Unlike when he reached the 5th floor, Min-hyuk didn’t bother to wait out the clock.
He entered immediately and quietly surveyed his surroundings.
“It’s changed.”
Looking at the scenery before him, he felt that the descriptions on Hunter Net were spot on.
Up until now, the floors felt like variations of the 1st floor, with only the monsters changing.
However, from the 6th floor onward, the landscape itself was completely different.
Amidst the dense, jungle-like scenery, a system window appeared before Min-hyuk’s eyes.
[You have reached Level 6. Your mana and physical abilities have increased significantly.]
[Minimum Clear Condition: Survive for at least 5 minutes.]
[*Reach the target point on the 6th floor.]
[A special quest has been generated due to the ecological changes from floors 1 to 5.]
—* 6th Floor Ecological Survey Quest: Investigate all areas of the 6th floor.—
[The quest will remain active until completed. —Can also be cleared as a repeat quest—]
While he was checking the stream of system windows, an ominous presence began to stir around him.
“Whew…”
The moment he exhaled to release his tension and surged his mana, subtle sounds echoed from all corners of the forest.
‘Is it a jungle?’
In the thick forest where he couldn’t see even a foot ahead, a monstrous shriek rang out.
It was the kind of scream that would make an ordinary person piss themselves.
Min-hyuk unleashed his battle spirit against the shriek, which seemed to instinctively trigger fear, perhaps because it was laced with mana.
Did it not like that?
The monster immediately revealed its true colors.
—Kieeeee!
The moment the monsters, disguised as ordinary plants, began to move on their own, a smile spread across Min-hyuk’s lips.
“Yeah. Now it finally feels like I’ve entered a real tower.”
Until now, he had been dealing with animals found in reality, so the feeling of fighting “monsters” had been weak. But this scenery was far removed from reality.
With walking trees and moving plants that looked like they belonged in a B-grade horror movie, he truly felt like he was facing monsters.
‘But even so…’
They were weaker than the beasts on the 5th floor.
Floors 6 through 9 were places where overall monster levels were lowered in exchange for adding environmental variables like extreme conditions.
Therefore, Min-hyuk didn’t panic and instead gathered his mana.
‘If I get poisoned or fall into a crisis, the Bonfire cheat item will save me once.’
Because of this fact, Min-hyuk didn’t hesitate to swing his greatsword toward the dense forest surrounding him.
Slash!
In the wake of the strike, the monsters disguised as trees were all cut down, instantly clearing his cramped field of vision.
“…Is it that?”
The moment he saw a faint light leaking through, Min-hyuk, certain that it was his destination, began to move.
To stop Min-hyuk as he sprinted like a madman, the entire jungle began to move.
Just like on floors 1 through 5, the tower stopped testing the waters as it did for cowards aiming for a minimum clear and began a full-scale hunt.
Roots tried to grab Min-hyuk’s legs from what he thought was solid ground.
Tree branches suddenly blocked his path, obscuring his vision.
Acidic liquid sprayed from bizarre-looking grass.
Compared to the monsters he had faced so far, their speed and power were certainly weaker.
However, the pressure of the entire forest trying to kill him was immense.
It wasn’t easy to endure.
‘Can I really break through this forest and reach that place?’
The 6th floor was a challenge difficult enough to make such thoughts arise naturally.
However, if one stayed sharp, it was actually an easy floor.
Especially for Min-hyuk, the vivid lines visible to his eyes suggested different solutions according to his will.
As he advanced rapidly, following the path guidance that felt like a navigation system, the forest’s reaction grew more violent.
“Kkik!”
As if deciding that plant-type monsters couldn’t stop him, the cries of monkeys rang out, and a full-scale counterattack began.
When fruit-like objects flew from between the trees, he reflexively deflected them with his greatsword.
In that moment…
Boom!
Min-hyuk, who was blown back by the sound of an explosion, looked forward with a bewildered expression.
Between the moving plants, a troop of monkeys had swarmed in.
The monkeys, holding various types of fruit in their hands, glared at Min-hyuk but didn’t attack immediately.
It was as if they were warning him: ‘We will not allow you further. So, withdraw!’
“Sorry, but I can’t do that.”
The moment he spoke and unleashed his battle spirit at full power, the monkeys began throwing their fruit all at once.
Some caused explosions, some were filled with needles, and some emitted poisonous gas the moment they were blocked.
Boom! Bang!
Explosions rang out in succession, but Min-hyuk began to slaughter the monkeys moving through the trees with brilliant movements.
If these monkeys had been as powerful as the beasts on the 5th floor, Min-hyuk might have struggled.
However, the monsters on the 6th floor seemed weak even compared to the 3rd or 4th floors.
They tried to compensate for that weak martial power with special weapons, but as long as there was a gap in overall strength, the limit was clear.
As if proving this, when Min-hyuk unleashed his battle spirit in all directions, the agile monkeys stumbled as if they had fallen into confusion.
“Kieee…”
The moment they staggered as if drunk, Min-hyuk’s greatsword swung horizontally, and the slash spread into the surroundings.
With a ‘shluk’ sound, the writhing trees and the troop of monkeys were slaughtered where they stood.
“Whew… that was tougher than I thought.”
With those words, he was about to take some rabbit meat out of his subspace for a quick rest.
[The Butcher’s Meat Processing skill has found additional processing conditions through the combination of meat and plant-type monsters.]
[Rabbit meat can be additionally processed.]
“…Huh?”
He made a bewildered face at the first-time system window and took out other meats just in case.
