Floor 4 did not look like a dungeon.
That was the first problem, the second problem was that it looked too normal.
Kael stood at the edge of the transition zone staring at what appeared to be wide open valley bathed in soft amber light. Tall grass swayed in the wind. Stone ruins dotted the landscape like the remains of an ancient civilization that had collapsed and cleaned up after itself. The sky above was an endless gradient of warm orange, frozen in a perpetual late afternoon.
But something fell off, there was no oppressive aura, no killing intent, no ominous boss music playing in his head.
"....Yeah...no" Kael muttered "This floor is lying".
The tower never gave anything for free, he stepped forward anyway.
The moment his foot touched the grass a faint vibration rippled through the ground. Not an attack, not a trap, as if something is noticing him.
A translucent message appeared.
[Floor 4 - Nullified Meadows]
[Environment Type: Stable/Deceptive]
"Deceptive, of course it is".
Kael sighed and adjusted the strap of his dagger. After the hidden shelter and the training, the endless repetition of drawing lines until his arms felt like jelly floor 3 no longer scared him.
Floor 4 however felt wrong in a different way, this wasn't danger screaming at him, this was danger pretending it didn't exist. He crouched and tapped the ground.
A familiar ripple spread from his fingertip.
[Terrain: Nullgrass]
[Durability: Low]
[Mana Conductivity: Near zero]
[Hidden Property: Erased pathways detected]
"Erased pathways?" Kael frowned, this wasn't normal description.
He tapped again. Another spot. Then another.
Everywhere he checked the same line appeared.
Erased pathways.
A cold shiver ran down his spine.
"Okay so this floor... used to have something and now it doesn't".
He straightened slowly "And somehow that feels personal".
The first monster appeared without warning.
One moment the grass was swaying peacefully, the next it folded inward like wet paper collapsing into itself. From the distortion rose a creature that looked like a half finished idea.
It had the rough shape of a wolf, but its body flickered parts of it phasing in and out of existence. Its eyes were hollow voids like someone had erased the concept of pupils.
[Null hound - Level 6]
Kael didn't panic, he stepped back and drew a short horizontal line in front of him and braced with the proper posture.
The null hound jumped with precise speed.
It slammed into the visible boundary and rebounded hard crashing into the grass with a distorted shout, there was no recoil damage, no backlash, just clean repulsion.
"Good, it still works.
The hound recovered quickly its form stabilizing as it growled.
Kael moved but not forward. But sideways.
He drew another line this time vertical cutting off the hound's path and the hound reacted instinctively leaping straight into the second boundary.
It howled as its unstable body shuddered, Kael dashed in and stabbed.
The dagger sank into something that felt like thick mist wrapped around bone. The hound convulsed once , then collapsed inward folding into itself until nothing remained.
A faint sound sounded.
[EXP GAINED]
[Line Drawer Proficiency +0.3%]
"Oh now the proficiency is getting increased, this never happened in floor 3, maybe I'm going in proper direction, well done Kael"
Kael exhaled, then the loot appeared.
A small translucent crystal hovered where the hound had died.
[Null core fragment]
He picked it up, it felt light, too light.
He tapped it.
[Item: Null Core Fragment]
[Use: Crafting/Trade]
[Hidden Effect: Minor erosion of surrounding mana structure]
Kael froze "Erosion?".
He didn't activate anything, he was holding it and yet the grass beneath his boots had started to fade and wither. Like it was gently erased.
Kael dropped the fragment instantly.
The grass stopped fading.
Silence returned.
He stared at the fragment on the ground.
"..Don't tell me that the eraser is doing things even when I'm not using it"
The fragment flickered once, then vanished, it didn't shattered nor absorbed, it was just gone.
Kael screamed internally.
"No, No no no no that was Loot , sellable loot!"
A faint message appeared.
[Item interaction failed]
[Cause: Passive Interference Detected]
Kael stared at the air.
"...You couldn't have told me that before disappeared?".
The tower did not respond.
So rude.
*****
Some time went by and by the time Kael killed the Fifth Null hound a pattern had emerged.
Every time he stayed too close to a monsters remains..
They disappeared faster than usual, they are not looted, not consumed just erased.
And the more he fought the more subtle the effect became,
Grasses faded slightly where he stood for too long. Small rocks lost their sharp edges. A broken pillar in the distance looked....shorter than before.
Tap confirmed it.
[Object integrity: Reduced]
[Cause: Undefined Influence]
Kael swallowed "So eraser isn't just a trash tier talent but its creating more problems now".
He moved his fingers, he hadn't activated it not even once.
And yet the world around him was quietly making space.
That scared him more than any monster.
Kael moved deeper into the meadows.
The terrain changed subtly ruins became more frequent. Cracked stone walkways emerged from the grass, leading nowhere. Sometimes he'd see what looked like an entire building foundation only for tap reveal.
[Structure: Deleted]
[Residual Concept Data: 3%]
".....Deleted" Kael repeated "Yeah.... that erased tracks".
Combat became smoother.
He stopped overusing lines and started placing them precisely. Short steps. Angles surfaces. Temporary foothold to reposition. Not barriers but using as a tool.
His proficiency ticked up slowly
0.4%
0.5%
0.6%
Tap improved too.
He learned to use it quickly, lightly. A brush of fingers while passing an object, no lingering contact, no unnecessary data overload.
He avoided tapping monsters directly now.
Not because he couldn't.
Because he felt something watching when he tried.
As if tower itself was measuring him.
****
It happened near a shallow basin filled with pale fog, Kael sensed the danger late.
Three Null Hounds emerged at once, their bodies stabilizing faster than the other, these monsters were higher level of inner circle and smarter.
[Null Hound -- Level 9]
"..Okay that's new, did I venture too much?"
He drew a line, then another.
The first hound was repelled, the second dodged, the third.... passed through the boundary.
Kael's eyes widened.
"What!!!!!???"
The boundary didn't break, the hound didn't phase. It simply ignored it.
Tap flared instinctively.
[Warning: Entity Partially Nullified]
[Boundary Interaction: Reduced Effectiveness]
Kael swore and rolled aside as the hound jumped, claws grazed his shoulder, tearing fabric and skin.
Pain flared, not lethal but it was real. his HP dropped down.
He hit the ground hard, instinctively slammed his palm down.
Tap activated not on the monster but on the floor.
The world shifted.
A illusion door appeared beneath him.
Not visible, but felt something wrongness.
A place where the floor didn't exist.
Kael didn't think, he grabbed the door and pulled it out, the ground opened.
*****
Kael dropped straight down.
The meadow vanished above him as the floor folded shut like nothing had ever been there.
Wind roared past his ears.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME----??!!!"
He drew the line mid fall.
Then another, then another.
White lines formed staggered steps in midair. Kael slammed into the first one, knees buckling pain shooting up his legs, he barely managed to roll to the second, then the third.
By the time he landed his legs were shaking.
But he was alive, he lay there panting staring at the ceiling above,
This looks very familiar isn't it , same stone, same runes, that door which had the Hero sword in it.
"...I'm Back"
The Architects Shelter.
[Hidden Architects Shelter: Recognition Confirmed]
Kael laughed weakly.
"So the tower send me back to the Architect shelter for more training, I know why, its because of eraser isn't it?"
He pushed himself up slowly "Guess we're not done yet".
And somewhere deep within the towers unseen layers something ancient stirred, it started to be attentive towards Kael Ardent the Delimiter.