WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 60: Overprotection

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A week passed after that.

My swordsmanship training with Rizmel produced explosive results with every passing day.

Not only had my swordsmanship skill reached the intermediate level, but the levels of my other weapon skills had risen considerably as well.

That was because the "knack for using a sword" Rizmel taught me could be applied to other bladed weapons to some extent.

And swordsmanship wasn't just about using a sword. I also learned how to coordinate my muscles and control my breathing.

Naturally, that also led to the growth of my Unarmed Combat skill. My Shieldsmanship and Throwing skills improved slowly alongside it.

-Slash!

With one light swing, my training sword put down the Shadow Doll in a single blow. The dolls had been strengthened since before, but every one of them still went down in one hit.

The days when my training sword's edge got chipped and broken were long gone. The rate at which my weapon's Durability fell had slowed considerably too.

By relearning how to use my whole body, even the stat gains from bodyweight training had become a little more efficient than before.

My Strength stat barely rose anymore, but my Agility stat had increased by a pretty meaningful amount.

Since I'd been using skills while helping with the Reconnaissance Team's missions, the One-Handed Sword Proficiency attached to my Mastery had risen quite a bit too.

It was tremendous growth, like the insane power-leveling spree from early on in Floor 1. I was very satisfied.

"It looks like swordsmanship has completely become a part of you now. You wouldn't be lacking even compared to our team members."

Rizmel was just as happy about my rapid growth as if it were her own. Her prickly attitude from our first meeting had completely disappeared by now.

"S-Still, don't get too full of yourself, okay? I only mean you're decent for a human...!"

She still acted like that sometimes, as if reminding me not to forget her whole shtick, but now it was just cute.

"Ah, is that so?"

I snickered and put away my training sword. Rizmel said that if I passed today's test, I'd move on to the advanced stage.

And the Shadow Doll I'd just defeated had been the final part of that test. In other words, I was moving on to advanced training now.

Still, I had no idea what I'd actually learn in the advanced stage.

I'd already learned all Dark Elf swordsmanship, including its applications, so it didn't seem like there were any techniques left to learn.

"You haven't learned everything yet. There are still a few moves left."

"What kind of moves?"

"Techniques you can't use in your current state. First, you need to open your eyes."

As Rizmel said that, she summoned the Shadow Dolls again. The dolls surrounded Rizmel and pointed their weapons at her.

"Watch carefully."

Rizmel drew her training sword, then closed her eyes.

-Whoosh!

A doll swung its weapon at Rizmel.

Even though she couldn't see, Rizmel dodged it easily. I wondered if her eyes were slightly open, but she dodged attacks coming from behind her the same way.

Of course, I could imitate that to some extent. I had the [Intuition] skill that detected attacks.

Still, I couldn't do it to that degree.

My Intuition could detect attacks from blind spots and warn me about distant attacks in advance. That was all.

But Rizmel was narrowly dodging attacks flying at her from every direction at once.

She was even counterattacking in the middle of it all.

-Slash!

A doll that could only be defeated by tracing a precise Sword Path was cut down in one strike.

Once Intuition grew further, I could probably manage evasions that precise too. But I couldn't do that just by leveling it up.

Intuition was a skill that detected danger. It didn't tell me where my enemies were or how I needed to attack to hit them.

"Ha, that's incredible."

So I was going to learn that now?

* * *

After demonstrating how to defeat a doll with her eyes closed, Rizmel asked me a question.

"You only look at your opponent with your eyes, right?"

Normally, I would've asked what else I was supposed to look with, but Rizmel's demonstration kept my mouth shut.

"But sight isn't the only sense you use to perceive the world. You can see the world with your ears and hands too."

I immediately understood what she meant. It was a common idea in all kinds of fiction.

Figuring out your surroundings through sound, or through the flow of air. Things like that.

But was that really possible? Then again, what wasn't possible when something like the Tower of Trials existed?

"It's nice that you catch on quickly. But that's not all. You weave all your senses together into one."

What Rizmel was talking about wasn't simply estimating an attack and dodging based on sound, or estimating it through the feel of wind touching your skin.

It was weaving all of that together to completely eliminate the blind spots around you, building a biological radar.

"Can you really do that just by trying?"

"Well, it'd be difficult for a rookie."

Rizmel curled one corner of her mouth upward and got on my nerves. Oh, so that was how she wanted to play it.

"Sure, then hurry up and teach me. I'll learn it quickly this time too."

Satisfied by my answer, Rizmel took a small crystal from her pocket and tossed it onto the shadow.

-Rumble!

