Chapter 157: Nightmare Floor 12 (4)

The Demon King kept saying something, but I ignored him and continued drinking the water.

Only after drinking until I could barely force down any more did I finally pull my mouth away from the basin.

“Ghaa...”

My body felt like it was going completely limp.

It was as if the ground were pulling me downward with an irresistible force.

I lay back down on the ground.

A kind of languor that was hard to describe wrapped around my entire body.

- This is driving me insane, you idiot...

The Demon King sighed and said.

- Get up right now. Are you not going to clear Floor 12?

‘It’s a hassle...’

Clear it... I should.

But I can do it later.

No.

Do I really have to?

- Are you going to let your world be destroyed? If you do not clear it, everyone will die.

...What a hassle.

I couldn’t even be bothered to think about things like that anymore.

‘Then I can just stop it...’

Time.

I can just stop it.

Then the world won’t be destroyed.

I can rest for as long as I want.

Why hadn’t I done something this simple until now?

What a loss.

I worked so pointlessly hard for nothing.

With my eyes still closed, I entered the Mental World just like that.

Instead of the hard ground, a soft bed welcomed me.

Cozy and comfortable.

Now I could rest here forever. I had stopped time outside, after all.

The Demon King’s voice came again.

“If everything is such a hassle, then hand over your body. We shall take care of it.”

No, I don’t want to.

“Did We not say We would handle all the troublesome things for you? Hand it over!”

...If I hand it over, you’ll clear the floor and leave.

After Floor 12, Floor 13 would be waiting.

After Floor 13 came Floor 14.

After Floor 14 came Floor 15.

Floor 16, Floor 17, Floor 18...

Just thinking about it was exhausting. Suffocatingly so.

Watching my family suffer as they watched me climb the Tower... that was a hassle too, now.

Everything waiting for me in the future was a hassle.

So let’s cut off the flow of time.

Wasn’t destruction the only thing waiting at the end anyway?

How was a mere human like me supposed to defeat a transcendent existence like the Tower?

Let’s not go all the way to the end.

Let’s stop here.

There would be no more failures or successes.

In this frozen world, no one, including me, would suffer.

This was salvation.

I had saved the world, so I had already done everything I needed to do...

“You pathetic idiot. What an incredible piece of self-delusion.”

After cursing at me, the Demon King spoke in a coaxing voice this time.

“Let us at least leave this place first. You can rest after we get out, can you not? Hand over your body, and We shall clear the floor and return it to you immediately. After that, stop time and rest however you wish. Hmm?”

There was no need to leave Floor 12.

If my heart started bothering me again, I could just drink more water.

Then I would feel comfortable.

Why did the Demon King keep trying to do things?

It was because he didn’t understand.

He didn’t know how comfortable this was.

“Shut up, you rotten bastard. Clear the floor!”

At the Demon King’s roar, the bed supporting my body disappeared.

The Mental World shook chaotically.

Space trembled, colors warped into a mess, and all kinds of noises rang out.

“What are you doing.”

“If you want to rest, then try resting now.”

Apparently, the Demon King didn’t want to see me resting comfortably.

There was no way for me to beat the Demon King inside the Mental World.

So I simply went outside.

- Ah.

With my eyes closed, I kept time stopped.

I continued my comfortable rest.

- Damn you, We truly want to kill you.

Now even thinking was too much of a hassle.

I didn’t bother trying to remain conscious.

Even the Demon King’s noisy voice gradually grew faint.

As if I were sinking beneath the sea...

‘...’

What.

How much time had passed?

I would almost completely lose consciousness, then occasionally come back to myself.

Each time, the Demon King’s voice was so noisy that I would quickly let myself drift away again.

‘Does he never get tired...’

Everything was fine except for that one piece of noise pollution.

Even if I stopped time, I couldn’t stop the Demon King from talking inside my head...

Was there no way around that?

Some way to create a perfect world of my own where no one could disturb me.

‘Ah.’

Come to think of it.

I had forgotten the simplest and most fundamental solution.

I could just die, couldn’t I?

If I died, I wouldn’t even have to think anymore.

Eternal rest without even the slightest trace of consciousness.

The ultimate paradise.

Good.

Let’s go.

I released Time Stop.

I opened my eyes. Light entered my vision.

It felt like it had been an incredibly long time since I had seen scenery instead of darkness.

Moving even a single finger was a hassle, but...

For the sake of reaching paradise, I forced myself to move.

This would be the final effort of my life.

I raised my upper body and picked up the Sword of Heaven’s Gatekeeper.

The Demon King screamed like he was going berserk, but I ignored him.

I don’t care, I don’t care.

So noisy.

I won’t have to listen to your tiresome voice anymore either.

I brought the blade of the Sword of Heaven’s Gatekeeper, wrapped in Heavenly Aura Blade, toward my neck.

That was when it happened.

Diul suddenly jumped out of the bracelet on its own.

...Saaaaaaa!

Darkness spread around me.

At the same time, every sensation in my body disappeared.

Diul had activated Pitch-Black Fog.

‘...Diul?’

What are you doing.

This was the first time Diul had ever used an ability on its own.

And why was I being affected by Pitch-Black Fog too...

‘Idiot!’

A powerful telepathic message came through our mental connection.

Diul’s mind was shaking violently, as though it were sobbing uncontrollably.

I flinched for a moment.

The Demon King’s voice, which had been sounding increasingly muffled, suddenly became clear again.

- You pathetic idiot. Fine, then just die already. We cannot imagine what We ever expected from a fool like you.

...Why are you so angry?

I asked because I genuinely didn’t understand.

What had I done so wrong?

- Did We not say that if you want to die, then die? Your world will die with you. More than eight billion humans, and your family as well.

“...”

