Conquering the Tower Even Regressors Couldn't-Chapter 318: Seventy-Seventh Floor, Euros’s Flower Forest (6)

Chapter 318: Seventy-Seventh Floor, Euros’s Flower Forest (6)

[Survive. Time remaining: 48 hours 47 minutes.]

The conversation didn’t end there. In fact, after the initial exchange, they shared more information.

For instance, this world had once been home to a flourishing civilization. Unfortunately, after it collapsed, the inhabitants had been forced to rebuild from the ground up.

According to legend, the flower hadn’t always released poisonous spores, nor had they grown densely enough to form forests. They hadn’t attacked humans, either.

Jacob said Euros’s Flower Forest existed to preserve the world’s natural balance, and they saw themselves as its guardians.

It was a history one could reasonably infer.

Considering the advanced weaponry without matching general technology, the tribes living in seemingly uninhabitable zones, and that even this village that remained untouched by pollen, their history was fairly inferable. The clues were all there.

However, when it came to the forest’s center, the elder remained reserved. She simply told me to go see it for myself.

Even when I gently asked about gods, her response was the same.

Honestly, she had a good point—I hadn’t planned to make a decision until seeing for myself, anyway.

The overarching storyline of this floor revolved around the conflict between the tribes that surrounded Euros’s Flower Forest. Some were determined to burn it, while others were equally resolved to protect it.

The former believed the forest with toxic spores needed to be purified by fire. The latter feared that harming it would trigger some greater catastrophe.

Once this trial ends, the seventy-eighth floor will immediately start a war.

At that point, climbers would align themselves with a particular tribe. Typically, it would be the first one they encountered, the one that handed them a gas mask and ensured their survival.

Apparently, during Ha Hee-Jeong’s previous life, I had entered this place without a mask.

Also, she had mentioned that once the seventy-eighth floor began, the situation escalated quickly. There was little to no time to change allegiances.

Of course, choosing a losing faction didn’t cause an automatic failure.

The seventy-eighth floor doesn’t force climbers to fight.

Many who had initially pledged themselves to battle ended up backing down after seeing others do the same. Some had still chased hidden missions or achievement points, but the majority simply walked away.

Different reasoning, but same result.

Everyone continued forward in the name of survival.

The seventy-ninth floor that followed was a trial of acceptance, forcing climbers to face the outcome of their choices.

In Ha Hee-Jeong’s previous life, that floor ended as the forest burst into flames.

That was the path Ha Hee-Jeong and I had followed.

Back then, most climbers, including us, had come to despise Euros’s Flower Forest. Without gas masks, it was little more than a living nightmare.

With more tribes supporting the forest’s destruction than its preservation, the outcome felt inevitable.

According to Ha Hee-Jeong, it felt like a predetermined future, as if the trial itself was scripted for the forest to burn. The result, she said, was a world completely engulfed in pollen.

She described it as a sandstorm sweeping across the earth, made entirely of spores.

Many climbers and villagers died. When concentrated, the pollen could breach even a high-grade gas mask.

This world’s masks just aren’t good enough.

Although the elder had seen the eastern part of the forest burning, that wasn’t the present. It was a vision of the future, glimpsed through her divination.

The Ancient Fire she mentioned was something akin to a nuclear bomb. She had declared that mushroom clouds would rise, and a wildfire would sweep through the forest in an instant.

Considering this world contained things like laser rifles and beam swords, it wasn’t all that surprising. That was why, in this attempt, we decided to side with those trying to protect the forest.

The forest itself wasn’t exactly a sanctuary, but disturbing it could very well unleash something far worse.

There are certainly many who want to see it destroyed, though.

Regardless, Ha Hee-Jeong and I believed that protecting the forest would yield greater rewards. More than that, however, we were curious about how that would influence the seventy-ninth floor.

I couldn’t give the elder a definitive answer because of the unknowns. For all I knew, something at the forest’s center had to be resolved first—like a hidden mission that had to be completed before any choice could be made.

That was why Ha Hee-Jeong and I had agreed to investigate the forest’s core before meeting with her to make our final decision.

