I Became a Gallery Newbie Beloved by Transcendents

Even after Han Yuseong closed the Transcendent Gallery and hurried his steps, the topic of conversation in the was still focused on him.

Title: But even if we help that guy somehow, is there anything in it for us?
Author: ClosedRoomTheorist
-Of course, it does alleviate boredom ㅇㅇ But I wonder if there’s anything else besides that.

ㄴ Isn’t it enough if it’s interesting?
ㄴ Since when did the demon uncle start thinking about meaningful things and look for benefits? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ GalleryMaster) I think there might be some benefits.
ㄴ ?? Benefits?
ㄴ Priestess) GalleryMaster, please explain in detail!!
ㄴ GalleryMaster) We can trade among ourselves, right? I think we might be able to trade items with the climber too.

In the , inter-dimensional trading is possible.

ㄴ ClosedRoomTheorist) We have a lot to give to that guy, but what we could receive from him… oh, there is something.
ㄴ Oh, there is something, what the hell ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴ Pioneer) Hmm, if it’s possible, isn’t there a lot we could receive? Even without going to the high floors, just passing the 30th floor. There might be people who need things like 《Fantasy Wood》 or 《Ghost Reunion Rune》….

ㄴ Pioneer) And even without going to the 30th floor, as soon as you reach the 2nd floor, the climber coin shop opens, right? We could receive food from there too.
ㄴ Pioneer) I don’t remember much else from the tower, but I still remember the food from Murim Earth. I keep trying to make mapo tofu, but I can’t get the taste right.
ㄴ I’m a Murim person, but I sometimes think about that red wall noodle… pasta. It was like a ritual to eat a bowl every time I climbed a floor… I don’t know why food disappears in our inter-dimensional trades.
ㄴ GalleryMaster) Right. What you buy directly from the coin shop is in a special storage box. That shouldn’t disappear.

ㄴ HeavenlyDemon) So, GalleryMaster. Have you tried it? Inter-dimensional trade with that climber?
ㄴ GalleryMaster) ㅇㅇ I tried, but it said the target is currently ineligible for inter-dimensional trade. That means there’s a chance it could be activated. It might activate as soon as he reaches the 2nd floor.
ㄴ LightSword) We could give him a swordsmanship manual.
ㄴ DivineArcher) I came back from training in the mountains… such an interesting thing has happened. If trading is possible, we could give weapons too.
ㄴ Wouldn’t weapons have level restrictions?
ㄴ DivineArcher) Hmm, that’s true….

ㄴ Priestess) Hawawa, this girl will give talismans.
ㄴ Pioneer) Gi?rl
ㄴ Priestess) Shut up. Old man.

ㄴ AbsoluteMonarch) A swordsmanship manual, huh. LightSword, you seem quite intent on teaching that guy like a disciple. You’ve been giving the most advice too. I’m curious about the reason.

ㄴ LightSword) There’s no particular reason. It’s just fun, isn’t it?
ㄴ LightSword) From the 2nd floor where scores are tallied for each floor. If the climber I helped gets into the top ranks of the overall score ranking for Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulties, I think it would be really fun.
ㄴ LightSword) I don’t like the guys currently in the top ranks. I want to make them a bit scared.

ㄴ LightSword) And in just a few days, he’ll face other players at the monthly 《Tower Exchange Meeting》. Even though he’s alone now. I’m really curious about that picture too.
ㄴ ArchMage) Do you think he’ll do that well? That guy?
ㄴ If it goes as LightSword says, it would be fucking interesting. But it’s scary that there’s a chance he might have died while we’re talking like this.
ㄴ IceQueen) I made an iceberg of prayer for Climber-ssi’s safety! Don’t say such things! Freeze!

ㄴ GalleryMaster) Ah, right. We haven’t asked the climber’s name yet. I should ask when he comes back alive.
ㄴ This crazy GalleryMaster is saying something that sounds like a death flag ᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ
ㄴ The climber activated the death flag before the GalleryMaster. What’s with “See you alive”? See you alive? Hmm, he’s likely to die?
ㄴ GalleryMaster) You’re blocked until the climber comes back alive.
ㄴ Ah.

Crunch!

The spear shaft was crushed. In front of me was a dark green monster with both hands covered in blood.
Judging by its appearance, probably a goblin.

I barely blocked the axe swung by the goblin with the spear shaft held horizontally.
I rolled on the ground and grabbed the remaining spear shaft with the spearhead.

Squelch!

As I got up, I pierced the goblin’s neck with the spearhead part I was holding like a dagger.

Keuuk!

A thin groan burst from the goblin’s mouth, which was literally at arm’s length. Bright red blood gushed from its neck.
And the goblin’s body fell forward.

[Your level has increased!]

