The Nightwalker's Ambush
Twenty hours had already slipped by since the trial of the sixth floor ended.
Do-yun had swung his sword without a single moment of rest, yet he still could not properly execute even one form of the Sun Swordsmanship.
In a way, that was only to be expected.
Even Halleon never fully mastered the art.
Wielding the Sun Swordsmanship demanded more than mere understanding; it required a body capable of perfectly translating the movements in one's mind into reality.
Still, the time had not been entirely wasted.
Afterglow (B)
With the skill active, he carved a line through empty air with his blade.
Ordinarily nothing should have remained where the sword had passed.
Yet now, along the path of the stroke, residual red mana began to flicker and writhe irregularly.
Do-yun watched in silence.
Moments later a blade forged of pure light sprang forth and swept along the exact trajectory he had drawn.
"So it's a delayed attack, then."
The description window alone had left him puzzled, but experiencing it firsthand revealed the skill's potential at once.
Afterglow (B)
A residual trail of light remains along the path of the sword.
Power and duration scale with the mana consumed.
In short, the motion of his swing was engraved into the air as mana. After a short delay a blade formed of that residual energy traced the same arc once more.
The applications were endless. He could lay the trajectories in advance like traps and lure an enemy into them, or simply use them as a one-beat-late double strike.
"Used well, this could be pretty nasty in a psychological fight too."
He tested Afterglow several more times before finally wiping the sweat from his brow and lowering his sword.
From the corner where she had been staring blankly at him the entire time, Ciel spoke up.
"Is it finally over?"
A note of exhaustion colored her voice. Considering he had not slept and had done nothing but swing a sword, her reaction was only natural.
"Yeah. I'd love to keep going, but I need to start preparing for the seventh floor."
With the sixth floor complete, the entry window for the seventh had appeared: twenty-four hours later. For Do-yun, who intended to use an Early Entry Ticket as well, time was already short.
"Aren't you going to sleep at all?"
"While I'm in the Sanctuary Room I'm always at full condition anyway, right?"
Even the arms that had grown stiff from continuous practice had already recovered without him noticing. No matter how fiercely he trained, he never took lasting damage. That was precisely why he had been able to raise his understanding so quickly in less than a day.
"Even so, normal people don't push themselves that far..."
"Every regressor I know did exactly this."
"Ugh. Fine, whatever."
Ciel let out a sigh of pure surrender.
He could not understand why she was making such a fuss. Early regressors were one thing, but after strategy guides spread it became common sense to practice martial arts inside the Sanctuary Room.
Do-yun merely shrugged once and drew a ticket from his coat.
"You're going to use the Early Entry Ticket now?"
"Yeah."
He had briefly considered saving it for later, but that did not seem wise. The reward had come from four consecutive first-place rankings in the Hall of Fame. A single slip from the top would mean a very long wait before he could obtain another. Better to use it now and lock in his lead.
The moment he produced the ticket it blazed with golden light and asked for confirmation.
Use Early Entry Ticket?
You will be able to challenge the trial thirty minutes earlier than other challengers.
Do-yun gave a small nod.
The ticket dissolved into light and immediately reshaped itself into a blue portal.
He drew a deep breath and steadied his mind.
"I'm counting on you again this time."
"Of course! This time I'll prove how useful I am for real!"
On the sixth floor Do-yun's unorthodox methods had left Ciel with little chance to shine. The fact still clearly rankled her; she clenched her tiny fists with determination.
The 7th Floor begins.
The air against his skin changed in an instant.
The warm atmosphere of the Sanctuary Room vanished, replaced by a damp, clinging dampness that filled every corner.
Underground sewers.
Do-yun opened his eyes and surveyed the surroundings. The overall framework still resembled the layout he had known from the Tower of Trials, yet just as the sturdy walls of the sixth floor had become weathered ruins, subtle but significant differences were everywhere.
Magic circles?
The sewers stretched outward in a labyrinthine tangle. Scarlet magic circles had been etched into the walls at irregular intervals.
"They're magic circles that absorb life force. We need to be careful."
Ciel murmured the warning, then clasped her hands together. A refined system window appeared before Do-yun's eyes.
Magic Circle of Absorption
If you are wounded, the life force of your entire body will be sucked into the walls.
This was the second true use of a guide fairy: the ability to observe nearby dangers in the form of system alerts.
"So we're fine for the moment?"
"Yes. But if you get hurt, every drop of blood in your body will be pulled into the circles."
