TL: DDTL
[You have failed the Nightmare Difficulty 4F Hidden challenge. (2/3)]
Back in my room, I turned over what had just happened.
‘Teleportation got blocked…?’
Was there so kind of intrusion defense that cut off teleportation?
Given how technologically advanced this world seed, it wouldn’t be strange for sothing like that to exist.
It just stung that I’d wasted a whole attempt because I hadn’t known.
The only thing I’d gotten out of the first try was that the Master Code Room couldn’t be entered by teleportation.
It was like the Tower was telling not to even dream of cheesing it.
[Do you wish to enter Nightmare Difficulty 4F?]
Straight into attempt number two.
[‘Special Gacha! (5,000P)’ purchased.]
[‘Skill Effect 300% Scroll’ acquired!]
[‘Special Gacha! (5,000P)’ purchased.]
[‘Ability Nullification Part’ acquired!]
After taking out all the golems, this ti the Ability Nullification Part ca out on the second pull.
Points held: 25,500P
Once I’d taken down the boss, I headed out the exit. I climbed up the sa way as before.
“So what I’m saying is, we need a solution that boosts the reactivity of the mana core even further…”
Still in concealnt, I waited, listening in on the conversations of the researchers who walked past.
After that, everything proceeded as before. Iska appeared, and I followed him.
“Co in.”
Since I already knew what this was about, I moved the conversation along quickly.
“Just answer one thing. Are you an enemy of the Workshop?”
“Yes.”
“If this Workshop were to be blown up in its entirety…”
“I’d love that.”
“…Then it seems we have grounds to cooperate. Because I intend to blow this Workshop to pieces.”
Just like the first run, I was given the quest to copy the Master Code, along with the items I’d need.
“Is there no way to enter the Master Code Room using Teleportation magic?”
Iska answered my question.
“That thod won’t work. The key facilities of this Workshop have Spatial Coordinate Distortion Devices active.”
…So there really was sothing.
Would’ve been nice if he’d ntioned that a little sooner.
Then again, I hadn’t asked, so I couldn’t really bla him.
I had one more question.
“By the way, does this Workshop use people as fuel or sothing?”
Iska answered without batting an eye.
“So as fuel, so as test subjects. A human soul, when extracted, yields an enormous amount of mana. I thought you already knew all this.”
Ah. So that’s the setting.
Aside from the fact that it floats in the sky, this world really was a dead zone for hopes and dreams.
After finishing my talk with Iska, I stepped out into the corridor.
I’d confird the location of the Master Code Room.
Now that I’d verified the shortcut didn’t work, it was ti to try the orthodox approach.
To find the Workshop Master, I headed to Sector 1.
“Excuse . Do you happen to know where the Workshop Master is?”
I stopped a kind-looking researcher in Sector 1 and asked.
“The Workshop Master? He’s probably observing the mana core fission demonstration right now. In Demonstration Room 3…”
“Thank you.”
I listened to the researcher’s explanation, which was as kind as his face suggested, and set off.
Working my way through the internal map, I finally arrived at sothing called Demonstration Room 3 in Sector 1.
Still in concealnt, I approached the entrance.
But the entrance was closed, and guards were posted there.
I paced the corridor, wondering if I’d have to wait outside the building…
Just then, the door to the demonstration room opened and people started filing out.
Among a crowd of researchers in white coats, there was one white-haired old man dressed alone in a suit.
The mont I saw him, I knew he was the Workshop Master.
It wasn’t just his conspicuous attire. It was because of who stood beside him.
Unlike the other guards in black suits, one woman was wearing a platinum-colored suit.
So that was the bodyguard Iska had warned about.
‘…This is no joke.’
Maybe because I’d reinforced Sixth Sense to level 2, the strength of my opponent ca through even more clearly than before.
Similar to that monstrous Black Knight I’d faced in the 2F Hidden… no, maybe even stronger?
What I could say for certain was that she was way stronger than .
The Workshop Master was standing in front of the entrance, chatting with the researchers.
I moved in closer, intending to scan his body. I had to find the Master Key, after all.
‘…!’
Just then, the bodyguard furrowed her brow and looked in my direction.
Sixth Sense was sending out a warning, too.
Startled, I quickly backed away.
She tilted her head for a mont, then turned her gaze away again.
Oh, shit…
‘He said I wouldn’t be spotted.’
Iska had clearly told that, aside from him, no one would be able to see through concealnt.
If I’d moved any closer just now, it would definitely have been dangerous.
She hadn’t actually noticed the concealnt, but it seed that past a certain distance, she’d sniff out. Did she have ridiculously sharp instincts, or what?
‘…This is ramping up the difficulty way too much.’
I didn’t even know where on his body the Workshop Master was hiding the key.
