Chapter 143

100th Floor (1)

We opened the door and entered the portal.

Woong! I felt like my body was being swept away instantly, as if I was being floated away.

As the light disappeared, what unfolded in front of us was a large space.

“It’s indoor this time, isn’t it?”

Artificial touches could be observed all around the vicinity.

It couldn’t be distinguished from which world the architecture was based from, but the most prominent feature was that it was large and wide.

It felt like we were in an indoor gymnasium.

And another peculiarity about it was…

“Eek, that’s unpleasant.”

Euclid trembled.

“Hmm? It doesn’t bother me.”

Nate tilted his head as if to question what was wrong with the sight before us.

“Can’t you feel it? Isn’t a chill flowing through your body right now?”

“No, I know it’s different, but… Is it that bad?”

Naturally, their reactions would differ from one another.

It must have been a familiar air and ambiance for Nate, who had spent years in the same room with zombies during his captivity at a laboratory in the United States. Furthermore, due to the nature of his unique skill, there was no way he would feel repulsed by it.

– Hmm, this is unusual.

Genograche bent his knees and laid his hand on the floor. He then picked up the black bricks that made up the floor with his hands.

– That’s a terrible evil spirit. It has killed quite a lot in this place.

The brick floor he touched was stained with dark dullness, and strange forms of stains lingered everywhere.

The negativity that crawled through spines came from all around the spaces. That included the walls, ceilings, and the very floor that we were standing on with our own two feet.

I asked him a question as if to test the water.

“Killed a lot? Like you in the past?”

He then suddenly flared up.

– You should compare what you could compare! This is nothing compared to the body you are holding.

I couldn’t help but wonder. The boss on that floor must have existed in some other dimension. If so, was it a demon? It could’ve been classified as one based on its looks and acts I had seen in my past life.

But my train of thoughts stopped there.

– kekekeke!

Telepathy swiftly entered our minds. That time around, the mental waves weren’t coming from the devil’s sword.

“It’s approaching us!”

Clearing the 95th floor made me experience one of the most challenging battles I had ever fought during my entire climb throughout the Tower in my previous life.

‘I had been injured pretty badly, too. Even the legion of skulls that used to protect me were wiped out.’

I had overcome the crisis of dying in the Tower several times, but I thought I was really going to meet my maker on that floor.

Well, even if I barely managed to survive and get to the 100th floor, I ended up dead there in the end.

Goong!

Dark energy converged and began to take the form of an unpleasant shape in front of us.

As its appearance gradually took shape, everyone’s faces hardened.

There was no wind inside, but the cape fluttered according to the wave of power that shook the space.

Every time the piece of black cloth was lifted, the horrible body inside it was boldly revealed.

Euclid once again recited the words that she had been muttering several times ever since she came to the Tower with us.

“I swear… I keep seeing all kinds of stuff the longer I live…”

To describe it, it was like a life-size anatomical specimen figure in the science room. It had abnormal physiology with all the epidermis and fat removed and muscles and intestines distinctly visible.

At least not all parts of the body were present.

“Retch!”

Nate and Genograche showed no signs of bafflement, but Hibiki and Euclid turned visibly pale as they stared at it in disgust.

The boss monster’s body in the air was a mess starting from under its waist as if it had been mashed with a giant hammer.

Its nerves, bones, and muscles swayed in shreds. Its organs were also not a pleasant sight to see.

An anatomical model that lost its lower body looked down at us from the sky wearing a black cape.

Piercing energy leaked from its eyes that bore a foreign texture.

– Finally… You have all come all the way here. I have been waiting for you…

A shady laugh rang out.

I observed its Core. As expected, in the same case as the boss from the other floor, it was weaker than in my previous life.

I mumbled the boss’s name.

“… Blood Lich.”

A terrible memory from my past life came into my mind. He was not at all an easy guy to deal with.

At that time, however, the difficulty level was set based on the five-member party, and at the moment, it seemed that the power was adjusted based on our three-member party. That was because Euclid and Genograche were treated as ‘possessions’ or ‘by-products of special abilities,’ just like Nate’s authority.

– All of you…

The Lich pointed at us with his dark, blood-colored finger.

– are Fresh flesh, fresh blood… Fresh Core…! It’s redolent. It is almost entrancing. Hand it to me. All that you have… hand it to me!

Blood drops fell from its crushed lower body.

The small drops inflated in an instant. A small puddle on the black brick was created, causing it to boil explosively!

Grrrrrr!

The amount of blood increased at an exponential rate. As if a large rock was thrown into the lake, blood continued to ripple as it spread a large wave around it.

The red fluids wavered as it drew concentric circles gathered by itself to form certain shapes.

Bones grew, flesh grew. Countless monsters were born from inside its body.

