Chapter 263: More Fellow Humans!!

Metropolis-D was even more bustling than usual, with many Climbers busying themselves. Amidst the crowd, an ordinary-looking middle-aged man was heading to the Tower. He was subtly listening to the various discussions. 

"Am I going crazy, or there are tons of visitors today?" 

"Didn't you hear? D.L. finally opened their school to the public. There are so many eager to join!" 

"I don't understand. Isn't it super expensive?!"

"Yeah, for sure, but some think it can be worth it anyway."

"What about the Alter Tower? Are people still going there?" 

"They wish! Before, it was open for free, and no one wanted to enter at all! Now, that Josh guy is suddenly selling access to it. Isn't this over the top?!" 

"They wish? Isn't it public property? Why can't they just head in?" 

"The students are blocking them. Can you believe it? Many are protesting right outside D-23. At this rate, maybe a fight will even break out!"

"What about leader Markus? Won't he do something about this?" 

"Nope, some of his soldiers are training there as we speak. Hell, no one knows anything much. Journalists aren't allowed access, and there hasn't been any official statement either."

"That sucks. The world used to be so much simpler..."

"Yeah. I truly wonder what that Josh guy is thinking…not that we'll ever meet."

Ironically, that "Josh guy" was currently a few meters away from him. This new appearance change medallion was awesome! It could fool allies and enemies alike! 

It seemed like the general public wasn't aware of the assassins' attack or that he was missing just yet. He calmly entered the Tower, grinning. How would this all play out? Either way, he had left some detailed instructions.

His people would be fine while he would be on Floor 19!...

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

There was darkness, the faint sound of laborious breathing, the horrible smell of wet fur, and thick spearlike bars all around. Josh awoke to a wooden cage, surrounded by "fellow humans". This Floor had him spawn as a captive?!

Josh had no clue how, but that shitty wooden cage he was in was literally invincible! He tried sawing it, but it didn't work. He would have seen tons of "0 damage" with every strike if this were an MMO. 

He turned to his allies (?). This time, the Tower Protocol had attempted facial features. Still, they appeared pixelated as if a retro video game. One could describe them as black humanoid shapes with flesh-colored unrecognizable faces (?). 

"How are you guys doing?" Josh tentatively asked, friendly. 

"Stay strong, fellow human! We'll find a way to escape!" The NPC answered in a monotone voice that made the comforting message fall flat. 

Hearing the prisoners talk, one of their captors approached. It was a grotesque humanoid creature with a face covered in pustules and thick green skin. It was about twice the height of a typical adult human.

Two huge fangs came out of its mouth, and its dentition was more crooked than the stereotypical British. It barely had a few strands of hair on its head and would have made that guy that kept screaming "my precious ring" appear like a professional hair model. 

<Healthy Troll Hunter Lv 25> (Elite) 

"GRRR! Noisy! Shut up!" The troll growled. Josh made a mental note— not a troll of many words. 

"Stay strong, fellow human! We'll find a way to escape!"

Wow, just wow! Yes, the allied NPC was calling a troll a fellow human. Was it blind, dumb, or both?! It seemed like this was the only sentence it knew, and it would repeat it to any living creature to hear. 

"GRRR! Dumb thing. Eh, hunt starting soon." The troll then left. 

[Welcome to the great troll hunt! Mission: Survive!] 

"Hey, how have you been? Missed me?" Josh made small talk. 

"Stay strong, fellow human! W—"

"I wasn't talking to you. Shut up!" Josh felt like facepalming. "Survive? Survive how long?... Hello?!" His companions took the hello as an opportunity to all say their line! Perhaps the true challenge was not to go on a murderous spree against fellow humans? 

After a while, many trolls came nearby and violently opened the door, sending it flying a few meters away. On their backs, they had giant bows that glowed red with runic inscriptions. 

They stood there grinning as they pointed toward the humongous dark forest nearby. It was time to run, and so Josh did, along with tons of screaming NPCs. None seemed to understand the concept of hiding, not that it would matter. 

"Fellow humans, gather around!" —They did. 

"I have great news! You all have received a promotion and gone from useless being to live bait! Isn't this wonderful!" Josh happily announced. 

