Chapter 2: Nightmare, 1st Floor (1)

“Goblins. Estimated height: between 150 and 160 centimeters. Physical strength: roughly equal to or slightly below that of an average adult male. On Easy and Normal difficulty, unarmed Goblins attack primarily with their teeth and claws. On Hard difficulty, however, they are equipped with iron longswords, causing their threat level to rise dramatically...”

I had sworn that I would never enter the Tower.

But that didn’t mean I had spent the past year doing nothing.

“...Hard difficulty is insane too. What kind of people willingly attempt that?”

Information about the Tower’s first floor was everywhere. All it took was a quick search online.

There were even comprehensive clearing guides advertised as essential reading for every Climber.

None of them applied to me, of course.

Not a single person had ever returned alive from the first floor of Nightmare difficulty. No one knew what awaited inside.

The more information I gathered, the more certain I became of the same conclusion.

Entering meant death.

Climb the Tower and become superhuman?

Earn obscene amounts of money from the Tower’s rewards?

Apparently, plenty of people had been lured in by those promises and chosen to challenge the Tower. Some even envied those who had been selected as Climbers.

So what?

I only had one life.

I wasn’t ambitious, and I knew perfectly well how precious my life was. In that respect, I was the exact opposite of those people.

Even if I had been assigned Easy difficulty, I wouldn’t have given the Tower a second glance.

My life had already been perfectly comfortable.

And Nightmare difficulty, where the survival rate was zero?

Unless someone put a knife to my throat, I would never enter of my own free will.

Still, I had always believed that life was unpredictable.

Whenever I had a spare moment, I searched for and memorized everything I could find about the first floor.

I was never going to enter the Tower, but I figured there was no harm in getting into shape, so I began working out as well.

Had I truly intended to prepare, there were specialized training facilities for Climbers. But setting foot in one would have been practically the same as announcing that I was a Climber, so I stayed away.

Instead, I took up kendo and boxing.

Boxing was an obvious choice, but I had a specific reason for choosing kendo.

The Tower supposedly prohibited electronics, as well as anything classified as a weapon or armor.

The only equipment Climbers could use was whatever the Tower itself provided.

And according to every available account, the weapon given to Climbers on the first floor was a sword.

I had long suspected that my Time Stop ability could be useful in physical combat.

After more than half a year of training at boxing and kendo gyms, I had received my answer.

It was more than useful enough to put into practice.

Had I known things would turn out this way, I would have trained much harder.

But, well...

From Easy through Hard, the enemy on the first floor was always the same.

Goblins.

Floor 1, Easy: one unarmed Goblin.

Floor 1, Normal: two unarmed Goblins.

Floor 1, Hard: two Goblins armed with swords.

So what in the world was waiting for me on Nightmare?

[You have entered Nightmare difficulty, Floor 1.]

I was about to find out firsthand.

The scenery before my eyes changed in an instant.

The moment I entered, I stopped time.

Information flooded my vision.

A vast, cavernous chamber.

Minerals embedded in the walls glowed like lamps, bathing the area in bright light.

A straight corridor stretched out before me.

No enemies were immediately visible.

I repeatedly stopped and resumed time while scanning every direction—front, back, left, and right.

The environment was exactly as described.

On every difficulty level, Climbers fought Goblins inside a cave-like space.

...What do I do?

Now that I was actually here, regret struck me with crushing force.

No.

I can’t do this.

‘Get a grip.’

I was already inside.

There was no longer any room for hesitation or negative thoughts.

I can do this.

I’ll clear this floor and walk out alive.

They said those who clung to life would die, while those prepared to die would live.

To hell with that.

I could do this without resigning myself to death.

I took a deep breath...

Or rather, since time was frozen, I couldn’t actually breathe.

After taking a mental breath to steady myself, I allowed time to resume.

I picked up the weapon resting atop a cube-shaped boulder nearby.

A Western-style longsword.

I had worried that Nightmare difficulty might not provide me with a weapon at all, but fortunately, the Tower wasn’t quite that cruel.

Gripping the longsword with both hands, I faced the corridor ahead.

The Goblins would emerge from there at any moment.

According to everything I had read, that was how the first floor began on Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty.

I stood there, breathing the stale cavern air as I waited.

Soon, they emerged from the corridor.

I stopped time immediately.

Then I examined the Goblins before me.

Three in total.

Two carried swords similar to mine.

The third wielded a spear.

