WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability
Chapter 37
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Overcompensation (2)
Destruction Beam, an Epic+ magic-type skill.
Its destructive power was beyond anything I had imagined.
That lump that regenerated instantly no matter how many times I smashed it with Flame Strike just died.
"This is a real destruction beam."
[Willpower: 250]
Using the skill once nearly drained my Willpower, but that was not a problem at all.
With a skill like this, unless the enemy was absurdly strong, I felt like I could take down almost anything.
It felt like I had gained a true finishing move.
After basking in Destruction Beam's power for a moment, I looked down at the necklace.
Should I tame this one right now too?
If it could one-shot even that lump, there was no way Pligas could endure it.
[Would you like to use 'Item: Pligas's Blood Necklace'?]
I fully restored my Willpower, let Destruction Beam come off cooldown, then used the necklace.
A beastly shape slowly gathered in front of me.
Yeah, good to see you again.
Thanks for helping me last time, but sorry it has to be this way.
KAAOOO...!
The instant fully manifested Pligas tried to roar, I stopped time.
'Be reborn as my familiar.'
After 300 seconds of concentration, I fired a fully charged Destruction Beam straight ahead.
The moment Pligas manifested, a huge hole was blown through its body, and it scattered like the lump had.
Wow... even seeing it again, that power was astonishing.
It was a little cheap, but a win was a win.
The scattered Pligas turned into smoke and got sucked back into the necklace.
[Master-servant contract with Pligas has been established.]
A message appeared.
I had succeeded in making Pligas my familiar.
[Item: Pligas's Blood Necklace]
A necklace mixed with the blood of Pligas, a predator of the Demon Realm. You have succeeded in summoning Pligas into this world, defeating it, and forming a master-servant contract. If Pligas takes severe damage, it will be reverse-summoned. You must then wait 24 hours before summoning it again.
The item information had changed.
From the description, its base duration seemed unlimited.
Still, if it took heavy damage and died, re-summoning had a 24-hour cooldown.
"Nice."
So as long as it did not die, I could keep it summoned forever.
I immediately summoned Pligas again.
Ssssss-
Pligas appeared in front of me.
Unlike before, it did not roar.
Maybe it was just my imagination, but its eyes seemed gentler.
It stared blankly down at me, so I gave it a command.
"Sit."
Pligas crouched down immediately.
"Stand."
Pligas stood up.
"Sit, stand, sit, stand..."
Down and up, down and up.
It was so huge that every movement stirred the wind.
"...Roll left, roll right, don't roll right, lift your left paw, don't lift your right paw, put your left paw down."
Anyway, Pligas listened very well.
This guy had become a really docile puppy.
Its face was closer to a feline than a dog's, but still.
I stroked Pligas's head.
"Let's get along, Pli. From now on, you're Pli."
Its fur was not soft at all; it felt rough like sandpaper.
More importantly, once you tamed a familiar like this, there was one thing you absolutely had to do.
I quickly climbed onto Pligas's back.
"Let's go, Pli. Run wild."
Of course I had to try riding it.
At my words, Pligas let out a low growl and shot forward like an arrow.
I almost got thrown off, but I held on by grabbing the fur at its nape with all my strength.
"Waaaaah...!"
It really was insanely fast.
That day, for about an hour, I rode Pligas across the plains.
* * *
A few days passed after Nightmare Floor 3 was cleared.
[Vodka: Why isn't Person123 posting anything...]
[Huhu: When's the Floor 3 info post coming up?!]
[PeaceOfMind: Did you lend him money or something? Person123 has to organize things before posting, doesn't he?]
[Chokar: I'm curious how horrible it was this time]
[Jacktion: Floor 1 and Floor 2 were both worse than anything you could imagine]
People waited for Person123 to post in the Communication Window.
He had never promised a Floor 3 info post, but he had always done that after every clear.
And again, this time was no different.
[Person123: Here's Floor 3 clear information.]
The instant Person123 posted, all attention in the Communication Window rushed there.
[Person123: It starts in a plains area, with Undead swarming from all directions. You are given a sword, mace, and spear. I estimate the Undead's combat power is around low to mid level 10. Their defense is even weaker than that, and destroying the head is the sure way to kill them. Other than having more and stronger Undead, up to this point there is no special difference from other difficulties.
But Nightmare difficulty's clear condition is not surviving 10 minutes until sunrise. In Nightmare, the sun sets instead. As it gets darker, stronger Undead appear and their numbers increase. Once night fully falls, so many Undead appear that you cannot count them. You cannot survive, and even if you somehow do, the floor is not cleared.
To clear it, you must find and enter an underground passage immediately after entering. From your entry point, at about the 1 o'clock direction and roughly 700 meters away, there is a stone ground patch with no grass at all. If you break that ground, the passage...]
It was a very long Floor 3 info post.
Shocked readers exploded with reactions, and the Communication Window grew noisy in an instant.
[Baekjo: Wait, the sun sets...??]
[Junbittang: At this point, suicide Undead and beast Undead aren't even surprising anymore]
[RatTrap: Now we have to collect underground gems too? Nightmare difficulty is seriously filthy;]
[SoilhgoNoeYakgan: The cube part is actually insane lol so now we have to practice cubes too if we want to clear?]
