Chapter 181: Destroyed First Floor (1)

Association headquarters, special isolation ward. 

A zone under the highest security clearance, where no one is allowed entry. 

Inside, a man lay. 

His breath had stopped, his body temperature had vanished, and all vital signs pointed to death. 

“Brother Leon…” 

Lee Seo-jun sat down quietly. 

His eyes were bloodshot, and the Red Sword of Conviction still stood beside him. 

Since that day, he had never once put down the sword. 

“Sir Leon…” 

And another person watched him. 

Kim Chaun also bowed his head. 

Even that steel-like man, this time, held deep fatigue and pain in his eyes. 

But one person alone. 

Kim Si-won alone quietly stared at Leon’s face. 

As if… sensing something. 

—

He slowly raised his hand and placed his palm over Leon’s heart. 

A sensation that an ordinary person would not have felt. 

But to him, it was clearly felt. 

Thump thump! 

A faint pulse. 

It was not a heartbeat. 

“Master, isn’t there a way to save Brother Leon?” 

He wasn’t dead. 

But he wasn’t alive either. 

It had to be that way because time was stopped by Kim Si-won’s power. 

Having to live forever in that stopped time zone was no different from being dead. 

Moreover. 

“If this continues, both of you…” 

Kim Chaun muttered in despair. 

The stopping of time. 

Going against the laws of nature is not easy. 

It was a considerable burden even for Kim Si-won. 

And so now. 

Crackle 

Kim Si-won’s life force was rapidly fading. 

The internal collapse he had suppressed was speeding up again. 

If this continued, Kim Si-won’s life force would be completely drained much sooner than expected. 

At those words, Kim Si-won fell silent. 

Silence meant affirmation. 

Wasn’t he saying there was no way? 

— 

At that reaction, both Lee Seo-jun and Kim Chaun could only show a gloomy response. 

But the next moment. 

“…There is a way.” 

Surprisingly, Kim Si-won’s silence was not affirmation. 

It was a stillness to find hope in this hopeless situation. 

“Is that true!?” 

Knowing his master never lied, Lee Seo-jun brightened up. 

“Stopping time. That alone is not why Leon is alive.” 

In fact, even stopping time cannot hold on to Leon’s thread-like life. 

However. 

+ Attention 

“Someone is holding on to that life. Precariously, like a very thin thread, stopping time by force like the hand of a god.” 

“You mean… you weren’t the one, Master?” 

“Of course, my power is also partly included. But that’s not all. This is…” 

Bringing his hand to Leon’s heart again. 

“…There’s only one reason this is possible.” 

Kim Si-won silently clenched his hand. 

And at that moment, in his eyes, something faintly blooming from the deep crevices of the Tower was visible. 

An energy rippling red, transcending time and space. 

The eternal ember possessed only by one who has transcended death. 

“The immortal power contained within the being called Cain. Its remnant is holding on to Leon’s life.” 

Kim Si-won had collected three pieces of Cain’s Immortal Set. 

The set effect contained a powerful ability beyond just nullifying fatal attacks. 

But that was incomplete. 

Though he didn’t know exactly how many, he would need to gather more of Cain’s Immortal Set to save Leon, who had only a faint ember of life left. 

And now, Kim Si-won was pinpointing the source of that clue. 

“The Destroyed Floor…?” 

Surprisingly, the source of that clue was the floor destroyed by Nepas. 

“An artifact containing the origin of the one who never dies, from the deepest dimension of the Tower. Originally scattered and sealed…” 

Having gathered three pieces, Kim Si-won could clearly sense it. 

“…One of them has awakened somewhere in the Destroyed Floor now.” 

Surprisingly, the creation condition for one of Cain’s Immortal Set pieces was destruction. 

On the Destroyed Floor, a remnant of immortality was being generated. 

But how? 

Entering a destroyed floor was already impossible. 

Because approaching a place without form was unthinkable. 

“But is it possible to enter the Destroyed Floor?” 

“Sir Si-won has already conquered above the 60th Floor, so isn’t it impossible for you to go there?” 

Both Lee Seo-jun and Kim Chaun expressed their doubts. 

Entry to the Destroyed Floor. 

Even if entry were possible, Kim Si-won, who was already conquering the 63rd Floor, was in principle unable to enter there. 

“That place exists yet does not exist. Therefore, to enter there, one must be dead.” 

“Dead…?” 

At words that were hard to comprehend, Lee Seo-jun asked back. 

“A state without a physical body. One must reach the state of pure will, where even the physical body is created from will, just as one creates a sword from will.” 

The only way to enter the Destroyed Floor. 

That was to enter the state of pure will, abandoning the physical body, and then enter that non-existent place. 

“And the one who can do that…” 

Kim Si-won’s gaze landed on one place. 

“…Seo-jun, it’s only you.” 

Lee Seo-jun had achieved tremendous growth through this dimensional rift. 

He was the only one besides Kim Si-won who could reach the state of pure will, and furthermore, he had not climbed the Tower at all. 

He was the one and only being who could conquer the Destroyed Floor from the first floor. 

Because going backwards through the floors was impossible even for Kim Si-won, who had reached the realm of transcendence, he had no choice but to be the only hope. 

“Of course, it’s not an easy method. Perhaps you might die trying.” 

Creating the state of pure will is not easy. 

Perhaps the will could freely escape the body and simply vanish. 

“I will do it.” 

But Lee Seo-jun did not hesitate. 

