The Hell's Spire

"I am happy... finally, I can let you go."

Bella thought, maybe this was retribution. Her soul was thrown into hell in another form and she was stripped of the beauty she was so proud of. Now, she could never compete with her lovely friend even if she somehow found her way back to her world. Yet, this feeling was not bad at all.

She took another breath, her eyes fluttered shut, to embrace the death hanging around her, but then a loud, otherworldly voice echoed through her surroundings.

[A sudden error has been identified. An unknown error had occurred on the 75th floor of 'The Hell's Spire'...]

[The hidden portal to the Nether Realm had been accidentally opened by a wandering beast. As a result, countless struggling, scattered souls had entered the floor.]

[The guardians are doing their best to handle the matter. Also, as an apology, all players on the 75th floor would be immune to death until the maintenance is done.]

The voice stopped abruptly, and another voice, similar to a machine, rang inside her hazy consciousness, telling her that she was no longer Bella Morningstar.

"Error... Player Lara's stats would be reorganized due to some unknown error."

"Please check your status for further information. Thank you."

As she breathed her last, she could not help but mumble the foreign word ringing inside her head.

"Stat..us?"

"Opening the actual status of player Lara..."

_________

Player: Lara

Level: 148

Experience point: 345678/6000000

Power Rank: 5573rd in the entire hell's spire

Strength: A (22/100)

Mana: S (11/100)

Agility: S (1/100)

Endurance: D (33/100)

Intelligence: B (For memorization and spell-casting speed)

Luck: D

Potential: 150 levels

Special skill: Soul whisperer

Coins: 5688

System Shop°

Storage space° (Can store upto 400 items)

_________

"Loading... the stats are being reorganized... due to some unknown error..."

_________

Status:

Player: Lara

Level: 0

Experience point: 0/600

Power Rank: 99999999th in the entire hell's spire

Strength: G (0/100)

Mana: G (0/100)

Agility: G (0/100)

Endurance: F (0/100)

Intelligence: E (For memorization and spell-casting speed)

Luck: F

Special skill: Locked

Potential: Calculating... Error... Unknown

Coins: 0

System Shop°

Storage space° (Can store upto 10 items)

_________

"Player please check your reorganized stats on time."

****

Amidst the passage of time, a familiar sensation of pain spread throughout Bella's body.

'How many more times?'

No, she was not Bella anymore. Lara gazed at the reddish sky with bated breath, and a burst of crazed laughter spilled out from her mouth.

"69? Huh, not a bad number at all..."

She tilted her head and looked at the flying creatures in front of her. Half of her body was torn to shreds, but after countless encounters with death, her pain receptors had grown numb.

The winged creatures she once called demons were nothing but some bugs in this otherworldly place called 'The Hell's Spire'. A towering building with one hundred floors.

"Hooo... tsk, at this rate I will never be able to climb to the 76th floor..."

A bitter smile spread across her lips as one of the creatures lunged forward and tore her remaining body into shreds.

'Sorry, Lara... It seems your body is taken over by a loser who can't even kill some bugs...'

The air was deadly silent. It was as if countless spectators were watching her death with held breaths. Amidst the silence, a pale blue hovering screen flashed in the air.

"#7846; Wow... did she die again?"

After the first screen broke the silence countless glowing screens flashed in the air.

"#I_am_The_best; How many times is it already?"

"#678; Hey, I say this method of death is getting boring... how about we ask her to die in a unique method?"

"#The_Demon_LoRd; It's not boring. This is the 14th time my underlings killed her. So as promised I will bestow her the skill 'red flames'."

"#56778; How sly Demon lord. The skill 'red flames' is considered one of the lowest-tier skills, limited to the first five floors."

"#The_death_goodness; I say, the maintenance is almost done. Do you think she can survive?"

"#39662; I bet 1000 gold coins. She won't survive. After all, just in 12 days, she had died 69 times!"

"#The_Soul; I will bet 100,000 gold coins."

"#Hard_Hammer; Damn, even Soul has put forward so many coins in the bet. But, I have a question. Just how did such a low-level person appear on this floor?"

No one had an answer to that question, and there was silence for a few seconds.

'Lara' was an unknown player, and 'The Authorities'—the individuals observing her repeated deaths—only began to take notice of her because she kept dying to weak, low-level dark beasts.

At the same time, with a sharp gasp, Lara opened her eyes in the same place where she gained consciousness for the first time.

With a sigh, she massaged her aching temples and dragged her body to sit. A few similar glowing screens flashed in front of her face and her eyes turned cold. The individuals sending messages to her through the screens were the beings who had transcended mortality and were sitting above everything else. In the Hell's Spire, they were called 'The Authories'.

The Authorities had complete control over everything outside the Hell's Spire. They were like powerful Lords, capable of creating or destroying worlds with a mere flick of their fingers. However, when it came to the Hell's Spire itself, they could only watch and offer support to the players who caught their interest.

After all, the Hell's Spire was created in a time immemorial when majestic and powerful beings roamed and ruled the universe, but they grew bored and sought entertainment. Eventually, they came together and designed this place specifically for mortals because, unlike them, mortals were both greedy and intriguing.

A cold smile spread across Lara's lips when she looked at the skill the demon lord bestowed upon her.

'So, after suffering so much to complete his wish I gained nothing?'

****

Author's dictionary;

Neither Realm: it is the space between two worlds—the living and the afterlife.

Time immemorial: refers to a period of time so long that it is beyond the memory or record of people.