Chapter 139
Chapter 139
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 139
Chapter Title: Wakamo's Purchased Mystery 5th Floor Tower
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The Mystery 5th Floor Tower that Wakamo bought.
Its true identity was shockingly a gimmick floor where all sorts of horror monsters popped out!
Could these wanderers lost in the darkness truly conquer this tower──
"Wakamo has closed her eyes in the darkness...."
"Stop narrating on your own and get up and do some work. You're not some wife raising kids while dumping the hunting on me. Heh heh heh, anyone would think we're a married couple~"
"Hug me tighter."
"Get lost."
The Fox God was carrying Wakamo in a princess carry and grumbling about how her life had come to this.
Even after the sharp retorts, the Fox God figured humiliation beat fear any day as she watched pitiful Wakamo desperately fighting off her terror by wrapping the Fox God's long silver hair around her face like a scarf. Inari's eyes rolled up to the ceiling and back down.
Her mind was on the verge of snapping, eyes nearly flipping back in her head, but as the [Lion of the Idol], she had to obey her orders. So she was faithfully searching the mansion.
-Wow, so couples wander around amusement parks like this.
-Fox God disappointed because her boyfriend is such a scaredy-cat in the haunted house.
-She talks cold and roasts him nonstop but won't put him down.
-Asking for a tighter hug and getting it—total tsundere madness.
-Every sentence ends with a heart, and it translates perfectly.
-Kyaㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Instead of putting her down, the female believers cheered as they watched Inari strut around holding Wakamo like she owned her. Amid the bizarre surge of female fans(?), Inari pushed open a creaking door to reveal a bizarre laboratory.
Startled, she stepped out briefly to survey the rundown wooden mansion's hallway and walls.
Then she stepped back in to gaze around the state-of-the-art lab setup, her eyes wide like a rabbit's, completely dumbfounded.
-Ahㅋㅋㅋ National ruleㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-A research lab in a crumbling old house?
-Ah... those "umbrella" guys again...
-When did we collab with them?
-The tower's promoting a new horror gameㅋㅋㅋ
-Zombies mean that company~
-And now the rookie's even got a cop.
-Gasp.
-Leon? Is that you?
-We're all dead then.
"Asuka, take a look around and investigate."
"Asuka! Found a drop item! It's [Researcher's Journal]!"
"Let me see.... [First Page]"
Even Inari the Fox God knew nothing about gimmick floors.
It was a new layer that appeared right after the Kyoto Tower was cleared.
As long as climbers kept ascending, the tower would likely test them with increasingly unpredictable and difficult trials.
In Wakamo's case, she'd basically glitched the system by looting rewards meant for way later from the Kyoto Tower. Then she split 200x rewards among over 100 climbers, so the Japanese Tower was barely scraping by on fumes. It was handing out normal rewards to other climbers, sure—but a few functions had probably degraded.
The sharp climbers would seize the chance and rush up, but hey, that was their discovery, so no big deal.
─Impressed inwardly by the tower's evolution and the climbers' growth, Inari the Fox God opened the first page and read.
"[For human immortality, I kidnapped countless people for human experiments. I tortured the resulting lifeforms for 80 hours to test their vitality. I hope it never escapes.]"
"Wah... scary! Humans are terrifying! Asuka knows because she manages the gallery 24/7 unpaid."
"Not curious."
"Shall I make you curious?"
-Gasp.
-Gasp.
-Please let us know.
-Why do we have to suffer?
-Why does she say insane shit with that perfectly normal smile every time.
-Attach "mommy" to Asuka?
-Call in Pilot tooㅋㅋㅋ
"Wakamo's here, y'know?"
-Gasp
-Ahㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Polar bear's wail.
-Don't you see your owner in my arms?
-Why did Madam give meat to Ichigo...
-Morning drama plot going wildㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Yeah, VTubers need their shippings.
-Guild master's married woman and widow rumors melt away like snow.
-Is this okay?
