Chapter 172: Nightmare Floor 15 (4)

We had cleared both Round 1 and Round 2.

Now only Round 3 remained.

If we cleared Round 3, both Kanyuk and I would successfully clear Floor 15.

“You must miss the outside. You’ve been here for almost a year.”

“Kyak-kya! Of course. My tribe may already think I’m dead.”

“Do you have family waiting for you?”

Kanyuk answered.

“My entire tribe is waiting for me. Among us Tunbalk, everyone is family even if we aren’t directly related by blood.”

“I see.”

“What about you, Hyeon? Are there people waiting for you?”

“I have family too.”

“Really? How many children do you have?”

“I don’t have any children.”

“You don’t? Why? Hyeon, have you not started a family? Do you not have a mate?”

“No.”

What the hell? Was he picking a fight with me?

Kanyuk stared at me as though he found it strange, so I added.

“In my world, it’s normal not to have one yet at my age.”

“Is that so? How old are you, Hyeon?”

“Twenty-seven.”

By international age, my birthday hadn’t even passed yet, so I was twenty-five.

But for some reason, Kanyuk looked surprised. His eyes widened.

“Twenty-seven? You mean you’ve only lived twenty-seven years since you were born?”

“...More or less.”

“Amazing! And yet you’re already this strong? I thought you had lived for at least a hundred years. Among my tribe, someone who is twenty-seven is practically still a child.”

He was admiring me for something strange, so I tilted my head.

“Well, that’s because my level rose while climbing the Tower...”

“Kyak-kya. I’m talking about your own strength, not the Tower’s power.”

“I don’t have anything like that. Before becoming a Climber, I was just an ordinary person with no power at all.”

“What? Then Hyeon, are you saying you climbed Nightmare relying only on the rewards you received from clearing floors?”

“Yes.”

People on Earth didn’t use mana or anything like people in fantasy worlds did.

Of course, I had Time Stop.

Kanyuk spoke with an astonished expression.

“That is truly impressive. I naturally assumed you had already been an exceptional warrior from the beginning.”

“How old are you, Kanyuk?”

“I’m over three hundred years old. Even I am considered fairly young among my tribe.”

...As expected of someone from another world.

Kanyuk laughed, “Kyak-kya!”

“When I clear Floor 15 and return, they’ll probably hold a grand festival. It’s a shame I can’t invite you, Hyeon. It would be nice if you could come to my world too.”

A festival.

I spoke.

“Then would you like to show me your world?”

“Hm?”

“I can’t actually cross over into your world, but I can do something similar.”

If we entered the Mental World, I would be able to see Kanyuk’s world far more vividly.

I held out my hand to Kanyuk.

Taking the bewildered Kanyuk with me, I entered the Mental World.

The scenery changed.

“Ooh? What is this?”

“This place is called the Mental World.”

I gave Kanyuk a rough explanation as he looked around.

It was essentially a dreamlike world where anything you wanted could be recreated.

Kanyuk quickly understood and asked me.

“I see. Did you also use this ability to solve the Round 2 puzzle so quickly?”

“...That’s right.”

He connected the dots immediately?

As expected, he was extremely perceptive.

Kanyuk began recreating objects as though fascinated, and before long, he changed the entire scenery around us.

We were high in the sky, with mountain ranges stretching across the land below.

The scenery was vivid, barely distinguishable from reality.

Was Kanyuk talented at this? Or was it because his level of existence was high?

This was not the skill level of someone entering the Mental World for the first time.

“Our world consists of a single enormous continent called Volteron.”

Kanyuk began explaining.

“Ten races exist on Volteron. Long ago, they say a great war broke out between the races over the fertile lands at the center of the continent. At that time, our Tunbalk tribe avoided the war and migrated to the far eastern edge.”

“Ah... Did you lose the war?”

“Kyak-kya-kyak! No! According to the stories passed down within our tribe, our ancestors gave up from the very beginning before even fighting. But I can understand why. We really hate conflict!”

Kanyuk pointed toward the scenery below.

“Look. That is our tribe’s homeland, the Heban Mountain Range. We live entirely among ourselves without interacting with the other races at all.”

An immense mountain range with ridges stretching in a C-shape.

At the very center inside it was an enormous lake, large enough to be called a sea. An astonishingly clear and blue lake.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

Kanyuk smiled proudly.

“I don’t know how fertile the lands at the center of the continent are, but our homeland, the Heban Mountain Range, is also a wonderful paradise. Apparently, some of the races realized that too, because even after the great war ended, they coveted our homeland and invaded all the way out here.”

“Did everyone fight then?”

“Of course! The Tunbalk may love peace, but that doesn’t mean we can let someone take our precious homeland away.”

Kanyuk pointed at himself.

“So, in preparation for an outside invasion that could happen again at any time, every few hundred years our tribe performs a ritual that gathers the tribe’s power into the warrior with the greatest potential. And that warrior is me.”

Hmm. So that was how it was?

Hearing that he was his tribe’s greatest warrior made Kanyuk’s strength easier to understand.

It seemed Kanyuk was extraordinarily powerful even in his own world.

“But no one could have imagined it. That the power meant to protect our tribe’s homeland would end up being used to prevent the destruction of the entire world. Kyak-kya-kyak!”

Kanyuk laughed, then asked.

“Hyeon, do you happen to know anything about what the Tower actually is?”

“...No. What about you, Kanyuk?”

