Chapter 87

Stepping into the fourth floor, I couldn't believe my eyes at the scene before me.

"What is this...?"

First, there was a pedestal about one meter high in front of me, with four circular indentations on it, as if inviting something to be placed inside.

However, what surprised me was not the pedestal, but the surreal scene that lay beyond it.

It was about fifty meters wide and perhaps three hundred meters deep. In this enormous straight path, hundreds or thousands of magic spells were crisscrossing. From a distance, I couldn't see clearly, but it seemed there were no spells beyond that point.

Whirlpools of fire, ice spears, lightning, and cutting winds. Each one had enough power to easily destroy a human body.

"This scene alone is already abnormal, but there's more to the problem."

I then turned my gaze to the left and right. On the right, there were two, and on the left, two more, making a total of four enormous doors. From inside these doors, an extraordinary density of magical power was leaking out, a level of aura that far exceeded anything I had faced before.

"Clearly, the atmosphere is different from the third floor...! What exactly am I supposed to do?"

As I was wondering, a system sound rang out.

"The quest on the fourth floor is [Orb of the Death Beast]. Break through the wall of magic and reach the target location."

"Inside the four rooms on the fourth floor, there exist the Fire Death Beast, Ice Death Beast, Lightning Death Beast, and Wind Death Beast, each guarding their own orb. By stealing these orbs and placing them in the indentations on the pedestal, the activation of the same attribute magic will be halted."

"The recommended level for defeating the Death Beasts is 50,000 for all of them."

"For this quest alone, you are allowed to retire mid-way. However, if you choose to retire, you will never be able to challenge the Tower of Isolation again."

The system sound left behind a series of shocking statements.

"Wait, did you just say 50,000!?"

I asked involuntarily, but of course, there was no response. I took a deep breath slowly.

"Stay calm, organize the information. From the quest description, I don't need to defeat the four Death Beasts. I just need to steal the orbs they guard... against level 50,000 monsters? That's impossible, right?"

Even with the status boost from the unnamed sword, there was still a gap of nearly five times. It was unclear whether stealth would work against beast-type monsters, and the success rate would be very low.

"No, the system sound didn't say I absolutely have to steal the orbs. The quest completion condition is simply reaching the target location. If I can endure the magic wall and reach it, I should be able to complete the quest! Yes, if I can just endure this magic wall..."

I took a magic stone from my item box and threw it into the magic. It was shattered to pieces in less than a second after being swallowed by the sea of magic.

"Yeah, impossible!"

To be honest, my magic resistance is quite low. The True Magic Wolf Ring I have doesn't provide much effect in this situation.

Given this, there is only one option left.

"...This quest can be retired, right?"

The system sound mentioned that retirement could be chosen during the quest, not just before challenging the next floor. From this, I formed a hypothesis: this quest was not designed to be completed.

The system sound was subtly telling me to give up and retire. There were no other options.

I'm sure that warning is correct. I don't have the means to protect myself from level 50,000+ monsters or the power to withstand such strong magic. Following the system sound's advice and giving up might be the right choice.

But,

"I made a vow."

I recalled the battle with the unnamed knight. Facing an enemy far superior to me, I thought:

I don't need to be right.

I should follow my will and move forward straight, no matter how foolish.

—Such a person as me doesn't fit the word 'give up'!

"I'll do it."

Even if this quest was designed to kill me with all its might, I won't turn back!

That's why I—now, I will challenge the greatest obstacle in history!

"I will be the fastest in the world to—complete this quest!"

◇◆◇

"Fourth Floor Quest [Orb of the Death Beast] completed."

"Fourth Floor Reward: Level increased by 200."

"Yay!"

About 300 seconds later.

Using the dungeon transfer, I successfully transferred to the other side of the magic wall.

I felt like the system sound had lost its spirit, but it was probably just my imagination. Yeah, let's go with that!

Thus, I broke through the fourth floor.

"Total level increase inside [Tower of Isolation]: 787 levels" (as of the end of the fourth floor)

System Sound: "???????"