Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty - Chapter 61

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈

Episode 61

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Five Orcs and three Lizardmen remained in the room.

They put their heads together and desperately racked their brains for every scrap of knowledge they had.

"W-what do you want to know?"

"Information about other races and the Tower, obviously."

It didn't have to be valuable information.

They seemed like ordinary hunters, so I wasn't expecting much anyway.

Anything that could help us right now would be enough.

"Why don't you introduce yourselves first?"

Kim Yuna tried to get them talking with a little small talk.

The Orcs stepped forward first.

They must not have felt inferior to anyone.

"We are hunters of the Steelclaw Tribe."

"... What's the Steelclaw Tribe?"

Were Orcs still living in tribal societies?

After hearing them out, it seemed that despite the name, they had already become fairly urbanized.

"The Steelclaw Tribe is the second-largest Orc tribe!"

"Oh, what status do you hold?"

"We are official hunters of the tribe!"

Their expressions and voices were full of pride.

Was being a hunter such a respected profession for them?

I left the conversation to Yuna for a moment and inspected their equipment more closely.

The Orc team's equipment nearly maxed out the Item Level Restriction.

'This is... incredible.'

When I analyzed their armor, I found high-level Enchantments applied to it.

Some made their bodies lighter, while others made them tougher.

The quality was excellent.

They weren't natural artifacts like Tower creations such as the [Gale Boots]...

But they were only a step below.

If this hadn't been an enclosed space, we would've had a hard time with them.

As I used every skill I had to pry out as much knowledge about Enchanting as possible...

"Then what about you Lizardmen?"

"W-we..."

The Lizardmen, on the other hand, couldn't answer easily.

The Orcs answered for them instead.

"Can't you tell at a glance? They're Prisoner Hunters!"

"Prisoner Hunters?"

Did that mean hunters who had committed crimes?

But as always, reality went beyond my naive imagination.

"They became hunters because they committed crimes in the first place."

"How? Becoming a hunter isn't something someone else can force you to do."

Entering the Tower was practically walking into certain death.

The Orcs snorted at our words.

"You lock them in a sealed room with only the bare minimum of weapons, water, and food. If they don't want to starve to death, they'll enter the Tower on their own."

It seemed they weren't very interested in human rights over there either.

If they escaped the Tower, they would appear near the nearest Tower anyway.

There was no risk of them escaping completely.

"Wow, that's pretty good. No wasted tax money either. We should bring that to Earth."

Kim Yuna said it half-jokingly, but Sang Hajun immediately replied.

"They already do that on Earth."

"... Really?"

"Why do you think there are so many hunters from Russia?"

After hearing more, it seemed they could only be released after bringing back a certain amount of money.

The Orcs gestured at the Lizardmen.

"That's why it makes no sense to treat us the same as people like them! Chiiik!"

"Wait! I was locked up unfairly! They throw anyone they want into prison and tell us to earn gold!"

"Everyone says that."

Still, it sounded like something that could really happen.

If they had reached the eleventh floor, did that mean they were hunters with at least the basic skills from their second run?

You couldn't enter the eighth floor or higher without basic skills.

"Here, take one."

When I returned one of the backpacks we had confiscated, the Orcs were greatly flustered.

They hadn't expected us to actually give it back.

Information was more valuable to us than immediate loot.

They started talking over each other.

"D-do you know anything about the Elf Race or Dwarves?"

"We can tell you about the eleventh floor's hidden gimmicks..."

"Keep talking."

After hearing them out, one thing became certain.

The other races had already built their entire societies around the Tower and hunters.

Food came from the Tower. Technology came from the Tower. Weapons came from the Tower.

There was no reason to do anything else.

Would we become like that too?

Or did we have to become like that?

It made me a little uneasy.

"The Elf Race isn't much of a problem, except for a few of them. They're just annoying because they sneak around everywhere."

"What about Dwarves?"

"You only need to watch out for the ones wearing strange armor. The Item Level Restriction exists because of those Dwarves."

"Oh, really?"

They quickly got their second backpack back.

We also learned a great deal about the eleventh floor.

