5th Floor Boss (2) - 37

To be honest, it was a surprisingly easy fight.

With my knowledge and preparations, the indomitable Balouth, the destroyer of towns, the demon that is lava, was killed in less than 10 minutes.

After running out of the searing hot lava due to the horrible stench of the "fish eyes", which was the probably the hardest factor to overcome in the boss fight against Balouth (A/N: I'm talking about the lava), the fight against him became immensely easier.

This was due to the fact that Balouth had to constantly heat up his core with mana if he was to stop his outer layer from hardening up, which could lead to his death, but it caused him to lose a lot of mana.

With that, all we had to do was keep Balouth from returning to the lava whilst simultaneously wearing him down with constant attacks from all sides.

With this method, we only spent 2 minutes on the "first stage" of the boss fight, finished the "second stage" in 3 minutes, and finally, only spent 5 minutes on the final stage.

To be honest, it was a little bit too easy, even for me, as we came out totally uninjured, not even considering the fact that there wasn't a single drop of sweat on our foreheads.

[World Wide Announcement: Player, "Anonymous", is the first player to clear the 5th floor in the Tower of Trials, he is now ranked first on the Tower Leaderboard]

[Congratulations on clearing the 5th floor trial!]

[Completion Reward: Job Selection (SSS) Rank Test.]

[Would you like to start immediately?]

[Yes/No]

Reaching my hand out with no hesitation, I firmly clicked "Yes".

[Searching for testing location...]

[Testing location found!]

[Synchronizing with Player Shinubwa.]

[Transferring consciousness to mindscape, Year: XXXX, Month: January, Day: 15.]

[Initiating Player Shinubwa's (SSS) Rank Job Selection Test.]

After reading that, I was sucked away into the void.

I "watched" as my memories flashed in front of me like the reel of a movie camera, watching from a third person point of view.

[Objective: Come to terms with your repressed memories.]

'Repressed memories, I actually had some?'

'I mean, I would say something along the lines of, "They couldn't be that bad," but then, I would become a meme with the words, "Famous last words," in it.'

'Well, all I can do is sit here and watch.'

Somehow, I guess because this was my subconsciousness, I was able to somehow conjure up a chair to sit in, as I watched the reel slow down and stop, before filling up the entire space like sitting in the first row at the movie theater.

[The trial is starting!]

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Shinobu Fukui - 8 years old:

"Yo Shinobu-kun, where you going?"

I felt a strong arm grip the back of my neck, as my best friend's arm dangled over my shoulder.

"Yo, Subaru-kun."

"We were going to study at Himaragi-san's house today, remember?"

"Sorry, I can't go, I have a prior appointment." I said, looking down towards the ground.

"Come on! You just don't want to interact with other kids again! When are you ever gonna man up and integrate yourself into society, I mean, you literally only talk to me and Hitori-chan at school."

"Well, it's because you're my best friend and Rina-chan is my childhood friend, and that's enough for me."

"Tsk, well fine, but tell me, do you really have a prior appointment, or are you just going to go home and play video games? I mean, if you don't, I can tell them I can't go either and go play a round with you."

"No, no, it's fine, my cousin's coming over today, so I really do need to go home and get ready."

"Ok, so that's why... well, see ya!"

I watched as he slung his bag over his shoulder and ran off, before turning around and continuing my walk home.

...

"Okaa-san, I'm home."

"Fukui, can you help me with dinner?"

"Alright, but when are the Shido's coming?"

"Don't worry, you'll have enough time to prepare, so hurry up and help!"

...

After I finished helping my mom with the meal, I quickly left for my room.

"You can do it, you can do it, youc ando it, youc andoit, youcandoit!"

I tried hyping myself up, but it didn't seem to be working.

"Ugh, why must I be afraid of other people so much?"

'Hmm, could I just stay quiet the whole time, like at school? Yes! Then I would have no trouble with my panic attacks!'

With this plan in mind, I decided to daydream about creating a game for the rest of the afternoon.

...

As evening approached, and the sun started to set, the more worried I grew.

Biting my fingernails whilst curled up in a ball on my bed, I thought, 'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! They're coming any minute now.'

'No, no, no, you can't be doing this right now, calm down Fukui, calm down.'

"Ding dong!"

"They're here!"

Slowly getting out of my bed, I walked up to the mirror, fixed my appearance, and walked out of my room, each step a small agony for me.

I heard the sounds of greetings and the bustling of coats, hats, and shoes being taken off.

Standing at the top of the stairs, I looked down into what I thought was the darkest abyss.

I trembled, as I took step after step, each one harder than the last.

"Thump... thump... thump." (A/N: It could be his heart, or the sound of the steps, you decide!)

I finally reached the 1st floor, so I started to slowly inch my head up, to look at the Shido family.

"Wow! It's nice to meet you in the flesh, Shinobu-kun!"

Startled, I suddenly looked up, my long bangs that covered my eyes parting, seeing an energetic girl that had put her hand in front of her, waiting for a handshake.

But all I could do was stay frozen, staring, as if longing for something, into those bright, gleaming eyes.

'So this was the start of my demise.' <Spectator Shinobu>