The Difference Between a Warrior and a Knight
Whether hostile or friendly, whenever I looked up at an NPC I'd formed any kind of relationship with, a small console would pop up above their head.
The console that suddenly appeared above the high elf knight's head was red.
The color for a hostile relationship was normally yellow, but it would gradually darken based on the level difference with the opponent. Yellow if they were lower than me, orange if they were on par or slightly stronger, and red if they were higher. If the gap was extreme, it wouldn't be a normal red—it would show as a dark, murky crimson.
They said you could make it appear on monsters too with special skills or items, but that was beside the point.
"Why the fuck is something like this popping up on the 7th floor?"
The fact that it was still showing red even as I stared at it meant this high elf knight's level was easily in the 50s or higher. Even for an elite NPC, what the hell was a guy no normal 7th-floor challenger could ever beat doing here?
The reason I'd been able to unilaterally crush Choi Gil-hyun, a 25th-floor ranker, was purely because that asshole's skills were trash-tier. But this high elf knight might have lower specs than Choi Gil-hyun, yet his actual skill would be way superior.
Can I win this?
It had been a damn long time since I'd felt my nerves this taut. My body hair stood on end, but at the same time, my blood was boiling.
Against an opponent this strong, there'd be that much more to gain.
"Haaap!"
The high elf knight moved first. With a flashy shout, he charged forward shield-first. His strength was no joke, but his explosive speed was even crazier. In an instant, the shield was right in my face.
-Bang!
I thrust my own shield forward to counter his shield bash. Just the clash of shields echoed through the entire forest. Holy shit, was this a person or an 8-ton truck?
Any normal 7th-floor challenger would've been sent flying with traffic-accident-level injuries from that one shield bash.
Right after the shields collided, he pulled his one-handed sword back wide. Slash or thrust? Whatever it was, I wasn't letting him do it freely. A beat faster, I fired a low kick at his shin.
Thud. No real damage thanks to those goddamn sturdy greaves. Fuck, a high-level bastard with top-tier gear too.
Ignoring the low kick, his one-handed sword came thrusting in. I deftly parried to deflect its trajectory. Or so I thought. His sword angled obliquely, shoving my blade aside, and the thrust seamlessly transitioned into a slash aimed at my neck.
"Shit."
Instinctively cursing, I urgently dropped my stance to barely dodge. A few strands of hair fluttered away, sliced by the blade.
Having dodged so narrowly, it took a moment to reset for the follow-up. He didn't miss that gap—his white shield swung around and smashed into me.
-Bang!
I quickly activated the Iron Wall skill to mitigate the impact, but my stance crumbled, and I tumbled backward.
"Haaap!"
The knight brought his sword down on my tilting body. I rolled sideways to evade. It had only been a few seconds of exchange, but I was certain.
This fucker was way beyond 7th-floor level in specs—no big deal. Specs be damned; he was just fucking amazing with the blade.
-Clang! Claaang! Kang!
No time to breathe as I blocked and countered the elf knight's relentless sword strikes with my sword and shield.
"Is that the extent of your skill, that you dared invade our forest, human swordsman? Pathetic!"
I could block and dodge somehow, but I couldn't switch to offense. Couldn't even shut that yapping mouth.
"You fighting with your tongue, you chatty prick? Shut the fuck up or I'll smash all your teeth!"
-Kwaang!
I forced a body slam with my shield to barely create distance and catch my breath.
"Hoo, hoo, shit."
My breathing wasn't ragged yet, but it was getting rough. The elf knight, meanwhile, breathed perfectly steadily. It wasn't that my stamina was inferior; it was just that defending against his one-sided assault was draining me more.
Hardly any time had passed, but we'd already exchanged dozens of blows. In the process, I started getting a sense of his specs.
For starters, the physical gap wasn't that big. Strength was mine. Explosiveness... nah, pure explosiveness was about even. Reaction speed and judgment? He had the edge. He perfectly tracked my movements even with the aid of my Instinct skill.
