WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

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◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈

Chapter 55

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It had been three days since I returned from the ninth floor.

I was finally getting back to training.

"Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale..."

I ran at top speed on a treadmill specially made for hunters, staring at the screen.

It wasn't playing some variety show. It was a YouTube video.

A foreign-language guide to making improvised explosive devices.

I couldn't believe something like this was still online.

Good thing the platform hadn't managed its content properly.

Honestly, I'd kept my distance from studying when I was in school...

Who knew I'd end up studying chemistry now?

I wanted to use bombs inside the Tower, and this was a small price to pay.

A little later, other hunters entered the gym.

Ten or more treadmills were almost all empty, yet people started taking the ones right beside me, one by one.

The dimensional energy reactor was already running in the gym.

It raised the concentration of magic power in the air to increase skill experience, even if only a little.

Magic power also enhanced physical abilities.

"What's that now? A video on making Molotov cocktails?"

"Let's watch it too."

"He only cleared the ninth floor recently. Doesn't he ever get tired?"

"He's the one who established the eighth-floor strategy, right? He's not human."

After finishing my endurance training, I rested for a while before heading to the testing room at the training grounds.

I needed to test the skill traits I'd obtained on the ninth floor.

Whoosh!

Accelerated Physical Technique.

It was a Physical Technique trait I'd gained from the Soul Crystal of the elf hero Kaellis...

I moved even faster than the Transcendence version.

I could recreate the near-teleportation movement Kaellis had shown.

It was precise, too.

"Gasp, gasp...!"

"You okay?"

Go Jiho asked worriedly as he helped take the measurements.

"You're an executive now. Is it okay for you to hang around here?"

"What work could be more important than taking care of Korea's best hunter? So, is the backlash severe?"

"It's pretty bad."

My heart was pounding so violently that it wouldn't have been strange if it burst at any moment.

Honestly, I couldn't use it back to back.

Still, I was very satisfied with its performance.

It would be more than useful in a firefight.

"I want to try that too."

"What?"

"Deflecting bullets with a knife."

"What? It'd be okay with rubber bullets... but you're really going to do it?"

"I think I can."

It was a stunt-like technique Kaellis had shown.

Deflecting a full-auto barrage would be difficult...

But wouldn't one or two shots be possible?

After some thought, Go Jiho nodded.

"All right. We've got plenty of rubber bullets..."

"You shoot them."

"... What?"

His face twisted slightly.

"It'll only be proper training if a skilled shooter fires them."

"Kang Hyun, rubber bullets can kill you if they hit you wrong."

"Hunters won't die from getting hit. I'll wear protective gear too."

"You crazy bastard. If my wife or Yuki finds out, I'm really dead."

I understood his wife, but why Yuki?

Go Jiho held out a little longer before reluctantly going to get a gun.

Since this was a new attempt, we'd do just one shot.

A low-velocity round, with some distance between us.

After setting the conditions, I picked up a training knife and stood in the line of fire.

The Hunter Association staff would have a heart attack if they saw this, calling it a safety violation.

"Kang Hyun. I'm really firing now, okay?"

"Whenever you're ready."

I said that as I completely turned off my phone.

If I left it on, messages from Yuki kept coming in.

I'd told her it was a training day, so she'd understand.

Go Jiho aimed his gun at me from behind a wall with a firing hole.

If I could see him, I could read the timing of his shot with Complete Senses, making it too easy.

Swish.

I took my stance and prepared myself.

The moment I did, a bullet flew toward me without warning.

Bang!

"Agh!"

The first shot hit my arm.

Even with protective gear on, it felt like my bone had broken.

Had I chosen gear that was too thin?

Go Jiho immediately tried to come out from behind the wall, but I waved him off.

"Again!"

"Really?"

Bang!

The second one was a failure too.

Since I wasn't keeping the acceleration active, it was harder than I expected.

I thought reflexes alone would do it, but they didn't.

"Again!"

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

The sensation of time slowing down.

I could clearly read his intent from the muzzle.

Baaang!

This time, I activated acceleration before it was too late.

It felt like even my mind was accelerating along with my body.

Ting!

I easily knocked the bullet aside with the flat of the knife.

But succeeding like this was meaningless.

"Gasp, gaaasp!!"

The next moment, I collapsed to the ground.

As expected, using this alongside Transcendence was absurd.

The backlash was too severe.

"Kang Hyun!"

"Ugh... Even if I deflect it, I won't survive."

The range of Complete Senses, which was permanently active like a passive skill, was quite narrow.

I had to be able to manage with that alone.

"Again!"

