WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 17

──────

Floor 2 Hidden (1)

Saturday afternoon on the weekend.

I fell asleep late at dawn and only woke up when it was almost lunchtime.

“Did you sleep late yesterday?”

“Yeah, I had something to do.”

I ate lunch with my family in the living room while we watched TV.

- There is news that the Tower’s Nightmare difficulty Floor 2 was cleared around 2 a.m. today. The identity of the clearer has not yet been revealed...

The lunch news was reporting what I had done.

“See? I told you someone would clear it. If no one could clear that, the world would be done for. Of course people prepared like crazy.”

Dad spoke like he had proved his point, then gave an awkward cough when Mom shot him a look.

Even if everyone already knew it, hearing talk about the world ending was never pleasant.

My sister sat there with a blank face, quietly stuffing herself with the ham side dish.

Still, she had been down this whole time, and today at least she looked a little better.

Would living with the fear that the world might end every year become normal for everyone now?

At this rate, people might all end up bipolar.

Then again, if we could keep living even with that fear hanging over us, maybe that was still lucky. Better than the world actually ending.

- At the same time Floor 2 was cleared on all difficulties, just like last time, a total of 400,000 new Climbers flowed in. But this time there was also a difference. A new rule has appeared in the Tower.

- According to that rule, Climbers who are chosen and do not enter the Tower even once within three years will die. This appears to apply to first and second-wave Climbers as well, based on when they received the Tower’s Summons...

That was another problem too.

The Tower was trying to kill even more people under the name of a new rule.

Having to enter the Tower at least once basically meant clearing Floor 1.

Floor 1 Climbers who had never entered even once would now die if they did not challenge it.

For first-wave Climbers like me, that meant we had a little over two years left.

‘Other difficulties are one thing...’

If you got Easy or Normal, that was at least something.

People stuck with Nightmare were seriously screwed.

While watching the news, I asked my family,

“You did not get selected as Climbers, right?”

“Come on. No way.”

Mom answered like she was telling me not to worry.

Dad shook his head too, and my sister did not even reply.

Yeah, no way, right?

Even by probability, 400,000 out of 8 billion people, what was that?

One in twenty thousand.

I saw somewhere that your lifetime chance of getting struck by lightning was around one in fifteen thousand, right? This was even lower than that.

‘Then why the hell did I get picked?’

Thinking about it again, it was ridiculous.

Then again, maybe the world had not ended yet because I got picked.

Damn it, I could not even be bitter about this.

Anyway, one person getting wrecked by lightning was enough, and that person was me.

After eating, I rolled around on my bed and checked the Communication Window.

I needed to post Floor 2 information too.

I decided to do it later for now.

There were still too many uncertain parts.

Whether there were more phantom platforms besides the one I stepped on, exactly where the floor-rising trap was, whether the trap platform positions changed every time you entered.

It was better to verify it through repeat clears, organize everything, then post it.

I could not let people go in based on inaccurate information.

“Let’s clear the Hidden first.”

Anyway, if I entered Floor 2 again, I had to clear the Hidden Route first.

I had already confirmed last time that if I just left, that chance got burned.

* * *

[You have entered Nightmare difficulty Floor 2.]

That night, I entered Floor 2 right away.

The moment I entered, the lava heat hit my skin as expected.

I looked at the platforms in front of me.

This time, even if I fell into lava, I could just exit right before it happened, so there was no burden of risking my life.

Let’s see, the phantom platform was the fourth one.

‘Should I jump straight to the fifth platform?’

With the physical ability I had gained from leveling up, plus Leap and Teleport, it looked reachable.

I made up my mind and lowered my body.

I roughly lined up the direction and made a huge leap toward the target.

After flying a long distance, I used Teleport onto the fifth platform.

I had crossed more than half the distance in one go.

After waiting for the skill cooldown, I jumped again.

With two leaps, I reached the large floor that served as a midpoint.

From what I could see, the positions had not changed from last time. Were they fixed?

I passed through easily and found the path leading to the door.

I moved forward slowly, one step at a time.

It should have been around here, right?

Thunk!

As soon as I reached about the middle of the passage, the floor rose up exactly like before.

Okay, this was the exact spot. Confirmed.

I teleported back, then waited until my drained Willpower refilled.

Now that my Willpower was 450, I did not have to do annoying refills unless I used Teleport more than three times.

After refilling, I fired Flame Strike at the door.

The moment the door broke, the lava started convulsing like crazy, and I ran up the stairs in high spirits.

Still, if people knew the information, Floor 2 seemed more manageable than Floor 1 for others too.

Or maybe not. Whatever.

I slipped out through the window and climbed the Tower’s outer wall.

Last, the boss.

I did not pick up a weapon and waited for the bastard to come out of the door.

Boom!

The door shattered and the Minotaur appeared.

The moment it saw me, it charged straight in.

