WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈

Chapter 9

──────

The fog showed no sign of thinning.

I switched on my tactical light to test it.

Besides a suppressor and dot sight, my rifle had a laser designator and other attachments.

This was one of them.

'Not much use.'

The fog was so thick that the light only scattered everywhere.

I turned it off and kept walking.

Trash kept catching underfoot, putting me in a foul mood.

The fog had also severely reduced the range of Complete Senses.

This damn fog was the fourth floor's defining feature.

It was an obstacle that severely limited visibility, but it also served as a shield that hid hunters.

The monsters here couldn't see perfectly through the fog either.

Still, getting a grasp on the terrain was difficult.

I'd expected that before coming here, but finding my way would be the hardest part.

As I walked aimlessly...

The fog gradually began to thin.

The fourth floor's fog naturally thickened and thinned over time.

The time to be truly careful was when it thinned out.

Swoosh...

'Where should I hide? No, I need to at least figure out where I am before hiding...'

Just as I was debating it internally, I felt something strange behind me.

Whoosh!

The first thing I saw when I turned was a large, scythe-like foreleg.

A monster that reminded me of a praying mantis or spider.

It had approached without making a sound.

Pfft! Pfft!

I pulled the trigger without hesitation, hitting it in the head and dropping it.

It didn't even scream when it died.

Their eyes weren't badly degenerated, so they would spot hunters and attack when the fog cleared.

Thick fog was a pain, but no fog was a pain too.

This one didn't even have worthwhile loot.

Tower Escape really was Tower Escape in every way.

'Whew...'

Squish.

I sighed softly and noticed the unusually damp soil.

Even the sound of my footsteps had changed.

'A lake!'

A wide lake at the very center of the fourth floor.

Now that I'd made it here, finding my way would be easy.

I changed direction and headed straight for the lake.

From here on out, I was entering a loot area, so I had to move carefully.

Still, the area around the lake was surprisingly short on supplies, making it relatively safe.

To make a real haul on the fourth floor, I had to enter either the village or lighthouse when the fog was at its thickest.

Where there was good loot, great danger came with it.

That was a principle Tower Escape had never once broken.

'Near the lake... Found it! A guesthouse complex!'

A place where I could restock consumables, including food.

Fortunately, there were no other hunters.

Despite my expectations, the inside was empty.

Someone had clearly cleaned the place out recently.

The only thing that could even count as food was a single can of fish.

'Even you guys pass this up...'

I took the can anyway.

If I grilled the contents before eating them, they were at least a little better.

I was about to rest for a moment, then head for the nearby Descent Exit before the fog thickened...

Bang! Bang!

Gunshots rang out from exactly that direction.

Judging by the timing, they were probably the hunters who had looted the guesthouse complex before me.

It seemed they were trying to go down as well.

Or maybe they were camping nearby...

'I should avoid that direction.'

It was a bad sign that I could hear gunshots from so far away.

It meant they didn't have suppressors.

By now, every monster in the area would be converging on them.

'Then I need to head east...'

There was one Direct Exit and one Descent Exit to the east.

They were fairly far apart, though.

I was deeply conflicted.

If I used the Direct Exit, I wouldn't have to descend to the dangerously difficult third floor.

If I could use it, that was.

The fourth floor's Direct Exit required no items or prerequisites, but whether it opened was entirely based on luck.

That was why it was nicknamed the Swamp of Hope.

Naturally, it was the hottest spot on the fourth floor.

'Should I at least go check it out? No. What if I run into other hunters...'

Normally, I would have headed straight for the Descent Exit without hesitation.

But the reward for a complete escape was too tempting to ignore this time.

There was no harm in watching from afar and deciding later.

Besides, if Tower Escape's map recreation was accurate enough...

There was a pretty decent hiding place near the Direct Exit.

I continued walking with my skill active.

It was about time Complete Senses leveled up, but it hadn't.

Leveling an upper skill didn't seem easy.

A Flooded Church appeared along the way, but I ignored it.

The loot quality was decent, but the monster density was high.

Hunters aiming for the Direct Exit also often used it as a hiding place.

'It should be appearing soon.'

Fortunately, the fog refused to thicken.

That was a good sign.

Maybe the Direct Exit really would open.

I advanced anxiously, then stopped at a suitable spot and extended my senses ahead.

I detected a large number of hunters in the distance.

