Chapter 146: Nightmare on Floor 17

As Josh arrived at the Tower plaza, he couldn't help but smile, seeing how spacious it was. There were no more stalkers that— never mind. Actually, there were still a few.

They were now ogling him and the way too many spears he was carrying. Can't a man bring a few dozen spears on a casual walk in the Tower! Anyway, he happily teleported in. 

His first thought upon seeing the interior was 'beach episode', for he could feel the soft sand under his feet. But, the surroundings were pretty bare and consisted mostly of an empty track surrounded by very tall dark brick walls. 

[Mission: Summon The Prime Nightmare!] 

"So, what's this about? Prime Nightmare, eh? Let me try this….2,3,5,7,11,13 ….so how many do I have to list for the nightmarish version to appear?" But only silence answered him. 

"Alright, alright. I guess not all Tower Protocols can be as cool as the Alter one. For now, launch hellish as usual." He felt like a kid complaining about one parent being more strict than the other. 

He slowly observed his surroundings carefully. It was open-air, but there seemed to be some kind of scary-looking purple fog filling the sky. Why scary? It seemed alive as if it was filled with damned souls that wanted nothing more than to devour the living. 

But, one had to agree it made for a pretty interesting sight. Josh chuckled as he pictured hosting a barbecue here. 

Want a campfire? Just build one on the sand, no risk of burning everything. As for fuel? Well, one could always ask the Tower to create a custom firewood rewarding quest or something. 

Are you worried about it being too chilly or hot? There are walls to protect one from the wind and a purple fog to protect one from the sun. 

Then there was that stunning night sky. Why have lifeless stars that are light-years away from you when you can have ghosts right there doing acrobatics right above your head for your viewing pleasure? 

"Navi, what are the chances that I will die if I go hug one of the 'whatever-those-things-are' up there?" 

<This model highly discourages Master from such foolish endeavor. It is suggested not to go anywhere near these creatures without a proficient cleric or exorcist.> 

"A shame." 

He began walking around the area. The place looked like a huge funnel and somewhat reminded him of a pizza slice. He wasn't even hungry, but he found some sort of satisfaction imagining this death game as things that were fun and casual. 

On the wall of the 'entrance' (the larger part), were two closed metal gates that he had a feeling would soon be spitting tons of monsters. Then, on the opposite side, there was a wide golden gate that looked absolutely stunning. 

There was one last detail worth noting. He could see thin stick-looking stone thingies sticking out of the sand. That was new. As far as he was aware, this Floor was all about surviving until the Boss spawned and then surviving some more. 

But, this was hellish. He already expected the unexpected. Suddenly, he felt the air change as a deep chime resounded

♪DING! ♪

Josh happily replied: "To whoever is ringing the bell, do you know an Emsee Hammer, by any chance? He does chimes too." 

The clanging sound of chains being rolled up and a metallic gate being opened came as a reply. That is when charged in two living Nightmares, and Josh wasn't even exaggerating. 

<Nightmare Lv 17 >

They were basically horses. Well, they had the shape, at least. They were shadowy-looking, seemed almost incorporeal at times, and there was a flame in the wind effect to it all, which was weird given the absence of wind. 

The creatures' eyes were inexistent, but they were obviously fixing him, somehow. He could sense it. He could also sense that they were looking at him as if he was a tasty meal. 

Now, what truly made these monsters odd-looking was the teeth. It had sharp teeth in its mouth. It had sharp teeth on its side. It had sharp teeth on its back. It had sharp teeth on its hooves.

Yes, it didn't make sense., not one bit. But, nightmares rarely did.  It would repeatedly open and close its various mouths located all around its body as if salivating.

Then, they reached him. On a scale of 1 to 10, their speed was: so goddamn fucking fast!

It was time for the ultimate technique: an awkward belly-down slide, followed by a graceful roll dodge. It was mostly the sand cloud getting flung everywhere that was graceful. 

Usually, getting to the ground near horses was the most idiotic idea ever. But, it worked in this case. The hard part was dodging the hooves— maws (whatever). Wait, was it possible for the abomination to die from sand indigestion? Probably not. 

Josh took the time needed to get used to their movements. It felt stupid, but they somehow acted like real horses, body language-wise. The only difference was the body parts showing teeth mid-way, but no biggie. 

