WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 30

──────

Nightmare Floor 3 (2)

I dropped as if I were being sucked into a dark passage.

The darkness was so thick I could not see even an inch ahead.

But thanks to Diul's ability, I could see clearly.

After checking the ground and landing safely, I looked up.

I thought the Undead might fall into the passage after me, but nothing happened.

...Did they stop moving because I disappeared from sight?

I hoped so.

"Phew..."

Catching my breath, I looked around.

It was a straight corridor stretching forward.

Did I pick the right answer, at least for now?

I stopped time and recovered my Willpower. After releasing it, I let my body recover some stamina too.

Then I started moving forward slowly.

I had no idea what might jump out ahead, so I kept my senses sharp.

The corridor went on and on.

No traps, no monsters, nothing while I walked.

That made it even worse.

If something was going to appear, I wished it would just come out already... huh.

I started seeing light.

Staying on guard, I moved closer.

The light came from torches.

A wide cavern opened up, with torches hanging here and there.

In the middle of the cavern sat a lone rock.

I carefully approached and examined it.

'What is this?'

Something was carved on top of the rock.

A circle with spikes around it.

At a glance, it looked like a sun.

Unknown letters circled the sun symbol like a magic circle.

Three lines extended from the sun toward the east, west, and north, and each line had a small groove.

As if something was meant to be inserted there.

"Hmm..."

I looked around.

Besides the corridor I came through, there were three branches, left, right, and front.

Three grooves, three paths.

I had a rough idea of what it wanted.

Maybe each path had something I needed to slot in here... probably.

The sun symbol was clearly a signal tied to clearing this area.

"Where should we start, Diul?"

I spoke to Diul out of habit.

Floating above my head, Diul seemed completely uninterested, like it was my problem.

Hmm... let's try the left path first.

I raised my guard and moved down the left path.

It was short, and soon another chamber appeared.

Smaller than the central cavern, with an amber gem in the middle of the floor.

'That one?'

So I probably had to put that into a groove.

Still, I did not walk up right away.

...Taking it that easily would be too simple.

This was an obvious trap.

When I took a step closer, that nameless sense of danger became even clearer.

My Sixth Sense was warning me too.

I picked up a small stone nearby.

Then I threw it near the gem.

The moment the stone touched the floor, spikes shot out from every direction.

TUKWAKWAKWAK!

Huge iron spikes burst up and down at terrifying speed, shredding the space in a brutal rhythm.

Only after a few seconds did they retreat into the walls, like nothing had happened.

"..."

Too obvious, right?

I threw another stone.

TUKWAKWAK!

The spike trap fired again without fail.

So it did not trigger just once, it kept working.

And it seemed to react to anything touching the floor.

I quickly thought of a way to take the gem.

"One, two..."

From where I stood, I jumped toward it.

The instant my feet touched the ground and my hand grabbed the gem, I stopped time, focused, and teleported backward.

TUKWAKWAKWAK!

The spikes stabbed through empty air.

And the gem was in my hand. Easy success.

After cleanly snatching only the gem, I went back to the central cavern.

Click.

I inserted the gem into the west groove.

Orange light ran along the line and filled about one-third of the sun symbol.

"So this is how it works, huh?"

Two left.

All right, what kind of trap is waiting this time.

I was not happy at all, but I forced myself into a fake cheerful mood and kept walking.

Soon another small chamber appeared, just like the left path.

There was another gem in the middle...

But this time, chains were wrapped tightly around it.

I threw another stone first.

No trap popped out.

My Sixth Sense did not flag anything either, so I approached carefully.

Was I supposed to remove the chains and take it?

Clank.

The blue chains wrapped around the gem were fixed to walls all around the chamber like a spiderweb.

I reached out toward the gem.

I tried pulling hard to loosen the chains.

"Urgh."

It did not move at all.

Even when I used full strength to rip the gem out, it would not budge.

Okay, fine.

So brute force was not the answer.

I stepped back from the gem and loaded a spell.

Then I fired Flame Strike at the chains.

KWA-A-A-ANG!

The flames cleared, and the chains were perfectly intact.

...Those were absurdly tough.

Normal iron chains would have shattered instantly.

I tried destroying them with Fairy Light Bolt and Blade Gale too. Sharp wind slashed the chains over and over.

KAGAGAGAK!

Still no effect.

No matter how many spells I spammed, not a single scratch appeared.

What the hell was this.

What, adamantium? Vibranium? Something like that?

After thinking it over, I stopped targeting the chains and aimed at the wall they were connected to.

KWAANG!

I blasted the chamber wall apart with magic.

But even when I dug deep into the wall, the chains just kept going.

If I kept spamming magic, the whole chamber might collapse, so I had to abandon that plan too.

After struggling for a long time, I finally sat down with my arms crossed.

"What am I supposed to do..."

Was this a puzzle? Was there another solution?

I looked around.

"Ah."

Then I spotted something.

On the wall right above the entrance I came through.

The same amber gem was embedded there. What was that?

I walked over and pulled it out, then stared at it in disbelief.

"...Can I just take this one?"

Was the chained gem a fake?

Just like on Floor 2, this bastard really loved making people feel stupid.

I returned to the central cavern and inserted the gem into the east groove.

Orange light ran up the line and filled the sun symbol to two-thirds.

"Hoo."

Good.

Now only one groove remained.

I braced myself and headed down the front path.

"..."

What was that.

An hourglass?

At the end of the front path, in the center of another chamber, stood a giant hourglass.

It was fixed in midair, connected to a structure.

And there was something below it too.

A long cylindrical stone.

Set into a groove on that stone were an amber gem and, out of nowhere, a cube.

A 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube, the kind you rotate to match colors.

