WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈

Chapter 60

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Kirs, Dimensional Gatekeeper.

With its hammer set aside and the way it stood there quietly, it looked like a school principal.

Were we students called up to receive awards?

Not that I'd ever received one at school.

Han Juwon went first, as expected.

The Gatekeeper might have had something up its sleeve, so Han Juwon seemed to step forward on reflex. Despite having a family to support, they were surprisingly self-sacrificing.

It felt a little unsettling.

Still, it was offering a skill. We had to take it.

"You became your teammates' shield by defeating my underlings... I shall grant you a skill worthy of that."

Ssssh!

Han Juwon received the Reinforced Barricade skill.

It could strengthen existing structures or consume a huge amount of magic power to create temporary barricades from scratch.

Perfect for a machine gunner.

"Oh, this is much better than I expected."

Its performance fell somewhere between a Basic Skill and a regular skill.

A privilege for hunters who had cleared the tenth floor.

Sang Hajun was next...

The Gatekeeper gave him an uncertain look.

"Hmm, where exactly were you hiding? Since you hid so well, shall I give you the Stealth skill..."

Click!

Sang Hajun loaded a round as if he were about to teach it a lesson.

We quickly stopped him.

"Hajun, calm down! Stealth is a top-tier skill for a sniper!"

Sang Hajun received Reinforced Stealth.

It was better than Shadow Walking, and the longer he remained hidden, the more powerful his first strike became.

Its effect was the exact opposite of Firmament Veil.

"But unlike the team leader's, I think it breaks if I move."

"Have some shame. I'm next, right?"

Kim Yuna received a skill called Environmental Destruction.

Maybe it was because she had destroyed a pillar and made the boss fall.

Apparently, it let her identify and destroy weaknesses in the nearby environment more effectively.

"Uh... This seems a little underwhelming, doesn't it? It doesn't seem very useful outdoors."

"Hey, you're getting revenge because I made you fall earlier, aren't you?!"

Kim Yuna protested fiercely, but it was useless.

"Next... Clone woman. You. You were quite troublesome."

Yuki simply gained one additional clone summon.

The Clone Technique skill itself was so versatile that this was much better than getting anything else.

Kim Yuna trembled in indignation.

"This is discrimination against Koreans!"

"Last is the team leader. You made quite a few weapons. Take this."

Ssssh!

[Reconstruction: Can urgently repair weapons and equipment, or recycle them into new equipment.]

"Uh, um..."

I'd been sure I'd get a crafting skill.

Still, mine didn't seem like a first-place prize either.

"See? I told you it was discrimination against Koreans!"

"It definitely seems discriminatory. I feel insulted too."

Thinking about it, it did seem like discrimination.

But the Gatekeeper simply turned away.

"My business is complete. I shall open the door."

"W-Wait."

"What is it?"

"You seemed to know about the Death Priests earlier... Can you tell me about them?"

When I asked, the Gatekeeper looked at me as if I were the strange one.

"You do not know about yourself? Did you receive a divine relic and yet fail to meet another priest? How peculiar."

"So what are they?"

The Gatekeeper thought for a moment before reluctantly speaking again.

"I cannot tell you."

"What?"

"The information I possess is far too old, so it is unlikely to be of any use. I cannot even remember how long it has been since I last encountered a Death Priest."

I still wanted that old information.

But it didn't look like it had any intention of telling me.

'Is it afraid? Or...'

Creeeak!

Without waiting for a reply, the Gatekeeper opened the door.

Light poured through the wide-open doorway.

"You need only leave now."

"... Shall we?"

After collecting the Soul Crystals and loot dropped by the monsters, we went through the doorway.

Flaaash!

I was waiting for the escape notification...

Then a familiar sensation touched the tip of my foot.

Tap.

"... Huh?"

Familiar stone steps.

Dampness I had never missed.

We had arrived in the Interfloor Zone.

"What?! We didn't get out of the Tower?"

I was dumbfounded.

We had planned to tackle the eleventh floor someday...

But we hadn't intended to rush into it like this.

We'd used up some supplies, too.

Just then, the Goblin Interfloor Merchant came running over.

"Huh? Humans. Why didn't you leave? Going straight for the eleventh floor?"

"No, we went through the door and ended up here."

The goblin laughed at my answer.

"Puhahaha! You went through the open door? The tenth-floor exit is the small door beside it!"

"What?"

"Didn't the Gatekeeper tell you? Puhahaha!"

Could that Gatekeeper bastard have deliberately failed to explain because we'd complained too openly?

"That bastard really was a racist."

