Chapter 196
'The Trial Ground of the Fighting God Tyr? The Inverted Tower?'
The place he thought was just a dungeon was actually the ruins of the Valiant Knight Tius, Tyr.
Zeke's eyes gleamed at the unexpected message.
'Tyr's Shield is likely inside here.'
Rex Turunn had reached the 90th floor in the Trial of Struggle, but he said he couldn't go down further because the door from the 91st floor was blocked.
'The door to the ruins that hasn't been opened since the Turunn clan started managing it. It's the perfect place to store Tyr's Shield, the sacred relic.'
Zeke slowly went inside.
This place was closer to a labyrinth than a dungeon.
Among dungeons, ruins with an unidentifiable creation date and an immeasurable scale were called 'labyrinths'.
During his time as a Highlander, Zeke had experience entering a labyrinth with his master.
Unlike ordinary dungeons, labyrinths were filled with unknown ancient magic and mysteries.
The Trial of Struggle felt similar to such a labyrinth.
Zeke recalled Rex Turunn's explanation of the Trial of Struggle.
'He said all sorts of monsters appear from the 1st to the 90th floor.'
Each floor had similar types of monsters, and after defeating the boss monster at the innermost part, the path to the lower floor would appear.
But the strange thing was that when the monsters were killed, they disappeared without a trace, as if they turned to ash and scattered.
So, no matter how many monsters he defeated, when he left the Trial of Struggle and re-entered, it would return to its original state.
Rex Turunn speculated that this phenomenon was a type of ancient magic.
Zeke had a hunch as he listened to his words.
'Spiritualization. Lady Hoshgar, who was a Dragonian, also left herself in a spiritualized form. If it was a dragon... it could have left such magic throughout the labyrinth.'
He didn't know why Tyr had borrowed the dragon's power to leave this labyrinth.
Perhaps he would know his intentions if he reached the very last floor.
As he went a little further inside, he saw stairs leading down.
Zeke slowly stepped down the stairs.
[You have reached the 1st floor of 'The Inverted Tower'.]
[The challenger is given a choice.]
[Select difficulty.]
[Choose between Easy Mode, Normal Mode, and Hard Mode.]
[The higher the difficulty, the greater the reward.]
Zeke tilted his head at the message that appeared.
'What's this?'
He didn't know exactly what it meant, but it seemed like the more difficult the choice, the greater the reward.
Considering that this wasn't included in Rex Turunn's explanation, it seemed to be an option visible only to the system administrator.
"Hard Mode is the highest difficulty, right? Then Hard Mode it is."
Then another message appeared in the system.
[Difficulty set to Hard Mode.]
[Judging the target.]
[The Fighting God's Domain has detected the Dragonian energy from the target.]
[Difficulty adjustment begins.]
[Difficulty adjusted, Hell Mode applied to the target.]
"What? Hell Mode?"
The name itself sounded ominous. At the same time, new messages popped up.
[Power usage is not allowed due to Hell Mode adjustment.]
[Passive skill usage is not allowed due to Hell Mode adjustment.]
[Active skill usage is not allowed due to Hell Mode adjustment.]
[Draconian skill usage is not allowed due to Hell Mode adjustment.]
[Summoning is not allowed due to Hell Mode adjustment.]
'What?'
Most of Zeke's abilities were blocked.
Woooong!
As soon as his abilities were restricted, he felt the change immediately. His body was much heavier than usual.
"Is it because passive skills are also restricted? This feels quite awkward."
[A mission is given to the challenger.]
―Inverted Tower Quest Mission―
[Clear the 1st floor of the Inverted Tower, defeat the boss, and descend to the 2nd floor. (No time limit)]
[Quest Mission Reward: Title - Conqueror of the 1st Floor (Hell Mode)]
Rex Turunn had said that a Blue Knight could easily clear up to the 30th floor, but the difficulty increased significantly from the 31st floor.
However, since Zeke was on the highest difficulty, Hell Mode, the situation in the labyrinth could be different from what Rex Turunn described.
"Not having Healing Factor and Infinite Stamina is definitely fatal."
Zeke realized that he had been relying heavily on passive skills.
'It's possible that I couldn't break through the wall because I was relying on overly convenient abilities.'
Zeke braced himself, reviving his senses from his past life for the first time in a while.
"Whew, alright. Let's go down."
Reaching the end of the stairs leading down to the 1st floor, Zeke drew Bahamut and stepped forward.
With all his skills and abilities blocked, Zeke used his natural senses as much as possible to examine his surroundings. Then he felt something strange.
