WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
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◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈
Chapter 52
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The Spirit-Nourishing Grass was remarkably effective.
Maybe because I wasn't a herbivore, it tasted awful...
But the moment I chewed it and swallowed the juice, my mind cleared.
I focused Complete Senses inward and began examining myself.
My senses had fully returned. No auditory or visual hallucinations.
My magic power was recovering faster too.
I'd been too distracted by the hallucinations to notice...
It seemed Soul Erosion had also slowed my magic power recovery.
Yuki, standing beside me, looked much more at ease too.
"I think it's working."
"Let's gather some extra before we head back."
Thankfully, the area was covered in Spirit-Nourishing Grass.
It was a plant that grew like a weed as long as the environment suited it.
While Yuki cut the grass with her axe, I picked up the rabbit and tucked it into my clothes.
Its heart was beating incredibly fast.
Yuki saw it and asked, "Ah, are you going to eat that?"
"No. I think it can find Spirit-Nourishing Grass, so I'll bring it with us for now."
If it couldn't find any, I could always eat it later.
Still, what should I name it?
Maybe I should wait. It'd be sad to eat it after getting attached.
The rabbit seemed terrified by my presence, but it didn't struggle much.
After securing the Spirit-Nourishing Grass, we returned to camp with guns slung all over our backs.
Sang Hajun greeted us.
"Team Leader. I caught a young wild boar. I also finished laying the shelter floor."
"Really?"
It was young, but still a wild boar.
He'd managed to catch one with a smoothbore .22.
He really was worthy of being the team's sniper.
Our diet on the ninth floor had been a complete mess...
At least wild boar would have some fat on it.
And since it was young, it probably wouldn't smell as gamey.
Yuki happily rolled up her sleeves.
"Leave the cooking to me!"
"I just butchered it. I threw out everything except the tenderloin, ribs, and leg meat. I saved some fat too... But what's that? Dessert?"
Sang Hajun pointed at the rabbit in my clothes.
"No. It's our sixth team member."
"Ah, right..."
"Here. Chew some of this."
After giving him some Spirit-Nourishing Grass, I inspected the guns we'd taken.
They had belonged to dwarves that lived inside rocks, so they weren't in good condition...
Still, I salvaged quite a few usable parts.
"Hajun, you don't have to use that .22 anymore."
"Really?"
Sang Hajun's mouth stretched into a grin the moment he heard that.
He tried to hide it, but he must have hated that smoothbore .22.
I repaired the M1918 BAR Automatic Rifle I'd taken and tested earlier, then handed it to him.
There were plenty of other guns, but none as good as this one.
It used 7.62mm Springfield rounds, so it packed enough power...
More importantly, it had a 30-round box magazine.
Thankfully, it wasn't the usual 20-round BAR magazine.
Its only real drawback was the weight.
It was an automatic rifle that weighed over eight kilograms.
Fortunately, that wasn't a fatal weakness for hunters.
"There's only one magazine."
"I'll fire it semi-auto."
"Ah, it's a later model, so it doesn't have a semi-auto setting. I think you can only adjust the RPM."
"What? You're right..."
Still, the firepower was reliable enough to make it worth using.
I kept several other useful guns and traded the rest for ammunition.
Tiririk!
Fresh, modern high-performance rounds popped out of the Alchemist's Ammunition Box.
"Hm? Do we even have guns that use those bullets?"
"No. I'm gathering materials anyway."
"Ah."
[Alchemy skill transcended. All-Creation Cauldron skill activated.]
I carefully dismantled the bullets, collecting the casings and gunpowder.
Then I mixed the gunpowder with Alchemy materials that could boost its explosive force.
[Alchemy skill level has increased to 7.]
The result was high-performance gunpowder suitable for explosives.
"Good, the gunpowder's ready... Now let's make the casing."
Yuki, who had been cooking beside me, asked, "What are you making?"
"Our team's secret weapon."
"Wow, that's so cool, Team Leader!"
We'd struggled because we didn't have grenades in the last fight.
But making actual grenades wasn't realistic.
Then again, if I made something like a high-explosive shell, its killing power would be too low.
Most of an explosive's lethality came from fragments, after all.
In the end, I settled on a compromise.
"I'm going to make a Pipe Bomb."
I had just the right materials.
Several steel pipes we'd taken from the shipwreck on the coast.
Using Alchemy, I hardened them as much as possible.
The tougher the casing, the less the blast dispersed, increasing the lethality of the fragments.
"Hardening coating complete."
I sealed one end of the hardened pipes, then carefully filled them with enhanced gunpowder and metal fragments.
I used Yuki's clone for the work.
It would be dangerous if anything exploded.
"It's done!"
"Thank you."
That completed the basic structure.
All that remained was making a fuse...
That was the difficult part.
It had to burn slowly at a consistent rate.
This was where the All-Creation Cauldron came in handy.
I filled some cloth from the shipwreck with small amounts of gunpowder, then twisted it tightly into a wick.