And on top of that, if I got close, the bodyguard would catch .
Which ant doing anything from within concealnt was off the table.
For now, I stepped back outside the building.
I sat down on a bench out front, crossed my legs, and kept thinking it over.
Stealing the Workshop Master’s key while in concealnt: impossible because of the bodyguard.
Wait until the bodyguard was separated from him?
She was his exclusive guard. I had no idea if there’d even be a mont when they split up.
And even if there was, I couldn’t just trail the Workshop Master indefinitely. Concealnt didn’t last forever.
…Should I ambush the bodyguard with a Destruction Ray to clear her out of the way?
And then snatch the Workshop Master’s key.
“Hmm…”
Leaving aside whether that was even possible, I had no idea if I could handle the fallout from causing that kind of scene.
But sothing about this felt off… It didn’t feel like I was supposed to use the concealnt ability to steal the key.
Was this a brain puzzle, then?
Like a spy movie, was I supposed to use the people around cleverly, exploit the situation, and get the key from the Workshop Master that way?
“So convoluted.”
Floor 4 felt more convoluted than the previous floors’ hidden challenges.
The clues and guidelines for completing it felt far too vague.
I an, of course the difficulty would go up as the floors climbed. But still.
It was frustrating how every remotely convenient shortcut seed to have been deliberately sealed off.
“…”
Maybe I should dig into the shortcut angle a bit more.
Sothing had occurred to , so I went back to Iska’s room in Sector 6.
Iska was surprised to see .
“…Don’t tell you’ve already done it?”
“No chance. I just had so questions.”
I asked him:
“The Spatial Coordinate Distortion Device? You said that’s why Teleportation can’t get into the Master Code Room.”
“That’s right.”
“Is there any way to shut it off, even temporarily? Like, is there a central control room or managent office inside the Workshop…”
That device had to run on energy, didn’t it?
…Would the “flip the breaker” trick not work here?
I hadn’t really been expecting much, but Iska answered in the affirmative.
“A control room that circulates mana through the Workshop, yes, there’s one per sector. If you destroyed the Central Mana Circuit in the Sector 1 control room, the Spatial Coordinate Distortion Device in the Master Code Room would go offline too.”
I asked again:
“So what if I just smashed up the Sector 1 control room, wrecked everything… and while all that’s going on, I teleport into the Master Code Room and copy the code? Would that work?”
“…The Master Code is stored in an independent structure, so it would still function even if the Central Mana Circuit went down. So yes, it would be possible, but…”
Iska asked:
“You only have one body. How do you plan to pull that off? Do you have an ally, by any chance?”
So he was saying it was possible.
I grinned.
*
After recovering Diul’s strength, which had drained from my constantly staying in concealnt,
I went straight to the control room in Sector 1.
Still concealed, I stood in front of the firmly shut control room door.
Then I summoned Plli.
At my command, Plli body-slamd the sealed tal door.
KRASH!
The double doors tore clean off, and the complicated machinery and the staff inside ca into view.
They froze mid-work, staring at Plli in horror.
“…Aaaaargh!”
Wheeeeeeeee!
The staff scattered in panic, and the ergency alarm blared.
Guards ca flooding in from the corridor in an instant.
Still concealed, I looked at the bamboo-shoot-shaped machine in the center of the control room.
Iska had said that was the Central Mana Circuit.
‘Start with that one, Plli. Then rampage as much as you can!’
Plli leapt up and shattered the device in a single blow.
I watched only that much before quickly moving on to my own task.
I sprinted toward the Master Code Room at the fastest speed concealnt would allow to maintain.
Partway through, I felt Plli vanish.
Damn… he didn’t hold out as long as I’d hoped.
Were the guards stronger than I’d thought?
Either way, I soon arrived at the Master Code Room.
Standing in front of the entrance, I used Teleportation.
This ti there was no repulsion; the spell cast cleanly.
“Phew.”
Success.
Safely inside the Master Code Room, I looked around.
In the center of the room was a capsule-shaped machine.
That was the Master Code storage device Iska had ntioned.
Without wasting a second, I moved in and pressed the Copy Tool against the capsule.
The tool clung to the capsule like a magnet, and sothing seed to start processing, a gauge on the side display beginning to fill.
Arms crossed, I waited for the copy to complete.
“…”
How long was this supposed to take, anyway?
Iska had said it would only take about a minute, but a minute had already passed.
Nothing this old man said ever turned out to be accurate…
If the system got restored while I was stuck in here, I’d be trapped.
“Oh.”
Thankfully, the gauge soon filled and a blue light ca on in the tool.
I grabbed the tool and teleported back out of the Master Code Room.
I could feel the commotion echoing through the Sector 1 building.
Still concealed, I made my way out and headed all the way to the Sector 6 building.
