Chapter 429: Ninety-First Floor, The Maze of Saboden (5)

[Exterminate all enemies. Time remaining: 1 hour 3 minutes.]

“

Ugh.

”

I was exhausted, a sensation I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Not because the enemies themselves had been unbearably difficult, though. Even if killing them hadn’t been easy, the stress from the time pressure had weighed far more on me.

After heading right at the first fork, it had taken me roughly five hours to reach Saboden's Chamber.

Seven hours to return and head to the other side.

Accounting for my return trip—and any extra analysis I wanted to do—I had been left with a dangerously narrow margin for error. Worse still, the left-hand path had proved slightly longer than the right. That alone had consumed more of my limited time than expected.

I even found myself wondering if killing every monster before entering the boss room was the true hidden mission. Most climbers would have directly entered Saboden's Chamber after running low on time and reaching it for the first time.

Hmm, maybe not.

On second thought, most climbers wouldn’t even qualify to challenge this floor. Only Kalain and I had ever made it this far as a challenger.

Whether he had chosen to solo the tower or whether he had given up midway, I still didn’t know. Moreover, if he had given up, who knew at what point that had happened?

Either way, time was brutally tight.

The tower has grown merciless.

No wonder only two challengers had ever reached this floor in thousands of years. Kalain could have gone straight to Saboden without killing every monster, for all I knew. Still, that detail wasn’t important.

It wasn’t wrong to my predecessor—Kalain—in mind, but I didn’t need to be overly concerned with his actions either. I simply had to walk my own path. One way or another, the end of the ninety-first floor was finally in sight. Saboden, the greatest obstacle, was all that remained.

I adjusted my equipment one last time. I was pissed.

Fuck.

My expensive and valuable armor was scarred with semicircular gouges and punctures from the maze’s spatial rends. Due to the relentless pressure caused by the ticking time, the damage had only piled up.

To be fair, the left-hand side hadn’t been particularly difficult; it had merely been longer. The two paths were comparable in difficulty, although the first had felt more difficult due to a lack of information and my sense of urgency.

Just like I had repeated over and over, the true problem was time.

I had no choice but to push myself.

More than a dozen times, not only had the maze pierced my armor, but me. Thanks to my monstrous regeneration and healing spells, my wounds healed eventually, but I didn’t have a way to repair the armor mid-trial.

Even using its ability—to become more durable the more mana was infused into it—had proved useless against the maze’s strikes. At least it hadn’t fallen apart entirely.

Is this the first time it has been damaged this badly?

I couldn’t think of another instance. Even during my fight against Endless Furnace, my armor hadn’t suffered so much. Back then, it had only been dented.

Well, it could be repaired. Doing so at the rest area’s smithy would be cheapest, but even the waiting room now offered such services. That feature had been added after the system overhaul, allowing equipment too damaged to survive until the next rest area to be restored.

It costs both achievement points and time.

Neither posed a problem for me. Given this floor’s difficulty, the tower would surely grant me a long rest in the waiting room, and I had more than enough points to spare.

After all, I had earned the achievement points of every climber.

Fortunately, aside from the armor, the rest of my equipment remained intact. I had been careful to shield my head, hands, and feet as much as possible. If I lost the ability to fight monsters, plant my feet, or wield my weapon, it would be fatal. When forced to take a hit, my arms took the brunt of the damage, although if that wasn’t feasible, my legs were the next best option.

I decided it was time to stop thinking about what I had already completed. It was time to enter. As I approached the massive door, the notification window refreshed.

[Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has exterminated every test subject, commencing a hidden mission.]

[Do you wish to proceed to “The Chamber of Complete Saboden”?]

[Once you enter, you will not be able to leave.]

I frowned as I read the message. My suspicion had turned out to be correct.

So I did trigger a hidden mission.

The timing was far too tight for it to be anything else. Of course, killing every test subject had been the only way I could verify my suspicion.

The chamber’s name also changed, but what exactly is different?

I had killed about twenty monsters, but I didn’t know how much of their power Saboden had absorbed. Since I didn’t have a baseline for Saboden’s strength, I couldn’t know. Perhaps its abilities had diversified.

On the other hand, the warning about not being able to leave remained unchanged.

Did I miss something?

It was possible. I had done my best to look for clues, but clearing the opposite path under pressure meant I had moved too quickly. For all I knew, it could have had the solution to taking down Saboden.

I didn’t intend to retrace my steps at all, though; I only had an hour left. Saboden wielded spatial powers, so if he chose to flee the entire time, I could very well fail the trial.

My hypothesis isn’t guaranteed to be correct, either.

The same warning had appeared before. It could easily be a deception, a ploy to waste my time by suggesting I hadn’t uncovered something.

Even if I did miss something, it doesn’t change much.

Hidden elements in a floor only worked to make the trial easier—they weren’t a requirement. Risk was an inherent element of the Tower of Ordeal, but that didn’t mean I had to gamble constantly.

“I’m going in.”

The heavy door swung open with a crash. Darkness filled the other side, seemingly boundless and impenetrable. Nothing was visible. Extending my senses inside revealed nothing either. There were no walls or traces of Saboden.

Hmm. What awaits me once I step in?

The interior felt distinctly different from the maze.

Considering Saboden’s use of spatial powers, perhaps this battlefield was designed to complement his skills. His completeness had to be related to this as well. Usually, a floor’s battles remained on the same world, but the hidden mission seemed to have opened a door to a different dimension.

I stepped forward. Standing still would change nothing. Tense, I focused on detecting the maze’s strikes.

