WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈
Episode 113
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Heavy.
The backpack full of coins weighed mercilessly on my shoulders.
Excluding my combat gear, it was probably around eighty kilograms.
Even accounting for the Subspace Backpack's weight-reduction effect, it effectively weighed over a hundred kilograms.
Even with Inhuman Strength activated, it was bound to feel burdensome.
Sometimes, I wondered whether I was a hunter or a pack mule.
There wasn't much difference when it came to hauling cargo to its destination.
Kim Yuna and Yuki looked much less burdened, but they must've each taken around forty kilograms.
That made a total of one hundred and eighty kilograms.
Nightmare Coins were fairly large and heavy, weighing just under twenty grams each.
That meant we had around ten thousand coins in total.
Even after buying all the loot and using the Direct Exit, we'd still have plenty left over.
The Orc hunters didn't have Subspace Backpacks, so they carried their coins in hastily made coin pouches.
There were five of them, so they probably had six to eight thousand coins.
They really had scraped together every last coin.
It made sense, considering they'd lost all their equipment during the arrest.
Now all we had to do was escape safely.
I took the lead, passing the basement residents.
Like newborns, they simply watched us with wide, unblinking eyes.
There were quite a few other facilities in the basement...
They were probably meant to socialize these people.
There was no need to worry about that right now.
The guards shouted in the distance.
"Th-the prisoners escaped!"
"The coins are gone too! Chase them!"
Maybe because there were no streetlights inside the factory, the Night Watchers didn't appear right away.
Still, it was only a matter of time.
"Team Leader! Did you find a route?"
"This way!"
Detection picked up a passage leading to the warehouse district.
It looked like they parked wagons there and used this passage to secretly move cargo.
Thanks to that, we could easily reach the passage toward the sewers.
We could use Plan A as intended.
We ran into the pitch-black passage, desperately searching for a way out.
Before long, familiar iron bars and a lock appeared.
Reconstruction still felt a little sore, but I smashed them apart with brute force.
Crash!
"We'll reach the stream soon."
"Just like the plan."
Crackle...
Then, while we were running for our lives, the radio groaned.
It shouldn't have worked after we'd gone underground.
Was Sang Hajun or Han Juwon trying to contact us?
The moment I reached the stream, I asked, "Hello?"
[Team Leader, we have a problem.]
Han Juwon spoke, trying their best to remain calm.
[The exit is closed. I repeat, the exit is closed! The exit shut down right after the alarm went off!]
"What...?"
The exit was closed?
I'd considered that possibility ever since seeing the guarded exit...
But I never expected it to apply to exits without guards too.
At this rate, we'd have to hide until things quieted down.
I moved on to the second plan.
"Juwon, retreat carefully! We're heading north!"
[Order confirmed. Retreating.]
"Hajun, check the second escape route!"
[The stream near the northern route is still clear.]
We were currently in the southern district.
Going north would take us through the most heavily guarded central district.
Still, the south was a dead end.
We had no choice.
We had to shake off the pursuit somehow.
'Should we split up? No. It's too early.'
I looked at the Orc hunters following behind us and ran north.
"Run!"
[Team Leader, should I do it now?]
"Yes!"
Boom!
The instant Sang Hajun finished speaking, an explosion thundered in the distance.
"W-what was that?"
"Relax. We prepared it."
The Remote-Controlled Bomb we'd made on the 12th floor.
We'd readjusted it and used it as a distraction.
It was loud, but it had almost no power.
It would draw the Night Watchers over there.
"Senior... you're truly incredible. How can you be this thorough and clean..."
"Save the flattery for later!"
The Orc hunters had been trying hard to butter us up, but the anxiety in their eyes was impossible to hide.
The Night Watchers hadn't even appeared yet. Why were they acting like that?
After putting myself in their shoes, I finally realized why.
These bastards... still suspected us.
They must've thought we were using them as pack mules.
Since they were unarmed, they probably believed we'd dispose of them and take their Nightmare Coins once we reached safety.
