Chapter 17: Into the 5th Floor
I exhaled slowly, scanning the crowd again, and a few Vassals were pacing, their Patron sigils faintly glowing beneath skin or armor—telltale marks of borrowed power. Their eyes flicked to the Rift again and again, some eager, some terrified. All waiting for someone else to go first.
No one wanted to be the first corpse on Floor 5.
But they knew someone already beat them to it.
Me.
I stepped closer to the Rift's edge. The ground pulsed with ambient magic, thrumming like a heartbeat. The gold and crimson glow flared higher, arcing skyward like a reversed lightning strike, splitting the clouds.
Boss floors weren't like normal ones. No randomized monsters. No timed clear requirement. Just one singular goal: kill the boss, or die trying.
The system didn't even try to hide it.
[Warning: This boss floor was activated prematurely.]
[Difficulty may not be balanced for current average player level.]
[Proceed with caution.]
I laughed under my breath. "Yeah, no shit."