Basilisk on the 22nd Floor

The arena was different from the stages so far.

The circular walls surrounding the area were the same.

Like when the stage widened for a multi-person battle, it had expanded to a size where a large monster could move freely.

But it didn’t stop there.

The walls of the stage.

There were holes in the walls.

Entrances large enough for a Basilisk to pass through were densely packed into the walls.

No matter how you looked at it, the holes were made for the Basilisk to pass through.

“Hiss…”

The Basilisk was a giant snake.

It boasted a massive size that looked like it could swallow a person whole in one gulp.

Still only floor 22. According to the game videos, it was still a section where solo play was possible.

Monsters appeared randomly on each floor, but was that something you could catch alone?

The question was short-lived.

What was there to think about?

As the Basilisk swung its head, Americano immediately stepped forward.

She struck its side with her sword.

Clang!!

“Kugh…!”

The Basilisk writhed and twisted its body.

The Basilisk’s seemingly defenseless body shook the entire arena with a single wriggle.

She took a step back, moved out of the writhing radius, and readjusted her grip on the sword.

Vibrations echoed throughout the sword.

Her hand was numb and sore.

It was similar to the old memory of hitting an unmoving stone with a wooden stick.

The shock to her hand was greater than back then, and what’s more, this thing was alive and moving. The Basilisk turned its head and charged like a train.

‘How can I win!’

Only floor 22.

This was too much.

[Basilisk]

Black letters.

Maybe it wasn’t made to be defeated, but then why was it placed here?

Don’t question it.

Just think about winning.

Americano cleared her mind of distractions.

She came in prepared to fight until she died anyway.

But,

‘I’m not going to end it after only climbing two floors…!’

Americano took a [Ready Posture], drawing out even more Magical Power.

What she needed now was firepower.

Power.

No matter how well you landed an attack, what was the point if you couldn’t break through the defense?

Clang!

“Kugh…!”

Was its whole body armor?

She needed enough power to pierce the armor.

Its eyes looked soft and squishy, so it seemed like she could pierce them, but that wouldn’t work.

Aiming for the gaps in the scales would only result in the sword breaking if the Basilisk slightly twisted its body.

Therefore, power.

Its physical abilities were overwhelmingly different, making it impossible to target weaknesses for subjugation.

Avoiding the Basilisk, she struck with her [Enhancement]-ed sword.

Clang!

Not even a scratch.

“…! Why won’t it open.”

She tried to open the status window.

But it wouldn’t open.

Since she needed power, she wanted to invest her unallocated points into [Magical Power] to increase that power.

The status window wouldn’t open.

It opened before.

‘Is it because I’m in combat?’

“?!”

A shadow covered her.

The Basilisk’s tail struck the spot where she had been standing.

She threw herself to the side to dodge, using the momentum as propulsion to take refuge in a hole in the wall.

She knew it too.

Depending on the internal structure, it could be a guaranteed loss.

Still, she had lost the fight in the open arena.

She couldn’t win.

A constantly moving giant armored snake. The only gap was its head, but the difference in physical abilities was too great to even attempt it.

The passage continued for a long time.

Fortunately, there were paths here and there.

There was a path in the middle of the passage.

And another path in the middle of that.

A structure with square blocks placed at regular intervals.

It was large enough for the Basilisk to pass through, but it didn’t seem like it could move at full speed in terms of height or width.

She felt relieved that she could at least shake it off, but,

Rumble.

The sound of the Basilisk came from far away.

‘Did it not find me?’

It was circling around Americano.

The sound echoed, making it difficult to pinpoint the exact direction, but she could roughly discern the general direction from north, south, east, and west.

The Basilisk was moving through the northern section, centered around her.

Then east.

And south.

It was moving in a square, as if surrounding her.

“….”

Suddenly, it got cold.

It started to feel like the Grim Reaper’s scythe was touching the back of her neck.

‘How big was the Basilisk?’

The Basilisk’s sound came from the north, east, and south.

In the open arena, the central stage, the Basilisk freely moved between the walls and the floor, excluding the ceiling.

If the Basilisk was long enough to wrap around the room several times, then maybe…

‘I’ll be trapped.’

An alarm went off.

She burst out to the west.

As she ran at full speed, she saw the Basilisk’s red eyes in the distance. It flashed by in an instant, but she definitely saw it.

North, east, south.

And west.

A inescapable encirclement was about to be completed.

‘I lived.’

She was out of breath after the short sprint.

She drank a fatigue recovery potion.

Rumble. Rumble.

“….”

Turning around, she saw the red eyes getting closer.

Americano ran without rest.

[Stamina +1]

Was this fortunate in misfortune?

It seemed like she could train even if she couldn’t allocate stats.

But she couldn’t just keep running away.

She was able to shake it off and had some leeway, but,

She had no intention of ending it after clearing only two floors.

She checked the time.

Started climbing at 12 o’clock.

