Chapter 135 – 99th Floor
[You have entered the 99th floor of the Tower of Trials.]
[If you face the final trial, you will be granted a reward that cannot be obtained anywhere else.]
[Upon successfully clearing the 99th floor ▶ ????]
Barely glancing at the message, Ryu Min walked forward.
A wide arena came into view—150 meters in diameter, with tiered seating.
When he went down the stairs and walked toward the center, a message appeared.
[Scanning the entrant’s information on the 99th floor.]
[Player: Black Scythe (Lv89 Reaper)]
[Please wait. Scanning and copying the player’s information.]
………………
…………
[Scan and copy complete. The final trial will begin in 10 seconds.]
Exactly ten seconds later—
Pshhhht—
A man wearing Black Demon Armor appeared in front of Ryu Min, holding a scythe.
[Face the enemy before you.]
The enemy before his eyes.
It was none other than himself.
‘A fight against myself. That’s the 99th floor’s final trial.’
Ryu Min, who already knew, didn’t panic and raised his scythe.
The opponent—a guy who looked exactly like Black Scythe—also approached with a Death’s Side in hand.
The strongest, ranked No. 1 across all zones, collided at a single point.
Claaang—! Clang!
Their scythes struck in midair, ringing out with a clear metallic note.
Skrrrk— Skrrk—!
Sometimes there was the scraping sound of scythes grinding against each other.
Screeeeech—
And when they locked scythes and wrestled for strength, a scream-like screech of metal snapped the mind awake.
After exchanging dozens of attacks in a short span, the two stepped back.
‘It’s not a simple illusion. It’s a clone—copied to be exactly the same as me.’
Strength, reflexes, speed—there wasn’t a single thing that didn’t match him.
A perfect version of himself.
So identical it wouldn’t be wrong to call it a mirror.
Ryu Min’s eyes filled with tension.
The strongest player was standing right in front of him—of course he would.
Just then, the guy drew one step back and took a stance to swing his scythe.
Whiiiiing—
‘Moonlight Slash?’
Ryu Min immediately jumped.
But.
One second later, as if it had expected it, Moonlight Slash flew toward the direction he’d jumped.
An angle he couldn’t dodge.
However, Ryu Min had already set his posture in midair.
‘Moonlight Slash.’
Two blades steeped in moonlight collided.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAAANG—!
When massive energies crashed together, a chain of explosions erupted.
Ryu Min was pushed back and sent flying by the shockwave.
The distance between them opened up, and the space between filled with dust.
The clone, sprinting to kill Ryu Min, hesitated.
Because Ryu Min’s presence—what it had been sensing through Detection—had disappeared.
Thanks to the Rune of Stealth, perfect invisibility was possible, so there was no way it could find him.
And then—
Thwack—!
Bursting through the dust, Ryu Min’s scythe slammed down onto the clone’s head.
He’d succeeded in the surprise attack, but Ryu Min couldn’t smile.
Because the corpse went limp, melting away as it vanished.
‘Doppelganger……!’
In that brief instant, the clone that had used Doppelganger appeared behind Ryu Min.
A scythe soaked in killing intent aimed for his waist.
Shhk—!
Ryu Min’s waist was split clean in two—yet this, too, was a Doppelganger.
Instead, Ryu Min—taking the clone’s back—swung his scythe.
But as if it had predicted that, the clone avoided it by a hair’s breadth and countered with its scythe.
Claaang—! Claaang—! Clang!
After three exchanges in a split second, the clone disappeared.
Ssshh—
Ryu Min also activated invisibility.
Both of them vanished from sight.
A quiet, heavy silence swallowed the area.
‘As expected, it’s not easy.’
Maybe because his opponent was himself, its skill was far from ordinary.
The Rune of Doppelganger, invisibility, Moonlight Slash, and more.
Its ability to utilize them was quite high.
It was already looking several moves ahead, blocking every attack.
‘It can’t be helped. It has the Rune of Foresight.’
