WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 160: Treasure Hunt (2)
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I used Air Step to rise high into the sky and survey the island.
‘It’s huge.’
It was a vast island.
Its vegetation was as dense as a jungle.
A few Pterosaur-like monsters flew through the sky as well.
It would be ideal if the other Climbers gave up on the Treasure Hunt and left on their own, but if they didn’t...
Whatever the Tower was plotting, the Climbers’ lives were also in danger.
Many of them were probably low-level Climbers or ordinary people who hadn’t even cleared the first floor.
Either way, I had to find the remaining 200 Climbers and get them out too.
I came back down.
People stared at me in shock.
I needed to make sure the people here got out safely before moving on.
While we waited ten minutes, I decided to have Pli scout the area first.
When I summoned Pli, the people around me recoiled in fright.
“It’s all right. It’s my familiar.”
After calming them down, I gave Pli an order.
‘Find people. Don’t attack or hurt anyone. Oh, and tell me if you find anything unusual too.’
Pli let out a low roar, then shot off and disappeared into the undergrowth.
Thanks to the Ring of Rebilus, Pli was steadily growing stronger as well.
Time passed.
Fwoooosh-
After ten minutes, the circle on the ground began to emit a faint glow.
It seemed the portal had activated.
“The portal seems to be open. Please leave, everyone. Let’s make sure we all get through this event safely.”
The startled people began leaving one after another.
“P-Person123, good luck...!”
Someone even shouted encouragement before leaving.
I nodded at them.
Soon, everyone had left.
Time to get moving.
Boom!
I kicked off the ground and shot high into the sky.
I used Air Step in the direction opposite where Pli was scouting.
Screech!
At that moment, a massive Pterosaur flew toward me. It was insane.
I casually severed its neck with the Sword of Heaven's Gatekeeper, then began searching for people.
I continued scanning the ground below with my broad field of vision when...
‘Hm?’
I received a telepathic message from Pli.
I changed direction and immediately headed toward Pli.
When I arrived, an unusual sight came into view.
Pli sat atop some kind of magic circle drawn on the ground, tail wagging.
And floating at the center of the magic circle was... a gauntlet?
Chains of light extending from the magic circle tightly bound the gauntlet in place.
Could this be a treasure?
I approached and inspected it.
[Item: Deykals’s Magic Gauntlet]
A gauntlet imbued with mysterious magic, once used by Great General Deykals. It doubles the strength of the arm it is worn on.
[The treasure is sealed.]
[The treasure will bind itself to the first Climber to unseal it.]
[You may unseal the treasure by choosing one of the following.]
Messages appeared when I touched the item.
“...Fuck.”
A curse slipped out when I read the final message.
[1. 1,000,000 random non-Climbers will die.]
[2. The time limit for all difficulties will be reduced by one year.]
[3. The rate at which the time limit for Nightmare difficulty is reduced will double.]
[If the treasure is destroyed, one of the effects above will be applied at random.]
I’d expected it.
Still, it was just like the Tower to pull something like this again.
I tried pulling the gauntlet free from the chains.
It didn’t budge.
Clang!
Even when I tried cutting the chains with Heavenly Aura, nothing happened. They wouldn’t break.
It seemed impossible to move the item without unsealing it.
“Pli, guard this place well. Don’t let anyone touch this.”
How many treasures like this were scattered across the island?
If someone found one and harbored bad intentions... it would be a disaster.
I used Air Step and soared into the sky again.
I needed to find the other Climbers. Fast.
* * *
[You have been summoned by the Tower.]
[The difficulty assigned to you is ‘Hard.’]
The messages appeared before Kim Seo-a as she anxiously waited in the living room with her family for Kim Seo-hyeon to return.
“...”
Kim Seo-a was surprised, but she didn’t think much about becoming a Climber.
More than that, she simply felt relieved that her brother had safely cleared the twelfth floor.
“You haven’t become a Climber, right?”
It was what Kim Seo-hyeon had asked during dinner.
Kim Seo-a had been startled, but she hadn’t told him that she’d become a Climber.
She was still debating whether she should tell him.
“What should I do...”
Honestly, Kim Seo-a didn’t want to tell him.
