REAPER SCANS
Monopolizing Skills to the 666th Floor
[Translator – Darkraider 2.2]
[Proofreader – Nine ]
Chapter 32 - The 40th Floor of the Labyrinth
As Se-hee resolved to enter the Labyrinth, a man on the other side of the world exited the Labyrinth after clearing the 19th floor.
“Phew. Collecting magic crystals is no joke,” Joshua said.
The missions for floors 15 through 19 all involved collecting F-rank magic crystals. After completing the missions, he had gathered a total of 45 crystals.
However, he was dissatisfied. Why? Because he had someone to compare himself to.
“Amon’s already on the 40th floor, but I’m still only fresh off the 19th,” he grumbled to himself. They were both acolytes of the God of Time, but Joshua had only managed half of what Amon had done.
Joshua wondered if he would ever be able to close this gap between them.
“No, there’s no point in worrying,” he sighed. “I should just focus on my own progress.”
Shaking off his doubts, he headed to the gym. He wanted to practice his techniques for a bit before attempting the 20th floor. He also had to work on developing some attacks that utilized his Time Reversal skill.
However, there was a guest at the gym.
“Jason?”
“Yo,” Jason greeted. “You’re here.”
This was the gym on Koztech campus. If Jason had chosen to come all the way here, Joshua figured he must have had something he wanted to talk about in person.
Just as he anticipated, Jason walked over to Joshua holding a training spear. The serious look on his face made Joshua wonder if this was something important.
“What’s wrong? You don’t normally come all the way out here.”
“Joshua… It’s killer…”
Joshua froze up. “What is…?”
“The spear you gave me!” Jason shouted. “It’s absolutely killer!”
Jason took the worn-out spear from his Inventory and continued. “Despite how it looks, it’s very functional! You can’t even compare it to the makeshift goblin dagger spear I used to use. And I don’t have to waste my time crafting anymore, either!”
“Phew! You had me worried for a moment there…” Joshua said. “Do you really like it that much?”
“Yeah! It’s awesome! And now that I have this, I can properly utilize my skill. Watch this!”
After getting in position, Jason thrust his spear forward.
Swoosh!
Though the motion itself was simple, the attack was extraordinarily ferocious. It was as fast as a bullet.
“What do you think?” Jason asked.
“Was that your skill?”
“Yeah. It’s an exclusive skill called Thrust, but I haven’t been able to use it until now.”
“Why?”
“I can’t use it without a spear, but the crude spears I used to make wouldn’t count.”
Despite its deceptively simple name, Thrust was a powerful A-rank skill. It maximized one’s focus to enable a precise strike against the enemy. By utilizing it, Jason became capable of killing most enemies with a single attack.
“The only downside to this skill is that it requires a spear, and it only seems to acknowledge spears obtained within the Labyrinth,” Jason explained.
“I see,” Joshua said. “That’s why you haven’t been able to use it until now.”
“Yeah, but you solved my problem. Thanks, bro!”
“Don’t mention it. Besides, I’m not the one you need to thank.”
“I know. You’re talking about your business partner, right?”
Jason had already been told that a business partner had gifted Joshua the spear.
“So, who is this ‘business partner,’ anyway? Why are you so hellbent on hiding his identity?” Jason asked.
“Hiding his identity? Me?”
“You totally are. You always tell me it's a secret whenever I ask about him. I bet you’re lying about him being your business partner, too.”
“I’m not lying! He really is my business partner.”
“What kind of business partner would give an extremely valuable item like this as a simple gift?”
Jason made a valid point. Items were considered priceless right now, and among them, weapons were practically the holy grail. Who would believe that someone gave one away without asking for anything in return?
“H-he said he was giving it to me because it was a spare he just happened to have on hand…”
“That’s what I mean,” Jason said. “How did he have not one, but two weapons? I mean, look at you. You're still using a hobgoblin machete and you’ve made it to the 19th floor.”
It was no wonder that Jason had questions. As far as he knew, no one was clearing the Labyrinth as fast as Joshua.
Well, there was technically one other person that was, but he was so far from the norm that he didn’t count.
Among the people Jason personally knew, Joshua was the strongest. So, of course Jason became curious.
