WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 47: Defeat Event

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I'd loved throwing stones since I was a kid.

It wasn't like I had some story about being a baseball prodigy. I just loved tossing rocks into the sky.

Even now, I had no idea why I liked it so much. Maybe I wanted to knock on Heaven's gate with a pebble.

Either way, throwing, something I'd enjoyed since childhood, had become my greatest weapon.

-Bang!

The iron ball slicing through the air suddenly changed direction in front of the Elf Knight's shield and struck his thigh.

That made three already. The Elf Knight kept shifting his body and working his shield, trying to block the iron balls.

But against my varied Throwing attacks, which could freely change trajectories, he hadn't blocked a single one. All he could do was take the hits.

"Ghk! You cowardly bastard!"

The Elf Knight shouted at me as I kept my distance and threw iron balls. Guess he didn't have much else to say.

"Uoooooh!!"

After getting hit by the fourth iron ball, the Elf Knight apparently couldn't contain his anger any longer. He thrust out his shield and charged at me.

His swordsmanship was overwhelmingly better than mine, but swordsmanship didn't mean shit when he charged in that stupidly.

I dodged his rush, pulled an axe from my inventory, and swung hard at his flank.

-Clang!

The Elf Knight skillfully used his shield to block the attack again, but there was nothing he could do about the follow-up.

I pulled a one-handed sword from my inventory, stepped in, and swung at his neck.

-Clang!

His armor kept the blow from landing with its full force, but it definitely connected.

I kicked off the ground and opened the distance again, this time pulling out a hand axe.

The Elf Knight had adapted somewhat to my weapon-switching strategy by now and steadied himself, expecting another axe attack.

But that was the wrong choice. I knew how to use Throwing, but it wasn't like I was playing baseball.

Why did you think iron balls were the only things I could throw, you fucking knife-eared bastard?

-Whoosh, thunk!

The hand axe I hurled with all my strength buried itself in the bridge of his already mangled nose.

"Ghk!"

It wasn't a critical hit, but it was still devastating enough. His opening was completely exposed.

Daggers, shortswords, longswords, greatswords, shields, short spears, long spears, blunt weapons, axes, throwing weapons. Those weren't even all the attack patterns I had.

I'd also trained to use dual weapons, so I could create new patterns by wielding each weapon in either hand.

I could throw melee weapons in different ways and along different trajectories to add even more patterns.

I could mix in close-quarters fighting and grappling, too, and I still had a few tricks I hadn't revealed.

I'd been tense, thinking he was absurdly strong for an enemy on Floor 7, some shamelessly overpowered bastard.

But once I faced him properly, I crushed him without letting him land a single effective hit.

As expected, all the effort I'd put in hadn't betrayed me.

I'd won.

* * *

The situation had completely changed since the start of the fight.

The Elf Knight, who had calmly pressured me with his superior skill, was now a battered wreck, panting heavily.

Meanwhile, I, who had desperately focused on defense while gasping for breath, stood there without a single scratch.

The damage I'd taken from his shield had completely healed through [Combat Healing], and my HP was full.

Anyone could see the outcome had already been decided, yet the Elf Knight still maintained his stance with fighting spirit blazing in his eyes.

"I, I am... Perit Vetra, Seventh Seat of the Pendula Knights! I won't fall to evil humans like you!"

"What the fuck? You attacked first, so who are you calling evil humans?"

"Are you going to play dumb after attacking His Highness Elruion? As expected of a human who wields the power of darkness, you have no shame!"

The Elf Knight kept yapping, but his legs were already shaking. Tsk, were all High Elf bastards like this?

I had no idea why he kept spouting bullshit about evil humans and the power of darkness.

If I were really some evil bastard, I'd have already cut off their heads and started juggling them.

Maybe their hatred for humans was so strong that they couldn't judge the situation properly.

Or maybe that elf called Elruion, whose shoulder I'd dislocated, was this guy's personal rage button.

Either way, joining the High Elf faction seemed difficult now.

Not because I'd beaten these guys up. I just wasn't confident I could ever be on the same side as them.

I'd only exchanged a few words with them, and I already felt like I was going to die of frustration. How the hell was I supposed to work with people like this?

