From the tenth floor and onwards is when the difficulty of the fights spiked. Thinking I was hot shit (and I still am), I came in walking up to the eleventh floor like I owned the place. I mean, why wouldn’t I act cocky? The floors with the knights are easy as hell so I didn’t think I would have to try. When I entered the eleventh floor though, the notion that they were all going to be easy was thrown out the window, and it all started with this guy setting the baseline from here on out.
When I looked over at my new opponent, I could sense a familiar energy inside of them. The ones before didn’t have this energy so this was easy to spot. This time, the plume on its head was white. Looks like after I complete every pseudo-boss floor, these knights level up as shown by what they are wearing on their heads. Also, did I mention that the conditions on the earlier floors stack with each other? That means that the room is STILL shrouded in darkness AND I’m still rebuffed. At this point, I feel like only a handful of people will be able to reach the top floor. Probably one, three, or four at most. That forfeit feature is looking promising the more I climb the Tower of Strength.
“I am surprised anyone has made it past the fourth pupil, let alone the fifth. Truly astonishing,” the suit of armor proudly exclaimed, unsheathing a longsword from its back.
“Yep. The fourth pupil was quite strong. Good thing I defeated her before she could learn my move set,” I replied, closing my eyes.
“I like your bravado, challenger. Let us waste no time on trivial talk.”
“I agree. Let’s start the fight already.”
In this battle, I’ll be a little more cautious since this guy can probably use mana because of the energy he possesses. How it will utilize mana though is what I want to find out. I think I’ll try something different this time. Usually, I would wait for these suits of armor to rush at me instead and wait until they reach the range of my [Perception]. It is about time I switch things up.
With that in mind, since I already know my opponent’s general location, I proceeded to sprint. While this space may be a bit big, it didn’t take long for the armor to enter my bubble. Its body outline and the surrounding area were clearly visible from [Perception]. The armored guy already had his sword raised upwards and brought the weapon downwards at my head.
The blow was a bit heavy, but I nonetheless blocked it. I had to exert some effort just to slide the longsword away. The debuff is no joke at all, especially when the higher I climb the Tower of Strength, so does the difficulty.
The suit of armor didn’t back away not even an inch and continued slashing away at me. It was a little clunky since it was wielding a big sword and heavy armor, but its strikes were precise, and no movement was wasted. A shower of sparks was revealed as both of our weapons clashed with each other.
“Interesting! You’re the first suit of armor to last this long!” I shouted with glee, blocking a series of strikes.
“Thank you for the praise, challenger,” the voice echoed from behind the helmet. Thinking about it now, the helmet has small vertical grooves near the eyes. I guess I never paid any attention to it before if I’m now realizing that fact…
I decided that it was time to stop defending and start attacking instead. When the opponent went for an overhead swing, I briskly sidestepped away and swung my sword horizontally at its hip. Since the Torqinite sword is made of top-quality materials, and my opponent’s armor isn’t, my Torqinite sword should easily be able to penetrate its defens-
“…!”
Surprisingly, my sword didn’t cleave through the armor but instead bounced off it. I pulled the sword and backpedaled just as the armor pulled itself together and tried to slash away at me.
“So that happened,” I scoffed. “Am I just weak now or did something I haven’t realized yet happen?”
“Oh, challenger. You aren’t weak,” It hummed as it turned to face me, its armor creaking during the process. “It is thanks to [Mana Barrier] that I was able to survive that deadly blow.”
Thanks to the [Mana Barrier]? What does that m- Oh! So that’s what that energy I’ve been feeling was! This thing can use mana huh… The situation has turned tricky now. Mana can be used as a protective layer around your body to enhance your defense or to shroud your weapon for more damage. My sister has [Aura Blade], so I know what it's like to fight against it. This guy can probably use mana as a protective coating and use it on its sword.
The reason why I call this situation tricky is that while I don’t have [Aura Blade] to combat the skill, I use my mana to use it similarly to [Aura Blade] because of [Energy Manipulation]. Ever since I entered the Tower of Strength, I’ve been holding off on using mana because I didn’t want to rely on it. Using my sword without mana and clashing against a sword using mana while debuffed is like trying to cut through metal with a plank of wood. Should I just say screw it and use mana anyways?
“If you won’t make the first move, then I will!” The armor cried out, its voice prying me out of my thoughts. It held its sword high and ran at me, closing the distance rapidly. When I held my sword up, I could feel the energy within the armor rising out of its body and entering the longsword. It was now actively using [Aura Blade]!
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“Tch!”
