Chapter 181: Chapter 181

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 didn’t 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 Kiri’s prediction that I’ll 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 wouldn’t 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.

[urgh...Urgh...]

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

It wasn’t a surprise since it was common for this crazy holy sword to start convulsing randomly.

[It’s not me! Hero, it’s not me making the sound.]

“Sure, sure. I’m sure. Do you still practice female voices?”

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

“It would be better if it was an actual female’s voice, but I don’t want to hear a man masking a feminine voice.”

[Anyway, it’s not me making the voice! Its Seregia!]

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

[Ah, Ah...Um...]

The voice came again.

I was sure.

Just as the holy sword said, the voice was Seregia’s.

I didn’t realize it was her voice, because it sounded tired and listless, unlike Seregia’s 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? It’s because she’s trying to say something, but it isn’t

working out. Let’

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

Seregia’s voice came through a few words every minute.

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

[Ah..Uh...H, Hero. Hero...]

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

“Yeah. Seregia. I’m 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 don’t 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, wouldn’t 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 floor’s 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 didn’t 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 didn’t expect a sight peaceful as this.”

It wasn’t just the demon in front of me.

They couldn’t be seen, but there were demons lying lethargically all around this large space.

Even though I spread my mana and detected them, they didn’t react in any way.

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

“It’s possible.”

I waited for the demon to continue.

But instead, the demon quietly continued to smoke.

“...From what I’ve heard, you don’t need to collect anymore tokens.”

“That’s 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, I’ll explain the basics. There’s no need to collect tokens here. The moment

you wish to challenge the Demon King, a summoning circle will appear. That’s it.”

“Then, what do you do here?”

I repeated my question from before.

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

“It’s for the demons to challenge each other and assess their strength. Also, it’s for demons to gather their strength

before challenging the Demon King.”

“It doesn’t look it.”

“Yeah well.”

I waited for a while, but the demon didn’t’ say anything after the “yeah well.”

So, I had to ask again.

“Why are you so carefree?”

“It wasn’t 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.”

That’s 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 it’s obvious that they’ll end up dying, so they don’t

challenge the King.

Since they don’t bother challenging, they don’t try to grow stronger.

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

It’s a common tale.

“Yeah, well. We just wait until the event is over. It’s boring, but what can you do?”

I felt déjà vu.

During my time as a pro-gamer, I had visited another team’s 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 didn’t like them.

Even if they believed that ‘we’re going to lose anyway, and no matter how many times we try it won’t change it,’

they can still try

And their efforts will come back to reward them.

But they didn’t 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 weren’t opponent or prey.

They couldn’t 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, you’re going to challenge right away? Don’t go. You’ll die. Do you really want the Demon King’s 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 it’s not possible, that this is the more effective and comfortable route.

Is that how he wants to comfort himself?

I didn’t 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.

“You’re 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.

It’s natural that he doesn’t remember.

It didn’t 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 didn’t need to equate it with her

“It’s a delight that a challenger has finally appeared to comfort my boredom. I’m curious. How did a little squirt like

you make it up here?”

A forced smile welled up.

I couldn’t feel any sort of tension from the Demon King sitting atop the throne.

Just like when I had met Olphon.

It’s 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

won’t 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 King’s 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 didn’t 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 didn’t so do, I couldn’t 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.”

[It’s Aubutz, Hero!]