And finally, the most important: raw skill. He dominated. The gap in sword and shield technique was massive.
My weapon mastery came from fighting 3rd-floor lizardmen. It was imitating their techniques visually, polished with my own know-how—an offshoot at best. Overwhelming against a brute spear hack like Choi Gil-hyun, but the system rated it as plain Beginner Swordsmanship.
For a total NEET who'd never properly trained or even exercised, it was damn impressive. But it didn't hold a candle to the real deal this guy wielded.
Every technique and motion had depths on another level. Like street brawling versus pro MMA.
I was only managing exchanges thanks to my strength stat and build advantages.
Fuck, isn't this a bit too unfair? How the hell is a 7th-floor challenger supposed to handle this? You can't overcome it even with a party.
There weren't many shield-and-sword lizardmen, so I'd wanted to match up against this guy to hone my skills. No dice. At my level, I couldn't steal his techniques, let alone endure.
"Alright, fuck this, let's call it."
I caught my breath, reset my stance, and muttered that.
"Hah. Not even worth laughing at, human swordsman. Does this look like a fight you can quit just because you want to?"
I charged at the scoffing elf knight. My sword clashed with his shield.
"Still don't get it? Your barbaric, beastly swordsmanship can't touch the blade I've honed, Perit!"
"Yeah, fucker, your swordsmanship is goddamn amazing."
"If you've realized that, surrender meekly and beg for your life! Why keep charging beyond your station?!"
The elf knight bellowed. Mostly true, so no point arguing. I admitted it. I couldn't win with swordsmanship.
But you said it yourself: barbaric and beastly. My techniques were stolen from lizardmen, and lizardmen warriors were way more savage than this. Not just weapons—they used kicks, tail whips, and when desperate, saw-like teeth to bite.
-Grab.
I grabbed the elf knight's shield blocking my sword with my hand and vaulted over it like a hurdle. At the same time, Iron Wall.
The Iron Wall skill hardened parts of the body. No restrictions on which parts. This time, I activated it on my teeth.
I lunged over the shield and chomped down on the high elf's nose with all my strength.
-Crunch!
These were teeth tough enough to chew gravel for spirit affinity. Reinforced further with the skill, ripping off a high elf's nose was child's play.
"Gaaak!"
He never expected an attack like that mid-swordfight. Easy valid hit. I swung hard at the staggering bastard.
His ingrained skill didn't vanish; even in that state, he blocked effortlessly. But I'd already given up on beating him with swordsmanship.
Just 'swordsmanship'.
"Inventory."
I opened my inventory and swiftly swapped gear. The weapon in my right hand changed from one-handed sword to spear.
Unpredictable weapon switching—his seamless thrust-to-slash was one way; I had another.
The +5 Steel Spear shot out like lightning, glancing off his shield to stab his chest.
-Clang!
Minimal damage thanks to the sturdy armor, but no matter. One more hit.
-Clang! Kang! Clang!
The elf knight had plenty of experience against spears and instantly adjusted to block. But I wasn't a swordsman or spearman—just a warrior.
Inventory open again, swap gear: spear to axe.
-Kaaang!
"Kuhk!"
Unable to adapt to the sudden pattern shift, his defense grew sloppy. Axe to mace, mace to shortsword, shortsword to longsword, longsword back to spear. Mixing in hand axe and dagger from my belt, wounds started accumulating on the elf knight's body.
"Y-You...! How many weapons do you wield...?!"
The increasingly pushed-back elf knight shouted that and created distance. And the next instant—
-Pak!
"Guk!"
A fist-sized iron ball slammed into his yapping mouth.
Dagger, shortsword, longsword, greatsword, shortspear, longspear, axe, mace—beyond lizardman weapon arts, I had another specialty. Throwing skill, honed steadily since fighting the goblin lord on the 1st floor.
"I said if you don't shut up, I'd smash your teeth."
The unblockable, trajectory-shifting barrage nailed the elf knight's face.