WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈
Episode 95
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Opportunity lies within crisis.
It was a somewhat controversial saying, but at least in the hunter industry, it was accepted as fact.
Would Aratib leap at this opportunity?
I thought there was a good chance.
"If someone can't seize an opportunity by taking risks, they never make it as far as becoming a Hunter Lord."
I spoke while lying in ambush inside a building, snacking.
I'd contacted the Death Priests too, but the situation had developed so suddenly that they were flustered. It would probably be difficult to get their support in time.
Aratib was greedy enough to target other dimensions.
There was no way Aratib would pass up an opportunity this good.
Millon, who had been lying beside me, received a signal.
"Uh, I think they're coming..."
"They took the bait."
There should still be some time.
An undead army couldn't gather in five minutes.
As I waited, a question suddenly came to mind.
"But when a Lich dies, it resurrects using a Soul Box, right?"
"That's right."
"Can it make more than one Soul Box?"
"Ah, that's probably difficult. A soul isn't something that can be split so easily."
A Soul Box could be called a Lich's true body.
It seemed having multiple true bodies wasn't easy.
"Only in extremely exceptional cases... like if it had multiple personalities to begin with, or if it didn't matter whether its sense of self completely collapsed. Otherwise, it would be difficult."
So as long as we dealt with the Soul Box, it wouldn't be able to resurrect again and again.
That was a relief, at least.
Outside the building, people were being urgently directed away.
"Clear the area in front of the Tower! A summoning queue has been activated. Enemies will be coming soon!"
"What about the people already inside? What happens if they escape?"
"They'll be summoned to another nearby Tower."
At this rate, it would take the Death Priests a long time to arrive.
Would they even be able to find us properly?
Rumble!
The Tower shook violently as several bluish gates began opening.
"Damn, it's started!"
"Prepare to fire!"
Han Juwon said, aiming the M2 Heavy Machine Gun.
By the way, I'd used Reversion on that one last time too, so I'd enchanted a new M2.
Was I treating my weapons too roughly?
Flash!
An enormous horde of zombies began pouring out.
They surged forward like waves. Soldiers and hunters at the defensive line opened fire without hesitation.
"Open fire!"
"Fire at will!"
Thudthudthudthudthud...
The zombies were swept away amid the heavy roar of the machine gun.
Two or three zombies were pierced through by each bullet before collapsing. A shot to an arm or leg blew the entire limb off.
Chunks of flesh and bone fragments sprayed everywhere.
A properly established defensive line and field of fire were no joke.
Should we slow down a little?
At this rate, Aratib might get scared and decide not to cross over.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Aratib wasn't that thoughtless.
Before long, Aratib tried to break through the defensive line by deploying much stronger high-grade undead.
High-grade ghosts that physical attacks couldn't affect at all, and monstrous colossi carrying enormous shields.
Han Juwon dealt with the ghosts using Ghost Bullets, but the colossi were too much.
Millon covered his ears and practically screamed.
"They even brought out the colossi that guarded the castle... They're serious!"
"Get down. It's dangerous."
The defensive line was being pushed back.
So far, it was going as intended.
Aratib needed to step forward personally for this to work.
But if the Magical Plague crossed the defensive line and spread, we'd be finished.
We had to make it look as if Aratib could win, but couldn't quite break through.
"Don't they have tank cannons or something?"
"The local government refused! There's no way they could bring those into the middle of a city with one of the worst population densities in the world."
"The Tower is right in front of us. Shouldn't they have something?"
"Information that hostile forces could be summoned from a Tower only came out recently... There are armored vehicles, though."
The operation had already half succeeded the moment Aratib attacked Mumbai.
Boom!
A shield-bearing Skeletal Colossus was knocked down by the high-performance explosives we'd planted in advance.
But the wave of zombies had already pushed much closer.
Several soldiers who had been standing too far forward were infected and collapsed almost instantly.
"Gah!"
"Burn them! It'll spread unless you burn them at high temperatures!"
When I shouted into the radio, one hunter boldly threw an incendiary grenade.
Boom!
Fire and smoke spread, turning the front of the defensive line into chaos.
Only then did the real main force begin emerging from beyond the gates.
Flash!
Death Knights in dull-colored armor, followed by a skeletal mage that appeared out of nowhere.
Aratib had spread Smoke Screen, but I could see everything clearly with my senses.
"Aratib is here."
"Eek!"
