Chapter 82 - The Spiral Crimson Tower
An hour has passed since I triumphantly set foot into the [Spiral Crimson Tower]. I'd like to share my results from the start of this challenge until now.
Number of deaths: 100
Average survival time: Approximately 5 seconds
Number of enemies defeated: 0
"This game is bullshit."
I spat out the words as I threw my body onto the floor. My cheek scraped against the rough, unforgiving rock as I embodied pure emptiness.
Honestly, it’s not that I was underestimating it—I had no such mental lapse. In fact, I'd say I went in with the same resolve I had when challenging calamitous beings like the [White Throne] or the [Scion of Dust].
But the level of unreasonableness that this “ultra-sadistic” dungeon, as my informant called it, unleashed upon me was beyond my expectations. It blew right through them and shot off into another dimension, leaving me speechless.
There are some high-difficulty games out there that get people fired up, for better or worse, with talk of “they don't want you to clear it” or “devs just being spiteful,” whether it's intentional or a mistake in difficulty tuning. As someone who died like a speedrunner attempting a death RTA, two seconds after stepping through the entrance, I felt the same way.
There's no way they expect anyone to clear this legitimately.
"But still… even with this bullshit difficulty, there seems to be a way, and that's what makes you want to conquer it. That's the quality of a god-tier game for you."
After a few dozen seconds of sulking, I abandoned the pose and sprang to my feet with a movement that would have made me look like a fish flopping on land in the real world.
My reallocated stats were in top form. The beefed-up STR seems to be doing good work, as I feel more stability in my initial acceleration and braking. So, in terms of my avatar’s condition, it’s undoubtedly the best it’s ever been.
The reason I've racked up a laughable number of game overs is simply because of the insane design of this [Spiral Crimson Tower].
Still, to be crushed in my own area of expertise right on my official field debut… damn those fucking rabbits. They've definitely poured all their status points into agility, just like a certain AGI-idiot.
From what I could barely make out, their base speed, without considering skill-based acceleration, probably surpassed my own past maximum.
That means their estimated AGI is over 500. Haha, maybe they should think about balance a little more, don't you think?
"But well…"
I understood what Kagura-san meant. This dungeon is indeed the perfect training ground to improve my avatar control. It's an excellent opportunity for me to correct my somewhat sloppy control habits, as it requires speed, but not crude speed, to break through.
"Bring it on. I'll tackle this with the intent to clear the whole damn thing…!"
Though I spat out complaints about what a bullshit game it was, a true gamer meets unreasonableness not just with anger and emptiness, but with a defiant spirit.
Sadistic difficulty? I welcome it. From this moment on, I shall commence the death march from hell!
"…………I'm talking to myself more often, huh."
Maybe it's because playing with Sora has become the norm, so I feel a bit lonely when I'm solo? A guy getting lonely is a demand-free situation, so please refrain.
As I thought about such useless things, I suppressed a creepy smile that escaped me—and without learning my lesson, I dove back into the infinite loop of game overs.
—And so, for two days, I continued to die.
In real time, it was over fifteen hours. In Arcadia time, that's nearly a full twenty-four hours. My total death count from the relentless, non-stop attacks is unknown, as I gave up counting early on.
Also, I lied about it not bothering me. My heart has long since been shattered; the truth is that I'm ignoring it and on the verge of a psychotic banzai charge.
And then, on the morning of the third day—after overcoming countless deaths, I had an awakening.
—I can see.
It’s not just up, down, left, right, front, and back. The crimson bullets that assault me from every conceivable direction. The very same ones that pierced through my avatar before I could even perceive them on my first try, my eyes can now just barely track them.
—I can dodge.
I'm not dodging the bullets themselves, but the lines of fire they're shot from.
It’s less of an action game and more of a memorization game, but my body is working overtime, as if it’s about to break.
It feels like playing an ultra-hard rhythm game where you can't even see the notes clearly, while simultaneously no-damage clearing an endless series of fighting game CPUs on the hardest setting with both feet.
For the record, I am absolutely terrible at both rhythm and fighting games.
"—Hh, …………gh………………"
I no longer have the luxury of talking to myself—no, I’ve cast aside everything unnecessary, and all my resources are focused on the ceaseless, high-speed thinking required to move my avatar.
