[The Faculty Director] was standing still, at one place, not moving even the slightest. He was defeated by an opponent which he believed to be a complete weakling. Somehow, his store had just been broken.
Noah's teammates were waiting for him outside. They had managed to follow his instructions well. He hadn't told them anything. In fact, he could have won in both cases – the story being broken from the outside, or from the inside. All of them had tirelessly worked together, just to create that single hole in the big black orb, levitating in the air.
Noah hadn't checked his achievements for a while.
「New Rare Achievement: Fight against an intermediate island leader」[50 000 000 Coins awarded]
「New Rare Achievement: Fight against an enemy marked as Impossible」[100 000 000 Coins awarded]
「New Secret Rare Achievement: Fight against an intermediate island leader while on lower islands」[200 000 000 Coins awarded]
「New Secret Rare Achievement: Have 15 different set effect active at the same time」[500 000 000 Coins awarded]
「New Rare Achievement: Fight against a narrative-story」[150 000 000 Coins awarded]
「New Rare Achievement: Survive against higher enemy with Divine Locks」[350 000 000 Coins awarded]
「New Secret Rare Achievement: Obtain Grade SS Artifact and use it」[450 000 000 Coins awarded]
「New Secret Ultra-Rare Achievement: Unlock a higher enemy lock」[1 000 000 000 Coins awarded, 1 Divine Lock]
「New Secret Rare Achievement: Become a teacher and have at least 4 students」[1 000 000 000 Coins awarded]
「New Secret Ultra-Rare Achievement: Obtain and use a Limited item」[5 000 000 000 Coins awarded, Limited Shop]
「New Ultra-Rare Achievement: Obtain and use SS Skill」[700 000 000 Coins awarded, SS Item Skill Book]
「New Secret Ultra-Rare Achievement: Have full control over SS Skill story」[25 000 000 000 Coins awarded, SSS Skill Story Control Fragment (1/3)]
「New Secret Ultra-Rare Achievement: Experience a double story」[50 000 000 000 Coins awarded, S Skill Perception Mind]
「New Secret Ultra-Rare Achievement: Survive through more than one story reset in a story-based fight」[120 000 000 000 Coins awarded, S Skill Battle Scene Reset]
「New Secret Ultra-Rare Achievement: Increase your power in battle by at least 10 000 times」[100 000 000 000 Coins awarded, S Skill Straight Power Burst]
「New Secret Ultra-Rare Achievement: Complete an impossible battle in an impossible way」[500 000 000 000 Coins awarded, S Skill Intellect Domain]
「New Secret Ultra-Rare Achievement: Be able to follow otherworld speed attacks with lower island stats」[600 000 000 000 Coins awarded, S Skill Absolute Speed Control]
「New Secret Ultra-Rare Achievement: Win against a strong enemy without the strong enemy suspecting your real power」[700 000 000 000 Coins awarded, S Skill Hidden Real Strength]
「New Secret Ultra-Rare Achievement: Have all intermediate tower island leaders gazes on you」[800 000 000 000 Coins awarded, S Skill Higher Endurance]
「New Secret Ultra-Rare Achievement: Utilize magic skills without unlocked Magical Points」[900 000 000 000 Coins awarded, S Skill Magical Spirit]
「New Secret Ultra-Rare Achievement: Obtain S Monopoly Set while on lower tower island」[1 000 000 000 000 Coins awarded, Additional Gear Set Effect]
「Monopoly Set Rank tier: S → SS」
「New Secret Myth-Grade Achievement: Have all intermediate leaders fear you, First to discover Crimson Heart, The End」[2 500 000 000 000 Coins awarded, Crimson Heart × 1, Removal of Limited Shop refresh, Higher tower island (above 20th) leader meeting]
'The End', Noah wondered what might this refer to. Even with that, he had just received a lot of different achievements, and the values were getting pretty high. The skills he obtained, especially the ones from the Monopoly gear set were all extremely powerful, and together on top of everything, they were capable of making him extremely strong. Not all rewards were instantly processed though.
「Myth-grade Achievement rewards distribution is pending, waiting for verification on final requirement 」
So, it wasn't that easy to obtain such a great reward, well, all of them were great rewards. He was basically speed-running through the beginning. In fact, Noah himself hadn't expected to progress so smoothly but "The Cheater's Hall" were really doing their work.
