Chapter 75
75. Uncanny Valley
Eleanor said no more and quietly left the room.
Left alone again, I tried to continue meditating, but I just couldn’t focus and ended up falling asleep normally.
The next morning.
After I finished a quick bit of upkeep and was about to leave, countless dark elves saw me off. Had word somehow spread?
“Are you leaving this early? If you’re going anyway, stay for ten years or so. I’m disappointed.”
“Hey, for humans, ten years is an insanely long time, you know?”
“Is that so? Then maybe five years or so... I barely even got to talk to him.”
Even though I was now Eleanor’s betrothed, no dark elf questioned the fact that I was leaving.
It had only been a day since I won the betrothed’s place in a duel, and they didn’t even care?
Maybe they knew from the start that it was just a pretext. Or maybe they thought I’d come back.
Well, considering the nature of the 8th floor, that wouldn’t be a problem.
The background of the 8th floor, where the faction quest continues, is the future version of the 7th floor.
According to the community, the quest NPCs appear there as well, so I’d probably end up meeting these guys again too.
Among those seeing me off were, of course, Rizmel and the rest of the scouting unit.
“Hey, human. Take this.”
Rizmel held something out to me. When I took it and looked, an item name surfaced.
[Night Raven’s Cloak]
It was a black cloak with a faint purplish tint, and instead of stats it had the unique skill [Stealth].
Stealth is a common skill for rogue-type classes, a simple skill that erases footsteps and presence.
It’s not some amazing skill, but it’s not so trivial that it should be attached to an item either.
“It’s a cloak that suppresses your presence. I’m giving it to you to mean you should stop doing such reckless things. Don’t misunderstand.”
I don’t know what there is to misunderstand, but then again, wasn’t that just Rizmel being Rizmel?
“Thanks. I’ll use it well.”
After I thanked her obediently, Rizmel turned her slightly reddened face away in a huff.
Rizmel wasn’t the only one handing me things.
“Hey, human, take this too.”
A scout who’d helped out for a bit handed me a shoulder armor piece I’d seen somewhere before.
[Insignia of an Elite Scout]
It was armor known as one of the most important quest rewards in the dark elf quest.
Huh, wasn’t this supposed to be hard to get?
“Even if it was temporary, you were still part of the scouting unit, weren’t you? And you made a huge contribution together with Rizmel.”
This time too, I accepted it after thanking them obediently. The other dark elves each handed me one thing or another as well.
There were practical things too, like good-quality potions and stat-boosting elixirs, as well as food such as snacks and packed lunches.
“I made it in a hurry, so it looks a bit rough, but take it. It’ll be useful.”
In addition, the blacksmith Erwen gave me wrist guards that could generate a magical shield for a short time.
In effect, I was receiving all at once the rewards I could have earned by handling the 7th-floor faction quest in exemplary fashion.
The crowning touch, naturally, was Eleanor.
**
What Eleanor handed over was not a simple parting gift, but a thank-you for breaking off the engagement.
In other words, this was the reward for this epic quest. What she handed over was a pendant with a simple design.
Pendant items are rare, so whatever its performance was, I felt like I’d be satisfied.
But after hearing the explanation, it turned out to be an absurdly overpowered item.
Maybe because the difficulty far exceeded 7th-floor level, the reward also far exceeded 7th-floor standards.
The quest itself was set to continue after the 7th floor, so this wasn’t even the final reward.
“Then, are you now going to challenge that so-called Trial?”
“Yeah. Did I mention that?”
“Of course I know that much; it’s a topic we’ve talked about often, isn’t it?”
Eleanor’s eyes burned like starlight. Eyes filled with intense curiosity toward an unknown world.
Come to think of it, she had once said she wanted to travel another world together someday.
If friction with the high elves hadn’t been scheduled, she might have said she’d follow me.
As long as Eleanor was an NPC, it was something that could never come true.
“I pray that you finish the Trial and are able to achieve what you wish for at the end of your journey.”
Eleanor knows that my goal is to visit my mother’s grave. She also knows how I feel about pursuing that goal.
“And on the day your journey ends, if you have nowhere else to go... you may always return to my side.”
“Return to your side?”
“What, is that such a strange expression? You are my betrothed, and the seat beside me is yours whenever you wish.”
As long as this was merely a Tower of Trials server, it was an impossible thing.
