:Hatchling.
If translated literally into Korean, it means "baby dragon."

So I worried.

‘It seems like the range will be narrow?’

That was just a misconception.

Fwoosh—!

Even if it's called a hatchling, a dragon is still a dragon.
The breath emitted by a dragon was beyond human understanding.

A jet of black darkness was sprayed forward.
The range was surprisingly wide, shocking me.

The nearby red dragon, of course, as well as the other players watching from behind were swept up in the breath.

“Ahh! Aaaaaaaaaah!”

What I knew about breath was that it spewed fire.
The blue dragon spat water, and the white dragon expelled ice.
But the black dragon's breath was different.

Could I describe it as smoke?

The darkness, close to a gas, spread out rapidly.
Players touched by the darkness screamed.

“Ah, aaaaaaah! Sa-save me!”
“It hurts. It hurts aaaaaah!”

Even though I wasn’t directly hit by the breath, I felt the pain that the players were experiencing.
It was that horrific a scream that erupted.

Kyaaaah!

The red dragon, which had taken on the form of a little girl, returned to its original appearance.
It seemed that dragons also screamed in pain before the breath, equally vulnerable.

“Grrk!”

A player who was outside the range of the hatchling breath fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth.

‘Hegemon color?’
Is there ambition in this Tower of Struggle!?
No, it wasn’t that.

“To die by a dragon's breath as a last-ditch effort.”
A middle-aged white man, dressed in a shirt and pants, muttered as he looked up at the flying red dragon.

“Still ugly creatures, aren't they?”

The roar of the dragon shook the souls of the lower races.
Dragon fear.
It was difficult to endure with just ordinary mental strength.

“…But how are you still standing?”

The white man from the Middle Realm.
He wasn’t an ordinary human.

My instincts rang alarm bells.

“Although I look like this on the outside, I actually have quite decent skills.”
The man said with a slight smile.

“Are you from the Abysspell clan?”
“……”
“Your breath is still at the level of a young one. A hatchling? A polymorph using hatchling skills. How interesting.”

Abysspell.
Like the red dragon earlier.
Why does he think I’m from Abysspell?

‘What the hell is that, damn it.’

I had a rough idea.
They must be referring to the black dragon as Abysspell from that dimension.
Or perhaps it's a clan name.

‘Kim, Park, Oh. Something like that.’

I couldn’t be sure.
I kept my mouth shut.

‘Silence is golden.’

The white man drew his sword.
It was a one-handed sword identical to the longsword I had, but its aura felt different.
His stance was sharpened.

“Why aren’t you answering? Are you scared?”
“……”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. I’ve seen rude Abysspell like you before.”

The man said, kicking off the ground.

Boom—!

With a strong leap, he chased after the fleeing red dragon.
In the blink of an eye, he had distanced himself.

I didn’t have the courage to chase after him.

It was only after the white man disappeared that I could breathe a sigh of relief.
Now I realized I was alive.

‘He must be confident because he can kill the red dragon.’

‘It's a pity I can’t absorb the dragon’s soul…’

I almost died but I survived, right?
Time to celebrate.

Instead, the side income was quite nice.

[Absorbing the soul of Kurak (Orc).]
[Strength increases by 0.01.]
[Absorbing the soul of Elna (Elf).]
[Agility increases by 0.01.]
[Absorbing the soul of Jayce (Human).]
[Intelligence increases by 0.01.]
[….]

Dozens of people died from one breath.
But it wasn’t a huge increase.

‘Less than the tutorial clear bonus.’

I was glad I had collected all the clear bonuses.

And one more thing.
About the Illusionary Grimoire option, which was one of the effects of the illusion.

‘Is this the normal usage?’

Or is it a bug caused by my tooltip error?

The truth was unknowable.
But what mattered was that it had helped me a lot.

‘Changing the race designation in the status window with the illusion grants the racial specialization.’

I swallowed hard.
I realized that the performance of the Illusionary Grimoire varied greatly depending on how it was applied.

“Ugh, ugh….”

Players who had fallen from the dragon fear were slowly regaining consciousness.
Most showed similar reactions, clutching their heads.

“Suddenly a dragon?”
“Wasn’t that guy an Earthling? How can he use breath?”
“Run! Damn it!”

The quick-witted ones had already fled.
Those who remained nearby muttered, slow and oblivious.

‘What should I do now?’

Should I run up and strike?
I could probably kill them.

I shook my head.

‘Those guys think of me as a black dragon now.’
I had showcased overwhelming power through the hatchling breath.
At least on the first floor, there shouldn’t be any players who could endure this breath.

‘Excluding special cases like that red dragon earlier.’

