It was defeating the guardian of the lonesome valley that the doorway finally revealed itself: forming into existence from coalesced matter, an ominous, stone door sat in the middle of the field.
Years were spent alone by this point, simply grinding and grinding for experience as he made certain of his own success.
Almost five years ago now, I lost everybody. We underestimated the first floor, he thought, I will never repeat that. I'll always be prepared.
He no longer had a face free of blemishes; scars were etches on his skin and heavy bags hung beneath his eyes.
This was the 'Ascension of A Nameless Nobody'; the last human, pressing onwards in solitude, unknown to joy any longer.
Approaching the mysterious, stone door, he pressed his hand against the circular seal embedded in its center, causing a verdant light to fill its gaps before it unlocked, slowly opening to reveal a hidden space beyond its threshold.
This is it, he thought, the Third Floor Boss.
There was no fear left in the still blood of the red-haired man, only bitter conviction as he stepped past the nebulous threshold.
It was a singular corridor of desecrated stone taken by overgrowth; verdant vines clung to the walls, leading to a room up ahead that could sparsely be seen.
A resounding sound of stone groaning made him look back, witnessing the heavy door closing behind him, sealing itself shut once more. He didn't attempt to open it, already knowing by the nature of the unfair Tower, that he was forced to move forward.
Each step he took echoed through the lonely domain, finding himself looking towards a single entity that inhabited the center of the chamber waiting ahead. It was a solemn place; a few rays of orange sunlight cascaded through cracks in the ceiling of the ruins, casting light over the enigmatic figure.
"--" Jeong-Hui stopped.
Before entering the room, he began invoking enhancement spells on himself in preparation of what was unquestionably his final enemy of the Tower.
["Enhancement: End Strength"]
["Enhancement: End Agility"]
["Enhancement: Buffer"]
["Enhancement: Elemental Mastery']
Being bathed in amplifications, he kept his pitch-black daggers out as he took a single step past the barrier between the corridor and the arena-like chamber.
Just then, the humanoid figure began to move, standing up from its crouched position, dressed in tattered armor and wielding a bright-blue halberd. The being was silent, getting up as if it were their unavoidable duty, having an unmoving face with cracked skin as if they were a living statue.
[FLOOR KING Recognized: "The Last Human" | Level 999]
It was a vexing name for the man who fought as the final bastion of mankind's will, but nonetheless, as he always had, he prepared for a life-or-death fight.
As he swiftly approached with speed carried like whispers of the wind, the Floor King stomped forward with an echoing strength, using a wide sweep of its sapphire halberd.
"--!"
Before he could realize it, the blade of the being's weapon swept through his neck, though it was negated by his [Buffer] ability, which prevented one instance of damage. After almost facing death through the unexpected speed and range of the halberd, he leapt back, resetting his approach.
He's fast. It seems like that halberd has some sort of special reach as well. I'll need to be careful, he thought.
[Buffer]
He recast his safety net before cautiously approaching the figure, gauging when he'd strike as the "Last Human" seemed to be reading him as well, discerning him with their stone eyes.
As he warped forward with successive usages of [Ripper] combined with [Vorpal Essence] to create attacks that swiped through space for disorientating blows, he found his daggers swiftly countered by a spin of the entity's halberd.
He's skilled, too, he thought.
Though there was no hesitation on his mind as he quickly recovered from being countered, blinking around the figure to throw off their senses before going in for a swift strike towards the Floor King's unguarded back.
[Nightfall Execution]
The skill granted his daggers conceptual strength when launching a strike towards his opponent's back, allowing him to strike with essentially a "critical hit."
Though just before his daggers could reach the stone-hide back of the "Last Human", he halted as he witnessed stone arms protruding from the figure's back. He swiftly disengaged just as the arms struck with a greatsword that narrowly missed.
As always, it's never that simple, he thought.
Sprouting from the "Last Human's" back was another "half" of itself, a long-haired, cracked-skinned prince-like figure that wielded a greatsword.
