1st Floor Gatekeeper (2)
Every tower had a waiting room for each floor.
The waiting room was shaped like a big sports field, with nothing but two portals.
One was the stage challenge portal, and the other was a portal leading to the 'Shop,' where you could buy skills, miscellaneous goods, equipment, and so on.
But the stage on the 10th floor, where the 1st floor had not yet been cleared, had only the single challenge portal.
So, what did that mean?
There was no separate space suitable for resting. It held only the devices essential for challenging the Tower, and that was it.
You couldn't rest comfortably, eat, or enjoy any leisure in such an empty place, so players would go back to the 'Lounge' or wherever, but there was also the risk of running into other high-level players, or criminal players, there.
In other words, it was too much for me to go there now, with my level reset.
But here, there was no one but me.
I could sleep naked on the floor here, and it wouldn't matter.
The waiting room did have a buff that healed any wound or illness, so exercise could only be done in the designated training ground, though.
Since it had come to mind, I headed to the training ground and tested my body.
Against a wooden dummy, to find out just how terrible my body's condition had become after weakening to level 10.
“Hm. Got it. I'm trash.”
In conclusion, there was no need for any kind of test. I had become a pathetic sight.
My previous level had been 300.
The so-called peak level humanity could reach, called 'max level.' Not many Tier 4 Tower challengers had achieved max level.
From level 290 on, leveling efficiency wasn't great, and it took pointlessly long.
But since I didn't have many special skills or bonuses, I had at least meant to fill my level to the brim before leaving.
Thanks to that, the sense of decline from my body weakening back to level 10 was considerable.
“Haah, still, it's a relief I'm starting the 1st floor at level 10.”
Level 10 actually looks laughable, but on the low floors it was a considerable level.
All the more so considering that the max level of the Tier 1 Tower was only 150.
Tier 2, 200. Tier 3, 250. Tier 4, 300.
That way, level caps and skill grade caps were gradually lifted, stirring up the drive to challenge higher towers, but.......
I was curious.
What was the level cap of the Apocalypse-level Tower?
Well, if it was something like level 350 or 400, I think I'd be disappointed?
No one had been able to challenge it until now, and even the first rankers had been smashed to bits on the 1st floor of this difficulty.
No one had cleared even the 1st floor, so rewards on a completely different level had to be waiting.
[Tier 4 99] Ahn Ho-young: Hyung-nim, are you taking the challenge now?
[Apocalypse 0] Yu Hyun-sung: Yeah, see you in a bit. I should at least clear the 1st floor so I have something to say to the outside.
The outside had to be in an uproar right now too.
A difficulty where not even the 1st floor had ever been cleared, they'd be saying. What kind of fuss were they kicking up right now?
They were probably throwing a fit about the real apocalypse coming.
So I had to breeze through at least the 1st floor first and show the outside something.
I'm a bit of a celeb myself, you know. I've never been active on Earth, but I'm pretty famous. I have to manage my image first, right?
You guys are alive thanks to me!
[Apocalypse 0] Yu Hyun-sung: Ah, and just in case, if you come into the Apocalypse Tower to follow me, I'll seriously kill you with my own hands. Got it?
[Tier 4 99] Ahn Ho-young: ......Yes, Hyung-nim.
[Apocalypse 0] Yu Hyun-sung: Just go out to Earth quietly and do what I tell you. If you really can't be bothered, live doing whatever you want.
It seemed the guy was typing in the chat window to reply to me, but I couldn't be bothered to check it, so I closed it.
Time for me to get to work too.
“Yours truly, heading out.”
[Entering the 1st Floor of the Apocalypse-level Tower.]
[Caution.]
[From Apocalypse-level difficulty onward, every floor is a true story.]
[Also, at Apocalypse-level difficulty, every stage must be carried out as 'Solo Play.']
When I opened my eyes, I was in a dark, gloomy passage. Things like torches hung in rows on the walls on both sides of the corridor, and in the center, a glittering panel was rotating.
[Challenge Attempts 10/10]
“Huh, wow. It's only the 1st floor, and it gives me 10 challenge attempts? Just how hard is it going to be?”
Stages with many challenge attempts usually boasted hellish difficulty. And a whopping 10 on the 1st floor, which was practically a tutorial chapter.
I had never once seen a case of 10 challenge attempts. It meant it was insanely hard.
[The 1st Floor allows a total of 10 retries, and forfeiting midway is impossible.]
[If all 10 challenge attempts are used up, you will die completely.]
