WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

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◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈

Chapter 68: Episode 68

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Count Kwatum really had left.

After standing frozen for a moment, we finally came to our senses.

"Did they leave?"

"Their presence disappeared near the exit."

The Lizardmen Count Kwatum had defeated began to rot rapidly.

Did they do something while collecting the loot earlier?

It would have been a waste to leave it behind, so we gathered every remaining drop.

Things had gotten a little complicated, but leaving such good loot behind was a crime.

In the hunter world, it was practically a capital offense.

"There really isn't any room left in the backpacks now."

Ssssh...

I clicked my tongue inwardly as Reversion's effect faded.

It permanently consumed loot for only this much power. It was definitely only worth using in an emergency.

And I had sacrificed my main weapon too.

Did it even last ten minutes? The enhancement didn't seem that strong either.

Click.

I pulled out a lever-action rifle to replace my MCX, which had been blown away.

"Whew. That was a weird one."

"What the hell is a Death Priest for them to go that far? We survived because of them, though."

"Isn't the place Orca mentioned around here?"

"Yes."

There was a skull tower in the long corridor beside the Grand Burial Chamber.

It wasn't an especially rare structure in the Underground Labyrinth.

I cut my palm with an axe, then dripped some blood onto the skull tower.

Red light filled the empty eye sockets.

"Oh, it worked."

Rumble...

A nearby wall opened, revealing a hidden room.

It had been disguised so cleverly that even Complete Senses couldn't find it.

There was probably some sort of magical device involved.

Inside the small room stood a strangely shaped statue.

It depicted a demon writhing and screaming, making for an unpleasant sight.

"Is it okay to touch this? It looks like it'll curse us."

"I can feel a pretty strong power from it."

It looked ominous, so it probably wouldn't have only positive effects...

That didn't matter.

If it would help me defeat someone like Count Kwatum, I'd even accept a demon's help.

I could bear some kind of price.

Ssssh.

When I placed my hand on the statue, the demon grinned wretchedly and held out its hand.

[Would you like to absorb the Pain Seal?]

'This is...'

Instinctively, I understood the structure of its power.

Just as its name suggested, it was an authority related to pain.

It made me more sensitive to pain, but in return, I gained strength from pain itself.

The more it hurt, the stronger I became.

Demonic power that went against a living creature's instincts.

'I hate pain, though...'

As a person, I wanted to stay far away from pain...

Unfortunately, I didn't have a job where that was possible.

If I couldn't avoid it, I might as well put it to use.

"Team Leader. That looks ominous, so maybe you should just..."

"I'll take it."

"..."

Ssssh!

The Pain Seal was carved into my chest.

It was closer to a permanent enhancement than a skill.

Ssssh.

Having handed over the seal, the demon statue finally fell asleep with a relieved expression.

Could only one person receive it at a time?

I decided to leave without looking back.

"Let's go to the exit."

We emerged through the exit right in front of us.

Flaaash!

[Escape complete.]

Without looking back, we headed straight to the bathhouse to wash away the dust and rotten stench.

The Underground Labyrinth's smell was intense.

I wondered if our team was unusually fussy about it...

But even in war veterans' memoirs, people were incredibly bothered by that stuff.

There was always something about not being able to bathe while surrounded by horrible smells.

"Still, the odor remover the Team Leader made makes things much easier."

Hisss!

Han Juwon sprayed it under their arms as they spoke.

It was fortunate they had never seen how it was made.

I definitely shouldn't tell them wild animal urine was one of the ingredients.

Of course, it had been properly purified, and I only used the odor compounds.

As its creator, I exercised the last of my conscience.

"Don't spray it in your mouth."

"Ah, right. You've practically become a pharmacist."

"What pharmacist? An alchemist."

Sang Hajun cheerfully corrected Han Juwon.

"Whew... That feels good."

After bathing, we went to eat. Yuki seemed strangely down.

Fortunately, the others didn't pay much attention to it.

It wasn't unusual for Yuki's symptoms to develop into depression. Her moods fluctuated often to begin with.

"Yuki, try some crayfish too."

"... Thank you. I'll go to the restroom for a moment."

"I'll come with you."

Because Yuki had cut her wrist last time, Kim Yuna quickly followed her, worried Yuki might do it again.

When I told the remaining team members, they were seriously startled.

"Why would she cut her wrists?"

"Ah, there wasn't any special reason. I think it's an old habit she has trouble quitting."

"That's really scary... I can't believe you manage to date her."

"She often gets like that when I'm doing things like Alchemy."

"Really? Why?"

I didn't know the exact reason...

