[ Ring! ]
[ Cleared the 21st floor of the tower! ]
───────────────────
[ Floor: 21st Floor ]
[ Climber: Yoo Da-huin ]
[ Clear Time: 3 hours 21 minutes 29 seconds ]
[ Previous Best Record: 7 minutes 25 seconds ]
───────────────────
[ Clear Condition Met ]
▶ Defeat 10 Goblins (Enhanced) complete
[ Climb Ranking: Lowest ] (Currently 3,952nd)
[ Clear time has set the all-time longest record! ]
The 21st floor.
Ten higher-tier Goblins came rushing at me in party formation, each holding its own position.
But higher-tier or not, in the end, they were Goblins.
My repeated deaths were enough to inflict Intimidation on them, and with my increased stats, I tore all ten of them apart without much difficulty.
[ Ring! ]
[ Cleared the 22nd floor of the tower! ]
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[ Floor: 22nd Floor ]
[ Climber: Yoo Da-huin ]
[ Clear Time: 2 hours 59 minutes 55 seconds ]
[ Previous Best Record: 1 minute 25 seconds ]
───────────────────
[ Clear Condition Met ]
▶ Defeat 50 wolves (Normal) complete
[ Climb Ranking: Lowest ] (Currently 3,552nd)
[ Clear time has set the all-time longest record! ]
The 22nd floor.
Unexpectedly, this floor was incredibly hard.
In direct contrast to the 20th floor, where there had been one huge and powerful Wolf King, dozens of small wolves charged at me here in a pack.
How many times had I been bitten apart and killed?
I couldn’t feel pain anyway, my body regenerated quickly, and even if I died, I revived.
On top of that, with my already enhanced stats, there was no particular difficulty in tearing the bastards’ jaws apart.
The hardest part, rather, was chasing down the bastards who got scared by Intimidation and ran away.
[ Ring! ]
[ Cleared the 23rd floor of the tower! ]
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[ Floor: 23rd Floor ]
[ Climber: Yoo Da-huin ]
[ Clear Time: 2 hours 59 minutes 39 seconds ]
[ Previous Best Record: 8 minutes 25 seconds ]
───────────────────
[ Clear Condition Met ]
▶ Defeat 5 Wraith Soldiers (Enhanced) complete
[ Climb Ranking: Lowest ] (Currently 3,152nd)
[ Clear time has set the all-time longest record! ]
The 23rd floor. Wraith Soldiers.
Facing them again, when I had once thought of them as immortal beings like me, felt more bitter than I had expected.
Just like before, I died a suitable number of times, and after I felt holy power settle into my body through the effects of Death Detection, I put every last bastard to rest.
And then....
[ Ring! ]
[ Cleared the 24th floor of the tower! ]
And the 24th floor.
───────────────────
[ Floor: 24th Floor ]
[ Climber: Yoo Da-huin ]
[ Clear Time: 1 hour 5 minutes 1 second ]
[ Previous Best Record: 8 minutes 25 seconds ]
───────────────────
[ Clear Condition Met ]
▶ Defeat 1 Giant Centipede (Normal) complete
[ Climb Ranking: Lower ] (Currently 1,952nd)
“...Haa, haa?”
Catching my breath, I looked down at my two hands with a dumbfounded expression.
They were covered in the centipede’s blood and shell, giving off a sharp, acrid smell, but the sensation of having caught the bastard still felt vivid.
At first, I had encountered a Giant Centipede so enormous that I mistook it for a boss monster.
Yet shockingly, without much difficulty at all, I had torn the bastard in two and won.
“...What the hell is this...?”
Through this, I learned two things.
“Status Window!”
-FLASH—!
────────────────
Name: Yoo Da-huin
Class: ??? (Curse of Immortality)
Level: 1 (Unable to level up)
────────────────
Vitality: ∞
Strength : 8 ( + 80 )
Stamina : 5 ( + 50 )
Agility : 6 ( +120 )
Magic Power : 0
────────────────
Traits:
『Curse of Immortality』 (Detailed information available)
────────────────
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: 19,413
────────────────
“...I knew it...!”