[Time remaining until challenge 09:51]
What on earth was waiting for me?
I was curious. A difficulty that even the first ten rankers hadn't been able to clear.
I checked my equipment.
Normally, the 1st floor only let you pick one or two pieces of basic equipment, but the Apocalypse-level let me pick several.
Longsword, halberd, shield, dagger, crossbow.
These five were the equipment I picked.
My main weapon had originally been the halberd, but it was only usable when a superhuman body and skills were combined.
With an ordinary person's body, a sword and shield were the safe choice.
“Challenge.”
[Entering the Round 1 stage.]
Whoosh!
Along with the feeling of my body being moved somewhere, the atmosphere chan...ged, or rather, it didn't.
It was a narrow passage, just like before.
After I'd walked on a bit, some silhouette appeared. Narrowing my eyes to examine it, I couldn't help but scrunch up my face.
What the hell is that?
A monster with a grossly obese lower body, looking to be about 4m tall, stood holding a club made of iron. Behind it, a single steel door was firmly shut.
<Apocalypse Tower 1st Floor>
A spire worn down over thousands of years.
Slay Gurgorka, the Gatekeeper who guards a prison even history has forgotten.
▣ Objective: Slay the Gatekeeper
The quest window appeared.
A truly simple and clear objective.
Kill that thing?
[Lv] 45
[Gatekeeper Gurgorka]
Insane. At level 45, you're already superhuman even in the real world. They can blast apart building walls and cars with their bare fists, I'm telling you.
And that wasn't the only problem.
It was a type of monster I had never seen before.
Its legs were grotesquely thick, and its upper body was skinny. A perfect triangle body type.
You could say it was exactly the kind of physique bodybuilders hated.
If an orc or an ogre had shown up, I'd faced plenty of them and could have found some way to clear it, but since this was a monster I'd never seen at all, I had to find a clear method from scratch.
Lives, 10 in total.
I couldn't waste even one.
The basics of clearing were figuring out how much strength and speed the enemy had.
What skills did it have? What attack patterns and martial arts had it learned, and how could I dodge those attacks with minimal movement?
Okay. Let's picture its movements in my head and creep closer.
THOOOM-!
“Whoa.”
But it reacted faster than I did. The thing, which had looked like it wouldn't budge from in front of the steel door, suddenly shot at me like a rocket!
It was slow at first, but it got faster and faster.
'Acceleration.'
I had meant to block with the shield, but I hurriedly leapt to the side. There was no way that could be blocked with a shield!
Grin.
But the thing smiled.
“......!!”
THWACK!
The Gatekeeper abruptly flung its club into the air, suddenly planted both arms on the floor, and threw a spinning kick just like that.
I hurriedly twisted my body, but both my legs were grazed by its spinning kick, and.......
Slice.
My two legs were cut clean off.
'Huh?'
My mind went white.
I couldn't comprehend the situation.
An attack that gave a brain freeze even to me, who had crossed the line between life and death countless times over 10 years and cleared up to the Tier 4 Tower's 100th floor.
Normally, when hand-to-hand combat like this broke out, the expression 'cut off' would be strange.
But they literally had been cut off.
Were its feet made of blades?
No. It was simply that its leg strength was so overwhelming that my feeble body had come off cleanly, as if cut.
SPLAT!
I collapsed into a total mess like tteokbokki spilled on the floor and frantically rolled using both arms, but the thing, still smiling, came running with thundering stomps and soccer-kicked me just like that.......
BOOM!
The moment its foot touched my abdomen, my body burst like a balloon.
My eyes and ears were dyed bright red, and I tried to scream at the top of my lungs from the pain, but even my mouth was gone, so I couldn't.
Pure white, the world was dyed─
[You have been revived.]
[Challenge Attempts 9/10]
“AAAAAAAAAAH!!!!”
Screaming, I clutched my abdomen, tears and snot streaming down my face.
“Gack, gaagh! Kek!”
My body had come back.
The pain was gone too.
But the phantom pain still lingered and tormented me relentlessly. My abdomen burned hot as if it had been set on fire, and I couldn't breathe.
“Th-this fucking.......”
I had never felt pain like this in my entire life.
My body bursting in one go from a mere kick.......
“Hah, hah!”
Cold sweat streamed down, and my lips went dry.
It felt like I couldn't possibly endure the pain, the phantom pain, but I hastily took water out of my Inventory and poured it over my head.
'Got to pull myself together.......'
With trembling hands, I gulped water into my mouth, then leaned my back against the wall and pressed a hand to my forehead.
