WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

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◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈

Chapter 71: Episode 71

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When I turned on a news channel that morning, it was full of strange stories.

[Delivery driver dies from overwork. First heat-related death from this year's early heatwave...]

Delivery drivers made the news when they died.

Hunters didn't.

Was it because death was considered normal in their line of work?

Maybe it was.

It was often hard to tell whether they were missing or dead.

Maybe that was why the strange news that followed bothered me even more.

[Country A begins large-scale Hunter conscription... Said to be preparing for an invasion by Hunters of other races...]

"What's this supposed to be?"

They weren't recruiting Hunters. They were conscripting them?

By force?

Their justification sounded plausible enough.

The existence of Hunters from other races had officially been confirmed, so they claimed they needed to build an army to prepare for them.

But... there was no way that would work.

Being a Hunter required considerable expertise.

It wasn't a job conscripts could handle.

There was a reason every country's First-Tier Teams were packed with former special forces soldiers.

Forcing people into the Tower would only create more corpses.

Of course, politicians might love the idea.

Shove people into the Tower, and gold would come in.

It would also lower youth unemployment while they were at it.

Who cared if the country's future disappeared along with its young people?

No one had ever taken responsibility for things like that before.

They probably never would.

The more I watched the news, the more complicated the issue seemed.

[Raw material prices plummet following the opening of the Dimensional Shop...]

[From now on, a country's competitiveness will be determined by its Hunters...]

It looked like existing industries were being destroyed because of the Tower Shop.

Fortunately, Korea was benefiting from the changes.

Various Hunter-related technologies had created a huge number of jobs that hadn't existed before.

But employers only wanted experienced workers?

There were no experienced workers in this industry.

Everyone was equally new, and every company was a startup.

There might be differences in capital, but if they expected more than that, they should try communism.

"Still, Hunter conscription is a little..."

It seemed unlikely, but if neighboring countries implemented it, Korea might follow suit.

When I headed to the Hunter Association at a reasonable hour, Go Jiho welcomed me.

"Welcome."

"Jiho, did you see the news?"

"Yeah. It hasn't even been that long since the Dwarf situation was resolved, and another uproar has already broken out. It gave them a perfect excuse."

"Are you just going to let it happen?"

"If I interfere with another country's politics, that'd be meddling in their internal affairs."

That was true.

Was it about time the Death Priests stepped in?

As I thought it over, Go Jiho let out a long sigh.

"They probably don't understand the situation yet. Won't they come to their senses soon enough?"

"What do you mean?"

"If they conscript Hunters and powerful Hunters start increasing in number, who do you think gets replaced first?"

That would be... politicians.

Hunters who gained power would naturally want to become the people in charge.

Other races had already shown that pattern plenty of times.

"Oh. Then I'll just stay out of it for now."

"That's probably best."

Still, forcing conscription the moment they found an excuse was going too far.

If things got bad enough, I really would have to intervene.

Then again, I wasn't in any position to worry about young people in other countries.

The moment I arrived at the workshop that afternoon, the Interdimensional Communicator started ringing.

Beep, beep, beep!

"Hello?"

[Junior, a complaint's been served on you.]

"... What?"

That was Death Priest Bellion's unexpected greeting.

Had I been sued or something?

[The Necrosmith technology you've been using... was exposed in the end. Death Priests playing around with souls is a bit of a problem. It was forbidden technology to begin with.]

I had supplied Necrosmith equipment to other Hunter teams as well.

I didn't think I'd get caught this quickly.

It looked almost identical to ordinary Enchantment equipment, so I thought no one would notice.

"Who exactly is prosecuting me?"

[The Death Priest Court. Notier, the Second Priest.]

There was a court too?

And the Second Priest?

The First Priest, Gillius, was essential to the continued existence of the Death Priests because Gillius increased their numbers.

Though I wasn't sure whether the Death Priests could really be called an organization.

Did that make Notier nearly as important as Gillius?

Bellion immediately explained.

[Notier is a judge of the Death Priest Court. She's quite unpleasant, but fair. You have about two weeks left on your re-entry cooldown, right? Report to the hidden room in the northern grand chamber of the Underground Labyrinth on the eleventh floor in three weeks and two hours.]

It seemed Bellion had taken on the role of notifying me.

If he was personally doing this, running away probably wasn't an option.

They must have solid evidence for the charges too.

Still, I had far too many questions.

"They hold trials on the Tower's eleventh floor? Why not outside?"

[Because it's much safer than holding them outside.]

The Tower was safer?

No wonder they were wanted across every dimension.

"Then what's going to happen to me?"

