002. Tower of Trials (2)
「Abilities, skills, and unique characteristics are initialized at the time of awakening.」
「The challenger’s abilities are the same as
at the beginning of awakening .」 「Stop initialization.」
I just looked.
however.
「Tutorial ordeal begins.」
A phrase that starts a bottomless ‘tutorial ordeal’.
From the moment I saw it, I felt the blood in my whole body cool down quickly.
‘What happened to this situation.’
Starting with the most basic questions.
‘Tower of Trials? Could it be that the second cataclysm came?’
Even the most plausible guesses about the current situation.
In an instant, all kinds of thoughts rushed through my head, adding to my confusion.
But even that was short-lived.
“I will give you a weapon.”
Tuk.
Suddenly, a message saying that weapons were to be provided appeared, and a longsword fell in front of my eyes.
It wasn’t like the wooden swords you see in player-only gyms, but really well-forged swords.
A real sword that could be as long as 80 cm even with the length of the blade alone.
“What the hell is this…?”
There’s no way he’d be intoxicated with just one can of beer and watching this kind of fantasy.
Even though it is weak, it is a body that is resistant to drunkenness because it has awakened as a player.
however.
‘It doesn’t make sense that I’m dreaming like this with that.’
I quickly rolled my eyeballs and looked around.
This space where I am now standing is not a park bench in the middle of winter, but a desert.
Can we call this a desert?
A place where things like cacti are lined up here and there on a sandy floor.
It may be a fine place at a quick glance, but not from the moment you see the wall beyond and the ceiling blocking the sky.
Although spacious, it was evident that it was artificially constructed.
If it’s a dungeon, you have to move through the gate, but there was no such precursor, so it’s just bizarre.
It was the moment when my head was about to become complicated.
“A sand golem appears.”
Ku-goo-goo…!
“crazy…!”
The sandy floor shook violently, and the sand in front of it gushed out.
Then the sand coalesced and turned into sandstone, taking the shape of a golem.
“…”
A gigantic golem of about 6m in size.
My face hardened when I saw the guy with red eyes dripping from his body.
And at the same time, the hologram message popped up again.
「Survive the sand golem」
「Remaining time – 9 minutes 59 seconds」
“Grrrrrrr…”
Tutorial ordeal and message to survive.
And other than that, all the phrases that came to mind.
All of that seemed to be connected at once when I encountered the sand golem.
If I had seen it this far, I couldn’t help but want to know.
“shit!”
I hurriedly picked up the longsword that had fallen on the ground and quickly ran away.
battle?
It’s such a huge weight class difference that there’s no way that could happen.
Even an adult man can’t help but die if he is brushed by the sand golem’s stone fist.
As a player with the lowest stats, I am no different.
that’s the reality
thud! thud! thud!
“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…!”
When I heard the roar of the sand golem behind me, I got goosebumps.
I wanted to run faster, but I couldn’t.
Puffy.
Every time you take a step into the sand, your feet get buried in the sand.
“Damn it!”
This sandy desert is what binds my feet.
On the other hand, a thump behind you comes faster than you run away.
Even if you run away from here, the end is a wall that touches the ceiling.
Even if the chase goes to the end, you will die, and if not, you will be caught and die.
A situation where there may not even be a way out.
At least, if the ‘remaining time’ flowing in a corner of the field of vision is hope, it would be hope… but
even that could not be seen from a very hopeful perspective.
「Remaining time – 9 minutes 11 seconds」
It is impossible to escape from the desert terrain for 9 more minutes with my physical strength.
I wish I had higher stats, but I’m the weakest among players.
‘I can’t even run away until the remaining time runs out…!’
The intention was obvious from the point of giving the sword and running away.
It means to run away pointlessly and die or to fight.
As I ran away, I caught a glimpse of a sand golem following me.
How do you beat that crazy thing?
However, if you run away, you will surely die, so there is nothing you can do about it.
There was no way the sword would work properly against the golem.
but.
‘Still, I’ll have to fight.’
If there was no answer even if he ran away, he had to at least find a way to survive here.
As I ran away, I followed the information I had memorized about the sand golem.
During the 7 years of challenging the Hunters, I have come to the point where I can proudly say that I know the theory better than the incumbent Hunters.
And the theories learned over the past 7 years can be applied in this situation as well.
Monsters like golems stop moving when the core stone is broken.
Even monsters like sand golems don’t even keep their cores inside their bodies.
The degree to which it is classified as an E-class monster based on superficial aspects.
In fact, that sand golem also had a bright red jewel embedded in its body.
But I don’t have the confidence to dig into that monster’s bosom.
Even if you hit it with this sword, it was obvious that the impact on the core stone would be enough to crack it.
No, I was afraid that even if I hit it with a knife, it would crack.
Even so.
‘I have no choice but to go…!’
When I sneakily measured the distance to the golem chasing me from behind, it seemed to be about 15m.
If so, can I dodge the attack by running into that golem?
no this is not
No matter how long you worry about it, you will end up narrowing your breath yourself.
‘I must avoid it unconditionally!’
Papabak!
As soon as I made up my mind, I turned around and jumped at the sand golem.
15m 12m 10m 7m 5m.
The closer we get, the clearer the difference between him and me.
The E-class monster with a huge weight class seemed to shrink his heart just by looking at it.
I gnashed my teeth and ran under the pressure that I felt like I was about to vomit.
A sand golem that has only faced goblins in the hunter test.
But you have to do it to survive.
Beneath that thought, I watched the sand golem’s movements with my eyes wide open.
Whoa…!
Heavy arms made of sandstone rush through the air.