There was no need to show a flustered display of flailing limbs when I could easily massacre dozens with a single breath.
To put it simply, I needed to maintain my presence.

I had to instill the feeling I got from seeing that middle-aged white man into the brains of these insignificant players.

‘…It’s strange that I’m PK-ing in the first place.’

The reason I killed other players was that they recklessly charged at me.

If I didn’t fight, I would die.
Questioning the moral and ethical values of modern society was, honestly, quite foolish.

But now it was different.
There was no need to kill.

‘Killing just for 0.01 points feels, frankly, a bit much.’

I passed by the players who were trembling in fear.

“Hmm.”

The atmosphere was completely different from before.
I liked it a lot.

‘No one likes being ignored.’

But then a problem arose.

“Hey…”

Players who had witnessed my true power began to flee as I approached.

“Ugh, uaaaaah!”
“Save me!”

Recalling the mission on the first floor, this was a bad omen.

“Let’s team up with me…”
“We’re a team!”
“That’s right! We’ll form a team!”

The martial artists, who had been clashing swords with each other, suddenly declared their team formation, shaking hands.

Tzuzut—.

Then they vanished into particles.
They were transmitted somewhere.

“……”

Everyone started to avoid me.

[For your information, the number of people in the field is limited. Players who cannot form a team will be eliminated. What does elimination in the Tower of Struggle mean? It means extinction!]

At that moment, the administrator, who provided crucial information, seemed to be warning me, sending chills down my spine.

“Damn it.”

I didn’t have the luxury to dawdle.
I had to find team members somehow.

“Run! A crazy dragon is coming!”
In a daze, I became the seeker in a game of tag.

The three players who had declared team formation to avoid the black dragon realized they were now in the waiting room for successful candidates and let out a sigh of relief, realizing the black dragon was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is this…?”
“I survived. I’m alive.”
“Alive? What do you mean?”

And they drew their swords again.

“Did that bastard stab me in the back?”
“Shut up.”

The grudge that had formed since the tutorial wasn’t something that could be easily severed.
They glared at each other, ready to clash swords.

“Be quiet, please.”

But there were beings more dangerous than the black dragon in that place.

“Because the exam is in progress.”

The head administrator of the first floor, Blinky Liu Creamscale, glanced at the martial artists.

At first glance, he looked like a child.
But the being curled up inside was not something that could be simply called a child.

“……”

The sensitive martial artists realized who Blinky was.
This was an ability separate from martial arts.

‘That one is….’
‘More dangerous than that one earlier.’

A child, a woman, an old man.
Three beings to be wary of in the martial world.

But the cute-looking administrator belonged to all three categories.
Is that even possible?

‘There are occasionally old monsters who have succeeded in reverse reincarnation in the Central Plains.’

The Tower of Struggle is a place where nonsensical sorcery runs rampant.
It was entirely plausible.

‘…But I’ve never seen an old monster act like a child, even in speech.’

Though I briefly felt doubt, my actions were swift.

The three martial artist players quickly sheathed their swords.
The most important thing to survive in the Central Plains is awareness.

They were quite perceptive.

“Alright.”

Seeing their compliant demeanor, Blinky smiled, seeming pleased.
She then turned her gaze to the screen illuminating the testing grounds.

“Whoa…”
“While we’re struggling, everyone was leisurely watching from here.”

The players who had cleared early gathered in the waiting room to observe the exam.
Those who formed teams during the tutorial omitted this step and gathered here to await the next exam.

“They ended up dying.”
“It seems that the title of Dragon Slayer wasn’t obtained frivolously.”
“If I had been in the middle line back then, it would have been impossible for a human to roam around calling themselves a Dragon Slayer.”

The first floor administrator wasn’t just Blinky.
There seemed to be a dozen or so administrators present.

They whispered among themselves, evaluating the players.
Though they called it evaluation, it was more akin to sharing impressions about the scene.

‘…There are no ordinary humans.’

Each one was a transcendent being.
They appeared to be existences beyond what was merely heard of in rumors in the Central Plains.

The three martial artist players exchanged glances, lowering their heads.

To eliminate future troubles, it is only right to deal with one’s enemies.
But.

‘Enemies or not.’

Trying to deal with enemies right now could very well cost me my neck.

They opened their eyes, which had been sharp for preemptive measures, wide.
They put on kind expressions and concentrated on the peculiar screen.

The field where they had just been.
The black dragon was chasing the players there.

—Don’t come near me!
—Let’s go together. Don’t leave me behind!

Players who had seen the dragon's breath fled from the black dragon.

‘Why aren’t they looking for teammates? With that much power, they should be able to handle it.’
‘Could it be that they enjoy hunting?’
‘…If I had been just a little late. I would have died without being able to resist.’

