[Please select a Difficulty.]
About 28 years ago.
Something black sprang up all across the world.
At the same time, System windows appeared before the eyes of a chosen few.
To some, this became a blessing, and to others, a curse.
[You have not yet completed the Tutorial.]
Just then, I heard the voices of others beside me who had just Awakened, like me.
“What’s this?”
“Mister, you don’t even know what a tutorial is? Are you an L-tag?”
“L-tag? What does that mean?”
From S-rank to F-rank, the Association quantified players’ talent and assigned them ranks.
Those D-rank and above received professional training, but those below didn’t even get the chance.
Loser tag.
It was slang used by D-rank and higher players to belittle E-rank and F-rank players.
‘Seriously, kids these days abbreviate everything.’
The Tower’s 1st floor begins with the Tutorial.
Easy, Normal, Hard, Hell.
Of course, the selected Difficulty applies only to the 1st floor.
‘Of course, where I need to go is already decided.’
It was only natural that the rewards differed depending on the Difficulty.
There was no reason to choose any other path.
I had to grow faster and more overwhelmingly than anyone.
The hidden pieces concealed on the Tower’s upper floors.
This run, I had to get my hands on far more of them than last time.
‘I think this every time, but isn’t this item way too broken?’
[Golden Heart]
-Grade: Unique
-Additional stats +2 upon leveling up
‘The stats given per level-up are normally three. If it gives two extra, that’s broken enough.’
There were three ways in total for a player to grow stronger.
Skills, items, and stats.
If even one of the three was lacking, you couldn’t climb even the 50th floor, let alone the 80th.
Two extra stats from the Golden Heart.
It didn’t have any flashy options, but its performance increased exponentially along with the user’s growth.
DING—
[If a Difficulty is not selected, it will be set automatically.]
‘It’s started.’
A rule that applied only upon first entry.
A Tutorial gimmick that triggered if you didn’t select a Difficulty within 30 minutes of entering the Tower.
BEEP-BEEP—
[…A Difficulty has not been selected.]
‘Automatic setting assigns one based on the user’s abilities, and if they don’t fit any existing Difficulty, it creates a new one.’
The Tower analyzed the player’s level and set the Difficulty.
What they had obtained, both innately and through acquisition.
And this analysis included the items they held as well.
‘Right now, I’m holding two Legendary Grade items.’
[Analyzing the user’s level….]
I had to grow faster than anyone.
[Resetting Difficulty.]
I had to reach the top floor of the Tower, and there was no shortage of bastards I needed to hunt down and beat to a pulp.
That was why.
[Complete.]
A mere Hell Difficulty couldn’t satisfy me.
[Difficulty Chaos has been selected.]
‘A hidden Difficulty nobody knows about. Chaos. It’s definitely hard to clear, but there’s no place where I can grow faster than this.’
The one who had told me about the existence of the Chaos Difficulty, which even I hadn’t known about, was Kang Ji-ho.
Thanks to his broken Unique Ability, that bastard had been selected for Chaos, and he showed overwhelming growth comparable to mine, even with my advantage of countless regressions.
Swsh—
In that instant.
Along with a split second of stillness, the forms of the players who had filled the surroundings vanished like smoke.
The deep silence that descended in an instant swallowed every presence around me.
Within that silence, an inexplicable pressure sent a chill down my spine.
‘What? That bastard never told me about this.’
RUMBLE—
The Tower shook.
At the same time, cracks began to form on the floor.
Red light leaked through the cracks, and a dull vibration, like a beating heart, came up from beneath my feet.
[Moving to the Tutorial location.]
Cracks covering the floor.
They gave off an ominous feeling, as if a rift into the abyss were opening.
Something had clearly gone wrong.
“……!?”
CRASH!!!
In that instant, the ground beneath my feet disappeared.
A strange sensation of my body floating up into the air. Soon, my entire body was dragged in a particular direction by intense gravity.
“…Kang Ji-ho, you X-ing bastard!!!”
Hurling a string of curses at Kang Ji-ho, who had habitually left out something important, I plummeted headfirst into a bottomless abyss.
***
WHOOOOOSH—
A dark vertical shaft.
I was currently bungee jumping without a cord.
Regardless of my own will.
