#17
Tower of Tests. It is the living life and infinite and eternal material of this planet, which is based on the World Tree.
Even when playing Elix as a game, the size of the World Tree was hard to guess. There were countless stories about it growing in the core of the planet, but no one could guess its size or height. Tens of millions, no. Seeing that hundreds of millions of people were creating an empire and challenging the tower, but there were always empty spots to conquer, I even had the absurd thought that it might be as big as a country on Earth.
Yes, this single path that everyone walked was not the same. The players guessed that this single road was made up of groups. We arrived at the theory that the same single path right next to it surrounds the tower in a stretched form, and that hypothesis was accepted as very credible.
Each empire has its own path, occupied and used. The tower had an unimaginable scale, enough to serve the entire empire.
“It’s really different when you see it in person. Right, bro?”
“I know. “Stay close to your brother, okay?”
“Stay next to me, brother.”
Jaeyoung Lee grinned with his characteristic mischievous expression. Sehyeon looked at that smile and walked towards the entrance of the tower. I didn’t know how long I had gone when three men started running behind me, panting, and the entrance to the tower appeared.
The impressive entrance, with its huge iron gate and protruding gears next to it, was the gate of the tower that I had seen so many times through the game screen.
Sehyeon turned towards the men who were running out of breath.
“Can you tell me what each of your abilities are? Please note that this is a weak auxiliary system with only one attack skill. “There are no recovery skills and no buff skills.”
“Uh, uh… Me, I have the power to use ‘strengthening’ to break things like rocks… .”
“Yes, the next one.”
“… Turn your fingernails into vines for just a moment… “You can hold your opponent’s ankles.”
“I can pull out hair and use it as a spear. Yes, but… If I let it go, no one else can use it… .”
As I watched them speak without confidence, I felt regretful that I should have just woken them all up yesterday and taken them to training camp. Sehyeon sighed loudly and took out the bow I made and the crossbow Jeha Yoon made from her inventory. And he gave Lee Jae-young a crossbow.
“I’m only going to say this once, so listen carefully. First of all, our goal today is not to clear, but to collect magic stones. About 10 is enough. therefore… That means you have to kill 10 of them. They said that group 2 cleared the first floor yesterday. Of course, we can go to the second floor, but we can’t do it. So we’re going to the first floor today. “Does anyone have any objections?”
Of course not.
The men were looking at Se-hyeon so earnestly that they were desperate. It was as if he was telling me to just let him live, since everything was as good as he said.
“There are no objections, so let’s go to the first floor. Now we will decide the position. Since my child and I are weak assistants, we will shoot arrows from behind. When it comes to close combat, I’m different from them; I’m defeated in one hit. My stamina is 9. “Is anyone dissatisfied?”
This time, unlike the first time, everyone looked quite dissatisfied, but they only looked at each other and no one came forward to raise an objection. Sehyun continued speaking.
“At the back, we will shoot arrows. The person with the spear has a wide range, so take the lead. The person with the vine and the strong person will stand right behind you and follow you. The best thing is for the person with the vines to scan the monster and tie its legs, while the person with the spear attacks from the front and the person with the strength attacks from behind at the same time. “You understand, right?”
“Well, how do we… .”
“No, wait… “I don’t think this is right.”
“Now, can’t you guys walk ahead? “The bow has a wide radius, so you can shoot as soon as you see it.”
“Oh yeah? Then let’s each survive. If I saw them from behind, I tried to shoot them with arrows first, but they made a fuss and said that only they would survive, and tsk. “It won’t work.”
Sehyeon immediately turned his back without any hesitation. He immediately attacked me, saying that he would find out later and that he would be with me. Once each person’s position was decided, Sehyeon turned the gear wheel next to the huge iron door. The number plate that had written ‘2’ on the black iron door went down to ‘1’ with a squeak.
After checking the lowered number, Sehyun fixed the gear wheel and gently placed her hand on the round bead stuck in the center of the door.
Sigh-
A horrifying sound filled my ears, and the iron door began to slowly open its mouth. A cold energy seeped out like fog from between the cracks in the door. It was an energy that sent shivers down my spine. I feel like I’m on the verge of death.
This is what it felt like.
Sehyeon smiled bitterly and stretched out his feet toward the dark place. The three men followed behind him, trembling. Lee Jae-young, holding the crossbow, looked like he had nothing to be afraid of. Given the situation, even he looked anxious.
