Chapter 12
—Bang!
While following the red dots Lucy marked, I eliminated the enemies and scanned the surroundings.
—The difficulty isn’t high.
Since the theme was a speed run, difficult monsters probably wouldn’t appear.
If monsters so strong that most climbers couldn’t even kill them showed up, that wouldn’t be a speed run—it would be a boss fight.
[Your record will be determined at the moment all monsters are eliminated.]
Before the second notification window even appeared, I had already dealt with more than half of the red dots.
—Executing Detection Protocol. It requires complex calculations, so it will take some time.
—Bang!
Just as I finished off all the visible red dots, a cluster of new red dots appeared.
—They’re enemies in stealth. Their durability isn’t high, so if you hit them accurately, they’ll die.
As expected of Lucy.
—Bang!
After switching to burst fire and spraying bullets, the monsters couldn’t even approach me.
[You have eliminated all monsters.]
[Record: 1 minute 22 seconds]
“It’s over.”
True to the theme of a speed run, it ended at incredible speed.
‘Still, without Lucy, it would’ve taken quite a while.’
Now that I looked around, the background was a forest at midnight. Monsters had been hiding between the bushes.
Some of them had clearly focused everything on stealth, so without Lucy, it might have taken a long time to find them all.
[You have achieved an excellent record!]
‘I probably won’t meet the Administrator this time, right?’
On the 2nd and 3rd Floors, there had been reasons for the Administrator to appear. But not on the 4th Floor.
There was no need to adjust rewards like on the 2nd Floor, and no issue with distribution like on the 3rd.
[The mana consumption of your first trait is reduced by half.]
‘Huh?’
Thinking I misread it, I rubbed my eyes and looked at the notification again.
[The mana consumption of your first trait is reduced by half.]
‘Lucy, I’m not seeing things, am I?’
—You’re seeing it correctly. It says the mana consumption of your first trait is reduced by half.
My first trait was Artificial Intelligence Spirit.
In other words, the mana consumed by Lucy would be reduced by half.
‘That reward is insane.’
When I was stuck on the 1st Floor, Lucy barely consumed any mana. But as various functions were added, the constant mana drain increased slightly, and when she used protocols that required heavy calculations, the mana consumption became noticeable.
Especially during learning, she devoured mana like a hungry beast.
And now that would be cut in half.
—My growth speed will at least double.
‘Will the time needed to develop new skills also be cut in half?’
—It will likely be even faster than half. I’ll also be able to design more complex skills.
The notification window had been so simple that I worried we hadn’t achieved as much as on the previous floors.
But judging by the level of the reward, 1 minute 22 seconds must have been an extremely fast record.
[Entering the 5th Floor.]
[The theme of the 5th Floor is Challenge.]
[Please select a difficulty.]
[You will face a boss-level monster appropriate to the selected difficulty and receive rewards accordingly.]
Looking at the other difficulty names, the easiest one should have been called “Very Easy.” Instead, the three-letter word “Coward” was boldly displayed.
‘Well, the theme itself is Challenge.’
Choosing a lower difficulty for smaller rewards might increase immediate survival chances, but it would lower a climber’s overall potential.
[Your records from the 2nd to 4th Floors have been confirmed as excellent.]
[New difficulty has been unlocked.]
[ difficulty is extremely challenging but grants a very special reward.]
[Even if you fail difficulty, you may immediately retry at difficulty.]
The notification strongly encouraged climbers to challenge Hell difficulty.
High difficulty, special reward, and even if you fail, you can still attempt Very Hard.
—Master, just asking in case. You’re not a coward, right?
‘Don’t worry. I’ll challenge Hell difficulty.’
There was no obligation to choose Hell.
Honestly, with the rewards I’d already received, I could probably clear up to the 10th Floor and then return to Earth.
‘But if I end it like that, those three years would feel wasted.’
Three years.
The time of my youth mortgaged to the Tower.
After being trapped here that long, aiming to clear only ten floors?
‘No way.’
And I was confident.
Even if I couldn’t clear Hell, I was certain I could clear Very Hard.
“I’ll choose Hell.”
[The boss of Hell difficulty is me.]
The notification window vanished, and a female knight wearing rather flashy armor appeared.
‘Is she the Administrator of the 5th Floor?’
Like the Administrators of the 2nd and 3rd Floors, her hair color was striking.
It was bright red—so vivid it looked like blood was flowing through it.
“Nice to meet you. I am the Administrator of the 5th Floor.”
Despite her striking red hair, her voice was steady and firm.