"There are four Sub-Temples on the eleventh floor, and each one..."

"Rather than the Great Temple, the Sub-Temples are the main farming areas."

"The Underground Labyrinth has lots of Soul Crystals, but it's dangerous and full of ambushes, so it's best not to go."

"Can you Enchant skills with Soul Crystals outside the ninth floor too?"

"Uh... As far as we know, it can only be done at the temple altar on the ninth floor."

"Good."

I tossed them another backpack.

By then, even the Orcs had relaxed considerably.

"You're a more reasonable race than I expected."

"Since you're talking about the ninth floor, didn't you clear the eighth floor or higher before coming here?"

"If you're the advance party of a new race, that would make sense."

I changed the subject slightly.

"Your equipment is pretty good... It must be expensive."

"Ah, that's because the tribe's official blacksmith made it..."

"That's normal. Dwarf-made equipment is better, but it's too small because they make it to fit their own height."

They weren't showing off at all.

We were definitely behind in Enchanting and equipment manufacturing.

As the conversation with the Orcs went so smoothly...

The Lizardmen naturally became anxious.

They were Prisoner Hunters, who were treated poorly.

On top of that, they had been caught while lying in ambush, so killing them wouldn't leave a bad taste in anyone's mouth.

At this rate, the Orcs would kill them.

The Lizardmen's team didn't have much loot to offer either.

Still, it seemed hunters could obtain Soul Crystals by killing other hunters.

"W-wait! Don't you want to know more about the Lizardman race too?"

"Hmph, these lizard bastards are nothing special. More importantly..."

Then Sang Hajun suddenly asked, "What is your political system like?"

"Huh..."

They weren't the only ones surprised by his question.

I quietly asked Yuki, "Is Hajun a political nut?"

"I had no idea either. Maybe that's why he stayed quiet during the broadcasts until now! Should I thank him?"

Still, I was curious too.

"Politics?"

"You said your races entered the Tower anywhere from decades to centuries ago, right? Your societies also revolve around hunters and the Tower. Yet for all that, your progress doesn't seem very far."

"Ah, the current highest cleared floor is the seventeenth."

The seventeenth floor?

Only one floor beyond where Kaellis had reached.

They really were dragging their feet.

From our perspective, having cleared one floor a month, it was hard not to see it that way.

Of course, the difficulty became insanely hard the higher we went, and we had competitors from now on.

"Isn't that too slow for societies centered around the Tower and hunters? Are the eighteenth floor and above that difficult?"

The Orcs and Lizardmen looked like they had a lot to say.

"The difficulty is part of it... But the hunters on the higher floors aren't seriously attempting further clears!"

"... Why?"

"Because they might die if they do."

The exact problem I thought every hunter understood.

Had everyone forgotten it at some point?

Actually, that wasn't it.

"At some point, powerful hunters took the positions of kings or tribal chiefs. They said it was good at first. They thought rulers who understood hunters had appeared."

But there was no guarantee that a great hunter would make a great ruler.

If anything, the opposite was true.

The talents of a hunter were basically the talents of a criminal in ordinary society.

Killing well, hiding well, stealing well.

Doing whatever it took to come back alive was the talent of a first-rate hunter.

"Right after the eleventh floor opened, they cleared the thirteenth floor in only three years. But after a while, the pace of clearing floors gradually slowed down."

They were already full and comfortable, with plenty of subordinates below earning gold for them.

Why would they risk their lives entering the Tower?

If a ruler entered the Tower and died, it would be a major disaster.

With such a fine excuse, there was no way they would get off their asses.

"It took ten years to clear the fourteenth floor. Twenty years for the fifteenth!"

The time kept increasing...

Now, progress had effectively stopped entirely at the seventeenth floor.

Only then had the Orcs realized the problem with the Hunter Lord System.

These people didn't die of old age.

They couldn't be assassinated or killed in rebellions either.

They said stagnant water always rotted.

These people had already rotted, but they didn't die.

