WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 47

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Nightmare Floor 4 (3)

I stood there, blankly staring at the interface window.

Then I snapped out of it and quickly gathered the other cores too.

[You have gained 200P.]

[You have gained 200P.]

[You have gained 200P.]

.

.

.

Shop.

Tower Defense... an upgrade system...

"...Ha ha."

Holy fuck.

Only then did I finally understand Floor 4's gimmick, and I couldn't help laughing like I'd lost my mind.

No wonder something had felt wrong the whole time.

There was no way other Climbers could handle golems at this level.

There really had been a game-like upgrade system hidden in here.

You're supposed to upgrade step by step while clearing stages, but I'd brute-forced everything with raw stats and made it this far.

Ah... now I'm getting pissed...

The other golems all had cores too.

But every time a stage started, all the wreckage disappeared, which meant the points from 11 stages had vanished into thin air.

So how much had I lost?

'Whew...'

My head was spinning, but at least I caught it now.

[Shop]

- Physical Damage +10% (100P)

- Magic Damage +10% (100P)

- Willpower +10% (100P)

- Attribute Conversion (500P)

- Force Field (50P)

- Slow (50P)

- Stop (100P)

- Special Draw! (5,000P)

Points Held: 4,000P

I understood the damage and Willpower boosts, but Attribute Conversion...?

[Attribute Conversion (500P)]

Converts physical damage into magic damage, and magic damage into physical damage.

Ah, so this was meant for dealing with red and blue golems.

It was useless to me now that I'd already passed them.

[Force Field (50P)]

Installs a force field at a chosen route point to block golem movement. The force field lasts 30 seconds.

[Slow (50P)]

Applies 50% Slow to golems on the route. Slow lasts 30 seconds.

[Stop (100P)]

Stops golems on the route. Stop lasts 30 seconds.

These were for stopping golem advancement.

[Special Draw! (5,000P)]

Begins the Special Draw. This is a random draw. (All probabilities are equal.)

- Skill Effect 300% Scroll

- Ability Nullification Parts

- Great Incineration Switch

And then there was the last and most expensive draw.

['Magic Damage +10% (100P)' has been purchased.]

I currently had 4,000 points.

For now, I tried buying one magic damage upgrade.

[Shop]

- Physical Damage +10% (100P)

- Magic Damage +10% (200P)

- Willpower +10% (100P)

- Attribute Conversion (500P)

- Force Field (50P)

- Slow (50P)

- Stop (100P)

- Special Draw! (5,000P)

Points Held: 3,900P

After I bought it, the price went up by 100.

Did it get more expensive every time you upgraded?

I couldn't tell whether physical damage increase applied to Pli, so for now I only bought magic damage.

- Green golems revive once even after complete destructionnn... Please proceed with cautionnn...

The guide announcement played.

Stage 13 was about to start.

Revive even after dying? So they had two lives.

I didn't spend the rest of my points yet.

There were only five, so I decided to test first, then decide how to spend points.

I'd already lost a lot of points, so I needed to be careful.

The entrance opened, and a green golem came out.

I cast Searing Zone on the entrance path.

Fwoooosh!

The golem burned and passed through the zone.

I also fired Flame Strike and hit it.

Kwoooom!

As soon as the nearly destroyed golem came out of the Searing Zone, Pli finished it off.

The shattered golem collapsed.

Soon, the broken debris floated up and clumped back together.

Okay, so that's how it works?

As stages went on, not only their traits but their base stats also increased, making them harder to destroy.

Still, unlike the black ones, green golems didn't ignore damage below a threshold.

That made them easier to break, and my damage was up by 10% too.

I destroyed all five without much trouble.

Since they revived once, it was basically like fighting ten.

[You have gained 250P.]

[You have gained 250P.]

[You have gained 250P.]

.

I collected all the cores and gained another 1,250P total.

Did points increase by 50P whenever the golem type changed?

'If five gives this much...'

I could probably handle ten somehow.

Twenty, effectively forty, would probably need more damage upgrades.

'No.'

[Force Field (50P)]

Installs a force field at a chosen route point to block golem movement. The force field lasts 30 seconds.

Should I try using this once?

If it could perfectly block golems for 30 seconds,

then for someone like me, who could pack golems into one route and fire Destruction Beam, this was absurdly efficient.

I'd test it later on Stage 15 with twenty golems.

['Magic Damage +10% (200P)' has been purchased.]

Stage 14 started.

I spent 200P to increase damage by another 10%.

I cleared ten green golems, effectively twenty, without using Destruction Beam and without any trouble.

After collecting all the fallen cores, I gained 2,500P.

Just as planned, I decided to test the force field.

Upgrades got more expensive the more I bought, but force fields stayed cheap even if they were one-time use, so the efficiency was great.

Force field duration was 30 seconds.

It took 30 seconds for the first golem to reach Course 1, and two full minutes for all twenty golems to come out.

That meant I'd need to use force fields three times, so 150P.

Then after they revived, I'd need to wait another 3 minutes for Destruction Beam cooldown, so 0P additional cost.

By calculation, I could clear the stage cleanly with only 450P total.

No, if Pli and I stepped in and stalled them as much as possible while using force fields, it would cost even less than that.

'There's definitely a boss left...'

Wouldn't I need this at some point?

Rather than dumping everything into upgrades, I felt I should save as many points as possible.

I'd already lost so much anyway... fuck.

The light turned red, and Stage 15 began.

Green golems walked out.

Pli and I blocked their advance as much as we could, just like we did with the black golems earlier.

['Force Field (50P)' has been purchased.]

I used the force field as planned.

