WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

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◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈

Chapter 74: Episode 74

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My condition was terrible.

In the darkness without my senses, I barely managed to find the right words.

It felt like every organ in my body had gone on strike.

Multiple organ failure.

An ordinary person would've died long ago.

The only reason I was still alive was the Pain Seal and all kinds of skills.

I'd tested the Desperate Strength skill outside the Tower.

It had never been this bad.

I must've kept the skill active for too long while fighting the Reaper.

With my body in this state, my senses had completely shut down.

Losing the Complete Senses skill, which was normally active at all times, was driving me insane because of the contrast.

It was like being trapped inside the prison of my own body.

A prison so cramped I could barely move a finger.

"Gulp..."

My mouth was forced open, and some kind of liquid flowed down my throat.

It was probably a Heavenly Elixir.

My teammates must've fed it to me.

My mind, unlike my senses, was perfectly clear.

Pain kept scraping at my thoughts without stopping.

"Cough."

Did Heavenly Elixir always taste like this?

Maybe it was because of the Pain Seal, but it tasted awful.

If I ever made another one, I should add some strawberry flavor.

The healing effect might weaken a little, but at least it would make me want to kill myself less.

I wondered how effective it would be...

Surprisingly, I felt the effects right away.

The organs throughout my body began functioning again, even if only with difficulty.

It really was a top-tier physical healing item.

"Kang Hyun, snap out of it!"

"We... got in, right?"

"Wake up. It's a Mini Dungeon. The Collapsing Spiral Tower!"

Only then did I feel the fierce wind blowing around us.

Right. We'd made it inside.

You could enter a Mini Dungeon as a team.

The Reaper that had been chasing us probably couldn't follow.

That meant we could relax a little.

'Those bastards travel around in packs...'

No wonder new races couldn't survive in the Tower.

I clenched my teeth against the pain of my right arm growing back.

Its regeneration speed had increased slightly.

Even so, I was still in no condition to move.

Honestly, it was a miracle I was alive.

"If we're in, we need to move. Yuna!"

"Ah... right. I'll take temporary command!"

The Collapsing Spiral Tower Mini Dungeon wasn't a place where we could sit around.

As its name suggested, the terrain collapsed on its own as time passed.

There was a time limit on clearing it.

At the very least, we had to reach a safe zone.

It was the worst place possible when I needed time to recover.

On top of that, the Mini Dungeon itself was difficult.

'At least Hajun has good eyes.'

Kim Yuna made her decision before long.

"We start climbing immediately. We don't have time to wait for the Team Leader to recover. Even if we're slow, we need to keep moving up."

"Shouldn't the Team Leader rest a little longer?"

Yuki spoke worriedly, but Kim Yuna didn't waver.

"If the Tower collapses, rest won't mean a damn thing. Move!"

My vision gradually returned, and I saw the Collapsing Spiral Tower.

An enormous tower wrapped in an endless storm.

Though it was called a tower, it wasn't an enclosed structure.

Its outer walls had collapsed long ago, and wind blew wildly in from every direction.

The stone platforms looked like they could break at any moment.

They resembled paving stones left abandoned for decades.

"Yuki, send your clone ahead. Hajun, check the route."

"Okay. There doesn't seem to be anything ahead."

Han Juwon carefully took a step while carrying me on their back.

With my equipment included, I had to be pretty heavy.

The platforms wouldn't collapse more easily because of that, would they?

Instead of leading the team, I'd become dead weight.

I didn't like it.

Since Han Juwon was carrying me, we effectively had to clear this place with only three people.

Could they really handle it?

Rumble...

As expected of a Mini Dungeon without other Hunters to worry about, monsters began appearing right away.

Clank!

Living Armor, knights guarding the tower.

Of course, they had physical resistance.

Normal attacks barely did any damage.

"F-fire at will!"

Rat-a-tat-tat!

The team opened fire the moment they saw them.

The monsters struck by Collapse Enchantment rounds crumbled in an instant.

But Kim Yuna probably didn't have much ammunition left.

The MP7 burned through bullets at an insane rate.

There was another problem too.

Rumble!

The collapse had finally begun.

The ground beneath us was still intact, but falling rocks began dropping from the floors above.

"Whoa!"

"Everyone, move!"

Boom!

One of the remaining Living Armors was crushed beneath a huge boulder.

