5th Floor, The Girl Who Gazes at the Meteor Shower (2)
My current level was 30. At this point, I was beyond the bounds of an ordinary person.
I could crack a boulder with my bare fist now.
It hurts my fist a lot, so I don't do that, though.
Ordinary people can only strengthen what they've trained. For example, no matter how much a bodybuilder builds muscle, their body doesn't become more flexible, their aerobic capacity doesn't improve exceptionally, and their reaction speed doesn't get better.
But 'levels' and 'stats' strengthen everything evenly.
When stats go up, flexibility, agility, muscular endurance, cardiorespiratory endurance, maximum strength, and so on all grow at once.
In a word, even at just level 30, my reaction speed was quite good, and on top of that I'd acquired the [Sixth Sense] skill, so unless I got careless while clearing the Tower, there was no way I'd die suddenly without even noticing an enemy's attack.
That.
Was my experience as one of the top rankers who had cleared up to the Tier 4 Tower's 100th floor, fewer than 100 in the whole world.
But it was wrong.
All of my experience and judgment had been denied.
“What the.......”
I rubbed my neck. I felt a faint itch.
Probably.
My neck had been cut.
I had to use the word 'probably' because I didn't know what attack had hit me where, or how.
“......A 'Flash Cut' type attack?”
I recalled the attack stance of Rank-and-File Knight Zeller from memory.
It might have no left arm, but it was clearly a quick-draw stance.
A technique that often appeared in martial arts games and comics since long ago; sword techniques that flash for an instant, cutting the enemy as they pass by, are collectively called 'Flash Cut.'
There were actually players who used techniques like this from time to time.
But a mere level-55 knight was using that technique?
There had to be some restriction.
Its level being only 55 was probably because it had been nerfed, like losing an arm.
In other words, its level might look a bit low, but the [Flash Cut] skill itself wasn't hindered at all, so it could exert skill power stronger than its level.
'A way to deal with an attack I can't follow with my eyes.......'
I closed my eyes and replayed the situation from just now over and over. The time it took from when the thing took its stance until I died.
That timing.
'Glad I have Sixth Sense.'
The skill [Emergency Evasion] had a very short invincibility window, so honestly, even I found it hard to guarantee a high success rate. But with help from Sixth Sense and various other sense-type skills, I could raise that probability dramatically.
'......I've got the timing.'
I got up.
[Entering the Round 2 stage.]
When I approached the thing once again, it took its stance.
'One, two.......'
A subtle tremor in the air.
[Sixth Sense]
I raised my senses to the max, and.
'Three.'
That split second.
[Emergency Evasion]
I activated the skill.
Whoosh......!
A 1m dash forward.
I didn't die.
'Success......!'
I hurriedly turned around.
To gauge how far the thing had gone, the distance, and figure out its next pattern, but.
Plop.
'......Huh?'
At that moment, my vision dropped sharply to the floor. The world rolled, roll, roll. At the edge of my vision, I saw my body, nothing but a torso without a head.
And the knight, back in its original position before I knew it.
[You have been revived.]
Springing up from where I lay, I broke into a cold sweat and rubbed my neck.
It was more shocking than the first death. That time, I'd died instantly in one strike, but the second time, I'd stayed alive for several seconds after my head was cut off.
That horrific experience of every sense in my body falling away sent my stress levels soaring in an instant.
“Insane...... it uses it twice?”
I'd seen Flash Cut used several times in a row before, but I didn't know a level 55 could do that much.
The attacks I could dodge with Emergency Evasion: just one.
The second attack couldn't be dodged.
Then, could I dodge that by rolling or stepping?
I have to block it.
Block the second attack.
Can I do it?
No, I have to.
Fortunately, there was one important fact I'd learned through the two challenges.
'It only goes for the neck.'
That was probably the restriction attached to the skill. In exchange for gaining overwhelming speed relative to its level, it had to go for the neck no matter what.
I quickly tore leather from my Inventory, stitched it, and wrapped my neck in the shape of a scarf. On top of that, I loosely wove some bones together and attached them.
After that, the buckler shield I'd bought on Aedric's advice. It was only as small as a pot lid, but it was made of iron, so its defense was excellent.
But against a knight using Flash Cut, a lousy buckler like this couldn't hold.
Still, it would help.
“Challenge.”
[Entering the Round 3 stage.]
