1st Floor Gatekeeper (4)
[You have been revived.]
[Challenge Attempts 5/10]
Challenging the Round 5 stage, I managed to dig up yet another piece of information.
'Its ability regenerates whichever wound it received first, with top priority.'
Recovering from multiple wounds at the same time was impossible. That was quite a...... no, a considerably big weakness.
“Whoooooo.......”
I calmed my mind with deep breaths.
Now there were only 5 chances left.
5? That's enough. More than enough.
Through 5 challenges, I had realized a way to kill the thing for sure.
Now all I had to do was pull off that method within 5 tries.
At the cost of a single death, I had given the thing nothing but a scratch, but that single scratch had become a foothold for a single step forward and Having become able to take my first step, even if it was just once, I came to realize that the towering wall, which had seemed like it could never be closed in on for all eternity, was nothing special.
[You recall the skill 'Mental Endurance.']
When I forced myself to stay calm despite being driven into an extreme situation, the skill was created. But that one wasn't a very important skill.
'I need to use Emergency Evasion offensively.'
Until now, I had used it to somehow preserve a life and find the thing's clear method.
Now, I had to use it more aggressively. It was a skill that was basically a one-life coin, but to clear this, I had to make gambles with my life on the line too.
《Emergency Evasion》
A technique that momentarily pushes the body half a step out of reality.
The user enters a 'Phasing' state for an instant and lets attacks slip past.
If Phasing succeeds, the user dashes a short distance forward.
▣ Grade B
▣ Dash Distance: 1m
▣ Phasing Duration: 0.16 sec
▣ Cooldown: 3 min
▣ Defense –200% while skill is in use
This skill was a typical 'high risk, high return' type of skill, but.
That's just how it sounds on paper. All the challengers unanimously called it a 'trash skill' or a 'suicide skill.'
0.16 seconds of Phasing. In a word, invincibility, but it was way too short.
The invincibility window was short, and if the 'Phasing evasion' failed, you didn't even dash. Then what happened?
You stopped in place in a stunned state with your defense slashed by a full 200%, left exposed to the enemy's attack, and took a fatal wound just like that.
Because of all these risks, even though it came with invincibility, it was only B-Rank.
But it was a different story if, like me, you had no skills to use.
For me, with no blessings, no Divine Powers, and no S-Rank skills, the only way to survive had been to hone how I used this skill.
[Entering the Round 6 stage.]
Let's go again.
Five more times.
Within those, you die by my hand.
***
[A minority of Celestials cheer you on.]
Uh, thanks, friends.
But cheering is done with donations, kiddos.
“Whoo.”
I took a big breath to relieve the tension and dashed forward.
[A total of 130 Celestials are watching you.]
I dashed with everything I had.
The Gatekeeper reacted the same way. It swung its club to attack me as I charged in, but I slid and easily got past it to its back.
Here, I tore the hide off its back with the halberd, then stabbed the spearhead into the wall and used the recoil to land on the floor.
If I stayed still here, the club would come flying at me. But I had come prepared with a countermeasure for that.
I'd throw a weapon first!
Taking the shield out of my Inventory, I hurled it with all my strength, even faster than the thing could throw its club.
-Krrk.
Instead of choosing to throw its club, the thing chose to swing the club from that same posture and smash my shield.
At the very moment you swing something to smash it, your focus inevitably gathers on that thing. A living creature's field of vision may seem wide, but it's extremely narrow.
Taking advantage of that, the moment I threw the shield, I took out the crossbow I had prepared in advance and aimed it at the thing.
TWANG!
Fired fiercely, the crossbow bolt flew at the thing's eyeball.
Complex organs like eyes, or vital parts critical to survival, regenerated extremely slowly, so just landing a hit on them was a gain.
THUNK! But the thing raised the hand holding its club and easily blocked it.
A level-45 body couldn't completely deflect the arrow, so the arrow lodged in its forearm.
