Pick Me Up!

Chapter 274: Catastrophe (5) (1)

The next evening.

On the second floor of the waiting room, in the hangar, heroes preparing for the 80th-floor expedition gathered.

Their numbers were about a thousand in total. This assault team, composed solely of heroes ranked at least five stars, represented the entirety of Townia’s power.

‘She’s leaving nothing behind.’

The gems poured into the current assault team, if converted into cash, exceeded ten million won.

It was the power cultivated over nearly half a year. If the 80th-floor assault failed, Anytng would be left destitute. Starting over with hero development from scratch would be the only option.

‘Even Korea’s famed masters have bowed here.’

The 80th floor of Pick Me Up.

Out of a hundred million masters, only five were allowed to ascend. It was a gate of trials.

In reality, out of those five, four possessed seven-star heroes, leaving just one master among the ordinary who had cleared the 80th floor.

‘It’s absurd.’

The difficulty of the 80th floor could be summed up in one word.

No matter how challenging the previous stages were, there had always been hints for clearing them. On the 80th floor, there were none. No hints at all. Masters and their heroes had to forge their own path to victory. And, of course, if their gamble failed, their heroes would be reduced to nothing.

‘Haa.’

I took a deep breath.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

This was my final trial to prove my worth.

If I failed here, my right to choose would vanish.

Neither victory nor return would remain.

[Pick Me Up!]

[RPG MOBILE GAME]

[Start Game]

[Account linking required for play.]

A game access window appeared on the right side of my vision.

A knight holding a sword and shield, with a solemn expression, appeared in the background.

The screen looked slightly different from the usual login display.

[Attention!]

[Currently, Pick Me Up is running on the ‘NUX PLAYER’. Beware of macro use. Accounts caught using macros will be permanently banned without warning.]

Anytng, who usually played on a phone, was now using Nux Player.

Nox was a program that ran phone apps on a computer. Though it had the downside of requiring complicated and annoying verification steps, once set up, it allowed gameplay on a larger screen.

‘She’s gone all out.’

I pictured Anytng, sitting solemnly at a computer with the door locked.

It wasn’t a bad choice. Playing on a computer meant not missing even the smallest variables. The mouse controls were also more convenient than touch.

The verification window soon appeared, and Anytng registered the digital certificate and entered the password.

[*Master Anytng, welcome to Pick Me Up!]

A holographic window appeared with a cheerful sound.

[Loading complete.]

[TOUCH! (Select)]

Anytng entered the main screen of Pick Me Up.

Heroes waiting for deployment in the hangar appeared immediately.

[Attention!]

[This mission allows unlimited hero deployment without capacity restrictions! If your party lacks members, replenish them using paid or free summons!]

[This mission has a ‘Fleet Deployment Restriction’ in place!]

[Tips/ Assemble a raid by grouping parties.]

[Tips/ Missions with fleet restrictions cannot use airships.]

A mission warning window popped up.

This mission had two main characteristics: it was an ‘unlimited mission’ allowing unlimited hero deployment, and it was a ‘fleet-restricted mission’ where airships were unusable.

I clicked my tongue.

If the fleet’s cannon fire could be used, the tactical scope would be much broader.

The absence of a vanguard and the inability to use the fleet were what differentiated it from the 80th floor of Niflheimr.

“You’re here.”

Jenna gripped her bow tightly, looking at me.

Neither Velkist, nor I said a word.

I surveyed the hangar.

It was packed full of heroes. Warriors, mages, archers, and even rare hidden classes.

Men and women of all ages were ready for battle.

“My warriors, I trust that you will fight well.”

The current raid leader, Roderick, continued his speech from the podium.

His voice was deep and blunt, unlike Edis’s, yet carried an inexplicable strength.

“If we complete this battle safely, you will be one step closer to returning home. The fate of Townia depends on this battle.”

They must have guessed it by now if they had any sense.

Why they were brought to the tower and what this mission was for.

Each of them gripped their weapons tighter, preparing themselves.

