CHAPTER 18: CHAPTER 18: 20TH FLOOR [3]

In an unknown underground place, a room that looked quite similar to a laboratory.

But instead of creating things that would save the world, this place created things that would destroy it.

The sound of hurried footsteps could be heard everywhere, and along with it, there were voices that sounded equally serious.

"Hey, what should we do?"

"Who knows. The situation isn’t going as we expected."

In the middle of the room was a hospital bed, and lying on it was a child around 6 years old.

The boy’s body was pretty much destroyed, no different from a monster.

And surrounding the kid were many men, all wearing white blouses, and protective gloves.

All of them were looking at the kid as if he were something extremely disgusting.

— It’s dark.

— It hurts. It hurts a lot more than usual.

— What’s going on?

— Their voices sounded different from usual.

"Hey, did you inject this kid with painkillers and other drugs to avoid any unnecessary problems?"

"Um... sorry, I seem to have forgotten..."

"Damn you bastard! How could you make such a basic mistake!? Do you know that this kid is the perfect test subject!?"

Followed by the sounds of scuffling.

— Are they fighting?

— Why?

— It’s so dark, I can’t see anything.

— I want to see them fight.

— I want to see them die.

— I can’t open my eyes.

— Am I blind?

— I could still see before, though...

"Wait a minute! As you can see, this kid is still fine, right?"

"Nonsense, can’t you see? This kid is about to die!"

— Am I about to die?

— I don’t want to die.

— I want to live.

— Someone please save me.

"...Then what should we do now? Not everyone is as suitable as this kid."

"Tsk, I guess we’ll have to use someone else."

"That’s a good idea, I agree."

"I am good with that, too. We don’t lack kids anyway. So the chances of us finding a suitable test subject are also quite high. Hehe."

— ...Wait, what did those guys just say?

— They’re going to hurt other people?

— They’re going to hurt my friends?

— They promised... that they wouldn’t touch anyone else.

— I’ve been tricked...

— Promise breakers...

"Hey, how about we experiment on that kid named Allen? He seems to be this kid’s best friend."

— Stop it, you inhumans!

— You monsters!

— Don’t touch my friend!

Nothing’s changed.

— If you touch them, I’ll definitely kill you all!

— STOP NOW!

— STOP NOW!

— STOP NOW!

Suddenly, the alarm in the lab started to sound wildly, uncontrollably.

In no time, the entire room was covered in red.

"Hey, what’s going on!?"

"I don’t know, but I have a pretty bad feeling."

"Should we run now?"

Everything started to shake.

Things made of glass just kept shattering into pieces, showing no signs of stopping.

And the kid, who was tied up like a criminal in the middle of the room, started to tremble, too.

— You guys are unreliable.

— I’ve been tolerating you all for a long time.

— I... will kill you all.

— I will kill everyone.

— Until there’s no one left in this world.

His body started to deform.

The kid had officially become a Tower Creature.

***

BOOM!

Without warning, a huge explosion occurred in the East, more precisely, in the orphanage, where many pitiful, parentless children were staying.

Smoke billowed up, covering most of the sky.

And when it dissipated, everyone was shocked and terrified by what entered their sight.

It was a Tower Creature of extremely horrifying size.

Deserving to be called the largest Tower Creature that humanity had ever encountered.

Its body did not have many colors.

Only one, and it was black.

The color of despair.

The color of death.

The color of a disaster.

The 4 Rankers in the top 20 nearby rushed forward.

They had experience, they had strength, they had gone through many battles, so they believed that they could win.

They had looked down on Doom Bringer.

Hence, death was their result.

But at least they did not die in vain, because before being killed, all 4 of them had successfully dealt a little damage to it.

Doom Bringer stood still for a moment, checking to see if the wound was serious.

And when it was sure that it was fine, the Tower Creature started to move.

Sowing fear into all of humanity.

In the first week, Doom Bringer alone had wiped out 7 veteran Rankers of the Tower.

In the second week, the number had begun to increase significantly.

It had killed 10 Rankers, bringing its total to 17.

In the third week, 9 more Rankers had passed away.

...

Week 4.

Initially, the number of people participating in breaking through the 20th floor was 41, but now, that number had decreased to 10.

3/4 had been cleared, and what’s worse, all of them were famous Rankers, often appearing in newspapers, praised by many people.

Moreover, the entire population of the 20th floor had been wiped out by Doom Bringer itself.

No matter if that was a man, woman, old person, or child.

The houses had been demolished to the point of being deformed.

Blood was everywhere in this once beautiful city.

There was no sound of crying, simply because there was no one left to cry.

Sitting in a house that had not been completely destroyed by the Tower Creature, Hans felt hopeless and blameworthy.

So many people had been killed, and he, a regressor, could do nothing to save them.

Doom Bringer was too strong.

An existence that could not be defeated.

And Hans... was too weak.

***

That was what happened in the Tower of Glory storyline.

Almost everyone was wiped out by Doom Bringer alone, and Hans was forced to flee during that time, waiting for the moment the Tower bestowed upon him [Sword Saint].

The result of that arc was of course the main character’s victory.

It was all thanks to a game-breaking Ability.

But in return, many innocent lives were lost.

And after that day, Hans Varun had blamed himself many times.

"But this time it’s different, Hans."

Why?

"Because I’m here."

At the top of the clock tower, Kael couldn’t help but smile triumphantly after determining Doom Bringer’s location.

"So it’s an orphanage? Why didn’t I think of it sooner?"

He took out [Letter to the Past], and wrote a simple word:

— Orphanage.

"And sent."

The letter quickly disappeared into thin air.

At the same time, Doom Bringer grabbed Kael’s body, and mercilessly threw him into its stomach.

The acid inside began to corrode his body, until he was nothing but a lifeless skeleton.

He was dead.

But the future would be changed by the Kael of the past.