Ryu Min moved while seeing seven seconds into the opponent’s future—so why wouldn’t a clone do the same?
‘That’s why it jumped when using Moonlight Slash. If the shockwave widens the distance, you can get out of the Rune of Foresight’s range.’
Ryu Min hadn’t jumped into the air for no reason.
He already knew that when Moonlight Slash collided with Moonlight Slash, the shockwave would blow them apart.
And if he widened the distance like that, with dust obscuring vision between them, it wouldn’t be able to read him with the Rune of Foresight anymore.
‘But this plan fails too. I can’t handle its brain and reflexes.’
Titles, runes, stats—of course. But also equipped items, carried items, combat sense—everything was identical.
It was truly no different from facing a mirror.
No wonder Ryu Min was struggling.
‘But I can’t back down like this.’
With the 99th floor reward on the line, how could he possibly give up?
Ryu Min’s scythe moved toward where the opponent was likely to be.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAAANG—!
KU-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAAANG—!
Explosions thundered in succession, enough to shake the ground.
Flashes bursting here and there lit up the darkness.
Night of Death, Crimson Moon, and a Moonlight Slash combo unfolded toward the opponent.
‘Even a single graze from this would mean death.’
Blocking Moonlight Slash with Moonlight Slash, Ryu Min grinned at his opponent.
“Five times. You used them all, right?”
“…….”
“Same for me.”
It was his clone, but it didn’t speak.
It didn’t show emotion on its face, either.
It only rushed in to swing its scythe in silence, wearing a machine-like expression.
Claaang—! Claaang—!
Maybe because they both knew each other’s movements seven seconds ahead, the exchanges continued as if perfectly in sync.
Even their stats matched perfectly, so he couldn’t crush it with brute force.
‘An hour has passed, and neither of us has a single wound.’
He could tell because he could see the opponent’s HP bar through the Death Mark.
It wasn’t tired at all, and it wasn’t wounded.
The same was true for Ryu Min.
Ssshh—
Ssshh—
The moment both used invisibility at the same time, the quiet silence returned again.
With invisibility, you can’t pinpoint the other’s position.
He couldn’t let his guard down, but this was the only rest Ryu Min was given—even if only barely.
It was also time to devise a plan.
‘Hoo… so how am I supposed to attack myself now?’
He’d tried pretty much every attack pattern, but none of it worked.
Of course it wouldn’t—if the Rune of Foresight predicted everything.
Even if he tried to kick up dust to make it unpredictable, it slipped out like an eel, as if it had already thought of the method.
So ambushes didn’t land, and instead they often handed it an opening for a counterattack.
Of course, Ryu Min didn’t go down easily either, and he’d pull out the next card—
‘But at this rate, there’s no progress.’
Same stats, same skill, same abilities.
How do you beat a mirror-like existence like that?
Ryu Min—who had cleared the 99th floor before—already knew the answer.
‘If I can’t win, I endure. That’s the only way.’
This fight couldn’t continue forever.
Even if it wasn’t visible, there was a time limit.
‘A full twenty-four hours.’
The real method to clear the 99th floor was enduring for 24 hours against yourself.
The system only said to face the enemy before you—it never said to kill it.
‘In other words, the main point of the 99th floor is testing mental strength while fighting yourself.’
Beating yourself is impossible.
He’d cleared it dozens of times, but he’d never once beaten himself.
‘Of course, it’d be great if I could win, but from experience, enduring is the limit.’
If he couldn’t win, he endured.
But losing would be a problem.
The moment he failed to maintain his mental strength and showed even a split-second opening, himself would kill him.
And then he’d be eliminated without mercy.
The 99th floor reward would be gone for good.
‘Losing the means to stand against the angels? That can never happen.’
That was why Ryu Min gritted his teeth and endured.
Of course, it wasn’t difficult yet.
‘Only an hour has passed.’
The time wasn’t written anywhere, but by feel, there were still 23 hours left.
It was no different from a long, long marathon.
It could be hard because you couldn’t see the time, but Ryu Min actually thought it was fortunate.