[http://go.onewinch.tv/ – One Inch TV]

[Pick Me Up! – 80th Floor of Taonia]

[Broadcaster – WindFlow]

[Viewers: 107,053]

Meanwhile, Anytng had set up his final fallback.

‘He’s live-streaming.’

Previously, he had uploaded gameplay videos only after clearing missions. Now, he was broadcasting live.

And at the highlight of Pick Me Up, the 80th floor. The viewership count had reached a staggering 100,000. If you included the viewers watching illegal rebroadcasts by other streamers, it would more than double.

It was expected in a way.

Videos of 80th-floor challenges were extremely rare.

Even I hadn’t uploaded my Niflheimr 80th-floor clear video.

The number of viewers was skyrocketing even as we spoke.

The chat moved so fast that it was impossible to read.

[Try21: Came to watch all the heroes get wiped.]

[BlackCow: Even if they settle for this, they’d live with ranker treatment. Here to prove he’s a sucker, right? The 80th floor wasn’t meant to be cleared.]

[Praisethesun: ＼＼[+]／／ Praise! The! Sun!]

[breakhead3: LOL. He’s insane. Trying to clear the 80th floor? Does he think he’s Loki?]

[Neven13: I think accounts 1 to 5 are all run by admins. The 80th-floor difficulty is seriously weird. No regular player could clear it.]

[Tactical7: Watch them all die and rage quit! Confirm the game’s doom! Let the sales ranking plummet!]

[LilyZzang: Please fail! Please! Please! Lose! Annihilation! Total destruction! Kill them all!]

Most viewers were there to watch Anytng fail.

Nothing is as sweet to a third party as watching someone else’s painstaking work crumble. Occasionally, supportive messages appeared, but they were quickly buried by the flood.

I turned my attention away from the stream.

What they would see would be an edited version of the real experience.

The simple game graphics couldn’t capture even 1% of what I actually saw and felt.

<Are you ready?>

Roderick’s voice came through my earpiece.

It seemed his pre-battle speech was finished.

[Attention!]

[This mission is extremely difficult and may require significant time. Ensure you have enough spare time and that no tasks are pending before you start playing! Once you start, you cannot go back.]

[Optional Mission – 80th Floor: Do you really wish to proceed?]

[Yes / No]

Click.

I tightly gripped the hilt of Bifrost.

[Yes (Selected) / No]

Anytng touched the deployment button.

In the corner of the hangar, Iselle appeared in a burst of stardust, twirling her hands.

[Haaaah! Let’s gooooo!]

Beads of sweat appeared on Iselle’s forehead.

Concentrating hard, she stretched out her hand.

[Open, dimensional rift!]

Woooong.

A giant, mirror-like dimensional gate appeared.

<All forces, move out!>

At the front of the hangar.

The standard bearer raised the red flag and stepped into the gate.

Following the command, a thousand heroes began to enter the mission in sequence.

“Let’s go too.”

I stepped forward.

The goal was the mirror, standing dozens of meters ahead.

‘Preparation is complete.’

All that was left was conquest.

Clearing the 80th floor would make full mission completion achievable.

Beyond the 81st floor, the difficulty wasn’t particularly steep.

“Remember what we talked about yesterday. No matter how impossible it looks….”

“There’s always a way, right?”

“At least half of the people here will die. Don’t let it affect you. Just focus on our task.”

“Object capture and special target elimination.”

Velkist muttered.

I nodded. The basic war effort would be left to Roderick and the Master.

We needed to prioritize what only our party could do.

<So it begins.>

Crackle!

Crimson lightning sparked from my shoulder.

Halkion clicked his beak and spoke.

<The future of Townia rests on this mission. We are with you. Win, and win well.>

Halkion vanished as a bolt of lightning.

I smirked slightly and walked forward.

[AZ: Seris-Chan…]

[Nihaku: Master, good luck!]

Seemed like every kind of viewer was watching.

I hated being a spectacle, but there was no helping it.

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Pick Me Up! | A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War! | The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!