Conquering the Tower Even Regressors Couldn't-Chapter 404: Eighty-Ninth Floor, A Nation for Giants (2)

Ha Hee-Jeong didn’t stand up right away. She remained lying down, simply blinking as she stared at me.

“Are you awake?”

“Huh? She nodded slowly, still dazed. “Yeah, umm...”

Her eyes trembled slightly, clouded with confusion.

She was still struggling to distinguish reality from the remnants of her nightmare, having only just broken free from it. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot, a visible sign of what she had endured.

I didn’t need to ask to know it hadn’t been easy, so I gently asked, “What was it? What did you see in there?”

“Nothing. It just overlapped a little with my previous life.”

That was her way of quietly refusing to explain further.

“All right.”

I didn’t push her. If she didn’t want to talk, there was no need to press. I wasn’t entitled to a response, and meddling with someone else’s trauma was a boundary that shouldn’t be crossed.

If I were to guess, though, she had seen me die in this life. Maybe the illusion showed me dying helplessly and miserably right before her eyes.

I gently patted the back of her hand. “It’s all right. It was just an illusion.”

“Yeah, I know...”

Bit by bit, clarity returned to her gaze. This was Ha Hee-Jeong, after all.

She had mentioned that even some top-ranked climbers had taken considerable time to gather themselves after waking up. Yet, she had managed to regain her composure in a matter of minutes.

As she sat up, she smiled faintly and wistfully. “Thanks. I was looking for you, and someone grabbed my hand. I didn’t think it’d actually be you.”

I shook my head, a small smile on my face. “There’s nothing to thank me for. Of course I’d be here. What matters is that you’re awake now.”

“Still, it looks like things stayed calm?” Her gaze shifted to the center of the room, where climbers were beginning to gather.

Under Park Sang-Hyuk’s leadership, awake climbers were now helping manage those just regaining consciousness. Since Ha Hee-Jeong and I were the top two climbers, no one had resisted.

“Yeah. They started guarding the top-ranked climbers as soon as they woke up.”

“Then I guess I worried for nothing.”

Scanning the formation with a somewhat sheepish expression, she suddenly squinted, taken aback. “Wait, is that Park Sang-Hyuk? It is, right?”

“Yeah. That’s him.”

“What? How did he wake up first?”

She seemed to be wondering the same thing I had earlier.

I recalled our conversation and replied, tone dry, “He said he saw me killing climbers to finish a trial faster and realized it was fake right away.”

At that, Ha Hee-Jeong burst into laughter. “You’re kidding. Seriously? God, those Su-Hyeok fan club guys are something else.”

“I was just as dumbfounded.”

She kept laughing, more than the situation probably warranted.

Still, it made sense. Coming out of a traumatic illusion, she likely needed something to lighten the mood. Not wanting to spoil it, I smiled along with her.

After a moment, she turned to me again. “You woke up pretty fast, though. Was it because of that endless dream trial? Or is it because Doppy’s here? Did you have a nightmare too, Doppy?”

She gave Doppy a belated wave.

He grinned and cheerfully responded, “I didn’t have a nightmare! Are you okay, Hee-Jeong?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

She understandably assumed that we had started the same trial.

I shook my head gently as I gently corrected her, “I didn’t wake up early. The tower assigned me a completely different trial.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Huh?”

“They sent me to some strange floor since I am a challenger. That’s why Doppy’s with me. I used the necklace to come here just to check in.”

“What? Are you okay? Is your trial all right?” she asked, full of concern.

I kept my tone steady as I reassured, “Yeah. I’m not in any immediate danger. Still, I’ll have to head back soon. I only came because I was worried.”

She let out a sigh of relief, “Phew. Looks like Natalie was wrong, huh?”

“Looks like it. When she said the ninety-first floor would change, I should’ve realized that the eighty-ninth would too.”

This time, her sigh carried a different weight. It wasn’t anyone’s fault in particular.

She looked like she was blaming herself slightly, so I casually responded, “Well, it’s already done. No point in dwelling on it. Nothing major happened, anyway. I didn’t see it coming either, so don’t worry.”

Hearing that, she begrudgingly nodded. Her expression seemed to settle and steadier now, more forward-facing.

“What kind of trial is it, anyway?”

“The floor’s called A Nation for Giants. I have to hide from giants and find some Giant Resistance. Know anything about it?”

“Giants? What’s the Giant Resistance?”

“I’m not sure either. I think they’re a faction that opposes the giants, but that’s about all I’ve got.”

I didn’t have much else to share.

“What do the giants look like?” 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

“Pretty similar to us, actually. Just about fifteen meters tall. Their clothing had a sort of medieval feel.”

“Hmm.” She fell briefly into thought, then shook her head. “Nothing really comes to mind. I don’t know.”

I hadn’t expected much, so I wasn’t disappointed.

She had already shared all she remembered from her previous life—at least when it came to the ninety-first to the ninety-fourth floors—so it would have been more surprising if she had suddenly remembered something new.

“Well, it can’t be helped. You’re awake now, so I should get going. Take care of the others, will you?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry about us. Just focus on your trial. And if anything dangerous happens, signal me with the necklace right away.”

“Got it.” I nodded and turned to leave.

However, as I took my first step, she hesitated and quietly added, “Thanks.”

“No need for that.” I tossed her a small, lopsided smile and turned away.

As if he had been waiting for that very moment, Park Sang-Hyuk came hurrying over from the center of the room. “You’re heading back now?”

“Yes.”