'What's this?'
Whoosh!
Zeke swung his sword at something rushing towards him.
Slash!
Zeke's sword cut through the monster's body.
"What is this?"
Zeke bent down and examined the monster that had fallen to the ground.
It was a rabbit-like creature with sharp fangs protruding from its mouth. Letters appeared above the dead monster's head.
―Bloodsucking Rabbit Level 1―
It seemed to be the name of this monster.
"Bloodsucking Rabbit? This is different from the 1st-floor monster Rex Turunn mentioned. But what's with the level?"
Then, the body of the dead Bloodsucking Rabbit turned to ash and disappeared.
This was exactly as Rex Turunn had described.
At the same time, a message appeared again.
[You have gained 1 experience point.]
"You get experience points for killing monsters?"
It was an unexpected reward. Perhaps because it was made of spirit energy and not a real monster, he was given experience points instead of karma points.
Zeke opened the system window and checked the experience list.
He checked the stat distribution settings he had readjusted when he regained the Elder Dragon's artifact.
Currently, it was set to prioritize the growth of 'Spirit Power', which could raise the level of his soul.
After some thought, Zeke changed the setting from automatic distribution to manual distribution.
If he continued to hunt monsters as he descended to the 100th floor, he would accumulate quite a few experience points, so it seemed better to develop the necessary stats as needed.
Zeke closed the system window and caught his breath. Gripping his sword again, Zeke began to sweep through the Bloodsucking Rabbits on the 1st floor like a storm.
[You have gained 1 experience point.]
[You have gained 1 experience point.]
[You have gained 1 experience point.]
***
"250 experience points on the 1st floor. It's still not enough, but... it'll accumulate more and more as I go down."
Although his abilities were restricted, the Bloodsucking Rabbits, the monsters on the 1st floor, posed no threat to Zeke.
Eventually, Zeke reached the innermost room.
As he opened the door and entered, a monster that looked like a boss roared fiercely at Zeke.
―Bloodsucking Rabbit Boss Level 3―
As expected of a boss monster, its level was higher than the other Bloodsucking Rabbits.
The Bloodsucking Rabbit Boss charged at Zeke.
Whoosh!
But it made no difference. With a single, light swing of Zeke's sword, the Bloodsucking Rabbit Boss was split in half and disappeared.
[You have gained 3 experience points.]
It seemed the boss gave him more experience points.
Then something appeared where the Bloodsucking Rabbit Boss had died.
"This is a random box?"
He had never heard of this from Rex Turunn.
Perhaps the rewards were different because of the different difficulty levels.
Zeke immediately opened the random box.
―Glove Information―
Description: Gloves made from the fur of a Bloodsucking Rabbit.
Unique Ability: Bloodsucking
Special Note: Gloves made from the fur of a Bloodsucking Rabbit. Very warm. Absorbing blood slightly restores the user's health.
"Huh? An artifact as a reward from the 1st floor?"
Although it wasn't powerful magic, any item with magic on it was valuable.
Moreover, artifacts that restored health were quite rare.
Zeke put the gloves in his inventory and grinned.
"Experience points and artifacts. This place has more to offer than I thought."
Zeke whistled as he headed down to the 2nd floor with Bahamut in hand.
He was able to clear the floors from the 2nd to the 10th without much difficulty.
Zeke defeated the 10th-floor boss, the Bloodsucking Platypus, and took a moment to catch his breath. As a reward item, he obtained boots made from the fur of the Bloodsucking Platypus.
"Hmm, all the artifacts up to the 10th floor have bloodsucking attached to them. I'll keep these. It's time to organize the experience points."
Zeke checked the experience points he had accumulated while descending to the 10th floor.
[Current experience points: 4,309]
Since he was still on the lower floors, he hadn't accumulated that many experience points.
Still, it was a significant amount, so Zeke pondered where to invest the points first.
The categories where he could distribute experience points were Spirit Power, Active Skills, Draconian Skills and Equipment, and Summons.
After some thought, Zeke decided to invest in Spirit Power first.
"Since I can use Secret Techniques and system functions even here, raising my Spirit Power is the most rational choice."
Zeke invested all 4,309 experience points into Spirit Power.
[Your Spirit Power has increased, and the level of your soul has grown slightly.]
[Bahamut's heart seal is partially released. Current compression seal level: 69.5%.]
As his Spirit Power increased, the compression seal level of Bahamut's heart decreased along with the level of his soul.
