______
[Title: If you're done farming, read this. It's kind of an emergency.]
Author: Anon (574F)
Something's gone seriously wrong.
If you hadn't slept for 3 days on floor 25, you might never have noticed—not sure whether to call that lucky or not…
Anyway, hear me out.
The problem is that the heroes got here way too fast.
You've been trapped in the Demon King's tower for exactly 4 days now, and if they showed up this quickly, logic says they followed you in almost immediately after you started climbing.
You have to assume they've been climbing alongside you this whole time, just a few floors behind, all the way to floor 60.
Because you one-shotted every single monster.
Right?
That's just how it had to be, right?
Yeah?
No.
That's impossible.
There's a contradiction.
Because you slept for 3 whole days on floor 25.
If the intruders were right on your heels—or even if they came just two days after you—they would have had to run into you on floor 25. No way around it.
Either you'd have gotten stabbed in your sleep and rage-quit.
Or you'd have woken up at the same time and locked eyes while wiping the drool off your face.
Or you'd have woken up first, found them sleeping, and buried your scythe in them.
One way or another, you should have met on floor 25.
But you didn't.
So since you slept for 3 out of 4 days, the only conclusion is that those intruders climbed from floor 1 to floor 60 in a single day.
Now, here's a counterargument some people might raise.
???: Maybe the intruders knew about the fatigue system, so they managed it carefully and climbed slowly up to floor 25. That's why you didn't meet them there.
That's a dumb take.
The newbie burned through Fatigue Recovery Potions and blazed from floor 25 to floor 60 in a single day.
If the intruders knew about fatigue and managed it so carefully that they took 3 whole days to reach floor 25, then making it to floor 60 in one day makes even less sense.
???: There were 3 of them, so the fatigue effect got diluted to 1/3.
Same problem—then they still should have met you on floor 25.
So.
The intruders climbed from floor 1 to floor 60 in one day. That's confirmed.
But doesn't that seem off?
The tower's fatigue system doesn't apply to the intruders, only to the newbie who's a demon soldier?
The fatigue system was just a speed bump to stop soldiers from leveling up too fast?
That conclusion feels way too convenient.
So for now, we have to assume fatigue applies to everyone.
From there, two possibilities branch off.
1. The intruders had some special means to ignore fatigue. EX) Fatigue Recovery Potions.
2. The intruders were in a situation where fatigue didn't matter.
If it's option 1, that's relatively good news. You can still run above floor 100 from here and let the stronger monsters act as gatekeepers.
But if it's option 2…
There's no answer.
A situation where fatigue could be ignored. ⟨ What that means is—
The monsters you've been killing this whole time might not be respawning.
If that's the case, you're genuinely screwed.
Because no matter how strong you get or how many floors you climb, you'll never be able to dump gatekeeper duty on anyone else.
And unfortunately, I think option 2 is the more likely one.
That photo of your loot you posted earlier.
You can see the consumables in your bag are completely full, right? Not a single empty bottle or used-up item in the whole inventory. Judging by the volume, it doesn't look like they tossed any bottles either.
They got here this fast and didn't consume a single thing—that's proof they never fought anything.
So yeah, the conclusion is pretty bleak…
Probably easier on your sanity to just assume the respawns will kick in eventually.
Wait a bit and the Demon King might restock them.
A portable floor-1 gatekeeper is a hard pass, though.
[Comments]
Anon (245F): Wait? No respawns? Then what's the point of leveling up?
Anon (312F): That's so cooked…
Anon (753F): Portable gatekeeper lmaooooooo
Anon (412F): So floor 60 and floor 1 are literally the same thing now ;;;;;;;;;
Anon (150F): What are you even talking about?
└ Anon (574F) (OP): 2-line summary:
Intruders seem to have gotten a free pass to floor 60.
Can't guarantee the next batch won't do the same.
______
I stared blankly at the hologram panel.
"…I had that thought when I was going through my bag."
It was a conclusion I'd been deliberately avoiding to keep my sanity intact.
The idea that everything I'd done—running all the way to floor 60 to escape being cannon fodder on floor 1—had been completely pointless.
From where I stood, after everything I'd put in, that wasn't a conclusion I could reach easily.
And on top of that.
The thought of having to personally kill every single person who climbed up here from now on… that was something I couldn't stomach.
Anon (505F): I was thinking the same thing lol
└ Anon (277F): If you knew, why didn't you post it, idiot lmao
└ Anon (505F): I mean it was in my head but I couldn't put it into words lol
Anon (279F): whatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo
Anon (148F): I was just happy the newbie was making money with no second thoughts, and now this analysis is going crazy;;;
Anon (431F): Leave it to the Brain Emperor to throw cold water on everything.
Anon (261F): Couldn't they have just teleported to floor 60?
└ Anon (341F): What
└ Anon (312F): Just close the Gallery, man…
Anon (248F): Wow, so we're gonna keep seeing heroes then lol scary
Anon (154F): Wait what the hell, so breaking through floor 100 is pointless now?
└ Anon (284F): Still don't know yet, respawns might happen. Three days minimum, though.
└ Anon (431F): The newbie's still getting stronger, so it's not meaningless.
Right.
Like that last comment said.
I forced myself to stay calm and typed.
Anon (60F): Got it. But it's fine. What I have to do is the same either way. Just climb the tower and get stronger, right?
└ Anon (319F): Look at that mental fortitude lol
└ Anon (60F): Even if the lower-floor monsters really aren't respawning… I'm the only one getting stronger, so it might actually be better that way.
