Observation
There’s a limit to how fast you can accelerate in freefall, or so they say. I figured that someone like me, who could handle breaking the sound barrier with just my body, wouldn’t pass out from something as trivial as the impact of a fall. But midway through plummeting toward the ground while clutching that pigeon, I slammed into something unidentified, and just like that, my thinking changed.
-Kaboom!
“Gah!”
And then my memory cut out for a bit.
It felt similar to when I crashed into that snake dragon on the 9th floor. Even though my durability had improved beyond compare since then, to take this kind of shock—what the hell had I hit? Anyway, when I came to and pulled myself up, I saw a bloody pulp plastered to the spot where the fall’s impact had carved out a crater. Ew, it was completely smashed to mush. The shape was unrecognizable, but with feathers stuck here and there and scattered bits, it had to be the pigeon. Checking my inventory and status window, the kill reward had come through properly—it looked like it was dead for real. Some time had passed since I fell, so by now, the Heaven Realm was probably in full collapse—or maybe already gone.
But right now, I was the bigger problem. I had no clue what to do with myself first.
“Where the hell is this?”
The interface didn’t even show a map name, and the map just displayed [???]. Probably because I’d completely left the Heaven Realm stage of the 15th floor. Looking around, there wasn’t a trace of humanity anywhere. Ah, could that wall I hit during the fall have been it? The end barrier said to exist at the edge of each floor’s area. A transparent membrane with an indestructible object designation, or so I recalled—but didn’t I just smash through it? I’d heard the map sizes varied wildly per floor, and it seemed the 15th floor’s Heaven Realm really was just limited to the Heaven Realm. So, did that mean killing the Heavenly God and sending the heavenly folk back to the ground was a path the system hadn’t anticipated?
If so, what had happened to the heavenly NPCs by now? Had they made it safely to the surface? Were they keeping their sense of self? What would become of them going forward? I was curious about the results of what I’d done. Had I really liberated them properly?
Ah, but wait—what about the 15th floor labyrinth? Come to think of it, the labyrinth area was part of the Heaven Realm too. If it collapsed, that was gone now, right? So how did clearing work? What about the transfer gate? No way I was stuck here forever, was I?
No, the more I thought about it, the less this was the time to worry about others. First, I needed to move somewhere—anywhere—and find people. Pick a direction and keep going, and something should turn up.
“Oh, right—Kaleon.”
Come to think of it, there was a good chance the sword spirit was with the heavenly folk.
“Yeah?”
The moment I tried sensing the mana I’d marked on Kaleon, something felt off. What the—had we gotten so far apart that I couldn’t detect the mana at all? How far had I fallen? Turns out, Kaleon had ended up back in my inventory alone for some reason. I’d planned to track his mana to find him, but this was a problem. As I scratched my head thinking that, suddenly my vision went pitch black.
-Holy shit, what the fuck is this? Higher being? Vision block? A chill ran down my spine, goosebumps erupting all over. That cold sensation I’d forgotten about for so long wrapped around me again.
“F-fuck!”
I deployed Mana Reinforcement almost convulsively, pouring out every ounce of mana in my body like a berserker. But no matter how much I resisted with mana, my vision wouldn’t return. I couldn’t even tell if I was resisting properly. While forgetting how to breathe and fighting whatever was blocking my sight, for just a split second—something flickered into view.
The next instant, my darkened vision snapped back. What spread before me was a sunlit beach—the early part of the 16th floor.
Clear Reward: Acquired ‘EXP’, ‘Gold’.
Max Contribution Reward: Acquired ‘Blessing of Glory’, ‘EXP’.
Active Skill - Purification
With the inexplicable 15th floor boss clear judgment, the eyes that had glimpsed beyond the vision-blocking darkness.
“Gah, aaagh.”
Shed bloody tears amid burning pain.
♪ ♪ ♪
There were too many things to think about and check. Why Kaleon had returned to my inventory alone, why the 15th floor had cleared on its own, the various rewards I’d acquired. The indestructible end barrier getting destroyed, and the intervention of some unknown “higher being.” But all that felt trivial compared to the hellish agony that hit me.
“Aaaaaagh!!”
My eyes crumpled inward, stabbing my brain. My head melted gooey and flowed outward. What the fuck was this, what the hell was happening, what had happened to me?
“Urk, hack, gaaah…!”
Surge of nausea—I puked up a gutful. Not undigested food, but blood. And fuck, my eyes, my whole face was drenched. Blood was flowing from more than just what I’d spewed. From my eyes, ears, nose—every hole in my face overflowed with blood. The spilling blood felt like lava. I could tank real lava, but this burned.
“Fuuuck, fuuuck! You bastard, aaagh, grrr, gaaah!”
I rolled wildly on the ground, clutching whatever I could grab. Sand, rocks, my own body.
-Crunch!
To endure the pain, I gripped my shoulder—it twisted under my grip strength and bled more. It felt like someone was pouring boiling water into my brain and stirring! As if I’d know what that feels like, fuck!
I rummaged frantically through my inventory, pulling out every potion that might help. No time to uncork and sip—I shoved whole bottles into my mouth and chewed them down.
-Crunch, crunch!
But no potion could heal my state. Skills—maybe a skill? The new Purification skill caught my eye. Not knowing how to use it or its effects, I activated it anyway. But no effect—wait, something’s wrong. No mana at all. MP: 0/790. My MP was completely drained. What the hell had I done to burn it all?
I remembered one thing. Thrashing with Mana Reinforcement to break the vision block—that was it. Just glimpsing beyond that briefly blocked vision had depleted my mana entirely.
Damn, fuck, this make any sense? Something, anything else.
-Thud.
While blindly pulling items from inventory, a dagger dropped before me. Frenzied impulse from the immense pain. I grabbed it instantly. Death ends it. Death ends the pain! How had I not thought of this simple solution?
“Heh, hehha, hahaha!”
Laughter wouldn’t stop from the joy. I gripped the dagger and immediately thrust it toward my throat—
“Fuck thiiiis shiiit aaaagh!!”
—no, I hurled it far away instead.
♪ ♪ ♪
I flung the dagger and slapped my face wildly with my empty hands.
“Aaaagh! Shit!”
Slapping my face, the ground, smashing everything around while writhing in agony. What’s brain-mush pain to me—why should I give up my life? I had a debt to settle with this goddamn tower. I had to roll in bed with those busty dark elves. I had to make them pay for tormenting me, my mom, Elenoir.
“Hoo… hoo… hooo…!”
I wiped the flowing blood and took deep breaths. Something huge loomed in my peripheral vision. A bull-headed monster with bulging muscles—one of the 16th floor’s main mobs, a [Minotaur Warrior]. Quite a few of them. They must’ve been drawn by my thrashing screams and the smell of blood.
Perfect timing.
“Hah, hoo… good, yeah, good.”
Just writhing in pain like this would kill me. Instinctual crisis sense pumped vitality into my body. Yeah, this was my style. Even with brain-splitting, lava-pouring pain, overflowing bloody tears—none of it stopped. With enemies before me, I regained my calm, drew my sword and shield.
“Aaaaaah!!”
Screaming, I charged into the monsters first. Swinging my weapons like a maniac. The more I fought, the more the pain faded. Regaining vitality and calm, I cut them down. Blue alert windows popped sporadically, but I ignored them, focusing only on slicing foes. By the time I’d laid dozens of minotaurs at my feet, the mind-breaking pain had subsided.
Mental Corruption Resistance Lv. 33
And in my status window, an absurdly high-level new resistance skill had registered.