Physical resistance was useless against an attack like that.

It wasn't a ghost-type monster, after all.

Crash!

There weren't that many falling rocks, but it felt like they were strangely concentrated around us.

Whoosh!

"Yuki, are you okay?"

"I'm okay!"

Yuki nearly got hit by a falling rock, but she switched places with her clone and survived.

Sang Hajun pointed at a staircase in the corner.

"Run that way! It's sturdier than the rest!"

He was a little slow because he wasn't used to seeing through a structure's layout.

If I'd used the Collapse Point skill, I could've found it instantly.

"Ah, the loot..."

"I'll collect it with a clone later!"

Thankfully, the collapse stopped soon after.

As we climbed the steep stairs, we ran into an unexpected problem.

"Huh? Wait, this..."

"This is insane. The falling rocks blocked the path! Do we need to find another staircase?"

The staircase itself hadn't collapsed, but the middle was completely blocked.

Then Kim Yuna stepped forward with a hand axe.

Sang Hajun recoiled in shock.

"What are you going to do with that..."

That axe was originally meant for destroying structures and clearing obstacles.

But those rocks looked too hard, didn't they?

Kim Yuna swung once and shattered the large boulder into pieces.

"What?"

"Right, Yuna has the Environmental Destruction skill."

The skill the Gatekeeper had given her on the tenth floor.

I'd wondered where she would ever use it.

So this was where.

She used it so rarely that the team had forgotten it even existed.

Since it was such a limited skill, it showed overwhelming power in its field.

The team pushed the broken rocks off the stairs, giggling.

"Wow, Environmental Destruction saved us. What would've happened without this?"

"It looks better than my skill. I'm jealous! Want to trade?"

"We'll count on you, Yuna!"

"Shut it."

"Good, we're on the second floor."

Each floor of the spiral tower was enormous and incredibly tall.

There were even several large buildings in sight.

After reaching the second floor, Sang Hajun pointed nearby.

"There's a strange energy over there. It might be a Stabilizing Stone."

A Stabilizing Stone.

It was an item that could stop the Collapsing Spiral Tower from collapsing.

They were said to be embedded like ore, but once you mined one, the item gained a limited lifespan.

Naturally, it was a key item for clearing the spiral tower, so we had to collect every one we saw.

"This is it."

A large blue-glowing stone.

It was engraved with mysterious magical letters.

We sat down nearby to rest.

Once we pulled out a Stabilizing Stone, the real challenge would begin.

The Stabilizing Stone had a limited lifespan, so before its effect ran out, we had to find the next one and keep moving toward the top.

Apparently, hardly any teams had ever cleared the spiral tower all the way to the summit.

An exit could appear even if you didn't reach the top.

Besides, getting Stabilizing Stones in suitable locations was entirely luck.

If the floor collapsed and you fell, even a powerful Hunter would die.

"Team Leader. Your right arm's finished regenerating. Can you move?"

"Yes."

I slowly swung my right arm, and it moved properly.

Maybe because the regeneration was complete, my condition was improving significantly too.

The medicinal effect that had been spent on regenerating my arm was now concentrating on my organs.

"Whew..."

"Let's eat here! Everyone must be hungry and tired."

The battle itself had been short, but we'd spent a long time waiting at the Death Priest Court.

Yuki pulled out cup noodles with my photo printed on them.

"You really brought those."

"Will those actually sell?"

I asked worriedly, and Kim Yuna nodded.

"Cup noodles sell steadily whether they do collaborations or not. The problem is snacks that normally don't sell well, or special collaboration products. Those are usually such a rip-off that they can turn into serious dead stock."

She knew a lot because she had experience with collaborations.

It felt like just yesterday that stores had sold takeaway drinks with cup holders printed with her face.

"Ah... you're a complete expert."

"You really got yourself a sweet collaboration deal."

When Sang Hajun expressed his admiration, Yuki, who was cooking, shrugged her shoulders.

"Everyone treated me very kindly."

"You went to meet them in person?"

"Of course. As the Team Leader's manager, I had to attend the meeting."

Yuki spoke reassuringly.

She could cook, make AI-powered eavesdropping programs, and even negotiate.

What couldn't she do?

Then the warm mood shattered completely.

"It was a little awkward at first, but everyone became kind as soon as they saw my shotgun. They gave me advice like it was their own business!"