First.
The stats increased through Overcoming Death were not decreasing.
No? They had actually risen even higher.
That was because I hadn’t stopped climbing the tower, which meant I had continued dying, and because of that, my stats were not falling at all. They were steadily rising.
And second.
Because of the first reason,
the phrase ‘all-time longest record,’ which had appeared as if to mock me at some point, had disappeared.
That meant—
“...I’m not the lowest?”
I was no longer the slowest-climbing human in this tower.
That was enough to excite me.
The closer I got to the very top, the clearer the clue to my death would become in one way or another.
And in any case, now that I had chosen the method of climbing the tower, that place was both my destination and my finish line.
And now the speed at which I got there was increasing?
There was no reason to refuse.
If anything, I was drowning in joy!
“Ah, right!”
But I had no time to swim in that joy.
I couldn’t give it even the slightest gap.
Since I didn’t know the detailed conditions for Overcoming Death right now, the best option was to die and climb the tower at the shortest intervals possible.
And so.
[ Continue climbing to the next floor? ]
[ Yes / No ]
-PRESS.
I quickly climbed to the next floor.
***
[ Ring! ]
[ Reached the 25th floor of Namyangju Tower No. 2! ]
The 25th floor.
An abandoned ruin with uneven ground.
“...This is another strange sight.”
Moss-like growths were wedged here and there between the rocks, and the place smelled damp and bleak.
After being absorbed in the scenery for a moment like that, I jolted and lifted my head.
“This isn’t the time. Where are you? Hurry up and come out!”
I shouted into the air.
-...THUD.
As if answering me, a heavy collision sound rang out.
“...What is that?”
-...THUD. ...THUD.
And what I soon witnessed was—
“Ha, now they’re really going this fucking far....”
Its arms were melted away, and its chest was broken open.
Walking toward me while exposing a heart-like core....
[ Ring! ]
[ Mini Boss of the 25th floor of the tower – Incomplete Golem has appeared! ]
[ Subjugation begins! ]
A lump of rock.
It was a Golem.
***
Meanwhile, in a wide field.
The 20th floor of Namyangju Tower No. 2, where Yoo Da-huin had finished the subjugation a little while earlier.
[ Ring! ]
[ Reached the 20th floor of Namyangju Tower No. 2! ]
[ Boss of the 20th floor of the tower – Giant Wolf King has appeared! ]
[ Subjugation begins! ]
“Grrrrrr....”
The Wolf King growled low as it stared at the intruder.
At the end of its line of sight was—
“...Phoo—.”
The one blowing a bubble with bubblegum.
-POP.
It was Oh Yuk-il.
He spun a knife in his hand,
rolled his shoulders loose, and muttered.
“Whew. Should I stop at this floor for today? I’m a bit tired.”
“Grrrr!”
The Giant Wolf King, just as it had done to Yoo Da-huin—
-THWACK—!
Vanished with enough speed to make its enormous body disappear in an instant.
-SWISH—!
Before anyone knew it, it had appeared in front of Oh Yuk-il, raising that chilling foreleg as if to slam it down.
“Phoo—.”
Oh Yuk-il simply watched the sight while blowing his bubblegum.
-POP.
He popped the bubble.
-SLASH—!
The knife he had been spinning in his left hand was, at some point, spinning in his right hand.
That was all.
“...Grr...rk....”
Yet the Wolf King’s enormous body split horizontally.
-SPLAT—!
Its four legs, torso, and everything from tail to head were severed apart and collapsed to the ground.
“Phoo—.”
-THUD.
Oh Yuk-il blew another bubble with an indifferent expression, shook the blood from his knife, and climbed onto the back of the Wolf King that had been split in half.
A small knife.
A knife so small it was unbelievable that it had split that enormous Wolf King in half.
