The Elves Worship Me (3)

-Ding.

[You have entered Floor 43 of the Beginner's Tower.]

The elves wish to see your abilities.

Endure and hold out.

And be patient.

Prove that you, unlike the other elves,

are the protagonist of the prophecy.

'A sparring match….'

The main quest of Floor 43: sparring.

This floor had a 100 percent clear rate.

Since it was a sparring match, there was no risk of death or injury, and victory wasn't a condition.

All you had to do was show your will.

Nevertheless, this floor was particularly notorious.

[Beginner's Tower Common Channel #KR]

Title: The F***ers on Floor 43

Is this sparring or bullying?

I think I'm getting PTSD from my school days, fuck

ㄴ LOLLLLLLL

ㄴ That's why I told you to get carried~

ㄴㄴ (OP) I didn't expect them to play odd-even with my parents;;

ㄴㄴ At least they didn't ask if my mom strangled me with her umbilical cord

ㄴㄴ They seemed to think you looked troubled, so they probably went a little easier on you?

ㄴㄴ (OP) ;;;;;;;;

'So this is how it normally goes.'

Though it's called sparring, in reality, it was an outlet for their anger.

The standard strategy for clearing Floor 43 was to let them torment you until they'd worked off their frustration.

For one thing, the elves were at least Level 200.

On top of that, they hated other races.

From the Awakeners' perspective, they had to fight people who were both impossible to beat and actively hostile toward them.

[—On Floor 43, don't react to anything. Just stay still like a mannequin, and it'll end a little sooner.]

Even Yuna had only said that much about this floor before moving on, but…

'It doesn't matter to me.'

Who am I?

The holder of thirteen Mythic-grade Traits.

A man with five Legendary-grade items and even a Mythic-grade sword.

And my level is in the 1100s.

First, there's no way I'll lose the sparring match.

That's a certainty.

'They won't even swear at me to begin with.'

On top of that, I was in elf form thanks to Shapeshifter.

By elven standards, my looks were powerful enough to control a nation, so there was no chance they'd insult me.

If anything, Elf Lord Jimenez was desperate to take care of me.

To me, this floor was one of the freebie floors.

'We'll probably just do a little WWE and then be done, right?'

"Come at me. If you so much as graze my clothes, I'll do anything you ask."

So I sent out the WWE signal.

If she was the Lord, she'd only pretend to fight me before sending me straight to the next floor.

I said it because I was certain of that, but…

"Everything…? You mean anything?"

"Pardon? Ah, yes, whatever."

"Heh, heh heh. You promise?"

"……?"

Uh, why was she breathing so heavily?

'Did you forget that your mother is in my hands?'

Just in case, I made a slight show of the wooden sword.

I thought seeing the World Tree might bring her to her senses.

Unfortunately, it did little good.

"Then let's go to the clearing!"

"We'll go get ready too!!"

Jimenez moved off excitedly.

The elves scattered just as enthusiastically.

The female elves were especially fast.

They ran so desperately that they reminded me of myself sprinting toward the pork stir-fry at a construction-site cafeteria.

"Why do you think they're acting like that, Dohwa?"

"Kyaeung… Master, they're going to pounce!!"

"What are you talking about now?"

Dohwa, who had been showing teeth unusually often today, and the elves alike…

Why were they all acting so strange?

* * *

A little while later, in the clearing.

I looked around with the wooden sword in hand.

Heavily armed elves came into view.

'…They really went all out.'

Normally, they only brought wooden swords.

That alone was more than enough to beat up the Awakeners of Egen Tower.

But why were they acting like this toward me?

I didn't want to admit it, but I was gradually forced to accept reality.

These guys…

were a truly insane race.

-Ding.

[Jimenez]

Status: In heat

'This is an elf?'

Fine, let's say they found me a little handsome.

Let's say I was so beautiful that merely looking at me shot Cupid's arrows straight into every elf's heart.

But what? In heat?

'I'll do anything' makes them lose their minds and try to pounce on the person holding their mother in his hands?

'How can an entire race be man-crazy?'

No matter how I looked at it, this was too much.

If I imagined it with the genders reversed, it was downright disgusting.

'That's enough. Let's teach you a painful lesson.'

"Dohwa, you watch from a distance."

I decided on some immediate discipline.

Before the sparring match, I stroked Dohwa.

-Pat pat.

"Of course you know, right? If anything happens, we use Regression, okay?"

Naturally, I didn't forget my seat belt either.

The odds of me losing approached zero, but those things might resort to some underhanded trick.

There was no harm in being careful.

"Keng."

