Rotten Tenacity
Seriously injuring yourself and not feeling the pain right away because of adrenaline or whatever? That shit was real. After crawling out of the boss room and collapsing on the ground, my ankle started throbbing like a bitch. No, it had hurt before, but now it was fucking agonizing. Felt like a red-hot iron rod jammed right into it. The wounded spot burned like fire. Attribute damage or something?
"Ugh, hngh, fuck, damn..."
I fumbled around desperately, checking my ankle, but nah, that wasn't it. Apparently, getting shot with an arrow just hurts like this normally. The burning pain gradually shifted into a squeezing ache as time passed. My vision flashed white. Arrow, gotta pull out the arrow—but how the fuck do you do that? Just yank it?
-Squish.
I grabbed the arrow shaft with ragged breaths, but the arrowhead twisted, sending a jolt of agony straight to my brain.
"Aaaargh!"
You fucking idiot, anyone could see yanking it straight won't work! Gotta deal with the arrowhead first or something! My unrelated arm trembled like a leaf, and every breath stabbed my chest like needles. Oh right, I got fucked up here too. Cracked rib? Or whatever other bones are in there?
Lost in dumb thoughts, I saw my HP gauge ticking down bit by bit. Bleeding damage. If I keep this up, I'm fucked.
"Hoo, huu... fuck, huu..."
I gripped my sword with labored deep breaths and pressed the blade against the arrowhead buried in my ankle. The sharpness +6 sliced through it easily. Now for the shaft—fuck, this time it'll come out. Please, just one pull.
Thanks to my high Strength stat, grabbing the fletching and yanking hard made it slide out smooth as butter—shlrk—but holy shit, it hurt.
"Urk, ngh!"
Felt like electricity surged through the shaft. As it pulled free along the wound, my whole body convulsed. Up to my jaw—no, why's my jaw shaking? Fuck, fuuuuck, fuck.
And the blood—why the fuck won't it stop?
HP kept dropping. My vision, flashing like lightning moments ago, dimmed gradually. Sleepy. No way I'd fall asleep in this pain and misery. This was it—the brink of death. If the bleeding didn't stop, I'd die. Clutching my gushing ankle with my hand, another flash burst in my eyes.
"Ngh, ugh, uwaa...!"
Please stop, no more, I don't wanna die, Mom, fuck, why do I have to live like a worthless loser and die like this? Stop it, fuck!
No matter how hard I squeezed, blood seeped through the gaps. HP dwindled on the status window, tears welling up again. Now I wasn't clutching my punctured ankle—I was clinging to the status window. Please, make this goddamn HP stop dropping.
-Ding.
Suddenly, fiddling with the status window somehow opened my inventory.
Inventory Opened
◈ Slowly recovers a small amount of HP when consumed.
◈ Recovery speeds up when applied directly to wounds.
That's when it hit me—potions exist.
"Fuck, you moron..."
The Tower of Trials has a game-like structure, but it's no real game. Open community challengers warn not to rely too much on potions since they don't instantly fill your HP. Even if your HP gauge hits zero, you might not die, and full HP doesn't guarantee survival—judge wisely based on the situation.
I couldn't do that. Hoarded potions like an idiot but never thought to use them. They say panic strips away judgment—didn't think it'd happen to me. Thought that shit was for other people.
"Ah, shit, embarrassing..."
Downed three potions in a gulp and poured one more on the arrow wound. My body bounced back to full vigor. Still felt some vague burning pain, but one deep breath proved it was an illusion.
-Creak, clang!
I stripped off the upper armor shredded by the Goblin Lord's attacks. Useless now. It was the best defense I could equip at this point, but a few boss hits turned it to trash. Should've reinforced durability over defense? Nah, might've died sooner. Potions healed me, but with the armor on, my chest ribs got pulverized anyway. Boss attack power was just too damn high.
Swapped to my spare armor from inventory and checked my condition again. The boss room door loomed right there. Could challenge again anytime. But no fucking way I wanted to.
Couldn't clear that solo. No matter what. Even after grabbing everything worth getting on this floor, I nearly died. As a solo challenger, unavoidable.
Plenty of day left, but I was beat. Headed back to the village, bought a change of clothes, and beelined to my usual inn. The shirt under my armor was blood-soaked, and sometime during, I'd pissed my pants. Fair enough. Bought stupidly expensive casual wear, changed, and flopped on the bed. Habit kicked in—opened the open community.
[Bus-Free Standard 1st Floor Boss Guide (For Newbies).txt]
Layered boss guides by floor in the community notice caught my eye. Saw this before entering the boss room. Back then, thought it was doable.
Guide summary: Tank grabs aggro on entry, DPS wipes elite guards fast. Kill first summon wave quick for decent delay before next—chip boss to phase 1 clear.
Figured my high specs could drop three elites fast and handle boss. Reality? Fuck no. Solo, aggro locked on me from start. Elites tougher than expected. Instantly ganged up, second wave came too quick—ended 6v1.
Elite armor the real issue. Heavy plate unlike other goblins—stab gaps or smash armor. First hard, second needs blunt weapon swap. Doubt it'd work anyway.
Searched more 1st floor boss stuff. Notable: clears. Excluding ranker buses, smallest was 7-man party. Avg lvl 18. The strategy already solid then. Still needed seven lvl 18s.
Lvl 22, near-max gear—I was stronger, but not seven times. Job change might boost, but skills/levels don't jump fast solo. Can't follow group strats alone.
"Fuck, obviously impossible..."
Endless excuses, but conclusion set long ago. Just no. Didn't wanna relive that hellish pain. Why should I?
I posted my woes on the community from bed.
Tried soloing the boss today and nearly died fuck
Which region's tower is this? No one fucking enters?
Can't do shit til other challengers show lol
Folks questioning the #2661 tag piled on, asking if I was really solo. Time to kill anyway. Replied to each curious comment about server 2661.
Maybe from my recent bitching spree, more envied my tower monopoly than pitied me. Stuck on floor 1 post-boss? Others would fix it eventually.
Honestly, "woes" was just more bitching. Anyway, spent the day community scrolling into late night sleep. Nothing else to do.
But no other challengers came for ages. Time dragged pointlessly—
Tower of Trials #2661 (1/1)
—half a year had passed before I knew it.