WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

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◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈

Chapter 48

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Whoooosh!

We arrived on the ninth floor.

What greeted us was a coastline with a visible shipwreck.

[You will automatically escape after 240 hours.]

[Escape time will be reduced if conditions are met.]

Just as expected.

"Team Leader!"

Yuki, who had arrived with me, checked on me.

So only the two of us had made it here.

The other team members were probably waiting in the Interfloor Zone by now.

I quickly reviewed the advance party's mission.

Our top priority was to establish a base camp and gather resources and information.

In other words, we had to lay the groundwork for the rest of the team to arrive.

We planned to stay for at least a week, so a shelter was essential.

We also needed to secure food right away.

The weight limit this time had been so low that we could barely bring any food or water. At least we'd drunk as much water as possible before entering.

"Whoo..."

I breathed in the island's salty air and gave my orders.

"Let's move. We'll quickly check the shipwreck first."

"Yes!"

It was a fairly modern, medium-sized shipwreck.

It'd be nice if there were usable supplies inside, but...

This was the starting area, so I couldn't expect much.

Besides, this floor's concept was supposedly survival.

Useful supplies would be even scarcer.

If valuable loot kept pouring out in an outer area like this, it wouldn't be survival. It'd be a variety show.

Sure enough, there was almost nothing useful inside the shipwreck.

"All the canned food is rotten..."

At most, we found a few pieces of cloth, some iron pipes, and a hose.

At least those were clean and in good condition.

"Let's take them for now."

"Look over here! There's a locked room."

"Ah, is it a storage room?"

There was a cabin with a lock on it.

It looked like either a storage room or the captain's quarters...

The lock was high-grade and sturdy.

It'd take me a while to pick it with my current skill.

"Should we shoot it open?"

"We don't have any bullets yet. It doesn't seem like there's much inside anyway."

"Ah, right."

The Alchemist's Ammunition Box only worked when loot was put inside.

But we had nothing worth exchanging.

Iron pipes and hoses had almost no value as loot.

We decided to leave the shipwreck for now.

It was still broad daylight, but we needed to hurry if we wanted to build a shelter before sunset.

Once we headed farther inland, a dense forest spread out before us.

The coast was too low to build a base camp, but this place would work.

"Let's check the hill over there."

"Yes!"

We found a spring nearby and climbed the hill...

There were what looked like the remains of a camp.

'What's this? Did other hunters build it?'

We should've been the first challengers from Earth.

From what the Goblin Merchants had said, though, it seemed challengers from other dimensions had come here before.

Still, the camp ruins were too old to use as they were.

They hadn't even been finished in the first place.

I decided to recycle whatever useful resources remained and build a new camp.

Fortunately, there was a large pot.

"Oh, that's a relief. We can boil water with this first."

"I'll bring some from the spring."

Yuki immediately used her clone to fill the pot with water.

I made a brazier using the Ever-Burning Heart.

Even if it was spring water, drinking it as-is was risky. Distilling it would be better.

The pot's condition was a little questionable, but it would do.

[Alchemy skill transcended. All-Creation Cauldron skill activated.]

The pot instantly transformed into a large cauldron.

Thanks to the skill, I didn't even need to disinfect it separately.

After boiling and sterilizing the remaining supplies, I quickly made a distiller.

It was a simple setup. I punched a hole in the cauldron's lid, then connected a hose and condenser.

"Ah! Water's coming out! I'll collect it in the bowls."

"Okay."

There were a few ceramic bowls as well...

They didn't look like things hunters had brought from home.

Was there a village nearby?

Honestly, the improvised distiller wasn't very well made.

The condenser, the device that cooled steam in the hose back into water, was flimsy.

That was only natural. I'd thrown it together with limited supplies.

Thankfully, the Ever-Burning Heart provided steady, intense heat.

It used no fuel and produced no smoke, which made it incredibly convenient.

It was earning the 0.4 kilograms of our weight allowance it had taken up.

"Isn't this a little too efficient?"

"That's because we're inside the Tower. Since this is the ninth floor, the Tower's magic power is stronger."

After solving our drinking water problem, we went looking for food.

Yuki's main body guarded the camp while her clones and I searched.

Luckily, the island had a fair amount of plant and animal life.

Yuki gathered plants nearby while I went hunting.

I spotted a small rabbit-like animal.

I still didn't have bullets, but I got as close as possible using Stealth, then threw a stone.

Thud!

My aim was decent.

I'd received small stat boosts here and there from achievement rewards...

Now that they had accumulated, I could actually feel the difference.

"Ah, it really was a rabbit."