If hit, I, the weakest player, will surely fall out with the least fatal injury.
But I jumped head-on, looking straight at the attack.
And the moment the huge arm reached right in front.
Chow ah-!
I narrowly avoided the punch by sliding through the gap under my outstretched arm.
Kwaaang!
Sand splashes in all directions, and belatedly, a roar is heard from behind.
However, thanks to this, there was a delay in the movements of the sand golem, which was sluggish due to its huge body.
The moment I realized that, I was running like crazy.
The body came to realize it before the head.
That the Sand Golem can live only by driving this sword into its heart.
Quickly getting up, I rushed at the sluggish Sand Golem.
Kkadeudeudeuk-!
The blade pierces as it touches the core of the golem’s heart.
Then it is.
The golem’s core couldn’t be broken at once with just this amount of power.
damn
The core stone of the sand golem was only slightly cracked…
Whoa!
“Gaaaaa-!”
In the meantime, the sand golem struck a follow-up.
Seeing that, I threw my body carelessly without even holding back the rebound of the sword.
Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!
and.
Whoa…!
The ensuing follow-up shot passed over my head with a gong sound.
Genius opportunity.
I immediately got up in a situation where I had no choice but to express it like that.
I ran forward without hesitation even though my skin was completely peeled from being washed on the sand.
Please break this time!
The moment when the sword hit the heart of the golem again with so much longing.
Damn it!
The system message
“Destroyed the core stone of the sand golem.” covered the view, and at the same time the sand golem’s eyes went blank.
The menacing eyes that were shining bright red disappeared, and the body formed of sand quickly collapsed.
Kurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrencing…!
「Remaining time – 7 minutes 8 seconds」
「Tutorial trial is over.」
After seeing that message, I collapsed with my sword thrown away.
“Heh heh heh heh…!”
My skin still hurts from being rubbed in the sand, as if it were burning, and my hands tremble.
His lungs seemed to be torn apart, and blood flowed from his sand-washed skin.
However, there is a feeling of exhilaration that seems to be boiling something that is felt in the corner of the chest.
The joy of victory that I hadn’t felt in 7 years.
It was only after I caught my breath that I properly understood what had happened.
“…Did you kill the sand golem? I?”
Even the goblin, an F-class monster all his life, couldn’t win properly.
To defeat the sand golem, an E-class monster, only when he was in danger of dying.
But soon after realizing the reality, I became depressed inside.
‘…But even that was barely won.’
If this were another E-class monster, I’d be dead in 3 minutes.
The Sand Golem’s movements were sluggish and its weaknesses were obvious.
If it wasn’t me and it was a stronger player, it would literally be a bit difficult tutorial opponent.
anyway though.
“Survived.”
That fact was certain.
It was time to rest for a while, relieved by the fact that he had survived like that.
“Congratulations. You have cleared the first floor of the Tower of Trials.”
“…?”
First of all, congratulations on overcoming the ordeal followed, followed by a banquet of messages.
「As a breakthrough reward, you will receive the privilege of ‘Unique Attribute Unlock’.」
「Acquired ‘1000 points’ as a breakthrough reward.」
「Acquired the skill ‘High Speed Regeneration (E+)’ as an additional breakthrough reward.」
「Additional breakthrough. You got ‘500 points’ as a reward.」
“…”
Then I remembered the message I saw when I first arrived in this desert.
‘Come to think of it…’
[Reward for breaking through the trials – Unlocking unique characteristics]
At that time, I was embarrassed and couldn’t see it properly, but there was definitely a reward.
and.
“A unique characteristic…”
That was the unique characteristic I had been longing for for 7 years.
Even as an additional reward, there were skills that I hadn’t been able to get all along.
Things that seemed like they would never happen happened.
‘Even after 7 years of training, I couldn’t even raise my stats…’
I was more dumbfounded than when I was embarrassed when I first entered the tower.
“You have unlocked the unique attribute.”
“The unique attribute ‘Necromancy (F)’ will be imprinted on the player.
”
He defeated the monster for the first time in his life and progressed to stagnant growth for 7 years.
I was filled with emotions that cannot be expressed in words, but it was only for a moment.
As if not giving him time to think, something unexpected happened.
「Go to the waiting room.」
Ugh!
Without any warning, a blue portal appeared behind the site where the sand golem collapsed.
Just looking at it, it looks like you are told to get on that and go to the ‘waiting room’.
That alone taught me a lot.
“Is this really a tutorial…?”
The dungeon ends there when you clear it, but it didn’t seem like the ‘Tower of Trials’.
Even if you want to deny reality, you can’t even do that at this point.
What you’ve just been through is a tutorial, literally just a prep course.
In other words, you have to go through another trial, and you don’t know how long it will last.
“…”
I was speechless because I was dumbfounded, but that didn’t last long either.
I took a deep breath and stood up from my seat.
‘Damn it hurts so bad.’
It was in a state of quite a lot of injuries, so that there were no uninjured places.
In order to avoid the sand golem’s fist, it seems that he rolled too much on the sandy floor.
Still, it was fortunate that I didn’t die, so I didn’t have any major complaints.
It was the moment when he was about to pass the place where the sand golem collapsed.
“…?”
Stopping there, I turned my head to the right.
…what is that?
“What is this really about?”
An overwhelming sight that made you forget for a moment the pain rising from your whole body.
A black mist was rising from where the sand golem had returned to the sand.
I hesitantly reached out my hand to the black smoke.
OK.
「Activate the unique attribute ‘Necromancy (F)」
「Absorb the spirit of the sand golem?」
「Y/N」
“…?”
Another message came to my mind that was different from the messages I had seen so far.