Chimeras.

– Advance! Devote their fresh bodies to me!

Gooooooooo!

A group of monsters that did not know of anything but anger rushed in.

None of them looked like each other. One had eyes hanging in front of the leg that kicks the ground, and there’s one that had another head in its mouth. There were some that had been turned upside-down and crawled with their fins on their back. One of the chimeras shrieked as it leaned back on its pill-bug-like scales.

They were monsters of chaos born from the blood of the Blood Lich.

We were surrounded by those that quickly filled about half of the dome-like interior.

Soon enough, the inevitable clash happened!

Baaang!

However, it was not the usual attack magic, the zombie line, or the rampant sword energy that blocked them.

With the Scepter of Ishad raised at the front, Hibiki chanted a spell.

An opaque shield of light stopped them from approaching us any closer than the perimeter it created.

[Enhanced Conditional Barrier (Rank: SSS)]

The shield she created was more than powerful enough to block off any attacks that were coming from beyond its diameter, but it didn’t disturb the forces that were sending attacks from within its protection.

“Squeaaal!”

Chaos unfolded due to that.

Even after their retreat path was blocked by a shield barrier that was as strong as a steel drum, they didn’t give up. Instead, they tried with everything they’ve got to push with force.

Their weight overlapped, and the force pushing from behind was added to the mix as well. Even when the way to go forward was blocked, their eyes, which were stained with madness, only made them cause even more mayhem, all for the sake of moving forward and further forward.

As a result…

Crush! Crack!

The bodies of the ones that were at the very forefront of their ranks were gradually crushed.

“Screeech!”

Eventually, each one of them started to turn into blood blobs.

But even in that situation, we didn’t aim for the chimeras.

– Hmm?!

Instead, we went beyond the barrier, which let our power go through without any problems, and focused our entire firepower at the Blood Lich in the rear!

‘It doesn’t really matter how many chimeras we fight off and slay!’

That was the first reason why we struggled so much against that floor’s boss monster in my past life.

It summoned chimeras indefinitely, and the process almost didn’t consume even a single droplet of the Lich’s power.

To be precise, it was more like his Mana was being consumed and then recovering swiftly afterward. When the climbers killed the chimeras, the monsters would absorb the power of their opponents at that moment before returning everything to their creator, Blood Lich.

‘If the chimeras are continuously created over and over again using that power, the vicious cycle would only repeat!’

At that time, Hibiki couldn’t use the same SSS-Class defensive magic and couldn’t maintain magic spells of a lower level for long due to her low Mana capacity.

We were not fools, so we instinctively knew that the Lich had to be killed first, but we couldn’t move beyond the wall of monsters despite our desire to move forward and fight it openly.

Additionally, it was Angelica who had the ability to use long-ranged attacks other than Hibiki, but her firepower was not overwhelming enough to drive the Lich to a corner.

However, the situation was a lot different in my current life.

“Squeal!”

“Kyaaaaah!”

Boom! Boom! Crush!

It didn’t matter how the monsters surround us caused chaos. Hibiki’s magic was safely defending us all.

Of course, her Mana was wearing out quickly because it was such a considerably powerful spell.

[Mana Legacy!]

However, Euclid was prepared to refill her Core even before it could show any signs of revealing its bottom.

Thanks to that, the other party members were able to aim for the Blood Lich from afar, calmly and leisurely.

[Sephirot Guardian Bow]

I took out my ranged weapon from the snake inventory.

The SSS-Rank artifact in my hand not only increased the strength of my ranged attacks by 25% but also created arrows made out of Mana the moment I willed it to existence.

Creak!

As I pulled the bowstring backward with great strength, causing the bow to bend, the metal string resounded with a warping sound. A blue arrow was then formed out of thin air, already nocked on it. Twenty shots, loaded.

I released the bowstring right away.

Loose!

Paht!

– No…?!

Boom! Boo-boo-boom!

The Lich wrapped himself in a red shroud. The arrows that hit the target exploded and shook. I could see its Mana being chipped off.

That wasn’t where our bombardment ended, either.

– He turned his body into undead? However, he failed while trying to be greedy when he did not have enough ingredients. Just die here! K-hahahaha!

Genograche, who understood his opponent’s nature, used various sword movements that allowed him to fire out sword energies, creating a storm out of it. After that, Nate summoned his multi-caliber cannons and fired cannonballs made out of light intensively at the floating undead.

– How dare you, bastards?!

The Lich’s bafflement was evident on its mental waves.

He changed the kind of chimeras he created. That time he made a protective meat shield that flew around his body to keep himself safe.

However, our attacks accurately only hit localized areas, and they were dealing tremendous damage to its body faster than it could rebuild the chimera that would fall down after it died.