Whoo, I took a long deep breath and opened my eyes. I activated Sixth Sense to the max and walked out.
Clank-!
At the end of my vision, Zeller began taking its stance. My sense of rhythm is pretty good. My timing is never wrong.
Whoosh......!
Zeller brushed past me faster than the wind.
[Emergency Evasion]
Success this time too. But this wasn't the end.
[Hardening]
Hardening, still only level 1, couldn't even be used freely on whatever part I wanted. All it could do was harden one of my two hands.
But that was enough!
THWANG-!!
“Gack!”
When I raised the buckler with my Hardening-boosted left arm, it shattered to pieces and my body slammed into the wall. The guard I'd wrapped tightly around my neck was torn apart too, and blood sprayed.
'Insane, the buckler and Hardening broke at the same time......!'
But I was alive!
'There's no way there's a third one, right?!'
Hurriedly getting up from the wall, I gripped my longsword in one hand and looked at the thing.
There was no third one.
Having finished its two Flash Cuts, the thing seemed unable to move for a while, struggling to raise itself back into stance.
I'd heard that Flash Cut-type skills that leap like that severely damage the leg muscles. Using one without mana was suicide in itself.
I wanted to charge the thing, but my body jolted.
'......My spine.'
Was it broken?
My body was acting up.
My sense of balance was swaying, and I couldn't hear well either. I'd stopped my head from coming off, but just the recoil from deflecting the attack had slammed me into the wall and done heavy damage.
But I had a skill that performed at maximum efficiency at times like this.
[Rapid Recovery]
Crack, crackle! The cracked bones set themselves to some extent, and the bleeding from the severed part of my arm slowly stopped.
Just buying time so I didn't have to waste time stopping bleeding mid-fight made this skill extremely useful.
[Rapid Acceleration]
A skill that doubled the speed of all my actions for 3 seconds. When I activated this skill, which boasted top-tier performance even among B-Rank skills, I was able to rush at the knight in a single bound even as my body creaked.
I swung the longsword with just one hand, but the thing quickly righted its stance and easily blocked my slash.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Several slashes. Honestly, my swordsmanship was shabby even for a Tier 4 Tower graduate. Because unlike other Tier 4 Tower challengers, I'd never once acquired sword manual-type or 'martial arts-type' skills.
In other words, my sword skills were practically worse than the Three Talents Sword Method, but until now it hadn't mattered.
Because even with this kind of haphazard slashing, I'd been able to find the optimal movement along the minimal path and end an enemy's life.
My current level was 30.
My strength was already beyond normal human level, so even carelessly swung slashes could at least scratch armor.
But.
The thing was a 'swordsman.'
A genuine swordsman who lightly deflected my haphazard slashing.
It didn't use any sword skill with tremendous power, but landing a proper hit on the thing was completely impossible.
'What is this.......'
There'd been plenty of 'swordsman-type monsters' while climbing the Tower. But this was the first time I'd felt like this.
'I'm being overwhelmed in technique by a mere level-55 boss monster?'
I might be level 30 now, but since I'd once reached level 300, in terms of 'experience' I should be superior to the level-55 boss before me.
Taking that into account, they'd probably planted a boss of that level right there on a mere 5th floor.
Not good. In this state, I couldn't even land an effective hit.
And in the first place, there was one problem still unsolved.
How would I get through the thing's armor to attack? My shoddy explosives couldn't pierce armor like that.
Clatter, THWANG!
Suddenly the thing gripped hard and knocked my longsword far away, pushing me back.
Pushed back several steps, I righted my stance, but.
Whooooosh.......
Having opened up distance, the thing had at some point lowered its stance, sheathed its sword, and taken a quick-draw stance.
The distance was roughly 3m.
'Ah, damn.'
[You have been revived.]
“......”
I stared blankly at the ceiling, then got up.
Fast. It had cut through my neck and passed by before I could even register it.
A big part was that the [Sixth Sense] skill's level was low, so it couldn't be activated constantly.
I had to find a way. A way to get hit even a little less painfully. Just now, I'd fought in far too poor a condition, so I couldn't even fight properly.
“Whoo.......”
[Time remaining until challenge 09:12]
Let me think. Could a 5th-floor challenger beat that thing normally?
......There were probably challengers somewhere in this world who could.
Around the 5th floor is the timing when you get back some of your reset skills and start regaining the performance of your 'blessings.'
