Chapter 151: Help (2)

After finishing Floor 11.

I rested for a bit, then immediately got back to work.

I entered Floor 9 and first tested the effect of the new skill I had obtained, Life Devour.

Saaaaah!

Dark-red energy spread outward, and a barrier unfolded.

Since its radius was 10 meters, the area it covered was fairly large.

Of course, it didn’t have any function that blocked entry or exit, so the monkeys could come and go as they pleased.

I swung my sword inside the barrier and killed the monkeys charging at me.

Sssss...

Red energy was drawn out of the dead monkeys and absorbed into me.

I quickly figured out the effect.

‘It restores stamina.’

No matter how much I rampaged around, my stamina didn’t drop even the slightest bit.

And it seemed to have a slight Physical Ability-boosting effect too.

Even accounting for the effect of Enhancement, my Physical Ability had increased beyond that.

Did it also heal injuries?

Slash!

I deliberately cut off one of my arms.

Then I continued killing monkeys.

At my normal regeneration speed, it should have taken around twenty minutes for the severed arm to grow back...

‘Oh.’

As I kept absorbing life force, I could visibly see my regeneration speed increasing exponentially.

In less than three minutes, the severed arm had regenerated completely.

Stamina recovery, injury recovery, and increased Physical Ability.

Those were the effects I could gain from Life Devour.

Well, it wasn’t so incredible that I’d call it amazing...

But inside this barrier, it seemed like I could fight while surrounded by countless enemies without tiring, practically forever.

Skill performance test complete.

After leaving Floor 9, I immediately entered Floor 11 again.

Now it was time to organize the information I would post in the Communication Channel.

‘Can the other Nightmare Climbers actually clear this?’

After checking through repeated clears, the chest containing the key was indeed still in the third passage.

In that case, the other Nightmare Climbers only needed to clear the third passage and then defeat the boss...

But draining the blood was the biggest problem.

I could do it because I had the Frozen Hydra’s ability, but normally it would have been impossible.

If other people wanted to do this...

Would they have to prepare blood in advance and bring it inside?

I filled a plastic bottle with some of my blood and entered Floor 11 again.

When I tested it, it worked.

Even if I filled the bowl with blood drawn beforehand outside the Tower, the flames did not erupt.

Good.

Then this could be the strategy for the other Nightmare Climbers.

They just had to draw several hundred liters of blood in advance, store it, and bring it in with them!

It was only a matter of time, not something impossible.

Besides, Climbers above Level 100 already had regenerative abilities on a completely different level from ordinary people.

It shouldn’t be unreasonable.

...Hmm, well.

That said, the question was whether anyone would even reach Floor 11 before then.

I repeatedly cleared Floor 11, organized all the information, and began writing a post in the Communication Channel.

Among the several dozen Nightmare Climbers around the world.

The highest record besides mine was still Floor 7, held by the United States and China.

According to what I had heard, all the other Nightmare Climbers were still on Floor 4 or below.

That made sense.

Floor 4 had a section where you had no choice but to rely entirely on luck, so it was a major wall.

Alejandro had at least managed to clear it before, only to unfortunately fall on Floor 6.

And on top of that, both the climbing speed of existing Nightmare Climbers and the number of new challengers were steadily decreasing.

To be honest, there wasn’t much meaning in continuing to post strategy guides like this...

But there was no reason not to, so I kept doing it anyway.

[Person123: Nightmare Floor 11 strategy information.]

After writing and posting the guide.

I checked my private messages out of habit.

I was seeing whether Bilon or anyone else had contacted me when—

[Squirrel: What am I supposed to do. No matter how much I think about how I could possibly be of help to you anymore I just don’t know. I’m really sorry for being completely uselss whaat am I even doign anymore]

“...?”

What was this?

I had received a strange private message from America’s representative Nightmare Climber.

It wasn’t as though we had never spoken before.

Back then...

No, in terms of real-world time, relatively recently, we had exchanged greetings once after I cleared Floor 8.

Of course, we weren’t close enough for her to speak this casually with me.

What was she even trying to say?

As I stared at the message in bewilderment for a moment, another private message arrived.

[Squirrel: I’m sorry. I was drunk and made a mistake. That was extremely rude of me.]

...Ah, she’d been drunk?

Apparently she had gotten completely wasted and ended up venting her troubles to the wrong person.

Well, climbing Nightmare had to be unbelievably stressful.

I could understand that.

[Person123: It’s fine.]

I replied like that and was about to brush it off.

But for some reason, the message caught my eye, and I read it again.

She didn’t know what she should do to help me...

Was this person perhaps continuing to climb Nightmare because she wanted to help me?

[Squirrel: I’m Taylor Miller, one of America’s Nightmare Climbers. I was grateful for your dedication, Person123. And I respected you.

Before entering Floor 7, I’m leaving you my first and last private message. I hope you clear Floor 8 and come back to see this message.]

I had received a private message like this from her before.

When my Floor 8 clear had dragged on and the world was on the verge of destruction, she had been someone who intended to risk her life challenging Floor 7 until the very end...

This Taylor was definitely someone climbing Nightmare for humanity.

So it wasn’t strange for her to want to help me.

Helping me, the one leading the Nightmare climb, could be said to be another way of helping the world.

...Was she frustrated because she was stuck on Floor 7?

That thought occurred to me.

After thinking for a moment, I sent another private message.

[Person123: Are you having a hard time because you’re stuck on Floor 7?]

A reply came a few minutes later.

[Squirrel: Yes. Honestly, I am.]