This Shadow Magic was on an entirely different scale from what Rizmel had used to summon the dolls. Darkness swallowed the surroundings in an instant.

My vision had suddenly been cut off, and it caught me off guard. I tried using a skill I'd acquired recently.

[Light Gathering]

It was the skill that gathered tiny particles of light into my hand to create a lamp. The one I'd gotten after killing the Crystal Spider.

But even though I'd clearly used the skill, no cluster of light formed.

What? Was it broken?

The MP displayed in my Status Window had gone down, so it wasn't like the skill had failed to activate.

Could a skill fail after only eating up my MP?

After thinking about it for a moment, I quickly found the answer.

Come to think of it, this was a skill that gathered light, not one that created it.

That meant it was useless if there wasn't any light around at all. I was in complete darkness.

"Uh, hey, rookie. Could you say something? You were really startled when it suddenly went pitch-black, weren't you? You're not scared, are you?"

I'd only been quiet for a moment, and she was already saying all kinds of nonsense. Rizmel really was consistent in how she treated me.

"Do you think I'm an idiot? Just explain what this is. I'm not startled."

"Ah, r-right. It's not like I was worried or anything."

I could clearly hear her sigh of relief. Yeah, right. Rizmel seemed to be getting stranger by the day.

Rizmel had probably blocked my vision to develop my other senses. The problem was how exactly I was supposed to do that.

"Then, do your best from here on."

What was I supposed to do if she just told me to do my best and left me here?

* * *

For a moment, I thought Rizmel had really left me alone, but it seemed she was only giving me time to adjust.

[Rizmel's Selection Test (Intermediate) has begun.]

Along with the system notification, I heard the soft rustling sound that came when a Shadow Doll was summoned.

Judging by the sound, there was probably only one. It seemed I was supposed to fight without being able to see and develop my senses.

Come to think of it, Rizmel had said I could get hurt during advanced training. The doll's attack power wouldn't be enough to hurt me much, though.

-Shing.

I heard a sword being drawn in the pitch-black darkness. Holding my training sword, I slowly took my stance.

I didn't know about my other senses, but for now, I'd try to grasp the situation by relying on my hearing.

There was only one enemy, and I had help from Intuition, so I'd manage somehow. It wasn't as if I'd only fought them once or twice.

-Tap, tap, tap.

I heard the Shadow Doll's footsteps.

It was slightly to the right in front of me, moving at an ordinary speed. I could roughly estimate how long it would take to close the distance too.

The problem was that I had no idea how the doll would attack once it got close.

Since it had a sword, I could make some guesses, but I didn't even know whether it would attack from the left or right.

-Whoosh.

I heard a sword cutting through the air. At the same time, Intuition reacted. It was a downward slash aimed at my right shoulder.

-Clang!

I predicted the Sword Path and met it with my training sword. But the feel of our swords connecting was a little strange.

Ah, fuck. I got it.

This was a two-handed sword.

The moment I realized that, the doll twisted the angle of the sword it had locked against mine. It was a familiar deflection, but I didn't know what move would follow.

Then Intuition sent a tingling warning through my left cheek. I quickly lowered my stance.

-Whoosh!

The sound of a blade cutting the wind, followed by the sensation of air brushing past me. It passed right over my head.

If it fought like a Lizardman, blindly swinging around, I could've handled it somehow. But the doll's swordsmanship was too advanced to take lightly.

Then I just wouldn't give it a chance to use swordsmanship at all. Instead of defending and counterattacking, I'd take the initiative.

-Tap!

I took a deep step forward and gripped the blade of my training sword, taking a half-swording stance.

By nature, two-handed swordsmanship had certain ranges it could never cover.

Using the position of the two-handed sword that had passed over my head, I predicted the doll's stance and forcibly closed the distance to attack.

-Crack!

Because of the accuracy problem, the power of my attack was greatly reduced. But that was fine. I'd twist my sword from here and make a wide cut.

Then something hard struck my forehead.

-Smack!

"Urgh."

Had I been hit by the sword's pommel? How did it attack from that position? No, had I misjudged its stance from the beginning?

I heard the blade cutting through the air again. Relying on Intuition, I blocked the attack somehow.

But it was impossible to stop every move that followed.

-Smack! Thud!

In an instant, I took hits to my neck and shoulder. Right after that, the darkness lifted.

"Oh no. Rookie, are you okay?"

Rizmel ran toward me with a face full of worry.

Of course I was okay.

At most, I'd been clipped by the blade and bled a little. Why the fuck did she stop it?

Keep it going.

Footnotes:

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