‘If I can see the time, my heart could waver. It’s easier if I can’t see it.’
Up to now he’d been checking the time, but from here on, he decided not to be conscious of it.
Like running a marathon for the remaining 23 hours, he traded blows in sync with the clone before him.
If he kept enduring and enduring—
‘The time will end, and I’ll clear the 99th floor.’
Steeling his resolve again, he raised his scythe.
For the final reward of the 99th floor—and nothing else.
Claaang— Claaang—!
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAAANG—!
Skrrrraaaak! Skrrraak!
Using the sound of blade against blade as his music, Ryu Min endured.
He endured and endured until the 99th floor completion message appeared.
He didn’t know how much time had passed.
Because after the first hour, he stopped counting.
Because in a state of empty-mindedness, he faced only the enemy before him.
‘They say the greatest enemy is yourself?’
It wasn’t a metaphor. It was literally true.
Right now, the greatest opponent was that guy.
A lunatic holding a scythe, identical like a mirror.
‘Ah, if I curse him, is that just spitting in my own face? Whatever. He really is crazy.’
In that lunatic’s head, there was only one thought: he had to kill himself.
He swung his scythe like a madman, attacking with a different pattern each time.
‘If I appeared as my own enemy, I guess that’s what I’d look like.’
Maybe because even his Level 89 stats were the same, he just wouldn’t get tired.
He never rests for more than five minutes.
‘It really feels like I’m fighting a mirror.’
He was exhausted.
Was there even a reason to keep this fight going?
Now he didn’t know.
He just wanted to let everything go.
‘It’s simple. I just have to allow one of its attacks to land.’
Giving up is easy.
Even a basic attack from Black Scythe was lethal.
‘With a high Luck stat, a critical hit will probably pop. Ah—maybe the Black Demon Armor effect could block it.’
It sheds off an attack with a 67% chance, so if he got lucky, he might not die from one hit.
‘Then should I just take it once? I might not die, right?’
And if he did die?
‘I’d just return to reality, that’s all.’
Should he let everything go and end this maddening fight?
Every time that complacent thought rose up, Ryu Min recalled what he had lived through.
People dying.
People he couldn’t protect.
Even his only younger brother, who he would have to leave behind in reality.
Flash—!
Moonlight Slash from the enemy fell over his vision.
By instinct, Ryu Min—already prepared—answered with the same skill.
KU-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAAANG—!
With the explosion, his mind snapped awake.
‘I have to protect it. If I don’t want to watch the world fall apart again.’
If he died here, the 99th floor reward would be gone for good.
If he lost the means to stand against the angels, there would be no hope even if he cleared Round 20.
‘For a moment, I lost my mind.’
As if someone had doused him with cold water, Ryu Min came back to himself.
Skrrrk—!
He blocked the scythe coming down to split his skull and wrestled for strength.
They were locked in a strength contest like a taut tug-of-war, neither side yielding an inch—
And Ryu Min’s body staggered forward.
Shimmerrr—
The clone that had been fighting him for strength a moment ago suddenly vanished like a mirage.
[You have endured the 24-hour time limit.]
[You have cleared the 99th floor of the Tower of Trials.]
[It has been confirmed that you are the first player to clear the 99th floor of the Tower of Trials.]
[You have set an unprecedented record in the history of the Tower of Trials!]
[Your achievement is recorded in the Akashic Records.]
He had cleared the 99th floor he’d wanted so badly.
Only now could he finally loosen his grip on tension.
Thud—!
As if all his strength had been drained, Ryu Min collapsed onto the floor.
“Hoo… huff.”
He was panting so hard he could barely see the messages when—
[The Tower of Trials is impressed by the player’s astonishing mental strength.]
[Stamina and mental strength have fully recovered.]
[You have obtained the title ‘Supreme Being’.]
With his stamina and mental strength restored, the messages came clearly into view.
‘So I finally got it. The title to stand against the angels.’
Ryu Min opened the title’s information window.