WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 77

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Nightmare Floor 6 (3)

The do-or-die move that could have ended in self-destruction was, thankfully, the right call.

The red core really was the enemy core.

And the real allied core had been hidden inside it.

I stared at the blue core in front of me, stopped time again, and thought.

I had managed to see through the trap somehow, but...

Things had only gone from the absolute worst to slightly less awful.

I still had three cores left to destroy.

The Ogres spawning every 30 seconds had already climbed to 24.

The first turret on lane 2 had just been pushed down too. The other two lanes probably would not last much longer either.

...From here on out, it was pure luck.

I let time flow again.

Then I ran straight at the Ogres swarming right up to lane 2's second turret.

KWA-BOOOOM!

I opened with Flame Strike, jumped into the middle of them, and used Blade Whirlwind and Thunder Strike too.

The Ogres, now at resistance stage 3, had gotten even tougher.

I dumped magic skills into them, and the ones that still lived got their skulls smashed in with my mace.

After clearing them as fast as I could, I sprinted down the lane at full speed toward the enemy base.

I reached core 2.

I spread Searing Zone so both the core and the portal were inside its range.

That way, I could chip the core while also dealing some damage to the Ogres that spawned.

After 100 seconds, Searing Zone would destroy core 2...

Without even a second to catch my breath, I headed for lane 1, where Searing Zone had gone inactive.

[The first turret on lane 3 has been destroyed!]

[The first turret on lane 1 has been destroyed!]

While I was moving, the first turrets on those two lanes were destroyed almost at the same time.

Looks like even Pli could not hold out any longer.

Now all three lanes had lost their first turret.

All I could do was desperately block the Ogre advance and pray that core 2 was the right answer.

'I can't stop all of them anyway...!'

There was no way to hold the other lanes with only Pli and Searing Zone now.

I sent Pli a telepathic message, telling it to focus on blocking Ogres and not overdo it.

If Pli got force-unsummoned by mistake, that would be an even bigger loss.

I cleared the Ogres flooding into lane 1 and reached core 1.

While killing newly spawned Ogres, I kept hitting the core too.

I was defending lane 1 and shaving the core's HP at the same time.

If core 2 was correct, I wanted to destroy core 1 quickly right after.

If core 2 was wrong, core 1's HP would regenerate anyway, so it would be meaningless, but for now it was still better to wear it down first.

Even while doing this, lanes 2 and 3 were getting pushed nonstop, so I was getting more and more anxious.

I even considered telling Pli to give up defense and go hit core 3 instead...

But I was not sure Pli could properly damage the core while dealing with spawned Ogres, and if I did that, the second turrets would be left completely open.

Since all second turrets were right in front of the base, it was better to keep Pli defending there.

Still, the second turrets would hold a little longer... right?

If those got pushed too, there would be no defense line left.

One-in-three odds.

I prayed desperately that core 2 was the correct one.

I was already barely handling 24, so if it became 48 and resistance rose one more stage...

I would be truly fucked.

I got screwed hard on Floor 4 too. At least once, luck should be on my side, right?!

Almost 100 seconds passed.

It was time for core 2 to break.

The result was...

[Wrong order!]

[Penalty will be applied!]

[The number of spawned enemy monsters doubles!]

[Enemy monsters gain stage 4 resistance!]

"You piece of..."

For a second, my mind reeled.

I stopped time.

...Then I calmed down and let it flow again.

Sitting in despair would not help at all.

I disabled the Searing Zone on core 2 and started breaking core 1 again.

Searing Zone had a one-minute cooldown.

After deactivation, I had to wait for cooldown before reusing it, so there was no way to set it here and go back to base.

So I had no choice.

Now it was 48 Ogres, 144 total, pouring out every 30 seconds...

Even if I ran back and tried to defend the base, it would accomplish nothing.

All I could do was pray this one was finally correct, pray the second turrets fell as late as possible, and keep smashing core 1 in front of me.

Pop.

Ogres spawned. Forty-eight of them.

Most aggroed onto me, but there were so many that some still moved down the lane.

I blasted the Ogres with magic skills.

KWA-BOOOOM!

Between their numbers and increased resistance, more and more of them refused to go down.

Before I even finished killing this wave, 30 seconds passed and another 48 spawned.

This was insane.

Grrraaaah-!

With Skin Hardening active, I fought inside the writhing crowd of Ogres and painfully kept shaving the core's HP.

...My stamina was dropping now too.

Core 1 had only 5% left.

'Please.'

It's fifty-fifty now. Fifty-fifty!

So please, just once!

Crack!

Core 1's HP hit zero.

[You have destroyed an enemy core!]

[Destroyed cores: 2/4]

...At last, the message I had wanted so badly appeared.

It felt like I had barely opened up a tiny breathing hole.

I immediately stopped time and organized my thoughts.

Cores 2 and 3.

Two remained.

Even if I got the order right, destroying both would take at least 200 seconds.

The question was whether our core could survive that long.

What I had to do now was simple.

The moment I released time, I had to run to core 2 and deploy Searing Zone.

Then return to base and block Ogres like my life depended on it.

If core 2 was not correct, there was no point thinking about it.

Right now, even if I got it right, I still did not know if we could hold.

Still, there was enough hope left.

Thinking that, I steeled myself one last time and released time.

But then...

[The second turret on lane 2 has been destroyed!]

The message popped up the instant time resumed.

The hope I had just gathered vanished like smoke.

'Ah.'

Fuck.

They finally broke through. The second turret.

I used Leap to break out from the Ogres surrounding me.

