Why didn't I have facial expressions?
If I had even a bit of muscle, the corners of my eyes would have plummeted straight to the ground.
'What is this?'
Inside the chest was a shield that looked shabby at a glance. The wood on the outside must have rotted, as parts of it were torn away, and the iron around the rim was rusted.
I hadn't expected an item on the level of Heart-to-Heart, but wasn't this going too far?
Since it felt wrong not to use it for now, I took out the shield and held it up.
[Old Wooden Shield – Left Hand]
[A shield that has not been properly maintained. If you angle it well, it might be usable.]
Clack, clack—
My jaw bobbed.
'Angle it well, huh....'
It wasn't even certain. Saying it might be usable meant there was a chance it wouldn't be, didn't it?
Thinking I had wasted my Gold surely wasn't just my own delusion.
Still, what could I do? Like a Slime with a burst core, it was already irreversible.
'Her reaction differed depending on the color of the chest, though....'
I recalled Feirin's reaction. It must have been a good item.
I resolved that I would at least never use a key I paid money for on a brown one.
'If I think about it positively, I found out new information.'
I pulled myself together.
Buying the key had been my own decision, so I couldn't blame anyone else.
'Still, it's better than having nothing.'
Holding the shield gave me a decent look. The Skeleton Soldier Feirin commanded came to mind.
Its equipment was definitely better, but didn't I look somewhat similar in my own way?
Yes, let's think of it like that.
***
I had arrived.
The stairs visible before my eyes—the stairs I hadn't been able to climb before.
I slowly walked toward the stairs.
I stepped onto the spiral staircase.
'It's not here....'
It wasn't there. There was no invisible wall.
In that case?
There was no reason to hesitate.
Step— Step— Step—
The sound of my footsteps echoing as I climbed the stairs was pleasant to hear. Step by step, I climbed the spiral staircase.
'How far up do I have to go?'
Just as I was starting to feel a little bored, the stairs ended.
'I can't go up any further....'
It was a door that looked like the entrance to the second floor. There were no more stairs to climb.
'Does this mean I have to find the stairs again?'
It seemed I couldn't climb straight up in one go. Though I had no intention of doing that anyway.
CREAK—
The door opened.
I had hoped the second floor might be a little different. Opening the door, I scanned my surroundings.
A prison. The second floor was an old prison too.
'Is this tower being used as a prison....?'
Was it a prison for locking up monsters?
Setting my questions aside, I looked at the doors.
Doors leading to both sides—without hesitation, I chose the right.
The passage was the same too. It was a little disappointing.
'Here I thought something would change....'
I exited the passage and opened the door.
THUD— THUD—
Even the sound of the iron bars was the same.
"It's an intruder!"
Right up to this point, it was identical.
However.
THWIP—
Was I seeing what I thought I was seeing?
An arrowhead flew straight toward me.
THUD—!
I stumbled backward from the impact.
Without realizing it, I had raised my shield. The arrow lodged in the shield trembled slightly.
'An archer....'
It was a combination of two Skeleton Soldiers and one Skeleton Archer. What was more, I wasn't the only one holding a weapon.
An old sword just like mine was held in the hand of the charging Skeleton Soldier.
Were the Skeleton Soldiers on the second floor a little different?
'If so... their levels might be higher too....'
Thinking of them like the first-floor Skeleton Soldiers might get me into trouble.
The Skeleton Archer nocked another arrow to its bowstring. Blocking the first arrow had been a fluke.
'Dealing with an archer while fighting Skeleton Soldiers is hard....'
For now, I moved my body behind a pillar. The archer disappeared from my field of vision, and the Skeleton Soldiers charged around both sides of the pillar.
Clack, clack—
My jaw shook.
I felt fear. The thought struck me that I might fall back down to the first floor.
'I'm going to survive!'
Swords flew in from both sides. I had no intention of taking them both on at once.
Blocking the sword flying in from the left with my shield, I thrust my own sword straight forward.
CRUNCH—
My sword caught between its bones, making a bizarre sound. Clenching my jaw, I yanked the sword out to the side.
The bastard's ribs were torn apart and scattered across the floor.
CRACK—
In the meantime, the bastard behind me seemed to have struck me. A crack formed in my right shoulder bone where its sword had touched.
The bastard raised its sword upward for a second strike. I wasn't foolish enough to stand still and take it.