After trying for another six hours, my body was covered in bruises.

I succeeded occasionally.

But maybe it was just luck, because I couldn't succeed twice in a row.

'I still have a long way to go...'

I didn't even know whether I could use a stunt like this in real combat...

But Kaellis had done it.

So I had to do it too.

After finishing training, I headed to the workshop.

I learned how to make real improvised explosives and Homemade Firearms from an expert.

I also checked out the Alchemy Equipment Enchanting Technology and dimensional energy reactor technology that had been commercialized.

There had been a lot of progress with the Enchanting technology shared by Queenbell Hartman in the United States.

"Is this a gacha system too?"

"No. You can choose the effect you want to some extent. The materials are quite expensive and difficult to obtain, though..."

Fortunately, I had several Gargoyle gems from the eighth floor.

Go Jiho asked belatedly.

"What's the weight limit on the tenth floor? You must've tried it already."

"Well... There isn't a weight limit on the tenth floor."

"What, all of a sudden?"

"There's something similar instead. An Item Level Restriction..."

"An Item Level Restriction?"

Ah, Go Jiho didn't know much about this stuff.

I decided to explain it.

Item level systems were common in extraction games.

They appeared more often in action games than extraction shooters.

"What does that mean?"

"You haven't played them? Like [Dark and Darker] or [ZombiePalace]..."

"I haven't even properly played Tower Escape."

I see.

There were several extraction games focused on melee combat.

I wasn't sure whether it was a good genre...

Aside from the early pioneers, every one that came out had failed.

Anyway, the system itself was similar to a weight limit.

It put a limit on item levels to stop people from bringing in too much overpowered equipment.

As expected of a former hunter, Go Jiho asked a sharp question.

"Why would they put in a system like that?"

"Good question."

The reason games with Item Level Restrictions did that...

Was to stop trucks from running rampant.

Trucks.

That was what they called high-level players covered head to toe in extremely high item-level gear.

In most extraction shooters, a bullet to the head killed you no matter what.

That was why they usually didn't have systems like this...

But non-shooter genres didn't have that, so equipment made a huge difference.

It created situations where beginners could never beat experts.

"So it's a system to prevent that."

"Strange, right?"

"It is strange."

Go Jiho had caught on too.

The very existence of such a system on the tenth floor was strange.

Usually, this was a measure to ensure fair competition among hunters...

But matchmaking itself had become meaningless starting from the ninth floor.

There were too few people clearing those floors to run into another hunter team at all.

It was practically a PvE mode.

Yet the tenth floor had introduced a new Item Level Restriction.

"Is it meant to restrict artifacts? Powerful artifacts would have high item levels too..."

"Isn't it funny? The weight limit encouraged us to use artifacts, but now it's putting restrictions on them."

"That's true."

I couldn't read the intentions of whoever had designed this.

Would things be different from the tenth floor onward?

The number ten was symbolic enough.

"This is only my guess, but... I think we might soon get matched with hunters from other dimensions."

"Other dimensions?"

We'd known they existed from the merchants' comments long ago...

And Kaellis had confirmed it for us this time.

"Like I said, matchmaking itself has become meaningless now."

Almost no teams among Earth's hunters could clear the ninth floor or higher...

And even those teams shared their schedules to avoid running into one another.

Of course, it was only speculation.

Still, considering hunters from other dimensions, an Item Level Restriction sounded fairly plausible.

At least it made more sense than a weight limit.

"Anyway, I think it's good. If the weight limit changes to an Item Level Restriction, we'll be able to use guns..."

"That's true."

If the weight limit had kept decreasing, I really wouldn't have been able to bring in even a single pistol.

Kaellis, the elf hunter who had reached the seventeenth floor, had died after being shot...

That meant guns remained useful at least until the seventeenth floor.

It was too early to give up on them.

Thump!

The next moment, I felt my heart beat painfully.

The fragment of Kaellis that remained after granting traits to my skills... something that could be called a lingering will, seemed to be expressing its displeasure.

As I considered which Enchantment to apply to Nightfall Custom, the news began talking about the Russian monster again.

It had entered Chinese territory now, so it wasn't even a Russian monster anymore.

"Ah, right. What happened with that?"

"China will launch a subjugation operation in three days."

Go Jiho spoke with a serious expression.

"That thing is definitely targeting the nuclear power plant. If it absorbs the plant's energy, it really will become impossible to stop. Korea could be affected too."

"But that monster absorbs energy, right? Missiles can barely even hurt it."

"This is classified information, but hunter skills and Enchanted Firearms seem to work relatively well on it."

"Ah, really?"

Even Enchanted Firearms would be much weaker than missiles.

Were magic and skills its weakness?

It gets weaker without magic power, yet...

What a strange thing.

"The low concentration of magic power is steadily weakening it. Right before it reaches the nuclear power plant will be the best time to intercept it. That's three days from now."

"Then I should go within two days."

"... Are you really going?"

"Yes."

If I left it alone, a nuclear accident might happen and affect our country.

At the very least, I had to try throwing a dagger from far away.

As Go Jiho reluctantly looked into transportation, a sharp voice spoke inside me.

[Don't do anything foolish. That thing is a monster that could appear as a boss around the sixteenth floor. I don't know why it has already fallen into a dimension with only ten floors... but nothing good will come from getting close to it.]

'... Huh?'

It was a voice I had heard before.

It belonged to Kaellis.

His lingering will was speaking to me.

It sounded very tired, as though it didn't have much strength left.

Speaking itself seemed difficult in his current state.

He had said he would watch by my side to see how far I could rise...

Was this what he meant?

He was even giving me advice, which didn't suit him at all.

'You're nicer than I expected?'

[If you die, my entertainment ends too. Anyway, don't go near it. Do you think someone who has only just passed the ninth floor can kill a monster like that? It's not like you're a Death Priest.]

"..."

I hadn't expected to hear the name Death Priest here.

Was it quite famous in other dimensions?

Come to think of it, I hadn't used a Death Priest artifact while fighting Kaellis.

I had used a gun to finish him off at the end.

Since I had someone to consult, I decided to ask honestly.

'Wouldn't Enchanted Firearms work either?'

Kaellis seemed determined to stop me and spoke with difficulty.

[Of course not. Those strange projectile weapons you and your teammates used... It's not as if you have dozens of such powerful artifacts! At most, you have around ten.]

This bastard.

He seemed to have a major misunderstanding about me and humanity.

There were more than enough guns just in my home's storage.

Of course, Enchanting every single one would be a pain.

I decided to think positively.

In other words, if I had Death Priest artifacts and Enchanted Firearms, it was worth trying.

[Ugh, I need to rest. Don't take my words lightly.]

Kaellis immediately fell asleep.

With a strong sense of certainty, I spoke to Go Jiho.

"Gather as many Enchantment materials as possible, and prepare transportation. Official or unofficial, I don't care."

"... All right. Also, my wife says she needs to start feeding you soon. Aren't you out of side dishes at home?"

"Ah, thank you."

As Go Jiho and I left the workshop, a Hunter Association employee came running toward us with a tearful expression.

"T-Team Leader! You were here?"

"Ah... Me? What's wrong?"

Only then did I realize they had called for me, not Go Jiho, and was surprised all over again.

I still wasn't used to it outside the Tower.

The employee looked close to tears.

"Yuki came to the Association and is making a scene because your phone has been off for hours..."

"Ah! Right. I forgot to turn it back on after training."

Everyone seemed addicted to their smartphones.

Before my phone could even finish turning on, a beast-like cry rang out in the distance.

Go Jiho and I hurriedly fetched Yuki and went to eat.

@

Exactly two days later, I arrived in China through an unofficial route.

Thanks to Death Priest’s Mask, it wasn't particularly difficult.

The road in front of Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant was wide open and clear.

The citizens seemed to have evacuated long ago, and not a single vehicle passed by.

It was already dark, so I relied on night-vision goggles.

It had been a while since I last used them too.

"Then let's begin."

[The extraction team is ready. Whether it works or not, finish quickly and come back.]

Go Jiho spoke anxiously through the radio.

Thud, thud!

Slow footsteps echoed from the distance.

I'd reviewed the footage several times, but seeing it in person was overwhelmingly intimidating.

It was only a little smaller than something from a monster movie.

Every step shattered the road, toppled trees, and left craters behind.

"Begin the operation."

At my signal, Yuki's clone stepped forward with Death Priest’s Dagger in hand.

It was both a safety measure and a decoy.

Would that thing detect the unpleasant magic power unique to the Death Priest Dagger?

"Goooooo...!!"

Boom!

It had detected it.

The monster caused an earthquake and easily destroyed Yuki's clone.

It was my first time seeing the ground move like waves.

It had used that method because it was afraid of making direct contact.

Whoosh!

I burst out from my hiding place on solid ground in an accelerated state and resummoned the dagger.

"!"

Plop!

The moment the monster's body touched the dagger's tip, it collapsed helplessly.

I had to hurry so I wouldn't be crushed beneath it.

Footnotes:

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