[Time remaining until challenge 06:29]
“This is driving me crazy.......”
It felt like I'd only rolled on the floor for a moment, but 3 minutes and 30 seconds had already gone by?
But.......
'I got good information.'
Stay cool. Endure the pain.
Don't be scared.
It might look like I croaked uselessly without doing a thing, but I had learned its strengths and figured out how it fought.
First, it used 'acceleration' to charge at me.
Second, it held a club, but preferred fighting with its legs.
In other words, it was a boss that had dumped everything into leg strength.
“Haah. No wonder the vanguard bastards hit a wall and all croaked.”
The vanguard had probably gone through the same first death as me.
Feeling the boss monster's overwhelming power, they would have thought.
'What difference would it make even if I challenge that thing a second, third, or tenth time?'
The reason these retry stages were so vicious was that they made you realize 'you can never clear it, but you can't get out.'
Communication with the outside was impossible in a challenge stage.
The community couldn't be used either.
But time kept flowing, and you had no choice but to retry, but.......
No matter how many times you challenged it, clearing it was impossible.
But there was a decisive difference between those vanguard bastards and me.
The rankers who had earned the respect of every Celestial and player by being the first to clear the Tier 4 Tower.
They surely had their share of hardships and adversity too. There was no way the very first Ascension Tower challengers hadn't had a rough road.
But from the Tier 3 Tower on, they would have barely suffered any of that. They would have fought draped in Celestial Divine Powers and blessings, armed to the teeth with all sorts of legendary gear bought with their surplus TP, getting hints through Celestial messages along the way.
Me.......
I had fought without any of that crap from the very beginning.
That was the decisive difference between the vanguard and me.
[Time remaining until challenge 04:12]
They must have thought they could proudly conquer the Apocalypse Tower too.
People like that.
Some emotion they had barely ever felt, even while challenging the Tier 4 Tower.
They would have come to accept it here.......
The challenge attempts would dwindle little by little, and time would march on mercilessly.
Did they scream?
Begging to be let out of here?
Or did they keep challenging in silence?
Did they push forward steadfastly, even knowing it was impossible?
[Time remaining until challenge 01:40]
Don't know. Who cares.
But I won't die. I have to prove I'm different from those bastards.
I have to live, if only to make those fucking Celestial bastards eat shit.
[Time remaining until challenge 00:00]
[Entering the Round 2 stage.]
I took my sword out of my Inventory and calmly drew in a breath.
Let's take it step by step, starting with one step.
I can do it. I'm me.
It might not have been to this extent, but I had broken through countless obstacles without any Divine Powers or blessings.
“Bring it, you son of a bitch.”
As if it had understood my words, the Gatekeeper, Gurgorka, grinned and charged in the exact same way at the exact same speed.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
It closed the distance by several meters with every stride. Stay calm. If I jumped into the air like before, my legs would get cut off. But dodging low was no good either, since its first attack was a low one to begin with.
In that case, I'd lure its attack trajectory.
Deliberately hug the left to lure it into swinging there, then slide the opposite way and send it past behind me.
It wouldn't be able to control that acceleration, so it was bound to overshoot me.
I had worked out the timing in my head. Even if it wasn't exact, I'd trust my gut.
Whoosh-!
The instant the club swung toward the wall, I threw myself the opposite way.
Crackle! Bits of the wall sprayed slightly as the thing brushed past me.
I did it! Now that it had passed me, Gurgorka would have to stop too, so its acceleration would be disrupted.
At that speed, even stopping was hard. I knew it from long experience.
BOOM-!
But the thing slammed one leg hard into the floor, making a crater.
'Sudden braking.'
A simple, brute-force way for a superhuman with overwhelming leg strength to stop a sprint.
'Huh?'
Having hit the brakes and stopped the instant it passed me, the thing grinned and threw a punch at me.
The moment of death, that scene.
How slowly it played out before my eyes.
'Is that it.......'
It went beyond a mere gap.
A boundary that looked impossible to cross. An absolute gap.
Astonishingly towering, seemingly never to be crossed─
A colossal wall .
'So that's what this was.'
I think I got it.
The Apocalypse Tower's intention.
Probably an emotion that the rankers, who had climbed the Tower so easily, had felt for the first time.
'Despair.'
Crumble. Before a wall you can never cross.
Witness the slowly approaching fear with your own eyes, and wail in agony.
That was the Apocalypse Tower's first test.
But, truly unfortunately.......
For me, that was, everyday life.
[You have died.]