Ascending the tower with my SSS class

Uriel was certain: the monster was laughing, and it drove him into a deep rage. Anger—a feeling he had not experienced in a long time—began to resurface. It was as if his brain were awakening old sensations again, as if this battle were slowly bringing him back to life.

Did it find this amusing?

Uriel understood that, at the end of the day, this monster was likely just that: a creature that sought only to feed and devour others, to satisfy its hunger like a wild beast. But the fact that it enjoyed doing so meant it was capable of thought and fully understood the suffering it was causing.

Uriel’s fists clenched.

So it could reform itself even after being destroyed again and again?

Then he would gladly fight it for eternity. He would kill it over and over, crush its body a thousand times with pleasure—forever.

Uriel ran, picking up chunks of rock that had broken off and fallen to the cavern floor, and hurled them with force at the monster. The large pieces of stone slammed into its body, crushing it and splattering it everywhere, yet the creature continued to reassemble itself again and again.

Uriel buried his fists into two of the largest pieces of rock on the ground, using them like gauntlets.

At last, they met again. Dozens of hands reached toward Uriel’s body, tearing into him once more. His body was slowly being ripped apart—but so be it.

At the same time, Uriel’s fists smashed against the monster’s body, crushing it. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Uriel was blinded by the battle and his anger. His thoughts were poisoned by hatred.

Laugh, laugh, you bastard. Come on, laugh louder! Why aren’t you laughing anymore?

After spending so many years without experiencing strong emotions, when they finally returned, Uriel could barely contain them. He wanted to tear every part of the creature apart.

But this battle of attrition had been lost from the start. Even if Uriel brought the monster down again and again, it returned just as strong, while Uriel, with each passing moment, grew weaker, more exhausted, slower.

No one in this place knew him. They had only seen him briefly as he walked through the village, yet they wished for Uriel to stop—to flee like the others. That was the sensible thing to do. Even if they did not know who he was, they did not want the person protecting them with his life to die.

Eventually, the inevitable happened.

One of the creature’s blows sent Uriel flying far from where he stood. His body was fractured, and one of his horns had been broken.

In the end, what was the use of his anger? What good was determination if there was no power to support it?

At the end of the day, Uriel was still weak. If he had been stronger—far stronger than those he had faced on the first floor—he would not have been trapped in a hell of pain and solitary suffering for who knew how long.

That’s right—Uriel was still weak. He had the willpower, but he could not carry it through.

Even so, he was going to stand up again knowing that. If the only thing he could do was annoy this monster a little, then he would gladly be as irritating as this body allowed him to be.

That was what Uriel was about to do when, suddenly, a familiar vibration reached the single horn he had left.

"You’ve been talking to yourself this whole time again, being from another world."

Uriel recognized that sensation.

It was Soliel.

"Even I can do nothing but watch helplessly as they come back again and again—but that ends now, Uriel."

Her beautiful figure and the distinctive vibrations of her footsteps resonated through him.

"If you were going to do something like this, you should have brought your new friend. CATCH, URIEL!"

A massive two-handed hammer was thrown toward Uriel, and he caught it perfectly.

A surge of electricity coursed through his body.

Once again, it was familiar.

It was the weapon that blacksmith had created from the body and core of one of his children. The boy had probably run off to seek Soliel’s help.

Uriel deeply despised the horror of using the bodies of living people and shaping them into weapons, but now, as he held it, he could feel it.

Somewhere within it, that being of the depths still remained.

A fragment of its consciousness still lingered—and it whispered to him.

They were not words of hatred.

Not words of suffering or despair.

Quite the opposite.

What Uriel felt from the soul within the hammer was, in fact, gratitude and hope.

It was happy.

Happy to become a weapon capable of defending its people—something it had failed to achieve in life.

He stopped resisting.

The connection between Uriel and the hammer sharpened instantly.

The two became one.

For a moment, the blacksmith’s child’s memories flowed into Uriel’s mind: years of struggle, years of pain, years of hiding... an entire life in a single instant.

All their struggles, hopes, and desires merged within him.

In that instant, Uriel understood this fight—the pain of these people, the losses they had endured.

He would no longer reject this power.

He would use it.

This was not an act of desperate cruelty from people seeking power.

The sacrifice of their own children had instead been their own decision, encouraged by Soliel.

A decision born of desperation, yes—but also of love, of hope for a future where they would not be slaughtered.

Uriel raised the hammer with force.

The power of the weapon’s core flowed into Uriel’s own core, enhancing his physical abilities.

The creature charged again, and Uriel opened the orb of his mind to perceive every movement.

The monster rushed toward him—hungry, amused.

Uriel lifted the hammer, not for a battle, but for an execution.

At last, the two opponents met again.

Uriel’s hammer came down, and a fierce impact shook the very foundations of the cavern.

The creature writhed in pain as it tried to regenerate the massive hole now torn through its body—but it could do nothing.

There was nothing left to regenerate.

From the hammer, flames and a golden glow burst forth.

The creature’s body had been incinerated by the weapon.

Uriel did not stop there.

He approached the creature once more as it continued to writhe in pain.

Uriel was glad to see it suffer.

He raised the hammer again, and just two more blows were enough for the monster’s body to vanish—pulverized.