WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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Chapter 138: Joint Battle (4)

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The Climbers stared at the masked man.

After the message that had appeared moments ago, everyone had no choice but to realize who he was.

"...It's Person123!"

Someone shouted.

A sword made of light formed in Person123's hand, the same hand that had just scattered fireballs at the surrounding monsters.

After briefly sweeping his eyes across the battlefield, he moved.

A gust of wind rose, and several monsters were cut in half.

Person123 began tearing through the air at a speed too fast for the eye to follow, taking down monsters.

Everything in his path was swept away like straw.

Fireballs, lightning, and spheres of light flew from around Person123 as he swung his sword of light. Monsters exploded.

Even Shin Su-jin, who had managed to come to her senses and fight, stopped in a daze for a moment.

It was an unbelievable sight.

The overwhelming tide of monsters was shrinking at an incredible speed.

There had been plenty of speculation that Person123 could use magic-type skills without restriction, but it was true. Now she knew for certain.

Shin Su-jin's blank expression soon darkened.

[If 'Person123' accepts the following contract, he will immediately obtain the right to participate in the 'Joint Battle'.]

[Contract Terms]

- Once the contract is formed, the Tower will open all areas of Floor 5 through Zone 10 and cause the bosses of Zones 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 to appear.

- From the moment the 'Joint Battle' ends, 'Person123' must defeat all bosses in Zones 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 within one hour.

[If he fails to fulfill the contract, 'Person123' will be permanently banned from entering Nightmare difficulty.]

He had accepted the Tower's proposal and forced himself to enter Floor 5.

Because of these stupid, selfish people, in order to save one hundred million lives.

Soon, every monster was wiped out.

[Round 3 has ended.]

[Round 3 Result: 99,999,891/100,000,000]

[A total of 0 non-Climbers will die at random.]

[Round 4 will begin shortly.]

* * *

I let out a small sigh as I looked at the messages.

The area around me had fallen silent.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on me.

Then a few people approached me.

"Um... Person123...?"

I opened my mouth.

"Shut up and get ready for the next round."

The atmosphere turned ice-cold.

Everyone fell silent. Nobody said a word.

...Let's finish all the rounds first.

Round 3 had ended without the core losing even a single point of Health.

Three rounds remained.

I didn't know how much the difficulty would increase each round.

Going by Round 3 alone, though, it didn't seem like there would be anything difficult about it.

If things got bad, I could use the Demon King's power too.

'More importantly...'

I glanced to one side.

Manager Shin Su-jin.

I'd seen her at the Masked Auction too. She really did show up everywhere.

[Round 4 has begun.]

Time passed in silence, and the next round began.

All kinds of monsters poured out from the Zone 1 forest.

The Climbers had formed up around the core, staying within the portal's range.

I spread Searing Zone and Frost Mist on both sides outside the portal.

Then I summoned Pli.

The Climbers around me startled and backed away at the sudden appearance of Pli.

"Go wild."

Before the monsters could reach the portal, Pli leaped over the Climbers and charged ahead.

Several monsters burst apart when Pli charged into them. Pli began tearing through them.

There were far more monsters than in Round 3. The difficulty had risen by quite a lot.

If Round 4 was already like this, what would Round 6 be like?

There was no way the other Climbers could clear it.

They probably wouldn't even make it to Round 6. The core would likely be destroyed in Round 4 or 5.

What kind of confidence did these lunatics have to choose Round 6?

Anyway, I summoned my sword of light again and joined the battle.

It might've been impossible for the other Climbers, but not for me.

'This reminds me of clearing Floor 6.'

Holding back those endless waves of ogres had been a nightmare in itself.

The difference between then and now was...

I'd gotten far too strong.

Boom!

I leaped high, stepped through the air with Air Step, and swung my sword of light.

Monsters were sliced apart one after another.

I scattered Flame Barrage and light projectiles, while the Searing Zone and Frost Mist I'd spread out hunted monsters automatically on the other side.

Pli was also rampaging around, sweeping away monsters.

No matter how many monsters charged in, the strongest among them were only around Level 40 or 50.

And I was well over Level 120 now.

To me, this was no different from stepping on ants.

Just as in Round 3, the monsters quickly dwindled...

Of course, the other Climbers fought too.

Though I had practically killed most of them before they could even enter the portal's range.

[Round 4 has ended.]

[Round 4 Result: 99,999,891/100,000,000]

[A total of 0 non-Climbers will die at random.]

[Round 5 will begin shortly.]

Round 4 ended with no deaths as well.

[Round 5 has begun.]

Round 5 began.

The difficulty jumped sharply once more. The number of monsters increased, and there were more powerful monsters too.

Still, it wasn't enough to make me use the Demon King's power.

I had no intention of using items or skills with long cooldowns either.

The real challenge came after the Joint Battle ended.

