Chapter 426: Ninety-First Floor, The Maze of Saboden (2)

The Community of the Dead, during the events on the ninety-first floor.

[???????????]

[Tf is this shit??]

[Why’s Su-Hyeok solo rn??]

[Bruh wtf is going on?]

[????]

[Did something go down in the rest area?]

[No way... don’t tell me Kwon Su-Hyeok wiped everybody 😭]

[Kwon Su-Hyeok killed everyone?? Lmao that motherfucker crazy af. He tryna get himself deleted.]

[Dumbass 💀 You can’t even fight inside the rest area, do u not know?]

[Ngl the nintieth floor rest area coulda been different tho 🤔]

[Stop capping and explain why Su-Hyeok’s solo rn.]

[We don’t know either 💀]

[Lowkey could be like that friendly match on the fiftieth floor.]

[Nah, back then we all got to watch it tho.]

[Even so, could any of the climbers from the other species even fight him?]

[Idk? Maybe it wasn’t a match, maybe he found some hidden mission in the rest area.]

[Y’all are slow. 💀 The climbers didn’t die]

[Then wtf happened?]

[Idk, but if they actually died, they’d be here spilling the tea already. There were like six thousand people there, so no way it’d be quiet.]

[Oh trueee.]

[Damn. 200 IQ moment 🤯]

[Lmao, you guys are so braindead.]

[? You didn’t know either stfu.]

[Uh, yes, I did? I knew it all along 😌]

[Enough, someone figure out wtf is happening rn.]

[Figure out HOW?? We got no way to check lol.]

[Guys, wait. I am pretty sure this is because Su-Hyeok is a challenger.]

[So u mean it’s challenger-only after the ninetieth floor??]

[Yeah, exactly.]

[No way, then what happens to the other climbers?]

[Look bro, I died on the first floor and saw Su-Hyeok’s first floor. The ninety-first floor looks mad similar to his first and second floors.]

[Ok, but is that flex?? 💀]

[Stop nitpicking for no reason 🤦‍♂️]

[Wait nah he may be right. The other climbers didn’t die, and if Su-Hyeok’s the only one climbing, then what else could it be?]

[So the rest are just vibing in the rest area now?]

[Ya maybe.]

[Does that even matter tho??]

[Ofc it does! Imagine dying on the eighty-ninth floor, I’d be salty af 💀]

[Idiot. Nobody died on the eighty-eighth or eighty-ninth floor.]

[Then RIP the people who died on the eighty–seventh floor lmfaooo!!!!]

[Bro shut up 💀 You died early, got no body, and are stuck here forever. You’re the sad one.]

[Nahhh u made it to the eighty-seventh floor but now u sitting here while the others chill in the rest area. You are way more tragic 💀]

[You clowns stfu and just watch Su-Hyeok.]

[He’s just standing there thinking tho? Ain’t nothing to watch.]

[Open ur eyes idiot.]

[He is probably planning his next move.]

[Nah pipe down and lock in on Su-Hyeok you dumbasses.]

[For sure, our lives are literally riding on him rn.]

[He’s clearing everything anyway, no stress lol.]

[Ok, but I kinda get it.]

[Get what?]

[Light Su-Hyeok always overthinks before he moves.]

[Trueee.]

[Are you stupid? That’s WHY he got this far. Unlike y’all NPCs, Su-Hyeok don’t just move with his brain off.]

[Ok and what floor u get to then?]

[Higher than you, that’s for sure 😏]

[Ok lemme drop a pro tip for when Su-Hyeok just stands there thinking.]

[Spill 👀]

[Just imagine you are literally HIM, like you are Su-Hyeok.]

[? What do you mean?]

[Like, pretend you are in the trial and think like him, like how he’d clear it. Immersion goes CRAZY.]

[Lmfaooooo 💀]

[Deadass tho, try it.]

[Yo wait, Light Su-Hyeok’s moving!!!]

***

[Exterminate all enemies. Time remaining: 11 hours 52 minutes.]

