WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 144: A Thunderous Scolding (1)
──────
[You have obtained the reward for defeating the Zone 10 boss.]
[You have obtained the first-clear reward for defeating the Zone 10 boss.]
.
.
.
[Contract Terms]
- As soon as the contract is formed, the Tower will open every zone on Floor 5 up to Zone 10 and summon the bosses of Zones 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.
- Person123 must defeat all the bosses of Zones 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 within one hour from the end of the Joint Battle.
[Time Remaining to Fulfill Contract: 40 minutes 51 seconds]
[The contract has been fulfilled.]
Beyond the messages floating before me, Seri's collapsed corpse scattered into particles and vanished, just like the other zone bosses.
...An indescribable sense of loss washed over me.
I looked up at the sky.
The contract had been fulfilled without a hitch.
Once again, the Tower hadn't managed to finish me off.
It was all thanks to Seri's help. I thanked her silently once more.
"What the hell are you?"
I threw the question into the empty air.
What was it? What purpose did it have in bringing tragedy upon countless worlds?
Of course, there was no answer.
I dismissed the light sword.
One thing I wanted to consider fortunate was...
This hadn't been a floor clear.
Unless the Zone 10 boss gauge was filled again, she probably wouldn't be summoned again.
I didn't know how the Tower's system worked, but I wanted to believe she'd finally found the rest she wanted.
Everything was over. It was time to go back.
No, before that.
Maybe because I'd spent so much time in the Mindscape, reality felt a little unfamiliar as I stepped through the air with Air Step.
Flying through the vast Zone 10, I headed in one direction while retracing my memories.
I think it was this way...
After quite a while, I found the sight I had been looking for.
The ruined imperial castle.
And the hill overlooking it all.
This was where the Seri of the real world had met her end.
I landed on the hill.
I tried to take out Seri's sword, the one I'd stolen using Subspace...
'It's gone.'
It was gone.
It must have disappeared from Subspace along with her corpse.
When a zone boss died, it vanished cleanly without leaving anything behind.
After looking around, I picked up a suitably sized stone and placed it on the hill like a gravestone.
Then I carved words into it with the light sword.
- Seri rests here.
Maybe it was meaningless to do this in a world inside the Tower.
I just wanted to.
After finishing everything I had to do in Zone 10, I took out the warp device.
[0:01]
I warped back to Zone 0.
I was about to leave the Tower immediately when...
"Ah."
Right. I needed to check the rewards.
I'd defeated every boss from Zone 6 through Zone 10 in one go.
When I moved to the reward room, rewards were piled up there.
Five Epic skill stones and skill enhancement stones lay scattered across the floor...
And there were five first-clear reward items as well.
I checked the items first.
[Item: Organism Destroyer's Super-Powered Photon Cannon]
A photon cannon created using the Organism Destroyer's core components. When used, it fires a super-powered photon cannon in a straight line. It can be used again one hour after each use.
Was this the Zone 6 boss reward?
It looked a little like a futuristic bazooka.
The photon cannon was probably that red beam the Zone 6 boss used as its ultimate move...
Its power had been similar to Destruction Beam, so it was basically a Destruction Beam I could fire once every hour.
The effect was decent enough. Next.
[Item: Slime King's Essence Jelly]
Jelly containing the condensed power of the Slime King. When consumed, resistance to all types of poison greatly increases. The body's regenerative ability and all regenerative effects received by the body increase.
The Zone 7 boss reward. Purple jelly.
It increased poison resistance and regeneration.
'It's consumable, like Frozen Hydra blood.'
The increased regeneration was similar to Frozen Hydra blood too.
Since it said poison resistance increased greatly, that must have been the main effect. Would I become immune to all poisons or something?
Gulp.
[You have consumed 'Item: Slime King's Essence Jelly'.]
I swallowed it right away.
It tasted disgustingly awful. Next.
[Item: Sea Dragon's Ruyi Pearl]
A ruyi pearl containing the Sea Dragon's power. When used, the user can consume willpower to control currents. While in contact with this item, physical abilities increase underwater and the user can breathe underwater.
The Zone 8 boss reward. A blue ruyi pearl.
It could control currents, enhance physical abilities underwater, and let me breathe underwater.
Controlling currents consumed willpower, but since there was no listed duration or cooldown, it seemed to have neither.
I'd have to test its power, but it looked like an excellent item for someone like me with infinite willpower...
But every effect was for underwater use.
I had never encountered an aquatic field during a Nightmare clear before.
Well, if one appeared later, this would be incredibly useful.
Next.
[Item: Sword of Heaven's Gatekeeper]
The sword used by Heaven's Gatekeeper. When an aura skill is applied to this item, the aura evolves into Heavenly Aura. Heavenly Aura possesses ten times the power of normal aura.
The Zone 9 boss reward.
It was a sword with a completely white blade and no decorations.
I was a little surprised when I read the description.
'Ten times the power of aura?'
A tenfold boost in power was insane.
I tried it immediately.
Fwoooosh!