I'd heard that eating rabbit meat for too long caused malnutrition.

A week should be fine, though.

Still, it had looked strangely weak from the moment I saw it.

Looking closer, the whole island felt oddly gloomy.

I was excited at the thought of edible meat as I headed back when...

A monster with half-crazed eyes appeared.

It was a four-legged beast, something like a wild boar.

The moment it saw me, it charged.

"Squeeeal!"

Slash!

I dodged with Gale Boots and cut a long gash into its flank with my dagger.

It writhed after collapsing, but couldn't get back up.

'Hm? This is...'

I dismantled it on the spot.

Appraisal showed that its meat was poisonous and completely inedible.

Still, I recovered some strange loot from inside.

[Soul Crystal (Small): The result of a soul materializing. Used in many ways within the ninth floor.]

Was this loot related to the ninth floor's gimmick?

I should hold on to it for now.

Fortunately, there was nothing wrong with the rabbit meat.

Yuki heard the noise and rushed over, then finally relaxed.

"Team Leader, here's what I gathered."

"I'll check it right away. Ah, this can be used as food."

I quickly sorted through it with my transcended Appraisal skill.

There were a few Alchemy ingredients among the food as well.

This should be enough to last until tomorrow morning.

'I'm getting hungry.'

After grilling and eating the butchered rabbit meat, we started our next task.

It definitely lacked fat.

"Yuki, please bring back wood for building the shelter. Thick, long branches if possible. And gather some plants while you're at it..."

"Got it!"

While Yuki gathered resources, I took out my tools and started working.

[Sleight of Hand skill transcended. God's Hand skill activated.]

The first thing I did was disassemble Yuki's sawed-off shotgun.

Ting!

Yuki's shotgun had originally been double-barreled...

I was going to modify it into two single-barreled guns.

That would bring our number of guns up to two.

I'd already brought the key components with me.

Things like triggers and hammers were relatively light.

Of course, I'd have to make new stocks and grips locally.

Those were the heaviest parts.

[Eye of Disassembly skill transcended. Collapse Point skill activated.]

First, I separated the barrels into two.

Since they had been made from Ultra-Alloy beforehand, this part was easy.

I carved wood with an axe to make the stocks and grips.

Then I mixed a coating agent with Alchemy and applied it.

I wanted to dry the wood properly, but there wasn't time.

If problems came up later, I'd carve them again and recoat them.

I also used pre-made hinges and locking mechanisms.

After confirming that the hammers and triggers worked properly, I attached the barrels.

Two single-barreled sawed-off shotguns were complete.

It went just as I'd practiced.

At least I hadn't ruined perfectly good weapons.

"Team Leader! I brought the lumber!"

"Thank you. Now scout that direction. Put your clone in front and be careful..."

"Understood!"

I wanted to go myself, but...

I had to build the camp.

After lending Yuki my dagger, I started working with the axe.

Thanks to God's Hand and the axe's Strength Enhancement Enchantment, I was moving at a decent pace.

The sun had already passed its highest point.

If I didn't hurry, we'd practically be sleeping outdoors.

Thud, thud!

I first made a temporary roof that could block the wind and rain.

I considered digging into the ground like we had on the sixth floor, but...

Doing that in a jungle would mean suffering through bugs and moisture.

Here, I needed to build a platform and raise the shelter's floor off the ground.

There was a large tree on the hill, so I used it as a support post.

'The wood's a little thin for making a platform, though.'

In the end, I went to cut down trees myself.

Thud, crack!

I swung the axe like my life depended on it and got several straight logs.

It was getting dark, so I needed to hurry.

I improvised a shovel from an iron pipe from the shipwreck and dug as deeply as I could.

Maybe because this was a wetland, even the makeshift shovel dug well.

'This is driving me crazy.'

Not because it was hard.

The problem was that this wasn't just exhausting.

I was in an extreme situation where I didn't even know if I'd have somewhere to sleep tonight.

I was suffering like hell on an island full of enemies, yet I felt strangely excited.

The tension never let up.

I really had to be losing my mind.

Did I have some kind of mental illness that made me more excited the harder things got?

"Whew, done."

I dug until the ground was too hard to dig any farther.

The hole was just under a meter deep. I spread large and small rocks across the bottom, then planted wooden posts on top.

By the time I filled the gaps back in with soil from nearby, the sun had set.

I quickly tied thick branches together with sturdy vines to make the floor frame.

"I never thought I'd miss the sixth floor."

On the sixth floor, I could just dig a hole and sleep.

Still, Yuki's scouting had paid off.

