WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 139: Zone 10 Boss (1)
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"Eek...!"
Screams broke out around me.
When I turned my head, the Climbers' faces had gone pale.
The moment one of them met my eyes, he disappeared.
Starting with him, people began leaving one after another or shouting desperately.
"I-I didn't vote for it...! That guy over there voted for Round 6!"
"What the fuck are you talking about! I voted for Round 1!"
"It was you, wasn't it? You were stirring people up with that German guy earlier!"
"I-it wasn't me, it was him! Don't pin this on an innocent person!"
"The ones who just left were the ones who chose Round 6!"
It was utter chaos.
About a third of them left in an instant, while the remaining people filled the area with noise.
I raised my foot and stomped the ground.
Boom!
Only then did the noisy voices stop.
"Everyone, leave."
At my words, the people who had been watching my reaction began leaving one by one.
"I-I really did vote for Round 1, Person123..."
One person left while saying that, sounding wronged.
I looked up at the sky and let out a sigh.
This is fucking ridiculous...
After standing there for a moment, I turned my gaze.
Toward the one person who hadn't left until the very end.
Manager Shin stood there, her expression utterly grave.
"...I'm sorry."
Then tears suddenly began streaming down her face.
I was already troubled, and seeing her suddenly cry caught me off guard.
"You're the only one who has to go through this again... If I'd done better..."
She kept repeating that she was sorry.
The image of Manager Shin trying to protect the core until the end, even when her life was in danger, flashed through my mind.
"...Did you vote for Round 6 too?"
At my question, Manager Shin shook her head in alarm.
"No, never..."
"Then what are you sorry for? The ones who chose it are the ones at fault."
Hadn't it been almost an even split between the hundred people, with some voting for Round 1 and others for Round 6?
...Right.
There was no need to force myself into despair over the ugliness some people showed. No need to be disappointed.
I shouldn't forget that there were many people in the world like Manager Shin, standing right in front of me.
I looked at the Tower's message again.
'In the end, you're the root of all evil.'
If even this was one of the Tower's schemes...
Then I wouldn't be shaken anymore.
Did it want me to lose all affection for people? Did it want to crush my love for humanity?
Go ahead and keep trying.
I wouldn't become like the Person123 on Floor 10. Never.
"You fucking bastard of a Tower."
After muttering that like a chant, I completely redirected my anger.
My heart, which had felt as though it were darkening, gradually settled again.
Of course, my feelings were one thing...
I couldn't keep doing things this way anymore.
I felt the need to be much firmer from now on.
There weren't even 300 days left.
It was hard enough to focus every bit of my attention on clearing Nightmare difficulty. I couldn't let things like this repeat in reality on every other floor.
If the world ended in such an absurd way because I kept acting soft, there wouldn't be a bigger joke than that.
If I got out, I'd post something in the Communication Window.
Killing the man who'd supposedly stirred up the others had been the bare minimum needed to make an example of him.
'...If I get out, that is.'
There was something I had to do first.
The Joint Battle was over.
It ended with 109 deaths. Still, I had prevented a massacre.
Now it was time to pay the price for forcing my way into Floor 5.
[Contract Details]
- Once the contract is formed, the Tower will immediately open every zone on 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 the contract is not fulfilled, 'Person123' will be permanently barred from entering Nightmare difficulty.]
I said to Manager Shin, "I know you did everything you could to stop this until the end. Thank you."
"Ah, no. I..."
"You should leave too, Manager. I need to get myself ready and take care of something."
Now I had to finish off the monsters and go hunt the zone bosses.
Manager Shin wiped her tears and looked at me with concern.
"...Will you be all right? The contract..."
"This is hardly the first time the Tower has pulled something like this."
I gave her a faint smile.
"No matter what it tries, it can't beat me. Don't worry too much."
Manager Shin stared blankly at me for a moment, then lowered her head.
"...Thank you for saving a hundred million lives. Please stay safe."
Soon, the last person left.
After letting out a sigh, I began dealing with the frozen monsters.
The contract said within one hour from the moment the Joint Battle ended...
Once I killed all the monsters, the countdown would start right away.
Leaving only one monster alive, I fully restored my Willpower and activated the warp device.
The strategy I'd come up with was simple.
