12. Floor 3 Trial(5)
FLASH—!
No questions, no answers.
Why Rakuowak had gone out of his way to be chosen, whether Lee Jin-hyeok truly was an Imugi, how a mere novice could be this strong.
He asked nothing.
A warrior, a player, proves himself by skill alone.
So from the very first he simply swung the mace he held at Lee Jin-hyeok.
'If it's now.'
WHOOOOOM—!
Though it looked considerably huge and heavy, the mace flew toward Lee Jin-hyeok's head with unbelievable speed.
'this is entirely possible.'
Swish.
With the minimum of movement, Lee Jin-hyeok dodged the mace and leapt up from the ground.
"That won't be enough."
The weapon Rakuowak used, the mace, was not like a sword.
It was heavier and more destructive than a sword by an incomparable margin.
The instant it touched the ground it shattered the floor and left the surroundings utterly ruined, so simply dodging the weapon was not enough.
[The item <Sylph's Leather Boots> raises a faint gust of wind.]
So Lee Jin-hyeok used even the <Sylph's Leather Boots> to evade the attack.
"So you have a hidden card or two."
FLASH—!
As though he had never thought this single blow could subdue or kill his opponent, Rakuowak twisted his body and charged at once.
Strength and Agility stats incomparably higher than Lee Jin-hyeok's.
It was swift movement that the Lee Jin-hyeok of now, a novice, could not begin to imitate.
THWACK—!
Was the gap in strength and level impossible to withstand?
When Rakuowak threw himself in with full intent, the mace struck Lee Jin-hyeok's stomach.
"......!"
"It's over."
"It's a fight between a Ranker and a novice. Holding out even this far is tremendous."
"Well, a bastard who just came up to Floor 3 beating two Salamander Units made no sense to begin with."
"That one is already off the scale."
The Lizardmen made their judgment.
No, any player watching this fight would have judged the same.
That merely coming this far was an all-time record.
That now Lee Jin-hyeok would fall without dignity.
'This is?'
Contrary to everyone's expectation, Rakuowak noticed.
That Lee Jin-hyeok had appeared to take the mace, but in fact it had only grazed him.
A blow had certainly landed, but he had minimized the damage.
ZZZZZAP—!
The instant Rakuowak's mace touched Lee Jin-hyeok, blue sparks made of mana began to coil around his body.
"Sshk?"
While Rakuowak faltered in confusion, Lee Jin-hyeok rolled his body away quickly.
[The item <Sylph's Leather Boots> raises a faint gust of wind.]
'The penalty!'
The Tower has several safety devices.
One of them is imposing a 'penalty' that constrains a Ranker's or High Ranker's power to a degree when they go below Floor 5.
In particular, the penalty received for attacking a novice who has not cleared Floor 5 constrained power far more severely than one would expect.
"Your wits are not bad. To take a hit deliberately in order to draw a penalty."
The penalty activates from the moment a novice is attacked and 'damage' is inflicted.
His opponent seemed to have taken the blow on purpose to inflict the penalty on him.
"Did you deliberately choose me, a Ranker, because of the penalty?"
Swish.
"And you had the confidence not to die from one blow, it seems?"
"That's right. Which is why I let as much of the force slide off as I could while taking it."
For someone who had let the force slide off while taking it, his body was in less than normal condition, but this was the best he could do.
'And he couldn't have killed me anyway. Jǫrmungandr has its eye on me.'
A Follower cannot go against a Constellation.
Lee Jin-hyeok had calculated even that delicate relationship and succeeded in inducing the penalty on his opponent.
"How do the sparks taste?"
"Not bad."
Whether it was another general or the Grand General Rakuowak, from Lee Jin-hyeok's position they were all walls he could not cross.
Level 100 or above, at minimum.
Overwhelming stats that Lee Jin-hyeok, not even at 30 yet, could not surmount.
That being so, he judged that choosing Rakuowak, on whom he could inflict a certain penalty, was more advantageous.
And that judgment was exactly right.
ZZZAP—!
Because the penalty was being applied as though it would burn Rakuowak to death at any moment.
"Ssshhhhhk......"
Looking at the sparks wrapping and searing his own muscles, cells, and scales, Rakuowak laughed.
"Yes. It tingles."
The Tower's penalty on Rakuowak was stronger than expected.
This was possible because, by the Tower's standard, Lee Jin-hyeok was far too weak a player.
