The golem's weakness was that it had plenty of gaps.
Every joint. Every knuckle.
Every connection point between the iron masses that made up its body was a weak spot.
There was no way it had been built with dust- or water-proofing in mind.
And I had recently learned a spell that let me manipulate liquids.
I fixed my gaze on the Blood Knight's nape—the place where a red mist of blood was seeping out in thin wisps.
Staring at that spot, I snapped my fingers.
"Blood Command."
Simultaneously, I spun the 2nd circle in my dantian.
*Whirrrr—!*
The blood mist pouring from the Blood Knight's neck responded to my mana and began to take shape.
The mist compressed tightly, then started shifting into droplets of blood.
I worked my fingers to direct those droplets toward the golem's joints.
*Shhhk—!*
Easy enough, since the golem and the Blood Knight were pressed flush against each other.
The blood flowing from the cross-section of the Blood Knight's severed neck began seeping into the gaps in the armor.
I felt the droplets permeate every corner of the golem's interior.
And then, picturing the blade of a grinder—
I clenched my outstretched fist and twisted.
*Crack—!*
And then.
*Screeeeech—!!*
The blood that had bored inside spun like saw blades, churning wildly through the golem's joints.
*Crash—!*
Sparks erupted like mad.
The magnetic field that had been glowing blue and binding the Blood Knight flickered erratically—
*Pssshhh—!*
—and with a belch of black smoke, the golem's power cut out entirely.
The moment the magnetic force vanished.
"Blood Knight. Cut it down."
Freed from the magnetism, the Blood Knight detonated all the force it had been gathering in both arms in a single instant.
The greatsword swept horizontally across the already-wrecked golem's breastplate.
*BOOM—!*
The blade drove into the central core.
The massive hunk of iron split apart top to bottom and collapsed.
[Floor 80 Magneta Iron Golem — Defeated]
[Victory in a duel against the floor's master. You become the new master of this floor.]
[Promotion Reward: 7,900G acquired!]
[Level Up! 80 Lv → 81 Lv]
[3 Stat Points acquired!]
"Phew."
[STR stat increased by 1.]
[AGI stat increased by 2.]
I allocated the stats, then snapped a photo of the Blood Knight shaking iron fragments off itself from the shattered golem and greatsword.
______
Title: Cleared floor 80. Won using Blood Command
Author: Anon (80F)
{Photo of Magneta Iron Golem remains and Blood Knight}
Photo from the last floor.
The mob had a magnetic field gimmick, so I deliberately got the Blood Knight to stick to it, then tried using Blood Command with the blood mist.
Shoved blood into the golem's gaps, reshaped it into saw blades, and churned everything up.
Blood Command ← this thing is actually insane. Turns out you can use it offensively AND heal the Blood Knight with it.
______
I hit refresh.
[Comments]
Anon (312F): ?
Anon (249F): Every time I come back the floor number's jumped by 20, I genuinely can't get used to it lmaooo
└ Anon (354F): 20 floors is just the base unit now lol
└ Anon (568F): 20 floors in one hour lmao
Anon (347F): Nothing rough in there? ;;
Anon (635F): No way she just steamrolled straight to floor 80 lmaooooooo
"Huh? That's right. It's only been an hour."
Come to think of it, that was a record-breaking pace.
Part of it was that I'd pumped AGI considerably, sending my mobility through the roof—
but the bigger factor was the Blood Knight fighting in my place.
Anon (243F): Wait;;;; she already used Blood Command offensively? With just 2nd circle???
└ Anon (643F): Honestly she should just keep riding this magic talent, pumping STR and AGI feels like such a waste.
Anon (513F): She's not even a vampire, what the hell.
One Who Savors a Cup of Black Tea: The ingenuity of using Blood Command for undead recovery is remarkable too! ^^
└ Anon (702F): Teaching herself undead recovery lmao, that's genuinely unhinged;;;;;
└ Anon (653F): She probably doesn't even realize how hard that is lmaooo
└ Anon (702F): She seems proud of using it offensively, but the recovery is the actually insane part, and she just glossed over it in one sentence lmaooooo
└ Anon (529F): I can use undead recovery too! Praise me.
└ Anon (324F): ?
└ Anon (702F): She's had Blood Command for less than a day…
The reaction to my using Blood Command in multiple ways was heated.
"I guess I really do have some talent."
Every time I'd pictured something in my head up to now, it had always taken shape exactly as I'd imagined.
└ Anon (80F) (OP): It's definitely harder to do the recovery, yeah. Getting the shape exactly right for reconstruction was tough.
└ Anon (702F): Why are you making it exactly right lmaooooooooooooooooooooooooo
└ Anon (80F) (OP): Oh. Is that wrong?
└ Anon (702F): It's not wrong, you can literally just do a rough solder and it's fine…
└ Anon (643F): She was doing it the hard way lmaooooooooo
└ Anon (279F): How did she even manage to get the shape exactly right… the Blood Knight's armor is super complicated.
└ Anon (529F): Me too! I can sculpt with blood!! Want me to show you???
└ Anon (354F): Please, brother.
