Chapter 33: Trial of Blades

Chapter 33: Trial of Blades

"Your next quest will be to enter a dungeon just beside this building, known as the Battodo Trial," said Hiroto, "You will be challenged by a series of enemies in groups of three. Try to defeat at least three waves of enemies, and you may leave after that. The further waves of enemies will soon become too strong for you to fight. Only the sword may be used as a weapon, but you may use buffs, shields and healing spells. Before I give you the keys to the dungeon, please use the sword EXP gained from defeating Sensei, and use it to gain additional skills and passives. This time, it is your choice which skills to develop, but I would recommend focusing on passive skills that improve your grip and footwork."

Crucis glanced at his character profile, and saw that he had 30 points to allocate to sword skills. He saw that the sword skill tree gave him several options from this point, and looked carefully to determine which skills would lead in the correct direction to get skills he would need later. For the moment, he had the following options:

[Slice | Active skill, attacks opponent by drawing the blade across their skin to cause more damage. Chance of inflicting the bleeding status effect.]

[Cost: 3 skill points.]

[Duel Vision (passive) | Places a single opponent in focus by blurring the surrounding scene, allowing you to more easily size up your opponent. Do not activate against multiple opponents.]

[Cost: 4 skill points.]

[Low feet (passive) | Enhances footwork, and keeps your feet low to the ground to avoid giving the opponent any openings.]

[Cost: 5 skill points.]

[Warding (passive) | Allows you to stay at a distance from opponents, and use a ward based on a certain selected move. That move will gain doubled movement speed if you use it when the opponent approaches.]

[Cost: 10 skill points.]

[Rising thrust | Active skill, thrusts with your sword rising from a lowered position.]

[Cost: 5 skill points.]

[Angles (passive) | Allows you to strike freely towards your opponent across 8 angles of attack.]

[Cost: 10 skill points.]

[Strong blow | Active skill, hard but slow strike at the opponent.]

[Cost: 15 skill points.]

Crucis considered carefully, and tried to come up with an appropriate plan for combat. The costly [Strong blow] skill didn't seem that useful, especially for a character focused on Agility. He chose [Warding (passive)], [Rising Thrust], [Angles (passive)], and [Low feet (passive)]. Hiroto nodded, on noticing that he had chosen three passive skills, but seemed a bit perturbed when the Knight GemsBond used up most of his 20 skill points on the [Strong blow].

Crucis knew that the Duel Vision and Slice skills would be worth picking up later, but since they were fighting three NPC opponents it did not seem necessary immediately. However, he had made a tentative plan to use [Warding] in order to size up opponents from a distance with the occasional [Slash] or [Feint], and if they attacked to use his high Agility and skills like [Agile Step] to easily get a first hit and the momentum. The [Angles] passive would allow him to attack quickly and from any angle when approached, while the [Low feet] skill seemed necessary because it would strengthen footwork. This set-up would allow him to judge NPC behaviour and adjust appropriately, as well as sizing up opposing players.

Once all of the players were prepared, Hiroto gave them a [Battodo Trial Key]. He said that they could enter the trial once per week, and it would give good sword EXP. This time was for training, so it would not use up their weekly chance and they could try again later in the week. They should seek him or another instructor here for access to the dungeon, which was instanced and required a group of three for players who were below level 200. Presumably high-level players were able to get through much of it solo, and were thus allowed in.

After the minute ended, the symbols in the middle of the room began to glow faintly again. Crucis told his party members to get ready, and stood carefully facing where the last opponents had spawned. This wave of opponents spawned in the same place as the last, and were named [Disciplined Youth]. They were level 40, right-handed, and held a sword with some ceremonial gems and ribbon around the hilt. The teams of three prepared to face off, with each opponent focusing on one member of Crucis' party.

Crucis observed his opponent, and saw that this [Disciplined Youth] seemed to be holding his sword flat at around hip length, preparing for a cut. Crucis took up a lower guard with [Warding], preparing a [Rising thrust] by leaving his sword pointing forwards towards the ground in a relaxed manner. As the [Disciplined Youth] came at him, leaning low to make a stiff strike above Crucis' hips, Crucis rose his sword to [Parry] and then stepped away. He saw the opponent raise their sword high over their head, as if preparing for an overhead move. He used [Warding] to prepare a parry, then held out his sword in front of him. As his opponent approached him, he prepared a tentative slash towards their shoulders, which the [Disciplined Youth] comfortably parried. Crucis leapt back, and prepared for his opponent's next attack.

The [Disciplined Youth] were not as easily frustrated as the last enemy, but still seemed to be impatient and eager to launch an attack. As they struck at Crucis again, with a wide slash from Crucis' right side, he used [Dodge Step] to backstep out of harm's way, and the sword flew harmlessly through the air. The opponent gathered his sword after the swing, and prepared for another hard high slash from Crucis' left, but as they moved forwards Crucis struck with a fast [Slash] across a top-left diagonal that slithered noisily past the opponent's blade and struck near the base of their neck. Deflecting the opponent's strike due to the angle of his blade, Crucis drew back quickly and created some distance from his opponent's blade.

As the opponent approached him, Crucis used [Feint] to throw a convincing, sharp [Slash] from the right, then, as the opponent prepared for this, Crucis slipped his blade away from theirs and instead used [Agile Step] to reach a crouching position just behind his opponent's shoulder. There, he struck with a fierce [Slash] across the opponent's legs from behind, sending his opponent falling backwards to the ground. Backing off as the [Disciplined Youth] flailed at him, he saw that the opponent only had 60% HP remaining. With his opponent on the ground, Crucis knew that they were vulnerable if they couldn't anticipate his attacks, and they would have to try and get back up to avoid becoming an easy target.