I'd be lying if I said the thought had never crossed my mind.
It was a huge amount of money. Of course it was tempting.
Still, escaping the pursuit came first.
"Hajun, how is it?"
[No pursuers so far. Looks like the diversion worked.]
"Good. We'll detour toward the Black Market."
Getting back to the rental house without incident would be ideal.
Things didn't go that easily, though.
The moment we climbed out of the stream and entered an alley, Han Juwon contacted me.
[Team Leader, I'm under attack!]
"!"
Had the Night Watchers found them?
Han Juwon's Stealth and Detection levels were unreliable, but...
I'd taken that into account when setting Han Juwon's retreat route.
Sang Hajun was also guiding Han Juwon from high ground.
"Are they Night Watchers?"
[No, hunters! Lizardmen!]
Damn.
Lizardman hunters... Were they the ones we'd briefly fought in an alley last time?
I thought they'd gone off to make money somewhere else.
Apparently, they'd been secretly watching us.
They had moved so carefully that neither Sang Hajun nor I had noticed them.
Of course, their information was lacking, so they hadn't learned anything about our plan or escape routes.
They had simply gotten lucky and spotted Han Juwon returning to the lodging alone.
[I'm retreating now! Their equipment isn't very good, but I can't hold out for long!]
Even if Han Juwon was heavily armed, it was five against one, or at best four against one.
Remembering what happened with Go Jiho, I accelerated immediately.
"I'll be there right away! You guys are on your own from here!"
"R-really? We can go?"
Leaving the Orc hunters behind, I ran like mad.
Sang Hajun gave me Han Juwon's exact location.
[The stream area on the southwestern outskirts. Han Juwon deployed a Barrier.]
Was that a Barrier from the Protective Coat?
That bought Han Juwon at least another thirty seconds.
I ran while avoiding the streetlights.
Thudududu!
The muffled, humming gunfire unique to a suppressor echoed through the air.
Whoosh!
When I rushed to the scene, it was exactly as I expected.
They were the ones we'd encountered in that alley.
They were attacking almost barehanded, without any decent equipment, but they were still hunters on the 13th floor.
They must've planned to take a hostage before I arrived and demand money.
I would've been willing to pay for a teammate's life.
But since they hadn't managed to capture Han Juwon, there was no reason to give them anything.
Click.
The moment I aimed the suppressed MCX at them, they started babbling.
"Ah! They're here! Why so soon...?"
"Wait! You took all our equipment, so we had no choice..."
Thudududu!
The MCX's twenty-round magazine emptied in an instant.
They barely blocked it with defensive skills...
But I was already reloading.
I wasn't the one who needed to figure out how to break through.
They were.
I'd keep shooting until they died.
Thududu!
"Ghk! It's breaking through!"
"We're done for anyway! Run! At the rendezvous point..."
Maybe it was because they'd made too much noise earlier.
Several unfamiliar shadows approached from behind them.
Slice!
A Night Watcher that had crept up on them pierced them with hook-like hands hidden beneath its clothes.
"Gah...!"
The Lizardman hunters couldn't even scream properly.
The Night Watchers, each holding a hunter in both hands, turned around without hesitation.
It looked like they intended to take them to City Hall and lock them up.
"Team Leader!"
"Juwon, run."
"What?"
"I'm fine because I'm wearing the mask. Join up with Yuna and go back first. Tell Yuki not to come either."
It seemed they had already requisitioned every nearby resident.
I just had to deal with these things quickly and get out.
Even if I failed, I could escape somehow on my own.
Before the encirclement closed in, I needed to send Han Juwon out first since they were slower.
"But..."
"Trust your Team Leader's judgment! I'll get out soon too."
"... Radio me right away if it gets dangerous!"
The moment Han Juwon moved, three Night Watchers turned toward me.
Thududu!
I emptied the magazine, which only had a few rounds left.
The MCX's 6.8mm rounds passed uselessly through their bodies.
The physical resistance unique to Spirit Bodies.
It looked like they had the Ghostification ability.
