Chapter 2: The Immortal Sphere

As usual, new challengers arrived on the first floor.

“Hello! My name is Toe—” greeted Toeing, but he was interrupted by the challengers.

.

“Shut up and give me a rope and the low-rank potion,” said a challenger.

The challengers demanded these items out of the blue. However, since people were usually rude to Toeing, he accepted the points and handed them items as a matter of course.

“I’m going to head off to the first floor,” demanded the challenger.

The first-floor boss’s room was in a cave. As soon as the two challengers entered the boss’s room, they pulled out their rope.

“Who…are…you?” asked the boss in his usual choppy voice.

The two challengers smirked at the boss’s appearance because he looked exactly like what they had heard about him.

“How come this bastard repeats the same line all the time? Is our artificial intelligence only at this level?” sneered the first challenger.

“That’s why he’s so dumb and weak,” said the other challenger.

“Did you start recording?” asked the first challenger.

“Yup, but we won’t be able to use the community until we reach the second floor. I bet we are the only ones to attack the boss this way,” replied the second.

“We are sure to collect some points, right?” asked the first with a proud look on his face.

The challengers in this tower were able to film their trip by exchanging the points at the store. Accumulating views on their clip could earn them points in return.

“I…am…God…” said the boss.

“You wish! Just shut up and come with us!” yelled the first challenger as they knocked down the boss and tied him up.

“What... are... you...doing?" asked the boss in pain.

“Watch out! Be extra careful with him, so he doesn’t die while we are dragging him. He is so weak that we can easily kill him on the way,” nagged the first challenger.

“I know! I’m well aware of that!” yelled the other one.

The boss was unable to fight back, having lost all his strength. Unable to resist, the boss was dragged by the challengers.

“Kuh-huh…?Where… are… you… taking… me…?” asked the boss in a frightened voice.

“Wow! Did you hear that? He just said a new line!” yelled the first challenger in amazement.

“That’s so cool! And why do you ask dude? You’re going to hell,” sneered the second.

To prevent him from dying, the two challengers gave the boss the lowest recovery potion before smacking his head.

“Why… are… you…doing…th—” asked the boss, but he was interrupted by the other challenger.

“Just shut up!”

Puck!

Before the boss could even finish his sentence, the challenger smacked the boss’s head and burst into laughter as they dragged him to the cliff.

“Listen up, everyone! Do you guys think this stage will be marked as cleared even if we push the boss off the cliff? We’ll give it a try!” said a challenger in excitement.

Soon after, the challengers pulled the rope and pushed the boss off the cliff.

“Uahhhh-”

While the fading scream of the boss echoed, the two just giggled and continued talking.

Kaaak-

Just then, they heard a creepy scream coming from the foot of the cliff. Although nothing could be seen because of the thick fog, they could tell that the screech was coming from the ice bird that was flying around near the cliff.

“No way! Is he being eaten by the ice bird?” asked the first challenger.

“We didn’t expect this at all, hahaha!” shouted the other one.

While they were giggling, the boss’s limp body was caught by the ice bird. While the recovery potion had helped him to some extent, he slowly approached the foot of the cliff.

As his vision was blurred, the boss saw a faint figure waving at him. It seemed as if it was inviting him over.

Kaaak-

The ice bird threw him into?the sea and flew to where the figure was standing.

Splash-

Kek Kek

The boss couldn’t breathe and he was about to freeze to death. He lost his energy rapidly because of the freezing water. Slowly, he was sinking, struggling in pain. The sea was not as deep as he thought. Soon, he turned toward a sound that tickled his ear.

Whoooong-

At that moment, he saw a dark, ominous sphere that would normally be invisible in such a deep sea without light. The sphere that emitted purple light seemed to be calling for him. His strength had already reached its limit, and he could drown at any second.

Whether out of instinct or exhaustion, the boss reached out his hand to grab the spherical object. Suddenly, the sphere started to melt and the purple energy from the sphere diffused into his hands.

He then lost all his strength, and finally met his death.

***

“Welcome! I’m Toeing, the manager of the waiting area on the first floor!” greeted Toeing who was hopping and fluttering his rabbit ears.

“Oh my gosh! He’s so cute!” said a woman as she hugged Toeing very tightly.

“Ouch!?It hurts,” said Toeing in pain, so the woman let him go.

“Do you five want to challenge the first floor together?” asked Toeing.

“Is there a limit to the number of people who can enter at a time?” asked the woman, bending her knees to reply to Toeing at his eye level.

“Nope!” replied Toeing.

“I see. Will I be able to see you on other floors?” asked the woman.

