Wakamou bought a mysterious 5-story tower.
It was shockingly a gimmick layer where all sorts of horror monsters popped out!
Can those wandering in the darkness conquer this tower──
“Wakamou closed his eyes in the dark….”
“Stop narrating and get up and work. You’re not a stay-at-home wife passing on the hunt. Heh heh heh, people might think we’re married~”
“Hold me tighter”
“Get lost”
The Fox Deity, carrying Wakamou in a princess hold, was lamenting why his life had turned out this way.
Even with biting sarcasm, shame was preferable to fear, and the pathetic sight of Wakamou desperately clinging onto the white hair of the Inari Fox Deity had the deity glancing up at the ceiling and down again.
It was enough to flip your mind, but as an [Idol’s Messenger], he had to follow her orders, so he was dutifully searching the mansion.
-Wow, is this how couples walk around an amusement park?
-A Fox Deity disappointed because her scaredy-cat boyfriend entered a haunted house.
-Speaks coldly, teases mercilessly, but doesn’t put him down.
-Asks for a tighter hug and you oblige, what a tsundere.
-Put a heart at the end of her words, and it translates instantly.
-Kekekekekekekeke
Seeing the Inari Fox Deity walk around confidently while holding Wakamou as if he were hers and with a sudden influx of female believers watching, she opened the mansion’s door, revealing a bizarre laboratory.
Startled, they briefly stepped out to look at the hallway and the worn-out walls of the wooden mansion.
Reentering to see a modern laboratory, she was dumbfounded with bunny-like eyes, utterly lost.
-Hahaha, it’s a cliché.
-A lab in this rundown mansion?
-Ah… is it those “Umbrella” guys again…
-When did we start a collaboration broadcast exactly?
-The tower is promoting a new horror game, hahaha.
-When it comes to zombies, it’s that company, right?
-Even a rookie police officer joined.
-Whoa.
-Leon? Is that you?
-Then we’re all doomed, right?
“Asuka, look around and investigate”
“Asuka! I found a drop item! [Researcher’s Journal]!”
“Let’s see…. [First Page]”
Inari Fox Deity wasn’t aware of the gimmick-type layer.
It appeared newly right after Kyoto Tower was conquered.
Perhaps as climbers continue to ascend the tower, it will test them with increasingly unpredictable and difficult trials.
In Wakamou’s case, he just snagged a reward he’d gain much later by breaking into Kyoto Tower. Distributing 200 times that reward among more than 100 climbers, the Japanese Tower was suffering feverishly. Although it was still fairly awarding rewards to other climbers─ probably, some functions may have regressed.
Climbers who noticed might rush to climb the tower, but since it’s an opportunity found by climbers, does it really matter?
─Feeling moved by the changes in the tower and the growth of the climbers, the Inari Fox Deity turned the first page and began to read.
“[I conducted countless human body experiments to achieve human immortality. I inflicted severe torture to test a created life form’s life force for 80 hours. I hope it never manages to escape.]”
“Wow… this is scary! Humans are terrifying! Asuka knows because she manages the gallery for 24 hours unpaid.”
“I’m not interested.”
“Would you like to be interested?”
-Whoa.
-Whoa.
-Please make us interested.
-Aren’t we the ones going to suffer?
-Why speak crazy things always with such a normal smile?
-Attach Mami to Asuka?
-Bring Pirate here too, haha.
“Wakamou is here, got it?”
-Whoa
-Haha.
-The Polar Bear’s cry.
-Can’t you see your master snuggling in my embrace?
-Why did the mistress give meat to Ichigo…
-The morning soap opera development is nuts, haha.
-Right, if it’s a VTuber, it must have coupling.
-The leader’s married and widow theories have both melted away like snow.
-Is it fine?
-What’ll you do? This is an ultra super PC where women and women married each other. Who’d object?
-The leader has become invincible even in the community.
“Indeed~ our Fox Deity is incredibly strong. No climber nor tower can win against her? That’s why the Japanese Tower lost, hmm.”
“I don’t care; move onto the next page.”