Current time 4:35 PM.

Already four and a half hours had passed.

It was enough time to climb up to the 20th floor, but the human knight on the 21st floor and the Basilisk on the 22nd floor were incomparably stronger than the lower floors.

The Orc Elite Warrior on the 20th floor was red.

The human swordsman on the 21st floor was crimson.

The Basilisk on the 22nd floor was black.

‘Power creep.’

“Cough!”

‘Isn’t it too much?’

Attacks weren’t working at all.

“Cough cough! Haa… In order to fight a monster that is immune to attacks…”

She escaped the Basilisk’s encirclement by running.

If she wasn’t mistaken, the Basilisk’s movement speed had increased compared to before.

She might be mistaken in her haste, but,

‘I have to prepare.’

Anyway,

“Haa… Haa… Cough cough! Haa…”

Cold air filled her lungs.

She placed her hand on her chest to calm herself, but her heart was also racing wildly.

With a pale face, she drank a fatigue recovery potion.

“This won’t do.”

If she kept running away like this, the ending was obvious.

What was this, some kind of territory game… It wasn’t like those indie games that were popular in the past.

There was a game where you closed off the areas you passed through, turning them into your territory. A game where you ate other players if they were inside your territory.

It was just like that, except she was being unilaterally attacked by the Basilisk.

Lack of attack power.

‘I should have raised it.’

She was careless because she could raise stats inside the Tower.

‘Come to think of it, I’ve only been raising it through training.’

She hadn’t used a single one of the unallocated points she had collected.

3 points per level, so 63 points. If she had invested them all in [Strength] or [Magical Power], her attack power would have been more than enough.

The saying that leaving things alone turns them into shit wasn’t for nothing.

If she died or the game ended like this, it would all turn to shit.

‘It seems too late to regret it, but.’

“Haa… Damn it.”

She drank her third fatigue recovery potion.

But the fatigue didn’t go away.

‘Well, even if the fatigue is relieved…’

“Cough!”

‘…My body is already at its limit, so I can’t recover.’

“I have no choice.”

It wasn’t her preferred method, but she had no choice but to die fighting her best.

Americano leaned her back against the wall and held her sword in both hands.

She used [Northern Empire Swordsmanship (Inferior)], a skill, to familiarize herself with it.

The AI connected to the virtual body reproduced the movements recorded as skills.

Form 1.

Form 2.

Form 3.

She used the basic forms.

Northern Empire.

It was a major ancient nation in the worldview, with its own page on the strategy site and several sub-documents.

It was said that it was destroyed by the gods in the past and even its name was taken away, so there were hardly any records left.

The only thing that could be known was that it took a hegemonic path, befitting an empire.

The Northern Empire, a huge bait in the game. [Northern Empire Swordsmanship (Inferior)], with that name as a modifier.

Although it was an imitation, the moment she reproduced it as a skill.

‘This is…’

Secret technique. Execution Sword.

She could intuitively tell that this was the technique that the human knight Chris was going to use at the end.

But,

“Tch.”

What she saw was an ‘Execution Sword’ that wasn’t completed, and the (Inferior) attached to the end meant imitation.

Americano could only use the techniques that she saw and experienced while fighting the human knight Chris. So it was full of holes and crude.

It wasn’t as satisfying as what Chris used, but,

Hiss───

The snake’s cry.

Red eyes.

The Basilisk had been chasing her and came straight for her.

“Hoo…”

She readjusted her grip on the sword.

The sword glowed faintly.

Basilisk.

A strategy-type monster that randomly appeared from floors 25 to 35.

The characteristic of strategy-type monsters was that they had their own dedicated map.

Splash.

The Hero shouted.

“Freeze!!”

The shallow water on the passage froze.

It was thin ice that couldn’t stop the Basilisk’s heavy charge, but the Basilisk’s movements began to slow down.

The Basilisk was, after all, a reptile.

As a poikilotherm, the Basilisk’s body prepared for hibernation as it was exposed to the cold.

As it completely succumbed to the sleep and closed its eyes,

[Floor 30 Basilisk – Cleared]

[Rank] [A]

[First Clear Reward] [Demon King Stone×6]

[Party Reward] [Enhancement Stone×6]

[Reward] [3,000 Gold]

The strategy was successfully completed.

“Party leader.”

“What is it?”

“That thing’s not dead yet? Is it a bug?”

The party’s sub-dealer. A woman with bright red hair expressed her doubts.

The party was formed by the party leader and her friends, but they were stuck on the 30th floor and recruited temporary party members.

The sub-dealer and temporary party member ‘Scarlett’ raised her greatsword and aimed it at the Basilisk.

“Whoa, whoa. Leave it alone.”

“Weren’t we supposed to catch it? I came here thinking I was going to kill it…!”

“Looks like you got stuck in the solo section?”

“Yes! That’s why I was looking for a way to kill it! What if it ends here!”

