WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈
Episode 87
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Goloks, the Death Priest Lord.
I'd met him before, but I had no idea how skilled he was.
Last time hadn't exactly been a situation where I could watch leisurely.
We'd been fighting in different areas, too.
Logically, he had to be stronger than Count Kwatum, the Lizardman.
The count was a Hunter Lord's lackey, while Goloks was a Hunter Lord himself.
There was no comparison.
"Everyone's lost their minds. You're going to make the Death Priests your enemies over that pathetic bounty?"
Goloks held a long straight sword in his right hand and a Death Priest Dagger in his left.
A pathetic bounty?
Did he know how much it was?
Well, his information network was probably better than mine. Of course, no matter how high the bounty was, it couldn't be worth more than a life.
The hunters immediately recognized him and backed far away.
"Wait, that's Goloks. Why did someone like him have to show up?"
"Talk about bad luck... Run!"
Fwoosh!
The ones quickest to assess the situation took off first.
A few teams still hovered nearby, as if they couldn't let go of their greed...
Goloks attacked without hesitation.
Fwoosh!
He moved with incredible speed, worthy of a top-ranking hunter.
The guy at the front was split into upper and lower halves in an instant.
"Aaagh!"
"Y-You lunatic! You're attacking first?!"
The hunters fought back as if they'd been wronged.
But neither blades nor complaints worked on Goloks.
He smirked and said it outright.
Even with a mask on, his voice carried well.
"You've got your swords pointed at me, and you expect me to wait until you stab me? Funny bastards!"
I couldn't say I didn't understand his point...
Still, he had quite the personality.
He was the kind of Orc who could turn the whole world against himself.
Then how skilled was he?
Watching him reap hunters' heads more easily than grain, I didn't really need to find out.
Slash!
The long sword in his right hand and the dagger in his left.
It was a choice between two kinds of hell.
The two blades seemed to move side by side, but after exchanging one or two blows, their opponent's head was already gone.
Swordsmanship was the sort of thing where not knowing got you killed.
Goloks was terrifyingly mechanical and efficient.
It didn't even look like a battle. It looked like he was processing a job.
How much would someone have to swing a sword to reach that level?
I felt Kaellis tense slightly inside me.
[...Not bad.]
It was the first time I'd seen Kaellis compliment another hunter's swordsmanship.
After instantly shattering the enemy formation, Goloks returned through the spore fog.
He'd even diligently collected the loot along the way. A true example for hunters everywhere.
"I kept you waiting."
His tone was arrogant, without a trace of apology.
I greeted him with a line full of meaning.
"You're used to this."
"It's a Hunter Lord's main duty. Crushing the bastards who try to rise up."
That sounded about right.
Given what Hunter Lords were, there was no way they had anything resembling legitimacy.
The moment they showed weakness, someone would come after them.
After hearing that, I became genuinely curious.
"Then when do you actually get any work done?"
"I can't. That's why none of us do anything a lord should do. Thanks to that, every country is a complete mess."
"Ah."
Goloks.
My first impression of him wasn't too bad.
He was also the only Hunter Lord who had personally come to provide support.
He didn't seem to have a bad impression of me either.
"Is this your first time on the 12th floor? You're quite diligent."
There wasn't any sarcasm in his voice.
He knew very well that we were a new race.
"Are you on your way out?"
"That's right. I'm planning to leave soon. You lot are still in the middle of it, aren't you?"
"To be honest, it hasn't been that profitable."
That wasn't even entirely honest.
To put it more truthfully, the 12th floor wasn't worth farming at all!
I already knew the 12th floor's mushroom series was useful, powerful Alchemy material...
But we had to keep using mushrooms and antidotes throughout our stay.
It was difficult to farm there profitably.
The truly valuable loot would be in other areas.
Like where the bosses and Mushroom Zombies had come from earlier.
The Tower's greatest rule, that the more dangerous a place was, the better its rewards, had never been broken even once.
Goloks smirked and looked around.
Surprisingly, one of his subordinates was from a different race.
A Lizardman, maybe?