'Oh no....'
My right arm creaked. It couldn't be helped.
I bashed the bastard's waist with the corner of my shield. Its waist was pushed back, throwing off its posture.
Bending my knees and springing right back up, I smashed its skull with the shield.
THUD—
The Skeleton Soldier collapsed, and part of its skull broke off.
THWIP—
I heard the sound of the wind splitting. An arrow grazed past my ribs.
'There's no time to catch my breath.'
I took back my wish about having muscles. It was a relief that I had nothing left but bones.
Should I hold up my shield and charge?
Looking at the state of the shield, that seemed difficult. Most of the wood had fallen off, leaving only a bare frame behind.
Just like me.
'One wrong move and I'll take an arrow head-on.'
I hid my body behind the pillar. The archer's shadow flickered against the wall.
It slowly approached me. Judging by the shadow, it was nocking another arrow to its bowstring.
'Hmm....'
If I revealed myself, I would immediately become a target.
'I don't know if this'll work, though.'
I quickly ducked down.
I grabbed a fallen Skeleton Soldier's skull and threw it to the opposite side.
Thud— THWIP—
'Now!'
I rounded the pillar and ran. The archer was drawing its bow out again.
I forced my creaking arm up.
'Swinging it is impossible.'
I held the sword upright and ran. To keep it from slipping between the bones.
CRACK—
Cracks spread across it. The Skeleton Archer raised an arrowhead high toward me.
Because a bow was useless in close combat.
However, I had no intention of giving it an opening to counterattack. With the shield reduced to a bare frame, I knocked its arm away.
The arrowhead went flying and fell to the floor. Pinning the bastard down with my sword, I raised the shield.
One hit.
Two hits.
Three hits.
Its neck bone was crushed, and its skull toppled forward.
[Combat EXP acquired.]
[Congratulations. Level increased.]
[Lv3 (45%)]
As soon as the battle ended, I leveled up.
'Oh....'
My cracked shoulder bone was restored.
Did leveling up heal injuries?
I saw the debris fallen across the floor. For a moment, I looked at the archer's bow.
'No... A bow would actually be harder.'
First off, my skill was Swordsmanship. There was no way Swordsmanship would help me use a bow.
I had never even touched a bow before, and if I ran short on arrows, I would be in trouble.
Besides, I would have to throw away the shield I had gone through so much trouble to get. Because I wouldn't be able to use a bow with one hand.
'The first floor and the second floor are worlds apart....'
The caliber of the monsters was different. One wrong move and I would have died.
Perhaps I had grown conceited just because I broke through the first floor. I needed to approach things a little more cautiously.
I only checked whether there was a key among the debris before moving on to the next room.
'Hmm....'
This time, it was Slimes. Their color was a slightly murkier green.
The Slimes on the first floor had been a slightly bright blue, so it was clear these bastards were different in some way too.
"Melt... Melt and eat...."
"Hungry...."
What they said was a little different too. What did they mean about melting and eating?
SPLAT—
As I watched them like that, green liquid flew toward me.
SIZZLE—
Perhaps because the distance was far, it fell short in front of me, and smoke rose from the floor.
'Bastards that spit mucus, huh.'
At this rate, I couldn't leisurely read the movement pattern of their cores. For now, I moved around here and there to dodge the mucus they spat out.
'Left, no... it's a little different.'
I had hoped it might be the same pattern, but as expected, it was different. The core moved in an X-shape, and it was hard to even approach them easily.
'Should I have brought the bow after all....'
Attacking from a distance would have been much easier. Perhaps this was why Challengers went around with others.
Because the enemies each person found easy to deal with would be different.
However, I was alone. I had to focus on resolving the situation right before my eyes.
I dodged the mucus spat out again. At the same time, the Slime wriggled.
'Hmm...?'
Wondering if I had seen it wrong, I waited for it to spit mucus again. As the Slime wriggled, its mucus churned.
'I see....'
I thought I understood.
The bastard was replenishing and producing as much mucus as it had spat out. During that process, it was clear that it couldn't move.
'In that case....'
The two Slimes spat mucus at different timings. To approach them, I had to make the timing of their spitting match up.
'That's not hard.'
All I had to do was get out of the bastards' line of sight. Because they had no reason to spit mucus into empty air.
I hid my body behind a pillar and waited. To grasp the enemies' movements from behind the pillar, I had to focus on their shadows.