Once I was sowhere with no one around, I dropped concealnt and strolled down the corridor as if nothing had happened.
‘Mission clear.’
Damn, it actually worked.
Turns out if you look hard enough, there’s always a way.
Now all I had to do was deliver the Master Code to Iska. Though I wasn’t sure if that would be the end of it.
I arrived at Iska’s room.
“You succeeded?”
I nodded and held out the tool.
“Blue light ans the copy’s done, right?”
“…You really did it. Well done.”
Iska took the tool with a look of surprise on his face.
The clear notification hadn’t popped up yet, so I asked:
“What are you going to do now?”
He’d said he was going to blow up the entire Workshop, so I guessed that had to play out too.
“Co with .”
Iska threw on the lab coat he’d set aside and started moving sowhere.
I followed behind him.
We passed through a corridor, took the stairs instead of the elevator, and ended up in the basent of the Sector 6 building.
Like the Master Code Room, there was a long corridor with an entrance at the end.
Beep.
Iska tapped a card and the door opened.
Inside the wide room, which looked like a laboratory, stood golems of every color.
Iska pulled out so kind of controller and pressed it, and the golems began to activate.
Thud. Thud. Thud…
The golems filed out of the entrance into the corridor. Then the door closed behind them.
Iska approached a complex machine in the middle of the lab and started operating it.
A core as massive as the golems that had just left was embedded smack in the middle of the device.
– Charging initiated.
A chanical voice, and light poured into the core.
[0.01%]
And a percentage appeared on the display.
Iska plugged the Master Code tool I’d copied into the machine and fiddled with so more controls. Then ca another voice prompt.
– Highest authority for mana circuit managent approved.
– Transferring all available mana to Zone T5K1.
At that, fine vibrations rippled through the core, which began to emit a powerful light.
[15.6%]
The percentage started climbing at an insane rate.
At the sa ti, alarms rang out from outside the lab.
“What are you doing? What is this?”
Iska answered my question.
“A core I forged using orichalcum, the substance they call God’s material. You could call it the masterpiece of my life. It can absorb and stabilize mana of any nature, and its maximum storage capacity is beyond imagination. More than enough to contain the entire mana supply of this Workshop.
I’m pulling all the stored mana inside the Workshop into this core. Once it hits 70%, I’ll detonate it.”
Ah. So that was how he planned to blow up the Workshop.
Even as a layman, I found it a refreshingly simple explanation.
“…But wouldn’t that an I get caught in it too?”
I didn’t want to go out in the blast with him.
Would the clear notification co through before it detonated?
Iska reached into his pocket and handed sothing.
It was an object that looked like a small globe.
A jewel-like green sphere was encircled by two tal rings, and inside the sphere, sothing resembling an intricate chanism could be seen through the surface.
On the surface of the device, a tir read [9:51].
“This is a Warp Device.”
“…A Warp Device?”
“The mana will detonate exactly ten minutes after the storage hits 70%. I’ve set this Warp Device to activate ten minutes from now as well, so you can escape through it.”
I see.
Escaping from the Workshop through this was probably what counted as completing the challenge.
I tucked the Warp Device into my pocket.
[35.6%]
[42.1%]
[49.7%]
.
.
.
[50.5%]
But then the percentage, which had been climbing so nicely, suddenly stopped.
It wouldn’t go past 50%.
“It stopped.”
Iska’s expression hardened, as if there was a problem.
“…There’s no way they could respond this quickly. How?”
He fiddled with the device, then let out a groan.
“The Workshop’s entire mana circuit has gone down. It seems your trip to the control room already triggered a response on their end. Otherwise, there’s no way they could shut down the circuit this fast.”
“…Huh?”
What the hell did that an?
“So what do we do? Are we done for?”
Iska let out a resigned sigh.
“…It’s over. A sha.”
“Wait, but we got it to 50%… can’t we just detonate it with what we’ve got?”
“It doesn’t work that way. It needs to trigger a mana overload. If it doesn’t hit the 70% threshold, the reaction won’t occur at all.”
Oh, co on.
Either way, things had clearly gone sideways.
“I don’t bla you. You did your best. Stay hidden until the Warp Device activates, then get out.”
I bit down on my lip.
I’d thought we were there, and now this…
Still reluctant to let it go, I asked:
“Is there no other way to fill up the remaining mana?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
“…Wait, you said this core can absorb any kind of mana, right? Then isn’t it possible to charge it by firing magic directly into it? I can use magic.”
Iska let out a dry laugh.
“Possible, yes, but even if you packed every drop of mana in this Workshop into it, you couldn’t get past 80%. How do you intend to fill the remaining 20%? Even if you were an archmage, it would be impossible.”
I scratched my head in frustration.
So the problem was that I’d ssed with the control room?
