Only My Skill Tooltip Is Strange

More players had died than expected. It wasn’t the monsters in front that were the main cause, but the players stabbing each other from behind.

Due to the lowered stats, many players were more vulnerable than they realized.

“You bastard! You used a skill, didn’t you?” “I-I didn’t! When did I do that?”

No player wants to die. Because of this, the situation quickly escalated, with people starting to accuse others.

There were also innocent players. They hadn’t intended to betray anyone but were caught in the frenzy and killed.

Despite this, the player army eventually reached the enemy front. They crossed the plain and clashed.

With the monsters right in front of them, there was no time for the players to fight each other. They thrust their spears.

Whoosh-!

The monsters didn’t just stand there and take it. They put down their bows and switched to spears.

The spears clashed, and blood splattered everywhere.

The players had the advantage. With their skills, it was a favorable matchup. There was no way they could lose if things went smoothly.

It would have been easier without the players causing trouble from behind.

[6th floor, annihilate the enemy army.]

Many players had died, but there were still plenty left. The number of surviving players far outnumbered the dead ones.

The floor’s mission continued. There was no break.

“They seem determined to go all the way.” “I told you not to come too close. It’s too hot.” “Ah, sorry.”

I kept an eye on the Igral player during the fight. I couldn’t know when he might spew flames, and he was more dangerous than other players.

But he didn’t betray anyone. He focused solely on stabbing the monsters.

The enemy army grew larger. And they added some variety. Cavalry appeared.

“…We shouldn’t be fighting among ourselves. We don’t know how long this will last, but if the number of players keeps decreasing, we might not stand a chance against that army…”

The players were quick to understand the situation. Players who had climbed to the 6th floor quickly assessed the threat.

“They might not give us any breaks in the middle. We might have to go all the way through.” “Damn those bastards. The ones plotting in the back.”

“…They probably want to clear the mission too. If they don’t pass, they’ll die just like everyone else.”

They were shouting, arguing. The players who had been stabbed from behind reacted particularly sensitively. Calming them down was the top priority.

The battle was about to start, and having players wound up with anxiety would only work against us.

“If anyone shows intent to kill towards another player, we’ll deal with it right away.”

Someone stood out among the group of players. A middle-aged white man, exuding a commanding presence, stepped forward. He was a man I felt like I’d seen somewhere before.

When he spoke, the players who had been voicing their complaints shut up. They recognized who this confident figure was.

“He’s a Swordmaster.”

The Igral player said.

“Ah!”

As soon as I heard the word “Swordmaster,” I realized who it was. The monster hunter I had briefly met on the 1st floor!

‘Is he still on the 6th floor?’

He was exceptionally skilled, yet his climbing speed was slow. I couldn’t figure out why.

‘Or maybe time flows differently for him?’

Time doesn’t flow evenly in the Tower of Struggle. The time on lower floors runs at a different pace than on higher floors.

Even if I spent six months on the 3rd floor and a month on the 4th, it might have only been a week or so on the 5th floor. It might be similar for him.

If the time I spent and the time he spent were different, it made sense that he was still here.

“Is Swordmaster famous?” “Of course. The reason why there are fewer of them from his dimension is because of the Tower of Struggle. If you don’t recognize the strongest within the Tower, you’ll die uselessly. Information exchange is active, of course.”

Rumors spread more widely than expected. No player could fail to recognize a Swordmaster.

Thanks to this, the players started to unite. Of course, not everyone thought the same way.

“Can’t we kill the Swordmaster now?” “Shut up, idiot. You’ll die.”

I heard whispers nearby. These players had thought that now was the time to kill the weakened Swordmaster.

‘…Are they stupid?’

A Swordmaster isn’t just an ascender with high stats. He probably has powerful skills too.

Just like the peak-level martial artist, his strength isn’t just from his stats. Who’s going to kill whom?

It was ridiculous, and I couldn’t help but laugh quietly.

“Charge!”

[6th floor, annihilate the enemy army.]

The cavalry shouted. It was more of a roar than a command.

The players started to charge.

Arrows rained down.

Maybe because I had experienced it before, everyone instinctively tried to dodge the arrows.