With both fists clenched, he held them to his chest and quietly—but enthusiastically—cheered, “Good luck out there. We’re all rooting for you!”

Umm, right. How am I supposed to respond to that?

I couldn’t exactly ignore him. Suppressing a sigh, I raised my right hand and formed a fist. “Thanks. You too, Sang-Hyuk.”

“Thank you!” His eyes shone with genuine emotion.

Phew. This is getting out of hand.

I was beginning to understand why gods rarely appeared before their followers.

What am I even supposed to do when I get back to Earth?

With that small thought lingering at the back of my mind, I returned to the giants’ world.

***

[Primary objective: avoid the giants’ gaze and meet the Giant Resistance. Time remaining: 23 hours 21 minutes.]

I returned to the rooftop we had been on earlier, and Doppy came through the portal shortly after.

The distance between the two dimensions was considerable, and it drained a significant amount of mana. However, it wasn’t enough to hinder the trial in any meaningful way.

My current mana reserves were simply too high. Compared to the average climber, the difference was astronomical.

On top of that, the gauntlet still contained an immense amount of residual mana from my recent battles.

If I had to name one drawback, it would be the forty minutes I had spent taking care of Ha Hee-Jeong.

Not a second of it felt wasted, though. If she hadn’t woken up, I would have stayed longer—hours, even. I would just have to make up for the lost time by moving more efficiently now.

Standing atop the tall building, I looked down. From this height, and considering the size of the giants, the streets below seemed impossibly distant.

There was that superhero movie, something about a man who shrinks.

If that character were real, this is what they would feel like.

Regardless, the giants went about their business, wandering the city and completely unaware of my presence.

First, I need to find the Giant Resistance.

There had to be a clue. Even when a trial seemed impossible, the tower always embedded a solution somewhere within it.

No matter how far I extended my senses or scanned the area, I couldn’t detect any presence with a similar build to mine.

That could only mean one thing. If I exposed myself, the giants would immediately notice.

The tower had clearly instructed me to avoid their gaze, so I couldn’t afford to be seen.

Maybe once I meet the resistance, they will find a way to use my small size.

That possibility couldn’t be ruled out. This trial could involve infiltration, assassination, or theft—or something else entirely.

Speculating further would be pointless at this point. My immediate objective was to make contact with the Giant Resistance. Since I had to hide, it only made sense that I should seek them out, not the other way around.

This meant there had to be a way for me to identify them, some observable difference between the resistance members and ordinary giants.

Something meaningful enough to distinguish them, even from a distance.

Fortunately, I had grown used to using my brain after climbing this far.

It didn’t take long before I narrowed my options down. Shifting positions, I began observing the giants more carefully.

At a glance, there doesn’t seem to be any obvious differences, which makes sense.

The resistance was likely a small, covert group in need of my help. Expecting to pick them out from this many giants right away would be unrealistic.

Also, even if they had devised some way to identify one another, it wouldn’t be easy to spot.

No matter how sharp my eyes were, I was still a stranger to this world. If they had any distinct features, the other giants would have noticed them already.

I continued to observe, but it crossed my mind that spotting them through visual clues alone could be impossible. Leaving the city could potentially prove even more fruitful.

“Doppy. Any direction you feel drawn to?”

“Hmm, nope!”

“Didn’t think so. If you notice anything odd, let me know.”

“Got it!” Doppy lowered his gaze again, eyes narrowing slightly as he scanned the streets.

If this truly was the domain of a first-class god, perhaps Fenrike’s power wasn’t functioning properly here.

I returned to my observations. It would likely be tedious, but until I was certain this approach wouldn’t work, I had no choice but to persist.

The giants weren’t primitive brutes clad in animal hides, unlike the myths from Earth. They wore clothes that seemed to fall somewhere between medieval and early modern.

Some carried swords while others were dressed in what looked like casual wear. Most wore something resembling work garments—rough, worn clothing that wouldn’t look out of place at a construction site.

Judging by how many of them are hauling bricks, a major construction project is underway. Maybe I should check it out?

The thought lingered, but I didn’t act on it immediately.

As time passed, I began noticing smaller details. Some giants walked with their mouths open, sneezing out of nowhere, or repeating the same motion over and over again with almost mechanical regularity.

Eventually, I picked up on something strange: their eyes.

It wasn’t obvious at first, but the longer I watched and the more consciously I focused, the more unnatural their gazes became. Their pupils contracted and dilated depending on where they looked, which wasn’t necessarily abnormal.

Despite that, there was something vaguely unfocused about them.

My instincts were rarely wrong. I couldn’t let it go, so I needed to confirm it.

I stood up. “Doppy, wait here.”

Scanning the moving crowd below, I picked out a giant who looked slightly smaller and weaker than the others. I quietly moved in behind him, making sure to conceal my presence completely.

Suppressing even the faintest sound, I gathered my mana and funneled it carefully into the giant’s body and expanded my senses as I went.

No one seemed to notice.

The mana surged through the giant’s body in an instant, and that was when I felt it. A subtle but unmistakable trace of life nestled within the giant’s brain.

It was something I couldn’t have detected from afar, something that could only be discovered by directly infusing mana into them.

Something was definitely there, though.

It was far more powerful than the giants themselves, albeit no larger than my own fist.

A miniature being?

The creature sensed my mana at the same moment I sensed it.

The giant’s head snapped around abruptly, turning to face me with eerie precision. Their pupils, which were so vague and vacant just moments before, were now bulging and wild. Their gaze was entirely unfocused.