But maybe she had some ridiculous thought that if I became too skilled, she'd become useless to me.

What nonsense.

A hunter with an S-rank skill was incredibly valuable.

Even if someone told me to remove her from the team now, I never would.

Sang Hajun spoke as if he understood a little.

"Don't you ever have similar thoughts?"

"No, not at all... You guys are ridiculously sentimental."

Kim Yuna and Yuki returned soon after.

Yuki still looked dissatisfied.

It felt more dangerous and longer-lasting than usual.

I couldn't leave this alone, so after making up my mind, I opened a bottle of alcohol.

"Want a drink?"

"Sounds good! Pfft..."

Drinking after working my body hard in the Tower was different.

Once Yuki's mood improved a little, she honestly confessed what was bothering her.

"Team Leader, when I said that thing looked dangerous earlier, why didn't you even listen?"

Ah, so that was it.

It was important for a team leader to convince the team members...

But I couldn't explain everything every time we acted during an operation.

I was tired then, so I had made a mistake.

Still, it was strange for Yuki of all people to say that.

Following the rules of debate, I decided to honestly attack the messenger.

"We should both take better care of ourselves."

Yuki wasn't really in a position to lecture anyone.

She hurt herself whenever the others weren't looking.

Yuki finally apologized.

"I told you, I won't do that again..."

"I'm sorry too. I'll take care of you, Yuki, so you take care of me too."

It seemed like I was getting the worse deal by far...

But being the team leader meant taking responsibility, so there was nothing I could do.

Yuki nodded rapidly.

"I'll do that!"

"Wow, Team Leader. You're getting better at handling people."

"You've kept the team running while dealing with things outside the team too. And former Team Leader Go Jiho has been right beside you."

The others somehow managed to settle the mood.

After getting a good night's sleep, I started sorting things out early the next morning.

The other team members would be resting, but team leaders didn't deserve rest.

Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, Yuki immediately came upstairs from the floor below.

"Benefactor, you haven't had breakfast yet, right?"

"No. I ate too much yesterday..."

I always seemed to overeat after returning from the Tower.

Maybe it was because my survival instincts got stimulated.

We spread our equipment out in the storage room that also served as a workshop.

It filled five large-capacity Subspace Backpacks.

It was no joke.

"Wow, that's a lot..."

"Let's sort it first. Should we call Yuna too?"

"No, she'll be tired since it's morning. Let's do it ourselves."

Fwish!

Yuki used Clone Technique and finished the work in an instant.

"Ah, keep the Count's Lizardman team's equipment separate."

"Okay! I'll gather it over here."

"They were incredibly strong, right?"

"We almost got taken out too. We survived thanks to the clones and spatial movement..."

After neatly sorting the loot, I looked through the materials first.

Was there anything useful for Reconstruction?

"If the team members don't use these, I'll sell all of them."

"There are a lot of useful pieces of equipment."

Most of it would probably be sold to hunters in Korea and allied nations.

It would still bring in a decent amount of money.

At least 500,000 gold.

These were practically the strongest pieces of equipment available at this point.

Count Kwatum's team's gear was a separate matter.

The Count hadn't been able to take the loot properly because it would have looked suspicious to their own kind.

Their team had died fighting a Death Priest, and they had fled alone. Carrying piles of loot at that point would have looked ridiculous.

After quickly sorting through the junk, I examined the talisman we had obtained from the Warrior God's Sub-Temple.

It was shaped like a star and looked quite pretty.

"What's its name?"

"The Blue Star Talisman. It seems to give strength when fighting opponents stronger than its wearer."

"Wow, that's nice! But it's really pretty. Could you make me a replica?"

"A replica?"

She should know I couldn't properly duplicate a talisman.

But if she only wanted something that looked similar, it wouldn't be difficult at all.

With a little time, I could make it using Reconstruction.

"Yes. I want to have the same one as you, Benefactor."

"Oh, that's not bad. Should we turn it into a product? It might sell well if we call it an active hunter's talisman..."

Yuki's face turned serious.

"That won't do. It would lose its rarity. Don't make one for anyone else!"

"Ah, okay."

She was so demanding.

After roughly finishing the work, we had lunch and delivered supplies to the Hunter Association's research institute.

We handed over useful new materials used by hunters from other races for research.

Lunch was hamburgers and pizza.

Naturally, we overate again.

"After coming back from the Tower, I crave things like this so badly..."

"You miss artificial flavors, right? But what will you do about your main weapon, Benefactor?"

"I'm still thinking about it."

My MCX was completely destroyed, so I needed a new main weapon...

The defensive power of hunters from other races was beyond imagination.

