tower. Statues of a toad and a cat. A great chair in the center. The buzzing of flies. A palm-shaped hollow carved into a stone dais. I had pressed my hand into it, and pain had flooded through me as blood filled the groove to the brim.

Then the system message had appeared.

The moment that scene came flooding back, I shook my head hard from side to side. It was not a pleasant memory.

"Shit. So I really… made a contract with a demon?"

I had never wanted that. All I had done was try everything I could to get out of that place. And that had been a contract with a demon…

Then there was the increased boss difficulty. I had roughly expected that one, based on information I'd picked up along the way. Unless you were the first challenger, most people walked into a boss room with at least the basic facts. But me…

The second my hand touched the door, my body moved on its own.

So I had faced the boss with zero information. Three ogres had come out of that boss room, and I had barely managed to kill them. But the stories I heard about the fifth floor from other adventurers on the sixth-floor safe zone were a little different. The difference was the number of ogres. Every single adventurer said the same thing — two ogres had appeared.

"I got three, though?"

Their reaction to that had been pure derision.

"Buddy, your tall tales are getting a little out of hand."

Everyone had laughed, and my face had burned red. Could the reason only I had gotten three really have been this skill's effect?

And below the skill description, the side effects were listed as well.

Reading that, every single thing that had happened to me finally made sense.

I walked over to the mirror, pulled my shirt down, and twisted around to check behind my left shoulder. A spider wearing a crown. That blemish I had kept fretting over.

"So this was the crest."

I pulled my clothes back up and let out a long sigh. Why was the world so merciless to me? A body that had no choice but to climb the Tower. Leave the Hunger unchecked and I would rampage again — there really were no options left now. The one silver lining was that I could reduce Hunger with Feed.

"Guess there's no other way."

I flopped back onto the bed. Right before consciousness slipped away, I had felt that regret — the regret of coming to the otherworld I had dreamed of, then giving up on the challenge and settling for comfort. Only when I was about to die had I understood. I had to get stronger. I had to take on the challenge. It had been the same when I was a track athlete. Back then I had abandoned my dream and forgotten it for a long while.

Yeah. Better to try than to live with the regret of never trying. From now on, I would go for it.

And with that, I fell asleep.

Lost in thought as I walked, I found myself arriving at the Adventurers' Guild before I knew it.

Creak.

I opened the door and approached the receptionist.

"How may I help you?"

She asked with a polished customer-service smile.

"I'd like to buy refined magic stones."

"An adventurer buying magic stones?"

"Yes. Is that possible?"

She tilted her head for a moment, then spoke again.

"Of course~ What kind do you need? Lightning? Earth?"

"Attribute doesn't matter. Just give me whatever's cheapest — fifteen gold coins' worth."

"That many?! W-wait just a moment. Let me go look."

The Adventurers' Guild didn't only purchase magic stones — they refined and sold them as well. Magic stones came out attribute-less when first obtained, but during refining you could inject mana to give them an element. Attribute-imbued stones became materials for all kinds of equipment and magical tools. Naturally, the higher the purity and the larger the stone, the steeper the price.

The receptionist disappeared into the storeroom in the back. A moment later came a crash and clatter, followed by the sound of something cascading down in a heap.

"Are you all right~?"

From behind the door, her voice crawled out in a thin whimper.

"I'm fine…"

Then she opened the wooden door and stepped out. Her clothes were filthy with dust.

"What happened?"

"Haa… they were pretty far back… Nothing's sold in a while, so digging them out was a bit of a struggle."

She was holding a pouch. She brushed herself off, walked slowly over to me, and held it out. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Just how unsellable was this stuff…? Wondering that, I untied the string.

What came out were transparent magic stones.

"Huh? Why are these so clear?"

Don't tell me these weren't even refined?!

At my puzzled look, she answered.

"Those are non-attribute magic stones."

"Non-attribute? Those exist?"

She plucked one from the pouch and explained.

"Non-attribute magic stones. They've been refined, but no element was applied. They're mainly used for mana-injection practice, or for imbuing rare attributes."

She planted a hand on her hip and continued.

"You asked for the cheapest refined stones, so I brought these out. They're about thirty percent cheaper than attribute stones."

"That big a difference?!"

"Yes. Honestly, not many customers look for them, so they've been a bit of a headache. Will these be all right?"

Even unrefined stones worked fine with my Feed skill. As long as the price was low, non-attribute was no problem. As long as they were refined, digestion would be quick.

