Chapter 10: Growth (3)

Chapter 10: Growth (3)

I entered the third challenge as soon as the cooldown of the Assassin’s Cloak was up.

There was nothing more I could do to prepare.

In order to survive and return to Earth, I had to do this now.

「 Entering Tower of Trials floor 3. 」

「 Difficulty – Hard 」

「 The objective of the following trial is ‘battle.’ 」

「 We wish the challenger a satisfactory ending to their choice. 」

A wet atrium appeared as I stepped into the portal.

“...”

It was a seemingly normal-looking cave with small puddles of water.

A small hole in the ceiling let a glimmer of sunlight into the center of the cave.

「 The 3rd-floor trial is starting soon. 」

「 Trial success condition – Kill the sentinel of darkness」

「 Trial fail condition – Challenger’s death 」

「 Trial success reward – Elixir of Steel (C) 」

「 Trial fail penalty – Death 」

I looked around my surroundings after looking at the message.

I can’t even begin to imagine what a sentinel of darkness is.

There wasn’t anything with that name in the hunter association’s database.

Another thing—

‘I don’t see anything that could be called a sentinel of darkness.’

That meant...

‘It could be hiding.’

I held onto my shield tightly as I walked to the center of the cave.

I didn’t know where it would be coming out from.

My guard had to be up at all times.

Then—

「 The sentinel of darkness will spawn in 10 seconds. 」

“...?”

I stared blankly at the message.

‘I’ve seen this somewhere...’

I just remembered where I last saw the message.

‘The Tutorial Trial.’

It seemed like that was forever ago.

That meant the enemy hadn’t spawned yet.

That was more psychological pressure for me.

It would be one thing if it was hiding but...

Now it’d be spawning someplace totally random.

‘This is much more precarious.’

But there wasn’t much I could do about this situation...

I kept my guard up and waited patiently for 10 seconds.

「 The sentinel of darkness is spawning now. 」

A shriek pierced my eardrums as the message popped up.

Swaah!

The sound of air shredding approached from the left.

I twisted my body and put my shield up.

Crang...!

The shock paralyzed my arm even through the shield.

“Ugh!”

The attack was strong enough to lure out a groan from me.

I panicked for a second, but I got back into my stance.

Then—

「 Defeat the doppelganger, sentinel of darkness. 」

The sentinel of darkness that the system was talking about finally showed itself.

A dark shadowy figure wavered in the stream of sunlight.

Shhhhh...

It was similar to a person.

“...”

Like a black mass clumsily attempting to resemble a human.

And the shield and the sword in its hand...

‘Is it copying me...?’

The figure without eyes, nose, and a mouth creeped me out a little bit.

This was the first time I was up against something I had no information on.

‘That means no other hunter has faced this monster before.’

That alone made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Going up against an unknown enemy was a big handicap.

I lowered my body and hid it behind the shield.

I would be at a disadvantage if I made the first move.

But—

“...?”

The doppelganger also stood in place.

As if it was not a living being.

Is it an intelligent monster?

‘That’s not good.’Nêww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com

Most monsters act purely based on instinct, but monsters above C-rank start to gain intelligence.

“The second floor even had a magician...”

It really hit me that this was the hardest difficulty.

After each trial, I could feel myself inching towards death.

This must be what it’s like to walk on a tightrope.

“Krr, krrrrr.”

The doppelganger’s dark facial area opened up and revealed a mouth.

When its low pitched growl exposed the irregularly-placed fangs—

Whoosh!

The doppelganger’s right arm extended towards my face.

The ability to close off distance without moving a step was frightening.

I bent my torso backward in a hurry to have its arm graze over me.

Crrrrrrrrr—!

The arm scraped the walls of the cave and the crash echoed throughout the cave.

‘It’s not immune to all physical attacks.’

As long as my attack was strong enough to get past its defenses.

An attack to the neck or the head might be able to kill it.

Of course, it didn’t react as well as I wanted to the attack in the heart...

But the neck and head are different.

‘Not many monsters are unphased by decapitation.’

A doppelganger shouldn’t be an exception.

That’s good enough for me to give it a try.

‘I need an opportunity to get one good attack in.’

That meant I’d have to use everything I had.

Concentrating on the energy in my stomach, I spread the mana into my body.

I moved my mana with ease, just like I practiced in the waiting area.

In the past, doing this took all my energy and concentration.

Mana’s my lowest stat after all.

But now...

「 Using the Assassin’s Cloak(C)’s active ability. 」

「 Movement speed +15% 」

「 Activation time left – 00:00:59 」

It wasn’t as exhausting after my mana stat increased.

Just the feeling of something leaving my body.

‘It takes a bit out of me... but nothing unbearable.’

This could shift the tides back in my favor.

I moved some mana into the cloak and started moving.

Koong!

I lightly pushed off my foot and my surroundings dashed past me.

An agility over 30 with a 15% boost.

A little out of balance.

I barely managed to regain my balance while zooming through the air.

This was only possible through the fruits of my training.

‘I just have to do it like I did it in the waiting area...!’

I focused all my attention on the tips of my toes and held my shield up instead of the dagger.

I wasn’t arrogant enough to aim directly at its neck.

Although if I was used to this speed, I would have tried to slice his neck open.

Not only was I not used to this speed, but it was also holding a shield.

Not to mention that it stole all of my shield techniques.

So...

This is the best I can do for now.

Crannng!

When the impact from the crash hit me.

Piiiiii...

An unfamiliar ringing noise filled my ears and shook my brain up.

But I didn’t even have time to scream.

Crash!

My entire body shook and my vision phased in and out.

The recoil was so much worse than I thought.

“Uughhh...!”

My vision was blurry and my head was killing me.

I couldn’t move my body either.

「 The skill ‘Pain Resistance’ is activating. 」

「 All pain induced to the user is reduced by 15%. 」

This skill was the only reason I was still conscious.

‘Damn it, what’s wrong with me...!’

I propped myself up on the cold gravel.

Shudder...

My arms were shaking and blood was dripping down to the floor.

I must have hit something when I crashed.

I was too dizzy to even tell where the blood was coming from.

The pain seemed to be coming from everywhere.

But it didn’t matter.

「 The skill ‘Accelerated Regeneration’ is activating. 」

The skill activated and I started to gain some clarity back.

Although, it felt like time was passing extra slowly.

This should have left an impact on the doppelganger.

The chances are, it was also debilitated now like me.

I hobbled my way up to look around.

Then—

“This crazy son of a...”

I saw the doppelganger trembling in the corner of the cave.

Looking at its formless legs and arms, it took a good beating.

Even that seemed to be repaired now though.

It was at least still struggling to move around at the moment.

I didn’t have a moment to lose.

I gripped my shield and dagger and ran towards the monster.

It was recovering pretty fast but...

I was confident that I could decapitate it before that.

「 Activation time left – 00:00:27 」

I still had some time on my buff left.

「 Deadwood Shield(D)’s effect is activating. 」

「 Strength increased by 2 temporarily. 」

「 Attack speed slightly increased temporarily. 」

‘Nice timing...!’

Spending all those points on the shield ended up being worth it.

Strength flowed through my body, as opposed to the barely alive doppelganger.

It was now or never.

Craaaaack-!

When I shoved the dagger into the doppelganger’s neck.

「 Congratulations, you have cleared the 3rd floor. 」

Finally.