Starting with the Zone 6 boss, I'd kill as many as I could handle.
Once I hit my limit, I'd use Radiant Incarnation.
I had one hour.
I could probably defeat the Zone 6 boss on my own... and if things went well, maybe even the Zone 7 boss.
According to the Demon King, the Zone 10 boss would be a formidable enemy, one I couldn't be sure of beating even with Radiant Incarnation and the Demon King's power.
There was no way I could face it once Radiant Incarnation wore off anyway...
As long as I had at least ten minutes left by the time I faced the Zone 10 boss, that would be enough.
[0:05]
The warp device's time was almost up.
Crunch!
I killed the last remaining monster.
[Round 6 has ended.]
[Round 6 Result: 99,999,891/100,000,000]
[A total of 0 non-Climbers will die at random.]
['Joint Battle' has ended.]
[The 'curse immunity for all Climbers' reward will be granted.]
A series of messages appeared.
Ha, and this too... It ended up like this after all.
Curse immunity for Climbers.
It was an option I'd avoided during the isolation zone incident because I didn't think it would lead to anything good.
I'd think about that later.
This wasn't the time to worry about it.
[Time Remaining to Fulfill Contract: 59 minutes 59 seconds]
The countdown appeared.
I immediately warped to Zone 6.
Since I'd often warped to Zone 5, I knew the distance to Zone 6 as well.
The desert region of Zone 6.
The moment I warped in, I shot high into the sky.
Running through the air with Air Step, I scanned the ground below.
Zone 6 was even more vast than Zone 5, but there was no fog limiting my vision, so I should be able to find the boss quickly.
...Or so I thought.
Zone 6 was far more expansive than I'd expected.
There was no sign of the boss.
Damn it, it would be a problem if finding the boss alone ate up this much time.
'Should I just use Radiant Incarnation right now?'
If I used Radiant Incarnation, I'd find the boss in the blink of an eye.
But I wanted to use it as late as possible and save even one second of its duration.
Still, at this rate, it seemed like I'd have no choice...
Then, a massive moving shape entered my vision in the distance.
The boss. Found it.
I immediately descended toward it.
Most of the monsters in Zone 6 were mechanical, and the boss was the same.
It was a spider-like machine with multiple legs extending from a sphere that seemed to be its main body.
When I got close enough, I examined the boss with Weak Point Insight.
A red haze was visible inside the sphere of its body.
Bzzzt-
Then the boss's eye lit up, and it fired a blue laser at me.
Reacting with Sixth Sense, I kicked off the air and dodged the laser.
Then I launched magic of my own.
Fireballs surged toward the boss and struck its body all at once.
Boom!
It seemed to have some kind of barrier...
A polyhedral veil of light covered the boss's body, much like my Skin Hardening skill.
Sixth Sense told me it was a boss I could handle.
I began the fight in earnest.
Boom! Boom!
I focused first on breaking the boss's barrier with magic.
I planned to try breaking the barrier with my other spells first, then finish it with Destruction Beam and Hellfire Eruption...
But the boss's counterattack was fierce as well.
It constantly fired lasers from its eye.
They weren't just straight attacks. The beams split into multiple paths, curved, and chased after me like guided missiles.
Whoosh!
I darted frantically through the air, dodging the homing beams.
The boss kept firing more while I evaded, and dozens of lasers were pursuing me.
A method came to mind, so I deliberately let the beams pile up.
I approached the boss to use the standard method for dealing with homing attacks.
As I drew close, the boss fired a straight laser at me.
I barely twisted aside to avoid it, then used my leap skill to close in directly before it.
You bastard, I'll send it all right back to you.
Just before colliding with it, I used Teleportation to move to the opposite side of the boss's body.
Then...
Boom!
It worked exactly as I had planned.
The boss, caught between me and the homing beams pursuing me, was hit by every single one.
Avoiding the explosion, I widened the distance and landed on the ground.
The barrier around its body was almost completely broken.
The boss staggered, then turned toward me and lit its eye again.
This time, it wasn't blue. It was red. Sixth Sense sounded the alarm.
Was this some kind of finishing move?
Sixth Sense told me it had power roughly comparable to Destruction Beam, so I stopped time.
After fully recovering my depleted Willpower, I deployed Mirror Barrier.