When I applied my aura skill to the sword, the aura, which should have been blue, shone in dazzling five-colored light.
"Oh..."
More than that, was there anything it couldn't cut if it had ten times the power of aura?
Most things would probably get sliced apart like bundles of straw.
This was nice.
I could maintain my aura skill infinitely anyway, and it felt like I'd finally gotten a proper weapon.
Next...
The final Zone 10 boss reward.
[Item: Corrupted Hero Veldihard's Blessing Seal]
A seal containing the blessing of Armor of Karma, one of Hero Veldihard's blessings. Stamp it on a body part to receive the blessing. The seal disappears after one use. Armor of Karma blocks all external damage and harmful effects, while its backlash decreases according to the user's good karma. The amplified backlash slowly fades while Armor of Karma is deactivated.
It was a golden seal.
A shield symbol was engraved on the stamping surface.
This was... that skill.
It was the endurance skill Seri had used while fighting the Demon King. That suit of pure white armor.
I stared at the seal for a moment, then decided to use it right away.
When I firmly stamped it onto the back of my left hand...
Flash!
Light burst out, and a shield symbol was engraved on the back of my hand.
According to the description, I could now use a technique called Armor of Karma.
I didn't understand what it meant by the backlash decreasing according to my good karma.
For now, I activated Armor of Karma immediately.
Flash!
Armor made of light covered my entire body.
"...!"
The moment I used it, my knees buckled.
Wh-what was this?
I couldn't move.
An unbelievable pressure bore down on my entire body, so much that I couldn't even stand up.
I remembered how Seri had fallen to her knees and remained completely still when she used this technique.
Now that I thought about it, this was apparently a skill that made it impossible to move while using it.
The pressure was even gradually increasing.
I deactivated Armor of Karma.
Ah... I understood what the description meant by backlash.
The greater my good karma, the less pressure I would feel?
That would let me maintain the armor longer.
Wondering how long I could maintain it, I activated Armor of Karma again.
"Ugh..."
About twenty minutes?
Around then, the pressure grew until it felt like I was about to die, just like the Circlet of Gingoa on Floor 9.
Sixth Sense was sounding the alarm too.
This wasn't something I could endure through mental strength.
This really was a skill that could kill me if I used it carelessly.
I deactivated Armor of Karma again.
"Whew!"
It said the amplified backlash slowly faded while deactivated, so it seemed the pressure would eventually return to its initial level.
Still, I thought I had a fair amount of good karma.
Yet I could only maintain it for about twenty minutes.
"Wouldn't you die immediately if you used this, Demon King?"
- I have no need for something like that.
Still, I knew just how incredible this armor's effect was.
It had held out against the Demon King's ultimate spell for quite a while. Its defense was absurd.
- If it had been the full power of my true body, I would have shattered it instantly!
Yes, yes. I understand.
Anyway, it had also blocked Diul's Pitch-black Fog, so that must have been because it counted as a harmful effect.
I could think of it as a twenty-minute invulnerability skill.
Though I couldn't move while using it.
I'd have to check later how long it took for the amplified backlash to fade completely.
After checking all the first-clear rewards...
I looked through the regular rewards this time.
There were two skill stones and three skill enhancement stones.
I checked the skills' descriptions.
[Skill: Elemental Arrow Barrage (Epic+)]
Fires ten elemental arrows. You can choose fire, water, electricity, or wind and apply a separate elemental attribute to each arrow. Requires two minutes of concentration to cast.
Classification: Magic-Type
Willpower Cost: 500
Cooldown: 10 seconds
[Skill: Finger-Flick Art (Epic)]
Flicks a finger to fire condensed energy.
Classification: Physical-Type
Willpower Cost: 50
Cooldown: 1 second
"Oh."
The magic skill... seemed pretty damn good?
It fired ten arrows with a cooldown of only ten seconds.
Of course, the power of each arrow would be lower, but it had an overwhelming number of projectiles and an overwhelmingly short cooldown.
It seemed like a skill in the same vein as Fairy Light Bullet, except vastly superior.
Naturally, bombardment skills like this were just as good as skills that dealt huge damage in a single strike.
And the next one was Finger-Flick Art.
There really were a lot of martial arts-like Physical-Type skills.
Its strength was also its short cooldown. Just one second.
Was it Epic because it was a long-range Physical-Type skill with a short cooldown?
It seemed fine to test it in the reward room, so I gave it a try.
Crash!
A distant wall exploded and crumbled apart.
The range seemed decent, and that was roughly its power.
It wasn't anything amazing, but there was no downside to having it.
[You have learned 'Skill: Elemental Arrow Barrage (Epic+).']
[You have learned 'Skill: Finger-Flick Art (Epic).']
There were two Epic+ skill enhancement stones and one Epic skill enhancement stone.
I guess Legendary-grade ones didn't appear as regular rewards after all.
I could use the Epic one to enhance Weak Point Insight, and I decided to choose later what to enhance with the Epic+ ones.
I finished sorting through the rewards.
'How much stronger did I get?'
I'd taken in the rewards from five bosses at once, so I'd become absurdly stronger.
