WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 119

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Qualification Trial (2)

The time the Tower had announced was almost up.

I had been hunting in Zone 5, but I came back outside.

I sat down in my chair, arms crossed, staring into the air.

The Qualification Trial.

From the advance notice, whatever was about to happen seemed like it would only target the highest-floor climbers.

But for some reason, I had a bad feeling about it.

Back at the masked auction, things had gone in directions I never could have imagined.

Had anyone predicted back then that it would turn into an auction run on people's lives?

What was going to happen this time...

[Time Remaining: 1 second]

['Qualification Trial' has begun.]

The messages appeared.

[The highest-floor climbers on each difficulty have been selected.]

[A total of nine isolation zones with a radius of 50 kilometers each have been set.]

.
.
.

[You have been selected as the highest-floor climber on Nightmare difficulty.]

[The highest-floor climber on Easy difficulty, 'Warrior,' is currently selecting isolation zones.]

[Time Remaining for Selection: 58 minutes 51 seconds]

I read through the messages as they came up one by one.

The more I read, the more my expression stiffened.

What is this...

I finished reading all the explanations and opened the Communication Window. I scanned the conversations of people in an uproar, then:

[TaeGuk: What the hell, looks like Seoul got caught in one? We're so dead;]

I pulled back the window curtain and checked outside.

A bluish curtain of something hung in the sky.

And a giant number, "1," floating there like a hologram.

"Hah."

A short exhale escaped me.

The Tower was pulling off another one of its impossibly infuriating stunts.

* * *

Nine isolation zones had appeared around the world.

Just as the description said, each zone completely sealed off all movement between inside and outside.

In short, the civilians trapped within had nowhere to go.

[Natrium: I'm Canadian and I think I'm inside an isolation zone... what do I do?]
[Anaconda: Totally trapped. Can't get out]
[Diamond: Crap the barrier is right next to my house; barely missed it]
[Pond: So... the top-floor climbers have to take on the penalties and deal with the boss, or everyone inside the isolation zones dies? Am I understanding this right?]
[Jonathan: You're understanding it right. Everyone trapped in there is done]

It had only been yesterday that the world was in chaos over the Floor 8 clear dragging on so long.

Now the world had been turned upside down all over again.

If the highest-floor climbers chose not to select any isolation zones, everyone trapped inside would die.

That much, people grasped quickly.

In South Korea's case, an isolation zone had appeared covering Seoul, Incheon, parts of the greater metropolitan area, and stretching all the way up to Kaesong in North Korea.

Other countries were no different, with isolation zones appearing over their capitals or major cities.

And above each zone's barrier, a giant number from 1 to 9floated in the sky.

South Korea was isolation zone number 1, with the number "1" hovering above it.

Every country caught in an isolation zone went into emergency mode.

News outlets broadcast urgent bulletins. Countless live streams went live.

"This is a street in Songdo Central Park, Incheon. As you can see, the barrier has completely blocked any further entry or exit..."

Inside the isolation zones.

People crowded right up against the barriers, faces tight with fear, filling the broadcast screens.

"Let us out! Please, let us out...!"

Some were pounding on the barriers and screaming in panic.

But there was nothing the governments could do right now, and...

[The highest-floor climber on Easy difficulty, 'Warrior,' is currently selecting isolation zones.]

[Time Remaining for Selection: 20 minutes 39 seconds]

The first turn belonged to the highest-floor climber on Easy difficulty, who was currently making his selection.

[Easy]
Participants: 718,956
Time Limit: 39 years 6 days 6 hours 15 minutes 1 second
Highest Floor Reached: Floor 46

[Normal]
Participants: 655,174
Time Limit: 25 years 6 days 6 hours 15 minutes 1 second
Highest Floor Reached: Floor 32

[Hard]
Participants: 681,549
Time Limit: 11 years 6 days 6 hours 15 minutes 1 second
Highest Floor Reached: Floor 18

[Nightmare]
Participants: 673,620
Time Limit: 1 year 6 days 6 hours 15 minutes 1 second
Highest Floor Reached: Floor 9

Zhang Tao from China, holder of the Easy difficulty record at Floor 46, Communication Window username Warrior.

He had been given only one hour to make his choice — nowhere near enough time to think it through.

[Uru: He'll probably at least pick one, right?]
[Cauliflower: Who knows. The penalties are pretty rough.]
[Wei: Zhang Tao! Please select China's isolation zone! You have to save your own countrymen!]

The situation was moving at a desperate pace.

With one minute left on the timer, a message appeared.

[The highest-floor climber on Easy difficulty, 'Warrior,' has selected isolation zone number 5.]

Number 5 was the isolation zone that had appeared inside China.

Zhang Tao had chosen his own country's zone.

[1 zone selected]
- Physical ability and willpower reduced by 30%

And so Zhang Tao was moved to the Chamber of Proof, carrying a one-zone penalty.

