Climbing the floors.
That wasn’t such a difficult thing for me.
Beyond the incomprehensible, past the bizarre, even to the mythical.
I broke through every floor one by one and rose to the 69th floor in an instant.
Then.
Crack!
The space tore apart, and my视野 opened.
And I could realize it immediately.
“This is…?”
The 69th floor, Garden of Purity.
Originally, as its name suggested, this place was supposed to be the Tower’s purest and most tranquil floor.
A domain of purity permitted by the Tower’s will.
One of the pinnacles of order, where neither destruction, corruption, nor even the abyss could approach.
But now, this place—
Squelch!
The moment I took a step, the ground became sticky and corrupted.
Instead of green vegetation, gleaming black ooze covered the earth, and instead of the clear garden air, it was filled with the stench of blood and rot.
[69th Floor: Garden of Purity — Mutated state confirmed.]
[Status: Corruption complete.]
[Difficulty: Beyond the norm, outside allowed rules.]
[Warning: Tower’s order nullified within this area. All rules replaced by the laws of the abyss.]
“…Beyond the norm.”
The moment that word surfaced, my heart cooled slightly.
This was the worst difficulty acknowledged by the Tower itself.
The designer of the Tower had let go of it—a domain of uncontrollability.
Literally unpredictable, uncontrollable, rule-breaking.
Yet I did not stop.
‘I must go to the 70th floor.’
The tainted Cain’s Set—the only clue to purify that corruption lay there.
Even if the path was consumed by the abyss, I had to pass through.
Boom!
At that moment, twisted figures appeared from the center of the garden.
Fallen angels with white skin, black eyes, and translucent wings.
Those who were originally the guardians of this place had now degenerated into servants of the abyss.
「One who defies order…」
「One who seeks to purify corruption…」
「May you all vanish…!」
The moment their voices echoed through the space,
dozens of black rays tore through the sky and poured down at me.
I gripped my sword, steadied my breath, and calmly stepped forward.
I could not retreat.
The power of Immortality was not yet complete.
I had to break through the corrupted 69th floor and reach the 70th floor.
“Come.”
Swish.
I drew my sword.
Whoosh!
The Immortal Flame flickered faintly, and a pure white light spread over it.
One Sword Returns to One.
The power to contain all the world’s swords within a single blade.
With this power, I would open the path.
Boom! Bang! Crash!
Light and darkness clashed, shattering space.
The angels, fluttering their black wings, charged at me with spears.
There were not just one or two.
The entire floor had designated me as an enemy.
「Enemy of the Tower!」
「Betrayer of order!」
「Defier of the abyss!」
Voices poured in, overwhelming power.
But I did not stop.
Swish.
I swung my sword.
Swoosh!
The pure white light spread in all directions, cutting through the corruption.
Shiiing!
The space cut by the sword tore apart, and the angels’ bodies shattered.
Yet no matter how much I cut, there was no end.
These corrupted beings revived like immortals through the abyss’s energy.
It was as if the abyss itself was regenerating this floor.
“Truly beyond the norm.”
The entire floor was hostile to me.
No, it wasn’t just the floor—even the system had turned against me.
Grind!
I gritted my teeth.
With ordinary power, I could never break through this floor.
There was one way.
Use this corruption in reverse.
The power of the abyss and Immortality.
The source of corruption and Cain’s authority.
Forcibly merge these contradictions to turn the impossible into possible.
Swish.
I swung my sword while simultaneously fusing the power of Immortality and the traces of the abyss.
Contradictions clashed with contradictions, and strange rays of light tore through space.
Crack!
A gap in space.
A path faintly revealed there.
The only passage cutting through the crevice of the garden covered in corruption.
“This is the end.”
Gasping for breath, I squeezed out my remaining strength.
The pure white sword and the tainted flame intertwined, creating a massive vortex.
Whoooooosh!
The vortex devoured the angels, twisting and destroying even the remaining corruption.
Thus, at the center of the garden, the door leading to the 70th floor finally revealed itself.
But that did not mean I could pass through.
The problem was the gimmick surrounding that door.
[69th Floor: Garden of Purity — Final gate activated.]
[Condition: Those who are not ‘pure’ cannot enter.]
[Contamination level: 97.2%]
[Current status: Purity not recognized.]
[Upon approach, existence will be erased.]
“Purity…?”
Garden of Purity.
The original gimmick of this floor was a law that only those pure in heart and being could pass through.
According to the Tower’s order, those passing through here were not permitted even the slightest trace of the abyss’s energy or impure intent.
But now, this floor had already fallen to the abyss.
The garden’s laws were twisted, and even the concept of purity had been corrupted.
As a result, paradoxically, unless one was perfectly pure, no one could pass through.
A contamination level of 97.2%.
The meaning was clear.
Currently, anyone passing through this space would have their existence erased the moment they carried even a trace of corruption and contamination.
My status?
It went without saying.
My body was already stained with traces of the abyss,
and even Cain’s Immortal Set was covered in the contamination of corruption.
‘A truly impassable gate.’
This was not a barrier that could be broken with simple power.
It was the floor’s judgment that saw through the depths of one’s existence.
For me, burdened by the abyss, it was an insurmountable wall.
However.
“There is no impossibility.”
I did not lower my head.
If the concept of purity had been twisted, there was a way to exploit that gap.
Not true purity, but a twisted purity that used the abyss in reverse.
Instead of denying corruption, if I embraced it and perfectly integrated it, then there would no longer be any distinction between contamination or purity within me.
A complete neutrality where the boundaries of existence vanished.
