Let the Core's Value Skyrocket!

A thrusting strike. Boom! With a dull, explosive sound, half of the oak pillar was gouged out hideously.

It was a level of destructive power that was utterly unbelievable for a wound inflicted by a cheap, blunted wooden sword.

"...Well, it's certainly quite useful for a common skill."

What was most marvelous was the level of physical fatigue. It was an unreasonable combo that would have normally caused fragile human ligaments to scream in agony. Yet, perhaps due to the passive effect embedded in the skill, my muscles pumped pleasantly instead, swelling with a firm tightness.

If I were to unleash this murderous trajectory in real combat, tearing through the flesh and blood of demonic beasts, my body's growth rate would undoubtedly skyrocket exponentially.

After slicing through the air a couple more times to familiarize my eyes with the sword path, I put it into my inventory without hesitation. Any more shadowboxing would be a waste of time.

Since the mechanism was perfectly engraved in my brain, the only thing left to do was to personally carve through living, breathing lumps of meat so my body wouldn't forget this sensation.

Besides, even if just to earn Gallery PT and Credits to keep myself fed, climbing the tower was not a choice, but a necessity.

I set off toward the massive structure towering in the center of the academy. The Magic Tower, stretching like a world tree toward the distant, endless sky. I arrived in front of the entrance to that colossal Estel Live.

...Whew. Let's enter.

The difficulty of the 1st and 2nd floors should be of a similar caliber anyway. Since vicious, irregular gimmicks wouldn't appear until at least past the 10th Floor, now was the time to push forward with confidence.

Standing before the goddess statue, I activated the interface to head to the next floor.

Without a shred of hesitation, I pressed 'Yes'. Then, along with a bright light that shrouded my vision, a familiar yet ominous phrase struck my retinas once more.

...As expected. Normally, it was only right that a user could set the difficulty themselves. Was this malicious system forcing this on me, or was it because of the blessing of that crazy apostle named Asteria or whatever?

Either way, it was a warning to throw away any thoughts of comfortably cruising through. My resignation and resolve had already been finalized long ago, ever since I faced the Great Chieftain on the 1st floor.

The blue flash of the teleportation gate faded, and my feet touched the floor of the new Magic Tower level. It was a damp cave with a structure similar to the 1st floor, but it was a strangely empty, colossal space.

So it basically means it's over once I cut off the breath of everything in front of me. For a terrifying modifier like Extreme, the clear condition was rather simple.

Of course, the specs of the monsters that would pop out would be on an entirely different level compared to other difficulties, so I could never let my guard down. Drawing the wooden sword from my inventory and gripping it, I silently walked toward the deep darkness ahead.

The inside of the cave was unpleasantly damp, and a sour, fishy smell of blood pricked the tip of my nose from somewhere.

Step. Step. Just as the sound of my regular footsteps was eating away at the silence—

Skreeeech! Squeak! Chitter! From the deep recesses of the cave where the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠darkness crouched, a spine-chilling friction noise began to surge like a tidal wave.

It wasn't just the sound of one or two demonic beasts wandering around. The walls, the ceiling, the floor. A grotesque vibration of hundreds, no, thousands of things crawling furiously from blind spots in every direction beyond my sight.

"...Crazy."

A dry laugh escaped my lips before I knew it. Eliminate all enemies? Right, the condition itself was clear. The only problem was that the quantity of those 'all enemies' far exceeded my wildest imagination.

In the pitch-black darkness, hundreds of pairs of crimson eyes flashed simultaneously. Strange beasts the size of wild dogs. It was a massive army of Shadow Rats, emitting a ferocious, murderous intent that made the small fry on the 1st floor look like nothing.

If it were an ordinary first-year freshman, they would have been crushed by the overwhelming numbers, wetting themselves and collapsing. It was obvious they would have their flesh and bones torn apart to become fertilizer before they could even chant a spell.

But I, on the contrary, adjusted my grip on the wooden handle in my hand.

Fuck it, let's just carve them up.

Looking on the bright side, they were all excellent moving punching bags. Even if I turned tail here, the moment I showed my back, I'd be eaten alive anyway. Complete annihilation was the only way out.

Squeeeeeeak! Dozens of the leading beasts rushed at me simultaneously, aiming for my throat. I took a short breath and kicked off the ground violently.

I didn't even have the luxury, nor the need, to calculate my next move in my head. The mana I had absorbed from the Awakening Stone was already forcibly pulling my muscles and joints into the correct trajectory.