"... Wait. Why did you bring a shotgun to a meeting?"

"I had to protect myself in case something happened. I wasn't planning to show it, but I accidentally dropped my sawed-off shotgun..."

The secret behind that sudden major corporate collaboration had been solved.

A true Hunter's mindset: charge in with a gun and take what you want for yourself.

"Please don't do that next time."

"Huh? Ah! Okay. You wanted to come with me, right?"

"Well... yes."

We all nodded vigorously again.

If saying something could've fixed her, she would've changed a long time ago.

Han Juwon looked genuinely impressed.

"You made an advertisement deal out of nowhere. That's some incredible support."

"How about asking your wife to teach her?"

"No."

"Team Leader, what would you like for after-meal tea? Something with a recovery effect would be better than coffee, right?"

As we ate and rested, more Living Armors began gathering nearby.

It seemed a safe zone didn't mean monsters wouldn't attack.

If anything, the terrain here was relatively intact, so monsters naturally gathered here.

"Kang Hyun, get on my back..."

"I'm fine! I can walk."

"Really? Don't push yourself, okay?"

Even as Han Juwon said that, they immediately opened fire with their machine gun.

Without the squad support weapon, the gap in firepower was obvious.

Rat-a-tat-tat!

My body was still trembling all over, but I could walk somehow.

"Team Leader!"

Yuki immediately stuck one of her clones right beside me.

Rat-a-tat!

I pulled out my gun to fire, then stopped.

I was still in no condition to shoot.

My arm and vision were shaking too much for me to aim properly.

Were humans really this fragile?

"You got all the loot, right? Let's go!"

The Living Armors' armor and weapons looked like decent quality.

After taking the Stabilizing Stone, we headed toward the stairs.

Ssssh!

The blue Stabilizing Stone stabilized the terrain around us.

But it couldn't do anything about falling rocks from above.

"It's falling again!"

Boom! Crash...

A particularly huge falling rock punched a hole through the floor.

At this rate, there wouldn't be anything left on the lower floors.

"Maybe we shouldn't have taken it so easy..."

"No! The Team Leader and everyone else needed rest."

Kim Yuna gave a small nod at Yuki's words and cleared the way.

She really handled the vice leader role well.

"Huff, pant..."

Yuki kept supporting me as I breathed roughly.

We eventually reached the third floor.

"How many floors are there, anyway..."

"I didn't hear that much."

"What? He didn't tell you? Why not?"

"I don't know."

Bellion was the one who had provided information about this Mini Dungeon.

He'd told us about the core gimmick and the Stabilizing Stones, so he had practically told us everything.

It was funny that he'd only hidden the number of floors at the end.

"It felt less like he didn't tell me and more like he couldn't..."

Thinking about it, there had to be a reason.

No matter how difficult the Tower was, there was always a way to clear it.

If that information had been properly shared, wouldn't everyone have reached around the fourteenth floor already?

"Anyway, it's a race against time from here. Let's hurry."

Whoooooosh!

The wind in the tower felt like it was growing stronger.

It was so fierce that it even affected bullet trajectories.

"Gasp."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I might be able to use a skill once now..."

As I tried to act tough, part of the ceiling collapsed again.

This falling rock was pretty big.

It was dropping right in front of us, so we might have to change routes.

"Aah! Take cover!"

Rat-a-tat-tat!

Kim Yuna answered by firing her submachine gun.

The combined power of Collapse Enchantment and Environmental Destruction.

The falling rock turned to dust in an instant.

Fragments struck the platform and collapsed the spot where she had been standing, but she easily escaped with teleportation.

"Wow, this place is Yuna's stage."

"But is there even a boss here? What comes out?"

"I didn't hear that either."

"Ah, I think that's the exit over there."

The moment Sang Hajun pointed at the dark tunnel, a huge shadow passed over us from outside the tower.

Whoosh...

The owner of the shadow stood over the exit and scanned the area.

It was clearly looking for us.

It was a Western dragon, even if it was a little small.

Silver scales, huge wings, and forelegs.

We pressed ourselves to the ground and held our breath.

"Is that... a dragon?"

"I think so."

I take back what I said about the floors above the eleventh being water rockets.

The dragon irritably stomped on the exit tunnel, causing it to collapse, then flew away.

Footnotes:

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