WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

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◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈

Chapter 30

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The long-awaited day to clear the eighth floor had come.

I got ready in my hotel room.

I told my teammates I was going in tomorrow...

But I planned to clear the eighth floor alone, so I got a head start.

Still, I couldn't let them follow me in.

To prevent that from happening, I uploaded a video I'd edited beforehand.

[From now on, I'll begin clearing the eighth floor alone. If I don't come back, please use a good photo for my memorial portrait! The channel profile image should be good enough.]

The moment the upload finished, notifications started going off like crazy.

Too scared to look, I turned off my phone and picked up my Subspace Backpack.

I'd packed even my clothes inside, so I was only wearing underwear and the Hood of Hell.

I filled the remaining weight allowance with grenades and ammunition.

"Whew, shall we go? Enter the eighth floor!"

I thought I'd be sent in right away.

Instead, the Tower offered a service that didn't suit it at all.

[Entry weight limit: 9.9/10 kg. Passed. Would you like to enter?]

"... Yeah."

Flash!

The next moment, I fell into darkness.

[You have entered the Tower's 8th floor. Upon successfully escaping, you will receive a gold bonus and skill experience.]

Usually, the area near a starting point was relatively safe...

But this was the eighth floor.

Nothing was known about it, so I couldn't let my guard down.

First, I immediately took my clothes out of the Subspace Backpack and put them on.

Combat uniform, boots, tactical vest, and the Hood of Hell. That was all.

There was no heavy but reassuring body armor. No ballistic helmet either.

The night vision goggles that cost sixty million won each were out too.

And that wasn't all.

There was no support. No rescue team, no strategy guide.

It was just me against the eighth floor.

I wanted to believe I wasn't already trembling from loneliness and fear.

'Is this... indoors?'

With the help of Complete Senses and Night Vision, I began studying the terrain around me.

Night Vision was only level 2, so it wasn't much help.

There was barely any lighting inside.

The air was slightly damp and unpleasant. There were plenty of shelves and furniture nearby, but I still had no idea what kind of place this was.

It didn't seem like an ordinary residence.

Swish.

I held a pistol in my right hand and took things out of my Subspace Backpack one by one.

After attaching the Subspace Pouch I had carried in to my tactical vest, I quickly filled it with supplies.

The backpack had better weight efficiency, which was why I'd crammed everything into it.

Pistol magazines, potions, grenades, and more.

Once I was ready, I held a dagger in my left hand.

I'd eaten until I was full before coming in, but my throat already felt dry.

'Should I start exploring?'

I gradually expanded the range of Complete Senses and surveyed my surroundings.

This space had a clear purpose.

It wasn't an area that felt lived in, like a residential building.

As I slowly looked around, I sorted out my priorities.

'First, I need to secure water and food.'

I needed basic survival supplies, then I could make at least a rough map.

Water and food were usually easy to find in areas where loot appeared...

But there was also a chance of getting them by killing monsters.

Monsters carried food around, after all.

Step. Step.

Footsteps sounded nearby at just the right time.

They were unlike anything I'd heard before.

'Too heavy for a Goblin. I'll just let it pass for now.'

I hid behind a shelf and peeked at it...

A doll was walking around with heavy steps.

It looked like a ball-jointed doll enlarged to human size.

Seeing it walk like a person was deeply unsettling.

I clicked my tongue inwardly.

It clearly didn't look like the type that carried food.

What would a doll even eat?

It wandered around as if it were on patrol.

A huge crossbow was in its hands.

'Wow, that weapon's a complete mess too.'

It was the typical kind of weapon made for monsters.

Powerful when used by monsters, but not very useful for a hunter who took it from them.

If it was an eighth-floor crossbow, it could probably pierce even high-grade body armor with ease.

Getting hit would mean instant death, making it a real problem to deal with.

But if a hunter tried using it, reloading and ammunition would become a problem.

[Night Vision skill level has increased to 3.]

The skill had been stuck for a long time, but now it was suddenly rising fast.

Ever since I joined the team, I'd used night vision goggles whenever I could.

I memorized the doll's patrol route.

Thanks to that, I could roughly understand the room's layout.

The shelves of all sizes were packed with miscellaneous junk.

This was a storage area.

More specifically, it seemed to be a warehouse for odds and ends or materials.

The ceiling was quite high, and the terrain was complicated, so I needed to watch above me too.

A warehouse with complicated terrain?

Shouldn't whoever designed this be executed?

Still, it gave me plenty of places to hide.

Since this was the eighth floor, I might find something if I searched through the shelves...

But for now, I focused on understanding the terrain.

As I checked every corner, I found something concerning.

'Is that... a ventilation shaft?'

Since this was a large facility, the pipes and other equipment were huge too.

One or two people could probably fit inside.

It had to connect to another area.

Otherwise, there would be no point in having it.

'I'll leave it alone for now.'

It was too narrow to risk entering.

In an emergency, I could use it as a hiding place.

As I continued spreading Complete Senses, I detected strange presences throughout the warehouse.

