Chapter 62: Fifteenth Floor, The Path to the Fortress (1)

“You all go ahead, I’m going to move separately.”

“Huh? Su-Hyeok, what do you mean?”

“They mentioned climbers will be awarded points based on the order in which their parties reach the fortress, but they didn’t specify that every member of the party has to move together.”

I had already thought of this explanation while discussing the plan with Ha Hee-Jeong in the waiting room. My smooth words seemed to catch the party members off guard.

“Oh, that’s right!”

“Gosh, oppa. Are you a genius or something? How did you figure that out so quickly?”

“Hmm, so you’re planning to rescue the refugees and stragglers, Su-Hyeok?”

“Yes, since we still don’t know how these side missions affect our party’s score, you all should head to the fortress as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, I’ll stay behind and rescue whomever I can to boost our score.”

Cole, the sharpest among us, looked at me puzzledly. Of course, I had anticipated that someone might raise objections to the plan.

“Still, won’t it be difficult for you to lead the group of refugees on your own?”

I delivered my prepared response, “No, I won’t be leading them personally. I’ll remain behind.”

Cole’s eyes widened, clearly understanding my reasoning. However, Seo Ho-Su and Seo Ha-Rin still wore confused expressions. They hadn’t quite grasped the full picture yet, so I added further clarification.

“The message only said, ‘If they are successfully rescued from the invaders and arrive safely at the fortress, the responsible party’s floor score will increase.’ It doesn’t necessarily mean I have to escort them there myself.”

“Oh! So all you have to do is rescue them?”

“Right! As long as they make it to the fortress, it should count. While we don’t know exactly how the tower scores a rescue, this plan should work.”

Seo Ha-Rin and Seo Ho-Su both let out exclamations of understanding.

I continued to elaborate, “Also, there could be other climbers in danger further back. I plan to rescue them as well.”

“Oh, of course. The climbers furthest from the fort will be more exposed to enemy attacks. It’s admirable that you plan to help them too.”

“Well then, hurry to the fortress. Remember, the parties will be ranked on a first-come, first-served basis. We need to move swiftly. I’ll catch up later.”

As I turned away, my party members nodded in agreement, still somewhat bewildered. I could hear someone say, “Huh? Just like that?” but I didn’t have time to linger on their reactions.

Every moment was crucial if I wanted to complete the hidden mission, though leaving the party so abruptly felt a bit cold-hearted.

I can’t exactly tell them Ha Hee-Jeong is a regressor.

Claiming I had created my plan based on her foresight ability would only unnecessarily complicate things as well. Given the circumstances, this explanation was far simpler and more believable. Besides, Ha Hee-Jeong was still with the party, so I knew she would guide them safely.

I started to walk away but Ha Hee-Jeong suddenly grabbed my wrist.

Huh?

I raised an eyebrow to silently ask what was wrong, and she gestured for me to follow her off to the side for a moment.

Realizing her intent, I followed her until we were about ten meters away from the others. She stopped and turned to me with a serious expression.

“You remember everything, right?”

“Yeah. Head in the opposite direction of the arrow, toward the crescent-shaped lake, although you haven’t told me what’s there yet.”

“It won’t matter if I tell you. I’m counting on you.”

“Don’t worry. You should head back now since it’ll look suspicious if you stay longer.”

Ha Hee-Jeong nodded, her expression still tense. Something about this seemed off. Normally, she would have given me a reassuring smile...

Is she feeling guilty sending me off on my own?

No, that didn’t seem likely. She wasn’t acting like her usual self at all. Her expression seemed resolute as if she had come to a difficult decision.

Ha Hee-Jeong saw me off with a few parting words.

“Be careful. I’ll wait for you after I escort the others to the fortress.”

“You could go ahead and rest, you know.”

“No, I’ve got something else to take care of later.”

“Something else?”

“It’s nothing important. Just hurry up and go.”

She was insistent, so I nodded and turned to leave. I stood there for a moment, watching Ha Hee-Jeong’s retreating figure as she walked briskly toward the group, before turning and running in the direction opposite the arrow.

Approximately three minutes passed uneventfully before the tower’s message updated.

[Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok completed the ‘Nature’s Balancer’ hidden mission on the thirteenth floor. As a result, he unlocked the shortcut, Horen Forest. Traveling through Horen Forest will allow him to avoid ambushes.]

[The direction of the arrow has changed. This message and the updated arrow are visible only to Kwon Su-Hyeok’s party.]

