Chapter 31: Intrusion (4)

Chapter 31: Intrusion (4)

Just as I was about to take another step, he opened his mouth.

“...I underestimated you. I didn’t realize the owner of this trial was a high ranker.”

I didn’t expect his sudden approval, but I didn’t pay much attention.

“I’ll admit it. You’re better than all the other primitives.”

The only thing on my mind was how to take down the enemy in front of me.

「 Time left – 00:00:21 」

The buff from the assassin’s cloak was about to run out.

I had to end this now.

I gripped the sword in my hand and lunged forward.

Instead of blocking the attack, he opted to swing his sword at me.

Seeing that, I folded my torso into my legs to dodge the attack.

Whoo-phew-! Kang...!

It was a one-sided exchange, but the result was disappointing.

The black armor blocked my sword and rendered my attack useless.

“Did you think you could even scratch my armor with that flimsy sword?”

As the embodiment of agility, it wasn’t too hard to dodge all of his attacks.

The only problem was...

‘Even if my attacks hit, it won’t get through his armor.’

That was the biggest problem.

The enemy had a skill that could split my shield, but I didn’t have anything like that.

“...”

Now was not the time to sound weak.

「 Time left – 00:00:16 」

I was about to lose the upper hand.

But it wasn’t like I had nothing.

‘I didn’t waste all my points on this weapon for a reason.’

There was no time to hesitate since I had no other options.

As I was about to pour all my mana into my feet—

“Insolent.”

The black knight’s sword was encased with a red aura.

Phuaa...!

The violently dancing aura was even more dangerous than before.

“I’m going to split you in two.”

Chills spread down my neck before I remembered that I had to keep moving.

‘Fuck.’

Just as he said, his sword could slice through me like a hot knife through butter.

I was risking my life to just land a meaningless blow, while a single attack from him could mean the end of me.

The black knight also seemed to acknowledge this as he charged in without hesitation.

‘He was talking about underestimating me before but it’s probably a load of bullshit.;

He wouldn’t be charging at me like this if he believed I could get through his armor.

That’s why it was more important than ever to fight.

Whoosh! Kang! Crack! Voosh!

With every swing he made, the walls split and the floors echoed.

Thanks to the energy around his sword, even just a scrape of his sword was enough to engrave the walls.

‘Is this the aura that the Eye of Truth was talking about?’

I had no idea who allowed this, but he was slicing through the hardened cave walls like tofu.

I could emulate it if I’d wanted to, but it wouldn’t be as smooth as this.

“Hahaha, run as much as you’d like! You won’t last long like this!”

A monster among monsters.

My body seemed to move faster knowing that one wrong move could lead to my doom.

The ease at which he seemed to move suggested that he had no problems with keeping this up for the near future.

Clang! Chang! Kaang!

No matter how hard I swung, the armor didn’t even scratch, and the knight became more and more haughty.

He stopped hesitating and staying wary of my attacks, instead opting to use flashier and bigger skills with a lot of blind spots.

And that was my only path to victory.

One, two, three, four...

A wave of relief flushed over me after confirming my safety.

The necromancy mark wasn’t there, but that didn’t disappoint me.

My survival was enough of a reward right now.

“God damn, that was close.”

If I hadn’t purchased the thunder blade before...

The process wouldn’t have been as easy as it was.

I would’ve needed to use everything in my arsenal and would’ve spent some more time rolling in the dirt.

Good thing I also increased my stats right then.

“...”

Of course, this didn’t get rid of all the entangled thoughts in my head.

Everything, from other dimensions to intrusions, was fleeting around my head.

It was difficult to grasp these things because I didn’t even realize they had existed until now.

But I gave up and put on a smile.

“Yeah, it would be weirder if the place was more normal.”

It would be arrogant of me to assume that I’d be able to understand what this tower was doing.

‘Maybe I’ve been too satisfied recently.’

As dangerous as that was, I still learned a lot from that.

Especially that no matter how strong I got, my life would always be in danger.

‘I thought I was already being careful in my own right, but I better step it up.’

Eh, I guess I got a little nugget of wisdom, if you could call it that.

‘...I have something to ask once I get to the 8th floor.’

Like what the hell other dimensions were and some more details on the whole intrusion thing.

The tower is a black box system and the only way to navigate it is through the questions they allow us.

Now is not the time to use them yet.

It wouldn’t be too late to scope out the situation until the 8th floor before choosing to ask a question.

Still deep in thought, I noticed something strange out of the corner of my eye.

“ ...?”

Where were the reward messages that should be filling my view?

“What the—”

I scrunched my face in confusion at a message I’d never seen before.

「 The difficulty of the trial is not proportional to the reward. 」

「 Recalibrating the rewards. 」

“What are they saying...”

They were going to change my reward after I went through this whole ordeal?

I could smell the corruption from here.

There would be nothing worse than the quality of the rewards going down.

「 Recalibrated. 」

「 Awarding the rewards. 」

Couldn’t they just give me what they promi...

「 As a reward, you have received the skill ‘Triple Laceration (A-).’ 」

「 As a reward, you have received ‘7,500 points.’ 」

「 As a bonus reward, you have received 3,500 points.’ 」

「 Please move to the waiting area. 」

「 Moving to the waiting room. 」

I froze in place after reading the messages in front of me.

“Uh, umm.”

The reward was exchanged from a C- item to an A- skill.

Comparing them was an insult to the skill.

“...”

My anger melted away as I saw 11,000 points and an A- rank skill.

“...This is more like the tower of trials.”

This was what I wanted to see.

Translator’s notes – Or ask me for clarification on our channel in discord!

MC: May I speak to the manag-

Manager: Yes?

MC: I just wanted to comment on the wonderful work you were doing

Sucks that he didn’t get to suck him