...I had to fight those things.

I had steeled myself as best I could, but my resolve still threatened to crumble.

Get a grip, you idiot.

Time was infinite.

I could think through my strategy as calmly and thoroughly as I needed.

Fighting all three at once would obviously be suicide.

The sword-wielding Goblin at the front was the closest. The other two trailed a short distance behind it.

‘They’ll charge straight at me. That’s what all the reports said.’

The chamber was spacious enough.

Could I draw them apart and kill them one at a time using hit-and-run tactics?

‘As long as I don’t let them surround me...’

If I made full use of my ability, it seemed possible.

I had spent months developing a feel for using Time Stop in combat through boxing and kendo.

But this was the real thing.

The smallest mistake would be fatal.

‘I can do this.’

I forced down my fear and steeled myself one last time.

Then I released time.

Kreeeeh-!

The Goblins charged.

The sword-wielding Goblin at the front reached me first.

Wait.

This was an opportunity.

I might be able to kill one and retreat before the others caught up.

When it was almost upon me, I began using my ability in earnest.

I stopped and resumed time in rapid succession.

It was like pausing a video, then repeatedly tapping play and pause in quick bursts.

The Goblin advanced in tiny, sluggish increments.

I had given this technique a name of my own.

Time Slicing.

The shortest interval in which I could release and stop time again was approximately 0.02 seconds.

In other words, I could divide a single second into as many as fifty separate slices.

Time Stop did not make me invincible.

My body and reflexes were still those of an ordinary human.

What good would stopping time do if a blade had already reached my stomach?

I still wouldn’t be able to dodge it.

The moment time resumed, the sword would pierce straight through me.

That was why Time Slicing was the most effective method available to someone like me.

‘...God, their faces are disgusting.’

I realized that the Goblins portrayed in games and comics had been heavily romanticized.

The creature crept toward me in slow motion.

My own body moved just as sluggishly.

But I had more than enough time to predict how it would attack and prepare my response.

‘A thrust.’

The Goblin pulled its sword arm back.

The point of the blade angled toward me.

There was no question.

It was going to thrust.

I began shifting my rear foot and turning my torso aside, initiating my evasion.

At the same time, I extended my sword for a counterattack.

Within that crawling flow of time, both of us moved as though skipping from one frame to the next.

Moving by repeatedly stopping and releasing time in fractions of a second was a strange sensation. But I had practiced until it felt natural, and my movements no longer suffered from any hesitation or awkwardness.

‘Good.’

The evasion worked.

By the time the Goblin fully extended its sword, my body had already moved beyond the path of the thrust.

Meanwhile, the tip of my own blade was driving straight toward its throat.

I was going to run it through.

And I did.

The sharpened steel pierced living flesh far more easily than I had imagined.

Hurk-!

With my sword buried in the Goblin’s neck, I stopped time again.

...I did it.

I actually did it.

The blade had gone straight through its throat.

This one was finished.

I remained calm and considered my next move.

Pull out the sword and retreat.

There was plenty of time.

Once I had prepared myself, I released time.

“...!”

Then stopped it again immediately.

The embedded blade didn’t slide free as easily as I had expected.

Damn it.

What now?

Twist the sword while kicking the Goblin away.

Thwack!

Fortunately, the blade came loose this time.

The Goblin, its throat pierced through, collapsed to the ground.

I spun around and ran.

The remaining two Goblins chased after me, shrieking in their grating voices.

I was faster than they were.

Pause again.

I froze in mid-stride.

Wait...

This is actually possible.

My ability was working perfectly well in real combat.

Confidence surged through me.

All I had to do was deal with the remaining two the same way.

The sword-wielding Goblin was closer and rapidly gaining on me.

Sword Goblin on the left.

Spear Goblin on the right.

The spear Goblin was gradually falling behind.

If I veered left, the distance between them would grow.

I released time and began sprinting again.

I curved in a wide arc toward the left.

The distance between the two Goblins widened, while the sword Goblin drew closer to me.

Now.

This was the moment.

I came to an abrupt stop.

Apparently incapable of understanding anything resembling coordinated tactics, the charging sword Goblin continued rushing straight toward me.

Even better.

Come on, then.

When it was nearly within striking distance, I began Time Slicing again.

On.

Off.

On.

Off.

As the Goblin’s movements unfolded in slow motion, I predicted its next attack.

‘An overhead strike.’