"My team's backpacks are already full, but... we should have time to share a meal. Once we descend to the 11th floor, we have to leave right away."
"My lord. That spot would be good."
There were ten of us, so we couldn't use the shelter from last time.
An Orc hunter found a new cave, then tore up some kind of paper and used something like a skill.
The spores in the cave settled in an instant.
"Wow, that's convenient. What is that?"
"A Spell Scroll. It's cheap, but convenient."
With Goloks around, nothing should happen for now.
As a new race, we were always the ones getting ganged up on...
But now, it felt incredibly reassuring.
Suddenly, teaming up with acquaintances inside the Tower felt like a rational and proper custom.
Sizzle!
A fresh chunk of meat began cooking in a pan.
Yuki, as if competing, pulled out cooking tools and opened some canned food.
The other team members still seemed uneasy around Goloks's group.
I kept my distance and made conversation.
"Did you get much, Goloks?"
"More or less. I'm not completely satisfied, but I can't stay away for too long... Hunter Lords often get replaced while they're inside the Tower."
"That makes sense."
The leader of a dictatorship entering a Tower full of danger.
There couldn't be a better opportunity for hostile forces.
I understood a little better why Hunter Lords didn't want to enter the Tower.
Goloks smirked and offered some unexpected advice.
"When you get a key later, go underground. You'll find what you want there."
"Wait, doesn't that violate the Tower’s Curse?"
I appreciated the advice, but wouldn't he get cursed?
I'd felt something ominous ever since I tried to talk about the Spiral Tower, the Mini Dungeon on the 11th floor.
It wasn't that I couldn't speak about it at all, but it felt like there would be consequences if I did.
Goloks remained completely calm.
"It's nothing that special. Besides, it's a curse, just like the name says. If you're strong enough to overcome it, there's no problem."
"Oh..."
I liked that way of thinking.
Could he actually be a decent Orc?
A key and underground.
I'd thoroughly checked the loot from the Firefighter Monster, but there was nothing like a key.
Goloks, who had peeked at it, spoke up.
"What, you killed a Firefighter and none dropped? Bad luck. Let's eat."
We sat in a circle and ate while talking.
There was something I'd been curious about for a long time.
What rank would leading hunters from other dimensions be by Earth's standards?
"Goloks, are you EX-rank?"
"EX-rank? What's that?"
"Uh... It's a rank you get if you escape the 7th floor alone without Basic Skills. I heard about it last time."
"What? This guy's good at jokes."
"You sure know how to flatter people."
The Orcs snickered, then realized I wasn't joking.
"Ah, you really didn't know? There probably haven't been many of that rank throughout history."
"Uh... Why not?"
"Once the Dimensional Gate opens, no more Transcendence-rank, or what you call EX-rank, hunters can emerge. Once the Dimensional Shop and the 11th floor and above open, the difficulty becomes far too easy."
What?
So EX-rank hunters could only be born before opening the gate on the 10th floor?
While my teammates signaled for me to keep quiet, the Orcs continued talking.
"That means you have to enter the 7th floor alone and clear it properly in an era with no information or artifacts to speak of... Do you think that's easy?"
"Even among the Death Priests, there probably aren't many who could do that."
I hadn't known it was that rare.
I probably shouldn't brag about it.
I quickly changed the subject.
"Then what's your S-rank Basic Skill, Goloks?"
"Ahem, you can't ask my lord something like..."
"It's fine. Mine is already famous."
Goloks spoke proudly.
"I gain strength from my Fame. The more famous I become, the stronger I get. Of course, the more infamy I accumulate, the weaker I become."
"Huh... There was even a Basic Skill like that?"
Wasn't that the perfect skill for a Hunter Lord?
Maybe that was why he'd joined the battle as reinforcements.
For a moment, all his actions almost looked different...
But it was common knowledge that people received Basic Skills suited to their personalities.
He was probably an honorable person in his own way.
Something worth revealing proudly.
"...You're not angry at Senior Bellion over last time, are you?"
"Angry? I'm just disappointed."
