WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 45: High Elf

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The factions available on the seventh floor were divided into three: High Elf, Dark Elf, and Kingdom Army.

According to Open Community statistics compiled a few years ago, their selection rates were 29%, 39%, and 32%, respectively.

The gap wasn't huge, but the High Elf faction had the lowest selection rate, while the Dark Elf faction had the highest.

Since each faction offered different quests and rewards, it was only natural for their selection rates to differ.

Still, the faction known to give the best rewards was the High Elf faction, which also had the lowest selection rate.

The guides I'd read also recommended choosing the High Elf faction for its great rewards.

So why was the High Elf faction, which offered the best rewards, the least popular?

A quick search for High Elves in the community gave me the answer.

[Author: Kwak Juyeong#1551]

[Title: Those fucking knife-ears need to go extinct, fuck]

(Photo)

Those fucking pointy-eared bastards jump every time they see me and reach for their bows.

I gave them gifts to raise our affinity, and they gave me these sour looks while saying they didn't understand human culture.

It was fucking annoying, but I still found their treasures, drove off the army, and did everything for them.

They'd call me a hero and throw around mother insults, then look disgusted the second I touched them. Fuck.

That High Elf knight bitch drew her sword the second I bumped shoulders with her, saying she knew humans would be like this. LOL.

I should've become a fire Mage. I'd have set the World Tree on fire.

Can't you change factions midway through? Fuck the rewards, I just want to join the Kingdom Army and wipe out these knife-ear bitches.

- LOL, you chose the LOL High Elf faction LOL.

- You only just found out forest elves have trash personalities? What the hell have you been doing instead of browsing the community? LOL.

- Hm, that didn't happen to me. Isn't your face the problem?

- You fucking bastard.

- "Sorry, I thought you were a lost orc or something."

- Those knife-ears say that to anyone who's even a little big. LOL.

- There's still an idiot getting baited by the rewards and choosing the High Elf faction. LOL.

That was it. The good rewards were secondary. High Elves were a race that made people feel like shit.

No matter how much people cooperated with them and built trust and affection, their particular attitude toward humans never seemed to improve.

Individual Non-Player Character traits varied somewhat by server, so maybe these were just complaints from a few unlucky Challengers.

[Real-time piece-of-shit elf from our server.jpg]

[That elf bitch treated me like a pervert. How bad is this?]

[These old-hag, flat-chested elf bitches are toxic as fuck.]

[Is it normal to want to throw every elf bastard into a gas chamber?]

But judging by the flood of posts insulting High Elves regardless of server, that didn't seem to be the case.

Even when I checked the records left by first-generation Challengers, the people who chose the Dark Elf faction seemed more satisfied.

So even if Tower 2661 had some unusual traits, it probably wouldn't be any different.

The elf man who drew a dagger and charged at me the moment he saw me proved it.

* * *

When people thought of elves, they imagined skilled archers and nimble bodies.

-Tap! Tap!

And apparently that wasn't wrong. The High Elf man closed the distance in an instant, moving as if gravity didn't apply to him.

That wasn't speed a Non-Player Character from the seventh floor should've been capable of.

Of course, I was also beyond seventh-floor specs, so it wasn't fast enough that I couldn't react.

I stored the [Death Knight Greatsword], which I'd been wielding with both hands, in my inventory, switched to a shield, and blocked the dagger.

-Clang!

He was fast, but the strike itself was incredibly light. Agility and strength should be closely connected, so was there some kind of trick behind it?

After batting his arm away with my shield, I casually reached out to subdue him.

The elf man took a quick step back, then pulled another dagger from his waist and aimed for my side.

He wasn't just fast. His reaction speed was impressive too.

I'd heard that because faction quests continued across different floors, some of the Non-Player Characters here had stats far beyond the seventh floor.

They called them elite Non-Player Characters, like elite monsters. Could this elf man be one of them?

-Snatch!

I caught the thrusting dagger with the hand on which I'd activated [Iron Wall].

I was wearing gloves, and [Iron Wall] helped too, so a feat like this wasn't difficult.

"W-What?!"

