Chapter 194: Veteran Corporation's Team-Building Event (Feat. Amusement Park) (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 194: Veteran Corporation's Team-Building Event (Feat. Amusement Park) (2)
If I had to pick one characteristic of this trash game called the Tower of Trials...
It would be how much thought it puts into making its players suffer.
And the theme that captured this best was none other than the 'Hard Mode' amusement park right here.
"Hehe! It's been so long since we've had playthings... I mean, guests. Are you really going in? Really?"
The rabbit beastman at the entrance hopped up and down.
Its ears twitched constantly, seemingly thrilled to have visitors after such a long time.
Well, of course.
No sane player would want to enter a place like this.
Despite being highly accessible on the 1st Floor, its absurd concept and brutal difficulty made it practically a ghost town.
"J-Jinhyuk. Are you really going to challenge this place?"
"I should have known the moment you mentioned a company retreat... What kind of crazy company risks their lives for a team-building trip?"
Teresa and Cheon Yu-seong chimed in one after another.
Both of them had experienced this amusement park in the past, so they knew exactly how insane Jinhyuk's current plan was.
They had to stop him somehow. No matter what, they had to prevent him from crossing this completely unnecessary tightrope.
But.
-Too late. He's already completely lost his mind.
-Sigh. I guess we really have to go, don't we?
-So this is cotton candy. It's delicious. It's like eating a cloud!
The moment they saw Jinhyuk's mischievous smirk, the word 'surrender' flashed through everyone's minds.
"Why the long faces? Since we're at an amusement park, we should enjoy it to the fullest. Besides, if we clear four or more rides here, the rewards are actually pretty sweet."
The reward was a VIP membership card for the massive food market on the 15th Floor.
It might not seem like much, but there was nothing more important in life than eating.
And if that place was packed with delicacies that could never be tasted outside the Tower, then further explanation was entirely unnecessary.
On top of that, they could enjoy some thrilling rides along the way...
In Jinhyuk's mind, there was no better place for a company team-building event.
"We're all going in. I assume there's no admission fee?"
"Oh, of course not! The rides were about to gather cobwebs anyway, so we're just grateful you're here."
The rabbit rubbed its paws together.
At that moment,
Ring!
A status window appeared before everyone's eyes.
[Amusement Park of Trials]
Difficulty: Very Hard
Description: You must complete at least one ride to exit. Clearing three or more rides grants a special reward. However, for teams of six or fewer, the reward will only be given upon clearing four rides.
"Now, please enjoy yourselves to your heart's content. Hehe."
The rabbit stepped aside, a sinister grin plastered across its face.
* * *
"Damn it! Why the hell did we come to this crazy place?!"
"Aaaah! S-Save me!"
"Hey! Let go! Let go of me!"
The amusement park was filled with screams and shrieks.
It was hell. Or at least, something very close to it.
The ride Cheon Yu-seong and Teresa chose was the Viking ship.
The giant ship, swinging up and down at high speeds, was almost identical to a standard Viking ship ride.
Of course, it wasn't completely the same.
For one, there were no seatbelts. And perhaps the fact that actual skeleton soldiers were running wild on the deck, swinging cutlasses, made it a bit different?
And these weren't just any skeleton soldiers; they were the pirates of the 'White Pearl', a crew that had once dominated the lower floors of the Tower.
Clang! Clang!
"Clatter!"
"Rattle!"
The skeletons swung their swords like maniacs, cornering the two.
It was hard enough to keep one's balance just standing still, but with the skeletons launching highly coordinated, precise pincer attacks, it was difficult to even keep a straight head.
As a result, Cheon Yu-seong and Teresa were struggling desperately just to hold their ground on the swinging ship.
"Kang Jinhyuk, you absolute bastard! This isn't the kind of amusement park I wanted!"
His entire life had been nothing but sword training and studying.
He had lived a life of running forward, unable to enjoy even a moment of leisure.
And yet.
Just when he thought he might finally taste a new kind of happiness!
Once again, that damn veteran bastard had snatched away his tiny sliver of joy.
To make matters worse, Jinhyuk was waving enthusiastically at Yu-seong, adding fuel to the fire.
"Hang in there, our Sword Saint! Hyung always believes in you!"
Watching him run his mouth while casually sipping a slushie was enough to make anyone's blood boil.
And from another direction, a high-pitched shriek easily exceeding three octaves echoed out.
"Hieeeek! Human! Right now! Come here this instant! How dare you subject my noble self to such vulgar... Please save me, you sea anemone!"
The place Alice had entered was the 'Haunted House'.
Well... for the record, actual ghosts did appear in there.
Though their combat power was on par with a slime, their appearances were easily the most terrifying in all of the 50 floors.
"P-Please go with me, Lady Alice! You mustn't abandon me!"
Even Bellus, Alice's usually fastidious vassal, was clinging to her as they both shed tears of terror.
Jinhyuk clicked his tongue.
"Tsk, tsk. To think those guys are the nobles of the Tower."
Maybe the Ataraxia family was actually composed of surprisingly innocent folks.
Seeing how they completely lacked any sense of dignity.
It was then.
"Hehe. Are you just going to watch and not participate yourself? At this rate, it looks like everyone is going to fail...?"
The rabbit provoked Jinhyuk with a taunting voice.
But Jinhyuk merely sat back in his chair, casually sipping his slushie.
"I don't know if you've forgotten already, but if everyone fails, you won't be able to leave this place. Well, that would be much more entertaining for me, though. Hehe."
"I know."
"Pardon?"
"I said, I know."
In truth, he hadn't expected the others to succeed in the first place.
And there was no real need for them to succeed either.
Because even if everyone else failed, the outcome of this quest was already decided.