When the Dwarf city came up, he began grumbling again.
"Death Priests are powerful, but they're still only individuals. To change society, you need the power of the people. And the easiest way to borrow that power is to become a lord and lead them. To throw away such a good opportunity..."
Bellion had seemed disappointed in the people, so it would be hard to expect that from him.
Still, he had fought to protect the citizens.
Goloks went on excitedly.
Had I brought up the wrong subject?
"The one I was truly disappointed in was Gillius. He shouldn't have killed Holos like that..."
"...What kind of society do you want to create?"
"You might not know this, but... other races are already being ruled under the Hunter Lord System. I don't like that."
He was saying that while being a Hunter Lord himself?
"The weapons you used last time were impressive. Races that haven't climbed the Tower have advanced that far... yet Orc technology has stagnated ever since the Tower appeared. It's the same for other races."
The Hunter Lords poured all their resources into maintaining the status quo instead of advancing.
They were afraid progress would leave them behind.
Just as I was wondering if the conversation was getting too political, one of the Orc hunters took notice of Yuki's talisman.
It was the one I'd made for her.
As expected of a top-ranking hunter, they had an incredibly sharp eye. They recognized it at a glance.
"Hm? Wait. May I see that talisman?"
"No."
Yuki answered firmly and hid the blue star-shaped talisman.
The Orc immediately grew tense.
"Strange... It seems to have somewhat different effects from the Blue Star Talisman I know."
Had they already used Appraisal and roughly figured out its effects?
I couldn't let my guard down.
Remembering Kaellis's reaction, I stepped in.
No one could find out that talisman was my handmade work.
More importantly, its effect was preventing death.
If we were lucky, it might even take a hit from a Death Priest Dagger for Yuki.
I hadn't tested that, though.
"We got it on the 11th floor."
It wasn't a complete lie.
That talisman was an imitation of the Blue Star Talisman I owned.
An illegal replica far superior to the original.
Goloks fell silent at my words for a moment, then nodded.
"Looks like a special talisman dropped. You don't need to show it to us."
After resting, the Orcs stood up.
"We should head back before it's too late. I have subjects to rule. Let's stay friendly from now on."
"...Sure."
We exchanged communicator numbers and parted ways.
After seeing them off as they descended to the 11th floor, we looked for a path leading downward.
We hadn't come away empty-handed, but our backpacks felt far too empty to leave like this.
"Team Leader. Wind is blowing from that direction. The slope is really steep."
"All right. Let's go."
"Didn't he say we need a key to go underground? We don't have one."
Kim Yuna spoke.
I remembered that too.
"Wouldn't it be better to first see what kind of door it is? Our team has plenty of tricks..."
I couldn't pick it open with the lockpicking skills I'd learned through shady means.
But maybe we could get through with one of Yuki's clones or Kim Yuna's teleportation.
After making our way down the steep slope, we found a massive door just as expected.
It looked like it was made of extremely high-quality iron, and the door itself was probably worth a fortune.
The lock looked sturdy even at a glance. It seemed like bombs wouldn't work either.
"Uh, this looks similar to what we saw in the Dwarf city..."
"You mean the Inner Citadel's iron gate? Thinking about it still makes me angry."
"This one must be the real thing. Hajun, can you see what's on the other side?"
"No. That door is blocking my skill."
It even blocked Hajun's ability to see through objects.
If we didn't know what was on the other side, we couldn't send Kim Yuna in.
The door was too thick to summon Yuki's clone beyond it, either.
"It really won't be easy... Should we set another fire after all?"
"I don't know. The Firefighter Monster was one thing, but there are other hunters..."
I'd nearly been sniped by a crossbow earlier, so I should be more careful.
Instead, I sent my teammates back and stepped forward.
"Actually, I thought of a method back in the Dwarf city. I couldn't try it then."
"What is it?"
"You'll see. It might not work, so don't get your hopes up."
[Reconstruction skill transcended, Reversion skill activated]
A door that excellent could be treated as loot, right?
I grabbed the door with both hands and reverted it on the spot.
Footnotes:
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