Pulling at Asuka’s tattered hair, Fox Deity flipped through the mere two pages, only to find a single simple line.
“[It escaped]”
-Yes, of course.
-Would be a scientist’s doing, yep yep.
-How do you let it escape though, haha.
-Hey, isn’t there a strategy guide below?
-What is it?
“[To prevent the test subject from coming up, I divided the generator fuse into 3 parts and hid them around 3 edges of the mansion. Hopefully, the terrifying monster never comes up…]”
“What a bastard!”
-Oh, research assistant indeed.
-You had time to hide the fuse even under a monster escape scenario?
-Why is it always fuses in horror, haha.
-Does electricity even run in this rusty house, haha.
-The tower has absorbed all the classic clichés…
“Asuka will search for the fuses. Can’t we just exit the tower and bring compatible ones?”
-Not wrong….
-But isn’t it hard since it’s not considered an item?
-Tell the Alchemist to craft them?
-Chinese knockoffs maybe…
-You crazy, hahaha.
Asuka was zealously rummaging through the lab, searching for the fuses. Opening a drawer, she blasted a fleshy monster that jumped out with shots. As [Incantation] consumed vitality, it usually didn’t affect ghosts composed of [Mana]. Moreover, these fleshy monsters didn’t seem to sustain significant damage wherever they were pierced.
Though sometimes they could be affected or not—Asuka recalled how little damage Ichigo’s shots did earlier.
Maybe─ the fleshy ghost monsters held random resistances, didn’t they?
“Hmm…. there’s more [Don’t press the ridiculously large, red, beautiful button with a skull mark on it. Pressing it will unleash the sealed horror.]”
-Why would anyone press such a button, haha.
-LOL, as if.
-Who’d press it, a fool?
“Right~ Like a bird brain obsessed with shiny objects would press it… bird?”
-Oh.
-Oh….
-Don’t Tengu’s resemble crows?
Late, Wakamou and Fox Deity turned to Asuka, who was gazing entranced at a very large, luminous red button before her.
Even the dilated pupils clearly signaled that this crazy AI Tengu VTuber wasn’t in her right mind.
”Wow, what does this button do?”
“”Don’t press it!!””
Press Press Press Press─
Watching Asuka pressing the button as if entranced, Wakamou and Inari simultaneously crumpled their faces.
[The laboratory will self-destruct in 5 minutes]
-Hahaha.
-Hahaha.
-We’re screwed, damn it!!!!
-Why does a laboratory have a self-destruct button just for being discovered!!!
-Then where does, huh?
-Dexter’s lab?
-Whose lab is that, old-timer?
-Oh my god, seriously hahaha.
*
Lifting a shard of broken dish, Mami looked around slowly, while Joseph Khan, holding a cross boomerang in one hand and a whip in the other to guard her, was on high alert.
The fleshy monsters emerging mostly got cleared up by Joseph at the front.
“Aren’t there too many locked doors?”
“Should I just smash it?”
With a powerful kick, Joseph backed up and kicked hard, but the doorknob didn’t budge.
Tightly shut doors blocked their path no matter where they went. Meanwhile, from cracks and crevices in the decayed wooden walls emerged twisted flesh monsters, eyes with a cursed gaze, and screaming banshees. Normally they’d need a climber with a [Cleric] class or witch with skills effective against ghosts.
Whirr─!!
Bang!
Joseph’s whip lashed out, exploding with brilliant light as banshees and ghosts burst apart.
Shrieking, scythe-armed humanoid monsters and mantis-like non-humans, despite terrifying appearances, couldn’t even scratch Joseph Khan.
Bare pristine white skin of his rolled-up sleeves revealed white dragon scales as he swung his arms like shields, deflecting attacks while mercilessly smashing the monsters with the force comparable to a weapon.
A murderous figure, clad in rags and ready to hurl a rusty axe from a distance, turned into an ice sculpture as Joseph Khan exhaled a breath he’d drawn deeply.
Rotting wooden building turned into a snowy kingdom, and the former monsters all transformed into cute snowmen.
-Our white dragon is truly strong!
-Amazing! This glasses stand! Such high performance!
