[Floor Ascent Battle begins.]
Creeeeak—
The door to floor 81 swung open.
[Defender: Armored Centaur (81F)]
A monster with the lower body of a massive horse fused to the upper body of a man.
It was clad in armor, hefting a glaive as tall as I was.
Snort!
It stamped its hind legs against the ground, ready to charge at any moment.
Normally, this would be the moment I'd order the Blood Knight to rush in.
But this time was different.
Time to field-test Death Mark.
"Blood Knight—don't attack. Get in front of me and just defend."
⟨…By your will…⟩
The order landed, and the Blood Knight stepped forward to block my path.
He laid his greatsword flat across his body in a horizontal guard.
Clop! Clop!
The centaur charged.
The glaive drove in at terrifying speed.
Claaang—!
The Blood Knight's greatsword and the centaur's glaive collided, spraying sparks.
Clang!
Whoosh—!
Following my orders, the Blood Knight didn't counter—he deflected the blow and let it slide past.
From behind his back, I poured mana into both eyes.
The two circles in my dantian spun, drawing power upward.
My vision warped, and shimmering red-black lines rose from the centaur's body like heat haze.
I imagined driving my mana into the point where they converged.
Flash—!
A dark crimson stroke was carved across the centaur's chest, like a scar.
[—]
It worked.
"Good. Next."
I focused my gaze again.
But the line didn't appear right away.
*Cooldown, huh.*
Unique skills like *Sentence of Death – Slash* and *Sentence of Death – Sight* displayed their cooldowns on the system hologram.
But Death Mark, like Black Shift, seemed to be a skill that didn't show up in the status window—so no exact number floated to mind.
I'd have to feel it out in real time and count the seconds myself.
One, two, three…
I counted silently while the Blood Knight held off the centaur's onslaught.
The cooldown was supposed to decrease based on the Intelligence stat—with my current Intelligence of 79, how short would it be?
Eleven, twelve…
Thirteen.
Flash—!
Mana responded again, and a second stroke was etched into the centaur's body.
[— —]
*Thirteen seconds.*
That was exactly what it took.
Kreeee—!
The second stack didn't seem to change the centaur's behavior at all.
The thing hadn't noticed a thing.
I waited another thirteen seconds.
Flash—!
The moment my Magic Eye carved the third stroke—
The dark crimson lines overlapped and completed a single character.
[⬛]
That was the moment.
The centaur's heartbeat surged once, enormous—
Thud—!
—and its massive body crumpled straight to the ground.
Thump—
The glaive clattered noisily across the floor.
[Floor 81 Armored Centaur defeated]
[Promotion reward: 8,000G acquired!]
Watching the scene unfold before me, I couldn't help but be impressed.
"…This is basically an instant-kill, isn't it?"
That was the thought that hit me.
Just twenty-six seconds.
Lock eyes, push mana in—and the monster dies.
And Death Mark isn't even an instant-kill skill.
It's a branch—a derivative Domination-class Black Magic spun off from *Sentence of Death – Carve*, which is a two-stage instant-kill.
And even that derivative alone was enough to kill a floor-80s monster without a shred of resistance.
Which meant—what kind of power had *Sentence of Death – Sight*, the four-stage instant-kill I'd used before, actually been packing?
"And I just threw that around from the start…"
I was also curious what *Sentence of Death – Slash*, the three-stage version, would feel like.
But it didn't seem like anything worth using it on was going to show up anytime soon.
Floor 82. Floor 83. Floor 84.
Cleared without a hitch.
I kept the Blood Knight up front as a shield and stacked marks from behind every thirteen seconds.
The range was generous enough that it never posed a problem.
About half the length of the chamber.
Meaning if a monster was positioned in the center, I could start stacking Death Mark the moment the floor ascent battle began.
[⬛]
Every single one of them dropped before the third stack could even finish building the character.
And then I arrived at floor 85.
Creeeeak—
The door opened, and the atmosphere of the chamber beyond was distinctly different from before.
[Defender: Sword Fang (85F)]
A massive wolf covered in black fur.
Its most striking feature was the greatsword clenched in its jaws.
"If you're a beast, wouldn't claws and fangs serve you better…?"
That thought crossed my mind even as I activated Death Mark simultaneously.
Flash—!
[—]
"One stack, at least."
Grrrrrr…
The thing rumbled deep in its throat and coiled power into its legs.
"Blood Knight, defend."
On the order, the Blood Knight laid his greatsword flat and braced.
The instant he did, Sword Fang leapt.
Shhhhhk—!
Incredible speed.
It looked like it was going to crash straight down and charge—
Whoosh—!
—but it twisted its body mid-air.
A half-circle the size of a house swept through the air.
So that was how it swung the greatsword in its mouth.
Swooom—!
Sword Fang's blade came crashing down with brutal force.
Claaang—!
The Blood Knight barely managed to block, but couldn't absorb the impact—he was shoved back two steps.
Clang! Clang! Crack!
The assault continued.
Unpredictable combinations born from a beast's flexible joints and raw muscle.
Right to left.
Left to right.
Then top to bottom.
Fluid and fast.
Cracks began to spread across the Blood Knight's gauntlets as he focused entirely on defense.
*If I keep him on pure defense like this, he's going to get wrecked.*
I quickly drew mana up from my dantian.
"Blood Command."
I repaired the Blood Knight's armor.
Immediately after, I used Black Shift through the ribbon to put distance between myself and the fight.
At the same time, I changed the order.
"Blood Knight—fight however you want!"
⟨…By your will…⟩
Bloody mist erupted from the Blood Knight's neck like an explosion.
The greatsword that had been pinned on the defensive smashed Sword Fang's slash aside.
Claaang—! Craaash—!
