Chapter 2
January 1, 2024
(From the perspective of the protagonist)
I never imagined my death would be this cruel.
Blood was draining from my body, making me drift in and out of consciousness. Around me lay the lifeless bodies of seven friends—people who, within a year, had become closer than family. But now, in a single moment, all that was shattered.
All because of this cursed tower.
If not for the tower, none of this would have happened.
For a single legendary item, fathers slaughtered sons, brothers turned on brothers, wives betrayed husbands. That's the kind of madness this tower bred. Ours wasn't an exception—it was simply our turn.
As my life slipped away, warm memories rose like fading echoes. They made me want to hold on. Yet, the fury I felt toward those two betrayers burned stronger than death.
Maybe if they hadn't betrayed us, we'd still be alive.
But now… now it's too late for regrets.
---
Eight bodies lay scattered across the floor of the dungeon. Seven were already dead—killed by poison. Only one still clung to life: Jack.
He wasn't lucky.
The paralysis that coursed through his body made death feel like a slow, inescapable torment. He could see, he could think, but he couldn't move. All he could do was wait.
---
It had all started a year ago.
One day, without warning, a massive tower appeared on Earth. Ten million people either willingly entered or were forcibly pulled inside. No one knew why or how.
They found themselves in a place called the Test Ground—a space as vast as the Earth itself. No one could believe such an impossible thing could exist inside a tower. But disbelief faded quickly.
Within a month, one million people had died.
Then, a voice echoed through the Test Ground:
> "To proceed to the First Floor of the Tower, each of you must slay one hundred monsters. These monsters will drop magical items and gold coins that can make you stronger."
And so, the slaughter began.
People died in waves. The strongest monster in the Test Ground was the One-Horned Wolf—a beast that could tear through hundreds at once. Alongside it roamed Green Goblins, One-Tail Foxes, Skeletons, and Slimes—the last of which, while weak, were often underestimated.
But humans are clever. They realized escape meant survival, and survival meant killing. With time, fear gave way to greed. Magical weapons and gear, dropped by monsters, became addictive—more tempting than freedom. People stopped trying to leave.
They wanted more.
As they grew stronger, they began challenging the dungeons scattered across the Test Ground.
A dungeon wasn't just a prison—it was a tomb of monsters and deadly traps. But the rewards… rare magical items no monster could ever drop. Items powerful enough to let one person slay an entire pack of One-Horned Wolves. People were willing to die just for a chance.
---
In one such unexplored dungeon, a team of a thousand ventured in.
What awaited them was death.
Only thirty survived the traps and the Skeleton Army—undead monsters that moved mindlessly, but overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Luckily, this dungeon had no final boss. If it had, they all would've perished.
But then came the legendary item.
Greed exploded. Alliances broke. No one held back.
In the end, only two remained:
A boy wielding a Lightning Longsword, whose blade had cut down half the team.
And a girl with a Poison Short Sword, who finished off the rest.
Her heart was ice, but not empty. She had a reason: she needed to survive, for the sake of her family. In this tower, weakness meant death. And if that death came from a monster or from someone she once loved—it didn't matter.
That's why she left her own husband—paralyzed and helpless—behind in the dungeon.
Not because she hated him.
But because the boy beside her—wild, bloodthirsty—would've killed them both otherwise.
She made a choice.
One she hoped he would one day understand.
---
(Back to Jack)
I'm still alive. Barely.
My entire body is paralyzed. I can't move. I can't scream. All I can do is think—about how I never learned to use the magical items others so easily wielded. I had weapons, but never used them.
Maybe I didn't need to.
Not when Megha was by my side.
But now… she's gone. She betrayed me.
Even if she never loved me, we were married. That meant something. Or so I thought. Maybe the boy she left with was her ex. Maybe she never meant to stay with me.
I don't know. I don't even care anymore.
I just want to stop feeling this pain.
Then, something strange happened.
The ring on my left hand—**not my wedding ring, but a slime-drop I'd once gotten and forgotten about—**began to glow.
> "Welcome, Master."
I thought I was hallucinating. But no A 3D projection appeared from the ring. I couldn't move, but I could see and hear it clearly.
> "Congratulations, Master. You've unlocked 1% of the Ring of Beelzebub. Skill unlocked: Gluttony."
Suddenly, a black liquid surged from my body, flooding the entire dungeon. The magical items scattered around, the corpses of enemies and friends—all of it began to melt into the black pool.
And then…
It returned to me.
The black liquid entered my body, and something changed.
My wounds were gone. My body—healed. Stronger.
Megha's poison should've killed even a One-Horned Wolf. But I survived. I could move again.
---
> "Master, we are currently inside the Tower of Sloth. As the wielder of the Ring of Beelzebub, you cannot use any tower-made items except those of 'God Level'."
The projection was like a floating emoji, shifting expressions as it spoke.
> "I must warn you: even touching a B-Class item could now kill you. Your ring absorbs magical energy—it's both a curse and a blessing."
No wonder I'd been weak all this time.
This ring… this cursed blessing… had been draining everything I touched.
---
> "But you now have a choice."
The dungeon trembled. Monsters approached. Thousands.
I had no weapons. No way to fight. The Gluttony skill had saved me once—but I could only use it once per day.
> "Master," the ring said, smiling mischievously, "I'm not from this tower. I can teleport you out. But I don't know where you'll land—it could even be on your world's moon."
> "Anywhere is better than here," I replied. "Just get me out."
> "There is risk…"
> "Do it."
---
Suddenly, the room erupted in dark light.
And in the next moment, jack was gone.
---
Somewhere Else…
Far from the dungeon, something blazed through the sky. It crashed deep into a forested mountain, leaving behind a massive crater.
Inside, a young boy lay unconscious. His body was burned from the fall, and he wore nothing but a strange black ring.
Miraculously, he survived. A nearby couple discovered him and took him in. They had no children of their own. They named him Alex.
He told them he had no memories. Maybe he was lying. Maybe not.
But days later, as he recovered, a shadow fell over the sky.
A tower.
But not the one he had seen before.
This one was different.
This was the Tower of Gluttony.
---
To be continued…
Alex's new adventure begins here. Stay with us to see where the path leads.