I wanted to tap into the power of collective intelligence—figure out how to burn through the remaining five keys to open the Golden Chest, and see if there was any more information to dig up.
But.
The photo had drawn way too much aggro.
SSS-Rank Gear Chaser: holy shit the gold pile what even is that
ㄴ SSS-Rank Gear Chaser: wasn't all the Golden Carriage money going there?????
ㄴ Anon(312F): fr seems like it.
ㄴ Anon(148F): floor 100 is literally the demon king tower's vault lmao
ㄴ Anon(543F): so our wages this whole time have been going to invader rewards?;;
Anon(418F): that much gold could drain the Golden Carriage dry for a thousand years. genuinely lost it.
ㄴ Anon(277F): could do infinite year-end gacha rolls too…
Anon(351F): I wanna swim in there too…
SSS-Rank Gear Chaser: super curious about the Golden Chest too open it already…
ㄴ Anon(99F)(OP): it's not mine yet tho;;
ㄴ Anon(468F): weren't you posting to brag?
ㄴ ㄴ Anon(99F)(OP): please read the whole post.
After that came reactions to me conning the thing.
Anon(487F): wait… you're saying you tricked it into thinking you're a high-ranking officer? how does that even work?
ㄴ Anon(643F): fr it's not like you used a mental manipulation skill or anything what the hell.
ㄴ Anon(424F): pure smooth-talking skills lmao
ㄴ Anon(511F): gaslighting genius fr;;
ㄴ Anon(324F): the way you just immediately clocked it and went for the kill is genuinely terrifying lmaooo
ㄴ Anon(678F): chatting on the same floor as a monster makes zero sense actually.
ㄴ Anon(364F): seeing the angle to con it the second the conversation started is actual legendary movement.
ㄴ Anon(624F): but didn't people say floor-100s are hard to talk to?
ㄴ Anon(442F): probably an overspec mob. said it hadn't moved in 500 years after all.
ㄴ Anon(436F): but exactly what did you say to make it think you were a high-ranking officer?
ㄴ Fenrir: fr the post just skipped to the summary so I have no idea how you pulled it off.
ㄴ Anon(543F): newbie special) expert at conning and stealing.
Anon(347F): making it stand at attention is cracking me up lmaooooooooo
Anon(246F): isn't this just you turning it into an undead and staging the whole thing?
ㄴ Anon(687F): OP's floor count is still under 100F so it's probably real…
A flood of heated reactions followed—hard to tell if they were praise or mockery.
But I hadn't actually pulled off anything that impressive.
ㄴ Anon(99F)(OP): didn't really do much. it just misunderstood on its own. being a Death God probably helped a lot?
ㄴ Anon(678F): you were actively conning it the whole time and you're saying you didn't do anything lmaooooooooooooo
ㄴ Anon(249F): a normal person wouldn't even think to start conning it right then and there…
Anon(664F): can you trick all floor-100s like this?
ㄴ Anon(148F): nope absolutely not. they're all aggro-first mobs. can barely hold a conversation with them to begin with.
The Treasure Keeper was clearly a special case in the eyes of the Gallery regulars.
The fact that they used the term "overspec mob" suggested these unusual types did exist, just rarely.
Someone had once said the monsters in the demon king's tower always got stronger as you went up the floors—but that seemed to refer to each monster's base potential at birth.
Unlike the sub-floor-100 monsters I'd been dealing with up to now, intelligent monsters could presumably grow stronger through training.
And monsters like that would become a problem if they stayed put on the same floor like this Treasure Keeper.
That was when it happened.
Honestly the comments had been pretty low-nutrition up to that point, but finally some replies started appearing from people who'd actually read the whole post.
Anon(432F): the fact that floor 100 has been breached before is insane
ㄴ Anon(673F): this is the actually shocking part and everyone got distracted by the gold and the chest lmaooooooooooooo
ㄴ Anon(246F): fr lmao
ㄴ Anon(221F): they probably just assumed it was the floor-100 clear reward and kept scrolling.
