A New Record on the Twelfth Floor

The twelfth floor was the same Survival mode I had experienced on the second floor. There was only one difference.

Nyx looked around and muttered softly. The background was stained with gray concrete. The battlefield was a modern cityscape that felt intimately familiar to me.

"No. Ancient, medieval, or even cities from entirely different worlds can appear."

A modern city was relatively easy to handle. Maps like Atlantis were a pain from the very first step of movement.

"Is that so?"

I smiled faintly. Through the mystic eyes that could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠perceive a thousand colors, the world unfolded in vivid detail. Between the gray concrete structures, the players' magical wavelengths rippled outward like beacons.

My body shot forward at a forty-five-degree angle. Even though gravity prevented me from leaping truly far, it was more than enough.

"He noticed me?!"

The player who had been hiding inside the building and watching me revealed himself in shock. Besides him, two more were concealed nearby.

"For ordinary players, maybe."

Without a presence-detection skill, it would have been quite troublesome. But with my Thousand Eyes, simply hiding inside a building was nowhere near enough.

The distance closed rapidly. The player who had been discovered made a bitter face.

"Why the hell did I get matched with Yu Jinho of all people?!"

Despite his words, the man gripped his spear and prepared to counterattack. The tip of the blade pointed straight at me. If I were still Unranked, I might have been caught off guard. Being Iron rank made him slightly better, at least.

In the past I would have used the Blood Claw Technique or raw brute strength, but now I had a new martial art to test!

Five fingers dyed pitch black. The aftereffect of the Asura Demon Spirit Heart Method. I straightened my fingers and thrust them forward.

Clang!

Not a single scratch appeared on the fingers that collided with the spear. On the other hand, the opponent's weapon...

"H-how is this possible?!"

The spearhead crumpled, and the entire shaft shattered into pieces. The player holding what had been a spear a moment ago died instantly. Overwhelming specs combined with the power of a four-star martial art produced this result.

"Still a long way to go."

I shook out the hand I had used for the Wild Rhinoceros Finger. The fingertips trembled faintly. Even though my body had been strengthened by Devour, it was still insufficient to unleash peak-level martial arts at full power.

"What? I still have a long way to go before I can properly handle the Hundred Beasts Emperor Martial Arts. What exactly is so remarkable?"

I should have expected as much. I once again felt the weight of Nyx being a goddess who had reached the realm of concepts. My body hadn't fully adapted to the new martial art, but my mind retained all the experience from before my regression. In terms of internal energy manipulation alone, it was flawless. To be able to read the discrepancy between my body and mind just by watching... it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was impressive.

On the other hand, hearing Nyx's praise gave me a strange feeling.

"You're praising me for something so trivial."

Before I could hear the rest of Nyx's words, I activated Agile Hind Legs again and leaped toward the player who had been watching from the neighboring building.

"Who said I'd just roll over and die?!"

This time it was a player wielding twin swords. All flash and no substance. Only an Iron rank yet he was trying to handle dual blades.

"He learned a skill called Twin Guardian Blades. Using two weapons with half-baked skill is worse than using none at all."

While leaping through the air, I adjusted my stance.

Slash!

A crescent-shaped wave of energy spread outward. The player who had been about to swing both swords had his arms forced upward by the wave, leaving his chest completely exposed. Blood sprayed from the opening.

"Guh..."

"This is exactly why show-offs never last."

I eliminated two in the blink of an eye. Even with Thousand Eyes active, I could no longer sense any magical wavelengths nearby. To break the highest record, I'd have to run until my feet bled.

Yeah, yeah. I'm so motivated.

I activated maximum sprint and raced across the empty city.

"I need to conserve my internal energy."

The Hundred Beasts Emperor Martial Arts was a peak-level technique. While it consumed less qi than the Dark Shadow Soul-Chasing Sword that materialized shadows with pure intent, it still used an enormous amount of internal energy compared to the Blood Claw Technique I used before. It would get better once my mastery improved, but at my current level I couldn't afford to spend qi recklessly.

"Yu Jinho joined this mission."

"The one who beat Ping Lei?"

"Talk about bad luck. Of all the missions, it had to be Survival..."