“Anyway, he really is a business partner of mine,” Joshua insisted. “I swear on my honor!”
“How far has he cleared? Has he cleared further down than you?”
“Well… I’m not sure.”
“But how else would he have an item like this?”
“Why are you interrogating me? Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
“I’m just curious because I’m so grateful that I could kiss him, whoever he is!”
“Hold your horses. He’s not the kind of person who’d like that, and he wouldn’t have the time of day, either. He’s way busier than us.”
“What does he do?”
‘Save the world. What else?’ Joshua wanted to say, but he bit his tongue.
“Why do you act like you know this person really well?” Jason asked.
“Well, it’s not like I don’t know him. We’ve met a few times now.”
Jason squinted his eyes. “I’m not buying it…”
How important of a business partner could this person be for Joshua to go this far to conceal his identity?
“Wait, it’s not Amon is it?”
Joshua was dead silent.
“Nah. That can’t be it,” Jason continued. “He’s the most famous person in the world.”
He couldn’t think of any possible way Joshua and Amon could be linked.
Joshua sighed in relief. He had escaped Jason’s suspicions.
“So, what are you guys trading anyway? You never told me,” Jason said.
“Ah. We’re handling magic crystals.”
“Magic crystals? What are those?”
Jason had only gotten to the 14th floor, so he had yet to learn what magic crystals were.
Joshua pulled one out from his inventory. “It’s this thing,” he said.
After reading the item description, Jason’s eyes widened. “It can be used as an alternative energy source? This thing’s going to fetch a fortune.”
“We’re only able to sell it on a small scale due to a lack of supply, but word must’ve gotten out, because other companies have started knocking on our doors wanting to buy it.”
“Whoa…! Really?”
“Starting from the 15th floor, you’ll be able to get some yourself. Collecting them is the floor’s mission, after all.”
“For realsies?” Jason’s eyes glimmered at the prospect of earning some cash. “Will you buy them at a good price from me?”
“You’re already pretty rich.”
“It never hurts to have more money.”
“Okay, Mr. Scrooge.”
Jason spoke like he was just after the money, but in truth, his interests lined up with Joshua’s. He wanted to become stronger than anyone. For now, his goal was to catch up to Joshua and spar against him as equals.
However, a competitor had shown up out of nowhere.
‘Is his business partner really that strong?’ Jason wondered, his confidence tanking. ‘Enough to make Joshua so overprotective?’
He felt like Joshua was being taken away from him.
‘At this rate, I might fall so behind, he’ll forget all about me.’
Jason resolved to work harder at clearing the Labyrinth.
Suddenly, Joshua’s eyes widened.
“What’s wrong? Why are you just staring blankly at the air?” Jason asked.
“Uh, well…”
What had shocked Joshua was a message from his patron spirit.
[The God of Time ‘Kairos’ asks you to enter the Labyrinth and prove your worth.]
[The God of the Underworld ‘Orcus’ offers to accept you as an acolyte of the Triad if you can prove your worth.]
[The Goddess of Concord ‘Harmonia’ explains that you can form a contract with three gods total if you become an acolyte of the Triad, and you will receive additional stats and skills.]
[To prove your worth, defeat as many monsters as possible on the 20th floor and set a historic record.]
‘They want me to set a historic record?’
Noticing the implications of this request, Joshua quickly caught on.
‘It must be a record setting floor, just like the 1st and 10th floor,’ he realized.
The reward for setting a record was an achievement. Because achievements provided effects like skills, it was hard to not be tempted by them.
‘Amon already set a record for the 20th floor, though.’
Joshua realized that the record-keeping metric for that floor was likely how many monsters were defeated. He wondered how many Amon had defeated. Could he surpass that?
Regardless, this was an opportunity. By proving his worth, he could form a contract with not just one, but three gods.
‘It’s the chance to become stronger.’
He decided he would try and break Amon’s record.
“Hey, I need to go now,” he suddenly told Jason. “I need to clear the 20th floor.”
* * *
Reaper Scans
Translator - Darkraider 2.2
Proofreader - Nine
Join our discord for updates on releases!!
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* * *
Floors 1-9 had Extermination missions.
