WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

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◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈

Chapter 50

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Enemies approached, hiding in the rain and darkness.

They were huge.

Maybe around 2.5 meters tall.

The creatures I saw through Night Vision flickered ominously.

They looked like living evil spirits, but their bodies clearly had mass.

'Three of them.'

Sang Hajun and Yuki silently opened their eyes the instant I touched them.

Then, almost on instinct, they grabbed their weapons.

As expected of S-rank team members.

Sang Hajun silently apologized as he aimed his Ruger rifle at them.

He seemed to blame himself for being too tired to notice them sooner.

I told him not to worry about it and kept watching the creatures.

'Monsters ambushing us?'

They hadn't noticed that we were awake.

I intended to let them get as close as possible so I could gather more information.

Our shelter was high enough that we needed a ladder to get in and out.

Even 2.5-meter giants wouldn't be an exception.

How would they deal with it?

Then the creatures silently raised their fists in front of the shelter.

Their fists were clearly aimed at the wooden pillars.

'What? They're targeting the camp building itself?'

For a moment, the sight of this hill before we arrived flashed through my mind.

The unfinished camp had been wrecked beyond recognition.

It hadn't simply been abandoned.

These things had attacked it and destroyed it.

Monsters that targeted the camp itself instead of hunters.

They were complete bastards.

Without hesitating, I grabbed my dagger and jumped down.

If I broke a bone, I could heal it in an instant with a Heavenly Elixir...

But repairing the camp I'd spent two days working my ass off to build would be much harder.

"You bastards, that's my camp!"

Crack!

The creature about to bring down its fist was struck by my dagger and scattered into pieces.

I was about to charge the next monster when the scattered souls clung to me.

'Heavy!'

They felt wet and heavy, like mud.

This thing wasn't simply a large, gloomy monster.

It seemed to be an aggregate of countless souls.

My slash had broken their bindings...

But instead of disappearing, they clung to me because I was nearby.

"Argh!"

I swung my dagger like crazy, quickly cutting down the souls clinging to me.

The remaining two monsters were the problem.

On top of that, Yuki lost her head and tried to run toward me.

"Benefactor!"

Honestly, Yuki was scarier than the evil spirits.

I quickly shouted.

"Don't come closer! Shoot them!"

"Ah!"

Only then did Yuki come to her senses and aim her shotgun at another monster.

Bang!

The creature's torso jolted hard with the deafening gunshot.

The evil spirits screamed as they died in droves.

Gunfire was definitely effective.

Like ghost-type monsters, these things naturally had physical resistance...

But Yuki's gun had a Paralysis Enchantment on it.

More precisely, the trigger and hammer of the original shotgun had been enchanted, and I'd used them as they were.

That was why my gun currently had no Enchantment.

Of course, Yuki's shotgun couldn't stop the fishing village ghosts from reviving.

Fortunately, these things didn't seem to revive.

The freed souls either hovered nearby or vanished altogether.

'Keeping my distance was the right call.'

Click, bang!

After reloading, Yuki fired again.

Another monster went down.

"Huff... Haa..."

I had dealt with almost all the evil spirits attached to my body.

Then the last remaining monster began charging toward the nearest pillar!

It was the one furthest away, so there was some distance between us...

How badly did it want to destroy my camp?

Was my construction really that much of an eyesore?

"Hajun!"

Bang!

Sang Hajun calmly raised his rifle and shot the monster in the knee.

For a .22-caliber rifle, its sound suppression was excellent.

It was worlds apart from the shotgun blast from earlier.

It was an Enchanted Firearm, so the bullet did affect it...

But it was weak, as expected.

Its lack of stopping power was obvious.

The creature was still moving despite taking a direct hit to the knee.

"Kyaaaah...!"

It tried to swing its arm, but the outside of its knee had been carved away, making its body tilt sharply.

Yuki didn't miss the opening and fired her shotgun.

Bang!

The souls making up the left half of its body were released and flew away.

Whoosh!

As the gunfire paused, I used the opening to slice through the remaining right half of its body with my dagger.

The evil spirits tried to cling to me again when I approached...

Slash!

I used the Gale Boots to widen the distance, then cut and stabbed them down one by one with my dagger.

The moment the last soul vanished, Yuki ran to me.

"Team Leader!"

