Chapter 194: Summoning Circle of Greed (1)

“I’m going to keep climbing the Tower without slowing down.”

I told my family before entering Floor 18.

Naturally, none of them looked happy about it.

They had probably expected me to take my time with the Tower from now on.

“Didn’t you say you no longer had to go in every week?”

“Yes, that problem really has been taken care of. But...”

I briefly explained my reasons so they could understand.

To stand against the Tower, I needed to grow stronger as quickly as possible, and that meant finding and absorbing Divinity inside it.

“You don’t need to worry so much. I’m a god now, remember? Clearing the Tower shouldn’t put me in danger anymore.”

I wasn’t just saying that to reassure them. I genuinely believed it, at least to some extent.

I could wield Divinity now, and even the limit on my Time Stop Ability had been lifted.

My abilities had shot far past their old limits.

Unless a god far stronger than the War Demon God showed up, clearing Nightmare itself would no longer put me in danger.

The Tower had overexerted itself this badly just to send the War Demon God to kill me, so it probably wouldn’t be able to pull anything like that for a while... which was exactly why I needed to hurry.

I had to absorb more Divinity, fast, before it recovered enough strength to pull another stunt.

‘The real question is whether I can actually find any Divinity.’

My family seemed to accept my explanation, however reluctantly.

I felt bad for disappointing them, but I had no choice.

“All right, I’ll be back.”

I finished getting ready and said goodbye to my family in the living room.

[Would you like to enter Nightmare Difficulty Floor 18?]

Then I went straight into Floor 18.

I’d heard that Floor 18 was something like an escape room.

The objective was to find the keys in a maze-like space, unlock the exit, and escape before time ran out.

Naturally, all sorts of traps and monsters lay in wait along the way.

[You have entered Nightmare Difficulty Floor 18.]

I stopped time out of habit the moment I arrived.

The place looked straight out of science fiction, all pristine white metal and intricate machinery.

A huge door with panels that slid open to either side stood directly in front of me.

Small, square passages resembling ventilation ducts opened all around me. They ran in every direction, even through the ceiling and floor.

[10:00]

A timer hovered above what appeared to be the exit.

‘Ten minutes, huh.’

For comparison, the other difficulties had a one-hour time limit.

A hologram resembling a blueprint was projected beside the exit door.

It appeared to be a map of the interior.

The maze it showed was ridiculously complicated. It was more like some sprawling labyrinth.

It made the maze inside the Antlion boss on Floor 8 look like child’s play.

Key symbols were scattered throughout the maze. There were ten in all.

The exit door also had ten slots, each a different shape.

I was supposed to roam through the maze, find all ten keys, unlock the door, and escape.

And I had just ten measly minutes to do it.

By now, that hardly surprised me.

I let time resume.

Then I took another look at the map...

“Fucking hell.”

Nightmare always found a way to take its bullshit one step further.

The goddamn maze was rearranging itself in real time.

What was the point of the map, then? Why had the Tower even bothered giving me one?

I drew the Gatekeeper of Heaven’s Sword.

I tried striking the exit door with the Heavenly Aura Blade.

Of course, the door didn’t get so much as a scratch.

It had Indestructible Status.

I stared at the door.

‘So that’s how it works.’

I’d come across plenty of Indestructible Objects while clearing Nightmare.

Now I understood. The Tower’s Divinity resided within them, protecting them.

But...

‘...Couldn’t I break through if I put some power into it?’

The door held only a tiny speck of the Tower’s Divinity.

Without Divinity of my own, even that tiny amount would have been an insurmountable barrier, but things were different now.

I put away the Gatekeeper of Heaven’s Sword and drew the God-Slaying Sword instead.

I filled the God-Slaying Sword with my Divinity.

Then I thrust it at the exit door.

Grrrkk-

The blade began to sink into the door, which hadn’t taken a single scratch from the Heavenly Aura Blade.

‘It actually works.’

I cut a square out of the door with the God-Slaying Sword, then pushed the section out with my foot to make an opening.

The Tower must have prepared all kinds of traps and gimmicks. What a shame.

That was that. I didn’t even need the keys.

Clear it as intended?

Yeah, I’m not doing that~

I rested the God-Slaying Sword on my shoulder and stepped through the exit.

