The Eyeless Guardian (3) [Defender: Tresorkeeper (100F)]
"How dare a lowly soldier from the lower floors set foot in this place?"
The 100th floor's monster, Tresorkeeper, stood atop a mountain of gold coins, his back to the massive golden chest. The giant with wild, unkempt hair covering his face—six hands clutching golden keys—spoke directly to me.
"Leave this place at once."
It was the first time I'd heard a monster speak a language, and it threw me off.
But his words let me grasp one key fact in an instant.
'He doesn't seem to know anything about duels.'
According to the gallery users, the tower's monsters were aware of the duel system.
The gallery was our exclusive privilege, but other system messages were visible to them.
Yet this guy was warning me to leave.
He apparently didn't know that once you'd come up here, neither of us could go back down until one was dead.
'Can't blame him for that.'
The lava golem on the floor below, 99F, had no intelligence.
The same went for all the floors beneath. They lacked the smarts to request a duel.
So it seemed no demon soldiers had ever made it up to this 100th floor where he guarded.
'In that case…'
I could stall for time.
If I could make him see me as not an enemy, I could stack Death Marks on him at least until I got found out.
With that strategy in mind, I greeted him.
“Hey there?”
[ - - ]
No reply came.
My hand hung awkwardly in the air.
He seemed the stoic type.
Quite a while passed in that standoff.
Pahat-
[ - - ]
After I'd stacked two Death Marks, he finally spoke.
"If you have no business here, go back down."
“I do have business.”
"What is it?"
I couldn't answer.
Not that I was here to kill him and head to 101F.
So instead, I said:
“I just came up to see how you were doing.”
It was a total throwaway line.
I was only thinking of buying time.
"…"
But Tresorkeeper fell silent, as if those words had touched something in him.
Why had he clammed up?
He soon replied.
"I too have long wondered what demon lurks on 99F."
I barely stifled a laugh.
“Were you lonely? You should've come down to check sometime.”
I tossed it out casually.
"To fulfill my duty, I cannot leave this space for even a moment."
He really didn't know he couldn't go down.
“Is guarding the gold coins here your mission?”
"Yes. And I must also protect that golden chest."
“…”
I got it.
Out of sheer sense of duty to guard this place, he'd never even tried going down or up.
That's why he hadn't seen system messages or realized duels existed. I'd only gotten the hologram after checking the two doors.
What unwavering dedication.
In that case, time to confess.
“I picked up some gold coins at the entrance earlier.”
He cried out like he was having a fit.
"Return them at once!"
“Yeah, sure…”
[ - - - ]
I answered, then stacked three Death Marks.
Pahat-!
[ - - - ]
Then, with the slowest movements possible, I opened my inventory.
Clink.
One gold coin.
Clink.
Two gold coins.
Clink.
Three gold coins…
Watching my antics, Tresorkeeper yelled in anger.
"…What do you think you're doing? Take it all out right now!"
I made an excuse.
“Sorry… but… I don't even know how many I took.”
It was a lie. I'd swept up the spilling coins from the door willy-nilly, but subtracting my original funds told me exactly how many were new.
"Wait. Let me count them."
Oh.
I had no idea how he'd count all these coins or know the original number, but if he was going to try, that worked for me.
It'd take time either way.
The moment I thought that, a wave emanated from his body.
Wooong-
A circular vibration swept through the space once.
He went quiet for a moment, as if calculating, then spoke.
"Five thousand seven hundred twenty. That's how many are missing. Impressive. How did a bagless wretch like you carry off that much?"
“…!”
Spot on.
And Tresorkeeper added:
"There are three of you. Did you stuff them into the bellies of those two beside you?"
Baran and the Blood Knight.
He'd just now noticed their presence.
Having seen so many weird monsters, I'd overlooked it, but it made sense.
His wild hair covered his entire face—no eyes visible. Maybe he had none at all.
He'd probably just used some kind of echolocation to scan around.
But if this was his first demon up here, why use it now?
“You were curious about me, but why not use that detection from the start?”
"I have no obligation to answer. Hurry and return the gold."
He refused to explain.
But from his change, I could guess.
One of the keys he'd held in each of his six hands was gone.
One hand empty—now he had five keys.
He seemed reluctant to use them all up.
I pretended not to notice.
