WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 84

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Bug (2)

I summoned Pli and climbed onto Pli's back.

At this point I was way faster than Pli, but I wanted to save as much stamina as possible before the boss fight.

"Let's go, Pli."

Time to find the spawned boss.

Nothing was different from Zone 3.

I planned to start from the inner part of Zone 4, then circle clockwise in wider and wider loops.

I rode Pli and tore across the snowfield.

Whooooo...

Through the raging wind, I heard a faint sound near my ear.

I raised my head.

How should I describe it? It sounded like something huge flying.

I scanned the sky for the source, then...

"...!"

I found it.

A massive shape in the distant sky.

What the...

A hydra-like monster with multiple heads was flying toward me at incredible speed.

I had never seen anything like that in Zone 4.

It was even bigger than the Zone 3 boss, the wyvern, overwhelmingly so.

There was no way that thing was a regular monster, which meant there was only one answer.

'It's the boss.'

...What is this, home delivery service this time?

I hadn't expected the boss to come to me first.

Not having to search was nice, but there was a problem. I still hadn't activated the warp device.

[9:59]

I quickly activated the warp device I'd charged in advance.

The Zone 4 boss was almost here.

My Sixth Sense told me it was definitely a powerful enemy.

Still, I didn't get the feeling that I absolutely couldn't fight it.

Shuuuuuu-!

Then.

"...Huh?"

I thought it was coming at me.

But the boss just flew right past and shot off into the sky beyond.

What?

Where's that thing going?

I went from tense to baffled as I stared at the boss flying away.

I moved after it immediately.

I chased the flying boss at full speed on Pli.

I barely managed to keep it in sight, and after a while...

the boss landed.

I slowed down too.

I approached slowly toward where it had landed in the middle of the frozen plain.

A monster made of pure ice, with nine snake-like heads.

But something was off.

Unlike the Zone 3 boss, which tried to kill me the moment it saw me, the Zone 4 boss showed zero interest in me.

Kwakwakwakwakwa!

Whether I came closer or not, it just kept furiously digging into the frozen ground with its front claws like a mole.

...What the hell is it doing?

[6:01]

I checked the warp device timer.

I still had time left, so for now I watched the boss's bizarre behavior.

Soon it finished digging a huge pit and lowered its body into it.

The way it looked...

was like a bird brooding eggs in a nest.

The warp device now had 3 minutes left.

Well... I should start fighting soon anyway.

I unsummoned Pli.

Then I moved closer to the boss.

Only then did it look at me and roar viciously.

Kyaaaaaah-!

Now it looked like it finally wanted to fight.

I stopped time and thought.

My opening move was obviously going to be Destruction Beam, but...

'...Where should I hit?'

For any living creature, the obvious vital point is the head.

That's why I blew off the Zone 3 boss's head and killed it cleanly.

But this one had nine heads.

I could probably catch a few at once where they overlapped, but hitting all nine in one shot was impossible.

...Should I just hit the center of the torso instead of the heads?

After thinking about which would be more fatal, I decided on the torso.

I finished focusing and released time.

Then I fired a fully charged Destruction Beam.

The jet-black beam punched straight through the center of the boss's torso.

As expected, Destruction Beam was powerful enough to make even a level-80-range boss's defense meaningless.

But then.

"...!"

The hole froze over and started closing instantly.

What is that...

Does it regenerate too? Like the Floor 3 boss?

Looks like hitting the torso wasn't the right answer.

The boss healed that huge piercing wound like it was nothing and launched a counterattack.

One of its heads opened its mouth toward me...

and my Sixth Sense screamed a warning.

Kwaaaaaaa!

A blue breath attack slammed into the spot where I'd just been standing.

I had already thrown myself sideways and dodged.

It seemed to be ice breath. The ground froze over, and a biting chill rushed all the way to me.

Other heads tracked my movement.

Pause.

I stopped time.

Let's think this through...

I had confirmed the Zone 4 boss had regeneration.

And it was ultra-fast regeneration, even faster than the Floor 3 boss.

'Does this one have a core too?'

I pierced the center of its body and it still regenerated, so at least the core wasn't there...

No, I couldn't even assume it had a core in the first place.

Still, it had to have some kind of vital point.

It can instantly regenerate even after taking a Destruction Beam hit, and it has no weakness too?

Then it'd be immortal. That made no sense.

I came to a conclusion.

'I should attack the heads.'

I didn't have any better option.

If even the heads regenerate... should I run first?

I finished focusing and released time.

I cast Flame Strike. Fireballs flew toward the boss's heads.

Kwaaaaaang!

The explosion swallowed its heads.

I saw it take damage...

'...It's not regenerating!'

The wounds on the heads weren't healing.

So the heads really were the target.

Then another head opened its mouth at me.

I threw myself aside and dodged again.

Thanks to Sixth Sense, I could predict the attacks enough that dodging the breath wasn't hard.

Good. This works.

I kept dodging the boss's attacks, held my distance, and fired magic skills whenever cooldowns came up. I also activated Searing Zone.

The boss had no intention of leaving the pit and just kept firing breath attacks.

So I answered in kind. Of course, I dodged everything, and the boss took every hit.

I could deal more damage at close range, but there was no reason to risk fighting it point-blank.

Diul's Pitch-Black Mist didn't last long, so I saved it instead of using it.

I kept circling the boss and bombarding it with magic, then...

Crack!

