Chapter 70
70. Champion
A fist powered by the Iron Wall skill, brought down with all my strength.
Even if he’d been wearing a helmet, it was a blow he never could have withstood, and it slammed straight into the high elf knight.
Of course, my opponent was an elite NPC stronger than the floor 7 boss. One hit wasn’t enough to bring him down.
“Nngh, ugh...”
But even so, the high elf knight, with his jaw completely shattered, couldn’t get back on his feet easily.
The high elves quickly moved to contain the situation. They hurriedly dragged the injured knight away.
“Y-you humans, how could you do this? What kind of wicked trick did you use...!”
The knight being dragged away muttered that in a state of utter cognitive dissonance.
I have no idea what he means, charging at me with a sword first and then calling me wicked. What a joke.
As expected, there’s a reason high elves are called complete assholes on the forums. Shameless to the core.
“Fe, Ferit...”
Meanwhile, the high elf prince who had come out to receive us muttered the knight’s name, his face deathly pale.
Was he shocked by his subordinate’s rampage, or shocked that I, his duel opponent, was stronger than he’d imagined?
“Ahem, there seems to have been a brief disturbance.”
In the tense atmosphere, one of the high elves cleared his throat and brought the situation under control.
I wasn’t sure whether that just now could really be brushed off as a brief disturbance, but I also didn’t want to make the mood any uglier than it already was.
Of course, the atmosphere had been extremely hostile from the start, but there was no point in getting each other worked up before a duel.
After sorting things out like that, we moved toward the designated dueling area.
[The Place Where Life Circulates]
As we reached the center of the high elf village, a system message announcing the map transition appeared.
A place where life circulates—so it must have been named after the World Tree here, the place said to circulate the elves’ souls.
Then is that withered tree over there the World Tree?
True to its name, the World Tree was enormous in size, but it was plainly withering away and losing its power.
Even so, apart from its appearance, I could feel an incredibly powerful mana from it.
If it’s already this powerful even after losing its strength and withering, just how much mana must it have held in the past?
“Hmph, so even humans can recognize the grandeur of the World Tree. That must be why you keep coveting our forest.”
As I looked up at the World Tree and thought about this and that, the high elf guiding us clicked his tongue.
The people coveting your forest aren’t me, but the kingdom army is.
Treating all humans as the same is no different from real-world racism.
The dueling grounds were an open space about twice the size of the training yard Rizmel used.
It wasn’t just a bare patch of land; it had been properly maintained, and seats for spectators had even been set up in rows.
Since it was a major event, many high elves had taken their places to watch the duel.
And among all those elves, the most eye-catching was the expressionless elf man wearing a crown and seated in the place of honor.
Judging by how he was seated close to the Dark Elf queen who had arrived before us, that must be the current king of the high elves.
Come to think of it, are long-lived elves all like that?
Both the Dark Elf queen and the High Elf king looked like ancient old trees.
It felt less like looking at a living person and more like looking at a rigid still life.
Still, considering they’d no doubt lived far longer than the other elves, I could at least understand why they looked so detached.
Then would Eleanor end up like that someday too?
I couldn’t really imagine it.
**
There were many elves participating as observers, but the one officially serving as the observer was the High Elf king.
“Since everyone seems to be ready, let us proceed.”
The rules of a duel can be set by the side that received the challenge. Since this duel was one I’d initiated, the right to choose belonged to the prince.
The prince had already been beaten by me once, so it was unlikely he’d choose a straight fight of raw strength.
More accurately, that was what Eleanor had said.
But I didn’t agree. Just a moment ago, the prince who had come out to greet me was blazing with rage and hostility.
He had the exact expression of someone openly wanting to beat me into a pulp.
I can understand him, though. Some nobody from who-knows-where had challenged him to a duel over his betrothed.
“Weapons and magic are both permitted in the duel, and it will only end when one side declares defeat or is rendered incapable of fighting.”
And as I’d expected, the rule announced by the High Elf king was simply a one-on-one match.
But the prince standing right in front of me had not a shred of fighting spirit in his expression.
“Damn it, damn it...”
Far from fighting spirit, he was chewing at his fingernails with an anxious expression. I think I know why.
Probably because he’d seen that knight named Ferit or something get his jaw smashed by me.
He was probably assuming my combat strength was the same as it had been a few weeks ago.
My pure swordsmanship was pathetic, but I drove Ferit back with an unorthodox fighting style using various weapons.
He must have thought that if he invoked the duelist’s right and requested a handicap that limited weapon use, he could somehow win.
Or maybe he was planning to fight while decked out in some high elf treasure or other good gear.
