Black Fog Blitz: Storming to 60F

Black fog spread out.

"Whoa..."

Was it because the central organ in my head didn't sense any inertia at all?

I didn't feel like I'd moved at all. It was just like the spot I was looking at had zoomed in.

That was exactly the sensation of short-range teleportation.

I turned around.

"That's gotta be like 10 meters..."

It wasn't even that short.

"And I can use this every 30 seconds?"

Now, no matter how fast a ranged monster's attack speed was, closing the distance wouldn't be an issue. Tower floors had fixed sizes, after all.

"No blocks so far, though..."

I checked the time. The Golden Carriage still had a bit of stay time left.

Now I had 4,097 gold remaining. "Let's spend it all."

I opened the gallery to consult on where to put the rest of my gold.

......

Following SSS Item Puller's advice, I scraped together all my remaining gold and bought the items he pointed out.

After paying for the two items.

"The silver necklace was for reinforcement, right..."

I fed the necklace to Blackie,

"..."

and fed the reinforcement stone and earrings to the skeleton horse.

Crunch-crunch.

The sharpening sounds rang out a few times.

I put the earrings back on. My body felt even more solidly filled out.

Stamina +7

Defense +6

Magic Defense +1

Then I switched the Golden Carriage to PX mode and bought food to wipe out the rest of my gold.

Then.

Pruru! Hee-hihihiing!!!

"What the..."

Suddenly Blackie reared up on his front legs with a long cry and turned red.

Then his body melted down.

Gradually taking shape, he became a black forge.

Clang!

Clatter!

The skeleton horse's bones disassembled and reassembled into a bone anvil.

Rumble...!

The black forge and bone anvil naturally fused beside the Golden Carriage like a set, emitted a glow, and vanished into thin air.

"...Ro and Lu. That's why their names were anvil and forge..."

I stared for a moment at the empty space where the horses had disappeared.

"Thanks for the ride, Ro. Without you, I might've died to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that hero."

"Thanks for reinforcing the earrings too, Lu."

"See you in a month. I'll make sure I'm still alive then."

I adjusted the ribbon's knot and gripped my scythe firmly.

Then I started walking.

As stairs opened and I climbed floors, a blue sheen swirled around my earrings. Magic power rose, strength followed, and promotion reward gold poured in. And I reached the 58th floor.

Kieeeek-!

The thing let out a scream that tore at my eardrums and flapped its wings. Dozens of blood-red feathers hovering in the air turned into bullets and rained down.

Pee-ing!

The air-ripping whoosh came from all directions.

Current sense stat: 72. My eyes read the trajectories of the pouring feathers. Back then, I'd have rolled on the ground to dodge, but now? No need.

"Black Shift."

Black fog rose from the ribbon.

As the fog enveloped my whole body, my vision flipped.

Exactly 10m. Thanks to my sense stat, control was easy.

Passing straight through the feather rain like that—

Swoooosh-!

Behind the Blood Harpy floating in the air. I skipped space, appeared, and swung Death Side hard with centrifugal force.

Kieeeek-!

The blood-red wings were severed whole, spraying blood into the air.

"Haa..."

I exhaled as I landed on the ground.

Still not used to the feel.

Practice felt thrilling, but in real combat, it was a bit dizzying.

"Eh, I'll get used to it."

After smashing through 59F,

I reached the next floor in sequence.

Whenever I arrive on a new upper floor, I always hold my scythe to my neck. To activate Death Absolute Realm.

And first, I run sideways. To dodge ranged attacks.

That routine paid off.

Vrooom-!

A red, massive effect compressed at the tip of the gargoyle's ballista. Soon, the bolt ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠left the string.

Whiiiiiish-!

The arrow flew, warping space itself. It felt infused with magic power. Immense momentum.

But.

Whoosh!

I rolled my body using my running momentum to dodge.

My frilly skirt fluttered in the air.

The moment I landed, the next shot loaded immediately.

Reloading was faster than expected.

Vrooom-!

Now I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠couldn't dodge again. The distance had closed, shortening the path.

"Normally..."

This would've been the unavoidable moment to use Death Absolute Realm and head to the Death Realm. But now I had a 120k-gold unique item.

Fwoosh-

Black fog billowed from the ribbon once more. A split-second before the massive ballista bolt hit between my eyes.

Kabooom-!

The spot I'd stood exploded, but I wasn't there. Right in front of the Gargoyle Sniper's nose. I appeared with the black fog.

Before it could panic, I hooked the scythe blade on its nape.

"Come here."

And hooked one foot on the ballista body.

With scythe and body fixed...

I pulled the scythe toward my body.

Kagang-!

Sparks flew. The sturdy statue's neck shattered messily.

The earrings glowed blue.

"Hoo..."

I leaned on my scythe stuck in the ground, catching my breath as the stone gargoyle crumbled into a cube and scattered.

I allocated stats and checked my status.

Just four floors up, and magic power +8. Seeing 'Normal' in the status pissed me off a bit.

I could collapse without warning and sleep for days again.

'No way I'm letting that happen again.'

I only had one full Fatigue Recovery Potion left.

'Agh... if not for that damn sloth bastard.'

His aggrieved face popped up, annoying me. I'd wasted 80% of a precious potion chucking it at his face. But if I hadn't, I'd have burned through my last one or had to use Death Absolute Realm.

'Better rest here.'

Fatigue Recovery Potions were essential for my speedrun. This Golden Carriage had three, but next month's lineup was random—unknown stock.

Save when I could. I plopped down on the marble floor for a break and opened the gallery.

Then I started writing a long post summarizing my climb so far.

I posted it, waited a bit, and refreshed.

"Was it tough..."

If debating hard or not, it was the latter, but risks weren't zero.

I'd been thrown into 59 deathmatches, after all.

Either way, they seemed to like my guide.

'Only bored people use the gallery.'

Harsh mockery mixed in, but... not totally false.

To escape this tower, you had to promote to 1000F.

Getting stronger was the only goal, and without climbing, training was the only way—so if planning promotion battles, log off and train.

And training took years per method, so dedicated trainers rarely showed.

Thus, only so-called 'egens' remained. Trainers might feel wronged, but oh well.

Challenge opportunities were open 24/7.

But...

SSS Item Puller was misunderstanding something.

I wasn't speedrunning as some macho hero—I was flooring it as a total loser.

Going up wasn't 'charge,' it was 'flee.'

I wouldn't hit that hologram menu's promotion button even if I could!

Because heroes could show up and kill me anytime if I stayed put.

So I wasn't exceptional. Just struggling to survive.

But SSS Item Puller, thinking I was some hero...

Was trying to introduce me to other 'heroes.'

"......"

I rubbed my forehead. More great mentors long-term? Obviously good. But right now? Not thrilled.

"More mothers-in-law here? I'm fine for now..."