＜ 23. Test (5) ＞
The upper floor was a space with a completely different feeling from the lower floor. Upholstered leather couches, marble niches and gilded trim. While the lower floors were closer to the rugged plazas of small cities, the upper floors gave off an atmosphere like a luxurious guest room.
The structure was in the form of a high platform in the middle and round sofas around it. Trisha, who was sitting at the end, stared blankly at the entrance, then waved when she saw a person entering.
“Are you here, Andrea?”
Andrea nodded lightly and moved towards Trisha. Since he entered almost before the time limit was reached, it seemed that he and Mimic were the last guests.
As Andrea sat down next to her, Trisha poked Emilia in the side.
“I told you not to worry, Emilia. Did you come all right?”
“But… I almost missed the time limit. I couldn’t help but worry.”
“I wonder if Andrea had forgotten about that? Did you deliberately sneak in to scare us, Andrea?”
“No, I almost passed the real time. Well, if that were the case, I would have just given up on the plan.”
Startled by the unexpected news, Trisha opened her eyes wide.
“What, did you manage what you planned well?”
“Fortunately, we have achieved what we set out to do. What… I was lucky. I met someone who helped us.”
“…Who is that?”
Andrea told the story of her meeting with Johanna. Trisha nodded her head and spat out a short exclamation as if she couldn’t stop listening to the story.
“that’s interesting. Back then you said that he thought he might help you in some way. Is that really what you said?”
“Um, that’s what I mean. That’s how it happened.”
It was Andrea who spared her words because it would take too long to explain if Johanna was told that she was a playable character.
Glad things worked out anyway, but Trisha still didn’t know why Andrea acted the way she did. Trisha points to the signs brought by Andrea.
“So, what are you going to do with collecting so many tokens? When I came to the upper floors, I thought I was using it like an entrance fee, but that’s not the case either.”
In order to escape from the lower layer, it was enough to show the statue instead of handing the token to the statue that was blocking the entrance. Because of this, Trisha and Emilia were still holding the five marks in their hands.
Before Andrea explained, she looked over all the people gathered on the upper floor. There was the man I was looking for at the far left. It was Jericho, the raised eyebrows and goatee.
‘That bastard planned to take the last hit and drop us…’
When Jericho’s eyes met Andrea’s, he secretly averted his gaze. I would have thought it was natural, but it was obvious to Andrea, who knew the circumstances.
“What is it?”
Trisha urges an answer as Andrea pauses and looks behind her. But the moment I opened my mouth, someone stepped up on a podium in the middle.
It was a sign that the upper level events were about to begin in earnest. Andrea turned her gaze to that direction and curtailed her words.
“You will find out soon. We begin now.”
The person standing on the podium was an old man with a strict look. The old man in a black tailcoat straightened his tight tie and looked around at the challengers. Somehow, it seemed like he was evaluating the level of the gathered people.
The old man looked away satisfactorily and started talking.
“Nice to meet you, challengers who have passed the test on the lower level. My name is Charon, the referee in charge of the upper level exam. You have proven with your own strength that you have the potential to reach the 100th floor.”
“…”
“However, the possibility alone cannot do anything. Only when you pass the test here, on the upper floor, will you be qualified to go up to the 100th floor. Now, then, how are the upper-tier exams conducted?”
“…”
“It’s simple. All you have to do is duel with one other randomly selected challenger here and win. Weapons, cards, relics, items, no limits whatsoever. Based on the knowledge you have accumulated in the dungeon, you can ascend as long as you defeat the opponent no matter what you do.”
Since all of them were challengers with skills enough to pass the test of the lower class, they did not make a frivolous noise. He only glanced at the competitors who might face him.
Then one of the challengers raised their hand.
“I have a question. You said that the other party is chosen randomly. How does that random selection work? Is Mr. Karon deciding on his own?”
Charon answered as if he had been waiting. This question has been answered countless times.
