Pick Me Up!

BOOM!

With a thunderous roar, a streak of light sliced through the air.

The target was the prince’s left chest. Jenna’s arrow, containing two high-level engravings, was already akin to a strategic weapon. The arrow, which closed a 10-meter distance in an instant, pierced the prince’s heart.

“…Am I next?”

Velkist stomped his foot.

His body shot to the left. A white flash followed closely behind Velkist’s back.

The power of vibration—this was a special effect that occurred when the White Dragon’s Blood reached a certain stage.

Ka-rrrng!

Velkist’s sword blade trembled ferociously.

It was a high-tier attack skill capable of collapsing the unique vibration frequency of whatever it touched.

「Impressive.」

The prince’s severed upper body floated into the air.

However, before even a second could pass, space twisted, and the severed upper body and lower body were reattached. The gaping hole in his heart also healed in an instant.

Now it was my turn.

There was no need to get close.

With just one swing of the sword, the prince’s entire body shattered.

BOOM!

A massive explosion erupted, destroying the garden.

「You’re quite strong.」

I muttered in a low voice.

“Fall back!”

I leaped back with all my strength.

A formless shockwave burst forth, sweeping through the spot where we had just been.

‘He’s not particularly strong.’

The gap in power wasn’t that significant. In fact, from a certain perspective, we were overwhelming him.

The prince counterattacked every time he was hit, but compared to beings like Halkion or Assinis, whom we had faced in the mental realm, his power and speed were laughably inferior. ℟âΝŎ฿Ěṣ

However, there was one crucial difference…

He couldn’t die.

Not even with the Black Sword, condensed with gravity thousands of times stronger than normal.

Not even with an arrow that could pierce any monster’s weak point.

Not even with a Wave Sword that could tumble matter itself.

We couldn’t kill him.

‘…This is a headache.’

Looking around, the once-splendid golden palace was no longer visible.

The garden was a ruin, the gates shattered, and the jade throne prepared for the emperor had been smashed into fragments and scattered everywhere.

Amid the ruins of the palace, we continued exchanging relentless attacks.

[Corrupted Goblin Lv.53] X 2835

The imperial capital was already more than half-destroyed.

The aftermath of the battle and the mountain of monster corpses made it hard to find an intact spot.

The heroes, centered around Roderick, were continuing their defense by using the fragments of destroyed buildings as makeshift barriers.

All we could do was buy time to keep the prince from reaching Pria.

“Did you find anything?”

<No, I’ve already circled the area three times. There doesn’t seem to be anything, Han!>

Kishasha’s urgent voice came through.

I had tasked her with reconnaissance. There was a chance that somewhere, there might be a hidden object, like a goddess statue.

Just like the weapon we found on the 20th floor, there might be something here capable of killing the boss. But even after 30 minutes of reconnaissance, there had been no news.

‘This is infuriating.’

Back in Niflheimr, the challenges were even more intense.

Stronger enemies appeared, and monsters poured in by the tens of thousands.

But back then, there were also tools to deal with the situation. By following the prescribed path across the field, I activated objects that provided buffs, exponentially increasing the heroes’ stats.

However, this mission in Townia was completely grueling.

The difficulty of Pick Me Up! was notorious.

But even so, there was always one consistent rule:

Regardless of the account or floor level, there was always a “method to clear” a stage.

No matter how difficult, it was still a game.

If there were no way to clear it, it wouldn’t be a game.

[mutmura: This doesn’t seem possible. But why doesn’t he die?]

[bugdetector (mgxz): Is this a bug? Feels like they never intended anyone to clear floors above 80. These mobile game companies do this all the time, tricking their players.]

[melang (malarng44): All the players who cleared it, like Loki, are probably admin accounts.]

Negative comments filled the right-hand side of the streaming window.

Some even speculated it was a bug.

“Any ideas?”

Velkist lowered his sword and asked.

I searched through my memories. The countless mission types I had analyzed during my time as a master flashed through my mind.

Every mission had its rules.

‘Did I overlook something?’

Even after reviewing everything from the beginning of this mission to now, nothing stood out.

“This guy…”

BOOM!

I swung my sword downward.

The clash of sword pressure and shockwaves erupted into a deafening noise.

“…Is he really just a bug?”

I raised a hand to my ear and spoke.

“Kishasha!”

<Yeah!>

“Are you sure there’s nothing in the field? Even the smallest thing is fine.”

<There are things, but they’re all unusable!>

“Show me.”

<Hold on!>

Click.

A series of images appeared in the corner of my vision.

This was visual sharing, a high-level communication magic.

I examined the photos. Amid the rubble of collapsed buildings, shattered goddess statues were buried.

The situation was the same in all the photos. There wasn’t a single intact statue.

The arrangement looked unnaturally deliberate as if someone had intentionally destroyed them.

‘…Hah.’

I let out a hollow laugh.

“You meddled with the field?”

「Who knows.」

Phryos smiled enigmatically.

‘Monsters can’t tamper with the field.’

Both heroes and monsters were forbidden from interfering with the environment.

That was an absolute rule—or so I thought.

Could that rule have been broken?

If someone at Phryos’ level—or higher—had broken that rule…Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Or if someone like Rantia or Schutenberg had meddled behind the scenes.

Either way, if my assumption was correct…

I flung my sword downward.

“What’s the plan?”

“We stop fighting.”

This wasn’t a fair battle anymore.

I spat bloodied saliva onto the ground.

“So this is the grand strategy you came up with?”

「…」

“Disappointing. Your death is inevitable. The only thing changing now is how pitifully you die.”

「And why do you think so?」

I turned my gaze to the right side of my view. Among the flood of messages in the chat, a familiar phrase caught my attention:

[AZ: Seris… faceplant… error… licklick…]

I had already realized this, but the stream was being watched by all sorts of people. Some of them were far from ordinary.

‘If this stage isn’t legitimate…’

Tens of thousands of players were watching this. The game’s reputation itself was at stake. There was no way they would let it slide.

[Now Loading…]

The sky darkened suddenly.

I let out a heavy sigh.

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Pick Me Up! | A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War! | The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!