"YOU BASTARD! FACE ME PROPERLY!"

"Yes, just a moment. Let me just finish looking at this."

Enraged, the Guardian swung its glaive again.

"FACE ME!"

A horizontal slash.

"PROPERLY!"

It canceled the motion and thrust.

"I SAID, FACE ME!"

It predicted Yusin's fleeing trajectory and executed a reverse slash, but, by then, Yusin had already finished all his calculations.

After fighting a single boss to the death for twenty-six hours, Yusin had reached a state where he could predict its next move simply by observing the last. Honestly, it was easy once he figured it out. A closer look revealed a circle drawn around the Guardian; it never stepped outside that boundary, only swinging its glaive from a fixed position. He didn't need to account for any other variables. All he had to do was watch the weapon.

To make his evasion even safer, Yusin had secretly planted calculation magic circles on the glaive itself. He didn't even need to look back; he was dodging based on the trajectory data streaming from those circles.

"Raaaaaaah!"

The Guardian's eyes blazed with fury. Being played for a fool was one thing, but this was humiliating. The man had no intention of fighting at all. The Guardian widened its stance and gathered every last drop of its mana at the tip of its weapon.

'Shing!'

With no warning, the glaive shot forward at a terrifying speed, splitting Yusin's torso in half before he could react.

"Finally!"

However, Yusin's bisected body dissolved into water and splashed onto the floor. From the opposite wall, the real Yusin threw his arms up and cheered.

"New fire magic, gotta get that!"

"You crazy bastard!"

It felt like crying, but unfortunately, the Guardian's body was incapable of producing tears.

"Hey! Tomb raider!"

"Yes, what is it?" Yusin replied, leisurely choosing the next magic circle to copy, like a man pondering his options at a buffet.

"Ahem, I think you're misunderstanding something. This isn't how the trial is supposed to work!"

"Then how is it supposed to work?"

Seeing Yusin's genuine interest, the Guardian's face brightened. "The key to this trial is the balance between desire and reality! It's true that you're meant to dodge my attacks with flight magic while plundering the magic circles! But if you get too absorbed, your mana will run out, and a crisis will naturally follow! On the other hand, if you defeat me immediately, you'll finish without claiming any of the relics. Finding that delicate balance is what's important!"

"Ah-ha."

"What do you mean, 'Ah-ha'?! Are you planning to loot every single relic in this place?! Stop messing around and fight me seriously!"

"Don't want to."

"Grrr! How?! Why the hell aren't you running out of mana?!"

Yusin grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Yusin had unraveled every secret of the boss room. As the Guardian said, mana wasn't infinite here. Yet, it had been pouring immense power into its glaive for twenty-four hours straight without a hint of fatigue. Finding this odd, he had investigated and discovered a crucial secret. The circle the Guardian never left—that specific area was an area where mana was infinite, just like in a normal trial.

So, Yusin had installed a 'save magic circle' within that field and concealed it with a Water Veil. Whenever his own mana ran low, he would pretend to be copying a magic circle on the floor while secretly using 'Mana Drain' to siphon power from his hidden reserve. Then he'd return to his spot and resume looting. He'd been repeating this cycle for twenty-six hours.

"Graaaaaaah!"

The Guardian roared, swinging its glaive. Yusin watched the coordinates displayed in his Deva's Eye.

'A horizontal slash.'

Without looking back, Yusin floated upward to dodge. He hummed a little tune he'd made up.

'Horizontal slash, then a thrust, a combo plain to see. No thrust means a sword strike; a flux wave slash will be.'

"Aaargh! How are you so good at dodging, you imbecile?!"

Casually ignoring the Guardian's outburst, Yusin's eyes gleamed as he examined the formula of a metal-type magic circle. It was fascinating. Amazing. He was absorbing so much new information for free that he didn't even feel hungry. If he had his way, he could probably last another two days.

-Tower Master, it's coming. Phase 3.

'It's been a while since I've seen that pattern.'

Yusin subtly shifted his gaze, checking the coordinates and angles transmitted from the magic circle on the halberd. Phase 3 followed the rhythm of a children's song. He started humming again, moving his body in time. Every time he hopped and skipped, the glaive sliced through empty air.

"If you have any conscience, take at least one hit!"

"Sorry. If I get hit even once, I'm dead."

With that, he finished mastering the metal-type magic circle—time for a tactical pause.

'He's using Phase 3 more frequently. I can't let my guard down. Time to prepare.'

-Yes.

Yusin fired a Fire Cannon at the floor, creating a smokescreen. Three versions of him burst through the smoke, flying in different directions. They clung to the ceiling, walls, and floor, examining the magic circles. Of course, two of them were illusions created by Water Veil.

"Just kill me already, you bastard!" the Guardian's desperate scream echoed.

But Yusin had no intention of stopping.

* * *

"Gah."

Bora, who had been lying facedown on a blanket, exhausted from waiting, suddenly lifted her head. "Ah! I just thought of something else! What if it's like this?"

Two haggard faces turned to look at her. The three of them were brainstorming reasons for Yusin's delay, a desperate attempt to maintain some semblance of hope. For the record, the current leading theory was, 'Yusin never went into the trial, and this is all an elaborate prank.'

"What if he's in the boss fight," Bora began, "and he gets completely sidetracked by something weird! Like, he gets fixated on the artistic philosophy of the boss room's walls, or the tragic backstory of the boss monster! So he 'could' come out, but he's choosing not to! Right? Hehe."

Seojin shook his head. "I believe that level of wishful thinking is a bit excessive."

