Chapter 74

Chapter 24. Breakthrough (1)

[This is the second floor, the Hall of Mountains and Fields.]

When Yeonwoo opened his eyes again, the world that was once filled with an emerald sea was now brimming with green.

While the first floor was filled with rugged cliffs, this place boasted a refreshing and expansive view.

Perhaps because people from the lower floors had not yet arrived, the third floor was occupied only by Yeonwoo, Pant, and Edora.

"Is it because the rounds haven't ended yet? There are too few people. Sir, are we starting right away?"

Pant grumbled as he looked around and turned to Yeonwoo.

Yeonwoo nodded calmly, as if he had expected this.

‘What I need to find here is the Key of Demeter.’

Demeter was the goddess of the earth and abundance.

"I've said it before, but if you think it's a waste for me to monopolize it, you can retire right away."

"Ah, why would we do that? I'm also curious to see how far you can go. Let's try it together once."

Yeonwoo smiled and looked up at the sky.

"I request a solo stage."

At that moment, a door in the air opened, and someone fell down.

A werewolf with a human body and a wolf's head, neatly dressed in a suit, looked at them with an interested gaze, much like Evken and Aaron.

"I am Johannes, the manager of the second floor. You want to challenge the trial immediately?"

Yeonwoo nodded.

"It's dangerous, you know."

"But if I monopolize the rounds, won't I be able to accumulate a higher contribution score?"

"You understand the tower's system very well. I see. Then, Mr. Cain, I will recognize this only for Pant and Edora."

As soon as he finished speaking,

[The trial of the second floor begins.]

[Trial: The land here is blessed by the goddess, presenting a beautiful landscape. However, there are those who seek to monopolize the abundance of this forest. Protect the forest's peace from them.]

The tower's system is designed to assist performers.

When a player decides to perform alone, the tower recognizes it as a single round.

This is why Jungwoo and Artia were able to break through the beginner area in just a few days.

However, when other players tried the same method, most of them failed miserably.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Soon, the ground trembled slightly, and a massive horde of orcs appeared from a distance.

There was also commotion from other directions.

In the west, there were trolls; in the south, goblins; and in the north, ogres.

In addition, smaller groups of other monsters appeared in various places.

Subduing the countless monsters to become the king of the forest was the main content of the second floor trial.

It was a place where one could not pass without a considerable number of people or a well-planned strategy.

Smirk.

For Yeonwoo, it was a place where he felt the most confident.

‘It’s not much different from the monster rush in the tutorial.’

Holding the greatsword in reverse, he lowered his stance and kicked the ground hard.

‘I’ll take them down one by one.’

Whoosh!

The first target was the orcs.

In the back, an orc lord wearing a helmet was directing his subordinates.

* * *

[The Key of Demeter has been completed.]

Yeonwoo combined the hidden pieces he obtained from defeating all the monster lords on the second floor.

A key with a green hue appeared in his hand.

[You have achieved a great record. Do you want to register your name in the Hall of Fame?]

[Registration has been refused.]

[However, even if it is not public, your achievement is deeply engraved in the tower, and you can change the registration status at any time if you wish.]

Yeonwoo shouted to the sky.

"Next."

Whoosh!

[This is the third floor, the Hall of Spears and Swords.]

The third floor was a very familiar place to Yeonwoo.

"Wow!"

"Wow! Kill them!"

"Stop them! Any way! Crush those bastards!"

A place where countless soldiers, armed with spears and swords, fought to the death.

The ground was littered with corpses, and the air was filled with the smell of gunpowder and blood.

Here, he needed to obtain the Key of Ares.

The hidden pieces were the fragments that occasionally appeared when the spears and swords held by the soldiers were shattered.

[The trial of the third floor...]

Before the manager appeared to give the trial, Yeonwoo was already moving with the greatsword in hand.

Even as his stamina and mana continued to decrease, causing fatigue, he was compensating by hunting a large number of monsters and consuming runes.

‘Artia took ten days to pass the beginner area. So, for me...’

Yeonwoo was already swinging the greatsword at a commander.

