Dekkan.

Just like with Delisa, Resellin’s mother, Dekkan appeared to be another NPC who had once fought alongside the senior members of the Transcendent Gallery during their stage runs.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ*) Just saw him—took out a swarm-type and then vanished. You know this NPC?

ㄴ He’s from the Forest of Beasts questline. But yeah, didn’t look like that back when we met him.

ㄴ Did he get turned into a Death Knight or something??

ㄴ Archmage) Seems like it... but Dekkan’s not some mentally weak knight.

ㄴ Gutter Swordsman) Right. Dekkan’s mental resilience was actually above the average for 6th-Rank at the time.

ㄴ Wait, the swarm is moving again.

The video continued playing.

Kudududuk!

This time, the swarm morphed into the shape of a massive dragon.

The swarm-type Skaldmagra moved as a single entity made up of many, like the typical Skaldmagra, but it was smaller in size. However, the number of constituent creatures neared a hundred.

Dekkan moved through the battlefield, shrouded in a dark, crimson miasma.

The Skaldmagra swarm’s head surged forward directly at him.

KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING—!

A resonant sonic screech erupted from the swarm’s entire form—head, torso, every part of its unified body.

Then came a barrage of sonic blasts—dozens of them—infused with elemental attributes like lightning, flame, and frost, all fired at Dekkan.

From Dekkan’s hand, black mist surged forth, forming into the shape of a massive rectangular shield.

KWAGWAGWAGWAGWANG!

He slammed the shield vertically into the ground, blocking the cascade of sonic attacks. A circular field of magic expanded outward from where he struck the shield.

Boom—

All movement within that radius stopped. The swarm ceased its barrage of sonic blasts entirely.

KUWUUNG!

Dekkan raised his greatsword and brought it crashing down.

Black energy radiated from where it struck, engulfing the entire swarm and crushing them into the earth like they were being fused with the ground.

Han Yuseong, who had been watching from the front, immediately understood the reason behind this action.

Chiieeek...

Exposed to the corrupted aura, the swarm could no longer split to survive. Instead, it rotted away.

THUD!

Dekkan delivered a finishing strike, slamming his sword down once more for good measure.

From a distance, two remaining Skaldmagras slinked back into the darkness, retreating.

ㄴ Sword of Light) Absolute Monarch, that attack Dekkan just used—was that the one?

ㄴ Absolute Monarch) It was.

After a brief pause, Absolute Monarch added another comment.

ㄴ Absolute Monarch) The attack Dekkan just performed is indeed my technique.

ㄴ Sword of Light) Knew it. I wasn't seeing things.

ㄴ ?? But isn’t a vertical slam and shield block kind of basic?

ㄴ Absolute Monarch) The motion itself is basic. What you should’ve noticed is the flow of energy currents.

ㄴ Absolute Monarch) After slamming the shield, controlling the entire area of that radius—that’s a finesse very few can manage.

ㄴ Fair point. Just the stance is common. Can’t pull that off myself, lol. My bad.

ㄴ LOLOLOLOL quick admission of defeat, I respect it.

ㄴ Absolute Monarch) Heaven-Seal Suppression. Sixth Form of Valsenartz, the sword style of the Baltio Empire bloodline.

ㄴ Sword of Light) The part at the end where he tracked down and finished off each swarm unit—that was my sword technique. Not from Dragonslayer, though. That was Seraphim Choir, Fourth Form of Ironfault Swordsmanship.

ㄴ ?? So wait. You’re saying the Dekkan in Pandemonium copied techniques from the Dekkan you two met in your own Tower routes?

ㄴ Absolute Monarch) I don’t know if it’s copying. I taught Heaven-Seal Suppression to the Dekkan I personally fought beside.

ㄴ Sword of Light) Same for Seraphim Choir. I personally passed that sword form to the Dekkan I met. And we’re not even from the same Tower ID. Just the same Hard Mode.

ㄴ Sword of Light) I think it was around Floor 30 when we first met him during a cross-stage conference, right?

ㄴ Absolute Monarch) Correct.

ㄴ What is even happening right now?

ㄴ So what, they took the Hard Mode data of Dekkan and ported it into the Pandemonium Mode where Han Yuseong is climbing?

ㄴ Admin) That’s unclear. It could also be a recreated NPC using a composite of Easy and Normal Mode data too.

ㄴ Pioneer) Yeah, calling it a “recreation” might fit. I mean, take Delisa for instance. She married Helion and now Resellin leads the mercenaries—clearly, time flows. So maybe this is just the future version of the Dekkan we met.

ㄴ Pioneer) A guy who purified the Forest of Beasts time and again... now clinging to it even in undeath. That’s rough.

ㄴ Yeah, Dekkan’s strong as hell. Doesn’t seem like he’d fall to just any necromancer.

ㄴ Would take someone on the level of a Lich, minimum.

This seemed to be another shared narrative from the previous generation of Tower climbers.

Like Delisa’s story, it was one of those shared experiences.

ㄴ Archmage) Doesn’t look like he’s under someone’s control anymore.

ㄴ Room Conspiracy Theorist) Even from a demon’s POV, I’d say that’s true.

ㄴ ? What? He looks like a dead guy wearing skin.

ㄴ Gutter Swordsman) Please explain. I’m very curious.

ㄴ Archmage) See the spiral insignia on Dekkan’s neck? That rune signifies he killed the one who used to control him and reclaimed his freedom.

