Fwoosh—!

YuWon shot out vibrant red fire from his hands.

[Cinder Eyes controls Colossal Fire.]

[Colossal Fire — Colossal Sword]

A scorching mana. Wrapped in [Colossal Fire,] YuWon’s sword grew multiple times in size.

The brilliant fire in the middle of the Colosseum flew quickly down towards the swordsman in front of YuWon. 

Klang—!

Two swords clashed against each other. 

YuWon’s eyes shined.

‘You actually blocked it?’

Kkk, kkkk—

The swordsman’s blade was on the brink of shattering. To begin with, it wasn’t a proper sword. It was nothing more than a completely dull, rusted hunk of metal.

YuWon wondered how the swordsman could swing such a large sword so easily. 

The fight started dragging on.

‘I don’t need to drag it out too long.’

Once again, YuWon gathered up his mana.

Fwoosh—

The flames roared. 

In response to YuWon’s attack, from within the old helm, a blue light flashed from the swordsman’s eyes.

Fwooo—

An unbelievable level of mana started radiating out of the swordsman. 

Tmp—

Every time YuWon and the swordsman took a step, an imprint was left on the ground.

A collision between two manas, a fight between powerhouses started.

Kk-crack, crack—

Shwoo—

[Your arm has been imbued with the power of a Giant.]

[You have a low proficiency.]

[Your Constitution is too low.]

[Partial Gigantification will occur.]

The power of a Giant started buffing YuWon’s arm.

Shatter—

The swordsman’s weapon broke.

Slash—

YuWon sliced the swordsman’s chest. He didn’t manage to cut him in half like he intended, but it was still a deep slice. The tip of his sword likely cut into the swordsman’s intestines.

“Kgh…”

Thud—

The swordsman fell to his knee. His helmet was sliced open, falling off his head.

Plop, roll, roll, roll—

The helmet rolled away, and the swordsman’s face was revealed. 

Almost brunette, dirty blonde hair. A face covered in wrinkles. A single eye. 

Perhaps because YuWon’s sword had reached his head, the swordsman had a bleeding scar on his face.

“If you had a better sword, this would have been much harder.”

“… You know better than me that even if that was the case, you would have won in the end.” The swordsman wore a bitter smile. 

YuWon didn’t deny it. It was definitely harder than a standard trial, but he still didn’t find this all that difficult. He did use [Gigantification] since it was an enemy that was stronger than he had anticipated, but he still had a few aces up his sleeves. 

It was a crushing defeat for the swordsman, but that actually made him feel better.

“And this makes it a second time.”

From YuWon’s memory, in the long history of the Tower, the swordsman had only ever faced defeat once. It was by the top Ranker that set the highest record in the 1st Floor Colosseum, “The Great Sage, Heaven’s Equal,” Son OhGong.

“He was also really strong. He was the first ever opponent that stood back up no matter how many times he was cut or stabbed. But with you, there’s a very slight difference…”

While on his knees, the swordsman looked up at YuWon.

“You… are far stronger.”

There was a hint of respect mixed into his words. 

YuWon remembered hearing about the swordsman from OhGong to no end.

“That guy is incredibly strong. In terms of pure swordsmanship, he’s probably better than most Rankers.”

Son OhGong was the only player to ever defeat the swordsman and move onto the next round. Except for him, the other Rankers were unable to surpass him. 

YuWon had wondered why. Now, after having personally gone up against him, he understood.

‘The difficulty is way too intense for a trial on the 1st Floor.’

YuWon hadn’t anticipated that he’d need to use Gigantification on the nineteenth trial. That was how much the swordsman’s skill had broken YuWon’s expectations. And this wasn’t even the final trial.

‘No wonder people can’t get past this.’

YuWon didn’t instantly finish off the swordsman. He tried to drag this out and buy as much time to recover the lost stamina and mana he had expended during the fight. 

“So you plan on challenging the next trial.”

YuWon nodded in response to his question.

“Yes.”

“I knew it. I wish I could watch that myself,” the swordsman said, with a wistful face. 

The light reflected off of him, creating a longing atmosphere. He was a man that looked like he truly belonged in the Colosseum.

“Thanks to you… I was able to… once again… fight with joy…”

The swordsman stopped talking. He died with his eyes open. 

YuWon reached out his hand, and closed his eyes for him. 

[You leveled up.]

[Heaven-Slaying Star’s completion rate increased by 4.78%.]

[Your Strength increased by 1.]

[Your Dexterity increased by 1.]

[Your Constitution…]

[You have passed the 19th trial.]

[Would you like to challenge the final trial?]

[Would you like to move onto the next floor?]

YuWon’s eyes widened.

‘Final.’

The unconquerable twentieth trial. The final trial.

‘Even OhGong wasn’t able to clear the next trial.’

The only person who knew that the twentieth trial was the final one was OhGong. This was because he was the only one to ever defeat the swordsman in the nineteenth trial. 

However, even that guy, who was harder to kill than a cockroach, couldn’t pass the twentieth trial. 

There were two reasons for that. The first was the injuries and depleted stamina from the fight against the swordsman. The second was…

[Would you like to challenge the final trial?]

[Would you like to move onto the next floor?]

The message popped up as soon as the swordsman died.

YuWon didn’t answer it. 

Up until earlier, he had shouted “Challenge” right away, but this time he couldn’t. Not only did he use [Gigantification] in the fight against the nameless swordsman, he hadn’t managed to take a single break while rushing to the nineteenth trial. 

YuWon needed at least a little bit of time to recover, as well as to make the necessary preparations.

‘With this, I’ve achieved the same record as OhGong.’

YuWon knew he would be able to clear the nineteenth trial. 

