Chapter 37: Overcompensation (2)

Destruction Ray—an epic+-grade magic-type skill.

Its destructive power exceeded anything I could have imagined.

The Amalgamation had shrugged off every Flame Strike I threw at it and regenerated in the blink of an eye.

And yet, it had simply died.

“This really is a destruction beam, isn’t it?”

[Willpower: 250]

A single use of the skill had nearly drained my Willpower to zero, but that hardly mattered.

With a skill like this, I could probably bring down almost anything short of an absurdly powerful enemy.

It felt as though I had acquired an ultimate move.

After spending a moment reveling in the sheer power of Destruction Ray, I lowered my gaze to the necklace.

Might as well tame this thing while I’m at it.

If that blast could kill even The Amalgamation in a single hit, there was no chance Plligas could withstand it.

[Would you like to use ‘Item: Plligas’s Blood Necklace’?]

I fully replenished my Willpower, waited for Destruction Ray’s Cooldown to reset, and immediately activated the necklace.

The writhing outline of a beast began to coalesce before my eyes.

Well, hello again.

Nice to see you.

I appreciated your help last time, but I’m afraid it has to be this way.

GRAAAOOOH...!

The instant Plligas fully manifested and opened its mouth to roar, I stopped time.

‘Be reborn as my Familiar.’

After 300 seconds of Mental Concentration, I unleashed a fully charged Destruction Ray straight ahead.

The moment Plligas materialized, a gaping hole was blasted clean through its body. Just like The Amalgamation, it broke apart and scattered.

God...

No matter how many times I witnessed it, the sheer destructive power was breathtaking.

It might have been a little underhanded, but a victory was still a victory.

Plligas’s scattered remains dissolved into smoke and were drawn back into the necklace.

[A Master-Servant Contract with Plligas has been established.]

The message appeared.

I had successfully made Plligas my Familiar.

[Item: Plligas’s Blood Necklace]

A necklace infused with the blood of Plligas, a predator of the demon realm. You have successfully summoned Plligas into the mortal world, defeated it, and formed a Master-Servant Contract. If Plligas takes severe damage, it will be Reverse Summoned, and you must wait 24 hours before summoning it again.

The item description had changed.

Judging by the new description, there was no default limit on how long Plligas could remain summoned.

The only restriction was a 24-hour Cooldown before it could be summoned again if it suffered severe damage and died.

“Not bad.”

In other words, as long as it stayed alive, I could keep it summoned indefinitely.

I summoned Plligas again at once.

Hssss—

Plligas appeared before me.

Unlike before, it did not roar.

Was it my imagination, or did its eyes seem a little gentler now?

It stared down at me blankly, so I decided to test whether it would obey a command.

“Sit.”

Plligas immediately lowered itself into a crouch.

“Stand.”

Plligas rose to its feet.

“Sit, stand, sit, stand...”

It sat, stood, sat, and stood again.

The creature was so enormous that every movement sent a gust of wind sweeping through the air.

“...Roll to the left. Roll to the right. No, don’t roll right—lift your left foot. Don’t lift your right foot. Put your left foot back down.”

In any case, Plligas obeyed every command perfectly.

The fearsome predator had turned into a complete lapdog.

Though, admittedly, its face looked more feline than canine.

I reached up and patted Plligas on the head.

“Let’s get along, Plli. From now on, your name is Plli.”

Its fur was not remotely soft. It was rough and coarse, almost like sandpaper.

More importantly, now that I had tamed a Familiar like this, there was one thing I absolutely had to try.

I leaped onto Plligas’s back.

“Let’s go, Plli. Time for a proper run.”

Obviously, I had to try riding it.

At my command, Plligas released a low rumble and shot forward like an arrow.

I was nearly thrown from its back and only barely managed to hold on by clutching the fur at the scruff of its neck.

“Whoooaaaa...!”

Fast.

It was genuinely fast.

That day, I spent nearly an hour galloping across the plains on Plligas’s back.

***

Several days had passed since the Nightmare 3F clear.

[Vodka: Why isn’t Person123 posting anything...]

[HuHu: When’s the 3F info post going up?!]

[PeaceOfMind: What, did you place an order? Person123 needs time to organize everything before posting.]

