WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

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◈ Alone Against the Tower ◈

Chapter 76: Tower of Trials, 8th Floor

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I activated the Transfer Gate immediately after clearing the boss.

Once the nauseating feeling of passing through the Transfer Gate faded, the world before me was not much different from the seventh floor.

A vast forest stretched out before me. The trees scattered throughout it did not seem particularly special either.

Thud!

As I stood still and surveyed my surroundings, a series of heavy thuds echoed from afar.

I spread mana toward the sound and detected its source.

Something like a massive Tree Golem was stomping around. It seemed different from the tree monsters found on the seventh floor.

It looked like a High Elf familiar or a guard Golem.

Whatever it was, it did not look particularly strong. Besides, I had something more important to do. First, I needed to visit the Dark Elf village.

I did not even need to look up its location on a map. I already had it memorized.

Tap, tap, tap!

I raced toward my destination at full speed. The skill I had obtained for clearing the seventh-floor boss took effect.

The boss, which used hit-and-run tactics based on its speed, had given me this skill as a maximum contribution reward.

[Sprint Lv. 1]

Mana swirled around my legs. My steps became lighter, and I sped up.

Its effectiveness seemed to scale with my Agility stat. For a level-one skill, it was remarkably effective.

As I ran, I came across the Tree Golem I had detected earlier.

It seemed these Golems were scattered throughout the forest.

The Golem's eyes lit up as soon as it saw me. Then, with a creaking sound, it charged immediately.

It was time to test the reward from the achievement I had earned by one-shotting the seventh-floor boss.

[Weakness Insight]

When I selected the Tree Golem in front of me and activated the skill, a strange flow of mana wrapped around it.

It felt similar to using mana to sense my surroundings, but it was slightly different.

Mana Detection sensed movement within a certain range. This felt like scanning the inside of my opponent.

The Tree Golem's overall structure entered my mind, and I naturally found its weak point.

A small seed embedded in its back served as its core, storing mana and allowing it to move.

Therefore, destroying that seed would disable it immediately.

Kiiiiik!

The Golem slowly raised its arm. It looked like it was going to smash me down.

But it was absurdly slow, even considering its lumbering appearance. I could not get hit by that even if I tried.

[Iron Wall]

I approached the Golem and drove my fist, reinforced with Iron Wall, into its chest.

Crash!

My fist shattered the Golem's body in a single blow and pierced through to its back. The core broke apart in a red effect.

This felt different from my usual critical hits.

The skill description had said that hitting a vital point could trigger a critical hit. That must have been why.

A normal critical was merely a judgment that occurred when I landed a critical strike.

But this skill artificially triggered a critical by hitting the vital point I had identified.

It felt like forcibly turning an attack that might not have been critical into a critical hit.

The system often gave unclear explanations, so I had to figure things out by experiencing everything myself.

But more importantly, I wanted to get to the village.

Rumble.

Several Tree Golems burst out of the ground and surrounded me.

* * *

It seemed that killing one caused several more to appear.

There was probably information about it in strategy guides, but I had rushed up the floors and had not checked.

Looking at the situation, I had messed with the wrong monster and gotten surrounded alone. It was a pretty serious mess.

Honestly, though, this much did not bother me anymore.

Thud!

Every Tree Golem whose core I accurately destroyed collapsed to the ground.

I waited for a moment, but no more Golems appeared. There was probably a limit to how many could spawn.

I had become strong enough to kill in one hit the bosses on each floor, bosses that ordinary Challengers had to gather in groups of more than ten to defeat.

Even if a lot of trash mobs like these appeared now, they could not interfere with me at all.

After defeating the Golems, I continued onward. Then I immediately encountered an unexpected situation.

"What is this?"

Fog with an ominous aura slowly settled around me.

Even the minimap displayed by the system was obscured, and the path itself seemed different from the one I knew.

There had always been thick fog near the Dark Elf village, but there had not been any map mechanic like this.

Besides, by now I should have started seeing the village. Yet there was nothing but fog everywhere.

[Sensory Amplification]

I spread mana around me and used Sensory Amplification. I immediately fell into confusion.