- They will despair while waiting for you, who will never return, and then die miserable and horrific deaths, just as your parallel-world self on Floor 10 told you. But what does it matter? If you die here, none of it will matter to you anyway.

Don’t.

Why are you saying something so cruel?

- The Hero must be shedding tears of bitter regret as well. She must have willingly offered you her neck because she trusted you. What a pointless death that was. All of her efforts were meaningless. If We were going to die to an idiot like you, We would rather have chosen to remain the Tower’s clown.

...Seri.

Had I told her I would do my best?

It felt as though a thin needle were poking at my heart again and again.

I don’t want this.

I don’t want to think about any of it.

Perhaps Diul had exhausted its strength, because the Pitch-Black Fog gradually began to clear.

I hurriedly leaned against the basin.

Let’s drink the water.

Then I can ignore everything.

- Are you truly going to end everything like this!!

...Why was the world filled with nothing but suffering?

Where had all this pain come from in the first place?

The Tower.

My head, which had been lowering toward the water in the basin, stopped.

I remained frozen there, unable to do anything.

‘Right...’

The Tower.

The reason my life, which should have remained peaceful, had turned into such a complete nightmare.

At the very least, all of my pain and anguish... had begun with you.

The source of all evil was always the Tower.

A faint emotion stirred.

Wrath.

It had been continuously crushed beneath the overwhelming presence of Sloth.

I instinctively realized that this was my final chance.

Squeezing out the last tiny grain of willpower I had left, I pressed the dragon symbol on the fountain.

The water in the basin turned bright red.

I plunged my head into it and gulped down the water.

I drank endlessly.

Like breathing life back into a dying ember, the Wrath inside my heart grew stronger and began blazing fiercely.

The sin of Sloth could no longer suppress the flames spreading like a forest fire.

“...Puhah!”

I raised my head and glared at the sky.

My body trembled violently with boundless, uncontrollable rage.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

Kill it.

Tower, you fucking bastard, I’m going to kill you.

But how the hell do I kill this bastard?

Aagh, fuck! How the hell am I supposed to kill it?!

- You lunatic, there is no middle ground with you. It is good that you came to your senses, but calm down a little.

The Demon King sounded completely fed up.

I gnawed at my fingers.

If I climbed all the way to the final floor, wouldn’t I eventually find some way to kill it?

In the end, there was no other answer.

Then first, I had to clear Floor 12 and get out right now.

I would clear it, leave, and immediately challenge the next floor too.

I’m going to kill it.

I picked up the Sword of Heaven’s Gatekeeper and flew into the sky.

Swoooooosh!

Using Air Walk, I searched for the Holy Water of Purification with my eyes blazing.

[You may complete the floor by using the Exit or consuming the Holy Water of Purification.]

I had destroyed the Exit myself, so drinking the Holy Water of Purification would end the challenge.

But unlike the Exit, the Holy Water wasn’t easy to find.

I flew around the sky for quite a while, searching the forest.

“Come the fuck out already! Fuuuuuck!”

I was so frustrated I felt like I was going insane, so I simply activated Radiant Incarnation.

Moving through the forest at the speed of light, I searched for the Holy Water of Purification.

I found it not long afterward.

A small glass bottle half-embedded in the trunk of an enormous tree.

As expected of the fucking vermin Tower, it had hidden the thing in the filthiest possible way. It expected me to find this in a forest this huge.

Inside the glass bottle was a transparent liquid that looked like water.

I deactivated Radiant Incarnation and hurriedly tried to pull out the Holy Water of Purification.

But it wouldn’t come out with brute force.

Just as I was about to carve away the tree itself with my sword, the ground split apart with a violent tremor.

Tree roots shot upward from below like whips.

I swung my sword and cut them all apart.

What the fuck is this bastard now?

Apparently, the tree itself was the boss of Floor 12.

The enormous tree before me writhed and unleashed far more roots.

Ruuuuumble!

I swung the Sword of Heaven’s Gatekeeper and cut through every wooden tendril surging toward me.

No matter how high its defense was, everything turned into pudding before Heavenly Aura Blade.

“Fuck off!”

I kicked off the air and split the tree trunk apart in a single rush.

It was so enormous that I had to slash it several more times before the trunk was finally split completely in half.

The boss’s body crashed to the ground with a thud.

“You fucking bastard! Right to the end! You keep getting in my way!”

My anger still hadn’t subsided, so I continued hacking the boss’s corpse apart with my sword.

I’ll kill you like this too.

No.

I’m never going to let you die easily.

I’ll make it more painful than anything in the world, ten times more painful than every kind of suffering in existence combined, and if you beg me to spare you, I’ll laugh and spit on you.

Only after the boss, which had died split into two pieces, had been chopped into hundreds of pieces did I finally stop swinging my sword.

Breathing heavily, I pulled the Holy Water of Purification from the corpse.

I tore the stopper from the glass bottle and immediately brought it to my mouth.

I’m definitely going to kill you like that, Tower.

So just wait.

You will never, ever be saved.. nev... er......

.

.

.

My mind cleared.

The rage that had been burning through my heart vanished in an instant, as though it had evaporated.

“...?”

I stood there dumbfounded for a moment, then looked down at my hand.

I was holding the empty bottle after drinking all of the Holy Water of Purification.

“...Wow.”

What the hell was that?

I couldn’t even understand why I had been so utterly unable to control my rage just moments ago.

Just as I had expected, the Holy Water of Purification seemed to have the effect of purifying the sins I had absorbed.

My mind had regained perfect calm.

I let out a hollow laugh and caught my breath.

A message appeared before my eyes.

[You have successfully cleared Nightmare Difficulty Floor 12.]

[Absorbing the power of the floor.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

.

.

[Your level has increased.]

[You are the first to successfully clear Nightmare Difficulty Floor 12.]

[Moving to the Reward Room.]