WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 14

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Nightmare Floor 2 (2)

Everyone knows this kind of game.

A game where you jump your character across platforms and make it to the destination. People call it a jump map, or a platformer.

What makes those games so infuriating is that you can spend hours climbing, make one tiny mistake, fall, and get sent all the way back to the start.

Still, if it is a game, you can try again.

Once it becomes reality, there are no retries. It is a climb where one mistake means death.

[Chicken Curry: Do not challenge Floor 2 unless you absolutely have to. Clearing just Floor 1 is enough for everyone to survive anyway]

[Cheolkeoktang: fr, it is at least twice as brutal as Floor 1]

They said no monsters appear on Floor 2.

You just have to step across platforms in midair and reach the endpoint. Then the clear is successful.

If you slip even once, though, you just end up roasted alive by the lava slowly rising from below.

Take Hard difficulty as an example.

They said the gaps were around 5 meters, and each platform was about 50 cm by 50 cm.

They also said the gaps at each difficulty were never physically impossible jumps. Even so, repeatedly jumping across tiny footholds over violently boiling lava was not something a sane person would do.

I had trained for Floor 2 in my own way too.

In the end, the core of this stage was simple: jump, land exactly where you aim, and do it consistently.

To build that up, I drew circles on the cave floor on Floor 1 and did endless jump drills from spot to spot.

Of course, I trained under conditions way harsher than Hard difficulty.

It was obvious this one would be absurdly vicious again.

[You have entered Nightmare difficulty Floor 2.]

The moment the scenery changed, heat slammed into my skin.

As soon as I entered, I stopped time.

Then I slowly looked over the scene in front of me.

‘Mm...’

Yeah, this was insane.

Nightmare Floor 2 did not betray my expectations at all.

The place was not outdoors. It was enclosed.

It felt like the inside of an absurdly huge building.

Black stone platforms floated in a line through empty space, stretching upward.

And just as expected, red lava boiled below like a sea of magma.

The platform size and distance were even worse than I expected.

I was standing on the starting platform, and it was barely wide enough for both feet.

You know those wooden boards used for taekwondo breaking tests?

It was exactly that size.

Was this not too much?

The gaps between platforms looked a little under 10 meters.

It felt slightly shorter than my Teleport max range, so maybe around 9 meters.

The sense of distance I had built through Teleport practice was pretty accurate.

It was not an impossible jump.

With my current physical abilities, I could clear that distance comfortably.

The real problem was how insanely narrow the platforms were.

If my landing was off by even about 15 centimeters, I would fall straight down.

Was I confident?

Of course not.

But thank god,

I had the Teleport skill.

Even if I used only Teleport, I could safely move from platform to platform for free.

Still, I had to account for the fact that the lava would keep rising, and Teleport had a one-minute cooldown.

...But shit, something felt off.

Sure, I had a good skill, but could this really be that easy?

It was just a gut feeling.

I felt like I should not use my skill carelessly.

‘Or I can just use Teleport as a lifeline.’

Jump normally by default, and only use Teleport if I mess up.

For reference, when I use Teleport, the kinetic energy acting on me disappears too.

So even if I am falling in a bad direction, I can Teleport onto a platform and land safely with no issue.

Alright, then I will save Teleport for now.

After getting mentally ready, I released time.

Rumble-

Ah, hot. The air was hot.

The sound of lava boiling below was vicious.

“Phew.”

One, two... jump.

Around 80% through the jump, I felt it. Success.

Thud!

I landed a little unsteadily, then caught my balance.

“Damn...”

I actually landed that.

The high-grip ridge shoes I bought specifically for Floor 2 did their job too.

Was this more manageable than I thought? Maybe it was not impossible after all.

I looked down.

Lava was rising pretty fast.

People said the brain does not process negative phrasing well, so imagining success works better than telling yourself not to fail.

I pictured myself landing cleanly and leaped toward the second platform.

Ah shit.

The instant I jumped, I knew. Too much force.

My body shot forward and overshot the second platform.

Before falling, I looked at the third platform and stopped time in midair.

Lifeline activated.

I finished focusing, released time, and used Teleport immediately, skipping straight to the third platform.

“Whew...”

That made my skin crawl.

Which idiot spread that fake science about negative wording? I almost died.

I blamed science for a second, then calmed down again.

Still, I had skipped two tiles in one go.

[Willpower: 50/200]

Using Teleport had nearly drained my Willpower.

I should wait until it filled back up.

With time stopped, I waited over an hour, then released time.

After waiting one extra minute so Teleport cooldown would reset, I got ready to jump to the fourth platform.

“One, two...”

I jumped toward the platform.

This time... good. Success.

I prepared for a stable landing.

And the moment my foot touched down, it passed right through the suddenly translucent platform and dropped below.

“...!”

W-what?

Panicking, I stopped time immediately.

...What was this? A fake platform?

Even with time stopped, I desperately focused.

I used Teleport at once and escaped the void.