A hidden mission on the thirteenth floor?

I had probably cleared it by defeating the two bug queens with Ha Hee-Jeong. Hearing about a hidden mission from the thirteenth floor while we were on the fifteenth surprised me. Ha Hee-Jeong hadn’t mentioned anything about this.

She probably didn’t know about it, since it was a mission she didn’t complete in her previous life.

The tower’s floors were more interconnected than I had initially thought. Moving forward, I would need to approach each floor with an even keener eye.

Also, we are almost guaranteed first place if we take this shortcut.

Since the shortcut was only available to our party, we had gained a significant advantage. On top of that, the tower had summoned us to a location relatively close to the fortress, at least compared to other climbers.

Now, as long as I executed the plan properly, securing first place on the fifteenth floor would be all but certain.

Alright, back to focusing on my task.

Since the arrow’s direction had changed, I couldn’t rely on it anymore. If I wanted to reach my intended destination, I needed to reorient myself and memorize the new direction.

***

[Follow the arrow toward Fort Pogoren. Time remaining: 7 hours 32 minutes.]

After running away from the fort for about thirty minutes, I encountered traces of other climbers and stopped in my tracks. If nothing had been out of the ordinary, I would have simply ignored them and continued on my way.

That’s definitely the sound of battle.

Making sure to note the direction I had been heading, I adjusted my course and headed toward the noise. Soon, I spotted a group of six climbers and twenty refugees. They were locked in combat, facing more than seventy enemies.

The refugees closely resembled humans, with no visible difference given the darkness. The enemies, on the other hand, were reptilian creatures with black skin—lizardmen.

This situation looks dangerous if I leave it as is.

Things didn’t appear promising for the climbers’ side. Although there were twenty refugees, most of them were non-combatants. The six climbers were barely holding off the lizardmen. One mage among them stood out, desperately casting repeated explosive spells, but the other climbers lacked the skill to defend themselves effectively.

Even though the hidden mission was my top priority, I couldn’t just leave them to their fate. Besides, rescuing them would also boost my team’s score.

I moved swiftly into action, surging toward the lizardmen.

Time to finish this quickly.

I wreathed myself in lightning, the crackling bolts of energy illuminating the surrounding darkness. A brilliant streak of light shot across the plains as I charged ahead.

“Kyaaak!”

The lizardmen were the first to notice me, although the climbers and refugees didn’t take long to catch on. Wanting to end it rapidly, I activated Flash Strike.

In the blink of an eye, I closed in on a lizardman poised to strike a refugee with its mace. With a swift, horizontal swing, my axe tore through the lizardman’s abdomen, obliterating it.

The lightning coursing through my axe crackled violently before surging through the lizardman’s shattered torso.

“Aaahhh—!”

A harsh scream reverberated across the plains.

The lightning streaked outward from the corpse, traveling faster than the speed of sound and quickly outpacing the lizardman’s scream. It arced from one lizardman to another, ensnaring a dozen of them in its deadly grip.

As the first lizardman’s scream faded, the other lizardmen’s gurgling cries echoed like a grim symphony down the lightning’s path.

“Kuhhkk—!”

The electrocuted lizardmen collapsed simultaneously, like puppets whose strings had been severed. My sudden intervention left everyone frozen, too stunned to move. In the eerie silence that followed, murmurs of awe and disbelief filled the air.

“What... what just happened?”

“Unbelievable...”

I glanced around, taking in the stunned expressions of those around me as they gazed up at me in shock.

Then, someone called out, their voice tinged with recognition and excitement, “Su-Hyeok!”

It was Jimmy Hendrick. We had briefly exchanged greetings at the shelter on the tenth floor. The other climbers chimed in, the admiration in their voices unmistakable

“That’s Kwon Su-Hyeok?”

“Did you not see him on the fourteenth floor?”

“No, I was stationed in the rear. Wow, he’s incredible!”

For a brief moment, I found myself wondering what Jimmy Hendrick was doing here since he should have been with Alexei’s party. However, now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. The remaining lizardmen, who had been momentarily stunned, were starting to move again.

“We’ll catch up later.”

I spoke quickly before launching myself back into the fray. It was clear that the lizardmen had marked me as their primary target, as most of them charged toward me without hesitation.

That worked perfectly for me. The more they clustered together, the more efficiently I could use my lightning.