"You seem to have forgotten."
Lee Jin-hyeok said as he slowly advanced.
"I have only cleared Floor 2. I'm a greenhorn among greenhorns."
"......."
"Is it right for a Ranker, of all things, to swing a mace in earnest at a beginner like this?"
"A beginner. A novice, you say."
ZZZAP......!
"Nonsense!"
<Leap Dash>
THUD—!
Kicking off the ground and charging, Rakuowak swung his mace once more.
'He's serious.'
There is a saying used when explaining the laws of nature.
That a lion gives its all even when catching a rabbit.
The species called Lizardmen fit that saying perfectly.
A species that faces an opponent with everything it has, even when the prey or the enemy is far weaker than itself.
Until now he had held back somewhat because Jǫrmungandr was watching, but now he was throwing himself in in earnest.
But the thing did not know.
That Lee Jin-hyeok had finished his preparations for taking down 'a Ranker who comes at him in earnest' over the course of climbing the Tower.
[Activating the skill <Imugi's Blood>.]
FLASH!
One of Lee Jin-hyeok's pupils split vertically, and black scales coiled around his whole body.
[*Warning! Due to the Tower's penalty, your resistance to <Status Ailment: Fear> decreases.]
[You have been afflicted with <Status Ailment: Slow>. Your stats decrease slightly, and your body begins to stiffen.]
The system messages that rose before Rakuowak's eyes.
Once Lee Jin-hyeok began using the Imugi's power in earnest, a chill rushed up Rakuowak's spine and scales.
Imugi and lizard.
Because of the Tower's penalty his resistance to status ailments had dropped, and 'the terror that comes from a difference in species' was creeping back up again.
"Your petty tricks!"
In truth, with the gap between a Ranker and a novice, he could have trampled the man flat even with this kind of fear.
Just as an elephant crushes an ant underfoot.
But however great the difference in power, as long as the fear kept rising, gaps inevitably opened in his movements.
And Lee Jin-hyeok was by no means a man to miss such gaps.
CLANG!
He turned aside the brutally fast and powerful mace with the <Elite Kobold Greatsword>.
"......!"
[Constellation <King of Muspell> cannot contain its astonishment at your movement.]
'It plainly connected?'
The sword, and the opponent's movement, vanished in an instant, as though he had cut a ghost.
It was because Lee Jin-hyeok had ducked his body low, beneath the jaw, where even a Lizardman's wide field of vision could not see.
"Sshk!"
In the first exchange fought on even terms, Lee Jin-hyeok was able to create an effective opening.
Whirl.
Unlike Rakuowak, thrown off by that first exchange, Lee Jin-hyeok pressed on with his attack without any swing in emotion.
At the same time he spun his body once and, with the <Scale Breaker> held reversed, cut for Rakuowak's eye.
"He charges in instead of dodging?"
It was movement enough to make even the vastly experienced Ranker Rakuowak feel a chill for a moment.
And attacks that bit only at openings, thoroughly.
Had he not pulled his neck fully back at that instant to avoid the dagger, even Rakuowak would have taken a fatal wound.
"Flexible."
"How dare you!"
It was movement only a Lizardman could manage, with a long, flexible neck from a high count of vertebrae.
[Activating the skill <Enchant: Flame>.]
Against it, <Venom Blade>.
ZZZAP—!
Lee Jin-hyeok's two flame-wrapped blades and Rakuowak's venom-wrapped mace collided.
Flame and venom struck each other and neutralized, and smoke spread through the surroundings.
CRRRUNCH—!
Along with the sound of something twisting, the two pulled back.
THUD!
Rakuowak, one step.
Lee Jin-hyeok, by contrast, was pushed back a full six steps.
ZZZAP...... ZAP!
Cough.
The blue sparks leaping over Rakuowak's body were flaring up more strongly still, but Lee Jin-hyeok in turn had taken internal injuries and spat up black blood.
The right arm that had held the <Elite Kobold Greatsword> was left in tatters.
However many tricks he had used, the Ranker's wall was still too high.
[Constellation <King of Muspell> begins to grow excited.]
[Constellation <Dawn King of Zhonghua> is astonished at the level of your dual swordsmanship.]
[Constellation <Fire That Killed the Mother God> is curious about how you learned 'swordsmanship.']
[Constellation <Eternal Flame> insists that to practice justice one does indeed need power.]