-What're you gonna do? It's an ultra super PC marriage between two women—who's gonna object?
-Guild master's invincible even in the community now.
"Right~ Our Fox God is super strong. No climber or tower can beat her, right? That's why the Japanese Tower lost, hmm~..."
"Not interested. Just turn the page."
The Fox God yanked Asuka's frazzled hair. But the "pages" were just two measly sheets. She flipped it, revealing a single simple line.
"[It escaped.]"
-Yeah, figures.
-Scientist's fault, obviously.
-How bad's your management if it escapesㅋㅋㅋ
-No, wait—攻略 method below?
-What is it?
"[To stop the test subject from ascending, I split the generator fuse operating the doors into three parts and hid them at three spots around the mansion's edges. Please, may that horrific monster never come up...]"
"That fucker's a bastard!"
-Aw, researcher bitch.
-Escapes and you got time to yank fuses and hide 'em?
-Why do all horrors hide fuses anyway.
-Does this rundown shack even have electricityㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-The tower really absorbed every cliché...
"Asuka will search for the fuses. Can I tower-exit and buy ones that fit?"
-Not wrong...
-Not an item judgment, so easy?
-Tell the Alchemist to make 'em?
-Chinese knockoffs tho...
-Crazy bastardㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Asuka frantically rummaged through the lab. A flesh monster popped from a drawer, but she blasted it with her gun. [Jujutsu] drains life force, so it doesn't work well on [Mana]-based ghosts. Plus, these flesh monsters didn't seem fazed by holes.
But sometimes it worked, sometimes not. Asuka recalled Ichigo's shots barely scratching earlier.
Probably—these flesh ghost monsters had random resistances?
"Hmm.... There's more: [Don't press the huge red beautiful button with a skull on it. Pressing it will break the seal we barely managed to contain.]"
-Who'd press thatㅋㅋㅋ
-Frㅋㅋㅋ
-Not even an idiot would.
"Right~ Unless it's a crow-obsessed new-gen birdbrain who'd press it out of curiosity.....crow?"
-Ah.
-Ah...
-Tengu aren't crows?
Wakamo and the Fox God turned to Asuka too late. She was mesmerized by the massive, thick, gleaming red button right in front of her.
Her dilated pupils alone screamed this mad AI Tengu VTuber was out of her mind.
"Wow, what does this button do?"
""Don't press it!!""
Press press press press—
Wakamo and Inari grimaced with identical expressions watching Asuka mash the button like she was hypnotized.
[The lab will self-destruct in 5 minutes.]
-Ahㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-We're screwed fuck!!!!!
-Why's there a self-destruct for intruders in a lab!!!
-Where is it then?
-Dexter's lab?
-What's that old man's lab?
-Gonna puke for realㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
※※※
Mami carefully examined a broken plate shard, while Iosif Khan guarded her—one hand with a cross boomerang, the other with a whip, on high alert.
Most leaping flesh monsters got cleared at Iosif's frontline.
"Aren't there too many locked doors?"
"Should I just smash 'em?"
Iosif stepped back and kicked with full force—clang, but the doorknob didn't budge.
Locked doors blocked paths everywhere. Meanwhile, twisted flesh monsters burst from floor holes and cracked walls, along with evil-eyed eyeball ghosts and shrieking banshees. Normally, you'd need a [Cleric] climber or a Wizard with ghost-effective skills.
Whip—!!
Bang!
Iosif's whip lashed out, flashing brilliantly on contact—banshees and ghosts exploded.
Humanoid monsters screaming bone spines like machine guns or shooting tongues, and mantis-like scythe-armed snake-bottomed abominations looked threatening and grotesque but couldn't even scratch Iosif Khan.
His rolled-up sleeves revealed pale skin scaled with White Dragon plates. He swung his arms like shields to deflect attacks, then brutally smashed monsters with arms tough as weapons.