Dohwa gave a nod.

Then Dohwa leaped from my arms and sprang up into a tree.

The way Dohwa stared down at me from there…

That was biological CCTV: Dohwa TV.

Her anti-cheating setup was insane.

'Should I prepare too?'

After meeting Dohwa's eyes,

I lightly infused the wooden sword with mana.

The moment I'd gripped the sword, its usage had been entered into my mind, so I didn't hesitate.

-Murmur.

"Chidori… no, Electricity."

Then, crackle—!

Electricity flowed through the wooden sword instead of mana.

It was a Taser Sword, not a Taser Gun.

'If I just touch their skin, it won't cut them, and this amount of mana should be just right.'

If I used my full power, I'd turn an elf into an electric roast, so I adjusted my strength appropriately.

Thanks to that, the wooden sword looked perfectly normal on the outside.

Naturally, unless you had Dragon Eyes, mana was difficult to see with the naked eye.

"I'm all ready, Lord. What about you?"

"I-I am ready too!"

Jimenez had finished preparing for the sparring match as well.

It was pitiful to see someone over Level 300 show up in full gear.

'Of course, I'm wearing my full equipment too, and there's nothing wrong with giving it your all, but….'

She was doing all that just to hold a man's hand once.

According to the setting, she was at least a thousand years old—in Korean terms, an ancient hag who had existed since the Goryeo Dynasty.

No matter how pretty she was, 'HAL' was a bit much.

I might be a lifelong virgin, but even that was too much.

-Mutter, mutter.

"This is for the prophecy. It's not because I have any strange intentions…."

And what was with the quiet muttering?

Ugh, it made me uncomfortable.

"Sigh… then I'll begin."

"Yes!! I look forward to it!!"

"Ah, right."

Tap.

I lightly jumped forward.

In my head, I constantly simulated how best to deal with this race.

The answer came easily.

'Make an example.'

Let's beat up Jimenez as the representative.

First, I'd win so overwhelmingly that no one could object, then I'd straighten them out.

'I could actually subdue her in one second, but that would be hard for them to accept.'

The important thing was making them understand my strength, so…

I decided to hold back a little and match my opponent.

As if I were playing with her.

'All right, that'll do.'

"Hup!!"

Once I'd finished thinking,

I focused my gaze ahead.

The Sword God Trait had accelerated my thoughts to an extreme, but now they returned to normal, and everything around me resumed its proper speed.

-Whoosh!

"Here I come!"

The first thing I saw was Jimenez swinging her sheathed sword at me.

She was fairly fast.

It was a swift strike that would have hit most Egen Tower Awakeners before they could even blink.

But to my eyes, it was no different from slow motion.

'Too straightforward.'

"Hup."

I took half a step along the clearly visible trajectory.

That alone let Egen Tower's strongest attack pass harmlessly by me.

"Huh, wha!?"

Jimenez panicked and hurriedly tried to pull her sword back, but…

"Hyah."

Tap.

The wooden sword brushed her unguarded side first.

The reaction came instantly.

-Crackle!!

"Hyaaang?!"

The tingling current of mana easily pierced her cloth garments.

In other words, it was defense-piercing elemental damage.

As a result, Jimenez's body bent like a bow for an instant.

"W-what on earth is this…."

Of course, it didn't incapacitate her immediately.

I had only put in mana equivalent to about Level 200.

At Level 300, Jimenez remained unharmed even after taking my electricity.

Instead, whoosh—!!

She tried to put some distance between us.

'Is she trying to assess the situation first?'

"I'll keep going."

I immediately followed her.

Since I'd adjusted my speed to about Level 200, even the elves would be able to see me clearly.

Openly, for all to see.

I swung my sword again.

"Hyah, hyah."

Up, down, then diagonally again.

I placed the sword where I predicted she would move.

What did it feel like from Jimenez's perspective?

Perhaps she felt as though, every time she moved to dodge, the sword had already arrived there.

As if it were predetermined fate.

-Crackle.

"Hyaaahhhh!!!"

As a result, Jimenez took hit after hit.

Her cries echoed through the clearing.

The electricity surged through her, making her legs tremble.

"Th-this is… the Spirit King's…."

"Here it comes~."

"Kyaaahhhh!!!"

I continued to toy with her.

I made her suffer what I should have suffered on Floor 43, in reverse.

Jimenez didn't block a single attack.

"S-so rough♡ Like this…♡"

"……."

'Oh, come on.'

Her labored breathing sounded so much like moaning that I felt as though I'd been hit by a tactical nuke, but…

There was nothing I could do about it.