That was the only way to pierce through this floor’s weakness.
Shhh.
I closed my eyes.
Throughout my entire body, the Aura of Immortality and the abyss’s contamination writhed simultaneously.
The traces of corruption burrowed into my flesh, tearing at my existence.
The pain was beyond imagination.
Even all the karma I had accumulated until now—I abandoned it.
At this moment, I was casting my entire existence into the boundary between corruption and immortality.
A distorted purity that transcended the boundary between pure being and complete corruption—neither one.
This was the method I chose.
Steadying my breath, I gripped my sword one last time.
Then, in that state, I walked toward the garden’s gate.
Groooan!
The garden screamed and twisted.
Black rays and pure white radiance tangled and exploded.
The boundaries of existence distorted, and the structure of reality tore apart.
[Judging purity…]
[Analyzing contamination level…]
[Analysis impossible.]
[No contamination level, purity, or boundary existence.]
[Judgment criteria invalid.]
[Passage permitted.]
In an instant, the white gate opened.
And slowly, I passed through it.
Rumble!
Behind me, the garden collapsed as if exploding.
The space where the contradictions of corruption and purity were intertwined tangled and disappeared.
But I had already crossed that wall.
I distorted the boundary between the abyss and purity, smashing the absolute gimmick that seemed impossible to pass through head-on.
Rewards?
Nepas and the being sealed in the Tower—their will did not grant me any reward.
Therefore.
Step—
*
I did not stop my steps toward the 70th floor.
Step.
I reached the 70th floor shortly after.
But.
It was silent.
Naturally, since it had been eroded by Nepas, I expected a reaction as fierce as the 69th floor, but—
“…It’s different.”
I pressed my lips tightly together.
It was different from any floor I had experienced on the way up.
It wasn’t just a matter of feeling or sensation.
The very texture of space was twisted.
Time, gravity, even dimensions could no longer be considered normal here.
‘Nepas’s contamination…?’
No.
This wasn’t at that level.
The alien energy filling this place—
It wasn’t Nepas’s corruption. It was older, deeper, and more fundamental.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
I could feel it.
A pulse that seemed to squeeze my heart.
The sound reverberated from the ground, the walls, the air, and deep within my consciousness.
“…No way.”
I slowly raised my eyes.
And finally, there it was.
A gigantic eye.
A pupil so large it filled an entire wall—
or rather, encompassed the whole floor.
Beyond an infinite body whose shape was impossible to discern, that overwhelming being looked down at me.
「…You have arrived…」
A voice that seemed hollow yet pierced through everything.
The deepest part of my heart froze.
It was fear.
But not a simple emotion.
This was—
fear directed at the essence of existence.
[Tower 70th floor: Uncontrollable.]
[Partial leakage of the 100th floor seal confirmed.]
[A part of the Source of Fear manifests on the 70th floor.]
[Warning: This being is an ancient calamity that even the Tower has not fully identified.]
The system’s dry message erupted.
But I instinctively felt something beyond that explanation.
‘The 100th floor… the Source of Fear.’
An entity that the Tower couldn’t fully handle, so it was sealed on the 100th floor—
Something that existed outside the Tower, or even before the Tower’s birth.
And Nepas.
By weakening the seal, he had allowed a part of this source to flow into the 70th floor.
「Nepas. That insignificant creature… opened this door for me.」
「Thanks to that, I… am here.」
Thump… thump…
Once again, the space pulsated.
I tightened my grip on my sword.
The Immortal Flame flickered.
But even this flame seemed like a flickering candle before the Source of Fear.
‘I cannot run away.’
Only by passing through this place could I cleanse the corruption of the Immortal Set, save Leon, and surpass the Tower’s order.
「Your life, your consciousness, your existence.」
「They will all be torn to shreds and become endless food for the abyss.」
The eye of the Source of Fear slowly narrowed.
In that instant, I fell into the illusion that my entire body was vanishing.
My existence, my soul, even the flow of time seemed to be severed.
‘I must endure.’
Grind!
I gritted my teeth.
The fear consumed me.
But somewhere deep inside… I felt the traces of another resistance.
The faint remnants of the Tower’s seal.
The last resistance left by the Tower’s will to prevent the Source of Fear from descending completely.
I had to break through that gap.
“…Alright.”
I raised my sword.
Even as my body trembled as if it would shatter, and my mind wavered as if it would split.
I simply moved forward.
「Ridiculous. A mere lesser being…」
Boom!
The form of the Source of Fear vibrated.
Gigantic black tentacles poured from the sky.
Space tore.
Light vanished.
Existence twisted.
I broke through the center of it all.
Raising the Immortal Flame, enduring the pain that tore at my heart, moving only forward.
One Sword Remnant.
A silver sword aura flowed, and its wave split the tentacles.
It was not a physical battle.
A confrontation of consciousness and fear, aimed at the depths of existence.
Thus, my feet touched below the eye of fear.
「…Little being… someday… you will surely regret this.」
At that moment,
the Tower’s seal flickered and burst with a crackling sound.
In the brief gap when the Source of Fear was pulled back to the 100th floor,
I swung my sword.
I cut through the heart, tore the pupil, and slashed the existence itself.
KABOOM!
Space exploded, and part of the Source of Fear’s form shattered.
But at its tail end, a chilling whisper remained.
「You will eventually… face me at the end of the Tower.」
「And you will confront the inevitability that must come to pass.」
Part of the fear vanished from the 70th floor.
And in the next moment,
–FWOOSH!
At the spot where it disappeared,
I could see a sphere left behind, radiating pure white light.