Even so, I was deeply grateful for the words.
[Quest Complete : The Dark Elf’s Book - Prologue]
**
Along with the system message announcing quest completion, I truly offered my final goodbye.
“Thank you for everything.”
The dark elves responded to my farewell with smiles and waves. Eleanor did the same.
Their gently swaying hands, their bright smiles—everything was uniformly, eerily identical.
“Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
Even the words mouthed by dozens of dark elves were so identical it was creepy.
“Hey, what the hell is this... don’t mess with me.”
Just like the shepherd girl I met on the 2nd floor, and like the many emotionless tin-can NPCs on other floors.
“Why, is there something else you need?”
The only one who answered my flustered words was Eleanor.
The other dark elves merely tilted their heads with creaking motions.
Even the angle of their tilted heads was the same. Watching them move in unison was like looking at factory machinery.
“Are you feeling unwell?”
Eleanor alone was speaking and acting differently, but even her tone and expression were clearly different from before.
No, even the presence I felt from her was different. The intense presence she had before was nowhere to be found.
She still reacted like a human and behaved like a human, but she never looked human.
She only looked like something awkwardly imitating a person—
“No, it’s nothing.”
—and an instinctive revulsion surged through my entire body.
Seeing me like that, the dark elves who doted on humans all reached out with dozens of hands at once as if worried.
I fled the village as if running away, and headed for the 7th-floor labyrinth area.
**
The faction quest isn’t over yet. It continues on the 8th floor too.
I had thought this might happen someday, but I never dreamed it would be now.
Weren’t the exact same NPCs supposed to appear on the 8th floor too? Then why was this happening?
Could it be that even when I meet them again on the 8th floor, they’ll still be like this?
“What the hell is this, damn it...”
Holding on to my confused mind and heart, I advanced toward the boss room with trembling steps.
The 7th-floor labyrinth area is very small, and there aren’t even things like treasure chests. It didn’t take long to reach the boss room.
There was no time to think about what had happened. Honestly, I didn’t have the courage to think any further.
I just wanted to hurry up to the 8th floor and check the NPCs’ condition.
To do that, I had to calm down now. No time to waste.
-Creak.
When I opened the door, torches blazed brightly, lighting the interior, and far ahead I could see the 7th-floor boss.
[At the end of the food chain of the great forest where countless beasts lived stood none other than the conqueror of the sky.]
A giant bird with a human face flapped its wings, and giant hornets buzzed around it.
[BOSS - Parkan, the Conqueror of the Sky]
The 7th-floor boss looked like a male harpy, a flying enemy that is basically the natural enemy of melee fighters.
Its base stats weren’t especially impressive, but it was a troublesome type that barely gave you any chance to deal damage.
On top of that, it also had a pattern where, when its HP dropped, it would eat the floating hornets to recover.
Because of its vicious pattern that seemed to mock warriors, it was known as a boss that made ranged attackers such as mages or archers essential.
But I had already far surpassed 7th-floor specs, and any thought of wasting a long time on this bastard was gone.
I took a large iron sphere out of my inventory.
I also drank the stat-boosting elixir I’d just received, and the pendant Eleanor gave me activated as well.
-Rumble!
Magical light shimmered over my body, and explosive power began surging through me.
The pendant’s effect stores magical power away, then releases it at the moment the user wants, activating Mana Enhancement.
However, it doesn’t take my intelligence stat into account, and the enhancement amount is fixed, so there are plenty of limitations.
Even so, Mana Enhancement was still Mana Enhancement, and an astonishing power greater than when [Indomitable] was activated settled into my body.
-Kreee!
The boss flapped its wings and began flying toward me to attack.
It was clearly trying to move fast, but compared to Mercedes under Mana Enhancement, it looked as if it had stopped.
[Lightning Charge]
[Sensory Amplification]
[All-Out]
I activated every buff skill I had. The iron sphere crackled with electricity in my hand and crumpled.
-Boom!
The iron sphere I hurled with all my strength struck true, and the boss’s entire left chest vanished.
Fragments of torn-off wings and flesh scattered through the air, and the boss fell straight down.
[Congratulations. You have become the first to clear the 7th floor of the Tower of Trials.]
[Achievement Unlocked : One-Hit Kill]
[Achievement Reward ‘Active Skill - Weak Point Insight’ Acquired.]