Chapter 1: The Finale Game
"Game"
One could say the existence of humanity births the existence of what we called, games. Whether it's a simple game of rock paper scissors, or a gruesome game of slave hunting, it brings satisfaction to the players who reign above their competitors. When I was pulled into this world, I understood that this world was the same, just another game of survival.
"Tonjo, Are you not feeling well?"
A voice called out to me. It was Sinclair, the first person to join my guild. She was always optimistic, always looking out for others, you could even say she was the saint of this new world.
As she walked towards me, I quickly wiped the unease off my face, "No no, I am fine... It's just that after so many years living inside this tower, we finally reached the final level"
Sinclair looked at me, a shadow of sadness in her eyes, "You're right. We fought so many battles, and lost so many friends just to stand here. And today, we'll finally enter the last portal, the last level that promised us our freedom. We need to win this final game Tonjo, no matter what" She clenched her fists, I could see the determination in her eyes
I laid my hand on her shoulder, "We'll win Sinclair, I'll make sure of that. The death of our fallen friends will not be in vain.
Each level of the tower is its own universe. Meaning a single level had its own society, where there are civilians selling foods and water, weapons and all sorts of resources.
But, what do you think such a well-prepared society resulted in?…Yes, that's right, it resulted in comfort.
Out of the 100,000 people transported into this tower, more than 80,000 players decided to settle in. They purchased houses, built their own farms and lived as if it were the real world. But can we blame them for wanting to settle in? I don't think so, because clearing a single level requires immense work and effort, and sometimes even death.
My other guildmate named Finral came up, "Our guild numbers seven for this final level, Sakiro and Jonah refused to join, what should we do Tonjo?"
Seven, that was the remaining number of players in our guild that had the courage to continue. Aside from myself, only Sinclair and Finral are at level 100, the others are within the 80-90 range.
I answered Finral, "We should continue as we planned. Including us and the other teams, only 25 players will be entering the last level, make sure you put on your best equipment. We will stick together and go with 4-2-1 formation, we don't know what monsters will await us so this is the safest option" They nodded their heads, agreeing with me.
In the middle of every level, there were massive blue portals, the inside swirling like a hurricane. In order to enter the next level, we had to go through these portals.
Once all the 25 members of the raid gathered, We moved towards our final goal.
We walked almost an hour, but as we reached the portal, everyone flinched, nervous and hesitant to enter it. Because the last portal was not blue like the others, it was red, almost like a swirling sea of blood.
"W-What is this, they were always blue, so why is it red now?" Finral exclaimed. I could see the fear in his eyes as he clenched his sword tightly, and that he did not want to enter the portal. I looked around, every single player within the area, hesitated to enter.
I recognised the look on their faces. It was the same as back then, the same look everyone had when the first portal appeared, fear and uncertainty.
Unlike my usual self, I decided to speak out, "Just standing here will get us nowhere, I'll enter first. And remember, this will be the last game, the game that will give us our freedom. Don't forget the sacrifices our fallen comrades made just for us to stand here. If you're too scared to do it for you, then please have the courage to do it for them…"
From my right, a man spoke out, "T-Thats right, we didn't come all this way just to ditch at the last minute, let's do this!"
My speech luckily boosted their morals, and gave them the courage to step through
"Well then, here we go" I stepped into the portal
"...Fwrrroosshhh!"
Everything went dark as I stepped inside, a void of nothingness. I swung my arms and legs, feeling nothing as I floated in the darkness. Then, like a switch being flicked, my vision flickered.
I was now standing, and before my eyes was a room, a dark room that was lightened up by an ashen dim light. I looked around and saw that it was no bigger than my old apartment. The walls were made of stones, with multiple cracks on it as if it went through an earthquake.
As I was wondering where the other players were, a voice spoke out, echoing throughout the room, "The final game of the Divine Tower, will now begin.
All equipment—weapons, accessories, and even the support powers are now disabled"
"Dis...abled?" I was stunned as chills ran down my spine. If all our equipment and weapons are disabled, then all the preparations we made will be in vain.
I tried equipping my swords and shields, but all I saw was an error message, "Even the powers I received from the gods are unusable…damn it"
The voice of the system continued, "The first game is, calculation"
Just as the voice finished talking, a writing appeared on the wall in front of me. It was very similar to the digital writing from my old world, a blue script, glowing in the dark.
