WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

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◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈

Chapter 41

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Naturally, Yuki and I took the lead.

Han Juwon and Kim Yuna were outstanding hunters, but...

Their Stealth skill levels were low.

Yuki had at least reached level 10 and acquired the Upper Skill, Shadow Walking.

She had experience moving around alone on the fourth floor, and she'd stayed under Stealth alongside me throughout the eighth floor.

A team's stealth capability was determined by the member with the lowest Stealth level.

We had to move differently than when it was just Yuki and me.

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

"... We'll go this way."

My Complete Senses skill had reached level 10.

After transcending it, I could easily sense the direction of the Central Zone.

Maybe it was because I'd been there before, but I could feel it instinctively.

Creeeak.

The stone door opened, and the dolls on patrol spotted us.

I greeted them with my lever-action rifle.

Bang!

I'd modified it into a shorter version, but at this distance, I couldn't miss.

I had Complete Senses active at all times.

It was loud, but the eighth floor was divided into sealed zones.

The soundproofing was good, so suppressors weren't that important.

Click, bang!

After taking down two Guard Dolls, I quickly dealt with the Gargoyle as well.

"All clear."

Only then did Kim Yuna and Han Juwon follow.

It was both their first time on the eighth floor, and they looked a little tense.

"This is the Apprentice Dormitory Zone. We'll skip it."

There was food deeper inside, but we decided to ignore it.

Raiding the Tower was a race against time.

The conditions were so extreme that we couldn't stay in peak condition for long.

Honestly, things had been close last time.

It was my first time experiencing my vision flickering from exhaustion.

"There's a guard team ahead. We can get close enough. I'll handle them with my pistol."

"Okay!"

Kim Yuna seemed the most uneasy.

She was more lightly armed than usual.

Naturally, she couldn't bring her rifle...

Instead, she'd been assigned a Luger with an incendiary-round Enchantment.

Honestly, it wasn't something she could fire freely as a main weapon.

"Whew, they're down. Yuna, want to borrow my pistol?"

"No. I'm just following you, so I'm fine."

After wandering around for a while, we soon found another room.

"Oh, this is... the Kitchen Zone. We'll skip this one too."

We had found this area last time, but we hadn't been able to enter it.

Yuki used Shadow Walking again and got as close as she could.

Her skill level was still low, so it was practically useless while she was moving.

After clearing out three Gargoyles nearby, I finally found the armory.

[Appraisal skill transcended. Loot Expert skill activated.]

"Found it."

"Whew... I can finally relax a little."

"You all remember the training, right?"

I brought the stone fragments from the Gargoyles we'd killed earlier.

Han Juwon would stand guard outside, while Yuki's double and I went in to gather equipment.

Kim Yuna would wait near the entrance.

Thanks to her teleportation skill, she could escape with me even if the door closed.

It was the perfect skill for looting an armory.

"We weren't supposed to touch the Guard Dolls on patrol, right?"

"That's right. The Guard Dolls are connected to the security system. If they're killed inside, the armory will close immediately."

Even after checking again, nothing had changed.

We had to avoid the guards' eyes and grab every useful piece of equipment we could find.

Then...

Beep, beeeep!

An alarm suddenly rang out, and guards came rushing from the Central Zone toward the armory.

"Have we been spotted?"

Han Juwon started to raise their gun in alarm, but...

'Wait!'

Han Juwon froze at my hand signal.

We hadn't even entered the armory yet.

That alarm wasn't because of us.

Sure enough.

"Arming complete. Move quickly and eliminate the intruders in the Second Armory!"

The Guard Dolls had only come to collect weapons.

Had they decided their usual crossbows weren't enough?

Maybe because they were Central Zone guards, they used better equipment.

The dolls soon returned to the Central Zone.

Even the guards that normally patrolled the armory had been called away.

That worked in our favor.

"Is there another hunter team here...?"

"I think they triggered the armory's weighing mechanism."

It was exactly the kind of gimmick that would get someone killed if they didn't know about it.

"They aren't American hunters, are they?" Kim Yuna asked anxiously.

"They shouldn't be. I contacted Chad before we entered and matched our schedules."

The American first-tier hunter teams didn't have an eighth-floor raid scheduled.

Where could they be from?

China? Japan? Or an English-speaking country?

It seemed too late to help them.

We decided to save our own lives first.

"Yuna, get in too. Move!"

With the armory patrol gone, the job was easier.

We piled stone chunks onto the shelves, then grabbed every weapon and round of ammunition we could find.

There was Soft Armor too, like last time.

'Hm, the weapon quality isn't as good as I expected.'

