Chapter 160: Treasure Hunt (2)

I used Air Walk to climb high into the sky so I could survey the entire island at a glance.

‘It’s huge.’

It was a vast island.

And the vegetation was so dense it was practically a jungle.

I could also see several monsters flying through the sky like pterosaurs.

It would be perfect if the other Climbers gave up on the Treasure Hunt and exited on their own, but if they didn’t...

Putting the Tower’s intentions aside, the Climbers’ lives were in danger too.

A lot of them were probably low-level or ordinary people who hadn’t even climbed Floor 1.

Either way, I had to find the remaining 200 Climbers and make every one of them exit.

I descended again.

The people stared at me with startled expressions.

First, I needed to watch these people exit safely before I moved.

While waiting for the 10 minutes to pass, I decided to have Plli scout the surroundings first.

When I summoned Plli, the people around me recoiled in horror.

“It’s okay. It’s my summoned creature.”

I calmed them down and gave Plli an order.

‘Look for people. Absolutely do not attack or hurt anyone. Oh, and tell me if you find anything unusual too.’

Plli let out a light roar, then shot off like an arrow and disappeared into the brush.

Thanks to the effect of Revillus’s Ring, Plli was continuing to grow stronger too.

Time passed.

Whoooooosh-

After 10 minutes passed, the circle on the ground began emitting a faint light.

It seemed the portal had activated.

“Looks like the portal is open. Please, everyone, exit. Let’s get through this rule safely.”

The startled people began exiting one by one.

“P-Person123, fighting...!”

Someone even shouted encouragement before leaving.

I nodded to them.

Soon, everyone had exited.

Time to move.

Booooom!

I kicked off the ground and shot high into the sky.

Using Air Walk, I headed in the opposite direction from where Plli was scouting.

Kieeeek-!

At that moment, a gigantic pterosaur flew straight at me.

It had to be insane.

I casually sliced its neck off with the Sword of Heaven’s Gatekeeper, then started searching for people.

I continued searching while looking down from above with a wide field of view when...

‘Hm?’

A telepathic message came from Plli.

I changed direction and immediately headed toward Plli.

When I arrived, a strange sight came into view.

Plli was sitting on top of some kind of magic circle drawn on the ground, wagging its tail.

And floating in the middle of the magic circle was... a gauntlet?

Chains of light extending from the magic circle were wrapped tightly around the gauntlet as though holding it in place.

Could this be the treasure?

I approached and examined it.

[Item: Daykals’s Magic Gauntlet]

A mysterious enchanted gauntlet once used by Great General Daykals. The muscular strength of the arm wearing it is doubled.

[The treasure is currently sealed.]

[The treasure will belong to the first Climber who releases its seal.]

[You may release the treasure’s seal by selecting one of the following.]

Messages appeared when I touched the item.

“...Fuck.”

The moment I read the final message, a curse slipped out automatically.

[1. 1,000,000 random Non-Climbers die]

[2. The Time Limit for all difficulties decreases by 1 year]

[3. The rate at which the Nightmare Difficulty Time Limit decreases is doubled]

[If the treasure is destroyed, one of the choices’ effects will be applied at random.]

I had expected something obvious like this.

Sure enough, it was this kind of bullshit again.

I tried pulling the gauntlet free from the chains.

It didn’t budge.

Clang!

It was the same even when I tried cutting the chains with Heavenly Aura Blade.

They wouldn’t break.

Apparently, moving the item was impossible unless the seal was released.

“Plli, guard this place carefully. Don’t let anyone touch this.”

How many treasures like this were scattered around the island?

If someone found one and got any bad ideas...

It would be a catastrophe.

I stepped on the air with Air Walk and shot back into the sky.

I had to find the other Climbers.

Fast.

***

[You have been called by the Tower.]

[The difficulty assigned to you is ‘Hard’.]

The message appeared before Kim Seo-ah’s eyes while she anxiously waited in the living room with her family for Kim Seo-hyeon to return.

“...”

Kim Seo-ah was surprised, but she didn’t have much of a reaction to becoming a Climber.

More than anything, she simply felt relieved that her brother had safely succeeded in clearing Floor 12.

“You haven’t become Climbers, right?”

Kim Seo-hyeon had asked that during the meal.