“Haha. It’s unlucky to meet a Basilisk in solo. But it’s not a monster that was made to be caught in the first place. It’s a monster that you need to be level 40 to catch in the field, how can level 30s catch it.”

Fortunately, Scarlett didn’t suddenly attack the Basilisk because things weren’t going her way.

“Hmm…”

She seemed to be unable to find a rebuttal because she couldn’t find a rebuttal, which meant she was a person who could communicate.

“…That’s true, but.”

“If you want to do it the orthodox way, you can level up with a party and then go.”

“But that’s kind of cheap.”

“Where’s the cheapness in the game? It’s enough to go up efficiently and quickly. Of course, leveling up with a party requires you to clear it multiple times and there’s a risk of high-level monsters appearing, but I think it’s better than breaking through it stupidly.”

“….”

But that was unfair.

Scarlett saw this game as a training ground, so she wanted trials like the name of the Tower, rather than climbing the Tower.

It didn’t matter if she used tools or sought the help of a mage, but she really didn’t like the way she was overpowering them with levels.

But she couldn’t cause a ruckus in someone else’s party.

As the party members who had scattered to strategize gathered, they left the Tower.

“Scarlett, if you’re okay with it, would you like to party with us again next time? I’ll help you level up.”

“No.”

Scarlett shook her head.

“I’ll try to clear it by myself first.”

She disbanded the party and went to prepare a strategy based on this experience.

On the way to the market, the Summoned Heroes were still lamenting that they couldn’t return to their world.

The Native Hero Scarlett let out a pathetic sigh as she looked at them.

The Hero who conquered the top of the Tower was expected to be a Summoned Hero.

‘All they do is fall apart because they can’t go home.’

[Restores all damage to the body.]

“Still…”

Americano lost her strength and collapsed.

“…I had a way out prepared.”

Maybe ‘Northern Empire Swordsmanship’ was meant to be learned after clearing the 21st floor and then challenging the 22nd floor.

Originally, she would probably clear the 21st floor and then train outside before challenging it.

If she came in with a party and pre-emptively subjugated it, it would have helped with the strategy later.

But she skipped that process.

‘Did the 91 points in aptitude hard carry me?’

Investing points in aptitude seemed to be a divine move.

She used the secret technique of [Northern Empire Swordsmanship (Inferior)] to cut and cut the Basilisk.

In the middle, the Basilisk increased its speed, which increased her combat breathing, but,

Americano was able to escape and avoid the Basilisk, using the secret technique to inflict damage on its hard scales.

Although it was a very shallow wound, accumulating damage to the same area was like gathering dust to form a mountain, and the attacks gradually became effective.

Her stamina was depleted, but she forcibly overworked her body.

It didn’t matter as long as she cleared it.

It would all be restored if she cleared it.

Burn it all white.

It felt like there was a hole in her stomach, her muscles were mush, and her brain was melting, but it would all be restored if she cleared it. It didn’t matter if she died.

She only charged with the intention of killing it, and she charged with the intention of dying.

She spared no expense on the consumables she had prepared, whether it was fatigue recovery potions or food-type consumables.

The fact that the attacks were working wasn’t the end, but rather the beginning of the subjugation.

The Basilisk was still huge, and after not considering the collapse of the passage, it was a storm train.

The labyrinth was a structure with square blocks gathered at regular intervals, so it was easy to avoid, but,

The structure was such that she could be surrounded as soon as she went around a block, so the internal structure of the labyrinth was a double-edged sword for both her and the monster.

She moved constantly,

Faced it head-on,

Evaded through side paths,

And repeated the process.

“Haa…”

Americano was the one who survived.

She sprawled out in a large shape.

The Basilisk’s head was tattered.

The wounds that missed the same spot and hit it askew tore the leather messily.

50 times? 80 times in the same spot? True to the name of Execution Sword, the moment the skull cracked, it split in two from the top of its head to under its chin.

It was a common effect of skills with the name Execution that their power doubled or instantly killed when the target’s health was below a certain percentage.

She was worried because it was half-baked, but as she used it, the secret technique was sublimated into [Execution Sword].

She didn’t know what kind of stimulation the 91 points in aptitude gave to the virtual body, but it was possible to master the principles of using a sword.

She even had the confidence that she could use [Execution Sword] without skills.

That’s how the [Execution Sword], which had been enhanced, split the Basilisk’s head in two.

“Ugh..! Cough cough!! Uweeek…!”

She turned over and coughed, spitting out blood.

Blood was pooling in her throat and stomach.

She had recovered, but the blood she had shed didn’t disappear.

The Basilisk’s corpse crumbled into dust,

[Floor 22 Basilisk – Cleared]

[Rank] [SSS]

[First Clear Reward] [Demon King Stone×22]

[Solo Reward] [Wish Stone×22]

[Reward] [11,000 Gold]

Floor 22 cleared.

She celebrated her victory.

“Uweeeek.”