130 – The Returner is Tired (5)

“We entered the 11th floor a week ago.”

Felix Hoffman, the undisputed best player in Germany. He is the eldest son of the historic Hoffman family, and from a young age he was told he was a genius and grew up with the family’s expectations.

Of course, most geniuses collapse under the pressure of excessive expectations, but Felix Hoffman was different. After graduating from university with top grades, he immediately started a big data-related venture company. He was one of the icons of young businessmen who raised a company that was less than five years old to the level of a large corporation with his unique resourcefulness.

“Me and my colleagues… I was full of confidence. “I was confident in my abilities and confident that I had prepared thoroughly.”

The colleagues that Felix has gathered are not ordinary people. From special forces. Former UFC champion. Former Olympic gold medalist. Young geniuses who saw the future at the top gathered together and received systematic training to hone their skills. Felix boasted that his party was one of the best on the planet.

“What do you do if you have outstanding abilities? “It’s already too late.”

However, the timing of entering the 11th floor was bad. When they entered the tower, everything was already over.

“The structure of the 11th floor is simple. “If you find something of value in the forest, you can sell it to an angel for money.”

A classic currency system consisting of bronze, silver, and gold. The design of the 11th floor was very intuitive. Explore the forest, obtain treasure, and return to the fortress to purchase passage stones.

“… Our party saw endless possibilities on the 11th floor. “There is more than one thing you can get here.”

But this is not everything. This fortress does not simply sell ‘passenger seats’ for escape. As a dwarf with good dexterity, they were selling a variety of items including weapons, armor, various magic tools, daily necessities, and even camping sets.

The important thing is that all of these were judged as ‘items’. This means that it can be used on other floors as well.

It is truly a treasure trove. A stepping stone to build a foundation for moving forward. If used well, the 11th floor could create endless value.

“… “If only I could buy things.”

This is assuming that the dwarves sell the goods.

“I don’t know what happened. Did the advance team that came in before us do something big, or was this the floor they were originally on… “

Even if you talk to him, he doesn’t even respond. Even if you give them gold coins to buy something, they pretend not to see it and ignore it. Players could not even find accommodation within the fortress, let alone purchase weapons from the store. The dwarves were completely rejecting humanity.

“… Ah.”

The reason why Felix the German giraffe was in such a bad state is simple. Because even though she had money, she couldn’t spend it.

“… Are they also refusing to sell passage seats?”

“Passenger seats are still for sale. It seems like the tower is forcing sales. But… “

Felix speaks with a dark face.

“… “For more details, I think it would be better to see it in person.”

Felix gestures in the direction of the fortress. It means that it would be better to experience it yourself rather than explain it a hundred times.

“… All right.”

Choi Ji-won and I started walking towards the fortress with anxious expressions.

**

There was a guard at the side gate of the fortress, but they did not specifically block our passage. However, they just glare at me with dissatisfied eyes.

“Wow.”

As I passed through the narrow side gate and entered the fortress, what I saw were cute wooden buildings that looked like something out of a fairy tale. Even though I knew it wasn’t the time or the right time, I couldn’t help but exclaim in exclamation.

“But don’t dwarves originally live in the mountains?”

Dwarves were originally a race that was friendly with trees. In novels, people usually live by digging caves in the mountains and forming underground cities. Well, imagination and reality are inherently different.

“Let’s leave the impressions here.”

“Uh, yeah… “

Choi Ji-won, holding my hand tightly, takes the lead and walks down the street. While I was looking at her building, I was led by her and headed to the center of the fortress.

“Hey.”

While being led by Choi Ji-won, all you see on your left and right are shops, shops, shops. The numerous items placed on the stall dazzle my eyes.

Everything was so dazzling that it seemed to be all luxury goods, but what was especially impressive was the weapon. Although I am not very well versed in weapons, I was able to immediately recognize that it was a product among products just by glancing at it from afar.

“… “

“… “

Of course, the store owner was staring at me with his eyes wide open, so I couldn’t bring myself to buy it. The store owner says he won’t sell it, so what can I do?

“We have arrived.”

After wandering around the streets like that, I arrived at the ‘passenger shop’ that Felix had mentioned. A store with a swirl pattern on the door. Well, it must be here.

“Shall we go in?”

I’m sorry.

As I open the wooden door that makes a pleasant sound and enter the store, the heavy smell of wood fills me. However, rather than an unpleasant smell, it is a relaxing kind of smell.