A spacious room lay beyond the door.

A huge machine shaped like a skull floated in its center. It looked like the boss.

Flash-

Crimson light flared in the skull machine’s eyes.

I stopped time.

I walked up to the skull, swung the God-Slaying Sword, and split it in half.

[You have successfully cleared Nightmare Difficulty Floor 18.]

The message appeared when I let time resume.

[Absorbing the Power of the Floor.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

.

.

.

[Your level has increased.]

[You are the first to successfully clear Nightmare Difficulty Floor 18.]

[Floor 18 Hidden Route has been unlocked.]

[Moving to the Reward Room.]

I was transported to the Reward Room.

Had that even taken a minute?

That had been even easier than I’d expected.

Even Indestructible Status couldn’t stop me anymore.

The Demon King sounded incredulous.

- Is this not cheating? How utterly absurd.

“So what if it is?”

How many times had the Tower screwed me over with its unfair bullshit?

It finally felt like I was getting some payback. Let’s see how you like being on the receiving end for once.

[Floor 18 has been cleared on all difficulties.]

[The Tower summons new people.]

[A new rule has been added.]

[The ‘Summoning Circle of Greed’ will begin in 24 hours.]

[When the time comes, the summoned boss monster’s level will be determined by the Climbers’ choices.]

[Time remaining: 23 hours 59 minutes 42 seconds]

An even-numbered floor had been cleared, so another new rule had appeared.

I checked the message.

But the Interval Floor Rules were nothing to worry about anymore. I had the Nullification Right.

Sure, I’d unexpectedly become a god, but hadn’t I gone through all that hell on Floor 17 to get the Rule Nullification Authority in the first place?

“Aren’t you generous~ You made me a god and gave me the Nullification Right, too.”

I sang the words mockingly for the Tower to hear.

[Would you like to nullify the ‘Summoning Circle of Greed’ rule?]

The message appeared as soon as I decided to nullify the Floor 18 rule.

I was just about to do it...

‘...Wait.’

Was there any need to use it right away?

It wasn’t as though I could only nullify a rule before it started.

I could wait for it to begin, find out exactly what it involved, and decide then.

‘The Tower has to spend its power on all this, after all.’

If it looked like the rule could run its course without causing any harm, I’d be better off letting it proceed and drain the Tower’s power.

Besides, the rules always came with rewards for the Climbers. That was another benefit.

‘Summoning Circle of Greed, huh.’

The boss monster’s level would depend on the Climbers’ choices?

Was the Tower planning to dangle another reward in front of everyone to tempt them into summoning some high-level boss?

Whatever. I’d see what it was about once it started.

[Skill: Tornado (Epic+)]

Summons and controls an extremely powerful tornado within a 50-meter radius. Requires 250 seconds of Mental Concentration to cast.

Classification: Magic Type

Willpower Cost: 100 per second

Cooldown: 10 minutes

[Item: Parufen’s Sorcery Gloves]

A failed creation of the evil sorcerer Parufen. Striking a target while wearing these gloves generates a shockwave. The shockwave’s power is random.

The rewards were one Epic+ Magic Type skill and an item.

I quickly learned the skill and stowed the item in Subspace.

[Difficulty: Nightmare]

[Floor: 19]

[Level: 225]

[Willpower: 26,450/26,450]

[Skills: Radiant Incarnation (Legendary+), Elemental Arrow Barrage (Epic+)(+4), Destruction Ray (Epic+)...]

[Nightmare]

Population: 1,573,605

Time Limit: 10 years 320 days 1 hour 8 minutes 36 seconds

Reached Floor: 19

[Would you like to exit the Tower?]

With my rewards sorted out, I left the Tower right away.

“I’m back.”

My family stared at me in bewilderment.

No wonder. I’d cleared the floor and returned in a matter of minutes.

I planned to check the Floor 18 rule before attempting the Hidden Route.

The Hidden Routes would be important from now on.

To find Divinity, I’d have to search them thoroughly for clues, since they revealed more of the worlds within the Tower.

I took my time with the things I needed to do while waiting for the rule to begin.

A day passed.

[Time remaining: 1 second]

[The ‘Summoning Circle of Greed’ begins.]

