Creeeak.
The door to the tower groaned open. As soon as the party stepped inside, they instinctively squinted.
“…Huh?”
“What is this…?”
“Wait, is this even possible?”
At first glance, the structure seemed no different from any other Tower.
However, the sight that greeted them once they entered made everyone quickly scan the area up and down.
“It’s the power of magic.”
Beyond the opened door lay a vast meadow.
The sky was clear and blue, and a gentle breeze wafted through the air.
The only anomaly was the glowing white entrance to the Tower behind them.
Without it, one might mistake this as a teleportation to an open field rather than the inside of a tower.
The scene was that convincing.
Closing and opening their eyes made the world appear surreal, as if composed of zeroes and ones inside a computer. But upon blinking again, it reverted to a perfectly ordinary, realistic space.
“This is where we’ll ‘experience’ it—the beasts faced by the Four Founders.”
“…I was prepared, but I didn’t expect a place like this.”
Ludmila tilted her head toward the sky.
“When you say ‘tower’, I expected it to resemble the current Magic Towers. Is the top open?”
“It looks open.”
“And in reality?”
“Well… if you went up about 10 kilometers, I imagine you’d hit some kind of transparent barrier.”
I gestured to the invisible boundaries around us, mimicking the act of knocking on glass.
“It’s the same in other directions. If you keep walking east, you’ll eventually hit a wall. The same applies to all other directions. It’s like we’re trapped inside a giant cube.”
“In that case, knowing where the entrance is becomes critical.”
Yunia extended her hand and summoned magic. A golden cube appeared mid-air, spinning and shimmering with power. Pressing her palm against it, she made it pulse with mana.
“Could we be here?”
Yunia pointed to the center of the cube. Inside, a hazy miniature showed four figures and a small Mont Blanc-like creature standing together.
“I think this is us.”
Ludmila gestured nearby.
“Since this is the entrance, it should be… oh, we can actually move past this?”
“Whoa, there’s nothing behind it.”
Contrary to the expectation of a barrier, Evangeline had already gone past the entrance gate and was waving her hands wildly on the other side.
“Phoenix, if I go in this direction, does it lead somewhere else?”
“It will, but not yet.”
“What do you mea—whoa?!”
I grabbed Evangeline and pressed her against the gate’s backside.
“Ugh, what are you—oh?”
“Well? What’s it like?”
“It’s blocked?”
Unlike the glowing white entrance, the opposite side of the gate was dull and reflective, like the back of a mirror.
When I tried pushing Evangeline further in, her body merely compressed against an invisible wall.
“Wait, you knew about this, didn’t you?”
“Of course.”
“And if it led to some weird, dangerous dimension?”
“If it felt like that, I’d have held onto your lower body or gone in with you and come back together.”
“…What if we couldn’t come back?”
“There are places like that, sure. But would the Four Founders leave such a cruel trial here? I doubt it.”
The Four Founders weren’t demons.
If anything, traps like that would more likely be found in facilities constructed by Angels.
“Even the beasts we’ll encounter here will be overwhelming trials on their own. Why add bizarre traps unless the trials demand wisdom beyond just hunting beasts?”
In games, you occasionally encounter bosses whose challenges are puzzles themselves.
Sometimes, the journey to the boss involves solving intricate puzzles rather than simply defeating foes.
If the Four Founders faced such trials, we’d have to as well.
But if not, then it would just be a relentless battle against beasts.
I refrained from spoiling the specifics for Evangeline, but there were certainly floors that could meet her expectations.
“We need to gather as much information as we can here. If we find out how many floors this tower has, it’ll help with the next one. The floors of each tower likely won’t vary much, don’t you think?”
“…Balance.”
Yunia muttered softly.
“If the Seven Mana types maintain balance, and if they sealed something based on that principle, the number of floors should be identical. While the difficulty of each trial might differ, the structure of the trials would be similar. The elemental attributes would introduce their unique characteristics.”
“Spot on, Miss Yunia.”
Having studied non-attribute magic extensively, Yunia seemed to have developed a keen sense for mana’s ‘balance.’
“But now isn’t the time to hypothesize leisurely.”
“…!”
Ludmila conjured a spear of magic in an instant.
Yunia waved her hand, summoning a mage’s staff seemingly out of thin air.
“How… how did you do that?”
Evangeline, startled by their swift weapon summoning, extended her hand and unleashed a surge of mana.