Since the fog hadn't thickened yet, the range of Complete Senses had expanded again.

They were all holding their breath and hiding, so I wouldn't have noticed them if I hadn't expected them.

Every remotely usable building nearby had hunters in it.

I moved a little away from them and walked to the side.

Then I found an abandoned cargo container.

The exact hiding place I'd been looking for.

It was too small to fit five people, no matter what.

At best, it could hold two or three.

For a team of four or five hunters, it was immediately ruled out as a hiding place.

I quickly went inside and hung the Snowfield Troll Hide over the entrance.

It was white, so it wouldn't be clearly visible in the fog.

Closing the door would make a metallic sound, and I wouldn't be able to tell what was happening outside.

"Whew."

After walking through the fog while starving, I needed fuel.

I took out one of the chocolate bars I'd saved.

I'd bathed and eaten in the Interfloor Zone earlier...

But this was the tower.

I shouldn't care about meal times in the outside world.

I had to eat whenever I could.

Once I had something in my stomach, drowsiness washed over me.

The exhaustion in both body and mind was worse than I'd imagined.

It was probably because I'd been using my skill nonstop.

Bang! Bang!

Loud gunshots echoed from afar.

It seemed a fight had broken out in an abandoned house near the Direct Exit.

That place was such a good hiding spot that hunters often fought over it.

I stayed quiet and waited.

Whoosh...

The fog started thickening again.

It seemed the Direct Exit wasn't going to open after all.

'Figures.'

Night was approaching, so I decided to rest here, then leave for the Descent Exit the next morning.

Escaping through the third floor would be brutally difficult.

I needed to rest while I could.

Then, just before night fully fell, an unfamiliar presence approached the container.

'Who is it? Alone.'

There was definitely only one presence.

This place was too small to hide five people, so hunters normally didn't even give it a second look.

Was this a hunter who had gotten separated?

The owner of the presence cautiously circled the container before finally trying to enter.

The fog had reduced visibility, so they were wandering around.

Finding an intact structure at all was practically a miracle.

I grabbed the rifle propped in the corner of the container.

My index finger rested on the trigger, and I had the sights lined up to fire at any moment.

The hunter pushed aside the Snowfield Troll Hide, spotted me, and froze.

[Your Night Vision skill has reached level 2.]

"Eek...!"

The silhouette revealed in the darkness was distinctly feminine.

I held up my index finger to tell her to be quiet, then looked her over closely.

'She barely has any weapons?'

Her armament was astonishingly poor.

Just a pistol at her waist.

It didn't even have a suppressor.

The fact that she hadn't drawn it while searching made it obvious she was a complete beginner.

At first, I thought it might be a trap, but no companions showed up even after some time passed.

"P-please spare me..."

Her voice sounded like she had barely forced it out.

Tears were already streaming down her face.

Looking closer, she was definitely East Asian.

I hadn't seen many foreigners, so I couldn't tell which country she was from.

"Hand over the gun. No, just stay still."

I confiscated her pistol and made her stand in front of the Snowfield Troll Hide.

The outside was still quiet.

'This is driving me crazy.'

I never expected to meet someone I could actually communicate with like this.

I'd been lonely enough to go crazy since entering the tower.

At least, I didn't think I needed to shoot her right away.

I got her to tell me what had happened.

"Who are... No, who are you?"

Polite speech almost slipped out, but I changed my tone so she wouldn't take me lightly.

She began speaking hesitantly.

"I-I'm Yuki, a hunter affiliated with Japan... No, a hunter trainee."

As expected, it was her first time.

The way she moved and acted was that of a complete beginner.

Honestly, even I moved more professionally than that.

"Why is a trainee walking around alone?"

"I entered on the fifth floor, but I got separated from my team while we were exploring the Fog Village on the fourth floor."

She entered on the fifth floor?

Then she must have been aiming for an A-rank Basic Skill.

It sounded like her team had experienced members.

"The Fog Village is a danger zone. Why would a team bring a beginner into a place like that?"

"To collect loot..."

"No, I'm asking why they'd take a beginner along for that. They should've just gone quietly to an exit."

At my question, she squeezed her eyes shut.

I was beginning to get used to the outline of her face, and looking closely, she was beautiful.

"I said the same thing, but the team leader said we could only enter the tower once a month, so we had to at least earn back our travel expenses... Japan's gold reserves are running dry right now. If all the gold runs out, monsters will be summoned in Japan..."

