WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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Chapter 165: Nightmare, Floors 13 and 14 (1)

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The theme of Floor 13 could be summed up in one word: mirrors.

Apparently, the combat field was a strange space surrounded by mirrors on all sides.

And monsters would leap out from inside the mirrors.

On other difficulties, the clear condition was to kill every monster that appeared within the time limit.

According to those who had cleared it, the mirrors messed with your sense of space, reflected you from every direction, and made it feel like monsters were ambushing you from all over the place...

It would be nice if Nightmare had nothing more to it than that.

I could even fight with just one arm as a self-imposed penalty.

[You have entered Nightmare difficulty Floor 13.]

With that pointless thought in mind, I entered Floor 13.

I stopped time and checked my surroundings.

‘At least the place itself is the same.’

Mirrors surrounded the area in a disorderly, irregular pattern.

My reflection appeared from countless angles too, except on the floor.

It was definitely the kind of place that could mess with your spatial awareness, but this much was nothing.

I released time.

Walking around, I checked the size of the space.

It was circular.

The mirrors made it look vast, but it was actually much smaller.

The radius was probably around ten meters.

Were the monsters about to come out?

Or would it pull some other kind of bullshit?

Since this was Nightmare difficulty, there was no point trying to predict what would happen.

I heightened my senses and stood still for a while...

Nothing happened.

No monsters or anything else came out.

That was within the realm of possibility too.

Did I need to find an Escape Route or something?

I looked around again.

As I turned my head from side to side, countless versions of me in the mirrors did the same.

I walked closer to one of them.

Then I reached for the mirror.

Just as I was about to touch it...

“...”

I stopped right before my fingers touched the surface.

...For some reason, I had a bad feeling.

It wasn’t Sixth Sense reacting. It was just a gut feeling.

Call it big-data intuition built up from clearing countless Nightmare floors.

I stared into the eyes of my reflection.

The moment I began to sense something strangely off...

Grin-

The me in the mirror raised the corners of his mouth and smiled.

...I hadn’t smiled.

Without panicking, I took a few steps back.

The me in the mirror didn’t follow.

I looked at the other mirrors.

The countless reflections that should have shown me from every angle had all become identical.

Every version of me was staring directly at me and smiling, just like the one in front of me.

“Fuck.”

What, were we filming a horror movie?

I calmly returned to the center of the room.

Then I moved my body around.

The versions of me in the mirrors didn’t follow. They just kept grinning.

‘Are those things the monsters?’

I activated Weak Point Insight.

No weaknesses appeared.

I decided to attack directly.

First, I casually fired a Light Bullet at one of the versions of me in the mirror...

Tingtingtingting!

The mirror reflected the Light Bullet intact.

The reflected projectiles bounced off other mirrors and began flying all over the place.

I knocked a few away with my sword. The rest only stopped after hitting the floor instead of a mirror and exploding.

‘It reflects attacks.’

It was an obvious gimmick for a mirror.

Still, on other difficulties, they had supposedly just been indestructible objects without any reflection ability.

There was no point using a stronger skill, was there?

As I wondered how the hell I was supposed to clear this...

- Sw... ap...

The me in the mirror suddenly spoke in a grotesque voice.

...What the hell was this bastard?

It could talk too?

- Swap... with... me...

Its clumsy pronunciation gradually became clear enough to understand.

I answered it anyway.

“Swap? Swap what?”

It kept smiling as it spoke.

- Swap... You in mirror... Me outside...

What was it talking about?

“You want to come out of the mirror, and you want me to go inside?”

- Right... Right! Let’s swap!

It urged me on excitedly.

I asked again.

“If we swap, can I clear Floor 13?”

- Floor 13...? What is that...? Don’t know...

Hmm. Was it not an entity capable of recognizing the Tower?

Should I just think of it as an intelligent monster?

“So how are we supposed to swap?”

- Come close to mirror and reach out... Just touch me...!

I rubbed my chin.

