WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability

Chapter 89

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Cult (1)

I was moved to the Reward Room.

I checked the rewards.

As expected, it was one item and one Skill Enhancement Stone.

"No Skill Stone this time."

Judging by the purple color, it was an Epic-grade Skill Enhancement Stone...

The only Epic-grade skill I had right now was Subspace.

If I enhanced it, would the storage capacity increase?

Right now, Subspace could store up to 100 kg.

But it felt wasteful to use a Skill Enhancement Stone on a skill that was basically just an inventory, and 100 kg was already enough anyway, so I did not really feel the need to increase it...

I decided to keep it for now.

If I got a better Epic-grade skill later, it would be better to enhance that.

Usually, Hidden items were tied to the Hidden story... what was this?

I picked up something that looked like an ID card.

[Item: Kalundi Empire Second-Class Citizenship]

This is a Kalundi Empire Second-Class Citizenship. You acquire the right to receive the Empire's protection as a subject of the Kalundi Empire. When used, two Kalundi knights are summoned for 30 minutes to escort you. After one use, it can be used again after 24 hours.

"...It's citizenship?"

The prince did say he would give this as a reward if I won.

The effect was a summon-type ability.

Summon two Kalundi escort knights for 30 minutes.

I tried using it.

Pop!

With a faint flash, two Kalundi knights appeared on my left and right.

"Excuse me?"

I tried talking to them.

No reply, whether they could not talk or just would not.

I started moving.

The two knights followed right behind me.

"Stop."

I tried all kinds of commands, but they ignored everything.

Just like the item description said, they only followed me around, as if escorting me was all they were meant to do.

Would they react if I attacked them?

Thud!

I punched one, and the knight took the hit without even guarding and fell over.

Then the knight got back up and came to my side again.

Hmm... what kind of ability was this?

The knights were fairly strong, but they only escorted me, and there was a 30-minute limit too.

It did not seem that useful.

I dismissed the knights.

[Difficulty: Nightmare]

[Floor: 7]

[Level: 85]

[Willpower: 4,050]

[Skills: Destruction Beam (Epic+), Subspace (Epic), Sixth Sense (Rare+) (+2), Teleport (Rare+), Rapid Regeneration (Rare+), Searing Zone (Rare+), Lesser Flame Refinement (Rare+), Sword of Light (Rare+), Cavalry Charge (Rare+), Flame Strike (Rare) (+5)...]

I went back out.

After returning home, I entered Floor 6 again.

It was time to post the Floor 6 guide.

I kept going in and out of Floor 6, organizing the guide while writing it in the Communication Window.

"Why are you even writing this crap?"

the Demon King asked.

"Because I'm the top record holder."

"So what?"

"So other people can clear it more easily with this info."

"I'm asking why you bother doing that."

He sounded like he truly could not understand.

"Well, that's why."

"Then you should rule like an emperor, basking in the worship of all people. Does not the fate of the world rest in your hands? Use that to threaten them and force their submission."

There he went again with the crazy talk.

"I'm not doing that."

"Why?!"

"...Because I'm a normal person, unlike you, Demon King-nim."

The Demon King only ever said completely unhinged things. Maybe that was only natural, since he was the Demon King.

"What a frustrating fool."

Ignoring him, I finished the guide post.

Then I got curious and asked,

"What happened to your world, Demon King-nim? It ended up destroyed by the Tower's Curse, right?"

Did everyone there also turn into Fallen, making it no different from hell?

The Demon King did not answer.

...Maybe I asked that too casually. It was still someone's ruined world.

I went back to writing the guide post.

* * *

After Person123 cleared the Zone 4 boss,

people waited for the Nightmare Floor 6 guide post.

This Floor 6 clear had taken especially long, so everyone was dying to know what had happened and waited with bated breath.

[Person123: Here is the Floor 6 clear information.]

Then, just as announced, the Floor 6 guide post went up soon after.

[Person123: ...The difference from other difficulties is that Nightmare has three lanes. For allied units, one goblin spawns, and for enemy units, three Ogres spawn...]

As expected, the contents were shocking again.

Three lanes, Ogres as enemy monsters, and a penalty where monsters kept doubling and their resistance rose if you destroyed the cores in the wrong order.

There was even a trap where the very first core you had to destroy was your own side's core.

[Sushi: ...The monsters double every time the order is wrong? And there are three lanes too?]

[Durururu: Wow, that is seriously awful.]

[Gaiheun: I wonder how many wrong tries Person123 had before clearing. Should've told us that too.]

[Trojan Horse: Still, no way he'd do something insane like destroying his own core first right away. He probably got it wrong at least three times.]

[Poison Fang: Even if you only get it wrong three times, that's 72 Ogres total every 30 seconds, damn.]

[Pantba: It took two hours to clear. He might've messed up even more than that...]

[Storm: No wonder Alejandro failed. How are you supposed to clear this on your first try?]

[Tarantula: Person123 cleared it though.]

[Park Jae-woo: Excluding him, since he's a god.]

As always, people were speechless at how brutal Nightmare difficulty was, and praised Person123 for clearing it anyway.

"...So for this Floor 6, it looks like it will be similar to Floor 3, where you just need to watch out for the boss."