I pushed my physical abilities even further and went wild.

I picked up a greatsword and crushed monsters with a sword of light in one hand and a sword wrapped in aura in the other.

It was far more intense than Round 4, but still manageable.

[Round 5 has ended.]

[Round 5 Result: 99,999,891/100,000,000]

[A total of 0 non-Climbers will die at random.]

[Round 6 will begin shortly.]

And so Round 5 ended.

The final Round 6.

[Round 6 has begun.]

Rumble...

The ground shook.

I stared in disbelief at the monsters pouring out of the forest.

It was more accurate to call it a monster horde.

An enormous number of monsters, incomparable even to Round 5, surged forward like a black wave.

* * *

"Th-this is insane..."

Someone muttered.

The Climbers watched the incoming wave of monsters with pale faces. There had to be thousands of them at least.

This was... Round 6?

The moment they saw it, everyone realized something.

Clearing Round 6 had been impossible from the start. This made no sense.

Shin Su-jin swallowed hard and instinctively turned to look at Person123.

The strength he had shown throughout Rounds 4 and 5 had been almost transcendent.

But even for him, this was...

"E-everyone, get a hold of yourselves!"

The Climbers prepared to fight, their eyes full of fear. Some prepared to leave.

The monsters were almost upon them.

Then Person123 suddenly shot high into the air.

And then...

Fwoooooosh-!

A massive wave of cold spread out.

Thousands of monsters froze solid in an instant.

"..."

The ground-shaking tremors and the monsters' roars all stopped, leaving behind a cold silence.

The Climbers stared blankly at the unreal sight...

Then they all raised their heads and looked to the sky.

At Person123, standing in the air like a god descended upon the world.

* * *

Even I would've had trouble keeping the core from losing even a single point of Health against this.

'Demon King.'

So I switched places with the Demon King.

'You don't have to kill them. Just freeze as wide an area as possible.'

Once the Joint Battle ended, I had to immediately go clear out the Zone bosses.

I would have to use Radiant Incarnation either way, but I needed to reduce the burden as much as possible.

To save even one more second of Radiant Incarnation's duration, I needed to defeat as many of those Zone bosses as I could on my own.

Fwoooooosh...

As requested, the Demon King froze the monsters over a wide area while keeping the killing power low.

Every monster was frozen solid and completely subdued.

All that remained was to kill them and finish things. Then Round 6 would be over too.

"Whew..."

All I could do was sigh.

After taking my body back, I descended.

The Climbers stared at me blankly.

Then they burst into cheers.

"Waaaaah...!"

Were these people insane?

When someone was this dumbfounded, they couldn't even get angry.

I raised my head and let out a hollow laugh.

The Climbers' cheers gradually died down.

For a while, only my laughter echoed through the area.

Maybe they read the mood, because everyone fell silent again.

I abruptly stopped laughing and opened my mouth.

"You all look happy."

"..."

"Didn't I warn you? I told you not to fall for whatever temptation the Tower dangled in front of you..."

All of a sudden, the faces staring at me made me sick.

...Disgusting. Their selfishness.

"How could you do something this stupid with one hundred million lives on the line? I seriously don't understand, so can someone explain it to me?"

In the silence, someone raised a hand.

It was the woman standing beside Shin Su-jin.

"...Fifty-one people voted for Round 6. If some idiot hadn't started inciting everyone, I don't think it would've reached a majority."

Everyone's eyes turned to one person.

The man under all those stares looked flustered.

When I looked at him too, he hurriedly started making excuses.

"I-I did it for humanity's future..."

Humanity's future?

The man began spouting nonsense.

"D-don't you know it too? The world as it is now is hanging by a thread! Humanity can't rely on you forever. We need to prepare for the end.

"If Climbers become immune to the curse, they will be free from the Tower's deadlines. At least several million people will survive, and humanity will be able to continue even without the Ark, won't it?"

I said, "So did you succeed?"

"..."

"Well, I guess you did. I fell for the Tower's tricks again and came here. Otherwise, only one hundred million people would've died, and that would've been the end of it."

I looked around.

"Good for you all. Now you'll get the curse immunity you've wanted so badly. Isn't that great? Humanity's future. As long as the Climbers can live, one hundred million lives don't matter, right? That's what this is, isn't it?"

The more I spoke, the more my insides boiled.

Nobody answered.

"The 109 people who already died were killed by you. Why can't you understand that? Did you really think the Tower would just let you succeed without any problems? Did you want the reward that badly?"

Should I have warned them more strongly?

Had I carelessly assumed people would understand if I said this much?

I let out another hollow laugh, then hardened my resolve.

I turned my eyes to the man, who was trying to say something again.

"You've gone far past the line."

Whoooosh!

A pillar of fire rose where the man had been standing.

When the flames disappeared, the man was gone without a trace.

Footnotes:

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