WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 88

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Floor 6 Hidden (2)

I stopped time first.

- Just like you said, this is going very smoothly, krrr. Why are you still standing there? Hurry up and strip.

I heard the Demon King's mocking voice.

I ignored him and sank into thought.

'Tsk...'

I was seriously flustered.

No, beyond flustered, I was dizzy.

I looked at the frozen princess in front of me.

Three eyes, gray skin, abnormally long limbs, even her body shape was completely different from a human's...

'This is insane.'

The alien princess seemed to be some kind of deranged sex maniac.

How could she even feel that kind of desire when we looked this different?

Ah... come on, seriously, no.

Even a normal person would be creeped out, and this was an alien on top of that.

Ethically and physically, impossible.

Even if it was for the clear, was this really right?

And damn it, something felt off...

The Tower was always crazy, sure, but this kind of progression?

Was this really the correct route?

It bothered me. It felt strangely off.

My gut... no, maybe I just wanted to run from reality.

Anyway, even after thinking it over ten times, I could not do it.

- Why? No confidence? Want me to do it for you?

"Please shut up."

First, I tried persuading her in another direction.

"What are you hesitating for? If it is because of my guard, you need not worry."

The princess spoke.

"Princess-nim, I am sorry, but I cannot do that."

"...Cannot?"

The princess sat up and stared at me coldly.

"Are you mocking me right now?"

"No. I am already a married man, so I cannot betray my wife."

The princess looked at me like, so what was I supposed to do about that?

...No way that would work, right?

I was a slave, and she was royalty.

She was probably thinking this slave bastard was trying some pathetic resistance.

"...Actually!"

Her expression was rotting in real time, so I hurriedly threw out Plan B.

"That part of me does not function."

"...What?"

"It is embarrassing, but honestly, that is the truth. Even though Princess-nim has granted me this glorious chance, I cannot do it even if I want to..."

In my head, I could hear the Demon King laughing so hard he was choking.

...I had no choice. Aliens were really impossible!

"If there is anything else, I can-"

"Hah."

The princess let out a short laugh.

"Enough. I have lost interest."

Really? Thank god.

"Get him out of my sight. A lowly slave dares insult me."

Not thank god.

She seemed seriously pissed.

Shing.

The guard knight who had been standing in one corner of the room pulled his sword.

Damn... so it came to this after all?

I stopped time.

What now?

- What else? Kill them all.

The Demon King said it again like he never got tired of it.

Still, persuasion had completely failed, and... there really did not seem to be any method left.

Other than causing a full-on mess.

My Sixth Sense told me the guard knight was weaker than me.

The princess was weaker than him, of course.

Then first I beat the guard, subdue the princess, and take her hostage...

Maybe this was actually the real answer.

'Okay.'

Let's do it.

I teleported behind the guard.

Stopped time again and concentrated.

Slash!

I activated Sword of Light and cut off his head before he could react.

"Kyaaaah...!"

The princess screamed.

I moved to grab her as a hostage.

[You have failed to clear the hidden route on Nightmare difficulty Floor 6. (1/3)]

[You are being exited from the Tower.]

Messages appeared in front of me.

I got kicked out immediately.

"...Come on."

What now?

Did it fail because I killed the knight?

So yeah, causing chaos was not the answer.

"See? It wasn't."

I spoke to the Demon King and only got a sneer back.

Anyway, I only had one attempt left now.

I crossed my arms and thought.

'...Do I really have to just obey the princess like she said?'

Was that really the answer?

It still did not feel right, hm...

Think.

First, the clear condition was probably keeping both races alive.

If I was wrong even on that, I would never clear this with one attempt left anyway.

So I had to assume that was definitely correct.

Was there no method besides the princess route?

"..."

Now that I thought about it, after wondering what to do, the prince had dumped the choice on the princess.

The authority to decide whether the slaves lived or died was originally with the prince.

Then didn't he just need to make a firm decision right there on the spot?

In other words, I just had to persuade the prince so things flowed that way.

Asking for a different reward instead of citizenship had worked too...

If I talked a little better somehow, it did not seem impossible.

[Would you like to enter Nightmare difficulty Floor 6?]

No point overthinking. I had to try.

I entered for my final attempt.

After going through the same routine.

The final ended with my victory, and the prince stepped forward.

"I, Patoum, Third Prince of the Kalundi Empire, commend your victory. No. 199, what is your name?"

"It is Turo."

Then he gave the same speech about rewards again.

"As the victor, do you have anything you wish to say?"

At the prince's words, I gave the same answer.

"Could you grant me a different reward instead of citizenship?"

"A different reward? What do you want?"

"I ask for mercy so the people on the other side may live as well. That is the reward I want in place of citizenship."

"...You also want the opposing race to survive?"

The prince stroked his chin, same as before, like he was considering it.

"Compared to citizenship, it is a trivial reward, but it runs against the core premise of this match, that only one race survives... hmm."

Now was the timing.

Before he asked the princess what she thought, I spoke again.

"Then how about I fight one more match, Prince-nim?"

"...?"

"This opponent was too weak. The audience also seems disappointed that the final was dull, so I will fight again against someone stronger."

Oooooooooh...!

The crowd stirred at my words, then cheers erupted.