"He must be a Japanophile. I knew it the moment I saw him."

"I got tricked too..."

Yuki smiled bitterly and began checking her equipment.

Once we'd entered the Interfloor Zone, we couldn't go back.

At this point, we had no choice but to start clearing the eleventh floor earlier than planned.

Fortunately, the eleventh floor was the lowest floor in a new area.

Its escape conditions probably wouldn't be too difficult.

Every exit should lead outside the Tower.

We hadn't used up too many supplies, and since we were in the Interfloor Zone, we could buy more if needed.

After ordering some ammunition, I decided to eat.

Yuki stepped forward immediately.

"We have some time this time! I'll heat up the instant rice."

"Other races start appearing from the eleventh floor, right?"

"That's right. But they haven't all cleared the tenth floor."

Starting from the eleventh floor, there were no separate entry requirements, just like the seventh floor...

A lot of random nobodies would be mixed in.

That was good news for us, since we'd have to compete with them.

"But... what do we do if we meet other races? We should decide on a policy..."

"If they're hostile, we'll fight. Same as before, we don't strike first unless we have to..."

We should've gone over all this beforehand.

The Gatekeeper had completely messed things up.

Next time, I was definitely stabbing it with the Instant-Death Dagger.

There was no point in holding a long meeting.

We'd have to improvise on site anyway.

While eating and resting, I asked the Goblin Interfloor Merchant a question.

"By the way, are you going to sell guns and ammunition to other races from now on?"

"Not for the time being. Technology related to them can be sold for much more."

"Oh, really?"

They probably wouldn't stop anyone from looting them, though...

Our technological advantage wouldn't last forever.

We really needed to move up quickly.

'Hey, Kaellis. Any useful tips for clearing this floor?'

[What... the eleventh floor? Clearing it, my ass. There's nothing special about it, so just find an exit and leave.]

It seemed Kaellis hadn't put much effort into the eleventh floor either.

For hunters from other dimensions, it was practically the bottom floor.

After staying for the full allotted time, we decided to leave on our own before we got kicked out.

Hissss!

As I sprayed the homemade odor-removal spray, the Interfloor Merchant waved.

"Human! Bring more expensive stuff next time!"

"Sure."

Flaaash!

When we climbed the stairs, we found ourselves in a dark, damp forest.

"Oh, this place feels like the first floor."

I had Sang Hajun climb a tree to scout first.

We had entered unexplored territory again.

My heart was already racing.

Not long after, beasts that seemed to have caught our scent began approaching one by one.

They appeared to be pack animals, circling nearby as they waited for their companions to arrive.

"What are those? They're glowing a little."

"Mana Wolf? They don't look like summons, do they?"

Unenchanted weapons didn't seem to work well on them...

Fortunately, that didn't apply to us.

"I'll handle them."

I pulled out the Nightfall Custom, fitted with Sound Suppression and Concealment Enchantments.

Pfft, pfft!

The shots were barely loud enough to count as gunfire.

As soon as one or two wolves fell, the rest scattered.

"Ah, they ran away."

"These things drop Soul Crystals. Lowest-grade ones, but still."

"Wow... The eleventh floor really is different."

We moved locations just in case.

Our policy for this exploration was simple.

"Let's farm some minor loot around the outskirts, find an exit, and leave right away."

It was common knowledge in the Tower that the outskirts had far worse rewards than the central area.

That didn't mean there was no chance of finding something good.

The scouting results also showed that the eleventh floor was strictly divided between the center and the outskirts.

Sang Hajun spoke with one eye closed.

"There's a huge grand temple in the central area over there... and four smaller temples right beside it."

"Five temples?"

"They're clearly separate structures, too."

Naturally, the largest temple in the center would be the most dangerous area.

"Also, there are several passages leading underground in the outskirts."

"Underground?"

"It smells like rotting corpses in several places... Could they be underground tombs? Temples might have those."

We needed to secure a safe area first.

Fortunately, there were scattered shelters of all sizes around the forest's edge.

Most were barely holes in the ground rather than proper buildings.

Still, with some modifications, they could be useful.

At least this wasn't a hellish tropical climate like the ninth floor.

As I spread Four Seasons and scanned the surroundings, I caught a strange sensation.

The distinct feeling of an exit.

We'd gotten lucky this time.

"I found an exit."

"R-Really? That's amazing. Where is it?"

"There's a hidden door in the ground over there. But... there's another hunter team nearby."

Of course, there was an exit ambush here too.

Two of them seemed to have fairly high-level Stealth skills, so they were hard to find...

