Chapter 321: Seventy-Eighth Floor, Tribal War (1)

[Due to the climbers’ choices and actions on the seventy-seventh floor of the Tower of Ordeal, the world’s destiny has shifted.]

[As of this moment, welcome to the seventy-eighth floor of the Tower of Ordeal: Tribal War.]

[Tensions between the tribes surrounding Euros’s Flower Forest have been escalating.]

[There are those who seek to burn it and those who strive to protect it. Regardless of which side a climber takes, every action will be tallied as achievement points.]

[Navigate the conflict between both factions and survive. Time remaining: 239 hours 59 minutes.]

The notification window updated without warning, catching me completely off guard.

Concentrating fully on it, I set down my spoon and analyzed its contents. Though the message carried a certain weight, nothing about it seemed particularly alarming. All that had changed was when it started.

Or has more changed than it seems?

Despite our knowledge of what was to come, our extra time to prepare had now vanished—this changed the situation significantly.

I could only sigh quietly.

I should have anticipated this.

In many ways, it was a fairly natural outcome. Without the information from Ha Hee-Jeong’s previous life, we wouldn’t have recovered so much Ancient Fire this quickly.

Even relying on Aoshi’s help wouldn’t have made as much of an impact. We could have found every piece eventually, but certainly not this swiftly.

Given that we had already begun to prepare for the seventy-eighth floor, it wasn’t surprising that the trial had been pushed forward.

The tribes intent on burning the forest aren’t fools, after all. They aren’t mere NPCs from a game. They are living beings, capable of thinking, reasoning, and acting on their own.

Even if the floor’s timer ticked by at the same rate, they wouldn’t sit idly by while someone jeopardized their plans.

This wasn’t the first time we had encountered such a scenario, either. After all, countless floors collapsed due to Ha Hee-Jeong and my actions.

Still, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

We still had time.

Although the twenty-three hours originally allocated to the seventy-seventh floor had been wiped away, there was no need to panic.

The initiation of the seventy-eighth floor didn’t mean the Ancient Fire would detonate immediately. It hadn’t happened that way during Ha Hee-Jeong's previous life either.

We had been given ten days to complete the seventy-eighth floor.

The first five will be consumed by the tribal war.

When we were summoned to the seventy-seventh floor, the tribes were already on the verge of battle. The majority of the negotiations had concluded, and the imbalance of power meant the conflict wouldn’t drag on.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

The victorious faction would regroup on the sixth day and ignite the Ancient Fire on the seventh. After that, the seventy-ninth floor would begin.

Even based on Ha Hee-Jeong's previous life, that still left us with seven days.

Of course, our actions will have caused some deviations.

Back then, it had taken five days primarily due to the distances between the various tribes. Scattered in every direction, even when united, battles inevitably broke out across multiple fronts.

Things were different this time. The tribes that sought to protect the Flower Forest had joined our cause, although some had yet to reach the gathering point.

If the enemy has any sense of strategy, they will consolidate their forces and advance toward us.

Since the majority of the Ancient Fire were now concentrated in our territory, there was no reason for them to split their troops.

Of course, that meant we had even less luxury of time. Still, I expected we had at least two or three days.

No matter how swiftly the enemy acted, there was still a minimum amount of time required. We weren’t facing a unified kingdom, but rather a loose alliance. Coordination and communication would be essential.

We have located thirty-three Ancient Fires so far.

As our numbers grew, the rate at which climbers joined our group steadily increased. Our search efforts had become both faster and broader.

Though it wasn’t set in stone, Ha Hee-Jeong and Hendrick expected to find about ten Ancient Fire each day.

If we could uncover ten more today, we would be on track. After that, maintaining the front lines while continuing the search would suffice.

Everything we had collected had already been stored in mimics, so we didn’t need to worry about infiltrations.

That wasn’t what concerned me, however. The start of the seventy-eighth floor signaled that the tribes who had found Ancient Fire were about to move in earnest.

“Holy shit! What the hell?”

