novelburst
Chapter 94
Chapter 94
The administrator was once a player.
While climbing the Tower, they faced the truth and once held the noble goal of saving their home dimension.
‘Most people’s will breaks once they ascend.’
Beyond the 50th floor, one has to face beings that transcend the Soul System. The common folk, who have become stronger because of the Soul System, cannot handle them.
So, they break. They give up.
They descend to the lower floors and become administrators, helping players in their climbs.
But it’s not like they’ve completely given up.
Their personal challenge might be over, but their home dimension is still in peril.
They assist players summoned from their home dimension in climbing, all while keeping an eye on players from other dimensions.
They stir up chaos without violating the laws of destiny, just a bit of harmless chaos.
Melin, the administrator of the 6th floor, was no different.
She proposed additional missions to players who had passed the trial.
Players who had adapted to the Tower of Struggle and were confident in their abilities would accept this offer.
As expected, quite a few remained.
Among them, there were certainly strong players, but there were also weaker ones hidden among them.
They were the ones trying to cheat.
‘Tsk tsk. They don’t know the administrator at all.’
They had adapted well to the Tower of Struggle.
If it were only players from the home dimension, she would have applauded them.
Melin wiped out all the mediocre players.
Giving simple commands to the summoned dragon was easy for her.
It didn’t take much of her Destiny power either.
After all, it was something the dragon itself could easily do.
“Hmm?”
Melin watched closely those who survived after being hit by the dragon's breath.
It was understandable if they moved quickly to avoid the area of effect, but surviving the breath was unexpected.
‘Not even Swordmaster did this.’
No matter how much the dragon wasn’t fully matured, it was still a dragon.
That breath isn’t something you can withstand with 200 health points.
But those players managed it.
They endured by creating ice walls.
‘Frozen Prison.’
It’s just a D-rank skill.
That ice wall can’t withstand the breath.
‘Did a psychic user add more ice?’
If that’s the case, it might be possible.
Swordmaster stepped forward.
His hatred for the dragon was more intense than expected.
At this rate, the hunt should go smoothly.
Originally, Melin had set the mission to be something passable for players.
There would be casualties, but it wasn’t impossible.
‘If the resources go naturally to Swordmaster…’
Other floor administrators wouldn’t have rewarded him.
From the perspective of another dimension, he was a nuisance.
At least Melin had to balance things out.
‘With a skill to resist crowd control...’
Melin was an ascended one.
She knew better than anyone what the most dangerous thing was for a strong player.
At that moment, the players started unleashing their skills.
“You’re all just scrambling for scraps, huh?”
Disgusting.
That ugly struggle irritated Melin’s temper.
She issued a command to the dragon.
To unleash a wide-area magic.
It was excessive interference, so it consumed a significant amount of Destiny power, but it wasn’t unmanageable.
‘Considering the reward Swordmaster will take… It’s fine. Not bad.’
Melin’s plan failed.
Puff—!
The dragon’s body was pierced by something.
“What! H-How?”
Melin hurriedly checked the contribution points.
- Error Player (Murim) 73%
- Kyle (Midgardian) 26%
- ….
Soul-Draining Blade.
Damage formula: 3,220% physical damage + 3,220% magical damage + 5,000 fixed damage.
Looking at the insane damage coefficient, it makes sense that a 3-second concentration handicap is involved.
Of course, this is only for me.
Other players might consider the concentration a major handicap.
Why? Because from their point of view, the damage coefficients for Soul-Draining Blade would appear differently.
‘Maybe it’s 300% physical damage + 300% magical damage + 500 fixed damage?’
My tooltip error just adds an extra zero.
That’s why my destructive power is far beyond theirs.
How crazy is Soul-Draining Blade?
It’s easy to understand by comparing it with Hatchling Breath.
‘What was the percentage of Hatchling Breath again? Was it 50,000% elemental damage?’
Elemental damage is affected by natural energy.
Natural energy is not an easily increased stat.
Neither Intelligence nor Wisdom has anything to do with natural energy.
For this reason, Hatchling Breath caps at around 5,000 elemental damage.
Even that is offset and halved depending on elemental affinity.
But Soul-Draining Blade has a base of 5,000 fixed damage.
Physical damage, magical damage, those are separate.
‘With the boosted stats from Survival Instinct and the tooltip error boosting my coefficients, it’s just crazy.’
In fact, I don’t even need physical or magical damage.
There’s no player with more than 5,000 health in the Soul System anyway.