But over those few weeks, I had improved by an enormous amount compared to before.
He’d noticed that too. That no handicap he chose would let him win.
“The grace of the sacred land and the World Tree will side with the righteous, and the two duelists shall stake their honor—”
And then, just as the High Elf king was about to declare the start of the duel,
“I, I!”
The prince squeezed his eyes shut, raised his hand in a flash, and shouted.
“I, Elryon Proxinus, hereby invoke my rightful privilege as a duelist and designate my champion!”
The prince abruptly declared that he would appoint a champion, a proxy fighter to duel in his place.
**
Murmurs spread among the elves. As expected, this had been completely unforeseen.
A champion is a substitute fighter you can call when the duelist cannot fight, or when someone of too noble a status is fighting the duel.
As the High Elf prince and the one receiving the challenge, he definitely had the right to call a champion.
And yet there was only one reason murmurs were breaking out like this.
“My God, look at that coward...”
Because he looked incredibly pathetic.
“To think that guy is my betrothed, I’m starting to sigh.”
I could even hear Eleanor, seated in the stands, letting out deep, resigned sighs.
In a duel over his betrothed, he freaked out and called a champion; what could be more pathetic than that?
The high elves who had come to watch seemed to think this was a bit much too, because all of them looked displeased.
But the most displeased person was, as expected, the prince himself. He must know this is a humiliating thing to do.
“The champion who will act in my stead is Mercedes, the noble First Knight of the Proxinus Order!”
The prince, whose face had gone bright red with shame and humiliation, finally called out the champion’s name.
If I can face a proper opponent instead of some useless weakling like this, I’d welcome it.
The problem is that this is the prince’s impulsive move.
I even doubt whether this Mercedes is here, and even if they are, whether they’d agree to it.
-clomp, clomp.
A high elf in a white uniform standing among the seats walked out, and those worries were washed away cleanly.
Instead, new worries began sprouting inside me.
The elf in uniform stepped out as the grimacing prince backed away, drew his sword, and stood before me.
He clearly hadn’t expected to be named champion on the spot, so he wasn’t dressed for combat. He looked extremely uncomfortable.
Even so, I couldn’t help but tense up.
“As Your Highness wishes.”
Because of the color of the console floating above the head of the knight named Mercedes, who had stepped forward as the prince’s champion.
A pitch-black console that signified an overwhelming level gap.
An outlier whose specs were leagues above even the many elite NPCs on floor 7.
“You’ve thrown away the luck that let you walk away after harming His Highness Elryon, and you did it yourself.”
The high elf knight I’d met before stood before me.
**
It wasn’t the first time this damned Tower of Trials had shown its malice toward me.
Like when a field boss that suddenly used elemental attacks appeared on floor 2.
Or when a lizardman on floor 3 used an electric barrier that was deadly to warriors.
Or when, after reaching floor 7, I got ambushed right from the starting area by an elite NPC stronger than a boss.
Since I was climbing this tower alone, without anyone else’s help, most of it was probably unavoidable.
This time too. If you say it’s because I’m taking an unconventional route, I don’t really have a comeback.
I’d forcefully broken through the early forced-loss event and, thanks to Eleanor’s affection, received an epic quest.
“Holy fuck, doesn’t that bastard feel embarrassed at all?”
“His Highness made the wise choice.”
When I muttered my complaint, he immediately frowned and shot back. Having become my champion, his loyalty was seriously impressive.
Considering he’d called in the strongest ally to take on an enemy he couldn’t beat, it wasn’t really wrong.
And honestly, I didn’t really feel like cursing him that much.
“Looks like you have no intention of abandoning the duel.”
-shiiing.
“Of course not. I’m not some coward like certain people.”
My heart pounded, and a thrilling tension coursed through my entire body. It had been a long time since I’d felt this.
I’d been curious about exactly how strong I was, and how strong I was compared to other challengers.
Because the ranker I’d fought directly had turned out to be a moron who could only thrust, making objective comparison difficult.
But this knight, by my estimate, had better specs than Choi Gil-hyeon and was far more skilled as well.
In other words, if I beat this guy, it would confirm that I was stronger than the lower-tier rankers on floor 25 and above.
“That remark—you can still take it back now, but it doesn’t look like you plan to.”
Even if it’s the exercise of a rightful privilege, changing a duel opponent on short notice naturally requires agreement.
Even Eleanor looked like she was protesting something from over there.
“You said that if we met again, you’d rip off my ears, didn’t you?”
But Mercedes and I agreed, without needing any formal procedure, to bring each other down.