'Hm? That's...'

I thought there was no way the place could be that awful...

But you never knew.

[Complete Senses skill transcended. Four Seasons skill activated.]

When I briefly used the Transcendence skill, I could see everything, even the parts buried beneath the floorboards.

Just as I feared.

Explosives and vials had been set up below.

They were traps designed to explode the moment someone stepped on them or passed nearby.

'This is insane. It's the starting area.'

It wasn't even the Central Zone that the Goblin Merchant warned was dangerous.

This was just a warehouse on the edge of the map, yet it started with restricted vision, patrol monsters that gave no useful loot, and traps.

I moved little by little, learning the monsters' patrol routes and searching the shelves for loot.

Most of it was unfamiliar, but there were some items I recognized.

'Oh, isn't this reinforced 5.56mm ammunition? This stuff is just rolling around in a warehouse corner?'

It was high-grade ammunition that cost a lot of money at the shop.

There were also high-grade items worth 1,000 gold each that could be sold for cash.

I took the things I needed most.

In Zero to Hero, the most important thing was securing a proper weapon.

Whether or not you could get even a decent weapon early on could decide whether you lived or died.

Of course, reality was different from a game, so I intended to proceed as slowly as possible.

For reference, I borrowed the Ghost’s Cartridge Necklace from Sang Hajun.

But it was useless for now.

The Ghost’s Cartridge Necklace enhanced penetration, but it was still affected by the original bullet's power.

How useful could enhanced penetration be on a 9mm pistol round?

It wouldn't help much until I found a proper weapon.

Creak!

The Guard Doll noticed that one of the shelves had been emptied.

Was it smarter than it looked?

Comparing it to the AI from a trash game like Tower Escape would be insulting.

This was better, actually.

I needed to test their durability too.

First, I aimed the Nightfall Custom at its head.

Pshht!

I was worried that a doll monster might be tougher than it looked...

But perhaps because it was reinforced ammunition, the round dug in properly.

Its head crumpled from one shot.

Still, it didn't fall.

It tried to retreat.

It wasn't attacking me. It was trying to call nearby allies.

Pshht! Pshht!

The Mozambique Drill suddenly came to mind, so I fired two shots at its pelvis.

Luckily, they hit the ball-shaped hip joints.

The doll's distinctive ball joints shattered, and it fell to the floor.

"Creak..."

It twitched despite taking hits to both legs and its head.

The crossbow in its hand shook unsteadily.

I aimed at its chest and fired carefully.

Pshht! Pshht! Pshht!

It had some degree of bullet resistance, and only after three shots did the rounds finally penetrate.

Its internal parts seemed to break, and it stopped moving completely.

'I'm alive...'

After finally catching my breath, I dragged the fallen doll into a corner.

Then I carefully took it apart and examined its internal structure.

"Ugh..."

It took some work, but my Sleight of Hand was level 9, so I managed it somehow.

'Ah, this is a speaker component. It makes sounds from its head. So I need to destroy the head first to stop it from calling its allies.'

After studying it further, I found that its joints really were weak.

They were probably vulnerable because they moved so much.

Its chest and back were made of low-to-mid-grade bullet-resistant material.

Its vital point was its heart.

A ridiculous monster that couldn't be killed with a headshot.

This was just an ordinary mob on the eighth floor.

Everyone would love it if it showed up in Tower Escape.

Still, I had worked out a response tactic.

Put one shot in the head, then keep firing at the chest until it died.

A Reverse Mozambique Drill.

'Wait, how many shots did I fire at that thing?'

I checked the magazine. Including the round in the chamber, six bullets were gone.

I'd only brought around seventy rounds. This was rough.

Once I secured drinking water, I needed to find a weapon right away.

I threw the monster's corpse into the ventilation shaft and thoroughly searched the nearby shelves...

But there were no 9mm rounds.

Whenever I needed something, it was always hard to find.

[Appraisal skill level has increased to 1.]

'Hm? Appraisal?'

It was a skill that rose fairly easily in the game.

I got it surprisingly late.

That was probably because I already knew most items from the seventh floor and below.

Gulp, gulp...

After drinking some water, I decided it was time to move to the next room.

This place had nothing worthwhile.

The crossbow the doll had been carrying caught my eye, but...

It was an unfamiliar weapon, so I decided to leave it for now.

There was a strange energy around the crossbow. If it had something like an explosive effect, I could be in trouble.

It might even attract enemies instead.

Rumble...

As I approached, a huge stone door opened on its own.

Was it an automatic door?

It was strangely modern in the oddest places.

'Looks like there's no route leading outside the building.'

A completely enclosed map.

It felt like one of the hidden maps that occasionally appeared in Tower Escape.

After avoiding traps and guards while opening a few more areas, I easily chose a direction.

Rooooar...!

I could faintly hear the sound of water from one direction.

It probably sounded more like a waterfall up close.

If I was lucky, I could secure drinking water.

I hid in the shadows and entered a wide corridor.

Even though it was a corridor, pillars, stairs, and branching paths were everywhere.

