How to Survive as a Player Chapter 236

#236

[That’s right. The price is, hmm… . A cane would be good.]

A faint light appeared in Billwill’s eyes, which were hidden under the brim of his hat. Numan, who had been showing off her anger, had once again become arrogant and raised her chin as if nothing had happened.

And after a while, a blue window appeared in front of Numan’s eyes, completely blocking his vision.

[You have been given the opportunity to have the ‘right and right to confirm your final survival.’ All road players are requested to go to the guide. [Remaining time: 59 minutes and 53 seconds]

‘The Last Stand’ written in bright red letters. At this rate, it was clear that everyone would rush to find guides. Numan tilted her head, snorting at Billwill’s gaze, as if asking if it was okay. The bridge of her nose was still frowned in disapproval.

After waiting for a while, players started pouring out like swarms of ants from portals spread everywhere. Among them, there were those who belonged to the Choun Alliance, and there were also kings of small empires who did not belong to the alliance and were active individually.

Since we only had one hour at most, it was not unreasonable to gather together now.

kkieeeeek-

The sound of scraping metal could be heard through the clutter. Numan raised her eyebrows and looked up at her into space. The huge mirror that was flat on the floor tilted at an angle and looked down at everyone.

The surface of the mirror, which was transparent, began to reflect a certain shape with a strange shimmer. It started with someone’s sonorous voice.

[Hey, me! But look at that naughty wolf cub running ahead to survive! Is the Black Empire road very good? I don’t know why it’s so insignificant that it’s not even a mouse and is sitting on my head!]

All the road players looked up into space in surprise. There were several people climbing up the dark stairs.

[The king of the Protectorate Empire will speak loudly whenever you do something. If it were me, I would try my best to jump up at that time.]

[Ri Jeong, what did you just say?!]

[Theo, please stop and come up quickly.]

[No, Tyra. I, the Assassin Empire or the Shadow Empire, won’t turn on me while I’m working hard.]

Ten players moving quickly, hiding an ominous look, were reflected in the mirror. It was so dark that I couldn’t even see my features. The sound of crashing waves resonated in my ears, and the eerie sound of the wind made my shoulders tremble.

When Numan inferred the shape of the space that was tightly closed at the front and back, he guessed that it was inside a round tower. All there was was a spiral staircase rising high into the sky.

The world seen outside the occasional small window was also completely black. It was an extremely quiet place, except for the people who were climbing the stairs relying on flashstones.

But Numan soon realized that the silence was just an illusion. When I reached the top of the tower where I could see the brightly rising moon.

***

As soon as Sehyun regained consciousness, she put her head together with everyone for a moment to understand the situation. This was the lowest floor visible inside the tower. It was the starting point of the stairs and the bottom where water submerged.

The group was standing in the middle of the locked stairs, trying to figure out a solution.

“The fact that the goddess’s cognitive world is connected to the tower means that this place is inside the tower, right?”

“Even so, the attack conditions are ambiguous. Even if we attack this place, in my personal opinion, I don’t think that many floors can be conquered at once. Of course, even if everything is conquered, it will be a problem.”

“Besides, conquering the tower usually means killing the boss, right? If the way out of here is to kill the goddess, then our goal of persuading the goddess is in a completely different direction. In that case, we might not be able to get out of here.”

“Now that you think about it, we didn’t specifically ask the guides how we should proceed.”

After Li Jeong’s last words, everyone fell into silence. Of course, I thought that the guides would open the way when I persuaded the goddess or when I failed, but now I thought that might not be the case.

Sehyeon listened quietly to those words, and opened her mouth only belatedly as she looked at the water rising to her feet. The water was not transparent. It was black, as if it was covered in oil or polluted.

“If it is the embodiment of the goddess’s wishes and will, then all of this may have originated from her desire to conquer the tower.”

This huge tower is the ‘Tower of Test’ embodied by the goddess, and the water rising inside the tower could have been a reflection of herself becoming polluted. Otherwise, it may be a phenomenon that represents the ‘pressure’ she experiences to get her players to climb to her top.

“Whatever it is, for now, I think we have to climb to the top of the tower to understand the situation.”

“It is an embodied world created by a goddess that has been eroded by pollution… . “It could be so.”

After answering, Baek Do-hyeon raised his head and looked up at the dark sky. The only path ahead was the stairs leading upward. Although there were small windows on the walls of the tower, it was difficult to see anything in the dark.