But there was no way into the Master Code Room besides that, via teleportation.
…So the ga really wasn’t going to allow any route outside of the orthodox solution at all? I had to steal the Workshop Master’s key, no exceptions?
‘This is pissing off.’
Just as I was starting to think I had no choice but to give up…
An idea hit .
I opened the shop window.
[Shop]
– Physical Damage 10% (500P)
– Magic Damage 10% (200P)
– Willpower 10% (100P)
– Attribute Conversion (500P)
– Barrier (50P)
– Slow (50P)
– Stop (100P)
– Special Gacha! (5,000P)
Points held: 25,500P
Special Gacha.
The Skill Effect 300% Scroll, and my strongest skill, Destruction Ray.
…What if I used the scrolls to stack up the power of Destruction Ray as high as I could?
If I played it right, couldn’t I fill that remaining 20%?
I already had one 300% Scroll from the pull I’d done after the boss.
[‘Skill Effect 300%’ Scroll applied to ‘Destruction Ray (Epic ).’]
I used it on Destruction Ray right away.
Then I started pulling.
With the points I had now, I could do a total of five pulls.
I didn’t have high hopes.
Just a “might as well try before giving up” kind of mindset.
[‘Special Gacha! (5,000P)’ purchased.]
Ding-ding-ding-
[‘Skill Effect 300% Scroll’ acquired!]
Another scroll dropped right away.
Good start.
When the scroll fell out of thin air, Iska’s eyes went wide.
“…What did you just do?”
“Shh. Hold on a second.”
[‘Skill Effect 300%’ Scroll applied to ‘Destruction Ray (Epic ).’]
That brought it to 9x.
I shushed Iska and did another pull.
[‘Special Gacha! (5,000P)’ purchased.]
Ding-ding-ding-
[‘Skill Effect 300% Scroll’ acquired!]
Oh… oh?
It dropped again.
[‘Skill Effect 300%’ Scroll applied to ‘Destruction Ray (Epic ).’]
That made it 27x total.
I did the third pull.
[‘Special Gacha! (5,000P)’ purchased.]
Ding-ding-ding-
[‘Skill Effect 300% Scroll’ acquired!]
“…?!”
It dropped… again? Three in a row?
[‘Skill Effect 300%’ Scroll applied to ‘Destruction Ray (Epic ).’]
81x.
I did the fourth pull.
Surely it wouldn’t drop ag…
[‘Special Gacha! (5,000P)’ purchased.]
Ding-ding-ding-
[‘Skill Effect 300% Scroll’ acquired!]
“…”
[‘Skill Effect 300%’ Scroll applied to ‘Destruction Ray (Epic ).’]
243x.
I quietly did the final pull.
‘No way…’
No way? For real?
[‘Special Gacha! (5,000P)’ purchased.]
Ding-ding-ding-
[‘Skill Effect 300% Scroll’ acquired!]
“…Yeeeaaaaahh.”
I picked up the scroll, feeling a tingling rush crawl up my whole body.
Ah… the dopamine is insane.
Is this it? Is this the real flavor of gacha?
[‘Skill Effect 300%’ Scroll applied to ‘Destruction Ray (Epic ).’]
The 300% Scroll applied six tis.
Total: 729x.
Having hit so absolutely insane luck to pull five in a row, I’d successfully juiced Destruction Ray up to an absurd number.
I turned to Iska.
“Stand back.”
“I told you, it’s no use…”
“Quickly!”
When I shouted, Iska stepped back anyway.
[50.5%]
I stretched my hand out toward the core.
I stopped ti and perford ntal Concentration.
All right, here we go.
A full-charge Destruction Ray juiced up a full 729 tis over, super-ultra-ga-powered…
Fire.
“…!”
A pitch-black beam engulfed the core.
At the sa ti, the percentage started spiking like crazy.
[56.7%]
[68.3%]
[79.5%]
.
.
.
The original target of 70% was blasted past in an instant, and the number just kept climbing.
“What in the…!”
Iska’s mouth fell open as he took in the scene.
90%… 95%… 100%.
[100%]
The percentage hit 100% quickly, but the beam still wouldn’t stop.
RRRRUMBLE!
Violent tremors rocked the entire laboratory.
Iska, who’d been standing there dumbstruck, shouted:
“Wait! Stop! Stoooop!”
…I, I want to stop too, sir.
There was no way to just manually halt a skill once it had been cast.
Was this thing going to blow? Were we absolutely screwed?
Fortunately, though, the Destruction Ray eventually died down before the core could rupture.
Ruuuuuumble…
[100%]
The core was now blazing with a light as intense as the sun.
I stared at it for a mont, then asked:
“Did it work?”
Iska, breathing hard, looked at as though he were witnessing sothing utterly unnatural, then nodded.
“…It did.”
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