WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

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◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈

Chapter 80: Episode 80

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Calling it a legion of Reapers filling the horizon would be a bit of an exaggeration.

There weren't actually that many of them.

Still, the pressure they gave off was no joke.

Every single one of them was a hunter who had climbed the upper floors.

On top of that, they were all properly equipped with Reaper accessories.

"How many are there?"

"About three hundred! Those lunatics really came prepared!"

"Isn't that practically a full mobilization?"

Including their accessories, that made over a thousand.

Some of them also had enormous bodies.

They looked like siege weapons at a glance.

"Enemy attack! We're under attack!"

"Damn it, open the gate!"

"Where's the Iron Lord?!"

There was a reason no one expected the Iron Lord to close the Inner Citadel's gates.

A huge number of civilians were still outside.

They desperately pounded on the gates, but the tightly shut gates never opened.

"That bastard abandoned his own people too."

"What do we do, Bellion? The Tower is inside the Inner Citadel."

With the Inner Citadel's gates closed, there was no way to retreat if things went wrong.

Bellion calmed the enraged Death Priests.

"I took out insurance. We won't be trapped here if it comes down to it."

"You want us to fight for someone who won't even come to the battlefield himself?"

"We can't let the Reapers take Doll Technology. And this is a Dwarf city."

The moment Bellion finished speaking, huge weapons rose from the watchtowers.

They looked like crossbows enlarged several times over.

The loaded bolts were practically long spears.

"Take aim! Don't fire yet!"

They were planning to let them get within range before firing.

I hurriedly prepared to shoot as well.

I'd brought around six hundred rounds for the M2 Heavy Machine Gun.

I wanted to bring more, but the weight and bulk made it impossible.

Six ammo boxes with a hundred rounds each.

Clack!

The moment I released the charging handle, the Reapers began to charge.

The defensive weapons had limited firing angles anyway. Once the Reapers reached the walls, those weapons would no longer be much of a threat.

Maybe because they were all hunters, but their speed was no joke.

"Here they come!"

"Take aim, fire!"

Clack, boom!

A Dwarf Ballista bolt exploded in the enemy formation.

Still, the damage was less than expected.

Boom!

The Reapers acting as siege weapons had taken the hits with their bodies.

Even without that, most hunters carried some kind of single-use defensive measure.

"Reload! Hurry!"

As the ballistas started reloading, the fast, agile Reapers finally rushed in.

They were probably planning to leap over the walls and turn this into a melee.

I squeezed the M2's butterfly trigger.

Thudthudthudthudthud!

The gunshots were so heavy and dull they barely sounded like gunfire.

And they were unbelievably loud on top of that.

Without my headset, my eardrums might've burst.

Crunch!

One Reaper charging at the front was blown apart in an instant.

The body was so mangled that I wondered if there would even be pieces left to recover.

The Reapers who saw it flinched.

"W-What is that?!"

Thudthudthudthud!

I adjusted my aim slightly and fired controlled bursts.

Its rate of fire was around six hundred RPM, so if I held down the trigger, I'd run out of ammunition in no time.

Even the shell casings spraying to the side looked vicious.

"Aaargh!"

"Juwon!"

"Got it."

Boom!

Once the grenade launcher joined in, five or six Reapers were knocked out in an instant.

It was enough firepower that their unique recovery ability couldn't even activate.

The Reapers couldn't advance, and the ballistas finally finished reloading.

"Fire!"

Boom!

Steel-pile-sized bolts pierced the Reapers acting as siege weapons.

Focusing fire on them one by one, starting with the closest, was having some effect.

"Grrk, you stupid inferior races..."

When one siege weapon went down, they started to panic.

"Reload!"

As I changed the ammunition belt, the other Death Priests hovered around me.

"Impressive. This is truly a Death Priest's weapon."

"Ah, you're in the way. Move."

"R-Right..."

"Seriously, your eardrums will burst. Go over there and cover your ears!"

Boom!

The Reapers finally began their counterattack, but the barricades blocked most of it.

I decided to stop conserving ammunition.

Their speed was making me anxious.

Thudthudthudthud!