When he felt confident enough, he struck! His attack was fast, powerful, accurate, and quite frankly useless. So, here was the situation. A nightmare wasn't completely a physical creature. 

In fact, the consensus out there was that magic was necessary to kill one. Without that prerequisite, one would die: chased by fast horsies and devoured. Now, why was he here then? 

Well, he had happened to stumble on a forum while researching the Floor. He had then seen a wise man share some mostly unknown fact. These things could be hurt with weapons…but only when they were trying to eat.

One could see them as phantoms that merely turned corporeal for the sake of eating. Honestly, he could understand that. He wouldn't mind some risk for a tasty snack. 

Josh had barely chatted with the wise man that he had been kicked. Sadly, he had completely lost contact with the user called: <Masochistic Fury UwU>. How could a name disgust so much in so few words? 

Josh had, of course, fact-checked that knowledge with Draconic, and it turned out to be true but considered useless. So that's why Josh was currently throwing himself everywhere, trying to get the timing right. 

It was very much like playing the 'spoon is an airplane' game with a baby. But, replacing the target with a Nightmare and the tool with a spear. Oh yeah, he had a shit-ton of spears. 

Did that sound hard? That wasn't all! Yes, it got worse..or better? Since he didn't have monstrous raw strength, he used their own charges against them. He would place the spears at a perfect angle on the ground to somehow screw them over. 

So it boiled down to: 

1. Predict the movements 

2. Predict which mouth will try to bite 

3 Predict the timing 

4. Just wish for the best and try over and over…and over…and…

Was it the smartest tactic? Of course, not! He could have waited for his other plans to flourish, come back later, and potentially steamroll this challenge. But, why do tomorrow what one can do today?

Josh felt like he was clearing a level in a game that had been designed to be impossible. Yet, there he was. Actually, that's exactly what it was. 

He smirked a bit, imagining himself in front of all these guys that kept banning him on forums: "They said my strategies are impossible. Yet, here I fucking am. Hellish, Solo, Classless, I rest my case! Good day, and go fuck yourselves." 

He was having fun and this was all that mattered. It took a while but he managed to skewer his first Nightmare and afterward to take it down. The XP was pitiful but felt so sweet! But, just as he was cheering, another respawned. What the Hell?! 

Ah, but where the horse had died, there was now a few items: 

<Horse Meat> 

C'mon! Couldn't the Tower call it Nightmare meat? Talk about laziness! 

<Flickering Flame>

-Flame that is about to disappear. It needs a home. 

There it was! Josh smiled as he had cracked the code! He just had to work hard! Now, there were exactly six torches in this vast area. 

The scene must have looked quite ridiculous from the ceiling ghosts' perspective. There was a human getting chased around by horse-looking monsters. All he did was lunge away, fleeing, and at some point, his pursuers would die. 

Eventually, he had gotten all the flames in position. He was ready for the Prime Nightmare to appear! 

First came the chimes: ♪DING! ♪♪DING! ♪

Then, a monstrous rumble was heard. That is when a wall on one side crashed to the ground violently!! 

CRASH! RUMBLE! NEIGH! 

It seemed like behind the wall. There was another area exactly like the one he had been in. With it appeared six new torches and three new Nightmares. There wasn't any sign of any Boss just yet. 

Josh checked all around him. Judging by the 'pizza slices' size, he would have a few areas to clear still. Oh well, he was used to troublesome tasks. 

"Come, all of you horsies! Hurry it up! Let's skip the opening act! I only care to see the mane event!" 

Josh wanted to finish it all up quickly. He got to work, impaling one horse after the other all until 12 flickering flames had dropped. A little while later, he was finally placing the last one with satisfaction. 

Now would open the….nothing was happening. What?! Why?! That's when he realized something. The flames in the torches had disappeared! 

"What happened to my flames! My flammmesss!!" Seriously, what was that? He could feel a headache coming….

Creator's Thought

Once more I needed to find a clear strategy. Just when I thought I had figured it out, I realized I didn't. Honestly, I had forgotten something pretty obvious this one time. I couldn't remember seeing anyone actually discuss that issue, but then I realized that they ended up attaining a similar result while trying to dop something else.