└ Anon (529F): ㅠ
Everyone was praising my talent.
But.
The actual goal I'd set my sights on—[Death Mark]—was still unlearned.
└ Anon (80F) (OP): But I've been staring at 19 corpses and nothing's happened yet? Why won't Death Mark click?
└ Anon (710F): Yo, what the hell lmao
An out-of-nowhere insult came flying in.
└ Anon (710F): Do you have any idea how long it's been?
└ Anon (702F): lmaooooooo
└ Anon (710F): Someone with under 100 INT is asking why they haven't learned an instant-kill derivative Black Magic spell in one hour lmaooooooooooooo
Hmm.
So one hour was too fast, huh.
└ Anon (710F): Even with Magic Eye, a one-hour clear is just not realistic for that one…
└ Death Note Grand Canon: Naturally! One must train for years at minimum before even grasping the first thread of this technique!
└ Anon (431F): But she's learned everything else that takes years instantly lol
└ Anon (648F): fr why is she the only one playing on an hourly timer…
So that's how it is.
Maybe it was my own greed, trying to learn in one hour what takes others years.
Still, I figured I'd at least share my progress so far.
└ Anon (80F) (OP): But when I was looking at the corpses earlier, I concentrated mana into both eyes, and I could faintly see red and black lines like heat shimmer rising above them… what do I do from here? I kept imagining pushing mana into where those lines overlapped as I climbed up.
And a few seconds later.
└ Anon (710F): ?
└ Anon (710F): ????????
└ Anon (710F): Wait, hold on.
└ Death Note Grand Canon: …
└ Anon (431F): What?
└ Anon (312F): Did the newbie break something again?
└ Anon (710F): So did any kind of mark or symbol appear on the surface of the corpse?
└ Anon (80F) (OP): Oh, yes. It was only for a split second, but something appeared and then disappeared.
└ Anon (710F): That's impossible…
└ Anon (431F): What is it lol
The reply that came back was stunning.
└ Anon (710F): She already knows how to do it…
Huh?
└ Anon (465F): ?????????
└ Anon (643F): lmao she already learned it?
└ Anon (358F): Death God Black Magic 2nd technique mastered in 1 hour lmaooooo
└ Death Note Grand Canon: If a red mark appeared… there is no room for doubt.
└ Anon (710F): She thought she hadn't learned it lmao
└ Anon (702F): lmaooooooo
"Is that for real…"
└ Anon (80F) (OP): The explanation was really long, so I thought it would take a while.
└ Anon (676F): Loose translation: it's long because you're explaining this trash-tier technique like it's some grand treatise.
└ Anon (241F): lmaooooooo
└ Anon (710F): …Just try using it now…
"Alright, I'll sleep and try it when I wake up."
Fatigue had piled up considerably.
Clearing floors quickly didn't seem to have any bearing on fatigue.
"So fatigue only applies based on the monsters you defeat, huh."
I checked exactly how much time I had left.
[Guardian Duty temporarily suspended for 07:05:12!]
"Seven hours!"
I could fully recharge.
I could shake off every last bit of fatigue.
I hadn't been awake that long since the last time I slept, but just knowing I could sleep made me feel incredible.
Why does this make me so happy?
I wasn't even someone who particularly loved sleeping.
Maybe it was because of everything I'd accomplished during this waking stretch?
There was plenty worth noting.
Obtained 2nd circle.
Broke through level 81.
And the instant-kill derivative Black Magic I'd apparently already learned just now. Death Mark.
All of it gained within just three hours of declaring I'd walk the path of the hexagon.
"I should eat and sleep."
I set up camp again.
Pulled out the chair and table, the tent, and all the necessary supplies—
"Nom nom."
Finished eating—
Asked the Blood Knight to wake me up, same as last time—
And crawled into the tent, lying down with a bag of snacks as my pillow.
"Sleep well and then… mmph…"
For some reason, I was actually looking forward to whatever monster was waiting on the next floor.
*Zzz—*
.
.
.
My eyes snapped open and I sat up.
The Blood Knight had its hand on my arm.
"Good work."
I stretched and checked the hologram timer.
[Guardian Duty temporarily suspended for 00:03:15!]
"Vacation's over…"
Exactly three minutes left.
"Perfect."
The thought that I could reach floor 100 in this cycle filled me with a feeling I couldn't quite name.
Floor 100 and beyond—verified floors that no invader had ever set foot on in recorded history.
So as long as I didn't kill the floor 100 monster with my scythe—the way I'd been doing from floor 61 onward—that monster would revive, and by induction, I'd reach a floor where safety was guaranteed.
The reason I'd been flooring it this whole time.
To reach floor 100.
I swept the tent and miscellaneous junk into my inventory and gripped my scythe.
"Your name was Void Scythe, wasn't it… You're sealed for now, but hang tight."
It was my trump card, to be drawn only in moments of genuine danger where I had no choice but to use an instant-kill skill.
The one pulling the main weight right now was this guy instead.
"Let's go."
The Blood Knight.
It fell into step behind me.
[Requesting Floor Ascent]