Even Today, the Ranker Dreams of Retirement

Whoosh!

As she plummeted down the cliff, Habin slowly opened her eyes.

‘This is taking longer than I thought.’

As time passed, her falling speed noticeably decreased.

Float, float.

-Beep! Beep beep!

[The dragon’s blessing dramatically increases your resistance to gravity.]

Suddenly, Libe popped out from the pet space and nestled into her arms.

“Was that you?”

-Beep beep!

Libe flapped its wings, pointing upwards.

“You want to go up?”

Nod, nod.

Libe gestured enthusiastically with its limbs. In the past, it could have flown upwards, but now, due to the disguise skill, it had no wings.

-Squawk.

Anyway, it meant they couldn’t go up now. They were still falling.

As if saddened by this, Libe sniffled.

-Peep… Peep…….

“No, it’s okay, I’m actually falling on purpose.”

-Squawk?

Libe tilted its head in confusion. It seemed not to understand Habin’s words.

The reason it had rushed out so urgently was probably to protect her when it sensed she was falling.

‘I can’t really explain that I did a bungee jump to avoid getting nagged at.’

[…….]

Habin decided to pretend not to know for now, without explanation. It was bothersome to explain in detail, and she wanted to preserve the dragon’s innocence.

Though she wasn’t sure if dragons even had innocence…….

Softly.

Thanks to Libe, they landed safely on the ground.

Habin had been prepared to use a falling technique skill or take some health damage from the fall, so this was a benefit in its own way.

In the pitch-black space where nothing was visible, Habin turned on her phone’s flashlight.

It was an ordinary floor by anyone’s standards. Though dark, there was nothing special about it.

‘Good, cozy and quiet.’

No obstacles, no troublemakers!

Perfect.

Tap tap, Habin found a flat rock and dusted it off. She perched on it and looked around.

To others, this might just seem like a dark scene, but not to her current self.

Detect errors existing in the world.

The skill she had just acquired.

Numerous flaws flickering with light even amidst the darkness.

Since obtaining the skill, there was something Habin had been wanting to try.

“……Jaljal, I’m bored, so I’ll show you something special.”

Habin reached out to the nearby ‘error’.

What should she call this?

A gap? A flaw? A hole?

A small hole that looked like broken pixels.

Habin widened its gap. The error, which had been just a tiny dot, suddenly expanded.

In an instant, it grew large enough for a person to pass through.

If anyone had seen it, they might have believed a gate had opened in mid-air.

[This is……!]

While Ahezar was flustered, Habin stuck her foot into the hole.

The inside of the hole wasn’t as dark as expected. Rather, a dim rainbow light illuminated it brightly.

[You have entered an unknown interdimensional space!]

[A skill is generated due to your special action!]

You can enter interdimensional space through nearby errors.

*Skill level is low. Maximum of 2 companions, including the caster, can enter

You can find your way back to locations you’ve visited before.

As she entered the interdimensional space, a serene silence fell. A faint rainbow light, like a soap bubble membrane, rippled all around.

Amidst it, numerous crackling errors were embedded like stars.

Habin peered closely at the errors. She could faintly see beyond them. They seemed to be entrances connected to errors at different points, different from the hole Habin had entered through.

As a test, she touched another entrance,

Whoosh-

The hole opened, revealing the outside.

Then, as if it had been waiting, a notification popped up.

[Beyond this is Kill Screen Floor 15. Do you wish to enter?]

“……!”

This place, this ‘interdimensional space’, was where all the errors in the world gathered.

‘So, using these errors, I can move to various places?’

Habin looked around at the multitude of glittering errors. Some errors showed other floors of the tower beyond them, while others reflected ordinary cityscapes outside the tower.

Ahezar, who had been silent, spoke up.

[Oho. We’ve entered between the errors of the tower! Spaces the system couldn’t predict, spaces inevitably left empty while creating the world!]

Habin had seen empty spaces in broken pixels while playing games before. She had even entered walls or pillars that were inaccessible due to bugs.

So this world was created in a similar way?

“They made the world pretty sloppily, huh?”

Habin offered her succinct assessment.

[I’ve heard about this from other holy relics, but it’s my first time actually entering! To think you discovered this!]

Ahezar exclaimed in excitement.

Habin looked around and then shifted her gaze upward. Far above, errors twinkled like stars.

Habin leapt up and touched another error high above. A notification appeared.

[Beyond this is Kill Screen Floor 32. Do you wish to enter?]

“Floor 32?”

Originally, Habin had been on Floor 26. Floor 26, which humanity had barely managed to conquer and reach.

Normally in Kill Screen, you couldn’t enter the next floor without clearing the current one. Meaning, you had to clear Floor 26 to open Floor 27.

But with this method, it became possible to secretly enter and exit Floor 32.

It was like having a private elevator exclusively for Kill Screen.

“Oh…….”

‘If this became known, people definitely wouldn’t leave it alone.’

Though the restriction of only being able to bring one companion would prevent her from transporting people anyway.

Habin vowed to keep this a strict secret from everyone around her.

‘Still, should I see how many floors I can reach?’

Habin hugged Libe and leapt up again.

[The dragon’s blessing dramatically increases your resistance to gravity.]

Float, float.

Habin comfortably glided through the air, touching the errors one by one in order.

[Beyond this is Kill Screen Floor 37. Do you wish to enter?]

[Beyond this is Kill Screen Floor 46. Do you wish to enter?]

[……Floor 50. Do you wish to enter?]

The errors that had been opening continuously stopped abruptly at Floor 55, after passing Floor 50.