As my right foot struck the ground, my tension wound itself to the extreme. The fine hairs along the back of my neck bristled, sensing the chill in the air. The attack was aimed at my head. I twisted my neck as I took a second step, and something cut clean through the recently vacated air.

The next attack sought my left shoulder blade. I tilted to the right and narrowly slipped past it. Once again, my right foot landed, and I felt it—I had landed on a trapped section. With only three strides, I had already covered nearly twenty meters, although an attack had launched each time.

Damn it.

This trap was different. Two attacks came flying simultaneously at me from multiple directions. One targeted the crown of my head while the other targeted my right thigh. This two-pronged assault left me no room to dodge if I tried to advance.

I pressed against my planted foot and stepped to the left. Though I had reacted a fraction of a second slower than before, it was still within a safe margin.

Each movement was measured in mere tenths of a second. The formless strikes formed a record of my path as they slashed diagonally through the air around me. There was no respite.

Because I had shifted sideways, another trap triggered. Once more, the assault came from two directions; this time, from the ceiling to my right and the wall to my left.

There was hardly any space to evade. I gathered strength in my supporting leg and hurled myself forward like a loosed arrow. In an instant, I shot forward ten meters.

I felt a chill run down my back.

What?

The chilling prickle spread across my skin. Instinctively, I kicked off the air with my shoes and rolled along the floor. Countless unseen attacks fired from every direction, continuously tracking my movements. Several came dangerously close to hitting me.

My back struck the ground. Before the strikes could reach me, I used my momentum to tuck into a roll and propel myself forward.

Two steps later, and I noticed that another attack hadn’t launched. Only then did it register that I had escaped the trap zone.

So that is the end. I think I traveled about fifty meters?

I had been too focused on evading the traps to notice that a forked path had appeared ahead of me. Relaxing slightly, I released Flash Strike.

“

Haha.

”

A laugh was out of place in such a tense moment, but it slipped free all the same.

When was the last time I rolled so desperately across the ground with my life in danger?

It reminded me of old times. Not the traps themselves, but the act of throwing myself to the ground in the middle of a desperate situation. Even back on the first floor, I had rolled across the dirt to avoid a trap. Though back then, an arrow had still grazed my leg.

Beyond that, the laugh carried another meaning.

Am I an idiot? I didn’t even consider stepping through the air.

Truth be told, I hadn’t considered doing anything except walking on the ground and dodging the activated traps.

Although honestly, that isn’t the full story.

Deep down, a part of me had expected the ground to be trapped, so I had wanted to see how well I could evade the upgraded traps in the room so reminiscent of the tutorial.

Traveling through the air did cause more issues.

In hindsight, sticking to the ground hadn’t been the wrong decision. The tower wasn’t foolish. If anything, my stubbornness made me the idiot in this situation, even if it had ended up correct.

The instant I had advanced ten meters without touching the ground, a chill had swept over me, and invisible attacks had rained in from every direction.

The defenses tracked my position and stopped continuous movements.

It reminded me of laser grids that guarded treasure vaults in films.

Unfortunately, I had failed to sense this one in time and had charged in blindly. Judging from how it had unleashed countless strikes in an instant, I couldn’t evade them and continue traveling through the air.

My thoughts turned heavier.

I thought the floor was trapped.

A more accurate description, however, was that it responded to my movements. I hadn’t heard a single mechanism in response to my steps, and it had attacked whenever I completed a movement, not when I hit a certain location.

Finished with my analysis of the corridor, I focused back on the fork in the road.

I reached a junction, yet there aren’t any enemies.

The path split left and right, signaling the true start of the maze. No matter which way I looked, my instincts stayed silent.

Fine. I will just take the right.

I didn’t have some grand reason behind the decision. I simply planned to keep to one wall and continue forward.

That is the traditional escape method.

It likely made no difference.

Since the method tended to be inefficient and would comb through much of the maze, it aligned with the trial’s command to annihilate every enemy. If the maze proved larger than expected, then I could adapt my plan. At least this plan was better than wandering aimlessly.

Regardless, I hadn’t seen any enemies, so I had to get going.

***

[Exterminate all enemies. Time remaining: 11 hours 11 minutes.]

