WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
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◈ Escaping the Tower at Hell Difficulty ◈
Episode 96
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Now that I'd come to Aratib's city, I understood why Millon had been so disgusted.
This place literally wasn't fit for people to live in.
Rot had consumed the entire city.
It was enough to make even Necromancers flee in disgust.
No wonder Millon had turned traitor right away.
I should treat the guy a little better.
Still... the castle where Aratib lived was completely different.
The floors were neatly paved with marble, probably brought in from somewhere. There had even been some fairly large, luxurious statues.
They were shattered now, littering the marble floor with debris.
'There's no point throwing money at a place like this.'
Modus's army was easily mowing down Aratib's forces. They were even deliberately avoiding destroying them completely.
"Ah, that one's valuable. Don't kill it."
I quietly asked Gillius beside me.
"Can you take control of someone else's undead?"
"Of course. Necromancers usually gain ownership of souls through contracts. If Modus captures Aratib, Aratib's entire army will become Modus's."
Gillius spoke gravely.
Gillius always looked serious, but the expression was stiffer than usual.
"The situation is very bad."
I'd risked my life to take down Aratib.
Now Modus was reaping enormous benefits from it.
"At this rate, he might unite the entire undead dimension."
"Gasp... There are four Death Priests here. Is it still that difficult?"
When I pointed out that Goloks and Bellion had come with us, Gillius nodded.
"You'll understand when you see it. We're poorly matched against Modus."
Even so, it looked like they intended to fight him.
As we moved deeper into the castle, Aratib's furious voice rang out.
"How dare you trample my residence with your filthy feet!"
Had Aratib already resurrected?
Still, Aratib didn't look to be in great condition.
Aratib had lost all that luxurious equipment and was now armed with gear a grade lower. The aftereffects of resurrection had also clearly reduced their mana.
Modus, on the other hand, appeared with a large group of powerful-looking subordinates.
He snickered.
"Let's share this place from now on. You don't seem to have much talent for ruling anyway."
"How dare you spout such nonsense!"
"Your subordinates were begging me. They asked me to rule them in your place. As a Hunter Lord, I couldn't ignore such a heartfelt petition, could I?"
"... What are you all doing? Attack him already!"
At Aratib's shout, the subordinates rushed in all at once.
Modus simply fired off several sword auras and wiped them out with ease. Aratib had become too weak to stand against him.
"If you can't win, you should join us. You're still of a decent rank, so I can treat you well."
Modus's words hurt Aratib far more than his sword aura attacks.
"Do you think I'd ever serve beneath you and that old whore!"
Modus's subordinates flinched and stepped back.
They weren't afraid of Aratib. They feared Modus's anger would turn toward them.
Modus swung his sword almost immediately.
Slash!
Aratib's body was split diagonally.
"Argh!"
Aratib probably hadn't had time to make a new Soul Box yet. If they died now, it would truly be over.
Having finally realized that, Aratib crawled away, trembling...
But Modus showed no sign of stopping.
"You insulted my Mortis?"
"Wait! If you erase me now, my army will..."
Crunch!
A Death Knight's heavy steel boot crushed Aratib's head.
Aratib twitched once, then failed to rise again.
"Kyahhh!"
Instead, Aratib's soul tried to escape, and Modus caught it with ease.
"I'll make you regret ever resurrecting."
It had turned out exactly as Gillius feared.
Gillius gave the signal.
'Take down Modus.'
The Death Priests had already scattered in every direction.
We dropped Stealth and charged in at once.
"Gasp!"
"My lord, get back!"
Modus reacted faster than his subordinates.
His Detection skill level must have been extremely high. He'd probably learned an Upper Skill as well.
Slash!
Dozens of sword auras burst out from Modus.
The speed at which he swung his sword was insane. It was enough to make me wonder if he'd really been holding back out of courtesy last time.
"Death Priests... You've already chased Aratib here? How diligent. But don't worry. I've done your job for you."
"Getting rid of people like you is our job."
Gillius calmly deflected the sword auras.
Goloks and Bellion were tied down by Modus's subordinates.
Gillius was probably stronger than most Hunter Lords...
But after seeing Gillius fight Modus, I understood why Gillius said they were poorly matched.
'Wow, this bastard is the worst.'
For one thing, he fired sword auras as casually as breathing, giving him an absurdly wide attack range.
He was also strong in close combat.
Gillius closed in several times, but each time struggled against the difference in size and reach.
I was the only one still free, so I had to help somehow...
But if I openly fired the Hand Cannon like last time, he'd never let it hit him.
On top of that, the bastard was smart.
"Use poison fog."
"Yes!"
Whoosh!
A cloud of deadly poison spread from a Lich among Modus's subordinates.
It wouldn't affect them because they were undead, but we were different.
And since we were indoors, it was even more effective.
"Tch. This won't do. Retreat."
Unable to overcome it with only the Death Priest’s Garb, Gillius reluctantly took me and escaped.
Honestly, once the ambush failed, we were already halfway screwed.
'To take that bastard down, we'll probably need to pour overwhelming firepower into him from a distance...'
That wouldn't be easy against a Hunter Lord.
He probably didn't leave his territory much except at times like this.
At that level, he really deserved to be called a master of survival.
"What do we do now?"
"All we can do is hope luck is on our side."
"What? Ah..."
I soon understood what Gillius meant.
Beyond the castle walls, far in the distance, an undead army began to appear.
They weren't Modus's or Aratib's forces.
They were the other Necromancer Lords settled in this dimension. They had arrived late.