At that moment, a player lifted a shield, not a spear.

“Are you kidding me?”

I had been cautious during the first wave. I didn’t want to step forward and get caught in a sandwich between enemies.

I hadn’t killed any monsters. So nothing had really changed.

I was still equipped with a spear, and my stats were still 13.

‘Do monsters evolve when you kill them?’

I’d already experienced that on the 4th floor. When you evolve, you get stat rewards.

I couldn’t just sit idly by. I had to somehow rank up.

The shield-bearer blocked the arrows with a massive shield that was almost as big as his body. He looked like a hedgehog, full of arrows.

It was more stable than the spearmen. The shield-bearer’s merit was clear when I saw several players die from the arrow barrage.

“Charge!”

The cavalry surged forward. The players followed.

The players’ eyes were different from before. They were now sparkling with interest, having realized the value of shield-bearers.

Rewards. The players’ eyes turned to greed. There was a more efficient way than PK, so there was no need to take unnecessary risks.

“Ahhhhh!” “Get out of the way, damn it! Don’t block the path!”

The Swordmaster didn’t need to step in. Just showing his shield was enough.

Whoosh-!

I thrust my spear into a monster.

‘Not very friendly.’

On the 4th floor, they had told us how many goblin warriors were left. But here, there was no such message.

I had to rely entirely on my instincts to move toward the next class of monsters.

‘Ten should be enough, right?’

I focused on the monster in front of me.

I blocked its attacks with my spear while using my skills to whittle down its health. Of course, I didn’t let anyone notice that I was using my skills.

There was no point in letting the general public know what skills I had.

Whoosh-!

The Swordmaster swung his sword, unleashing a blade of energy. He had the same stats as me, but his movements were on a completely different level.

I wondered what skills he had.

Boom-!

After killing one more monster, the message appeared.

[Conditions have been cleared.] [You can now use a shield.]

A shield appeared in my empty inventory. I could now take it out and use it when needed.

‘What about the rewards?’

No stat points?

I waited, but it was quiet. A few players in a similar situation sighed.

Though no one said it, I could empathize with them. How could they not give us at least one reward?

‘They’re not even beggars.’

I hadn’t expected the entire floor to be this stingy.

‘No wonder the floor’s structure is like this.’

Irresponsible design. They just scattered monsters across a wide plain and told us to fight. It was more pointless than the Crew Making on the 1st floor.

After sweeping through the enemy army, the players returned to their starting positions. The number of players on the player side had decreased again.

“How much longer do we have to repeat this?”

Someone voiced their question. No one answered. Everyone here was a player.

“Why isn’t the administrator showing up?” “Yeah. Shouldn’t the administrator be in charge?”

The structure was almost the same as the 4th floor but slightly different. Back then, there were players who had climbed ahead.

But now, it seemed like everyone had just reached the 5th floor. No one knew anything about the 6th floor.

It was bound to make us anxious.

[6th floor, annihilate the enemy army.]

Along with the Tower’s message, a new enemy army was formed. This time, they weren’t human.

“Orcs…?”

An orc army appeared. Their faces were still pixelated.

“…This is bad.”

There were also orcs on the player side. They sighed as they looked at the orcs lined up on the opposite side.

The orcs had stats of about 15. For players with stats fixed at 13, facing them wouldn’t be easy.

The Igral whispered.

“It looks like we’re really going to die.” “……”

This time, I couldn’t say anything back to him. Even I, with no clue how to handle the orc army, was at a loss.

‘Breath?’

The Swordmaster is a monster hunter. What would happen if I showed a trace of a dragon in front of him?

‘How did I survive back then?’

I survived after using my breath. The Swordmaster saved me.

Why?

I recalled the reason.

The memory was fuzzy, and it wasn’t easy to recall that day.

‘Black Dragon.’

It was because I used the Black Dragon’s breath to survive. The Illusory Tome had changed my race to a Black Dragon.

‘For now, I’ll keep that as my trump card.’

I didn’t plan to step forward yet. The Swordmaster showed his face first, so he would probably lead the players.

It seemed like everyone had similar thoughts and were waiting for the Swordmaster to speak.