An ear-splitting noise pierced the quiet air as if a fighter jet has just passed by. What followed soon after was the shrill cry of a man in excruciating pain, a sound that had my stomach churning for a bit. I lowered my weapon as I watch the man squirm on the ground.
“I was aiming for your heart, but you somehow managed to move your body just enough for the mana bullet to graze it instead. To dodge a bullet at this range…”
“Grah! W-What manner of w-weapon was that?!” He squealed through grit teeth. Luci was now kneeling as he gripped his chest, a bead of sweat dripping from his forehead, and a swab of saliva oozing out of the corners of his mouth like a rabid animal.
“It’s called a sniper rifle. A weapon only I can get a hold of. You wouldn’t recognize or understand it so no use explaining it to you. Also, I can shoot another bullet at you if you still feel like fighting. This time it'll be your head.”
Luci only growled as he struggled to get up. His pain tolerance and durability are quite high, I’ll give him that. It must be because of his Qi. When I tested my sniper rifle on other creatures back on Athiens, they would die in one shot, no matter where I aimed. The downside of using guns is that creating bullets consumes a lot of my mana, so I use guns as a last resort. Guns are also more complex than swords. That’s also a reason why they consume more mana. The simpler the design, the less usage of mana, and vice versa. I’m able to create a wide array of weapons thanks to [Mana Weapon Construction].
“Hah…Hah…”
The Qi around the first pupil was slowly diminishing as the red aura around him flickered like a dying candle. He received a lot of damage from an attack he had never seen before in his life. It took a while for the man to stand up, but his knees shook, and his breath grew heavier.
“…Then so be it,” I muttered. I leveled the barrel right at his head and peered through the sniper’s scope. I gently placed my finger on the trigger, watching the man slowly inch toward me with his eyes drooping from fatigue. Just as I was about to pull the trigger, Luci suddenly stopped. And then, after uttering a pained groan, his body descended toward the ground and fell with a large thumping noise. He lay face first-face onto the hard surface, still clutching at the exposed hole. As I lowered my weapon once more, confirming that the first pupil wasn’t moving anymore, a blue screen popped up in front of my face.
[Congratulations, Laila, for defeating the twenty-fifth opponent. Please proceed to the next floor.]
[+200 Points Gained for defeating a Pseudo-Boss!]
I blew a sigh of relief after I read the comforting message. I’ve defeated twenty-five opponents, five of them being the pupils of the Demonic Dojo. After all that, Luci was the most difficult of them all. He was the only one to have pushed me this far and to have me doubt whether I would be able to defeat him. But, after calming myself down and thinking things through like I always had, victory was still within reach, even with the unexpected variable that is Qi. To think there was a power other than mana...
After I dispersed my magic away, I rose to my feet quickly, and in turn, instantly regretted my decision. The fatigue of climbing and continuously fighting in the Tower of Strength has sapped me of my energy, both mentally and physically. A build-up of pressure was present in my head as if someone was repeatedly bashing my skull with a hammer. I cradled my head in my hand as I took a knee to regain my senses.
“Tch. I wanted to save my energy for the boss, but that may be impossible now. I’ve been continuously fighting for hours, with little to no breaks in between. I’m shocked I’m still standing after what happened today. Status...”
Name: Laila
Rank:2nd
Points:3000
Strength:61 (43) Agility:87 (62)
Durability:46 (34) Mana:71 (51)
Masteries: Marksmanship Lvl 5 Swordsmanship Lvl 6 Mana Weapon Construction Lvl 7 Heat Resistance Lvl 4 Night Vision Lvl 5 Poison Resistance Lvl 3 Aura Blade Lvl 3 Frost Resistance Lvl 4 Dragon Tamer Lvl 1
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
…I have three thousand points available, yet I can’t access the shop because of that damn condition back on the fifteenth- floor. If I could, I would’ve bought stamina and mana potions to rejuvenate myself. If I had somehow known this would happen, I would’ve better prepared myself. I just didn’t think I would need to use the shop during my time here. Quite a blunder I have made…
From up ahead, I heard shallow breathing. Luci was still sprawled on the floor, but I could see his face was contorted as his fingers twitched every few seconds. Still clutching my head, I unsteadily stood up and staggered to the next floor before the impatient message could show up. When I passed by the still body, I felt something cold and clammy grip my ankle. I turned my body and looked down to see Luci grabbing hold of me, a faint smile visible on his face.