I infused my axe with an overwhelming electrical surge before bringing it down in a powerful vertical swing. The lizardman attempted to block my cleave with its sword but was no match for the force behind my strike. Its weapon shattered and the creature crumpled beneath the blow, my axe buried deep in its skull.

The lightning once again chained outward, causing untold chaos in the lizardmen’s ranks.

“Aaahhh—!”

The plains were illuminated by another flash of blinding light as the acrid stench of burning flesh filled the air, carried by the wind.

Of the fifty lizardmen who had stood before me, less than half remained.

Meanwhile, the other climbers picked up their weapons and rejoined the battle. I followed them, rushing forward and cutting through the remaining enemies. With each cleave of my axe, at least four lizardmen fell.

“Kuhhkk!”

I buried my axe deep into the shoulder of the last lizardman, and blood spurted from the gaping wound. I turned my head to avoid the spray, the pungent, metallic scent lingering briefly in the air as I sidestepped.

The fight was over. Flicking my wrist, I spun the axe to shake off any droplets of blood before turning back to face the climbers and refugees. They approached me as tears welled in their eyes.

“Su-Hyeok, we owe you our deepest gratitude. We will find a way to repay this debt.”

“Thank you, sir. Thank you so much! I am forever in your debt...”

“I suspected you were extraordinary after seeing posts about you in the Community, but you’re truly our savior! Thank you!”

“It’s nothing. Climbers have to look out for one another.”

“Su-Hyeok, thank you again. Are you heading straight to the fortress now?”

I responded modestly to their heartfelt thanks, though I noticed Jimmy Hendrick motioning to me with his eyes. It seemed he wanted to speak privately for a moment.

I excused myself politely from the climbers and refugees, then followed Jimmy a short distance away. After walking a few paces, Jimmy turned to me with a smile.

“Thanks to you, Mr. Su-Hyeok, I narrowly escaped death. I’m deeply grateful.”

Even if I hadn’t stepped in, I had a feeling that Jimmy would have found a way out of the situation.

I nodded slightly and replied, “It’s no big deal. We have to help each other survive. But by the way, what happened to your party? Why are you alone?”

Jimmy smiled awkwardly at my question. After a brief pause, he replied in a somewhat embarrassed tone.

“Well, seeing as you’re on your own too, I assume our situations are quite similar.”

“... I see.”

I nodded, feeling a bit awkward. It seemed that Alexei’s party had adopted a similar strategy. In hindsight, devising this strategy wasn’t particularly difficult. No doubt, other climbers had also realized the same thing. The real challenge, however, was whether they had the skills and confidence to put it into practice.

Having answered my question, Jimmy cautiously broached the next topic.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did your party decide to split up, Mr. Su-Hyeok?”

The sudden question caught me off guard for a moment.

Hmm... well.

After briefly considering my options, I saw no harm in sharing that information. It wasn’t like revealing it would cause any issues.

“We divided into two groups. The rest of my party is heading toward the fortress, while I’m moving on my own.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Jimmy smiled wryly.

Did I say something wrong?

“I see. Our party split into three groups.”

Three groups? Pairs of two?

That seemed quite risky.

Wait, that can’t be right.

Jimmy was here by himself, that couldn’t be the case.

“Isn’t that a bit dangerous? Judging by the fact that you’re alone, I assume you didn’t split into pairs?”

“No, we split into four-one-one. Originally, we had planned to divide into two groups of four and two, but Alexei was insistent...”

Jimmy trailed off, his face showing clear signs of discomfort. It seemed things hadn’t gone his way. He quickly shook his head as if to dismiss the issue, and continued.

“Let’s leave it at that. I’m sure you’re busy, and I’ve got things to do as well. Are you planning to keep on moving?”

“Yes, I’ll be heading out soon.”

“Mr. Su-Hyeok, if by chance you come across Alexei and she’s in danger, could you help her, just as you did for us? I swear I’ll repay the favor.”

Jimmy bowed slightly, his expression a mix of humility and earnestness.

Well, I had already planned on helping any climbers I encountered who were in danger. Considering Alexei was a top-tier climber, I would have helped her regardless of Jimmy’s request.

Though, given Alexei’s strength, I doubted she would find herself in too much trouble.

“Don’t worry about it. I already intended to assist any climbers in need.”

“As expected from you, Mr. Su-Hyeok. You’re truly remarkable.”

“But Alexei isn’t that weak. Why are you suddenly so worried about her?”

Hearing my question, Jimmy’s expression turned somber.

“I’ve got a pretty good intuition about these things... and this time, something feels off.”