The Floor 18 rule began.

[A ‘Summoning Circle of Greed’ will appear at a random location.]

[All Climbers who have reached Floor 2 or higher are granted the right to claim the following reward.]

[Reward: Gain 2 Levels]

[Each Climber may choose to accept or refuse the reward.]

[If no choice is made within the allotted time, the reward will be accepted automatically.]

[Once all Climbers have made their choices, a boss monster will be summoned from the summoning circle.]

[The higher the percentage of Climbers who choose to accept the reward, the higher the boss monster’s level will be.]

[For every 1% of Climbers who accept, the boss’s level will increase by 10.]

[If the percentage is 0%, no boss monster will be summoned.]

[Current percentage: 0%]

[Would you like to accept the reward?]

[Time remaining to choose: 59 minutes 50 seconds]

I read through the rule’s description.

“Hmm...”

So that was how it worked.

The summoned boss’s level would rise by ten for every one percent of Climbers who chose the reward.

At the maximum of 100%, the boss would be Level 1,000.

A boss with a level that insane could actually be summoned.

“That’s ridiculous.”

I checked the Communication Channel and the news.

Apparently, the summoning circle had appeared in Australia.

A pillar of light and a magic circle had descended into the middle of a barren desert.

The scene was being broadcast on the news.

‘What should I do?’

I gave it a moment’s thought, then made up my mind.

There really wasn’t much to think about.

It seemed I could handle the rule without having to nullify it.

I was only a little over Level 200, and I couldn’t even imagine what a Level 1,000 boss would be like...

But it didn’t matter.

Levels didn’t mean much to me anymore anyway.

I could drain the Tower’s power and get the Climbers a nice two-level bonus. That was two birds with one stone.

Then all I had to do was take care of the boss.

And if I put on another overwhelming display while taking it down, people’s Faith in me would probably grow a little more.

Even if something unexpected did happen, I could simply use the Nullification Right then.

The Communication Channel was buzzing with debate over whether to accept the reward.

Given how often I’d warned everyone when previous rules were in effect, plenty of people were telling others not to take the reward.

Ironically enough, this time I wanted them to do the opposite.

[You have chosen to accept the reward.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

I promptly claimed the reward myself first.

Then I drew on my Divinity.

I was about to fire off a global announcement telling everyone else to grab their rewards too.

*

While the world was still buzzing over Person123’s proclamation, Nightmare Floor 18 was cleared.

[The ‘Summoning Circle of Greed’ has begun.]

Sure enough, the new rule took effect twenty-four hours after the floor was cleared.

The summoning circle had appeared in the middle of the Great Victoria Desert in southwestern Australia.

Breaking news reports went out, and the Communication Channel erupted.

[Belber: Nobody’s seriously dumb enough to accept this reward, right?]

[Bull Shark: We have to refuse, no exceptions. Even if just half of us, 50%, accept, we get a Level 500 boss]

[Painter: If everyone thinks “one person won’t make a difference” and accepts, we’re seriously fucked lol]

Every 1% meant another ten levels.

In other words, if every Climber accepted the reward, a boss would appear at Level 1,000, a level so absurd it seemed like a glitch.

Even a Stage 5 Fallen around Level 50 could easily lay waste to an entire city by going on a rampage. But Level 1,000?

A monster like that was beyond imagination. Would even nuclear weapons work against it?

And unlike during Proof of Qualification or the Great Invasion, there wasn’t even an Isolation Zone this time.

Summoning a boss that powerful could genuinely mean the end of the entire planet.

Even so, people weren’t too worried.

[Practitioner: Person123 will probably just nullify it anyway, right?]

[Heaven-Earth-Man: No need to worry. Obviously he’ll use the Nullification Right]

[Pirate: But if he’s using the Nullification Right, can’t we just take the reward?]

[Egg: Wouldn’t that obviously nullify the reward too]

[Giant Centipede: Just quit trying to be clever and refuse, everyone. Anyone who takes it is gonna face His divine judgment]

Everyone knew Person123 had the Rule Nullification Authority.

They all assumed he would nullify the rule.

But then...

【 I will deal with the boss 】

His voice rang out once again.

【 Everyone, accept the reward 】

?──────────?──────────?