Swoosh!

‘I’ll finish it in five days.’

Thud!

The commander's head flew into the air.

* * *

In the sub-space located at the periphery of the tower's floors, the manager's room.

The managers, who were watching the screen, all gasped in shock.

"A moment ago, he passed the gate of the seventh floor...!"

"How long? How long did it take this time?"

"12 hours and 28 minutes!"

"He's crazy!"

"Is this even possible?"

"Artia was in a team, but this guy is alone. Damn it!"

The managers either slumped into their chairs, lit cigarettes, or scratched their heads, trying to cope with their sense of frustration.

Initially, when Evken made a bet with Aaron, everyone thought it was just a joke.

But as he passed each floor,

They realized that Evken's words were not a joke or a prank.

Moreover, as Pant and Edora, who followed Yeonwoo, started to perform well,

The managers, who had absolute authority within the tower, were not particularly interested in Yeonwoo's skills.

Many of them had been active as players long ago, conquering high floors or even reaching the position of a ruler.

However, what surprised them was how well Yeonwoo 'understood' the system.

Not only did he continuously break records as he passed each floor, but he also extracted the hidden pieces.

They watched with interest, as a noteworthy player had finally appeared.

But as time went on,

As he passed the third, fourth, and fifth floors,

The more he ascended to higher floors, the shorter the time it took to pass the trials.

The managers had to shake their heads in disbelief.

Is this even possible?

Even though it was the beginner area, the trials were still trials. To break through them so easily was truly 'crazy.'

There was no way to impose any restrictions.

The managers' authority was limited to controlling any unfair methods that could significantly hinder the passage of the trials.

As if he knew this,

The youngest manager, who was reporting to his seniors, gasped in shock at the real-time status report.

"8th floor, 7 hours and 5 minutes! He completed the wreath of Athens and obtained the key...!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

The managers now laughed in a mix of frustration and amusement.

"Hehehe. I won again."

At that moment, Evken laughed mischievously, revealing his sharp teeth, and extended his hand to the 8th floor manager.

He was already the 8th victim of the bet, following Aaron and Johannes.

The manager's hand trembled as he handed over the item.

Evken laughed again, satisfied.

"Thanks to Mr. Cain, I'll become rich soon. If every day was like today, it would be great, hehehe!"

* * *

Roar!

A world filled with fire and lava.

A monster with tough, red skin like armor and sharp horns, Bulka, screamed in pain.

He was originally a hidden piece in the 9th floor, the Hall of Fire and Lava.

Naturally, he should have been impossible to defeat with beginner-level skills.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The sharp greatswords embedded in various parts of his body severed his nerves, causing him immense pain, and the flies buzzing around him further aggravated his madness.

How dare you, the king of fire...!

But Bulka's anger was of no concern to Yeonwoo.

"Tsk. Is there still a limit to subjugation? Can't be helped. Edora, focus. Pant, attack."

"Yes."

"Got it!"

Following Yeonwoo's instructions, Pant and Edora, who had been following him timidly up to the 5th floor, now took the lead.

After silently observing Yeonwoo's play, they had learned his style and began to take on supporting roles.

Originally, with the pride of the Pant siblings, they might have been dissatisfied with only playing a supporting role.

But they had no such complaints.

The more they helped Yeonwoo, the more they realized and learned.

Until now, they had focused solely on skill training.

But Yeonwoo taught them more than that.

Vision.

The application of skills, reading the situation, and the 'eye' that only someone who has fought many battles can possess.

This was a significant shock to the siblings.

They could now see the world from a completely different perspective.

Each time, they had the opportunity to reflect on themselves from a detached viewpoint.

They re-evaluated their skills and quickly identified their weaknesses.

And based on these realizations, they immediately applied them to their skills.

Crack!

Their skills improved rapidly.

They could train in new ways they had never considered before.

Pant channeled a large amount of ki. Yellow lightning crackled over his thick arms and covered his entire body.

"Yah!"

Boom! He kicked the ground like a cannon and charged at Bulka.