As long as I can concentrate for 3 seconds, there’s no opponent I can’t defeat.
A fully matured dragon?
It’s nothing to me.
Thud—!
The dragon, once airborne, plummeted.
This happened right after being struck by Soul-Draining Blade.
“W-Wait... What did you just do?”
Hikari screamed in shock.
She almost fell off.
“It’s shaking. If you’re surprised, just get down and be surprised.”
“What’s going on? Why did the dragon die in one hit?”
“Maybe Swordmaster did half the job.”
It wasn’t a look of belief.
Of course not.
The dragon’s body was pierced, who would believe that?
‘The dragon’s health wasn’t that great after all.’
I think I shot Soul-Draining Blade in a hurry because the players were trying to take the credit.
I was worried about how Swordmaster and the other players would react.
‘At times like this…’
I recalled the events from the lower floors.
The goblin lair on the 4th floor and the Earthling King on the 5th.
‘The loudest one wins.’
Especially right after showing force.
I immediately returned to my position.
The players, huddled together, noticed me and began approaching.
However, there was a noticeable distance.
It seemed they were afraid of me.
‘It’s a similar reaction to Swordmaster.’
It wasn’t bad.
Being feared was definitely better than being ignored.
The problem was Swordmaster.
How would I deceive him?
“That was good.”
Swordmaster approached, laughing heartily.
He didn’t seem to care much about me getting the last hit.
“It’s refreshing. I wish there had been a strong player like you in my home dimension.”
He looked just regretful.
‘Isn’t he going to question me?’
Swordmaster said as long as the dragon was taken down, anything was fine.
“It was stronger than I expected. Well, it’s probably a technique with recoil, right? Doesn’t it seem like it leaves a lot of openings?”
“That’s right.”
Such a technique could exist.
That’s the implication.
Swordmaster, being well-versed, didn’t need to be convinced.
In his view, it wasn’t an impossible technique.
The administrator appeared.
Probably to clear away the dragon and calculate the rewards.
But her expression wasn’t good.
She looked at me with an unpleasant gaze.
?First… I’ll reward you based on your contribution. Error Player.?
I didn’t hesitate long about what I’d receive for the additional mission reward.
‘Equipment or skills? Not really.’
What mattered to me was defense.
Especially resistance to magic or elemental damage.
So, I requested stat boosts.
?6th floor, Hunt the Dragon.? Clear bonus, stat +5 Contribution bonus, stat +20
My eyes widened.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the contribution bonus.
‘20? Really?’
Isn’t that an incredibly good reward for just firing off Soul-Draining Blade once?
I wondered if this was too much for what I did.
‘Is this why the administrator looks upset?’
She’s probably annoyed by how much she had to give away.
That’s why her expression was so difficult to manage.
I don’t mind.
The higher my stats, the better.
I’ll take some time to think about how to distribute it.
It’s a happy dilemma.
?Kyle. You’re second.?
Swordmaster’s real name was Kyle.
I wondered how much second place would get.
I was curious, but I didn’t ask.
We weren’t close enough for that.
?Next… It’s a bit ambiguous with the rest.?
The atmosphere was strange.
The administrator didn’t seem like she was going to give rewards.
Other players seemed to feel the same way and urgently asked.
“We... don’t get anything?”
“We fought together.”
Why did they take such a risk and join the additional mission?
It was to get at least a tiny reward and move up.
But they were getting nothing?
?Hmph. I can’t reward you.?
“We participated! We almost died!”
?It’s not possible. Are you dissatisfied? Well, there’s another mission ready.?
The administrator looked at me and proposed another mission.
The looks from the other players were strange.
I could feel their weird expectations toward me.
“What was that earlier?”
“If you had that kind of power, why didn’t you use it sooner?”
“If you did, no one would have died, and everyone would have gotten the reward.”
Players were voicing their discontent.
It was absurd.
‘Do they think I’m going to do as they want?’
I’ve already gained something.
I got 25 stat points.
There was no need to stay on the 6th floor any longer.
It wouldn’t be a loss to go up right now.
‘...The administrator probably lost out too. She’ll try to recover it.’
I had a rough understanding of the Tower’s structure.
I also knew that the administrator was from Midgard.
She probably didn’t like giving me a reward.
She might have felt like she was robbed.
‘It’s better to go up.’
I declined the administrator’s offer.
I declared that I would just go up.
?...Even though you can earn more rewards? You’re just going to leave??
“I’ve gotten enough. Wanting more would be shameless.”