One moment, Kang Min and the survivors of the Dutchman were drifting on a calm sea; the next, they were standing on a street paved with solid, translucent diamond.

The City of Vanity was a marvel of hyper-advanced magic. Spiraling towers of white marble and gold leaf pierced a sky that was a permanent, shimmering violet. Floating gardens suspended by gravity-arrays drifted overhead, raining down petals of spun silk. There was no dirt, no decay, no imperfection. Every surface reflected the climbers with a clarity that felt invasive.

The thirty climbers—now a mixture of battle-hardened veterans and a few high-ranked newcomers who had skipped the previous "ordeal" floors—stood in the shadow of a massive triumphal arch.

A system window, ornate and bordered with liquid gold, manifested in the air.

『Floor 18: The Emperor’s City of Vanity』

『Main Scenario: Attend the Emperor’s Banquet』

『Objective: Reach the Golden Palace and present yourself to the Emperor.』

『The Mandate: The Emperor despises the unsightly. Wear your finest, or be executed by the Invisible Guard.』

『Warning: Only those of "True Stature" may look upon the Throne.』

"Wear our finest?" Zoya muttered, looking down at her soot-stained alchemist robes and the cracked vials on her belt. "I look like I just crawled out of a chimney. Does the system expect us to find a tailor in the middle of a trial?"

Beside her, a newcomer stepped forward. He was a tall, imposing man named Valerius, dressed in legendary-grade plate armor that hummed with a deep, resonant mana. He was a ’Gold-Rank’ climber from one of the major guilds, and his ego was as polished as his breastplate.

"It’s a simple prestige check," Valerius sneered, checking the edge of his sapphire-encrusted claymore. "The higher your gear rank, the more ’beauty’ the system registers. If you’re wearing rags, you’re a target. If you’re decked out in artifacts, you’re a guest. Clear as day."

Kaelen, still nursing a bruised shoulder from the shipwreck, looked at Kang Min. "Is it that simple? A gear check?"

Kang Min didn’t answer immediately. He was looking at the reflections in the diamond pavement. He saw Valerius, shining like a sun. He saw Kaelen and Zoya, battered and worn. And he saw himself—the Singularity—holding his own dark, maroon-hued blade.

But in the reflection, something was wrong. Behind Valerius’s shining reflection, there was a ripple in the air. Not a shadow, not a blur, but a distortion—like heat rising from a desert road. It was a shape, tall and thin, holding a blade that didn’t exist in the physical world.

"Don’t move," Kang Min said, his voice a low warning.

"What? Why?" Valerius scoffed, taking a confident step toward the palace. "The palace is right there. The sooner we—"

Schlick.

A horizontal line of crimson suddenly appeared across Valerius’s throat. There was no sound. No weapon had been drawn. No mana had flared. Valerius’s eyes widened, his hands flying to his neck, but his legendary-grade armor—designed to deflect dragon fire and piercing spells—did absolutely nothing. The blood sprayed over his polished steel, and he collapsed to his knees, his life bar plummeting toward zero.

"WHO DID THAT?!" a mage screamed, charging a fireball. "SHOW YOURSELF!"

The distortion moved. It was silent, scentless, and invisible to every sensory skill the climbers possessed. Another climber, a scout equipped with ’Eagle-Eye’ artifacts and a ’Wind-Walker’ cloak, was suddenly cleaved in two. His artifacts didn’t even glow to protect him.

"The Invisible Guards," Kang Min muttered. He pulled his sword from its sheath, but as he did, he noticed the ripple in the air directly in front of him grew larger. The more he prepared to fight, the more the threat materialized.

"They’re high-level assassins," Sora said, her strategist’s mind racing. "But they aren’t using stealth skills. My detection arrays are at max power, and I see nothing. It’s like they aren’t even there until the moment they strike."

The climbers retreated into a defensive circle, but the circle was a death trap. The more they activated their defensive stigmatas and summoned their magical shields, the more the slaughter intensified.

"I’ll end this!" a woman named Elara shouted. She was a priestess of a minor constellation—The Star of the Weeping Willow. She knelt and activated her Stigmata: [Willow’s Eternal Protection].

A massive, glowing tree of light erupted from the pavement, its branches swaying to shield the players. It was a beautiful, high-tier defensive ability.

