WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

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Chapter 20: Fatal Judgment

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Each floor of the Tower of Trials had its own kind of theme or concept.

If the first floor's theme had been goblins, the second floor's main theme was wolves.

Fittingly, the master of the second-floor boss room was a Werewolf, a wolf that walked on two legs.

Honestly, if it were just an ordinary wolf walking on two legs, it might've looked a little ridiculous.

But there was nothing funny about the Werewolf's long limbs or the dense muscles packed onto them.

Even beneath the brown fur covering its entire body, its bulging muscles stood out clearly.

It looked over two meters tall, and the claws extending from its hands looked razor-sharp even from a distance.

It looked nothing like the screenshots I'd seen in the Open Community's strategy tab.

Fuck, how was that just a wolf walking on two legs?

It was less of a werewolf and more like someone had mixed a grizzly bear and Dwayne Johnson half and half, then stuck a wolf's head on top.

I'd heard this Werewolf, the second floor's boss, showed up as a regular mob on the higher floors.

Just imagining a place where insane monsters like that were regular mobs made my head go blank.

“Whew.”

I took a small breath and tightened my grip on my shield and sword. Its vicious appearance had me a little tense, but there was no need to be intimidated.

The Goblin Lord on the first floor had been bigger, and this Werewolf didn't even have a weapon.

Considering the length of my sword, our overall reach should've been similar. It was just the right distance to close in, fight, and pull back again.

Unlike the Goblin Lord, it supposedly had fewer patterns for summoning regular mobs, so I could fight without holding back.

-Tap!

I sprinted toward the center of the boss room, where the Werewolf stood.

Thanks to my increased Agility stat, my running speed had long surpassed human limits.

The distance closed in no time, and the Werewolf, having noticed me, drew back its arm to attack.

It had pulled its arm back a beat early, anticipating when I'd enter its range.

I'd heard the Werewolf liked to attack from maximum range, relying on its fast reaction speed.

Naturally, I'd already thought of a way to exploit that attack pattern.

-Whoosh!

Just before entering the Werewolf's range, I stopped and grabbed the shield strapped to my arm, then hurled it.

The shield struck the Werewolf square in the face as it prepared to attack.

-Smash!

Hit by the flying shield, the Werewolf abandoned its attack and clutched its face.

I slipped one step farther into its reach and used the attack skill Brandish to slash its leg.

Slash! Foul-smelling blood sprayed out as the Werewolf staggered. The strike had gone deeper than I'd expected.

I pulled my sword free, then used Sword Charge on the Werewolf's shoulder.

-Crunch!

The blade buried itself deep as the charge effect triggered. It felt good, but it hadn't been a critical hit.

The Werewolf's defense was weaker than I'd expected. Or maybe my attack power was just too high.

Either way, it was a pleasant miscalculation. I'd landed two heavy hits right from the start.

-Grrrrrk!

The Werewolf glared at me with furious, flashing eyes.

“What the fuck are you looking at, you mutt?”

I snapped back and tried to pull out the sword lodged in its shoulder so I could attack again.

“...Huh?”

The sword wouldn't come out. The Werewolf's shoulder muscles flexed and held it in place.

What the hell? The blade was stuck between its muscles, so I couldn't pull it out. What a joke.

-Whoosh!

As though the sword in its shoulder didn't hurt at all, the Werewolf swung its claws at me while I stood there flustered.

The surprise threw off my timing. I couldn't dodge this.

I raised my shield to block its claws... Ah, fuck. I'd thrown my shield earlier.

-Bang!

My skull rattled from the impact, and my body flew through the air for a moment.

* * *

This was the second time since Lobo and Blanca.

The second time I'd forgotten I'd thrown my shield and tried to block, only to get smacked for it.

-Thud!

The Werewolf's powerful claw strike sent me spinning once through the air before I hit the ground.

The moment I realized I had no shield, I shifted my arms and avoided getting torn apart by its claws.

Still, the blow had hit me squarely, and my vision swam. And my arm... It wasn't broken, was it?

“Ugh, my arm. Fuck, my arm.”

The curse that slipped out sounded like some stupid joke. At least my tongue was still working fine.

My arm moved well enough too. That was probably thanks to my boosted defense, including Earth Spirit's Blessing.

-Grrrrr!

As if it wouldn't give me time to drink a potion, the Werewolf charged at me at incredible speed.

It had been walking around on two legs just fine, but now it ran on all fours. Was that some instinct coming from its dog head?

Of course, I'd seen this charge pattern in the strategy posts too. I pulled out a new sword from my inventory and rushed at it.

-Tap!

Just before the Werewolf could stab me with its extended claws, I jumped straight up.

Then I drove the sword I held in a reverse grip with both hands into the Werewolf's back.

The strike, carrying my entire weight and the force of the fall, sank in deep.

-Graaaaaah!

