Contempt, I feel contempt for myself. I can't do anything but fail. That's why nobody wants to be near an adventurer like me. And when I thought I had found a group that recognized me, I was betrayed as a sacrifice to open a cursed chest. And when I thought it was the end, I woke up in a building before I could even process what had happened. I felt an overwhelming pressure. The system opens: "Congratulations, you've reached the final floor! Your reward will be a 100% bonus on your attributes if you defeat the Boss, Useless!" There's no way to defeat him, not even if I received the reward now. I know by instinct: there's no way a human can defeat him. Humanity is doomed.
The hostile being approaches, and with each step, my body trembles. When he gets close, the hostile being speaks: "Are you okay? You fell from the sky out of nowhere and gave me a hell of a scare." When he spoke, I was startled, not by his power, but by his concern for me. Nobody has ever cared, and nobody would care if I died. So, why would a Boss of the tower... be kinder than any human I've ever met?
- Hey, are you okay? You've been standing there staring at me for a while.
- Ah! Yeah, I'm fine. I was just surprised.
- Surprised by what?
- Surprised that you didn't kill me.
- Kill you!? Yeah, that's what I should do.
After he offered help, I was surprised that he said that, but I don't sense any murderous intent from him. Is it a plan? A test? Or is he just playing with someone weak?
Reluctant to speak to the Boss, she merely lowered her head and mustered the courage to speak:
- You're not going to kill me? You said that's what you had to do.
- Yeah, as the Boss of the final floor, I have to kill anyone who enters my floor, but... I'm not in the mood!
- What!? Are you an idiot?
- What did you call me?
- Nothing! Sorry, it was an accident.
- I'm joking! Haha, don't worry, I won't do anything to you.
- Okay... so you'll let me go?
- Yeah, you can go.
- Thanks, then I'll be going... haha, nice meeting you.
Before she finished speaking, she was interrupted:
- So! Do you have a name?
- Ah? Yeah... my name is Ninsun, and do you have a name?
- None...
- Tendi... then I'll be going, haha, nice meeting you.
- Sorry, but you can't go.
- Why?
- You didn't come here the right way. You took a ghost shortcut to get here.
- Shortcut? True, I remember running away from those sons of bitches and entering a wall, then I woke up here.
- Shortcuts are common, but the type of shortcut you took is different. Ghost shortcuts are when a person dies and becomes part of the tower through their memories.
- If they're memories of other people, then was it someone who reached this floor?
- Yes, but I don't remember who it was. I only know that I fought someone a long time ago. You should already know that when someone dies on a floor with a Boss, their body is teleported to another floor.
- Got it, so someone has already reached this floor, but nobody has ever heard of it? That doesn't make sense.
- Okay, I get it. So why can't I go back?
- When the tower recognizes a ghost shortcut, it starts to correct it.
- So I'll be stuck here forever!
- No, there are two ways to leave. The first is for me to make a teleportation stone for you, and then you can leave, or you can try to kill me - I fear I prefer the first option - good choice!
- So, are you going to get up or stay there forever?
Ninsun slowly gets up, feeling the weight of her own weakness. She notices that she's a bit dirty, with dust and dirt stuck to her body. She pats herself to try to remove the dust, but it remains stuck to her skin. As she looks around the building, she realizes that there's nothing but this building - a white desert where, if it weren't for him, she wouldn't know how to measure distance, since she doesn't even have a shadow on this floor. The silence is oppressive, and Ninsun feels like she's being suffocated by loneliness. As she looks up, the sky is beautiful, but it's certainly fake. It's not like the other floors she had passed through, where there was a real sky with clouds and sun. This sky is just an illusion, an attempt to make her feel more comfortable in her prison.
Ninsun, perplexed by how this floor didn't seem real, wondered if she wasn't dreaming. Maybe all of this was just a nightmare, and she would wake up soon, feeling relieved. But the feeling that something was off persisted, like a whispering voice in her mind. She puts her hand on her heart and realizes something that scares her: "My heart, why isn't it beating?"