Revelations and Trials (Part 2)
'Crazy...!'
Clang!
The moment their swords clashed for the first time, Adelia knew instinctively.
She couldn't win. Not in a million years.
That monster was several times stronger than her.
All she could do was desperately block the opponent's attacks. But even that was becoming increasingly difficult as the exchange of blows dragged on.
'Calm down and think...! There has to be a way...!'
Adelia grit her teeth.
The Sword Master wouldn't have pushed her into this death trap without a reason.
She had to hold out until the very end and find a way through. She would use the insights gained from this battle to reach the next level.
"Ugh!"
But no matter how resolved she was, her body simply couldn't keep up with her mind.
An attack she failed to block grazed her shoulder. A burning pain flared, but Adelia forced herself to ignore it as she braced for the next strike.
...Or rather, she tried to block it.
'Ah.'
Whoosh!
Before she knew it, the greatsword was right before her eyes. It was already too late to block or dodge.
Sensing her end, Adelia squeezed her eyes shut.
Boom!
At that moment, a deafening roar echoed through the cavern.
Along with the ear-splitting sound, a violent gust of wind whipped Adelia's hair wildly.
The surroundings fell silent in an instant.
The monster's roar cut off abruptly. So did the sound of its swinging greatsword.
"...?"
Sensing something was off, Adelia perked up her ears and focused all her senses on her hearing.
Drip, drop.
The sound of water dripping from the cave's stalactites.
Haa, haa.
Her own ragged breathing from the intense exertion.
And...
Thud.
Crash!
The sound of a massive object losing its balance and collapsing echoed through the space.
"...?"
Adelia slowly opened her tightly shut eyes. Her vision gradually cleared, bringing the surrounding scenery into view.
"I misjudged."
About five paces ahead, where the monster should have been standing, a man stood quietly with sword in hand.
His eyes, utterly calm, were scanning the ground.
Frozen in place, Adelia belatedly followed his gaze.
'Ah...'
The massive corpse of the beast lay sprawled on the ground, its upper and lower halves cleanly severed.
"It seems it was a bit too much for you to handle."
Shring.
While Adelia stood with her mouth agape in sheer shock, the man wiped the blood off his blade and murmured in an incredibly nonchalant tone.
"So. Did you learn anything?"
[Dawnguard: You have defeated the boss of Hidden Dungeon II.]
Peter Pan was dead.
His halved corpse rolled at my feet.
One of the bosses with the most annoying patterns in Lost Elder had been sliced in half with a single strike, unable to react at all.
'This skill is so broken it's ridiculous...'
Soul of the Sword Master.
This 12-star Mythic-tier skill possessed a power that was practically a one-hit-kill cheat.
Activating it for a mere 0.01 seconds was enough to one-shot a level 82 boss. It was mind-boggling.
'And there are no side effects. It doesn't strain my body at all.'
Considering the system of Lost Elder, this was truly bizarre. As I've mentioned before, a player needed a proper foundation to execute certain actions.
Yet, the movement I had just performed was something my current Strength, Stamina, and Agility stats could never support. Normally, my muscles and bones should have shattered under the recoil.
And yet, my body was perfectly fine.
'...Could it be that my physical stats temporarily spike the moment the skill is active?'
Well, the description did say that I would reach the absolute peak of swordsmanship while the skill was active. It made sense that my physical stats would rise accordingly during that brief window.
Thinking of it that way, it explained why there was no backlash despite the extreme movement.
'Anyway...'
I turned my gaze toward Adelia.
She was still staring blankly into space. My strike must have been quite a shock to her.
'...She's still out of it.'
Whatever. She'd snap out of it on her own if I left her alone.
I looked back down at Peter Pan's corpse. I didn't have the luxury of worrying about Adelia right now. I had to accomplish the goal that brought me here first.
'So it was hidden here.'
Rummaging through the inside of the corpse with my bare hands, I pulled something out of Peter Pan's torso.
Slimy mucus, blood, and tangled veins came out with it. Slicing them away with my Feather Sword, I stared at the ominously colored crystal fitting snugly in my palm.
Just then, Adelia snapped out of her daze and asked, "W-what is that...?"
"It is a Trial prepared by the great Elders."
A Sacred Piece.
The fragments left behind across the continent by the ancient gods who had now lost their power.
To obtain this power, I had to prove my worth by passing the trial they had prepared.
"It is also the most crucial task of the revelation I received."
Crunch!
Without a moment's hesitation, I clenched my fist. The crystal in my hand shattered into fine powder.
A dark red energy began to envelop my body. Along with the chilling screams of children, my vision plunged into darkness.
"..."
Before long, a cold silence descended.
[You have entered the trial prepared by the 'Master of the Second Hand and the Instant'.]
The storytelling in Lost Elder was never direct.
Players had to piece together clues to deduce the past of NPCs or the origins of various factions. It was a highly niche, hardcore style of game design.
'Among those stories, the abandoned factory of Dawnguard has an exceptionally cruel history.'
