Chapter 20

Infinite Skill Copying with EX-Grade Interpretation Chapter 20

“It’s impressive that you’re operating alone in a place this cold.”

The man followed beside me as though it had already been decided, even though I had never agreed to party with him.

Watching him, I thought.

This bastard is dying to stab me in the back.

There are lessons you learn as you go through life.

If I had to name a few.

Never guarantee someone else’s debt.

Or borrow money from some suspicious bastard.

And lastly.

‘Trust some guy you’ve never met before inside the Tower? Might as well ask him to kill me.’

Never trust anyone inside the Tower.

Almost no evidence remained no matter what happened in here, so there was no reason to trust anyone.

I had learned that lesson firsthand when those rat bastards stabbed me and nearly killed me.

However.

‘...He’s wearing some pretty nice clothes.’

Well-equipped cold-weather clothing and goggles that helped maintain visibility.

My gaze also went to the packed backpack he carried.

I had a good idea.

“Yes, I was actually getting lonely traveling alone. Let’s go together. I need to reach the twenty-fourth floor, so could you guide me? This is my first time past the twentieth floor.”

“That’s easy enough. I was heading upward anyway.”

I knew he was planning to stab me in the back.

So what?

Can’t I just stab him in the back first?

And I didn’t feel like I would lose to someone like him anyway.

He probably thought he was deceiving me.

But I would be the one sucking him dry instead.

I forcibly held back the smile threatening to spread across my face at the thought of betraying him first and was about to start walking when.

“By the way, you must be quite skilled?”

“Hmm?”

“You made it to the twentieth floor and still operate solo. That isn’t easy unless you’re a fairly high-grade hunter.”

I thought about his words for a moment.

Was operating alone really that difficult?

I knew that most hunters started forming parties from the twentieth floor onward.

“It isn’t easy surviving alone in an environment like this. With two or three people, you can share body heat. You can also take turns keeping watch.”

The higher one climbed through the Tower, the more the environment itself pressured hunters.

Because trials difficult to endure alone began appearing.

With at least two or three people, there would be someone to rely on, making things somewhat easier.

But I had no particular desire to form a party.

The biggest reason was probably.

‘I don’t like feeling like it restricts what I can do.’

My main focus was chasing relics and acquiring skills, so structurally, it was difficult for me to party with other people.

And I wasn’t particularly inconvenienced traveling alone, so why bother?

“Still, don’t worry. Heh heh, I’ll be your partner today, so you can learn the advantages of party play.”

Fuck off.

His words flowed smoothly enough, but his eyes never left me.

This was why I didn’t form parties.

Contrary to what he was saying, I was becoming even less interested in parties when.

─Stop.

Frost crunched beneath my steps.

And I felt the surrounding warmth suddenly plummet.

‘The environment changed?’

From the snowy landscape I had been seeing.

A forest had somehow begun spreading before us.

‘Ice flowers?’

[Using Interpretation.]

[Frost Flower]

─A flower containing cold energy.

─Its seeds contain cold energy, so touching them can easily cause frostbite.

The scenery of an ice forest filled not with ordinary plants and animals, but flowers and trees made from ice was like.

Beyond merely beautiful, it was like looking at a cold landscape painting.

“Ahem, you should be careful from here onward.”

“What is it?”

“From here on, this is harpy territory...”

─Kieeeek!

An unpleasant sound like shattering glass rang out from above.

I could hear something approaching with the sound of flapping wings.

“The harpies are already...! W-we have to run!”

“Harpies?”

At those words, I looked upward.

Birds with blue wings began diving toward us all at once.

Avian humanoids with bodies like humans and wings attached.

The instant I felt a sense of revulsion, cold energy began pouring from the ends of their wings.

They stared at us with red eyes and fired icicles along with their sharp talons.

“Icicles!! We have to dodge!!”

“Hup!”

─Clang!

There was no need to dodge. I drew my sword and knocked away every icicle flying toward us.

‘Is this the effect of the Swordsmanship skill?’

Unlike before, there was no discomfort in moving my sword.

The blade flowed as though it were part of my body.

After knocking away every icicle I could see, I instead looked for an opportunity.

The fleeting moment when they slowly approached while firing icicles.

My eyes planned how to move my body, and I quietly used a skill so the man beside me couldn’t hear.

“Weakening.”

[Using the skill ‘Weakening.’]

The harpies struck by Weakening could no longer move their bodies properly, and their wingbeats gradually slowed.

Just as the ones flying high in the sky began slowly descending like feathers.

“Hup!”

─Tap!

I kicked off an ice tree and launched myself toward them.

I raised the tip of my sword toward the group and lowered my stance.

The exact instant the distance between them and me formed a straight line.

I kicked off another tree and used a skill.

[Using the skill ‘Demon Flash.’]

─Slice!

“Phew...”

I exhaled.

