Chapter 85
85. Tower of Trials: 9th Floor
-Oooooo……!
The phase-shifted wooden golem let out a ferocious howl.
The golem, which had already been huge from the start, was now over six meters tall just by height alone.
But that bulk meant little to me now, with Frenzy and Mana Enhancement both active.
I leaped straight to the top of the golem's head, ignored all the incoming root attacks, and kicked off the boss room ceiling.
Using my doubly reinforced leg strength, I hurled myself downward and swung my sword powerfully as I fell straight down.
-Krrrk!
Countless tree roots burst from the golem's body to block my diagonal slash, but they couldn't stop my sword.
-KWA-KWAK!
Lightning crackled as the golem's body was violently split in two, and with no core to regenerate from, it collapsed where it stood.
The two halves of the golem fell over, and after a brief delay, a system message appeared.
[Congratulations. You have become the first to clear the 8th Floor of the Tower of Trials.]
System messages followed one after another as noisily as ever.
[Clear Reward: You have obtained 'experience' and 'gold'.]
[You can activate the 9th Floor transfer gate of the Tower of Trials.]
[First-Clear Reward: You have obtained 'Leaf Earrings'.]
[Highest Contribution Reward: You have obtained 'Fallen Leaf Bracelet' and 'experience'.]
[Last-Hit Reward: You have obtained 'Ancient Tree Bow'.]
The first-clear reward and the last-hit reward were the same, and both the earrings and the bracelet had a mage-only equip restriction.
I could use the bow more or less, and it had no equip restrictions, but if I needed a ranged attack, I could just throw iron balls.
Maybe because it was an easy boss, but the rewards were even less worthwhile than a field boss's.
There were no other challengers, so I couldn't put them up on the auction house, and since they're accessories, I can't even use them as makeshift shields.
Well, I don't think I can grow much from this kind of thing anymore.
"I'll sell them to the shop later."
I closed the inventory and activated the transfer gate leading to the 9th Floor.
**
The backdrop of the 9th Floor also continues directly from the 7th and 8th Floors.
The 7th Floor was before the three major factions clashed, while the 8th Floor was after they had begun to seriously come into conflict.
And this 9th Floor was the point in time when war had finally broken out between the three factions.
Perhaps because of that, the Great Forest of the Elves I arrived at after passing through the transfer gate was very different from the one I had seen before.
First of all, the number of trees had dropped sharply. They hadn't been cut down; each one had been bent and broken in its own way.
They must have ended up like this after being burned and smashed in the flames of war. For now, let's head to the dark elf village.
[Elf Quest 9th Floor World Map.jpg]
Unlike the rushed trip through the 8th Floor, this time I had properly found the 9th Floor map on the community forum.
I had worried I might get blocked again by that fog that scrambled my senses, but fortunately I could find my way normally.
When I arrived at the entrance to the dark elf village, I was greatly surprised.
The dark elf village no longer looked like something that could be called a village.
They had built high walls out of stone and stationed plenty of watchtowers and guard golems. The terrain itself seemed to have changed too.
This was no longer a village. It was a fortress.
It was much larger than the screenshots posted on the community forum. Was this because of the epic quest?
I don't really know anything about siege warfare, but at a glance it looks impregnable.
"You there, who are you!"
As I slowly examined the fortress's exterior, someone shouted loudly from the wall.
"Identify yourself or I'll shoot! Who are you?!"
I lifted my head and showed my face. There probably wasn't a dark elf in the village who didn't know my face.
"It's me."
The dark elf on the wall held the bowstring tight and glared at me with a frown.
Then their expression changed several times. From this distance, I couldn't tell exactly what expression they were making.
But at a glance, the final expression they made looked clearly as if they had decided on something.
-Fwip!
And then an arrow flew toward me.
**
On the 7th Floor, I learned dark elf swordsmanship through Lizmel.
The swordsmanship was certainly excellent. But dark elves were elves at their core, and their greatest skill was ultimately archery.
So after learning swordsmanship, I had been thinking I might as well learn archery too.
But I couldn't do that. Not because the dark elves wouldn't teach me, but because it was simply a skill I couldn't learn.
Just as people are born with an innate affinity for mana, elves knew how to handle bows from the moment they were born.
It wasn't something that could be taught just because someone wanted to teach it, and it wasn't something that could be learned just because someone wanted to learn it.
