WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Irevi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Alone Against the Tower ◈
Chapter 71: The Rival
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We'd never properly traded blows before, but this female knight was disgustingly strong.
There was a reason I'd immediately decided to run. The gap between us was so wide that even running away hadn't been an option.
Of course, my stats hadn't improved drastically since then, so under normal circumstances, this was a fight I could never win.
-Kwaang!
The instant I blocked Mercedes's sideways swing, an absurdly powerful shock ran through my entire body.
I'll say it again, I blocked it. It wasn't as if I'd simply taken the hit defenselessly. I'd properly raised my sword and stopped it.
"Fuck...!"
Yet it didn't feel like I'd blocked it at all. I activated [Sensory Enhancement] and steadied myself.
Then I stomped forward to close the distance and immediately counterattacked.
I swung my sword in a concise motion.
It was a simple move, but one that made it easy to transition into attacks from many different angles.
It was a Sword Path that accounted for the opponent's reactions and responses in advance. Whether they blocked or dodged, I could follow up precisely.
But Mercedes responded in a way that effortlessly exceeded my expectations.
-Whoosh.
The motion of thrusting her sword was completely ordinary. From that angle, all she could do was a simple counter.
-Kwaang!
Yet despite being a simple counter, it carried abnormal speed and power. My body tilted.
Mercedes swung her sword again without stopping. I quickly raised mine and blocked it.
Even so, despite blocking it properly, I was shoved far back.
And that wasn't the end.
-Kwa-kang!
I'd clearly been pushed far away, yet she closed the distance in an instant and smashed her sword into mine.
My palms buzzed. If my grip had been even a little weaker, I would've dropped my sword.
-Kaga-gak, kagak!
Our swords locked as we unfolded our respective Sword Paths, each aiming for the other's throat.
At times like this, the moment the balance of power broke, one side would immediately take a decisive blow. Why the hell was this bitch so strong?
From her stance, she looked like she was only using her wrist, yet the weight behind her sword was no joke.
"Pathetic."
Mercedes lowered her stance in one smooth motion, shifting her center of gravity.
The sword bearing down from above suddenly drove downward. I quickly adjusted my grip to respond, but...
-Kwa-gak!
The moment she swung her sword upward, the massive impact sent me into the air.
"Shit."
I spat out a curse and twisted my body as much as I could in midair, preparing for her pursuit.
But no attack came. Mercedes instead stepped back and shook her sword.
-Thud.
I landed and cursed to myself again.
This pointy-eared bitch really thought I was a complete joke.
Mercedes had been fighting me with just one hand this entire time.
When she first moved her hand behind her back, I thought she was drawing a secondary weapon. Instead, she had simply put it behind her back.
Then she came at me like this, saying she'd show me the difference in our levels. What a fucking joke.
"Seriously, why does this damn Tower have no sense of fairness?"
I'd thought my swordsmanship had improved a lot, but I was no match for that shameless bitch.
[Intermediate Swordsmanship Lv. 4]
There couldn't be any Challenger on the lower floors with a higher swordsmanship skill than mine, so what the hell made her so strong?
"Short-lived races truly are short-sighted. Did you really believe you could defeat me?"
Mercedes approached with her sword hanging at her side, throwing out an obvious provocation.
"Of course. I'm not someone who gives up as easily as your prince."
Even as she said that, she probably knew that this wasn't all the strength I had, that I was still holding back.
I hadn't yet revealed my unconventional fighting style of switching between different weapons.
It wasn't as though I intended to win with swordsmanship alone this time.
I already knew she wasn't someone I could beat while conserving my strength.
"Those words won't do you any favors, human."
Mercedes frowned at my provocation, stomped forward, and swung her sword diagonally.
-Bwoooook!
The sword grazing over my head tore through the air with a ripping sound. It was ridiculous.
But I was starting to get used to it. The Sword Paths she could use with one hand behind her back were limited.
And now that I was at it, unconventional Weapon Mastery wasn't all I had.
I had a few more tricks up my sleeve. Like this.
[Hysterical Strength]
-Kang!
My sword, swung after activating Hysterical Strength, knocked Mercedes's sword away.
* * *
Hysterical Strength was a passive skill I'd acquired during the boss fight on the second floor.