I'm no longer even tracking the crimson bullets with my eyes. I simply run at top speed, relying only on the memories accumulated through a mountain of deaths—
The dungeon known as the [Spiral Crimson Tower] was designed around an incredibly simple theme, refined to its absolute limit.
There are no gimmicks, and the terrain is just a continuous climb up a spiral staircase.
All that is required of the player is one thing: to keep running without stopping until you reach the goal at the top.
And the enemies placed to obstruct that single point are of only one type.
[Ruby Bullet Rabbit]—these large rabbits with their crimson-glowing fur are everything in the [Spiral Crimson Tower], the absolute gatekeepers who have thwarted all players for three long years.
This monster has two characteristics. One is an abnormal agility value that easily surpasses my own legs, which I pride myself on. The other is their sheer, overwhelming numbers.
This Spiral Crimson Tower is, in essence, a rabbit mound. It is their home, and we players who set foot inside are nothing but invaders violating their territory.
So it's no wonder they attack in a barrage.
Their name is a cut above the other non-boss monsters I've encountered so far. As their name implies, the [Ruby Bullet Rabbit]'s only method of attack is a head-on charge that utilizes their agility to the extreme.
And when a creature with that kind of agility performs a “full-power charge,” it's nothing short of a 'bullet'… Add to that the fact that they have a single crimson horn on their head, the same size as their body, and you don’t even need to think about what happens to anyone who becomes prey to their tackle.
It’s not on the level of just getting a hole punched through you. If even the edge of your body gets grazed, the insane impact will tear off an entire limb.
If you take a direct hit to the torso, your body literally explodes in five directions—Sora would probably cry if she saw it.
The sight of these vicious warheads, which could rival an anti-materiel rifle or even a tank cannon, flying ceaselessly from the countless nests in the tower’s inner walls is truly a bullet hell game.
I prided myself on being pretty good at analog bullet hell shooters, but it's a different story when you're told to do it with your own body (avatar) and in first-person.
On top of that, each and every bullet in the barrage moves at a speed that's hard to even see and has a massive hitbox. It’s beyond a bullshit game and into the realm of a comedy game.
I repeat, I can't imagine this was designed with a legitimate clear in mind—so, there's no need to try and clear it legitimately.
I use the spiral staircase as my primary footing, of course, but I also run along the walls and the underside of the stairs above me, constantly bouncing between the three surfaces.
The tricky part is that there are only these three footing options. A miscalculated jump angle will send you flying out into the open shaft where there are no handrails.
The tower's diameter is about thirty meters. If I wanted to, I could try to force my way across the open shaft and shortcut to a higher staircase. It's not impossible.
But if I were to make a long, defenseless jump like that, I’d be hit by an unavoidable one-shot-kill anti-air attack. It's just suicide.
Faced with an infinite assault of rabbit warheads, the only action I can take is to evade and evade and evade. And what barely keeps me alive, as someone clearly inferior in agility, is the sword and shield of the avatar known as [Haru], which has now become as natural as my own limbs.
《Blink Switch》—as a last-ditch evasion forces me into the path of an imminent direct hit, I summon [Prologue: Wedge Fragment Singing of Eternity (An-ri Galta)]. Its outrageous weight and the indestructible property of a special armament deflect the lethal rabbit bullet.
Or rather, they collide with its overwhelming speed and simply explode into pieces. At this point, it’s a full-on suicide attack. I can't help but feel a sense of terror, wondering just what kind of biology these rodents have.
…Wait, are rabbits rodents?
"Whoa, that was close!!"
A completely useless thought suddenly intrudes upon my extreme concentration, nearly causing me to trip. I dodge, dodge, dodge, letting out a sound that trails off with the Doppler effect—!!
I've already climbed over eighty percent of the spiral staircase; the goal is practically in sight. But this is the expected route, a familiar path I've already broken through countless times. I can't afford to get one-shotted here.
For two days, I've seen what I'm sure is the goal, only to have my gut ripped open at the last second, time and time again. This run, which I've decided will be my last, must be the one where I close the gap on that remaining one percent!
I trace the memories etched into my mind, my thoughts blazing white-hot, swallowing a battle cry—and I just keep running, through a violent storm of crimson.