“Cough…”
Crimson blood seeped into the ground.
“That…was not what I had expected.”
He could barely say these words. There was a literal spear piercing through his chest…it was a wonder he could even talk at all.
His crimson blood fell bit by bit, accompanied by parts of his flesh and remnants of his bones.
“Die…”
Alan barely managed to utter these words as well, he had transformed back into his human form and teleported behind the Heavenly demon.
And with all his remaining strength, stabbed the Heavenly Demon with the Ame-no-Sakahoko.
“Ha…”
Alan gasped for breath, his body was tired. But he could still go on.
He just had almost little to no mana.
[Supreme Dragon of Frost Lanesha urges you to devour a mana potion quickly!]
“Not…yet.”
The Heavenly demon looked far into the sky, looking at the spear piercing his chest.
“What…a magnificent spear…”
He praised me. The light in his eyes started to diminish as Alan pushed the Ame-No-Sakahoko further.
“Die…”
He mouthed, and the Heavenly Demon smiled. His smile was splattered with his blood.
“…Ha…”
He tried to laugh but was unable to. The cold energy in the surroundings pierced into his body…and he said.
“Destiny cannot be changed…”
Remembering the dream he always had, he wanted to chuckle but he could not. He wasn’t in the condition to laugh now.
‘If it lasted for all time…it would have no meaning.’
‘End this Heavenly Demon!’
‘Just end this now…Heavenly demon. The flow is gone…there is no use in prolonging it!’
‘Why do you intend to make us suffer?’
‘Are you not the strongest…? Then why persist on this?’
The words of his Master, the Sword Emperor, the Wudang Sect Master, the Mount Hua Sect Master…Tang Clan.
Everyone’s last words before they either died or went insane resounded in his mind.
The Ink-black blade fell to the ground and was quietly buried in the snow.
His mind was becoming numb, the last thing he could feel was the cold.
The pain of having a literal spear through his chest was gone…and now there was only the feeling of the bitter cold.
But it was not painful, it was not excruciating.
It was warm.
He tried to keep his neck towards the sky but lost all strength to do so.
In his final moments, he tried to apologize to the people of Murim, the ones who had suffered for longer.
“Five hundred…and fifty five years…”
His words were labored.
“Of suffering…I have caused.”
His last words would be an apology.
“I…seek your forgiveness…”
But would they be completed?
“Mu…ri…”
[You have slain the boss of the thirtieth floor, the Heavenly Demon.]
[You have cleared the thirtieth floor!]
[You are the first one to clear the thirtieth floor!]
[You have received the reward: Mòhēi jiàn (Ink-Black Blade).]
[You have received an additional reward for being the first to clear the trial: Fragment of the Heavenly Demon.]
[Fragment of the Heavenly Demon merges with your soul.]
[Your weapon, the Ame-No-Sakahoko wishes to devour the Ink-Black Blade.]
[Would you like to be transported to the thirty-first floor, or to the lobby to regain your strength?]
A plethora of blue displays appeared in front of Alan, he dismissed them all except for one.
[Would you like to be transported to the Thirty-First Floor, or to the lobby to regain your strength?]
“Lobby…”
He managed to utter, his breathing was heavy and labored. In fact…He had no strength left to support himself, he had fallen into the snow and was being buried by the blizzard.
Thankfully, the tower successfully teleported him to the lobby quickly.
Alan gasped for breath as soon as he felt a hard, wooden floor beneath him.
He turned around, lay on his back, and smiled.
“Haha…”
He had done it. He cleared the thirtieth floor.
‘Closer…I am getting closer to her cure…’
He thought. Remembering the promise he made of getting the cure for his sister…he laughed inwardly.
This was not a laugh of mockery but of happiness…
“Sam…I’m close.”
***********
[Elijah PoV, First Person.]
“What?”
I mumbled, a confused look sprouted on my face as I carefully read the display that popped up in front of me.
[The Thirtieth floor has been cleared, you have two options.
1: Pass on over to the thirty-first floor without having to clear the thirtieth floor.]
2: Clear the Thirtieth floor. However, on clearing the thirtieth floor there will be no rewards.
These options are being presented to you due to the special nature of the thirtieth floor.]