To be honest, I am not even sure if the Ancient Fire can be stopped at all.

Convincing the climbers wouldn’t be an issue. One word from me or Ha Hee-Jeong would be enough.

The real obstacle was the tribe that had uncovered an Ancient Fire.

In fact, they were already prepared to unleash it. They simply hadn’t acted yet because they were still working to unify the other tribes.

Ha Hee-Jeong promised to dig deeper, but it wouldn’t be easy.

From what I had heard, she was recruiting every climber she could find. Since every climber should have arrived with a mask, I hoped her plan would work out.

Now, I just had to verify what lay at the center.

I had come to understand some of the forest’s hidden aspects already. However, since the information came from the elder, I couldn’t accept it as an unquestionable truth.

Welp.

My thoughts were anything but clear. I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions since, in the end, this decision could alter the trajectory of an entire world.

For all I knew, once the Ancient Fire was unleashed and the pollen swept across the land, the world could be reborn into a pristine and natural state. Preventing that outcome could, in its own way, bring harm to someone else. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

At this point, the pollen would eventually poison every inhabitant of this world. Depending on the degree of their exposure, they would suffer various symptoms, some of which would ultimately lead to their death.

Most don’t survive for long.

Given the opportunity to do it safely, I would just eliminate the flowers inside the forest. That alone would be enough.

However, even though I possessed divinity, that was impossible; I wasn’t this world’s god.

Ugh, I don’t know. I will think about it when I actually get there.

As the saying went, a hundred hearsays aren’t worth a single glance.

I would go there myself and come to my own conclusion.

***

[Survive. Time remaining: 47 hours 21 minutes.]

The boy and I left the village behind. Though it was late, neither of us seemed particularly concerned.

Thanks to Jacob and the boy, the atmosphere among the villagers had softened considerably. It wasn’t surprising, considering that they now believed I was the fated figure sent to rescue Euros’s Flower Forest in its time of peril.

Additionally, I had apologized and explained that it had been beyond my control, and the villagers simply waved it off casually. Everything had gone more smoothly than expected.

Ferel did shoot a few sharp glances my way, though.

It didn’t feel like she was genuinely hostile, more so irritated that I had left with Aoshi right away.

Jealousy, almost. Yeah, definitely jealousy.

She had probably wanted a moment to talk with him herself, especially after what he had been through. Unfortunately for her, I had brought him along without delay.

Still, it wasn’t unpleasant to witness. Her sulking expression, paired with Aoshi’s quiet efforts to comfort her, had been rather endearing.

Regardless, the boy and I were now strolling through the forest. Trailing behind him, I felt an odd sense of urgency, as if something unseen was urging us forward. It felt as if the flowers were assisting him.

Our first encounter had been rather rocky, so some awkwardness still lingered. The silence wouldn’t last forever, however, as I felt personally responsible—as the adult—to break the ice.

Soon enough, words began to flow between us.

“You’re not from this world, right? Where are you from? How did you end up here?”

“Somewhere far, far away. As for the reason, I can’t tell you.”

“I see.” He nodded, seemingly accepting the answer.

The look in his eyes, visible even through the mask, betrayed a mix of curiosity and faint disappointment. I mused that his youthfulness made his thoughts fairly easy to read.

My lips curved faintly into a smile.

Just as I had suspected, he was a gentle soul. He possessed a natural warmth, and now that I had a better look at his face, he was undeniably handsome too.

The very image of a young, dignified boy.

I could understand why Ferel had taken such a liking to him.

At one point, he hesitated, looking askingly at me. “You’re going to save the forest, right?”

“Probably, assuming there isn’t a demon waiting at its heart.”

The calm atmosphere made me feel more at ease than I had intended. Or perhaps it wasn’t the mood, but the boy himself. He had an innate ability to draw out goodwill from others.

Still, I quickly clarified, “No, I’m still leaning against doing that, to be honest. That was my original intention, but the pollen is harming people, and that’s a real issue.”

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

“You do realize you still need masks to walk through the forest, right? People outside the forest suffer far worse. You know that.”