She returned just after sunset.

"Team Leader. I found something like a small fishing village over there. I think it's about one or two kilometers away."

"A fishing village?"

"Yes. But all the buildings were rotten, so they were impossible to use. And there was a really unpleasant atmosphere..."

That probably wasn't just her imagination.

I still needed to check it out tomorrow during the day for loot.

"Good find. Get some rest for now."

I had roughly finished the platform's floor frame, including the supports, but...

I didn't have enough time to do more than that.

I needed to finish the camp quickly and start exploring.

'I need to work through the night.'

The moon was bright tonight, and I had Night Vision.

But once night fell, the bugs started swarming us relentlessly.

I burned some of the grass Yuki had gathered during the day.

[Bug-Repelling Grass: Grass with a high concentration of insecticidal ingredients. Its effect is maximized when burned to produce smoke.]

The Alchemy cauldron and brazier were beneath the frame and posts.

I used cloth from the shipwreck and grass to block the little light that leaked out.

"Yuki, bear with it a little longer. I'll finish at least one section soon..."

"You don't need to rush because of me."

I started laying thick branches across the outer floor frame of the platform I'd made earlier.

Even level 10 Sleight of Hand was impressive.

After transcending it, though, my work speed was ridiculous.

Whenever I could, I also checked for structural weaknesses with Eye of Disassembly.

Tap tap tap!

I filled about a third of the floor frame with thick branches.

That should be enough for just two people.

Once the first layer of thick branches was complete, I made a second layer.

I wove thinner branches into a grid like a net.

Then I spread thoroughly dried grass over it, completing a three-layer floor.

The grass I'd used to hide the brazier was perfect.

It retained an insecticidal effect as well, making the place feel fairly comfortable.

Yuki looked genuinely impressed.

"Th-That's amazing. You built something like this in just one day..."

"The floor isn't even finished, the roof is improvised, and there aren't any side walls."

"Still! Haven't you finished most of the major construction?"

I could make the side walls later when there was time...

Tomorrow, I needed to make the roof more solid.

"Be careful not to fall."

When exhaustion finally made me lie down on the floor, it was much more comfortable than I expected.

I'd used up one precious day out of our ten-day limit.

Still, this was an important base camp. Investing about two days in it should be fine.

'I'll put on a proper roof and wrap this up. Two people can't finish the whole thing.'

Once we summoned more people, we'd have more labor.

The question was how to carry out those additional summons.

After recovering some stamina overnight, we finished breakfast the next morning and headed for the fishing village.

I didn't feel great about leaving the camp completely empty, but there was no choice.

That breakfast had used up all our food.

"Team Leader, are you feeling okay? You used your skills for quite a while yesterday..."

"I'm completely fine. Let's hunt a little on the way back."

The fishing village wasn't far away.

Calling it a rotten fishing village was more accurate, really.

Every building was decayed, and the creepy atmosphere made the place completely unfit for habitation.

Several buildings had already collapsed.

"There probably won't be much loot here either..."

"Ah, Team Leader. What about this?"

Yuki had found a small dagger.

It seemed to be an artifact, but...

It didn't have any particularly impressive Enchantments on it.

Without hesitation, I put it into the Alchemist's Ammunition Box.

Clink!

The box spat out around twenty 12-gauge shotgun shells.

We hurriedly loaded them into our guns.

"Shotgun shells really are expensive... Even an artifact only gets us twenty rounds."

"Hm? That building looks a little more intact."

The largest, most intact building in the center of the fishing village.

At first, I thought it might be the village chief's house, but its design was closer to a shrine.

There was no way we could just pass it by.

Creak.

When I opened the rotten door, I saw a relatively intact interior and a small altar.

A large horn rested on the altar.

Judging by its magical response, it was no ordinary object.

I used Appraisal before touching it.

[Summoning Horn: Can instantly summon a distant target. Disappears after one use.]

"Ah, this is it!"

An artifact that could summon the team members waiting in the Interfloor Zone.

So this was how additional summons worked.

But it was strange for such a treasure to be sitting alone in an outer area.

I swept the area with Complete Senses, but found no convincing clue.

"... I guess I'll take it. Be careful. We don't know what might happen."

"Yes!"

There was probably a price for carelessly touching something on an altar.

I was ready for it.

Swish.

The instant I picked up the horn, a chilling voice rang out along with a fierce gust of wind.

"Who dares take our treasure!"

Crash!

Every door that was still relatively intact flew open, and translucent ghost-type monsters began appearing.

I drew my dagger and decided to gladly perform their funeral rites.

Footnotes:

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