“If there is a way to save Brother Leon, even if it costs me my life, I will not hesitate.” 

* 

Leon. 

He was no different from a blood brother before being Lee Seo-jun’s sworn brother. 

Hadn’t he also saved him at the cost of his own life this time? 

Without Leon’s sacrifice, the current Lee Seo-jun would not exist. 

Now was the time to repay the favor he had always only received. 

Even if that path leads to death, he would not hesitate. 

Because. 

“If I don’t go to hell, who will…” 

He murmured those words that his master Kim Si-won, and Leon, had spoken at the end. 

A noble sacrifice. 

That value was already embedded deep in their minds. 

Deep night. 

The last zone of the Association training grounds, empty of anyone. 

A space where all magic power was blocked. 

His body lay still like a heavy burden, and beside him, a man’s sword was stuck like a red flame. 

Lee Seo-jun closed his eyes. 

He held his breath, descending deep into his inner self. 

A training with no magic, no awakening intervening. 

A step of will solely for the shedding of the self, the awakening of pure will. 

And that path was toward a single purpose. 

Leon. 

His fingertips twitched. 

His mind was awake, but his body was asleep. 

Within that state, he constantly struck himself. 

“…Forget yourself.” 

His consciousness tried to annihilate itself. 

The agitation of the self. 

Distortion of memories. 

The dissolution of the soul, more terrible than death. 

But Lee Seo-jun did not back down. 

“I am here.” 

He called out. 

His own name, 

His own conviction, 

His own reason for existence. 

“I am Lee Seo-jun. I raised this sword to protect.” 

Thump. 

A heart beat in the darkness. 

It was not a heart pumping blood, but the center of conviction where will burns. 

In an instant, the black mist that had enveloped his entire body was torn away. 

[Entry into State of Pure Will Detected] 

[Forming a shape from the self.] 

[Entry Target: Non-existent Floor (Destroyed Floor) – Error Zone 1-A.] 

[Synchronizing with the eroded fragment outside the Tower…] 

Kwaaaaaaang! 

In an instant, his vision warped. 

All colors disappeared. 

A place where all lights—red, blue, black—were mixed together. 

A place that should not exist. 

The abyss of the Destroyed First Floor, deleted by the Tower’s system but not yet completely erased. 

Step— 

His pure will stepped on the ground for the first time. 

“…This place…?” 

The non-existent floor. 

To be precise, the traces of the debris that the Tower destroyed itself. 

The space was distorted like a collapsed temple, and the sky was split like cracked glass, flickering. 

Even breathing was difficult. 

Here, even existence was not permitted. 

But. 

“I must…!” 

He took a step forward. 

The moment he did. 

Bang! 

A reaction stirred from beyond the space. 

A massive pillar of twilight fell. 

And at its center. 

A black flame touched the sky and whispered low. 

[4th Fragment of Cain’s Immortal Set.] 

[For those who could not give up life, I shall grant the blessing of immortality.] 

Light enveloped Lee Seo-jun’s pure will. 

Then, the crest of a red sword rose above his body. 

It was not a simple weapon or item, but the only ember that could revive an unsaved soul. 

— 

‘…even if I go to hell, I will bring you back, brother.’ 

And along the trajectory left by the red flame behind him. 

The maze of the collapsed floor began to open. 

In the destroyed heavens, with no apostle of salvation, a man’s pure will began to be inscribed. 

And the next moment. 

‘Cain’s Immortal Set is not a simple artifact.’ 

His master Kim Si-won’s warning came to mind. 

‘To obtain that artifact, you yourself must face death and overcome it.’ 

Reflecting on those words. 

Kiiiiik— 

Finally, he set foot into the Destroyed Floor that permitted his existence, an unknown space that should not exist. 

That moment. 

Hwiiiiing— 

Though there was no wind, something whispered. 

The place where Lee Seo-jun first stepped. 

It was not the floor, but the memory of the broken Tower. 

‘That which can exist because it does not exist’, 

A space indescribable in words. 

The surroundings lost color. 

Light did not flow, and darkness settled like suffocation. 

The darkness breathed as if alive. 

He raised his sword. 

The sword was a shape made of pure will, 

but at that moment, it was a symbol of his will. 

[Connection Complete.] 

[Entering the core of the Destroyed First Floor: the Memory Zone.] 

‘Memory Zone’ 

As those words fell, the space moved. 

Bang! 

Not a crack, but a memory of reality tore. 

Collapsed stone stairs flipped in the air, 

And a wall cracked like ancient ruins flowed down like blood. 

The ceiling moaned and twisted. 

Then. 

Kwaaaaaaang! 

The sky split. 

Something began to descend through the gap. 

『Will of the Transcendent Being of Destruction, the Self-Harmer.』 

It was a shape of despair that maintained its existence by repeating self-destruction, without even a complete form. 

It had no head, its limbs were torn apart by itself, and its entire body was pierced by incomplete swords and spears. 

But it was alive. 

No, it was living while dead. 

「Not… over yet… Tower… hear my voice…」 

It was the last emotion of the non-existent floor. 

The emotion that was abandoned first when that floor disappeared. 

It was the memory of self-harm, rejected even by the Tower Spirit and the Tower Administrator. 

Lee Seo-jun raised his sword. 

The being before him was not a simple trial. 

This was itself a trial, 

and the will of the Destroyed Floor itself, which the Tower’s origin hated and rejected.