The woman glared at me as if she wanted to kill me. Hadn't she been planning to kill me anyway?
"Frost Arrow!"
WHOOSH—
As soon as she shouted, an arrow made of ice flew toward me from the tip of her staff.
Since taking it head-on would be trouble, I twisted my body aside.
As the arrow grazed past me, I felt a chill.
'A cold arrow, huh.'
Why she made it cold was a mystery. Still, since she didn't need to carry arrows around, it must be convenient.
"Pretty quick just because you've only got bones left!"
The woman frowned. As I stepped closer, she quickly backed away.
As expected, I could see she was reluctant to engage in close combat.
"Slippery Ice Sheet!"
THUD— CRACKLE—
As she struck the floor with her staff, the floor began to freeze over.
'Oh no....'
Maybe this was why shoes were needed.
On the suddenly slippery floor, my posture faltered. I barely managed to stab my sword into the floor to keep from falling over.
However, that opening was huge.
"Got you!"
A smile surfaced on the woman's face. Smoothly swinging her staff, she pointed the blue gem toward me.
"Crystal Explosion!"
The gem began to glow from within.
It was dangerous.
I changed my mind. Letting go of my sword, I threw myself straight forward onto the floor.
BOOM—!
Along with an explosive sound, fragments of the gem burst out. Countless crystals flew right over my body.
SCRAPE—
Because I hadn't dodged completely, the top of my skull was scraped.
It was cold.
That was a strange thing. Even though I couldn't feel temperature.
Perhaps it was the power of magic. However, I wasn't given any more time to ponder it.
"For a mere skeleton...!"
The woman wore an indignant expression. Before I knew it, the sheet of ice had disappeared.
'Does it have a duration?'
Grabbing my sword, I stood up quickly. Grimacing, she ran away.
The gem on her staff was slowly growing back.
'So she can't use magic again right away!'
It seemed she had intended to finish me off with that single strike just now.
This was my chance. I had to deal with her right now.
I couldn't give her time until the gem regenerated.
I chased after her. No matter how wide the room was, there was a limit to where she could run.
Because on the other side, the bald man and the patient were fighting.
Driven into a corner, she raised her staff.
'She's going to buy time with close combat?'
Then again, she probably had no other choice. The gem looked to have returned about halfway.
Without hesitation, I swung my sword.
"Ghk...!"
She raised her staff and blocked it.
Perhaps due to the limits of my equipment, I couldn't even cut through a staff like this.
'However....'
I pushed down with brute force. Pushed back, the staff pressed hard against her neck.
"Ghk... Gurk...."
My figure was reflected in her pupils.
Two hollow black holes and a white skull were looking at her.
Yet aside from me, another figure became visible.
'Oh no...!'
As I twisted my body aside, a sharp dagger flew into the spot where I had just been.
"Ghk...!"
Hit by the dagger in my stead, she coughed up a mouthful of blood. The patient looked at her with surprise in his eyes.
"Well... the order doesn't matter anyway."
Without realizing it, I backed away. Turning my head to look, I saw the bald man lying collapsed on the floor.
'He's strong.'
I had definitely seen that he was injured, yet he had taken down the bald man in that state.
Unless the bald man was a weakling, that man had to be strong.
SQUELCH—
He stabbed her a second time. The woman's eyes rolled back, exposing the whites.
"Kyaaagh...!"
"Shh...."
Whispering, the man turned his face toward me. His expression was full of rapture.
Thud—
Her staff dropped. Perhaps because her life had ended, not even the sound of breathing escaped her.
The man carefully pulled out his dagger.
Red blood came out coating the dagger. Raising the dagger, the man savored the scent of blood.
"Hmm... Not bad."
The only ones left were him and me, just the two of us. He was the enemy I had to face.
'Now it makes sense why he rejected my alliance.'
With an injured body, he had eliminated two people. Though of course, I had been overpowering the woman.
The man stuck out his tongue and tasted the blood.
What a peculiar appetite.
"Ah, don't look at me like I'm strange. Because it's one of my Traits."
Perhaps feeling my gaze—though since I had no eyeballs, I didn't know if phrasing it like that was right—the man explained even though I hadn't asked.