And the time it took him to catch that Wolf King was....
[ Ring! ]
[ Cleared the 20th floor of the tower! ]
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[ Floor: 20th Floor ]
[ Climber: Oh Yuk-il ]
[ Clear Time: 29 seconds ]
[ Previous Best Record: 12 minutes 25 seconds ] (Shortest tower climb record)
───────────────────
[ Clear Condition Met ]
▶ Defeat 1 Giant Wolf King (Boss) complete
[ Climb Ranking: Top ] (Currently 1st)
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[ Ring! ]
[ Clear time has set the all-time shortest record! ]
Only 29 seconds.
Even though he had made no particular effort to catch it quickly, the time it took was only 29 seconds.
Compared to Yoo Da-huin, who had taken nearly 90 hours, it was a difference in time and skill that could not even be compared.
“Honestly, everyone’s making such a fuss about immortality and whatnot.”
Oh Yuk-il spat his gum—ptoo—onto the field as it gradually became soaked with blood, then spoke.
“What are they talking about, when he’s just a bastard who took four days to catch this cute little son of a bitch at best....”
-STAB—!
Oh Yuk-il drove the knife he had been rolling in his hand into the dead Wolf King’s eyeball and said,
“...To begin with, there’s no way a bastard who won’t die no matter how many times you kill him could exist, right?”
He did not believe in true ‘Immortality.’
So there was only one thing he wanted.
“Will that curse or whatever... get spat back out of that bastard?”
Only Yoo Da-huin’s head.
“...And I wonder how much that would go for. Haha, hahahah!”
That was all he wished for.
***
-THUD... THUD...
“If it’s a Golem, it’s a Golem. What’s with this Incomplete crap?”
It was slowly approaching.
No.
It was hard even to call it approaching.
-THUD... THUUD....
Literally, it was a moving ‘lump of rock.’
“Ah, whatever.”
There was even something like a core in its heart area, practically plastered there with the words ‘I’m the weak point’ written all over it.
I didn’t have time, and even if I died, there was no penalty.
-THWACK—!
I kicked hard off the ground.
-TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP—!
I ran across the ruins, charging in a straight line toward the bastard approaching me.
“Hup!”
-THWACK—!
I jumped with all my strength from the edge of a ruined building and flew toward the bastard.
-GRAB.
Then I grabbed the exposed stone at its center and positioned myself as if I were climbing.
Perhaps thanks to my increased stats, I held myself in a fairly stable position and looked closely at the core.
-THUMP, THUMP, THUMP....
A pink glowing orb, pulsing faintly like a beating heart.
What the hell? And it called itself a Mini Boss.
If it was this easy....
-SLIDE.
Without thinking anything at all, I drew my foot back.
-SHATTER—!
When I kicked the orb with all my strength,
the orb shattered into pieces, and the light in the Golem’s eyes went out.
“Ow, that stings.”
Thanks to that, blood flowed from my leg where the orb fragments had cut me.
-TAP.
I roughly brushed them off and landed on the ground from the lump of rock in one motion.
-THUD, RUMBLE! THUD!
With my hands on my hips, I watched the collapsing mass of rock.
“...That was seriously empty.”
Am I maybe going to set the shortest record?
It’s this easy?
Did I get stronger?
Or was the tower’s difficulty designed wrong?
Around the time I was thinking that—
“.......”
An emptiness with no clear reason drifted around me.
“Ah!”
I understood the reason at once.
“Why isn’t it popping up?”
I had clearly killed this ‘Incomplete’ or whatever Golem, so why wasn’t the ‘tower subjugation complete message’ appearing?
A slight sense of déjà vu.
As I felt that emotion—
[ Ring! ]
A different notification sound rang out.
[ Mini Boss – Incomplete Golem’s core fuses with the blood of the ‘Curse of Immortality’. ]
[ Hidden Boss – Immortal Golem has appeared. ]
“...What?”
I stared blankly at the notification window.