A perfect sense of unity, as if I had honed this single sword path for decades.

Whoosh! A lightly swung horizontal slash tore through the air, mercilessly crushing the skull of the first beast that leaped forward.

Crunch! With a normal strike, the flow of the sword should have died upon impact. But Consecutive Slashes was different. Instead of suppressing the recoil of the impact, it used it as explosive momentum to connect to the next trajectory.

Swish! Whoosh! The wooden sword, bouncing back in a bizarre arc, immediately transitioned into a vertical slash plunging from top to bottom.

Thud!Squeak! Screech! Two beasts crashed to the ground, their waists bent at grotesque angles as they sprayed blood like fountains.

And the final blow pierced cleanly through the blood scattering in all directions.

Squish! Just three movements. The blunted, shabby wooden sword, boosted by insane acceleration and mana calibration, had transformed into a slaughter weapon more vicious than most masterfully crafted steel swords.

"Haa..."

The moment the combo ended, the muscles of my entire body screamed. Was this destructive power still too much for my low physical stats to handle? But the pain lasted only a split second. The silver mana surging through my veins upon the skill's activation was stitching and reinforcing the ruptured muscle fibers in real-time.

As the window popped up, the tearing fatigue vanished as if washed away, and my condition soared to its peak.

...I see. My body is adapting and growing stronger in real-time?

If so, there was no need for hesitation. I just had to slaughter everything in sight. Tightening my grip once more, I threw myself into the black tidal wave surging with crimson eyes.

From all directions, the fangs of ferocious beasts rushed at me. Horizontal, vertical, thrust. It was simple and crude, but it was a formula for slaughter more certain and overwhelming than anything else.

Thwack! Crunch! Rip!

Every time my weapon let out a heavy, explosive sound, the heads of those dog-sized beasts burst like watermelons, and their spines folded in half.

Blood sprayed everywhere and rotting flesh flew through the air, but my hands and feet did not stop. No, they couldn't stop.

Every time I cut off a breath, translucent system messages updated like a waterfall in the corner of my vision.

As soon as my limbs began to scream, mana dug into the micro-tears, weaving them into larger, harder, steel-like muscles.

As naturally as taking a rough breath, my body was swallowing the tempo of this crazy battlefield and evolving in real-time.

Was this the potential of a Human?

While the beast-kin climbed the tower relying on their innate traits and instincts, such things were a luxury for humans. At least within this godforsaken world, humans were the most unique predator race, expanding and evolving without limits.

This overwhelming sense of omnipotence that followed the bone-crushing pain.

Faster.

Whoosh!

Stronger!

Boom!

Before I knew it, the surface of the wooden sword was caked with their dark red blood and bone fragments like mud, transforming it from a sword into a vicious mace meant for crushing flesh.

How much time had passed? The cave had become a mountain of grotesque corpses, leaving barely any room to step.

Drip, drip. Thick blood dripped from the tip of the blood-soaked mace.

"Haa, haa..."

No matter how much the skill's passive repeated the super-regeneration, I couldn't help the breathlessness that filled my lungs to the point of bursting. In this tomb vibrating with the stench of blood, the rustling that had been violently piercing my eardrums finally subsided completely.

Looking at the text floating in the air, I let out a heavy breath and roughly swept back my bangs, which were soaked in sweat and blood. It was at that very moment, just when I thought it was finally over—

Thud. Thuuud. From the deepest abyss of the cave, a heavy vibration, as if a massive rock face was collapsing, surged up through the soles of my feet.

At the same time, the blue system window in front of me began to flash in an ominous, blood-red color.

...Infinite multiplication? Fuck, it's just one mountain after another.

Letting my blood-stained weapon hang loosely, I let out an absurd chuckle.

Tearing through the thick veil of darkness, a massive silhouette revealed its heavy form. An overwhelming mass that could easily chew up a small dump truck at the very least.

But the real despair was not the beast's size.

Squelch! Crack! The disgusting tumorous lumps hideously growing on the Queen's carapace burst all at once. From within that slime, the shadow beasts I had been carving up all night began to pour out like a waterfall.

Skreeeech! In just a few seconds, a swarm of hundreds of beasts dyed the cave floor black once again in that brief moment.

A true colony hell with no end, no matter how many I killed or ground to dust. No matter how much my body underwent super-regeneration in real-time, there was a clear limit to my physical and mental stamina.