None of that applied to me.
Fighting normally, I stood no chance.
'I know I can somehow dodge Flash Cut itself up to twice.'
But the problem was what came after.
Once I dodged Flash Cut, I had to at least win the swordfight, but I got pushed back there too.
Even if I figured out its attack patterns over a few challenges, getting through the armor's defense was also a problem.
On top of that, the thing was bigger than me, so its reach was longer, and if the distance opened past 3m, it would just use Flash Cut again.
Flash Cut. If that came out again, I'd really die then.
No matter how I moved, no matter how I stepped.
It'd follow every bit of it and cut off my head.
I couldn't even get a sense of it. How was I supposed to dodge that? At least with Emergency Evasion and Hardening I could dodge and block the attack twice, but without even those.......
'For other rankers, who can use blessings, the situation might have been a little better.'
What do I do? Repeating the same thing like this would only get me killed like a dog the same way.
It looked hopeless, but I'd always felt like this when challenging the Tier 4 Tower too.
And.
Every time.
I'd cleared stages with methods different from others, with workarounds different from others.
A boss monster is standing in the way?
Do I really have to fight it and win?
'......There must be something.'
Let's change my approach.
I don't mean change how I clear it. I mean change how I die first.
Sounds strange?
I've always been strange, and I've climbed the Tower that way.
Until now, I'd died far too predictably.
One question.
What happens if I make the thing ram into a wall when it uses Flash Cut?
Okay.
Let's try it right now.
[Entering the Round 4 stage.]
This time, I gently lured the thing toward the wall. Since just standing at a wall felt lacking, I stood in the farthest corner in a stance full of tension, and then.
[Emergency Evasion]
I used my evasion skill on the timing.
TWOOM!!
I dashed 1m forward and got out of the corner, and a terrifying sound came from behind me.
The thing might be unable to move from the impact, but there was no time to think about that. Just in case, I used Hardening to guard my neck, and the thing's second Flash Cut grazed past me.
“Ugh!”
I got slammed into the wall again, but by now I was used to it.
'Damn it, this failed too?'
A groan escaped me. My body was still hard to move, and the knight was far away.
Even using terrain features doesn't work. Then I need to come up with another strategy fast.......
Just then, a sound reached my ears.
Crumble!
It was the sound of falling rubble.
Probably the sound of debris collapsing from the corner wall the knight had crashed into as it broke. It was nothing special, but I absentmindedly glanced over at it.
“......”
Something was visible.
A really tiny gap, smaller than a pinky nail.
'What?'
Come to think of it, the walls were old compared to the 1st floor. There were cracks here and there, and you could feel the marks of time.
The field was different.
Since I'd had fewer skills and blessings than others, I'd had good powers of observation from long ago to cover for my weak stats.
And I had great adaptability too, enough to put that observation to good use.
'This, I can use it.......'
[You have been revived.]
Springing up, I found the wounds all over my body cleanly healed.
[Challenge Attempts 16/20]
The first thing I did was make the cheap bombs again.
They hadn't had any particular effect on the 3rd and 4th floors, so I hadn't used them, but I had a feeling they might be surprisingly effective on the 5th floor.
Actually, this bomb was closer to dynamite than a grenade. Its lethality was lacking, but it performed properly when destroying structures and the like.
I set a makeshift bomb on the wall, then lit it with my cigarette.
BOOM!!
Crack, crrrack.......
The wall didn't fully collapse, but it was badly cracked. Enough that I could bring it down with just a little more impact.
It wasn't enough. I had to know what was beyond the wall to make use of it.
But it didn't seem like setting off a few more bombs would tell me.
“......”
So I held my breath and put my ear to the wall. This place was judged as the 'waiting room,' so it would be different from the actual field, but the structure itself was built similarly overall.
I stopped breathing. Even the sound of my heartbeat faded far away under my concentration.
Whoooooo......!
I heard it.
My eyes snapping open, I absentmindedly tapped the wall with my fist.
'This wall's thinner than I thought.'
And beyond the wall, a strong wind was blowing.
If I'd had my old Sixth Sense ability, I could have grasped even the fine structure outside the wall, but that was impossible now. Still, thanks to long years of experience, I didn't even need to examine such fine structures.
“......This, it'll work.”
At last.
I'd found a way to beat the thing.
Not by fighting like a brute, but by using my brain like a genius.