“Hey, get up! They said the seventy-eighth floor has started!”

“

Ugh

, what?”

“Damn it, doesn’t this mean something’s gone wrong? They said the change happened because of us.”

The area around us began to stir, the commotion growing.

I pushed aside my thoughts and stood up from my seat.

Even if Doppy and Aoshi couldn’t see the notification, they seemed to have sensed the rising tension. Both looked up at me, spoons still in hand.

“It’s nothing serious.”

“What changed this time?”

“Something did, but it’s not a major problem.”

“I’m coming with you!”

“That’s okay. Nothing’s going to happen right this instant. Just keep eating.”

I gently pushed them back down as they began to rise. There was no reason to bring Doppy and Aoshi into this.

Doppy glanced at me hesitantly as he sat again. “Shouldn’t we call Hee-Jeong?”

“She’ll be here soon.”

With that, I turned toward the entrance of the tent. I had been eating in a makeshift barrack for a couple of reasons. I wanted to avoid the other climbers’ uneasy gazes, and I also didn’t want the inhabitants of this world to become too familiar with me.

If I intended to become a godlike figure, delivering revelation after revelation, remaining unseen would be far more effective.

Aoshi’s tribe had already met me, so that couldn’t be helped. Even still, I had asked them to choose their words carefully when talking about me.

I overheard the climbers outside the tent talking about me.

“Should we ask Su-Hyeok or Hee-Jeong about it?”

“Hee-Jeong headed south earlier when an Ancient Fire was detected.”

“Hendrick’s up north.”

“What about Alexei? She’s right over there.”

“Hey, you don’t just go up to Alexei with stuff like this.”

“But didn’t Doppy head into that tent earlier? Isn’t Su-Hyeok in there?”

“Should we ask?”

“Forget it. We’re not even sure he’s inside, and they probably just found out too. They’ll need time to process.”

Readying myself, I stepped outside the tent.

We were currently in the command post that the climbers had set up. Only top-ranked climbers were present, so I didn’t feel the need to disguise myself with Master of Shadows.

“

Oh!

It’s Kwon Su-Hyeok!”

“Where?”

“Over there! That’s him!”

All eyes turned to me.

I already knew what needed to be said. While it could unsettle the others, I was fully aware of the situation. This wasn’t some catastrophic disaster.

Appearing composed was essential.

I cleared my throat softly, careful not to let my voice carry too far. “

Ahem

.”

Just then, Ha Hee-Jeong appeared beside me, using our paired necklace. “Hey, did you see—”

She had spoken hastily, but after glancing around and grasping the situation, she fell silent, moving behind me without another word.

Though unplanned, it worked in my favor.

Not everyone would witness it, but the high-ranking climbers could pass on what they saw and heard. A calm presence would ease their worries, and that mood would ripple down to the weaker climbers as well.

Slowly, I declared, “I understand why you're unsettled. I was, too, at first.” As my mana-infused voice spread through the air, the chatter began to subside. “But there’s no need for concern.”

Hundreds of eyes turned toward me. I met their gazes, a calm smile tugging at my lips.

***

[Navigate the conflict between both factions and survive. Time remaining: 239 hours 42 minutes.]

My message to the climbers had been rather simple: remain calm and stay focused on the existing tasks.

Of course, I had worked to ease their nerves even more. Reading the seventy-eighth floor’s description aloud allowed me to remind them that we were doing well.

Originally, the search for the Ancient Fire was meant to begin on the seventy-eighth floor, yet we had already uncovered thirty-three.

In truth, everything I said was trivial.

Even without knowing the future, anyone could have reassured them in the same way. They can arrive at those conclusions on their own.

That was precisely why my encouragement mattered, though. The words and actions of a leader directly impacted the morale of those they led. If they could reach the conclusion that I had reached, that what had just happened wasn’t some kind of catastrophe, then they wouldn’t have as much doubt.

Under Ha Hee-Jeong’s direction, the climbers quickly moved to relay my message. Climbers who had panicked after reading the alert would likely be making their way back to camp.