[It's your first offense, and you're still new, so they'll take that into account. Don't worry too much. Just go show your face.]

There was a strange lack of urgency in his voice.

This wasn't some kind of trap, was it?

Death Priests were masters of disguise and assassination.

They already knew my location and identity, so they had no reason to set a trap.

If they had decided to execute me, they wouldn't have warned me. They would have simply come for me.

"... Aren't you coming with me, Senior?"

[I'm on re-entry cooldown, so I'll send a representative.]

Bellion's voice carried no particular emotion.

If anything, he sounded annoyed.

He really considered it no big deal.

"The judge's name is Notier?"

[Yeah. She personally executed a traitor priest who had once been like family to her, and she didn't shed a single tear. Her name has been Notier ever since.]

The more I heard, the more uneasy I became.

[Running won't help, and nothing serious will happen if you go. So go meet her while you're at it.]

"All right. Can I bring my team members?"

[As long as they know you're a Death Priest. They'll wait outside the courtroom until the trial is over.]

Even a dangerous secret society like this gave special treatment to teammates.

The Tower was far too dangerous to wander around alone.

"What about a lawyer?"

[I told you I'm sending my representative. Don't try to get out of it. Attend the trial.]

From the sound of it, we could arrive a little early.

That meant I had more to do on the eleventh floor.

After explaining the situation to my teammates, two weeks passed.

We re-entered the eleventh floor.

Flash!

This time, we landed in a forest on the northern outskirts.

Not bad.

Kim Yuna asked to make sure.

"Orca's cabin is far from here, right?"

"Far away. Should we head to the Underground Labyrinth first?"

"Sure."

Bellion had said the northern grand chamber was easy to find.

As we searched for a route down to the Underground Labyrinth, Mana Wolves came out to welcome us.

"Oh, hello."

Pfft, pfft!

I happily dealt with them using my pistol.

Running into monsters made me feel relieved.

It meant there probably weren't any Hunters nearby.

Mana Wolves were exceptionally good at finding traces of Hunters.

"That's a good start. Let's head down right away."

"I'll leave it to you."

Swish.

I put on the mask attached to the Death Priest’s Garb and moved through the underground passages.

We found the grand chamber quickly enough, but there were monsters there as expected.

The place felt like a cluttered warehouse.

"Hmm... We should clear it out, right?"

"Wait, there's a colossus over there."

Sang Hajun pointed at a monster in the form of a moving statue.

It looked ridiculously tough at a glance.

Still, large and slow enemies like that weren't too frightening.

I had the Death Priest’s Dagger.

"I'll take that one."

"All right. Start as soon as you're ready."

"Fire at will."

Whoosh!

We scattered to our positions and began hunting.

Pshht!

I took out the dangerous enemies first with a suppressed weapon, but we were discovered soon after.

"Kyaaaak!"

A whole crowd of skeleton mages and wraith warriors rushed in.

Ratatatatat!

Han Juwon's Ghost Bullets cleanly swept through one of the corridors.

The terrain was so cluttered that plenty of enemies still remained.

The colossus stomped toward us, deflecting all of Han Juwon's bullets.

As I approached it, I felt an unpleasant energy and stepped back.

I used Four Seasons to read its abilities.

'Is it absorbing the life force nearby?'

It was a fitting ability for an undead creature.

In the end, I took out the Hand Cannon.

A Marlin 1894 probably wouldn't even scratch it.

'I wanted to save this...'

The Alchemist's Ammunition Box couldn't produce Enhanced Ammunition for the Hand Cannon's .50 BMG rounds.

Maybe it could if I made ordinary .50 BMG ammunition first, then processed it further.

There was another reason I couldn't use normal bullets.

Most monsters from the eleventh floor onward had physical resistance.

Attacks without mana lost a huge amount of power.

'What a pain.'

Feeling a slight thrill, I aimed the Hand Cannon.

It had iron sights that suited its simple, brutish design.

Baaang!

The heavy recoil struck my arm.

The custom .50 caliber Enhanced Ammunition blew the colossus's head apart in a single shot.

Crash...

I had definitely focused the Enchantment entirely on penetration.

Yet thanks to the sheer caliber of the bullet, its impact was no joke either.

Click!

I broke open the gun, removed the casing, and loaded the next round.

Having to remove each casing by hand was inconvenient, but simple things were sturdy.

Bang, baang!

I quickly cleaned up the rest with the lever-action rifle.

After collecting the loot, we searched the room from top to bottom.

Since no Hunters had been through here yet, there was a mountain of useful loot.

"Let's take what we can for now."

While I gathered Soul Crystals, the others collected the rare loot.

There were plenty of accessories too, like rings and earrings.