Kim Seo-hyeon was already carrying too much on his shoulders.
If she told him she’d become a Climber too, she felt like he’d worry about her unnecessarily.
There was no guarantee that something like what happened on the fourth floor wouldn’t happen again.
She also felt strangely sorry for her family.
Climbers had curse immunity. They could survive even when the Tower’s deadline ran out.
Kim Seo-a hated that she alone had received such a benefit.
“Oppa.”
“What is it?”
“Um, you know...”
In the end, she couldn’t bring herself to say it and just trailed off.
Kim Seo-a sighed heavily in her room as she stared into empty space.
[‘Treasure Hunt’ will begin in 24 hours.]
[When the time comes, 300 Climbers will be randomly invited to the ‘Treasure Hunt.’]
[Time Remaining: 5 minutes 12 seconds]
Treasure Hunt would begin soon.
She hadn’t even cleared the first floor, so she didn’t have a status window or a Communication Window. Still, Kim Seo-a could now see the Tower’s notifications in real time.
“I hope this ends safely too...”
If not for Kim Seo-hyeon during the Joint Battle, countless people would have died.
Why were people so awful?
Because of them, her brother had almost come to harm too. The vicious Tower was always looking for a chance to take Person123’s life.
The same kind of thing might happen again this time.
‘Please, don’t let anything happen to Oppa...’
Kim Seo-a prayed inwardly and watched the remaining time tensely.
[Time Remaining: 1 second]
That was when it happened.
The scenery around her changed in an instant.
“...Kyaa!”
Kim Seo-a flinched in shock and looked around.
She saw people. They looked just as flustered as she was.
“H-Huh...?”
“Did we get picked?”
[‘Treasure Hunt’ has begun.]
[Many treasures are hidden on Treasure Island.]
[Explore the island freely, find the treasures, and claim them.]
[After 10 minutes, the portal at your current location will activate.]
[You may leave within the portal’s range. Once you leave, you cannot enter Treasure Island again.]
[The Treasure Hunt will end when there are no surviving Climbers left on Treasure Island.]
Messages appeared one after another.
Kim Seo-a calmed her racing heart and quickly grasped the situation.
...It seemed she had been selected for the Treasure Hunt.
The surroundings were entirely forest.
Then someone shouted.
“Everyone, look over here!”
For some reason, a masked man drew everyone’s attention.
“I am Person123.”
People were startled by his next words.
Kim Seo-a looked at him in surprise as well.
‘O-Oppa?’
...No.
His voice and build were completely different from Kim Seo-hyeon’s.
The Person123 impersonator began speaking to everyone in a solemn voice.
“Did you all see the messages? The circle we’re standing in is probably a portal.”
Kim Seo-a looked around at the wide lines drawn on the ground.
The message did say that the portal at their current location would activate after ten minutes.
“We have no reason to play along with the Tower’s schemes. Treasures or whatever, it’s obvious this is another attempt to take people’s lives, just like the Joint Battle and the Mask Auction. Once ten minutes pass, let’s all leave immediately.”
People glanced at one another before nodding.
Kim Seo-a thought to herself.
Ah... Was he impersonating Person123 to lead everyone? Not for a bad reason?
Either way, there would be no problem as long as they waited for the time to pass and left as he said.
Kim Seo-a stayed quietly among the people and waited for time to pass.
But then...
Whooooo...
An odd sound suddenly came from the sky.
The moment everyone looked up...
Crunch!
The body of someone right next to Kim Seo-a burst apart.
They had been crushed beneath the foot of a diving Pterosaur in the blink of an eye.
“A-Aaaah!”
People screamed and ran.
There wasn’t just one.
Several more Pterosaurs swooped down and began attacking people.
“Person123, help us!”
The Person123 impersonator panicked and flailed around before attacking a Pterosaur.
He leaped forward boldly and struck its head, but the blow seemed to have no effect. The Pterosaur pierced his body with its enormous beak.
He was impaled and died instantly.
“P-Person123 was killed!”
“This is insane...!”
“No, that guy was a fake!”
Even the Climbers who had tried to fight gave up.
People scattered in every direction, fleeing from the monsters.
Kim Seo-a ran frantically in one direction as well.