After speaking briefly with Hendrick, Ha Hee-Jeong and I returned to the temporary barracks.

“Well, it’s not a big deal,” Ha Hee-Jeong murmured, as if trying to reassure herself.

I nodded. “Yeah. We knew from the start that a clash was inevitable.”

“Still, I should’ve seen it coming.”

“You’re right. It’s not the first time a trial has shifted unexpectedly.”

“We both had a bias about that whole ‘survive’ message.”

“We assumed that part would remain unchanged. But really, this was bound to happen. Losing those twenty-three hours is a shame, though.”

\That wasn’t what Ha Hee-Jeong was truly concerned about, however.

“They’ll be showing up soon.”

“Right. The seventy-eighth floor has started.”

During our preparation for the all-climber floors, we had come up with two main concerns.

Locating every Ancient Fire was the first. Even a single one detonating would trigger a catastrophe. Thankfully, we were well on our way to addressing that risk.

The remaining threats were the ancient guardians, artifacts discovered by the faction intending to activate the Ancient Fire.

Calling them artifacts feels off.

According to Ha Hee-Jeong, they resembled suits of armor. Each one was a roughly four-meter-tall mech suit that was, golem-like, armored, and piloted from within.

She had claimed that there were twenty of them in total.

Hearing it for the first time, I hadn’t considered it anything too serious. After all, I was far stronger than the average climber.

Ha Hee-Jeong saw it differently, however.

She said that I, in her previous life, couldn’t gain the upper hand in one-on-one combat against them.

It hadn’t been a matter of technique, but rather sheer power and capability. The opponent hadn’t even been using their full strength.

She had told me they were no weaker than the enemies we had encountered on the floors in the eighties.

Of course, I was far stronger now than I had been in Ha Hee-Jeong’s previous life, but that didn’t mean I could let my guard down. Even though the me from then had faced different enemies in the next set of ten floors, that didn’t mean they were weak.

That is probably why Ha Hee-Jeong also felt like Euros’s Flower Forest burning is preordained.

From the perspective of climbers back then, the mech-suit-wearing enemies were unbeatable. That had led the climbers pre-regression to assume that the entire seventieth floor range was designed to test our ability to endure environmental hazards.

Now, we knew better.

There had to be a reason that these floors were structured that way. Ha Hee-Jeong and I had discussed it just yesterday, in fact.

They are connected to the hidden mission.

Now, it seemed almost obvious that defeating them was essential to completing the hidden objective. Their complete lack of involvement during her previous life only reinforced that assumption.

Even if the war had progressed swiftly, the fact that they never participated in a single battle was strange.

Well, there isn’t another way around it. We will have to face them.

I had defeated countless foes designed to be beyond the reach of ordinary climbers. Some fell easily, while others put up a grueling fight.

I wasn’t sure how this occasion would go.

If Ha Hee-Jeong was right, the fight would lean toward the latter—caution was warranted. It wasn’t that I lacked confidence in my abilities, but her warning wasn’t something I could afford to dismiss.

There were twenty machines, each one powerful enough to overwhelm my past self. Also, we still didn’t fully understand their capabilities.

I glanced at Ha Hee-Jeong. A shadow of worry lingered on her face.

Honestly, I am more excited than anxious.

I was curious about the ancient weapons that could transform an ordinary person into something that powerful. They had stirred my competitive spirit.

Moreover, there was the fact that they had defeated me in Ha Hee-Jeong’s previous life.

I was undeniably stronger now, yet the feeling was different somehow, as if they would still surpass me.

Nothing is certain. Maybe things will be easier than we fear.

This wouldn’t be the first time that a certain moment from Ha Hee-Jeong’s previous life had caused her to develop a kind of trauma.

“Well, we’ll know soon enough. Don’t worry too much,” I said with a crooked smile.

“Yeah, because you’re here.”

Whether my words comforted her or not, she smiled back. It was a beautiful smile, no longer weighed down by worry.