Antagonist Protection Service

After ensuring the Villain's Vizard was properly equipped, I was transported.

Then, opening my eyes, I appeared in a familiar, endless grass field.

[Floor 1]

[Mingle]

All around, hundreds of Challengers were talking, relaxing, or doing business as if it were usual. Perhaps as was to be expected of those who spent their time relaxing instead of focusing on clearing the Tower, most of them seemed to be transparently weak, whether in physical power or just judging by their magic energy.

In any case, everything seemed mostly the same as last time, if not a little more developed, but of course that was natural.

It appeared that, since my previous anchor had been reset, I had been transported to the First Floor instead of going directly to the Floor I had previously reached.

Speaking of which, the Tenth Floor that I had climbed to last time... Maybe I should have looked up how to clear it first.

'Well, whatever. I'll give it a try first at least, then g--"

"...!"

All of a sudden, while casually scanning the surroundings, I caught a glimpse in the distance.

White hair.

'El--? No... No, it's not her...'

It shouldn't have been. It couldn't have been.

This person, their hair was far shorter, their build that of a man... It caught me off guard initially, but there was no need to think too deeply into it.

'I asked her not to come here. She assured me she wouldn't. There's nothing to worry about...'

It's not like white hair was crazy uncommon among Awakened. It simply startled me for a moment since I wasn't expecting it.

'Really, it's fine... Ah.'

Belatedly realising I was biting my lip a little, I stopped myself and watched the back of the person with white hair disappear into the veiled entrance of a tent.

"Haa... How ridiculous..."

Sighing quietly, I promptly found myself pulled together after the stranger had vanished.

Soon after, all around me, I started to notice people beginning to cast peculiar glances my way. Whether it was because of my, admittedly, suspicious-as-hell appearance or something else, there were an uncomfortable amount of people slowly taking notice of me.

"Tsk. Take me to the Tenth Floor."

Deciding it would be best to make haste before anything undesirable occurred or too much attention came my way, I muttered, the space around me distorting and shifting, and in the blink of an eye, the world had turned into a pitch black void.

[Floor 10]

[Floor Cleared]

[Obtained Standard Healing Potion (x1)]

[Obtained Standard Mana Potion (x1)]

"Huh?"

Uttering a puzzled, dumb sound like that at the string of notifications, I instinctively scratched the back of my head as two differently-coloured glass bottles clinked together on the floor of the void.

"I cleared it...? But, didn't I leave right after getting here last time?"

Thinking back, I recalled what the Objective of the Tenth Floor was.

[Objective: Die]

'It was literally just that, right...??'

Furrowing my brows at the puzzling outcome, which didn't seem natural at all, of course I wouldn't complain about the free clear, especially when I wasn't sure how to even clear the Floor in the first place, but...

"Wait... What if the Objective was a trick... Would the real way to clear it be to just wait?"

If it was like that, it would make sense how John Pierce cleared it all that time ago, and taking into account that the Tower still considered me to be present in the Floor when I left via the Library's transportation, assuming my anchor was still set here that is, then it certainly would add up...

"...Hah."

In the end, I could only laugh.

It really was a fortunate coincidence that I was able to just stay home for a few weeks right after leaving. If that wasn't the case, and the transportation anchor here was reset, I would've had to wait however long to clear it before continuing.

"...Well! Certainly not gonna complain!"

Reaching down, I sweeped up the two potions and deposited directly to Storage before straightening my back.

"Leinth, Eleventh Floor, please!"

Calling out into the void, a moment of silence dawned, and a few seconds later, everything warped.

Just like that, I appeared in a similar-looking dingy dungeon to the Second and Third Floors.

[Floor 11]

[Objective: Eliminate the dungeon boss and escape]

'Oh, would you look at that. It really was like a tutorial...'

Last time, I could see well enough in the dark thanks to Heightened Senses not to worry, but now that my body was enhanced throughout with overflowing magic and divine energy, any danger of the dark was practically nonexistent.