The elf man looked utterly shocked, as if he'd never imagined I would catch his dagger barehanded.

Even so, he still followed through with the dagger in his other hand. His focus in battle was incredible.

I gave the dagger I was holding a light tug, reached farther, grabbed his wrist, and twisted it.

-Crack!

The difference in strength between us was greater than that between an adult man and a child.

"Urgh!"

Naturally, his wrist twisted with virtually no resistance. The dagger fell from his hand.

I kicked the fallen dagger far away, then grabbed his shoulder with my other hand and twisted his arm too.

It was a restraint technique I'd learned while grappling with Snowfield Trolls on the fifth floor.

-Thud!

Keeping him in that hold, I slammed the subdued elf man into a nearby tree.

He kept struggling to break free, but with this much of a strength difference, how could he possibly manage that?

Before long, he gave up on physical resistance and began shouting curses instead.

"Ghk, ngh... Let me go, you filthy, ugly human! I won't forgive you!"

"Christ, elf bastards really are as rude as I'd heard."

"You trespassed into our territory, and you dare lecture anyone about manners?!"

Still, maybe because he was an elf by birth, even his curses were cute compared to the spicy mother insults Koreans threw around.

Well, I'd subdued him somehow. What was I supposed to do now?

He charged at me out of nowhere, so I'd restrained him first. But if I killed him like this, I'd make an enemy of the High Elf faction.

I'd naturally end up opposing the High Elves if I chose another faction, but I didn't want to cut down my options from the very beginning.

Considering the awful personalities of the High Elves I'd heard about in the community, letting him go probably wouldn't clear up the misunderstanding either.

-Creak!

Oops. I'd put too much strength into my hand while I was thinking. It looked like I'd completely dislocated his shoulder.

"Aaargh! Perit! Legor! Glaniel! Is nobody there?! Help me!"

The elf man was now openly screaming and struggling. This was getting pretty pathetic.

-Thud!

Then something heavy landed somewhere in the forest.

I turned my head to see what it was, but before I could, a booming voice that shook the forest reached my ears.

"Seventh Seat of the Pendula Knights, Perit Vetra! I am hereee!"

That was one of the names the elf man had cried out.

The next moment, something shot through the trees.

* * *

A figure charged at me with speed that couldn't even be compared to a sprinting Rune Bear.

What emerged was a blond Elf Knight encased head to toe in white armor.

-Clang!

The moment I hurriedly blocked the milky-white sword swung by the blond Elf Knight, I realized something was wrong.

What the hell? Why was this bastard so strong?

I quickly twisted my wrist and changed my sword's angle, aiming for the Elf Knight's neck.

At the same time, though, the Elf Knight shifted his sword with a flick of his wrist, knocking my strike away.

This standoff was bad. I quickly thrust the shield equipped in my other hand instead of my sword.

-Bang!

But my shield cut through empty air, while the Elf Knight's white shield struck my jaw instead.

What the hell? How did he swing his shield from that angle?

I kicked off the ground and leapt far back. The Elf Knight didn't follow up, instead glaring at me with his sword drawn.

His blond hair and pale skin weren't much different from the elf man groaning against the tree's.

But his features were rougher overall, giving him a far stronger, more macho impression.

No, it wasn't just his looks. He was physically much tougher too. My jaw still throbbed where his shield had struck me.

"You dared attack His Highness Elruion? I, Perit Vetra, won't let you get away with this!"

Maintaining the standoff with the Elf Knight, I operated the interface with my gaze and opened the Open Community.

Then I quickly searched keywords like "Perit Vetra," "Pendula Knights," and "Elruion."

The information I gathered at a glance told me my situation was seriously fucked.

The Pendula Knights were an order that included the High Elf faction's named Non-Player Characters, and their main duty was protecting the royal family.

Considering the title "Your Highness" and the order's role, the guy whose arm I'd mangled was probably the High Elf prince.

"Ha, fuck."

And the Elf Knight facing me was an elite Non-Player Character with stats far beyond the seventh floor.

For all intents and purposes, he was stronger than the seventh floor's boss.

Footnotes:

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