[Lv.1 → Lv.2]

[‘Strength’ stat increases by 4.]
[‘Agility’ stat increases by 5.]
[‘Vitality’ stat increases by 3.]

It seems like many other notification windows popped up including the level up. But my gaze was directed elsewhere at the moment.

Another person was dying right before my eyes.
A woman lying dead with her long hair spread on the ground. Despite her thin armor, her abdomen was dyed with blood.

I knew the reason for these wounds on this woman. I had just witnessed in real-time the goblin I killed digging into and stirring the woman’s abdomen with its sharp claws, no different from a sword.
The scream that covered the floor was still vivid.

But when I faced that situation, it was at a distance that I couldn’t reach even if I ran a few dozen steps.

A mouthful of blood spurted out, and the woman’s head drooped.
The woman’s body, which had been twitching, suddenly stopped moving.

Above the woman who had turned from a living human into a dead corpse, text was still floating.

[NPC – Fleeing Mercenary]

At this moment, anger outweighed fear.
Why do they keep making me see only these corpses? If they’re going to bring NPCs in front of me, shouldn’t they give me a proper chance to save them?
Even if it’s just an illusion, it’s better to save someone than to watch them die in front of you.

What’s more annoying is.
The fact that I’m now scavenging this mercenary’s belongings.
To survive.

Sling-

Instead of the broken spear, I picked up a sword that clearly belonged to the mercenary.
And I also took off what looked like gaiters I could wrap around my ankles from the mercenary and wrapped them around my ankles.

There were also things to take from the pouch wrapped around the mercenary’s waist.
There were two potion bottles identical to the Grade 3 Healing Potion that the [Fleeing Citizen] had.
There were also real bandages, not the makeshift ones I had been using from tattered clothes.

I closed the mercenary’s wide-open eyes. It’s not a hypocritical action. These were the two eyes that had met mine. I just closed them because it made me uncomfortable.

“Status window.”

Strength: 16
Agility: 18
Vitality: 14

…The Easy difficulty bros said their stats only increased by 1 each when they leveled up. Normal was basically 1 too, with occasionally 2 in one of strength, agility, or vitality.
My strength increased by 4, agility by 5, and vitality by 3.

This is similar to what the Hard difficulty fixed nicknames predicted.

-LightSword) If you’re in Hard difficulty, you’ll rise rapidly at first. If you were originally someone who used strength, like the knights where I am or the martial artists from Murim Earth, your original stats would be high so even in Hard difficulty they would barely increase, but you’re from 21st century Earth so they’ll increase well.

-GalleryMaster) The gap between your original life and surviving in Hard difficulty. We think there’s a compensation for the effort of surviving in Hard difficulty for those who manage to survive.

-GalleryMaster) Since most Hard difficulty summonees aren’t ordinary people to begin with, they don’t really feel it, but if you’re in Hard mode, you might actually feel it.

I spread my hands wide and then clenched my fists.
I can feel it very clearly.

Even after retiring as a high school baseball player, I did moderate exercise, but in the end, I just went to the gym.
A sensation of both firmness and flexibility being added to the muscles spread from my shoulders through my arms to my hands.

Does this confirm that it’s Hard difficulty?
A bitter taste lingered in my mouth.

I untied the cloth I had tied like a bandage on my shoulder blade.
It seems the ‘complete health recovery’, one of the effects of leveling up that LightSword had explained, had taken place.

I must have come halfway through the 1st floor.
I couldn’t help but think that as the scene unfolded before me.

What appeared was a long bridge. A long bridge connecting land to land where falling meant an immediate cliff.
The steel planks on the left and right that could be called railings.

This was one of the structures that ‘AbsoluteMonarch’ had told me about.

AbsoluteMonarch) For arrows flying from the left, you need to hide using the planks on the left as cover. If they come towards parts where you can’t hide your body, block them with a shield or deflect them with a weapon. I was carrying a rectangular shield so it was quite easy to block them, but you don’t have such a thing, right?

AbsoluteMonarch, who I thought might tell me some other method here, cruelly betrayed my hopes.

AbsoluteMonarch) You’ll have to figure out how to survive on your own.
AbsoluteMonarch) Trust your instincts.

Bullshit.
I moved my steps.
Suppressing the uncomfortable feeling about the NPC I couldn’t even try to save, I stood in front of the bridge.

Creak-

I stepped forward.
Onto the bridge.

Wind blew from the right.

Swoosh!

Three steel arrows rushed from the right.
I hurriedly moved my body towards the right.
I had to take cover behind the steel plank as much as possible.

Clang!

One of the steel arrows bounced off the steel plank and.
One.

Clang!

I swung the sword to deflect it.
Could I do it? There wasn’t even time to think about it. I just had to do it.

Thud-!

