[A message is delivered from the Tutorial Tower.]
[At 7:39 pm today, Wigen and 7 other challengers have succeeded in completing the 60th floor.]
A month after Yoo Seodam started trolling Wigen for the 60th floor’s boss room, Wigen finally managed to conquer the boss. Even though Yoo Seodam had tried to stop him by using every trick in his arsenal, Wigen was still able to slip through thanks to his fairy’s buggy play and cheats.
And since all the challengers in the tower would be notified when the current highest unconquered floor was cleared, rumours spread quickly.
“Did you hear that? After a fierce encounter between Yoo Seodam and Wigen on the 60th floor, Wigen finally climbed to the 61st floor first.”
While Yoo Seodam was stalling Wigen, Malea, along with Aracelli, conquered the tower at an outrageous speed. It was not only thanks to the diary that Yoo Seodam left for Aracelli, but also thanks to all the ‘hints’ he left in various places around the tower which was executed perfectly thanks to Malea’s excellent judgment.
Malea’s instantaneous judgment and ability to respond to crises were amazing enough to astonish Aracelli. She even admitted that this Tutorial Tower—which was full of mysteries and riddles—was a perfect environment for Malea.
Thus, they easily conquered 10-19th floors and reached the 20th floor.
“I think I’ve heard something like that. Didn’t the rankers on the 50th floor say that the theme of the 60th floor is ‘cooperation’ and you will need a party member for each position? Isn’t it already a widespread story that Wigen recruited a few challengers who had been staying on the 59th floor for several years and brought them to the 60th floor through his contracted fairy?”
“Right? They looked like they wouldn’t ever be able to break through the 59th floor, but with Wigen’s help, they went up right away…”
On the 20th floor, the stage was desert-themed. It was called ‘In The Dry Desert Sea’; True to its name, it was a place with a vast sandy land that stretched up to the horizon. There, Aracelli and Malea strolled through the ruins that had been converted into a city and overheard the story about Wigen and Yoo Seodam who were competing to conquer the highest floor in the Tutorial Tower.
“Since Yoo Seodam is a solo player, won’t he be unable to climb any further?”
“Well. He even completed the ‘Mystery of the Triangle’ all by himself even though it is said to be a stage that requires at least four people. So I’m sure he will go up soon.”
“But, I heard the trick he used for that stage, it was very unusual.”
Malea’s ear perked up at all of the rumour. It was apparent that she was interested in the challenger called Yoo Seodam. Unable to keep it for herself, she turned towards Aracelli with an excited expression plastered on her face.
“Isn’t that Yoo Seodam great? Going up there alone and all. If it’s me, I wouldn’t be able to do it.”
Being alone was a huge task. Even a small mistake could easily lead you to your death. If you had a partner, you could trust someone and rely on someone, you could lean on them a little bit when you are tired. And when you are mentally exhausted, they will support you and give you strength and courage to move forward.
However, Yoo Seodam never had a companion and had climbed the tower all by himself. Although it may seem foolish at first glance, Malea—who could not do anything without someone by her side—felt that he was quite admirable and wonderful.
At her words, Aracelli smiled softly.
“That’s right. He is a wonderful person.”
“Right? Right?”
Although it had been only a few months since they met, Malea had become quite close to Aracelli as they had taken a life-or-death challenge together. And from what she had witnessed throughout their journey, she concluded that Aracelli was not just an ordinary ‘Irregular’ but an ‘Over-spec Irregular’.
Aside from her powerful magic, Aracelli also possessed considerable self-defence skill; her technique and agility was perfect. Moreover, she also possessed a deep knowledge which was unfathomable to Malea. So, even when she didn’t use her magic, she was still very helpful.
However, even with all those qualities, they were still blocked on 20th floor as the passage they had to go through to challenge the ‘final stage’ of the 20th floor was tightly guarded by the Wings of Heaven Guild.
Currently, Malea and Aracelli were wanted by the Wings of Heaven Guild. They had heard the rumour that the guild leader himself had ordered all of his guild members to catch both of them at all cost. It was all because the expedition leader that Aracelli mutilated on the 10th floor was actually the guild master’s close dongsaeng. (Dongsaeng = a subordinate who is as close as a little brother)
Even now, more than 2 out of 10 people who were wandering around the city had the mark of Wings of Heaven Guild on them.
From 10th floor to 19th floor, Malea’s climb had been extremely smooth. This was the first time she was being blocked from climbing higher by an external source, she did not know how to react to this situation.
“Ummm… what should we do?”
With her hood pressed down deeply to cover her face, Malea glanced at the passageway leading to dozens of archers in the distance.
Since the guild leader of Wings of Heaven was a ranker on the 56th floor, no challenger could treat them badly. If Malea and Aracelli want to stand a chance against Wings of Heaven Guild, they need to get help from a ranker who was on a higher floor than the guild leader of Wings of Heaven. The ranker could suppress his power. However, it was improbable to hope for that kind of miracle to happen since rankers were rarely interested in petty squabbles happening on the lower floors.
“Ummm…” Even Aracelli, who always had everything figured out according to Malea, had a shadow casted on her beautiful face.
“There seems to be no other way other than a head-on breakthrough.” Aracelli said so after a long deliberation. If only she could use her original powers, she would be able to sneak towards the final stage room pretty easily by using ‘invisibility’ or ‘space transfer’ spell. However, since Aracelli had almost no natural mana recovery, only a small amount of mana was left on her body. It was only enough to barely maintain her vital activity.
In other words, it’s impossible to fight them.
“Once we get to the stage, other challengers can’t interfere, right?”
“That’s… right.”
