Chapter 74: Trial of the 10th floor (5)
「The trial of the 10th floor will begin.」
「The remaining time will start to decrease, and monsters will appear.」
「When the number of monsters decreases by more than a certain amount, a boss monster will appear.」
The moment the messages saying that the trial of the 10th floor would begin floated up—
Crumble…!
The floor of the field began to shake, and soon the dirt began to rise up from here and there, taking the shape of a snake.
The size of the snakes that looked like a few meters was also trouble, but the number of dirt snakes being generated was not a joke either.
Grasping the situation right away, I immediately took out the Thunder Blade and took my fighting stance.
It was then—「Conditions have been met.」
The message suddenly appeared in front of my eyes.
「Special task, ‘contribution’ will begin.」
「When you defeat a monster that appears in the trial on the 10th floor, each entity will grant you contribution points, and additional points will be given accordingly.」
「However, the amount of contribution point accumulated at this time varies depending on the strength of each entity.」
「According to the accumulated contribution points, the level of the trial reward may be upgraded, and the reward level is determined by each other's contribution rank.」
“…!?”
I was bewildered by the message of a special task that I hadn’t seen in a long time— since the trial of competition —but…
“It looks like… it's not a trial that only involves cooperation as we thought.”
At the words of Oh Choonsuk from the left, I had no choice but to erase those feelings.
“…Looks like it. Since this is also some kind of competition.”
Whether it was a special task or whatever, this was no different from a competition that had begun.
Considering that all challengers in the 10th floor stage were listed in the contribution rankings, there was no room for hesitation.
Perhaps Oh Choonsuk also knew it too, he scratched his hair and opened his mouth.
“Well, we can’t really give way to each other anyway… Let’s do each other’s best.”
“As a matter of fact, I was gonna do so.”
“It's good that we're on the same page.”
Having said that, Oh Choonsuk immediately took out an old-fashioned cone hat from his inventory, pressed it on his head, and smiled.
“Well then.”
Lastly, with that short ending statement, Oh Choonsuk ran forward and started spewing flames from his fingertips at the monsters of dirt that looked like snakes.
I thought he might be a mage at first glance, but as I expected, Oh Choonsuk seemed to be a challenger specializing in magic battles.
Of course, since the enemy was made of dirt, I wondered if he really had to use fire magic, but…
Baaaang!
Overshadowing those worries, the dirt snakes that touched Oh Choonsuk’s fire exploded to pieces.
Seeing the flames that spread wherever they passed by and indiscriminately killed monsters, it appeared to be a combat method specialized in mass killing.
While I was feeling that his evaluation ranking wasn't just for a show, Kim Seunghoon who’d been standing still, began to move with his large hammer.
However…
"What… is that."
As soon as Kim Seunghoon's battle began, I couldn't help but be astonished.
Bzzzzzzzzzt….!
The moment when the lightning started to flow from Kim Seunghoon's body and scatter in all directions, it created an unusual sight.
Whiish!
Kim Seunghoon's figure soon started moving at such a high speed while smashing the floor that only a blurry afterimage could be seen.
And at the same time—
Pow! Pow! Pow!
The dirt snakes around Kim Seunghoon got their heads exploded just as his afterimage left on his path disappeared.
Looking at this overwhelming sight, I couldn't help but shudder.
So this is…
"A top challenger."
It was the pure strength of the top challenger, the so-called ranker.
I wondered if they were worse than the challengers from another world, but…
Watching the battle of Kim Seunghoon, and Oh Choonsuk, that thought completely disappeared.
"Interesting."
This kind of trial boiled my blood even more than the competition with lower-ranking challengers such as Capture the Flag.
Feeling my blood boil after so long, I also moved my body while giving a tight grip on the Thunder Blade.
「 Activating the skill ‘Instant Acceleration.’ 」
「 Activating the skill ‘Wind's Blessing.’ 」
「 All speeds increased by 40%. 」
「 Number of stacks - 4/7 」
Whooosh…!
In a moment, I arrived at the center where the dirt snakes gathered while cutting through the wind.
With a deep smile, I moved to the place where their shadows stretched out.
And…
「 Activating the skill ‘Clandestine Shadow's Step.’ 」
「 You're stepping on the shadow of a living creature. 」
「 Your strength temporarily increases by +3. 」
I activated the newly acquired skill and quickly moved the sword in my hand.
「 Activating the power ‘Sword Ki Master.’ 」
I activated the sword ki sponsored by the White Crane Sword Saint.
「 Activating the skill ‘Lighting Sword Ki.’ 」
In addition, I mixed in the Lightning Sword Ki I acquired by absorbing the soul of Baek Sunhak, the elder of the Murim alliance.
「Activating the skill ‘ Chaotic Sword-fighting Play.’」
「Sword attack speed increases by 2%.」
「Number of stacks - 1/10」
Raising the attack speed, I immediately cut the snake's neck neatly in front of me.
「You have defeated the earth snake.」
「You gain 1 contribution point.」
「Currently, challenger Han Sungyeun's contribution ranking is last place.」
A message appeared in front of me that I had earned a contribution point, but it wasn't the time to be concerned about that.
Slash!
I didn't stop there. I went behind the snakes trying to attack me with fleet footwork and swung my sword while activating the 'Clandestine Shadow's Step.'
Smash! Slash! Pow!