— Hey, there, coming in 5 minutes max, just hold there alive.
Suddenly, Noah got something like a direct message in his mind. The sender was marked as 'Unknown'. Noah didn't know that such a skill existed but nevertheless he wasn't surprised as well. Whoever the upcoming enemy was, it wouldn't just be a simple fight, he thought.
Looking at the skills he got, he didn't now have to wait a couple of minutes for coin penalties to enter berserk mode, he already had a skill for it. Instead of him designing multiple possible paths for a battle, he now had skill for it. Instead of having to only rely on his vision for fast attacks, he now had skill for it. He didn't have to spam items, potions and gears and constantly increase his aura to endure against strong enemies, he now had a skill for it, although he would still do all of these. He didn't have to unlock magic, he now had a skill for it. And he didn't have to pretend to be weak, he now had a skill for it.
Everything that turned out to be a hardship for him was eventually handled for him just like that. This system was designed too good to be true.
— Who are you?
Noah had decided to find out how this mind chat works and also gain some additional information on who was coming beforehand. He already expected someone to contact him in some way and an assumption who the contacter was.
While thinking this all, he talked with his teammates and told them that they did good. All this time, he had an uneasy feeling, not only because of the message.
「Higher being [Frostmoon] is warning you to run away 」
Even the being he was most cautious of was warning him of something. Maybe he had angered someone strong by defeating [The Faculty Director].
「Higher being [Frostmoon] asks you to use the meeting ticket now 」
[Decline]
Noah didn't plan to waste this once-in-the-world reward he had received. And for what? To escape some apparently strong enemy. He had to fight against strong enemies to speed-run even faster. After all, his goal at the moment, the one he was pursuing, was to defeat [Frostmoon], this ticket was his only way to get there without having to go over the slow procedure of passing all tower islands.
— I'm a cheater, just like you, "The Cheater's Hall" sent me to assist you since you alone won't be enough. Just don't get wiped out immediately, please.
Noah got intrigued by the message he had just received. So, this enemy was apparently so strong that two cheaters would be needed. He couldn't feel any presence in the near kilometer. No enemy was coming from anywhere. No one was scouting him or looking at him, excluding higher beings which were not physically on the island, where he was.
Meanwhile, on the 12th tower island, everything was chaos. They had just lost their leader and political brawls and scandals were going on all over the place.
"I told you he was a stupid leader, he would've sent an elite guard, and we would've won. He decided to personally go despite our warnings and lost just because he underestimated the weakling."
"The entity will go down anyway, why are you so angry?"
"He is right, the director may have been foolish, but the merely appeared entity will now pay dearly. It doesn't even know what it did."
"The catastrophe penalty will have to be paid by us though and it won't be cheap."
"Well, yes, indeed, but isn't that the smallest we could do to repay our debt and show our gratitude to the director? We rose to prosperity during the centuries when he ruled."
"Fine for that but what about the Policy? We won't ever be able to interact with the lower islands anymore after the destruction occurs."
"This is all a punishment we should accept on behalf of the leader. He made the wrong choice and now all of us should pay the price as his council."
— I'll be there in 1 minute, hold still.
Back on the battlefield of Noah and [The Faculty Directory], every second was ticking slowly. Even the team members had felt it around 2 minutes ago and Noah had managed to teleport them a couple of kilometers away.
Suddenly, he felt it, a diabolical, demonic aura, filled with hatred. It rendered all of his mind protection skills and gears ineffective. The world began spinning and everything went black.
「[The Faculty Director] entered "Crimson State", current number of Locks: 10 」
「You have been defeated. 」
「Myth-grade Achievement rewards distribution is pending, final verification has been confirmed 」
「Do you want to use "Crimson Heart"? Note that after effect is over, your defeat will not be undone 」
[Yes] [No]
[Item: Cheatcode Fragment — Crimson Heart Restore (Limited)]
[Effect: Let's you return to Real Heart after Crimson Heart Effect is over, can only be used in battles against enemies in "Crimson State"]
[Coin Cost: -5 000 000 000 000/use (+2 500 000 000 000/use)]