WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Oblivious
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The World Is Not a Game ◈
Chapter 17
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The black matter bubbling throughout this space.
This all-purpose material for alchemy could create not only objects, but living things as well.
Specifically, the “monsters of the shadow world.”
Watching the matter suddenly boil and turn into a terrifying S-rank monster in mere seconds had been nothing short of a nightmare.
“When we encountered monsters, we felt much stronger pressure than usual. It literally felt like ‘the flesh and bones throughout our bodies were being pulled apart.’ We encountered monsters three or four more times afterward and felt that same sensation each time.”
“Then that was...?”
“Right. The ‘pressure’ a lower-dimensional being feels when it comes into contact with a higher dimension. After proving that this pressure came from contact with a higher dimension, I also discussed what we know about ‘dungeon defense mechanisms’ with the geology and ecology PhDs here. And I reached a conclusion: even if we wandered around here for thousands upon thousands of years, we'd never get anywhere near the dungeon's core.”
Nikki calmly announced that they could wander around for thousands upon thousands of years and never approach the core.
Yet her voice was cheerful despite that hopeless conclusion.
Her bloodshot eyes shone as she looked at her teammates and continued in a slightly excited voice.
“Now, here's a pop quiz! Why did monsters suddenly appear in front of us?”
“...”
“Well, since no one's answering, I'll answer it myself. It's because our position had brought us a little closer to the core! The dungeon's defense mechanism reacted to our movements and created obstacles to block our path! So why did the defense mechanism activate when we felt pressure from a higher dimension? Simple! The dungeon's core was never here to begin with. It's hidden in ‘a three-dimensional cross section along another spatial axis’! That's why we could wander around here forever and never reach it!”
As she spoke, Nikki slammed her right hand down on the table with all her strength, seemingly carried away by her excitement.
The impact toppled the stacks of paper on the table and sent sheets flying, but she paid no attention. Raising both arms above her head, she kept shouting as loudly as someone cheering in a club.
“But!! My ability distorts space and punches through it! Even with a problem this difficult, I didn't give up, and at last! By observing this dungeon's reactions and the distortions in space so far, I've figured out not just the core's approximate location, but how to reach it! Ah, no matter how I look at it, I'm just too amazing! I'm going to fall in love with myself!! Hahahahahah!”
Nikki burst into cheerful laughter, full of praise for herself. The others looked unimpressed, but Hyeokjin, who had known her for years, simply took it in stride.
She was arrogant.
She was the sort of person who couldn't feel satisfied without showing off how great she was and making a scene. People like that usually ran into reality and the limits of their own abilities, then suffered for it. But Nikki had the talent to match her arrogance.
After laughing wildly for a little while, she continued her explanation, proudly displaying the various formulas scrawled across the piles of paper. Hyeokjin couldn't understand them, but mechanically committed them to memory.
“...So, to sum it up, you can use your ability to take us there.”
“Right. But we can't head straight for the core! As we've seen from the dungeon's reactions so far, its ‘defense mechanism’ will definitely activate, and all the matter lying around here will turn into monsters to stop us. According to Colm, we can expect a few hundred S-rank monsters to come pouring out.”
“A few hundred S-rank monsters? So, in practical terms, we can't go.”
“Not with a direct approach. So I thought of a way to fool the dungeon's defense mechanism.”
It wasn't Nikki who answered Chuck, who was pressing a hand to one temple as though nursing a headache. It was the Closer standing opposite her.
He was a bald Black man with a stern face, dressed in crimson Armored Garb with a hood.
This was Colm Tan, a ranged ability user known by the unsettling nickname “Bomber.” As his teammates turned to look at him, he removed his glasses-shaped visual aid device. Calmly cleaning it, he began to speak English with slightly awkward pronunciation.
“Through repeated actions that put it on alert, we'll make this space misjudge our movements. Then we'll catch it off guard.”
“...Is that possible?”
“Last year, 8,124 closing reports for A-rank or higher ‘external-type core dungeons’ were officially submitted to the Association. In 13 of those cases, they used strategies similar to the one we're planning, and succeeded. It's not a thoroughly researched method, so it's hard to say much, but the chance of success will probably be low. Still, among the options available to us, this one offers some possibility. Nikki will explain the details.”
After answering Chuck's question, Colm put his cleaned glasses back on and fell silent, as though he had nothing more to say.
Taking over from him, Nikki spoke while tapping the papers scattered across the table with her pen, as if marking them.
“Now, instead of going straight to the three-dimensional cross section containing the core, we'll approach it by ‘jumping a little at a time between three-dimensional cross sections,’ like crossing stepping stones. The core will still be out of reach in three dimensions, but viewed from a higher dimension, we'll be getting closer to it bit by bit. The dungeon's defense mechanism will react to our actions by pouring out more and more monsters.”
