Now we descend deeper into the final hour before Wang Ling's regression. Not the Tower's choice—but the betrayal.
This was the moment when those who climbed with him—once comrades, once believers—stabbed him in the back, not because he failed…
…but because he kept going when they couldn't.
This is not a memory.
It is a wound.
And it still bleeds in silence.
📍 [Then — Floor 100: The Crownless Plateau]
Players Alive: 6
Countdown to Final Gate Activation: 00:19:57
Wang Ling's Class: Blank
Others' Classes: Demigod-tier
They were the last.
Six players who had made it through hell, ruin, madness, and divine attrition.
Each one had earned their "title."
• ❖ Liora, the Saint of Echoes
• ❖ Kane, the Shadowborn General
• ❖ Hyun-Ae, the Heaven-Tongued Oracle
• ❖ Raekel, the Warden of Aether
• ❖ Jinrei, the Last Sunblade
• ❖ And Wang Ling… who still had no class.
Because he never chose one.
The Tower kept offering.
He kept walking.
They gathered beneath the final sky.
The Gate behind them pulsed.
One more ritual.
One more offering.
Then ascension.
But there was a problem.
Wang Ling had cleared more kills.
More quests.
More truths.
More steps.
Which meant the final Crown Point—the one that decided who would ascend first—belonged to him.
They knew it.
And none of them could accept it.
"You're not like us, Wang Ling."
"You didn't suffer the same way."
That was Liora, holding her glowing relics.
"You walked over pain. We drowned in it."
That was Raekel, his voice stone-heavy.
"You didn't cry. Not even once."
That was Hyun-Ae, eyes wet, not from regret—but from envy.
"You're not climbing for salvation," said Jinrei.
"You're climbing to erase the system itself."
And finally, Kane whispered:
"You're going to make gods obsolete."
Wang Ling looked at them.
Five against one.
But he didn't draw his weapon.
He didn't ready a spell.
He just stared—cold, still, unblinking.
"You can have the gate," he said.
"It doesn't lead where you think it does."
They hesitated.
Because some part of them still believed he knew something they didn't.
But envy is louder than reason.
So they struck.
All at once.
—
Liora sent chains of holy light.
Raekel cracked the floor.
Kane stabbed from shadow.
Jinrei split the air with burning plasma.
Hyun-Ae unleashed a voice that killed faith itself.
—
And still…
He didn't fight back.
"You want to win?" Wang Ling said as his body was burned and broken and shattered—
"Then take it."
"But don't forget what you had to become to do it."
When he collapsed, not dead—but broken enough—the Tower acted.
Regression unlocked.
Gate access denied.
The others cheered.
Or cried.
But none of them noticed what Wang Ling whispered as he bled.
"Next time…"
"I won't bring anyone."
From this point forward, those betrayers:
• Will appear again… but only as shadows of a forgotten cycle
• They will not retain memory
• But Wang Ling will remember everything
• And he will never warn them
Because he already gave them their mercy.
And now… he's done offering it.