No chill ran down my spine.

Five steps.

Only then did the iron door slam shut behind me with a resounding thud. A strange sensation followed. The maze’s presence receded as the door severed this space from it.

So the door was a portal.

The pitch-black darkness resembled the void a climber entered during summoning. The only difference was the absence of weightlessness. In its place, I felt a heavy, oppressive pressure. The darkness stretched endlessly, weighty and grave.

I drew upon more mana and braced myself.

Is Saboden not here yet?

Since he could control space, he could be nearby even if I couldn’t sense him.

I raised my axe in preparation for battle and launched a small spark into the air ahead. The blue-gold bolt lit the darkness, but faltered and failed to illuminate past a certain point.

Tch.

Only then did I realize that something had erected a spatial barrier around me. This type of power was new to me, and since it was constructed from the concept of space, I found it difficult to grasp.

Until now, I had always fought based on what I could see or sense. In the future, I would have to account for space as well, unable to solely rely on my six senses.

I poured strength into my lightning, letting it spread outward. It clashed against the formless barrier. It wasn’t particularly sturdy.

Crack—!

The spatial wall shattered, and the blue-gold light flared, scattering the dark. My vision recovered in an instant.

A massive, grotesque form loomed in the distance. I quickly lifted my gaze.

Saboden.

He was about twenty-five meters tall. Even with the light, everything below his waist remained blurred, as if cloaked in mist, making it impossible to measure his full size. He definitely appeared similar to the monsters I had fought before.

Saboden was looking down at me, and for a moment, it felt like stepping into a horror film. Blue light flickered within his crimson eyes. From afar, Saboden swung his arm.

Simultaneously, an unseen strike came flying at me from my left, frighteningly close.

***

“Damn it!”

Kwon Su-Hyeok reacted swiftly, agilely dodging just in time by taking a large step back. An incorporeal strike pierced through the space where he had just been. Fixing his gaze on Saboden, he traced the attack he had just evaded. Unsurprisingly, it had originated from an empty spot of air.

Saboden had merely swung his arm, but the strike had still reached Kwon Su-Hyeok.

That is the same technique the monster I ran into earlier used.

Comparing the two, however, whether in terms of speed or power, the difference was undeniable.

Kwon Su-Hyeok braced himself, tensing his legs slightly so that he could move at a moment’s notice. However, Saboden didn’t stir again, as if that previous strike had been no more than a simple test.

Their eyes locked.

Saboden’s mouth split into a coarse grin. “Thank you. It’s been ages since I last regained my strength.”

The low, rough words reverberated through the darkness. After speaking, he let out a rasping chuckle that similarly echoed creepily. Kwon Su-Hyeok frowned at the eerie laughter and studied Saboden. From the waist down, his body was still hazy as if veiled in mist.

Measuring both Soulbound and Saboden, Kwon Su-Hyeok wondered.

Will my attacks even land?

On the outside, though, he asked, “What do you mean by that?”

“It means that, thanks to you, I can finally leave this accursed prison,” Saboden answered with another rasping laugh.

From those words, Kwon Su-Hyeok gleaned two things. One, if he lost, this monster would be unleashed beyond the confines of this labyrinth. Second, Kalain hadn’t faced the completed Saboden.

Saboden was reveling with such intensity and confidence that it didn’t appear like he had been in this situation before. Whether the trial itself had changed or whether Kalain had only ever dealt with a weakened Saboden, Kwon Su-Hyeok didn’t know.

Regardless, one thing was certain. Kwon Su-Hyeok was the first to confront the true Saboden.

Kwon Su-Hyeok’s eyes never left his opponent. “You think you’ll be able to beat me and walk free?”

Saboden clearly knew Kwon Su-Hyeok’s abilities, but the reverse couldn’t be said. Although the strange power stood out to Kwon Su-Hyeok. It felt oddly familiar yet wholly new.

It is a little raw compared to divinity, but stronger.

If divinity were to be considered refined, Saboden’s strength was closer to pure essence. It was warm and serene, but at the same time cold and savage. Searching his memory, Kwon Su-Hyeok realized it resembled the power the Forest of Seorden contained.

Is Saboden also tied to the primeval god?

It was a fitting question. Kwon Su-Hyeok had no way of knowing this, but Saboden had devoured an entire world after the Primordial God vanished. Though imprisoned for that crime, his power had not dissipated.

Meeting Kwon Su-Hyeok’s gaze, Saboden’s mouth split into an even more grotesque and elongated grin. “I, for one, believe I can. But it seems you don’t?”

“Of course not.”

Saboden chuckled again. “Then why don’t we put it to the test? Don’t move around as you did earlier. It’ll be a rare bit of amusement for me.”

As his opponent’s words echoed strangely, Kwon Su-Hyeok’s vision went dark. The space around him fragmented as Saboden overlaid another dimension atop it.

Kwon Su-Hyeok felt a flicker of confusion upon seeing such a strange phenomenon. The golden-blue lightning that had lit the darkness now wavered as if lost and staggering in the warped space. It continued to flicker on and off like a broken streetlamp. His vision swam with disorienting, almost cinematic effects.

Within that distorted sight, Saboden seemingly split into dozens of copies. Kwon Su-Hyeok tried to track his movements, but it was hardly effective. He only managed to catch a swelling something in the upper right of his field of view.

An instant and sudden flash later, a chill ran down his spine.

What!

Kwon Su-Hyeok hastily twisted to the side. However, faced with this attack for the first time, he was half a beat too late.

The edge of his left shoulder burst open.