WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 162: Treasure Hunt (4)

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‘Urgh...’

It hurt.

Still, physical pain was nothing I couldn’t endure. My brain had adapted to it long ago.

Then Ye Tianwei hurriedly grabbed the hand holding my sword.

“W-w-w-wait, why?! Aaah...!”

Ye Tianwei practically screamed in panic.

Ah, hadn’t I explained enough?

I spat out a bowlful of blood and said, “I won’t die. I already have an immortality ability.”

“W-what do you mean...?!”

“It’s not like I’d commit suicide. I’m fine, so let go, Mr. Ye Tianwei.”

Only after I continued speaking so calmly did Ye Tianwei release my hand and step back, his eyes trembling.

Enduring the pain, I began to remove my own heart.

Slash-

I swept the blade in a circle once.

That was all it took.

The swordsmanship I’d honed over the years shone here too. In an instant, I cleanly carved out the entire left side of my chest.

“Ghk...”

Dizziness and chills washed over me as I collapsed to the ground. Ye Tianwei supported me.

I immediately used Rapid Regeneration.

I would’ve regenerated if I just left it alone, but without using it, I’d have to lie there for dozens of minutes.

Bububub-

Flesh boiled and surged, filling my hollow chest in an instant.

Rapid Regeneration had improved greatly compared to when I was low level.

My body’s natural regenerative power was already incredibly high due to my level, and the effects of Hydra Blood and the Slime King’s essence amplified it even further.

Maybe I could regenerate my entire body even if only my head remained? I’d never tested it.

“Whew.”

I stood up without a problem.

Ye Tianwei looked completely out of it.

He must’ve been pretty shocked.

“See? I didn’t die.”

After regaining his senses, Ye Tianwei murmured in a trembling voice.

“...As expected, there truly are no limits to you.”

“No, I’m human too. I have limits.”

“Please forgive me for daring to doubt you. I still have much to learn...”

...Why was he asking for forgiveness again?

I let Ye Tianwei’s fussing pass and picked up the chunk of flesh I’d cut out.

After roughly tearing away the attached flesh, I dug out the heart. It was pretty disgusting.

But how was I supposed to offer this?

“Here, take it.”

I handed the heart to Ye Tianwei.

Since the treasure bound itself to whoever lifted the seal, Ye Tianwei should be the one to offer it.

Taking the heart carefully in both hands, Ye Tianwei said, “Are you truly certain you don’t wish to obtain it?”

“I told you, it’s useless to me anyway.”

I didn’t mention that it was repayment for saving my sister’s life. He would’ve stubbornly refused if I did.

Even if I consumed it, it was an item with more risk than reward for me.

There was no way of knowing how the effects of Hydra Blood and the heart would interact if applied at the same time.

“Even so, perhaps you should keep it for now, even if you do not consume it immediately...”

“Mr. Ye Tianwei, please just eat it already.”

“Yes!”

Ye Tianwei ultimately used my heart to unseal the treasure.

When he touched it to the treasure, the heart turned into smoke and was absorbed. Then a message appeared.

[Offer the heart of a Climber level 50 or higher (1/1)]

[The treasure has been unsealed.]

[Item: Tecan’s Heart]

This is the heart of Tecan, the Beast King. Upon consumption, physical ability increases by 10%. The body’s regenerative power and all regeneration effects received by the body increase. You will not die as long as the heart is not destroyed.

The chains around the magic circle came undone.

A dark red heart, about the size of a human heart.

Wow, having to eat that would be rough.

“Then, I’ll consume it gratefully.”

Without hesitation, Ye Tianwei began chewing the heart thoroughly before swallowing it.

“...How does it taste?”

“It tastes like fishy raw meat.”

Either way, Ye Tianwei now had a semi-immortal body as well.

The moment he swallowed the entire heart, he said, “Let us return to the right passage.”

“...? Why?”

“I will try using my head to unseal the skull mask. Since I will not die as long as my heart remains intact, it may be possible.”

For a moment, I wondered what he was talking about.

Then I remembered the condition to unseal the skull mask and recoiled in horror.

“...Are you out of your mind?”

Offer fifty Climber heads.

What Ye Tianwei meant was that, since he wouldn’t die anyway, he would cut off his own head fifty times and offer it.

What a refreshingly insane idea...!

“Stop saying weird things and let’s go. We need to find out whether any Climbers remain.”

The mask’s effects were a passive that reduced nearby enemies’ abilities by 20%, and a 50% increase to my physical ability and Willpower for ten minutes, right?

It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t worth going through something like that.

To begin with, I wasn’t even sure whether all fifty Climber heads could belong to the same person. Even if they could, it would take Ye Tianwei ages to pull it off with his regeneration speed.

Ye Tianwei followed after me, looking disappointed.

Before leaving the cave, I entered the middle passage to see if there was a treasure there too.

“...?”

A faint sound came from deeper inside the passage.

Tick-tock, like the hands of a clock turning.

As I went farther in, a treasure’s magic circle soon appeared.

But the chains had already come undone.

For a moment, my expression hardened as I wondered if someone had unsealed the treasure.

Tick-tock-tick-tock...

Then I noticed the object in the center of the magic circle.

A black sphere about the size of a soccer ball.

A red clock pattern was engraved on its surface, and its hands were moving.

‘...What is that?’

Was that the treasure?

Why were the chains undone?

If someone had unsealed it, why hadn’t they taken the treasure... No, if the seal had been lifted, a global message would’ve appeared.

“I’ll check it.”