Nikki doodled a monster on a sheet of paper, then placed it beside the last sheet she had marked and grinned.
“Judging by its responses so far, there's a good chance the dungeon will start predicting our actions at some point. Then it'll get one step ahead and produce monsters in the next three-dimensional cross section before we move there. And while it's busy setting that trap for us...! Instead of following our previous teleportation route from one three-dimensional cross section to another, we'll leap straight into ‘a higher-dimensional region,’ like ‘Whoooosh!’”
Nikki suddenly swept her pen hand high into the air.
With everyone's eyes on her, she shouted excitedly.
“And punch our way straight through to the core!”
She brought the pen down from above her head, skipping over the sheet with the monster drawn on it and stabbing it into the next one. She struck so hard that the metal pen barrel shattered and snapped.
Lightly shaking the ink from her fingers, she looked around at her teammates and spoke.
“Well, apparently there's a ‘small’ chance this will stop the defense mechanism from reacting right away. If it doesn't function properly when we reach the core, even for a moment, we've succeeded! But if it reacts normally? Then we just have to fight an endless wave of S-rank monsters.”
“...Ha. When you get down to it, it's a gamble. The finest talent chosen from all humanity, and the best we can do is gamble. We really are powerless.”
“We only have this chance to gamble because it's us. Anyone else wouldn't even have that.”
Colm answered Chuck's hollow mutter.
The words were clearly meant as comfort, but his phrasing and tone were so awkward that they didn't feel particularly comforting.
Nikki frowned slightly at his words, as though something had annoyed her, then slapped the table with her palm.
As her sudden action drew everyone's attention, she boldly pointed a thumb at herself and addressed Colm.
“Hey, get it right, will you? We got this chance to gamble because of ‘me,’ not ‘us.’”
It was true, but also deeply irritating. Colm's stern expression, which had seemed unchanging, twisted slightly. Then he sighed and shook his head.
“...Yes, you're brilliant. And everyone in the world knows you're brilliant. But I'd like you to remember the saying, ‘The nobler, the humbler.’”
“Haha, what's this? Jealousy? Well, I can understand that! Humility? That's just insurance for talentless nobodies who show off, in case their lack of ability gets exposed later! I don't need anything like that! Why? Because my ability is real! To hell with humility! Hee-hee! That's right, I'm really the best...”
With a silly laugh, Nikki flopped casually into the chair beside her. But she couldn't say another word.
The moment she sat down, she lost her balance and slumped sideways like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
Before her body hit the floor, Hyeokjin darted forward, caught her, and hurriedly checked her condition.
Nikki's eyes were closed, and she was snoring softly. An internal scan using warp waves, based on the principles of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), showed that everything was perfectly normal apart from slight irregularities in her heartbeat and biological rhythms.
With the others watching, Hyeokjin stood up with Nikki in both arms and spoke.
“The examination shows nothing particularly wrong with her body. It looks to me like she's just sleeping from exhaustion.”
“...That would make sense. We planned this operation together, but all I really did was give simple answers to a few of her questions. She's spent the past two weeks awake without sleeping, repeating calculations and experiments to find out exactly where the core is. She didn't show it much, but she must have been utterly exhausted. Especially in an environment like this, where stress builds up even when you're doing nothing.”
Colm nodded, accepting Hyeokjin's assessment that she seemed to be asleep from exhaustion.
Relief spread among the Closers once they knew she had simply collapsed from fatigue. Colm clapped his hands once to refocus everyone, then spoke.
“There are still parts of the operation we haven't explained, so I'd like everyone's attention. And Hyeokjin, please look after Nikki. We absolutely need her if we're to clear this dungeon.”
“Understood. I'll take a few steps to help.”
Hyeokjin nodded and disappeared into the medical room inside the shelter. Colm looked at those who remained and slowly began to speak.
“According to Nikki, the part of the operation where we ‘move a little at a time from one three-dimensional cross section to another’ can still be done instantly. But the final ‘higher-dimensional leap’ can't. She said the leap would require some ‘time.’”
Every Closer around the table frowned at the mention of needing time.
“Time.” It was precious outside, but here in the shadow world, it was even more precious.
Here, time meant life.
Everyone sensed bad news in those words. What Colm said next confirmed that instinct.
“She estimated that the higher-dimensional leap would take roughly 17 seconds. Based on the rough graph showing how much the dungeon's defense mechanism strengthens as we get closer to the core, the number of S-rank monsters expected to emerge during those 17 seconds by the time we're ready to leap to the core is... at least 16. To reach the core, at least three of us will have to stay behind and buy time.”
“...The three who stay behind will probably die, won't they?”
“Probably.”
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