The second line had collapsed far faster than I expected.

[The second turret on lane 3 has been destroyed!]

Another message appeared.

Cold sweat ran down my back.

When I reached the base, what I saw was...

Ogres endlessly pushing into the base from all sides, and Pli in the middle of them, fighting for its life.

I jumped in immediately too.

KWA-BOOOOM!

Flame Strike, Searing Zone, Blade Whirlwind, Thunder Strike, Fairy Light Bolt, Ice Bullet...

I dumped every magic skill I had.

I kept swinging my weapon nonstop while weaving through the Ogres.

Smash heads, break legs, kick, shoulder-check, tear, shove, then fire magic again the moment cooldowns ended.

"Uaaaah!"

I even shouted as I went berserk with everything I had.

But kill one and two pushed in, kill two and four pushed in.

There were just too many.

No matter how hard I tried to stop them from reaching our core... I was overwhelmed.

Ogres flooded into the base from every direction.

[The second turret on lane 1 has been destroyed!]

...I lost.

There was no way to stop this, no matter what I did.

Even if I somehow dragged this out longer, I still had two cores left to destroy.

I could not see any method anymore.

Inside stopped time, I quietly chewed on despair.

'...'

Was there one last straw to grab?

I pulled an item out of Subspace and stopped time again.

[Special Item: Scales of Life]

By offering the user's lifespan, you gain a proportional return. You may offer from a minimum of 1% up to 99% of your current remaining lifespan. Once used, the scales break, and the user's remaining lifespan is displayed.

The special reward I got after clearing the last sub-tower.

I could offer lifespan and gain an equivalent return.

I had no idea what that "return" would be.

But this clear would fail at this rate anyway.

Then I had to use this at least.

[Would you like to use 'Special Item: Scales of Life'?]

[Please decide how much lifespan to offer.]

I was just about to release time and use Scales of Life.

"...?!"

Diul?

Out of nowhere, Diul sent me a powerful wave of emotion, like it was desperately trying to stop me.

Before I even had time to think why...

Saaaaaaah!

Diul came out of the bracelet and started pouring out black mist in all directions.

The entire base was swallowed by darkness in an instant.

W-what is this?

I stared at the Ogres, eyes wide in shock.

The Ogres trapped in the dark... suddenly flailed, then started collapsing.

It was not just that they could not see.

It was like they had lost their sense of balance itself, hundreds of Ogres toppling like dominoes.

Of course, I was completely fine, and thanks to darkvision, I could see clearly.

...What kind of ability was this?

Something that shut down their senses entirely?

'Diul, you...!'

Diul had unlocked a new ability!

I shoved Scales of Life back into Subspace.

I had no time to waste, not even one second.

Leaving the disoriented Ogres alone, I broke out of the darkness zone covering the base and dashed to lane 2.

Every Ogre I crossed on the way, I ignored and forced my way through.

Once I reached core 2, I deployed Searing Zone.

"Haa... haa...!"

My stamina was nearing its limit now.

I had done nothing but fight and run without a break since earlier.

And Diul was the same.

I could feel it through our soul link. It had pushed itself to unlock that new ability just to save me.

The darkness zone over the base would not last long. It consumed far more power than Stealth.

So before that zone vanished, I had to break all remaining cores.

It was the last priceless chance Diul had given me.

I reached core 3.

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!

I started hammering the core with my mace.

Almost at the same time, Diul hit its limit too. I felt the darkness zone dispel.

The Ogres at the base would come back to their senses and start attacking our core.

...Now it was all or nothing.

If core 2 was not the answer, then I was back to a straight fifty-fifty.

Spawned Ogres kept interfering again.

With Skin Hardening on, I tanked every hit and kept striking only the core.

The Searing Zone on core 2 was nearing the 100-second mark...

[You have destroyed an enemy core!]

[Destroyed cores (3/4)]

The moment I saw that message, it felt like I had crawled back from death's doorstep.

'It was right...!'

So I still had at least a grain of luck left!

[Only the last core remains!]

[The boss is summoned!]

Then more messages popped up.

Red smoke began creeping out of the spawn portal...

And a giant Ogre with red skin, far bigger than normal Ogres, appeared.

Fuck, come to think of it, the boss had not appeared yet.

"Get lost!"

The instant I saw the summoned boss, I focused and fired a full-charge Destruction Beam.

The pitch-black beam pierced through the Ogres in its path and punched through the boss's head.

With its head, neck, and upper torso blown away, the boss tilted and collapsed.

[You have defeated the boss!]

Its cooldown was too long, and I had saved it just in case instead of using it on regular Ogres...

Good thing I saved it. Destruction Beam!

I kept cutting down core 3's HP.

By now, our core should have been getting hammered by Ogres.

The darkness zone at base had lifted almost right when I started attacking core 3...

I could not know which side would break first.

Success or failure.

Life or death.

At a crossroads where I could not see even an inch ahead, all I did was keep breaking the core.

And the instant I took off that last 1% HP.

Crack!

[A core has been destroyed!]

Two messages appeared back to back.

The core in front of me collapsed, and every Ogre around me scattered into dust.

Breathing hard, I stared at the messages.

...What the hell just happened?

The next message gave me the answer.

[You have successfully cleared Nightmare difficulty Floor 6!]

My side had been faster.

All strength drained out of my body.

"Hah."

I let the mace drop from my hand, and only then did I smile.

Why was every run this close...

Seriously, there was never a single easy one.

[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 6.]

[Floor 6 Hidden Route has been unlocked.]

[Moving to the Reward Room.]

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