‘That bastard. He deliberately didn’t explain this.’
There was no telling how deep it was.
At least tens of kilometers.
How many players could survive falling from this height?
Well, I certainly couldn’t.
‘Damn it, how long is this going to—’
Flinch—
Something began to come into view.
All I had seen since coming in here was black.
Something that wasn’t black was visible.
The ground.
Finally, a ground made of dirt was visible.
“Oh no—”
WHOOOOOSH—
But my speed hadn’t slowed down at all.
At this rate, death by falling was 100% guaranteed.
“Damn it!”
KABOOOOM!!!
The moment I slammed into the ground, a violent explosion erupted.
Along with it, dust scattered in all directions.
“Cough! Cough! What the hell happened?”
Flutter—
When I slowly opened my eyes, the scenery before me was different from what I had expected.
“What is this place?”
A desolate field.
A wide grassland without a single blade of grass.
Only a huge crater remained where I had fallen; beyond that, it was an empty world with nothing in sight.
DING—
[Chaos Difficulty Exclusive: The Tutorial Protection System has been terminated.]
Tutorial Protection System.
This was the first time in 100 runs that I had learned such a thing existed.
“One more reason to beat that bastard to a pulp.”
[Tutorial]
[Grade: Chaos]
[Mission: Survive against the incoming monsters for 30 minutes]
“What? This is completely different from the mission that bastard described?”
His explanation had been vague, but I clearly remembered the key points.
Yet everything, from the mission details to the location, was completely different from the information I knew.
“What the hell is coming out, and how many, for it to tell me to survive?”
[The mission begins.]
[29:59]
The moment the timer started, an ominous ‘thunk’ sound came from somewhere beneath my feet.
“…Below?”
THUNK— THUNK— THUNK—
Soon, dozens of bones began to burst through the dirt.
And then.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
In an instant, the ground heaved upward.
Clods of dirt burst up violently, like firecrackers.
Clack— Clack—
Skeletons.
Moving bones began to reveal themselves one by one.
“Just skeletons? Or rather… what the hell is this insane quantity?”
10, 30, 100, no…
More than that.
Uncountable skeletons began pouring out into the world, bursting through the dirt.
“I get the general idea, but….”
Swish—
One skeleton turned its head toward me.
It had become aware of my presence.
Rattle— Rattle—
“This is all Chaos Difficulty is? It’s hardly any different from Hell, is it?”
WHOOSH—
I dashed forward and drove my right hand into its face.
CRUNCH!
With the dull sound of bone splintering, the skull shattered to pieces like a plastic toy.
In that moment, the air surrounding me swiftly began to turn cold.
Countless eyes glowing red in the darkness locked onto me all at once.
Like the starving eyes of a giant beast.
“Whew—”
Catching my breath, I stretched my right arm out into the air.
The moment my fingertips touched something, a heavy weight was transmitted into my grip.
The Legendary Grade greatsword, Eclipse.
Feeling the chilling energy gliding across the blade, I lifted the edge slightly.
‘No need to use the unique skill on these lowly things.’
Rattle—
A skeleton came running, creaking.
Stepping my left foot forward and twisting my waist, I drew Eclipse through horizontally.
CRUNCH!
The skull was torn apart like a sheet of paper.
Another skeleton lunged at me from the left.
Winding the sword up over my shoulder, I brought it down like lightning onto the crown of its head.
CRASH—!
The crown of its head, along with its spine, split in half with a crack, and its body broke into two pieces.
At the same time, I sensed a presence to my left.
Tap—
Stepping half a step aside, I kicked the knee joint of the approaching one with my left foot.
The moment it buckled, I twisted the tip of the sword and thrust it into the back of its neck.
Rattle— Rattle—
A sword came flying from the side.
Ducking my upper body to let it slide past, I drew a horizontal line with the force of my waist’s rotation.
CRASH—!
With Eclipse’s horizontal line, its ribs burst to pieces.
“Of all things, undead monsters. I’m lucky today. If it’d been anything else, it would’ve been a bit of a pain.”
Every time Eclipse’s edge traced a line of light, bone fragments flew.
Before I had even caught my breath once, I charged at the next group.
Rattle— Rattle—
From the 5 o’clock direction ahead, one holding an axe came running, twisting its body.
