The Return of the Iron-blood Sword Hound

Chapter 308: Abyss Tree (2)

The fairy spoke with an eerie tone.

[You’re the first one to arrive at the bottom floor]

And mechanical voices echoed in the ear consecutively.

-Ding!

[The rules of the Tower are applied]

[Vikir, a ‘Level 1 Warrior’, has been incorporated as part of the ‘Leveling System’]

[Status window ability unlocked]

Vikir nodded his head.

“That’s why I didn’t prevent the appearance of the Abyss Tree.”

Eventually, Vikir opened the status window.

Within this tower, one’s body is quantified and visualized with numbers called ‘stats.’

[Vikir]

-LV: 1 (%)

-Title: (None)

-Stats

↳Strength: 178

↳Agility: 203

↳Stamina: 207

↳?: (Locked)

↳?: (Locked)

↳?: (Locked)

The level of combat power was displayed like characters in TRPG board games popular in Venetior.

Vikir paid attention to the item called ‘Level’ among them.

‘They say you can’t fully exert real-world strength inside the Tower. The extent you can exert is about 1% per level… But once you level up close to 100, you can use real-world strength as it is.’

The important thing is that if you return to reality, the additional strength gained here is added as a bonus.

That is, if you reach level 10 here, you can exert about 10% of your real-world strength, and if you escape the Tower and return to reality, you become about 10% stronger than before entering the Tower.

Similarly, if you reach level 100 here and return to reality, a power-up of 100% is possible.

It means your combat power doubles.

‘It means forcibly breaking through the wall stopping me, is possible.’

Vikir recalled breaking through the 8th Style’s wall with Dolores’ buff a while ago.

If he could safely escape this place, he could create the 8th fang fully without Dolores’ buff.

‘First, I have to leave this room and go down to the lower floor. They mentioned something about being first.’

Vikir discovered a long and winding hole in the black floor leading downwards.

It looked like a bizarre slide.

Riding it down, a slightly wider room appeared.

Unlike the rooms on the upper floor, it wasn’t empty.

[Keek – Kyaahhh!]

Several angry monsters were swiftly wandering around the room.

Vikir immediately recognized their identity.

[Giant Rat ‘Norvegicus’]

Danger level: F

Size: 50cm

Discovery: Across the continent

-A rat grotesquely transformed by magic.

Adults have intelligence and size similar to small dogs, making them objects of disgust for children.

After removing the innards and roasting them well over a fire or boiling them in water, they surprisingly become edible.

A tutorial monster.

For ordinary students of the Academy, sudden changes in location and a body weakened by a hundredfold would make it difficult for them to properly respond to this monster’s attacks.

…But Vikir was not ordinary.

Even before being sucked into the tower, Vikir was a Swordmaster, so even if he was weakened by a hundredfold, he wouldn’t be taken down by something like a rat.

Thwack! Thwack!

Vikir reached out and swiftly snapped the necks of the rats rushing towards him, killing them all.

Then, he finally noticed that the ceiling above was slowly descending.

Creak… creak…

The ceiling was coming down very slowly.

But lingering in this place would eventually lead to being crushed to death by that ceiling.

“Anyway, I can’t stay in this room.”

It wasn’t just this floor; it seemed all the floors of the tower were like this.

There must be some device preventing people from staying comfortably inside out of fear.

You couldn’t feel safe at any moment or comfortable in any place.

It was a world where you had to run for your life. If you stayed still, you would quickly perish.

This tower was such a cruel world.

…Squish!

Just as Vikir snapped the last rat’s neck.

-Ding!

An alert tone rang in his ears again.

[“Level 1 Warrior” Vikir has successfully hunted the ‘F-Rank Monster Giant Rat Norvegicus,’ the first in the tutorial area!]

[A reward is given for the ‘Rare’ achievement!]

The grotesque fairy from before appeared again in front of Vikir.

Its body was covered in deep wrinkles, pulsating in an unpleasant rhythm, and it opened a hole that looked embarrassingly like a mouth.

[Oh? You’re the first one to pass through so quickly, right? Well done? A good student deserves a reward, don’t they?]

After finishing its sentence, the fairy opened the hole where its voice came from and started spitting out what looked like harmful substances at first glance.

…Splat! Splat! Squelch! Eeew-

Most of the disgusting substance that came out of the fairy’s mouth were blood and pieces of innards.

But among them, there were occasionally shiny strange beads mixed in.

Vikir bent down and cautiously picked them up with a serious expression.

Ordinary people might hesitate to touch them due to disgust, but Vikir didn’t hesitate at all.

Chiiing-

As soon as the substance touched his hand, it burned.

It was so acidic that intense pain was felt as soon as it touched the skin.

But Vikir gritted his teeth, rummaged through the substance, and picked out the beads inside.