[Chokar: I’m just curious how horrific this one was.]

[Jaxon: Both 1F and 2F were worse than anything you could imagine, so...]

Everyone on the Communication Channel was waiting for Person123 to make a post.

He had never explicitly promised to share the 3F intel, but he had always posted his findings after clearing a floor.

That was simply what he did.

And sure enough, this time was no different.

[Person123: Here is the 3F clearing intel.]

The moment Person123’s message appeared, every eye on the Communication Channel turned toward it.

[Person123: The floor is a plains area. Undead begin swarming in from every direction as soon as you enter. You are provided with three weapons: a sword, a mace, and a spear. The Undead appear to possess combat strength somewhere in the early-to-mid Level 10s. Their defense is even lower than that, and destroying the head is required for a confirmed kill. Aside from their greater numbers and strength, there are no major differences from the other difficulty tiers up to this point.

However, the clear condition for Nightmare difficulty is not to survive for 10 minutes until sunrise. In Nightmare, the sun sets instead. As the sun descends, stronger Undead begin appearing in greater numbers. Once the sun has completely set, an innumerable horde emerges. You cannot hold out against it, and even if you somehow could, doing so would not clear the floor.

To clear the floor, you must locate the entrance to the underground passage immediately after entering. Approximately 700 meters from the starting point in the one o’clock direction, there is a patch of exposed stone ground with no grass growing on it. Break through the ground to reveal the passage...]

It was a lengthy post containing detailed information about 3F.

The revelation sent shockwaves through the Communication Channel, and the discussion immediately erupted into chaos.

[WhiteSwan: Wait, the sun SETS...?]

[ReadyGo: At this point, self-destructing Undead and beast-type Undead aren’t even surprising anymore.]

[Mousetrap: And what’s this about collecting gems underground? Nightmare difficulty is just straight-up filthy;]

[LostCowBrainPills: The cube thing is completely insane lmao. Now you need to practice Rubik’s cubes just to clear floors?]

[Sasaki: Person123, are you telling me you’re even the best at solving cubes?]

[Pacific: But is it actually possible to solve one in under 20 seconds?]

[HawaiianPizza: It’s possible with practice. The world record for a 3x3x3 cube is somewhere in the 2-second range.]

[Specter: The boss can reach Level 50-something at maximum strength? So Person123 fought it head-on?]

[Tornado: Obviously, he confirmed it through Repeat Clearing and then bailed.]

[Kentucky: But is Person123 really only Level 30 right now? Nightmare gives 10 levels per floor, doesn’t it?]

U.S. Tower Climbing Management Bureau Headquarters, Main Assembly Hall.

Taylor, the only American Climber to have reached Nightmare 3F, sat alongside the other key officials of the Climbing Bureau.

At the front of the hall, a reorganized summary of Person123’s Nightmare 3F intel post was displayed on a large projector screen.

“...Therefore, the key to clearing the third floor is minimizing the amount of time spent collecting the three underground gems.”

Max, the head of the Nightmare training project, continued his presentation.

“As you can see, the gem on the right-hand path can be retrieved immediately and with little difficulty. The gem on the left-hand path, which contains spike traps, should also be relatively easy to acquire if the Climber possesses a pull-type skill capable of drawing objects toward them.”

“Something like... the normal-grade skill Sticky String, for example?”

“Exactly. And finally, we have the cube trap on the central path...”

Max changed to the next slide.

“After consulting the leading cube experts in the United States, we reached the conclusion that, if the only objective is to break the 20-second barrier, the advanced CFOP method can be reduced to its essential components, thereby minimizing the required training period.

“With a sufficiently comfortable schedule, approximately eight weeks of practice at one hour per day should be enough. The training period may extend beyond our initial estimate, but the cube trap itself should not present a serious problem.”

The people seated around the room nodded solemnly.

Not a single trace of amusement could be found on their faces.

“The greatest obstacle is expected to be the boss. Although this estimate is partially based on Person123’s subjective assessment, the boss that appeared after the Sun Emblem took three minutes to activate is believed to possess combat strength somewhere in the mid-Level 20s.

“According to the intel, the boss becomes stronger as more time passes. Logically, reducing the elapsed time should cause it to appear in a proportionally weakened state, but this has yet to be confirmed.”