Tilting my head, I reached for the gem first.

Of course, it would not come out.

Then I looked back at the cube.

...So I had to solve this cube to get the gem, right?

'Ah, shit.'

What now.

I forgot all the formulas.

There was a time I played with cubes a lot, but that was when I was in elementary school.

Now my memory was obviously fuzzy.

The metal cube had drawings on each square instead of colored faces.

I grabbed the cube, which fit perfectly in the carved slot.

CLUNK!

The instant I lifted it, the giant hourglass flipped over with a loud roar.

Panicking, I looked back and forth between the hourglass and the cube.

The meaning was obvious.

Solve it within the time limit.

I immediately stopped time and dug through my memory.

How did this go again? I had to remember the method.

Come on, long-term memory. I used to do this all the time.

So first I make a cross... right, yeah, was that it?

The more I tried to remember, the more it felt like maybe I did remember a little.

Maybe I could finish it if I just started.

I released time and began turning the cube clumsily.

After moving it a bit, I looked up at the hourglass.

"Uh?"

It was already half empty.

No, only about ten seconds had pass-

Now that I looked closely, the sand was falling at an absurd speed.

I stopped time again.

I had not even made 5% progress on the cube yet.

What kind of bullshit was this.

It wanted me to solve the whole cube in a few dozen seconds?

Sure, maybe a world champion could finish in five seconds, but that was impossible for me.

And I only knew basic formulas anyway, and basic methods could not solve it that fast.

...What happened when all the sand ran out?

No idea. Whatever it was, it would not be good.

But with barely ten seconds left before the hourglass emptied, solving the cube was impossible.

It was a dead end.

'Ah, fuck.'

What should I do.

Should I smash the hourglass?

...No way that ends well. Rejected.

What if I put the cube back and the timer stopped?

Thinking that, I released time and put the cube back into the slot.

But like there was no taking back a move, the hourglass kept running.

I stopped time again.

Now only one option remained.

Get out first.

I released time and sprinted out of the chamber.

I was afraid spikes might burst out like the left branch earlier when the hourglass finished.

From the chamber entrance, I stared at the hourglass with maximum caution.

Soon all the sand ran out.

The change was... nothing. At least right away.

But a moment later, vibrations started.

"...?"

I turned around with a stiff face.

The sound was getting closer.

DRDRDRDRDR.

Then I saw it, Undead flooding in like a wave, completely filling the straight corridor.

"You've gotta be kidding...!"

I fired Flame Strike in panic.

The Undead at the front exploded.

But the surge only slowed for a moment before coming again.

In a rush, I fired Fairy Light Bolt and used Blade Gale too.

Then I ran back into the chamber, pulled out the ice dagger, and used it.

KWA-A-A-A-A!

Frigid air blasted out and froze the Undead that were rushing in hard enough to suffocate me.

The ice formed like a barricade and stopped their insane march for the moment.

Crack...

But it looked like that would not hold long either.

I stared blankly at the Undead, then stopped time.

Did the Undead from above come down underground...?

Was this the penalty for running out of time?

'...There is no answer here.'

The Undead column filled the only corridor from end to end.

The only way out was breaking straight through that, and there was no way that could work.

Even if I used Teleport, I would just end up wedged in the middle of them.

I desperately searched for any opening.

No matter how hard I pushed my brain, this time there really was no answer.

Was I... going to die? For real?

Feeling death right under my chin, I let out a bitter laugh.

Dying because I could not solve one cube, what kind of crap was this.

'You win, you Nightmare bastard.'

You must be real happy, winning by screwing me this hard. Damn it.

But I had no intention of dying quietly.

After making up my mind, I released time and gripped my mace tight.

The ice was about to shatter and the Undead were about to pour in.

"Uaaaah...! Huh?"

I was about to lunge out with a shout, then froze.

Suddenly, black energy wrapped around my body.

At the same time, the Undead charging at me all stopped at once, like they had lost their target.

What just happened?

I looked down at myself.

A faint black aura shimmered around me like heat haze, and my body had turned semi-transparent.

I looked up at Diul floating above my head.

The little guy was giving off annoyed, grumbling vibes like this was a hassle.

'Your ability, Diul...?'

The Undead stood right in front of me, staring into empty air like idiots.

I stepped forward carefully.

Not even my footsteps made a sound, as if my presence itself had been erased.

Was this the dark spirit's second ability?

A stealth ability after darkvision.

Ha... Diul, you little bastard.

You helped because I was really about to die, huh.

Wait, this is not the time for that.

While hidden, I quickly picked the cube up again.

I had to finish it and take the gem. Only then did I have any chance at all.

With a horde of Undead right in front of me, I squeezed every bit of brainpower I had and worked the cube for a few minutes.

'...Done!'

I somehow succeeded in solving the whole thing.

When I put the solved cube back into the stone slot.

Click.

With that sound, the gem popped out of its groove.

I grabbed the gem and looked around at the Undead.

Wait...

How was I supposed to get through these now?

I lightly poked one Undead with my finger.

It gave no reaction.

...So even touching them did nothing?

Carefully, I moved between the Undead.

I squeezed through their packed bodies like Shindorim Station at 6 p.m. and kept pushing forward.

Why did this suddenly remind me of a scene from World X Wars.

I felt like a protagonist walking through zombies after getting vaccinated.

'Just hold on a little longer!'

I could feel Diul's ability reaching its limit, so I hurried.

At last, I reached the central cavern.

That place was packed with Undead too.

I barely made it to the rock in the middle.

Then I inserted the last gem into the remaining groove.

The moment all three gems were in place and the sun symbol filled completely with light.

HWA-A-A-A!

Intense light burst out from the symbol and swallowed the entire cavern.

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