WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

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Chapter 46: The Difference Between a Warrior and a Knight

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Whenever I looked over the head of a Non-Player Character I had any kind of relationship with, hostile or friendly, a small Console appeared.

The Console above the High Elf Knight who had suddenly appeared was red.

A hostile relationship was normally marked by a yellow Console, but the color deepened depending on the level gap between us.

Yellow if they were lower level than me, orange if they were around my level or slightly stronger, and red if they were higher level.

They said that if the gap was extreme, it wouldn't be ordinary red, but a dark, murky shade.

Apparently, special skills or items could make the Console appear above monsters too, but that wasn't important right now.

"Why the hell is something like this showing up on Floor 7?"

The fact that it was red even when I looked at him meant this High Elf Knight was easily past the level-50 range.

Even if he was an elite Non-Player Character, why the hell was someone an ordinary Challenger on Floor 7 couldn't possibly beat here?

The only reason I could beat the living shit out of Choi Gilhyeon, a Ranker on Floor 25, was because he was trash at fighting.

This High Elf Knight might have worse stats than Choi Gilhyeon, but his actual skill was probably far better.

Could I win?

It had been a long time since I'd faced a crisis intense enough to put me this on edge. The fine hairs on my body stood on end, but my blood was boiling too.

If my opponent was this strong, there had to be that much more to gain from beating him.

"Hyaaah!"

The High Elf Knight moved first. With a loud battle cry, he charged with his shield leading the way.

His strength was no joke, but his agility was even more insane. In an instant, his shield was right in front of me.

-Bang!

I raised my own shield and met his Shield Bash head-on. It was just two shields colliding, yet the sound echoed throughout the forest.

Jesus Christ, was he a person or an eight-ton truck?

An ordinary Challenger on Floor 7 would've been sent flying with traffic accident-level injuries from that one Shield Bash.

Right after our shields collided, he drew his one-handed sword far back. Was it going to be a slash or a thrust? Either way, I had no intention of letting him go through with it.

I snapped out a low kick a beat ahead of him, aiming for his shin. Thud. His damn greaves were so sturdy that it barely did anything.

Fuck, this guy was high level and decked out in insanely good gear too.

Ignoring my low kick, he thrust his one-handed sword at me. I caught it with my sword and managed to turn it aside.

No. I only thought I had.

His sword tilted diagonally and shoved mine away. Then the thrust immediately turned into a slash aimed at my neck.

"Shit."

I cursed instinctively and dropped my stance in a hurry, barely dodging it. A few strands of hair were sliced off and scattered through the air.

Since I'd only barely avoided it, it took me a moment to get ready for the next attack.

The knight didn't miss that opening. His white shield slammed into me.

-Bang!

I quickly used [Iron Wall] to lessen the impact, but my balance broke and I was knocked backward.

"Hyaaah!"

The knight brought his sword down at my tilted body, and I quickly rolled to the side to avoid it.

It had only been a few seconds of trading blows, but I was certain.

His stats being far beyond what a Floor 7 enemy should have weren't the real problem.

Forget stats. The bastard was just fucking good at sword fighting.

* * *

-Clang! Clang! Clang!

I blocked and countered the Elf Knight's relentless sword strikes with my sword and shield, without even a moment to breathe.

"You dared covet our forest with skills no better than that, human swordsman? Pathetic!"

I could somehow block and dodge, but I couldn't turn the fight around at all. I couldn't shut that flapping mouth of his either.

"Are you fighting with your tongue, you fucking elf prick? Keep yapping and I'll smash every tooth out of your mouth!"

-Bang!

With my shield raised, I rammed into him and barely managed to force him back, buying myself a chance to catch my breath.

"Huff, huff. Shit."

My breathing had grown rough, though I wasn't panting yet. The Elf Knight, on the other hand, was breathing easy.

It wasn't because I had less stamina than him. I was using more because I had to fend off his one-sided assault.

Not much time had passed, but we'd already exchanged dozens of blows.

By then, I was starting to get a sense of his stats. Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be much difference in our physical abilities.

I had more strength. His agility was a little... no, if we were talking pure agility, we were probably about equal.

His reaction speed and judgment, though, were better. He kept up perfectly with my movements even with the assistance of [Intuition].

And finally, the most important thing.

Skill.

He was overwhelmingly better.

The gap between us in handling a sword and shield was just too great.

My weapon skills had been built up fighting Lizardmen on Floor 3.

They were imitation techniques, copied by watching Lizardman weapon skills and refined with my own know-how.

