Chapter 128: Thirty-Fourth Floor, Waiting Room (1)

Elves committed acts of terrorism in her previous life?

I had a hard time coming to terms with that concept. Sure, they had some extreme tendencies—like eating only pests in an attempt to preserve nature—but terrorism seemed like a separate subject completely. That didn’t quite fit their image.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): Although they tout themselves as naturalists, their ultimate goal is to eliminate humanity. They see humans as nature-destroying pests, which is why they feel comfortable eating human flesh. Didn’t you notice anything?

Eating humans...

Her words brought back the suspicious moments from aboard the airship. From the way they had stopped me from entering the airship to the faint metallic smell masked by floral perfume and finally Roxanne’s subtly reddened lips.

Still, I hadn’t seen them bringing anyone aboard, nor had I heard sounds of struggle.

Did they eat someone while they were sleeping?

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): WelI... I noticed a few clues that seemed to agree with what you are saying. Now that I think about it, they really do eat humans. That’s insane!

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): I told you. They’re eco-terrorists. They’re not rational. They’re probably holding back for now to prepare for something bigger.

A shiver ran down my spine. I had allied myself with a group that willingly—no, excitedly—consumed people just like me.

Worse still, I had shared an airship with them for five whole days.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): Normally, they don’t even let humans interact with them. You probably got a free pass because of the Ring of the Dawn Breeze. They probably thought you shared their values.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): That makes sense. They reacted strangely when I used the Master of Shadows skill, almost like it disgusted them.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): In a way, it worked out. I’ve been worrying about how to prepare people for the thirty-fifth floor, but now you can warn everyone about the elves.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): Huh? How is this a good thing?

I realized she still hadn’t shared the thirty-fifth floor’s details.

Ha Hee-Jeong mentioned that there was little a climber could do to prepare for it but hadn’t explained why.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): The elves launch an attack on the furnaces at the start of that floor.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): Attack the furnaces? Why?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): Those furnaces are ancient relics said to have been bestowed by a god and function like nuclear reactors. So they are powerful sources of energy, but each one can wreak untold havoc if mishandled.

Right. Come to think of it, the humans worshipped the Endless Furnace. Even though they didn’t actively bestow divine power upon anyone, it seemed like they still had granted some tangible benefits in the past

Still, something didn’t quite add up.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): Won’t that also harm nature?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): It’s a bit different. The destruction won’t cause a long-lasting impact on the environment around it, and all the animals will remain unharmed. Only the humans in the vicinity will die.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): What?! Just the humans? How does that even work?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): I don’t know the specifics, but the people in that world treated it as divine retribution during my previous life. Maybe gods punish their followers if their sacred artifacts are destroyed?

Although it seems a little excessive, I suppose it sounds possible.

After all, the god in question didn’t have a reputation for anything, good or bad. Deciding to not worry about that subject any longer, I prompted Ha Hee-Jeong again.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): So, what did you mean earlier when you said, ‘In a way, it worked out’?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): Oh, that’s because a climber has to choose a faction before entering the thirty-fifth floor.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): A faction?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): Yeah. There are three options. First, fighting ‘for nature’ alongside the elves. Second, assist the humans who are on the path of endless development. And finally, the neutral faction. Plus, climbers can only enter the floor after choosing one.

Hearing this, I grew worried since we hadn’t encountered a floor that forced climbers to choose potentially conflicting factions.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): Will climbers have to fight one another?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): Yes. But I’m confident that if you share what you’ve learned about the elves with the other climbers, most will probably side with the humans.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): Wait, so does the losing side just die when the floor ends?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): No, not exactly. Although climbers can die during combat, survivors from the losing side will just receive fewer rewards.

Now I understood why she had said my experience would benefit us. Without proper information, climbers would scatter across factions, leading to unnecessary conflict. By consolidating climbers under one faction, the likelihood of friendly fire would be minimized.

