Floor 11: The Two Doors (4)

Between the sword that sent me flying, another blade came thrusting in.

What? There was definitely only one sword. Did it have one drawn already?

Shoving my confusion aside, I focused on defense. My senses were far from complete—this opponent was in a league the Tu'tuli Guardians couldn't even compare to. It was faster than I'd expected, perhaps on a similar level to me.

I read the path of the incoming thrust ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and swung my axe down to intercept it.

...Huh?

It should have come right through here.

The axe carved through empty air. A sword slithered into that very space. I jerked my upper body back, but I was too late to dodge it entirely.

"Hff!"

The blade's tip sank deep into my abdomen. First things first—I needed distance. I swung the axe in a wide arc to shake the thing off me.

Quickly, I checked my stomach. Thankfully, the wound wasn't deep. Relief washed over me—and with it, a question.

What was that? How?

I had swung the axe exactly along the sword's expected path. I couldn't understand why it hadn't been blocked. While I was still puzzling over it, the thing lunged at me again.

Damn it. I needed even a moment to think... but first, I had to be able to answer its attacks fast enough.

I drew a dagger in my left hand and choked up on the axe with my right.

"Mimicking me so crudely? How laughable!"

Left, right, center. Attacks came in rapid succession. In the darkness, the clang—clang—clang of metal meeting metal never ceased. Thankfully, the shortened grip on the axe quickened my right arm's movement, and I barely managed to turn each blow aside.

Huh? Wait... that's not a longsword, is it?

The thought struck me in the middle of the exchange. For a longsword, it was far too fast and varied in its angles. And there was the thrust I'd failed to block earlier—and the fact that my stomach wound was shallow. If the enemy's weapon was a pair of daggers, everything made sense.

Damn it all.

The Tu'tuli Guardians had gotten me far too accustomed to facing longswords. I'd assumed, naturally, that this was one too.

The continuous flurry of rapid strikes dulled my senses. It wasn't so much that my concentration was slipping—it was that my detection of movement in the darkness still wasn't perfect.

First, I should put some distance between us.

I swung the axe while channeling the Essence of Lightning hard into the space ahead. It was a fairly powerful discharge, but no sound of impact came back. It didn't seem to have hit anything.

What?

It didn't seem like a dodge. However fast the thing was, it couldn't outpace lightning.

Some kind of lightning resistance skill? Or maybe its equipment was just that good...

"Ha! Such petty tricks have no effect on me."

Damn it... I wasn't going to take it down with lightning, then.

Wasn't the difficulty gap between this and the Tu'tuli Guardians way too steep? A boss room inside a boss room. I'd thought of it earlier, but only half as a joke. I never imagined an actual boss-within-a-boss would really appear.

Hah... either way, I had to win.

The enemy's defining trait is fast dual-dagger arts.

Presence Detection gave me only a vague silhouette. A touch over two meters tall, though not particularly bulky—likely because it relied on agility as its weapon. Its mouth jutted outward in a snout, and a stubby tail hung from its hindquarters. Beyond that, I couldn't make out anything.

Hmm... should I try Flash Step, the skill I got on Floor 11?

The problem was that I couldn't pinpoint exactly where the enemy was. And Flash Step devoured mana like nothing else—one use and my reserves were nearly drained. This wasn't a situation like the Tu'tuli earlier, where I could kill everything even without mana. If this failed, I was in serious trouble.

This opponent was nothing like the Tu'tuli Guardians. It might even keep pace with my speed.

No, I'm worrying too much.

Flash Step was an attack that moved with genuine lightning speed. If the enemy could follow that velocity, I'd already be dead.

Flash Step... actually didn't seem like a bad idea. If I traded blows and then used it, I could both pinpoint the enemy's location and strike before it could react.

While I was thinking, it lunged at me again.

I have to pick my timing carefully.

I needed to find my opening amid the continuing exchange. Using Flash Step right in front of the enemy was dangerous in its own right—if I didn't clear its weapons from my path, my own speed could be the thing that cut me down.

A dagger came slashing in on a diagonal from the right. I swung the axe with savage force and batted it away, then twisted my left wrist to deflect the second dagger sweeping in horizontally from the left.

Now.

The enemy, dead ahead. I knocked both of its daggers out to either side.

At my normal speed it would have guarded before I could attack—but I'd already prepared. I drew on the mana I'd spread throughout my whole body and summoned the lightning up.

It's over.

Flash Step, unleashed at point-blank range. The world slowed as if time itself had frozen. I snapped my wrist, redirecting the axe's drifting arc. I couldn't tell where its head was—I'd have to aim for the torso. I drove the axe down toward the center of its body.

In the slowed flow of time, my senses grew sharper still. I felt the enemy's startled movement. Unlike the Tu'tuli Guardians, this thing could react.

But thankfully, it was very slow. I was faster. The axe was a hair's breadth from crushing its torso.

...Huh?

Suddenly I felt the enemy's right hand twist at an impossible angle. Faster than my own axe, its dagger slid into the path of my swing.

CLAAAANG!

In that endlessly stretched moment, a piercing shriek of metal slammed into my ears.

Wh-what? How?

I was thrown. It made no sense. I'd clearly been faster. Its reaction had come late, its movement sluggish. Both daggers had been knocked wide to either side—it shouldn't have been able to block in time. Stopping my attack should have been impossible.