My range barely reached the fifth platform.

Standing on it, I looked back.

The phantom platform had disappeared, and another platform had appeared off to the side.

“Wow, no...”

I was so dumbfounded I had no words.

What kind of trap was this...?

I had never even heard of a trap like a phantom platform.

This only appeared on Nightmare difficulty.

‘If you do not know this, you are just meant to die.’

Unless you had a movement skill you could use in midair.

Not spamming Teleport from the start had been the right move.

If I had done that, I would have died at the phantom platform.

I could only laugh in disbelief. Now I kind of understood where the person who challenged this before me had died.

I stopped time again and refilled Willpower.

The lava had risen fast enough to reach the platform where I started.

And I had made it to the fifth platform.

There were three platforms left ahead.

After those, a massive floor floated there like it was the destination.

‘No way.’

That was probably a midpoint. I could see more beyond it.

Either way, this was truly dangerous now. No more mistakes.

Lava was not the main problem.

The main problem was that another phantom platform could appear.

If I missed a landing and used Teleport to reach a platform, what if that platform was a phantom one?

Then I would dive straight into lava.

I estimated the remaining distance and thought.

‘If I clear just one more platform...’

I could probably clear the last two in one go.

With Leap plus Teleport, I looked like I could even reach that large floor in one shot. No, it was definitely enough.

Good. One platform.

I just had to nail this once.

If I failed, then I really had to leave it to sheer luck.

...Surely the remaining ones were not all phantom platforms, right? Have some conscience.

I prepared the jump carefully.

Let’s go...! Success!

Thankfully, this platform did not disappear.

My feet landed on it securely.

“Phew.”

Am I not kind of good at this?

Other than that one time, I had basically succeeded every jump.

I looked down at the lava, then up.

I prepared the final jump. One shot.

I used Leap and jumped with full power.

My body shot up explosively and passed the remaining platforms.

I almost reached the large floor, but came up a little short.

I stopped time midair.

I covered the missing distance with Teleport.

I landed safely on the large floor.

Perfect success.

I muttered that for no reason.

Of course, no clear message appeared.

Yeah, I knew. I did not expect one.

I looked at the platforms continuing upward again.

Platforms floating in straight rows of three.

One out of every three was glowing blue.

The gaps and platform sizes were much more generous than before.

What was this? There was no way it suddenly got this easy... was what I was thinking.

Then the blue light on the platforms suddenly started going out.

Before it vanished completely, I stopped time.

Ah, I got the idea.

I was supposed to memorize their positions and cross, right?

But what was I supposed to do if they gave me less than five seconds to memorize? Rude as hell.

Of course, I had all the time I needed.

With time stopped, I memorized the glowing platform positions and refilled my drained Willpower too.

There were ten rows of three, thirty platforms total, and another large floor this time too.

And I could see something like a door.

I got my hopes up and memorized all the glowing positions.

Numbering from the left as 1: 1231321232.

I released time and waited for Teleport cooldown.

Then I jumped to the first glowing platform.

The moment I landed, it dropped. Huh?

I stopped time right away.

I understood what happened almost immediately.

‘Are they insane?’

It seemed the glowing platforms were not the answer. They were trap platforms.

They were really pulling a cheap fake like this?

Unbelievable.

The platforms did not collapse.

I picked only the non-glowing ones and hopped across one by one.

I reached the big floor easily.

A huge gate stood ahead.

Please, could this be the finish point?

I prayed to myself and walked closer to the gate.

At that moment,

the middle of the floor suddenly rose and flung my body sideways into open air.

“...!”

While flying, I stopped time.

Right, so there were traps like this too.

I was not even surprised anymore.

I calmly used Teleport and returned to the floor.

“Please, enough already.”

Normally, I would have died at least ten more times by now, you bastard.

Worried there might be another trap, I had to refill Willpower and wait out Teleport cooldown before moving again.

How many times had I refilled Willpower now? I was exhausted.

In real time, less than ten minutes had passed since I entered, but in my conscious time, I had been clearing this for hours.

Thankfully, there were no more traps.

I safely reached the giant gate.

When I tried to open it, it would not open.

I pushed and pulled, but it did not budge.

I could not even see a keyhole.

What was I supposed to do here...

I looked around, but there was nothing else obvious. The lava kept rising.

I thought maybe breaking it was the answer, so I struck it with my fist.

Kwaang!

The thick wooden gate cracked.

At the same time, a dangerous sound rang out.

Rumble!

“Huh?”

I looked down.

The lava suddenly started rising at a crazy speed.

You insane... wait a second.

I panicked and started pounding the gate with full force.

It was breaking, but the gate was so huge that it would not collapse easily.

Heat surged up from below like my body was being cooked.

I stepped back from the gate and cast Flame Strike.

Kwaaaang!

The huge gate blew apart cleanly.

At the same moment, the rising lava flooded the floor where I was standing.

“Aaaaaah!”

Screaming, I slipped inside the gate by a hair.

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