[HuangLong: He chose China!]
[FivePiecesOfChicken: Only one? So he's only saving his own country]
[BlackPine: Only one? Look at the penalty, you idiot. Even one is brutal]
[Windmill: Can he actually do this? I'm not so sure...]

The civilians trapped inside China's isolation zone waited with desperate hope for news of success.

And then...

[The highest-floor climber on Easy difficulty, 'Warrior,' has died.]

Not even a few minutes later.

The announcement of Zhang Tao's death rang out across the public notices.

[A new highest-floor climber on Easy difficulty will be drawn by lot.]

[The highest-floor climber on Easy difficulty, 'Clock,' is currently selecting isolation zones.]

If you died without defeating the boss, a new climber would be drawn until someone succeeded.

By the rules, the next one drawn was Henry, an Easy Floor 45 climber from Australia.

There were several Easy Floor 45 climbers across the world, and he was the one selected.

Zhang Tao's hollow failure sent people — especially the civilians trapped inside China's isolation zone — into despair.

[Radioactive: Wait? Zhang Tao died?]
[Bull: See? I told you the penalty was insane...]

A 30% reduction to physical ability and willpower.

That was no different from saying your level had just dropped by 30%.

Fighting a boss monster of equivalent level while your own effective level had dropped 30%?

Never mind choosing multiple zones — even a single penalty was something that barely made sense to begin with.

The next up, Henry, nearly ran down the entire hour without making a choice, and then:

[The highest-floor climber on Easy difficulty, 'Clock,' did not select an isolation zone.]

He ended up choosing nothing at all.

He was not even in the same situation as Zhang Tao, with his own country caught in a zone.

But...

[The highest-floor climber on Easy difficulty, 'Clock,' has died.]

Henry failed too, not long after — and without any penalty.

[A new highest-floor climber on Easy difficulty will be drawn by lot.]

[The highest-floor climber on Easy difficulty, 'Ascender,' is currently selecting isolation zones.]

Third was Logan, an Easy Floor 45 climber from the United States.

[The highest-floor climber on Easy difficulty, 'Ascender,' did not select an isolation zone.]

Logan also chose no isolation zones.

And then.

[The highest-floor climber on Easy difficulty, 'Ascender,' has defeated the boss monster.]

It took until the third person for the success message to finally appear.

Logan succeeded and, the moment he stepped out of the Chamber of Proof, immediately shared his information publicly.

[Ascender: The location was a cavity similar to the Tower's Floor 1, and the boss monster was a giant golem. The basic structure is the same as a floor clear. Once you defeat the boss, you're moved to a reward room where your injuries are healed.]

Logan wrote out in detail how he had taken down the boss, but whether his information would be of any help was uncertain.

Each difficulty would have a boss at a different level, and it seemed unlikely they would face the same boss.

[The highest-floor climber on Normal difficulty, 'Liberty,' is currently selecting isolation zones.]

[Number of deactivated isolation zones: 0]

The turn moved to the next difficulty.

The Normal difficulty record holder was Gabriel from the United States.

He was also a public figure who served as executive director of the International Climber Association.

[Flamethrower: ...Gabriel will pick at least one, don't you think?]
[BuffaloWing: Hard to say. The U.S. doesn't even have an isolation zone]
[Honeybee: If you're going to pick one, please pick Canada...! We're basically like brother nations!]

The people trapped inside the zones were truly desperate.

They had been handed a death sentence out of nowhere.

If all four difficulties completed their trials without anyone selecting anything, everyone in the isolation zones would die.

Even a conservative estimate put the number at tens of millions at minimum.

Since communication with the outside still worked, they were listening to breaking news in real time, praying that the highest-floor climbers would take on the penalties and fight anyway.

People hoped that Normal difficulty would at least choose one zone, but...

[The highest-floor climber on Normal difficulty, 'Liberty,' did not select an isolation zone.]

[The highest-floor climber on Normal difficulty, 'Liberty,' has defeated the boss monster.]

[Number of deactivated isolation zones: 0]

Gabriel cleared the boss and walked out without selecting anything.

"I'm sorry. I could not make that choice."

He was surrounded by reporters the moment he stepped out and gave an impromptu press statement.

"This is truly a tragic situation, but I did not have the ability to save them. No one would. Zhang Tao of China died just three hours ago. Henry of Australia failed despite not selecting a penalty.

I nearly died myself. The boss that appeared was a beast-type, completely different from Easy difficulty. It was extraordinarily powerful. Had I taken a one-zone penalty, I would certainly have died.

A 30% reduction to physical ability and willpower is effectively the same as a 30% reduction in level. Do you truly believe it is possible to fight a boss monster of equivalent level while carrying a penalty that absurd?"

He was not wrong.

But in the end, what he was saying was that he had no intention of sacrificing himself to save anyone.

