Chapter 181 Tutorial 34th floor

< Tutorial 34th floor >

As I stood on the portal headed to the 34th floor, a message appeared.

[Before you enter the stage, select your party members]

[Current party members (1/1)]

-Lee Hojae

It was the same theme from the 31st stage, but the number of participants kept on changing.

The 31st floor was a solo stage.

The 32nd floor was meant to be done with a group of 5 and 33rd floor with 10.

But the 34th floor stage was a solo stage.

The theme didnt change, but it raised the difficulty by expanding the number of participants.

And once at the 34th floor stage, it returned back to a solo stage.

Based on Kiri Kiris prediction that Ill be up against the Demon King on the 34th floor, the 34th is the one that

actually needs more party members.

If there was one that made it past the 33rd floor by becoming more of a supporter, that person wouldnt be able to

make it through the 34th floor.

Ruthless construction as always.

Before I entered the stage, I organized my thoughts.

As I finished my preparations and was about to get up from my seat, I heard a strange voice.

[urghUrgh]

The fuck is this? Do you wanna go back into the inventory?

It wasnt a surprise since it was common for this crazy holy sword to start convulsing randomly.

[Its not me! Hero, its not me making the sound.]

Sure, sure. Im sure. Do you still practice female voices?

[Of course! Since you, the hero, like it!]

It would be better if it was an actual females voice, but I dont want to hear a man masking a feminine voice.

[Anyway, its not me making the voice! Its Seregia!]

After the holy swords words, I examined Seregia who was bound to the soul sword.

[Ah, AhUm]

The voice came again.

I was sure.

Just as the holy sword said, the voice was Seregias.

I didnt realize it was her voice, because it sounded tired and listless, unlike Seregias typically strong and clear

voice.

I thought it was the holy sword mimicking a female ghost.

Seregia?

I called Seregia, but no answer came.

After keeping an eye on the soul sword for a little while, I became nervous.

Aubu. Do you think we need to some urgent care or something?

[What urgent care? Are you gonna do CPR on the handle? Its because shes trying to say something, but it isnt

working out. Let

As per the holy swords words, I put the soul sword on the ground and waited.

Seregias voice came through a few words every minute.

It was practically senseless mumbling, but as time went on the voice became clearer.

[Ah..UhH, Hero. Hero]

Seregia finally succeeded in saying proper words after mumbling on for some time.

Yeah. Seregia. Im here. Take your time.

[Wish. I have a wish.]

Seregia finally spoke her wish after being silent for days.

I tensed up in case her wish was to become human again or to leave the sword.

If so, I would need to ask Kiri Kiri about the means to do so.

It would be at a large expense, but I was willing to do so if it was what Seregia wanted.

I dont know how much of a help Seregia synchronizing completely to the sword was, but I wanted to continue

having conversations with Seregia.

[Hero]

Yeah. Speak your wish without worry.

[Snacks.]

Huh?

[I want to eat snacks.]

I was speechless.

Seregia went silent after declaring she wanted to eat snacks.

The holy sword explained.

[There seems to be a human conscience appearing from the process of becoming one with the sword. The

obsessions of the previous life or something like that seems to have brought forth a desire for snacks that she used to

like.]

Normally, wouldnt family or aspirations come up first?

Or at least playing basketball.

Snacks, straight out of the blue.

Maybe I need to set up a ceremonial table for her with snacks.

[Welcome to the 34th floor.]

[The 34th floors challenge begins.]

Explanation: You have entered the demon realm ?? ???. The ?? ??? has been known for producing strong Demon

King through a special tradition of placing all demons in this area into once space every hundred years, and only the

victor may challenge the Demon King.

The current Demon King of ?? ??? region has been ruling for four hundred years and is evaluated as the strongest in

the ?? ??? region

By making it through the main round, you have proved that you are the strongest challenger from the ?? ???

preliminary area.

Now prove that you are the strongest challenger by battling the challengers that have made it past the main round

and head toward the challenge round where the Demon King awaits.

Lastly, prove that you are the strongest demon in the ?? ??? region by defeating the ruler of ?? ??? region.

[Clear Criteria]

Pass the ??? ?? Final Stage

The area I was summoned to was a wide-open space.

The space carried over the theme from the 31st floor: an underground space filled with red and black colorways.

If I had to specify one interesting thing, unlike the 32, 33rd floors, there was just one demon in sight and.

Hey, Newbie. How are you doing?

His attitude was relaxed.

The demon greeting me was laying on his side and had a cigarette in his mouth.

His posture was full of openings, but I didnt want to exploit those openings.

The demon seemed to have no intention of fighting me.

I felt no fighting spirit or apprehension.

This is quite unexpected.

What.

The stages before this point were packed with intense competition. So, I didnt expect a sight peaceful as this.

It wasnt just the demon in front of me.

They couldnt be seen, but there were demons lying lethargically all around this large space.

Even though I spread my mana and detected them, they didnt react in any way.

It was strange considering the demons here have made it up here killing countless other demons.

Its possible.

I waited for the demon to continue.

But instead, the demon quietly continued to smoke.

From what Ive heard, you dont need to collect anymore tokens.

Thats right.

