[Error Difficulty – Floor 2]
Summoned to the 2nd floor, Aasal blinked into existence and instinctively looked around, trying to grasp where he was.
He was in the sky.
There was no ground beneath him. No walls. No structures. Just an endless stretch of blue overhead and a sea of soft clouds swirling far below. The air was thin and sharp, and he stood on a single slab of stone. It was rough and cracked, and looked to be about three meters across.
He peeked over the edge and instantly felt butterflies in his stomach. The platform wasn't attached to anything; it was just suspended in the air. In front of him was a line of similar floating platforms, but none of them were close enough to jump to easily.
"What the hell is this stage…?" Aasal muttered, brow furrowed.
There were no enemies, no timer, no instructions.
So, he closed his eyes and began slowly manipulating the mana inside his body, letting it move as he practiced control. A few seconds later, the Tower chimed in:
[Reach the final platform to complete the floor]
He opened his eyes and squinted towards the horizon. In the far distance—he saw it. There was a faint square outline glowing at the edge of a distant platform. That had to be the final platform.
He stepped toward the edge of his platform and tested the air in front of him by sticking out his foot, half-expecting an invisible bridge or magical path. His foot met nothing. Just cold, empty space.
Retracting his foot, he tilted his head.
'I wonder what happens if I just wait?'
Before he could finish the thought, the platform rumbled beneath him with a violent tremor. The cracks across its surface widened and small fragments of stone chipped away, plummeting into the clouds below.
"Crap!"
He scrambled backward, shifting his weight toward the edge. His gaze snapped to the nearest platform. The only possible path was forward.
Readying himself, he bent his knees, inhaled sharply—and then launched himself off the edge with everything he had. The platform cracked under the force, breaking apart behind him as he soared through the air.
For a brief moment, he was flying.
The wind whipped past his skin. The cold kissed his cheeks and tangled his hair.
'I always wanted to fly…' he thought, letting his eyes close for a fleeting second.
Then they snapped open again. Reality hit.
"I'm not going to make it!"
The next platform was too far to land. He leaned forward, straining his arms, and slammed into the edge with his chest. The impact knocked the air from his lungs. He didn't have any time to catch his breath as he already started slipping. His fingers scraped across the surface, desperately trying to find something to catch himself.
His fingers grazed over a deep crack and they jammed into it—bending his nails. Blood oozed under them and dripped into the stone.
"Kuh—damn it!" Aasal shouted, using every ounce of strength to pull himself up.
Just as he got a breath in, the platform started to rumble again.
"You've got to be kidding me…"
Without even standing fully, he threw himself off again—barely clearing the gap to the next. Another cracked platform falling into the bed of clouds below.
And again. And again. A brutal rhythm of flight, impact, and escape. Every time he landed, the floor began crumbling beneath his feet. Every time he jumped, he just barely made it.
Then—
Whoosh.
A sudden gust? No. Something sharp cut through the air.
He felt it slash past his head.
His ear stung.
Bringing his fingers up, he saw blood. A clean line drawn across his skin.
Eyes narrowing, he scanned the space in front of him mid-jump. Something flickered on the edge of his vision.
Another whoosh, but this time, he summoned his shield to block it. The arrow clanged off his shield with force, knocking him slightly off balance in midair
He landed badly on the next platform, rolled, and nearly fell over the edge again. His hand slammed down just in time to stop his slide and pulled himself back to his feet
He didn't need to guess what it was anymore.
Continuing from platform to platform, Aasal now had to avoid falling off the edge as well as dodging and blocking the arrows that came his way. The more platforms he crossed, the farther apart they became—forcing his body to push harder with each leap. And as the gaps widened, the sky rained more arrows. Some he dodged, some he deflected with his shield, and others pierced right through him. When the arrows broke through his defense, he twisted his body mid-air so they struck non-lethal spots— avoiding vital organs.
At a certain point, the final platform came into view—just a few jumps away. Twenty seconds. That's all it would take. But then the air shimmered.
He sensed it.
After spending so long navigating the platforms, his senses had grown sharper. He could now feel the wind shifts, trace the direction each arrow came from, predict where it would land. And yet…
Something felt wrong.
It was the arrows.
In the beginning, there were just a few—shot at wide intervals. Then came volleys. Then dozens.
And now… it was hundreds.
"This is impossible…" Aasal muttered in disbelief.
He tried to dodge, to maneuver through the storm. But now, he was being hit every second. Struggling to survive, he finally reached the platform just before the final one.
That's when he noticed—the last gap was too far.
"No. I didn't come this far just to give up!"
Gritting his teeth, he screamed—funneling every ounce of energy into his leg. In his heightened state, the mana in his body surged down through pathways, all the way to the sole of his foot. He didn't do it consciously—it simply reacted to his emotions. Mana exploded from the base of his foot, amplifying his jump.
He rocketed off the platform, shield braced in front of his face. The launch shattered the entire platform beneath him, sending debris flying every which way. Wind howled past his ears. Arrows rained like meteors, slamming into his body.
He didn't care. His only goal was reaching the final platform. His liver was torn open. His lungs ruptured. His heart stopped pumping blood under the extreme pressure. The only thing keeping him alive was his sheer will.
He slammed into the final platform with enough force to break his bones, denting the metal beneath him. Head rising, he stared in the distance. Thousands—no, tens of thousands of arrows screamed toward him.
But they could no longer harm him.
[Congratulations! You have cleared the 2nd Floor!]
[All status effects and injuries are healed.]
[Reward Unlocked: Windrunner Boots]
[Reward Unlocked: 200 Tower Coins]
[Bonus Reward: Aeolus's Spirit]
[You have learned: Mana Augmentation Lv. 1- Infuse mana into your mind and body to enhance yourself]
[You have learned: … x30]
[Travel to 3rd Floor Waiting Room?]
"Yes," Aasal exhaled—vanishing from the platform.
As he vanished, the sky whistled. Thousands of arrows slammed into the metal platform where he once stood, blasting it apart.