Awakening: Reincarnating With the SSS-Level Extraction Talent

After stepping through the ominous gate of the [Tower of Nightmares], Alex arrived in a place known only as the [Depths], a warped domain where the line between reality and dream had already begun to blur.

The moment his feet touched the ground, the air around him changed, becoming heavier, colder, and thick with something that felt far too close to malice.

He didn’t rush forward. Not yet.

This place wasn’t like the other towers, and he could already feel it in his bones.

His instincts, sharpened by countless battles and deadly encounters, screamed that caution was not just important here, it was everything.

There was no doubt in his mind that none of the previous participants had entered this place with as much strength as he currently possessed.

But then again, raw power wasn’t always the answer.

There had to be a reason why no one had ever completed this tower, not even once.

That fact alone carried more weight than any stat or level.

It was built to trap people, to consume them.

“I need to stay sharp,” Alex muttered, eyes scanning the distant shadows, “There’s no telling how this place actually works.”

Unlike the [Tower of Destiny], which had provided him with clear instructions to ascend to the top, and the [Tower of Wrath], which laid out its brutal trials plainly, this tower remained shrouded in ambiguity.

It had only told him to “escape.”

Escape from what? A place like this didn’t even have clear walls, much less an exit.

Right now, he was standing in an unending landscape, suspended somewhere between darkness and oblivion.

The environment felt too big to be real, and yet every inch of it pressed against his mind like a weight trying to crush his thoughts.

He was stuck in a domain governed by nightmares, and worse, one that belonged to the [God of Nightmares] himself.

Alex exhaled, his breath visible in the chilled air.

“This place is too damn massive to try anything reckless. I just need to survive. I’ve got more than twenty days to clear this thing, anyway.”

That was exactly why he’d saved this trial for last.

Unlike before, he wasn’t rushing against time or desperately trying to reach some impossible goal.

Now, he had time.

But that didn’t mean he wanted to linger here.

The aura of this domain clung to his skin like damp mist, crawling over him, whispering things he couldn’t quite hear.

The longer he stayed, the more likely it was that the nightmares would get to him.

Pushing away the unease, he left the starting area behind and moved forward, navigating the fractured terrain ahead.

He had to leap over massive gaps in the stone floor, each one leading down into a void so black it looked like it could swallow light itself.

He didn’t know what lay at the bottom, and he didn’t want to find out.

The path ahead was uneven and crumbling, forcing him into bursts of agile parkour just to stay on solid ground.

And of course, just when he thought he could make things easier for himself,

He tried to unfurl his wings. All six of them.

They burst out behind him in a show of radiant energy and dark light, only to suddenly lock up and vanish, sucked back into his body by an unseen force.

[You are not permitted to use wings or anything that could help you survive this nightmare.]

“Of course,” Alex muttered with an irritated sigh.

So that was why he had to stay grounded.

If he wanted to survive this, he’d have to do it with his feet planted firmly on this cursed ground.

The first thirty minutes passed in silence.

He encountered nothing, no enemies, no challenges, no signs of life.

Just the occasional echo of dripping water and the soft howl of wind that came from nowhere and carried the scent of old death.

As he moved deeper, he began to see corpses, long-decayed skeletons strewn across the stone and shattered pathways.

And these weren’t just human.

There were elves, demons, beastfolk, minotaurs, warriors from all races, all clearly from different worlds.

The fact that so many had died here only made one thing clear.

This tower had been claiming lives for a very, very long time.

Despite that, Alex continued pushing forward, dashing through the terrain with practiced grace, always scanning the area, always alert.

In the distance, he caught sight of broken structures, collapsed temples, shattered statues, forgotten monuments.

He ignored them all. There probably weren’t any items worth collecting here.

Just more distractions.

“You don’t even know how to escape this place,” Astolf pointed out calmly from beside him, his tone light but not mocking.

Alex glanced at him.

“True. But I’ve got a feeling this tower’s not about solving puzzles. It’s going to try to kill me before anything else.”

It was something he felt in his gut.

And yet, an hour passed.

He kept moving, and still… nothing.

No enemies. No obvious goal.

Just a never-ending stretch of crumbling ruins and ancient corpses.

The unsettling part wasn’t just the size of this place.

It was that every body he saw seemed to have died in a different way.

One was crushed. Another impaled. A third appeared melted.

The wounds were all unique, suggesting either an entity with countless ways to kill, or something even worse: perhaps every participant had faced a different nightmare.

A cold weight settled in Alex’s chest.

Eventually, he found one of the towering, half-crushed statues and leaned against it, one hand against his chin as he narrowed his eyes.

“There has to be a method to this madness…” he whispered to himself.

He closed his eyes, slowing his breathing as he concentrated.

Not just on his thoughts, but on the environment too.

He listened. Felt. Tried to draw something out.

Any sign of movement. Any hint of direction. Anything at all.

He knew better than to expect help.

The [God of Nightmares], much like the [God of the Abyss], likely fed on the pain and failure of others.

Every person who died here only made him stronger. And judging by the corpses, that god had eaten well.

Alex opened his eyes after a while, calming himself down.

But just as he was about to move on and check the nearby monuments more carefully,

His instincts exploded.

[Avoid from above.]

The moment the thought registered in his mind, his body was already moving.

Without even thinking, he pushed off the statue and leapt aside, using it as a launchpad to propel himself across the broken ground.

A split second later, the place where he’d been standing erupted in a violent surge of black energy.

The ground fractured, the statue collapsed into rubble, and the very air trembled with the impact.

Dust and shadow swirled around him as Alex landed, shielding his eyes as he scanned the clearing ahead.

“That’s it…” he thought grimly, “That’s probably what killed the others.”

This was no ordinary creature.

If even his instincts reacted so violently, it meant the threat was something on a whole different level.

But when the mist cleared, his eyes widened.

Standing exactly where he had been moments ago was someone he knew: Daniel Thunder.

Not a memory. Not a hallucination. Not the real Daniel either, but a perfect, twisted imitation.

His body was cloaked in shadows, constantly shifting and flickering like a bad dream.

His eyes were glowing white, hollow and lifeless.

And his arms ended in massive claws, each one humming with dark energy.

“What the hell… are you?” Alex muttered.

Ding!

[You have met one of your “Nightmares.” Good luck!]

Daniel didn’t speak.

He simply stepped forward, the ground beneath him cracking as his corrupted body surged with strength.

Alex tensed, every part of him already on edge.

This was wrong. This thing shouldn’t be this strong. But it was.

And then, without warning, Daniel lunged straight at him.

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