“……”

I looked around. Everyone was wearing the same armor.

‘Are they players?’

There were many soldiers who, like me, were looking around. Judging by their expressions, they all seemed to be players.

It was easy to distinguish their races.

In contrast, the opposing faction was all human. They were human-like monsters with their faces pixelated.

“This floor is similar to the 4th.”

A player standing next to me spoke. His body was engulfed in flames, burning fiercely. Being close to him, I could feel the heat, and sweat started to trickle down.

‘Elemental spirit?’

Spirits have no form. He looked more like a human wrapped in flames than an elemental spirit.

“Are you a telekinetic user?” “I often get mistaken for that since coming to the Tower of Struggle. I’m not a telekinetic user. I’m from a race called Igral. Do you want to know why it’s called Igral?” “No.”

I wasn’t particularly curious. A history of some unknown dimension didn’t interest me.

He nodded as if he understood and raised his arm to survey the surroundings.

“When we were on the 4th floor, it was convenient since everyone was a goblin, but it looks like they don’t touch the race here on the 6th floor. It’s a bit annoying.”

Every time he moved, flames scattered. It felt like they were fluttering in the wind.

The heat also spread, and players nearby started to distance themselves from him.

I also took a step to the side. It wasn’t hot enough to drain my health, but it was uncomfortable because of the warmth.

“The gear is similar.”

As the flame-wrapped human moved, my gaze kept drifting toward him. It didn’t take long to realize that the leather armor he was wearing was the same as the other players’.

‘Same for me.’

While the races differed, the equipment was standardized.

‘The floor’s owner is a stingy one, trying to save on plausibility.’

It was easy to guess that the rewards wouldn’t be great either.

[6th floor, annihilate the enemy army.]

I calmed down and checked the floor’s message. Enemy army. It likely referred to the enemy formation standing about 500 meters ahead.

‘How many are there?’

The battle would start soon. Before that, I checked my own status.

‘My stats are fixed.’

Except for luck, all my stats were 13. The only good thing was that my skills weren’t altered.

As the Igral player had said, it was the same as the 4th floor, except for the race.

Whooo-!

A horn sounded from in front of the players, and a knight on horseback blew it loudly.

“Charge!”

The knight’s voice boomed. His voice was so loud that it wasn’t drowned out by the sound of the horn—he had quite a powerful voice.

“What’s he saying?” “Does he want us to run over there?”

No player readily followed the knight’s command.

The monsters of the enemy faction had drawn their bows and notched arrows. Charging forward now would turn them into pincushions from a volley of arrows.

Many players, already weaker due to their stats being fixed, found it difficult to comply with this mission.

“Are you defying orders?”

The knight yelled fiercely.

“Defying orders during wartime means immediate execution!”

The knight drew his sword. He approached the players, looking like he would strike any moment.

The knight on horseback, a typical cavalryman, was more threatening than expected.

“Charge now!”

[6th floor, annihilate the enemy army.]

At the knight’s shout, the message appeared. If we didn’t charge, it seemed like we might be killed by the knight.

‘Of course, I’m not in danger.’

The other players were probably feeling an entirely different sense of pressure.

“Ugh, ugh!” “Charge!”

The knight cleaved down a goblin who had hesitated to move forward, cutting it down in one blow.

“Keerrrk!”

It was a goblin that had made it all the way to the 6th floor. The path had likely been difficult for it. But its struggle ended in an instant.

A hush fell among the players. It felt as if everyone shared the thought that we couldn’t stand still any longer.

“It seems like we’ll be leaving soon.”

The Igral whispered next to me.

“It’s too hot, don’t you think? Can’t we just stay away?” “Ah, sorry.”

The horn sounded again, and the knight shouted one last time.

“Chaaaarge!”

Finally, the players took a step forward. And arrows began to rain down.

“Couldn’t you at least give us shields and tell us to charge, damn it!”

Someone screamed as they collapsed. Blood began to spill across the plain.

The soldiers-turned-players were poorly equipped. Spears and leather armor.

