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nTen years passed by. It had been a long time. Jaehwan had spent all that time alone on the 99th floor.

nHe had gone through thousands of dangers that almost killed him. He faced many dangerous situations as he climbed from the 1st floor to the 99th floor, but the number of dangers he faced just on the 99th floor easily took the cake.

nThe boss of 99th floor, Velkisus.

nThe dragon that came from had a breath attack that Jaehwan could not resist even with his Frost Resistance that hit its maximum.

nNot only that, the durable dragon scales had crushed swords and armor many times. If it wasn’t for the pieces of equipment left behind by the other Walkers, he would have had to give up a long time ago.

nThe Dragon Sword from 85th floor, the Frost Armor that Yoonhwan left behind, the Bracelet of the Fire King that Seoyul gave him before she died had been a huge help.

nHan Seoyul.

nJaehwan thought of her. She had died even before she got up to the 77th floor.

nJay, the blacksmith of Atopos asked, “Jaehwan, are you going to try again?”

nThe village that formed after killing Monster Dragon Alteminas of the 50th floor, Atopos.

nPeople of the world still had hope when the village was formed. Many Walkers were killed and wounded on the frontlines, but it still gave them hope. Priests formed an emergency team to heal the wounds while blacksmiths worked to provide free repairs to those who fought.

n was run by old man Jay and it was one of the best.

nBut he was now the last blacksmith left in Atopos.

n“Jaehwan?”

n“Oh, right. Sorry.”

nJaehwan came back to his senses.

n“Yeah. I think I can do it this time.”

n“Are you sure?”

nJaehwan smiled. “Yeah.”

nIt was a lie. He had no chance. He had no idea when, or if he could kill it. But he had to say it this way. Jay laughed.

nJay was a foreigner.

nAs people got up on the tower, their languages were combined into the common language of the tower, but the cultural differences still remained. But Jaehwan considered Jay like a family. Jay hammered the Dragon Sword as he talked to Jaehwan.

n“There are no more supplies coming from below. It wasn’t a lot but there was some coming up until a few months ago.”

nJaehwan nodded. Last week, he had checked out every floor starting from the 1st to 99th floor. But there were no survivors. He even had waited a week at the summoning area of the 1st floor but there wasn’t even one who was summoned from below.

nIt probably meant that mankind had been wiped out. But it seemed possible.

nJaehwan did not know what the year was. There had been at least ten Tower Impacts and there probably was no one who could survive. Jaehwan managed to find one clue that was considered as a hidden piece.

nThe passage that used to be blocked by Returning Stone in the past, had some scribbling.

n-Tower within the tower. A nightmare within the nightmare.

nHe couldn’t understand it, however.

n“Oh and ol’ granny from disappeared the other day.”

n“Hiren…”

nHiren, the ol’granny from was one of the last supporter Walker remaining at Atopos. The ones who came into the tower did not age. If she disappeared, it was only one of two reasons.

nEither the one went to the past, or jumped off.

nJaehwan wanted to ask which option Hiren took. But it probably was the same even if he knew. Then Jaehwan saw something deep within Jay’s old eyes. It seemed he will not see Jay for much longer also.

n“Jay, can you teach me the blacksmith skill?”

nThe hammering stopped and both men looked at each for a moment.

nJay nodded silently.

nBack to the 99th floor.

nThe Frost Dragon Velkisus was astonished at the human who had come again.

n-You are one of a kind. No humans have come to the 99th floor alone until now.

nJaehwan laughed. It was ironic that his hard work was being recognized by such monsters instead of mankind.

n“I’ll be sorry to kill you.”

n-I’m sorry to say that is impossible, human.

n“No way. That scale of yours is cracking, didn’t you notice?”

nThe dragon roared and Jaehwan charged with his sword in front.

nIt was a simple attack.

n‘Stab’.

nJaehwan had started climbing the tower much later than others. It made him miss out on the chance to get hidden skills or classes so Jaehwan gave up on everything else and concentrated on the ‘Stab’ skill.

nHe stabbed, stabbed and stabbed.

nAfter about 50 million stabs, people began calling him ‘Jaehwan the Persistent Stabber.’ And that’s when he felt his Stab changing. It became faster and more accurate. It had become stronger.

n60 million, 70 million… and 100 million times.

nHis basic Stab skill now had become powerful enough on par with even rarest of hidden skills. Also, it was only a basic move so it did not require him to use his mana, which made him attack endlessly.

nBut it was not enough to handle the Frost Dragon of the 99th floor. He barely made a scratch when he stabbed one point of the scale hundreds of times. But there were times when he managed to damage the scale with one strike.

n‘There, I see it again.’

nHis sight became blurry and his stabbing changed its power. It was not fast, but not slow. But the stab wasn’t avoidable.

n“KAAAAAA!”

nThe Frost Dragon roared in pain.

nHe couldn’t remember but this occurred rarely. Maybe out of one in hundred thousand times, he saw a faint line on his sight. He followed it without thinking. If he were successful in following the line, his stab managed to inflict an attack that equaled thousands of attacks.

n‘Dammit, it’s still not enough.’

nThe dragon took a deep breath and released it, filling the tower. It was a critical strike to Jaehwan who was already in bad shape. His health was dropping rapidly toward 0. Jaehwan barely managed to avoid the breath.

n-It is unfortunate, human. If there were 10 more like you, you might have defeated me.

n“Shut up.”

n-If your foolish race wasn’t tempted by the Stone of Nightmare… it would’ve changed the fate of your race.

n“Huh? Stone of Nightmare? What do you mean?”

nThe dragon did not answer, instead, its huge claw swung at him.

n“…I will come back.”

nJaehwan jumped backward to run and Frost Dragon did not go after him.

nFive more years had passed by.

nLegend Incarnate: You have succeeded in hunting ‘Frost King Velokisus’

nYou have achieved an impossible feat alone.

nAcquired a new title: ‘Nightmare of the 99th floor’

nAcquired weapon: ‘Frost Dragon Sword’

nUser’s level has reached the limit.

nUser’s HP has reached the limit.

nUser’s Strength has reached the limit.

nUser’s Dexterity has reached the limit.

nThe gigantic dragon’s body was disappearing.

n-You… really are amazing, human.

n“Speak. What is the Stone of Nightmare?”

n-You know the answer to it.

nJaehwan did not want to believe it. He needed to learn more.

n-You will know everything once you reach the final floor.

nThe Frost Dragon did not speak anymore. As Jaehwan finished while it disappeared completely, he stood up and looked at the gate to the last floor. It had been so hard to even kill the Frost Dragon so he couldn’t imagine what might be waiting for him on the final floor.

nBut he did not stop.

n<<100>>

nJaehwan checked on the number at the gate. It was covered with dust, but he reached out to clean it off. Many memories flashed by him as he looked at the number.

n‘Jay would be proud.’

nJaehwan opened up the gate.

nThe 100th floor of the tower looked like an emergency operating room from various horror movies, but on a much larger scale. Thousands of hologram panels showed various places of the tower and some of them were showing Jaehwan.

nThe Jaehwan in the hologram screen seemed dumbfounded.

n“Oh, you’re here already. I thought you were going to stop by the village first.”

nJaehwan grew tense and looked around. But there were no signs of any humans.

n“Relax, relax. I forgot to send you an important message, stay where you are. These look fancy but they’re really archaic so I have to do some manual work.”

nAfter a few moments, a screen popped up in front of Jaehwan.

nCongratulations. You are the first to clear the tutorial game of World 294.

nYour achievement will be recorded in the Immortal Library of the . Only the lords of the will be granted access to the records.

nJaehwan grew confused.

n‘What the hell is going on?’

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