“Of course it could be, but wouldn’t that be too boring? We have a different way that everyone will find interesting. Is there anyone among you who does not have the mark of courage?”
The challengers, unaware of the situation, all looked nervous. In their experience, the interesting ways in this dungeon have always caused terrible distress.
Even though Karon didn’t show it openly, it was a pleasure to see their expressions.
“Here is a large barrel. When one of you enters the draw and stands out here, only those who wish to fight him need to put their token of courage in the container. And if the drawee chooses one of the tokens in the box, the owner of that token and the drawee will face off.”
It was a simple lottery. A randomly selected challenger comes out and stands, the other challengers put in their tokens, and they fight the owner of that challenger’s mark.
The rules are simple, but the elements hidden within them can only be known by asking questions or experiencing them. Like what Andrea is saying now.
“Is there any way to make someone unconditionally a drawee?”
Karon raised his eyebrows in amazement. Although there were often challengers asking how to avoid becoming a drawee, it has been a long time since a challenger asked how to make someone unconditionally a drawee.
“there is. By paying 30 Tokens of Courage, you can make one of the challengers you want into a draw. But if you pay that many tokens…”
“Thirty here. Hey, make the challenger named Jericho the winner of the lottery.”
“What, what?”
Jericho trembled in shock as if he had been struck by lightning. Andrea looked over and gave a wry smile.
Charon looked at it with interest and swallowed the original warning. It was because the warning that if Jericho was to become the opponent of the one standing in front of him anyway, he would be eliminated after running out of courage, it seemed meaningless.
This is where the subtlety of this test is hidden. If you only find opponents who seem weak and put in your tokens, you may not be selected in repeated lottery due to the high competition rate, and you may be eliminated.
‘Well, it’s a story that has nothing to do with these two challengers.’
Charon bowed lightly and expressed his intention to accept Andrea’s will.
“All right. Do it as a team. Then, let’s start the lottery for Jericho’s opponent first.”
“Wait, wait! Where is this! I had never heard of something like this possible!”
Charon lightly ignored Jericho’s words. There is no such thing as a rule that was originally there because it was not explained. He waved his hand lightly in the air, and Jericho was pulled forward, tied to something invisible.
“Leave this right now! What is this…”
“Now, challengers who want to challenge Jericho, please come forward and put the token of courage in the barrel!”
Jericho instinctively looked at the other challengers even while he was screaming and struggling.
The worst thing for Jericho would be to fight Andrea one-on-one. Having created this situation, it was clear that Andrea would place the Mark of Courage in the barrel.
However, hope still remained. Andrea used 30 marks already. It was obvious that there weren’t too many signs left. Then, as long as the other challengers put in a lot of marks, the chances of fighting Andrea would be extremely low.
The only thing that bothered me was that people didn’t actively step forward. Many of the people here have already seen Jericho’s ability and cunning. It was natural to be reluctant to fight back.
‘Damn it, this is why I didn’t want to be the winner of the lottery…’
Jericho thought he couldn’t be alone. The method he chose was to turn off aggro.
There was no way that the prudent challengers who had risen to the upper floors would rush at the level of an absurd personal attack. Jericho caught the attention of the challengers in a fairly extreme way.
“Helios is an asshole! Nelas is a fishy carp head, and Cleitos is an old man covered in dung! Are you hot? If you get pissed off, come and challenge me!”
The contestants’ eyes widened all at once. Not a few of them were blessed by the gods, or were serving the gods outside the dungeon. I couldn’t just let go of that blasphemy.
“No, what?”
“To receive such a punishment…!”
Jericho smiles when he sees the reaction he expected. Now all it took was for the challengers to come out and put their tokens in a pile.
But Andrea was not at all embarrassed. As he raised his hand behind him, the challengers flinched and flinched.
“This guy is mine. I’ll even take care of your anger, so everyone sit down and be safe.”
Then, Andrea poured all the 33 tokens she had into the barrel.