A ragged murder ghost rearing back to hurl a rusty axe from afar got flash-frozen by Iosif's exhaled breath into an ice statue.
The rotten-wood mansion instantly became a snow-blanketed ice kingdom, monsters turned cute snowmen.
-Our White Dragon's so strong!
-Amazing! Glasses mount! Insane performance!
-Good job, scaredy-cat White Dragon Courage!
-Wasn't it Scooby-Doo?
-Scully?
-Good job anyway, Shinpachi.
-The glasses' performance is top-tier. Same type as Yu-nee-nim's!!
"I'm Iosif Khan!!!"
Click.
"Opened it."
"Huh? What about the key?"
"Telekinesis pick."
-Ahㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Superpower (universal).
-Why bother finding keys~~
Was this valid? But if [Log] were here, she'd pick it too, so fine. Iosif followed Mami inside.
The library-like room was packed with bookshelves stuffed to the brim. Iosif bolted over in excitement.
"Wow...! Books!! These are all readable!!"
"Really? Isn't that the tower's rarest stuff?"
Books seemed worthless at a glance, but towers filled them with worthy content. Rewards like magic tomes or Alchemist recipes came as books.
A library floor meant your luck exploded.
Even novels were tower-exclusives, mixed with lost ancient histories—greedy dragon urges overwhelmed Iosif as she unfurled a sack and swept books in.
Leave the book-mad girl—who'd switched to gold goblin mode, escape be damned—and Mami slowly scanned around.
Click—click—!
Raising her lighter for light, Mami methodically checked the locked room for anything off.
No monsters in such a vast study? Suspicious.
──I am the Tower.
-?
-?
"With the Kyoto 100th floor clear, I unlocked new gimmicks and created the Mystery Tower. Theme: horror.... Horror knowledge from climbers.... Referenced famous horror games. All rooms locked to force brainpower."
To make non-combat classes climb with parties? Combat classes often teamed up, sidelining others—maybe to include them? But that adds burdens, or disposable meat shields for some groups.
With [Alchemist], [Blacksmith], [Manufacturer] etc. as [Sub Classes], non-combat + non-combat becomes combat + non or non + combat—more climbers can ascend.
Clink.
Mami picked up the [Fuse] item from the table, eyes narrowed in deduction.
"If a quest item gets destroyed? Conditions force strategy, but impossible = failure and ejection?"
Towers are harsh.
No ejection for near-death or defeat during climbs.
[Tower Exit] wasn't banned—so Mami raised the fuse high and smashed it on the floor.
It shattered pathetically easy.
[※Caution!! Clue for puzzle lost!! Elite Boss Monster [Repulsive Artificial Flesh Lifeform] appears!!]
"Right!! Towers force climbers to keep going somehow!! Can't solve puzzles? Don't eject—throw bigger trials!! That's standard!!"
The whole floor shook as a massive, obese, repulsive monster thudded into the study.
"That thing from US markets!!"
-Ahㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Ew gross, look at that blubber.
-Big ol' butt.
-Can that even walk?
Hard to tell if standing—sagging flesh dragged the floor. Iosif swallowed tears over ungrabbed books, shoved her haul back, and prepped for battle.
Fwoosh—
"[Pyrokinesis]"
Lighter flame coiled in Mami's palm into a spinning orb. Thrust out, a fire wave slammed the flesh giant. Heat scorched the whole study, startling even Iosif.
But amid flames, the monster's belly split, revealing teeth and tongue.
Guts writhed inside—craters pocked its body like holes, foul stench assaulting. Mami yanked flames back as toxic gas spewed.
Green globs shot out.
Mami rolled aside; liquid hit floor, bubbling and melting.
"This is an elite boss...! Fun!!"
Thrilled, she stomped—bookshelves flew skyward, books soared.
They hurled with full force, crashing—wood shards pierced the writhing monster's flesh.
Mami blocked acidic blood sprays with a telekinetic shield.
Iosif dashed through acid rain unscathed, leaping at the beast.