-Well done, cowardly white dragon courage!
-It’s not Scooby-Doo?
-Wasn’t it Scully?
-Anyway, well done, Shinpachi.
-Ah, these glasses are the same as the Almighty Yoo’s!!
“I am Joseph Khan!!!”
Click.
“Opened it”
“Huh? What about the key?”
“I unlocked it with telekinesis?”
-Haha.
-Telekinesis (omnipotent).
-Why bother looking for keys, right~~
Wondering if conquering like this was acceptable, Joseph thought if [Rogue] were in the party, he’d have picked locks to open the doors anyway and followed Mami inside.
Despite appearing like a library, numerous books adorned the shelves. Joseph dashed over, excited.
“Wow…! Books!! These can all be read!!”
“Really? Aren’t books some of the rarest items in the tower?”
Books might seem worthless, but the tower required their content to be complete—leading to the emergence of magic books and recipes for alchemists within the tower.
Finding a library layer means striking gold, they say.
Even novels unavailable outside, mixing occasionally with books about long-lost history, had Joseph unable to resist her dragon-like greed, opening a bag and stuffing in books.
Leaving her to her device, practically ready to take up the role of a Golden Goblin, Mami looked around slowly.
Sss─ Sss─!
Lifting a lighter to create a light source, Mami cautiously scanned the locked room to see if anything lurked.
It didn’t make sense that such a vast library had no monsters.
“──I am the tower.”
-?
-?
“With the conquest of the Kyoto 100-story tower, I opened a new gimmick and created the Mystery Tower. Its theme is horror… Knowledge of horror is gathered from climbers… Based on famous horror games, I lock all doors to force climbers to think.”
Could it be to encourage climbing with parties including non-combat classes? Typically, many parties consist of only combat classes, so maybe it’s to allow the excluded ones to ascend? However, that would mean having more people to protect, and there may even be organizations that would use them as disposable resources when pushed.
With [Alchemist], [Blacksmith], [Producer], etc., [Subclasses] have arisen. Perhaps if they weren’t non-combat completely, parties with combat or non-combat roles would bring more climbers to the tower.
Clatter.
Picking up the item labeled [Fuse] from the table, Mami continued her deduction with narrowed eyes.
“If an item for quest solving gets destroyed?… Is this how they force climbers to conquer? What if they can’t, label it a failure, and expel them?”
The tower was harsh.
If climbers appeared about to be killed by monsters or succumb in battle, it wouldn’t declare their failure or expel them halfway through the challenge.
With [Tower Exit] not prohibited, Mami raised the fuse high and shattered it on the floor.
The fuse broke so easily, it seemed laughable.
[※ Caution!! Important clue for puzzle solving has been lost!! Elite Boss Monster [Disgusting Artificial Flesh Creature] appears!!]
“Of course!! The tower pushes climbers to climb no matter what!! If they can’t solve such a puzzle, it doesn’t throw them out but gives a bigger trial!!”
As the entire layer began to shudder, the library shook with a thud, revealing a huge revolting morbidly obese monster.
“It’s that thing you often see at the U.S. market!!”
-Haha.
-Damn, that thing’s huge, disgusting.
-A lot of junk in that trunk.
-Can it even walk that way?
Lumps of flesh dragged across the floor, difficult to tell if it were standing, bringing Joseph nearly to tears over the books he couldn’t secure, while readying for a fight with those he did.
Fwoosh─
“[Pyrokinesis]”
Flames swirling around Mami’s palm, spinning in a sphere, erupted in a wave of fire to strike the enormous flesh creature. The fire scorched the entire library with such intensity that even Joseph flinched in surprise.
Yet, within the flames, the monster moved unaffected as its belly split open, teeth and tongues emerging.
Innards, resembling entrails, writhed within its mouth, forming pitted crater-like orifices exuding a nauseating stench that filled the air. As Mami withdrew the flames in haste, toxic gas poured out.
The monster then spat forth a stream of green sludge.
Green Substance.
Rolling away from what seemed like a mass of intestines or sludge, Mami dodged as the liquid boiled and melted the ground it touched.