So that was why I’d felt uneasy?

According to that thing, we could swap if we touched each other through the mirror.

It was a suspicious offer with no reason for me to accept.

And my gut was telling me something else.

If I swapped with it, my attempt would end right there. In a bad way.

Since Sixth Sense hadn’t reacted, my life probably wasn’t in danger...

Would I get trapped inside the mirror?

That thing couldn’t come out whenever it wanted either, which was why it was offering this to me.

“...What’s in it for me if I swap with you?”

- Mirror World... You can do anything you want...! Anything you want!

“Really? If it’s such a great place, why are you trying to leave?”

The thing suddenly fell silent.

It stared at me for a moment before shouting with a vicious expression.

- Swap...! Swap with me now...! You bastard!

Swap, swap, swap...!

Their cries echoed noisily from every direction.

I stopped time for a moment and thought.

‘Let’s assume swapping is the wrong answer.’

If I’d carelessly touched the mirror at the beginning, it might have been over immediately.

So what was the real route to clearing this place?

Killing that disgusting monster?

But it was inside the mirror.

And the mirrors reflected all my attacks.

There was no way to touch it.

Or did I need to escape this space?

After considering various ideas, I released time again.

Nothing came to mind right away.

The thing, which had been raging and screaming for a while, began talking again as if coaxing me.

- Listen... Mirror World is fantastic! You can have anything you want, all of it!

“If it’s so great, why are you trying to leave? Just live there.”

- I said let’s swap! The inside of the mirror is better!

There was no logic to it. Conversation was impossible.

Judging by how it only kept insisting, it seemed pretty stupid.

Then the scene inside the mirror changed. Huh?

All kinds of delicious-looking food appeared.

The thing laid out an extravagant feast and began devouring it greedily.

Then the scene changed again.

This time, countless beautiful women appeared instead of food.

Surrounded by beautiful women acting coy and seductive, the thing grinned at me.

Was this supposed to tempt me?

It was so one-dimensional that I almost laughed.

If I wanted something like that, I could enter Mindscape and have as much of it as I wanted, you bastard.

- Come in... Into the mirror... It is your own kingdom...!

Ignoring it, I seriously began searching for the route to clear the floor.

I looked for unusual mirrors and even tried digging into the floor, the only thing that wasn’t a mirror. The floor was also indestructible.

I spent quite a while trying different methods, but made no progress at all.

“Hey.”

I spoke to it again.

It had been tempting me nonstop, but it seemed to have given up when it didn’t work and returned to its original state.

“Can I ask you something?”

- Hurry up and swap with me...!

“If you answer properly, I might swap with you.”

- What is it...! Ask!

“How do I get out of here?”

It answered.

- You can’t leave until you die! Unless you swap with me...!

“Really? Then is there a way to kill you?”

- Kill me? You can never kill me...! Hehehe...!

Its mocking laughter echoed through the room. Annoying.

No matter how I thought about it, physically doing something here seemed impossible.

That meant the only path left was talking to it.

Did I need to coax it into doing something somehow?

I kept trying to talk with it.

- What are you talking about? Shut up and let’s swap...! Swap with me!

But this thing was a mindless broken record that only said “swap.”

No matter what I tried talking about, every conversation ended with it throwing a tantrum and demanding that I swap with it.

I stopped time again.

I thought for a long time.

Still, nothing came to mind.

Growing frustrated, I eventually used Radiant Incarnation.

I handed my body over to the Demon King, who unleashed magic at full power toward the mirrors in every direction.

Kwoooooong!!

The mirrors weren’t damaged in the slightest.

Even the Demon King’s power had no effect. Everything was reflected.

...Naturally, this wasn’t a gimmick that could be solved by force.

Before Radiant Incarnation’s duration ended, the Demon King erased all the ice and cold that filled the space.

Back in my own body, I let out a sigh.

- Stop doing pointless things and swap...!

“Shut up.”

What the fuck was I supposed to do?