“Nope, you won’t see me there. I only stay on this floor, because I’m the manager of the waiting area on the first floor!” replied Toeing.

The woman and her companions looked disappointed at Toeing’s response. Others also thought that he was such a cutie.

“Hey Toeing, do you know if the challengers can decide to live here instead of trying to climb the tower?” asked a man who was standing at the back.

“Of course! This space is for all the challengers to rest before they start climbing the tower!” replied Toeing.

“Aha, I see,” said the man.

“You don’t want to climb the tower?” asked another person in the group.

“I will. I just wanted to ask,” replied the man.

Only Park Hye-Won and Ji Eun-Ju knew each other, and the other three were new to each other. They all introduced themselves and became close very quickly because they were of a similar age.

“Okay, let’s climb the tower now,” said one person.

“Sounds good! Lead us in, Toeing!” replied another one.

“Sure thing!” said Toeing. As soon as Toeing waved, they arrived at a cave located in the polar region.

“Wow, this is amazing!” said one person.

“Eun-Ju, didn’t you say that you’ll be a magus?” asked another.

“Well, I thought it would be better to have a weapon as well…” explained Eun-Ju in a quiet voice with a small dagger in her hand.

“It would have been enough to use basic hitting skills,” countered the man, Baek Hyun, as he thought that it was a waste of points to purchase one.

Eun-Ju, who felt very awkward, scratched her head and replied, “It wasn’t that expensive anyway. Let’s get going!”

The ordinary monsters on the first floor were easy to deal with. The first skill given to the challengers was called Mana Attack, and it used magic to increase the power of the fist. This skill was sufficient to kill these ordinary monsters.

“Wow, there are quite a lot of ordinary monsters because we’re going as a group of five people,” said Kang Ji-Hoon.

“Of course, that’s how we don’t lose out on the XP earned. Don’t you play games?” teased Hye-Won as she was making fun of Kang Ji-Hoon.

“Good for you. Mind your own business,” replied Ji-Hoon.

“Well, I’m already done with everything I needed to do!” laughed Hye-Won.

Standing before the boss’s room, they didn’t seem nervous at all, not even a tiny bit.

“Let’s go in already,” said Kim Kang-Chun as he opened the door.

Then they tilted their heads in confusion because what they saw inside was completely different from what they had expected. Strangely enough, the research materials were neatly organized and the boss spoke in an unbroken, yet, soft voice.

“Who are you?” asked the boss.

“We are challengers!” said the group.

“What brings you to my lab? Are you guys here to kill me?” laughed the boss.

Something was wrong, because he seemed very relaxed. It was completely different from the information they got. His vibe was also very different from what they were expecting.

“You’re bluffing. We know you’re weak,” said Hye-Won, who didn’t want to appear weak in front of the boss.

“A weakling...? Sure, I’m a weakling,” said the boss.

The boss called himself a weakling, but his attitude was definitely not that of a weakling. None of the five people dared to step up, because the boss was much different from the sloppy one they had heard of before. All five of them knew instinctively that they should not act recklessly.

‘This is nothing like what I’ve heard!’?thought Kang Ji-Hoon as he tried to relax by clenching and unclenching his fist again and again.

‘How can this be the boss on the first floor? Is he really the weakest one in the tower? Is he really the boss who’s easier to attack than the Goblins?’

Kang-Chun was confused by what he was seeing. This boss was clearly not as weak as he had assumed.

‘I need to stay calm. The boss may look strong but be weak in reality,’?thought Kang-Chun. However, this was just his way of comforting himself. He knew something was definitely wrong, because they were seeing something totally different from the information they got.

“Damn it! I’ll go first!” Ji-Hoon took the lead and ran toward the boss.

Kang-Chun and Baek Hyun followed after. Ji Eun-Ju and Park Hye-Won stayed behind and prepared a backup plan.

The intrigued boss shot out a Dark Arrow from his fingertips. The arrow’s direction was terrifyingly accurate. If Ji-Hoon avoided it, the incoming attack would break Baek Hyun and Kang-Chun’s formation.

‘No way! This is a coincidence. I’ll just use Mana Attack and duck,”?thought Ji-Hoon.

The Dark Arrow of the first-floor boss was known for its insignificant power and speed. It was the unrivaled number one in the trash magic of all necromancers. However, when Ji-Hoon saw the clear curve the arrow made, he could not shake off this ominous feeling.

Woooosh-

The arrow approached him at such high speed that he didn’t have the time to duck. Kang Ji-Hoon was thrown helplessly against the wall.

“Ji-Hoon!” yelled Kang-Chun, who had a terrified look on his face.