The guards had already taken the commonly useful weapons, such as rifles.

It was safer than usual, but we had to settle for what they left behind.

I started by taking as many .44 Magnum rounds as I could.

'Huh? These are...'

Then I spotted several large guns.

Machine guns.

They'd left weapons like these behind.

Were they too heavy to carry out when the guards rushed off?

I recognized them without difficulty.

They were K3 machine guns, which I'd seen enough times during training to get sick of them.

"Yuki, take this to Juwon. They'll love it."

"Oh, okay!"

Not knowing what was going on, Yuki controlled her double and had it carry the K3 out.

Han Juwon nearly threw the machine gun away in irritation.

Han Juwon must have had bad memories of the K3.

"No, isn't there anything besides this bolt-action machine gun?"

"Uh... There is!"

Fortunately, there was another machine gun.

An ancient-looking Russian machine gun.

An RPK... and not even an RPK-16, but an RPK-74.

Naturally, Han Juwon almost cursed the moment they received it.

"What is this supposed to be... a wooden stock? Ha, seriously, don't do this to me."

Han Juwon seriously considered the options between the K3 and the RPK-74, then ultimately chose the RPK-74.

The K3's malfunctions were legendary.

I also found a fairly modern-looking axe.

It seemed to have a Destruction Enchant, so I took it for now.

For special forces, an axe felt more like a demolition tool than a weapon.

Still, it wouldn't hurt for my teammates to have at least one melee weapon.

"Anything else...?"

The useful items were a revolver and a shotgun.

We also found a grenade.

"Oh, it's an SPAS-12."

We loaded ourselves down with magazines and ammunition, then left the armory.

There was one modern-looking rifle that seemed to be in good condition...

But I pushed it back into the room.

"Don't touch that one."

"Oh, why not?"

"It's booby-trapped. The inside is filled with gunpowder instead of parts."

"Gasp!"

It would explode the moment someone pulled the trigger, injuring the user.

Nothing in this place was safe.

We loaded magazines immediately and handed out the weapons.

"Juwon will use the RPK and revolver... Yuna, take the MP7."

"Okay."

Yuki received the SPAS-12 shotgun.

I'd seen her shoot during training, and her aim was a little worrying.

Since she also had a sawed-off shotgun, I guessed she specialized in shotguns.

The demolition axe had a Strength Enhancement Enchant.

"There are Enchantments like this too?"

"Yuna, you use this."

"Me? Okay."

Yuna only seemed a little more at ease after receiving the submachine gun.

We continued onward and found the Potion Warehouse.

There were still signs of commotion, perhaps because of the other hunter team.

"Let's get started."

We began Alchemy in practiced fashion.

Using one Starlight Fragment we had brought and one from the warehouse...

We first brewed two Basic Skill Enhancement Pills.

Thanks to the perk, both were made without a problem.

We immediately had Kim Yuna and Han Juwon take them, then made Heavenly Elixir as well.

It wouldn't hurt to carry one or two extra bottles.

The two of them reacted enthusiastically.

"Ugh... My skill level really went up! You actually made something like this."

"You're talented. You said you didn't even have a recipe..."

That was right.

This combination had been created by accident.

It came about when I was making Heavenly Elixir for former team leader Go Jiho.

Naturally, other hunters didn't know about it.

Even if they raided the eighth floor like us, they couldn't mass-produce S-rank skills.

[Appraisal skill level has increased to 5.]

Our consecutive attempts to brew Heavenly Elixir also succeeded.

I tried other Alchemy recipes too, but...

The results weren't very good.

"Hm, I'm getting hungry."

"It took time because we had to simmer it, right? Let's go to the Kitchen Zone we saw earlier."

The food we'd brought weighed around 500 grams.

Food alone wouldn't even last us a day.

We didn't know when an emergency might arise, so I wanted to secure more.

I used my Transcendence skill to get a clear grasp of the Kitchen Zone's layout.

'There are quite a few magic power signatures inside. Could there be rare ingredients?'

There weren't many guards.

There was no reason for there to be many in a place like this when there hadn't even been many at the Potion Warehouse.

There was one unusual doll in charge of cooking.

It seemed specially made, but its combat ability probably wasn't anything to worry about.

"Let's go in."

Creeeak...

Pfft, pfft!

Since it was close to the Central Zone, we used suppressed weapons.

The rich smell of food was quickly tinged with the scent of gunpowder.

Yuki looked at the chunks of meat hanging from hooks and gasped in admiration.

"Wow, look at this. I think the alchemist is more of a gourmet than he looks!"

"Wait. I'll appraise it first."