Boom!
A massive teddy bear, the size of one that might lounge on a couch, slowly stood up. Taking a boxing stance, it shuffled closer to Evangeline’s side.
“They’re coming, right?”
“Yeah. What we’re facing now… are the beasts the Four Founders and humanity fought 500 years ago.”
Beasts so ancient they scarcely existed in records or legends anymore.
“Shall I tell you a scary story?”
“If it’s relevant to our current situation, I assume it’s a story that spells trouble for us, right?”
“That’s correct, Miss Ludmila. I’d like to take my time, but since the situation isn’t favorable, I’ll cut straight to the point.”
This place is a zone reserved for experienced iterations.
“The beasts and demons from 500 years ago were far stronger and more ferocious than those of today.”
“…!!”
“In fact, you could say they’ve become tame now. Why? Because, starting with the Four Saints, heroes like the [Grey Witch], the [Phantom King], and the [Golden Mirror] put their lives on the line to eliminate all the truly powerful entities back then.”
If SS-rank beings still existed today, could humanity enjoy its current peace?
It’s absurd to even consider. The heroes fought with such unrelenting determination that they sacrificed themselves to eradicate every single apex-level beast.
As a result, even if their offspring managed to survive and grow stronger over generations, they’d barely reach A-rank or S-rank.
Had the conditions allowed for SS-rank beasts to be born, humanity would’ve evolved accordingly, growing stronger to match.
But since the most significant threats to humanity—like S-rank entities such as Rattatosk—were manageable, humanity’s overall peak gradually weakened.
It’s not something people usually think about. The common perception is that humanity’s civilization and technology would have advanced over 500 years.
Yet, in terms of pure strength, humanity is weaker than it was back then.
Sadly, that’s the reality. And now, we’re about to face the barbarity of 500 years ago.
“They’re coming.”
Thump. Thump.
The ground began to rumble, and a cloud of dust rose as countless creatures charged toward us.
“Ah. Let me tell you something in advance.”
“What is it?”
“Even if you die, the pain will only feel like stubbing your toe on a doorframe. I’ll take on the burden of it.”
“Ah.”
Yunia’s face instantly turned pale.
“The fact that you’re saying that now…!”
“Retreat!!”
Realizing something, Ludmila grabbed me and shouted.
“Where do we retreat to?!”
“Retreat?”
I pointed to the glowing white door, but before I could say more, Ludmila thrust her spear forward and signaled to the party.
“Quickly!”
[Get out of the tower for now! Move it!]
Instructor Kadisha’s urgent voice echoed.
What was charging toward us became visible—it was moving faster than galloping horses.
Beasts running on two legs, each with a massive hammer-shaped head and short arms.
Standing about three meters tall, there were hundreds of them, all charging at us like they intended to smash us headfirst.
Their speed was nearly 80 kilometers per hour.
“What are those things?!”
“I don’t know, but…!”
Ludmila grabbed the panicked Evangeline and headed for the exit, while I pulled Yunia along toward the door.
[Hehehe.]
Just before stepping through the door, Fenrir, who had been silent until now, let out a low chuckle.
[If you’re already running on the easiest difficulty, how will you manage later?]
‘How else? By surviving the shock therapy.’
Who could have imagined?
Even in an era where “beast outbreaks” were filled with A-rank named entities and plenty of C-rank beasts, we were now witnessing a genuine outbreak of ancient beasts.
Flash.
Crossing through the white door, the party emerged, sweating and staring at me.
“Was what we just saw real?”
“Yes.”
We had returned to the point before entering the tower.
But we had gained one crucial piece of information.
“Well? What do you think?”
“…Each one of them was at least A-rank.”
The first floor of the Tower of Earth.
400 A-rank beasts: [Hammer Tops].
“That’s insane!”
Evangeline screamed.
“Where else in the world would the trial on the first floor involve hundreds of A-rank beasts charging at you?!”
“Apparently, that’s how it was 500 years ago.”
“Ugh…!”
“Evangeline, did you think the Four Founders’ trials would be child’s play?”
Of course not.
“And do you think those hundreds of beasts were the end of it?”
“…Is this some kind of artificial illusion?”
“Correct.”
“And this illusion is based on the Four Founders’ real experiences?”
“Exactly.”
This fantasy world faithfully recreates the actual beast eradication battles from 500 years ago.