Soon one head hit its limit, split, and fell off.

Kraaaaaah-!

Of course, the boss was still moving just fine.

I probably had to destroy all nine heads.

At this rate, the rest would fall soon too.

[0:09]

Once the warp device timer ran out, I canceled it.

Then I kept using the same method, no overextending, just steadily stacking damage on the boss.

Kwaaaaaang!

I fired Flame Strike and destroyed another head.

Then Destruction Beam came off cooldown, and I fired again, destroying three heads at once.

As more heads were destroyed, maybe its regeneration was weakening too. I could see the body beneath the heads gradually failing to heal the Searing Zone damage.

I followed up with Thunder Strike and destroyed one more head, leaving three.

That's when it happened.

Flap-!

The boss suddenly raised itself and beat its wings.

A wave of frigid wind swept out and pushed me back a little.

The boss lifted its body slightly, like it was about to take off.

Huh? This thing... is it trying to run?

'Where do you think you're going?'

No way I was letting it escape.

I used Leap and closed in.

Then I summoned Diul and immediately used Pitch-Black Mist.

Saaaaaaa-

Darkness spread in all directions.

Before it could fly up, the boss was trapped in the mist's range, staggered, and crashed straight to the ground.

With all body sensation cut off, there was no way it could fly.

Kyaaaaaah-!

The boss thrashed wildly on the ground.

It fired breath in every direction at random.

But there was no way it could hit me blind when it couldn't even hit me while fully functional...

I moved all the way in on the boss inside the Pitch-Black Mist.

I activated Sword of Light.

If the mist lifted, it would try to run again, so I needed to take all the heads first.

I dodged the boss's violent flailing and focused my attacks on one head.

The remaining heads were already heavily damaged, so I cut it down quickly.

I blew up another head by firing Flame Strike the moment it came off cooldown.

Stab-!

I moved to the final head and drove Sword of Light into it.

"Goodbye."

I released Pitch-Black Mist and quickly jumped back.

Kwaaaaaang!

Sword of Light exploded and blew off the boss's last head.

[Zone 4 boss has been slain.]

[You have obtained the Zone 4 boss kill reward.]

[You have obtained the Zone 4 boss first kill reward.]

Messages popped up one after another.

"Whew."

The raid was a success.

For me, that was a fairly smooth win.

Still, this boss gave me more of a real fight than I expected.

Soon the Zone 4 boss's corpse disappeared.

Maybe because it had fired breath all over the place.

I felt like the surrounding cold had grown much stronger, and I was about to head back.

"..."

Then my eyes suddenly drifted to the pit.

Come to think of it... why was this thing digging that pit?

Even during the fight, it stayed in one place and guarded it. Well, it did try to run at the end, but still.

I moved closer to the pit.

When I looked down inside...

"...?"

Something was glinting in the middle.

An ice crystal? A jewel? Something like that.

I climbed down into the pit.

Hmm... what is this?

'A reward?'

Didn't all boss rewards come from the Reward Room?

I carefully reached toward the jewel.

My Sixth Sense gave no warning, so I picked it up.

[Item: Heart of the Frost Demon King]

This is the heart of the Frost Demon King who froze the world.

Information appeared.

'...It really is an item?'

Heart of the Frost Demon King?

But there was no explanation beyond that.

I tilted my head and examined it, then...

[Item: Heart of the Frost#$■◇Demon King^#◇▶%]

Suddenly noise appeared in the text, and the font broke into strange symbols.

W-what?

The moment I panicked at this first-ever phenomenon.

"...!"

A sudden shiver ran through me.

As if freezing cold were seeping into my mind...

The jewel slipped from my hand.

My mouth opened on its own and burst into manic laughter.

"Kuhahahahahahaha!"

...Huh?

My body wouldn't listen to me.

Some other being was controlling it. It felt like my soul had been shoved to the back.

"Good, good! I am free!"

I swung my hand.

Kwaaaaaaaaa!

A massive surge of cold blasted out, freezing the entire area solid.

What is this...

I had no idea what was happening.

I only knew one thing.

Some weird bastard had stolen my body.

'Hey! Hey! Who are you?!'

When I shouted in my mind, the being answered.

"You chatter too much, lowly creature."

...Lowly creature? Me?

It clenched and opened my hand while muttering.

"A pitiful body, but fine. I will settle for this much. Your flesh shall serve me well."

What the hell is this bastard talking about?

Kwaang!

It leaped high and flew across the sky.

Then it suddenly stopped.

Because I stopped time.

Ah, this still works.

Even though my body had been taken over, I could still stop time.

- ...What is this? What is this supposed to be?

At that moment, a flustered voice rang out in my head. It sounded like an old man.

Huh.

I had stopped time, but this being could still speak just fine.

Was it because it had entered my mind?

- You stopped time?

It sounded badly shaken.

I answered too.

'Give me my body back. What did you do to me?'

- You did this? What kind of trick did you pull?

'You can see it, can't you? I stopped time.'

- No, I mean how... What nonsense are you talking about?

I was just as dumbfounded.

I killed the boss, and now this mess?

I spoke again.

'Give me my body back. Now.'

- Don't be absurd. Your flesh belongs to me now.

'Who says it's yours? Give it back.'

- Then release this immediately!

Ha. What the hell is this asshole?

'Then stay like this forever.'

No matter what, I couldn't let my body be taken.

I kept time stopped and listened to the old man rant noisily in my head.

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