Ninth Floor - I

"Young Man, young man.. Young man!"

PAK!

A loud slapping sound rung out in the silent wooden hut.

"Ouch!" Kim Shin cried out in pain as he held his right cheek.

"Oh! Thank god you're finally awake!" The man who slapped him on the cheek heaved a sighed of relief.

"EH?! Old Victor?!" Kim Shin exclaimed in surprised as he didn't expect to see this old man after waking up. Then, he continued."Why are you here? Where am I?"

Hearing Kim Shin's question, old Victor was momentarily puzzled, but he then reacted with a high tone of voice."Huh? What do you mean?! You're the one who went here with a polar bear with you, and now you're here asking me where are you?"

"Polar Bear? AH! Teddy! Where is Teddy?" Kim Shin's mind was utterly clouded, and he also felt nauseous. However, after he picked up old Victor's words about Teddy, he hastily asked and struggled to stand up, but he failed to do so.

"AH! Relax. He's fine, he's snoozing in the barn a few meters behind us." Old Victor hurriedly helped Kim Shin to stand up as he explained.

'Why he's overly concerned about that monster?' Old Victor confusedly thought.

"EH?! Are you sure about that? Doesn't he have a hole in his chest?" Kim Shin doubly questioned the confused Victor. Since he still could recall how Thagor easily pierced through Teddy's chest with his purple staff.

Hearing Kim Shin query, old Victor suddenly became quiet and seriously stared at him. He then couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"

Then, old Victor said. "Don't you remember anything?"

"Huh? What do you mean by that? What do I need to remember?" Kim Shin answered in puzzlement as he deeply frowned.

He doesn't know why Victor acting suspiciously, but he's certain that there's something wrong.

"So, you honestly don't remember anything huh?." Old Victor sighed when he determined that Kim Shin remembers nothing that just happened.

"Tell me quickly! What happened when I'm unconscious." Kim Shin eagerly said since he wanted to know what truly happened after he lost his consciousness.

Old Victor was silent for a second before opening his mouth. Then, said. "You're actually not unconscious when you arrived here with a bloody polar bear."

Victor's revelation shook Kim Shin, however, despite his curiosity he waited for the hunch back old man to continue his story.

"Well, it's like this..."

Back at the time, after the explosion happened.

BOOOOM! BOOOOM!

The thick cold mist that covered the sky was instantly cleared up and caused a sea of violet fire.

'What's happening there?' Victor thought as he held his hood that strongly blew by the gust of cold wind while looking at the direction of the explosion.

Then, out of nowhere, a long white-haired man in a white cloak appeared in the sky several feet above him with unconscious polar bear beside him.

'Who is that?' Victor frightenedly thought when he saw the demonic figure that floating in the air.

The blood-red eyes and the dark-violet twisted horn made the white-haired man more terrifying.

And then, the floating white-haired man suddenly disappeared.

'W-Where is he?!' Victor thought in anxiousness. He didn't know where the demonic figure gone through.

Then, all of a sudden, an archaic voice rang behind him. "Old man…"

"Hick!!! W-What?!" Victor subconsciously replied as he slowly turned around, facing the demon he just saw.

Then, Victor stutteringly questioned. "W-Who are you? What do you want?"

He couldn't stop himself from stuttering, since he could felt an otherworldy aura seeping out of the demonic figure, causing him to be more cautious.

"Don't be scared old man, It's me, Kim Shin." The white-haired man said to ease the trembling old man.

"Kim Shin?!" Victor exclaimed loudly. As, he couldn't believe the man's words. Since, the Kim Shin he knew was a totally different person.

"Don't be too noisy, old man. I'm running out of time, I want you to listen to me clearly. Here, take this!" Kim Shin spoke quickly as he tossed three old scrolls towards the dumbfounded Victor.

"What is this?"Victor inquired that filled with curiosity.

"It's a teleportation scroll, anyways. Also, have this." Kim Shin said as he took out another item from the system and hand to Victor.

"What is teleportation scroll? And what is this?" Victor questioned as he looked at the black square stone with glowing ancient symbol inscribed on it.

"Don't ask too many question old man. That was a summoning stone, my advance payment for taking care of me after I lose consciousness." Kim Shin raised his voice in annoyance, but, still explained.

"Also, please remind me after I woke up that I need to be more careful next time about my feelings, and I need to get stronger quickly without relying on the system so much." He continued.

"What are you talking about?" Victor perplexedly asked. Since, he doesn't understand anything.

"You will eventually know it later." Kim Shin nonchalantly answered, he then turned around and looked at the bleeding Teddy who's lying unconscious on the snowy ground.

"I'm sorry friend, I'd neglected you earlier." He muttered as he stretched his arm toward Teddy. He then chanted. "Soul Heal!"

Shua!

A 5-meter violet magic circle with ancient symbols on it appeared above the unconscious Teddy, which greatly surprised Victor.

'Why he's healing that monster?' Victor thought.

Then, the 5-meter magic circle eventually engulfed the huge polar bear, creating a blinding light that forced the watching Victor to closed his eyes.

"Thankfully, the damaged was far from the heart.." Kim Shin mumbled as he looked behind him and said. "Old man, I'm in your hands now."