“You’ll understand once you reach the center.”

“Alright. Let’s go, then.”

A brief silence passed, and the boy was the one to break it. “But will it really change anything after you see it? You told us others[1] may be here somewhere. Where are they?”

“No need to worry about them.”

He paused. “Are you some kind of tribal chief?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“Then, a king from the old civilization?”

“Even less likely.”

His eyes curved like crescents as he smiled. “Either way, I guess I should try to stay on your good side, huh?”

“Exactly.”

His cheeky remark made me laugh unconsciously. He really did have a mischievous streak. Given how confidently he insisted that I would understand everything once we reached the center, I couldn’t help but wonder if something truly awaited us there.

He glanced at me. “By the way, what was with you earlier?”

“What do you mean?”

“You weren’t wearing your mask.”

“You mean the gas mask? I was.”

“Liar. I saw you. Twice. You only put it on after we got close.”

“Haha, no way.” I had tried to play it off with an awkward chuckle, but we both knew the truth.

The boy didn’t press the issue, and he simply continued, “Can I test your blood?”

Startled, I turned toward him. “What?”

That sounded like something straight out of a horror story.

He only shrugged as if my reaction was hard to understand. “What’s the problem?”

“What are you even planning to test?”

“Ferel’s a researcher. She’s been conducting experiments to find a cure for pollen poisoning. Your blood could help.”

Ah. So that is what this is about.

It had caught me off guard—something I hadn’t even considered. Thinking about it now, though, researching the effects of pollen made perfect sense.

“But there’s nothing special about my blood. I just have a high degree of resistance to toxins, that’s all.”

“Still, that means your body is exceptional. Isn’t there a chance we could do something with it?”

Hmm. Probably not. Or maybe?

The more I thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. My resistance wasn’t just a passive skill but was tied to my physique. If I could naturally detoxify poison, maybe there was something she could use.

“Alright. Let’s give it a try.”

“Really? Thank you!” the boy responded brightly, then turned to his right. “Ah! This way! We’re almost there.”

“Already?”

“It’s just up ahead, although it’s completely blocked by aggressive flowers. In every direction, no less. Even the trees above are covered. That’s why we’ve never been able to reach the absolute center.”

Only now did I fully grasp why they had declared that the center was inaccessible.

These flowers didn’t differentiate between friend or foe. Even this mysterious tribe—blessed by the forest—wasn’t spared.

They hadn’t needed to lie, and they had always been sincere.

I followed the boy a little further.

He parted a cluster of flowers—not carelessly, but with deliberate caution. “There it is! We’ll go down from here.”

He had revealed a narrow tunnel, similar to the one that led to the village. It wasn’t as well-maintained, however, but it was wide enough for a person to squeeze through.

“Let’s go.”

“Yeah.”

We quietly descended.

Once we reached the end of the tunnel, we were greeted by the sight of pure, untainted nature. I couldn’t help but feel awe instinctively rise within me.

There was no sun, but crimson blossoms hanging from the ceiling gave off a soft, steady light. Clear water flowed over pristine earth below them.

As expected, there was no pollen.

The boy’s village had shared a similar sense of purity, but this place possessed a clarity of a different kind—one that followed a wholly separate rhythm. It felt as if I was standing before a piece of primeval nature, untouched by human hands since the dawn of time.

For a moment, it truly seemed as if I were the first to ever lay eyes on it.

The boy pointed off to one side. “It’s blocked by trees over there, but this area connects directly to the center of the forest.”

“Why is it so clean here?”

“Because the Flower Forest exists to purify corrupted nature.”

The instant I heard his reply, Ha Hee-Jeong’s words echoed in my mind. It was her description of the Ancient Fire as something akin to a nuclear explosion.

It felt like everything had finally begun to align. In a rush of clarity, I understood how the forest had come to be as it was now

***

「Invisible message: Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has witnessed the domain beneath Euros’s Flower Forest, completing the hidden mission “Secrets of the Flower Forest.” All stats increased by 1.」

1. Climbers. ☜