‘The problem is the final trial.’

The reward for the 1st Floor’s test depended on how many trials one completed. 

Currently, YuWon held the record for most trials completed, along with OhGong. Because of that, he had high expectations for the reward. 

In addition, there was also the completion rate for the [Heaven-Slaying Star.] 

‘4.78%… The completion rate went up quite a bit from that last trial.’

The completion rate went up in accordance to defeating beings of a higher caliber. 

Though this did raise a question for YuWon—despite the nameless swordsman being stronger than the Chimera Creator, why did the completion rate increase by less?

‘Is it because it’s not set as a boss? Or maybe it took into account the Chimera Creator’s ability to make Chimeras…’

There wasn’t a way to know the metric behind how the completion rate increased. But one thing was for sure. It gave him a hell of a lot of stats. 

[Heaven-Slaying Star]

# Rank : A+

# Completion rate : 42.11%

42%. And it was an A plus-rank skill to boot. 

The completion rate indicated that it was still an incomplete skill.

‘I wonder how much it’ll increase when I take down the next guy.’

And YuWon wondered how this skill would change once it was completed.

While he was lost in thought without a care…

[If no response is given within 30 seconds, you will be automatically transported to the next floor.]

30 seconds. 

This damn trial didn’t give anyone time to rest. Though, to be fair, if it gave people time to rest between stages, it would defeat the purpose of the Colosseum, where you were meant to fight consecutive opponents.

So YuWon wasn’t given a long time to rest. 

YuWon replied right as the 30 seconds were almost up.

“Challenge.”

* * *

[You have chosen to challenge the final trial.]

[STARTING THE FINAL TRIAL.]

As soon as that message popped up…

Rumble—

The floor of the Colosseum shook. 

The door opened wide, and from within, a faint cry could be heard.

“—Khyaaa—ah—”

Goosebumps appeared across YuWon’s body. It wasn’t just because the cry felt threatening. It was the killing intent and mana within the cry that YuWon instinctively felt.

“… It really is that bastard.”

Tense, YuWon went from wielding his sword with one hand to two hands. 

[Your arm has been imbued with the power of a Giant.]

Crack, kk-crack—

Mana encircled the Gigantified right arm and his sword. 

YuWon waited for it. 

The noise got closer, and the shaking of the ground also grew louder with the noise.

And finally… 

[THE BOSS OF THE FINAL TRIAL HAS APPEARED.]

“Kkiyaaaah—!”

The head that emerged from the door immediately started charging at YuWon. 

He was surprised. It ran at him at such a high speed, it was hard to properly recognize its form.

Klaaang—!

The thing headbutted into YuWon’s sword. 

Psk—

From that shock, its hard scales broke, and the hide underneath the scales was cut slightly. 

However…

“Kugh…!”

YuWon was flung backwards from the high-speed impact. If he hadn’t gripped his sword harder, it would have flown out of his hand. 

‘What kind of brute force…?’

Having been waiting with [Gigantification] active, YuWon thought he wouldn’t lose against anyone in terms of strength.

The Giant Slayer, Hercules. [Gigantification] was his skill, and the man was greater than anyone in terms of pure strength, which was why YuWon displayed unparalleled strength on the 1st Floor.

But right now…

Drag— 

Wham—!

YuWon, who was barely holding on with his feet digging into the ground, ended up getting flung away. 

Thud, roll, roll.

His body rolled on the floor.

Sssshk—

YuWon quickly dug his hand into the ground to stop his roll. 

Luckily, because he had already braced for impact, the shock wasn’t too powerful.

YuWon quickly regained his form and stared back at the enemy that had entered the colosseum. 

“Hissss—!”

It was a giant snake.

The thing slithered deeper into the colosseum and swung its long tail around.

Thump—!

A dust cloud erupted. 

Something must have enraged it because the snake started rampaging around the Colosseum.

“I can’t believe it…”

It was a much bigger fellow than YuWon had anticipated.

“Damn Administrator. They really are doing whatever they like.”

The 1st Floor’s test was designed and created by the Administrator. Seeing as how there was a Ranker as a test examiner, this wasn’t likely a test that had materialized from the Tower’s own will.

That was the case with all the trials after the tenth one because these trials were way too difficult for a player on the 1st Floor to be able to handle.

Rumble— Smack—!

Crash—!

The impact was sent all the way to the audience seats in the Colosseum. As an indestructible building, the Colosseum was fine, but the sound still rang in YuWon’s ears.

Woom, wooom— 

From the center of the Colosseum, YuWon stared at the master of the final trial.

“Hisss—!”

The snake was long enough to encircle the colosseum once. Its body was meters thick, and its mouth was enormous. Its fangs alone were taller than YuWon. 

This was the final boss of the Colosseum.

‘It only has a single head and tail…’

Fss, fssss— 

An ominous mana and threatening killing intent exuded from the creature. 

‘It’s definitely that thing.’

It was far smaller, and comparatively its mana and killing intent was nothing, but YuWon was sure.

At first YuWon didn’t believe it. He thought that OhGong saw it wrong and that it was just a similar creature. However, after seeing it with his own eyes, he had no choice but to believe it. 

“Kkieeeegh—!”

A snake with eight heads large enough to cover eight mountains and fill eight ravines. A being that was closer to a mythical or demonic beast or even a dragon, rather than a monster. It was a creature that was engulfed in all the anger in the world from conception and eternally cried out its rage. 

YuWon had heard that it was long ago sealed in Susanoo’s sword, the 「Kusanagi no Tsurugi.*」 

*TL/N: “Grass-Cutting Sword”

[PLEASE DEFEAT THE ‘7TH HEAD OF YAMATO NO OROCHI.’]