-SPLAT—!
In that instant, my acid-soaked arm collapsed, and my head plunged into gastric fluid.
-CRUNCH—!
The stomach compressed again, and my whole body shattered into pieces before fitting itself back together.
But this was different.
Helplessness no longer ruled my body.
-CRACK—!
Each time I revived, my heart beat stronger.
-CRUNCH—!
Blood raced faster through my brain.
-SPLAT—!
I could feel my strength gradually filling back up.
This was different.
My body was getting stronger.
-THWACK—!
I pushed myself up and drove my fist into the bastard’s innards.
-CRUNCH—!
Of course, just like the countless times I had tried before, everything from my fingers to my arm bones shattered.
“!”
But this was different.
The impact felt different, and the mark I left on its innards was different.
It was wounded.
My attacks were getting through!
-THUD—! THUD—! THUD—! THUD—! THUD—!
Even as my bones broke over and over, I fixed on one spot and punched it in rapid succession.
And after repeating that again and again, at that moment—
-SPURT—!
From the bastard’s innards...
“I-I can see it!”
I saw a little blood leaking out.
“Yeah, you fucking bastard. You’re a living monster too! There’s no way you don’t bleed!”
I was filled with joy.
My pupils widened, my blood flow accelerated and churned,
and thanks to that, blood gushed from my wounds like a fountain.
It didn’t matter.
They would heal soon anyway.
-CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH—!
The more I kept dying to the bastard’s abdominal pressure, the stronger I could feel myself becoming.
“Haha, hahahahaha!”
Inside the bastard’s belly, I died again and again,
striking only one spot like a madman.
Then.
-CRACK, SLAAASH—!
After the forearm muscles had melted away and vanished in the acid, the arm bone left behind snapped under the bastard’s abdominal pressure and gleamed sharply.
“Haa, haa.”
I stared at it for a moment.
-STAB—!
Then I punched a hole in the bastard’s stomach.
“Finally!”
-SQUELCH—!
When I pulled the bone out, blood began to gush from the bastard’s organs in thick spurts, and I felt the already cramped space lurch as though the Wolf King was writhing in pain.
“No, no! I can’t stop here!!!”
-STAB—! STAB—! STAB—!
Smiling, I stabbed hole after hole into the bastard’s stomach.
“After I died to you again, and again, and again!!”
Then nerves, blood vessels, and skin soon formed over the bone and healed.
The shape of my hand returned.
-GRAB.
I seized the wounded area I had opened in the bastard with both hands.
-TEAR—!
I ripped at it.
-CRUNCH—!
I bit into it.
-SQUELCH—!
I forced my arm into the wound all the way up to the elbow.
“Ha, haha! Hahahahaha!”
-RIP—!
In the end, my hand pierced through the bastard’s organs and broke out to the outside.
“Grrrr! Yelp! Grrrr!”
The bastard let out a pain-filled whine.
Its stomach twitched a few times.
-GURK, GURRRK, GACK—!
“Cough!”
I came out of the bastard and was spat back onto the field.
As I was vomited out of those swamp-like innards, sticky fluid coated my body, and when I smelled the grass, the stench finally stabbed into my nose.
“Geh, keh-heh, cough!”
As I rolled across the field, coughing,
I heard a low growl in front of me.
“Grrrrrrr...!!”
The bastard stared at me with furious blue eyes as blood streamed from its side.
But.
“Ha, haha! Hahahaha!”
Now, I got stronger the more I died.
I could reach you, and I had torn open your insides.
“I’m not scared anymore, you son of a bitch.”
-CRUNCH—!
The moment I finished speaking, the bastard bit me at lightning speed and my upper body flew away.
“Guh...!”
I hadn’t even noticed.
Despite being wounded, its speed was still unbelievable.
‘Overcoming Death’ must have activated countless times by now,
but the gap between the Wolf King and me was enormous.
The bastard was still overwhelmingly stronger.
“Kuh, kukuk. Kukukuk!”
But so what?
I got stronger the more I died, and there was no end to my deaths.
In the end, victory was mine.
There was no tension
in a fight whose conclusion had already been decided.
-CRUNCH—!
The instant the Wolf King moved, that huge foreleg split my waist in half once again.