“Thank goodness. I collected them before they melted.”

They were candies. If Vikir had hesitated due to the fairy’s terrifying appearance, the foulness of the substance, or even the intense toxicity that made his fingers burn, those candies would have just melted away.

Even…

“Hey, hand over what’s stuck between your teeth too. That’s also part of my reward.”

Vikir grabbed the disappearing fairy and forcibly opened its mouth, pulling out all the candies stuck between its sharp teeth.

[..You’re quite thorough, aren’t you?]

The fairy watched Vikir collecting even the scraps stuck in its teeth with a wrinkled tongue.

Eventually, the fairy disappeared as suddenly as it appeared, and Vikir checked the contents in his hand.

Bead-shaped candies. They were red, green, and blue.

– [Strange Candy] / Strength / Red

A candy that raises Strength stat by 1.

It tastes salty.

– Strength +1

– [Strange Candy] / Agility / Green

A candy that raises Agility stat by 1.

It tastes bitter.

– Agility +1

– [Strange Candy] / Stamina / Blue

A candy that raises Stamina stat by 1.

It tastes sour.

– Stamina +1

“…So this is the essence of stat candies. They look just as I’ve heard.”

As you clear the tower’s floors, you can obtain candies as rewards.

Consuming them allows you to increase your body’s capabilities.

Since it’s treated separately from combat power increase due to leveling, it’s good to gather as many as possible.

Naturally, the increased abilities due to candies also apply outside the tower, so depending on the case, it can lead to a significant increase in combat power.

Moreover, as you progress, these candies also function as currency, so it’s better to gather plenty of them.

“Perhaps this tower isn’t a trial but an opportunity.”

Although Amdusias created this tower to give trials to humans, it was a result of not deeply understanding the race of humans.

Some humans thrive on trials and hardships.

Humans are the only beings that turn adversity into opportunity.

Perhaps this place is a land of opportunity for those who were not born with talent or couldn’t gain an early advantage in the race of life.

Even Vikir, whose innate talent wasn’t particularly remarkable. He had come this far through constant effort and practical experience alone.

‘It was possible to endure those difficult times thanks to the Styx’s river blessing.’

But he couldn’t help but think, ‘It would have been better if I had innate talent.’

If there was something innate, wouldn’t he have reached an even higher level than now?

‘I’ll find out here.’

Vikir put the obtained candies into Andromalius’ barrier.

Since his available aura had decreased to 1/100 level, he could only use it for storage purposes.

But wasn’t this convenient? It was a great privilege not to have to carry around heavy equipment.

“…I’ve obtained three types of stat candies.”

Strength, Agility, and Stamina. They were the most basic core abilities within this tower.

But there were other types of stats as well.

Vikir checked the status window again.

[Vikir]

-LV: 1 (%)

-Title: ‘Rat Hunter’ (NEW)

-Stats

↳Strength: 178

↳Agility: 203

↳Stamina: 207

↳?: (Locked)

↳?: (Locked)

↳?: (Locked)

A new title had been acquired.

-Title: ‘Rat Hunter’

↳ Inflicts minor additional damage to rat-shaped monsters.

Taunt, Confuse, Blind, Bleed, Burn, Poison, and other status conditions last a bit longer.

A minor ability that can inflict additional damage when defeating a monster in the shape of a rat was granted.

However, what was important were the words ‘Locked’ displayed in the stat section other than Strength, Agility, and Stamina.

Other stats.

‘The “Big Three” stats that cannot be obtained in the tutorial area.’

‘The candies that unlock and raise those stats are needed first and foremost.’

They might be given as rewards upon completing tasks of slightly higher difficulty.

Vikir recalled his previous life.

“…Most of the heroes who thrived during the era of destruction were graduates of this Abyss Tower.”

Among the students trapped in the Abyss tower and engaged in a survival game, some became exceptionally strong.

They climbed to the ranks of great heroes with the levels and stats they obtained here.

Tudor, Bianca, Sancho, Dolores, and Camus were some examples.

Of course, that included the triplets as well.

And in this life, Vikir aimed for more than to just become one of those heroes”

“Camus not being able to enter the Abyss tower is a variable. However, she has already become strong enough to not need the Abyss tower.”

With the power of Demon Lord Sere and even obtaining Morg’s artifact ‘Specter’s Gaze,’ her potential already rivals her prime in her previous life.

She will likely become even stronger as time goes on, surpassing the level before regression.

Since she has become strong enough to not need to enter the Abyss tower, there is no need to hold onto regrets for long.

“However, since Camus destroyed the Abyss tower and saved everyone in my past life…

I must play that role in this life.”

Through her memoir and the reviews of many others, their strategies are etched in Vikir’s mind.

Now all that’s left is to keep pushing forward.