ㄴ Room Conspiracy Theorist) Confirmed. As expected of the Archmage, crusher of necromancers.

I left a comment too.

ㄴ ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) ㅇㅇ*) But he didn’t seem very rational, did he?

The Archmage responded instantly.

ㄴ Archmage) That’s because he killed the necromancer.

ㄴ Archmage) If you slay the necromancer and absorb their life vessel, you can get your heart back. And breaking the control is possible, but the mind becomes an empty shell.

ㄴ Archmage) What’s holding Dekkan together now is a faint sliver of reason and the instincts he built up during his life—just muscle memory, really.

ㄴ Room Conspiracy Theorist) Yeah, can’t even call it reason. He’s like a ghost—just wandering through old routines without awareness.

I understood what they meant.

The video continued.

Dekkan didn’t stop after erasing the Skaldmagra swarm without a trace.

Wearing his black armor, the knight Dekkan now turned his sword toward a soldier who had been standing near me.

A sword strike dug into the man’s shoulder in an instant.

KAANG!

I only managed to deflect Dekkan’s blade after it had already left a shallow cut.

That’s how fast it was.

After I blocked the attack, Dekkan hesitated, then slowly sheathed his greatsword.

What he did next was... strange.

–Khh... uuugh...

Clutching his forehead and groaning, Dekkan let out a hollow, guttural sound before vanishing into the shadowed forest.

–Th-thank you!

The soldier hastily bandaged his wound and downed a recovery potion, bowing his head to me over and over.

Then my voice could be heard in the footage.

–You lived? That’s all that matters.

And the footage ended.

ㄴ Wow, great video!!! ㅇㅇ So, uh... when’s the next one coming? Hello?

ㄴ Heavenly Demon) Now, now. We must only film during truly critical moments.

ㄴ Surely another “critical moment” is just around the corner. Or tomorrow. Or the day after.

ㄴ “You lived? That’s all that matters.” Broooo, so badass.

ㄴ Spear King) This climber guy’s got style, that’s for sure.

ㄴ What’s even up with Dekkan?

ㄴ He didn’t seem interested in fighting humans at all.

ㄴ Pioneer) ㅇㅇ Probably hurt because he attacked against his will.

Then more comments came in.

ㄴ Absolute Monarch) Sword of Light, do you think Dekkan remembered your sword form simply because of recorded data?

ㄴ Absolute Monarch) Or do you think, if it was a copy, that it copied the memory of you teaching it to him?

It was a subtle difference.

But from Absolute Monarch’s perspective, it clearly mattered.

ㄴ Sword of Light) The latter.

ㄴ Sword of Light) When I taught him the form, he had trouble controlling the air current flowing to the left.

ㄴ Sword of Light) And it’s still the same. That same lack of precision. If this was just based on observing me, they’d have smoothed that out.

ㄴ Sword of Light) That’s why I think it copied the memory of me teaching it, if it was a copy at all.

ㄴ Absolute Monarch) I see. I think so too.

ㄴ Hm... If time really passes within the Tower, then even if I clear it and leave, I figured someone like Dekkan would go on to live a peaceful life.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ Not a fan of how his story turned out in the sequel.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ*) Seems like all the senior Gallery folks had some connection to this Dekkan guy, fought alongside him and all.

ㄴ Spear King) Knight Dekkan. During the Great Beast Outbreak in the Forest of Beasts—he was the only NPC with both skill and trustworthiness to watch your back.

ㄴ Archmage) Yeah... His little brother was a mage who died during a group research expedition in the Forest of Beasts. Dekkan kept fighting to purge the monsters and cleanse the forest.

ㄴ Right, that was his story.

ㄴ In the end, Dekkan and the others succeeded in fully cleansing the Forest of Beasts.

ㄴ Elf Guy) Even then, the ending left it ambiguous—like darkness could return at any moment. That shitty Forest of Beasts is just like the one in my world too.

I asked something I needed to confirm.

There were no “NPC” letters floating above Dekkan’s head.

Which meant—at least from the system’s perspective—he wasn’t categorized as an interactable character. He was a monster.

Even if he hadn’t attacked me this time...

Next time? Who knew.

The 10th floor stage still wasn’t over.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ*) What if he tries to kill me next time?

The replies came flooding in:

ㄴ Sword of Light) Then you run.

ㄴ Heavenly Demon) Dekkan is a 6th-Rank. Not just barely—he’s firmly established at that level.

ㄴ Archmage) If you fight him, your odds are incredibly low. Across every stage you’ve faced so far, this is the worst chance you’ve had.

ㄴ Gutter Swordsman) The gap between 5th and 6th Rank is way wider than the gap between 3rd and 4th.

ㄴ ㅇㅇㅇ That’s why even Normal Mode climbers who hit 6th Rank get called “Extreme Manifesters.” The Tower treats them like legends.

ㄴ I don’t care if this is Pandemonium, it’s still only the 10th floor. No way the game’s gonna make you fight a 6th-Rank boss this early.

The remaining Skaldmagras had fled.

So I returned to base, uploaded the footage through Visographica, and watched the live reactions of the Transcendent Gallery seniors as the comments rolled in.

ㄴ ㅇㅇ*) Guess I’ll focus on finishing off the remaining Skaldmagras and move on.

And the next day, the two Skaldmagras that had run off... returned, with a new swarm.