“This is the Elite Boss…! How entertaining!”
As she claimed it was getting exciting, bookshelves flew skyward and books began to rise.
They all swung with immense force and crashed, causing splinters of wood to stab into the flesh-bound monster, making it howling and thrashing.
Spraying acidic blood everywhere, Mami erected a Barrier with her telekinesis to fend off the rain.
And Joseph Khan, rushing through the acidic downpour without hesitation, leapt toward the flesh monster.
A whip, slicing through the flesh like a sword, rebounded off the ground and then pierced the monster’s head like a spear.
Riding along the straightened whip, a [Spinning Top] propelled by the whip’s elasticity soared into the monster’s body and exploded.
Whoosh─!
Joseph stylishly retrieved his whip and struck a pose.
“[Dragon Fear]!!”
The noble ruler makes no sound. As the dragon’s eyes narrowed sharply, exerting intimidation─
Unaffected, the ragged bundle of flesh regenerated and swung a massive arm at Joseph.
He cut it down with his whip and twisted his wrist as he wrapped a spinning top attached to his waist with the whip, launching it as if starting an engine.
The wildly spinning top unfolded its blades, flew at the monster’s face, and shredded it before exploding.
Wrapping Mana around his whip and infusing it with Aura, Joseph Khan shredded the endlessly regenerating flesh body, exhaling deeply and breathing towards it.
In the blink of an eye, the library turned white with frost, and pure white snow fell.
“Hoo… this is─ the strength of the first-born… the Blue-Eyed White Dragon, Joseph Khan!”
“[Kyaaaaa!!!]”
“Oh”
Despite being frozen, the incredible regenerative power of the monster with elongated and skeletal limbs spraying acidic liquid charged with its innards shaking. Joseph, a dragon not for nothing, leaped from his position with astounding physical abilities.
Unfortunately, the spot he grazed was bad, and the shattered glasses rolled on the floor.
“The main body─!!!!!”
“That’s not the main body!!!!”
“…It’s dead…”
Mami, looking gloomily at the cold, broken glasses, showed a somber expression.
“We were just starting to bond as fellow older bachelorettes….”
“I’m not old!!!”
“Sob sob… Reptilian… A commoner buried and forgotten in the backroom… I’ll remember you.”
“You don’t even know my name!?”
“This jerk─!! Unforgivable!!!!”
“Are you just ignoring me…?”
Flailing its skeletal arms and legs, Mami extended her hand, bending space to cause a distortion that snapped the thin arm.
Grabbing the severed arm with telekinesis, she threw it at the creature’s head, then extended her hands forward, focusing her mind.
“[Psychic Force]!!”
Boom!!
In an instant, the flattened, squashed flesh creature, as if crushed by an invisible wall, writhed as it was buried in a pure white ice wall.
With a grotesque sight of veins extending into the gap between the wall and psychic powers, she reached out towards a table, and a lighter flew into Mami’s hand.
While she leisurely lit the cigarette that was already in her mouth.
“To our glasses you killed, pass along our regards in the afterlife.”
The echoed words began to resonate, growing louder.
As a powerful soundwave caused a shockwave, it crumbled and pulverized the flesh mass that was crushed between the wall and the telekinesis.
“What was that?!”
“It’s called [Sonokinesis]. It generates shockwaves. It’s strong, but the power is too overwhelming… let’s call it the sorrow of being Elite.”
Using her voice to generate shockwaves, Joseph silently kept her mouth shut, thinking it’s a superior version of my breath.
Anyway, Mami turned to go, saying they killed the [Elite Boss], so it was time to leave.
“The door is locked? Doesn’t that mean the boss isn’t dead?”
“…Hmm… I have an item called [Psychic Driver]. Let me unlock it.”
“What’s that version?”
“Huh? Legendary Class equipment, isn’t it? Doesn’t everyone have at least one?”
As Mami meticulously picked the lock with a stick-like tool using her psychic powers─ Joseph felt a sense of unease as he looked at the wrecked library.