I twisted the corners of my mouth while repeating that series of processes several times in less than 10 seconds.
This…
This isn't enough…
I couldn't be satisfied with this.
'This won't do If I want to take the first place.'
Faster and more efficiently…
I had to hunt without any breaks, like flowing water.
Only then could I be first in the contribution rankings.
I repeated that in my mind as though to imprint it and then smashed the floor.
It was the start of an earnest hunt.
***
Reaper Scans
***
Faster and more efficiently…
Seeing Han Sungyeun muttering without realizing it, the Iron-blooded Monarch smiled softly.
"Should I say, as expected from the contractor I chose….."
Like a fish in water, Han Sungyeun was smiling more as he got rid of the snakes beyond the hologram screen.
As if he was really enjoying it.
Looking at the scene, the Iron-blooded Monarch realized again what kind of existence Han Sungyeun was.
He was one of the few top-ranked challengers in the Earth dimension, where it'd been just a few months since the Tower of Trials settled in.
She understood what that meant as she had spent quite some time as an administrator.
"He's a man of talent that can't be easily seen in other dimensions."
Those who realized the structure of the Tower were afraid of death and eventually stopped climbing the Tower and gave up their path as a challenger.
Or, even if they did climb, they climbed it only after spending endless time preparing themselves to the point where they wouldn't take any risks.
That was the most standard reaction of those who had just entered the Tower of Trials.
However, Han Sungyeun, seen through the eyes of the Iron-blooded Monarch, was fundamentally different from them.
The desire to grow.
Even though he was from a dimension where the Tower of Trial wasn't known yet, he climbed up the Tower knowing nothing, with only the desire to grow.
It could be said that he was a monster that only looked forward to growth.
And that was still the same even now as he went through the trial on the 10th floor.
Even though he had just taken all the items of Kim Seungjun, as though that wasn't enough, he was trying to clear the special task in first place.
In order to win the special reward that’s given only to the one with the highest contribution points.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say Han Sungyeun's image was like a ghost blade, slashing around with the Sword Ki of Lightning on his blade.
The Iron-blooded Monarch looked at Han Sungyeun and thought to herself.
That he's a strange challenger she hasn't seen in a long time.
"This… reminds me of the old days."
There was a time when the Iron-blooded Monarch also fought in pursuit of strength like that.
Those days when she overtook everyone who climbed the Tower and fought like a madman with a sword in her hand.
At that time, she was literally an Iron-blooded Monarch that no one could lay their hand on.
Of course, that also came to an end as she approached the end of the Tower and met her death, though…
She thought that Han Sungyeun might be different.
'Should I say I was lucky that I'm his first contractor…'
If Han Sungyeun's first contract had been taken away by others, even the Iron-blooded Monarch, who had never been interested in a contract, would've been devastated.
But…
"To think that this challenger with such insane growth potential is my contractor…"
In the end, the Tower transferred Han Sungyeun's contract to the Iron-blooded Monarch, and thanks to this, the Iron-blooded Monarch was able to sign a contract with Han Sungyeun.
The Iron-blooded Monarch was thankful for that part.
For the challenger, the [First contract] was more important than one could imagine.
It's a system that unlocks starting from the waiting room of the 11th floor, and you could receive support in earnest from the contracted administrator.
And one of the functions that is expanded at that time is that the contract between the additional administrators to the challenger can also be interfered with by the Iron-blooded monarch to some extent.
Of course, that was only to a certain extent, and the decision was made by the challenger, so the Iron-Blooded monarch was also nervous at this point.
'As a matter of fact, The White Crane Sword Saint seemed to be interested in Han Sungyeun…'
Even if you were the first administrator to be contracted, the importance may vary depending on the choice of the challenger.
As the administrator received benefits from the Tower according to the growth level of the contracted challenger, if the manager was pushed out of the challenger's importance, the benefits obtained by nurturing the challenger decreased.
Therefore, She had no choice but to worry about what happened in the waiting room on the 11th floor.
To the challengers of the Murim world, the White Crane Sword Saint was almost like a legend, and even Gluttony, who was snooping around these days, had quite a lot of followers in Callian.
She was the first administrator to have a contract, but compared to other administrators, it could be seen that she didn't bring a lot of advantages.
At least for Han Sungyeun, who had a great desire for growth, might feel that way.
Which had made him form a contract with other administrators to acquire powers and become stronger based on them.
In particular, the powers of the Iron-blooded Monarch were all so great that they were difficult to obtain despite their excellent utility.
For sure, even if he broke through this trial, he wouldn't be able to buy quality powers with the SP he obtained.
However…
"It'll be a little different starting from the 11th floor."
Whether it's Murim, Callian, or Ares…
No administrator of any dimension would be able to keep up with the gift she had prepared for him.
This thing she prepared for Han Sungyeun by enduring great restriction from the Tower was a sponsor that other challengers couldn't even dream of at this point.
So…
Obviously, Han Sungyeun, who only pursued growth, wouldn't prioritize other administrators if he saw her prepared [Gift].
"Try your best, White Crane Sword Saint, Gluttony, or whoever it is."
Whether he contracted with the second, or even third, administrator, it didn't matter to her now how many more administrators he'd have a contract with.
"In the end, Han Sungyeun will choose me."
He'd surely do so to make himself stronger.
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