But the other three were spotted, which gave away the two who had been hiding.

"But their equipment is completely shabby."

Each of them had only a single weapon.

"What race are they?"

"I'm not sure. I've never seen them before, but they have something like scales on their skin..."

[... Lizardmen.]

Kaellis gave useful advice for once.

Since his soul was bound to me, he must've been getting tired of being useless all the time.

[They are weak against changes in temperature, and their magical abilities are nothing impressive. They make up for it with their numbers.]

'What about their builds and strength?'

[It varies greatly by individual. They may be stronger than humans.]

That seemed unfair.

We were weak against temperature changes and had unimpressive magical abilities too.

Fortunately, we had guns.

As I considered how to deal with them...

I sensed another presence in the distance.

"Hm? Another team. Hide."

"Ah, team leader, me too..."

[Shadow Walking skill transcended, Firmament Veil skill activated]

I hid Kim Yuna and Han Juwon with Firmament Veil.

My skill level had risen enough that I could now hide about two people.

Yuki's Stealth skill level was high...

And Sang Hajun used his newly acquired Reinforced Stealth skill from the tree.

Thud, thud.

The hunter team that soon appeared was made up of muscular Orcs.

They were much better armed than the Lizardman team.

Their equipment wasn't even comparable.

They also seemed to be carrying a decent haul of loot.

'Orc hunters exist too?'

I was a little surprised because the monster version was so familiar.

"Let's go in."

They boldly entered the basement.

I wondered what they intended to do...

Then the sounds of combat soon rang out.

"Kieeek!"

"Chwiik!"

Clang!

The battle was pretty intense, but the result was obvious.

A crushing Orc victory.

The exit was a little far from their ambush point, so they could've just left.

But as expected, they didn't.

If it were me, I wouldn't be able to let it go either.

The surviving Lizardmen desperately begged.

"S-Spare us! We weren't planning to attack!"

"Chwiik! You only weren't planning to attack us! Looking at your equipment, you were prisoners. If anyone looked weaker, you would've attacked them, right?"

The furious Orcs had no intention of letting them go.

I decided to step in.

"Let's enter."

"Going to clear the room?"

"Yeah."

The first method of room clearing I learned from Go Jiho.

Throw a grenade first.

Ting!

I opened the basement door and put it into practice immediately.

Booom!

"W-Who is it?! There's an enemy outside!"

"Everyone, prepare for battle!"

I forced my way into the area secured by the grenade.

The ambush points deeper inside were tangled together in a fairly complex layout...

One grenade wasn't enough to clear them all.

The first grenade had been a warning shot, so it probably hadn't hit anyone.

Ah, they weren't people in the first place, so maybe it didn't matter.

"What's the second step of room clearing?"

"Repeat the first step."

Until every area was completely secured!

Ting, booom!

The Orcs were pushed back again.

They had realized these were dangerous explosive weapons and were huddled in a corner.

I threw a third grenade.

Ting, boooom!

They had nowhere left to retreat.

The Orcs cried out in panic.

"Wait! Wait! Don't attack!"

This was the important part.

The first official encounter between the Human Race and other races.

Sorry, Kaellis, but being a ghost monster didn't count.

[...]

Why was this bastard genuinely upset?

Had he completely lost his mind?

As a representative of humanity, I cleared my throat and spoke to the Orcs and Lizardmen behind the wall.

"If you want to live, hand over everything you have!"

"T-Team leader?"

I had abandoned my conscience a long time ago.

The Orcs and Lizardmen argued among themselves for a while...

Then they reluctantly handed over their loot.

This was pretty profitable.

Was this why everyone went crazy over exit ambushes?

Still, I couldn't stoop to the same level as them.

Remaining hidden, I proposed a deal.

"We're a race that just entered the Tower... so we need a lot of information."

"What? A new race has entered after all!"

"If you provide valuable information, I'll return loot of equal value."

"... An information trade? How are you going to know whether the information we give you is reliable?"

"That's for you to worry about!"

Go on, convince me.

After giving them time to discuss it, I returned to my teammates.

Yuki admired my method.

"Team leader, how did you come up with something like that?"

"They say it's bad to give someone something and then take it away."

So taking it away first and giving it back must be a good thing.

"Wow... That's genius."

"How does someone even think like that? They must think completely differently."

My teammates were impressed by my perfect logic.

Yuki looked like she was almost about to cry.

"Wow, that's such a cool idea. I'll trust and follow you for the rest of my life!"

"This crazy couple, seriously..."

Kim Yuna sighed and waited for the other races' answer.

Footnotes:

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