The Origin of Species

An excerpt from a 2-way notebook

The tower is a kind of maze. So it is not easy to find the next class. Various wide alleyways run wild, and there is a fairly wide clearance in the middle.

This is not the only reason why it is difficult to find a path in the tower. The terrestrial shifts that occur every hour were the core of the maze and nightmare.

To put it simply, we divide the ground into hundreds of pieces, and then we put it back at random. Says the guy who was at 9 o'clock could be at 3 o'clock in an instant.

Then how the hell are we supposed to find a way?

There are unusual mosses growing inside the tower. And the end of those mosses all point to the next layer. It's a kind of milestone.

There are also two areas that are unaffected by hemispheric deformation. A narrow, spaced line at the entrance and exit of the staircase. People called that line bass.

The most populated monster in this tower is the groove. The groove is a kind of arthropod that you can think of as the earth's soybean worm.

Height between 1m and 4m.

The length is between 2m and 7m.

It has dozens of legs, and quickly approaches it and swallows its prey in a single bite. Hunting methods are similar to snakes, but without poison.

They can only live on the moss of the Insect Tower. They are the lowest species of the Insect Tower's food chain and are predominantly food for other monsters.

* Monsters appearing on the 1st floor of the Insect Tower -

I try to think of animals that look similar to their names.

Grooves (bean worm), crustaceans (shrimp), acarinas (ticks), corray (humpback), coke (cockroaches), saccharides (cicadas), etc.

The crustacean is an arthropod that resembles a crustacean. With the exception of a large size, it is indistinguishable from shrimp.

1m tall and 2m long.

Smaller than the groove, but quite threatening to live in groups. In particular, paralysis is more effective than medicine, the pinnacle of modern medicine.

Stocks are grooves.

Their way of hunting.

Paralyze the prey with paralysis and use the foam spit out of the mouth to make a cocoon. After that, it sucks bodily fluids with a pointed mouth.

Weaknesses are the words between the shell and the shell. Especially the second speech coming down from the side of the head. There's his heart.

...

The people in the back are still asleep. She was drooling on Lindsey's shoulders, and Lindsey was naturally turning her head back.

Compared to that, Fei was sleeping with Asaka's figure in his hand, and Surin and his brother were keeping their eyes closed with their waists bent.

“Leader, you're awake. ”

“Haven't you slept? ”

“No, I don't usually sleep much. ”

Bonapas turns the neck joint and points to the tower.

“That's a big fucking thing. I can't get a good sense of it. ”

“I see. There's no end to comfort, there's no end to comfort, so I said, well, ”

It was then.

“Yay! What kind of faucet are you? What are you drooling about? ”

“Oh, come on! Annoy!!"

Lindsey and the sailor woke up. The front opened its eyes and looked at Lindsey's shoulder. Then he brushes his cheeks and rubs them against the glass. Lindsey sticks out her tongue.

“Oh, really. Filthy.”

“Aigoo, do I have to come to this world and take that? I don't like it either. Why don't you make me a wipe! ”

That's when I really got the wipes. His brother-in-law, who had soaked the tissue silently and handed it back, shook his head. The clan members awaken at the same time, perhaps because of the commotion between them.

“What's that? Are we all here? ”

“It's been an hour. ”

Marca's words give the clans a lot of emotion. First of all, there is no way to express the feeling of seeing a vertical line that is not the horizon in my lifetime.

According to Marca, the area of the tower was approximately 4000 kph. This is more than twice the area of Jeju Island, which is about 1850 km (1850 sq ft). Moreover, the height cannot be seen at the end.

No one has ever gone up to the end, so there is no way to know the shame. I asked Marca if she really knew.

“Is there any way to fly in the air? ”

In fact, it was possible. The mural I saw inside the Tower of Rights had something like an airplane. But Marca bursts into laughter.

“Haha, flying up there? It's blocked. How? ”

What, it's blocked? Marca continued with a ridiculous expression.

“Isn't that your world? It's blocked from more than 30 stories up. So the building only goes up to 30 stories. ”

“What about the rain? How does it rain if it's blocked? ”

“Are you stupid? The rain falls from the sky. Now, look up. ”

Looking up at the sky, the color is still close to gray.

“It's invisible, but there's a transparent barrier. Rain passes, but no cine or origin passes. Well, the thing is, since we were kids, we grew up learning that boundary as a blessing. They say that when that seal disappears, evil light falls. ”

What, God's blessing? Sinister light?

“I feel a little frustrated. ”

“What?”

“That's not the way our world works. Feeling stuck in something? You feel trapped somewhere? That's what I thought. ”

“Well, maybe for the thinkers. Haha.”

Marca laughs softly, but I suddenly thought, Isn't that God's blessing, or God's punishment?

An hour later, we reach the tower. I heard that hunting is the most active of all three towers, and that there are all kinds of origins and sines gathered.

“What's that? ”

Following Surin's gaze, tents are camped out in front of the tower. While the Sins are hunting, the duck in charge is dying in that lodge.

Are you a reserve? There are large emissions and there are tissues called sickling, so the possibility is sufficient.