ㄴ Anon(473F): there's literally a monster right there how are people this dense.
ㄴ Anon(246F): I thought OP had already killed it and turned it into undead;;
ㄴ Anon(312F): fr I thought it was just a loot haul photo.
ㄴ Anon(344F): the level of reading comprehension lmao
Then came comments trying to verify whether there had truly been no news of invaders in the Gallery up to now.
Anon(346F): it's confirmed there were no invaders up until now right?
Anon(243F): where's the person who started on floor 101, someone go get them. feels like we need to ask again whether they've ever encountered a hero;;;;
ㄴ Anon(249F): there was someone who started on floor 101 in the Gallery?
ㄴ Anon(154F): I started on floor 130 and I've never seen one for what it's worth.
While those chaotic comments were rolling in, some of the more seasoned Gallery regulars stepped in to explain.
ㄴ Anon(364F): it was confirmed ages ago that there were absolutely no invaders…
ㄴ Anon(673F): the hero bait has been circulating for 300 years, you think they didn't nail that down for certain.
ㄴ Fenrir: back then the floor-100 crowd were basically the newbies of their day. damn, nostalgia hitting.
ㄴ Anon(732F): those guys were so annoying with all their hero-baiting back then lol. kind of satisfying to see karma coming back around.
ㄴ Fenrir: fr they were basically treated like the vanguard back then.
ㄴ Anon(154F): the ones who laundered their rep by hitting floor 200 are the real problem.
ㄴ Anon(732F): based.
The debate over whether a hero had entered the tower seemed like a well-worn topic with a firmly established conclusion.
Absolutely no invaders, ever.
With Gallery regulars packed densely from floor 100 to floor 800, having confirmed it over 400 years of climbing—there was no choice but to believe it.
ㄴ Anon(588F): wasn't the last time invaders were allowed in like 400 years ago. were the floor-100 crowd around from the very beginning of the Gallery?
ㄴ Anon(436F): yeah quite a few of them.
I let out a sigh.
I stated the conclusion I'd arrived at.
Anon(99F)(OP): I'm pretty sure I'm actually in a different tower from you all…
ㄴ Anon(432F): wait.
ㄴ Fenrir: that's rough.
ㄴ Anon(349F): so we're useless to you all the way to the end? lmaooooooooo
ㄴ Anon(324F): this makes no sense. why would only the newbie have a different tower.
ㄴ Anon(734F): it's not confirmed yet though.
ㄴ Fenrir: if the newbie goes to floor 101 and checks the mob names that'll settle it… if the data doesn't match ours then it's definitely a different tower.
That was exactly right.
Going to floor 101 would give a definitive answer.
In that case, I needed to focus on the present.
ㄴ Anon(99F)(OP): but that's not what matters right now… need some input on what to do here immediately.
That was when it happened.
The Gallery regular from the floor that had always pointed me in the right direction appeared.
Anon(574F): first try putting some distance between you and the monster. you might actually be the one getting played right now.
ㄴ Anon(247F): ?
"……"
My expression soured for a moment.
A completely different angle had suddenly been thrown into the mix.
ㄴ Anon(574F): if that monster is lying to you, everything checks out.
My mind went blank.
*…That's actually valid.*
It was entirely possible the Treasure Keeper was simply lying.
ㄴ Anon(643F): you're saying it's lying about sending invaders up? lmao why would it even bother with that?
ㄴ Anon(574F): because it makes itself look weaker.
ㄴ Anon(249F): why would that monster pretend to be weak in front of a newbie?
Floor-574 answered.
ㄴ Anon(574F): playing weak, playing confused. ⟨ that's deception 101. the one doing the conning might not be the newbie.
ㄴ Anon(643F): so it's playing along and biding its time to suddenly ambush? lmaooooooooo
ㄴ Anon(341F): you're saying it standing at attention right now is all an act? that's genuinely terrifying.
