Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty - Chapter 91

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Mordor

◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈

Episode 91

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It was a weekday morning.

While everyone else was heading to work, I was leisurely handing out snacks in the rabbit room.

Whenever my resolve as a Hunter wavered, it wasn't a bad idea to watch people suffering through their morning commute. No job in the world was easy.

I sighed as I looked at the rabbits crowding the room.

Sometimes, I envied them.

Still, their numbers had grown like crazy.

Rabbits gave birth to several babies every month, one litter after another... Every time I entered the Tower and came back out, there were noticeably more of them.

Even with us controlling their breeding cycle and giving Hunter Pet rabbits to people who wanted them, this was the result.

For the record, Heentteok was still the leader of the rabbits.

Maybe because he had originally been a wild monster, he still had no rival. We had even brought in several outside males to prevent genetic diseases, but that hadn't changed anything.

While Yuki made breakfast in the kitchen, Orca came by to give the rabbits a health checkup.

"Hmm... They're generally healthy, but you should start spaying the first four females soon."

"Why?"

"Female rabbits have an extremely high risk of uterine cancer, so they need to be spayed at the right time if you want them to live healthy lives. We also need to control their population, don't we?"

Just as expected of an expert.

Was she this good at gambling too?

No, if she had been, she wouldn't have ended up in debt.

While Orca quickly spayed the rabbits, I held out my hand to Heentteok.

"Come here."

He rushed over at once.

"What about this one?"

"He's from the wild, but he doesn't have any diseases or parasites at all. He barely seems stressed either... You must have taken really good care of him."

"I gave him a little Heavenly Elixir when he first arrived."

"What?"

Orca's expression was a sight to see.

"Are you the greatest alchemist of all time or something? Do you have elixirs to spare?"

"I only gave him a tiny amount."

"Hah... Sure. Let's see what he thinks."

Orca looked intrigued as she cast a spell to communicate with animals.

Heentteok's whining was automatically translated.

"Snacks! Give me more snacks! That green thing from last time was really delicious!"

"... We need to cut down on his snacks. You can see he's starting to get fat, right?"

"You're right."

"Whiiiine..."

Just then, Yuki called from the kitchen to say breakfast would be ready soon.

I flinched on reflex, and Heentteok laughed.

"You're really pathetic!"

"... What did you say?"

"I have ten females under me, and they all tremble at a single word from me! Yet Master gets all worked up over one word from a woman..."

At least he acknowledged me as his master.

Still, the way he talked made my blood boil.

I shot to my feet.

"You little bastard, stay right there. Even if I have to search every pet shop in the world, I'll find a rabbit that looks just like Yuki."

"Argh! W-Wait!"

Only then did he panic.

"I was wrong! Now that I think about it, there doesn't seem to be any problem at all!"

"That's right. Don't get cocky again."

"..."

Orca squeezed her eyes shut and released the spell.

After the checkup, I headed leisurely to Association headquarters.

The Economic Blockade imposed by the Hunter Lords of other races was still ongoing.

It was such a major issue that meetings were being held with other countries as well.

'I should check the auction status.'

I had listed the Basic Skill Enhancement Elixir for auction.

When I checked through the terminal I had bought from the Tower Shop...

The price had already passed fifty thousand gold per unit overnight.

The starting price had been around ten thousand. It would probably reach one hundred thousand without much trouble.

It was the kind of item people couldn't buy even when they had the money.

Yuki leaned over beside me to sneak a look.

"Is it going well?"

"More or less."

"Will selling this make them lift the blockade?"

"If they don't, what are they going to do about it?"

I didn't think much of their unity.

What if they paid us for our goods, then simply refused to sell us anything?

That would only hurt them.

It wasn't like the value of the gold we held would drop drastically. Their export revenue would just fall.

"Does humanity really have that much influence?"

"Of course. We're a market with eight billion people."

The ratio of Hunters was extremely low, but that didn't change the scale of our population.