“Huff, huff...!”
She ran for a long time before stopping only when she was too exhausted to run another step.
Kim Seo-a caught her breath and looked around.
A thick jungle surrounded her on all sides. There wasn’t a single person in sight.
An indescribable fear washed over her.
‘W-What do I do...?’
A forest full of monsters.
To leave, she had to return to the portal.
But she had fled in such a panic that she had no idea how far she’d come. She couldn’t even remember which direction the original location was in.
In a panic, Kim Seo-a started moving.
As she wandered through the forest, she spotted someone in the distance.
Happy to see another person, Kim Seo-a was about to approach when she froze.
That person suddenly rose into the air.
“Aah! Save me, save me...!”
They had been caught in a Pterosaur’s claws.
Kim Seo-a turned pale as she watched.
Crash!
Yet the Pterosaur couldn’t fly into the sky and fell instead.
Something suddenly sprang out of the undergrowth, bit its neck, and slammed it into the ground.
Kim Seo-a hurriedly hid behind a nearby rock.
It was a massive beast that looked like a lion.
The beast shook its head fiercely and snapped the Pterosaur’s neck.
The person caught by the Pterosaur had already died, crushed beneath its weight.
Grrrrr-
Kim Seo-a trembled and tightly covered her mouth.
She couldn’t even bring herself to peek out. All she could think was that she’d die if it found her.
‘Oppa...!’
The area suddenly became quiet.
Kim Seo-a held her breath for a long time before cautiously peeking out.
“...”
Right in front of her, she saw a vertically slit pupil.
Her heart seemed to stop.
The lion monster had somehow approached the rock and was staring directly at her.
I’m going to die.
That was what she thought.
Flash!
A streak of light flashed, and the lion monster’s head exploded.
The instantly killed beast fell to the ground with a thud and didn’t move.
“Ah, ah...”
Kim Seo-a was half out of her mind, only letting out weak, breathless sounds.
Someone approached her.
It was a man with a gentle smile.
“You nearly died. You’re lucky.”
Ye Tianwei looked Kim Seo-a over as she sat there blankly.
“Are you all right?”
“...Yes. I-I’m fine...”
Kim Seo-a came to her senses.
She tried to stand, but her legs gave out and she collapsed again.
Ye Tianwei looked around before asking, “By the way, could you explain what happened? What were you doing here?”
There was a faint killing intent in his question.
Frightened, Kim Seo-a stammered, “A P-Pterosaur attacked people...”
She gave a disjointed explanation of how they had tried to leave through the portal, been attacked by monsters, and fled.
After listening, Ye Tianwei nodded as though he roughly understood.
“So the Climbers on this side were attacked by monsters. I thought they had stayed behind because they wanted to search for treasure. My apologies.”
Ye Tianwei held out his hand.
Kim Seo-a took it and stood.
“I’ll guide you to the portal. Which direction is it?”
“Th-Thank you... But I don’t remember where it was...”
“Hmm, then follow me for now.”
Kim Seo-a wiped away her tears and followed Ye Tianwei.
Ye Tianwei glanced at her a few times before asking, “Have we met somewhere before?”
“...What? N-No.”
“When I look at you, I feel a strange sense of goodwill. That’s odd. This has never happened before...”
Why was this happening?
Ye Tianwei tilted his head, looking genuinely puzzled.
In the middle of all this, Kim Seo-a wondered why he was flirting with her.
She was grateful that he’d saved her life, but he had also killed that huge monster in one blow. He was a frightening person. She kept her mouth shut and quietly followed him.
Then Ye Tianwei suddenly raised his head and stared somewhere.
Kim Seo-a reflexively looked where he was looking as well.
A small dot was visible in the distant sky.
It was rapidly drawing closer. To her surprise, it was a person.
“Ah...!”
Ye Tianwei let out an emotional cry.
The person came close enough for Kim Seo-a to recognize who it was, and she was startled too.
He wore a mask, but there was no way she wouldn’t recognize him.
Kim Seo-a shouted in a tearful voice.
“Oppa!”
“...?!”
Ye Tianwei turned toward Kim Seo-a with a horrified expression.
Footnotes:
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