Rip! It should have regenerated as soon as it pulled the arrow out, but perhaps because it was still in the middle of regenerating the wound on its back, a little blood leaked out.
But, that was all.
You might ask what's so important about a wound that's only that much, but.
While the thing floundered and wasted two whole turns, I swung the halberd and smashed its 'Fire Eggs.'
KWOOOAAAH!!
The timing when the thing opened its maw wide and roared. At that moment, I took out the dagger and charged at the thing.
Tatatat! The distance closed fast.
When the thing instinctively raised its right arm, my PTSD flared up and my legs trembled, but [Mental Endurance] let me endure the trauma, if only slightly.
“Hraaaaaaah!!”
Shouting a battle cry, I stomped my way up the thing's thick belly fat and thrust my left hand toward its maw.
SQUELCH-!
-......
When my left arm was jammed into the thing's mouth, it flinched slightly and drew back.
The dagger gripped in my left hand tore up the inside of its maw, which was relatively weaker than its skin.
Good, I could feel it!
Once it got this far, the clear was practically a success!
Hope began to swell.
That hope was overwritten and vanished beneath the pain that suddenly stabbed into my mind.
Crrrrrrunch...!!
“Gaaaaah!”
As if it were nothing, the thing bore down with its teeth, ready to tear my forearm right off.
“This fuc.......”
This couldn't be. I'd definitely felt it. If my plan was right, the thing shouldn't have had the strength to close its maw.
'No way.'
Was it too shallow? Had that part been located deeper than I thought?
Tears streamed down from the pain, and I wanted to die right that instant, but I endured with superhuman patience.
My eyes wide and glaring, clenching my trembling teeth.......
“Nngh-uuugh!!”
I forced strength into my half-severed left arm and shoved it into the thing's maw.
I had to find out. I couldn't throw away a round in vain without getting any information!
Just a little more, a little.......
“Ah, AAAAAGH!!”
Crunch! Rip!
With the sound of muscle tearing and bone being severed, my body fell away backward.
The pain of having my arm severed was more agonizing than I'd ever imagined, so I rolled on the floor for a few seconds, and.
THOOOM-!
......My body burst.
[You have died.]
“Ugh, bleeeeegh......!!”
Brutal. There was no way to handle, with a sober mind, the pain of my whole body bursting like a balloon after having my abdomen stomped by that massive bulk. Retching, I trembled, my left arm shaking.
Was it because I'd felt the pain of it being severed for too long? The lingering phantom pain stayed far too long.
[Challenge Attempts 4/10]
......But it's fine.
'I've figured out the depth of its throat.'
I can do it.
Through all the challenges so far, I've found a way to clear the thing completely, haven't I?
I can do it.
All I have to do is what I always do.
Yu Hyun-sung, you're one cool bastard!
I can do it.
Because I'm me.
“I chall.......”
My voice was hoarse.
“I'll take the challenge.”
[Entering the Round 7 stage.]
I repeated the previous situation.
Since I knew why I'd failed just now, I was even more confident.
Trading the same exchanges the same way.
Smashing its balls the same way, then climbing up its belly fat.
In the previous stage, I had died because of the mistake I made right after this.
But there would be no second mistake.
Gripping the left-hand dagger as close to the very end as I could, I shoved it into the thing's throat and churned it as if stabbing from top to bottom.
SQUELCH!
-......KWOAAH!
This time, I got a reaction from the very start.
The thing had been about to bite my left arm off, but instead, it opened its mouth wide and spat it out. That meant the thing was in so much pain it couldn't even chew anything.
Flung backward, I checked my left arm. It was half-chewed, with bone showing, but bearable.
My left arm was half-crippled, but having a hand or not having one made a big difference.
“Hurts, doesn't it? You asshole.”
It would be hard to pull the dagger out with one hand. The thing clutched at its throat, using both arms to pull out the dagger stuck in it, and.
That was exactly.
The opening I had deliberately created.