'As expected, that's not enough.'
They pulled submachine guns from inside their clothes and began firing wildly at me.
Thompson submachine guns?
What were they, city gangsters?
Still, they were perfect weapons for the 13th floor, where urban warfare often broke out.
Whoosh!
I dove behind nearby cover and avoided the gunfire.
Fragments flew everywhere amid the deafening noise.
Did the Thompson use .45 ACP rounds?
They definitely couldn't penetrate hard plates, but the impact alone could turn me into ground meat.
They were firing full auto, so the bullets were spraying everywhere.
One could hit my arm or face.
Using Ghostification, they ignored cover and advanced relentlessly.
It seemed they had to cancel it to attack, but they had a huge numerical advantage.
Hidden behind cover, I quickly changed magazines with slightly trembling hands.
Exactly forty rounds.
Two magazines' worth of Specialized Ammunition.
Click.
After confirming that Reconstruction and Desperate Strength had recovered, I combined them again.
Flash!
The skill-enhanced MCX began to rage.
I threw myself sideways and fired full auto at the Night Watchers.
Thanks to Four Seasons, the bullets struck them as if by magic.
About half of them still seemed to miss, but that was enough.
Thudududu!
They reflexively attempted Ghostification.
Incredible reaction speed.
They really were the greatest obstacle on the 13th floor.
This time, though, the result was completely different.
Crunch!
The bullets' immense kinetic energy crushed their bodies like aluminum cans.
Normally, enhancing a gun didn't make its bullets stronger.
Combining Desperate Strength and Reconstruction did enhance the rounds to some extent, but there was a limit.
Ammunition like bullets and grenades was designed to be consumable from the start, so it didn't work well with Desperate Strength.
That was why I made dedicated ammunition.
I combined gunpowder with Alchemy and various magical materials, pushing the explosive force beyond its limit.
The MCX's 6.8mm rounds were already close to their limit...
When I tried using the new gunpowder, the casings couldn't withstand it and ruptured first.
So instead of conventional stainless steel and brass casings, I made entirely new Reinforced Alloy Casings.
Ultra-Alloy was too brittle to use, for the record.
It wasn't suitable for bulletproof plates in the first place...
I needed an entirely new alloy with high burst strength.
Thanks to that, it could properly withstand this ammunition's extreme pressure.
The Anti-Spirit Bullets struck the Night Watchers properly.
"Gah..."
Even though I hadn't been shot, a scream escaped my mouth on reflex.
The recoil was unlike anything I'd felt before.
It was like firing Sang Hajun's sniper ammunition in full auto.
The effect was just as certain, and even the Night Watchers that had only been grazed vanished completely.
I reflexively tried to load the next magazine.
But there was no gun left to load.
The parts had collapsed in a heap from Desperate Strength's recoil.
I'd brought a second magazine just in case, but it was pointless.
Honestly, it was a miracle the gun had survived even one magazine.
These rounds were completely insane.
I wanted to pick up every casing without leaving a single one behind, but I didn't have time.
The Thompson submachine guns had been so loud that ordinary guards would soon swarm in too.
[Team Leader. Five more Night Watchers are coming. They're approaching from the north and northeast.]
"Thanks. Hajun, you should retreat too! See you at the lodging!"
[Order confirmed.]
I was about to hurry away as well.
Then a chilling sensation struck my entire body.
'Huh?!'
Someone was staring directly at my soul.
Was this what it felt like to stand under a streetlight?
I reflexively raised the lantern and turned my head.
Under the rows of streetlights spreading through the city like veins, there was an eye staring at me from deep underground.
The being in the abyss noticed my gaze, shuddered as if disgusted, and disappeared.
"Hah..."
[Team Leader! What are you doing? You're coming, right?]
"Yes, I'm going! I won't be able to use the radio for a while."
What the hell was that?
Was there something that controlled the streetlights and Night Watchers?
Leaving the question behind, I entered the sewers.
In the distance, I could hear the Night Watchers searching fruitlessly.
Footnotes:
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