If I dealt with those infinitely refilling meat shields one by one like that, it was obvious I would eventually collapse from exhaustion and not even have my bones left.

There's only one answer.

My gaze pierced through the black, teeming wave and locked onto the neck of the massive boss coiled arrogantly in the back.

"I take down the main body."

Boom! I kicked off the blood-puddled ground explosively and launched forward. The offspring blocking my path bared their hideous fangs and clung to me, but I didn't bother to slow down.

Whoosh! Slash! Horizontal, then vertical. The perfectly embodied trajectory of Consecutive Slashes cleared a path, grinding through the obstacles ahead like a runaway snowplow.

Lumps of meat exploded in all directions and blood dyed my vision red, but my eyes were pierced only on the Queen's weak point.

The distance closed in an instant. Enraged by the sight of her offspring being ruthlessly slaughtered, the Queen raised her massive forepaw.

Over her tough gray hide, the bone fragments of sacrificed beast-kin were thickly clumped together like hideous armor.

This wooden sword is at its limit too... This is the final blow!

Toward her hard bone armor, I shoved a slash that ground down all the remaining lifespan of the wooden sword that had reached its limit.

Crash!Shatter! Along with an eardrum-ripping rupture, the bone shield wrapping the Queen's skull shattered into pieces, and her massive body froze for a split second.

But at the same time, unable to withstand the extreme recoil, the wooden sword also exploded in midair, scattering dozens of splinters.

"Skreeeech!"

Sensing that the fly's weapon had been shattered to pieces, the Queen opened her maw wide with a bizarre shriek of assured victory.

But the foolish beast did not know. The fact that the true final combo of Consecutive Slashes, engraved in my blood, still remained.

"...Is it really the end?"

Reaching my hand through the raining splinters of wood, I tightly gripped the broken, sharply split hilt of the wooden sword in a reverse grip.

A broken piece of wood could no longer be called a sword. But the moment my physical strength, expanded to its limit, and the insane acceleration of the combo were loaded into it, it merely transformed into the most vicious and sharp awl in the world.

Toward the soft flesh under her chin, left defenseless after her bone armor shattered, I thrust the final strike straight in.

Squish, BOOM!

A heavy impact that shook the entire cave. A spine-chilling pleasure that pierced through the beast's tough hide and spine all at once was transmitted through my fingertips.

Rip! Without even being able to let out a shriek of shock, the massive Queen's neck was severed in two, soaring into the air.

A fountain of blood drenched the ceiling.

Staring at the blue clear windows that floated up in a relay in the air, I exhaled a long, heavy breath.

Soon, the hundreds of colony members that had been rushing to bite my throat from all directions crumbled into gray ash in an instant, scattering into the air like puppets that had lost their master.

Ah, the smell of blood on this school uniform is never going to wash out.

I grumbled, tossing the broken hilt, sticky with brain matter and blood, onto the floor. If the system didn't spit out a hefty reward to cover the dry cleaning bill, I wouldn't even be able to sleep out of sheer resentment.

Oh, the stakes were quite decent this time. On the 1st floor, they only offered a measly 10 PT as an option. Was it because the floor level went up? It jumped straight to 100 PT.

In my dirt-poor situation, the most urgent thing would be option 1, which could buy me food or medical supplies.

Yet, for some reason, my gaze was intensely drawn to option 3, the Core of Gluttony.

Since this world was clearly based on a game, there had to be systems like an auction house or back-alley pawnshops for trading between users. If it was loot containing the essence of a boss, it was bound to hold an immense value incomparable to a mere 100 PT.

All or nothing. Choosing high risk, high return over immediate pocket change like 100 PT was my style. Without hesitation, I flicked option 3 floating in the air with my finger.

Thud. A crystal about the size of an adult's fist, flickering with a faint yet ominous red light, fell heavily onto my palm from the air.

When I lightly gripped the core, it felt chillingly heavy for its size. It felt as if the dense mana of the Queen, who had been endlessly spewing out demonic beasts just moments ago, was fully compressed within this small crystal.

Good. At the very least, it'll sell for more than the value of 100 PT.

I carefully slid the precious loot into a corner of my inventory, a satisfied smile playing on my lips.

Without any lingering regrets, I pressed the 'Yes' button. Then, the slaughterhouse of a nest, filled with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the stench of blood and gray ash, distorted, and the warm blue light of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the teleportation gate leading me out of the Magic Tower wrapped around my wound-covered body.