One hit me.
Just like when I was attacked by the three-headed Anstrotrope, an unrealistic pain arose.

The steel arrow was stuck in my thigh, but. It felt like my whole leg was going to be ripped off.
I had no choice but to resort to old-fashioned self-hypnosis again.

This is the baseball mound.
This place.
Take a deep breath.

A place where I’ve never crumbled even after hundreds or thousands of times of tension.
A place where I never gave up even after countless defeats.

Gulp-!

I poured the remaining half of the potion into my mouth. After swallowing, I pulled out the arrow. I poured the Grade 3 Healing Potion I got from the pouch of [Lv.2 Fleeing Mercenary] on the wound. Then I tied it with a bandage.

[Skill ‘Pain Suppression’ level has increased. Lv.2]

Whoosh─!

This time, the wind blew from the left.
That was like a warning that steel arrows would rush from the left.

I moved my body.
Avoiding what I could with cover.

Clang!

I swung the sword to deflect what I could.

Thud!

This time it’s the shoulder?

[Skill ‘Composure’ level has increased. Lv.2]

Avoid what I can. Deflect what I can. Take what I must.
It was a repetition of this process.

[Crisis Detection Lv.1 – Skill acquired.]

Preparing for numerous arrows. Deflecting steel chains coming down from above.

[Visual Field Expansion Lv.1 – Skill acquired.]

How many tens of minutes had I walked?

[Concentration Enhancement Lv.1 – Skill acquired.]

Finally.
Finally, through the mist, the end of the long bridge began to faintly appear.

Kagagagagak─ Kagak!!

And a chilling sound was heard.
It was like the sound of something being diligently cut with a saw.

As the fog slowly cleared, an Anstrotrope with a height no different from an adult male came into view.
It was busy cutting away the huge stakes supporting the bridge with both arms.

That bastard.
Text appeared above its head.

[BOSS MONSTER]

Boss monster.

[Queen Anthranthrope]

Queen Anstrotrope.

So it wasn’t a he but a she.

I pulled out the arrow stuck in my shoulder and poured in the potion. The pain shaking my mind was suppressed by adrenaline.
My body moved on its own.

I’ll kill it.

[Concentration Enhancement Lv.1 – Skill activated.]

I read the trajectories of four steel arrows rushing from the right.

Clang! Clang!

I deflected two and avoided two.
Meanwhile, the Queen Anstrotrope was still busily sawing with both legs.

Kagagagagak─!!

The moment I kicked off the end of the bridge and jumped up, the long bridge plummeted down that cliff.

Kireeeeek!!

The queen, befitting her name, had a head structure different from the Anstrotrope I had seen before. A single giant head.
It looked like it was covered in a very hard shell.

Pain was flaring up hotly all over my body, but my mind was clearer than ever.

Swoosh!

I deflected the left leg that was rushing in. Twisting my body to the right, I swung the sword vertically.
One of the six legs.

Kieek!

Calmly. I focused all my nerves to avoid all of its attacks.

Puwhaak!

In the meantime, I took a stab to the abdomen, but I gritted my teeth and endured. I cut off all five remaining legs.

Kieeeeek!

Thud─!

I brought the sword down on its head. Continuously.

Thud!

As strongly as if my arms would be crushed.

Thud!

Crack─

A sound like an egg cracking was heard.
Fragments of the queen’s broken crown dug into the back of my hand, but I didn’t care.
I could see the purple brain inside.
A brain that was pulsating grotesquely, like a heart.

I brought the sword down on that brain.
Soon, notification windows covered my view.

[You have defeated the boss monster!]

[Your level has increased!]

[Lv.2 → Lv.3]

[‘Strength’ stat increases by 4.]
[‘Agility’ stat increases by 3.]
[‘Vitality’ stat increases by 4.]

[You have cleared the 1st floor.]

[Please proceed to the 2nd floor.]

The thick fog in front of me slowly cleared.

Grrrng-

What I thought was a wall turned out to be a door. Long stairs were visible through that open door.
There was an arrow and a number on the door.

【 2 】↑

According to the GalleryMaster, the difficulty should be written next to the number.

There were indeed letters written next to it.
And those letters had the vicious power to instantly blow away the relief of having killed the boss monster and survived.

Even after rubbing my eyes and checking again, it was the same.

“……”

The letters didn’t change.

【Pandemonium】

Pandemonium.

I thought it would be Hard difficulty at most.
Before crossing the bridge, when I saw my stats rising rapidly, I resigned myself to thinking it was Hard difficulty.

But the tower I had fallen into was not mere Hard difficulty.

-GalleryMaster) There are no completers of Pandemonium yet.
-ArchMage) The clear probability there is 0%.

I’m fucked.
And thoroughly at that.