In addition, there are more than 10 arrival points scattered around the 20th floor for people who just finished the trial. It was designed this way in order to prevent challengers from getting killed by other challengers who held a grudge towards them and decided to wait near the arrival point.
In other words, when a close battle happens near the boss room, all you have to do is enter it.
“Would it be really that easy?”
“It’s okay. There’s a way. In the first place, they aren’t aware of which floor we are currently in, are they?”
“I believe so.”
“So, let’s go down. The 16th floor is no better than here, but there are only three passages before the boss room on that floor. We can show up there before disappearing again.”
“AH! So we are going to make them tighten their security there, while loosening it here?”
“Yes. And I observed them for a few days, their patrol always gets lax around dawn. They probably don’t think we could climb this much in a month’s time.”
“Well then, let’s go now.”
* * *
In a way, what Malea and Aracelli did could be called a two-way operation.
‘They appeared on the 16th floor!’
The news spread quickly among the members of Wings of Heaven Guild. Although they could not send messages to each other, due to their large numbers, the information spread quickly through mouth to mouth.
On the contrary, the passage to the boss room on the 20th floor was rather quiet. Since the passage was originally crowded to catch Malea and Aracelli, now that they were spotted on the 16th floor, there was no need for them to patrol this area anymore.
“You?! What… Keuk!”
“Kuahk!”
After Malea and Aracelli succeeded in attracting their attention on the 16th floor, they secretly infiltrated the passage on the 20th floor in the middle of the night and knocked out all Wings of Heaven Guild members they could find.
Surprisingly, since Aracelli didn’t use her magic, she chose to use a gigantic axe as her weapon instead. It was really a mystery how she could swing it with only one hand grasping the handle despite her small stature.
Aracelli followed Yoo Seodam’s belief and did not kill anyone unnecessarily. But even though she only used the dull part to hit the enemy, the impact was enough to give people a heavy concussion.
However, despite trying to pass as quietly as possible, it was only a matter of time before they were found out.
“Who are you?”
“Damn it. Let’s run fast, Aracelli!”
“Yes!”
An arrow of light exploded behind them and hit the ground. It looks like there was an archer class present on the rank of Wings of Heaven patrol squad. They were extremely troublesome enemies since they were capable of relentlessly pursuing enemies from a distance. Though, most of their attacks were negated by Malea’s barrier magic.
Another class present in the patrol squad was thief class. They were the most difficult to deal with as they were quick and agile, and were good at chasing enemies. Every moment with them on their trail was a tense one as they could always suddenly appear from the shadows with a poisoned dagger on hand.
“We are in big trouble! There are more and more pursuits.”
“Looks like the guild members from other floors have been contacted.”
“Dammit…”
There were still 300 meters left to the boss room’s door, and dozens of guild members had already gathered in front of it. Some of them were even challengers from the 30th floor or higher, so it was absolutely impossible to face them.
‘Even though Araceli and I have a level 2 weapon, if we fight against them, we will lose. We shouldn’t get caught here!’
But, how?
‘There must be a way. A way…’
At that moment, something entered her vision. It was something written crookedly, and was just a sloppy combination of letters… but it was definitely the word [Slide!].
In response, Malea slid without thinking further, and was able to apply a killer tackle to the face of someone with a thief class who just rose from the shadows.
“Uh-huh!”
“…!”
When Malea turned her head; surprised by what she just did, she saw Aracelli nod her head towards her before she once again looked forward.
Malea’s mind was really complicated. No matter how hard she thought about it, it really didn’t make any sense. Even if it was just an act to get her attention towards somewhere, just how did ‘that person’ know where she would look?
[Roll forward three times and jump up!]
Without hesitation, Malea rolled forward three times and jumped high. Then, all of the archer’s arrows fired towards her back hit the floor. With a difference of only 0.1 seconds, the archer class’s special moves—which had always pursued the enemy until it hit—missed.
“What, what…?”
“What is that movement…!”
I can do it. Such a confident thought rose in Malea’s mind. ‘That person’, the person who was both faceless and nameless for her, was helping her again. And when his presence was with her, she believed she could overcome any crisis.
‘I can go higher!’
Malea thought so, and moved forward.
This exact situation was later on described in her diary,
[…..In a perilous situation, my eyes locked towards the cliff wall in the distance. At exactly 4:18 a.m. the dark cliff suddenly twinkled. At first, I thought it was a starlight. However I was wrong. It turns out to be a letter written in luminous material. It appeared for 10 seconds in front of me before disappearing once again.]
[But, the reason I was able to see that sentence at that moment was really ‘accidental’.]
[I rolled three times just like what the letter written on the cliff told me to before jumping high into the sky. By doing so, I was able to avoid three arrows in a row, and was able to trample the head of the assassin who was approaching my ankle.]
[But I do not consider this to be a mere coincidence. I believe it was a protection given to me by someone who knows me and my destiny from the distant future…]
And…
About 5 months ago, When Yoo Seodam was still on the 20th floor.
“Ah, this goddamn diary!”
Tuck~!! Tuck~!!
As he hit the back of the chisel with a hammer, Yoo Seodam lamented the situation he was currently in.
The cliff wall towering on the distant place was literally only a ‘background’ to the entirety of the stage on the 20th floor. it’s a place where no one cares about and a place no one would explore.
Puck~!! Puck~!! Puck~!!
<Seodam. Aren’t the letters a little bit twisted?>
“I don’t care… I just hope she will understand it even if it’s only roughly……”
Tuck~!!
However, there’s only one reason why he still did all of this hard work even though he really hated it. It was to help Malea on this floor in the future as well as to not distort the ‘probability’.
“My rotten life….”
Taaanngg~!!
Slamming the hammer as hard as he could, Yoo Seodam lamented by himself.
Today was a very sad day.