It looked like the owner had expanded the building however they pleased.

And as if it were the most natural thing in the world, dolls patrolled it.

These things strictly followed the basic rule of patrolling in pairs.

'Ah, maybe I should've brought one more person.'

It was too late for regrets.

Right now, my only friends were my pistol and dagger.

The Nightfall Custom had been worked on by an HTT craftsman...

The barrel, suppressor, firing pin, and other key parts had been coated with Deep Black Iron Ore.

From what I could tell, that uncle had been a hunter too.

He used a skill while customizing it.

Pistol in my right hand, dagger in my left.

After learning the Guard Dolls' route, I hid in the shadows.

Shadow Walking.

I didn't even need to transcend it.

Step. Step.

As they passed, I threw a stone fragment in the opposite direction.

Tick!

The moment their heads turned, I ambushed them.

First, I stabbed one in the back with the dagger in my left hand.

Creak!

With a metallic sound, one doll stopped moving completely.

This dagger... It killed demons, killed ghosts, and now it killed dolls too.

Was there anything it couldn't kill?

But maybe I put too much force into it out of anxiety, because I couldn't pull it out easily.

I let go of the dagger and rushed the remaining doll.

It turned and tried to fire its crossbow, but...

Pshht!

Its head exploded from a pistol shot.

I even activated the Gale Boots.

Crunch!

My knee, accelerated by the boots' effect, crushed its chest.

It was an improvised knee strike. Without Physical Technique, that could've been dangerous.

Pshht! Pshht!

I finished it by putting bullets into its collapsed chest.

Only then could I move on to the next area.

Rumble... Rooooar!

The moment the door opened, the sound of water grew louder.

Water poured through pipes like a waterfall.

But the puddles below weren't completely clear.

They smelled slightly musty too.

'Is this... a Sewage Treatment Plant?'

Fortunately, there was a pipe in one corner producing clean water.

The facility seemed to purify its own water.

Just in case, I tested it with a test strip...

It was extremely clean.

Complete Senses didn't find any problems either.

I'd still use Purification Capsules as a precaution.

'Good.'

A large, grotesque monster writhed around the treatment plant floor.

As long as I didn't get close, there shouldn't be a problem.

It looked like the kind of thing bullets wouldn't work well on, so I didn't want to kill it unless I had to.

Were all the ordinary mobs around here bullet-eating monsters?

After filling my water containers and moving across the tangled steel walkways...

I found a small room that looked like an office.

I entered with vague hope, and there was some packaged food inside.

"Huh!"

The moment I hurriedly grabbed it, I saw...

A shelf used to store weapons.

In Tower Escape, weapons were usually hidden in places like that.

'Please... Oh, there's something inside!'

It was locked, but I easily dealt with it using a lockpick.

It was an old-fashioned lock, so it was simple.

All that special forces training during downtime had paid off.

Thanks to Complete Senses, I could understand a lock's structure right away.

Lockpicking was a technique that suited me perfectly.

To my surprise, there was a gun stored carefully inside.

And it even had a Picatinny rail!

At least it definitely wasn't a rusted-out shotgun or an old AK rifle.

There was even a box of ammunition in the corner.

'Wow, is something finally going my way?'

I quickly picked up the gun, then felt something strange.

Last time, I'd even called in the CCT team leader and handled countless firearms from all over the world...

But I'd never handled something like this.

It must be a pretty obscure weapon, right?

Still, if it had a Picatinny rail, wouldn't it be usable?

And like the guards' crossbows, this gun had an enhancement effect.

I'd been sensing strong magic power from it for a while.

"Could it be a shotgun?"

I tried loading it first, but the pump wouldn't move properly.

It wasn't a pump. It was just the handguard.

"... What is this thing?"

I wasn't a complete beginner with guns, so why did I suspect it was a pump first?

Because there was no bolt.

I couldn't see any separate mechanism for loading a round into the chamber.

Could this not be a bolt-action rifle?

If it wasn't a pump or a bolt, what the hell was it?

I checked whether the receiver could break open like an old shotgun, but that wasn't it either.

There wasn't even a visible magazine.

It wasn't a revolver type either.

As I turned the gun over in my hands, I suddenly felt the lever move.

"... Huh? Wait, why the fuck is this moving?"

Was it broken?

No, this felt a little different.

Click!

When I pushed the lever all the way forward and pulled it back, I heard a round load.

Only then did I realize.

This was lever action.

The kind you only saw in old movies set in the Wild West.

The trigger guard acted as the loading mechanism.

"Wow..."

I was too dumbfounded to speak.

What kind of bastard brought an antique like this in here?

And carefully attached a Picatinny rail to it too.

Was this person seriously insane?

When I finally used Complete Senses to inspect it, I found a small hole on the side of the receiver.

That was probably where the rounds were loaded.

A tubular magazine in this day and age.

No matter how I looked at it, this was for recreation, not actual combat.

"Aaargh... Just give me a rusted-out shotgun instead!"

I completely lost it.

Footnotes:

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