Then quietly looked ahead.

[Skill proficiency has accumulated.]

[Proficiency is accumulating in the skill ‘Weakening.’]

[Proficiency is accumulating in the skill ‘Light Footsteps.’]

At the familiar word proficiency, I closed my eyes briefly, then looked toward the man trotting over from the side.

“Wow... Oh. Uh. Th-that’s impressive skill.”

The man who had merely watched praised me, saying I was impressive, but his gaze wasn’t actually directed at me.

His eyes were below my face.

“That sword... You handle it pretty roughly. Don’t you need to maintain it?”

“It works fine as it is.”

“Oh... You must be using something good.”

He couldn’t take his eyes off the sword in my hand.

The desire that had been scattering everywhere gathered onto a single point and gradually deepened.

“Let’s clean up the byproducts first. And we still have a long way to go. Haha.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

Apparently realizing the difference in our strength, he naturally took on the role of my porter.

I handled most of the fighting.

He simply trotted along behind me, cleaning up afterward and guiding the way.

Having support actually made things easier, but I kept waiting.

Waiting for when he would reveal that desire and try to stab me in the back.

But perhaps he intended to keep acting, because he merely smiled pleasantly and continued guiding me.

____________

We had been wandering through the Tower for quite some time.

Perhaps night had fallen inside the Tower, because the light began to fade.

And as the light diminished, the cold tightened around our breathing even more.

“Let’s camp here for now. I’ll set everything up, so please rest.”

“Ah, yes...”

The man obediently chose a campsite and began lighting a fire.

His hands moved so quickly that he had a fire going in less than a minute.

He even broke some wood and made a simple chair.

‘This is convenient, but is it about time?’

The look in his eyes earlier had been filled with greed.

I figured it would happen soon.

─Bubble, bubble.

“Haha, stew should be fine, right? This is the only dish I know how to make.”

“...Hmm.”

Cooking...

I almost laughed.

Wow, there are still bastards who use such a classic trick?

Or are hunters so sheltered that they actually fall for this?

After living a life where people would crack your skull open over a piece of bread, I could already guess what this bastard was planning, and it made me laugh.

“Ahem, resting is good, but you should eat first. Haha, I’m quite a good cook.”

“Really?”

“Yes, so please eat plenty.”

I looked at the bowl he handed me.

It looked like ordinary hot stew, but there was no way it could fool my eyes.

[Using Interpretation.]

[Drugged Stew]

─Stew laced with sleeping pills.

─Smells of almonds.

Sleeping pills, not poison...

“Hmm... Then.”

“Enjoy.”

─Slurp.

I put it straight into my mouth.

Then chewed and swallowed.

His cooking skills were decent enough, because it tasted ordinarily good.

Far better than the grilled lizard sold by back-alley thugs.

Gulp.

I swallowed the stew right in front of him.

“Tastes good, right?”

“It does.”

“There’s more, so eat plenty.”

Apparently he wanted to stuff me full so I’d fall asleep faster.

Sorry, but I have a skill.

[The skill ‘Poison Resistance’ activates.]

─Resisting the components of the sleeping pills.

I would probably need to eat a truckload of sleeping pills this weak before they had any effect.

And.

This seemed like a better way to make him lower his guard.

─Clatter.

After finishing the last bite, I set the bowl down.

“Hmm... Uh.”

─Thud.

I leaned forward over the table.

Closing my eyes, I relaxed my body completely.

“Finally, you dumb bastard. What are you, a fucking elephant? Took a whole bottle before you fell asleep.”

The hunter revealed his true colors once he thought I had fallen unconscious.

I fucking knew it, asshole.

I forced down the corners of my mouth as they tried to rise and continued pretending to sleep.

I felt his presence drawing closer.

And just as what seemed to be his hand approached beside me.

─Rustle.

─Tap.

─Grab.

“Got you, you fucking bastard.”

My eyes snapped open as I grabbed the wrist of the rat-like bastard whose hand was on my sword.

“Ugh... How.”

“How could I not know when you were staring at me like that?

Maybe if I’d grown up meeting only nice people like those guild members since childhood.

But I’ve lived a pretty rough life, so I can tell whether someone has malicious intentions just by looking at their eyes.”

I knocked his wrist away and clenched my fist.

First, one punch.

I drove my fist straight into his jaw.

─Thud.

And.

─Whoosh!

“If I’ve been caught, then there’s no helping it...!”

Apparently realizing there was no need to keep pretending, he drew the hidden sword and pointed it at me.

He took his stance and gripped the sword tightly.

[Using the skill ‘Swordsmanship.’]

Looking at his stance through my Swordsmanship skill, he definitely seemed to have received some training.

Was that how he had survived doing this sort of thing?

Or was he simply skilled enough to travel the twentieth floor alone?

Looking at the man confidently preparing to fight, I merely gave a faint laugh.