But everyone watching this scene, Constellations included, could only be astonished.
The swordsmanship Lee Jin-hyeok had displayed.
Because the depth and mastery of that swordsmanship did not fall short of a Ranker's.
No, he had withstood a Ranker's with a novice's body, so purely in terms of swordsmanship mastery, Lee Jin-hyeok was a cut above.
"......."
"......."
Watching Rakuowak set his stance while looking at him, Lee Jin-hyeok thought.
'Time is on my side.'
Swish.
'I could pass this trial just by running instead of meeting him head on.'
To begin with, Lee Jin-hyeok won simply by holding out, and Rakuowak was taking a steadily stronger penalty.
Simply dodging his attacks would leave him unable even to hold himself upright, thanks to the penalty.
'But that isn't a choice I particularly like.'
Lee Jin-hyeok's ultimate goal was to stop <Pure Radiance>.
And the goal for that was to become as strong as possible.
To become strong, he needed to draw the Constellations' attention.
To raise his own value.
And to temper his new body further through a bout with a strong opponent.
Lee Jin-hyeok chose a head-on contest with Rakuowak.
"You have no intention of running. But that is a mistaken judgment."
FLASH.
"The next attack ends it."
Just as Rakuowak said that and closed in to charge once more.
[Time remaining: 5 minutes.]
The remaining time reached exactly five minutes.
"All right. Let's have."
[Activating the skill <Mad Blood Rampage>.]
"one proper exchange."
CRRRRUNCH—!
[All stats held are amplified fivefold.]
[The Agility stat is amplified tenfold.]
THUD.
Red energy formed all at once, and Lee Jin-hyeok's movements became absurdly fast.
"......!"
Losing track of his opponent's movement for an instant, Rakuowak swung his mace in a fluster.
The direction Rakuowak swung was not wrong.
His instinct and experience as a Ranker at least read the direction correctly.
But a meaningful gap in speed had opened up between him and Lee Jin-hyeok.
SLICE.
As a result, the nape of his neck, where his armor could not cover, was cut open.
"Blood?"
The <Scale Breaker> Lee Jin-hyeok had swung.
Against enemies with scales it added a full 50% to bleed effects, so blood began pouring from Rakuowak's wound.
'Not yet.'
SLICE.
'Not nearly enough.'
[Mana is consumed.]
[The item <Scale Breaker> begins to howl.]
Before long the <Scale Breaker> was rotating, gaining even greater cutting power.
"......!"
Realizing that weapon was no ordinary thing, Rakuowak carefully raised his mace and blocked the attacks.
'A novice? This is a novice?'
Rakuowak was going mad.
The suddenly increased speed, the eerie pupils, black scales that could take no damage at all from a graze.
And above all, the dagger appearing from unexpected places was terrifying.
Like a wraith or a ghost, it appeared, cut scales, and tore at blood.
Every time weapons met, it let the attack slide off, vanished like smoke, and came back soundlessly.
'This is like......'
Gulp.
'like fighting a wraith!'
Even though his own stats were still far higher, he could not keep up with his opponent's movements or blade.
There seemed to be something hollow about it, and that made his skin crawl all the more.
'What manner of grotesque swordsmanship is this......!'
CLAAANG—!
"Impudent."
Rakuowak narrowed his eyes.
The thing had no intention of holding out ten minutes in a fight against him.
In earnest.
In earnest, it meant to break and subdue him with strength and swordsmanship.
"How dare you!"
<Venom Storm Blade>
ZZZZZAP—!
Purple energy began coiling around Rakuowak's whole body.
Before long his energy tore itself to shreds like fragments of iron and created a storm.
Venom Storm Blade.
Among the skills Rakuowak could use, one powerful enough to rank in the top three.
It surrounded him with countless fragments of venom and blade, inflicting damage in a way that made escape impossible for an opponent.
And that was not all.
Because venom was in it, one had to watch out for the Poison status ailment as well.
Considering that the one using this skill was a Ranker, most players would be shredded to death the moment they came near.
"Will you still meet me head on!"
With his opponent refusing to fall, Rakuowak had staked everything on a decisive move.
But Lee Jin-hyeok's eyes only gleamed calmly, as though he had known it was coming.
'Good.'
Taking off his gloves, Lee Jin-hyeok threw himself at Rakuowak.
[Activating the skill <Enchant: Flame>.]