Kim Seo-ah had flinched, but she hadn’t told him that she had become a Climber.

Because she was still debating whether she should tell him or not.

“What should I do...”

Truthfully, Kim Seo-ah didn’t want to tell him.

Kim Seo-hyeon already carried too much on his shoulders.

If she told him that she had become a Climber too, she felt like she would only give him one more thing to worry about.

There was no guarantee that something like what happened on Floor 4 wouldn’t happen again.

On top of that, she somehow felt guilty toward the rest of her family too.

Climbers had Curse Immunity.

They could survive even when the Tower’s Time Limit ran out.

Kim Seo-ah hated that she alone had gained such a benefit.

“Seo-hyeon.”

“What?”

“Well, you know...”

In the end, she had dodged the subject and failed to tell him.

Kim Seo-ah let out repeated sighs in her room as she stared into empty space.

[‘Treasure Hunt’ will begin in 24 hours.]

[When the time comes, 300 Climbers will be randomly invited to the ‘Treasure Hunt’.]

[Time Remaining: 5 minutes 12 seconds]

Treasure Hunt would begin soon.

Since she hadn’t even climbed Floor 1, she didn’t have a status window or Communication Channel, but now Kim Seo-ah could see all of the Tower’s notifications in real time too.

“I hope this ends safely too...”

If it hadn’t been for Kim Seo-hyeon during the Joint Battle, countless people might have died.

Why were people so awful?

Because of them, her brother had almost ended up in danger too.

The vicious Tower was always watching for an opportunity to take Person123’s life.

Something similar might happen again this time.

‘Please don’t let anything happen to my brother...’

Kim Seo-ah prayed inwardly as she stared tensely at the remaining time.

[Time Remaining: 1 second]

That was when it happened.

The scenery around her changed in an instant.

“...Kyaa!”

Kim Seo-ah jolted in shock and looked around.

There were people around her.

They looked just as confused as she was.

“W-What...?”

“Did we actually get selected?”

[‘Treasure Hunt’ has begun.]

[Many treasures are hidden throughout this Treasure Island.]

[Explore the island freely, discover treasures, and claim them.]

[After 10 minutes, the portal at your current location will activate.]

[You may exit while within the portal’s range. Once you exit, you cannot re-enter Treasure Island.]

[Treasure Hunt will end when there are no surviving Climbers remaining on Treasure Island.]

Messages appeared one after another.

Kim Seo-ah calmed her pounding heart and soon understood the situation.

...Apparently, she had been selected for Treasure Hunt.

There was forest everywhere around them.

Then someone among the people shouted.

“Everyone, look over here!”

For some reason, a man wearing a mask drew everyone’s attention.

“I am Person123.”

At his next words, everyone was startled.

Kim Seo-ah stared at him in shock too.

‘M-My brother?’

...No.

His voice and build were nothing like Kim Seo-hyeon’s.

The man impersonating Person123 began addressing the people in a solemn voice.

“Have you all read the messages? The circle we’re standing in right now appears to be the portal.”

Kim Seo-ah looked around at the wide line drawn across the ground.

Sure enough, the message had said that the portal at their current location would activate after 10 minutes.

“We have no reason to play along with the Tower’s schemes. Whatever these treasures are, it’s obvious the Tower is after people’s lives again, just like during the Joint Battle and the Masked Auction. Once 10 minutes have passed, let’s all leave immediately.”

The people glanced at one another and nodded.

Kim Seo-ah thought.

Ah... Is he pretending to be Person123 so he can keep everyone under control?

Maybe he doesn’t have bad intentions?

Anyway, just as he said, there would be no problem if they simply waited for the time to pass and exited.

Kim Seo-ah stayed quietly among the others and waited for the time to pass.

But then.

Whoooooosh...

A strange sound suddenly came from the sky.

The moment everyone looked up—

Crunch!

The body of a person standing right near Kim Seo-ah burst apart.

A pterosaur monster that had dived down in the blink of an eye had crushed them beneath its feet.

“A-Aaaaaagh!”

People screamed and fled in terror.

There wasn’t just one.

Several more pterosaurs descended and began attacking the people.

“Person123! Help us!”

The fake Person123 panicked and stumbled around before attacking one of the pterosaurs.