It sounded like the voice of someone loyal to her lord and ready to charge at the enemy.
“To fight an Administrator? That’s ridiculous.”
“There’s no need to worry too much. My specs against you are lower than the boss of Very Hard difficulty. The only difference is that I know your journey from the 2nd to 5th Floors, and I am an intelligent being capable of thought.”
So instead of overwhelming me with raw specs, she intended to crush me with skill.
‘That’s even better.’
With Lucy, my all-purpose AI, facing an intelligent being with lower specs was far easier than facing a high-spec boss monster.
—Initiating Analysis Protocol.
We had no information about the Administrator, but since Lucy’s performance had improved dramatically, she could estimate combat power based on visible factors alone.
—Her specs appear to be about five times yours. Margin of error is 500%.
‘Isn’t that margin of error way too big?’
—Even I can’t determine all of an enemy’s specs without information. Especially Administrators, who may possess power beyond mana.
‘I see.’
—One thing is certain: your bullets cannot penetrate her armor. It has magical enhancements.
‘Lucy, can’t you remove it?’
—If you place your hand on the armor, you could remove it. But you can’t break it with a gun.
That didn’t matter.
Slipping a bullet through the gaps in armor was easy.
“I will give you ten minutes. During that time, find your optimal position. Naturally, if you attack me before that, I will immediately begin combat.”
A faint smile formed on the Administrator’s lips.
—She must be happy to fight after a long time. It’s that kind of smile.
Let’s think positively.
It probably meant there weren’t many climbers who achieved results like mine.
‘Do you think we can win?’
—She made a mistake by giving me ten minutes. With the reward from the 4th Floor, that’s enough time to run a customized simulation just for her.
As expected of my reliable Lucy.
‘…But Lucy. “That bitch”? Where did you learn that kind of slang?’
Lucy ignored me for the first time in a while.
‘It’s been a long time.’
Enrel, the Administrator of the 5th Floor, held her sword after a very long time.
Since being appointed as an Administrator of the Tower, there had been very few situations where she personally stepped forward.
Hell difficulty wasn’t unlocked simply because someone was strong.
‘Don’t let your guard down. He’s skilled and meticulous.’
She had observed the path of the man called the Black Reaper from the 2nd Floor onward.
Not a single bullet missed its mark.
Countless irregular bullets created by directly infusing mana into his gun.
Unbelievable reflexes and calculation ability.
Even though her specs were set higher, a single moment of carelessness might end her undefeated streak.
‘It’s almost ten minutes.’
She had already noted where the Black Reaper moved, but she had no intention of attacking first before the first shot was fired.
—Ting!
A silent bullet struck the back of her head.
It bounced off the mana barrier she had deployed in advance, but the silent shot was still threatening.
‘I expected this much.’
If he wrapped mana tightly around the gun, masking the sound would be easy.
‘Judging from the angle, over there.’
Calculating the impact at the back of her head, she ran toward where she estimated the Black Reaper was.
—Clang!
‘His accuracy is terrifying.’
She barely blocked a bullet aimed precisely at her eye with her arm.
She had known it in her head, but seeing bullets fly with zero margin of error—even calculating the angle she would dodge—sent chills down her spine.
—Clang!
‘But I’m not some mindless beast.’
She covered her eyes with minimal movement and charged toward the incoming bullets.
His bullets couldn’t pierce her armor. Even if one slipped perfectly through a gap, it wouldn’t cause significant damage.
‘Strange.’
The damage was oddly shallow.
The bullets carried no attributes, nor were they heavily infused with mana.
‘He’s plotting something.’
But she couldn’t tell what.
All she could do was run toward the place she believed the Black Reaper to be.
—Whoosh!
While running, she moved her body left and right, estimating his exact position.
Tracking bullet trajectories wasn’t difficult for her, a spirit of the Tower.
‘Found you.’
What she saw after locating the starting point of the bullets was one that had flown from behind her, then turned exactly 180 degrees and flew back.
‘I’ve been fooled.’
The Black Reaper, that insane human, had used mana in an extremely inefficient way just to lure her.
She had sensed he was plotting something when she noticed the bullets were unusually weak—but she never expected him to go this far just to bait her.
‘It’s fine.’
It wasn’t a major problem.
She had only given him twice the distance.
She would simply track him again.
With that thought, as she turned back to search for him—
A massive bullet over 20mm in caliber slammed down onto her head.
—Boom!
She staggered from the heavily mana-infused strike.
And then bullets of equal power began pouring into her in rapid succession.