The ducks were wearing bright brown leather armor like Marca's, and they were wearing swords to their waist. Someone else pulled out the sword and twisted it.

‘You look amazing. ’

A peculiar blade. Normally, a sword would remind you of a straight, clean blade, but at the end of it, something protrudes like a saw blade.

The handle was also curious. Specifically, there is a finger hole in the protrusion between the handle and the blade.

“I think that's the entrance. ”

According to Lindsey, Marca and her brother nodded. At the entrance of the tower, which is about 200 meters wide, a silver light coils. It's like a dimensional gate I've seen in movies.

Marca pulls the resonance heart out of her pocket and shakes.

“You know, the tax is 50%. Bring a lot of life chains. ”

“We don't take that away. Better hurry than that. ”

Xinwoo's brother looked at his watch and hurried to walk. The clock had to be checked from time to time because of the deformation of the earthquake in the tower. Fortunately, the Earth's clock didn't matter.

The batteries will run out one day and we'll have to set up a watch here, but it was far from over. Shinwoo also said he used the Earth clock for three years.

There were a lot of people going in there besides us, a lot of people just getting out.

The blood stains and the corpses on his shoulders. Their expressions were really varied. It was a place where you could see all the faces of the people at once.

“Then let's go in! ”

In my cry, the clans had a hard look on their faces. But the pace never stops. We've been waiting for this moment, haven't we?

You must become stronger and stronger to conquer the top of this tower. At the same time, we reach for the entrance. You hear Marca's cry with her full body tingling sensation.

“Motherfuckers, don't die. ”

...

As soon as I entered the tower, I saw a mural. There are various people drawn there, and there are languages that appear to be ancient letters.

Why do I think there's a mural in every tower?

Regardless of my curiosity, the clans began to move as planned.

“How's your body? ”

“It's still okay. I don't feel blocked. ”

Fortunately, the towers are wide, so pneumoconiosis shouldn't be a problem. As soon as we heard Lindsey's conversation with the crew, we rushed forward.

If you ask me where the most murderous places in the tower are, everyone will say bass.

The base is free of earth deformation, close to the exit and inlet. That is, the place where you meet the most people. We have decided to cross this baseline quickly.

“Enough. Enough! ”

We paused for a moment at the cry of Brother Xinwoo, then all of us clung together shoulder to shoulder.

“What's the time to deformity? ”

“3 seconds.”

And as soon as the second hand pointed to 12, there was a tremor that was enormous enough that my whole body was shaking. I hear the sound of the earth crumbling.

The distant ground cracks and the wall collapses. But none of us close our eyes. Rather, the excitement flowed through my whole body.

I tightened my calf and confronted the vibrations. The clans are distracted, too. The land we were standing on was reassembled in a new place.

The original path disappeared, and a new path appeared. The mural was still the same, but our position was clearly changed.

Several visible people scattered as soon as the terrestrial transformation was over, and so did we.

You don't have to worry about where you're going. Surin pointed to the moss and asked his brother-in-law.

“Is this the woman Shinwoo told you about? ”

“Yeah. It's a little bigger than what you see on Earth, right? ”

“Yes, a lot. ”

“If you look closely, they all grow in the same direction. ”

Like he said, the moss head is facing in one direction. The entrance to the next level. And that's where we were headed.

There were no torches or lamps inside the tower, but the light was reflected somewhere. However, the light was so weak that the shape of the object could not be seen even if the distance was a little further.

“Here you go, Sunmi. Lead the way. ”

“Yes.”

A member of the herbivore line stepped forward, biting his lip. After that, it was me and Pei, the transcendent. Next, three members of the elemental family moved forward in a triangle around Lindsey.

His expression was serious. There is no usual muzzle or prank mix-up.

Peek-a-boo. Every time a rabbit's ear twitches, the clan members get nervous. It was a strange place, and it was a place where mistakes lead to death.

After a short walk, a narrow passageway appears.

“Okay, here we go. ”

“Don't be nervous, it's a front. ”

“Yes, sir. ”

The tip of his voice trembled a little. The tension of the clan members is rising dramatically. I whispered once more to the clans.

“My brother moves only during emergencies. ”

I confirmed Shin Woo's nod and turned to Lindsey.

“Status exchange shall be at the time of penetration or amputation. ”

“Yes!”

“Lower your voice. ”

“... Yes. ”

I'm a good listener. This time I whispered to the whole clan.

“After you change your status, take six hours off. In the meantime, there's no change in status. If you get a fatal wound, it kills you. Do you understand?”

“... ”

The clans nod instead of answering. The passageway was quiet. There is no wind. You hear nothing but a groaning footsteps.

“... ”

Sweat flowing on your forehead, your spine quivering slightly. I stand at the end of my hair, but I'm not afraid. Rather, the longer the silence, the calmer the hands holding the scalpel and the curlet.

Yeah, this place looks like an O.R. Though there were no bright lights, it was cool, it was quiet, it was me.

“Something's coming! Grooves!!"

“Battle stations!”

And the death at my fingertips.

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- Mr. Serious Fedo. - Oh, you were right! I used a baby.

nikumaimu/Thanks for reading today!