Instead of holding my ground and defending, I decided that dodging was the best choice. I leaped backward as the longsword grazed just barely missing the tip of my nose. As it was still recovering from its swing, I took that small window and thrust my sword at the armor’s chest. A hollow chink followed soon after. As expected, there wasn’t even a single scratch on the silver chest piece because of this damn [Mana Barrier].
My opponent once again swung its heavy blade toward me, threatening to decapitate my head clean off, but I evaded by bending my body low to the ground. Honestly, the only reason I haven’t won yet is that it is using mana and I’m not...
“Challenger, why prohibit yourself from using mana when you have no chance without it?” My opponent wondered, assuming a new stance.
“Just ‘cause. I’ll only use mana if there’s no other way. Call me stubborn if you want, I don’t care.”
“…Then so be it.” The suit of armor charged, its metal body slightly glowing blue. Its weapon was also visibly shrouded in mana, meaning that this person was fighting seriously now. Since its blows were already heavy enough, now that it’s using its full strength with mana, I’ll probably be pushed back from the extreme force. It’d be best to dodge as much as I can while counterattacking. While it may be strong, it's still slow from the weight of the armor and sword.
My opponent's first swing came slowly, so I effortlessly dodged it by sidestepping. I proceeded to thrust my sword at the armor's right arm, but as before my weapon bounced off against the [Mana Barrier]. It swung again and again, and I just keep on dodging every one of its swings. I’m still faster than it is so evading is no problem at all. My opponent, who was getting visibly frustrated with my dodging decided to swing wildly, taking advantage of the longsword's reach.
Putting some strength into my legs, I quickly jumped over the weapon's trajectory and glided in the air while staring at my opponent. In a split second, that was when I saw it, the path to victory. Its whole backside wasn’t covered by mana at all, leaving it vulnerable to attacks from my blade. Just as I lightly landed on the ground, I infused as much strength as I could muster into my legs and sped at the knight just before it could fully turn its body to face me.
Swish!
A long but deep slash mark appeared diagonally on my opponent's back as blood poured out like a sprinkler. Without mana, my sword was able to make a clean cut across its armor, as if it was butter. My opponent howled as it dropped its weapon onto the ground, and gradually descended to the floor with a loud clang. Before it could lose unconsciousness, my opponent let out its final words weakly.
“In the end…you never used mana... to defeat…me… how pitiful.”
“…If it makes you feel any better. You’re one of the stronger opponents I faced in the Tower of Strength. I enjoyed our battle.”
“Heh, you lie,” It croaked before finally kicking the bucket. I looked over at the fallen with pursed lips.
“…I wasn’t lying though? I really did mean what I said…”
[Congratulations, Isaac, for defeating the eleventh opponent. Please proceed to the next floor.]
[+100 Points Gained.]
Whew… I know I should feel glad that I won and all, but the opponents are only going to get stronger. Not to mention that there will be other conditions placed on me on every fifth floor, so I’m not too keen on celebrating just yet. Let’s look over my Stats before I head on through.
“Status.”
Status Inventory Name: Isaac Rank: 1st Points: 950 Strength: 64 (45) Agility: 57 (42) Durability: 62 (44) Mana: 88 (62) Masteries Marksmanship Lvl 4 Swordsmanship Lvl 6 Energy Manipulation Lvl 6 Heat Resistance Lvl 4 Poison Resistance Lvl 3 Frost Resistance Lvl 4 Mental Fortitude Lvl 2 Perception Lvl 2
The first thing I noticed was that my agility Stat increased by two points. Looks like you can still gain Stats even in your debuffed state. It's nice to know that I can still improve my Stats. What I want to find out is if it will transfer over to the original. If it's temporary, then this is a load of bullshit. None of my masteries have leveled up too which is a bummer. No new masteries unlocked or leveled up…
[Please proceed to the next floor. You have ten seconds until you're automatically disqualified.]
Yep, time to get going. Don’t wanna get disqualified just for being late.
I hurried over to the next door. Before leaving, I took one last good look at my opponent laying still on the floor. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but who exactly are these people? They look and feel real, yet I’ve never seen them before on Athiens and I sure as hell know they aren’t from Earth either. Then again, athios’ have horns on their heads, yet the pupils and these knights don’t have horns. Just where exactly do they come from?
These thoughts plagued my mind as I entered the twelfth floor, shutting the door from behind. If I want answers to sate my curiosity, I’ll just have to ask the pupils. If they don’t wanna answer, then I’ll ask the dojo master. If they won’t answer me, then I'll beat them to a pulp until they feel like talking!