From the front, another approached with its sword raised high.
“Oh, a pincer attack? You two get along, huh?”
I twisted my shoulder to deflect its sword and snatched the arm of the axe-wielder with my left hand.
GRAB!
I yanked its arm, forcing it to bend its upper body forward.
When I drove my knee straight into its jaw, bone fragments flew, and one skeleton twisted in midair.
“Honestly, I underestimated it, but it definitely deserves to be called Chaos.”
An ordinary player couldn’t clear this Difficulty.
The skeletons themselves were weak, but their sheer numbers were the problem.
Their numbers bore down as a pressure that gnawed away not only at the body but at the mind.
“But I’m not exactly an ordinary player.”
I’m not a genius.
No, I wasn’t a genius.
But after hundreds and thousands of battles.
After 999 deaths, I had become a monster beyond a genius.
‘Behind—’
WHOOOOSH—
Swiftly spinning around, I swung Eclipse to the left.
CRUNCH!
The skull of the ambushing skeleton was shattered to pieces by the blunt greatsword.
DING—
[You have leveled up.]
[You gain additional Free Stats from the effect of the Golden Heart.]
‘Is it because the Difficulty’s different? One level from killing nine. As expected, the efficiency’s insane.’
There was no need to check the Status Window.
I had already clearly decided which stat to invest in.
“Dump it all into Vitality.”
[Vitality: 4→9]
“My body back at this point really is trash. I swing a greatsword a few times, and I’m already out of breath.”
As I continued hunting like that.
CRRRK—!
‘There were some that hadn’t come out yet?’
A hand suddenly shot up from beneath my feet and seized my ankle as if to crush it.
Along with a pain like my bones were breaking, a grip strong enough to rip my whole leg off squeezed tighter.
‘What? This isn’t the grip strength of an ordinary skeleton.’
SQUEEZE—
Without panicking, I readjusted my grip on the greatsword with both hands.
Putting my whole body’s strength into it, I thrust the greatsword toward where its head should be.
THUNK—
A heavy sensation traveled up through my fingertips, but there was no feel of bone breaking.
Its head hadn’t been pierced.
SQUEEZE—!
“Huh?!”
The force squeezing my ankle didn’t loosen.
It was alive.
‘I aimed precisely. Was I not strong enough?’
Rattle— Rattle—
The skeletal hand gripping my ankle slowly pulled its body up out of the ground.
Flinch—
‘A Skeleton Lancer?’
A thick bone structure, a sturdy frame.
I could sense a presence on an entirely different level from ordinary skeletons.
<Skreeeeeeek—!>
“Noisy.”
I raised my sword again.
Aiming at the head of the one gripping my ankle.
I put strength into both hands and brought it straight down.
CRASH—!
With that attack, a crack formed in the skeleton’s forehead bone.
“If once isn’t enough—”
I pulled the sword back up and slashed down diagonally.
CRUNCH—!
Bone fragments flew, but it was still staggering and hanging on.
“Then I’ll just smash it a hundred times.”
Taking a breath, I twisted my waist and put my whole body’s strength into it.
“Hup— There’s no bone bag that doesn’t croak after getting its noggin smashed a hundred times!”
CRASH-CRASH-CRASH-CRASH!
KABOOM—!!
The skull shattered to pieces, and the grip of its arm went limp.
[You have leveled up.]
“A Skeleton Lancer all of a sudden? What’s going on here?”
When I widened my field of view, I saw skeletons closing in around me in a circle.
The clacking of their bones sounded unpleasant.
[24:46]
“Is the rule that evolved ones pop out every 5 minutes? What an interesting place.”
If they were getting stronger, that meant the experience points were increasing just as much.
At that fact, my blood boiled like a furnace.
“Yeah… this is more like it. This is what makes coming here worth it.”
I rested the sword on my shoulder and took a step forward.
‘If I clear just this, I’ll get even stronger.’
TAP-TAP-TAP—
“5 points into Strength.”
[Strength: 6→11]
WHOOOOSH—
When I swung Eclipse wide to the side, the Lancer’s torso split in two and shattered.
‘More, more, more!’
High-grade experience points.
I couldn’t let even a single one slip away.