Floors 10-19 had Collection missions.
Floors 20-29 had Survival missions.
Floors 30-39 had Trap missions.
Now, what did floor 40 have in store?
[You have entered the 40th floor of the Labyrinth.]
《Type: Rescue》
《Condition: 1 hour duration》
《Mission: Rescue the Koyan》
[You may not exit until you clear the mission.]
It was a Rescue mission, so you had to find and save someone. The target would be random every time. It could be a monster, a normal animal, a person, or even a beastman like this.
‘However, it’s unknown whether they’re real people and creatures that are trapped here, or if they’re NPCs created for the Labyrinth.’
Whatever the case might have been, the only thing on my mind was rescuing them as fast as possible.
After all, the 40th floor was another record-tracking floor.
Beep—
I turned on my action cam.
Flap!
Then, I took flight with Winged Ascent. Flying was far faster and more liberating than walking.
‘The camera’s recording my flight, but that doesn’t matter. No one in the world can pose a threat to me.’
I had zero intention of hiding my abilities in my videos. If anything, displaying my might could work in my favor. It could help me rack up views and amass fame.
‘Of course, my most important skills will remain a secret.’
The footage I was recording would later be turned into a video guide and uploaded to Viewtube, helping a lot of people. As a bonus, I would be rewarded with ad revenue.
‘I bet the Triads are confused about how I have the Winged Ascent skill.’
Although Skill Duplication was a mighty ability, it was useless without targets to copy. Therefore, in the Labyrinth, the common protocol was to copy the skills of monsters.
So, how in the world was I using a skill that belonged to a transcendent spirit instead?
‘If they’re watching me right now, I bet they’re speechless.’
Well, it didn’t matter if they wanted to interrogate me about it later. I had already thought of an excuse.
Leaving my concerns to the wind, I flew through the sky until I arrived at my destination: the base of the Dark Orcs.
Dark Orcs started showing up from the 40th floor onward. They typically wouldn’t die in one hit because of their muscular physique, which meant that ten out of ten times, you ended up triggering their Berserk skill.
‘It’s unavoidable, making them hard to handle. They just ignore their pain and charge in with a +15% in attack damage.’
Of course, that didn’t apply to me. I merely described a problem ordinary apostles faced.
‘Over there.’
After spotting the location of the captive I had to rescue, I landed on the ground. Right smack dab in the middle of a horde of orcs.
“Tchweek?”
“Tchwi!”
“Tchwik!”
The orcs went into a frenzy, rushing toward me.
I immediately summoned my Transforming Stick, turned it into a scythe, and took a big swing.
Shing—
Before they could even get anywhere near me, I sliced the Dark Orcs in half, mercilessly slaughtering them. Ten orcs died in the blink of an eye.
Normally, I would have to draw them away so I could tackle them one by one, but using a scythe made facing multiple enemies at once a trivial thing.
Not long after, I entered the tent they were guarding. Inside, I spotted a Koyan. Koyans were a race of feline beastmen.
“A human?” the Koyan gasped. “Y-you must be here to rescue me! Thank you! Thank you!”
Even though the Koyan wasn’t speaking Korean, I could still understand him. His speech was being auto-translated by the system in the same way the system enabled us to understand its own language.
I transformed my weapon into a two-handed axe and smashed the lock keeping the Koyan captive.
“Come out,” I told him.
“Thank you, but there are orcs outside. We need to be careful—”
“No, there aren't. As you can see, I’ve killed them all.”
I parted the curtain and showed the Koyan a battlefield littered with massacred bodies.
The Koyan’s eyes grew wide with disbelief. “D-did you defeat them all by yourself?”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t believe it. How…?”
“That doesn’t matter. Let’s just get out of here.”
Leaving the perimeter was one of the mission’s requirements.
Flap!
I spread my wings and grabbed the Koyan by the waist.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“‘Scuse me for just a moment.”
I shot up into the sky.
“Nyaaaaaah!”
The Koyan screamed at the unexpected flight.
[40th Floor Clear Time: 15 minutes 12 seconds]
[You cleared the floor in record time!]
[You have unlocked an achievement as a reward for setting a new record.]
____
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