Beast swordsmanship and the Blood Knight's greatsword clashed without pause.
Sparks flew in every direction and the marble floor shattered.
In the gaps between their exchange, I locked my gaze.
Second stack!
Flash—!
[— —]
The Blood Knight had done his job drawing Sword Fang's attention.
And thirteen seconds later.
Third stack.
Flash—!
The third stroke that had felled every monster so far was carved in.
[— — —]
"Oh."
For the first time, the character didn't complete.
Right—it varies wildly depending on the target's vitality.
This one was strong.
Krooaaaar—!
The beast let out a roar and pushed the tempo of its assault even higher.
I waited out the thirteen-second cooldown again.
The Blood Knight sacrificed one of his arms to block Sword Fang's greatsword—and in that opening, I drove in the fourth Death Mark.
Flash—!
In that instant, the incomplete character took shape.
[⬛]
I didn't know for certain, but it looked like it read *death*.
*That'd be the Death God script from the Great Stone Tablet in the Death God Realm…*
Thud—!
The beast's massive joints twisted, the greatsword dropped from its jaws, and it collapsed to the floor.
[Floor 85 Sword Fang defeated]
[Promotion reward: 8,400G acquired!]
[Level Up! 85Lv → 86Lv]
The earring glimmered.
I looked down at the fallen giant wolf's corpse.
"That was something else…"
A speed and attack style unlike anything I'd faced before.
A sudden urge welled up in me.
*I want to make it into a thrall.*
The introductory guide to the Spirit Blood Tea Rite had said the number of thralls you could maintain was proportional to the number of circles you held.
My current circles: two.
Even with the Blood Knight maintained, one slot remained open.
"This one. Let's go."
The higher I climbed the tower, the stronger the monsters would get—which was exactly why now was the time to reinforce my forces.
I approached the corpse.
If I was going to do it, I had to move fast.
Corpses only lasted a few dozen seconds at most before disappearing.
Time attack.
"Blood Drain."
"Blood Command."
Dark crimson blood poured from the giant wolf's corpse like a waterfall and condensed in the air.
It was a far larger mass of blood than when I'd made the Blood Knight.
"Oh…"
I injected mana, then used Blood Command to push the blood back into every corner of the corpse.
My mana-inscribed blood circulated through the beast's thick veins and bundles of muscle.
Then I drew it back out.
Whoooosh—
The blood suspended in the air took on a translucent reddish-brown hue—the color of spirit blood.
That meant the soul had been drawn out.
Now for the most revolting step—stage three.
I squeezed my eyes shut and opened my mouth.
Gluuuuuurgle—!
An enormous volume of spirit blood poured in, flooding down my esophagus and airway.
"Mmmph!!!"
The foreign sensation was far worse than last time.
Because the volume was enormous.
It filled my body to capacity and still couldn't all fit—more than half had to be kept circulating outside my body.
And on top of that, I had to finish as fast as possible, so I ran it at twice the flow rate as before.
The sensation of my lungs burning, my stomach twisting inside out.
Nausea surged up, but I forced it back down with everything I had.
I spun the two circles in my dantian like mad, cycling spirit blood through every vein in my body.
I imprinted my body's structure and the rhythm of my mana into the blood.
"Bleeeeeugh—!!"
When I hit my limit, I vomited the spirit blood back out over Sword Fang's corpse.
Hissssss—!
The expelled spirit blood washed over the wolf's body and began rapidly solidifying.
Crack! Crunch!
Where the black fur had fallen away, the congealed blood and mana fused together, forming a dark crimson exoskeleton.
And in its jaws—the greatsword it had once wielded was reborn, fused directly into the jawbone itself.
The final moment: naming.
"…Sword Wolf."
The instant that name fell, the massive red wolf slowly rose to its feet.
Eyes blazing with red mist turned toward me.
Slightly terrifying, but I reached up and scratched its head vigorously.
A thought resonated through my mind.
⟨…Master…⟩
[A second soldier has come under your dominion.]
[You can check the list of bound soldiers in your Status window.]
"Nice. Loot secured."
Now I had two shields—the Blood Knight and Sword Wolf.
Team color: red.
Next floor.
"Sword Wolf, charge. Blood Knight, cover the flank."
Sword Wolf launched forward like a cannonball.
Genuinely, absurdly fast.
"Keep them off-balance."
Sword Wolf moved in every direction, breaking the enemy's stance apart.
The Blood Knight stayed at my side, guarding me.
"Having one more makes this so much more stable."
All I had to do was use Death Mark from the back.
[—]
[— —]
[— — —]
[⬛]
Thud—!!
I cleared all the way to floor 87 in no time at all.
[Floor 87 Dark Elf Sword Wraith defeated]
[Promotion reward: 8,600G acquired!]
[Level Up! 87Lv → 88Lv]
[Stat Points +3 acquired!]
I checked the accumulated stat points.
"That'll do…"
Without realizing it, I'd arrived at the first plateau.
The plateau's name: Sense.
[Strength stat is now 74.]
[Agility stat is now 74.]
Strength.
Agility.
Sense.
All three stats had equalized at 74.
The first leveling was complete.
And then—
Flash—!
"…..!"
A massive wave of pleasure shot through my entire body without warning, and I stopped dead in my tracks.
The speed of blood flowing through my veins, the bundles of muscle, the central organs.
It felt as though the frequencies of all three had locked together and begun to resonate.
"Harmonious."
Whooooom—!
The sensation of air resistance vanishing around me.
A springlike energy took hold of my entire body.
I clenched my fist and thought.
*How much stronger am I compared to the Blood Knight now?*
I turned my head and looked at the Blood Knight.
"Hey—go stand back there for a second."