The writing was saying:
[First Game: Calculation]
The question appeared on the wall, it was a mathematical question:
[Find the sum of the first 50 odd numbers: 1+3+5+7+...+99
Solve the problem within 30 seconds]
A timer started ticking, counting down from 30
I closed my eyes, "So I have to solve this only using my mind, and also within 30 seconds..."
I could hear the timer ticking, but I did my best not to let it disturb my concentration. I tried my hardest to remember the formula I had memorized years ago from my school years.
Luckily, I remembered, "That's right! the crucial part is using n² as the sum value, and from the question n is equal to 50, so that will give me"
The timer continued ticking down, 8...7...6...5...4...3...
"The answer is 2500!" I blurted out, barely making it on time. I wiped the sweat off my face and let out a sigh of relief
The system voice emerged out again, "The answer is... 2500. You have given the correct answer.
30 seconds have passed, out of the 25 players that participated, 18 passed the first room. All the players that failed this round, will now be eliminated"
"Huh? Eliminate—"
"BOOM!!"
Across the room, I heard an explosion filled with the players' screams, all 7 of them that failed, were blown to their deaths.
The stone in front of me moved, grinding against the stone floor,
"CREEEEEEAAAAK-THUD!" It opened
I walked inside the next room. And I don't know why, but my steps were heavier than usual, every step I made was manual. My mind stayed extremely alert and on edge, every detail was quickly processed by my brain.
"The second game will now begin. Time limit does not exist for this level, all players are allowed to spend as much time as needed"
I was a bit confused after hearing the rules, "No time limit?" I became more and more nervous, not one thing had gone according to my plans.
The writing appeared again:
[Second Game: Riddle]
"All players will be given three chances to answer correctly. If you do not figure out the right answer by the third try, you will be eliminated"
As the voice was done with the announcement, the riddle appeared on the wall:
[ I am there, everywhere, anywhere, always. You can't buy me, but you shall give me. I give you reason, and i give you meaning, what am I ]
I shook my hands calming my nerves, "Hmm, so this time it's a riddle, and there is no time limit. The fact that you can spend as much time as you want, only makes this more suspicious. And since we can't access our inventory—
food and water are off limits, that means spending time here will only result in long term detriment"
I sat down on the floor, and started analysing the riddle. Words kept flooding my mind, but it was extremely difficult to narrow down all those words to one.
After a few minutes, a word finally crossed my mind, I stood up straight and went towards the door, I answered, "The word that I came up with, my answer to your riddle is... Time"
The voice echoed throughout the room, "Your answer is... incorrect"
I flinched, "Tch—so time wasn't the correct answer… Now I only have two guesses left. But why was time incorrect..."
Instead of thinking about a new word, it was better to know why my answer was wrong in the first place, so I kept thinking why the answer was wrong.
Then, I realised, "So that's why. The riddle said 'you shall give me', and although time could be given in terms of saving it for others, you can't literally increase the amount of time by giving it to others. I could clean a car for my boss and save his time, but that does not mean I am literally giving him more time"
As I figured out why Time did not work, another word immediately came to mind—something similar. I was sure that it would be right this time
I cleared my throat, "My answer is... Love"
The voice of the system echoed out once more, "Your answer to the riddle is... incorrect"
"A-Again?" I panicked for a moment after hearing the result, I was now down to my last guess
I took a deep breath and tried my best to calm down. I walked around the room, stretched my arms and legs, and did all I could to keep my body warm and functional.
Time kept slipping by, minute after minute, before I knew it, almost 20 minutes had passed
"Paranoia is overwhelming me. If I wait any longer, I'll be too scared to even answer. This must be why there was no time limit, once we're down to our last guess—the fear of guessing wrong is simply too much" while I was busy thinking, I heard…"BOOM!"
The screams were getting worse each time I heard them, but I could do nothing to save anyone. The tower games were always cruel and ruthless, and this level was no exception.
I mustered up all my courage, and walked towards the door once again. I never thought saying a single word would be this frightening.
As I stood before the door, I expelled a deep breath, then I answered, "My answer to the riddle is... Hope"
The voice of the system spoke out, "Your answer to the riddle is..."
End of Chapter 1.