Although it had the same Survival theme as the second floor, the atmosphere was completely different. Most players chose to hide rather than fight. Even though the twelfth floor matched people from all over the world, quite a few avoided me the moment they saw my name. It seemed my match with Ping Lei had become even more famous than I expected.

Even so.

"Found you."

"How..."

"Your hair was showing."

None of them could escape my sight. The mystic eyes created by combining Eagle Eyes and Observation Eye allowed Thousand Eyes to read magical wavelengths and hunt down every hidden player one by one.

One strike, one kill. Every time I unleashed the Hundred Beasts Emperor Martial Arts, another player was eliminated from the mission.

"Have you considered that maybe I'm just that strong?"

"Yes, yes."

I answered half-heartedly.

In just ten minutes, the number of players had been cut in half. Most of that was my doing. Because the majority chose to hide rather than fight, my kill count rose slowly. Hunting down hidden players was tedious, but their mutual avoidance created a nice side effect: everyone except me had similarly low kill counts.

"Hiding like this will only make you prey."

"Let's team up and take down Yu Jinho first."

Players began forming groups of three or five. They had given up on hiding behind terrain and were stepping forward openly.

"Looks like martial arts practice ends here."

I clicked my tongue in disappointment. Taking down hidden players had been possible with martial arts alone, but facing multiple enemies at once required me to use my full power. I was Iron rank with a level cap raised to 100. Thanks to Devour, my stats were at the level of a Bronze tier player, but I still couldn't let my guard down completely.

Nyx gently stroked my head with her right hand. My body grew stronger under the Blessing of the Night.

"Five minutes is more than enough."

It was easier to deal with clustered enemies than to search for those hiding behind cover. Not everyone among the remaining ninety-nine had formed teams, and the nature of a Survival mission made it impossible to fully trust anyone with your back.

Rose-like magic bullets flew toward me. Lightning surged from the front. A close-range fighter charged from the side with a rush skill. At first glance, the coordinated assault looked threatening.

"There are so many openings."

They were simply spamming their individual skills with zero coordination. The Polar Night that rose behind me easily swatted the magic bullets aside, and I absorbed the lightning with Mana Absorb. To the fool who came running straight at me, I extended my hand.

The technique, derived from the momentum of a charging bull, pierced straight through him and dropped him in a single blow. My internal energy was already running low after the continuous battle.

The Wishful Jewel, which had grown further while I cultivated the Asura Demon Spirit Heart Method, supplied the stored qi. Wow. Even though I was fighting mainly with peak-level martial arts, I could still last this long.

"I was actually a little nervous."

"Was it that obvious?"

Iron-rank players weren't all equal in skill. On the twelfth floor alone, there were people who had already reached level 100 and others like me who had only recently cleared their promotion match.

"Even among Iron ranks, there are differences!"

A player who separated his three-section staff and swung it at me. The one who had reached the level cap put up a decent fight, but...

Crack!

Black energy split the three-section staff in half.

"This is impossible..."

"It isn't."

The Tiger Lord's Raging Wave Claw took the life of the player behind him as well. Whether they were level 50 or 100, none of them were my match.

The moment the remaining time passed the thirty-minute mark...

My kill count was lower than on the second floor. The field was wider and the urban terrain played a part. Even so, the score was so overwhelming that I easily broke the twelfth floor world record.

"Still, I got something useful."

Adamantium. A rare metal treated on the same level as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠orichalcum. Its main applications were in the field of magic power—core nuclei for orbs, catalysts for magic circles, and many other uses. Of course, at the current point in time, there were no players capable of handling it properly.

"You're wondering why the amount is less than on the second floor?"

"I cleared a hidden mission on the second floor."

Unfortunately, the twelfth floor had no hidden elements. If something like an Owl Beast had appeared, I could have at least devoured its essence.

"Still, I got something decent."

"Not yet, but I have a specific use in mind."

At Iron rank, I could obtain the essence of that creature. Once I had it, I could strengthen my power without needing any processing.

"What, should I offer this as a tribute too?"

"Then I guess I'll have to focus on collecting adamantium from now on."

Nyx puffed out her cheeks, pretending to be angry. The goddess probably didn't realize I deliberately teased her just to see that reaction. I swallowed my laughter and accepted the adamantium.