Despite seeing the flesh creature disappear and confirming there was nothing beyond the collapsed wall, he tried to move on, wondering if it was truly over… but the pull on his nape made Joseph reconsider.
When capturing a boss, of course, the message that they cleared the first floor should pop up in the Tower.
What they captured was not the [Repulsive Artificial Flesh Creature].
─But, we triggered it… which means…?
“Not dead yet!!”
“What?”
Before anyone could reply, Mami was suddenly shot into the air.
Bang! Her head vanished, leaving her body dangling in front of the audience’s screen.
“Mami!!!!!”
– Damn, should’ve known with that blonde streak!!!
– Mami got Mami’d…!!
– Is she dead? Did she get her head eaten??
– I’m not afraid of anything anymore….
Somehow managing to pull her head out from the ceiling and dust covering her face while cursing about her ruined makeup, Mami pulled out a mysteriously appearing baseball bat, resting it on her shoulder.
And─ realizing just a moment too late, it began to reveal itself… the ghost of the flesh creature they thought they killed!! After being killed, it transformed into a second-phase ghost, floating in a translucent state.
Though unable to attack with acidic blood-like attacks, it displayed poltergeist phenomena, throwing objects as an attack, making Mami chuckle.
“There’s no way you’ll win with the same type of ability!! I’m Elite!”
The flesh ghost then cast [Spontaneous Human Combustion] on Mami.
Mami suddenly erupted in searing flames. Though not real fire, it was an [Curse] type skill that inflicted equivalent agony.
“Owwie owwie!!!”
Burning, she flailed and screamed, stumbling forward just as the library fell with a thud over her.
“Uyyyahhh….”
– They both got hit!
“There’s still the glasses holder!!!!”
– Yeah, King Gitan is still there!
– Even if the glasses are broken, the holder remains!
– Go! Yogurt Leo!
– Somewhat something or other.
– I choose you Blue Eyes!
– Jesus Christ, someone please say their actual nameㅋㅋㅋㅋ
“Arghhh!!!!”
SDVIMVFoanVzY1YwSVhjamMzUkt1Uk1oK0sya3NRU1YxcUQyKzVnbkpjMldlNkpoNkwrZ01tYkpnOEQ0ZTZFKw
Filled with fury, sorrow, and a mix of emotions, Joseph Khan tried to transform into a colossal white dragon, only to have his transformation forcibly canceled by the flesh ghost’s telekinesis.
How is it possible to stop a size-change transformation with telekinesis…? The incredible truth left her briefly calling time out, but nonetheless, the ascending white dragon hit its head on the ceiling.
In that condition, even when attempting to swing his whip, the telekinesis gripped it down, flipping him into rolling on the ground while scraping the library wall.
“Argh…!”
– Without glasses, his combat strength is halved…!!
– Remember the first-gen who died without gaining popularity!!
– Rise, Kahn. You’re a pride of Mongolia…!!
“Sigh… I have no choice but to show it….the reward obtained from conquering the 100th floor…..please watch, everyone… my 『Transformation』!!”
Getting up in a bedraggled state, Joseph Khan expressed regret, wishing to use it at a grander moment, lamenting not wanting to roll away as if a comedian.
Truly, a pro is someone who turns a crisis into a reversal, creating catharsis…. As she learned from watching Wakamou’s broadcast, she declared she’ll reveal a [New Skill], striking a pose.
“Here we go─ The Dragon….”
Crash─!
Joseph was struck as if in a traffic accident by the crashing-through-the-vesicle Pirate, embedding straight into the wall like a bowling pin while spinning.
Could it be more difficult to have such a fantastically mismatched cooperation? Pirate came in through the wall from the adjacent room since the doorway was locked; she shut her eyes tight at the pitiful scene.
“Damn…I came too late…!! Our glasses!!!”
“Gasp! Ava!! Are you okay?!”
As Pirate ran over, Adolf, who had fled with her, also approached the grotesque sight of their defeated comrades and gingerly picked up the half-shattered glasses lying on the ground.
“I can fix this. Thank goodness!!”
– It’s in the wall; go check thereㅋㅋㅋ
– Joseph’s soul isn’t in the glassesㅋㅋㅋ
– Isn’t this pretty much bullying???