"Perfect. I'll take these."

"It would normally be fifteen gold and two silver, but I'll knock off the change."

"Thank you!!"

I said my goodbyes, left the guild, and headed for the Tower. When I arrived, the guard I had been seeing a lot lately greeted me warmly.

"Hey~ Haven't seen you in a while. Where'd you go?"

"Had a commission that took me to the Empire."

"Tough work. Which floor today? Seventh? Eighth?"

I looked up at the Tower and answered.

"The tenth."

"What?"

He stared at me in shock. Fair enough — I had told him before that I was giving up on climbing.

"I'm going to try again."

Seeing the unshaken look ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in my eyes, the guard fired off a hearty cheer.

"Climb high!"

I used a transfer stone on the first floor to jump to the sixth, then climbed steadily on foot from there. The first floor wasn't a safe zone, but transfer stones still worked, and though monsters occasionally popped out, it was nothing I couldn't handle.

There was only one real problem.

"This door."

Once again I stood before the massive red door. I pulled the magic stone pouch from my inventory. The weight of it sat heavy in my hand.

"The tenth-floor boss is definitely Shadow Fang, right?"

A pack of Shadow Fangs. That was the information I had. One versus many. So which skill should I upgrade?

Breathing Master? A skill that erased your presence. But would that even be useful in the jungle that was their home turf? There were a lot of them — plenty of eyes to spot me.

Then Poison Coating? Sure, the higher that skill went, the better, and it would be solid against them. But was it the optimal choice?

Beyond those, there was Poison Resistance, Enhanced Leap, Dagger Arts, Fireball… plenty of options. But a skill specialized for one-versus-many — that would be…

"Yeah. This one."

Acceleration: Poisonous Afterimage.

It had already evolved once, so I worried it might not grow further — but with this much material…

I opened the pouch in my hand. Several transparent magic stones, each about the size of a finger. Slowly, I brought my finger to the Feed button at the bottom of the skill window. My heart hammered in my chest. If the evolution succeeded, my odds of clearing the boss room would go up.

"Please…"

I prayed desperately, hit MAX, and then —

"Please!! That's fifteen whole gold coins!! Just help me out this once!!"

— I squeezed my eyes shut and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠slammed the confirm button.

Click.

Even with my eyes closed, a fierce light blazed through. Gasp — wait. Wait!!

The light faded, and I cracked my eyes open. A red border appeared first.

Super Acceleration and dense poison — and severe dizziness to go with it. Looking at that, the only word that left my mouth was —

"Insane."

— and I clenched my fist tight.

"I can do this."

Seeing the skill filled me with even more confidence, and I walked slowly toward the door. I had never opened one of these doors of my own free will. But starting today, I would open them myself.

On my own terms.

I reached out toward the massive red door. And pushed.

Creak.

"Let's go!!"

The door groaned, space twisted — and I was teleported into the boss room.

"Urgh…"

A wave of dry heaving hit me. I coughed a few times and lifted my head to look ahead.

"…So I'm here."

I swallowed hard. What stretched before me was the same kind of jungle I had seen before. But this was a boss room. I drew my dagger and advanced slowly, scanning my surroundings. A boss room far wider than any I had faced before.

Where are you? Where are you hiding, Shadow Fang?

From what I had heard, there were supposed to be around ten of them. But for me, it would be more than that…

I kept walking, eyes sweeping the area, when strange things began to appear around me. Trees toppled in a continuous line — and then,

"Statues?"

Stone statues, carved in the forms of various races — beastfolk, elves, humans, and more. Some of them lay shattered and fallen as well. I stopped in front of one of them: a female beastfolk statue. A cat beastfolk.

"Incredibly detailed… From the ears to the fur on the tail, and even places like this."

I grinned to myself, staring at the statue's chest. And right then, a soft rustling sound came from the forest.

"What was that?!"

I snapped into a defensive stance and whipped my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gaze around. But even after a long stretch of waiting, nothing appeared. Only the sound of branches swaying.

"Must've imagined it. I need to find those Shadow Fangs already."

And then, without warning, a system alert flared to life.

What? I frantically checked left and right. Nothing. Then maybe…?

I spun around and looked behind me. And what filled my vision was —

A thickness so vast I couldn't wrap both arms around it. A colossal length that stretched endlessly through the dense trees and undergrowth. A serpent covered in rough scales.

A basilisk.