Chapter 4: Crisis

"They're here! They're here!" someone from the group shouted.

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

For a week, the five eagerly waited for the challengers to arrive. This time, fifteen streaks of light came down from the sky, and numerous people appeared in the waiting area.

"Welcome! My name is Toeing, and I'm the manager of the waiting area on the first floor!" Toeing greeted.

The new challengers stared at Toeing with amazement. The women loved Toeing because he was so cute.

"Hello!" They greeted him in response.

"They are the challengers who arrived before you." Toeing introduced them, and the twenty people got close really fast.

Their unity came easily because they shared a common goal. The five challengers who had come earlier taught the newbies a lot of things, since they had experience.

"Nah, you're lying, aren't you?"

"How can the first-floor boss be so strong? We've heard everything!"

"I'm telling you it's real. We thought the boss would be weak too, and that got us into trouble!" Baek Hyun shouted in frustration.

"You guys need to believe us! It’s a waste of my breath to explain it to you, so just go and check it out yourself," said another from the group of five.

Seeing was believing. The five didn't say anything else and instead allowed the new group to challenge the first-floor boss on their own first. The newbies headed straight in, since it looked like there wasn’t anything else special in the waiting area.

And soon after, a few streaks of light fell onto the waiting area on the first floor again.

"Fuck!"

That was the first thing they said as they returned.

***

[You have defeated the challenger.]

[You have defeated the challenger.]

[You have defeated...]

[...]

Thud.

"Ha..."

Lee Shin lay on the floor, breathing heavily, after defeating the twenty challengers that had come in unexpectedly. It was the first fight since the first five challengers had stormed into the boss' room a week ago.

Over the past week, Lee Shin easily collected quite a lot of Mana Points, thanks to the group of five challengers who entered and exited the room to kill the ordinary monsters. Even if they didn’t come into the boss' room itself, leaving it midway meant that the boss won.

"It could have been a little hard for them if they hadn't prepared for this in advance," Lee Shin said.

He had been expecting new challengers to arrive in his room soon, and he had been right. It was still difficult for him to use magic other than [Dark Arrow] and [Magic Missile] because of his sealed status. However, these two skills were enough to deal with challengers whose power was similar to that of average citizens.

The problem was his mana power, but thanks to the challengers who didn’t know that the boss’ mana power increased every time they failed the challenge, Lee Shin was able to collect quite a lot of Mana Points.

“Wow, I’ve already earned over 1,000 Mana Points?” Lee Shin was surprised.

His points would have risen faster if there had been no time limit to rematches for the first floor. It was disappointing for Lee Shin that there was a limit set for the challengers.

However, everything was going smoothly so far.

“The real problem was…” Lee Shin said.

The biggest problem was having twenty challengers. When the challengers entered the tower for the first time, 1,000 points were given to each of them. Normally, no one liked to use their points on the first floor, because the first floor was almost like a tutorial stage.

‘But things were different now,’

Lee Shin thought.

If there were twenty people, each with 1,000 points, there would be 20,000 points in total. If they gave 20,000 points to one person, they could easily buy an item that could potentially defeat him.

“[Low-Rank Mana Blocking Shield], [Low-Rank Agility Leap], [The Slaughter’s Sword]...” Lee Shin muttered.

There were dozens of items that came to his mind right away. These were sufficient to pose a threat to him. The disposable items targeted at conquering the first floor were the most dangerous, because they were very effective in achieving goals in a short period of time.

Yet, Lee Shin did not think that the challengers would cooperate at the expense of their points for just one person. Humans were naturally selfish, and it would not be easy to give up what they owned for others who did not have their trust.

Besides, they had a backup plan. They assumed that new challengers would continue to come in, and that the challengers would be able to defeat the boss someday with the help of others. Therefore, Lee Shin’s goal was to adjust his skill level properly so that he would not betray their faith. He had to make sure that the challengers did not realize that they had fallen into a trap for the longest time possible.

Nevertheless, he did not know what variables might come up. In this tower, unpredictable situations occurred all the time. He had to be prepared.

While the challengers were focused on defeating the boss monster that just got tougher to kill, Lee Shin was aware that his life and the future all depended on this fight. He had no time to relax.

It was necessary to raise one’s mana level in order to raise its class. However, there was also another way, which was to raise one’s intelligence stats.

Lee Shin activated his mana and used techniques that he had created in his past life. With this skill, it allowed him to eliminate the low-purity mana as much as possible, extracting only the high-purity mana and converting them into magic power. This skill required a very precise control of mana power. This skill broke down the mana that was in the air, blocking it before it got absorbed into the body, and created a filter.

Drip. Drip.

Sweat trickled down his cheeks. There was a war going on inside his body, but no one could tell from his appearance.

[Your intelligence has increased by 1 point.]

Lee Shin smiled contentedly as he saw the system message. An increase in the intelligence point was like a trophy obtained after a fierce war.

“Ha… ha…”?

Lee Shin was out of breath and dripping with sweat after that brief mana manipulation.

Passive challengers had no chance in this tower. Individuals had to work constantly to get stronger. It required significant mana power to control the purity of the accumulated mana when using the technique. He could not take a break while his mana power was getting restored.

“Oh god,” Lee Shin rose from his seat. His thin limbs stood out from his creaking body.

Even if one could use mana, it was hard to survive this cruel tower if one was inactive, weak and clumsy.

“Whoa!” With a loud shout, Lee Shin started running along the border of the boss room.

***

[You have defeated the challenger.]

[You have defeated the challenger.]

[You have defeated…]

[...]