Then I ran out to a spot where both bastards could see me at the same time.
SPLAT— SPLAT—
There was a slight time difference, but it was almost simultaneous. The mucus grazed past the spot where I had just been.
Approaching the wriggling bastards again, I raised my sword high.
CLACK— CRACK—
The core split open, and the mucus scattered.
I had no intention of standing around watching. Because there was still the other bastard that had finished reloading.
The remaining bastard was even easier to deal with. There wasn't even any need to duck behind a pillar; I just had to attack whenever the bastard wriggled.
'Their caliber is definitely high....'
It was only a one-floor difference, yet dealing with them was tough.
I was lucky there were only a few of them; if there had been many, I would have been wiped out without even being able to lift a finger.
'Like Scream of the Dead... Did she call it an event?'
The event I had gone through with Feirin came to mind. If Skeleton Archers and armed Skeleton Soldiers like these appeared in an event, death would be certain.
'Hmm... What should I do....'
Without leaving the room right away, I sank into thought for a moment. Because I couldn't take a rash step forward.
After pondering for a good while like that, a way came to mind.
'The Great Merchant...!'
I thought I understood why armor was necessary. To preserve my life even a little longer, I had to put together a proper set of gear, no matter how shabby the armor might be.
'Haven't I gathered up some Gold by now?'
What did I have to lose by checking first?
Rather than wandering around recklessly and turning into a pile of bones, it was better to play it safe even if it took some time.
I turned around.
Retracing my steps wasn't difficult.
It happened just as I was about to step onto the stairs to go back down.
'Why?'
A question struck me.
The invisible wall had appeared again.
It seemed to be telling me I couldn't pass through here.
As I stared at it like that, letters surfaced.
[You cannot go back down to a floor you have already passed.]
You could come up whenever you wanted, but you couldn't go back down. That was what the letters seemed to be saying.
Going back to find the Great Merchant was impossible.
'In that case....'
Clack, clack—
My teeth clacked together. I turned my head.
In the end, the path I had to take was set.
I would climb the tower again.
Now that my other option had disappeared, things actually felt clearer.
If I couldn't go back, my only choice was to move forward.
***
Rattle—
It was the grave.
[Death Count: 18]
Yes, I had died again.
In the end, I had met my death on the second floor without being able to climb any higher.
'I barely held on by leveling up, though....'
I had held on while raising my level to 4.
Even when my bone joints shattered, and even when cracks made it hard to so much as lift my sword, I doggedly hunted monsters.
Whenever I recovered by leveling up, I entered the next room and fought again.
Raising my level from 4 to 5 required even more EXP.
More of me shattered, and larger cracks formed.
My shield was battered to pieces until only its frame remained, and the sword I held eventually couldn't hold out and snapped in half.
'Maintaining equipment is important.'
It was definitely because of those Slimes. It must have happened because I failed to aim accurately for their cores.
Even so, I had managed to raise my level to 5, but the problem was the fact that leveling up didn't restore equipment too.
Fighting on any further with trash-like equipment in that state had been impossible.
'Still, I couldn't go back.'
Such an option hadn't even been given to me. That was why I had pressed forward, yet where I ultimately ended up was this grave.
'Is this my limit....?'
In the end, was I unable to escape the tower?
No matter what a Skeleton Soldier did, was it still nothing more than a Skeleton Soldier?
Rattle—
I rose from the grave.
No.
"I am One Hundred."
I reminded myself of my name. I wasn't a monster, but a Challenger.
Other Challengers also failed to succeed in one go and returned again.
I was even more special than them.
Clack, clack—
Because I was a Skeleton Soldier.
Because I was a Skeleton Soldier that refused death.
Therefore, time was infinite for me.
'Hmm....'
I returned to the white space again.
For the lined-up weapons, I went with the same as before, and I set my starting skill to Swordsmanship as well.
'So a skill level I've raised doesn't go back down.'
The level of Swordsmanship was fixed at 2. Was this why there were strong intruders?
If skills could be carried over, the more times you challenged the tower, the stronger you would become.
'Though of course, you have to find the right conditions rather than EXP....'
Raising a skill's level would require tireless effort.
After finishing my preparations, there was one thing left.
A point that had changed from the first time.
[Please select your desired Trait.]
It was none other than these letters.