Whip slashed like a sword, carving chunks—bounced off floor, tip spearing the head.
A [Yo-yo] rode the taut whip, elastic-launching inside for explosion.
Whip—!
Cool recovery pose, whip gripped tight.
"[Dragon Fear]!!"
Noble rulers don't roar. Dragon eyes narrowed, radiating pressure—
The raggy flesh blob ignored it, regenerating a swelling arm to swat Iosif.
Whip severed it; she lassoed a waist yo-yo, revved wrist like engine, launched.
Spinning yo-yo blades deployed, shredding face and exploding.
Mana-enchanted whip as [Aura] shredded endless-regen flesh. Iosif inhaled deep, breathed on the torso.
Blink—study flash-froze, snow dumping.
"Hmph... This is—the strength of 1st gen... Blue-Eyed White Dragon Iosif Khan, everyone!"
"[Kuaaaargh!!!]"
"Eh"
Despite ice, unbelievable regen—elongated spindly limbs on acid-spewing monster charged, guts shaking. White Dragon agility dodged, but grazed badly—glasses shattered, rolling.
"The main body—!!!!!"
"Not the main body!!!!"
"....Dead...."
Mami's face fell at the halved, cold glasses.
"Thought we'd bond as old spinster classmates...."
"Not old!!!"
"Sob sob... Reptilian... Backrooms victim pleb.... I'll remember you."
"You don't know my name!?"
"You bastard—!! Unforgivable!!!!"
"She's straight-up ignoring me...?"
Spindly limbs flailed—Mami reached out, space warped, snapping them off.
Telekinesis hurled severed arm into head. Hands forward, focused.
"[Psychic Force]!!"
Boom!!
Invisible wall crushed it flat, buried in ice wall, twitching.
Blood vessels snaked from gaps in wall and power. Mami reached—lighter flew to hand.
Cig casually lit.
"Tell our glasses you killed in the afterlife, his regards."
Her words echoed louder.
Sonic boom shockwave collapsed the wall-crushed flesh to bits.
"What was that?!?"
"[Sonokinesis]—shockwaves from voice. Power's great, too great... Elite's plight."
Literal voice blasts—better than my breath, Iosif thought, lips sealed.
Anyway, [Elite Boss] down—time to go, Mami turned.
"Door's locked? Boss alive?"
"....Hmm... Got [Psychic Driver] item—let's try."
"What's that?"
"Legendary class exclusive gear. Everyone has one or two, right?"
Mami zapped the knob with rod-like tool, delicately picking with telekinesis. Iosif eyed smashed study warily. Flesh gone, but nagging unease.
No beyond collapsed wall—should be done, but neck prickled. Why?
Boss kill = floor clear message.
They didn't kill the [Repulsive Artificial Flesh Lifeform].
—But we triggered it... so?
"Not dead!!"
"Huh?"
Before question, Mami rocketed up.
Boom! Head gone, body dangling—viewers saw.
"Mami!!!!!"
-Damn, recognized bleach-blonde Mami!!!
-Mami got Mami'd...!!
-Dead? Head eaten??
-Nothing scares me now....
Mami yanked head from ceiling, dusty makeup-smeared face cursing, grabbed mystery bat slung on shoulder.
Now visible: ghost of "dead" flesh—phase 2 translucent poltergeist hurling objects.
Mami scoffed at same-type powers.
"No way you win same abilities!! I'm elite!!"
Flesh ghost cast [Human Combustion] on her.
Blazing pain—not real fire, but curse-like agony.
"Achoo achoo!!!"
Flailing scream, collapse—study shelf dropped on her.
"Nyaek...."
-Both down!
"But glasses mount remains!!!!"
-Yeah, King Kitan lives!
-Glasses broke, mount endures!
-Go! Yogurt Io!
-Someone something.
-Blue Eyes it is!
-You fuckers call my nameㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Deadass don't knowㅋㅋㅋ
-Wellington. Yeah..