“Hello? “Is this a pass-through store?”

The structure of this store was similar to the Gold and Silver Room. The product was asleep in a long, horizontal glass display case, and the store owner was sitting on a chair beyond the display case, killing time.

“… That’s right. “It’s on sale now.”

The dwarf sitting on the chair was fiddling with his fingernails, gave a cursory answer, and then concentrated on fiddling with his fingernails again. That dwarf is probably the owner of the passage shop… Still, I should consider myself fortunate that he gave me an answer.

“Hey, is this a passenger seat?”

Only after spitting it out did I realize that I had said something stupid. In the first place, all the items placed in the store’s display case were stones of the same shape.

A bluish, strangely see-through stone. This was definitely the ‘passenger seat’ that T.O.P was talking about.

[Passenger seat] [Unique]

-If you submit it to the angel, you can clear the 11th floor.

A message window confirming that my guess is correct. So, all you have to do is buy this and submit it to the angel…

“How much is this? I’m not planning to buy it right now, but I’ll buy it as soon as I have the money. “It probably won’t take long.”

Choi Ji-won confidently asks the store owner. It was a truly noble attitude, as if saving up that kind of money was no problem.

“100 Million gold.”

“… Yes?”

“100 Million gold.”

“… ?”

The price was far beyond common sense. I don’t know how much gold is worth, but it is clear that the price of 100 million gold is not a normal price.

“… How much gold was it originally?”

“Originally it was 1 billion gold. “It’s like a huge discount.”

“… “

Since the tower is forcing sales, is it asking ridiculous prices like this? If he even smiled, he would think it was a joke, but the store owner’s face was expressionless. As if he sincerely believes the price is 1 billion gold.

“… “I’ll come back later.”

In the end, Choi Ji-won and I left the store empty-handed. I understood why Felix wanted me to experience it for myself. The malice sent by the dwarves was by no means temporary and volatile.

Rather, it was closer to cold, sharp, and sticky malice. Even now, I still feel the sting of secret glances from all over the place. Dwarves hated the human species itself.

“Hmm… “

The current situation has been identified. I was fully aware that the 11th floor was completely distorted.

However, the real problem is that we do not know the ’cause’. There is no way the dwarves were like that from the beginning. It must have happened because the advance team that cleared it earlier had done something, but there was no one who could tell them the reason.

“You need to know the cause to deal with it… “

There is no way the dwarves will tell you directly… German players, including Felix, entered the 11th floor after the situation was over… While I was wondering where to ask.

“Didn’t you say there’s an angel here?”

Choi Ji-won presented a surprisingly simple solution.

“They told me to submit the passage seats to the angel… It is also an angel to receive goods and give money… “Isn’t it okay to ask an angel?”

She is right. On the 11th floor, the existence of angels was clearly stated. If he were an angel, he would certainly know the whole situation.

“…Will the angel tell me?”

However, it is completely unknown whether angels will cooperate with us. If it was the type of angel that looked down on humans, there was a high possibility that it would laugh at us rather than cooperate. Lowly humans, what about you?

“But I think it’s worth a try. “Did you say the angel is in the center of the fortress?”

Of course, there was no other solution, so we were in a desperate situation. If you go to an angel and talk to him well, who knows, he might be able to help you. So we headed towards the center of the fortress where the angel was said to be, and soon we saw the silhouette of a winged angel in the distance.

“…”

“What’s wrong?”

“No, I think I’ll remember something…”

That angel is a somewhat familiar visual. It’s like passing an elementary school classmate on the street, an itchy feeling that I can’t remember.

The closer I got to the angel, the more my eyes narrowed with suspicion, and by the time I reached the angel, they widened. It was because I recognized the angel in front of me.

“Uh, huh?”

It was probably the same for angels as well. The angel opened his rabbit eyes and was surprised.

“You, on the second floor… “

“… Junho?!”

Do you remember, by any chance, that I had a fierce battle with the master of the city on the second floor? After barely defeating the city’s master, Archangel Raphael appeared and saw her and her Shobu.

At that time, Archangel Raphael took the sign angel who ran away in fear and said that he would punish him. I felt sorry for the angel and told him to leave it alone. Because I felt like the sign angels were being used just as the players were being used.

“It’s been a while?”

That’s right.

The angel who served as a guide on the 11th floor was the sign angel I had saved on the 2nd floor.