Chapter 184 - 184 The Augury Tower (11)

184: The Augury Tower (11) 184: The Augury Tower (11) Now that I knew I could take breaks whenever I wanted, I paid a brief visit home to sleep and eat before returning to the Tower and continuing on. [Floor 6] The moment I ascended to the Sixth Floor, I was hit with a wave of heat. Unusually hot air swarmed the surroundings, and as I turned my head, all that entered my sight in any direction was the same. An endless ocean of orange sand. Glancing down at the raised dune I currently stood on, the idea flashed in my mind that maybe this was the spawn point purely to give the Challenger the idea that the scale of these Floors really were infinite. I was already feeling it in the previous Floor, but this was something else too... “Hm...” Raising my hand, I subconsciously placed it on the centre of my chest. Not to feel the heart that pumped blood within, but the other one. The one that beat with cold. “...” Focusing on that feeling, although it wasn’t exactly comfortable, it certainly worked to ‘cool’ my insides, and I would rather endure a harsher chill that I was already used to than a dry, sticky torridity that would only ruin the Draconic Shadow with sweat. Anyway, wasn’t it the first time that this damn Blessing was actually useful? ‘Oh, second, if I count treating Ella’s high temperature.’ In any case, now that that issue was more or less sorted, I guess I shouldn’t delay it any further. Turning my head just slightly, I moved my attention to the floating notifications I had been ignoring. [Objective: Survive] [Time Limit: 3 Days] “...Quite descriptive.” It was funny. Ever since I first returned home from the Fifth Floor, I had been waiting for something like this to happen, and then it happened right away. ‘Shame it’ll be over soon.’ Standing with arms akimbo, I gazed upon the vast desert and nodded. “Welp. Librarian, bring me back.” If there was a clear exploit to take advantage of, why would I intentionally make things harder for myself? ❖─────★★★★☆─────❖ Just before the seventy-two hour clock ran out, I returned. ‘Alright, let’s see how things are...’ Transporting back to the Tower through the Library, I appeared once again in the orange desert. Allowing the Winter Mother’s Blessing to work its magic, the moment I laid eyes on the world of the Sixth Floor, they widened. “Oh, wow.” Exclaiming that subconsciously, I also felt both eyebrows raise at what I saw. Filling up this endless desert before me, as many as almost the amount of countless grains of sand, there were corpses. Walking corpses. ‘Didn’t expect to be greeted by even just one zombie, let alone this many... Or well, I guess technically they’re mummies, but still...’ That’s right. Countless corpses, wrapped head-to-toe in bandages, wandered around before me, a sea of undead that stretched all the way into the far distance. “...I guess the idea was to survive while fighting off these guys... Fucking crazy...” It wasn’t particularly difficult to figure out what happened, but that didn’t make it any better. There really was an amount of them that seemed borderline infinite, and that wasn’t an exaggeration. ‘Even with the Holy Sword’s Anti-Evil property, this is just way too many...’ Fortunately, the Objective just said to survive, not to kill all of the enemies that appeared, so it should still be fine. It was also good that they seemed to be really dumb―This whole time I was standing at the peak of the sand dune, looking down on all of them with Sneak and the Draconic Shadow, it didn’t look like they were able to sense my presence even though I was right there. “Hah... Dumbasses.” I didn’t have the Villain’s Vizard on yet, so I equipped it, and just as I did, a notification appeared. [Objective Complete] ‘Just as I thought, there’s a part two.’ Considering the Fifth Floor introduced this concept, I imagined the same would be true for the Sixth Floor, either introducing more about the Tower or showing what the future Floors will be like. ‘I can’t imagine it’ll be anything serious. Even if the last Floor was a pain in the ass, we’re still in the tutorial section. If I were to guess, I’d say it lasts until the Tenth Floor.’ Not only because it was a solid, round number, but also because that’s the Floor that, upon being the first person in the world to clear, John Pierce was designated as the official Protagonist of Earth, meaning it likely held that much significance. Thinking that rather absentmindedly, the New Objective promptly revealed itself. [New Objective: Traverse the Shifting Sands and destroy the ancient relic] [Time Limit: 6 Hours] Before I had a chance to process it properly, the sand dune beneath my feet trembled, but it wasn’t just that―quickly glancing around, I noticed the entire desert itself quaking. I lost my footing as all the sand under me began to fall and slip away, the dune rapidly crumbling in real time as other, smaller dunes around me fell into nothing, others forming from the same with some reaching great heights, and even further in the distance, swells of sand surging, crashing like tidal waves and swallowing countless mummies with every small movement. ‘Oh, shit...!’ Seeing a giant wave of sand come my way, only seeming to grow larger and more intimidating as the dune below me crumbled and lessened, I hurriedly moved, running and jumping across the only surface that was available, and fortunately one that was solid enough to step on without its structure immediately collapsing and falling apart. The mummies themselves. Rushing and parkouring over the bodies of all the mummies that had piled up over the past three days during my absence, they served as effective-enough platforms for me to move more or less unhindered, at least as much as I could be in this circumstance and allowing me to escape the massive orange billow rolling towards me just in the nick of time. But of course, I didn’t stop there. I couldn’t. If I slowed my momentum by even the slightest amount, I risked slipping or being caught by the ankle by the constantly shifting sands, threatening to pull me down and drown me just like the mummies. And there were only more waves building in the distance, more towers of sand rising and falling with every step, more mummies reaching their arms out in attempts to grab me as they were being carried away and swallowed, dragged below and dropped from up high. In the distance, I caught a glimpse of something huge rising from the depths of the sand. A structure one could only expect to see in this sort of environment, with sand pouring down its steps as it climbed higher and higher into the air, its zenith breaching a limit not even the most colossal of waves seemed able to reach. A white pyramid had risen, its emergence sending even more shockwaves through the undulating sands, including particularly powerful ones that almost made me lose my footing and fall, the mummy on which I was standing falling rapidly deep into the unforgiving granules. “Tsk...! What the hell even is this...?!” Gritting my teeth, I muttered some curses and moved my focus back to stabilising my position whilst I formed a path towards the titanic pyramid ahead. Rushing at close to full speed, I was limited only by the unending tremors of the perpetually fluctuating sands, not even worrying about running out of space to plant my feet as although the number of mummies was being massively diminished by the devouring desert, there were still more than enough to where that concern was unnecessary. Assuming I didn’t waste too much time, that is. Even without the stated Time Limit, the waves and whirlpools of sand that engulfed and consumed them were also numerous, so much so that I would undoubtedly run out of the undead platforms before the time was even up. Because the sheer amount of mummies I had access to was not normal, running on the sand was obviously possible, and perhaps even easier for me than it might have been for others thanks to the Draconic Shadow’s Weight Reduction Enhancement, but none of that meant I exactly planned to. After all, it was still more risky than the current operation, no matter how ‘possible’ it was. And, somehow, I didn’t have to consider it for long as a tremendous wave, bigger than most of the ones that had tried to absorb me until then, began to form behind me, pushing me up and forward, towards the target pyramid but also into the air. Having no choice but to ride it out if I didn’t want to get completely overwhelmed, I used the mummy like a surfboard, barely managing to stay afloat by grabbing its flailing arms and holding them behind its back like a steering wheel. Slowly and gradually, the tsunami-like wave of sand lowered, carrying me forward at what easily felt like over a hundred miles an hour. Before long, despite the wind racing against me and trying to blast me backwards, I held on just long enough to reach the destination. “Gah– hk-! D-damn it...!” Slamming into the side of the colossal structure before being showered for almost a minute straight in sand, it hurt like hell, but I successfully arrived with hours left on the clock. ‘God, my back... Shit...’ Rising to my feet, I pat down on places that were sore while shaking off all the endless amount of sand that had probably infiltrated every nook and cranny of my armour. ‘What a pain...’ Still, it was thanks to the Draconic Shadow I wasn’t too hurt, and what little injuries I did accrue would quickly be regenerated, and most importantly, I got where I needed to be. Craning my neck, I looked to the top of the pyramid, which wasn’t too far away thanks to the tsunami “dropping me off” at a spot that was fairly high up already. As much as I hated it, the tons of sand also served as quite the cushioning for my landing. Anyway, now that I had arrived, everything was pretty much over. Peacefully ascending to the top of the pyramid, I gazed out over the truly endless desert, watching all the mummies sticking half-out, most of them already fully submerged somewhere, and the sand that really did move like a stormy ocean. ‘Guess I should just be thankful there were no sharks...’ Sighing, I scratched my head and finally arrived at the top of the pyramid. There, on the flat, square peak, another small altar stood, similar to the one in the previous Floor. “...Recurring themes, I guess.” Unlike the Fifth Floor, however, this relic was not a stone orb but a metal ankh charm, perhaps made out of something like copper or bronze. It was inserted neatly into a hole at the top surface of the altar in which it seemed to fit perfectly, like the previous stone orb, though. ‘Whatever. Let’s just get it over with.’ Thinking there wasn’t much else for me to do, I summoned the Holy Sword and raised it into the air.