Chapter 76
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Festival - 5
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There was virtually no difference in physical strength between Tiana and me.
Even if I tried to nitpick, all I could point out was that she was subtly faster, like right now.
There was no disagreement that she was the strongest in the village with no one to match her, but both she and I fell squarely within the realm of human limits.
Thanks to my trait that let me rewind time, the last floor I had cleared would suddenly become the one I needed to tackle from now on.
There were no newly learned skills, no items gained, no stat increases—nothing.
Everything I had achieved vanished as if it had never happened.
After erasing my reset point, I was now judged as an adventurer who hadn't even set foot on the second floor.
I had grown solely through elements available on the first floor.
Without any high-grade skills, my current physical level was the reality built from helping villagers and slaying slimes, accumulating experience bit by bit.
Now, even the experience from killing slimes wasn't enough to hope for growth.
There was no way to get stronger here without climbing to higher floors.
In other words, I had reached the absolute limit as a human.
Comparing to my power back when I surpassed the 700th floor, I was nothing more than small fry now.
Of course, that "small fry" was only in comparison to my past self.
It applied to every adventurer at this point in time—they were all just human-level.
Hardly anyone had even reached the 60th floor, let alone the 100th.
Just from the experience of countless slimes, I could crush the top rankers like rats.
The first to surpass me, living on the first floor, would probably be the Sword Saint, but even that would require him to reach around the 120th floor.
Unless it was a skill that overwhelmed with sheer performance, no one could beat the experience from my countless hours of climbing.
'At this rate, I'm just a tad short on speed.'
So what about Tiana?
Even the current rankers couldn't hold a candle to me—could Tiana, the first-floor swordsmanship instructor, really trade blows on equal footing?
It was only recently that we'd become evenly matched; before that, I couldn't beat her at all.
She too was bound by the tower's constraints.
Even with her unparalleled understanding of swordsmanship, there were limits to what she could pass on.
No matter how exceptional her skills, her influence on adventurers was always confined to the first floor.
Even walking the swordsman's path under her tutelage only granted a common class.
Her teachings could only impart common-grade skills.
Unlike with Harman, where memories tied to knowledge and experience were the issue, her sword techniques remained valuable.
You couldn't get better instruction from any other swordsman you'd encounter while climbing the tower.
It was just that the effort required was something adventurers tended to avoid.
The best example was the 'Dragon Tongue' skill.
A branch of verbal magic, it was a powerful skill that infused mana into one's voice to complete incantations.
Acquiring it was tricky, but once obtained, the entire Dragon Tongue language system naturally embedded itself in your mind.
Surprisingly, you could achieve the same magic through document study and vocal practice without the skill itself.
When I revealed this, how did the adventurers react?
Even more astonishingly, they showed zero interest.
No—adventurers flooded requests for routes to acquire the Dragon Tongue skill directly.
Why bother grinding away at books when one skill granted instant language mastery?
"Haha! I'm one step ahead!"
Was the situation any different with swordsmanship?
Look at how guilds promoted themselves.
They boasted about job change routes and skills to attract new adventurers.
Instead of diligently learning from Tiana, everyone just wanted to rush to higher floors for better skills.
Blind to the tower's elements that couldn't be reduced to such things.
Well, the fact that I could even think this way was thanks to my top-grade trait—a real contradiction.
"E-Earthbound Spirit, sir! What do we do? It's too late to run—!"
"Bell, keep holding on just like that!"
"I-is this okay? She's coming so fast!"
In the past, I rated Tiana's skill as unmatched by any instructor below the 90th floor.
Considering her physical limits, no instructor below 90 could beat her.
But that didn't mean her depth was capped at 90 floors.
Her swordsmanship delved even deeper.
If judging peak strength purely by power, mine was at the 714th floor.
As you'd guess from clashing swords with her, her peak wasn't now either.
The tower's limits on her weren't just in teaching swordsmanship but also her first-floor resident body.
No matter how I looked at it, someone with her swordsmanship depth shouldn't be stuck in a human body.