And yet... its right hand alone had moved faster than me.

Damn it!

The shock of the unexpected broke my concentration—and Flash Step deactivated. The enemy retreated two full strides. It seemed quite rattled too; the sound of its movement was different from before.

"Oh-ho. Now that I look closer, you're a rather clever little thing after all."

"Getting startled and scrambling back, then acting all confident about it."

The thing had a hidden card up its sleeve, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠same as me. Its speed was nowhere near enough to follow Flash Step—if it were, I'd be dead already. There was something I didn't understand.

Hah, I'd been overthinking things... had I rushed in without a plan?

Damn it. Can I try once more?

No. It might pull out that bizarre defense again and stop me. Without knowing how many more times it could use that skill, I couldn't risk the same attack twice.

Hah. What now?

My mind raced through the brief standoff.

First of all, I have nothing left for another close-quarters exchange.

Flash Step had already eaten half my mana. The enemy, meanwhile, didn't seem ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to have spent anything on that strange defense. Our speeds were comparable—but it could see straight through the darkness, and it had more mana than I did. Fighting a drawn-out battle of attrition without mana would be a losing proposition for me.

But using the Essence of Lightning is out of the question...

Lightning didn't work on it. A true dilemma. My mana was too low for a brawl, and a mana-less brawl would see me dropping first. And Flash Step might run headlong into another of those bizarre defenses.

Damn it, the first option's a dead end anyway. But if worst comes to worst, Flash Step...

Huh?

A single thought suddenly shot through my mind.

The Flash Step in the second chamber. It had blown a Tu'tuli Guardian clean apart. If I used it like that...

I deflect its guard with my axe... and then hit it with a lightning body slam.

Hmm, done wrong, I was the one who'd get badly hurt... but I had Dobby. As long as I didn't die, he could heal me.

Yeah. Let's do that.

Suddenly, the enemy that had gone quiet in the darkness spoke.

"Heh heh... I can hear the gears grinding in that head from here. How long do you intend to stall?"

"Ha. Funny—I thought that was the sound of yours rolling around."

It was no coincidence that this standoff had formed. The enemy had been rattled, buying time to think—no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠doubt gauging how many more times I could use Flash Step. That's why it had posed so boldly, fishing for information.

"Thieves truly have no manners. I was being generous enough to let you prepare yourse—...elf..."

Well, there was no point wasting breath on banter. I used Flash Step immediately.

Before its words could even end, I kicked off the ground and charged. Squeezing out every last drop of mana, I prepared my final strike. My destination: the place its voice was coming from.

I hadn't provoked it for nothing—it was to line up my timing. The enemy's voice stretched out like a broken cassette tape. Until it moved, I had no way of knowing where its weapons were. If that bizarre defense triggered, I'd deflect toward it with my axe and follow through with the body slam.

Huh?

But even as I closed in, the enemy showed no sign of moving like it had before. Still—anything was possible. Last time it had abruptly twisted its blade into a guard at the last instant. I had to keep my focus to the very end.

Yet even when I was right on top of it, no bizarre defense came. Instead, its arms were moving slowly, just as before.

Apparently that strange defense really was a one-time trick.

Did I over-worry this time?

Well, to be fair, being able to chain that kind of defense back to back would be absurdly overpowered. If I'd known, I would've just used a normal Flash Step like before.

Damn it.

It was far too late now. I was already too close. Whichever way I moved, I'd collide with it. All I could do was knock aside the daggers turning slowly toward me.

I whipped my axe and dagger around in a flash.

CLANG—clang!

Both daggers were batted away almost simultaneously, the enemy's arms flung wide to either side—

And then, with a boom, my vision went black.

Ugh...

My mind was blank, purple lights swirling before my eyes. I couldn't tell if I was lying down or standing up. A beat later, agony surged through my entire body.

With a soft murmur, a shimmering radiance bloomed before my eyes—Dobby's wound-healing and vitality. Slowly, my senses came back to me.

I was soaked from head to toe, sticky, warm fluids clinging to my skin. By the time I gathered myself, the room had brightened. Apparently, defeating the boss dispelled the darkness.

As expected, this was the final chamber. Feeling the sour taste of blood slide down my throat, I sank into thought.

I don't think the impact was that severe...

Was it because the thing's body was harder than a Tu'tuli's? Hmm... that seemed most likely. Or maybe it had been wearing good armor.

"Kkiik! Suyeok! You okay?"

"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine. Thanks."

Dobby's shout pulled me out of my musings, and I scrambled to my feet. This was no time to be lying around. Strangely, no floor-clearance notification had appeared, but given the brightness, Floor 11 was over.

Before heading to the Waiting Room, I had to recover the enemy's belongings.

Hmm... will anything even be left?

I'd slammed into it hard enough to burst its body. I doubted its equipment had survived intact. I hastily scanned the room.

Blood had sprayed in every direction around the point of impact. Red flecks clung stickily to the ground beneath my feet. Standing there amid a scene that looked like some grotesque painting of spattered blood, I spotted two daggers and a half-shredded cloak lying some distance away—apparently flung outward by the force of the burst.

Just then, the notification window updated.

Damn it—I need to grab everything before I go back.

But the message that followed stopped me in my tracks.

Wh-what? Ah... damn it all.

No rest, and now I had to do this all over again? A curse spilled out of me unbidden.