Millon tried to flee in terror, but it was safer to lie flat here.
"I will take your souls."
Whoosh!
With a casual wave of Aratib's hand, spears of bone burst from the ground and struck the defensive line.
"Argh!"
"Damn... It'll collapse soon!"
Hunters held most of the second and third defensive lines, but at this rate, a breakthrough was only a matter of time.
They were barely holding on thanks to hunters with defensive skills and Enchantments.
"I'm going."
After emptying my MCX magazine, I took the Hand Cannon and dagger and stepped out.
Then I activated Firmament Veil.
Sss...
My body was erased from the world.
Still, I couldn't relax.
Necromancers seemed skilled at recognizing Death Priests.
Even Millon, a self-proclaimed third-rate Necromancer, had recognized me. Aratib would notice me the moment I got close.
And there was no way a Hunter Lord wouldn't have detection-type spells or skills.
Sure enough, strange souls glared around Aratib.
It was surveillance using souls.
Sss.
I put on the Death Priest’s Mask and disguised myself as a soul.
My already faint presence approached zero.
'Now I just have to watch out for stray bullets.'
In this state, stray bullets were the most frightening thing.
I went far around them and aimed for their rear.
A very thick reinforced concrete wall had originally blocked the way, but the Skeletal Colossi had destroyed it some time ago.
The front line was still holding thanks to heavy weapons, including napalm and mortars.
It wouldn't last long.
"Your resistance is fierce. You're nothing but a primitive race that only recently entered the Tower..."
Of course Aratib saw us as a primitive race.
Normally, a Tower in a capital city would have measures in place to stop other hunters from crossing over carelessly.
I planned to show Aratib exactly why that thinking was arrogant.
'Whew, now?'
The rear had been completely wrecked by napalm and artillery fire.
Even I could get torn apart by shrapnel if I ran in there.
But ambushing a Hunter Lord required doing something crazy.
Using Four Seasons to glimpse what was about to happen, I found a moment when the bombardment was relatively quiet and ran without hesitation.
Flash!
Boom!
The shock of an artillery strike that landed far from me made my whole body tingle.
They probably never expected me to charge in here.
After leaping over undead and debris, I finally saw Aratib.
A Lich dressed in rather luxurious clothing.
Gems were set into the Lich's empty eye sockets.
Each one was probably a talisman or artifact.
Death Knights stood around Aratib without moving at all.
Without hesitation, I cast Sea of Clouds on them.
Sizzle!
"Hm?!"
Maybe because they were far inferior to Modus, they were quite flustered.
Taking advantage of the confusion, I gathered shadows into the Hand Cannon.
"Who are you?!"
Aratib reacted during the brief gap after Firmament Veil was released.
As expected of a Hunter Lord.
But Aratib didn't seem skilled in close combat, so the attempt to evade was slow.
Bang!
The .50-caliber Enhanced Ammunition, saturated with shadows through Firmament Veil's effect, shattered Aratib's Barrier like glass.
I threw myself forward with the dagger leading the way.
The remaining defensive spells scattered helplessly before the dagger's power.
Undead surrounded Aratib like shields.
They wouldn't be obstacles before the dagger.
"Eeeek!"
What a strange scream.
Aratib tried to block me again with spears of bone.
I used Accelerated Physical Technique and Gale Boots at the same time.
The speed was so overwhelming that I vanished from sight in an instant.
I almost ran right past Aratib.
Whoosh!
The undead cut by the dagger scattered like smoke in an instant.
Maybe because they had already been dead, they collapsed especially quickly.
If the blade had been a little longer, it would have reached Aratib too...
No problem.
I only needed to swing once more.
Clear fear reflected in the gems embedded in Aratib's eye sockets.
The jawbone hung open so wide that it looked ridiculous.
Why was a Death Priest here?
That seemed to be the general meaning.
Swish!
The dagger flew straight at Aratib.
Right before the blade touched, I sensed a dangerous energy coming from Aratib's body.
'What?'
Should I dodge? Or ignore it and stab anyway?
But that energy was far too destructive to ignore.
Using Four Seasons to glimpse what was about to happen, I hurriedly threw myself aside.
It didn't matter if I killed Aratib if I died too.
Boom!
The next moment, Aratib's body exploded into pieces.
The Hunter Lord's immense mana acted as the explosive, and each bone fragment became shrapnel, devastating the surrounding area.
Even nearby subordinates were caught in the powerful explosion.