As he readied himself for the two-front combat, he found himself pressed by an unequivocal sense of danger–
[Death Sense]
It was a passive ability, allowing him a supernatural precognition that gave off a warning that something lethal was approaching, though he couldn't tell what it was as the figure was still standing at a distance from him.
What's it coming from–? He questioned.
Just then, he was forced to begin using [Blink Step] as through a simple flick of the being's halberd and greatsword together, rangeless slashes etched themselves through space, attempting to eviscerate him.
It wasn't just as if the slashes neglected to be hindered by range, but they bent space itself, warping to him instantaneously, forcing him to activate his reflexes to the highest degree in order to dodge.
I need to break through, he thought.
["Kata of Void"]
Amidst the mayhem of slashes that flooded towards him, he relaxed his entire body, closing his eyes as the high-level martial arts skill manifested itself in a sublime tranquility around himself.
Total relaxation, cutting off all internal thought and external distractions; with this, he simply enacted his own instinct.
As the slashes warped towards him from the "Final Human's" barrage of halberd and greatsword swings, he simply walked forward, using minimal movement to dodge while gaining distance.
Though it was a technique originating from his [Martial Artist] class, it was bordering on divine as he moved like a gentle flicker, passing by all attacks before finally arriving within striking distance of the Floor King.
He reared his fist back, finally parting his eyelids as he summoned an otherworldly amount of spiritual essence into his knuckles:
["Hallmark of Destruction"]
As he sent his fist forward, managing to slip through the entity's guard, he punched with the force of a condensed explosion, clashing his knuckles against its cracked, unorthodox skin as a shock wave propelled outward.
There was an utter ruthlessness and pragmatism to the way he fought; even after landing a pivotal blow, he didn't let up–warping around and following up with a series of potent techniques.
["Dragon Spin"]
A spinning series of kicks manifested inferno on his legs temporarily, bolstering his impact as a majestic glow of fire filled the solemn arena.
Each impact caused the Final Human to stumble back as further cracks formed along its stone-like body, though not a single utterance left its tight lips as it was repeatedly hit. Though it was ruthlessly battered, the stone human could be seen tightening its grip on its halberd, preparing for a counterattack.
Jeong-Hui noticed this, switching up as he blinked back then back in, resetting the momentum and capitalizing on his unorthodox approach.
I won't let you, he thought.
["Riptide of Forevermore"]
The swift array of strikes launched with water-like flow as he swiped his limbs through the air with jet-black, cosmic stratifications of wind reinforcing his arms, each impact landed on the being's body provoked blows that shattered its stone hide.
I can't fail. I'm the last one. It's all up to me now–that's just the way it is, he thought, I'll end this now.
With that resolve in mind, Jeong-Hui invoked one of his most powerful abilities, drawing his daggers once more as he used his [Sage System] for a combined spell.
[Ripper], [Devil's Axis], [Angel's Axis], [Nebulous Lightning], and [Cosmic Shredder]
The resulting ability was: [Creator's Ripper]
The dual-wielded daggers he wielded were soaked in what resembled a cosmic nebula, coiled with black lightning as he dashed forward, taking advantage of his opponent's stunned state from his previous blows.
As he swiped his blades, the world shook; the foundations of the domain trembled as the slashes tore through space, unleashing a maelstrom of enigmatic lightning and a swirl of hellish, yet divine energy directly against the Floor King's body.
At its core, the ability possessed the conceptual element of "anti-matter", being made to destroy anything hit by it, no matter the being's own durability. To add to the lethality of the ability, it was improbable to be dodged as the slashes moved like rays of light cascading through darkness.
Jeong-Hui reappeared from his blink several meters behind the being, looking back after unleashing the [Level 1500] class combined spell.
That should've done it–, he thought.
Though he believed as much, his stomach sank as he witnessed what was thought to be the humanoid's skin crumble away like a shed armor; the twin on its back fell to ash.
As it shed its stone skin, what stood there was undeniably "human", at least in some capacity; he had dark-brown skin with unkempt, snow-white hair and eyes that were like staring into the origin of the universe.
["The Final Human"]
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