Most of them seemed meant to be sold for cash, though.

"Team Leader, is it hard to use Enchanting on accessories?"

"They're small, and we don't have any samples, so..."

"Oh, right. If we got some samples, couldn't you just mass-produce them?"

Unfortunately, that Enchanting was why I was here to stand trial.

Honestly, I wasn't sure what right they had to judge me, but I could at least hear them out.

After thoroughly searching the nearby area, I found the hidden room without much difficulty.

There was no loot inside, so Loot Expert hadn't marked it.

But then the door opened from the other side first.

Creeeak...

Two Orcs wearing priestly robes similar to mine emerged from within.

"We have been waiting for you, new Death Priest."

"... Hello."

They spoke politely, so I should be polite too.

"Your teammates may wait here."

The space inside was fairly large.

The other team members would wait in the outer room...

Kim Yuna and I decided to go in.

Yuki strongly objected, of course.

"Team Leader! Why Yuna instead of me?"

"Because Yuna is the vice leader. If something happens, she can take me and escape."

"Ah, that's true."

If I was found guilty, Yuki would start shooting immediately.

Fighting Death Priests would be the worst possible outcome.

Kim Yuna's Spatial Movement skill made it easy enough to persuade her.

We were teammates. Was it really okay for it to feel like some kind of test?

Creeeak.

When we entered the inner room, magical lights illuminated a circular chamber.

Several Death Priests had already taken their places.

"You've come, young Death Priest."

An Orc woman seated at what looked like a judge's bench spoke.

She was obviously a very powerful Hunter.

She couldn't even be compared to the guards from earlier.

She might have been far stronger than Count Kwatum the Lizardman.

When she rose from her seat, all the other Death Priests stood as well.

There were about seven of them...

Honestly, far more than I expected.

Since this was a trial, it seemed there were observers present.

Besides Judge Notier, one Death Priest in particular stood out.

They wore a hood, and their slender build made them seem to be of the Elf Race.

That one was quite strong too.

And they were staring at me openly.

Though there was nothing strange about watching me in this situation.

Notier spoke in a deep voice.

Even as a woman, she was bigger and more heavily built than I was.

"I am Notier, judge of the Death Priest Court. I promise you a fair trial."

"So Death Priests hold trials too?"

When I finally asked the question I had been holding back, she answered confidently.

"Of course. Without principles and laws, we would be nothing more than a wandering band of killers."

That made sense.

Being a Death Priest did seem like the kind of job that could go wrong very easily.

"Kang Hyun, rookie human Death Priest. The defendant is accused of reviving and using the long-forbidden, lost technology of Necrosmith. Defense counsel, step forward."

Step.

The moment she finished speaking, a Dwarf Death Priest stepped forward.

"I am Kaifpel, appearing as Death Priest Bellion's representative."

"Wait a moment. Can I hear the defense first before deciding anything?"

Even if Kaifpel knew Bellion, this seemed like an important trial.

I didn't want to leave it entirely to someone else without thinking.

It would be different if Bellion himself had come.

"Proceed."

Judge Notier spoke briefly, and the Dwarf approached me.

"You will admit to the charges, correct?"

"Well... I guess I should."

If they had summoned me here, they must have already secured clear evidence.

If they had the actual equipment, there was no way they wouldn't recognize it.

"Please do not worry. Mr. Kang Hyun revived Necrosmith technology unintentionally, and he had no idea it was forbidden technology."

After saying that, the lawyer began the defense.

Notier replied calmly.

"Yet as Death Priests, we cannot stand by forever while souls are manipulated and defiled at will."

"Manipulated at will? The defendant simply gave the souls new jobs suited to their talents!"

It was a fairly bizarre argument.

Though it wasn't all that different from crushing Soul Crystals into powder and using them.

Kim Yuna, who had been listening, stepped forward.

"Excuse me. We humans are far behind the other races. Isn't it unfair to suddenly tell us we can't use new technology?"

Fortunately, Notier seemed to acknowledge her point.

"Correct. Taking into account the unique circumstances of humanity, which joined the Tower recently, the use of this technology will be partially permitted for a minimum of thirty years."

"... Thirty years?"

It was hard to shut down a business after only a year or two, but they were giving us plenty of time.

Then again, those people considered a hundred years to be nothing.

Thirty years was more than enough time to try all sorts of things.

"However, you must prove that you will not artificially alter souls."

"Ah, of course. I would never do that."

I broke out in a cold sweat as I remembered dancing around with a knife to draw out Escape Attribute souls.

That was only a ritual to raise the souls' spirits, so it should be fine.

Footnotes:

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