Aratib had prepared a self-destruct mechanism in case this happened.
Self-destructing was much better than being stabbed by a Death Priest's blade.
It also gave Aratib a chance to take revenge on whoever killed them.
Aratib had been more careful than expected.
'Holy shit. I almost died.'
When Aratib died, the undead legion weakened in an instant.
Avoiding artillery fire and bullets, I retreated to the rear.
It was a shame I hadn't been able to finish Aratib with the dagger, so Aratib would resurrect...
But at least Aratib wouldn't be able to attack us again for a while.
Hunters and soldiers who sensed victory began shouting.
"They're falling! Push them back!"
"Why are they suddenly getting weak?"
"Maybe prayers worked on those demon bastards!"
To civilians, maybe it looked that way.
I barely made it back to my team in one piece.
"Whew..."
"Team Leader! Did you get Aratib?"
"I'm sorry. I couldn't finish Aratib with the dagger. Aratib self-destructed..."
"I'm just glad you're safe!"
The flow of battle became completely one-sided.
Bellion and Gillius, who had somehow managed to find me, appeared at last.
Even Goloks, the Orc Death Priest Lord, had come.
"Have you already brought Aratib down? We arrived too late."
"...I don't think Aratib was finished off."
"That's right. Aratib probably resurrected through the Soul Box. What do we do?"
"First, let's pursue Aratib to the home dimension."
Gillius was unexpectedly bold.
"Pursue Aratib?"
I knew a Lich became drastically weaker after resurrecting through a Soul Box.
Aratib's elites had also suffered significant losses this time.
Still, could we really raid Aratib's stronghold?
Gillius spoke with strong certainty.
"You'll understand if you follow me."
"Explain it before we go. It can be brief."
Once the battle finally ended, Gillius left the building and headed toward the Tower while explaining.
On the way, Gillius stepped on a skeleton that had been reduced to just a head and crushed it.
"The dimensions optimized for Necromancers are limited. Everyone hates them... so they're driven out and never allowed to live in their own dimensions."
"Then... a Necromancer's neighbors are other Necromancers?"
"That's right. Naturally, they fight among themselves over limited resources, so they don't get along with each other either. They're different from the Reapers."
Then, because Aratib's strength had been greatly depleted, another Necromancer Hunter Lord might target Aratib.
We could profit from the situation.
Assassination was a Death Priest's specialty.
If things went well, we might be able to completely finish Aratib and eliminate another Necromancer Hunter Lord too.
"Let's at least take a look."
"Good. Since we've come this far, we can't go home empty-handed."
Goloks agreed enthusiastically.
If we succeeded, Goloks’s Fame would rise greatly.
Then Bellion, who had been inspecting the Tower, stiffened.
"Hm? This is strange. The barrier on Aratib's Tower has been deactivated."
"What?"
"Has the city already been occupied? We were one step too late."
Gillius was the only one whose expression didn't change.
"Let's go anyway. We need to assess the situation."
"Are you serious?"
Sss... Flash!
Gillius activated Stealth and crossed over through the Tower.
The dimensional gate remained open. Had he paid the gold in advance?
He was more considerate than expected.
Flash!
When I followed him inside, an intense stench of rot stabbed into my nose.
I immediately took out and put on a mask.
Even the Death Priest’s Garb and mask couldn't block everything.
There was also the smell of burning and contaminated blood.
Everything around us seemed designed to torture human senses.
Above a city of the dead where sewage flowed in streams, Aratib's castle stood on a hill some distance away.
It was already burning fiercely.
Gillius grabbed me and ran.
"Who attacked?"
"Who knows. One thing's certain, though. They're skilled. They didn't bring many people. They formed a group of elites and struck with precision."
"Ah, you're right."
The corpses scattered nearby told a one-sided story.
Soon, after arriving at the lord's castle, we saw a Death Knight emitting an intense aura enter the castle.
I recognized him without difficulty.
"Modus...? I thought that bastard was a coward."
"Modus is a coward, not an idiot. He knows when to take risks."
"..."
"Some of Aratib's disciples probably tipped Modus off about Aratib's plan. Aratib was particularly unpopular."
"Does Modus's side treat people well?"
"They have surprisingly good welfare there."
Hopefully it wasn't just because Modus was afraid of being betrayed by his subordinates.
As we cautiously followed Modus...
Before long, Aratib's furious roar echoed from within.
Footnotes:
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