The creature raised its sword above its head.

A simple, straightforward downward slash.

I timed my own swing and knocked the descending blade aside.

The impact reverberated through my hands.

I stopped time again and calmly prepared my counterattack.

That was the advantage I possessed.

Even in the middle of a battle, I had unlimited time to consider my next move.

The Goblin’s reactions could never hope to keep pace with that.

Thunk!

My sword pierced its exposed throat.

Second kill.

More composed this time, I withdrew the blade and stepped back.

The spear-wielding Goblin, which had been pursuing from behind, faltered when it saw the sword Goblin collapse.

Was this one more cowardly than the others?

No.

Perhaps “smarter” was the better word.

The spear Goblin did not charge recklessly.

Instead, it remained at a distance, pacing cautiously from side to side.

“Hoo...”

I steadied my breathing without taking my eyes off it.

...Wait.

This was no time to celebrate the fact that only one remained.

The spear was pointed directly at me.

Its reach was far greater than that of my sword.

The pressure created by that difference in reach was no joke.

If I tried to close the distance carelessly, it would skewer me.

Dodging while holding my ground and dodging while advancing were two entirely different levels of difficulty.

Honestly, it would have been easier if this Goblin had attacked mindlessly like the other two.

But this one was infuriatingly cautious.

The evade-or-block-then-counter pattern that had worked so well against the first two would be much more difficult to execute now.

‘Going on the offensive is too risky...’

Maintaining my distance, I slowly circled the Goblin while keeping it directly in front of me.

Right.

There was no reason for me to attack first.

Are we really going to keep doing this?

You come to me.

I focused every nerve on stopping time the moment I saw an opening.

For a long while, we circled each other in silence, our gazes locked.

Eventually, the Goblin seemed to lose its patience and let out an angry screech.

Kreeh-! Kreeeeh-!

Its cries grated against my ears like metal scraping over metal.

Wait.

Maybe I should provoke it.

It already seemed agitated. A little mockery might be enough to make it attack first.

“Heheh. Pfft.”

I pulled the most obnoxious face I could manage and produced the most irritating laugh I could muster.

For good measure, I stuck out my tongue.

Fortunately, the Goblin seemed to understand that I was mocking it.

The instant I saw its weight shift forward, I stopped time.

Here it comes.

Time Slicing.

On.

Off.

The spear crawled toward me in slow motion.

I read the trajectory of the thrust and began twisting my body out of its path.

Dodge.

Close the distance.

Stab.

The previous two fights had sharpened my instincts.

I executed the counter exactly as I had envisioned it.

My sword plunged into the Goblin’s neck.

Then I kicked its body away to free the blade.

The creature twitched on the ground for several seconds before finally going still.

I looked around.

The Goblins I had defeated earlier had long since become motionless corpses.

All three had been killed cleanly, each in a single exchange.

It was over.

“...”

Or perhaps not.

The first floor was supposed to be cleared once all the Goblins had been eliminated.

But no message announcing a successful clear had appeared.

Which meant something else remained.

“Yeah. I didn’t expect it to be that easy.”

Three Goblins.

They had certainly been difficult enough on their own, but there was no chance Nightmare difficulty ended with only that.

This couldn’t possibly have been what killed every single person who entered before me...

“Heh.”

For now, I needed to rest.

I sat down and allowed my body to recover.

[Nightmare]

Personnel: 76,526

Time Limit: 3 hours, 1 minute, 42 seconds

Reached Floor: 1F

I checked Nightmare difficulty’s Time Limit to determine how much time had passed.

Less than five minutes had elapsed since I entered.

Fighting while repeatedly stopping time had made it feel infinitely longer.

Even so...

“All right... This is doable.”

I muttered as I glanced over the ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) Goblin corpses.

But had I really just done that?

Even by my own assessment, I had fought brilliantly.

See?

I can do this when I try.

Right?

My spirits soared.

Hope began to bloom within me.

Hope that I might actually conquer Nightmare difficulty—the difficulty that had already swallowed tens of thousands of lives.

Grrreek-!

A Goblin’s cry echoed through the cave.

I scrambled to my feet.

Goddammit.

They weren’t even going to let me rest.

More Goblins emerged from the corridor.

I stopped time.

Three again.

But this time, their equipment was different.

One carried a sword.

Another carried both a sword and a shield.

And the last one...

Oh, shit.

The blood drained from my face.

One of them was carrying a bow.