[ - - - - ]
Pahat! I slammed in four Death Mark stacks and started pulling gold from my inventory.
“Got it, no rush… just wait a sec…”
Whoosh-
I could've dumped it all at once if I wanted, but of course I didn't.
To drag it out more, I fumbled in my inventory while introducing Baran and the Blood Knight.
“These are my subordinates. Blood Knight, Baran. Say hi.”
The two bowed on my command.
Tresorkeeper sounded shocked.
"Subordinates…? Your subordinates?"
“Yep!”
He couldn't continue as I confirmed it.
“What's wrong?”
He hesitated, radiating confusion.
Then, stuttering, he said:
"You… that weapon you're holding, it's a scythe, isn't it?"
“Yeah, that's right.”
He froze at my reply.
He looked seriously troubled. Even without seeing his face, his body language screamed it.
"How is a high demon, a shinigami, here…?"
Hm.
My mind raced at those words.
'Shinigami.'
Apparently, this race counted as high demons.
Made sense. Their first basic skill was an instant-kill.
I grinned innocently and said:
“Why do you think a high demon like me is here? Wanna guess?”
He started floundering completely.
Sensing his suspicion, I pressed harder.
“Why do you think I came up from below?”
I hit him with a rhetorical question. Needling like this was super effective.
“Still no idea?”
Thud-!
Soon, his massive knee slammed into the gold pile.
He couldn't take the pressure. All six arms hit the ground as he prostrated flat.
"This lowly one failed to recognize a high demon and committed a grave offense! Please quell your anger and grace this humble servant with an explanation of your will!"
[ - - - - - ]
I stacked five Death Marks and smirked.
Pahat!
[ - - - - - ]
It was the stack that had felled the 99F lava golem, but he didn't drop.
No problem.
Now I could stall as long as I wanted.
“Haha, I went too far with the joke? I was just inspecting from below on my way up!”
I said it shamelessly, deciding to exploit his misconception.
"Aah…! Indeed… I had no idea your 'curiosity' meant that…"
“Good work. Here, I'll return all the gold.”
"Thank you…!"
I dumped the remaining coins from my inventory.
Stacking six in the process.
[ - - - - - - ]
He didn't die.
I needed more time.
I nodded toward the massive golden chest filling the cavern wall behind him.
“Hmm. So, how's the management on that chest going?”
I asked like I knew nothing.
I was dying to know what was inside.
His shoulders twitched at the question.
"If I may be so bold… as a shinigami, what is your exact rank? Matters of that chest are top secret…"
A tricky question.
I had zero info on demon army ranks.
“Oh! Pass! You're doing great keeping those secrets under wraps!”
I bluffed.
Acting like a division commander rewarding a gate guard with leave.
He beamed, proud of passing the 'test.'
"As expected of an inspector! I guard all secrets and this place with ironclad vigilance!"
I followed up.
“How long have you been posted here? Any intruders worth your time in all that?”
The million-dollar question.
The moment to learn who the tower's true gatekeeper was—the gallery's biggest mystery.
"I've been stationed on this 100F for precisely five hundred years!"
Shocking. Way longer than I'd thought. The gallery's history was about 400 years, right? He'd been here before that.
"However… for some reason, no intruder has reached this place in the last four hundred years."
“No one at all?”
"Yes!"
"In the past, endless waves of intruders had me dying and reviving constantly, day after day…!"
Hold up hold up hold up.
The word 'reviving' slipped casually from his mouth.
“You've been killed by intruders before?”
He replied in a meek whisper.
"Regrettably, yes…"
“…”
"But in these past four hundred years with no visitors, this lowly one has trained diligently every day! If I may say so, I am not the me of four hundred years ago. I am now ten times stronger! I am confident no intruder can kill me now!"
His excuses fell on deaf ears.
The gallery's core assumption had crumbled.
And 574F's hypothesis was spot on.
I was in a completely different tower from the gallery folks.
High-floor users said they'd never seen intruders past 100F. But my tower had let some through to 101F.
And these 400 years with no intruders on 100F? Probably the time before I possessed this female shinigami when she was blocking them.
I processed these bombshells without a hint of surprise.
I stopped stacking Death Marks. Six stacks failing to kill him was pure luck.
I needed more intel.
This was huge.
We'd only been watching below.
But heroes could be above too.
“Who got you before? Which intruders did you send up?”