Immediately, six distortions appeared within the light of the tree. They weren’t just ripples anymore; they were nearly solid silhouettes of knights in jagged, obsidian armor. They moved through the ’Eternal Protection’ as if it were smoke, their blades passing through the magical barrier without resistance. Within seconds, Elara was decapitated, and the tree of light shattered into sparks.

"The Stigmata didn’t help..." Kaelen whispered, his face pale. "It made them stronger."

Kang Min stood perfectly still. He was connecting the dots, the memories of the Old World flooding back. He remembered a group of ’Whales’—players who spent millions on the best gear—entering this floor. They were the strongest climbers of their generation, and they were slaughtered in under ten minutes.

The fable of the Emperor’s New Clothes wasn’t about a king being naked. It was about the vanity of those who claimed they could see what wasn’t there—and the fear of being seen as "unfit."

"It’s the gear," Kang Min said.

"What?" Zoya asked, ducking as a distortion hissed past her ear.

"The Invisible Guards aren’t monsters," Kang Min explained, his eyes fixed on the Golden Palace. "They are reflections of our own vanity. The more gear you have, the more artifacts you’ve equipped, the more ’Status’ you carry—the more power you give them. They exist in the gap between what you are and what you pretend to be with your equipment."

He looked at Valerius, who was barely clinging to life thanks to a passive ’Auto-Heal’ ring. The ring was glowing brightly, and as it did, an Invisible Guard stood over him, its blade growing three feet longer and glowing with a malevolent light.

"The invisibility is tied to our stats," Kang Min continued. "The ’finest’ the Emperor wants isn’t the gold on our backs. It’s the truth of our own bodies."

"Are you saying we have to... take off our armor?" Kaelen asked, looking at the chaos around them.

"Not just the armor," Kang Min said. "The rings. The amulets. The boots. The weapons. Everything that provides a stat buff. Everything that was ’given’ to you by the system."

"You’re insane!" a newcomer yelled. "Without my gear, my HP drops to 200! One hit and I’m dead!"

"You’re already dead," Kang Min retorted. "Look at the guards. They aren’t even attacking me as much because my gear is currently dormant. They’re focusing on the glowing targets."

To prove his point, Kang Min did something that made the live stream chat stop in its tracks. He reached for the clasp of his enchanted coat—the one that provided high magic resistance—and dropped it to the diamond floor. Then, he unequipped his gauntlets. Finally, he drove his maroon blade into the pavement, leaving it standing upright.

He stood there in a simple, thin black shirt and trousers. No buffs. No defense. No weapon.

The distortion that had been looming over him vanished instantly.

"I can’t feel him," Sora whispered, her detection spells still active. "Kang Min... he’s vanished from the system’s ’Threat Registry’."

One by one, the survivors who trusted Kang Min began to follow suit. Kaelen unstrapped his heavy plate armor, feeling the sudden, cold weight of vulnerability. Zoya dropped her bandoliers of chemicals. Liora untied her enchanted rapier and laid it down.

However, a group of five climbers, led by the recovering Valerius, refused.

"This is a trick," Valerius spat, his voice wet with blood. "He wants us defenseless so he can take the floor rewards for himself. I am a Knight of the Golden Lion constellation! My Stigmata is my pride!"

Valerius roared, his body erupting in a golden aura as he activated his ultimate ability: [Avatar of the Sun King]. His armor transformed into a blinding suit of solar flares, and his sword grew to the size of a pillar.

"I CAN SEE THEM NOW!" Valerius laughed, swinging his massive sword at the distortions.

He could see them, yes. But because he had reached the peak of his ’Vanity,’ the guards were no longer ripples. They were gargantuan, hundred-foot-tall titans of shadow and steel. They didn’t even bother to use blades. One of the shadow titans simply stepped on Valerius.

The ’Avatar of the Sun King’ was crushed into the diamond pavement like an insect. His legendary armor shattered into worthless shards. His Stigmata flickered out like a spent candle. He died instantly, his name vanishing from the party list. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The four others who had refused to strip were hunted down in seconds. Their high-level gear acted like beacons, drawing the Invisible Guards to them with magnetic force.

The remaining twenty climbers stood in their base clothing, shivering in the unnatural silence of the opulent city. They looked like beggars in a cathedral of gold.

"Now what?" Kaelen asked, his voice small. "We go to the palace... like this?"

"Like this."

Kang Min said.