Chapter 199: Fifty-Second Floor, Penance (1)

[Reach your destination. Time remaining: 47 hours 50 minutes.]

The endless expanse of desolation before me resembled the arid wastelands of the American West. Everything that met the eye appeared distorted by the oppressive heat, as it gave rise to a constant shimmer of red mirages.

The horizon shook hazily in the distance, its contours trembling and blurring, almost like the bold textures of Vango's impasto brushstrokes brought to life.

I walked for roughly ten minutes away from the mountain peak when an invisible barrier abruptly stopped me. It resembled the protective boundary that used to surround the Zone 1 rest area, invisible yet immovable.

Ugh, of course.

I let out a heavy sigh, only to find the searing air immediately clawing its way into my lungs. It felt as though my chest was on fire.

Damn it, I can’t even sigh properly.

Grumbling a bit under my breath, I turned around. The ten minutes I had spent walking only made the peak feel farther away.

What now? Should I head to the left or right instead?

No, that didn’t seem wise. Focusing on the trial seemed far more prudent than chasing after a potential hidden mission.

Sure, moving either way could reveal something worthwhile, but realistically, the odds felt low. On top of that, this was an individual challenge floor, which was generally harder than the trials other climbers faced.

On the surface, the trial looks exclusively like an endurance test.

I knew better than to assume it would be that straightforward, though. The surrounding environment would undoubtedly become even more unforgiving as I approached the mountain, pushing me closer to my breaking point.

I had already wasted ten minutes. Those lost moments could easily come back to haunt me when I finally began the climb toward the summit.

Plus, if I spend more time wandering aimlessly...

I would just be depleting my stamina for no tangible gain.

Fine. I will just stick to reaching the destination.

While the floor’s restrictions weakened my normally superhuman senses, my intuition urged me to press toward the summit.

I took a step forward and resumed my trek.

Even the brief pause had been enough for my soles to feel as if they had melted on the scorching ground. Sweat trickled down from my temples, dropping steadily.

When was the last time I sweated like this?

Since my stats upgraded alongside my skills, I for sure hadn’t experienced such a waterfall of sweat since entering the tower.

Sure, my skin had felt sticky or damp in certain moments, but nothing remotely close to this.

This floor’s weather was truly merciless.

Anyway.

As I trudged forward, I started assessing the tools at my disposal. The tower had explicitly stated that my skills were restricted, so anything listed in my status window would obviously be unusable.

Do abilities like Indomitability or Combat Focus, which are more mental in nature, still work to a certain extent?

I couldn’t be entirely sure. What I did know was that I felt noticeably heavier, likely because the passive buffs given by Savior had been removed.

Conjuring a flicker of mana to my fingertips, I felt reassured that I could still utilize my lightning-infused mana. Abilities that had been fully integrated into my body, like Dragon’s Blood and Bear’s Blood, seemed to have remained functional.

Encouraged, I decided to test Flash Strike as well. For a brief moment, the shimmering mirages around me appeared to freeze.

Good.

With Lightning Essence and Flash Strike still in play, I could handle any surprises the tower threw my way. In hindsight, completing my transformation before this trial had been a stroke of luck.

With renewed determination, I glanced toward the summit and pressed on.

As expected, the conditions grew harsher the closer I drew to the mountain. The sun’s rays felt sharper, almost scalding, and the suffocating heat turned every breath into a struggle.

A nagging worry began to creep into my mind.

If it is already this bad now, how much worse will it get later?

Sweat soaked through the inside of my robe, making the fabric cling uncomfortably to my skin.

The exposed skin on my hands and feet had begun to crack and sting, and I already felt the sharp pain of sunburn setting in.

Unfortunately, my feet were in an even worse condition—mentioning them would only stress me out. Blisters had formed, burst, and then re-formed over the same spots, each layer compounding the agony.

I hadn’t suffered such a painful injury in a long while, and the pain cut deep, despite my conditioned resistance to it.

