Boss dialogue was a common sign of a phase transition.
And seeing everyone freeze the moment the statue spoke, Woo-joo sensed the situation had turned bad.
Wait…… is dialogue not supposed to happen? ……Did something go wrong?
His unease climbed another notch.
“Something feel off?”
Whether sharing the same feeling or not, Seo I-an briefly stopped attacking, put some distance between herself and the statue, and shot a sideways look at Park Si-woo as she asked.
“You didn’t hit it too hard, did you? I’ve never heard of a Special Floor boss talking before.”
Even Park Si-woo, one of the Association’s most seasoned veterans, shrugged like it was news to him too.
His eyes stayed fixed on the statue, watching for whatever came next.
“Hey. Hong Je-hun is first on the board — why is this somehow my fault?”
Her voice had roughened. The situation was clearly not to her liking.
Something was nagging at Woo-joo, and he decided to play dumb — new Awakened who knew nothing — and stay quiet.
I’m starting to think it might have been the defense-pierce……
Along with everything else, he’d downed two bottles of the Defense-Pierce Damage +50% Elixir.
Thanks to Elixir God, that had become a full 100% defense-pierce.
The goddess statue’s line — how dare you breach the defenses of a goddess — was stuck in his head.
“Hey! Park Si-woo! Get the high-grade recovery potions ready to throw!”
“Already on it.”
He grumbled as he said it, but the bottle was already in his hand.
Seo I-an confirmed that and——
BANG!!
Swung her sword in a wide arc forward.
A streak of sword aura flew out, scoring a straight line across the ground.
“……”
“Huh. Looks like it just glitched the dialogue.”
The statue didn’t phase transition.
A phase transition should have triggered some kind of visible change — nothing happened.
It was just taking hits, same as before the dialogue.
“Ugh! We got scared over nothing!”
Her words settled everyone’s nerves and the attacks resumed.
Including his.
But.
Fwip! Fwip!
— How dare a worthless mortal breach the defenses of a goddess such as I!
“……Must be a bug.”
Hong Je-hun reached that conclusion too and kept fighting.
Fwip! Fwip!
— How dare a worthless mortal breach the defenses of a goddess such as I!
Fwip! Fwip!
— How dare a worthless——
Oh no.
When he stopped shooting, the statue went quiet.
When he started again, the worthless mortal line started again.
I really am the one causing the dialogue.
Almost certainly from the 100% defense-pierce.
It’s okay. It’s a little loud but there’s no reason to feel guilty about it…… probably.
He talked himself through it internally and kept drawing back the bowgun without stopping.
He couldn’t just stand there doing nothing. He needed contribution.
He wanted to properly collect the Special Floor contribution reward everyone kept saying was enormous.
One more shot. Even 0.01% more contribution.
By the time he’d reached a state of something approaching unity with the bowgun — where he wasn’t sure if he was operating the bowgun or the bowgun was operating him——
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!!
The sound of stone getting demolished, one after another, and——
“Ah! Sorry! Apologies!”
A clear, composed voice rang out through the temple.
“Oh for the LOVE OF — Hong Je-HUN——”
Who was responsible was immediately obvious.
Hong Je-hun apologizing. Seo I-an driving the nail in.
“I’m truly sorry! It wasn’t intentional! Apologies to everyone!”
The giant ice-dragon forms sweeping through the temple interior had been there for a while.
But one of them had just skimmed past three enormous stone pillars.
When the dragon dissipated, what it left behind was visible — the hollow space where three pillars had been.
The moment that registered, the unbalanced pillar chunks fell.
Fortunately, no one seemed to have been standing in that area, so casualties looked unlikely — but.
“Watch out for the shrapnel!”
Hwang Gyu-beom came sprinting toward him from behind and positioned himself in front of Woo-joo, showing him his back.
Then raised his greatsword with its flat side facing forward.
He’d said it before, but this was exactly why he had such a soft spot for the man.
Something no one else knew.
Anyway.
Thud.
The fallen pillar broke apart on impact, sending small fragments skittering across the floor.
Everyone paused their assault briefly.
The heavily-armored kept taking the flying debris and continued dealing damage anyway.
Those with middling armor ducked low to minimize whatever damage might come.
Once the secondary fallout from the stone fragments settled, a new problem emerged.
“Urgh! Cough!“
A thick cloud of acrid dust rising from the spot.
Everything went dim and murky in an instant.
Like being inside a sandstorm at peak density — eyes, nose, and throat stinging was the natural consequence.
And then.
“……cough!“
He coughed, and simultaneously detonated 250 TC — roughly 1,750,000 won in cash.
[Low-grade recovery potion effect applied!]