“Why the hell are you smiling when you’re clearly in pain?” I asked, stupefied.
“I just wanted… to say...” The injured Luci croaked before finally finishing his sentence through pauses. “Thank you, and... good luck.”
The grip on my ankle weakened, and the eyes of the man finally closed shut as his arm went limp. I bent down and placed two fingers around his neck. A faint pulsing sensation was felt, confirming that he wasn’t dead, just passed out from sheer exhaustion.
“Hmph.”
Once again rising up, I walked briskly near the door and picked up my rapier off the ground. While the grip of the weapon was warm due to a ton of usage, the rapier had a sort of soothing effect on me. I hadn’t realized that I stayed rooted in one spot with my eyes closed until Solgac’s cries pierced my eardrums.
“Kyuu!”
“Sorry for dozing off there for a bit, Solgac. I’m just a bit tired, is all.”
The white dragon pouted. Solgac let out a small squeal as she nuzzled her nose on my cheek.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. We’re almost done here," I reassured Solgac. "We got five more floors to go through and we’ll be out of here. If I can’t beat the boss of this place, then I’ll just forfeit. We don’t necessarily need the special reward. We got something more special, and that was information about the past. We’ll learn more once we talk with the master of this place. If they feel like talking, that is.”
Beep!
[Please proceed to the next floor. You have ten seconds until you're automatically disqualified.]
“Let’s talk later. Right now we should keep on moving. The pounding in my head is still there, but the pressure is bearable as of now.”
After Solgac finished nodding her head, I opened the door of the next floor waiting to be conquered. I gave Luci one last look before I entered the next floor of the Tower of Strength. Luci, the self-proclaimed future God-Killer was a fearsome opponent that gave me a lot of trouble. He was a man that was cheerful and very talkative. I learned a lot from our fierce battle. I learned a little about the demons, this so-called energy called Qi, and my shortcomings.
Even though I stand as the victor between us, I could tell that in a battle of endurance, I would’ve lost. I only won because I had the element of surprise. He had no idea that I could use range weapons as devastating as a sniper rifle. He couldn’t even use most of the Demonic Arts because of [Gluttony]. Yes, I was weakened by the thirty percent debuff and was feeling tired the more floors I climbed, but I still feel like I would still lose in the end if we were both at one-hundred percent.
“…”
I shouldn’t be thinking like this. A win is a win, is it not? I should be glad that I won, regardless. I’m the one still standing, not him. I just played my cards right and was the better fighter all-round. Nothing more, nothing less.
I was deep in my internal thoughts when I felt something solid smack on my cheek. When I looked sideways at the source, which was Solgac, she was pointing one of her forelimbs across the room across, glancing at me and something else back and forth. I turned my head to where she was pointing just to see a wide arc of blue mana heading my way.
“…!”
I narrowly dodged the blow by moving to my right.
“Quick reflexes, challenger! As expected of the woman who has defeated the prodigy of the Demonic Dojo!” A voice boomed with much vitality. A tall suit of blood-red plate armor stood in front of me. The helmet had goat horns protruding on top and a small slit where the eyes are located. A pair of orange pupils were seen behind the helmet. In its hands was a longsword that had the same color scheme as its armor.
“Welcome to the twenty-sixth floor, challenger! We are the dojo masters' personal knights called ‘The Crimson Knights’, a position sought out by many all around the Demonic Continent!”
“…”
“As the challenger who has defeated the first pupil, you have gained the respect of the master itself! If you wanted to, you could even be accepted as their disciple in a heartbeat! You should feel hono-"
The Crimson Knight’s voice faltered as I vanished out of thin air. Before he could even register what had just happened, I was already behind the giant figure. With an outstretched hand and a small hop in the air, I grabbed the demon by the back of its skull and smashed its face against the solid floor; the helmet crumbling from the intense force.
[Congratulations, Laila, for defeating the twenty-sixth opponent. Please proceed to the next floor.]
[+100 Points Gained.]
“Kyuu?!”
Solgac had an astonished expression on her small face, clearly shocked at what I had just done. This was the first time she had seen me beat an opponent so brutally. While she was gawking at me, I retracted my hand away from the demon and silently shuffled away from the scene, leaving an unconscious man that was profusely bleeding from his now broken nose.