Its description was incredibly vague. It increased the power of attacks made with all my strength.
There weren't even any numbers. My attacks got stronger if I used all my strength?
I'd never once felt the skill's effects after acquiring it. Its true value only appeared after it passed a certain level.
-Kang!
Perhaps she'd never imagined her sword could be knocked away, because Mercedes's expression hardened at once.
Naturally. To her, it would feel as if my strength had suddenly increased.
And it had.
Once Hysterical Strength passed a certain level, it gained an active-use option. Its effect was a momentary increase to a selected stat.
It was a one-time buff skill that consumed MP, and honestly, its efficiency wasn't great.
Still, by using it at a decisive moment to boost a stat, I could throw my opponent off.
[Hysterical Strength]
After knocking aside Mercedes's sword, I used Hysterical Strength once more.
This time, I boosted my Agility.
I swung my sword at Mercedes's exposed torso, far faster than usual.
-Kagak!
Mercedes blocked even that, but it wasn't a perfect block.
Her hand came free from behind her back, and her center of gravity shifted sharply, breaking her stance.
Of course, even if I continued the Sword Path in this state, it would be difficult to land an effective hit.
This was the moment to bring out my trump card.
"Got you."
I pulled a hand axe from my inventory and swung it at Mercedes's ear.
* * *
After learning Mana Attunement through my training with Eleanor, I'd become able to use Hysterical Strength much more freely.
That was because I could sense mana moving through my body, which let me roughly grasp the principles behind Hysterical Strength.
It worked by channeling mana into specific muscles to produce explosive force.
Once I understood the principle, adapting it was easy, and applying it to real combat wasn't difficult either.
-Slash!
The hand axe slashed across the elf's characteristically long ear. It wasn't a deep wound.
Still, a wound was a wound. I'd landed a proper hit.
I'd landed a hit by exploiting an opening against someone I couldn't even properly run away from before.
"Heh."
It had been so long since I'd felt this thrill that a laugh escaped me on its own. This was incredible.
I couldn't stop now.
I couldn't settle for just this after forcing an opening. I pressed the attack without pause.
Weapons poured out of my inventory as I continued attacking. Swords, spears, axes, hammers, even iron balls.
-Kang-kang-kang-kang-kang-kagang-kaga-kang-kang!!
I unleashed the Weapon Mastery and martial arts I'd trained all this time without pause.
"You...!"
Using Hysterical Strength had benefits beyond simply boosting my stats.
By suddenly concentrating the enhancement on a particular stat, I made it impossible to predict the speed and power of my attacks.
Mercedes would naturally get a feel for it over time, but not right now.
-Kang!
I knocked Mercedes's sword upward as she desperately focused on defending, then swung a dagger at her completely exposed torso.
-Stab!
At last, a proper attack landed. Then I used a skill I hadn't used in a while.
[Lightning Charge]
-Crack!
Electricity flowed through the dagger, and Mercedes's expression twisted sharply.
The skill had originally only caused a slight tingling sensation, but its power had also greatly increased once I learned mana control.
But the embedded dagger wouldn't come out.
It wasn't the first time that had happened, so I let go of it and swung my hand axe.
-Grip!
Mercedes caught the hand axe in her bare hand. Her reaction was clearly faster than before.
Tch. Was my turn over already?
Still, this was pretty good. I lightly jumped back to create some distance.
"Kh..."
Mercedes groaned softly and pulled the dagger from her side. It seemed to have gone in deeper than I'd thought.
If she'd been wearing armor and carrying a shield like when we'd first met, that dagger probably wouldn't have pierced properly.
Underestimating me had resulted in an injury she couldn't ignore.
"Hey, say that again. What was that about me being pathetic?"
I returned the weapons I'd scattered around to my inventory and casually provoked her.
True to a High Elf's characteristically excessive pride, Mercedes's face twisted in an instant.
"You will regret those words."
-Rumble!
With a sound of thunder, a pure white light began to swirl around Mercedes's body. Mana Enhancement.
She was wearing a uniform with no defensive power whatsoever, but that no longer mattered the moment she used it.
Her attack power and defense had probably been amplified to a completely different level than before.
"Yeah, so you're entering phase two too, huh?"
In other words, the real fight began now.
Footnotes:
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