[Gene Ebrium]

# Occupation: Necromancer

# Status: Sealed - Unlock Level 1 (Details*)

# Title: Details*

# Health Point (HP): 830/1020

# Mana Point (MP): 2080/5140

# Strength (STR): 10(+17)

# Agility (AGI): 10(+17)

# Intelligence (INT): 25(+27)

# Skills: Details*

[Your Mana Power is now Level 1.]

[A portion of your body’s seal is lifted.]

# Unlock Level 2: Mana Level 2

[Seal - Unlock Level 1]

# Default Stats +15

A month had passed.

As expected, the challengers did not give all their points to one person just to buy an item that could potentially kill him. They bought their own items and came back countless times trying to defeat him. The result was the same.

It became obvious that his mana class rose as his mana level rose. His mana blood recovered, and the veins that carried it became stronger as the seal on his body was lifting.

Shwoop-

Mana began to agglomerate on his fingertips.

Whoosh-

With a mana burst, a sphere of fire flared up on his hand. Finally, he could use elemental mana.

“Finally, I can take it easy now.” Lee Shin said confidently.

He knew that it was time for the next group of challengers to come in, as it had been a while since the number of challengers had increased.

‘They will come anytime soon.’?

Lee Shin thought.

***

[A challenger has appeared.]

[A challenger has...]

[A challenger...]

The sudden influx of system messages made it hard for him to keep count.

“Is it already time to greet them?” Lee Shin was surprised, because it was not easy for him to predict how much time had passed when he was in the boss’ room. He assumed that a week had already passed since the last challenge, seeing the increase in the number of challengers.

‘What kind of strategy will they use this time?’

Lee Shin wondered. As he counted, he realized that fifty challengers had arrived this time.

Thump thump.

His heart began to beat faster.

‘What’s going on?’

Lee Shin had this strange feeling that he hasn’t felt in a long time.

Was he pressured by the large number of challengers? This strange feeling had set his nerves on edge. After his seal got partially lifted and his mana class rose, he was not afraid of the fifty challengers. But what was this strange feeling?

He couldn’t put his finger to it. The challengers had not even entered the boss’ room yet. However, it felt like his sense of death was coming back to life. It was that same sense of crisis that he felt when he was on the brink of death.

“No way…” Lee Shin muttered.

# You can see through death.

There was no other way to explain how he got this strange feeling besides that ability he gained from being the [One Who Knows Death]. He couldn’t see anything yet. However, his intuition was telling him that it would be a dangerous match this time.

‘They are coming.’

Lee Shin could hear the voices of a crowd of people outside.

The ground vibrated as the fifty challengers walked to the boss’ room. This vibration was gradually tightening Lee Shin’s breath. What could that be?

Now that his mana class had risen, the first-floor challengers could not pose any risk to him. While he was deep in thought, the challengers entered Lee Shin’s room.

“Is he the boss?”

“Wow, it was true.”

“I didn’t believe it…”

The new challengers gulped as they felt Lee Shin’s aura. Compared to before, his aura had changed significantly and was savage to the point that they thought they could really die this time.

‘What’s with him this time?’

‘What’s wrong with him all of a sudden? Did he notice something?’

‘Damn it, I can’t move.’

Those who had previously seen Lee Shin noticed the huge change and stood frozen to the spot.

“Focus, everyone! We’re going just as we have planned!” Kim Kang-Chun shouted.

At his cry, the others finally came back to their senses. Clenching their teeth, they began to move into formation as planned.

“We must defeat the boss this time. Don’t let your guard dow—” Kim Kang-Chun could not finish his sentence. The room had descended into chaos.

“Keuhhh-”

“Ahhh-”

“W-what is it? Why is he making a preemptive attack all of the sudden…?”

So far, the boss had only responded to the challengers’ attacks and never launched a preemptive strike. However, the boss made his moves first as soon as they faced him.

‘Damn it… Something has really changed.’?

Kim Kang-Chun clenched his teeth and stepped forward with his shield to counter the situation.

“Move up, defense team! Get as close to the boss as you can! Necromancers only use basic skills! Even if you get hit, you won’t die. So, don’t be afraid and move forward!” Kang-Chun shouted.

It was impossible to avoid the boss’ magic in the first place. So they just had to get as close to him as possible with their shields in hand.

The challengers might not survive the [Dark Arrow], but they could still withstand the [Magic Missile] since they had been building up their stamina and strength. The challengers gradually narrowed their distance from Lee Shin, just like a group of zombies.

Lee Shin was still pretty calm. Although he did not have to use second-tier magic during this battle, his body was signaling a crisis.

‘What is it that they prepared?’?

Lee Shin could not see anything that could potentially defeat him. It was clear that they were saving a move for the perfect time, but he could not figure out what that was. The attacks that the challengers could perform at this stage were very limited.

“Die!” a challenger cried out.

At that moment, the challengers came quite close to where Lee Shin was standing. They tried to maintain an effective attacking distance.

‘If you’re hiding your secret weapon, I will make you reveal it.’?

Lee Shin started playing with the mana that emanated from his fingertips.

“What’s going on?”

“Is that fire?”

“R-run!”

The challengers were flustered when they saw flames coming out from the boss’ hand.

“Stay close!” Kim Kang-Chun shouted.

Boom!?

A sudden explosion occurred in the center of the room. The sound was so loud that everyone stopped moving for a moment.

The flames from Lee Shin’s fingertips suddenly disappeared into smoke, as if it had never happened. His face stiffened instantly.

‘Anti-Mana Bomb…’

The mana that always supported Lee Shin’s body did not move, as if it had been frozen. At the same time, he saw the challengers gnash their teeth and approach him once more.