The Werewolf screamed and thrashed around. But just like before, the deeply embedded sword wouldn't come out.

I was starting to understand. The Werewolf's muscles weren't just packed tight. The muscle itself was incredibly hard.

It was better to think of the sword as being clamped in a press than lodged between muscles.

Even the Open Community strategy posts said that since its body was so tough, it was better to fight it with slashes and blunt strikes rather than thrusts.

If I hadn't ignored that advice because I thought my stats would make it irrelevant, I probably wouldn't have gotten hit for nothing.

“Hup.”

Instead of forcing the sword out, I leaped away from the Werewolf and opened up the distance.

I'd left two weapons embedded in the Werewolf, but I had more than enough spares.

This was starting to look a lot like the first-floor boss battle, but that was fine.

If it played out like that fight, I'd win in the end.

* * *

The Werewolf's claw attacks couldn't easily break through my defense, but my swords easily pierced its defense.

On top of that, I already knew most of the Werewolf's attack patterns.

At this rate, I was sure to win without much trouble. There was only one variable.

-Awooooooo!!

With two swords still stuck in its body, the Werewolf let out a loud howl.

Then two Kobolds riding wolves emerged from a dark corner of the boss room.

They were Kobold Riders, elite monsters summoned by the Werewolf, and the main regular mobs in this boss battle.

But why were they called Kobold Riders? If they rode wolves, shouldn't they be Wolf Riders?

With that naming logic, a human riding a dragon would be called a Human Rider.

No, that wasn't important right now.

Unlike the Goblins, whose weapons had been completely random, the Kobold Riders were all armed with halberds.

They looked like weapons made by combining a spear and an axe. They could both thrust and slash, and they had plenty of reach to boot.

They'd be pretty powerful if they built up momentum with the wolves' fast movement speed, but against me? Not so much.

-Tatadadak!

The summoned Kobold Riders began charging at high speed. I immediately raised my shield.

-Whoosh!

I dodged one halberd swinging for my head, then blocked the next one thrusting toward me with my shield.

-Clang.

The attack carried far less weight than I'd expected. I could probably just ignore this much.

I dashed past the two Kobold Riders and charged at the Werewolf, which stood growling with its claws raised.

The Kobold Riders were fast and their charges were powerful, but I'd heard that once you deflected an attack like this, there was a long delay before their next one.

In that case, I just had to trust my speed, shake them off, and focus solely on the boss, the Werewolf.

As I rushed in, the Werewolf swung its claws wide as if trying to shake me off.

-Screeech!

Now that I was prepared to face it, blocking was easy, though my shield got scratched up.

I used Sword Charge again for a thrusting attack. This time, I managed to bury the sword in the Werewolf's thigh.

Since it would be hard to pull out anyway, I let go of the sword and switched weapons. At the same time, I stepped on the embedded blade and jumped into the air.

Using the sword stuck in its shoulder as a handle, I spun around and grabbed onto the Werewolf's back.

Then I pulled out the [Hawk Dagger], which had served me so well in the first-floor boss battle, and repeatedly stabbed it in the back.

-Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!

Because the dagger was short, it didn't get caught in its muscles easily even when I drove it in, making it easy to pull back out.

Once I got into position like this, I could land a flurry of attacks without trouble.

Grabbing onto its back and attacking with a dagger seemed to be becoming my main strategy. Maybe I should get Dagger Mastery someday.

-Screech!

The Werewolf let out a scream that didn't sound wolf-like at all. As if it had heard that, a Kobold Rider came charging from afar.

“Ah, that's pretty fast.”

I kicked off the Werewolf's back and landed on the ground, then rushed at the Kobold Rider charging in with its halberd extended.

I adjusted my height with a jump to dodge the halberd thrust, then drove my knee forward in a counterattack aimed at the Kobold's face.

-Crunch!

A red effect burst out with the sound of a watermelon breaking, and the Kobold's face was smashed apart by a critical hit.

Looking at the result, though, that counter knee strike had been a mistake.

Because I'd jumped for the knee strike, I couldn't properly dodge the attack from the other Kobold Rider charging in behind it.

-Slash!

My thigh was lightly cut. It wasn't a serious wound thanks to my high defense, but I'd taken damage for no reason.

“Ugh, fuu...”

Since I'd been cut in midair, my landing was awkward and unsteady. At that moment, the Werewolf whose back I'd shredded charged at me again.

The timing was a little bad, but I knew all its patterns anyway. I raised my shield, anticipating the claw attack that would follow.

Then I noticed something strange about the Werewolf's condition.

A vicious red glow shone in its eyes, and its muscles had swelled even larger.

“Shit, fu-”

What came at me wasn't its claws, but the Werewolf's wide-open jaws.

-Crunch!

The Werewolf, now in a Berserk state, bit down hard on my shoulder and chest.

Footnotes:

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