Elijah was utterly confused, this screen had appeared in front of him…before he could fully challenge the thirtieth floor.
[Supreme Dragon of Fire Agri is thinking.]
It seems even Agri was confused by this strange occurrence.
Elijah looked at the screen for a while contemplating his next course of action.
“What is happening?”
He decided asking the tower might be the best course of action for now. Who knows? Maybe it will give a truthful answer.
Elijah would know with the help of his skill [God-eyes], so there was no harm in it.
The tower, however, seemed reluctant to respond. It was only when Elijah asked for the second time did it mutter a vague answer.
“What Happened?”
[The end of murim, by the hands of the dragon of frost.]
“…what do you mean?”
He heard a cynical laugh,
[The world of Murim was buried under a thousand layers of frost, caused by the blizzard of eternal Frost.
The dragon of frost has brought an end to Murim. 𝘦.𝘤𝘰𝑚
And Murim is gone, it will take a while for me to replicate the world again.]
“…”
Elijah was shocked, he was trying to make sense of the words of the tower. The word eternal frost caught his attention.
‘…Alan.’
[Yes.] 𝘪𝘦.𝘤𝑜
The tower nodded. Well, if it had a physical body it would ‘be nodding’.
Elijah, upon hearing the tower’s words, which were basically a confirmation, smiled.
“Damn bastard did it before me.”
His words were playful completely devoid of any negative emotions like jealousy, hate, etc.
[You are not mad?]
“No, why?”
[Jealous?]
“..No?”
Elijah denied the tower, but it was insistent.
[You feel not a single negative emotion towards him? He has reaped you of the rewards you could have had only if you cleared it first…you feel nothing?]
“Why should I feel anything?”
[…]
The tower was left flabbergasted by Elijah’s words…but remembering Elijah’s ‘destiny’ it understood quickly.
[Both of you are an interesting pair.]
It thought, sighing.
Instead of being jealous, instead of hating his mortal enemy, he regarded him as a friend.
But it wanted to find out further…even though it knew the answer, it tried to dissuade him.
[You feel no su-]
But Elijah interrupted the words of the tower.
“Listen.”
He continued with a solemn face.
“He cleared it first, So what right do I have to complain? He’s my friend, not a mortal enemy or something. He cleared it first. So he gets the rewards…simple!”
Without waiting for the tower to answer, he stated,
“Now teleport me to the thirteenth floor.”
[What?]
The tower, shocked, asked.
“Teleport me to the thirtieth floor.”
He placed more emphasis on his words and tapped his feet on the wooden floor.
However, no response was heard from the tower.
“Sigh…”
Elijah let out a sigh, he continued tapping his feet and stated once again, this time with an obstinate gaze.
“Teleport me to the thirtieth floor, please.”
He added a ‘please’ to appear more polite, but who knows whether that would work or not.
However, the tower was still silent.
Elijah was oblivious to the reason why. The tower was silent not because it was unable to…but because it was speechless.
Simple as that. Of course, it would be speechless.
The thirtieth floor was a floor that could not be cleared by Humanity’s strongest, it took a dragon(Alan Peccator who is known to be ‘human’ on Earth) to defeat it…but this insane dude wanted to challenge it.
Why not choose the easy way out? Why not just go to the next series of floors? Why be obstinate and challenge the god-forsaken thirtieth floor?!
Why?!
It understood Elijah’s ‘destiny’ and what he was programmed to be…but this is utter nonsense!
Why not take the easy way out? Does he lack common sense?
[Why? You can just go to the next series of floors! There is no benefit even if you clear the floor!]
Just take the easy way and save it the trouble! Use your common sense! Your brain!
“Didn’t I already say it? Teleport me to the thirtieth floor.”
But Elijah was obstinate, he wanted to challenge the thirtieth floor no matter what.
[Why? Is there a particular reason for it?]
The tower eventually gave up, it gave up in trying to persuade this ‘brat’.
Of course, it could only do this with the belief that a solemn reason existed behind it. So it eagerly waited for that.
To gain invaluable experience? Priceless Information…?
Right? There had to be something grand!
…right?
“Because it wouldn’t be fair.”
…right, why did it even bother with this dunce?
Visit .