This isn’t normal.

Even if I was still human in essence, my physical body had undergone a significant transformation. It was illogical for it to sustain this level of damage from mere sunlight and heat.

Considering the mental duress it put me under as well, the trial wasn’t just attacking my physical body; it was chipping away at my mind as well.

A profound feeling of loneliness enveloped me. Not the kind of solitude that stemmed from walking alone through an empty wasteland, however. It felt forced upon me, as though the tower had influenced my thoughts.

This has to be part of the trial.

It felt ridiculous that I knew the falsehood, yet I was still unable to resist its effects.

A bleak sense of despair began to creep in. The fact that I was still wandering the wasteland, far from even reaching the mountain’s base, only worsened the feeling.

How long have I been walking?

It felt like at least an hour had passed.

Immediately, I rejected that notion, trying to trick my brain into thinking more optimistically.

I could have simply looked up to check the time, but I didn’t want to. A part of me felt afraid that an hour of actual time had actually elapsed.

That, too, was an artificially induced emotion. I couldn't even fully understand my own mental state.

Resolving myself, I shook my head vigorously.

Don’t give in.

I couldn’t afford to let the tower’s manipulations sway me.

Reaching the summit within the allotted time was all that mattered. Since I couldn’t clear the trial by simply waiting it out, I would just have to persevere.

Fretting would only waste my energy.

Lifting my head, I looked fully at the tower’s message.

[Reach your destination. Time remaining: 47 hours 16 minutes.]

Although I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where I had started, looking between the summit and behind me confirmed that I had made steady progress toward the mountain.

Even if I had a difficult time explaining my state of mind, I knew I could utilize logic to calm it down.

Trying to distract myself from tower-imposed mental strain, I began analyzing the floor.

Two days still remain, give or take. Given what I have experienced so far, there obviously won’t be any food or water.

My mimic had been removed alongside the rest of my gear, leaving me without any provisions.

Ironically, I had chosen this floor of all times to skip a pre-floor meal. The timing felt almost unfair.

Hmph. The tower could have warned me in advance.

Strangely enough, it could work to my advantage, though. Yoonie and Mung-chi aside, if Doppy had accompanied me, trying to traverse the desert would have been even harder.

Even though I tried to ignore it, I was struggling more than I let on. Adding insult to injury, the heat only intensified with every step.

***

How much farther have I walked?

Nearing the mountain’s base, I noticed the ground ahead seemed different.

Is it silver? Black?

The shimmering in the air made it hard to see clearly. One thing was certain, however: the ground had changed color.

Once I neared, the terrain’s true nature revealed itself. The base of the mountain wasn’t composed of just hot sand. Broken weapons—swords, axes, spears, and arrows—lay strewn all over.

The jagged fragments jutted out from the ground like a cruel reflexology path.

“

Ugh

, shit.”

I had sworn to speak as little as possible, but the curse had escaped before I could stop it.

Unfortunately, the metal pieces covered the floor so tightly and evenly that there wasn’t a single place to safely step.

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

I turned my head to scan the area. No matter where I looked, it was just metal everywhere. Stepping on it would be unavoidable, and the last stretch to the mountain’s base wasn’t short either.

Through the shimmering air, I could tell it would take at least thirty minutes to walk across this terrain.

“

Haaaaaa.

”

Left with no other choice, I decided to just tread carefully.

Taking a deep breath, I took my first step. It landed on a broken sword and an arrowhead. Luckily, the sword lay askew, so I stepped on its side.

The arrowhead, however, stood straight up. A sharp pain shot through the sole of my right foot. The heat only worsened the pain, as the arrowhead had been heated by the environment.

I lifted my other foot to move forward. As I did, the arrowhead dug deeper into my foot.

Fuck.

Thankfully, the blade hadn’t gone deep enough to pierce through every layer of skin.

Is that really something to be thankful for, though?