The maze’s traps—no, the maze’s attacks—would constantly emerge without warning. Because I remained alert, avoiding them was manageable, but I couldn’t discern a consistent pattern. Nor were the strikes all the same.

At first, they weren’t more than two fingerwidths, but later, they were veritable sheets of spatial rends.

Thankfully, they have slowed down.

Even after twenty minutes of wandering, I hadn’t sensed a single enemy. That in itself felt odd. No matter how much of a maze this was, it defied reason. Because of that, I suspected that the maze could be the enemy I needed to eliminate. Since the attacks were coming from it, the thought struck me as feasible.

It didn’t work, though.

I had activated Divine Power and attacked a wall, but it had only left the faintest scratch. After that, I gave up and continued exploring.

Another twenty minutes passed—including another round of invisible attacks—before a peculiar space came into view. I had somehow chanced upon a vacant arena in the middle of the path.

Moreover, it contained an enemy.

Definitely built for combat, the arena looked like a smaller, simpler version of a boss chamber.

Hmm.

The creature fixed its gaze on me from the center of the clearing, and seeing it, I knew why this place existed. It was around five meters tall and looked grotesque. With a rounded, elongated head and a hideous tail, it resembled an alien that would burst forth from someone’s stomach.

From between its thin, razor-sharp teeth, thick yellow drool oozed incessantly.

Reminds me of the void monsters, too.

I stayed right outside the arena, studying it. One more step, and the battle would begin, along with the maze’s strikes. Before leaving the safe ground, I had to take in as much of the battlefield as possible.

Its tail looked like quite the deadly weapon, and I had dealt with such creatures before.

Well, its teeth, hands, and feet will be dangerous as well.

To top it off, it sported immense and veined muscles along its grotesquely bent thighs. It stood hunched over. Based on what I could see, it would be fast and agile. Though its arms were long and slender, they were covered in taut muscles and undoubtedly strong.

I shifted my gaze to the notification window.

[Experiment Subject No. 231]

- A clone of Saboden.

- The result of an unstable experiment. Inferior to Saboden, but undeniably strong.

- Exercise caution if approaching.

The monster bore no name. It was a test subject, described only as a copy of Saboden.

Considering that this was Saboden’s maze, there had to be some hidden story behind the creature. Perhaps Saboden had been a victim of unjust experimentation. I couldn’t allow that to become an obstacle while facing the test subject before me, however.

Just speculation.

It could have created its own clones.

Uncertainty aside, I had to heed the trial’s objective: exterminate every enemy.

I also had to keep the warning about approaching it in mind. It had to hold a hidden card. The aura radiating from it was anything but ordinary. I found it strange that a failed test subject had managed to reach the level of a weak apostle.

This feels like more than just an artificially strengthened enemy.

Time was still on my side, and I would surely uncover more information as I pressed on. This was the first enemy I faced upon stepping into the ninety-first floor, so I gripped my axe in excitement.

Of course, I stayed cautious. I focused on the flow of mana and divine energy while sharpening my tension.

Now, it was time for the battle.

I took one step forward. The moment I advanced, that familiar chill returned, and I sensed attacks coming at me from four directions. I tried to find a way to slip past, but the strikes were staggered one after another. They had to be dodged one by one.

I immediately twisted to avoid the first strike.

“

Kieeeek!

”

At that same instant, the monster stamped down. Keeping my senses at full capacity, I noted that the maze’s strikes didn’t target it. As I feared, I would have to contend with both the beast and the maze’s attacks together.

I took another evasive maneuver.

Once more, four assaults swept in from different directions. I dodged the first and fixed my eyes on the monster. For now, I would evade and observe, waiting for an opening to strike.

The other three attacks closed in from my left, right, and back. That was when it happened. The monster vanished. A heartbeat later, it materialized before me.

Teleportation?

Even as the thought surfaced, its sharp hand lunged straight for my heart.

Encircled by both the maze’s assaults and the monster’s strike, I didn’t have the space to escape. I would have to block its hand while simultaneously dodging the maze’s attacks.

Letting my instinct take over, I swung my axe.