Crucis used [Stealth Cloak], and saw that his opponent became highly alert as soon as he did so. Nonetheless, he hovered near the fallen opponent, and struck hard with a [Slash] near the neck as his opponent tried to leap back up. This caused his opponent to fall back down, and Crucis took advantage of the surprise attack to thrust his sword firmly into the opponent's sword arm with [Lunge], which appeared more akin to a stab when the enemy was grounded. The [Disciplined Youth] seemed to let out a faint yelp, and tried to counter-attack but found it difficult after the puncture to his arm. As the fallen opponent tried to rally with his sword, Crucis struck right above it with a [Slash] that struck the opponent's neck and drew blood. The [Disciplined Youth] had only 15% HP remaining, and this was draining rapidly as he bled. Crucis smiled lightly as the opponent's sword clattered back to the ground after Crucis' strike.

The [Disciplined Youth] kept trying to squirm their way to their feet. Keeping his sword over the opponent's, Crucis directed a [Forceful Kick] at the opponent's face to kick them back to the ground. He withdrew the [Vile Toxin Gas] from his inventory, and sprayed it over the opponent, who died as an array of small cuts formed across their face and shielding arms.

As his intense focus lifted, Crucis heard the sound of muffled groans and cries from across the room. The other players in his team were clearly beginning to feel some pain from this fight. Crucis saw with some alarm that GemsBond was already at 40% HP, having difficulty against an opponent who is willing to hang back and carefully take advantage of the Knight's slow strikes. DigdugMan was doing better, and using his healing spell to keep his HP above 70%, but seemed to be taking a few strikes when rushing in to attack the opponent. However, due to the [Clay Enchantment], which he had carefully prepared before the start of this fight, he had managed to land a few hard blows against this opponent.

Crucis crept towards GemsBond's opponent, and saw that the Knight was by now hanging back carefully. As Crucis used [Slash], the opponent quickly spun around and deflected it with a [Parry], causing Crucis to quickly backstep away. He realised that, since this opponent wasn't under any direct pressure from GemsBond, it had been an inopportune moment to attack. As GemsBond now tried to strike with a [Strong blow], the opponent deftly turned back and parried this.

Crucis pointed at the hilt of the Knight's blade, then used [Stealth Cloak] to crouch and move near the opponent. He heard GemsBond attempt a [Slash] which was also parried, and then Crucis swung a [Slash] move quickly at the back of the opponent's legs. The opponent begun falling backwards, and he heard a thud as GemsBond followed his instructions and used a [Hilt Blow] to smash the opponent hard into the ground. Crucis quickly recovered his footing, and took advantage of the falling opponent to twist his wrists swiftly up and then hit with an [Overhead Slash] at the fallen opponent's face. He then jumped backwards quickly for safety. As he saw the Knight preparing a [Strong blow], he stepped forwards and used a [Lunge] to the face which the grounded opponent quickly parried. This left his opponent open for GemsBond's [Strong blow], which crashed hard into the opponent below the chest. The wounded [Disciplined Youth] shuddered slightly, and GemsBond killed them with a strong [Slash] to the face.

Crucis turned to the last remaining [Disciplined Youth]. This one was putting up a firm resistance from 20% HP, and Crucis saw that the other two opponents dying had given a 40% HP boost to the one remaining. While Crucis managed to land a [Slash] on this opponent's shoulder, he saw the opponent swivel towards him and start to approach. Crucis used [Warding] to prepare a parry, and held his sword horizontally across his face again. As he predicted, the vengeful opponent attempted a high overhead strike, but Crucis easily raised his blade to [Parry], and quickly aimed a [Forceful Kick] at his opponent who went hurtling backwards towards GemsBond. The Knight heftily swung a [Strong blow] at the unprepared [Disciplined Youth], knocking the opponent to the ground. Crucis saw that DigdugMan was trying to use [Mana Strike] to repel his opponent, but the opponents in this dungeon had very high resistance to magic and shrugged this off.

The [Disciplined Youth] quickly rolled back to his feet, and struck an approaching GemsBond with a sharp cut to the head. This was followed by another cut to GemsBond's sword hand, causing the Knight to drop his sword. Although Crucis tried to intervene with a [Slash], it was clear that the opponent had decided that it was open season on the Knight, and a firm thrust near the gut was enough to kill the Knight. The team was now down to two players. Crucis quickly struck the [Disciplined Youth] with an angled [Overhead Slash] to the back of the neck while the opponent was still drawing his sword out of the dead Knight. DigdugMan followed this up with a [Lunge] using [Clay Enchantment], which heavily damaged the [Disciplined Youth]. Finally, Crucis killed the opponent with a [Slash] to the neck. The second wave of opponents had been defeated.

A system message appeared:

[Congratulations, you have defeated the second wave of Trial enemies!

Since you are low-level, and do not have a team of three any more, a version of the last opponent you faced will be added to your team to make sure that you have even numbers for your next fight. They will support your team, but be careful not to attack them.

The next wave of enemies will spawn in one minute. You may use that time to rest and prepare for the battle.]

Crucis scrawled down the few runes that he hadn't managed to record previously, then leant against a wall to recover. Defeating the last wave of opponents had lifted him to level 48.

"We should be okay, if it adds a Disciplined Youth to our party then they will probably keep one opponent tied up," said Crucis, "We can kill them after that for the loot and EXP."

DigdugMan laughed, then turned towards the centre of the room as four figures materialised there. Three of them were level 50.

The third wave had begun.