General conference room inside U.S. Climber Management Bureau headquarters.

People in their seats nodded as Max finished briefing his analysis of Person123's Floor 6 guide post.

The hardest part of Floor 6 had been the core destruction order and its penalties, but Person123 had revealed every gimmick.

That meant latecomers could destroy the cores in the right order without much difficulty.

Even with three lanes, the turrets could hold out long enough while they destroyed cores one by one against about three Ogres.

The issue was the boss.

According to Person123's post, it was a much larger Ogre.

It had no special abilities, but it was defined by monstrous strength and tenacious vitality. Estimated level: around 60.

For latecomers at level 50, it was an overwhelming enemy, but since its movement was slow, they would have to exploit that weakness well.

Person123 had spoon-fed them this much already, so the rest was fully on the latecomers to bear.

"It feels like he's moving into a completely different realm more and more..."

The U.S. Secretary of Defense, attending this meeting, thought with a grim expression.

Person123 always showed irrational power that did not match his expected level.

Even back when he had only cleared up to Floor 4, he had instantly killed Wang Kai, who held the top Hard record, and the Zone 3 boss. After clearing Floor 6, he must have grown much stronger again.

He was the savior of this world, and imagining him turning against humanity was unthinkable.

Still, from the Secretary of Defense's position, there was no choice but to run worst-case simulations.

How much modern conventional firepower would work against the strongest Climber, and what strategy could be used against him.

But considering he had also solo-cleared the Zone 4 boss, which was estimated to be at least in the level 80 range... trying to predict his capabilities at this point might now be meaningless.

Technology was still advancing through magic stones, but Person123 also grew stronger every time he cleared the Tower.

No matter how fast technology advanced, it could not keep up with his growth, which would rise exponentially year after year.

The Secretary of Defense felt deep gratitude once more.

That the one holding humanity's fate was a good man like Person123.

If he had tried to do something to the world, no one could even guess what kind of chaos it would be in by now.

The Secretary of Defense hoped he would keep clearing Nightmare from here on too.

* * *

After posting the Floor 6 guide,

I entered Floor 5.

I wanted to check the monsters in the newly opened Zone 5.

The environment of Zone 5 beyond Zone 4's snowy boundary was, how should I put it...

kind of like an unknown forest.

"It's creepy."

Thick white fog covered everything, so I could barely see even a step ahead.

Diul's darkvision could see through darkness, so it could not clear vision blocked by fog like this.

I strode forward through the forest path.

Monsters here were probably around level 50 at most anyway, and even if one suddenly ambushed me, I had Sixth Sense.

On top of that, after drinking Frozen Hydra Blood, my body had become very hard to kill.

And even if I lost my direction in the fog, I could just return by warp, so there was no risk of getting lost...

The moment I thought that, Sixth Sense gave a faint warning.

I saw a monster burst out from the side through the fog and stopped time.

"A skeleton?"

It was not a living creature, just bones.

But not human bones. It looked like a dinosaur.

I finished concentrating and released time.

Slash!

I activated Sword of Light and cut off the neck of the Bone Dinosaur that was trying to bite my head.

"It has no presence, this thing."

Or maybe not.

Maybe the fog itself was hiding the monsters' presence.

Either way, Zone 5 itself was a very dangerous field.

It was hard to detect monsters until they were almost right in front of you.

The monsters I found while moving through Zone 5's forest were Bone Dinosaurs and giant inchworms.

Of course, they were all easy to handle.

If I kept searching, there would probably be more monster types, but I decided to stop for today and returned by warp.

The fog made the field frustrating to navigate.

"I should put out a warning."

I immediately posted Zone 5 info in the Communication Window too.

For other Climbers, even entering looked extremely dangerous.

Given the field conditions, hunting speed would probably be much slower than in Zone 4 too...

I would likely only be able to see the Zone 5 boss after clearing Floor 7.

Just had to keep at it.

My daily routine did not really change.

I went into Floor 5 to hunt monsters, and went in and out of Floor 6 to help other Nightmare challengers prepare their clears.

Time passed like that.

"...According to statistics, the domestic number of Person123 Church believers is estimated to be over three million in total. The growth trend keeps getting stronger year by year..."

After lunch, I was sprawled on the sofa watching TV.

Then my phone rang.

It was Juwon hyung, someone I had been close with in college.

"Hello? What's up, hyung?"

I answered, and his voice over the speaker sounded gloomy.

"Seo-hyeon, uh... have you contacted Ji-woo recently by any chance?"

"...Ji-woo noona? No. Why?"

Ji-woo noona was Juwon hyung's girlfriend.

The last time I saw her was back then.

When the Association and the U.S. government clashed and Person123 Church believers were protesting in the streets... I saw her there in that crowd.

I had not really contacted her since then.

"No, it's nothing. Sorry for calling out of nowhere."

"What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Juwon hyung tried to dodge the question.

His voice sounded so bad that I kept asking because I was worried, and eventually he answered with a deep sigh.

"Right now Ji-woo... I've lost all contact with her, and so has her family..."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Sigh, it's... I think Ji-woo got mixed up in some weird cult."

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