“Yoo Da-huin will not be able to break through the 15th Floor.”
The declaration came from Lee Cheol-heon, Guild Master of Typhon Guild.
The SS-grade Hunters who had each decided to form their own teams, along with Bae Hyeong-seok, had gathered in the conference room once again and were listening to him.
“As proof, even now, after four days have passed, there has been no news of the subjugation. Because Wraith Soldiers appear on the 15th Floor.”
“Wraith Soldiers?”
“That is right. There is no way someone who was born and lived as an ordinary civilian could kill wraith-type monsters.”
Lee Cheol-heon nodded with his arms crossed, wearing a fairly confident expression.
“As you know, to kill a wraith, an ‘ability’ is necessary. Therefore, Yoo Da-huin will soon….”
But then.
“I don’t think that’s right.”
Lee Chae-rin cut off Lee Cheol-heon’s words and spoke while looking at her phone with a complicated expression.
“Yoo Da-huin. He cleared the 15th Floor.”
“…What?”
Lee Cheol-heon uncrossed his arms with a dumbfounded expression.
“Th-That cannot be. The 15th Floor definitely has Wraith Soldiers….”
“We will need to organize the search party a little faster.”
Bae Hyeong-seok spoke with solemn eyes.
“The ‘Curse of Immortality’ is awakening in some form. There is no other conclusion we can draw.”
***
After clearing the Wraith Soldier floor, the 15th Floor, everything felt somehow empty.
To be precise, even before that, the emotion called ‘emptiness’ had been gradually growing inside me,
but after watching monsters I had thought were immortal die, I had come to think about my own death again.
I was in an extremely depressed and hollow state.
On the floors after that, I encountered werewolves, Goblin Warriors, and the like.
But just as I had until now, I died with familiarity, killed the bastards at the same time, and climbed the floors numbly.
[ Ding! ]
[ You have cleared the 19th Floor of the tower! ]
And just like that, I cleared the 19th Floor too.
───────────────────
[ Floor: 19th Floor ]
[ Climber: Yoo Da-huin ]
[ Clear Time: 9 hours 13 minutes 15 seconds ]
[ Previous Best Record: 6 minutes 17 seconds ] (Shortest tower climb record)
───────────────────
[ Clear Conditions Met ]
▶ Werewolf (Normal) x2 defeated
[ Climb Ranking: Last Place ] (Current: 7,882nd)
“…Haa.”
Will anything really get better?
What I mean is, will I be able to die?
I want to breathe the outside air.
I want to return to my ordinary life, no.
To the life that had been a little unfortunate, but still more or less livable.
I want everything to go back to the way it was.
Watching my father’s illness show no signs of improvement, tidying up the house while pretending not to know about my wife’s affair, living at work while being pressured from every side and constantly watching everyone’s mood.
Thinking back on it now, I was happy.
Right now, all I have is one wish, just one wish to die, and yet….
“…I can’t.”
[ Continue climbing to the next floor? ]
[ Yes / No ]
-Press.
And so.
I pressed Yes and headed to the next floor.
***
[ Ding! ]
[ Reached the 20th Floor of Gyeonggi Namyangju Tower No. 2! ]
The 20th Floor.
Since a boss had appeared on the 10th Floor, I thought this floor might be the same, even in my dazed state.
As expected, I arrived in a wide grassland.
Had the tower granted my wish to breathe the outside air?
Of course, this was not outside but inside the tower, but when the cool wind and sunlight touched my body, I felt as if my depression and emptiness had been blown away a little.
“…This feels nice.”
While I was greeting that gentle breeze,
-THUD. THUD. THUD.
The sound of footsteps, enormous yet stealthy, came from ahead.
“…Of course. I thought it was giving me too long of a break.”
Should I finish this floor quickly too?
“After I finish it, I should stay here for a while.”
How long has it been since I last had sunlight, wind, and clear air like this?
Whether it took 5 hours or 10 hours, I thought I might quickly finish the subjugation, then stay on this floor for a while instead of going up right away—
And then.
-THUD.
“…Wow.”
Something appeared far off in the field.
Even from such a distance, it looked at me while boasting a body so enormous it seemed to defy perspective.
[ Ding! ]
[ 20th Floor Boss of the tower – Giant Wolf King has appeared! ]
[ Subjugation begins! ]
An enormous wolf growled low, letting its white mane drift in the gentle grassland wind.
“…Giant Wolf King?”
The 20th Floor boss battle.
The subjugation began.
-TAP!
First, as always, I recklessly charged at the enemy.
My way of fighting was always the same.
I died and gnawed away at the opponent.
To do that, first I had to reach the bastard’s blade….
“…Huh?”
As I thought that and blinked,
I saw the Wolf King’s sharp claws, which had been far away, already swinging down right before my eyes.
-CRUNCH!
My head shattered into fragments and scattered,
and my body flew far away on the spot and began regenerating my head.
“…Wh-What was that just now?”
An attack I had not even noticed.
I thought I had met every kind of fast bastard until now, but this one broke far outside that assumption.
-SMASH!
“Gup…!?”
The moment I thought, the second attack came.
This time, the bastard tore my upper body to shreds with just one swing of its foreleg again.
-CRUNCH!
Then it chewed my head, crushed it, and spat it out with a spit.
My form, mashed like pulp, could hardly even be called a corpse.
In an instant, I had died three times.
-Creeeeep….
But with Enhanced Regeneration Speed already at LV.5, I finished regenerating fairly quickly.
“Wh-What the… fuck….”
Flustered by the bastard’s absurd speed, I kept smacking the side of my head, tap-tap, trying to get ahold of myself.
“…….”