A warrior charging through 6.8mm rounds was practically a nightmare.

"I'd like to go with a larger caliber if I could..."

"A caliber larger than 6.8mm?"

"Yes."

The smaller enemies could be handled easily by Yuki's shotgun or Han Juwon's machine gun anyway.

While making a replica talisman in the workshop, I called Mr. Brown from HTT.

"So, I want to go with a larger caliber..."

[For power above 6.8mm, you'd need something like .338 or .50 BMG.]

"Yes. But the points shoot up if it has automatic fire."

[Automatic fire needs complicated mechanical parts. If you want .50 BMG, it has to be single-shot. You're not planning to carry around a heavy machine gun, are you?]

That was true.

Brown and Chad immediately recommended an appropriate custom build.

[We'll make a single-shot .50 BMG firearm based on a Thompson Center Contender. A barrel around sixty centimeters should be enough.]

"Sixty centimeters?"

Would that be about the size of an SMG?

I decided to try firing some .50 BMG first and think about it afterward.

While I was at it, I filmed a video too.

"Alpha Team Experimental Classroom! Today's experiment is, what happens if a grenade explodes inside a Subspace Pouch...!"

"Wow!"

Yuki enthusiastically clapped beside me.

Kim Yuna, whom the filming team had called over, was horrified.

"What crazy thing are you trying to do now?"

"Aren't you curious too, Yuna? If it works, we might create a bomb with incredible power."

"I'm curious too, but... how are you planning to do it?"

"I'll put a bunch of grenades inside a Subspace Pouch, then put in a grenade with its pin pulled last and throw the whole thing!"

"One Subspace Pouch is definitely going to get destroyed. Our Team Leader is so smart inside the Tower, why does he become like this the moment he gets outside...?"

As Kim Yuna lamented, I finally realized that was true.

But I didn't need to think about it for long.

"I work pretty hard in the Tower, don't I?"

"Well... You're usually like that outside too if it's Tower-related."

"Then shouldn't everyone make sure I survive when I slack off a little outside? You're all alive thanks to me."

"... Is that so?"

Kim Yuna ended up convinced.

Boooom!

For the record, the experiment was only half a success.

It created a fairly spectacular explosion, so we got good footage...

But it was awkward to use in practice.

It didn't seem useful in real combat at all.

"The explosion seems much weaker, right? I'll go make the talisman now."

"Are you sure you don't want to rest a little more?"

"This is half a hobby for me."

Once I entered the workshop, though, I couldn't afford to be careless.

Yuki was watching expectantly right behind me.

And I seemed to have developed a little craftsman's obsession too.

'First, analyze it.'

I read the original talisman's structure without missing a detail and prepared materials as similar as possible.

As I shaped it, then gently tapped it with a hammer for the finishing work... thoughts of Yuki naturally came to mind.

Ting, tiiing!

Yuki always worried about me and made me anxious.

She was a superstar who drove everyone crazy by cutting her wrists and leaving malicious comments whenever she had the chance... but she was always completely sincere toward her teammates.

Don't do anything dangerous or foolish. Be safe, even if only a little.

My memories and thoughts of her somehow became a wish.

The same thing happened to the work itself.

Though it had a shape similar to mine, it gradually became a completely different talisman.

Tiiing!

Since I was making it anyway, I decided to use Enchanting too.

I took out a Soul Crystal that seemed clearly compatible with it from the K-Altar.

Yuki, who had been watching, was horrified.

"T-Team Leader! That's the crystal dropped by one of the Count's team members!"

"That's right."

That hunter had been incredibly tough, so it had to contain a soul with the Protection Attribute.

It didn't matter if it failed.

It was only a small talisman, so I could attach it to armor and reuse it.

Maybe because it belonged to a powerful hunter, the Soul Crystal was quite large.

"Isn't that too wasteful?"

"You don't want something I made carelessly, do you?"

"That's true, but..."

"Don't get weak now!"

Crash!

I immediately activated Enchanting.

Ssssh!

The soul's power was completely absorbed into the replica talisman.

The finished talisman floated on its own and flew toward Yuki.

[Talisman of Protection: Yuki's exclusive equipment. It contains the terrifying dedication of a master craftsman and the luck of a beginner. Blocks one fatal injury...]

"... Huh?"

At this point, I couldn't even call it a replica.

Could talismans really be made like this?

'No way... right?'

[You crazy bastard.]

Kaellis was dumbfounded inside me.

[Hide that no matter what. If the other races find out, they'll burn your entire dimension to ash just to get their hands on you.]

"What?"

It seemed I had caused a huge problem.

Footnotes:

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