I Don't Need To Log Out-Chapter 258: Climbing the Tower Again
Arlon stepped onto the 50th floor, greeted by the same notifications as before.
Nothing had changed—except for the monsters.
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Though their levels remained the same, he immediately noticed the difference in species.
Some of them resembled the creatures he had fought during his last climb, likely from the same race. But others were new, unfamiliar.
The bosses, however, were never the same.
Even now, when he accepted the challenge and 600 monsters spawned, the figure standing before him wasn't Kurge, the mantis-like boss he had fought before.
This was probably because the monsters weren't some fake copies. They were real.
It didn't matter, though. Arlon had already made peace with killing in this war of the universe.
He raised his staff and unleashed another wide-range spell. He wasn't holding back, using his strongest magic to clear the battlefield in an instant.
But this time, something changed.
As expected, 599 monsters were erased without resistance. However, the boss—the lone figure standing at the center of the devastation—remained.
It had survived.
Barely.
The damage was enough that calling it "alive" felt generous, but the fact remained—it had endured.
Arlon fired a second spell. The boss didn't last through the second strike.
Before this floor, every monster he faced had been under level 200—two existence levels beneath him.
But now, the gap had closed. The creatures he would face from here on were only a single existence level below him.
Of course, that didn't mean he would struggle. He had no intention of losing.
But the days of clearing floors with a single spell were over.
When the 207-level boss finally shattered, the usual notification appeared. Without hesitation, Arlon advanced to the next floor.
Upon arriving at Floor 51, he once again summoned all three levels of monsters at once. Another storm of magic erupted from his staff, wiping out everything in its range.
This time, it took two spells to clear the floor completely.
And once again, the boss standing before him wasn't the mantis-like Kurgek.
It didn't matter.
Arlon stepped forward, ready to destroy whatever came next.
---
By the time Arlon reached the 73rd floor, his progress had noticeably slowed.
He could no longer eliminate the monsters with just one or two large-scale spells. Instead, he had to fight them directly.
Of course, they were still easier than the last time he had climbed, but clearing them took time.
Each battle lasted longer, each victory requiring more effort.
When he arrived at the 73rd floor, he did something different.
Unlike before, he only summoned the monsters from Level 1 of the floor.
It wasn't because he thought he couldn't handle all three levels at once. He knew he could.
But this was the first floor where he had encountered issues in his previous climb.
He needed to be cautious.
When he entered the floor, he looked around. The room was in one piece. But this didn't prove anything yet.
The floors started deforming at a higher floor.
The last time he had reached this point, another strange thing had happened.
When he started Level 2 of the 73rd floor, only a single monster had spawned instead of the usual wave.
And now, as he activated the second level, he watched carefully.
The result was different.
This time, the Tower behaved as expected—200 monsters appeared at the correct level.
Arlon exhaled, feeling a weight lift from his shoulders.
It wasn't the 73rd floor he was worried about.
It was the 90th.
If the Tower's mechanics were working properly here, there was a good chance he wouldn't get stuck on the 90th floor again. And that was a relief.
With no further problems, he continued clearing the floors as before, spawning monsters of all three levels at once.
Floor 74 went smoothly. So did Floor 76.
On Floor 79, the monsters didn't turn on each other like they had before.
That was another good sign.
The more things worked as they should, the more confident Arlon became.
The floors also weren't cracked or deformed like before.
They all followed the usual style of the Tower, outlining that there had been many fights on this floor.
But it was obviously styled that way by the Tower to give that impression.
He wasn't just avoiding the pitfalls of his previous climb—he was proving that reaching Level 300 was possible.
Of course, that was assuming the Tower allowed him to go that far.
His battles continued.
On Floor 83, he encountered another Titan. It wasn't the Volcanic Titan from before, the one that had slaughtered its own allies.
This one was different.
A normal Titan.
Powerful, but predictable.
Unlike the previous one, it fought only Arlon, making it easier to deal with despite its immense strength.
And then, he reached Floor 87.
This was where things changed again.
It wasn't just a battle where he slaughtered monsters to climb. It was a real fight.
Of course, he had already been engaged in long fights for quite some time—some battles had lasted days since Floor 65 or so.
And much longer later on.
But here, for the first time in a long while, he was risking everything.
There were a few reasons for that.
First, the monsters had stopped varying in strength.
Before, even though he had faced powerful creatures, there had always been weaker ones mixed in.
Those weaker monsters had died easily, making it simpler for him to deal with the stronger ones.
Now, there were no strong ones that shouldn't be on this floor yet, but there were also no weak ones.
Every enemy that appeared was at the higher end of the floor's level range, though.
Second, the monsters no longer attacked each other.
In a way, this was something Arlon preferred.
After all, he needed the experience points. If they killed each other, he would lose out on that.
But it also made the fights significantly harder.
For the first time since entering the Tower, he had to change his approach.
Summoning all 600 monsters at once was no longer an option.
He went back to clearing the floors one level at a time.
And he took out his new sword.