[Beyond this is Kill Screen Floor 55.]

[Skill level is low. Entry will alert the administrator.]

‘Seems a bit dangerous.’

All the floors above were the same. It appeared that Floors 55-100 were not spaces she could enter yet.

Moreover, among them was a particularly unusual place.

There was one glittering error higher than Floor 100, so she touched it, and:

[Beyond this is ?]

[!! This is a space the system is guarding. Entry will trigger the administrator’s emergency mode!!]

Habin smirked.

“My, my, you’d go that far to block it? I’ll definitely have to enter there at least once, right before the world ends.”

If there’s a troublemaker in this area, who else could it be but Hyun Habin?

She added that to her bucket list of things to do before the world’s destruction.

For reference, other items roughly jotted down on that bucket list included ‘Live in Jeju for a month’ and ‘Visit the Uyuni Salt Flats’.

By Habin’s standards, these were the kind of bucket list items she’d put off indefinitely and forget about, but for now, she jotted… them… down…

“Alright. That should do it!”

Tap tap. Having finished noting down her bucket list, Habin looked up.

“Well, now that we’ve had a good look around, shall we head back?”

She rustled about, finding the hole she had originally entered through.

You can find your way back to locations you’ve visited before.

As she was about to step into the hole leading back to the cliff,

“Hmm…….”

Habin paused for a moment.

[What’s wrong?]

“No, wait a second, the hole right next to this one is glowing quite brightly.”

Habin pointed to the side.

Right next to the hole she was about to return through, another hole was glowing particularly brightly.

‘……What’s this?’

Habin touched it with a dubious expression. A notification popped up.

[Beyond this is Kill Screen Floor 26. Do you wish to enter?]

“This is Floor 26 too?”

Habin tilted her head with a puzzled expression.

‘Why is it different even though it’s the same floor? What could be there to make it like this? It’s making me curious.’

“Should I take a little peek?”

The moment Habin absent-mindedly chose ‘Yes (Y)’ to the question “Do you wish to enter?”, 

Whoosh-!

‘Huh?’

In an instant, her vision flipped. As if being sucked towards the hole, Habin passed through the entrance at a terrifying speed and landed with a thud on an unfamiliar floor.

‘This is……!’

A hard stone floor carved from pitch-black rock. The shadows of flickering candles.

And.

Grrrr-

Dozens of piercing eyes of magical beasts staring at her.

[This is the boss room of Floor 26 dungeon, the Demon King’s office!]

[Congratulations! You are the first human to reach the boss room of Floor 26!]

[Additional rewards will be given upon completion of the conquest…….]

“Eh?”

Habin checked the text that appeared before her eyes several times.

Boss room?

This is supposed to be the boss room right now?

Following the proper route, one should reach this final boss stage by starting from the entrance, diligently overcoming traps and killing monsters one by one.

The theme of this Floor 26 dungeon was ‘Demon Realm’, ‘Demon King’s Castle’. She vaguely remembered hearing during the conquest team’s explanation that the boss here would probably be a Demon King.

‘……I came straight to where the final boss is?’

It was then that heavy footsteps approached her with a thud, thud.

“Who dares!”

“?”

“To set foot in my domain without fear?”

Habin turned her head. Surrounded by demon army soldiers armed with all sorts of heavy armor, in the center was a figure in pitch-black attire.

Demon King (魔王), Kriksha.

[This is the first of the 7 Demon Kings, the Demon King of Pride (驕慢).]

“Ah, so you’re the boss?”

Habin asked the Demon King in a bright voice. At her nonchalant attitude, Kriksha, the Demon King of Pride, growled lowly.

“……I don’t know what kind of rat snuck in, but you must be completely insane.”

Kriksha, the Demon King of Pride.

He had his own history as a Demon King.

Before entering the tower, when he lived in a castle in the demon realm, countless heroes had challenged him.

‘Taste my blade, Demon King!’

‘Die! Vile Demon King!’

Knights, mages, demon hunters…….

All sorts of humans had come at him, but they all died with a single gesture from Kriksha. Pathetic beings that didn’t even stir a hint of emotion. It was tasteless.

But there was one thing he liked about them.

‘Fools filled with recklessness and pride.’

Kriksha liked those eyes full of determination. The pleasure of seeing those eyes turn to despair!

Crushing their desperate will and passion in an instant was his small amusement.

‘But this little rat…….’

Kriksha looked down at Habin with a contemptuous expression. She really was just a young girl, barely a mouthful.

He was a bit curious about how she got in, but the sword she was carrying looked cheap at a glance, and her attire didn’t seem suited for combat.

‘And yet she’s so carefree.’

Kriksha felt somewhat annoyed. If she were a human full of determination, it might have been fun to toy with her, but to show such indifference and composure even in front of him, the Demon King.

There was no fun in crushing her.

He swallowed his irritation and jerked his chin at his subordinates.

“Just dispose of her.”

Grrrr-!

The three-headed dog closest to Habin lunged at her first.

“Ah, really.”

Faced with the onslaught of attacks without even a moment’s respite, Habin swung Ahezar with an annoyed expression.

Not with the blade, but with the back of the sword.

Thwack-!

She had merely hit its head moderately, but with that single strike, the monster was embedded in the far wall.

Bang!

……Whimper!

The monster, rendered completely incapacitated, collapsed pitifully.

Gulp?

The other magical beasts hesitated, seemingly shocked by the sight.

‘……?’

Kriksha, who had been about to turn away, froze in his tracks.