The barrel started heating up almost immediately.

I'd brought a spare barrel, but I hoped I wouldn't have to use it.

Boom!

"Team Leader, I'm out of grenades!"

"Already?"

"If you didn't get at least ten kills with that, you're in trouble!"

Rat-tat-tat!

Kim Yuna shouted as she fired her rifle.

I was already opening my fourth ammunition box.

"They're climbing up!"

"Drop rocks and boiling oil!"

The Dwarves tried desperately to hold them back, but they couldn't completely stop the Reapers from getting in.

Fortunately, Death Priests were spread out all around us.

Slash!

Bellion cut them down with movements far too agile for a Dwarf.

"Veterans to the front!"

"Hey, don't hang back. You're not a rookie anymore."

They bickered, but they were in a different league and held the line well.

The opposite wall was the problem.

"Tch, they're concentrating their attacks on the right!"

The Death Priests were grouped together...

The supporting force, whose soldiers were comparatively weaker, was being pushed back.

It couldn't be helped. They were a hastily assembled alliance.

I spoke to Count Kwatum, who was nearby.

"Shouldn't you be over there?"

"Those ones didn't look very capable, so I came here early. The siege weapons will reach the gate soon. Shouldn't we head down?"

"Ugh..."

Thudthudthudthudthud!

I emptied the rest of the M2 Heavy Machine Gun's ammunition on full-auto.

The barrel had turned red-hot. It was already hard to expect it to function normally.

The manual said to replace it after firing one hundred and fifty rounds continuously.

It had lasted longer only because it was Ultra-Alloy.

Six hundred rounds really disappeared in an instant.

"I'm out of ammo too! Fall back from the defensive line!"

"Retreat toward the Inner Citadel!"

Once the heavyweight Reapers pushed in, we couldn't hold the wall.

I used Reversion to absorb the heavy machine gun, which had become useless.

As I hurried to find a place that could serve as a second defensive position, several Reapers chased after us.

The Death Priests had already gone to support other areas or retreated to the second line, so it had turned into scattered fighting.

"Get them first!"

"You slaughtered our brothers!"

One Reaper aimed a skill at me.

I activated Transcendence in an instant.

[Eye of Disassembly skill transcended, Collapse Point skill activated]

Collapse Point was a skill imbued with a trait using a Reaper's soul.

I drove a Hand Cannon round into the exposed weak point.

Bang!

The Soul Crystal shattered cleanly.

Before I could even reload, they rushed in.

I put away the Hand Cannon and drew the Marlin lever-action rifle.

Bang! Clack, bang!

The team had already taken stable firing positions, becoming a moving fire base centered around me.

Even so, their charge was too fierce for us to find time to reload.

Bang!

After emptying the shortened Marlin's pathetically small magazine, I pulled out the Nightfall Custom.

Even though it was Enhanced Ammunition, it was still only 9mm.

Not knowing what would happen, I put every shot into the Collapse Point.

Pshht! Swish!

The strange sound unique to the Sound Suppression Enchantment.

The Reaper hadn't even flinched at first, but as the shots kept landing, it was pushed back harder and harder.

Since I kept hitting the same spot, the Collapse Point grew larger and larger.

'At least Enchanting it was worth it.'

After emptying the Nightfall's magazine, I pulled out the Hand Cannon again to reload.

Then a sturdy Reaper finally broke through the field of fire and swung its scythe-like arm.

Slash!

Count Kwatum's curved sword cleanly severed the arm.

Count Kwatum must have planned to stay safely beside us, reap the benefits, then head back.

Bang!

The moment I finished loading, I shattered the Soul Crystal and began reloading again.

"Fall back!"

I cast Smoke Screen and reloaded every firearm.

"Waaargh!"

"Are the Inner Citadel's reinforcements still not here?"

"What the hell is our king doing?!"

The noise of battle had already reached the city streets.

Even so, the Inner Citadel still hadn't opened.

Boom!

The Reapers' siege weapons completely destroyed part of the wall.

Reapers poured over the rubble like a flood.

We'd taken out quite a few, but there were still far too many left.

"It's urban combat now!"