He leapt up powerfully and struck the pterosaur in the head, but the attack seemed to do no damage at all, and the pterosaur drove its enormous beak straight through his body.

He was impaled and died instantly.

“P-Person123 was killed!”

“This is fucking insane...!”

“No, that bastard was fake!”

Even the Climbers who had tried to fight gave up.

People scattered in every direction and began fleeing from the monsters.

Kim Seo-ah desperately ran in one direction too.

“Haa, haa...!”

While she was running without even knowing where she was going, the person ahead of her suddenly rose into the air.

“Aaagh! Help me, save meee...!”

A pterosaur had grabbed them in its claws.

Kim Seo-ah froze and stared at the sight, her face turning white.

Crash!

But that pterosaur also failed to take off and crashed to the ground.

Something had suddenly burst out of the brush and, in an instant, bitten through the pterosaur’s neck and slammed it into the ground.

Kim Seo-ah hurriedly hid behind a nearby rock.

A gigantic beast that looked like {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} a lion.

The monster violently shook its head and broke the pterosaur’s neck.

The person who had been caught by the pterosaur had already been crushed to death beneath the weight.

Grrrrrr-

Kim Seo-ah covered her mouth as her entire body trembled.

She couldn’t even bring herself to peek out.

All she could think was that she would die if it found her.

‘Seo-hyeon...!’

The surroundings suddenly went quiet.

Kim Seo-ah held her breath for a long time before cautiously peeking out.

“...”

A vertically slit pupil was right in front of her.

For an instant, it felt as though her heart had stopped.

At some point, the lion monster had approached all the way to the rock and was staring directly at her.

I’m going to die.

The moment that thought crossed her mind—

Flash!

A beam of light flashed, and the lion monster’s head exploded.

The monster died instantly and collapsed with a thud, not moving at all.

“Ah, ah...”

Kim Seo-ah was half out of her mind, only making breathless sounds.

Someone approached her.

It was a man with a constantly smiling face.

It was a man with a constantly smiling face.

“You almost died. You’re lucky.”

Ye Cheon-wi looked Kim Seo-ah up and down as she sat there in a daze.

“Are you all right?”

“...Yes. I-I’m fi...”

Kim Seo-ah quickly came back to her senses.

She tried to stand, but her legs gave out and she sank back down.

Ye Cheon-wi looked around and asked.

“By the way, could you explain what happened here? What were you doing in this place?”

There was a subtle killing intent behind the question.

Terrified, Kim Seo-ah stammered out an answer.

“Th-The pterosaurs attacked everyone...”

She explained, disjointedly, that they had been trying to wait for the portal so they could exit, only to be attacked by monsters, and that she had fled here.

Ye Cheon-wi nodded as though he more or less understood.

“So the Climbers on this side were attacked by monsters. I thought you had refused to leave because you wanted to search for treasure. My apologies.”

Ye Cheon-wi held out his hand.

Kim Seo-ah took it and stood up.

“I’ll escort you back to the portal.”

“Th-Thank you...”

Wiping away her tears, Kim Seo-ah followed Ye Cheon-wi.

Ye Cheon-wi glanced at her a few times before asking.

“By any chance, have we met somewhere before?”

“...What? N-No.”

“When I look at you, I somehow feel this strange surge of goodwill. How odd. This has never happened to me before...”

Why is this happening?

Ye Cheon-wi tilted his head, looking genuinely puzzled.

Kim Seo-ah wondered why he was trying to flirt with her at a time like this.

She was grateful that he had saved her life, but he had also killed that enormous monster in a single blow.

He was scary.

She kept her mouth firmly shut and quietly followed him.

Then Ye Cheon-wi suddenly raised his head and stared somewhere.

Kim Seo-ah reflexively followed his gaze.

A tiny dot was visible far off in the sky.

It was rapidly approaching them.

Amazingly, it was a person.

“Ah...!”

Ye Cheon-wi let out an exclamation as though overcome with emotion.

Once the figure drew close enough, Kim Seo-ah realized who it was and was startled too.

Even though he was wearing a mask, there was no way she wouldn’t recognize him.

Kim Seo-ah shouted in a tearful voice.

“Seo-hyeon!”

“...?!”

Ye Cheon-wi turned toward Kim Seo-ah with a horrified expression.