Could swapping really be the answer?

No way...

“...?”

I looked at it.

The thing’s appearance in the mirror had changed slightly at some point.

It had grown a little stubble.

It definitely hadn’t had any at first. My chin was clean-shaven.

After staring blankly for a moment, I reached one conclusion.

‘Time inside the mirror and time out here are different.’

Its time was passing faster than mine.

It had been a little over twenty minutes since I entered Floor 13.

Its stubble looked like the kind someone would have after not shaving for two or three days.

That meant time inside the mirror had to be passing at least a hundred times faster than in reality.

Then...

An idea suddenly struck me.

‘No way.’

...Was I supposed to wait for it to die of old age?

Was that really the clear method, just enduring until it grew old and died?

It was an absurd thought, but this was Nightmare difficulty.

It was disgusting enough to be a Nightmare-style clear method.

Let’s think this through...

If this really was the correct method...

Even if my lifespan was roughly a hundred years, I’d have to endure for about a year.

Of course, enduring itself was possible.

An ordinary person would probably lose their mind after being trapped in a place like this for a year...

But I’d be fine. I just had to endure it.

Or I could simply enter Mindscape.

Food wasn’t a problem either.

I obviously didn’t have a year’s worth of food in Subspace, but I couldn’t starve to death anyway. I could replenish water with the Demon King’s ice magic.

There was one fatal problem, though.

I didn’t even have a year of Remaining Lifespan left.

I didn’t have time to leisurely wait for that thing to die of old age.

...But could my Remaining Lifespan apply to it too?

It was worth checking.

- Swap! Swap! Swap...!

Ignoring the thing’s nonstop chatter, I let time pass.

Just as expected, its time was moving much faster. Its beard quickly grew out.

A week passed.

Its beard had grown thick enough to use as a broom.

Its face had also aged a little compared to mine.

But it still hadn’t died.

If it hadn’t died after this much time had passed...

Unfortunately, it seemed my hopes had been wrong.

The lifespan from the scale didn’t apply to it.

I hadn’t found another method during that week either.

...Did that really mean waiting was the only way?

But I didn’t have that kind of time.

After thinking for a long time...

‘It can’t be helped.’

I finally decided to try the last resort I’d thought of while waiting.

It was an all-or-nothing gamble, and I had no idea whether it would work.

If it failed, it would be over...

“Hey.”

I called out to it.

“Fine. Let’s swap.”

- ...Really!?

It jumped around excitedly.

- Come here! Let’s swap! Swap right now...!

“Yeah, yeah.”

I walked close to the mirror.

Then I slowly reached out my hand.

The thing reached out its hand too.

The moment our fingertips touched through the mirror’s surface...

I immediately entered Mindscape and stopped time outside.

“...Bingo.”

I smiled at the monster wearing my face.

It worked.

It was possible to drag this thing into Mindscape too.

I’d successfully made the first move before it could do anything.

“W-What? Where is this?”

It looked around in confusion.

“Demon King.”

“Alright.”

It was time for the Demon King to step in.

The Demon King could strike at an opponent’s soul.

Just as when I fought Seri in Mindscape, the Demon King’s power began mercilessly shredding the thing’s body.

“Kyaaaaaaah!!”

It screamed in agony.

Seri had remained unfazed even after resurrecting several times, but this thing was finished after that.

Once it died, it vanished without leaving a trace.

“Is it dead?”

“Its soul is certainly dead.”

I returned to reality.

The moment I did, I quickly pulled my hand away from the mirror.

Regardless, the thing in the mirror collapsed limply like a puppet with its strings cut.

[You have successfully cleared Nightmare difficulty Floor 13.]

A message appeared before my eyes.

“Whew.”

I’d cleared it.

[Absorbing the power of the floor.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

.

.

.

[Your level has increased.]

[You are the first to successfully clear Nightmare difficulty Floor 13.]

[You will be moved to the Reward Room.]

Footnotes:

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