"Hajun, any remaining enemies?"

"No reactions within a one-kilometer radius."

"Whew..."

I'd killed all the evil spirits that had clung to me.

There wouldn't be any aftereffects, right?

Thank god I had the Death Priest Dagger.

After I used it, it was practically an evil spirit eraser.

It felt like anything it touched got erased from the world.

If I'd had to kill them one at a time with something like an axe, it would've been much harder.

"Those things really were targeting our camp building, right?"

"Yes. The ruins from before were probably their work too."

Did they hate seeing an intact building on this island?

The fact that they only targeted the camp buildings was a huge headache.

If they attacked while we were out exploring, two days of work would disappear.

Yuki checked my condition several times before finally turning her attention to the loot.

"The Soul Crystals are bigger."

[Medium Soul Crystal: The materialized result of a soul...]

All three creatures had dropped Soul Crystals.

At least they guaranteed a core resource drop. That was the last shred of conscience they had.

If we weren't going to abandon the camp, these were monsters we had to fight.

"Still, since they're evil spirits, we probably don't need to worry too much during the day."

"What are those Soul Crystals even used for?"

"I don't know. I heard they're used for all kinds of things on the ninth floor. I'll test them in various ways tomorrow during the day."

"Team Leader, you should rest some more."

"I'll keep watch."

Sang Hajun agreed with Yuki.

They were probably worried about the evil spirits that had clung to me earlier.

I was a little uneasy too.

I'd heard something like auditory hallucinations around sunset earlier.

"Then I'll leave it to you. Could you lower the ladder?"

I climbed back into the shelter we'd barely managed to protect and slept for a few more hours.

At least I didn't have any nightmares.

The next morning, I crushed a Small Soul Crystal as soon as the sun came up.

I wondered if the item description would change if I turned it into powder.

But the moment I shattered the Soul Crystal...

Hissss!

The soul trapped inside was released with a hissing sound, like air escaping.

At the same time, the grim energy lingering in my body dispersed as well.

Yuki stared at me in surprise.

"Ah! What was that just now?"

"I don't know. It seems like the souls collided and got blown away."

Was it poison fighting poison?

My body felt lighter, which was nice.

"So this is how the ninth floor's unique debuff is dealt with..."

I tried using the crushed crystal elsewhere too.

First, I coated the tips of .22 Long Rifle rounds with the powder.

[Soul Crystal Bullet: Ammunition that deals slight additional damage to ghost-type monsters.]

Could it penetrate physical resistance to some extent?

It was like Han Juwon's Ghost Bullets.

Still, loot like this should drop by default.

Why did I have to kill ghosts to get Soul Crystals?

The order was backwards.

It was like climbing gear dropping at the top of Mount Everest.

Still, that was a relief.

I coated most of our bullets with Soul Crystal powder.

We'd acquired a large number of Small Soul Crystals at the fishing village, so we had some to spare.

Shotgun shells were the only problem...

But I solved that with my Alchemy skill too.

"Yuki, keep this on you. If your body or mind feels even a little off, break it right away. Got it?"

"Thank you for looking out for me, Team Leader."

Yuki was building a simple stove out of rocks and mud when she smiled brightly.

Sang Hajun, who was scouting the surroundings from a tree with his skill, called out to me.

"I found the temple. It's in the exact center of the island."

"Really?"

"There are four lanterns near the temple... One is already lit. It's in the direction of the statue of the hunter who starved to death."

Just as Queenbell Hartman had said.

To open the temple, we needed to dismantle four statues.

We had already dealt with one of them.

"There must be statues in the directions of the remaining three lanterns."

"Probably."

One statue during the third day.

The base camp was nearly complete.

Not a bad pace.

"Which direction is the closest lantern from here?"

"This is north... The east one is relatively close. It seems pretty windy there. There's one each to the south and southwest."

"We'll leave right away. Hajun, please guard the camp. We'll be back before sunset."

"All right. Is there anything else I need to do?"

"You need to finish the shelter's sidewalls. Gather some firewood too if you have time."

After handing Sang Hajun a Soul Crystal as well, Yuki and I left the camp.

The instant we stepped outside, Yuki pressed herself right up against me.

"It's just the two of us again. Should we go swimming in the spring before we head out?"

"Let's do that after we get back."