As that process was repeated nonstop, the Lich seemed to have quickly decided. His eyes glowed red.

‘It is faster than in my previous life!’

The second reason why the Last Five struggled at that time was that the Blood Lich even transformed in that state.

It was almost as if it was casting a powerful curse upon itself, accompanied by a limitation.

The spell temporarily made him gain more power in exchange for a blurred reason.

“Screech!”

As it must have realized that it was no longer useful, he seemed to have cut off the cord of life connected to the chimera without second thoughts.

The bizarre monsters that had no Cores in their hearts fell as they screamed in unison.

The abominations it created then started rolling around.

Their shape began to change.

Bubbling!

“Ugh!”

Euclid puckered her face once again.

The flesh of the fallen things on the floor melted, and their bones broke.

The Chimeras’ bodies boiled and bubbled to the point where it became difficult to recognize their shapes.

They quickly flocked to the center like a torrent sweeping through the shallow riverbed. The Blood Lich waited for them at that place.

Goooooo!

The appearance of the Blood Lich, who was flying around with only its torso intact, disappeared, and a colossal monster wearing body fluids and flesh of melted monsters appeared in its stead.

While it was in that form, wide-area spells would no longer work against it.

We had to destroy the life vessel hidden deep in its disgusting body with a precise and decisive blow to kill it permanently.

I had to get as close as much as I could and deliver that one blow!

Kyaaaaa!

The bizarre monster recited spells as if it was what its instincts were telling it, considering its cold logic had already collapsed.

While my colleagues were covering me, I charged forward, emanating sword energy.

Not long after, its spell collided against my sword energy!

Swish!

The monster pulled itself out in an instant with a Blink spell. A curse then began to stream out of its red eyes, but…

– The [Status Effect Resistance (Rank: SSS)] skill has resisted the [Curse of the Boiling Blood (Rank: SS)] skill!

Kaaaaargh!

The attempt to kill me by boiling the blood cells flowing through my veins all at once was executed in vain.

I shot a purple light ray towards him.

Genograche and I blocked every retreat route it could take from either side of it as we charged toward the atrocious being.

‘In my previous life, Randy was the only party member that could handle battles revolving around close-quarters combat.’

However, as I had said, the situation was far different from my past life.

Rumble!

The sound of thunder rang. Genograche’s sword energy was intertwined with the lightning, which was an item-effect, drawing a firm straight line. As the Lich’s body was pierced, it stiffened for a moment.

I used that opportunity to rush in from behind it.

Swaaaaaa!

The moment I thrust my sword forward, the surrounding became filled with blinding brilliance.

Purple rays ran through the air in front of the path of the devil’s sword. But the glow was not the same as before.

The advantage of [Arta’s Sword Dance], which I loved as much as I had trained for the longest time, was its abnormal movements, which couldn’t be distinguished between dynamic and static movements, and the power it accumulated over time.

However, that texture that I just made while stabbing was different.

I superimposed the incomparably potent energy without borrowing the repeated movements and power of time. I then unleashed all of it all at once.

And with that one attack, I could feel its Mana being taken away in chunks.

Soon after that, the sight that everything was dyed with purple had disappeared.

– …!

The scene that greeted me was the life vessel in the place where I had stabbed, vanishing without a single trace.

Gooooooo!

The meat chunks that formed its colossal body began to collapse slowly, turning mushy and even liquefying as they fell to the ground.

The battle was over.

– What?

In the place where the Lich’s body disappeared, a golden armor was looking at me through the fluttering darkness.

There was no expression, but through its telepathy that followed, it showcased the baffling emotions that filled it.

– Hey. You… Did you just…

I nodded.

“Yes, I’ve tried to imitate it a bit.”

From the 50th floor all the way to the 95th floor, Genograche was stirring the battlefield like a fish in the water.

His sword movements were diverse, deep, and powerful.

Remembering that everything didn’t make one perfect, there was also a lack of absolute time to train it. Therefore, I had to focus only on [Arta’s Sword Dance] when it came to sword movement skills accompanied by body movements.

However, as our climb to the top of the Tower followed, and as I watched on the feast of the devil’s luxurious skills… Some kind of enlightenment had built inside of me as well by itself, and I reflected on it little by little while hunting. Although Genograche, who was too busy killing for its own excitement, wouldn’t have noticed.

And at that moment, I unfolded the first completed ‘Grain.’

-… Did you perhaps improve the [Arta’s Sword Dance] by yourself? Of the Lord Arta’s sword?!

I nodded quietly, and the devil’s sword murmured something along the lines of “This absurd bastard.”

“Now, then.”

I looked at my companions and addressed them.

“There aren’t much for the floors left for us to Clear. We head straight to the 100th floor in this way!”