[Squirrel: I’m really sorry for making such an embarrassing scene. I’ll keep trying harder on Floor 7.]

“Hmm...”

So that was it?

But judging from what she was saying, she didn’t seem to have any intention of giving up.

[Person123: As I said before, Floor 7 is extremely dangerous. Have you considered giving up the climb?]

[Squirrel: I will never give up.]

The answer came immediately.

Her determination to keep challenging it seemed incredibly firm.

Of course, I wasn’t going to tell her to quit.

She had probably risked her life to climb all the way to Floor 7 because of her own convictions.

What right did I have to tell her what she should or shouldn’t do?

And although I currently didn’t expect much from anyone else, if the other Nightmare Climbers managed to follow behind me, then of course I’d welcome it.

The more capable people following behind me, the better.

The problem was...

‘Floor 7 seriously looks like it’s going to kill her.’

Together with China’s Nightmare Climber, she was one of the only people who had even managed to reach Floor 7.

It would be bitter as hell if such a capable and good person died there.

“...”

Then a thought suddenly occurred to me.

The biggest problem with Floor 7 was the left-right reversal gimmick.

There was no way to train for or prepare against that in reality.

...But maybe training was possible somewhere other than reality?

Inside the Mental World created by Pankera’s Crown.

A person I was physically touching could enter the Mental World together with me.

Maybe...

I could actually help this person clear Nightmare.

I should avoid making physical contact with other people while exposing my identity...

But now that I had thought of a way to help, I didn’t want to simply ignore it.

And this was...

Worth testing, wasn’t it?

If I could train other Climbers inside the Mental World and raise their abilities?

I soon made up my mind and sent her a message.

[Person123: I can’t guarantee it, but I think I may be able to help you train for Floor 7.]

[Person123: Would you like to try?]

***

Taylor was crossing the terrain of Zone 3 on her way to the agreed meeting place.

Her expression held a complicated mixture of nervousness and anticipation.

‘Meeting Person123 in person...’

She had never imagined it.

She couldn’t believe that one pathetic, drunken message she had sent had somehow led to this.

Person123 had offered to meet her and help her train for Floor 7.

Of course, the condition was that she tell no one else and that the two of them meet alone.

[Squirrel: I’ll do it.]

Taylor had accepted immediately.

She had no idea how he intended to help her train for Floor 7...

But this was Person123.

His abilities were already on a completely different level from every other Climber.

Surely he had some method in mind if he was willing to spend his precious time helping her.

And even if it had nothing to do with training, Person123 himself had asked to meet her.

What possible reason could she have to refuse?

She had briefly seen him once before during the Zone 3 boss raid, but meeting him privately like this was a completely different matter.

The agreed meeting place was a cave beneath the rocky mountain in Zone 3 where the wyvern boss spawned.

After reaching the mountain, Taylor entered the cave.

Someone was already inside.

A figure wearing a mask, with a black crown on his head.

Before Taylor could even wonder what the crown was, she approached with every nerve in her body tense.

“You’re here.”

It really was Person123.

Humanity’s savior.

A great hero the likes of which history would never see again.

Taylor answered his greeting in a slightly trembling voice.

“...It’s an honor to meet you. I’m Taylor Miller.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Person123 held out his hand.

Taylor accepted the handshake.

But Person123 didn’t let go of her hand as he spoke.

“Then shall we get started right away?”

“...What?”

“Don’t be too surprised.”

In an instant, her vision changed.

Taylor flinched and hurriedly looked around.

An utterly white space stretched in every direction, without a single object anywhere.

“This place is called the Mental World.”

Person123 spoke in front of her.

Taylor stared blankly for a moment, then suddenly flinched again.

Someone was standing behind Person123 now.

“Behind you...!”

A tall man with a deathly pale complexion.

The instant Taylor’s eyes met his, a chill seemed to crawl across her very soul.

Like a mouse before a cat.

Like a frog before a snake.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about him.”

Person123 turned around and casually waved his hand.

“Go somewhere else for a bit. We’re going to train.”

The tall man clicked his tongue and disappeared.

Only then was Taylor able to collect herself.

She stared at Person123 with confused eyes.

She had no idea what was going on.

“Um... What exactly is this place...?”

Person123 explained.

“It’s called the Mental World. To put it simply, you can think of it as being inside a dream.”

“Inside a dream...?”

“It’s the effect of an item I have. We’re going to train for Floor 7 here.”

Taylor nodded for now.

Inside a dream...

Person123 could use mysterious abilities like this too?

“W-what happened to reality?”

“Time should have stopped at the exact moment we entered the Mental World. Until we leave again, no time will pass outside.”

Taylor was still confused, but she more or less understood.

Person123 asked,

“So, Taylor, how have you been preparing to clear Floor 7 so far?”

“For training... I practiced dodging based on the information you posted in the Communication Channel. With help from military equipment.”

The basic theme of Floor 7 was dodging arrows.

Using the Floor 7 guide as a basis, Taylor had trained by recreating the conditions of the five trials as accurately as possible.

The number of arrows, their directions, angles, firing intervals, timing—

Every single detail had been described thoroughly in the guide.

Person123 nodded.

“From now on, I’ll recreate the environment of Floor 7 exactly as it is here.”

Taylor asked in surprise,

“...That’s possible?”

“Of course. This is the Mental World.”

Person123 waved his hand.

The surroundings transformed into a dim cavern riddled with holes in every direction.

“Let’s start with the first trial.”

There wasn’t even time to be more surprised.

“...!”

An iron arrow the size of a missile came flying at over Mach speed.

Taylor desperately threw herself aside.

Booooom!