WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

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◈ Alone Against the Tower ◈

Chapter 73: Phase

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I heard that elves' ears were quite sensitive.

Not physically sensitive, but emotionally. Touching them carelessly was supposedly a major breach of etiquette.

Even the Dark Elves, who were quite friendly and open toward humans, seemed a little reluctant to let anyone touch them.

Eleanor, on the other hand, kept offering their ears for me to touch, but I figured that was because they were a pervert.

So how did High Elves see it? An old community post I'd read made that pretty clear.

[Author: Park Jinho#1556]

[Title: Why are these fucking elf bastards losing their shit?]

(Photo)

They went completely nuts just because I touched an ear once. Fucking crazy bastards.

They've been glaring at me for days like I'm some child molester. What do I do?

Is touching an ear really that serious? Is this my fault?

- Yeah, it is your fault for choosing the fucking fucking fucking fucking.

- What do you mean, what do you do? Would you forgive a rapist for doing that?

- Is this really serious enough to bring up rape?

- You clearly haven't experienced those forest elf bastards' shitty personalities yet lol.

- Don't you know even busty elf ladies won't let you touch their ears carelessly?

- But if you molested those flat-chested forest elf bitches, isn't that basically child sexual assault?

- Forest Elves are slender, you fucking idiot.

- Pedo spotted.

- Excuse you, I prefer "child lover."

On the community, High Elf ears were treated like a button that instantly sent their favorability crashing into the abyss if touched.

Mercedes had certainly made an unusually uncomfortable face when my attack had grazed her ear earlier.

And now, I had cut that ear off completely.

Slash!

Her ear was fully severed, and the blade sank all the way into the shoulder beneath it.

Mana Enhancement kept it from becoming a critical, fatal wound, but it was still an effective hit she couldn't ignore.

But immediately after I landed the blow, Mercedes's sword shot toward me like a ray of light.

Stab!

After my forearm, I was stabbed fairly deeply near the right side of my chest. I quickly moved my feet and escaped her attack range.

I thought she would immediately pursue me, but unexpectedly, she didn't.

Mercedes held her severed ear in one hand, panting with an intensely twisted expression.

That wasn't all. Her jaw trembled as she gritted her teeth, and the sword hilt clenched in her hand rattled.

"Y-you, you human...!"

She was even stuttering badly. There was no way she was panting now because she lacked stamina.

That bitch was fucking furious.

Usually, there were two patterns an opponent who was pissed off in a situation like this could show.

The first was having the blood rush to their head, losing all judgment, and charging in blindly.

That would be best for me. My tactic of creating openings with waves of junk items was reaching its limit.

My inventory might have unlimited space, but the items inside it were definitely finite.

All the armor with [Durability] fully enhanced, which made for the most effective obstacles, had become complete rags.

Many of the other junk items had been smashed so badly that I couldn't even retrieve them.

And she was gradually adapting to my [Light Gathering] decoys too, so it would be a problem if she didn't weaken soon.

The second possibility was that anger would trigger some kind of awakening, causing them to draw out hidden power.

Rumble!

Judging by the mana light rising from her body suddenly turning violent, it seemed like I'd gotten the latter.

Now she even had a third phase?

* * *

Mercedes's power, as she began to shine madly in both senses of the phrase, was tremendously strong.

"I'll kill you, I'll kill you, human bastard, I'll kill you!"

Boom! Kaboom! Crash!

Every sword strike split the ground and unleashed shockwaves. The items scattered around us were smashed into pieces.

Both her speed and strength had grown greater than before, and naturally, it was hard for me to remain unharmed while directly exposed to her attacks.

Before I even had time to recover from the wounds I'd taken earlier, more injuries kept appearing on my body.

But none of them were fatal.

"You missed, didn't you? Can't hit me, can you?"

"I'll kill you!"

Mercedes had gotten so worked up that she'd lost her composure and was charging in like an idiot.

Her power and explosiveness had increased, but the sharpness of her technique, the important part, had greatly diminished.

Just as Choi Gilhyeon, the Spear Technician, had shown, no matter how good someone's specs were, if their attack pattern was simple, they were just an easy mark.

Kra-boom!

Of course, unlike Choi Gilhyeon, this one was still hard to ignore even while charging in like an idiot.

Compared to Choi Gilhyeon, who could only thrust, she was displaying master-level skill even while fighting as though she couldn't see anything but me.

"Does losing one ear piss you off that much? More than hearing someone insult your prince? Hmm, doesn't that disqualify you as a knight?"

"You disgusting wretch! How dare you discuss the qualifications of a knight with that vulgar tongue of yours!"