Then what do you do here? Just go ahead and challenge the Demon King?

The demon pretended not to hear me.

Only after he was done with his cigarette did he scratch his head and began to explain.

Well since I took on the guide role, Ill explain the basics. Theres no need to collect tokens here. The moment

you wish to challenge the Demon King, a summoning circle will appear. Thats it.

Then, what do you do here?

I repeated my question from before.

Thankfully, this time I was able to get an answer.

Its for the demons to challenge each other and assess their strength. Also, its for demons to gather their strength

before challenging the Demon King.

It doesnt look it.

Yeah well.

I waited for a while, but the demon didnt say anything after the yeah well.

So, I had to ask again.

Why are you so carefree?

It wasnt like this from the beginning. The demons here tried everything to improve before challenging the Demon

King. They measured their strength by dueling each other. And we chose who the strongest demon amongst us was.

And the demon chosen through that went on to challenge the Demon King.

And?

And what else? The challenging demons all died to the Demon King. Like I said, the challenging demons were the

strongest ones here.

Thats why they gave up.

It meant they gave up instead of trying to improve.

The demons stronger than him all challenged the Demon King, but all of them died.

Even if they duel the each other here and cultivate their strength its obvious that theyll end up dying, so they dont

challenge the King.

Since they dont bother challenging, they dont try to grow stronger.

More and more gave up to the point where everyone ended up giving up.

Its a common tale.

Yeah, well. We just wait until the event is over. Its boring, but what can you do?

I felt dj vu.

During my time as a pro-gamer, I had visited another teams dorms.

It was a team that was last in the pro league and soon-to-be disbanded.

The players there were just like this.

I didnt like them.

Even if they believed that were going to lose anyway, and no matter how many times we try it wont change it,

they can still try

And their efforts will come back to reward them.

But they didnt try.

They burned time making their rut a habit.

It was enough to make me angry by just looking at them.

I found no reason to attack them.

They werent opponent or prey.

They couldnt even become a punching bag for practice.

It was no different from a corpse lying on the ground.

Instead of wasting my time, I wanted to challenge the Demon King.

As soon as I thought that, a summoning circle appeared before my eyes.

It seemed to be a different form than the one from the tutorial.

Newbie, youre going to challenge right away? Dont go. Youll die. Do you really want the Demon Kings throne

so bad? How about just waiting here for the event to end? You can get a spot for yourself by just making it here.

The demon talked at a pace never seen before.

What would be the reason for saying those words?

Is he concerned for my life who he saw for the first time?

Or does he want to justify himself lying on the dirt and squirming like a worm?

That its not possible, that this is the more effective and comfortable route.

Is that how he wants to comfort himself?

I didnt see a reason in responding to the pointless attempts at dissuasion.

I just got up on the summoning circle without any words.

Once on the summoning circle, my surroundings were enshrouded in light.

As the light faded away and my vision restored itself, I could see the changed surroundings.

There was a giant throne a little higher than my line of vision, and there was a giant Demon sitting atop the throne.

[You have entered the last phase of the 34th floor.]

A challenger at last. Welcome.

The demon sitting atop the high throne looking down at me had a familiar face.

It was the demon I met on the 26th floor.

Youre recycled too huh.

What does that mean?

I thought it would be like this.

That the Demon King appearing on the 26th floor and the Demon King of the 34th floor would be the same.

They had the same title, and the information I gathered from the demons exactly described the Demon King I had

seen.

So, it was fully plausible.

But aside from that, it was a little unpleasant.

The opponent I had killed with my own hands standing there. Alive. With no remembrance of event happening.

Its natural that he doesnt remember.

It didnt happened to this Demon King.

I shook away the train of thought.

I knew the unfortunate fate of the Demon King being a captive of the tutorial, but I didnt need to equate it with her

Its a delight that a challenger has finally appeared to comfort my boredom. Im curious. How did a little squirt like

you make it up here?

A forced smile welled up.

I couldnt feel any sort of tension from the Demon King sitting atop the throne.

Just like when I had met Olphon.

Its probably the same for the demon I had met just before.

They pronounce the result as it were predetermined, and they deem the process before the result insignificant.

It was a stunning portrayal of arrogance.

They believe they are able to do something even the Gods cannot do.

Is that why they are demons?

Those sorts of thoughts came to mind.

Speak up. Since the results are certain, feel free to talk before you die. If you are able to relieve my boredom, I

wont kill you before the event is over.

It was amusing.

There was a big difference between the 26th floor me and the me now..

But the Demon Kings guard is still relaxed even after seeing me.

What would he have thought of me on the 26th floor.

He probably thought he could squash me as easily as a bug.

And because of that complacency, he was in danger of being recalled in the middle of the summoning, and forcibly

tried to bring the power of his true being.

And died.

I didnt want the same thing to happen again.

On the 26th floor, I used the light blade to finish him off as soon as he was summoned.

If I didnt so do, I couldnt assure my victory.

But now, I have room to play around.

Enough to hold back while fighting that Demon King.

Enough to induce him into bringing out his whole power.

I calmly pondered how to make him angry.

And I found it.

Aububu.

[Its Aubutz, Hero!]