I did not use Flame Strike.

At level 15, it still felt dangerous, but now I just knew.

I could win even in hand-to-hand combat.

I dodged the charge and drove a straight punch into its torso.

Crack!

The sensation of bones breaking traveled up my fist.

The Minotaur screamed in pain and slammed its fist down at me.

I dodged lightly again. Its fist smashed the floor apart.

Dodge and hit, dodge and hit, we kept brawling at close range.

The Minotaur’s simple brute attacks were, for me, now even harder to get hit by thanks to the agility I had gained from leveling up again.

On the other hand, every punch I landed steadily pounded its body into meat.

Then Exaltation, the new skill I had gained, activated too, and before long I completely overwhelmed the Minotaur.

Bang!

The battered Minotaur took a blow to the head and staggered.

I jumped up and smashed its head once more with a kick.

“Are you dead?”

No answer, so I guessed it was dead.

If it was dead, I had to run.

I grabbed a sword that had fallen on the floor and sprinted to the railing.

A moment later, violent tremors hit, and the floor collapsed in on itself.

I perched on the railing.

As Exaltation slowly deactivated, it felt like the heat in my body was draining out.

That was the warm-up.

Now it was time to find the Hidden Route.

“Where do I go to find the hidden...”

As you can see, the Tower had turned into a giant lava bath.

Then there was only one answer. Go down.

I looked far below.

With a little exaggeration, it looked as tall as the 63 Building.

I was a little scared, but there was nothing to be scared of. I jumped anyway.

Shuuuu...!

I had never tried bungee jumping in my life, yet here I was experiencing it like this.

Of course, this was bungee without a rope, so if I slammed straight into the ground, my body would be spectacularly destroyed.

Right before reaching the ground, I stopped time and used Teleport.

The kinetic energy from the fall disappeared, and I landed lightly.

“Whew.”

Around the Tower was nothing but forest.

A pale blue moon hung in the night sky. The atmosphere was perfect.

From here on, I had no idea what might jump out, so I raised my guard.

First, I circled around the Tower and looked around.

From the window I escaped through, lava was still pouring down like a waterfall and piling up on the ground.

Soon I found a massive gate that looked like the entrance. Overflowing lava there had turned into something between solid and liquid, writhing around.

Was going into the forest the right answer after all?

A path ran from the castle entrance deeper into the woods.

“...This feels bad.”

The darkness in the forest looked like a monster with its jaws wide open. It felt deeply unsettling.

Since this was the only path, it was obvious enough the place was telling me to go this way.

With no other choice, I followed the path carefully, holding my sword slightly raised.

Inside the forest, it got darker.

Still, the moonlight was bright enough that I could see ahead.

Leaves rustled in the wind, insects chirped now and then...

The atmosphere screamed that something could jump out at any second.

When I looked down from the Tower earlier, the forest seemed enormous, so I had no clue how far I needed to go.

I kept moving, ready to exit immediately if it felt too dangerous.

Rustle.

A faint sound came from behind me.

The sound of leaves shifting.

It sounded too unnatural to be just wind, and I snapped my head around.

A blade was already right in front of me.

I stopped time just before it pierced my neck.

This was insane...

If I had been 0.1 seconds slower, I would have died.

With my heart pounding, I checked what had ambushed me.

‘A woman?’

It looked human, but it was not human.

Pale skin, horns, and reptile-like slit pupils.

The word Demonfolk came to mind naturally.

Either way, it had attacked me, so it was an enemy.

Was this Demonfolk the boss of this Hidden Route?

It was already too late to dodge, so I focused.

Then I released time and used Teleport behind the Demonfolk.

Immediately, I stopped time again.

This time I prepared Flame Strike.

A pair of fireballs shot at the Demonfolk’s back.

In real timing, it was almost at the same moment as Teleport.

The Demonfolk hurriedly turned toward me and tried to dodge.

“Kyaaak!”

It could not fully evade and got caught in the explosion, thrown far away.

Not dead?

I walked toward the Demonfolk lying on the ground.

The Demonfolk tried to rise in a panic.

But maybe the damage was too heavy, because it seemed unable to steady itself. It was already badly burned.

“You human bastard...!”

I stopped at a distance.

Keeping watch on the writhing Demonfolk on the ground, I observed it.

It glared at me with eyes full of hostility and shouted in frustration.

“Ugh... kill me!”

I was going to.

As soon as the skill cooldown came back.

Without getting any closer, I waited thirty seconds safely, then fired Flame Strike again.

Kwaaang!

“Whew.”

Kill confirmed.

Was this one actually on the easier side?

Even though I almost died.

[A hidden clear attempt on Nightmare difficulty Floor 2 has failed. (2/3)]

[You are being exited from the Tower.]

“Eh.”

What?

So this was not it?

Still confused, I got kicked out of the Tower.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried