Only I’m the solo player

Chapter 33 – Trial Tower 6th Floor

#Only READ at DarkstarTranslations

—–CROW—– 

Looking at the community, a lot of information about the upcoming festival had been released.

I heard there had been a lot of debate about how this fourth festival would proceed.

This was because the festival held three years ago was a large-scale event involving the whole world under the name “Grand Festival.”

People argued a lot about whether this festival would be a “Grand” festival like that time, or a regular festival connecting only people from the same country.

And now that the information has been released, the hidden victor was the latter.

This fourth festival was a regular festival in the same format as the first and second festivals.  It doesn’t matter to me either way.

Anyway, there are four noteworthy elements in the festival event.

First, there are special mini-dungeons that can be challenged by forming parties, through which you can farm the main currency used in the event.

Second, there are event-limited items that can be exchanged with the currency, the “Meteor Stone” equipment that’s the talk of the community.

Meteor Stone equipment is special equipment made from materials that can only be obtained during the event, and it boasts excellent performance without any wearing restrictions.

I’m not very interested in equipment items anymore, but I’m a bit intrigued because it’s equipment that’s extremely limited in how it can be obtained.

The word “limited” is very attractive in many ways.

And third, there’s a battle tournament where challengers compete against each other – I’m not interested in this.

I’m only stronger than other challengers of the same level, and I’m no match for the real rankers who have spent years in the Trial Tower.

Of course, the top rankers who are guaranteed at least an A-rank as soon as they leave the tower don’t participate in the tournament out of conscience.

But even so, there’s no way a mere level 50 normal class warrior like me could compete.

Lastly, fourth, there’s indirect trading and item imports through production class challengers from other servers.

Among the classes that Trial Tower challengers can have, there are also production classes that are not related to combat.

Blacksmiths with blacksmithing skills, alchemists with potion-making skills, and jewelers who can craft accessories.

The equipment made by these production class challengers has superior performance compared to normal drop items or store-bought items.

And one of the common features of these production classes is something called custom orders.

It’s nothing special, it’s a system where they receive materials from others and enhance or craft items for them.

The noteworthy point is that this system also works in the event map where trading is not possible.

This means that as long as you have the materials, you can obtain top-quality equipment made by master-level production class challengers from other servers.

And I have more than enough enhancement materials and gold.

If I can make the right connections this time, I might be able to acquire items that I can use for the rest of my life.

The problem is that I’m a loser with zero social skills who hasn’t talked to anyone for years.

“Hmm…”

Should I bring an NPC somewhere and practice how to talk?

**

After organizing my thoughts, I turned off the open community and started moving to conquer the 6th floor.

Even if I wanted to practice conversations before the festival starts, it’s impossible on the 6th floor, which is known for not having any normal NPCs.

The 6th floor is a place where the entire area is a giant labyrinth.

There are more undead than living people, and the NPCs that appear are all crazy from wandering the labyrinth for so long.

Indeed, the 6th floor doesn’t seem like a good environment to stay in for a long time in a sane state.

“This is fucked up.”

I haven’t even encountered any monsters or traps yet, but I already feel like shit.

Just breathing lightly makes a rotten smell sting my nose. It’s the smell of food left in the refrigerator for two months and covered in mold.

There were also unpleasant-looking stains scattered here and there, and when I got close to them, a different kind of rotten smell wafted up.

A smell that would emanate from the vomit of a drunkard being pecked at by pigeons, and the faint smell of blood mixed in.

Since I’ve been through so much, I can distinguish the smell of blood quite well.

– *Growl…*

After walking for a few minutes like that, I finally encountered my first enemy.

The source of the rotten smell spreading throughout the labyrinth, a group of walking corpses, zombies.

I knew from the community that they looked disgusting, but this is beyond imagination.

I can see why challengers consider the 6th floor one of the worst floors.

Ugh, damn it, look at those dangling eyeballs.

Moreover, the degree of decomposition and damaged areas of each zombie are slightly different, making them all uniquely creepy.

I need to kill them quickly and get rid of them just because they’re so unpleasant to look at.

– *Dash!*

I quickly rushed into the group of zombies with my sword and shield.

It seems like I could handle them with my bare hands, but I don’t want to have hand-to-hand combat with those things.

– *Crack!*

I smashed the head of the one in front with my shield and thrust my sword to pierce the neck of the next one.

I read somewhere that smell is the sense that tires the fastest among the five senses.

By the time I took down two zombies, my sense of smell was half-numb, and I couldn’t smell the rotten stench anymore.

– *Slash!*

I sliced the necks of two more zombies and aimed at the last one standing in the back, beyond the exploding critical effects.

Since I also need to increase my Sword Mastery proficiency, I deliberately used a skill this time.

A two-hit skill that swings the sword twice in a cross shape, Double Slash.

With the activation of the skill, the blade glowed, and my body moved on its own to perform the attack.

But at that moment, I noticed something strange about the zombie.

The zombie’s neck was greatly swollen. Its posture also looked like it was about to vomit something.

Damn it, don’t tell me, no way?

– *Guweeeeeeeeeeek!!!*

“Oh, shit!”

A massive amount of blood spurted from the zombie’s throat like a fountain.

**

There were no monsters with this pattern in the list of 6th-floor monsters organized in the community.

This is probably also a limited quantity unique monster that can only be seen in this tower, where the seeds have long since dried up.

But this isn’t some classic arcade shooting game, why is it shooting a blood cannon?

– *Splatter!*

An enormous amount of blood, enough to make me want to ask where in that body such blood is coming from.

Having already initiated the skill motion, I couldn’t dodge and was covered in blood.

The shitty rotten smell of the zombies and the smell of blood mixed together and stung my nose.

No, it literally entered my nose.  Fucking hell.

– *Slash!*

The skill motion continued, and the zombie that spewed the blood cannon was cut in half and died.

It’s bad enough that the first monster I encountered was a zombie, but to have this kind of bastard mixed in, isn’t my luck too bad?

Wouldn’t it be nice if something like a Minotaur that’s good for beating up, or a fresh Slime appeared?

“Ugh, damn it, what’s this smell?”

I grumbled as I brushed off the blood. But my blood-covered face kept burning.

– *Sizzle…!*

What is this, acidic blood or something? Or some kind of poison?

It’s penetrating the Poison Resistance I developed by stabbing myself with poison arrows on the 3rd floor. This seems to be a very strong poison.

I have antidote potions in my inventory, and it didn’t penetrate through a wound, so I can just wash it off.

“Hmm.”

If it’s a poison that can penetrate my Poison Resistance, wouldn’t my resistance increase further if I just endure it?

Honestly, even if I walk around covered in poison, I don’t think there’s anything among the 6th-floor monsters that could threaten me.

Should I just walk around covered in this?

The only problem is the constant smell of rotten blood, but the sense of smell gets tired quickly anyway.

The smell might stick to my body, but I’m not here on the 6th floor for a blind date.  So what?

**

The blood cannon the zombie spat out was, as I expected, a very strong poison.

According to old posts by first-generation Hunters in the open community, there were cases where people’s lives were at stake from just one hit.

But the resistance I developed on the 3rd floor weakened that dangerous poison to the point where it just felt a bit hot.

Well, it makes sense.

On the 3rd floor, I used poison arrows instead of tableware. I used to stab White Troll meat with poison arrows and eat it with the poison.

Anyway, I decided to stay on the 6th floor a bit longer, thinking of maximizing my Poison Resistance this time.

The 6th floor was much larger than other floors, and there were many treasure chests to loot, so it was perfect.

Just like I did on the 1st floor, I cleared every single sub-quest to raise my specs and increased my Poison Resistance every day.

Finally, when my Poison Resistance reached the level where I could take a whole bucket of blood cannon without any problems…

[Regional Integration Event: The Trial Tower Festival is being held!]

[You can move to the common server through the portal.]

The long-awaited festival event finally started, and a blue portal appeared before my eyes.

But I didn’t enter the portal immediately.

“I should wash up first, right?”

I’ve been covered in blood and poison for a month, so I must smell terrible.

If I go in like this, a challenger might mistake me for a monster and stab me to death.

Honestly, that would be a natural death.

—–CROW—– 

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