Other than that, it was interesting to note the wording of the Objective and compare it to the first Floors.

"It's combining multiple Objectives into one, and it isn't giving me any hints of what there might be like it did. I guess there's no need for it to be overly kind anymore."

I had to remind myself that, although the goal of the Tower was to slow down any Challengers and not let them clear it so that it could continue to maintain the World Stability of Earth, it couldn't be made to be impossible.

That was also why the Objective of the Tenth Floor had to have a method of clearing it, even if it didn't seem that way at first.

'Anyway. I should stop wasting time.'

Walking forward, I effortlessly pushed open the broken iron door of what appeared to be an ancient stone cell I spawned in.

Continuing down the dilapidated, narrow corridor of old stone that connected the cell to the rest of the dungeon, I quickly spotted something in the distance, seemingly waiting.

'Undead?'

Leaning against the wall like a drunken, or perhaps injured individual, a living, rotting corpse was idling right in my path.

It seemed to possess barely any commendable amount of magic energy, and even its raw physical strength looked negligible.

As expected of a low-level enemy, I guess.

'Maybe it's starting off easy after all.'

Without hesitation, I summoned the Villainous Blade into my right hand, continuing my casual walk forwards.

"I don't need Anti-Evil for something like that."

Besides, there was another reason to use this rather than the Holy Sword.

"Ghr... Ghrraaaah...!"

"..."

As the pitiful undead spotted me, it lumbered over and screamed, raising an arm to swing at me before having its body abruptly cleaved in twain from the hip to the shoulder.

Putting it down with a total of zero effort, I cast a glance down at the sword in my hand, an eastern design of which the accurate classification I still wasn't totally sure about, but regardless, that wasn't important.

The runes positioned along the side of the sleek, black blade, contaminated partially by the dark blood, flesh and guts of the undead it had just slain―just one second after being dirtied, the runes faintly emitted a deep purple light, one that momentarily washed over the whole length of the blade and purified it of any filth or stains from the undead.

Watching the Self-Cleansing property quickly and smoothly showcase itself like so, I nodded my head in satisfaction.

'Perfect.'

This way, there was no need to worry about ruining it with something dirty like an enemy's blood.

Sheathing the Villainous Blade onto my waist, I continued forward.

Dashing through the dungeon incomparably faster than when I was going through the Second and Third Floors, I swiftly made my way through winding corridors and open rooms, bypassing various arrow traps, spike traps, death pits, trapdoors, crushing boulders, and more, as well as promptly cutting down any of the undead that obstructed the way.

In all cases, there were a lot more of them than in the first few Floors, but that was to be expected. Still, it didn't mean they were of any concern.

Naturally, with the level of strength I currently possessed, I doubted there was a single thing, be it a trap or an opponent, who could pose even an ounce of a threat to me on the entire Eleventh Floor.

And probably for the foreseeable future, too.

Upon exploring and advancing for a while through what would have ordinarily been a quite perilous dungeon to venture, I eventually came across something odd.

Stumbling into a room that had its door already pried open, I peered into the darkness just to find a collection of butchered undead corpses strewn about the place, smashed wooden tables and chairs also thrown into the mix, and even a line of steel bolts penetrating halfway through one of the walls, scorched with what was likely magic.

"Hm..."

Quietly examining the scene, it was clear that someone had come here before me, rampaged about, and even set off a hidden trap. Or multiple people, perhaps, considering the use of both magic and a melee weapon.

But that wasn't all.

Raising my head and glancing to the only way out of the room other than the entrance I came through, I sensed something up ahead.

'Challengers...'

As well as an unusual amount of surging magic power in one of the rooms ahead, the presences were clearly incomparable to any one of the undead littering the place, pretty much confirming my suspicion.

"..."

Briefly pausing, I glanced again at the corpses on the floor before making my way to the room's opposite end, ensuring the newly-upgraded Sneak was activated.

'Wonder how the boss elimination credit will work if there are multiple competitors...'

Curiosity naturally settling in, I calmly followed the path of those who treaded before me.