Elf arrows had accuracy that defied common sense and trajectories that defied reason.
But in front of me, who had awakened Mana Sensory and gained transcendental senses, they weren't that impressive.
-Clack.
I snatched the arrow that came flying at me like a shot. Even after catching it half on instinct, I still wondered what was going on.
Why were the dark elves shooting arrows at me?
I could understand them being on edge because the war was underway, but there was no way they wouldn't recognize my face and the insignia on my shoulder guard.
"What is it?"
Could it really be that a tiny handful of dark elves who didn't know me had been assigned to guard duty by chance?
-Thud, thud, thud!
The golems guarding the fortress moved. They came toward me with heavy footsteps.
Not only that, but the dark elf soldiers on the wall all raised their weapons at once.
This doesn't seem like a normal situation. They definitely seem to have recognized me as an enemy.
"Hey, don't you know me? Did you already forget?"
I asked that in disbelief, but what came back was a hail of arrows.
-Ting-ting!
I parried and blocked the arrows flying toward me, relying on Mana Sensory and instinct.
Meanwhile, the golems were approaching me. Is it okay to smash them? It won't cause any problems later, right?
I took out a good blunt weapon for dealing with golems from my inventory and faced them, my nerves on edge.
-Bwoooong……
But the golems only approached me; they showed no sign of attacking.
What was this now?
The dark elves on the wall were also starting to murmur among themselves. Had they finally recognized me?
As I approached the wall again, the dark elves shouted.
"Stop right there! Move and I'll shoot!"
Since I didn't know the situation, I stopped as I was told for now.
When I obediently stopped, the dark elves whispered among themselves.
Then, after a while, one dark elf hopped down from the wall and landed in front of me.
The one who appeared in light gear with two swords, looking a little different from the 8th Floor, was Lizmel.
"Take this."
Lizmel threw me the practice sword she had brought. I took it and assumed a stance for now.
Looks like they hadn't failed to recognize me after all.
**
I met the sword that came slashing down diagonally head-on.
Even after it was blocked once, the thrust kept coming without hesitation, and I pushed back with my blade.
We were locked in a close-range contest of strength, each of us driving force into our sword work as we aimed for each other's throats. Gaining the upper hand is easy.
All I had to do was use [Frenzy] to momentarily amplify my physical strength.
But I didn't do that. Instead, I loosened the strength in my hands slightly and kept my balance from collapsing.
Then Lizmel's free hand grabbed the blade and tried to lift it upward.
I responded to that motion by grabbing the tip of the blade as well, answering the power struggle while moving my body sideways at the same time.
I let go of the hand that had been on the hilt and changed my stance, using the hand gripping the tip of the blade as the pivot.
Grabbing the blade, I used the pommel as a blunt weapon and struck at the head. It was a technique I first learned here.
-Klang!
Lizmel lightly defended against the irregular attack without caring, then readjusted her grip on the sword.
When I first learned this technique, the corresponding defense and counterattack had also been taught, and Lizmel was demonstrating them exactly.
The only difference from back then was that Lizmel's movements had become a little slower.
After getting married, Lizmel had stepped back from scout duty, or so I had heard.
Seeing that Lizmel was still dressed in something unfit for combat, this must have been the first time in a while Lizmel had come out with a sword.
"You're not like you used to be."
-Kang!
I took in Lizmel's dulled sword aura, found an opening, and knocked her sword far away.
Lizmel, having lost her sword, didn't panic. She simply brushed off her hands and let out a shallow breath.
"You've barely changed at all yourself, kid."
Lizmel said that and waved toward the wall. All the bows pointed at me were lowered.
Now I finally understood what the situation was. There had been a twenty-year gap between the 7th Floor and the 8th Floor.
Then how much time would have passed between the 8th Floor and the 9th Floor?
That steadfast fortress, built up while even the terrain itself was being changed, didn't look like something that could have been made in just a few years.
There had to be a reason the dark elves, even after recognizing me, had hesitated and then shot their bows.
"It's been a hundred years. How are you still exactly the same as before?"
A hundred years—time that is by no means short even for long-lived elves.
"Unbelievable, really."
There was clearly time lingering on the crossed swords.
Time that was too deep to dismiss as nothing more than background lore for an NPC.
This floor isn't going to be easy from the very beginning.