I was already running factories and operating them so that I only had to personally handle the vital components.

On my way to the meeting with little enthusiasm, I spotted a somewhat familiar face in the lobby.

An elderly foreigner in a wheelchair had entered with a young woman.

Their faces looked slightly alike. They were clearly related.

The old man was delighted as soon as he saw me.

"Oh, are you attending the meeting too?"

"Ah, yes. Hello."

It was Queenbell Hartman, the biggest patron of the American Hunter Association.

It had been a while.

He was such an influential figure that I had to contact him whenever I had even the slightest involvement with America. So far, we had maintained a good relationship.

"What brings you here in person?"

"This Economic Blockade is that serious. The American Association is in complete chaos right now. Not every country has the production capacity and self-sufficiency for Hunter-related goods that the Korean Association has."

That made sense.

The Association and I already supplied most goods in Korea, but other countries must have been in trouble.

After the Dimensional Shop opened, prices had plummeted. Now they had jumped several times over almost overnight.

He introduced the woman beside him.

"This is my granddaughter, Olson. Say hello."

"Hello, Hunter."

"Hello."

It was nice to see him traveling with his granddaughter.

She hadn't come with him last time.

Queenbell Hartman tried to slip away.

"Then perhaps the young people can talk..."

"Come on, they won't have much to talk about. She's not even a Hunter."

Yuki cut in from behind.

She wasn't usually the type to interrupt like that.

"Let's go, Team Leader. The whole world is waiting for your decision."

"I've already made my decision..."

After meeting Hunter representatives from other countries and hearing what they had to say, the situation was definitely something.

"They've been trading with the undead? And we're the only ones who haven't?"

"Well... They probably don't trade with Reapers either, right?"

"Of course not! Why would anyone trade with undead?"

"The thing is, if an undead has enough self-awareness, it must have been a powerful Hunter while alive. Becoming undead doesn't make all the connections they had in life disappear..."

What was this, a networking club?

How was a Hunter without connections supposed to make a living?

After I chatted with the other Hunters for a while, the meeting began.

Most people asked us to increase the supply of Korean-made Hunter equipment or share our technology.

I was attending as the Alpha Team leader, but honestly, meetings like this didn't suit me.

As I looked around for a way to slip out, I saw Go Jiho wearing a similar expression.

Then, at last, someone brought up something other than demands for equipment and technology.

"Please pay attention to my Interdimensional Communication Terminal. It has the contact information for one undead faction saved in it."

"What? Isn't there an agreement that exchanges with foreign races from other dimensions must be decided at an international meeting...?"

"That's why I'm bringing it up now. They are willing to trade with us."

An undead faction.

They worked hard farming the Tower too, so they would need to sell their loot.

Still, since they were hunted by other races, they probably couldn't sell it at a fair price.

They had to be taking quite a loss.

"What's the leader's name?"

"The leader?"

"The undead revolve around a powerful Necromancer. Only the Necromancer and a handful of close aides possess a true sense of self."

"Thank you for explaining. I heard the name is Modus."

Coward King Modus.

So this was where he came in.

My first impression of him wasn't great since he had kept throwing sword energy at me.

Trade with other races? Even a coward like him was working hard to get by.

I immediately stood up.

"Please officially record that I opposed this."

"Ah, why is that, Hunter Kang Hyun?"

"Team Leader, I'm coming too."

Yuki followed me out.

As a Death Priest, it wouldn't look right for me to support trading with the undead.

After getting a cup of coffee, I returned to the meeting room at my leisure and saw Modus's face projected there.

Had the communication not ended yet?

[Oh! We should get along from now on.]

He brightened when he saw me.

It was closer to mocking me, really.

I deliberately let out an obvious sigh.

"Ah... I opposed it, but it was decided by majority vote. Nothing I can do."

[Majority vote? What a strange thing to do. Anyway, I look forward to working with you. Let us trade in ways that benefit us both.]