Ye Tianwei stepped forward first and approached the clock sphere.

Nothing triggered my Sixth Sense, so I didn’t stop him.

Ye Tianwei touched the treasure to inspect its information.

His face turned pale in an instant.

He shouted urgently at me, “You must get away immediately!”

...Why? What was it?

I rushed over and checked the treasure’s information too.

[Special Item: Ultra-Powerful Island-Destroying Bomb]

This bomb will explode exactly 100 minutes after the ‘Treasure Hunt’ begins. It will blow away all of Treasure Island. If the bomb is destroyed, it will explode immediately. Once the time remaining until the explosion falls to five minutes or less, all portals will be temporarily deactivated. Check the remaining time!

Time remaining until explosion: 3 minutes 51 seconds

[The effect will not activate if the treasure is sealed.]

[You may seal the treasure by fulfilling the following condition.]

[50 Climbers agree to seal it (0/50)]

...I stopped time immediately.

What the hell was this?

‘A bomb...?’

A bomb that would blow away the entire island.

I calmly assessed the situation.

So, uh, fuck.

It looked like that bastard Tower had hidden a colossal fuck-you from the very beginning.

It wasn’t enough that it tempted people into unsealing treasures and ruining the real world...

It was trying to kill every Climber who remained behind, greedy for treasure instead of leaving.

I knew it. Everyone leaving immediately had been the right answer.

‘The remaining time is...’

Only three minutes and fifty-one seconds.

Nearly two hours had passed since the Treasure Hunt began.

...No, wait.

A chill ran down my spine.

[If the treasure is destroyed, one of the effects above will be applied at random.]

The treasures in the forest.

If the bomb exploded, wouldn’t the treasures be destroyed too?

‘We’re fucked.’

Since it was a bomb powerful enough to blow away the entire island, every treasure on the island would be caught in the blast.

And when a treasure was destroyed, one of its seal-breaking choices would activate at random.

Non-Climbers would die, the Tower’s time limits would decrease...

Every single one of those effects would activate.

My mind reeled as I thought of a solution.

What should I do?

To stop the explosion, I had to seal the bomb again.

The condition was the agreement of fifty Climbers.

That meant gathering fifty Climbers here first, which was obviously impossible now.

The remaining option was to end the Treasure Hunt itself.

If no other Climbers remained on the island, it would end once Ye Tianwei and I left.

At maximum speed, it would take only a minute or two to return to the portal from here. We had enough time.

But...

[Once the time remaining until the explosion falls to five minutes or less, all portals will be temporarily deactivated.]

I released time.

“...Person123!”

First, I grabbed the bomb and ran outside the cave.

I used Air Step at maximum speed and returned to where the portal was.

The portal’s light was out.

‘Fuck, seriously...’

It was going to block us until the bomb exploded?

I tried using Subspace.

[This item cannot be stored.]

A message appeared.

Cursing under my breath, I stopped time again.

[Time remaining until explosion: 2 minutes 39 seconds]

The utterly insane, unfair bullshit almost drove me mad, but I calmed myself down.

Me being unable to leave wasn’t the problem.

The problem was that when the bomb exploded, every treasure on the island, including however many treasures I hadn’t found, would be destroyed.

The world would become hell.

I had to stop the explosion somehow.

‘With the Demon King’s power...’

The Demon King’s full strength might be able to do something.

But I’d used Radiant Incarnation on the twelfth floor, so it was still on cooldown.

This was really driving me crazy.

[Special Item: Hourglass of Acceleration]

Choose one of the following effects to apply permanently. Once selected, the effect cannot be changed.

1. Reduce the cooldown of all possessed skills by 70%.

2. Fix the cooldown of one random skill at 0 seconds.

The hourglass I’d received as a reward for the extraordinary clear of the ninth floor.

What if I used it?

If I chose the first effect, Radiant Incarnation’s cooldown would drop below one day.

More than a day had passed since I cleared the twelfth floor, so the cooldown should disappear entirely.

But I was worried about how the hourglass’s effect would apply.

What if the cooldown reduction didn’t immediately apply to a skill that had already been used?

I didn’t know.

‘...’

After spending a long time considering one method after another, I released time again.

Boom!

Hugging the bomb, I shot high into the sky.

‘Let’s do this, damn it.’

Treasure Island.

Viewed from above, it was a vast island with a diameter of several dozen kilometers.

And since it was an island, it was surrounded by ocean.

If it could blow away an island this huge, it had to be even more powerful than a nuclear bomb.

I immediately handed my body over to the Demon King and flew at maximum speed.

Toward the sea beyond the island.

The method I’d come up with was simple.

Get as far from the island as possible, then detonate the bomb in the deepest part of the ocean.

Whoooosh!

At speeds of several Mach, I rapidly left the island behind.

After flying until the island was far away, I plunged into the sea.

Using the Sea Dragon’s Ruyi Pearl to control the currents, I descended into the deep, deep sea.

[Time remaining until explosion: 5 seconds]

Until only five seconds remained, I carried the bomb as far from the island as possible.

My Sixth Sense began ringing madly in warning.

I set the bomb down on the seabed and froze everything around it solid.

Then I hurried away from the bomb.

Right before it exploded, I used Armor of Karma.

The ultimate defensive skill that had endured even the Demon King’s strongest magic cast with all his power.

If the blast still reached the island after all this... there was nothing I could do.

I’d done everything I could.

Praying inwardly, I prepared myself.

...Flash!!!

The entire ocean turned white as a massive explosion erupted.

Footnotes:

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