The tropical climate really was hot.

As Yuki gathered food while we explored, she asked me a question.

"But if it comes down to it, which would you prioritize? The horn, or the statue?"

Reinforcing the team or disabling the island's gimmick.

I hesitated for a moment before deciding.

"It depends on the situation, but for now, the statue."

"Really? That's unexpected. I thought extra people would come first."

More team members would definitely be reassuring.

But we already had enough manpower with three people.

If Kim Yuna or Han Juwon joined us here, we'd consume more supplies.

We already had plenty of drinking water, and we were working hard to secure food...

But Soul Crystals were the problem.

"If we summon them too quickly, we won't have enough Soul Crystals."

Soul Erosion.

That was the name for the ninth floor's unique debuff.

Soul Erosion was not completely removed just by using Soul Crystals.

Since it was poison fighting poison, it was closer to temporarily slowing its progression.

Once it began, we'd have to keep consuming Soul Crystals.

Flinch!

At that moment, Yuki flinched hard too.

I grabbed her as her body trembled.

"Are you okay?"

"W-where did you just go?"

"... Nowhere. I was beside you the whole time."

So Yuki had finally started showing symptoms of Soul Erosion too.

It had taken me a little over thirty hours...

Yuki had lasted for almost forty-eight hours, perhaps even longer.

Did the progression speed vary from person to person?

It was probably because of Complete Senses.

My senses were sharper, so the erosion progressed faster.

I saw things others couldn't see and heard things others couldn't hear.

For Complete Senses to have a penalty like this.

Even so, I intended to keep using the skill.

"Yuki, don't push yourself. Want to use a Soul Crystal?"

"... No. I'm still okay. But could I hold your hand instead?"

"Sure."

Our hands would get sweaty in this heat.

Still, this wasn't a situation where I could refuse.

The instant Yuki took my hand, she began fidgeting with it eagerly.

She hadn't lied about seeing hallucinations, had she?

We had a rule against lying to the team leader.

'This is basically a horror game.'

I'd played horror games a few times when I was a streamer...

But I could never grow fond of the genre.

Honestly, extraction shooters were scarier.

You lost everything when you died.

You never knew when a hacker would show up either.

The farther east we went, the more the heat subsided.

A fairly strong wind kept blowing from ahead.

"Cawww!"

The wind sounded almost like a scream.

Yuki didn't react at all.

It was probably one of my Soul Erosion symptoms.

So now I could hear auditory hallucinations as a matter of course.

When we got closer, we found a cliff where the wind blew like mad.

It was at least thirty meters high.

The sea lay directly below, and it didn't look like we'd survive a fall.

There were countless jagged rocks.

Nearby were numerous boulders engraved with reliefs of varying sizes...

Even the smallest was around two meters tall.

Honestly, I had no idea what they were supposed to depict.

The sculptor's artistic skill was a complete mess.

"I didn't know a place like this existed. Ah, over there!"

We soon found the second statue.

Like before, the area around it looked as if it had been entirely turned to stone.

Unfortunately, it was right at the edge of the cliff.

The statue depicted a hunter who looked like they were being chased by something.

Maybe because we'd learned information from the other statue, my skills produced an analysis result on their own.

[Statue of a Man Who Surrendered to Fear: It seems he jumped off the cliff after being pursued by enemies.]

"... Surrendered to fear?"

We'd held a ritual by offering food to the starving man...

Did we need to fight enemies this time?

We probably had to show that we could overcome them instead of running away.

But where and how were we supposed to find enemies?

Fortunately, such worries were a luxury on the ninth floor.

The reliefs scattered nearby began moving all at once.

A door opened, and small dwarves began crawling out from inside.

Every one of them carried a gun.

There were at least fifteen of them.

For a moment, I wanted to surrender to fear too...

But when I looked at their guns, I changed my mind.

'Guns!'

"Kieeeek!"

"Kill those bastards! This is our territory!"

"Throw them off the cliff alive!"

The dwarves aimed their guns in a frenzy.

Their eyes had already gone wild.

This was better than having the dwarves close in on us in an orderly formation.

Still holding Yuki's hand, I ran behind the nearest boulder.

[Smoke Screen skill transcended, Sea of Clouds skill activated.]

Whoooosh!

Heavy smoke spread in every direction.

Footnotes:

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