"0.5%. It's insignificant, but I'll be able to accumulate more experience points as I go down."
Zeke pushed aside his regret and checked the passive skill slot in the status window.
Passive Skills: Healing Factor / Steadfast Mind Defense / Infinite Stamina /Combat Sense / Breakthrough (Locked)
He focused on the passive skill 'Breakthrough (Locked)'.
'It can be unlocked when the level of my soul increases. If I get Breakthrough, it will be easier to break the wall I need to overcome to enter the Black Knight realm.'
Zeke decided to gather as many experience points as possible.
He took out food and water from his inventory and ate, then took a sufficient rest.
"I can really feel that Infinite Stamina was a cheat skill."
After recovering his stamina, he went down to the 11th floor.
However, the 11th floor had a different atmosphere from the 10th floor.
The atmosphere of the labyrinth was similar, but there were bushes here and there, and he could see trees growing through the walls and covering the ceiling.
Zeke picked a fruit from a tree and split it open.
'This is... a real fruit?'
Trees bearing these fruits were growing throughout the labyrinth.
"This is a really strange place. Fruits growing inside a labyrinth. Why on earth did Tyr create such a place?"
Just then, something approached Zeke.
Growl.
Zeke checked the monster's information.
―Hobgoblin Level 5―
It was a monster larger and stronger than ordinary goblins.
Then, more Hobgoblins swarmed from behind.
And at that moment, one of the Hobgoblins behind him shot a needle at Zeke.
Whoosh!
Zeke quickly dodged the flying needle.
At the same time, the Hobgoblins rushed towards Zeke with their weapons.
He swung his sword at the Hobgoblin that jumped into the air.
Slice
With a sharp sound, the Hobgoblin's body was cut in two.
Zeke didn't stop and continued to cut down the Hobgoblins with the Gale Sword.
Slash!
In an instant, Zeke's sword decapitated the Hobgoblins. Five Hobgoblins fell in a single breath.
The dead Hobgoblins soon turned to ash and disappeared.
Zeke cleared the labyrinth, sweeping away the Hobgoblins that rushed at him.
"Whew."
After defeating all the Hobgoblins in the labyrinth to gain experience points, Zeke slowly headed towards the boss room.
'I don't know how strong the boss on the 11th floor will be, so let's be thoroughly prepared.'
Just in case, Zeke purchased the necessary potions from the shop in advance and put them in the automatic slots, then ate food and rested sufficiently to replenish his stamina.
After finishing his preparations, he approached the door to the boss room, and the door slowly opened.
Growl!
Zeke lowered his body and slowly entered the boss room.
Growl!
In the room, there was a Hobgoblin twice the size of an ordinary Hobgoblin. Unlike the other Hobgoblins, it was wearing armor.
―Ferocious Hobgoblin Warrior Level 10―
Moreover, it had the modifier 'Ferocious' in front of its name.
Roar!
The Ferocious Hobgoblin Warrior charged towards Zeke.
Zeke parried the Hobgoblin Warrior's sword and slashed with Bahamut, aiming for its waist.
Clang!
Surprisingly, Zeke's sword couldn't cut through the Hobgoblin Warrior's waist in one strike.
'A goblin wearing armor that Bahamut can't cut through in one strike?'
The Ferocious Hobgoblin Warrior chuckled, seemingly mocking Zeke, whose eyes were wide with surprise.
Zeke quietly muttered,
"Hercyon Equip."
Clank!
As Hercyon covered Zeke's entire body, the Hobgoblin was startled and stepped back.
Zeke slowly approached the Hobgoblin with Bahamut, enveloped in an Aura Blade.
Roar!
It charged with ferocious momentum, but with a flash of light, the Hobgoblin Warrior's head rolled on the floor.
Soon, the Hobgoblin Warrior's body turned to ash and disappeared.
Zeke confirmed that the boss monster was dead and an unequipped Hercyon.
"Whew."
After deactivating Hercyon, Zeke let out a deep breath, seemingly exhausted.
"Oh my god, Teia's Hercyon. This thing consumes too much mana! I can't use it with Aura Blade."
Not being able to use passive skills made the consumption of mana and stamina much more noticeable.
Zeke felt that he should refrain from using Hercyon as much as possible, and then examined the spot where the Hobgoblin Warrior had disappeared.
Unlike the boss monsters on other floors, it seemed that the reward was not a random box, but the armor the Hobgoblin Warrior was wearing.
Zeke approached, picked up the armor, checked its information, and was greatly surprised.