It was almost a relief.

Once the battle shifted to the streets, it would be harder for them to deal with stragglers like us.

Their goal was the Doll Technology stored by Iron Lord Holos.

They wouldn't waste time hunting stragglers here.

"Over there! Let's go to the bell tower!"

"... Isn't that exactly the kind of place where we'd die if we got hit by artillery?"

As Sang Hajun spoke uneasily, Bellion, who had returned just then, answered.

"That's a Dwarf building. It won't collapse easily."

"But the wall the Dwarves built just collapsed."

"It didn't collapse! It's tired, so it's lying down to rest for a while."

"..."

There was no reasoning with him.

Bellion definitely loved his own kind.

"Orca, do something!"

When Yuki berated Orca, she finally stepped forward.

"Seriously, what am I supposed to do as a Druid in a city..."

Even as she grumbled, she controlled the plants inside the city and created a mass of traps and walls.

Still, the second defensive line didn't last long.

"Retreat!"

It was time for me to seriously consider a full retreat as the team leader.

Bellion seemed to know it too, judging by the slight unease in his eyes.

A crowd of hunters had already gathered in front of the gate leading to the Inner Citadel.

There were naturally a huge number of civilians as well.

"Open the gate now! If you don't, we'll break it down!"

"The gate cannot be opened! By the Iron Lord's command, we will fight to the end!"

A Dwarf was shouting nonsense from atop the wall.

The next moment, that Dwarf evolved into a Flying Dwarf.

The other Dwarf soldiers had pushed the commander from behind.

"W-What? Aaaagh!"

Splat!

Sadly, not every evolution was a success.

When the commander's neck broke, the other Dwarves shouted.

"The commander's down! Open the gate now!"

It looked like even their families hadn't been allowed into the Inner Citadel.

There was no way they would obediently follow orders.

Creeeak...

Only then did the gate begin to open slowly.

But the gate was too large and heavy to open or close in an instant.

On top of that, refugees were shoving their way in.

"Wait, don't push!"

"Everyone can get inside, so keep order!"

Even then, the Reapers' offensive didn't stop.

They'd suffered heavy losses too, but they showed no sign of retreating.

If they withdrew now, all their earlier sacrifices would be for nothing.

Bellion watched the Dwarf refugees pushing and pulling each other with a sickened expression.

"I told you before. The masses are trash."

Even as Bellion grumbled, he used the Dwarves' quick, precise handiwork to build a temporary obstacle.

"Even if you help them, once the need has passed, they'll turn their backs on you."

A woman held a crying baby in her arms.

An elderly person trembled anxiously beside her.

I didn't bother defending them.

Those words had probably come from Bellion's own experiences...

That wasn't something I could easily change.

Instead, I worked alongside him.

Sometimes, you didn't need to learn what the right thing was.

You just knew instinctively.

"Why do the Dwarves here serve a lord like that?"

Even if they couldn't replace the king, they could've left.

Bellion said as he refined the temporary barricade.

"You get used to bad things and pain faster than you'd think."

"... Really? How can that happen?"

"You carve away your soul. Like them."

Even as everyone rushed inside, some Dwarves sat there listlessly.

And there was the guard commander whose head had been smashed in after failing to evolve into a Flying Dwarf.

"I don't want to do that."

"That's not something just anyone can do either."

"The enemy is coming! Don't stop, get inside!"

The Reaper army kept pouring in as if they never got tired.

I poured a custom potion into my mouth.

After being left sickly from the side effects of the Desperate Strength skill last time, I'd made this new potion.

I'd packed it with all sorts of tonic ingredients to reduce the aftereffects as much as possible.

In most cases, it was much easier to reinforce something so it wouldn't break than to repair it after it did.

I hadn't just been lazing around at the hospital.

Count Kwatum spoke beside me.

"Human. If you have something good, let me have some too."

"Stamina and Agility Enhancement Potion. Snort this through your nose."

"Cough, cough... D-Does that make the effect last longer?"

"No. I just wanted to see you cough."

My team silently gave me thumbs-up.

With our backs to the civilians, we started shooting again.

Footnotes:

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