“Watch out, Kang-Chun!” cried out Baek Hyun, but he was too late.

Kang-Chun tried to turn away quickly, but the Dark Arrow was too fast. It had already pierced his body.

Kang-Chun gasped, unable to breathe.?He felt as if a boxing champion had just delivered him a body hook. He felt dizzy and was on the verge of passing out.

‘What the hell is going on…?’

Kang-Chun couldn’t believe that the difficulty level of the first floor had suddenly increased. None of this information was available on Earth.

While Kang-Chun was lost in his thoughts, Eun-Ju and Hae-Won fell to their knees in fear, and Baek Hyun was thrown to the other side of the wall by another Dark Arrow. It was interesting that no one was thrown into the area where the various research materials and reagents were.

‘Fxxk… Are we dying on the first floor?’?thought Kang-Chun.

The boss laughed at this group of challengers who were lying on the floor. He said, “Go back. You’re still too weak to break through the first floor.”

“Are you not going to kill us?” asked Eun-Ju, surprised.

“Well, let me know if you want to die,” replied the boss.

“Oh, n-no! I want to go back!” stuttered Eun-Ju, shaking her hands in a hurry.

“Okay, hurry up and go,” said the boss.

At the boss’s hand signal, the women cautiously approached the men to help them get out of the room. There was a portal that took them back to the waiting area at the entrance of the cave.

“Come back when you get stronger,” said the boss, smiling as they left.

***

[The Immortal Sphere]

This is a marble that contains a speck of the forgotten gods.

# We don’t forget.

The necromancer opened his eyes in the cave as usual. There was a message in front of his eyes and he had a throbbing headache.

“My… memories…” said the necromancer.

- This is the 100th floor.

[...will be our minion.]

[What a stupid decision.]

[Do you think this is the end? I will make you pay for going against the gods.]

[Live in despair for the rest of your life and realize how simple-minded you are.]

[Be suppressed by humans forever, live feeling helpless without remembering anything.]

[Get tortured to death mercilessly by your old colleagues, friends, and family, forever.]

Keugh–

One by one, his memories came back to mind, and blood began to flow around his mouth. His tightly bitten lips were torn and his jaw muscles were swollen and were about to burst.

“Who… are… you? Who… am… I? I… am… God…” said the necromancer whose mind was divided. He repeated the same lines over and over again just like a robot.

Keukkkkk-

He was punched.

Kul-luk

He was stabbed by a knife.

Keugh–

He was trampled.

Uahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-

He was thrown off the cliff.

Brrr-

His whole body trembled in spite of his will. It wasn’t always good to remember. He had been killed by humans dozens, hundreds, and thousands of times. He could not forget this pain. Among them were his old colleagues, friends and even family.

Blech-

He had not eaten anything, but the stomach acid and saliva dripped down his lip. He felt dizzy and was on the verge of fainting. Numerous deaths lingered in his head.

That’s right. The one who had challenged God, returned to the time when the tower was first created and became the boss of the first floor of the tower. If that was the case, then how much time had passed?

[Your understanding of death has increased significantly.]

[You have acquired the title: He Who Knows Death.]

Suddenly, there was a system message saying that he had acquired a title.

“He… who knows death…?” He repeated.

Was it because he had experienced so many deaths? He was distracted. Although the system was telling him something through the message, he didn’t have the time to look at it carefully. That didn’t matter.

“The Immortal Sphere…” He mumbled.

He wondered what the ‘speck of the forgotten gods’ was.

Why did he have this all of the sudden? When he had been bound and thrown off the cliff, he had found the dark sphere in the cold, dark sea. Was this really a coincidence? He didn’t know anything yet.

# We don’t forget.

“Hmmm… We don’t forget what…?” He asked.

Although it was a simple sentence, the effect was beyond one’s imagination. This became a skill that surpassed the curse of the gods and the system of the tower that belonged to him.

Eventually, he regained his memory from his previous life by finding this Immortal Sphere. And that’s thanks to the two challengers who threw him off the cliff.

“Is this a blessing in disguise…?” he asked.

The results were good, but that didn’t erase the malice they harbored toward him.

‘I will have to pay back for what I’ve suffered. If I climbed the tower, I would run into them someday. I will think about it then. That’s not what’s important right now.’

Crunch-

He gnashed my teeth in range. He was more furious toward the ones standing at the top of the tower, not just the humans beneath.

‘Wait for it, I’ll climb the tower again. And I will pull you down from there and make you suffer just like I did.’

1. The raws used the word “?? (PyunLin)” which refers to a single piece of a fish scale. It represents a very small portion of the whole.