The three martial artists, unaware of the truth, sighed in relief at the same time.

“……”

Their breaths were so loud that they noticed each other.

Their eyes met.
It seemed they felt the same fear as I did.

‘The administrator said that everyone is equal in the Tower of Struggle.’
Though born with different talents, no one knows how they will die.

Whether they will reach the top.
Or whether they will be eliminated.
That was determined by the players themselves.

‘Would it even matter if we fought among ourselves…?’
‘Is there any meaning in that?’
‘That dragon’s breath could easily melt us all away, even if we squabble.’

In a place where such monsters breathe, it might be nothing for mere mortals to stab each other in the back.
Such a grudge wouldn’t even qualify.

The grievances accumulated during the tutorial melted away.

“……”

The three martial artists again focused on the screen.

“That young friend seems to have remarkable concentration. Even in this situation, he’s changing into martial artist clothes without bringing out his wings. I think I need to learn a thing or two from him.”
“……”

The young friend the white-haired girl mentioned was the black dragon, who had been spewing darkness, wearing the clothes of a fallen martial artist.

“Looks good!”

Once he changed clothes, he felt different.
Now he looked like a young man who had just stepped into the martial world.

‘Oh, it’s a relief I remembered his face.’

Once again, the martial artists sighed in relief.

The black dragon met the players.
It seemed the black dragon had intruded into a crowd that was bickering.

“Which clan’s emblem is that?”
“The Hwasan and Jeomchang clans. I don’t know the others. Given that they are confronting the Baekdo, it’s probably the Heukdo.”

A young man on the administrator's side answered Blinky’s question.
He was a man dressed in a black martial outfit.

“Is he a player you know?”
“I don’t know. My era ended a long time ago.”
“You know that the invitation to the tower isn’t straightforward. He might be a senior to Go-un.”
“It’s not Go-un, it’s Un. The surname is Dokgo.”
“The names of martial artists are so difficult.”
“……”

Dokgo Un glanced at Blinky with a sidelong look, keeping his mouth shut.
He barely held back the words he wanted to say.

“Ah! The Heukdo is attacking our junior!”

As expected, the moment he put on the martial artist’s clothes, trouble erupted.
Fearless saplings wielded their swords.

“Ahh!”

The three martial artists who had decided to team up to avoid the black dragon sighed in regret.

But then.

“…?”
“Why are they dodging their swords…?”
“They don’t seem to have practiced any martial arts.”

Questions arose from all sides.
Only Blinky exclaimed in admiration.

“Indeed, our junior! Such remarkable concentration!”
“……”
“Even in such a situation, the will to uphold RP! That’s amazing! I need to learn!”

Had they gone insane after spending so long in the tower?
Dokgo Un sighed silently as he glanced at the deranged white dragon.

“Wow! Our junior killed them all! I wonder what he plans to do?”
“……”
“It seems he’s going to pretend to be a martial artist and form a team!”

Soon, the error player arrived in the waiting room with two martial artists.
The players who were misunderstanding his identity slowly distanced themselves from him.

“Please wait a moment! The crew making is still in progress!”

Blinky looked at the chaotic atmosphere, calming it down as she gazed at the error player.

[‘Dragon Eye (SS)’ is activated.]

When she first entered the tower, her Dragon Eye was A-rank.
The Tower of Struggle had assessed her.

After continually growing while ascending the tower, her Dragon Eye reached SS-rank.

‘Nothing particularly changed though!’

The golden eyes of the elder dragon became able to see through all things.

‘Oh!’

Information about the error player popped into her mind.
Among the unimpressive stats, one captured Blinky's attention.

【Race – Black Dragon】
‘He’s a real dragon!’

Not an ordinary dragon.
A dragon fully immersed in its identity created for amusement.

‘…So he won’t pretend to know me, huh.’

When the young red dragon had provoked him, the black dragon had shown an unusually sensitive reaction.
He had even exhaled breath without hiding his identity.

‘No, he’s not revealing his identity.’

I finally noticed his skill.

[Hatchling Breath][C]
The breath of a newly hatched red dragon. Emits breath forward, inflicting 『5,000%』 fire damage.

Hatchling Breath.

‘I just used the skill I have!’

Blinky couldn’t take her eyes off him, admiring his focus.

[The Illusionary Grimoire detects the activation of ‘Dragon Eye (SS)’.]
[‘Block Lv.1’ is nullified by ‘Dragon Eye (SS)’.]
‘Damn.’

The administrator, who spoke with a lisp at the end of his words, was now looking at me.
I averted my gaze, fearing trouble because I had contributed to the death of the red dragon.
It was hard to breathe.