It made sense to assume the tower forcibly capped her physique.
What kind of person was Tiana before Luden joined the tower?
"Hah, you giving up that easily?"
Focus.
The match wasn't over.
From her grinning smile, that shout was more taunt from someone certain of victory.
Tiana's wooden sword was about to reach Ellie, and it wasn't easy to bypass her faster to target Bell.
If her sword touched Ellie before mine reached Bell, it was my loss without exception.
So I aimed for another win condition.
Raymond hadn't mentioned only that.
"Look at the white line on the ground. This is the match area. Anyone stepping outside loses—ring-out. Simple, right?"
Ellie and Bell stood right at the white line's edge.
Tiana charged toward them, and I stuck close behind her.
Aiming for her upper body was pointless; she reacted effortlessly.
Without slowing, she blocked strikes coming from behind.
So now, I targeted her legs deliberately.
- Whoosh!
"Trying to stop my legs? Too bad!"
As expected, she leaped into the air, evading lightly.
The rational response for a swordsman—but not for a guardian knight.
That created my opening.
- Thud!
"Ngh!"
"Huh?"
Even airborne, swinging at her would've been blocked easily.
So I used my sword only to block hers, then threw my body into her.
Preventing any split-second strike at Ellie by obstructing her sword's path with mine.
Her momentum carried her forward, straight into Ellie and Bell at the line's edge.
The collision halted Tiana in place, but the rebound sent Ellie and Bell tilting outward.
- Thunk!
I jammed my wooden sword into the soft dirt ground—lucky it was loose soil here.
Using it as leverage, I grabbed the outbound Ellie with my free hand.
"Kyaa!"
"Waaah—!"
Only Bell went out over the line.
"Oh no, too late—!"
Tiana realized too late and spun around mid-sentence.
She aimed to hit Ellie before Bell's feet touched down.
Too slow to snatch the ward like I did.
Naturally, I shielded Ellie, leaving her sword aimed at an innocent guardian knight's back.
The attack failed,
and
"Ugh!"
Bell collapsed outside the line, balance lost.
No question—ring-out loss.
"Referee?"
"Uh? Oh, y-yes. Bell, the ward, left the arena, so Tiana is out. Winner is this side!"
Raymond pointed at me.
Stunned by the sudden reversal, even the observant referee looked baffled.
"This isn't the spectacle I had in mind for that rule."
"It's not?"
"Usually, they play defense, guarding the ward without aggressive moves."
Tiana had charged with Bell at a distance from the start, and I'd used Ellie strategically for positioning.
Plus exploiting Bell to trap Ellie—it was full of loopholes, not the guardian knight duel Raymond envisioned.
"But the crowd's loving it. That might be enough."
Not the direction he expected, but maybe more entertaining.
"Haa, my mistake. Neglecting protection was the fatal flaw."
"Still, that was really close. I almost lost."
"Losing like this is disappointing. Sparring with odd rules now and then could be fun, though."
I extended a hand to the seated Tiana.
She took it, and I pulled her up smoothly.
"Protecting someone... isn't something I'm used to."
She dusted off her pants.
Then approached the fallen Bell, helping her up like I'd done for Ellie.
"Haa... If I'd known it'd end like this, I wouldn't have."
"You okay?"
"Well, aside from the last bit of faceplanting, not bad..."
Ellie looked dazed.
"Ahem, at least my clothes stayed clean."
"Not that—we won, so we have to do it again soon. Up to the finals."
"Ah..."
Koon and Delion's match followed.
The winner would face us in the finals.
"Alright! Fighters, greet each other!"
"......"
"......"
"Um, hello? Greetings...?"
As if they couldn't hear Raymond, neither reacted.
They just took their positions.
'What's with them?'
The atmosphere was off.
Their glares were different from usual.
Normally, they'd joke before a match.
Koon kept looking away, Delion swinging his wooden sword at empty air.
Them not hanging out at the festival was a sign not to ignore.
Maybe...
'You two fought?'
I only noticed their rift right before the match.