Episode 233 Endless Dungeon (5)
“So you’re saying he went at least 10 floors.”
Judging by the elapsed time, that is correct. It’s not the maximum, but the minimum he reached that is 10 floors.
When Frederick first entered the Endless Dungeon, his achievement was 7 floors.
This is because, from the start, each floor forces you to use a specific characteristic that is extremely specialized.
For instance, if a floor appears where monsters with 100% fire resistance appear, you have to defeat them using ice.
To overcome this, versatile abilities are essential. Any shortcomings become fatal weaknesses.
He also knew the first score of Jeron Decay, a renowned British player who is friends with Frederick. 6 floors.
Considering his current reputation, one might wonder, “Surely Jeron couldn’t have only climbed that far?” But
having seen it with his own eyes, there is no room for doubt.
The reason Jeron grew into his current form is that he realized his own shortcomings during his first attempt at the Endless Dungeon.
After that, leading up to his second attempt at clearing the Endless Dungeon, Jeron frantically bought skill books.
His ambition was to create a build capable of handling every attribute, status ailment, and situation.
And when he finally tackled the Endless Dungeon for the second time, Jeron was able to climb many floors.
“I wonder if you got past the sections where both you and I went through trial and error a bit too easily. My stomach hurts from laughing so hard.”
Frederick burst into hearty laughter. It wasn’t that he was actually jealous. He was envious in a good way.
On the other hand, he felt proud that he had given the opportunity to someone who truly needed the Endless Dungeon and deserved it.
In fact, he had given several players the chance to enter the Endless Dungeon before. Sometimes it
was due to earnest requests, and other times he had granted the opportunity in exchange for a huge sum of money.
However, the end for players who were not desperate and could not objectively assess their own abilities and skills was predictable.
It was a story he hadn't told Sanghyeon because there was no need to convey it, but no one had succeeded in clearing it recently.
Before Sang-hyun took on the challenge, a total of ten players had attempted to clear the Endless Dungeon.
Of those, seven died and three failed. A success rate of zero. They hadn't even properly cleared the first floor.
Therefore, Sang-hyun's skill was undeniably impressive; even by the bare minimum estimate, he had likely already cleared the tenth floor.
It was simply a pity that he couldn't witness it firsthand.
It would have been a truly rare spectacle to see his repertoire of responses to the situations on each floor.
“Now that things have turned out this way, I hope you go as far as you can. If you get stronger than you are now, I think there will be a lot of really interesting things to come.”
Frederic smiled as he thought of Sang-hyun. He was the player who had received high praise from his picky cousin, Sophia.
A player with the qualifications and potential to soar anywhere in the world, provided he were given wings!
That was how Frederic evaluated Sang-hyun. However, there was one question.
“When we parted ways before, he clearly said he would take his time clearing the Endless Dungeon. Why did the wind suddenly blow?”
That was his only question.
Although he didn't show it outwardly, Sang-hyun had shown signs of rushing to conquer the Endless Dungeon ever since he made contact with him. The
usual composure he had felt from Sang-hyun was nowhere to be seen; instead, he exuded an atmosphere of pressure to proceed urgently.
If there was a reason he was being chased by something to challenge the Endless Dungeon, what on earth could it be?
Frederick wanted to know.
* * *
The concept of the monsters that greeted Sang-hyun starting from the 11th floor was small elites.
Up until the 10th floor, the appearance of large groups of monsters had been a nearly fixed repertoire. However,
from the 11th floor onwards, as if drawing a boundary, monsters appeared in small elite groups of three or fewer.
For one thing, resistance was a given for them.
Below the 10th floor, monsters without resistances appeared occasionally, which had allowed the clearing process to gain speed.
But now, even the smallest monsters came equipped with resistances—whether magical, physical, or elemental.
He could no longer kill them indiscriminately. To kill even the seemingly insignificant ones, he had to carefully consider a strategy that matched their resistances.
So, starting from the 11th floor, Sanghyun approached the battles with the mindset of perfectly relearning the skills and artifact usage methods he needed.
The reason was simple.
It was highly likely that the battles and the process here would serve as his "final practice." After all,
the moment he stepped outside the Endless Dungeon, he would have to prepare for a showdown with the Eye of Calamity contractor.
Thinking that this was his last chance, he had no choice but to focus even more on the fight.
"It's fun. Really."
Sanghyun muttered.
He wasn't saying it to deceive himself. He was saying it because he truly felt the happiness of this moment.
In his previous life, Sanghyun had dreamed of only one thing: to become a meaningful presence in this world.
However, no one had ever considered him meaningful, as he was just one of many run-of-the-mill Swordsman players.
Even up until the day of his regression, Sanghyeon was merely one of countless players.
But what about his current life?
It goes without saying that he is the object of high expectations from those around him.
Now, even the Constellations are watching over him. The Model Student acknowledges the value Sanghyeon possesses to the extent that he constantly expresses his gratitude.
That made him feel proud and happy.
Of course, the future he faces will certainly not be a flowery path.