"What do you—?" Victor was about to asked but his mouth was left opened after he saw the demonic figure suddenly fell on the ground.

"Hey! Young man!" Victor quickly called out as he approached the fallen Kim Shin.

*****

"So, that's what happened." Kim Shin who's done listening to Victor's narration nodded his head a couple of times.

"Can I see the scroll and the stone that I gave to you?" Kim Shin demand.

"No problem. It's yours thou." Victor unhesitatingly agreed and immediately took out the items and handed to Kim Shin.

Holding the old scrolls on his left-hand, Kim Shin appraised the item straightaway.

[Event Teleportation Scroll]

Grade: Special

Type: Scroll

Details:

[After tearing the scroll that person will be instantly teleported on the 9th Floor of the Killer's Tower]

'This is it, although it's an old type of teleportation item. This is legit.' Kim Shin thought as he was used at using the teleportation crystal on Yggdrasil.

Then, he appraised the other item on his right-hand.

[Summoning Stone]

Grade: Unique

Type: Summoning item

Effect:

[Channel 5000 Magic Power and said the word 'Come forth!' to summon a single random monster with a level of 40-50]

'Level 40-50?! Then there's a high chance for me to summon Level 50 monster since I have luck stats?!' Kim Shin thought elatedly as his eyes shone brightly.

"So, how is it?" Victor immediately questioned after he saw Kim Shin's reaction.

"It's all good, good!" Kim Shin replied jovially. He then continued. "Let's go and check Teddy, we need to climb up the last floor quickly."

"But how?" Victor questioned.

"With this of course!" Kim Shin said as he slightly raised the scroll on his left hand.

"Anyways. Let's go! Ugh! Wait, let me heal myself first."

*****

"Hey, Buddy! Wake up!"

A loud calling voice filled the barn, causing the sleeping Teddy to woke up.

Awoo!

Teddy immediately yawned as he woke up. Then, he blinked his eyes cutely and looked at the two people at his front.

'Who are they?' Teddy thought since his vision was still blurry.

"Hey, buddy! How's your feeling? Are you alright?" Kim Shin worriedly asked.

Hearing the warmth of the familiar voice, Teddy immediately sprung up of his feet and immediately ran towards Kim Shin and uncaringly licked Kim Shin's entire face.

Awoo! 'Brother!' Teddy loudly howled, feeling excited when he saw the completely unharmed Kim Shin.

"Hahaha, I'm also glad that you're fine, buddy!" Kim Shin laughed happily as he caressed the fluffy head of Teddy.

Awoo! Awoo! 'Me too! I'm happy to see you well, brother!' Teddy howled with a wide smile.

"I'm sorry buddy if I almost let you die, don't worry, this time I promise that I won't let anything bad happen to you before I fulfilled my promise, Okay?" Kim Shin seriously said.

Awoo! 'I believe in you, brother!' Teddy quickly nodded his head.

"Haha! Let's eat first before we continue our journey."

*****

On the 9th Floor of the Killer's Tower.

A tall black-haired man covered with bruises on his body was could be seen running in the dark area of the red stone wall of the tower, who's seemed like running away from someone.

"Damn! Why this happening to me? Who is that demon?!" The running man grumbled as he kept himself awake in spite of his injured body.

He didn't expect to meet a demon-level existence in this tower when he's few points away to reach the required KP to advance on the last floor.

At first, he was happy about the additional function of the event.

On the 9th Floor, all the participants will be able to fully scan the 500-meters radius area around them after every 2 minutes.

With this new function, the participants will be able to find each other easily.

And this running man was happy at first. However, now that he's the one who's running, he finally realized how naive he was.

'Shit!' He cursed in frustration as he kept dragging his body.

Then, the running man abruptly stopped and stared ahead on the dark path as he starts trembling.

"Hehehe. You're not going anywhere, I will kill y'all criminals who killed my uncles!" A husky and horrifying voice resound behind the dark area.

"N-no way! I-I didn't kill your uncle!" The man stutteringly replied as he couldn't believe how this demon managed to block his path. Then, without a second thought he turned around and run with all his might while screaming. "I didn't kill your uncles damn psycho!"

"HAHAHA run as long as there is ground to run to!" The man laughed evilly as he stared ahead on the running man with a creepy smile and fiend-like round eyes.

"Damn psycho!!!" The running man furiously shouted. Then a fast approaching footstep rang behind him.

"Who's psycho?" An expressionless tone of voice whispered behind, causing the running man shivered in fear and stopped as he didn't realize that his back was already soaked in cold sweat.

"How—" The man was about to turn around and look behind. However, before he could do so, a swift light flashed through his neck as he felt that his vision was falling down.

Thud!

As he fell on the ground, the man finally saw his assailant for the last chance before eternally closing his eyes, its appearance was rather young, it also has a pale white hair like snow, this young man could be handsome if he doesn't have his big scar from the left side of his forehead straight down on his left cheek.

"Hehehe, don't worry uncles. I already killed all the participants on the lower floor to compensate for your deaths. Watch me up there as I will kill all the participants left for you guys." The white-haired man muttered while frowning as he then licked the flowing blood on his sword and laughed wickedly.

"Hehehehehehahahahahahahaha…"