Well then... shall we get going?
Jinhyuk stood up.
Whoosh!
His blurred figure vanished, reappearing right on top of the Viking ship.
"You're finally here. I thought my eyes were going to fall out from waiting."
Cheon Yu-seong spotted Jinhyuk while frantically dodging the skeleton soldiers' blades.
"P-Please help us, Jinhyuk."
Teresa also muttered, her face pale.
Due to the rules of the amusement park, using innate abilities or skills would result in immediate failure. Thus, they had to rely solely on raw physical stats and reflexes.
Even high levels were scaled down by a correction factor, which was why even Cheon Yu-seong and Teresa were struggling.
Of course.
To Jinhyuk, a penalty of that level was too pathetic to even be called a shackle.
The 5th cervical vertebra.
The ribs.
Three centimeters upper-right from the hip joint.
He knew exactly which spots to strike on which skeletons to slow them down.
He knew their primary attack patterns and exactly how to maintain balance on the swaying ship.
He had memorized every single detail.
Dodging the skeleton soldiers' attacks, Jinhyuk began targeting their weaknesses with pinpoint precision.
Every strike landed perfectly on its mark.
Clatter.
Clatter.
Skeletons, reduced to nothing but rolling skulls, tumbled across the deck before being flung off the ship.
Watching his incredibly smooth and fluid movements, Cheon Yu-seong bit his lip.
"..."
His expression, filled with inferiority and self-deprecation, practically dripped with a complex mix of love and hate for Jinhyuk.
Whether he did or not, Jinhyuk whistled as he strolled over to the edge of the ship.
A skeleton wearing a fancy hat—presumably the captain—was biting down on the railing with its teeth, desperately trying not to fall off.
Thwack!
Jinhyuk ruthlessly kicked the skull, sending it flying into the sky.
The spinning head vanished into the distance.
'Since I've done this much, the two of them should easily be able to survive the remaining time.'
Alright, next...
Leaping off the Viking ship, Jinhyuk quickly headed toward the Haunted House.
Amidst the gloomy atmosphere and eerie background music, he spotted Alice and Bellus shivering uncontrollably.
[Mental strength is depleting rapidly.]
[Coldness and chills are approaching dangerous levels.]
The ghosts here were certainly terrifying.
Terrifying enough to induce psychological trauma.
'I almost fainted the first time I came here too...'
But after coming here so many times, the ghosts and specters now felt almost familiar.
They say humans are creatures of adaptation, and indeed, even the most shocking stimuli lose their edge in the face of repeated experience.
"You're supposed to be the Ruler of the Night, so why are you such a coward? Get up already."
"B-But..."
Completely paralyzed by fear, Alice couldn't even think of standing up.
At this rate, they wouldn't escape even if they spent the entire day here.
"Can't be helped. Keep up and don't fall behind."
Sighing softly, Jinhyuk suddenly grabbed Alice's wrist.
And then he ran toward the exit.
"Ah...?"
Alice let out a soft gasp, her eyes widening.
She flinched for a moment, but soon began running right behind Jinhyuk.
"T-Take me with you too...!"
Bellus, left behind all alone, shrieked in despair, but Jinhyuk couldn't care less about what happened to a mere intern.
After all, getting pushed to the limit as a rookie was just the way of the world.
* * *
"T-This makes no sense..."
The rabbit's voice trembled violently.
It had no choice but to.
Because the impregnable fortress it had poured its heart and soul into creating was crumbling so effortlessly.
'Where on earth did a monstrous psycho like him come from?'
Clearing the Viking ship and the Haunted House was shocking enough, but what followed was even more mind-boggling.
On the hellish bumper cars, where a single hit would unleash a million volts of electricity, he had yawned his way through a 1-versus-30 slaughter.
In the safari, which was packed with giant-class monsters that even the administrators struggled to handle, he had simply tamed the dinosaurs and ridden them to clear the area in one go.
At this point, it was so absurd that the rabbit was utterly speechless.
And finally, during the flume ride where mutant piranhas and giant sharks swam, the moment he threw his spirit beast in as bait...
To be honest, the rabbit felt a chill of genuine terror.
Gulp.
The rabbit swallowed hard.
In the hundreds of years since being tasked by the Tower's administrators to manage this place, it had dealt with countless races.
Yet, no one had ever cleared so many rides. And absolutely no one had ever cleared them in such a bizarre, grotesque manner.
"M-Master?"
The water spirit, Undine, who had been tossed into the water, looked up at Jinhyuk.
Around her neck was a collar made of raw meat—the absolute favorite food of mutant piranhas and giant sharks.
Twitch.
Catching the scent of blood, the fish began to react.
"This is all part of your training. If you become exceptionally strong, I might even make you the leader of the other spirits."
He trusted she knew just how important and cool the leader position was in a special forces unit.
"L-Leader? Me? Will you really do that for me?"
"Of course. So run as hard as you can so you don't get caught. I mean, you're my most cherished Undine. Surely you can outrun mere monsters like those, right?"
"Heheh. Master, you really know your stuff. I am definitely far superior to those other stupid spirits."
Undine puffed out her chest proudly.
"Right. I'm counting on you."
"Yep! Leave it to me!"
Undine swam through the aquarium with all her might.
While that life-or-death game of tag was underway, Jinhyuk finished off his slushie and completed the flume ride.
At the same time,
[You have cleared all Hard Mode difficulties.]
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Boom!
Brilliant fireworks lit up the night sky.
'Not bad for a vacation.'
Jinhyuk smiled with satisfaction.
The great war of the middle floors was about to begin.
Before plunging into the massive storm of the Empire and the Murim, this time spent laughing and chatting with everyone would become an irreplaceable memory.