What the hell.
It sounded exactly like a trap black mages would set.
From what I know, this is supposed to be the basement of a magic tower.
A place where orthodox mages who pursued truth resided—hardly the sort of den that trafficked with the evil arts of black mages.
While Do-yun was prodding the wall with the tip of his sword, Ciel nearly jumped out of her skin and stopped him.
"Be careful! If you mess with it the wrong way it could explode!"
"Explode?"
"Yes! Look how bright red the circles are."
That color, she explained, meant they had already absorbed more than enough life force. If the passage collapsed they would be buried alive.
Announcing the trial of the 7th Floor
Ascend to the summit of the Blue Magic Tower.
The seventh-floor trial was short and simple: pass through a place crawling with rampaging experimental subjects and traps, then reach the top.
Judging by the magic circles on the walls, however, the difficulty had clearly risen a notch compared to the Tower of Trials.
"Let's move for now."
Do-yun advanced one careful step at a time. With every footfall the water that reached his ankles splashed and slapped.
The seventh-floor trial might make finding the path a little difficult.
But don't worry!
Just keep going against the direction the water flows and you'll clear it in no time. Got it?
The water filling the sewers was not there by accident. Even its current was a clue. The lower floors of the tower were designed so that pure effort could carry a challenger through.
"Ciel. Can you make some light?"
"One moment."
The fluttering fairy quickly formed a small orb of light. Do-yun could have done something similar with Scorching Sword, but he refused to waste mana simply for illumination.
"Thanks."
Normally he would have had to read the faintest current against his ankles to choose a direction. With the area lit there was no need for such caution.
He was about to pick a path with confidence when something felt off and he stopped.
The water's color was wrong.
It had turned a deep, ugly red, and a strange smell rose from it.
Blood?
A grimace crossed his face, yet he did not halt his steps. He intended to head somewhere—anywhere—first.
Splash, splash.
Before long he reached the source of the flow: a massive pipe embedded in the wall, one of the devices feeding water into the sewers.
Even after arriving at his destination, Do-yun's expression remained dark.
Why are the bars broken?
The pipe mouth should have been sealed by iron grating—enough to let water through while keeping out foreign objects. "Foreign objects" included intruders like him.
Yet the grate before his eyes had already been smashed open, as though someone else had ripped it apart beforehand.
The moment he leaned closer to peer inside, an alert flared across his vision.
Grham uses Shadow Spike (F)
Absolute Sight announcing an enemy skill. The sudden warning of an ambush left no room for thought; Do-yun snapped his head back on pure reflex.
The instant his face left the pipe, a black projectile shot out. Shaped like a razor-sharp thorn, it struck the opposite wall and burst into a cloud of dark energy that scattered in every direction.
"What a shame. Such a shame."
A languid voice drifted from inside the pipe.
The oddly familiar tone made Do-yun tighten his grip on the sword hilt.
Black mist, almost like fog, began to seep from the pipe. Moments later the man who had created it poked his head out.
"Nice to meet you, Rank One. You remember me, right?"
A peculiar man with daggers hanging all over his body. There was no forgetting him. On the fifth floor Do-yun himself had essentially been the one who eliminated him.
"Nightwalker Grham."
"You even remember the moniker? Good memory."
Watching Grham idly spin a dagger, Do-yun took a measured step backward. In the earlier scramble to dodge he had not even checked the attacker's name; he never expected Grham to be waiting here.
While he was still wondering how the man could possibly be present, a forgotten piece of information surfaced.
The trial of the 5th Floor ends.
Challengers who failed to achieve the objective may challenge the Repechage on the floor after next.
The Repechage that was supposed to take place two floors later... so it was being run jointly with those who had already cleared it?
Wait. Isn't the Repechage supposed to be held among the eliminated challengers themselves?
Somehow this tower seemed genuinely dedicated to screwing people over.
Whether Do-yun grumbled internally or not, Grham flashed a wide grin and clenched one dagger hard.
"You know, I built up a whole mountain of resentment after you got me eliminated. And now we just happen to meet like this?"
As if on cue, an announcement from the Tower of Ascension appeared.
Throughout the Magic Tower, participants of the Repechage are blocking the paths.
Their goal is to prevent challengers from passing the routes they are assigned.
Use any means necessary to get through.
We wish you good luck.
"They really should have told us this in advance."
While Do-yun was still giving a hollow laugh, Grham gripped his dagger and charged.