-Really?
-Glasses name's Wellington.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
"Uwaaaaaah!!!!"
Rage, sorrow, emotions swirling—Iosif tried huge White Dragon form, but ghost telekinesis canceled it.
Can't enlarge under pressure...? Stunned timeout—but rising dragon head-smashed ceiling.
Whip swing? Grabbed, yanked—spun scraping wall, tumbled.
"Gahk..!"
-No glasses = half power...!!
-Recall unpop idol death!!
-Rise Khan, pride of Mongolia...!!
"Hoo... Have to show it... 100th floor reward..... Watch, everyone... My『Transformation』!!"
Messy rise—Iosif mourned saving for cooler moment, but pros flip crises to catharsis. Learned from Wakamo streams, declared [New Skill] pose.
"Here goes—Dragon...."
Thud-boom—!
Pilot smashed through wall—car-crash Iosif spun pin-like into wall.
Breath sync this bad? Locked room, Pilot breached—eyes squeezed at carnage.
"Urk... Too late...!! Our glasses!!!"
"Huff! Aiba!! You okay?!"
Adolf, who'd fled with Pilot, rushed to defeated comrades.
Carefully lifted cold halved glasses.
"I can fix this. Lucky!!"
-On the wall, wall.
-Iosif's soul ain't glassesㅋㅋㅋ
-This is bullying???
-1st gen tearful bonds....
-Glasses really main body??
-But who's Aibaㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
"Daring to our Glasses White Dragon!!!"
-Call name plzㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Friends fr?? Damn!!!
-Truth? Nobody knows?
-But can they win?
Pilot + Adolf viable? Neither ghost-experienced, puzzled faces.
But they had backup.
"♪If weird stuff happens next door♬"
"Who ya gonna call?♪"
Dust parted—headlamp Alchemist with gear emerged.
"Ghostbusters!!"
-Came, reaper!
-Ichigo! To save us!!
-Wondered what lab shit—classic Alchemistㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-What's that?
-Ghost-slaying Alchemist gear.
-Everyone calls it Proton Pack.
"Simple: restructures mana to holy/light vs ghosts—beam machine!!"
Ichigo fired—ghost spasmed like electrocuted.
Nearby lab helped craft, but one lacked power—Ichigo staggered.
"Ghosts all gone!!"
"Nintendo's suing!!"
Pilot and Lucia's too. Best universal gear?
Trio shredded ghost—rumble echoed.
Thud—!
[Door to Mystery Tower 2F opens!!]
[Lab self-destruct halted!]
"Self-destruct what?"
"Who knows?"
Won anyway? Trio posed.
Iosif half-out wall, Mami under shelves—funny, but job done.
Wakamo party finally grouped, ascended to 2F.
All resigned to Wakamo princess-carried, still shaking in Fox God's arms.
Ichigo tried "I can carry too!!!"—failed, sobbed.
Sobbed so hard Pilot subbed princess carry—slapped.
[Climbing Mystery Tower 2F]
-[Neverland] entered!
-Solve special gimmick for next floor key!
[Platinum Achievement]
[Explore vast island freely! Still got your innocence?]
Coast greeted them.
Lonely floating door—peeked behind, no door.
"Neverland...? Sounds familiar."
"Disney?"
"No, no—fairy tale side."
"1F grudge payback!!!"
"Me too!! Me too!!"
Mami rubbed chin, almost recalling.
Something descended—they charged with Wakamo.
Mami snapped fingers.
"Peter Pan monster. [Age]-proportional damage weird one."
"Ugeeeeeek"
Wakamo blasted past group, skidded sand, slumped.
Grazed—70% mana gone, one-shot down.
Iosif half-buried in sand.
" Treats anyone on period like hag—crazy monster!!"
"Watch your words plz"
"Asuka says that?"
Cig-mouthed Mami yelled—Asuka sulked back.
Pilot cackled, chugged booze.