Rather, it could be a raging fire of hell, or a painful thorny road wherever he goes.
Paradoxically, that is why he was happy.
Because it meant he was a being worthy of facing such hardships and trials head-on.
“If only I could successfully eliminate the Contractor…”
Then, he felt he could truly grow, looking only upward with a sense of relief. Because
there would be no need to worry about the future anymore!
Then, he would be able to immerse himself in his growth as a player to his heart's content.
“I guess I should use the Enlightenment option I’ve been saving up now. I’ve thought about it a lot, but this one seems like the perfect match.”
The Nameless Sword equipped by Sang-hyun features the ‘Enlightenment’ option.
[Enlightenment – You can select a skill and raise it to its maximum skill level.
However, it must be a skill that utilizes your main weapon, the ‘Sword.’ Otherwise, it will not be applied.]
It has been active for a long time, but it is an option he had been holding off on while deliberating which skill to invest in.
Skills are such that they transform into overpowered abilities just by reaching level 5. It is not called ‘skill farming’ for nothing.
However, using the Enlightenment option raises that skill's level to a whopping 20.
To give you an idea of the value of a level 20 skill, one could confidently assert that even Jeron Decay currently does not possess a level 20 skill.
This is because level 20 is a skill level that can only be reached after honing one's skills for over a decade.
That is precisely why players set the maximum level to 5 under the title of ‘skill farming.’
The journey from level 5 to 6 and 7 is so arduous and long that it takes at least half a year.
“Sword of Destruction. After all, a single blow to cut off the enemy's lifeline is what matters. It seems there are no other skills needed to reach level 20 besides this one.”
Sang-hyun’s final choice was ‘Sword of Destruction,’ a skill he had always used as his ultimate finishing move.
Before any lingering doubts or unnecessary regrets could cross his mind, Sang-hyun proceeded with his selection immediately.
He activated the Enlightenment option on the Nameless Sword and set Sword of Destruction as the linked skill.
[“Would you like to grant ‘Enlightenment’ to ‘Sword of Destruction’? Once Enlightenment is granted, it cannot be reversed.”]
Perhaps because it was such a crucial choice, the system seemed to ask back quite cautiously.
When Sang-hyun pressed Yes, the same message appeared again. It appeared to be designed to prevent him from pressing it impulsively.
He selected Yes again.
Immediately, a change occurred in the skill window, and the details related to the Sword of Destruction skill were swapped.
『Sword of Destruction』
■ Skill Level: Stage 20 (0.0%)
■ Skill Introduction: Utilizes 10% of your current HP to powerfully thrust at a designated target point.
Additionally, there is a 100% chance of dealing damage five times the maximum critical hit value.
If your current HP does not exceed 10% of your maximum HP, Sword of Destruction will not activate. There is no cooldown.
“That’s a sure one-shot kill. And the burden is much lighter than before.”
The cost of a skill that used to consume 20% HP has been reduced to 10%.
Furthermore, the expected damage has been drastically increased from 1x to 5x the maximum critical hit value.
The original Sword of Destruction already possessed destructive power that made its name seem fitting.
Now, with a multiplier of not just two or three, but five times applied, it has effectively become pure cheating.
And the cooldown has been completely removed. If the conditions permit, you can use Sword of Destruction repeatedly.
“My….”
Unbeknownst to himself, Sang-hyun found himself muttering a word he wondered if he should even dare mention.
He had acquired a skill powerful enough to transcend human limits and even the common sense of a player.
He looked forward to seeing how many monsters and players this would render helpless,
much like a wretched creature unable to move a muscle before a god.
“Let’s go. As far as we can go.”
Sang-hyun quickened his pace again.
It was only the 11th floor.
The number of floors yet to be climbed was overwhelmingly greater than the floors already ascended. The potential for growth remained wide open.
* * *
Unstoppable momentum.
Although there were crises both big and small, he repeated the process of overcoming them all in the end.
Sang-hyun was able to raise his level to a whopping 480. The floor count was 20.
Since he was 430 at the 10th floor, he had grown steadily in increments of 5 levels on average starting from the 11th floor.
Considering that the total amount of experience points required increases to the point of being absurd with every level up,
it was as if he had sucked up a far greater amount than the experience rewards from the floors below.
At some point, Sang-hyun forgot the passage of time and how his skill levels were rising.
He simply looked for a way to kill the monsters appearing before him, adapting to the situation at hand.
The process of finding a method was not one of stalling for time and immersing oneself in thought, but rather one of intuitive action.
This was because in actual combat, one cannot buy infinite time and fight exactly as one desires.
One second? No, the situation changes moment by moment and variables arise within a timeframe much shorter than that.
While there might be room for the subconscious to intervene, there is absolutely no time to weigh the pros and cons in the midst of it all.
Therefore, a battle structured by instinct—or so it seems, but which actually involves a great deal of judgment and intuition—was absolutely necessary.
Buoyed by his momentum, Sang-hyun intended to go all the way to the 21st floor.
However, there was one problem.
[The maximum floor allowed for the first entry is 20.]