Compared to an idiot spear technician like Choi Gilhyeon, they were overwhelming, but the system still judged them as [Novice Swordsmanship].

For a jobless bum who hadn't even exercised properly, let alone learned swordsmanship, it was an incredible accomplishment.

But it still didn't come close to the real swordsmanship he used.

The depth I could feel in every technique and movement was on another level. It was like the difference between a street brawl and professional martial arts.

The only reason we could even trade blows was because I had the advantage in strength and overall stats.

Fuck, wasn't this absurdly unfair?

How was a Challenger on Floor 7 supposed to take something like this down? This wasn't a gap you could overcome just by forming a party.

There hadn't been many sword-and-shield warriors among the Lizardmen, so I'd wanted to fight this guy and develop my techniques.

But this was impossible. At my level, I couldn't steal his techniques. Barely holding out was hard enough.

"Yeah, fuck it. Let's stop."

I caught my breath and reset my stance as I muttered that.

"Hah. I can't even laugh, human swordsman. Does this look like a fight you can simply stop because you want to?"

I charged at the Elf Knight as he spoke as if I were ridiculous. My sword collided with his shield.

"Do you still not understand? Your savage, beastlike swordsmanship cannot compare in the slightest to the swordsmanship I, Perit, have honed!"

"Yeah, asshole. You're really fucking good at swordsmanship."

"If you understand that, why don't you surrender quietly and beg for your life instead of continuing to attack so arrogantly?"

The Elf Knight shouted at me. Most of what he said was right, so I had no intention of arguing.

I admitted it too. I couldn't beat him through swordsmanship.

But he'd said it himself. Savage and beastlike.

My techniques were stolen from Lizardmen, and Lizardman warriors were actually far more savage than this.

They didn't just use weapons. They kicked with their legs, and they swung their tails to attack.

When things got really desperate, they even tore into their enemies with their sawlike teeth.

-Clack.

I grabbed the Elf Knight's shield, which had blocked my sword, and vaulted over it.

[Iron Wall]

At the same time, I activated [Iron Wall]. Its effect was to harden part of the body.

And there wasn't any particular limit on which part I could harden.

This time, I activated [Iron Wall] on my teeth.

I lunged over the shield and bit down on the High Elf's nose with all my strength.

-Crunch!

These were teeth durable enough to chew pebbles in a bid to raise my Spirit Affinity.

I'd strengthened them again with a skill, so tearing off a High Elf's nose was nothing.

"Aaargh!"

He probably hadn't expected an attack like this in the middle of a sword fight. Thanks to that, I landed a clean hit.

I swung my sword hard at him as he staggered badly after having his nose torn off.

Maybe his swordsmanship had been drilled into his body, because even in that state, he blocked my sword without much trouble.

But I'd already given up on beating him with swordsmanship.

Yeah, only beating him with "swordsmanship."

"Inventory."

I opened my inventory and quickly switched equipment. The weapon in my right hand changed from a one-handed sword to a spear.

With an utterly impossible-to-predict weapon switch, I could pull off his technique of turning a slash into a thrust in an instant another way.

[+5 Steel Spear] shot forward like an arrow, slipped past his shield, and stabbed into his chest.

-Clang!

His sturdy armor kept the damage from going in properly, but that was fine. That was only the first hit.

-Clang! Clang! Clang!

The Elf Knight must have fought against spears often too, because he instantly changed his stance and began blocking my attacks.

But I wasn't a swordsman or a spearman. I was just a warrior.

I opened my inventory again and switched equipment, changing my spear into an axe.

-Clang!

"Urgh!"

Unable to adapt to the suddenly changing attack patterns, his defense gradually began to falter.

This time, from axe to blunt weapon, blunt weapon to shortsword, shortsword to longsword, and longsword back to spear.

Then I mixed in the hand axe and dagger strapped at my waist, and more and more wounds began to appear on the Elf Knight's body.

"Y-You...! Just how many weapons can you wield...?!"

The Elf Knight was gradually being pushed back. He shouted as he widened the distance between us.

Then, the next moment.

-Crack!

"Ghk!"

A fist-sized iron ball slammed into his flapping mouth.

Daggers, shortswords, longswords, greatswords, short spears, long spears, axes, blunt weapons. Besides the weapon skills I learned from Lizardmen, I had another specialty.

Throwing, which I'd steadily trained ever since fighting the Goblin Lord on Floor 1.

"I told you I'd smash every tooth out of your mouth if you didn't shut up."

An impossible-to-dodge throw that changed trajectory at will struck the Elf Knight square in the face.

Footnotes:

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