And there were the techniques I'd honed to the limit under Seri's guidance in the Mindscape.
It really was true that a crisis was an opportunity.
The Tower had screwed me over like crazy, but I'd survived again and become even stronger.
What now? I win again.
"Thanks for the rewards, you fucking bastard."
[Would you like to leave the Tower?]
At last, I left the Tower.
As soon as I returned to my room, I saw my family's faces.
"...Seo-hyeon!"
I didn't know how long it had been since I'd seen such welcome faces.
Only a few hours had probably passed in reality since I'd entered Floor 5.
I stared blankly at my family for a moment, then smiled and greeted them.
"I'm back."
* * *
[The Tower proposes a contract to Person123.]
[If Person123 accepts the following contract, they will immediately gain the right to participate in the Joint Battle.]
[Contract Terms]
- As soon as the contract is formed, the Tower will open every zone on Floor 5 up to Zone 10 and summon the bosses of Zones 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.
- Person123 must defeat all the bosses of Zones 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 within one hour from the end of the Joint Battle.
[If the contract is not fulfilled, Person123 will be permanently banned from entering Nightmare difficulty.]
[If Person123 wishes to accept the proposal, please indicate your acceptance.]
During the Joint Battle, messages appeared before everyone's eyes.
[Person123 has accepted the Tower's proposal. The contract has been formed.]
The world was thrown upside down because Person123 accepted the proposal the moment the message appeared.
[Peter: This is insane. It isn't even a Nightmare clear, and the Tower is making another proposal?]
[Potato Chips: My god. Person123 accepted it right away.]
[White Paper: Why did they take this without even thinking about it?]
[Space: They probably accepted immediately because they didn't want more people to die. If it completely fails, a hundred million people die...]
[LoruLoruLoru: Defeat bosses all the way to Zone 10 within an hour...? Does that make any sense? Is that even possible?]
The Tower's absurd contract terms.
Only up to Zone 6 was currently open, but it was suddenly jumping several stages to Zone 10.
On top of that, Person123 had to defeat the bosses of Zones 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 within an hour. It was a completely ridiculous condition.
[Round 6 Result: 99,999,891/100,000,000]
[A total of 0 non-Climbers will die at random.]
[The Joint Battle has ended.]
Fortunately, the Joint Battle ended without any further deaths due to Person123's intervention.
But the contract with the Tower remained.
If Person123 failed to uphold it, they would never be able to attempt Nightmare difficulty again.
That was no different from guaranteeing the world's destruction.
People trembled with anxiety and fear as they waited for news. Then...
[The Zone 6 boss has been defeated.]
[The Zone 7 boss has been defeated.]
[The Zone 8 boss has been defeated.]
[The Zone 9 boss has been defeated.]
Boss defeat notifications appeared one after another.
The bosses of Zones 7, 8, and 9 had even died almost instantly, just seconds apart.
[Extreme: ???]
[Grain: Holy... What is this...?]
[Emperor: Is this a bug?]
It was a situation that made no sense.
Then, about ten more minutes passed.
[The Zone 10 boss has been defeated.]
The final notification for the Zone 10 boss's defeat appeared.
The time it had taken to defeat every boss from Zones 6 through 10: just twenty minutes.
[Congratulations: Holy shit hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha]
[Archmage: Is Person123 a god? Is Person123 a god? Is Person123 a god? Is Person123 a god? Is Person123 a god?...]
[Whistle: How did they even do this...? No, seriously, this makes no sense.]
[Tiri: When has anything ever made sense? They're a god!]
[Blade of Grass: It's truly incredible... Just what level is Person123 at now?]
People cheered wildly, overcome with awe.
They couldn't even begin to guess how it was possible. Person123's ability was beyond comprehension.
And such a person was humanity's savior.
[The 'All Climbers' Curse Immunity' reward has been granted.]
The Climbers went even wilder with excitement.
Person123 was one thing, but the Joint Battle reward had granted all Climbers curse immunity.
From now on, Climbers would no longer be bound by the Tower's deadline.
The bare minimum insurance that would let them survive even if the world ended!
Of course, they couldn't help but be happy.
[Gluttony: Hell yeah! So we really won't die even when the deadline runs out now?!]
[Daniel: This is fucking amazing hahaha]
[Tree: So Climbers have nothing to lose even if they don't climb anymore?]
[Dice: For real, it's a Climber's world now. Honestly, we've been sacrificing for non-Climbers this whole time.]
[Ruler: Sacrificing, my ass. Are you some top-floor clearer? Haha]
[Mustard: Just enjoy it. We got ourselves an insurance policy~]
[Glass: Honestly, the people who chose Round 6 are fucking assholes, but thanks to them things worked out like this haha]
[Thunderbolt: It all turned out well, so have a drink~]
[Luwabidseong: You all know this is thanks to our Lord Person123, right? Shall we all praise them once?]
The rampaging Communication Window was chilled into silence by a single post that suddenly appeared.
[Person123: This is the first and final warning to all Climbers.]
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