ㄴ Anon(432F): nah I think you're way overthinking this lmaooooooooo
ㄴ Anon(653F): fr why are you so paranoid.
ㄴ Anon(124F): it's not like that monster is some kind of actor.
ㄴ Anon(435F): if it is then it deserves an award lol
Floor-574 asked me a question, sounding concerned.
Anon(574F): are you sure it didn't notice when you used Death Mark?
ㄴ Anon(99F)(OP): yes. there was no sign of that.
ㄴ Anon(574F): hmm… is Death Mark normally undetectable to whoever it's used on?
Honestly, based on my direct read of the conversation, I didn't feel like I was the one being played.
But the possibility wasn't zero.
I glanced sideways at the Treasure Keeper through the hologram and gently pulled on Barang's reins.
I put a little more distance between myself and the thing, then typed.
ㄴ Anon(99F)(OP): can't hurt to be careful, so I'll do as you said for now.
Then the Floor-710 Death God came in and explained.
Anon(710F): if your Sense stat is high enough you'd obviously notice Death Mark. but that thing probably doesn't have that?
ㄴ Anon(324F): it one-shotted the Blood Knight though, isn't it insanely strong?
ㄴ Anon(710F): even up to the mid-600s there were occasionally mobs that didn't realize Death Mark stacks had built up. they didn't die but… anyway, there's no way that thing has higher Sense stats than a floor-600+ mob, so it definitely wouldn't know it got hit with Death Mark. training doesn't raise your stats after all.
ㄴ Anon(574F): that's a relief then.
*Phew. Nearly gave me a heart attack.*
Fortunately, I'd gotten a ruling from an expert that the thing probably hadn't noticed the Death Mark.
It didn't seem like I was the one being deceived.
I changed the subject. There was a lot I needed to ask.
Anon(99F)(OP): Floor-574, any ideas on how to burn through the keys?
ㄴ Anon(463F): talks casually to us but super polite to them lmao
Floor-574 replied immediately.
Anon(574F): like you said, I don't think you can drain them through combat.
Anon(574F): it's an overspec monster that's been frozen in place for 500 years on a special mission, so probing it through a fight seems risky.
Anon(574F): but you said it freaked out earlier when you mentioned taking the gold.
Anon(574F): based on the conversation and the fact that it got stronger through training, it seems like it has an intense obsession with protecting the gold…
Anon(574F): what if you engineered a situation that forces it to count the gold?
An obsession with gold.
The idea was to provoke that.
To count the gold, it would have to use that wave-detection ability again—burning through a key in the process.
But that was already a method I'd been considering.
ㄴ Anon(99F)(OP): I was already thinking about stealing more gold to make it count again… but if I do that 5 times it's going to get pissed off.
ㄴ Anon(279F): fr it's gonna be like what the hell is going on.
ㄴ Anon(638F): and after once or twice it'll probably just stop counting lol
Then a more aggressive suggestion came in.
ㄴ Anon(197F): can't you just threaten it with the scythe and make it use 5 in a row?
ㄴ Anon(143F): lmaooooooooo
ㄴ Anon(436F): yeah like open the chest if you want to respawn lmao
ㄴ Anon(645F): fr this might actually be the real strat.
Threaten it with the anti-resurrection scythe?
But that carried too much risk. It might get angry and start a fight.
And there was a good chance it wouldn't even believe the scythe could prevent resurrection in the first place.
What should I do.
How could I drain all the keys without raising its suspicion.
"…"
Not being able to open the chest didn't mean I couldn't move on to floor 101.
Clearing floor 100 itself wasn't the problem.
If I started stacking Death Mark again, killing it was only a matter of time.
But.
Passing up that Golden Chest—which so obviously contained some incredible reward—was absolutely out of the question.
That was when it happened.
A comment with the complete opposite idea appeared in the Gallery.
Anon(267F): what about giving it money?
ㄴ Anon(267F): if you scatter gold around and make it count, wouldn't that work?
ㄴ Anon(312F): ?