"Hmm, haven't you done more disgusting things? Do pale-eared bastards have double standards as a passive skill?"

So I kept getting under her skin, even while taking injuries. I couldn't let her regain her composure.

"A mere human, how dare you...!"

But no matter how I looked at it, her anger was gradually subsiding. Meanwhile, the wounds on my body kept increasing.

My remaining HP was around 60%. It was serious that I had fallen this low without taking a clean hit.

A critical-level attack could take over half my HP in one blow.

The one fortunate thing was that her condition was visibly getting worse.

That was the price of forcibly raising Mana Enhancement's output, along with the poison I'd scattered by throwing items around.

I'd mixed some poison-type potions obtainable on the sixth floor among the items and continuously scattered them around.

Naturally, poison spread like this wasn't very potent, and I was also harmed by being inside its range.

These weren't items meant to be used this way in the first place.

But I had resistance skills at an abnormal level for my level and specs, so that was fine.

"Huff... Huff..."

Now Mercedes was breathing heavily not from anger, but because her condition had worsened.

Her expression was still distorted, though, so she didn't seem to have fully regained her senses yet.

"Human bastard... I won't let you get away with this...!"

I sensed it. This was the moment to land the decisive blow on that elf bitch.

Even if her condition worsened further, it would be hard to win if she regained her calm.

Tap!

I amplified my Agility with [Hysterical Strength], then charged straight at her with sword and shield in hand.

Mercedes rushed toward me as well, her eyes gleaming.

Her speed was terrifying, but with her teeth gritted as she charged head-on, she was completely full of openings.

"Hup!"

At the precise moment, I hurled the shield in my left hand with all my strength.

She had to deal with the shield flying at her out of nowhere, and her center of gravity tilted heavily.

One step forward. This timing. This would definitely hit.

The moment I swung my sword, something pierced my chest.

Stab!

"What?"

What had pierced me was a beautiful milky-white blade that had been far beyond reach.

"This time, you were the one deceived, human."

Mercedes had thrown her sword.

* * *

Had she regained her composure midway through and only pretended to be angry?

I never imagined she would use a feint and throw her weapon at that moment. Especially not with that High Elf's personality.

"F-fuck... You were calling me cowardly earlier, and now you pull this shit...!"

"I merely returned the words you said earlier. Compared to you, this is nothing, isn't it?"

"These fucking elf bastards and their shitty personalities..."

Mercedes's sword was pulled from my swaying body. Blood streamed down, and my vision spun.

Had I let my guard down too much because I thought I'd won? I wasn't in any position to criticize her.

"Are those your final words? I doubt you intend to utter the word surrender."

What an obvious thing to say. Who could surrender after it had come this far?

Ssssss...

The light of Mana Enhancement faded from Mercedes's body. It seemed she had reached her limit.

But compared to me, seriously wounded with my HP below half, she still seemed to have some strength left.

That was only natural. Even without Mana Enhancement, her specs were probably higher than mine.

Shing.

To finish off my half-dead body, Mercedes raised her sword high.

"You were quite capable for a human. Farewell."

There was no way for my battered body to avoid the sword leisurely descending toward me.

"What are you talking about, dumbass?"

There were fucking plenty.

Slash!

I easily avoided her sword and cut her arm in a counterattack. Blood sprayed out like a fountain.

"Cough... How... How can you, in that condition...?"

"What does my condition have to do with anything, you pointy-eared bitch?"

Thud!

I kicked Mercedes in the solar plexus while she stammered as though she couldn't understand, sending her flying.

My condition was certainly bad. I'd lost a lot of blood, so my vision was slightly dizzy, and there were few places on my body that weren't injured.

But you son of a bitch, what level do you think my Battle Persistence is?

Even with wounds that would normally leave someone unable to move, I could keep fighting.

"Cough, urk... What are you? This strength... How...?"

Mercedes, who had taken my kick head-on, muttered again.

Apparently, she was wondering why my Strength had become greater than before. She sure had a lot of questions.

It was nothing special. This was the effect of a skill I'd received as a reward for clearing the first floor.

A passive skill that raised all stats when HP fell below a certain threshold: Indomitable.

It didn't separately raise attack and defense, but in that it raised all stats, it was similar to Mana Enhancement.

But I had no intention of explaining all that to her. Why should I?

Besides, why was she sitting there asking as if she didn't know? You people did this sort of thing all the time too, didn't you?

"What else? My HP dropped below half."

After I poured all my strength into beating her half to death, she suddenly brought out hidden power and powered up.

"From now on, it's Phase 2."

And with that, I won the duel.

Footnotes:

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