"Yeah, yeah. I don't care anymore."

I raised my sword, intending to kill the Elf Knight and finish this.

That was when it happened.

"!"

The tingling sensation unique to the [Intuition] skill around my temple warned me.

-Swish, smack!

My hand moved half on instinct, and I caught an arrow. It had flown straight at my temple.

What the hell? Where had that come from?

No enemy was in sight. It had clearly been fired from quite far away, but was that even possible in this forest packed with trees?

-Screee!

A strange cry rang out from the direction the arrow had come from. I'd heard that sound a few times during my military service.

"An eagle?"

Soon, rustling came from all around as the archer and the source of the eagle cry appeared at the same time.

"Halt there, human intruder! You dared to set foot alone in our Great Forest!"

A male elf archer carrying a bow and accompanied by a massive hawk, along with two Elf Knights, one male and one female, in armor similar to the one I'd defeated.

And one High Elf woman holding a wooden staff and leading a cluster of sparkling lights.

Consoles indicating hostility floated above all their heads. Except for one, they were all orange.

"You've done well, Perit. You protected His Highness admirably."

The Console above one of the two Elf Knights, a female knight who had drawn a silver one-handed sword, was... black.

"This is insane."

A color darker than dark, completely black, meant she was at a level far beyond mine.

It looked like this fucking Tower wanted to kill me no matter what.

* * *

If it had been a moderately strong enemy, I might've been excited, thinking a good opportunity for growth had come along.

But this wasn't that. The pitch-black Console over the female Elf Knight's head looked like a symbol of death itself.

Just how big did the level difference have to be for a Console to turn that black? Was she around Level 100?

If I ran without looking back, could I somehow escape?

No. Both that knight I'd beaten down and the prince were pretty fast. It was probably a racial trait of High Elves.

Considering that, there was no way I could outrun them. I didn't even know this forest's terrain.

Fuck, what was I supposed to do?

I cautiously tightened my grip on my sword, thinking I might be able to land one hit if I took them by surprise.

"Judging by your eyes, you don't intend to surrender quietly. Shall we subdue you first and hear the details afterward?"

-Rumble!

Thunder suddenly rang out, and a white light began to swirl around the female Elf Knight's body. It was a skill I knew.

Mana Enhancement, an active buff skill considered one of the three must-have skills for warrior-type classes.

It explosively increased every stat and attack power in proportion to Intelligence. There probably wasn't a Challenger who didn't know it.

Had I fucking moved to Floor 70 instead of Floor 7? Why was a Non-Player Character using something like that?

I controlled my inventory with my gaze and cautiously switched to my full equipment set.

Then, without taking my eyes off the silver sword, I slowly shifted my feet.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Fuck, I was screwed.

The female Elf Knight's fingers twitched, and in an instant, her blade was right in front of my eyes.

-Shrrrk!

Something pitch-black shot out from somewhere, wrapped around the blade, and held it in place.

What was this now?

"All right, that's enough."

I turned toward the unfamiliar voice behind me and saw an elf who had been standing there for who knew how long.

Not just any elf, but a member of one of the three major powers on Floor 7. A Dark Elf woman with dark skin.

"Seriously, those forest bitches are always like this. They never think about what they did wrong, and the moment they're annoyed, they pull their swords first."

The Dark Elf woman, who'd said something I very, very much agreed with, smiled faintly and placed a hand on the ground.

The shadows beneath her feet bubbled and boiled, then spat out several figures.

The ones emerging from the shadows were a group of Dark Elves with skin as dark as the woman's.

"Nice to meet you, nameless human swordsman. I've been watching you fight. You're quite skilled, aren't you?"

"What?"

"I was going to step in and help if it looked like you were about to lose to that obnoxious bastard, but I never expected you to win."

As she spoke, the Dark Elf woman pointed at the High Elf Knight whose face was a complete mess.

"Still, thanks to that bitch, I got another chance to make a stylish entrance."

My mind raced. The Dark Elf woman's words made me understand the situation at once.

Fuck, was this a forced defeat event from the beginning?

I'd won a battle I was supposed to lose, and that was why everything had gone wrong!

Footnotes:

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