“Tira, will the acquired skills be activated?”

“That fishman skill? Yes, it can be activated. But, you’re not going to use it now, are you?”

“Yes, we have to hold off on that until the end.”

“They called me out in the morning, but it was still worth stealing.”

The day after they spent the night together, Ruhak left something to Sehyeon.

‘Take the skill of a vassal who can handle water.’

The only retainers who could handle water here were Gwak Jeong-han and Aul. To be exact, Kwak Jeong-han’s <Faith> skill was more suited to water. What Se-hyeon did as soon as he heard that was to call Tyra in the morning and use the <Steal> skill to copy Kwak Jeong-han’s skill.

Of course it wasn’t easy. Tyra was only able to steal her skill after repeatedly failing to vomit blood that morning. And now, she was standing here with Kwak Jeong-han’s <Faith> skill.

“Can’t we go up first? “The water keeps rising.”

Everyone looked at their feet at Jaeyoung Lee’s words. Before I knew it, the black water was up to my feet. With someone clicking their tongue, movement towards the exit began.

Among them, Jaeyoung Lee was the first to move.

“Brother, your leg hurts, so get on my back.”

As soon as Lee Jae-young got down on all fours and shook himself off, a huge wolf monster that filled the width of the stairs appeared.

Se-hyeon became a monster and grabbed Lee Jae-young, who was lying flat on the floor, by the neck and climbed on his back. After confirming that he was holding his fur tightly, Lee Jae-young kicked down the stairs and quickly bounced up.

Baluk, who used <Teleportation>, followed, and Tyra spread her white wings and flew up.

Fan also used the booster he developed himself to step on the railing and climb up as if he were flying, and Ri Jeong also used the <Sneak Movement> skill to quickly launch his body as if he were teleporting. Baek Do-hyeon, Hume, and Ryoma also quickly jumped up the stairs using their own skills.

“Hey, me! But look at that naughty wolf cub running ahead to survive! Is the Black Empire road very good? “I don’t understand why it’s so insignificant that it’s not even a mouse and is sitting on your head!”

But only one. Only Theo of the Protection Empire was currently running up the stairs without any skills.

That’s probably why it’s so annoying. Either way, Se-hyeon checked the number of floors passing above Jae-young Lee.

’43rd floor.’

There were numbers engraved on the walls for each floor. Thanks to Jaeyoung Lee running with a flash artifact in his mouth, it wasn’t that difficult to check the numbers.

’59th floor.’

The numbers that passed by were remembered in my mind. Assuming that the tower had up to 100 floors, and looking at the rate at which the water filled, it would have taken approximately three to four days for the tower to be submerged.

It was shorter than the five days the guides had said, and in the worst case, it could have been shorter than the three or four days expected.

’76th floor.’

The sound of crashing waves gradually became closer.

’88th floor.’

The air started to change. Se-hyeon held Jae-young Lee’s fur tightly as she climbed the stairs as if leaping, and inhaled the smell of the sea that passed her nose. Jaeyoung Lee stopped when he reached the place where the number ‘100’ was engraved.

At the end of the spiral staircase was an open door. Beyond was a flat plain, like an empty plain, with a cold wind blowing.

However, it was dark everywhere and visibility was difficult. Only the salt that brushed the tip of my nose and the sound of waves crashing against the reef told me that this was the sea.

Sehyun got off Jaeyoung Lee’s body and slowly walked out to the rooftop beyond the door. And from that quiet, gloomy rooftop, I gazed beyond the vast darkness. The surface of the sea water waving faintly in the darkness evoked an eerie feeling.

All that was visible was the distant sea. And the tower where Sehyeon was standing stood as if it were rising in the middle of the vast ocean.

It was a dark and gloomy world where the distinction between heaven and earth was vague, and the horizon was not even visible.

“It’s easy enough for guides to not be able to find it.”

Suddenly, a calm voice came from behind Sehyeon. Where I turned my gaze, there was Tyra, who had just come up and was folding her wings. I saw the group appearing one by one behind Tyra.

“I expected it, but… “It’s a more desolate place.”

Fenn’s narrowed gaze reached various places through the darkness of the vast ocean. The sight beyond my vision, which I could not see an inch in front of, was strange. It wouldn’t be strange if something jumped out of his mouth right away.