More importantly, the problem lay elsewhere.
'One of his Traits... Does that mean he has two or more Traits?'
Smiling faintly, the man shrugged his shoulders.
"Do you happen to know it? Bloodthirst?"
"I do not know it."
"Really? Then again, you don't even have a tongue to taste blood."
Was he provoking me? However, unlike the bald man, I wouldn't be swayed by words like that.
"What is your level?"
It didn't matter even if he didn't answer obediently. Since he was a bastard with two or more Traits, it had to be high.
"Hmm? Ah... My highest level was 17."
"17...."
He was a troublesome enemy. He took a step toward me.
With every single step he took closer, I backed away without realizing it.
"Right now, though, I'm still 6. So shouldn't we be roughly even?"
Was he trying to bait me into close combat? He might be trying to lull me into a false sense of security before taking me on.
"One of the two of us—you or me—has to die before the other can get out of here anyway. You know that, right?"
Chattering away, the man laughed. The thought struck me that I wanted to drive my sword right into that mug of his.
"And that the victor's going to be me, too."
THWIP—
As soon as the man finished speaking, a dagger flew toward me. Its speed was so fast that I couldn't dodge it.
CRUNCH—
The dagger lodged into my breastbone. From the impact, I stumbled back again.
"Can you not feel pain!?"
I had no obligation to answer. The man charged in quickly.
Raising my sword, I thrust it toward the bastard.
However, anticlimactically, my sword sliced through empty air. Naturally, my head followed the bastard and looked down.
I saw a smile. The man was certain of his victory.
"See you again next time."
A sharp dagger flew toward me. I felt something foreign right beneath my jaw.
CRUNCH—
I felt the dagger pierce through my jaw and scrape against the top of my skull from the inside.
At the same time, my vision darkened.
***
Rattle—
My head shook.
'Did I die again?'
[Death Count: 19]
I really had died a lot.
Belatedly, regret struck me.
'I should've asked that man which challenge attempt he was on, too.'
I was curious how many challenges it had taken him to reach Level 17. Next time I met another Challenger, let's find out.
'Should I try using a weapon other than a sword...?'
Standing in front of the weapons, I hesitated. Should I keep using the familiar sword, or try challenging myself with a new weapon?
This time, I grabbed the mace.
The description wasn't much different from the Old Longsword. The only difference was that it was a blunt-type weapon instead of Slash.
[Please select a starting skill.]
[The selected equipment receives the effect of 'Blunt Weaponry'.]
[Acquire Blunt Weaponry?]
[You may also select another passive skill.]
Letters appeared.
'So a mace is a blunt weapon.'
After acquiring Blunt Weaponry, I had to select a Trait.
There were three choices this time as well, except 'Dust Gathered Makes a Mountain' was gone and a different option had appeared.
[3. Locksmith – Start with 5 keys.]
Five keys.
Assuming one key appeared per floor, it was a Trait that gave the effect of having climbed five floors.
'The problem is... as expected....'
There had to be places to use the keys for it to be profitable, and if opportunities to obtain keys came up often, it wouldn't be very effective.
'If I'm lucky, I might be able to get a lot of equipment....'
If a lot of chests appeared, I could profit from it. Since I might be able to gear up right from the start.
'Would Undead Hatred be better....?'
After hesitating briefly, I selected Locksmith. This time, I decided to leave it to luck.
I entered the tower again.
Now, I opened the door without hesitation.
Before I knew it, I was growing used to myself as a Challenger.
***
Exploring the first floor wasn't difficult anymore.
I found a brown chest and obtained a piece of leather armor. It was the rat-hide armor the Great Merchant had been selling.
It wasn't heavy, which was nice.
Another thing I learned was that Skeleton Soldiers and Slimes were vulnerable to blunt-type attacks.
Unlike when I faced them with a sword, Skeleton Soldiers crumbled right down when hit by the mace.
It was the same for the Slimes' mucus.
Even if I didn't aim accurately for the core, when they took a blunt hit, the mucus was crushed and burst apart, sometimes knocking the core right out of their bodies.
Once that happened, a Slime was left completely defenseless.
CRUMBLE—
I took down another Skeleton Soldier. My level reached 3.