At the same time, a massive red beam fired from the boss's eye.
Mirror Barrier had reflected even the Destruction Beam of the Person123 on Floor 10.
Naturally, the red beam was returned to the boss intact.
Along with a huge explosion...
'Got it.'
The boss's barrier was completely broken.
Not only that, its main body had been damaged too, and part of its sphere had been shattered.
I immediately stopped time again and restored my Willpower.
Before the boss could make one last struggle, I gave it no time and unleashed spell after spell.
I fired Flame Barrage at the boss's weak point first, followed by Hellfire Eruption, then Destruction Beam.
Destruction Beam pierced through the boss's main body.
After taking the full magic combo, the boss was defeated.
[The Zone 6 boss has been defeated.]
[You have obtained the reward for defeating the Zone 6 boss.]
[You have obtained the first-clear reward for defeating the Zone 6 boss.]
Next.
The moment the messages appeared, I moved straight to Zone 7.
Zone 7 was... a dense jungle filled with enormous trees.
Naturally, it was far larger than Zone 6.
After running through the vast jungle for a while and looking down...
'Fuck.'
This wouldn't do.
At this rate, finding the boss would take forever.
I decided it was time to use Radiant Incarnation.
At least give me a little more time, you bastard.
'I'm counting on you, Demon King.'
It was time to put my faith in the Demon King and pray.
Whoooosh!
The moment I activated Radiant Incarnation, the Demon King took control of my body, clicked his tongue, and moved.
Moving at the speed of light, he circled Zone 7 dozens of times in less than a second...
'There.'
He found the boss in the middle of the forest.
It was a liquid-like monster with a translucent purple body.
The Zone 7 boss was a colossal slime. An overwhelmingly huge one.
Whoooosh!
The Demon King immediately demonstrated his power.
He condensed his strength and fired an enormous cone-shaped breath of freezing cold.
The boss scattered into particles of ice along with the surrounding trees.
[The Zone 7 boss has been defeated.]
[You have obtained the reward for defeating the Zone 7 boss.]
[You have obtained the first-clear reward for defeating the Zone 7 boss.]
Defeated in one second. Next.
When I moved to Zone 8, absurdly enough, the entire field was an ocean.
I dove into the water and swam through the sea in search of the boss.
I found it almost immediately.
The Zone 8 boss was a monster like a moray eel.
Sixth Sense told me that starting with Zone 8, the bosses were beyond what I could defeat on my own.
The Demon King condensed a massive freezing force.
The Zone 8 boss froze together with the seawater and shattered into pieces.
[The Zone 8 boss has been defeated.]
[You have obtained the reward for defeating the Zone 8 boss.]
[You have obtained the first-clear reward for defeating the Zone 8 boss.]
Next was Zone 9.
Zone 9 was open sky, with no ground to stand on at all.
Was this a place where you couldn't even get around without a flight skill?
The Zone 9 boss I soon found was a pure-white giant with angel-like wings...
Once again, the moment he encountered it, the Demon King immediately poured out his power.
Boom!
The Zone 9 boss tried to resist the Demon King's attack.
The giant swung the greatsword it held, and a five-colored aura collided with the freezing cold.
Of course, that was all it could do.
The cold froze even the five-colored aura and covered the giant's body.
The giant, frozen solid, shattered into pieces and fell into the endless void below.
[The Zone 9 boss has been defeated.]
[You have obtained the reward for defeating the Zone 9 boss.]
[You have obtained the first-clear reward for defeating the Zone 9 boss.]
[Time Remaining to Fulfill Contract: 52 minutes 9 seconds]
It had taken about eight minutes to get this far.
As expected, the Demon King had easily killed the Zone 7, 8, and 9 bosses. It hadn't even taken ten seconds to deal with all of them.
Radiant Incarnation had 9 minutes and 50 seconds remaining.
Now only the troublesome Zone 10 boss remained.
The Demon King headed for the final Zone 10.
Zone 10 was... simply a wasteland.
Under a crimson full moon, black earth stretched out like a land of death.
But the moment the Demon King entered Zone 10...
Unlike the other zones, a message appeared.
['Corrupted Hero Veldihard' has detected the intruder.]
Footnotes:
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