"Honja-ssi you said it would be safe!"
Yoon Jiyeon was staring at me with stunned eyes.
"Hell, seriously?!"
"..."
Yoon Jiyeon took her head in her hands and curled up on the ground. Others in the group also began to panic.
"There's no way we're getting out of here alive."
"Hell? Might as well kill ourselves now, it'll be quicker."
It was normal to panic, these people had lived so long in reality that suddenly ending up in fiction made them lose their minds.
A desolate landscape stretched out around us. Mountains of dark rock and flowing lava shaped the terrain.
The stone ceiling of Hell was covered in a thick fog, from which bursts of flame escaped and fell to the ground in heavy molten streams.
I opened the system to check the current storyline.
+
[Path]: Floor '-1'.
Category: S+
Description: Sacrifice your fear to change floors.
Time limit: None
Reward: 100,000 stellaron
+
The 'Tower of the World's Fragments' also had a hidden storyline that had to be completed before leaving. Most people discovered this far too late and struggled to prepare for it. That was the trap of the 'Tower of the World's Fragments'.
I swiped my finger across the window to reveal a second page.
+
Your current Tower ranking is 1,800,259th place.
Only entities within the top 100 of the rankings can challenge the 'Realm of Doors'.
+
Almost top two million—not bad. Knowing that with each new storyline, few managed to escape, the number of entities in the Tower was in the billions. Being in the top two million was nothing to be ashamed of.
To climb the ranks, you just had to challenge someone for their place. If you won the duel, regardless of the rules, the winner would take the higher ranking of the two.
I turned to the group.
"All of you—what's your rank in the Tower?"
Even if they had no idea what it was, the system was intuitive enough that simply thinking about it should display their windows.
Taehyun spoke first, followed by Yoon Jiyeon.
"I'm 8,250,630th."
"I'm 8,930,275th."
Taehyun gave her a malicious grin.
"I'm ranked higher than you."
"Only by 600,000 places, brat."
The voices continued.
"12,560,345th."
"4,569,258th."
"12,598,325,452nd."
After everyone had spoken, I confirmed I was indeed the highest ranked among us. Probably because of my pact.
There were several ways to use ether. The simplest was to become a mage and learn spells.
The other way was to become a transcendent by making a pact. In exchange for a condition, a pact linked two entities, drastically enhancing the power of one of them.
Since a pact was eternal in temporal terms, there was no way to know where mine—made with a demon—originated from. In fact, technically speaking, I hadn't made the pact yet, so I still didn't know what I had given in exchange.
That was problematic because the condition of a pact defined the extent and nature of the power received.
Knowing more about 'The Witness Burdened by regrets' might give me a clue about who I should make my pact with.
['The Witness Burdened by regrets' compliments your understanding of the situation.]
Also, are you male or female?
['The Witness Burdened by regrets' states that they do not identify with any gender.]
Well, that's helpful.
In any case, the priority was to leave this floor.
The floors of the 'Tower of the World's Fragments' represented real or fictional human concepts. The Hell we were in wasn't real. It was the physical embodiment of a belief, nothing more.
"What does 'Sacrifice your fear to change floors' mean?"
I turned toward the man who had just spoken.
"We won't be sacrificing anything."
"What do you mean?"
"There's another way out of here."
Sacrificing your fear meant no longer having any—it was far more dangerous than it seemed. That's why the path was rated S+. Its danger was invisible.
A female voice spoke up. "And what is that other way?"
"To reach the exit of Hell. It's not hard to find once you know where to look."
I pulled out the compass from the first storyline, which was more like an astrolabe. It worked—a thin golden thread stretched toward the horizon.
"Let's go."
We set off. Everyone followed me, likely because of my earlier confidence. Without those memories, I would have lost hope too.
The Grand Master seemed convinced I was a returner, but those memories weren't mine. Otherwise, how could I see myself in them?
The person they belonged to seemed to be named Kwon Joonseo. I had never heard that name before, but by constantly experiencing his memories, I was starting to know him better.
It was a stroke of luck that he had also entered the Tower through floor -1 in those memories.
No matter which reality you came from, Kwon Joonseo—thank you.
***
We walked through the rock desert for what felt like hours, following the direction indicated by the astrolabe. Aside from the bubbling sound of lava, the landscape was silent.
Not surprising—few people ended up on this floor. And if they did, they usually didn't leave.
In front of us, a wall-like ash storm stretched for miles. It was still far off, but so huge it covered the whole horizon. The closer we got, the more frequent the scattered bones on the ground became.
I had a bad feeling, which was quickly confirmed.
From deep within the storm, the sound of a creature echoed.
Of course it had to happen eventually. Hell wasn't lifeless—it was just ruled by death.
[The 'fear' of Kim Minjun has noticed you.]
The system message rang in my ears.
"Form a circle!" In response to my warning, everyone stood back-to-back, drawing their swords.
On edge, we soon saw a figure emerge from the ashen landscape.
The creature had a humanoid shape, but its proportions were all wrong. Its long, bony arms were twice as long as a normal human's. Where its face should have been, there was a smooth, white surface. From its back protruded bones like a second, distorted ribcage. The creature was completely naked and looked like something straight out of a nightmare.
Everyone started to panic, some screamed and ran in the opposite direction. Others, laughing from fear, charged the creature with their swords.
Taehyun looked ready to follow them, but I grabbed his sleeve.
"Don't move."
"Huh?"
Yoon Jiyeon protested. "But we'll die if we do nothing."
"You really think we stand a chance against that thing?"
"…"
"…"
"Watch."
The creature swiped at the attackers with its long fingers. As soon as they were touched, they started to swell and then exploded, leaving only blood and chunks of flesh.
Then it turned its gaze on the runners.
Seeing them flee, it screamed.
"Uuuuuuuuuho"
It was a howl from the depths of hell, from a creature with no mouth..
In a blink, it caught up to them. Its massive fingers pierced flesh like butter.
Kuuuack!
Our companions fell one after another.
Yoon Jiyeon, who had stayed by my side with Taehyun, looked at me with worried eyes.
"Honja-ssi, what do we do?"
"Don't move."
Fears often had the same weakness. If you weren't afraid of them, they got weaker and could be defeated.
"When I give the signal, slice its throat."
Once the creature finished its massacre, it slowly turned its head toward us. Even from far away, my blood froze.
[The 'fear' of Kim Minjun sets its gaze on you.]
In a blink, it stood before us.
Now that it was close, I could observe it better. It stood at least six meters tall. Its body was covered in a thin, translucent layer of skin that revealed its intestines.
The creature slowly leaned its head toward us until it was inches from my face. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. My whole body was shaking.
I screamed with all my strength.
"Now!"
The creature pulled back its head, but it was too late. Yoon Jiyeon's sword sliced through its throat. It collapsed, choking on its own blood.
I dropped to the ground, catching my breath.
I managed to speak. "G-Good job…"
My heart was pounding, but I still had things to collect from the creature.
I bent over its limp body and cut open its belly with my sword. Its guts spilled onto the ground. I braced myself and reached inside.
It had to have swallowed at least one…
My hand closed around a round object. Bingo! I took the item and stored it in my inventory.
I also grabbed some of the guts, bundled them up, and stored them as well.
Taehyun and Yoon Jiyeon looked at me with disgusted faces.
"Ew, why are you touching that stuff…"
I simply replied.
"It'll come in handy."
I stood up.
"Let's go, we're not there yet."
I felt calm. If I could count on Yoon Jiyeon and Taehyun to help me, maybe we really could get off this floor.