After that, I finished it with a waterproof coating made from plant extract.
"Hm, looks good."
Before inserting it into a pipe, I lit it to test it.
Sssss...!
It burned slowly at roughly two centimeters per second.
That wasn't bad.
'I'll make the fuse around fifteen centimeters long.'
That meant roughly seven seconds until detonation.
For reference, even standard military grenades usually had fuses no longer than five seconds.
It was a little slow for a grenade substitute...
But this was improvised, and the fuse quality wasn't stable.
Better too slow than too fast.
If it exploded in my hand, I'd be screwed.
I inserted the fuse, sealed the pipe, and finished it.
When I began mass-producing them, Sang Hajun, who had been handling his new gun beside me, spoke with admiration.
"This is already beyond improvised."
"Do you think I could sell them?"
"Absolutely."
If I couldn't work as a hunter anymore, maybe I should sell weapons.
Though the odds of me surviving that long were low.
"Ah, right. I also got a Summoning Horn."
"Really? When are you going to use it?"
"I'm saving it for now."
The Soul Erosion issue was resolved, but there was no need to rush the summoning.
We hadn't even secured a proper surplus of food yet.
Kim Yuna and Han Juwon, who were waiting in the Interfloor Zone, had weapons and ammunition too.
Their role was combat support, not infrastructure construction.
No matter when I summoned them, they'd be able to do their jobs.
After I washed my hands and drank some water, Yuki said, "Dinner's ready!"
"Oh..."
She'd used spices and wild strawberries to get rid of as much of the wild meat's gamey smell as possible.
It had been so long since we'd eaten a proper meal that we couldn't help being moved.
"This is good enough to sell."
"Hmph. Team Leader doesn't have to pay."
The symptoms of Soul Erosion seemed to have disappeared.
We spent the night there and welcomed the next morning.
I stayed alert just in case, but the Soul Giant didn't appear overnight.
That meant we'd cleared the third day too.
We had entered the daytime of the fourth day.
The Soul Giant had attacked our camp on the second night...
It would probably appear again sometime tonight or tomorrow night.
A mechanic for destroying hunters' camps couldn't possibly be a one-time event.
As soon as the sun rose, I heated the alchemical cauldron.
"Ha, I'm seriously busy..."
I squeezed the juice from the Spirit-Nourishing Grass and turned it into a potion that lasted longer and was easier to consume.
There was no specific recipe...
But I had the know-how accumulated as Alchemy advanced to level seven.
I knew exactly what role each ingredient played.
I understood which ingredients worked well together.
[Potion of Spirit Life (Mid-Grade): Prevents unclean energy or mental interference for an extended period...]
It succeeded on the first try.
Brewing potions took a long time because they had to be reduced, so that was a relief.
After preparing some extra, I began repairing a Lee-Enfield Rifle.
"What is this, World War I?"
I grumbled for no reason, but this was the second-best gun we had.
The first was the M1918 BAR Automatic Rifle I'd given Sang Hajun yesterday.
Since we were the first challengers on the ninth floor, it was obviously another one of the Tower's creations...
Maybe because its stock was wooden, the Lee-Enfield was severely worn down.
I wanted to make an entirely new stock if I could.
It wouldn't even be that hard if I used God's Hand.
'But it'd take too long.'
I'd made the stock for the short-barreled sawed-off shotgun in a similar way.
But the Lee-Enfield's stock was much larger and had to be more precise.
Comparing it to the sawed-off shotgun, which was practically a pipe gun, would be insulting.
In the end, I settled for attaching reinforcing wooden blocks to the worn parts.
"Then Yuki and I will head southwest."
"Be careful."
Sang Hajun saw Yuki and me off while holding the rabbit in his arms.
Two statues remained.
One was southwest, and the other was south, so I planned to deal with both at once.
Yuki gathered food as we walked and asked, "Team Leader. Didn't you say you gained a new Upper Skill yesterday?"
"Ah, right."
Adaptability, the skill I gained after raising Regeneration to level ten.
It increased my resistance to things like poison and disease.
The effect was weak at first, but the more I suffered from harmful effects, the stronger my resistance became.
It seemed to reset after about a week, though.
"That's amazing! Then doesn't that mean you don't have to worry about Soul Erosion either?"
"Ah, I don't think it works on Soul Erosion since that's a mental effect."
As we talked and walked, the southern region finally came into view.
A damp, dark swamp stretched ahead of us.
"Kyaaaah...!"
The moment I heard the auditory hallucination, I drank a Potion of Spirit Life.
"Yuki, have one too."
"Okay!"
Just like the rocky area yesterday, the Soul Erosion effect itself seemed to become stronger at major farming spots.
Following the direction of the temple lanterns in a straight line, we found the statue without much difficulty.
It was a statue hiding alone and trembling.
[Statue of the Isolated Man]
Had he died after getting separated from his team?
How was I supposed to dismantle this one?
As I considered it, Yuki spoke beside me.