"Stay strong—" 

"Anyway, follow me! I will assign everyone a position. This will be fun! Here is where I want you guys: 

1. Stuck in these giant trees!

2. Entangled in the vegetation!

3. Obviously hiding behind boulders!

4. Underground in any crevasse you can find!

5. Heading back to that cage to hide in it! 

I want you guys to look as clueless and over the place as mountain goats. As long as you guys are easy to spot but hard to shoot down, our mission will succeed! Also, make sure to shout!" 

Josh's wonderful speech was received with an abundance of cheers and words of encouragement, or so history would say. They really only had one line. Anyway, Josh organized them and then hid in a bush. 

The trolls came over with excited smiles…that soon turned into frowns. What were these captives doing?! They were now shouting their one line loudly and couldn't be more obvious. But, they were all in places difficult to reach with no possibility to escape.

"Dumb humans, no fun!" 

"One human gone?" 

This fun hunt had been ruined! Still, they separated to try and find Josh, the only missing one. According to the online guides, fighting the trolls was extremely hard. They were just too hard to kill! 

They could regenerate endlessly, and it required specific magic to dispatch them, with fire being the easiest to use but also extremely eye-catching. Plus, they perfectly knew how to navigate the forest and had developed senses. 

The number 1 strategy was apparently to organize a defensive base to protect the party from arrows. Then, it was just about surviving until the enemies gave up. Of course, some experienced Climbers would scoff at this and go on a killing spree— except, not in Hellish. 

But Josh wouldn't give a flying fuck about common sense. He sneaked behind a Troll and then slashed its throat open, sending insanely hot blood gushing out. Josh attacked with the Ghoul Claw, and now he just needed to wait for the poison to take effect! Then he decisively ran away! 

In fact, Josh had used all the strength he could muster, but his blade had barely penetrated the creature's thick neck skin. How sturdy considering his mana enhancement! That move could even cut through golems! Then again, this was a survival mission, not a kill one. 

As soon as he was gone, the troll was already back on its feet, not a single trace of injury! Josh couldn't help but shiver when thinking how much of a pain it would have been to fight it head-on! 

Even as he tried his best, Josh couldn't help but make noise during his escape: leaves rustling and sticks creaking. But, all that the troll could hear was: "STAY STRONG FELLOW…." over and over. 

Josh couldn't help but chuckle to himself, thinking how effective their support currently was. He figured he might as well repeat the same process with every other troll. He would find lone ones, slash them and escape like the wind. 

Now, the wind was actually a great danger. Josh would never admit it, but there was now a troll angrily searching for him buck naked. He was wearing the creature's clothes to mimic the troll scent. He only had one complaint…Why was it so itchy?! Gross! 

But, he persevered through adversity until he had slashed all of them! He finally circled back to his very first victim...that was still perfectly healthy?! That's when he realized that that damn claw wasn't doing anything! How?! These creatures weren't that high level! Was it their elite status? 

But then it became worse as they finally decided to use their brains. "Find Humans! Kill Humans!" What followed was a one-sided massacre. The poor fellow humans' heads began flying one after the other. 

This left Josh in a vulnerable position. He couldn't recklessly move around as easily. Dammit! Maybe he needed to just hide and play the waiting game? Still, this felt so wrong! He didn't just want to clear the mission but clear the Floor completely. 

Suddenly, the trolls showed unease as a thumping sound was heard with a towering troll slowly walking over. It was as tall as four humans and sonorously shouted: "Weak trolls, all useless! Me take care of it! You all hide in holes!" 

"Chief! Human hiding good! Human hard to find! No human smell!" They all respectfully lowered their heads, sharing their current issue. 

Their chief began sniffing the air like a dog, its nose twitching in the ugliest fashion. Then a hideous grin distorted the creature's face even more. "You dumb trolls! No look for human, look for troll! Troll there hiding in bushes. Scheming human smelling of troll!"

This was the eureka moment for all of these creatures. They instantly began cheering in excitement and stomping in place in anger from being fooled! Then their chieftain turned directly toward Josh, growling savagely. 

"Hunt Human!!!" 

<Very Healthy Troll Chieftain Garskan Lv 34 ☠> 

Josh could already feel the headache coming. He had struggled so much to kill the Healthy Elite Trolls without success. How perverse would the regeneration of this new one that was not only Very Healthy but also a Boss be?!