Karon opened his eyes wide in disbelief. Jericho became dazed. The audience was silent and unable to say anything.
With such a large amount put in, there was no way that the other challengers would throw a token or two, and it would cause a surprise. Realizing the situation, Jericho becomes contemplative.
He played an innocent victim who tried his best to undo the situation somehow.
“Why are you doing this to me? What did I do wrong? You’ve never seen me before, have you?”
Andrea admired Jericho’s impudence. It was such a great performance that people who didn’t know it would be fooled into believing that it was a really innocent person.
But if the other side came out like that, this side also had its own way to deal with it. Andrea responds to Jericho’s words with a friendly smile.
“Yeah, it’s because I have a bad taste in spoiling good and innocent illusionists.”
Jericho opens his mouth wide, at a loss for words. Andrea returned to her seat with a light heart. Now all that remains is to wait for the turn to fight.
* * *
There was no change.
Since then, no one has put a mark in the barrel, so Jericho’s opponent naturally became Andrea. Then, the lottery of the other challengers continued, and the opponents of the remaining parties were all decided.
Trisha and Mimic finished the battle without incident. They say they are all seasoned challengers, but they couldn’t beat Trisha, who completed an infinite cycle deck, and Mimic, who had become stronger by pouring gold coins. Some people asked why Mimic was fighting the Challenger, but it was over with Charon saying it didn’t matter since he had collected the tokens.
The problem was on Emilia’s side. Emilia coincidentally came face to face with a magician who worshiped the devil. Emilia, who proceeded with a hesitant attitude, used ‘Archangelization’ and ate almost half of the upper layer. Of course, the opponent disappeared without leaving a single bone fragment.
“…What is it, there are still more worms that serve the devil?”
Even that wasn’t enough, and they tried to kill other challengers who served the devil, so Andrea had to step in and stop them. It was a dizzying moment when Emilia almost got disqualified for violating the rules.
Charon sweated for a while while restoring the upper floors. He was also an NPC with transcendental power like Arfan and the shopkeeper, but he was not sure that he would win against the archangel Emilia. Although the rules of this space could have banished Emilia.
Anyway, after a long time, almost everything was finally restored. Charon prepared a barrier that was several times stronger than before, in case of an emergency. Now, the main match, which many challengers have been waiting for, was about to begin.
Jericho barely restrained the trembling tension and squeezed the staff in his hand. Now that it was good to avoid a fight, I was preparing for the number of cases in my head.
He won’t be able to compete with him by force, but his special skills are magic and space movement. I thought that if I caught the other person’s surprise, something would work out. If there was no way to avoid it, I was determined to win at any cost.
‘I can’t climb this damn dungeon one more time. I will definitely win this time.’
Meanwhile, Andrea is ready to step out in a relaxed manner. I pulled Narak’s grip to fit it snugly, checked the collar of the coat, and dusted it off. It was a light gesture, as if going for a walk.
I can’t imagine Andrea losing, but Trisha asks just in case.
“Can you do it, Andrea? You have to come and win.”
“To be honest, I am not confident.”
“what?”
“I don’t have confidence in quality.”
“… AC!”
Andrea bent down to avoid Trisha’s palm. After being beaten a few times, now I can guess when and how Trisha will attack.
“You have to do well!”
“Andrea, fighting!”
“Kko, be sure to win, Master.”
Andrea waved lightly and walked forward, responding to the group’s cheering.
The gazes you feel when you step up to the gymnasium. Everyone was looking forward to what kind of fight would happen.
I saw Jericho on the other side. Judging from the fact that one hand was put in the deck and the other in the pocket of the subspace, it seemed that even if something was well prepared, it was still prepared.
‘Yes, if I don’t struggle, I don’t like the taste of being trampled on.’
Andrea also decided to do her best to reciprocate. Andrea takes her hand to the deck. A sharp tension ran through the entire upper floor like a blade.
“Wheeik!”
And finally, with Charon’s whistle, the confrontation began.