A blue translucent force field appeared on Course 1, exactly where I wanted it.

Thud. Thud.

The golems kept slamming their heads into it and couldn't move forward.

Since the front line couldn't move, the ones in back got clogged too and just kept crashing into each other.

As expected, the force field seemed to hold perfectly for 30 seconds without breaking.

Pli and I fought again, then dropped another force field at the right timing.

Unlike damage upgrades, repeated force field purchases didn't increase in price.

Like that, using only two force fields for 100P, I succeeded in packing all the golems into Course 2.

Then I wiped them with Destruction Beam.

With the 20% damage boost, Destruction Beam once again pierced every golem perfectly.

Rumble...

The golems with their insides blown out collapsed all at once, then revived all at once.

After that, it was just repeating what I'd already done.

Hold out while waiting for Destruction Beam cooldown, use force fields, then fire Destruction Beam again.

I cleared Stage 15 cleanly with only 200P spent.

I hurried to scoop up the dropped cores.

- Magic Damage +10% (300P)

- Attribute Conversion (500P)

- Force Field (50P)

- Slow (50P)

- Stop (100P)

- Special Draw! (5,000P)

Points Held: 12,250P

12,250P.

I'd built up quite a lot.

[Special Draw! (5,000P)]

Starts the Special Draw. It is a draw. (All probabilities are equal.)

- Skill Effect 300% Scroll

- Ability Nullification Parts

- Great Incineration Switch

[Skill Effect 300% Scroll]

Select one skill of any type and increase its effect by 300%. Can be used by tearing the scroll. (Stacking possible)

A 300% increase to one skill's effect.

It did exactly what the name said.

[Ability Nullification Parts]

Nullifies all abilities of one golem unit. Can be used by making the parts touch the golem.

Ability Nullification also did exactly what the name said.

It completely nullified one golem's abilities.

[Great Incineration Switch]

Press the button to execute great incineration. Powerful flames will eliminate all golems. Of course, you too!

And lastly, the great incineration switch.

It said it would kill all golems, including me.

"Of course, you too!" it says.

So it was a self-destruct button. I had no idea why something like this existed.

- Yellow golems cannot be impededdd... Please proceed with cautionnn...

While I was reading, the guide announcement played. Break time was over.

...Cannot be impeded? Wait.

Doesn't that mean you can't block their path?

Ding-

The light turned red and the entrance opened.

A yellow golem walked out.

Pli rushed in and body-slammed it, but...

Bang!

The yellow golem didn't budge at all and just kept walking. Only Pli got bounced away.

I tried Blade Whirlwind too, but it had no effect at all.

Wait, no way, does force field not work either?

['Force Field (50P)' has been purchased.]

I immediately set a force field right in front of the yellow golem.

The moment the force field touched it, it shattered apart, and the golem kept marching forward.

'You gotta be kidding me...'

Then Slow and Stop obviously wouldn't work either, right?

Looks like I had to destroy it with pure damage, no tricks.

I blasted it with magic, and Pli climbed onto it and bit it wildly.

Its defense was only a bit higher than the green golem's, so we dealt with it quickly.

[You have gained 300P.]

[You have gained 300P.]

[You have gained 300P.]

.

After collecting all the cores, I gained 1,500P.

I stopped time and thought.

Just when I thought this would be easy, another annoying golem showed up, but...

it wasn't really a problem.

Rough estimate: with one more damage upgrade, I could clear ten without Destruction Beam.

For twenty, if I swept five with Destruction Beam first, that was effectively fifteen.

With twenty golems, it took two full minutes just for all of them to come out, so I could rotate Destruction Beam one more time too... but since I had no idea what later stages might throw at me, I decided not to use it twice.

My base specs were so good that if I played it safe and added three more damage upgrades, Stage 18 should be fine too. I also had plenty of points.

Damn... can a Nightmare clear really go this smoothly?

That thought crossed my mind, and I immediately slapped my own cheek.

'Who told you to get careless, you lunatic.'

The boss still hadn't appeared.

This core gimmick was definitely infuriating, but... how should I put it.

That signature deep level of utter bullshit still hadn't really hit me yet.

I'd already cleared three Nightmare floors, so my instincts were trustworthy.

If anything, you could call me humanity's top sommelier of this stuff.

Ding-

Stage 17 started.

['Magic Damage +10% (300P)' has been purchased.]

['Magic Damage +10% (400P)' has been purchased.]

['Magic Damage +10% (500P)' has been purchased.]

As planned, I spent a total of 1,200P and boosted damage three more times.

Kwoooom!

With my stronger firepower, I easily handled the yellow golems.

I blew away five of them in Course 1 with Destruction Beam, then dealt with the remaining fifteen.

[Shop]

- Physical Damage +10% (100P)

- Magic Damage +10% (600P)

- Willpower +10% (100P)

- Attribute Conversion (500P)

- Force Field (50P)

- Slow (50P)

- Stop (100P)

- Special Draw! (5,000P)

Points Held: 21,500P

My points had now gone over twenty thousand.

But how many stages did this place even have?

Then the guide announcement played.

- Our workshop's finest masterpiece is malfunctioninggg... Staff are advised to proceed very, very carefullyyy...

...Finest masterpiece?

'Boss.'

I instinctively realized the boss was finally coming and turned toward the entrance.

Thud, thud, thud...

A massive figure came into view.

The moment I saw it, I couldn't help saying:

"...What the actual hell."

Its head was black.

Its left upper body was red, and its right upper body was blue.

Its left lower body was green, and its right lower body was yellow.

It was a golem with all the colors of every golem so far gathered into one body.

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