But this idiot doesn’t even know his own level.

─Slice.

“Huh...”

[Using the skill ‘Perfect Acceleration.’]

[Using the skill ‘Demon Flash.’]

“You’re barely a twentieth-floor scrub. What are you trying to do?”

So what if he was somewhat skilled?

I had grown by getting the shit beaten out of me in actual combat.

Once I sent one of his wrists flying, he seemed to lose all will to fight and collapsed, trying to scream.

“Aaaaagh... Mmph!?”

“It’s nighttime, so shut up. From now on, if you do exactly what I say, I’ll let you live.”

I covered his mouth and pressed my sword to his neck.

“First, take off your clothes.”

“...?”

“Three. Two...”

─Rustle, rustle.

The moment I started counting, the man hurriedly took off his clothes and handed them to me.

Once he removed the cold-weather gear, his body trembled, whether from the cold or because he was bleeding.

He was still a hunter, so he should be able to endure this much for now.

I pulled out a piece of paper and held it toward him.

“Roughly mark the route to the twenty-fourth floor.”

“I-in my bag... ngh. Th-there’s a map. Hehe, so. Y-you’ll let me live.”

“Oh, really? But I respectfully decline.”

“What?”

─Slice.

I cut through his neck and removed his head.

Why would I spare someone who was trying to stab me in the back?

I put on the stolen cold-weather clothing and unfolded the map.

“Wow... To think you’d leave me something this useful even on your way out.”

So I could spend a very warm night feeling the warmth of the cold-weather gear, all while making sure his sacrifice wasn’t forgotten.

Now that I even had a map, there really wasn’t much farther to go until the twenty-fourth floor.

___________

The map of the man who had attacked me was far more useful than I expected.

Because I had the map, I could easily choose my direction.

And instead of wandering around the vast snowfield like I had in the Great Forest, I could quickly head toward another floor.

“I’m already on the twenty-fourth floor.”

After crossing the snowfield and passing hills that were almost like snowy mountains.

The twenty-fourth floor I finally reached was...

‘A cave?’

Unlike the vast snowfields I had seen until now, it started as a narrow cave that felt almost suffocating.

An enormous cavern made entirely of ice.

And that wasn’t all.

‘The cold is intense.’

A cold even harsher than the windy snowfield greeted me, so frigid that it felt as though it wouldn’t even permit me to breathe.

Even so, there was only one thing for me to do.

‘They said they were excavating on this floor.’

The floor where those white-suited bastards had planned to excavate ruins was also the twenty-fourth floor, where I currently stood.

─!!

Hmm?

I felt faint warmth from my right pocket.

At the sensation, I unconsciously reached into my pocket, and there was only one thing I could grab.

‘The relic is reacting.’

Apparently the man who came to deliver the item hadn’t been lying, because I could feel the relic reacting to the ruins.

So it really is close.

[Using Interpretation.]

[Yeti Tooth]

─It is trying to guide you toward the ruins.

Just like the arrow relic I had found before, the tooth was trying to guide me.

Without any reason to doubt it, I slowly moved forward.

Following where the tooth led me, heading toward the place where it reacted.

The cold gradually grew denser.

And I felt the surroundings becoming darker.

‘It’s leading downward.’

The Tower was originally designed to lead upward.

But the relic was guiding me deeper underground.

And in the end, I found one thing.

‘A crevasse?’

A massive glacier split open inside the ice cavern.

I shrank back for a moment at the overwhelming cold pouring up from below.

But as proof that others had already come here, something like a rope had been driven into the ground.

Apparently this was a way to descend.

“Spirit, check below first.”

[Using the skill ‘Spirit Arts.’]

─!!

If those men in suits were below, I would be spotted the instant I descended, so I decided to check the interior with the spirit first.

They said it was an excavation, but how many people were down there?

More importantly, what the hell had they found that made them make such a fuss about obtaining the relic?

I was curious.

The spirit’s vision was shared with me.

After descending for quite some time, I encountered one thing.

“...What the hell is this?”

It was an enormous mass of ice.

A massive block of ice that deserved to be called an iceberg.

And inside it, I could sense some indescribable power.

─Crackle!

I tried to check the inside using the spirit’s electricity.

“As expected.”

That didn’t work either.

I could feel an intense will that refused to let anything enter.

And below it.

[Ha, it’s fucking freezing. Hey, when’s that relic or whatever getting here?]

[Don’t know. Maybe they froze to death on the way.]

[Goddamn it. At this rate, we’re the ones who’ll freeze to death. Tell the guys to make the fires bigger.]

[Got it.]

“Wow... There are fucking tons of them.”

Just counting the people gathered in front of the ice that could be called ruins, there were roughly.

“Looks like there are easily more than ten.”

There were more people than I expected.

Hmm...

“Should I try it again this time?”

There was a way to handle this without fighting them.

And a very good one at that.