Chapter 33: Cleansing (3)
The floor itself hadn’t seemed that difficult. At least, that was what Misha had told herself first.
By the time they reached the 2nd altar, that brave little lie had fallen apart completely.
Dust clung to her hair, her sleeves, even the line of sweat at her throat. She and Gerbaut had switched tasks, but that hardly mattered when the real problem never gave her a chance to breathe.
The ghouls did not stop.
The moment one dropped, another clawed its way out of the earth.
Then another one. Then three more followed.
Gray fingers burst through the cracked ground. Rotting bodies dragged themselves into the light with twitching limbs and snapping jaws. The entire floor felt alive with malice, as if the place itself wanted to drown them beneath an endless tide of corpses.
At first, Misha had treated it like training. A hard, miserable, dust-filled kind of training, sure, but still training.
It was her chance to sharpen her skills. A chance to stop humiliating herself every time something ugly decided her face looked edible.
「 You have killed a Ghoul!
EXP +5 」
「 You have killed a Ghoul!
EXP +5 」
That confidence lasted about six minutes.
The ghouls moved nothing like the goblins she had experienced before. Goblins rushed, screamed, and swung wildly. These things staggered just enough to look clumsy, only to launch forward with frightening bursts of speed.
「 Fear and panic suppressed. 」
Misha ducked on instinct when a ghoul flew at her with claws outstretched.
Wind brushed her cheek as blackened nails cut through empty air where her eyes had been an instant earlier.
Another came from the side.
She twisted away, but not fast enough as claws raked across her upper arm.
Pain bit through her sleeve, sharp and hot.
「 Elevated stress and fear levels detected. Emotional interference reduced. 」
Misha sucked in a breath and bared her teeth. "Damn it–"
The ghoul lunged again.
Her rapier flashed, the blade piercing its eye socket. Then the creature jerked once, then collapsed in a heap.
「 You have killed a Ghoul!
EXP +5 」
Another replaced it immediately.
Misha stepped back just in time to avoid a second set of claws. "Is one at a time too much to ask?"
Her breathing turned ragged. Sweat rolled down the back of her neck. Every dodge pulled at aching muscles, and every parry sent a jolt through her wrist.
「 Skill in Effect: Weapon Mastery 」
Misha almost laughed.
Mastery?
Olivia moved like she danced with danger and always knew the next step before the music changed. Misha, on the other hand, felt like someone flailing through an argument with death and losing on technicalities.
Another ghoul rushed her.
She parried, the impact rattling through her arm so hard her fingers almost opened.
Then another came. And another.
Her boots slipped in loose dirt. Her footing broke for half a second, then another half, and that was all the ghouls needed.
Small cuts opened across her arms and sides. None of them ran deep, but each sting carried the same quiet insult.
Too slow. Too sloppy. And not enough. How did Gerbaut make this look easy?
He killed ghouls while she dismantled the 1st altar. He guarded her while she worked. He somehow found time to stay infuriatingly calm through it all, as if the tide of undead around them were no more troublesome than light rain.
Meanwhile, Misha kept letting them slip.
One broke through her guard and sprinted toward him.
"Gerbaut!"
His spear moved. That was all she saw.
One moment it rested at his side. The next, it blurred through the air, and the ghoul’s head burst apart in a spray of gray matter and ash.
Gerbaut didn’t even glance at the corpse.
Misha felt personally attacked.
"I had that under control."
He gave her a sidelong look. "You shouted my name."
"That," she said, lifting her chin, "was tactical communication."
"Hm."
Misha’s eye twitched. She hated that ’hm’.
It wasn’t loud or mocking, and somehow, that made it worse. It carried just enough dry disbelief to feel like a personal attack.
She gritted her teeth as she muttered to herself, "Come on, Misha. You can do better than this."
===
Hours later, they finally reached the last altar.
Misha planted the tip of her rapier into the ground and leaned on it like it had become the only thing holding her upright. Her legs trembled, her shoulders burned. She had already forced down three stamina potions, and whatever miracle they had worked earlier had worn off so completely that her body now felt held together by spite alone.
She stared at the altar with open resentment. "I’m dismantling this one."
Gerbaut eyed her. "You sound angry."
"I am angry."
「 〔SYSTEM NOTICING〕
Altar Cleansed (11/12) 」
So this was the last one. In the end, the final altar was left to them.
It stood in the center of a ruined clearing like a heart ripped out and left to pulse in the open.
Around it, the ground churned.
Dozens of ghouls dragged themselves free, claw by claw, shoulder by shoulder, as if the earth could no longer contain them.
Misha stared at the mass of gray limbs and hollow eyes and groaned. "I hate this place so much."
Gerbaut stepped forward. Then, his spear drove into the nearest ghoul’s throat, ripped free, then slammed into the joint of the support beam near the altar as if he had already mapped the entire battlefield in his head.
A second ghoul leaped to him.
He reversed his grip and stabbed it through its skull.