Zap!

Edora gripped the Demon Blade in one hand and quickly rushed forward.

Pant and Edora's coordinated attack was perfect.

Initially, Pant drew attention while Edora attacked from behind. When Bulka turned to Edora, Pant attacked from his blind spot.

Of course, they were not alone.

Yeonwoo appeared right behind them.

Whoosh!

Yeonwoo leaped from the wall to the ceiling and then dropped onto Bulka's head.

He held Karsuna's dagger in his right hand and the greatsword in reverse in his left.

Thud!

Crack!

Bulka, whose skull was pierced, twisted in agony.

Boom! Boom!

The ground shook with each movement.

‘Indeed, the skull is too hard.’

Even with a lot of mana, the daggers did not penetrate deeply. Bulka's toughness was that impressive.

Just as described in the diary. Before being caught by Bulka, Yeonwoo used a quick step to distance himself.

Pant then charged from the front.

Boom!

Bulka's body shook violently. His massive body was lifted into the air and crashed into the wall.

The immense force.

It was possible because Yeonwoo had continuously reduced Bulka's stamina.

Yeonwoo acknowledged that the three of them were more in sync than he had expected.

‘Without these two, it would have been difficult to break through in five days.’

Even knowing the strategy, quickly gathering the hidden pieces scattered throughout each trial was not an easy task.

The same applied to dealing with Bulka.

He was so strong that it seemed out of place in the beginner area. Yeonwoo could barely handle him with all his strength.

Naturally, it would have been difficult to hunt him within the time limit.

But with Pant and Edora's help, they could quickly fill the gaps.

They followed his instructions perfectly.

Like the soldiers he had trained with in Africa.

They quickly understood the hidden meanings in his commands and seamlessly integrated into the rhythm.

‘Are all the Horned Tribe like this?’

A natural talent for combat.

There was no other way to describe it.

Boom!

Finally, Bulka could not withstand the continuous attacks and fell.

Zzz.

He began to disappear, emitting a red glow. He did not leave a corpse.

Yeonwoo extracted the last hidden piece from Bulka's body just before he vanished completely.

When he connected them, a message appeared.

[The Key of Hephaestus has been completed.]

...

[You have achieved a great record. Do you want to register your name in the Hall of Fame?]

[Registration has been refused.]

[However, even if it is not public, your achievement is deeply engraved in the tower, and you can change the registration status at any time if you wish.]

Yeonwoo tightly held the key, which glowed a beautiful red like a ruby.

‘Now, only the Key of Hermes remains. Just one.’

Yeonwoo had successfully obtained the keys of the gods from the 2nd to the 9th floor, continuously breaking records.

From Hera on the 1st floor, Demeter on the 2nd, Ares on the 3rd, Poseidon on the 4th, Apollo on the 5th, Artemis on the 6th, Aphrodite on the 7th, Athena on the 8th, to Hephaestus on the 9th.

Including the Key of Zeus he already had, he now had 10 keys.

Only two keys remained to open the treasury of Olympus.

One was the Key of Hades, which could only be obtained by setting the highest record in the beginner area.

The other was the Key of Hermes, which could be obtained on the 10th floor.

Hermes, the god of travel and messengers.

He was the only being who could connect the living and the dead, and freely travel between heaven and earth.

‘Let’s get this done quickly.’

Yeonwoo stepped onto the blue portal on the ground.

[All trials are complete. Do you want to ascend to the 10th floor?]

[However, the next floor is a solo stage. The party play will be temporarily dissolved, so please be cautious before entering.]

Yeonwoo looked at Pant and Edora.

"We've come this far. You won't fall behind, right?"

"Ha! Don't be embarrassed by being slower than us."

Pant crossed his arms and snorted, but a broad smile was on his face.

Yeonwoo smiled lightly and rode the portal to the final floor of the beginner area.

[You have entered the 10th floor, the Hall of White.]

The 10th floor, unlike the other floors with various environments, was a world of pure white.

Yeonwoo looked up.

Like the other floors, the trial began immediately.