[Boar meat can be additionally processed.]
[Field rat meat can be additionally processed.]
[Roe deer meat can be additionally processed…]
[Bear meat can be additionally processed…]
The moment he saw that all the meat he had brought was reacting, the words “It’s a gold mine!” burst from Min-hyuk’s mouth.
“This… is incredible!”
Even when roasting meat over the bonfire or using slime mucus, the skill hadn’t reacted because those were basic processes, but now it finally responded.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t experiment with it right now.
The monkeys were already swarming back.
“Should I clear it first and then check slowly?”
Muttering to himself, Min-hyuk shoved the meat and the reacting plants into his subspace and picked up his greatsword again.
“Kkik!”
The monkeys charged again, holding fruits as big as their own bodies to stop Min-hyuk by any means.
Min-hyuk’s eyes, which had been wary just a moment ago, sparkled as if they had hearts in them.
“So all of those are ingredients?”
With a broad smile on his face, Min-hyuk immediately charged forward.
To stop him, the plants began to move again, but now even the plant-type monsters looked like ingredients to his eyes.
‘I should take this chance to look through floors 1 to 5 thoroughly as well.’
He used to only butcher edible meat, but not anymore.
Just thinking about the synergy between the ingredients from floors 1 to 5 and the ingredients from the 6th floor made him happy.
As if expressing his joy, he swung his greatsword like a madman with a beaming grin.
As the plant monsters were swept away and the fruits thrown by the monkeys were all deflected by the greatsword’s defense, the jungle’s line of defense crumbled rapidly.
Was that why?
Thud!
A massive tree suddenly appeared and blocked the greatsword with its own body.
While he was momentarily stalled by the sword being buried deep, monkeys rushed in from both sides.
However, the slaughter began as the kitchen knives already held in Min-hyuk’s hands were swung, cutting the monkeys on both sides in two.
The mana gathered on the blades swung by both hands spread with every stroke, carving up the bodies of the swarming monkeys.
In the aftermath, even the trees blocking his path were gradually split apart until they finally cracked and fell over, unable to support their massive weight.
Thump!
As the tree fell like a wall being removed, bright light shone through.
“Ah…”
The scenery visible through the bright light was unique.
A sandy beach, and a massive tree towering in front of it.
Instinctively, he felt that this tree would be the reward for the 6th floor.
However, exiting the jungle didn’t mean he could go straight to the reward.
Thump! Thump!
An army of chimpanzees holding weapons.
And a giant gorilla guarding the front.
Dealing with them alone was troublesome, but the environment was also filled with giant carnivorous plants that seemed like they would destroy his feet just by walking.
“I don’t think carnivorous plants will be of much help…”
Saying so, he pulled out a torch.
He had brought it along during his preliminary research, thinking it might be necessary, and he threw it into the area filled with carnivorous plants.
Whoosh!
Was it because it was a fire imbued with mana?
The plants, which should have had some resistance to fire, began to burn rapidly and shrieked.
“As expected… they react quickly.”
Perhaps because they were flustered at first, the fire spread rapidly, but if it could have been finished just by throwing fire, other hunters would have completed a perfect clear here long ago.
The carnivorous plants spat out the liquid they held to try and extinguish the fire, and the jungle trees in the back secreted sap as well.
At this rate, the flames would be extinguished quickly.
However, this brief moment while all the plants were distracted by the fire was exactly what Min-hyuk intended.
“Hup!”
As he poured strength into his legs and concentrated his mana, his calf and thigh muscles bulged as if they were about to burst.
Once he concentrated his strength to the limit, he immediately sprinted forward.
Min-hyuk’s body, moving as fast as a boss monster from another floor—if not quite as fast as the giant bird from the 4th floor—soon reached the troop of chimpanzees.
Slash!
Several chimpanzees blocked his path to check his rapid advance, but the price was disastrous.
Leaving behind the chimpanzees who were split apart in an instant, Min-hyuk reached the gorilla.
As his greatsword swung, the gorilla’s fist, which felt like it could crush a whole body with just a graze, swung and collided in mid-air.
Boom!
The sound of a bomb exploding echoed as the two manas clashed.
Simultaneously, the gorilla’s battle spirit erupted, trying to weigh Min-hyuk down, but instead, a relaxed smile played on his face.
It was because the boss was certainly at a weaker level compared to fighting three bosses at once on the 5th floor, even if it was superior to them individually.
Furthermore, the current Min-hyuk had grown even more since then.
“Easy.”
Before long, Min-hyuk’s greatsword was buried in the gorilla’s heart, which was as hard as armor.
Did the gorilla recognize his strength then?
It quietly nodded, slowly collapsed, and closed its eyes.
[You have cleared the 6th floor with a Flawless Clear.]
[Would you like to exit the tower?]
Min-hyuk quietly shook his head at the system’s question.
A time limit appeared on the system window, along with a message asking him to leave within that time.
“Whew… it’s all over… Is the next floor that way?”
Looking at the beach and ocean scenery visible behind the tree, he leaned against the trunk, thinking that place would likely be the next floor.
Feeling as though he was being healed just by leaning against it, he summoned slime mucus to treat his various wounds.
[Slime Potion can be additionally processed.]
[Material: Tree of Healing]
“Huh?”
Min-hyuk’s eyes widened at the sudden system window, and he reflexively looked up at the tree.
“…No way?”
As he looked at the tree with a look of disbelief, a description of the tree appeared before his eyes.
[Tree of Healing: All materials can be used for the additional enhancement of potions.]
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