A third approached from behind. He killed that one too before Misha even managed to warn him.
The gap between their skill levels felt obscene.
Misha clenched her jaw and followed in his wake, cutting down the ghoul that lunged at her knees. Then she ducked another attack, drove her shoulder into its chest, and stumbled the last few steps to the altar.
"Keep them off me," she said through gritted teeth, already dropping to one knee.
"I have been."
She shot him a glare over her shoulder. "You know, one day I’m going to become strong enough that your dry comments stop sounding impressive."
"I look forward to that day."
She rolled her eyes before she turned her full attention to the altar.
「 Pattern recognition increased. 」
She forced herself to focus and started dismantling the structure piece by piece, ignoring the tremors in her hands.
「 Mental focus sharpened. 」
Around her, Gerbaut’s spear carved sharp, efficient arcs through the crowd. Each impact landed with brutal precision. Each step he took held the same maddening calm.
Misha wedged her dagger into a fracture line and twisted it.
A crack shot through the altar. Then the crimson light flared, and soon enough the whole structure caved inward.
A deep rumble rolled through the clearing, and the red glow vanished.
Silence slammed down across the battlefield.
When she raised her head to look, she saw every ghoul froze.
"Is it over...?"
「 〔FLOOR QUEST〕
Cleanse the Corrupted Altars (12/12) ]
「 Congratulations! Floor Quest Cleared! 」
「 〔SYSTEM NOTICE〕
Corruption Source Removed.
Hostile entities entering termination state. 」
The nearest ghoul convulsed.
Cracks spread across its body like shattered porcelain, then it collapsed into ash.
One after another, the remaining creatures crumbled apart.
"Finally..."
Ding!
「 〔CONTRIBUTION RANKING〕
1. Yara Borealis
2. Nyxie
3. Elyes Faust
4. Gerbaut
5. Misha Apocalypse
6. Jules Gentle Giant ]
「 〔FLOOR CLEAR REWARDS〕
EXP +250
Tower Coins: +121
—
<Items Obtained>
Ghoul Claw x12
Minor Stamina Potion x2
Cracked Enhancement Stone x1
—
<Contribution Bonus>
EXP Bonus +95
Tower Coins +45 ]
「 〔ATTRIBUTE GROWTH〕
Strength +2 ]
「 〔SYSTEM NOTICE〕
You have survived prolonged physical exhaustion.
New Attribute Unlocked:
Endurance .... 7 ]
「 〔TITLE EFFECT ACTIVATED〕
The One Acknowledged by the Tower 」
「 Trait Growth Rate Increased 」
「 〔TRAIT PROGRESS〕
Analytical Thinking (Lv. 5)
5% —>22%
Calm Under Pressure (Lv. 3)
97% —-> 100%
—
Passive Trait: Calm Under Pressure has leveled up!
Lv. 3 —> Lv. 4
—
Effect Update:
Resistance to enemy-induced mental interference increased. 」
Misha looked at the floating windows with the dull, hollow expression of someone too exhausted to care about personal growth, divine recognition, or numerical rewards. If an Administrator itself descended to congratulate her, she might have asked it for a pillow.
She waved a hand through the screens as if shooing away flies.
"Can we just stay here for a while?" she asked. Her voice came out rougher than she intended. "If we head to the next floor, I might actually die."
Gerbaut glanced at her. "Are you sure?"
She stared at him in disbelief. "Do I look unsure?"
His gaze moved from her dust-covered clothes to the cuts on her arms, then to the way she leaned heavily on the broken altar.
"No," he answered.
"Good. Then we agree. Rest. Here." Then she pointed at herself. "Me. Not moving."
He looked toward the portal to the next floor. "The 7th floor isn’t as demanding for us."
Misha narrowed her eyes. "What’s on the next floor?"
"Hobgoblins."
She went quiet. Then she slowly flung back her head. "You’re joking, right?"
"No."
She heaved out a sigh. "I’m not getting rest, am I?"
"Yara and Nyxie can handle it."
She turned her gaze at him and blinked a few times in wonder. "Is it like the 2nd floor? Kill a hundred goblins and call it a day?"
Gerbaut shook his head. "No. We only need to survive waves of goblins and hobgoblins for thirty minutes."
She stared at him. Then she turned toward the portal before her gaze landed back at him.
"Those two can manage that?"
"Elyes will probably join them."
"So 3 monsters instead of 2," Misha muttered.
Gerbaut said nothing.
That silence counted as confirmation.
Misha let out a long, suffering groan. "Being surrounded by talented people is bad for my self-esteem."
"You can join if you want."
She looked at him flatly.
Then she dropped onto the nearest piece of broken stone with all the grace of a corpse collapsing into a coffin.
"Gerbaut’s mouth shifted.
"Don’t do that." Misha sighed when she caught a small smile.
"Do what?"
"That. The human expression. It’s unsettling."
Mish stopped her head and stared at the dark sky.
Everything hurt at that moment. Her arms, her legs, her shoulders, even her pride.