The mana I spread scattered in every direction, and I could not properly sense my surroundings.

"This is magic."

The fog spread around me seemed to be causing some sort of interference effect.

It did not simply obstruct detection or block my view. It seemed to be completely scrambling my senses.

Judging by how it worked, it seemed like magic cast over a certain area. Since it affected Mana Detection too, I did not know what to do.

I could probably find a solution by searching the community, but I did not want to rely too much on strategy guides for something like this.

If I could not overcome it on my own, it might cause me trouble someday.

"Hoo..."

I took a deep breath and spread mana again.

I recalled the sensation of using [Light Gathering] and tried gathering as much mana as possible into a single point, controlling it.

If I did it right, I felt like I could manage somehow.

I could not.

Fuck.

The more I concentrated, the harder it became to control the flow of mana.

It was similar to trying to meditate. The chaos in my mind was directly affecting my mana.

Damn it, I just wanted to quickly check on the Dark Elves.

"...Let's try again."

I closed my eyes and focused all my attention on Mana Detection. The mana continued to slip out of my control and scatter as it pleased.

I kept failing to hold onto the mana as it scattered. So I changed my approach.

Instead of stopping the spreading mana, I pushed it farther away.

I used as much mana as possible at once, trying to make it reach as far as it could.

I blindly spread mana until the MP displayed in my Status Window was nearly empty.

Then, at the far end of the mana that had spread so far, I caught a presence.

Tap!

The moment I sensed it, I sprinted at full speed. What I saw was a massive Rune Bear.

And a familiar-looking Dark Elf cutting down that Rune Bear.

As expected, that uniquely powerful presence had been hard to miss since the seventh floor.

Thud!

The Rune Bear fell. The Dark Elf dispersed the shadows wrapped around their sword and called out to me.

"Who goes there?"

I hesitated for a moment. Would Eleanor remember me? Was this really the person I knew?

"It's me."

After I offered that awkward greeting, the Dark Elf, Eleanor, slowly walked toward me.

"Could it truly be you?"

Eleanor recognized me immediately.

* * *

The Dark Elf village was in exactly the same place as it had been on the seventh floor.

However, they had strengthened the fog magic surrounding the village to prevent anyone from intruding carelessly.

It used to merely obstruct vision a little. Now it completely scrambled every sense.

"When setting exceptions for the magic, I do not know why I failed to think of you. Though I have not forgotten you for a single day."

Eleanor spoke with a broad smile, seemingly delighted to see me again.

The reason Eleanor had not thought of me while setting the magic was probably the system.

[Beyond the Night Mist - Reuel's Stump]

I followed Eleanor and arrived at the Dark Elf village again. I swallowed dryly.

Would the other Dark Elves recognize me like Eleanor had?

The moment that question arose in my mind, I slapped my forehead.

"No, it doesn't matter."

What the hell was I worrying about? What would be wrong with Non-Player Characters not recognizing me?

Wouldn't that be a good thing? It was a chance to focus solely on growing stronger without getting caught up in pointless matters.

The Dark Elves' kindness made me soft. Was that not why I had hurriedly left the seventh floor?

Then why did I want them to recognize me now?

No, I did not need to think about it for long.

Seo Jinhyeok, you disgusting bastard. You still want something like peace.

After my conversation with Rizmel, I had decided not to treat the Dark Elves as mere Non-Player Characters.

If they spoke like people and acted like people, then they were simply people.

But the Tower of Trials had told me that this thought was wrong. They were, without question, part of the system. Nothing more than Non-Player Characters.

"If everyone learns you have returned, they will be shocked, won't they? The village's mood has been quite gloomy for some time, but this should lighten it."

"Humans are supposed to grow old quickly, yet you have appeared looking exactly as you did before."

"Have you finished all your trials? How many dimensions have you traveled through? I am already looking forward to hearing about it!"

But when I looked into Eleanor's eyes, still burning with dreams and curiosity,

"Come. Tell me about the last twenty years."

My understanding and reason scattered, and primal feelings kept rising to the surface.

I should not have chosen the Dark Elf faction.

Footnotes:

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