└ Anon (145F): Fair point.
└ Anon (60F): And when people show up, I can get a ton of gold and some vacation time, so I'll take the mental win with that.
└ Anon (276F): Damn, mental fortress is built different.
└ Anon (541F): Honestly the way you put it, I can't even tell if respawning or not respawning is better lmao
└ Anon (355F): Fr lmao isn't this just straight-up good news?
└ Anon (274F): Monopolizing the tower could be insane.
"…"
I chewed down the rot festering inside me and swallowed it whole.
Because there was no other way.
The comments were rallying behind my words, telling me the situation was actually a positive one.
But then.
Floor 574 posted this reply.
└ Anon (574F) (OP): Stop acting tough. You don't want to kill people.
"……"
It made me uncomfortable.
Because it felt like they'd seen straight through me.
└ Anon (421F): ?
└ Anon (168F): There they go again, theorizing about other people's feelings lmao
└ Fenrir: The newbie's trying to hold it together and you're killing the vibe, wtf??
└ Anon (351F): Fr, they're trying to stay positive and you're doing this lmao you don't even have a solution.
└ Anon (574F) (OP): I have a solution.
└ Anon (574F) (OP): If I didn't, I wouldn't have written this post in the first place.
└ Fenrir: ?
"What?"
They have a solution?
Everyone was just as blindsided as I was.
└ Anon (351F): Then why are you only saying that NOW?????
└ Fenrir: What is even happening.
└ Anon (513F): If you have something, please just say it ㅠㅠㅠ
└ Anon (432F): ????????????
└ Anon (461F): Wait, were you deliberately baiting everyone to pay attention to you lmaooooooooo
└ Anon (60F): What's the solution?
I asked, and an answer came back quickly.
But it wasn't an answer.
└ Anon (574F) (OP): For details, contact One Who Savors a Cup of Black Tea. My part ends here.
└ Anon (621F): As expected, the Brain Emperor's repertoire of moves is endlessly varied.
└ Anon (324F): What the hell lmaooooooooo
└ Anon (269F): What is this, just an attention grab??;;;;;;
The Gallery was in an uproar again, but.
"Ah…"
In my head, the puzzle pieces were clicking into place.
The moment the picture completed, it felt like lightning striking my skull.
One Who Savors a Cup of Black Tea.
That username—that was the person who'd promised to teach me how to make use of corpses.
"Ha…"
A hollow laugh escaped me.
I typed first.
└ Anon (60F): Are you saying I should station soldiers in the Demon King's tower?
└ Anon (574F) (OP): lol yeah. Smart as always.
└ Anon (351F): What are you two even talking about?
└ Fenrir: Wait, is that actually possible ;;;;;;;????
└ Anon (461F): You're telling the newbie to use necromancy to make demon soldiers and post them as guards? lmaooooooooooooooo
└ Anon (541F): Genuinely never would have thought of that.
└ Anon (351F): So the whole 'let's talk after you're done farming' thing was the setup all along, holy shit
└ Anon (248F): No but is that actually possible you lunatics.
"If it's possible, that's why they said it…"
But Floor 574 hadn't told me from the start.
"…"
I just figured out why.
They'd seen from the very beginning that I'd have reservations about using corpses directly.
So they'd laid out the bleak situation with this post first, then made sure I understood there was really only one option left.
So it wasn't so much baiting as it was consideration for me.
It was an unsettlingly calculated move.
I'd been guided.
In other words—they'd spared me the agonizing.
I suppose I should take it as their version of kindness.
"…Still, I did manage to figure out what they were thinking…"
I immediately pulled up the post from the username Floor 574 had pointed to.
_____
Title: Newbie, would you mind checking my post? ^^
Author: One Who Savors a Cup of Black Tea
I just finished reading Floor 574's analysis post.
Having to hold an empty tower all by yourself… that must feel frightening and heartbreaking from your perspective~
But if you learn my necromancy, the story changes entirely. ^^
You can simply put the humans who come pouring in to work as your own forces…!
[Comments]
Anon (248F): For real?
└ One Who Savors a Cup of Black Tea (OP): Yes ^^
└ Anon (248F): Weren't we absolutely not allowed to go down to lower floors??
└ Anon (574F): Not going down yourself. Not sending them down either. Leaving them behind as you go up.
└ Anon (424F): Oh? Oh wait, that works. Yeah that'd be fine.
└ Anon (651F): Abandonment lol
_____
Right.
If it's something I can do, I'll do whatever it takes.
And this was also a chance to learn something new.
'Now's the timing, while Death God Sensei isn't here.'
Death Note Grand Canon hated it when I got distracted by other things.
But with him away, I'd be able to learn new techniques without any interference.
And if I was going to do it…
"I'm doing it properly."
The moment I made up my mind, half-measures weren't an option.
└ Anon (60F): I've got all the corpses stored in my inventory! What do I start with?!
└ One Who Savors a Cup of Black Tea (OP): My, how enthusiastic… ^^ Wonderful. Then let me tell you about the Spirit Blood Tea Rite—the pinnacle of necromancy and my most secret technique. ^^
That was the moment I was about to open my eyes to a whole new world.
When this comment appeared.
└ Anon (702F): Spirit Blood Tea Rite is a bit… shouldn't you learn basic necromancy first?
└ Anon (60F): Is it bad?
└ Anon (702F): Nah nah, it's a top-tier necromancy lineage… but it's so hard there's no way you'll manage it.