There was no time to curse him for it.

The turn had now moved all the way to Hard difficulty.

[The highest-floor climber on Hard difficulty, 'Strength,' is currently selecting isolation zones.]

Dmitri from Russia, the Hard difficulty Floor 18 climber.

He had cleared Floor 17 a few months ago and was co-holder of the Hard difficulty record alongside Alex from the United States.

And right now, he was regretting it.

"...If I had known it would come to this, I would have waited a little longer before trying."

Dmitri did not want to die.

Fighting a same-level boss with 30% of his stats shaved off.

If he had information about the boss and time to build a strategy, it might not have been impossible.

But right now he had none of that.

Still, maybe if people kept challenging it until someone succeeded, eventually someone lucky enough would pull it off.

But that scenario required him — the first one up — to be the sacrifice that made it possible.

And Dmitri, once again, did not want to die.

If anything, being the highest-floor climber meant he could see the math more clearly than anyone. Taking the penalty meant a pointless death.

The public backlash would be enormous once this was all over, and his own conscience wasn't at peace with it either, but what could he do. His life mattered more.

The one thing working in his favor was that the isolation zone that had appeared in Russia was not over any particularly major urban area.

Dmitri decided to value his own life.

The word he had just received from the Russian government was unambiguous.

They would sooner write off a small city than see Russia's top climber gamble on odds he was certain to lose.

[The highest-floor climber on Hard difficulty, 'Strength,' did not select an isolation zone.]

[The highest-floor climber on Hard difficulty, 'Strength,' has defeated the boss monster.]

[Number of deactivated isolation zones: 0]

And so.

Even Hard difficulty ended without anyone selecting a single isolation zone.

The civilians inside the zones, watching everything unfold in real time, fell into despair.

"How... how can they do this..."
"You bastards! Are you even human?!"
"Are we really all going to die like this...?"

Just like when Person123 had taken on penalties back on Floor 4 — people had half-expected that at least one person would show that kind of heroism.

It had been a hollow hope.

Aside from Zhang Tao choosing his own country's zone at the very start, not a single person had selected even one isolation zone.

[Pig: And these are supposed to be the top-floor climbers lol]
[ShootingStar: How is not one of them even trying?]
[Mask: But the penalty is pretty brutal... is it even possible to save even one zone?]
[Bard: Only Nightmare is left now]

In the extremely short time available, governments had tried what they could.

They struck the barriers with military weapons and dug tunnels, but of course none of it worked. The barrier wrapped perfectly around the underground too.

"All the civilians inside the isolation zones will become Fallen...!"

Once the Qualification Trial concluded, the Tower's Curse would fall on the civilians inside any remaining active zones.

Dying by the Tower's Curse meant becoming a Fallen.

All those civilians turning into monsters?

It was a disaster too immense to picture.

[Remaining isolation zones will be maintained permanently.]

The one small mercy was that the remaining zones would be maintained permanently.

The countries where zones had appeared would suffer devastating blows that could shake them to their foundations, but still, keeping the zones in place was the lesser of two evils.

The Fallen inside wouldn't be able to get out either.

But there was always that one-in-a-million chance.

World leaders scrambled to convene emergency video conferences.

In preparation for the possibility that the barriers might disappear once the Qualification Trial concluded, they urgently discussed the option of nuclear strikes.

And all the while.

[The highest-floor climber on Nightmare difficulty, 'Person123,' is currently selecting isolation zones.]

The turn had reached the final difficulty, Nightmare.

[Swan: Do you think Person123 will select the penalties...?]
[Poseidon: At least South Korea, right]
[Davis: But wait, should we even be hoping for that?]
[Icicle: Please don't push it... even Person123, this is...]

Knowing the kind of person Person123 was, people thought there was no way he would choose nothing at all.

But that meant Person123 would have to fight the boss carrying a deadly penalty, and...

His death meant the end of the world.

Of course, the civilians trapped in the zones still desperately wanted Person123 to take the penalties anyway.

They were about to die right now, regardless of what came after.

"S-still, Person123 will at least pick South Korea, right?"
"We'll be okay... please..."

The civilians in South Korea's isolation zone number 1 held onto their last hope.

The civilians in other countries' zones found it much harder to feel any hope at all.

Even Person123 was not an all-powerful god.

His abilities might be on a completely different level from other climbers, but the penalties were just too absurd.

There had to be a limit to what he could choose.

In the end, a great many people would die.

"Only Person123's choice remains now. What decision will humanity's savior make..."

News broadcasts across the world were showing footage of the people inside the isolation zones.

People in despair. People pounding on the barriers begging to be saved. People clutching their hands together in prayer. People with their eyes closed, as if bracing themselves.

Everyone was waiting for Person123's choice.

And then...

A message appeared.

[The highest-floor climber on Nightmare difficulty, 'Person123,' has selected isolation zones 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.]

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