The Wolf King tilted its head slightly, its blue eyes shining with noble light.
As it watched me return to my original state right after being torn apart three times, it seemed to feel a sense of déjà vu.
This time, it did not attack immediately, and instead studied me.
But only for a moment.
-THUD.
When the Wolf King slowly stepped forward, the weight of it pressed down on the air.
-WHOOSH!
Then that enormous wolf vanished from before my eyes in an instant.
-SLASH!
Its claws tore through the air and covered my vision.
Of course, there was no time to dodge.
-GUSH, GUSH….
My body split in two, and my organs and blood sprayed out. My upper body was still flying through the air, spinning round and round.
I died.
-WHOOSH! CRACK!
“Kuhup!?”
This time, it struck my body hard with its thick tail.
The air vibrated as if it were a gigantic whip, and by the time I noticed, every one of my ribs had already been pulverized.
My vision shook, and my heart stopped.
I died.
“Wh-What is this? W-Wait.”
I could not adapt to the tempo that was far too fast, and as I repeated regeneration and resurrection, I could not get my bearings.
-THUD!
This time, the bastard launched itself forward and slammed its head into my solar plexus.
“Kup?!”
My back split open, and my heart burst again.
I died.
-Creeeeep…
“Insane….”
As I staggered and slowly began regenerating, I recalled the moment when I had first been afflicted by the Curse of Immortality.
The moment when I had been killed indiscriminately by three S-grade Hunters.
I had thought I had grown quite used to the boundary between death and resurrection, but this was the first time since then that nothing but death had continued this one-sidedly.
I could not even lay a hand on the enemy.
In a different way from the Wraith Soldiers, I could not kill it.
“Damn it!”
This time, I tried to counterattack.
-FLASH!
The moment the Wolf King lowered its body, I moved sideways to escape its field of vision.
-CRUNCH!
“…Gurgle…!”
But it meant nothing.
With my low physical abilities and stats, I could not escape the bastard.
My abdomen split open, my whole body was flung backward, and my senses vanished.
I died.
“Haa, haa….”
-GRIP.
I clenched a tuft of grass and forced my body upright again.
I twitched my fingers and caught my breath.
Then I focused my mind.
[ Ding! ]
[ Intimidation activates! ]
Intimidation, which had worked on every monster until now.
A notification appeared with a chime, saying it had activated.
“…Grrrrr….”
The Wolf King growled low.
-FLASH! SLASH!
“…?!”
Then it simply leaped forward and cut my body in half again.
-SPLAT!
My upper body flew far away and rolled, and my corpse, reduced to pulp, resurrected once more.
“You fucking….”
I shook my head several times to clear the dizziness and met the bastard’s eyes.
“…….”
Eyes shining in a noble blue light.
This thing.
Intimidation did not work.
It could feel nothing from me.
-THUD, THUD.
The Wolf King slowly walked toward me.
With not so much as a change in its aura, it approached with steps different from those of a beast that simply reacted.
It looked at me, the one who did not die, with interest, but also with wary eyes.
One step, then another.
And then….
-CRUNCH!
Once again, without even knowing how it had happened, my head burst apart.
I died.
“Fu, ck! Stop it!”
I rose with a monstrous scream and shrieked.
-SQUELCH!
“…Keuk!”
The bastard’s claws pierced through my upper body, lifted me up, and shook me.
How are you not dying?
Why do you keep coming back to life?
As if asking that, it stared at me with those eyes and shook me from above.
“Don’t look at me, fuck!”
I stretched out my leg and thrust it toward the bastard’s eye.
-SMASH!
“Kuhup!”
At that moment, the bastard drove the claw holding me into the ground and tore my upper body apart again.
I rolled across the floor, regenerated, and stared into the bastard’s eyes.
I had died more than enough.
Now, soon….
[ Ding! ]
[ Death count has repeated significantly! ]
[ Intimidation skill activates more strongly! ]
That’s it!
For the first time, I trembled with elation brought by a Skill and waited.
Intimidation had never once failed to work until now.
It was a Skill so powerful that even the Ogre, the boss of the 10th Floor, had turned its enormous body around and fled.
“…Grrrr….”
Now.
You should know after killing me this many times, right?
I don’t die.
You too will be frightened like everything before you and….
-CRUNCH.
“…Kuhup…?!”
It did not work.
I knew it instinctively.
This bastard was not afraid of me at all.
Why?
Why?
[ Ding! ]
[ Death Detection skill activates! ]
[ Boss: Giant Wolf King’s species, ‘wolf,’ and Passive Skill ‘King’s Courage’ offset Intimidation skill! ]
[ More repeated deaths are required for Intimidation skill to take effect! ]
…And then.
The Death Detection skill that activated kindly explained the reason.
So, I had to die more?
That bastard was still not afraid of the repetition of my deaths?
“Haha! Hahahahaha!”
I laughed in disbelief.
My only advantage was that I did not die and came back to life,
and now I had even met an enemy that was not afraid of that?
“Don’t give me that bullshit!”
Since I was trapped by this damned curse, I at least needed to have an ability worthy of it.
That was the thing that allowed me to endure.
If I merely repeated helpless deaths, and kept surviving again and again for no reason,
I would simply be trapped on this floor forever.
I would lose my mind and go insane.
-SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
Even as I thought that, claws, tail, and teeth struck me over and over.
I died.
I came back to life.
I died.
I came back to life.
“…Fuck… you son of a bitch…!”
Was I angry for that reason?
Or was it a somewhat rational thought?
Even thinking about it myself, I was not sure.
-GRAB!
I grabbed the top and bottom of the bastard’s wide-open maw.
-CRUNCH!
And shoved my entire upper body into the bastard’s mouth.