From Ha Hee-Jeong’s explanation, that clearly hadn’t been the case during her first climb, and the disarray had likely caused many fatalities. Although the climbers could have theoretically avoided one another, large-scale battles would have inevitably broken out.

Still...

The situation mirrored my recent experience on the last two floors. The neutral option, however, raised some interesting questions.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): What about neutrality? What does that entail?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): Neutral climbers are tasked with stopping the conflict entirely. Unfortunately, there’s almost no incentive, so barely anyone chose that option. Since the victorious faction gets the most substantial rewards, there is no point in making things unnecessarily difficult.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): I see. So, if you go neutral, are there no rewards at all?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): Not exactly. Neutral climbers do receive rewards, but they are tasked to mediate the war, which is nearly impossible.

Her explanation made sense. With no way of knowing how many climbers had already chosen either faction, a climber would likely choose an easier option.

For a climber who selected the neutral faction, stepping in to stop the fighting was an exercise in futility.

When I voiced my thoughts, Ha Hee-Jeong agreed.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): That’s part of it. Plus, the elves’ hatred for humans runs too deep for anyone to reasonably resolve.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): Has their hatred always been this extreme?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): Yeah. They’ve just kept it well hidden until now. The disappearance of your thirty-third floor probably ties into that.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): What do you mean?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): The thirty-fifth floor begins with terror attacks, right? If you’d sided with the elves, you probably would have spent the thirty-third floor helping them prepare for the attacks.

Ah. That explained why the thirty-third floor had vanished.

Suddenly, my previous actions felt meaningless. If the war between elves and humans was inevitable, then the outcome wouldn’t have changed whether I saved the sky whales or let them die. It seemed like the tower had spitefully sent me to witness the prelude to an unavoidable conflict.

Why did the tower even bother sending me there for my individual challenge floors, then?

It felt as though I had been swept along by an unstoppable current. The thought left a bitter taste.

Then it hit me.

Wait. No.

If my actions on the thirty-first and thirty-second floors had truly been pointless, the tower wouldn’t have presented me with those trials in the first place.

Looking back on previous floors, a pattern began to emerge.

On the twelfth floor, I saved a dragon and earned its crest. On the twenty-third, I retrieved Comet’s relic.

The rewards from my past trials always proved crucial for future challenges. I wholeheartedly believed that this time would be no exception.

Even disregarding the Orb of the Sky Whale, Ha Hee-Jeong had already explained how the information I had gathered would prevent climbers from dying unnecessarily. That was a major victory in and of itself.

Also, I was still curious about the Orb of the Sky Whale as its full potential remained unclear. Given that the tower rewarded it for completing a hidden mission, I was confident it would prove to be valuable, much like Herkest’s Dragon Scale Token.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): We’re siding with the humans, right?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): Huh? Of course. Sure, they’re into development, but compared to Earth, it’s not that bad.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): Really?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): Yeah. I mean, on Earth, we dump endless chemicals and trash into rivers and oceans. They’re not anywhere near that level yet, at least for now.

She had a point. Given the technological gap between Earth and them, even with advanced inventions like airships, they damaged the environment far less than Earthlings.

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if the elves somehow came to Earth. Would they try to cause nuclear plant meltdowns under the guise of “saving nature”?

Before I could dwell too much on it, a new message from Ha Hee-Jeong popped up.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): Oh, and if you side with the elves, you’ll have to watch them feed on humans. Are you okay with hanging out with human eaters?

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): Ugh, no way.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): Plus, the human faction’s rewards are slightly better. Since they’re on the defensive, the system gives them a slight edge. Back in my previous life, the elves actually won.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): The elves won?

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): Yeah. It was thanks to the idealized fantasy people on Earth have about elves. Over eighty percent of climbers sided with them back then, even us.

When she put it like that, it made complete sense. Her logic was sound as even I had once believed elves were elegant, ethereal beings.

I blame The Lord of the Necklaces. Duplolas left a lasting impression.

Still, choosing a side didn’t sit right with me. Aligning with the human faction meant I would inevitably have to fight and kill elves. Ideally, I would prefer to choose the neutral faction, but Ha Hee-Jeong had mentioned the enmity between the two sides ran too deep for that to be a viable option.

No, wait. She said the elves' ultimate goal is to erase humanity.

That thought solidified my resolve. Although it wasn’t a given that elves had always consumed human flesh and pushed for genocide, that was the reality now. It wasn’t just incomprehensible but also abhorrent. I had no obligation to respect their twisted morality.

While I was processing this, another message from Ha Hee-Jeong came through.

- Ha Hee-Jeong (Thirty-fourth Floor): By the way, your previous two floors delayed us quite a bit. There are a ton of people curious about what happened. You should shower and then post something on the Community.

- Kwon Su-Hyeok (Thirty-fourth Floor): Got it, will do.

***

[Hasn’t Kwon Su-Hyeok been back for a while? Why hasn’t he said anything? What happened?]

[Ugh! We have waited for nearly four days, but there are still 14 hours until the next floor opens!]

[Relax, he’s probably showering. Why are you being so nosy?]

[(Party recruitment) Looking for a mage ranked 14,000–19,000]

[Remember how the last all-climber floor was tied to Su-hyeok’s solo floor? Maybe it happened again?]

[Seeking achievement point loan: 5% interest per floor, need 4,000 points]

[Also, why did Kwon Su-Hyeok just skip from the thirty-second floor to the thirty-fourth? so weird.]

After showering, I opened the Community and found numerous posts mentioning me. Clearly, many climbers had been waiting during the week I spent on the floor. The sudden leap from the thirty-second to the thirty-fourth floor had only added fuel to the fire.

This was the perfect opportunity. I could explain what had happened while subtly shedding light on the elves' darker nature. I planned to detail their extreme ecocentrism, their consumption of human flesh, and their fixation on erasing humanity.

Wait, considering how many people idealize elves...

I would need to shatter that illusion as well, and emphasizing how gaunt and malnourished they were from eating insects would be the perfect introduction. Judging an individual purely on their appearance wasn’t a good habit to get into, but destroying their mystique could save lives.

Once I posted my explanation, reactions immediately flooded in.

- Braha Akif (Thirty-fourth Floor): Eating humans? That’s insane.

- Ernest Morgan (Thirty-fourth Floor): This isn’t the elf I imagined... :(

- Park Bong-Pal (Thirty-fourth Floor): Extreme eco-terrorists? Ugh, I hate people like that.

- Ivo Chen (Thirty-fourth Floor): Wow, elves!

- Tagre Veritun (Thirty-fourth Floor): Honestly, I can kind of see the elves’ perspective. Nature-destroying humans deserve it.

- Kim Seon-Hu (Thirty-fourth Floor): ?? Are you crazy? They eat people!

- Ivan Menshupok (Thirty-fourth Floor): This is just propaganda from Kwon Su-Hyeok to slander the elves!

- Wang Wei (Thirty-fourth Floor): Fanatics like that are the scariest. Consumed by their beliefs.

Thankfully, most responses were overwhelmingly negative toward the elves, and a massive wave of relief washed over me. A few climbers sympathized with the elves, although I couldn’t understand why.

Satisfied with my post, I headed toward training when I remembered another task I had planned.

Oh, right. I wanted to buy a flying broom.

I opened the shop, immediately hitting a snag since I wasn’t sure what to search for.

Will it find what I am looking for if I simply type “broom”?

Unfortunately, that search returned tens of thousands of results, displaying brooms from across the universe.

I wasn’t surprised. The shop was notoriously unhelpful when it came to filtering results. Finding the right one among so many options would be impossible without narrowing it down.

Hmm, combat broom? No, magic broom sounds better.

Refining the search worked wonders. Among the hundreds of options, I excitedly spotted something similar to Erendil’s broom.

Moments later, I groaned.

Oh, come on...

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Only women could purchase the broom.