“Come at me, more of you. I’ll send every last one of you to be reborn in paradise.”
***
When it hit 20 minutes, Skeleton Archers came out.
Bowmen who did nothing but shoot arrows from a distance.
They were easier to deal with than the Lancers, but just as irritating.
The bigger problem was the Skeleton Shielders that came out next.
True to their name, they were bastards who held up shields in front of the bowmen and held their ground.
“Do you guys seriously have no shame?”
WHOOOOSH—
A greatsword swung powerfully from top to bottom.
CLANG—!
The greatsword bounced weakly off their shields, letting out a sharp grating sound.
Not missing that split-second opening, a Skeleton Lancer charged in from the rear.
It squeezed in between the shields and jabbed with its spear.
<Skreeek—!>
SHWOOOK—
Along with a horrible shriek, the spearhead flashed menacingly.
TAP-TAP—!
If I opened up distance with a quick backstep—
WHOOOOSH—
Arrows immediately rained down.
“Tch!”
Swish—
I quickly swung the greatsword horizontally and knocked away every incoming arrow.
Then back in front of the shields.
They were repeating this pattern.
“Status Window.”
[Status Window]
Seo Kang-yul. Lv.7
Unique Ability: Curse of Repose
Skills: None
Strength: 16
Agility: 7
Vitality: 14
Mana: 1
Free Stats: 10
‘I’d like to save them a bit, but there are too many variables to spend them now.’
Eclipse only added power to damage dealt directly to undead monsters.
In other words, attacks that struck their sturdy shields were nothing more than empty reverberations.
“And their movements are kind of weird.”
Their movements were strange somehow.
They maintained a set distance and came no closer, simply holding their positions and standing still.
‘They seem to be keeping their numbers constant, too. It’s like they’re waiting for something….’
The timer would soon reach 10 minutes.
So far, a new monster had appeared every 5 minutes.
Then a new monster would pop out at 10 minutes.
‘There’s only one monster that needs that many bones, and that thing appears in the Tutorial?’
Two options.
The first was to invest all my Free Stats into Strength and break through the shields.
The second was to wait.
“If I know what’s coming out next, there’s no need to create variables.”
If I chose the first option, I could fight right now, but I wouldn’t be able to deal with whatever came out afterward.
Taking them down to gain stats was good too, but I couldn’t know exactly when I would level up.
‘I’ve got Eclipse, so even if it comes out, I should be able to kill it. Should I take a breather?’
I settled down at a spot a reasonable distance away.
FLOP—
Propping my chin on my hand, I waited for time to pass.
…….
[09:59]
Flinch—
The glowing eyes gradually faded.
The empty eye sockets crumbled for a moment, and then the skeletal frames began to collapse with a rustling sound.
Shins, thighs, pelvises, spines, skulls….
Dozens of skeletons came apart one after another.
The bones rolling across the dirt wriggled as if they had a will of their own, ceaselessly heading toward a single spot.
Click— Click—
First, a few toes.
Next, shinbones.
Soon after, ribs, spine, jawbone….
Every piece began to form a single body.
“I had a hunch, but I didn’t think that thing would actually show up.”
The bone fragments intertwined in a bizarre way, completing a massive form two, three, five times larger.
Each time the bones joined together joint by joint, a metallic clashing sound rang out.
The air vibrated heavily.
“Skeleton Giant….”
A boss monster that had first appeared on the 25th floor in the past.
A monster that could only barely be conquered when ten players of level 70 or higher charged at it together.
‘Of course, it’s way smaller compared to that one.’
This was a monster made for the Chaos Difficulty.
It might not match the original, but it wasn’t something that should show up in a tutorial.
“Isn’t it a bit much for this to show up in the 1st-floor Tutorial?”
<Grrrrrrrk.>
Its movements were slow, but the sense of weight radiating from that enormous bulk was overwhelming.
If it swung its arm even once, the wind pressure alone would surely send my body flying like a feather.
‘The Tutorial ends in nine minutes.’
The mission was survival.
If I ran away right now, that giant skeleton could never catch me.
But if I killed it, rewards beyond imagination would be waiting for me.
“Hey, bonehead.”
Swish—
I crooked a finger at it and flashed a bright smile.
“Come here. I’ll help you attain Buddhahood too.”