[Neldrake Meat: A top-quality ingredient that tastes excellent when grilled. It has a temporary vitality-enhancing effect...]

Thanks to Loot Expert, I could even figure out a rough cooking method.

"Team Leader, if it's okay, I'll make it!"

Yuki stepped up with the Kitchen Zone's cooking tools.

Sizzle!

She was only grilling it, but something about it felt different.

Had she been watching cooking videos online?

"Steak inside the Tower..."

"Let's prioritize preserved food."

There were also plenty of sausages, bread, and vegetables, so we hurriedly packed them away.

I even started heating a cup of instant noodles, and the main dish was finally ready.

"Team Leader! It's ready."

"Yuki, it looks really good. Where did you learn to cook?"

"These days, there are so many cooking lesson videos online... Choosing one is the hard part."

It had been a long time since we'd eaten, so everyone wolfed it down.

[Intruders eliminated. Alarm deactivated.]

A new notification rang out...

It seemed the other hunter team hadn't met a good end.

The eighth floor was never going to be easy.

Had we gotten too relaxed as well?

I sensed someone approaching from the Central Zone.

Was a servant coming to fetch something again, like last time?

I swallowed the food in my mouth and picked up my pistol.

I planned to take it out the moment the door opened, then hide the body inside.

My teammates saw my movements and hurriedly picked up their weapons too.

But...

Creeeak...

The stone door opened, and what appeared wasn't a doll.

A tall man in flamboyant clothes.

His blue skin made him appear nonhuman.

He entered the kitchen, muttering irritably.

"These defective products! When is my late-night meal supposed to arrive..."

'Wait, is that bastard the alchemist?'

Fortunately, my hands were much smarter and faster than their owner.

Faster than I could think, I switched to my lever-action rifle.

Then I pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Bang! Click, bang! Click, bang...

The other team members immediately began firing wildly as well.

Rat-a-tat-tat!

The startled alchemist was hit by nearly every bullet.

But he didn't fall.

Something like a blue Barrier was protecting him.

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

I immediately realized what it was.

"It's a Barrier! Keep firing!"

That type of Barrier wore down little by little when it was attacked.

The alchemist hurriedly moved out of the way and summoned his subordinates.

The Barrier was almost broken. What a waste.

Rumble!

Guard Dolls rushed toward us at terrifying speed.

Han Juwon had already set up the machine gun on its bipod and clenched their teeth.

"Move!"

Ratatatatat!

Ghost Bullets, strengthened to S-rank, devastated the line of fire in an instant.

The firepower swept away every obstacle in its path.

I used that opening to reload quickly.

It had a tubular magazine, and its capacity had been reduced to six rounds, so every bullet counted.

From the Subspace Pouch on my tactical vest, I slipped four rounds between my fingers, two in each hand...

Then I pushed them in two at a time.

It was speed loading I'd learned from Brown.

Click!

The alchemist was already smashing the tanks in the Central Zone one by one.

"Get out there already! You useless things..."

The monsters inside the tanks rushed at us.

Just as I thought, he wasn't the type to fight himself.

That protective shield was proof of it too.

He was a boss that put a lot of effort into protecting himself.

"Grenade!"

Clink! Boom!

I tried to blow away the monsters with the grenade we'd found in the armory, but...

They had considerable Physical Resistance.

They looked like a chaotic mixture of traits from all kinds of plants and animals.

Some were even transparent.

They moved separately from the other monsters and targeted my teammates.

Bang!

Thanks to Four Seasons, I killed every one of them before they could get close.

I had no right to say this after getting caught stealing food from someone else's kitchen...

But I already hated the homeowner.

"Yuki! Flank them!"

"Ah, okay!"

Yuki's doubles entered the Central Zone first.

I quickly left the kitchen too.

The Central Zone had plenty of cover, so we could get close enough to the alchemist.

He had already reached his desk.

Did he think that was the safest place?

"Ugh, ngh! Barrier Recovery Potion... Here it is!"

He splashed a transparent vial over himself, restoring his protective shield, but...

Ratatatatat!

When exposed to the machine gun and Ghost Bullets, it was shredded away in moments.

Four Gargoyles near the desk stood up, but even they didn't last long.

Regular bullets bounced off them, but Ghost Bullets worked well.

Whoosh!

Kim Yuna had already caught up and was firing her submachine gun.

Maybe because it had a Shatter Enchantment, it was highly effective.

"Aaargh! I am Marhen, a genius alchemist! I can't die while eating a late-night meal!"

As his protective shield nearly broke apart, he took out various vials and threw them around wildly.

My Converter trait immediately began analyzing them.

Footnotes:

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