“What are you doing, take the lead?”
At most it is the first floor. It was a place worth exploring if you were alert and alert. Se-hyeon completely forgot Baek Do-hyeon’s words for a moment. What is that ‘fear’?
It was about 20 minutes after entering the tower’s dungeon that Sehyeon faced that fear. The dungeon of the tower I entered after clearing the smoke was a large, deep cave resembling an ant cave. Even though there was no light, the inside was bright, and the fog that had covered the entrance did not seem to disappear at some point.
However, the unimaginably large size of the cave and the view of the dark soaring sky gave me the creeps. No matter where I went, the ceiling was just black and didn’t get lower or brighter.
It felt like I was at the bottom of a cliff. It was a point where you could tell without much thought that this was the habitat of a flying monster. It was also the worst monster that was difficult to deal with.
“What I heard from Group 2… It seems like a different place… .”
“They said Group 2 had a low ceiling, but this one is high. “Is it somewhere else?”
“Yes, it is different. There is a high possibility that it is a flying monster. And each time you enter the tower dungeon, the terrain and types of monsters change randomly. “It becomes a completely different place than before.”
“Rain, the flying type?!”
“How do you deal with that!”
This was when the men walking ahead started screaming and looked towards Sehyun. A voice that rang like an echo began to resonate here and there through the rocks of the cave, and a strange, ear-piercing sound was heard from far above my head.
Kyaaaaaak-
It was a creepy sound, like fingernails scraping down a blackboard. All members, including Sehyeon, stiffened at the monster’s threatening cries. The men, who had become meditative, soon opened their eyes to reveal the whites and began to look in all directions.
Wow-
The animal’s loud howl was heard once again. My legs were shaking as the sound got closer than before. Giving strength to her knees that seemed to be about to buckle, Se-hyeon pulled Jae-young Lee close and focused on her five senses.
No one could exhale. He couldn’t even swallow his saliva, and he just held his breath and struggled like a person with a knife pointed at his throat.
Eventually, with a thud, two giant bat-shaped monsters appeared. The ground cracked open, and light dust swirled before my eyes. The strange blood-red eyes seen through the dust bleached everyone’s minds to pure white.
The moment I faced reality, what took over my entire body was primal fear.
Every time the monster’s red eyes rolled around, a terrifying feeling of death flowed through my bones. He was so overwhelmed that his hands and feet were shaking, his thoughts stopped and he could not think of anything.
All that came to mind was a desperate instinct to live that sent shivers down my spine. Fear infection. Everyone lost their judgment out of fear to the point where they couldn’t even move their fingertips.
Now I understand Baek Do-hyun’s words that killing is not a problem. The only way to survive here was to overcome this fear.
Keekeeeeek-
Spreading its huge wings, the bat-shaped monster opened its mouth and let out a roar. The next thing that sounded after the eardrum-shattering roar were the screams of men with pale complexions.
“Aaaah!!”
“Ahhh!”
“Ahhhh! evil!!”
The men, who lost their senses and screamed, fell on their butts, stamped their feet, and began to retreat. To criticize his poor appearance, Sehyun was only standing right now.
Rattling-
The fingertips holding the bow were shaking, and my whole body was motionless. The effects of the fear infection paralyzed her and cut off her motivation. I had to escape somehow, but I couldn’t lift my arms. If only I could fire at least one arrow.
It was at that time that Lee Jae-young’s appearance was caught in the confusion.
“Jae, Jaeyoung… ?”
Lee Jae-young, who had been next to him just a moment ago, was running at the monster alone, holding a crossbow. Sehyeon’s eyes dilated horribly.
Lee Jae-young, who charged at high speed, held the crossbow to his chest and pulled the trigger towards the monster in front of him. The arrow being fired slowly passed through Sehyeon’s field of vision.
The arrow, which spread out with a gust of wind, hit the monster right between the eyes. The monster let out a terrible and grotesque scream, grabbed the arrow, and began to flail backwards and struggle.
Jaeyoung Lee didn’t stop there, he immediately raised his crossbow again and aimed it at the second monster. However, the monster’s deadly claws flew in ahead of him, targeting Lee Jae-young. That image, that panoramic view, unfolded slowly, as if in slow motion, in Sehyeon’s vision.