“...Guh...!”
My vision went white, and I died on the spot.
-CRACK—!
The moment I opened my eyes again, the Wolf King’s fang pierced my skull.
My vision flickered, and I died again on the spot.
-CHOMP—!
This time, the Wolf King bit into the nape of my neck.
-CRUNCH—!
In an instant, my spine was crushed completely, and my breath stopped.
And then.
-WHOOSH—!
This time, the Wolf King’s tail came flying at me.
However.
-SWISH.
I lowered my body and dodged the tail.
“!”
The Wolf King looked at me with clear surprise and took a step back.
“Ha, haha!”
With that movement and that dodge, I was certain.
[ Ring! ]
[ Overcoming Death is continuously activating. ]
[ Physical abilities rise dramatically. ]
“Status Window!”
────────────────
Name: Yoo Da-huin
Class: ??? (Curse of Immortality)
Level: 1 (Unable to level up)
────────────────
Vitality: ∞
Strength : 8 ( + 50 )
Stamina : 5 ( + 40 )
Agility : 6 ( +100 )
Magic Power : 0
────────────────
Traits:
『Curse of Immortality』 (Detailed information available)
Acid Resistance LV3 – Temporary
Blunt Force Resistance LV3 – Temporary
Slashing Resistance LV3 – Temporary
────────────────
Skills:
[ Pain Numbness LV.5 (MAX) ]
[ Enhanced Regeneration Speed LV.5(MAX) ]
[ Death Detection LV.5 (MAX) ]
[ Hidden Skill: Intimidation ]
[ Hidden Skill: Overcoming Death ]
────────────────
Death Count: 18,213
────────────────
“That’s right!”
I shouted in triumph as I looked at the stats where my strength, stamina, and agility had all risen,
along with the new resistances.
The bastard’s teeth and tail would hurt me less and less now,
and I would get even faster until I could avoid its attacks altogether.
Dodging that tail attack just now was proof.
“...Grrrrrrr...”
The bastard looked quite shaken that it had failed to kill me even once after killing me so many times,
and now, when I had no idea whether several hours or several dozen hours had passed, it looked exhausted.
That was right.
Living creatures got tired.
It was only natural.
But what about me?
I revived in optimal condition every time, and I never ran out of breath.
Even if my lungs burst, they returned to normal, and my bones and flesh healed back together even harder than before.
“Haha, hahahahaha!”
-THWACK—!
The bastard’s claw sank into my shoulder again and carved through me all the way down to my waist.
“Hup!”
I used my body, numb to pain, to grab the bastard’s jaw with one hand.
-CRACK—!
But my balance collapsed, and I slammed into the ground.
“Damn it!”
This attack failed, and I died again.
But so what?
I had reacted to the bastard’s attack, and for the first time, I had touched its body.
It would not be long now.
Not until the bastard’s defeat.
-SWISH—!
Sure enough, the Wolf King swung one foreleg.
I twisted my body in time with it.
-WHOOSH—! THUD—!
Its claws passed by with only a graze and gouged deep into the ground.
Now I could see it.
The trajectory of the bastard’s claws,
and the bastard’s movements!
“Grrrk, grrk...”
I could feel the bastard’s breathing getting a little rougher.
The continued battle had burdened it with fatigue.
The bastard was trending downward.
I was trending upward.
In other words, the longer this fight went on, the more it lost!
While the bastard grew exhausted, I gained clearer vision, sharper senses, and a stronger body.
“It’s done, haha!”
Laughing wildly, I waited for the bastard’s next attack.
“Yelp!”
The Wolf King threw itself at me again.
This time, it wasn’t using its forelegs, but its jaws.
It moved as if it meant to chew me whole and swallow me again.
“Do you have no ability to learn, you son of a bitch?”
No matter how many times it melted and burst me inside its organs, I hadn’t died,
and I had even punched holes in the bastard’s belly,
yet it still hadn’t come to its senses?
In that instant.
-FWOOSH—!
I leaped.
I stepped ‘precisely’ on the Wolf King’s fang.
And then—.
-CRASH—!
I drove my fist down into the Wolf King’s face.
“Yelp, yip!!”
The impact was enough to shake the earth.