'Is this enough?'

I glanced around.

The elves were thoroughly flustered.

Hmm, I'd proven my strength sufficiently.

Now I could finish this.

"Hup!!"

I thrust my sword forward.

My target was the soft belly.

I deliberately aimed for her lower abdomen in case striking above her navel might strain her heart.

Swish.

As my wooden sword stopped 0.1 millimeters in front of her lower abdomen,

-Crackle!!!!

"Kyaaahhhhh!!!!"

I pumped electricity into her.

That rendered my opponent incapable of fighting.

Tremble, thud.

Jimenez crumpled after a brief muscle spasm.

That clearly proved I'd overwhelmed her in the sparring match, but

-Freeze.

'……Huh?'

I only had a moment to savor my victory.

Then I realized something.

The ground beneath Jimenez was gradually getting wet.

-Hissss.

'Uh, well.'

She'd wet herself.

Thanks to my electrical stimulation.

Technically, only I had seen it so far, but…

Public urination in front of the other elves.

Well, I felt pretty bad about that.

'Even if they're man-crazy, they should still respect their elders.'

"I win!!!"

Flash—!!

I immediately raised the wooden sword.

It was to draw everyone's attention elsewhere.

Thanks to that, everyone's eyes turned toward me, and

"And this instructor is disappointed in you, elven cadets!!"

"……Huh?"

"How dare you act so dazed just because you've fallen for a man!! Where have you sold the pride of the elves!!!"

I immediately unleashed my Wind Style: Mouth Jutsu.

The thought acceleration wore off after the battle, but I'd already roughly prepared a script.

The words flowed out smoothly.

"Do you think the World Tree sent me here so you could act like this? Huh?"

I was buddies with the World Tree.

I subtly flaunted the persona I'd just made up.

Normally, that wouldn't work, but…

To them, my looks were godlike.

The elves had no choice but to fall for it.

-Murmur, murmur.

"The World Tree…?"

"But the prophecy clearly said…."

The elves were thrown into confusion.

None of them could take their eyes off me.

Even Jimenez hurriedly tried to fix her clothes in the meantime…

"World Tree, have mercy… so it really was true…."

"……."

'Don't space out too.'

I was putting on this whole show because of her, yet she just stood there without even thinking about covering her wet skirt.

'It can't be helped. I'll have to put on a little show.'

Hoist.

I raised the sword overhead.

"If you keep this up, the World Tree will…."

My goal was to throw something over Jimenez while everyone's attention was diverted.

My mission was to make a spectacular impact.

My target was the ground a little farther away.

'Electricity, Blood Explosion, Spatial Slash!!!'

Whoosh—!!!

I swung the wooden sword.

Unlike during the sparring match, this was full power.

The red glow of Stigma even poured from my forearm.

As the electrically charged Spatial Slash raced toward the ground,

'Switch!!'

I switched weapons using the Unique-grade equipment, 'Shadowless Gloves.'

The sword that had just been striking downward was suddenly in my left hand.

I swung it again without pause.

'Cross-Stitch Thunder!!!!'

Cross-Stitch was my ultimate technique, powered by Stigma, equipment, and Traits alike.

Charged with electricity, it flew across the Spatial Slash I'd just fired, intersecting with it.

As a result,

Lightning, once called the wrath of God in ancient times, came crashing down beneath the blue sky.

-KABOOOOOM!!!!!

"……Eek!!!!?"

A bolt of lightning struck the ground.

The shockwave sent leaves from the surrounding trees flying in every direction.

The blinding flash made it difficult to see ahead as well.

-Ding.

[The Trait 'Super Adaptation' activates.]

You acquire Low-grade resistance to light-attribute attacks.

'Wow, even a flashbang counts as an attack?'

Of course, I was perfectly fine.

That meant I could move while everyone else was unable to see.

-Whoosh.

'This should do.'

I took some clothes from my inventory and threw them over Jimenez's lower body.

Four short-sleeved T-shirts for 10,000 won.

They were cheap, so I didn't particularly regret wasting them.

That was why I looked so calm once the light faded.

-Whoooosh….

"Like I said, if you keep this up, the World Tree will become this furious."

"W-w-w-what is this?"

Jimenez was horrified.

The elves were overwhelmed as well.

I looked around at them and chuckled.

'I used my strength, so I should get a reward, right?'

"Therefore, I command you all."

I hadn't originally planned to do this, but…

I wanted to get through this tier quickly now.

So,

"Forget the prophecy and all that. Take me to the World Tree immediately."

Let's milk this for all it's worth.