The quality of the spears was also not great. F-rank weapons—gear that’s practically useless by now.

There was a reason the players were screaming in frustration.

But they couldn’t stop charging. The knights on horseback began killing players from behind.@@novelbin@@

To survive, there was no choice but to kill the monsters in the enemy formation ahead.

Whoosh-!

The Igral player created a fiery spear. I couldn’t see where he had put his other equipment.

Boom-!

He threw the fire spear like an arrow, striking a monster and killing it in one blow.

“I can control the explosions. It’s one of my abilities.” “I didn’t ask.”

I got a rough sense of the Igral player’s personality. He was quite talkative.

He spoke nonstop, even though he was speaking to a complete stranger like me. Whether I listened or not, he stubbornly kept talking.

“Ahhh!”

A player next to me, one of the human players, fell.

Because of their lowered stats, even one arrow was enough to deal a fatal blow.

“He, help me, use a healing skill!”

While the stats were downgraded, the players still had their skills. Players with priest-like classes could use holy spells, regardless of the Soul System.

“Please…!”

But there was no priest willing to waste their divine power on someone they didn’t know. If they weren’t already invited to the Tower of Struggle, it would be different.

A seasoned player wouldn’t make self-sacrificial moves like that.

“Heal!”

A white light surrounded the injured player. The light felt so noble that it naturally drew my gaze.

The player who had been hit by an arrow quickly stood up. It seemed like their injury had been healed, and they looked much lighter.

“Th, thank you!”

The player expressed their gratitude to the unknown priest and disappeared into the army. They were desperately trying to survive.

I watched the priest who had used the holy spell carefully. He flinched as if he felt my gaze and looked at me briefly.

‘He’s on guard.’

On the vast plain, the players were focused on the army of monsters in front of them but still keeping an eye on their surroundings.

This was the result of learning not to trust other players while climbing the Tower.

Whether Earthling or not, anyone can betray.

I’m not saying this just because I’m Earthling. It’s true.

Betrayal becomes more appealing when the returns are greater than loyalty.

The new players just climbed. A shower of arrows, chaos. In a melee like this, it would be hard to notice a spear coming from behind.

It wouldn’t be strange if there were players blinded by their stats and skills.

“Hehe.”

A malicious laugh came from right behind me.

I hadn’t even noticed when they had gotten so close. The agility stat downgrade bothered me.

I didn’t feel it as much with other stats, but agility was a noticeable difference.

[Cheolpo Samgong]

I changed my race to a martial artist and activated the Cheolpo Samgong, parrying the spear that was coming from behind.

“What?!”

The spear didn’t land. The enemy player, clearly flustered, retreated.

He tried to hide among the army, but he couldn’t escape from me.

‘Skills are so convenient.’

There’s no need to focus to land the skills. As long as I’m willing to use them, the Soul System helps me hit the target.

Unless the agility difference with the enemy is too great, it’s almost impossible to miss.

“Ugh!”

I used Ground Slam. The ground rose and struck the enemy, sending him flying into the air.

He became airborne. Being lifted into the air was an excessive crowd control move to grab the attention of nearby players.

Naturally, all the players turned their attention toward me.

“What’s going on! Who did that?!”

“Who the hell is using skills on another player?!”

There’s not much movement needed to use a skill.

In my case, I have so many skills that I set up patterns to distinguish the movements, but the Soul System doesn’t require any specific motion.

[Absorbing the soul of the martial artist (Igral).] [Strength increases by 0.01.]

Attacking a player who’s working with me on the mission is morally wrong.

But what about retaliating against a player who came after me?

‘That’s not wrong.’

Self-defense.

Besides, the 6th floor uniform was standardized with leather armor. Everyone would be sure I was an Earthling.

‘It feels like my mission is different from theirs.’

It’s absurd, but I stayed focused.

If I made a mistake, I could end up seriously injured from a skill.

Being surrounded from all sides, it was better for my mental health to think that I was trapped.

I slowly moved forward, following the other players.