– The tearful bond of first-generation….
– Is his actual soul really in the glasses??
– But then who was Ava againㅋㅋㅋ
“How dare they harm our glasses white dragon!!!”
– Call him by nameㅋㅋㅋ
– Are you really friends after all!!!
– Perhaps? Doesn’t anyone know?
– No, really, can they win at all?
Can Pirate and Adolf deal with this opponent? Since neither Pirate nor Adolf had faced ghost types before, they were uncertain about the strategies, looking conflicted.
“When there’s something strange in your neighborhood♬”
But they had someone they could trust.
“Who you gonna call?♪”
Through the dust cloud, wearing a headlamp, the Alchemist emerged, holding a mechanical device.
“Ghostbusters!!”
– Here comes the Grim Reaper!
– Ichigo! You’ve come to save us!!
– As expected of an Alchemist, busy crafting stuff in the labㅋㅋㅋ
– What’s that device?
– Ghost-bursting weapon from the Alchemist.
– Everyone just calls it the Proton Pack.
“It’s a device that changes Mana’s structure to divine and light attributes, which are effective against ghosts, and shoots beams!!”
Ichigo explained, pulling the trigger and sending a beam that electrocuted the ghost monster, causing it to convulse and writhe.
They managed to construct it as there was something like a laboratory nearby, but using just one however seemed insufficient, as it made Ichigo stagger, although.
“Go, Phantom Sweeper!!”
“Nintendo’s gonna sue you for that!!”
With Pirate and Lucia’s kits as well. Is there anything as excellent as generic equipment that anyone can use?
Combining their forces, they tore apart the ghost─ a clamor of noises quickly echoed around.
Boom─!
[The door to the 2nd floor of the Mystery Tower is now open!!]
[The lab’s self-destruct sequence is halted!]
“What’s with the self-destruct?”
“How should I know?”
Anyway, they won, right? As the three of them gathered up and posed.
Even though Joseph was stuck in the wall by his lower half, and Mami was crushed under the library making it a hilarious sight, the feeling was there that they fulfilled what they had to do.
So, barely gathered, they moved up to the 2nd floor for Wakamou’s party.
Everyone gave up as they watched Wakamou still clinging to Fox Deity in a princess carry and trembling.
Meanwhile, Ichigo said I could do it too!!! Wanting to prove it and claiming Empress mode, but failing miserably, she cried bitterly.
She cried pathetically to the point Pirate gave in and offered a princess carry, only to be slapped for it.
[Mystery Tower 2nd floor is being climbed]
-You’ve entered [Neverland]!
-Resolve special gimmicks and obtain the key to proceed to the next floor!
[Platinum Achievement Conditions]
[Explore the vast island to your heart’s content! Do you still have your childhood innocence?]
As soon as they climbed up, what awaited them was a beachside scene.
A lone door standing there made them curious; they checked behind it only to find there wasn’t another door to be seen.
“Neverland…? Feels like I’ve heard of it before.”
“Isn’t it Disney?”
“No way, not that─ it’s more like a fairy tale.”
“We’ll pay back the suffering on the first floor!!!”
“Me too!! Me too!!”
Mami rubbed her chin, saying something seemed like it would come to mind.
And approaching them from the sky, Wakamou and Joseph ran toward the monster, and it was as if it finally clicked for Mami, snapping her fingers.
“There’s a monster named Peter Pan. It has a unique trait where it deals damage proportionate to your [Age].”
“Eughkkk!”
Wakamou crashed in the opposite direction, skidding across the sand, and collapsed in a heap.
Brushing past them and just skimming it, Wakamou had already lost 70% of his Mana in one blow.
Joseph was buried in the sand once again, with only his lower half sticking out.
“This bastard treats anyone who’s had their period as an old hag!!”
“For heaven’s sake, watch your mouth.”
“And Asuka is the one saying that.”
Seeing Mami shout while puffing on a cigarette, Asuka grimaced and responded gloomily.
Watching this, Pirate chuckled and took a swig.
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