Modus spoke smugly.

For a soul trapped inside ancient armor, he had a remarkably carefree attitude.

Maybe that was why, despite being a coward, he had obsessed over immortality.

Honestly, if life wasn't fun, why would anyone obsess over living forever?

After eagerly revealing the list of goods for the first trade, he added something else.

[Oh, and now that we have officially become trading partners... The Necromancers currently in your dimension are not my subordinates. Make sure to eliminate or drive them out in time to prevent any damage.]

'... What? There are Necromancers in our dimension?'

Had others crossed over like Orca?

Earth was a problem because it was simply too big.

At the last international Hunter meeting, I had clearly warned every country to manage their Towers properly.

It was obvious they hadn't followed through.

Places like Africa had already collapsed long ago, so there wasn't even a way to deal with them.

I couldn't bring myself to ask where they were.

It would expose the fact that we weren't managing things properly.

Though judging by the meeting attendees' expressions, Modus had probably figured it out already.

Modus spoke as if he were doing us a favor.

[Your dimension has a great many living creatures. It is exactly the sort of environment Necromancers would love. Mana is a little thin, but they can create it from corpses and souls anyway. Be careful, everyone.]

Once Modus's projection disappeared, everyone began making calls in a frenzy.

Queenbell Hartman, who sat beside me, reassured me.

"We'll look immediately using satellites. Areas with Towers are monitored already, so it shouldn't be difficult."

"Please do."

The results came quickly.

"They found one near Australia's Third Tower?"

"There's one in Japan too..."

"Japan only has two Towers. Why aren't they managing them properly?"

What a mess.

Should I be grateful that Korea only had one Tower, Gwanghwamun Tower?

Then someone in the meeting room muttered something that completely changed the mood.

"Wait, aren't undead free labor?"

"Come on... probably not. Even if they move with Mana, there must be limits."

"But they aren't people, so they don't need human rights, right? There's already a huge fuss about bringing in the automated dolls developed in Korea..."

"... Huh?"

Unfortunately, it looked like the meeting would get even longer.

The attendees immediately began discussing countermeasures for the Necromancers as well.

I stayed for a while before excusing myself to go to the restroom.

Beep!

A signal came through my terminal, and it was good news.

"Ah, the auction broke one hundred thousand gold."

"Really?"

I had thought that releasing the Basic Skill Enhancement Elixir in large quantities would lower the price.

Instead, competition had driven it up.

Was it because it was a kind of strategic resource?

A little later, the Association contacted me directly.

"Team Leader Kang Hyun! An Elf Lord is asking whether you can supply that elixir regularly..."

Those bastards had figured out that I had the recipe.

Or they realized that our scale was large enough for us to provide a steady supply.

"Tell them to lift the blockade first. We can talk after that."

"Understood!"

"Yuki, I think I overestimated their unity."

"They say they'll trade with undead. It would be strange if they couldn't trade with us."

In the end, the Economic Blockade fizzled out.

The next morning, I heard that a Necromancer had requested asylum in Korea.

Go Jiho told me personally.

"Uh... Why Korea of all places?"

"They found the Necromancer in Japan, and it seems they heard that you're in Korea. They probably thought it would be easier to live in a country with a strong Hunter."

Hearing that gave me mixed feelings.

No matter what, I was a Death Priest.

Shouldn't a Necromancer be avoiding me?

It seemed my dignity as a Death Priest was still lacking.

"Japan allowed that?"

"Of course they did. They need to receive equipment from us."

Taking the lead in Dimensional Power Reactor technology had really been a brilliant move.

"What if they're a spy for an undead Hunter Lord?"

"Don't worry. We already have a reliable way to verify that. Put them to work at a Korean company for about a month, and we'll have our answer."

"Gasp..."

Come to think of it, during yesterday's meeting, everyone had immediately started thinking about human rights and labor issues.

I decided to take Go Jiho's word for it and relax.