"Once you reach the seventeenth floor, getting an elixir of eternal youth is easy. If you're wearing artifacts, you won't die even if you're stabbed. There aren't any Item Level Restrictions outside the Tower either."

"Then... Has the founding king been ruling ever since?"

"That's right. They even interfere when a promising hunter shows up!"

That hunter might grow strong and threaten their position.

From a ruler's point of view, it was natural to think that way.

After all, they had taken the throne in exactly the same manner.

Of course, killing or obstructing people without thought was the amateur's approach.

It was easier to bring them into the family or make them subordinates.

They already had a firm grip on power, so it wasn't difficult at all.

I looked at Kaellis differently.

'Hey, weren't you a top-tier hunter back then too?'

[... That's right.]

'But you still died in the Tower?'

At this point, shouldn't he get an award for being a fair and honorable hunter or something?

But Kaellis suddenly vented his frustration at my words.

[No. I... simply failed to adapt.]

'What?'

[The teammates I used to work with became kings and grand dukes... I was the only one who failed to keep up with the times. The team I formed later fell apart on the sixteenth floor...]

Ah... That explained it.

I had wondered why Kaellis, who must have worked in a team, died alone on the seventeenth floor.

His team had fallen apart in the first place.

The Lizardmen seemed to be in a similar situation.

"We were framed by those bastards and thrown into prison! They send you to prison the moment you say anything bad about the people above..."

"Wouldn't that let newly arrived races overtake you in the Tower?"

"Other races are all the same! They only shine at first, then eventually become reluctant to clear floors at all."

After badmouthing the people above them, the Orcs and Lizardmen became surprisingly friendly.

The Orcs didn't seem to be of particularly high status either.

They were being exploited just the same.

Swoosh.

As I was about to toss over the fourth backpack...

I felt a small lump of metal cleverly hidden inside.

It was an object with a faint power of concealment.

'What is this?'

Riiip!

I tore open the side of the backpack and took it out.

I did it in front of everyone so the Orcs wouldn't misunderstand...

It was a small metal piece shaped like a skull.

"What's this? A souvenir?"

"Gasp! Could that be..."

"You bastard! Why do you have the Symbol of the Death Priests?"

"What?"

The accused Orc trembled all over.

That Orc must have been a serious criminal in Orc society.

Even the Lizardmen were horrified.

"A Symbol of the Death Priests... If you're caught with something like that, you won't even become a Prisoner Hunter. They'll execute you immediately!"

"What's so bad about the Death Priests?"

At my question, the Orc who owned the symbol stammered, "P-put all life back where it belongs...!"

... What was that supposed to be?

Was it some kind of Death Priest slogan?

"The kings and lords won't step down on their own... So we have no choice but to leave it to the Death Priests!"

"So what are Death Priests?"

"Do you really know nothing?"

The Orcs glanced at each other before explaining hesitantly.

They seemed so cautious that even talking about the Death Priests appeared to be a crime.

"This is a very old story, from before our race entered the Tower. There was a race called the Revivers."

"Revivers?"

"Yes. They had below-average strength, but they were born with the ability to resurrect after death. Even if they died inside the Tower, they would come back to life in their own dimension."

That sounded like an incredibly annoying ability.

Wait, now that I thought about it, they were similar to the players of Tower Escape.

As expected.

The Revivers did things similar to the players.

"The Revivers entered with only the minimum equipment and escaped with valuable loot. Hunters killed them whenever they saw them... But that fight literally never ended."

'Isn't that a Beggar Run?'

Since valuable loot in the Tower appeared in fairly fixed locations...

A playstyle became popular where people entered looking no better than beggars, grabbed only that loot, and escaped.

It was called a Beggar Run.

Most people who played properly hated it.

They would snatch the loot that should have been yours and run away with it.

And even if you caught them, they didn't drop anything worth taking.

Catch them, and you broke even. Let them get away, and it pissed you off.

They had resurrection abilities, yet they actually did that.

The Revivers seemed like a pretty tough race.

"Back then, there weren't things like a once-a-month entry limit or Soul Crystals... It must have been awful."

Usually, a game company had to patch out a playstyle like Beggar Runs.