He didn’t need to be told.
He’d felt it go off inside his mouth, and the bitterness had been sharp enough to sting his tongue — he could tell that much from sensation alone.
Ah……
One ill-timed cough and the low-grade recovery potion went off……
The money was well spent, though — the prickling sensation stabbing his eyes, nose, and throat all cleared up at once, like tiny needles being pulled out simultaneously.
And then immediately, the money felt agonizing to have spent.
Ugh…… if I’d known, I would have waited until the dust settled……
Because his eyes, nose, and throat were already starting to sting again.
He could probably still shoot the bowgun though.
His contribution!
But the last thing he’d seen was Hwang Gyu-beom’s back, the man having stepped in front of him.
He looked forward to find a line of fire — he needed to shoot around the man, not through him.
Except — obviously — he couldn’t see anything.
Everything ahead of him was a dim, murky yellow-brown.
He blinked, trying to see even a little better.
And then.
— Flash!
A streak of red in the dust.
What is that?
Sitting motionless in the same spot, glowing steadily.
Not a gatherable spot.
Gatherable spots always appeared as a spreading glow around an area.
Nothing like this sharp, singular point of light.
And then the light vanished in an instant.
What was that, really……?
He was still puzzling over it when the dust began settling, and visibility started returning.
“Oh for the love of — cough——!!”
Seo I-an’s silhouette, unmistakably trying to curse and being interrupted by her own coughing.
“Approximately four minutes remaining!”
Park Si-woo called out.
Attacks resumed before the dust had fully cleared.
“Aim high, not low! Hong Je-hun knocked down another pillar — hit the lower part wrong and we’ll kick up dust like before!”
Seo I-an shouted.
Whether her eyes were on the statue or on Hong Je-hun was unclear.
What was clear was that she looked ready to chew someone alive.
Anyway.
He looked at the statue and blinked twice.
Eagle Eye.
Blink twice rapidly — see something about the target for 3 seconds.
For people, it showed their current emotional state. For the Tower Intrude screen, it showed the floor owner’s remaining time.
……And for a boss mob, it looks like I see that red flash from before.
Two possibilities.
It was either the boss’s weak point — or its most heavily armored spot.
Well. Hit it and find out.
He didn’t trust his own accuracy at range, so he moved forward a little.
Then, to keep tracking the red flash’s position — which vanished after 3 seconds — he kept blinking like someone with dust permanently lodged in his eye.
Fwip! Fwip! Fwip! Fwip!
He kept firing the bowgun.
First shot barely missed. Second shot connected.
— Ding!
[Someone has struck the boss’s reverse scale!]
[Damage dealt to the boss increases by 1.5x!]
Shock rippled across every face in the room.
Even Woo-joo — who knew exactly what had happened — was surprised.
Boss mob, Eagle Eye, red flash, reverse scale, 1.5x damage boost.
Mental note filed.
“What’s a reverse scale?”
“But who hit the reverse scale?”
“There are this many people in here — how would anyone know?”
“Come forward and claim your glory!”
The room erupted with noise in an instant.
The atmosphere couldn’t have been better.
Everyone traded jokes without stopping the attacks, smiles on every face.
But.
His eyes met Park Si-woo’s for a moment.
Everyone else was focused on the boss — why was he looking this way?
He tilted his head slightly. Park Si-woo responded by easing one corner of his mouth up casually, as if nothing had happened.
Just a coincidence. Don’t read into it.
The only thing he needed to focus on was his contribution.
Fwip! Fwip!
Fwip! Fwip!
So just how much contribution reward does this place give out that people come even when they’re sick or injured?
When I get the contribution reward, what should I spend it on?
Stats? But I’ve already upgraded a bit and the TC cost gets steep fast.
Oh! First thing — I need to move out of the basement. Now that I think about it, I can’t keep living with cockroaches.
They should have been paying their share of the rent if they were going to live there. The cockroaches are clearly in the wrong here! On top of everything else, they’re disgusting-looking!
The stream of consciousness that emerged when the brain was removed from operation.
Then the brain slotted itself back in.
— Ding!
[Warning!]
[Your ‘Light Bowgun’ has dropped below 10% durability!]
[Damage output reduced to 50%!]
“What?”
Below 10% durability: stats cut in half.
At zero: the weapon greyed out and was automatically moved to inventory — couldn’t be equipped again until repaired.
Ah…… I should have gotten in on it when Seo I-an was grabbing Park Si-woo by the collar asking for hammers……
Too late for regret now.
He kept shooting without stopping as he slowly backed up.
The goddess statue’s stone eyes seemed to follow his movement, but he decided that was his imagination.
Otherwise it would be a little scary.