“Neither do I. Judging from the conversations in the Communication Channel, the mages in our world seem to be researching it diligently, but it doesn’t look like they’ve discovered anything meaningful.”

The Tower.

It had appeared without any warning, reason, or cause, and simply began destroying the world.

Even in the face of that despair and absurdity, Kanyuk seemed remarkably optimistic.

“Our world has about ten years left on Nightmare’s time limit. How much time does yours have left, Hyeon?”

“About seven years.”

Well, in my case, the bigger problem was that I didn’t have much lifespan left before the deadline anyway...

There was no need to bring that up.

Kanyuk slapped me hard on the shoulder.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to meet again once Floor 15 is over, but you’re a good guy, so I hope you live a long, long life.”

I looked at Kanyuk, then nodded.

“You’re the one who’s genuinely a good person, Kanyuk. I hope you keep succeeding without ever failing too.”

“Of course I will! I’m not going to die either. I’ll keep living for a long, long time! Kyak-kya!”

Floor 15 wasn’t even over yet, and it felt like we were celebrating too early...

We looked at each other and laughed.

“Hyeon, can you show me your world too? I’m curious what it looks like.”

Kanyuk asked.

I recreated various landscapes from Earth and showed them to him.

After we finished looking around each other’s worlds, we returned to reality.

[3:32]

The final Round 3.

It would begin soon.

I steeled my resolve and prepared myself.

Hoping that both of us would safely clear Floor 15.

[0:01]

[The third round begins.]

A message appeared.

I stopped time and read it.

[Golden balls will be summoned at random locations.]

[Destroying a golden ball grants 1 point.]

[Each challenger must obtain at least 10 points within the given time.]

[If both challengers obtain at least 10 points, the challenger with the higher score will clear the round.]

‘...’

A contest for points.

The rules were simple.

One point per golden ball.

Each of us had to obtain at least 10 points.

And if both of us obtained at least 10 points, the one with the higher score would pass.

It felt as though my heart suddenly turned cold.

...The one with the higher score would pass.

In other words.

The one with the lower score would fail the round.

Unlike Round 1 and Round 2, both of us couldn’t pass.

The rules required there to be a winner and a loser.

‘Fuck.’

So this is how you’re doing it...

- It has come to this after all. I told thee to steel thyself.

The Demon King’s voice rang out.

‘...You knew this would happen?’

- Didst thou not expect something like this yourself, deep down?

He was right.

I had felt it from the moment I learned that Floor 15 wasn’t single-player, but multiplayer.

Because the Tower’s malice had no end.

Because it never seemed likely that it would allow an ending where the two of us cooperated and successfully cleared the floor together.

The ominous possibility I had tried to ignore had finally become reality in the last round.

- The exact process differed for Us as well, but it was similar. One of us had to fail.

‘So what did you do?’

- Hmph. Why ask such a meaningless question when thou already knowest what to expect? The other one died, and We were the one who successfully cleared the floor.

...There had been no need to ask.

I felt sick.

[The two challengers will simultaneously proceed through a total of three rounds.]

[Clear all three rounds to successfully clear Floor 15.]

[If you fail to clear a round, you will fail to clear Floor 15, and no retry will be permitted.]

[If one of the challengers dies, the remaining challenger will immediately clear Floor 15.]

If you failed a round, you failed to clear Floor 15.

And there would be no opportunity to retry.

I didn’t know whether that meant being trapped on Floor 15 forever, or whether it meant death.

Either way, the fact that it was the end remained the same.

One of us would definitely meet their end in this third round.

- Finish this. There is no need to proceed with Round 3. Use Radiant Incarnation, and We shall dispose of him immediately.

...I remained with time stopped for a long while.

Whether I obtained more points than him, or killed him as the Demon King suggested.

One way or another, I had to put an end to Kanyuk.

And that was practically the same as ending an entire world with my own hands.

Because Kanyuk, just like me, was the highest-floor Nightmare Climber in his world.

Even so, I had to do it.

Otherwise, it would be me and my world that faced destruction.

There was no other way.

Kanyuk was a good person, and we had formed no small bond in the short time we had known each other.

But that didn’t mean I could put Kanyuk’s world ahead of Earth.

That was only natural. Kanyuk would surely feel the same way.

For now, I released Time Stop.

The terrain around us began to change.

Within the endless space, platforms began appearing endlessly in every direction.

And several faint flashes of light gleamed far away.

They were probably the golden balls being summoned.

[10:00]

[0:0]

A ten-minute timer appeared along with a score display.

I watched Kanyuk’s reaction.

...It would be easier on me if Kanyuk showed hostility first.

That selfish thought crossed my mind.

Kanyuk, who had been staring into empty space, soon turned toward me.

His expression was difficult to read as he opened his mouth.

“Hyeon.”

“...”

“Let’s tie.”

“...What?”

The words were completely unexpected.

Kanyuk continued calmly.

“Let’s both stop at 10 points. If we end in a tie, maybe both of us can pass the round.”

...What was he talking about?

There was no way something like that would work.

There was no explanation of what would happen in the event of a tie, but there was no chance the Tower would give us such a convenient ruling. Kanyuk had to know that too.

And this was no longer a situation where we could simply trust each other.

“There’s no way that’ll work.”

“Even so, I want to try.”

Before I could say anything else, Kanyuk continued.

“Let’s each obtain 10 points and then return to this spot when time runs out, Hyeon. I swear on my honor as a warrior that I will keep my word. Let’s not give up yet. Let’s put our hope in it once.”