I had spent a long time pondering how to kill rapid regenerators.
Drowning, suffocation, burning to death.
Even rapid regenerators suffered and died when they couldn't breathe.
Knowing that well, I had planned to target the thing's windpipe from the start. A dagger wasn't big enough to block the airway, but stabbing it in to make breathing difficult was possible.
'If I'd had enough strength, piercing the hide of its neck would've been better, but.......'
That was also why I had picked the risky dagger instead of the longsword.
Rapid regeneration had grades too. Regeneration that pulled embedded weapons out on its own and then healed was quite high-level. Having that kind of skill at level 45 was systemically impossible.
If I'd stabbed it with the longsword, the thing would have easily grabbed the hilt, pulled the sword out, and secured its airway again.
But with a dagger, it couldn't do that.
The thing, its maw gaping wide, was struggling to somehow get its huge hand inside to pull out the dagger.
'......The dagger's too shallow to fully suffocate it, though.'
If I left it like that, it would get the dagger out one way or another. But I had no intention of letting it get that far.
Gripping the halberd with both arms, I cut, no, tore at the thing's chest with all my might.
RRRRIP!
An unpleasant noise, like hide being forcibly ripped apart. After doing that twice, I took out the longsword.
-Gurgle!
The thing was now just barely pulling the dagger out of its throat, but its rapid regeneration would have started restoring its airway with top priority.
Before the gaping opening on its chest could regenerate, I swiftly plunged the longsword in.
SQUELCH-!
Shallow. I thought I'd pierced the tough hide and driven it in hard, but the chest muscle was the problem.
Leaving the longsword stuck in, I stepped back and gripped the halberd with both arms again. If the depth wasn't enough, the only option was to push it in with greater force!
Whoosh-!
But there was no opening. The thing had started rampaging.
'Damn it. A skill type that gets faster when death is imminent?'
Just how many damn speed-type skills does it have dangling off it?
Rampage. The thing went berserk so that nothing could approach it.
It was just swinging both arms recklessly, but I couldn't see any angle to close in and attack.
But.
For times like this, there was a skill I'd prepared.
'Force an opening and dig in.'
My back was soaked with tension, but I concentrated as hard as I could and stared at the thing's movements.
'Left arm, left arm, right arm, swings the left arm again, and.......'
I let out one breath.
'Now.'
[Emergency Evasion]
In an instant, able to burrow into the thing's embrace, my eyes gleamed ominously as I gripped the halberd.
Re-gripping the halberd in my right arm, I swung it hard enough to crush my own muscles and bones, like driving a nail with a hammer.
“RAAAAAAAH!!”
[You recall the skill 'Big Swing.']
......With all my strength, I struck the pommel at the end of the longsword dead-on.
THWANG—!!
-Gkk.......
The longsword was driven in and pierced its heart, and the thing made a gurgling sound in its throat before collapsing backward.
“Haah, haah.......”
My legs were trembling.
Did I kill it? Did I really kill it?
Even a rapid regenerator dies if its heart is destroyed.
“Ha, hahaha.......”
Had I been secreting too much adrenaline? When I came to my senses, the pain came rushing in all at once.
My left arm had already lost all feeling, and the muscles in my right hand were screaming too.
“Hahaha...... fuck. I won. I won, I'm telling you.......”
With violently trembling hands, I grabbed my forehead.
When was the last time I'd been drunk on the dopamine of victory?
Just for today, I think I can enjoy it.
DING!
[Apocalypse Tower 1st Floor Clear!]
[You have obtained 900 TP!]
[You have obtained 350 TP as a First Clear Reward!]
[You have obtained additional stats as a First Clear Reward.]
[Cleared with 4 challenge attempts remaining. You have obtained an additional 400 TP.]
[The Celestials are satisfied with your marvelous and witty battle. You have obtained an additional 100 TP.]
[......Some Celestials who had denied your challenge have come to reconsider your qualifications once more.]