"Team Leader. Doesn't seeing something like this make you want to get married?"
"... N-no, not really."
What was going on in her head?
Her way of thinking was completely different.
Breaking into a cold sweat, I took the horn out of my pack.
I couldn't bring my backpack onto the ninth floor, but I'd made a small bag from loot.
"Let's use the horn here."
"Because he died alone, you're calling a teammate?"
At a glance, it might seem like mockery...
But by that logic, making the dwarf fly at the second statue had been similar.
Bwoooooo!
I blew the horn while thinking of Kim Yuna.
A teleportation skill was more versatile, after all.
Flaaash!
"You called for me? You two seemed to be getting along just fine. I hope I'm not interrupting."
Kim Yuna stretched as soon as she appeared.
For all her words, she seemed to have been pretty bored.
Kiiing!
Right after that, the statue began to glow.
[Statue of the Isolated Man dismantled. Until you escape the ninth floor, your abilities slightly increase when a team member is nearby.]
One left.
The ninth floor allowed us to stay for up to ten days, but it was only the daytime of the fourth day.
Our progress was pretty fast, wasn't it?
"Do you think we're missing something?"
"No, it's just that the camp was finished at a ridiculous speed."
Kim Yuna spoke as she inspected her firearm.
It was the MP7 we'd taken on the eighth floor last time.
Because it had Shatter Enchantment, it delivered power far beyond its caliber.
On top of that, we didn't need to worry about ammunition thanks to the Alchemist's Ammunition Box.
It normally weighed over two kilograms when loaded, but we'd modified it with Ultra-Alloy and cut that down sharply.
We made up the rest of the weight with magazines.
Tiririk!
I exchanged Soul Crystals for 4.6mm rounds and loaded them into the magazine as well.
"Any other team would've spent four days just building the camp."
True. Even I thought we'd made it well.
We'd even worked through the night.
"Then that's a relief."
"But why did it have to be a swamp? My feet keep sinking."
"I think there are a lot of mosquitoes too. Let's burn some Bug-Repelling Grass before we go."
That was why I couldn't reduce the nearly three kilograms of clothing weight.
With ordinary clothes, we'd have torn them or gotten hurt in no time.
"Only the southern altar is left now, right?"
"I'll take the lead. Let's go."
The monsters in the swamp were zombies.
Typical no-reward monsters.
Killing them would only waste bullets.
Ghosts, Soul Giants, dwarves, and now zombies.
There really was quite a variety.
Bugs kept trying to stick to our faces, so the team members took out balaclavas or masks.
I tried putting on the Death Priest's Mask too.
It had made me uneasy, so I hadn't used it until now...
But surprisingly, it felt comfortable.
There weren't even any straps, yet it clung snugly to my face.
"Well, how do I look?"
"You just look normal."
"Wait, Team Leader. Are you wearing a mask right now?"
Yuki asked, tilting her head.
"To me, you just look barefaced."
"Hm?"
"What? You were wearing a mask? Same here."
I ran my hand over my face, and I could definitely feel the mask...
But the team couldn't see it.
I decided to leave it at that and continued forward, avoiding the zombies.
Then, before long, a sharp sense of danger made my body flinch.
"Ah!"
I reflexively activated Gale Boots.
A bullet flew at me as I led the way.
Bang!
High up in a tree some distance away, a Goblin sniper gritted its teeth and loaded another round.
It had even camouflaged itself by covering its whole body in something like mud.
"Sniper!"
Whoosh!
I spread the Smoke Screen skill and took cover behind an obstacle.
It was too far away for Yuki or Kim Yuna to deal with.
I had to take it out.
But the Goblin kept firing.
Bang!
It didn't look stupid enough to shoot blindly into the smoke.
What was it planning?
I understood its intention from the bullet that flew far above my head.
"Kyaaaah!"
The zombies we'd passed earlier were hit by the bullets and began converging on me.
A monster luring other monsters.
This Goblin was incredibly clever.
And those were running zombies.
If I left them alone, they'd head for my team members.
It would be best to deal with them while the Smoke Screen remained.
Sssst...
Just as I pulled out my sawed-off shotgun and dagger, the Death Priest's Mask tugged at the skin of my face and changed in a strange way.
'W-wait?'
My face turned pale like a corpse's and sagged slightly, as if my muscles had lost their strength.
No, it wasn't just my face.
When I looked down, the skin all over my body looked no different from a zombie's.
"Graaah?"
The zombies passed right by me as I stood there frozen, then began heading for the Goblin.
Had even my smell and presence changed?
A Death Priest artifact... I hadn't expected this much.
Maybe because the targets were zombies, it fooled them easily.
Bang, bang!
The Goblin panicked as the zombies emerged from the Smoke Screen and fired several shots.
With Shadow Walking active, I took out the Lee-Enfield Rifle and calmly aimed.
The zombies acted as shields, so I had all the time in the world.
Bang!
The Goblin took a shot to the head and fell from the tree.
Footnotes:
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