[Defeated 50 Skeleton Soldiers.]
[Updating Skeleton Soldier information.]
Beneath the letters indicating my level-up, additional letters surfaced.
'Information?'
Skeleton Soldier probably didn't mean me. Since I wouldn't have defeated myself fifty times.
Soon, a skull-shaped icon blinked next to the person-shaped icon.
[Monster Compendium]
That was the title. Beneath it were numbered entries.
[1. Skeleton Soldier]
[Race – Undead]
[Appearance Location – 1st~3rd Floors]
[Weakness – Blunt / Holy]
[The dead with only bones remaining. A resident of the tower that wanders the tower forever.]
Letters appeared next to the image of a Skeleton Soldier.
'Up to the third floor, huh.'
That was good information. Though of course, the Skeleton Soldiers on the third floor would have higher levels.
'Wandering the tower forever....'
What a dreadful thing to say. No, those words might only apply to me.
'Because other Skeleton Soldiers don't have any questions at all.'
The more I thought about it, the more I felt that I was special.
Aside from that, other monsters were visible as well.
[2. Slime]
[3. Skeleton Archer]
[4. Acid Slime]
Beneath those were question marks.
'Are only monsters I've seen firsthand recorded?'
The letters were gray. Unlike with the Skeleton Soldier, nothing else appeared when I looked at them.
'Information is probably only recorded after I defeat them a certain number of times.'
Looking at the case of the Skeleton Soldier, I could infer that much easily enough. Since the Slimes I met on the first floor were fewer in number than the Skeleton Soldiers.
I had to deal with every monster on sight anyway. There was no need to go out of my way to fill out the compendium.
It was information I would come to know naturally.
I moved my feet again. Now it was time to go to the second floor.
***
[Congratulations. Skill level increased.]
[Skill – Blunt Weaponry (Lv2)]
The level of Blunt Weaponry went up.
'It'd be better to tackle it with blunt weapons first rather than swords.'
Things were going smoothly. It was easier than facing them with a sword.
According to the information, skeleton-type enemies would appear on the third floor too, so wouldn't choosing blunt weapons to raise my level be the right answer?
'It was after reaching Level 5 that I gained a Trait. If it works like that, I might be able to learn another Trait at Level 10.'
Climbing the tower in a single attempt was close to impossible. I could tell just by seeing how countless Challengers retried the tower.
'In other words, repeating challenges to acquire Traits and gradually heading to higher floors....'
That had to be the basic method of a Challenger. Of course, if you got lucky, you could also obtain good equipment and rack up EXP through events like Scream of the Dead.
'For now, let's climb steadily.'
I took another step forward. If I kept challenging it steadily, I would reach the top floor someday.
Passing through the passage, I opened the door.
'Hmm?'
Spotting a bundle for a moment, I thought it was the place where the Great Merchant was.
However, the one that had spread out the bundle wasn't a skeleton.
Rattle— Clatter—
"Ah! Customer!"
THUD— THUD—
A chest bounced up and down. The chest was speaking.
It was an incomprehensible sight, but I decided to hear it out for now.
"Keys! If you give me keys, I will give you items!"
It was a chest about the size of two Skeleton Soldiers stuck together. Unusually, padlocks were hanging all over it.
"Keys...?"
"That is right! Customer, you are holding a lot of keys! What do you say?! Keys when you do not even know when you will use them! If you give them to me, I will give you a special item!"
It was a noisy chest. Its voice was even louder than the sound of the padlocks clanking every time it moved.
"Are you a monster?"
"Yes!? No, I am not! I am trapped inside this chest! You need keys to open a chest, right?! That is why I am collecting keys!"
Ah, it wasn't the chest itself producing the voice. It seemed someone was trapped inside the chest.
Wait, if he was inside the chest, how did he plan to open the chest from the inside?
"However... these are...."
Clack, clack—
My jaw shook.
The items on top of the bundle were different from the items the Great Merchant sold.
"It is just as you see! Pick the item you want!"
"Even if you call them items, aren't these chests?"
Placed on top of the bundle were chests of various colors.
A blue, a yellow, and a purple chest.
A chest was selling chests.