Bora burrowed into the blanket and kicked her feet. "Ugh, I know! I know it's ridiculous!"

* * *

"Let's just stop this and fight! Please?" the Guardian pleaded.

"Just let me look at this last one," Yusin replied, diligently collecting magic circles until the very end. The rest were either too archaic, inefficient, or simply magic he couldn't learn.

'Ah, that feels good.'

He was ecstatic. Who knew a trial could be so generous?

'Wait for me, my apprentices. Your master is on his way.'

Yusin turned to face the Guardian.

"Oh…! Have you finally decided to fight?!"

"Yeah. I guess so." He extended his right arm. "But, Guardian of the Ruins, I think you've misunderstood something about this trial."

"What?"

"You said the balance between desire and reality was important, right? But… there was a way to win by indulging one's desires completely."

His opponent was the boss of the fifth-floor trial. Though Yusin had made it look like a fool by mastering its patterns, most attacks couldn't even leave a scratch. He had tried, of course. With elemental magic, even with Devastar. Its body was extraordinarily tough.

"Actually, the formula to defeat you was right here all along."

"…What?! That's impossible!"

Just then, a dazzling magic circle unfolded behind the Guardian—one he had been drawing piece by piece with Remote Casting until he had achieved complete understanding. Of all the magic in these ruins, it was a fifth-order magic circle.

Fifth-order magic was unique. While fourth-order spells could balance their system with a 2:2 ratio, fifth-order spells required five magic circles, making their conditions for balance extremely difficult. But this place held a groundbreaking lesson: a fifth-order spell never activates from a single magic circle.

'Vwoom! Vwoooom!'

As the magic circle spread behind the Guardian, four more opened up in the cardinal directions. The structure of fifth-order magic involved placing a main circle in the center and activating it with four sub-circles. These five magic circles were one. In Erendel, this was called the Link Method.

Sensing the danger, the Guardian increased its pace, swinging its glaive madly, but Yusin slipped away like an eel.

"Well then…"

Yusin clenched his fist. "Goodbye."

<Death Rose>

Finally, the magic circle behind the Guardian activated, and a flower bloomed from within. A rose, red as blood. It pulsed like a beating heart. From the moment it began to bloom, the Guardian's movements grew sluggish.

A boss monster with an unbreakable body, and a fifth-order spell designed to conquer it. Death Rose bloomed by feeding on the monster's life force.

As the red rose grew larger, the Guardian weakened, falling to its knees. The moment its petals fully unfurled…

'Thud!'

The Guardian collapsed completely. The beautiful petals scattered in the wind. Yusin lowered his arm and smiled faintly. No physical harm, no mental breakdown. He had reaped all the rewards and even taken his first step into fifth-order magic. Now he could teach his apprentices not just the four elements, but also specialized magic tailored to their individual talents.

'The fifth floor might have been the best dungeon of my life.'

It hadn't been easy, but in many ways, luck had been on his side. He figured it wasn't so bad to have a floor he could clear this easily once in a while. A moment later, the entire space, maintained by the trial's magic, began to shatter.

[Congratulations! You have cleared the boss room.]

[The Magic Tower's 5th Floor, 'Dimension Hall,' will now be unlocked.]

[You have acquired a portion of the 'Dimension Keeper' trait.]

'Crash!'

The surroundings completely shattered, and he found himself back in the Magic Tower, standing on the stairs leading to the fifth floor. The trial's magic had vanished, and the way up was now open. But then…

"What are you all doing here?"

Everyone was sitting on blankets spread across the stair landing. He could see empty instant noodle cups and wooden chopsticks scattered about. What was this atmosphere? When they saw him, their expressions were of pure shock, as if they were seeing a ghost.

"Did something happen?" Yusin asked with a playful smile.

"Ah."

Tears streamed endlessly from Bora's red eyes. Eunsol, her own eyes welling up, shouted, "It's Yusin!"

The two girls burst into tears and ran toward him. Yusin tried to catch them but was knocked over, landing hard on his butt.

"Yusiiiin!"

"Waaaah! Yusin!"

Yusin was bewildered. If this was their way of showing they were happy he'd returned safely, their reaction was far more intense than usual. This felt like a reunion of families separated by war. He looked to Seojin, who was following behind them, silently asking for an explanation.

Seojin gave a weary smile and bowed his head. "You've worked hard, Tower Master."

Seojin seemed to be maintaining his composure, but he wasn't in a normal state either. Yusin quickly assessed the situation. He had been in the dungeon, oblivious to the passage of time, but Ea had told him that well over twenty-four hours had passed. This was not the time to be basking in their welcome.

"I-I'm sorry, guys! I should have had Ea tell you I was going into a boss fight…!"

"Waaah! It's okay!" Bora sobbed. "As long as you're back safe, that's all that matters!"

"Yusiiiin!" Eunsol wailed.

I was speechless.

Fortunately, they seemed so overcome with relief that they were in a forgiving mood. Yusin sighed inaudibly. 'Phew, anyway, with this, I've unlocked up to the fifth floor.'

Only three floors remained. Anton, the 13th Master of the Magic Tower, had urged him to climb the tower as quickly as possible to prevent the coming calamity.

'Wasn't calamity the Disaster Nemesis? What does that have to do with climbing the tower?'

With limited information, he couldn't find an answer, no matter how much he thought about it.

'Well, for now, let's just enjoy this.'

Tilting his head back, Yusin's gaze turned to the door leading up to the fifth floor.

* * *

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