The Wolf King’s head flew to the opposite side.
It was a movement made possible by the stats increased through Overcoming Death.
Whether shocked by the impact or shocked by my movement, the Wolf King shook its head and stared at me in bewilderment.
“How’s that? How does it feel? Haha!”
I, on the other hand, was overflowing with joy.
Finally, for the first time in dozens of hours, I had reached the bastard and landed a powerful blow.
It was done.
Only now had this become a ‘fight.’
“Grrrr!”
As though its pride had been wounded, the Wolf King charged straight at me.
And I...
-GRIP—!
I didn’t dodge.
-THUD—!
Clenching both fists, I kicked off the ground and charged straight at the bastard.
-CRUNCH—!
Then I grabbed its wide-open maw by the upper and lower jaws and held them apart.
“Kuh!”
-CRACK, CRRRRACK—!
My muscles, incomparably tougher than before, burst past their limits and regenerated again and again, becoming even harder each time.
-GRRIP, GRRRRRIP...!
And the bastard’s maw, half-closing and half-not, could not overcome my grip strength and ultimately failed to close.
I stared straight into the bastard’s bewildered eyes and sneered.
“For... everything...”
Putting every death I had suffered into it.
“I’ll pay you back for all of it, you son of a bitch!”
-CRUNCH—!
With a tremendous sound, I twisted the bastard’s head sideways.
-CRASH—!
Then I kicked the bastard’s wounded abdomen.
A roar so loud that even I was surprised it had come from me rang out, and the bastard’s body staggered greatly.
“Not yet. It’s not over yet!”
-CRUNCH—!
I ran toward the bastard as it tottered on the verge of collapse, tore into the wound on its abdomen again, and threw its posture completely off balance.
-THUD—! THUD—! THUD—! THUD—! THUD—! THUD—!
“Yelp! Yip! Yelp! Yip! Yipyip!”
Again and again, without rest, without stopping.
I hammered the wound in the bastard’s abdomen, and blood soaked my face and the field.
“Yelp, yipyip...”
And at last, the bastard’s eyes slowly clouded over.
-SPLAT.
The Wolf King’s legs finally lost their strength, and it collapsed onto the field.
[ Ring! ]
[ Cleared the 20th floor of the tower! ]
“Finally!”
A notification window announcing the tower’s clear appeared.
───────────────────
[ Floor: 20th Floor ]
[ Climber: Yoo Da-huin ]
[ Clear Time: 86 hours 10 minutes 9 seconds ]
[ Previous Best Record: 12 minutes 25 seconds ] (Shortest tower climb record)
───────────────────
[ Clear Condition Met ]
▶ Defeat 1 Giant Wolf King (Boss) complete
[ Climb Ranking: Lowest ] (Currently 4,182nd)
[ Ring! ]
[ Clear time has set the all-time longest record! ]
A great journey spanning ninety hours.
Finally, I had defeated the second boss.
“Haha, you idiot, you son of a bitch!”
-STOMP—! STOMP—! STOMP—!
Still not freed from my excitement and madness, I emotionally kept stomping on the dead bastard’s corpse.
Only after several minutes passed like that did I realize it.
My goal wasn’t to win.
It was to die.
“...Ah.”
Suddenly, emptiness surged over me again.
What am I so happy about?
That I killed a boss? That I got stronger?
Why is that worth being happy about?
Did I forget the reason I was climbing the tower?
I was crawling up the tower because I wanted to die, because I wanted to be dead.
And now I was getting stronger after gaining Hidden Skills and whatever else, then rejoicing because I killed a boss.
“...Fuck.”
Suddenly, I felt filthy.
The clear sunlight and air seemed to mock me, and the blood of the Wolf King and me, staining the green field, created an ironic disharmony.
It became unpleasant.
“Yeah, well. What can I do?”
That was right.
The bastard couldn’t kill me,
and in that case, I had to climb higher.
And to do that, I had to kill the bastard.
My ‘growth’ was for ‘killing’ the ones that could not kill me.
I set a new course.
“...The bastards that can’t kill me...”
I would kill them without fail so that I could die.
[ Continue climbing to the next floor? ]
[ Yes / No ]
-PRESS.
I climbed to the next floor.