“Where are you going! About two minutes left!”
Hwang Gyu-beom spotted him and called out.
“Two minutes?!”
“Yes!”
“AAAGH——“
He turned around and ran.
Stone eyes following him were not scary.
His nerves had been forged by cockroaches. He feared no mere stone.
“Enchanter Park Si-woo!!”
“Yes?”
Seeing him suddenly sprinting straight toward him, Park Si-woo’s eyes went wide — Woo-joo ignored that and got straight to the point.
Honestly, he was more surprised himself. No bandwidth to process other people’s shock.
“Hammer, fast!”
“Pardon?”
“Advance payment, right here!!”
He quickly opened his inventory and thrust the bundle of TC he’d received from Seo I-an as a deposit at Park Si-woo.
He’d learned something truly valuable from her.
“A hammer — oh! Here you are!”
Park Si-woo scanned him up and down and immediately produced a Golden Hammer.
No armor. No accessories. Just the light bowgun Park Si-woo had lent him, alone in his hands.
That much was easy enough to read.
“THANKS!!”
He bowed at speed to convey his gratitude and pressed the hammer to the light bowgun.
— Tap tap tap!
The hammer strikes felt inexplicably slow today.
— Ding!
[Durability restored——]
He cut off the rest of the notification by closing the status screen and aimed the bowgun at the goddess statue again.
Fwip! Fwip!
Fwip! Fwip!
Arrows resuming their satisfying arcs.
— Worthless mortal — you show some promise! But can you handle this!
The statue spoke again.
Hard to ignore, given that a glossy sheen suddenly spread across the entire stone surface.
[The Special Forgotten Temple Goddess Statue’s HP has fallen below 50% — Phase 2 begins!]
[All Awakened stat restrictions are lifted for Phase 2!]
A notification that hit everyone’s ears like a physical blow.
“Honestly, better this way.”
Hong Je-hun — all-in on Intelligence — had apparently felt something shift immediately, because he was smiling.
“Right? It’s so much better than before!!”
Seo I-an — all-in on Strength — seemed to agree, laughing with a sharp, predatory edge.
And Woo-joo, with his more balanced spread of stats, felt his body get lighter and the draw of the bowgun ease slightly — nothing beyond that registered as significant.
The moment when he actually felt like hey, I’m pulling my weight was——
[Special Forgotten Temple — Goddess Statue]
[1st] Hong Je-hun 27%
[2nd] Seo I-an 27%
[3rd] Kim Woo-joo 20%
……
When he got expelled from the Special Floor at time’s end and saw this floating in front of him.
I’m third……?
In broad terms, the new S-rank skill Elixir God had probably done most of the work.
The boss was a boss mob, so damage had come in at a full 40% higher.
Phase 1 stats were fixed at 1 — but Intelligence +10 had still made a meaningful contribution.
Same with the 100% defense-pierce.
Oh — the Tower Merchant wasn’t available in the Special Floor, incidentally. The ten minutes ended and everyone was expelled straight back outside.
“Anyway — the S-rank skill is absolutely broken. And Eagle Eye was genuinely useful against the boss too!”
Finding the boss’s reverse scale and boosting incoming damage by 1.5x for everyone.
Useful for himself alone — but also felt like a broad party buff when used to help everyone else.
He’d been anxious about it when he first got it, unsure how it could ever be used — but knowing the answer now, it fit well with the Intrude trait.
He found himself genuinely impressed by the system’s design.
He was still basking in that quiet internal satisfaction when——
[System Announcement]
— Tower (Korea) Special Floor has achieved Phase 2 entry for the first time!
[Special Floor Ranking Announcement]
[1st] Korea 57%
[2nd] USA 42%
[3rd] Germany 33%
……
[1st-place nation receives a 15% Tower reward bonus for one month!]
That first-place reward was no joke.
Though he felt a faint pang of disappointment alongside it.
Third place.
Honestly, he’d thought he might be able to claim first and pick up the loot box.
High-defense bosses appearing in timed-attack format was common knowledge.
The Special Floor boss with its ten-minute limit would naturally have had high HP and high defense — which meant 100% defense-pierce had probably mattered enormously.
Which means I was drilling straight through all of it and dealing clean damage. Plus Rapid Fire isn’t exactly slow.
But rankers and senior Awakened treating that Rapid Fire like a gentle breeze and outdamaging him anyway.
The gap in hits per skill use was on a different scale.
His was fwip fwip. Theirs was ratatatatatatatat.
I really do need a proper offensive skill with some flash to it……
He consoled himself by looking at his inventory.
Inside it, glowing with a radiance worthy of its legend — the Special Floor Reward Box.