“If the boss that appears after three minutes is already that strong, wouldn’t fighting it be dangerous at Taylor’s current Level?”

“Yes. It would be dangerous.”

“Then we need to reduce the time to below three minutes. We also need definitive confirmation that doing so actually weakens the boss... Would it be difficult to ask Person123 to verify that as well?”

Within the Climbing Bureau, Max was perhaps the only person who could claim to have anything resembling a rapport with Person123.

By now, it was common knowledge that attempting to discuss anything unrelated to Nightmare clearing strategies with him was an exercise in futility. Max, who had been exchanging messages with Person123 since the early days of the first floor, had naturally assumed the role of liaison.

Max nodded, though his expression was slightly uncomfortable.

“I have already submitted the request, and he agreed to it. However, he warned me that the verification may take quite some time.”

The source of Max’s discomfort was simple.

He already felt deeply indebted to Person123, and that debt only continued to grow.

Person123 was practically spoon-feeding them everything they needed, yet they were still incapable of opening their mouths wide enough to swallow it properly.

That was the situation they found themselves in.

But what choice did they have?

This was a matter of life and death for Taylor, the only hope of America’s Nightmare climbing efforts. Even if it meant swallowing their pride a hundred times over, they had no choice but to continue asking for help.

Of course, Person123 had readily accepted the request.

That was simply the kind of person he was.

Whenever someone asked for help related to clearing the Tower, he never refused.

The fact that a person like him stood at the very forefront of Nightmare difficulty was nothing less than a blessing for all of humanity.

Director Ban spoke.

“What exactly does ‘quite some time’ mean...?”

“I managed to get a little more information during a separate conversation. According to Person123, the delay wasn’t caused by any other part of the clear. The cube alone took him more than a minute longer than necessary. To bring the total time below three minutes, he needs to practice solving it. That’s why the verification will take a while.”

Director Ban tilted his head, still unconvinced.

“But didn’t he say that the underground passage becomes flooded with Undead if the cube isn’t solved within 20 seconds?”

“That’s correct. However, Person123 said he used a Concealment-type skill to avoid the Undead and continued solving the cube. Apparently, the cube can still be completed even after the time limit has expired.”

“...A Concealment skill?”

“Yes. In theory, anyone with a skill capable of hiding their presence would not strictly need to meet the 20-second time limit. However, since our objective is to minimize the total clear time regardless, that point is effectively irrelevant.”

More importantly, no Concealment-type skill had ever been confirmed to exist anywhere in the world.

That was precisely why Director Ban and everyone else in the room had reacted with such surprise.

It meant that, on top of everything else he possessed, Person123 also had access to a skill of that nature.

After the meeting concluded, Director Ban spoke privately with Max and Taylor.

“I agree. If we can confirm that the boss appears in a weakened state, a successful clear should be well within our reach. I will do everything in my power to ensure that you receive the full support you need.”

The presentation had also served as an opportunity to explain what resources would be required for the 3F clear and how realistic the attempt would be.

Regardless of how important the mission was, the Bureau could not continue pouring skill stones and items into an operation with no prospect of success.

“I’m counting on you once again, Taylor. I’m sorry to keep placing this burden on your shoulders, but you are this country’s hope.”

At Director Ban’s words, Taylor gave a faint, self-deprecating smile.

“Is this really something I should feel burdened by? All I’m doing is comfortably climbing the Tower using the intel that man provides.”

“And yet only two people have managed even that, and you are one of them. As for Person123... at this point, he must be regarded as someone who exists entirely beyond the normal scale.”

Merely clearing Nightmare 2F was already an extraordinary achievement.

Person123 was simply in a league of his own.

That was precisely why the Climbing Bureau had abandoned its previous approach and shifted toward following in his footsteps as closely as possible.

Even so, Director Ban could not suppress his curiosity.

Person123—the man who now effectively held the lifeline of all humanity in his hands.

What kind of person was he, really?

***

“Hah... This isn’t easy.”

I rolled around on my bed, fiddling with a 3,000-won Rubik’s cube I had bought from Da_so.

Solving this thing in under 20 seconds isn’t easy at all.