[Sasaki: Person123, are you saying you're top-tier at cubes too?]
[Pacific: But is solving a cube in under 20 seconds even possible?]
[HawaiianPizza: It is if you practice. The 3x3x3 cube world record is in the 2-second range.]
[Honryeong: If the boss at max strength is in the level-50 range, does that mean Person123 fought it directly?]
[Tornado: Obviously he just checked it through repeat clears and came back out]
[Kentucky: But isn't Person123 level 30 right now? Nightmare gives 10 levels per floor, right?]
U.S. Climber Management Bureau Headquarters, general conference room.
Key figures from the Bureau had gathered, including Taylor, the only U.S. climber to reach Nightmare Floor 3.
On the projector screen at the front, a reorganized summary of Person123's Nightmare Floor 3 post from the Communication Window was displayed for everyone to see.
"...So the core of Floor 3 is reducing as much as possible the time it takes to collect the three underground gems."
Max, the chief instructor in charge of Nightmare difficulty, continued the presentation.
"As you can see, the gem on the right route can be collected easily and immediately.
The gem on the left route, where the spike trap is, should also be recoverable without much trouble if we use a pull-type skill."
"For example... something like Sticky Thread, a Common-grade skill?"
"Exactly. And lastly, for the cube trap on the front route..."
Max switched to another slide.
"After consulting top U.S. cube experts, we found that if the goal is only breaking the 20-second barrier, we can minimize training time by learning only the most necessary parts of advanced CFOP methods in compressed form.
With a generous timeline, we estimate about 8 weeks of practice at 1 hour per day.
It may take longer than expected, but the cube trap itself should not become a major problem."
People around the table nodded. None of them were smiling; every face was serious.
"The greatest obstacle is expected to be the boss. This information includes Person123's subjective judgment, but based on the case where it took 3 minutes to activate the sun emblem, the boss that appears is estimated to have combat power in the mid-20 level range.
We're told the boss gets stronger the longer it takes, so if we shorten the time, its combat power should decrease accordingly. But that part is still not certain."
"If the 3-minute boss is at that level, isn't it dangerous at Ms. Taylor's current level?"
"Yes, it is dangerous."
"Then we need to shorten it below 3 minutes, and we also need reliable information on whether the boss actually weakens when time is shortened... Would it be difficult to ask Person123 to verify that as well?"
Within the Bureau, Max was one of the very few people who could be said to have any rapport with Person123.
It was already widely known that if the topic was anything other than Nightmare strategy consulting, you could not exchange even a single line with him. Max had been talking with him since the early Floor 1 days, so he had effectively become the link.
Max gave a slightly uncomfortable nod.
"I already asked, and he agreed. But he said verification may take quite a while."
The reason Max looked uncomfortable was simple: he felt too ashamed to face Person123.
They were basically being spoon-fed this much, yet still could not properly take it in on their own.
Still, what choice did they have? Taylor's life, the only real hope for U.S. Nightmare climbing, was on the line. He had to shamelessly ask again and again, a hundred times if needed.
Of course, Person123 accepted the request without hesitation. Given his disposition, he never refused if he could help with clear-related matters.
For humanity, it was close to a blessing that the one climbing at Nightmare's front line was such an altruist.
Director Van asked again.
"What do you mean by taking quite a while...?"
"I got some additional detail. Person123 said that it wasn't another section, but the cube part, that took over a minute. So if he wants to shorten below 3 minutes, he has to practice cube solving first, and that will take time."
Director Van still looked unconvinced.
"But didn't he say Undead swarm into the underground area if you don't solve the cube in under 20 seconds?"
"That's right. But Person123 said he used a stealth-type skill to avoid the Undead's sight and finished solving the cube. Even if you exceed the time limit, the cube itself can still be solved."
"...A stealth skill?"
"Yes. So if you have any kind of skill that hides your body, technically you don't have to strictly keep the 20-second time. But for us, we need to reduce total time as much as possible anyway, so it's not a meaningful method."
And in the first place, stealth-type skills had not really appeared in the world yet.
That was why the director and the others were surprised by Max's explanation. It meant Person123 had that kind of skill too.
After the meeting, Director Van spoke further in private with Max and Taylor.
"I also think the clear is feasible if we can just confirm the boss weakens. I'll do my best to make sure all necessary support can be provided."
This presentation was also meant to explain what kind of support was needed for a Floor 3 clear and how likely success was.
No matter what, they could not keep pouring Skill Stones and items into it if there was no visible chance.
"Please take care of us again this time, Ms. Taylor. I am sorry to keep placing this burden on you, but you are this country's hope."
At Director Van's words, Taylor gave a faint self-mocking smile.
"Should I even be feeling burdened over just this much? I'm only climbing the Tower comfortably with the information he provides."
"Even that has been done by only two people, including you. Person123... we should consider him in a separate category now."
Clearing up to Nightmare Floor 2 was already an incredible feat.
Person123 was simply beyond standard limits.
Wasn't that why the Bureau had switched policy to following behind him as best they could?
Director Van was genuinely curious too.
Just what kind of person was Person123, the one now holding the lifeline of all humanity in his hands?
* * *
"Ha, this isn't easy."
I rolled around on my bed, fiddling with a 3,000 won cube I had bought at DaXso.
Breaking 20 seconds was not easy at all.
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