The sharp pain seemed to spread through my veins, traveling up my neck and into my head.

The next step I took landed on a broken axe blade. It sliced deeply into the sole of my foot, and I felt blood begin to flow.

Gritting my teeth, I pushed forward.

Oddly enough, the heat worked in my favor, cauterizing the wound almost immediately.

Ten minutes passed, each second a brutal test of endurance. I couldn’t remember the last time I had suffered this much.

Honestly, if someone appeared before me now and offered me the chance to go back and fight the three of the Catastrophes from the forty-seventh floor, I would probably accept.

I should have trained to build pain resistance on the lower floors.

I wasn’t used to pain. Since entering the tower, I had always been the one delivering blows, not receiving them.

Just as I prepared to take another step, a chill ran down my spine. It was the familiar sensation, my instincts warning me about danger.

Acting on those instincts, I activated Flash Strike.

Clunk—

A mechanical noise echoed as the ground beneath me gave way.

Unfortunately, there was nowhere to run—not only had the area around me collapsed, but the entire metal-strewn ground was in the process of falling.

I tried to retreat, but couldn’t even manage two full steps before a sharp pain shot through my left foot. Before I could take another step, I fell into the pit, the ground seemingly swallowing me whole. The only relief was that I still had Flash Strike.

As everything around me moved sluggishly, I managed to focus my thoughts.

This area wasn’t meant to be crossed.

Even with Flash Strike, escaping had been impossible.

Is this a canon event?

It felt like the tower had intended for me to fall.

I turned my gaze downward.

This isn’t the time to think about that.

I was falling, and so were the countless sharp, metal fragments.

Without my magical shoes, stepping on the air wasn’t an option. I wasn’t a martial arts master capable of walking through the air like the heroes in Seo Ho-Su’s stories.

Instead, I relied on the falling techniques I had learned, wrapping my robe around my shoulders as I aimed for a spot with fewer shards.

Rolling as I hit the ground, the metal still tore into me. The jagged pieces ripped through the thin covering, scratching my shoulders, back, and thighs.

“

Hah

... Fuck my life.”

I gritted my teeth and forced myself to stand.

Oddly enough, the pain wasn’t the first thing I noticed—breathing had suddenly become much harder. The air here was even hotter than above, and it felt like I had stepped into a sauna, as though there wasn’t enough oxygen to breathe.

Suddenly, I felt a presence behind me.

Tensing, I spun around. From above, a figure in a black robe descended slowly.

Unlike me, they didn’t tumble or stumble when they landed. They merely touched down as softly as a feather.

The figure walked across the metal without hesitation, unfazed by the pain.

An enemy?

I watched cautiously, but instead of hostility, the figure greeted me with a smile. “What, I’m not alone after all? This weird sensation has been pissing me off, but it’s a relief to see someone else. Who are you? You don’t seem like a climber from another tower.”

Another tower? What is he talking about?

I tried to ask him who he was, but my lips didn’t move.

Ah.

That was when I realized that I couldn’t communicate at all. Even gestures or eye movements didn’t work. My body refused to move as soon as I intended to communicate.

Meanwhile, the figure had spoken naturally as if nothing were amiss.

He looked at me, frowning slightly, a hint of frustration on his face. “What’s this? Can’t talk? Are you mute?”

Of course, I couldn’t nod.

He sighed deeply. “

Ugh

. So, you’re the silent type,

huh?

You don’t seem like an enemy, though, and if you’re not a climber—”

His expression cleared as if inspiration had struck. “Oh! Are you here to help me get to the summit?”

When I didn’t respond, he scratched his head and looked slightly embarrassed.

“Ah, right. You can’t talk. Well, for an assistant, you don’t look the part. But whatever. Let’s get going. My name’s Kalain. Kalain Loxhen.”

***

「Invisible message: Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has displayed an unyielding will! Indomitability is now lvl 18.」