When the prince raised a hand, they quieted again.

"Fight again against someone stronger?"

"Yes."

"Interesting. But where would this stronger opponent come from? You two are already the only ones left after defeating all the other slaves and reaching the final."

I slowly looked around the audience, then answered.

"I do not mind if they are not human."

"...?"

"I will fight a Kalundi warrior. Please choose my opponent, Prince-nim."

The whole place went quiet.

The atmosphere in the arena turned strange.

"Kuhahahahahaha...!"

Breaking that silence, the prince burst into booming laughter.

"Did you just say you will fight a Kalundi warrior? You, a human slave?"

He looked like he was having the time of his life.

Well, in this world's setting, the Kalundi had conquered and ruled everything with overwhelming power...

So naturally, Kalundi were far stronger than humans on average.

That was why he reacted like this when a human like me said I would fight one.

Still, I had my own confidence.

'The princess's guard was around that level...'

I did not think they would send out someone way stronger than that.

The prince stopped laughing and nodded.

"Arrogant, but excellent spirit. Are you truly confident?"

"I will do my best."

"Good. Then I shall grant your wish and hold another match."

Cheers exploded from the crowd.

The prince gave an order to a servant beside him, and the servant left.

Flash!

After a short wait, a new portal appeared in the arena.

Knights appeared, took away the opposing man, and went back through the portal.

One knight remained.

He had a very different aura from the others.

"That is your opponent. An elite knight of the Imperial Strike Force."

The prince spoke.

"If you, Turo, win, not only will all slaves be spared, I will also grant you citizenship. If you defeat an elite Kalundi knight, you are naturally worthy of it."

The prince looked down at me with cold eyes.

"But if you lose, all slaves will die. That is the price for your arrogance before me, Patoum. Prove your confidence."

Clank. Clank.

The enemy knight began removing all his armor.

Then, like me, he stood there with only a sword, no armor at all.

...Was he planning a fair duel?

But his eyes were still full of contempt as he looked down at me.

Before the match began, I spoke to the prince.

"I have a question for you, Prince-nim."

"What is it?"

"May I use any ability besides swordsmanship?"

The prince gave a short grin and answered.

"I do not care what methods you use. Fight with everything you have."

"Then one more question."

"What is it?"

"May I kill my opponent?"

At my words, the enemy knight snorted and glared at me.

The prince also answered like he found it absurd.

"If you can, then by all means."

As the match was about to start, the shattered enemy core regenerated.

The announcer's voice rang out.

[...Then we will now begin the final match! Slave warrior No. 199, Turo! And his opponent is Sir Kadatop, elite knight of the Imperial Strike Force! The rule is the same, victory goes to whoever destroys the opponent's core first!]

Waaaaaaah-!

Cheers roared.

"Teach that arrogant slave bastard the difference in class!"

It seemed no one thought I would win.

The knight called Kadatop leisurely pointed his sword at me.

"Struggle all you want."

The Demon King spoke.

- Can you win? Hand over your body and I will grind him to dust.

I felt it through Sixth Sense.

The opponent was definitely strong.

He was probably a little stronger than me...

Still, I could not fire blindly.

Back on Floor 4, the workshop master's guard knight had dodged my Destruction Beam in midair...

This guy might dodge too. He felt strong enough for that.

But he knew nothing about my abilities.

That was why I had a plan to land Destruction Beam in a way he could not evade.

I pointed my sword at him too and beckoned.

"I will give you the first move."

At my taunt, the knight's face twisted.

"A slave dares."

He stomped toward me.

Once the distance closed enough, he kicked off the ground and lunged. Insane speed.

'...Diul!'

I instantly spread pitch-black mist.

Fwaaaaaash!

Pitch-dark darkness swallowed both me and the knight.

"...!"

While charging, he lost all his senses and fell over.

I stopped time.

Then I cast a full-charge Destruction Beam.

The beam hit the knight directly.

This was exactly the kind of inescapable setup that even someone stronger than me could not avoid. Worked perfectly.

- Tsk, you use the weirdest cheap tricks.

The Demon King clicked his tongue in disappointment.

The mist cleared.

The cheers in the audience slowly died.

The knight was gone, and only I remained.

I trudged over to the enemy core and struck the core with no one left to defend it.

Soon, it shattered.

"..."

The arena was silent.

Only then did the announcer's confused voice come out.

[...No. 199 has destroyed the opponent's core. U-uh, what happened? Where did Sir Kadatop disappear to?]

I looked up at the prince, who was staring down this way in shock, and spoke.

"It is my victory, Prince-nim."

"...What happened to your opponent?"

"He is dead."

The audience stirred.

The prince said nothing for a moment, then let out a dry laugh and started clapping.

"...Excellent. Your victory, Turo."

"As promised, all slaves will live, and I grant you Class 2 citizenship."

When the prince clapped, applause soon poured from the audience as well.

[You have succeeded in clearing the hidden route on Nightmare difficulty Floor 6.]

A message appeared.

Whew, success.

I reflexively glanced toward where the princess was...

She was licking her lips while staring at me.

'That lunatic...'

Let's never meet again.

[You completely absorb the power of the floor.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

[You are moving to the Reward Room.]

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