Tower of Trials 7th Floor

As a reward for clearing Floor 6, I got a new item and a new skill.

The item I acquired was the Death Knight Greatsword. True to its name, it was the hefty greatsword wielded by the Death Knight. Its simple design made it look easy to handle, and I really liked the balanced weight and size.

The two-handed sword proficiency on my Sword Mastery had risen quite a bit too, so it'd be perfect as my main weapon.

The new skill I got was a passive called Shadow Sight. I thought it might be some kind of hypnosis since it was called Shadow Sight, but nope—it just lets you see better in the dark. Giving me this after clearing the pitch-black Floor 6? The system sure knows how to be late to the party. Of course, there are plenty of dark maps ahead, so it's not useless or anything.

"Does this work on curses too?"

What I was curious about was whether it counters vision-impairing magic like the one from the Floor 3 lizardman shaman or the lich boss from just now. Since the next floor has a fair bit of magic-type enemies, I could test it out slowly.

With my full gear on, my stats were around this level. My level went up by one, but a ton of stats had risen independently of that. Except for intelligence, no way these looked like Lv.53 warrior stats. Especially my strength hitting 83—it far surpassed any other challenger at my level. If you just looked at the numbers, you'd think I had some unique or epic class, but nope, still rocking the normal class.

After wrapping up the boss fight results, I touched the transfer gate. The activation notice popped up, and I accepted right away.

"Yes."

With that slightly dizzy sensation from passing through the gate, a new world unfolded before my eyes. The background that appeared was the complete opposite of Floor 6's gloomy vibe—a dense forest in the middle of some mountains.

Truth be told, I had high expectations for Floor 7 in a lot of ways. Compared to other floors, the overall map was huge, with tons of NPCs and quests. Plus, it was the floor where you could start large-scale faction quests linked to other floors. Depending on how you progressed, they could carry over all the way to around Floor 20, apparently. I wondered what kind of insane first-clear ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reward a massive quest like that would give.

-Whirrr!

As I pushed forward with those expectations, I soon ran into Floor 7's first monster. I'd heard the first encounter here was always some kind of living tree monster, but what showed up was a swarm of hornets. Of course, being monsters, they weren't normal hornets—each one was the size of a chihuahua.

"Fucking gross."

But hornets mean poison, right?

Long story short, the hornet venom didn't help my resistance growth one bit. Their attack power was so weak they could barely pierce my skin to sting in the first place. And even when a few special ones managed to inject venom, it was just a brief sting with no real effect.

I'd heard these hornet-type monsters popped up all over, even outside Floor 7, and they all had stingers with poison. No way these were the exception, so it had to be my resistance being too high already. Fair enough—poison arrows aside, tangling with zombies on Floor 6 had boosted it a ton.

Hard to think it had no poison when even the dropped item's name screamed it.

-Crunch!

I smashed the hornet on the ground with my sword to finish it off. Crackling effects sparked a bit. That was the effect from Lightning Charge, which I'd picked up on Floor 3. Grinding resistances on Floor 6 had leveled the skill a little, and now it even had effects. I wasn't sure about extra electric damage or stun, but hey, effects were something. A few more levels and it might be useful for building lightning resistance.

Just as I sheathed my sword and started moving again—

-Thud thud thud!

Something heavy echoed from afar. Sounded most like the Goblin Lord's footsteps of anything I'd heard. My instinct skill was tingling a bit. A monster—a really huge one—was headed this way. Didn't know what, but big guys deserved big weapons.

The Death Knight Greatsword had superior base attack power, high critical damage, and a handy unique effect. I didn't usually use strong items like this, but it was worth testing the performance once.

-Thud thud ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thud!

The heavy footsteps grew closer, and the monster burst through the brush. A massive bear covered in black fur. The weird rune on its forehead confirmed it: Rune Bear. The unique monster that always showed up one per wild animal habitat. Supposedly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tough even for field bosses thanks to agility that didn't match its ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠size.

But who cares how agile a mere beast was. I pulled back the greatsword and charged straight at the Rune Bear barreling toward me. The blade glowed with dark light as I unleashed Brave Slash, the high-power two-handed sword exclusive skill.

But the moment the skill activated and the motion kicked in, I spotted an arrow lodged in the Rune Bear's back. What? Why was there an arrow? Was it being chased by an NPC and ran my way? If so, where was the NPC chasing it?

-Whoosh!

Right then, another arrow flew from behind the Rune Bear, aiming for my brow.

I'd just leaped in and started the skill motion when the arrow appeared right in front of me. Not aimed at me specifically, but the timing was perfect. Right after starting the skill motion, no room to dodge. This was exactly why I hated using skills.

After a split-second debate on how to handle it, I activated another skill in that state.

-Ting!

First time using Iron Wall on my face, but it activated perfectly and deflected the arrow. The skill motion continued seamlessly, and my greatsword carved deep into the Rune Bear's shoulder.

-Kroooar!

Thanks to the superior attack power, the bear's shoulder was nearly severed in one hit. I swung the greatsword once more. Slash—a flashy red critical hit effect exploded with the severing strike. The Rune Bear lost all power to thrash and collapsed after just two attacks.

Just needed to confirm the kill, but I paused the sword and waited.

"Hey, it's dangerous over there!"

A man who seemed to be the arrow's owner came running nimbly toward me. He had slightly long golden blond hair, snow-white skin, and was ridiculously handsome. Like someone had taken the stereotypical blond pretty boy and polished it up a notch. He looked like a game character. But the most striking thing about the man was his distinctly shaped ears.

Floor 7 was a massive floor blending a huge map, diverse quests, and tons of NPCs. And the core force for its biggest feature—the faction quests—was three major factions.

"Wh-what? Why is a human here?!"

The elf carrying a longbow on his back gawked at me.

The race that pops up like clockwork in any fantasy story: elves. Even in the gamified Tower of Trials world, elves existed, and their traits weren't much different from typical portrayals. Pointy ears, beautiful features, living in harmony with nature in forests, long lifespans, and archery masters. Of course, individuals varied, but at least the high elves on Floor 7 fit the bill.

"Did you take down the Rune Bear? Why is a human wandering around here?"

The high elf man eyed me warily and demanded answers. Didn't expect to run into an elf this soon. Obviously, I hadn't prepped what to say in this situation. I was mulling it over, picking my words—

Then the high elf man suddenly freaked out first.

"Th-that ominous sword! Aha, so you're one of those wicked humans invading the forest!"

He whipped out a dagger from his waist and charged at me. Just so we're clear, I hadn't said a word yet. Attacking someone on sight just 'cause the sword's black with skull decorations? This was pure self-defense, fucking justified.