The dark city of Dawnguard.
It was a lawless zone where all kinds of illegal experiments were conducted.
One day, a mad mage partnered with the continent's largest pharmaceutical company. They shared the absurd goal of creating an elixir of immortality.
They set up a factory in Dawnguard and pushed forward with their experiments.
'Hundreds of spirits and thousands of children were sacrificed in vain.'
The Tinkerbells who witnessed the horrific experiments were enraged. Peter Pan, who used to bring dreams and fantasies to children, also lost his mind.
Ultimately, to seek revenge, they made a contract with them...
And they became monsters that ruthlessly slaughtered the adults who conducted the experiments.
"Kyahhhhh!"
The corrupted Tinkerbells raided the factory.
Screaming shrilly, they tore the factory apart and turned the machinery into useless scrap metal.
The employees inside the pharmaceutical factory were all hacked into pieces of meat by Peter Pan's greatsword.
Thus, the abandoned factory of Dawnguard, having lost its owners, became the new home of the corrupted Tinkerbells and Peter Pan.
[Too cruel.]
"..."
I was the one who had slain Peter Pan and the Tinkerbells.
I had killed the monsters who had taken revenge on behalf of those who died unjust deaths.
[Tinkerbell and Peter Pan only returned the pain we suffered... Why did you kill them?]
Well, by this point, the nature of this trial should be obvious.
[I hate you.]
[I hate you.]
[I hate you.]
[I hate you.]
A space of absolute darkness.
Voices filled with deep resentment echoed chaotically from all directions.
Crimson ghosts began to manifest one by one.
Before long, their numbers grew so vast that they dyed the pitch-black space entirely in red.
[...So, pay the price with your death.]
[The trial begins.]
Yes. The trial of Hidden Dungeon II had finally begun.
I had to face the vengeful spirits of the unjustly sacrificed test subjects within this mental world.
'It is rather intimidating.'
Screeech!
The ghosts shrieked and began charging at me.
Perhaps because their numbers reached into the thousands, it felt as if a colossal crimson mountain was collapsing toward me.
'In the game, you had to dodge every single one of their attacks.'
Physical attacks were useless. Since we were in a mental world, magic and holy spells had no effect on the enemies either.
The only thing a player could do was dodge.
Essentially, you had to survive a high-difficulty bullet hell game until the trial ended.
'Of course...'
The 'Mental Strength' stat is permanently set to 'MAX'.
'...Their attacks won't work on me.'
Shriek!
A vengeful spirit swept right through my body.
It was a lethal attack that shaved off 25% of a player's maximum HP, regardless of their health stats.
This meant getting grazed just three or four times would put you in a near-death state.
'I don't feel a thing.'
But that didn't apply to me at all.
All damage received in the mental world was classified as a 'mental attack'.
In other words, thanks to the passive effect of Soul of the Sword Master, which maximized my Mental Strength...
[Mental Strength 'MAX' nullifies the attacks of the vengeful spirits.]
...I was practically invincible in this mental world.
'This was my plan from the very beginning when I entered Hidden Dungeon II.'
Dumping all the dungeon's minor mobs onto Adelia.
Defeating the boss monster, Peter Pan, with the active skill.
And then breezing through the subsequent mental trial using the passive skill.
Considering the rewards that would follow, this place was truly the perfect dungeon for me.
Rumble!
The vengeful spirits raged like a tempest.
A crimson vortex lunged at me from all sides. My ears rang. The hem of my clothes and my hair whipped violently in the wind.
The gale forced my eyelids shut, blurring my vision.
...It was starting to get boring. Surely the master of the trial would recognize my qualifications after I held out this long?
Having finished my thoughts, I slowly opened my mouth.
"That's enough. Such crude illusions won't work on me."
Snap!
In an instant, the world fell silent.
The crimson spirits raging all around vanished in the blink of an eye.
As if it had all been a lie, the same silence that greeted me when I first stepped in here descended once more.
[I acknowledge you.]
[You are fully qualified to receive the 'remnant'.]
Whoosh!
No sooner had those words been spoken than the darkness lifted, and the real world began to reveal itself.
"..."
I raised my head.
The vacant underground lot of the abandoned factory. Peter Pan's corpse, which had been sprawled at my feet, was turning into dust and slowly rising into the air.
The starlight visible through the half-collapsed ceiling was eerily beautiful.
And...
[You have cleared the trial prepared by the 'Master of the Second Hand and the Instant'.]
...The familiar notification window began to cover my vision.
[Reward: You have acquired the Authority Skill 'Ritardando'.]
Seeing this, a bright smile spread across my face.
'It's done.'
The reward I had wanted so badly was finally in my hands.
'This is impossible.'
Adelia trembled, unable to believe her own eyes.
As a member of the sacred Goldheart family, she had been educated about everything regarding the Elders since childhood.
Thus, she knew all too well just how absurd of an achievement this man had just accomplished.
'To pass the trial of an ancient god... so effortlessly...?'