Bellion and Goloks didn't look pleased, though.
"Those guys... don't look like they intend to attack seriously."
"What? Why not?"
"Because Aratib's castle is still too intact."
It would have been different if Aratib's and Modus's armies had clashed properly and both sides had suffered heavy losses.
Modus had been far too clever.
He'd successfully carried out the bold plan of attacking Aratib with only his own elite forces, including himself.
Aratib's army might have been damaged, but Modus's army was still intact.
Once Modus occupied the Tower, Modus's army would soon pour into this place.
"Besides, Necromancer Lords aren't exactly good at cooperating."
"This is insane."
Hunter Lords couldn't even form a proper alliance. It was obvious what to expect from Necromancer Lords, who were even worse.
Gillius immediately headed for the Tower.
It was unfortunate, but Gillius's judgment was quick.
"If we're too late, it'll become difficult to leave. Prepare to escape."
As we approached the Tower, Modus leisurely followed after us and spoke.
Seeing that the Necromancers weren't attacking, he looked smug.
"Leaving already? Stay a little longer and enjoy yourselves."
"There has to be something here worth enjoying."
"Don't hate me so much. I want to get along with you. I may soon become the emperor of the Necromancers."
"What?"
He wouldn't be spouting nonsense just to get under our skin.
"Surprised? There's no need to make enemies of the living. I understand something. The undead race can continue to exist only because there's a world of the living."
His words struck me like lightning.
The undead were revived corpses...
If intelligent life went extinct, no new undead could be created.
From their perspective, they had to coexist with us.
"The undead annoy you, don't they? I can rule them. We don't need to be enemies..."
"No."
Gillius cut Modus off.
"We will never join hands with you. We cannot make the living admire and long for death. Death must not be an option. It must be fate and the final destination."
"... You're as frustrating as ever. The rest of you priests can come find me whenever you change your minds."
Flash!
Before he could fire more sword auras, we used the Tower and returned to Gwanghwamun Tower.
"H-Hunter! Who are these people...?"
"It's fine, so lower your guns!"
After reassuring the civil servants, I spoke with the priests again.
"This is the worst. Aratib's forces were handed over to Modus while still mostly intact. It's only a matter of time before he becomes the emperor of the Necromancers."
Bellion gave his assessment, and Gillius nodded.
"This is the worst outcome I imagined. We must act before Modus conquers the other Necromancers."
"How?"
"We need to call in additional forces. The Hunter Lords won't want an absolute ruler of the Necromancers to emerge either."
So we were going to fight again.
No wonder things had been going too smoothly.
I parted ways with the priests, cleaned myself up, and rejoined my team.
"How did it go?"
"... Not well. Ah, but I don't think we need to worry about an invasion of Earth anymore."
"Then didn't it go well?"
Was that true?
Modus seemed to be an intelligent undead lord...
But he was still undead.
Who knew what he'd do once he gained the upper hand? I thought it was entirely possible that he'd turn humanity and the other races into livestock.
"Can't we just drop nuclear bombs on them through dimensional travel? You said their dimension doesn't even have a natural environment that can be destroyed."
"No... We can't do that."
Not long after humanity began bringing guns into the Tower, monsters carrying guns began to appear in the Tower.
The Doll Technology the Reapers had been after came from the eighth floor.
The Tower incorporated other races' technologies and knowledge.
It even sold them for gold in its shops.
"Uh... Then can't we just avoid bringing them into the Tower?"
"But dimensional travel uses the Tower too, doesn't it?"
"Ah..."
At least for now, I had no intention of quitting my job as a hunter.
So I really didn't want monsters to come out carrying nuclear bombs enhanced by Tower technology.
"They could seize the technology or the bombs themselves..."
Unless we were planning to wage war against every dimension, we couldn't use something like that.
We weren't the only ones with asymmetric weapons, so we had to be careful.
"Then do you have any better idea? You said Modus was practically impossible to deal with."
"We need to blast him with maximum firepower from long range."
"... A heavy machine gun?"
"No. We'll need something even stronger."
I immediately made a request to an Association employee.
"Please bring every high-capacity Tower Battery currently managed by our country's Association."
"... Every one of them?"
"Excluding the ones hunters own personally."
Tower Batteries could be obtained on lower floors as well, and their capacity was vastly superior, so plenty of hunters used them.
"Is this going to be another weapon that uses electricity?"
"Something like that. We'll probably have to go through some trial and error... but I think I'll leave it to Hajun."
"... Me?"
Sang Hajun looked horrified, but reluctantly nodded because he had no choice.
Yuki arrived at the workshop with us and spoke.
"Ah, I bought that UV printer. That's okay, right?"
"A UV printer? We have extra space and power, so it doesn't matter, but what are you going to use it for?"
After seeing the actual thing, it wasn't some low- or mid-range model. She seemed to have bought a high-end one right away.
UV printers were for printing on special materials like acrylic and metal.
"Ah, I want to make things like keychains myself."
"Wow... That sounds nice."
Yuki didn't ask me for help...
But she already knew the easiest way to make me work for her.
She'd groan beside me while producing vaguely disappointing results.
Honestly, Yuki wasn't particularly bad with Sleight of Hand, but it was inevitably frustrating to watch for someone with God's Hand.
"... I'll just do it for you. What should I make?"
"A chibi keychain of my benefactor."
"This is... the one from the broadcast last time."
"That's right!"
How does she even come up with ideas like this?
While waiting for the materials to be delivered, I started by tinkering with a 3D program.
Footnotes:
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