I'd heard that hunters protected people from monsters.

So they did it by spending gold to buy something like veto rights?

More importantly, there seemed to be a restriction on reentering the tower.

Once a month.

There was nothing like that in Tower Escape, so I hadn't known.

"How did you get separated from your team?"

"Ah, a fight broke out inside. We fought monsters during the exploration, and other hunters came running after hearing the noise..."

What a familiar scenario.

It wasn't even surprising.

So she'd escaped the Fog Village alone.

Since this was the fourth floor, there was no reason to expect her to reunite with the rest of her team.

"Didn't you set a rendezvous point?"

"The Flooded Church was our rendezvous point, but I waited for a long time and nobody came."

So she had moved toward the exit here.

That was the right call.

Even if her teammates were alive, how much help could a beginner like her be?

She'd even lost her primary weapon.

'There's no need to kill her, right?'

It was so nice to have a real conversation for once.

That was why I'd kept talking back and forth with that Interfloor Merchant goblin.

Still, perhaps because I seemed dependable, she made an unexpected request.

"Um... If you've gotten separated too, could you please take me with you? I'll definitely compensate you..."

"Can't do that."

I didn't have to think long.

She was baggage.

My greatest strength as a hunter was my outstanding Stealth.

Because I moved alone, enemies rarely detected me.

I could even use a narrow container like this as a hiding place.

Taking her on as a teammate would mean throwing that advantage away.

Her Stealth skill was probably level three or four at best.

If she joined my team, the whole team's Stealth skill would drop to that level.

"I can't travel with you."

"B-but I..."

She tried to cling to me with a tearful face.

She'd entered as part of a five-person group, so the shock of being separated must have hit her even harder.

My heart softened a little, so I gave her some advice.

"The Direct Exit is right nearby anyway. You know about the fourth floor's Direct Exit, right?"

"... Yes."

The Swamp of Hope.

The fourth floor's fog repeatedly thickened and thinned...

Sometimes, when the fog was at its thinnest, the Direct Exit opened.

The problem was that nobody knew exactly when it would happen.

But it would definitely open eventually.

I pointed outside the container.

"It's that way. The fourth floor's Direct Exit stays open for a very short time. It closes again after about a minute."

"T-then..."

"The fog thinned out a lot earlier, didn't it? I think it'll open soon."

That was actually a lie.

Still, it would be better if she had courage and hope.

"Really?"

"If the fog clears completely, run without looking back. Keep both hands over your head so they know you don't intend to attack."

That useless pistol wouldn't help her anyway.

Besides, the fourth floor's Direct Exit stayed open for only a short time...

Other hunters would be scrambling to get in too.

Anyone who had time to casually shoot at people while the exit was open was genuinely insane.

"Even if you get shot or a grenade goes off, don't stop. If you stop, you'll be trapped here forever."

"Eek..."

Of course, there was no guarantee this would work.

If the exit didn't open, her supplies, including food, would only keep dwindling.

The place wasn't nicknamed the Swamp of Hope for nothing.

"How much food do you have?"

"About four days' worth... Could you sell me a little? I'll buy it."

"How much money do you have?"

Unlike me, she seemed to have entered with emergency funds.

She'd received this much support. I was jealous enough to die.

"Five hundred gold."

"Fine. Let's trade."

I kept only three days' worth of food and handed her everything else.

Selling those sickening cans of fish for such a high price...

I wouldn't be able to curse that Interfloor Merchant anymore.

After the trade, I collected the Snowfield Troll Hide and left for the Descent Exit.

I couldn't rest easy as long as she was there anyway.

Before I left, I spoke sincerely.

"Good luck."

"Y-yes... Good luck to you too, Hunter! Oh, but your name..."

"You don't need to know that."

She'd better not eat the canned fish and ask for a refund later.

I left her behind and stepped out of the container.

After finding the Descent Exit, I reached the Interfloor Zone.

"Human! It's the third floor now! If you've got any hidden money, spend it all!"

At the Goblin Merchant's words, I pulled out every last piece of gold.

"Bring me magazines and ammunition for this rifle. All of it."

The third floor was the Toxic Zone crawling with zombies.

No further explanation was needed.

The Goblin Merchant grinned and brought over a huge assortment of magazines and ammunition.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried