intrusion (3)

I raised my sword as an oppressive aura slowly took away my breath.

How was there another person here without a competitive trial?

To be honest, I'd want to complain to an administrator or something but…

"Why aren't you responding, primitive?"

"…"

The system determined that he would be my new target, so I couldn't even do that.

'I have to find a way to survive.'

I had no intention of giving up… even if I had only a one percent chance of surviving.

Looking up and down, I observed the knight's equipment.

A pearly silver sword stood out from the rest of his dark armor; the fight was already leaning in his favor.

'The long sword has more reach than daggers, and the armor is wrapped from head to toe.'

All external factors were predicting my loss.

The only way I could take a victory was by just being a better fighter.

'But that'll be tough too.'

You could tell that he was highly skilled by looking at the remnants of his fight with the wolves.

At my current level, I didn't have a chance of winning a one-on-one.

'Then I have to introduce some volatility.'

I carefully asked a question, not letting my guard down.

"I've never heard of an intrusion before. Where did you come from?"

"As expected of a primitive, they don't even know that a 'Floor Intrusion' is. Heh."

What started as a smirk evolved into a full-blown laughter that you could see through the armor.

'Who the hell is this dumbass…'

I almost lost my temper at the immature insults, but I quickly regained my composure.

He, at the very least, thinks I'm more primitive than him.

'I have to use that to my advantage.'

"Floor intrusion— can you tell me what that is?"

"Is your head as empty as your civilization?"

"…"

"Think about it from my perspective. Would you answer your question?"

Unlike his childish dialogue, he seemed to think through things.

Obviously, he wouldn't answer such a direct ques—

"Whatever, you're gonna die soon anyway."

No, I guess he would.

'…He's playing around with me even though he was gonna tell me anyway.'

But that signified just how much he was looking down on me.

"One of the features that are unlocked at the 8th floor is called 'Floor Intrusion.' You can buy a pass in the marketplace to interfere with other people's trials."

He continued to speak.

"Of course, your primitive dimension could never reach the 8th floor."

"…Then can I assume you're from a different world?"

"Where else would I be from?"

"…I see."

After responding to him, I muttered quietly.

Focusing as much as I could on what the knight had said—

"Eye of truth."

「 Activating the skill 'Eye of Truth.' 」

「 The following person is telling the truth. 」

The skill confirmed that he did, in fact, come from a different dimension.

'It's so complicated, damn it.'

I guess it wasn't too out of the question considering that the Tower of Trials and dungeons exist…

'This whole thing is bigger than I thought…'

It was then—

"You've done something insolent. How dare you try to judge me."

He must have noticed that I activated my skill.

I gave him the biggest smile I could.

"What are you gonna do about it?"

I found out everything I needed from him and he was pretty hostile against me.

And it's not like he'd tell me anything else at this point.

As such, there was no need to keep up this charade.

"What— what? How dare you…"

The black knight trembled in anger, but I took that time to sneak an attack in.

In mid-sentence, I lunged forward with my blade.

Pss— kang!

"Did you really think that this would work?"

The knight flared his eyes through his helmet as he parried the blade.

'I thought I caught him off guard…'

I had to give him some credit for that.

He's not someone I could beat by using some cheap tricks.

Kang!

I swung my dagger one more time before taking a step back.

There were a couple of things I figured out in that brief exchange.

'This knight guy's stats aren't too far off from mine.'

We both swung with one hand, but I was a tad above him in terms of strength.

I could feel that he was pushed back for a brief moment.

Though, make no mistake…

This man didn't have a drop of sweat on him after clearing the 5th trial.

That alone demonstrated his experience and prowess.

'The most dangerous part about him might be his skills though.'

Then I have to be ready to fend him off.

Keeping all of the available skills in my head, I stepped back to take a stance.

The most useful one in my arsenal was 'Instant Acceleration.'

'Sustain Battle only activates when my life is at risk and physical resistance is a passive.'

I had a bunch of others, but they were essentially all passive skills.

It was safe to say that the only active skill I had was Instant Acceleration.

'Agility is my highest stat, so I have to use that to my advantage.'

I had to… or else I'd be taken out by whatever he was hiding.

The knight stood in front of me clanking around, and then he clicked his tongue.

"Tsk, is it because it's just the 5th floor? The restrictions are so strong."

This had been on my mind for a while but— why was he like this?

The way he talked to himself mid-battle.

Very inefficient.

'Is he just a narcissist?'

He could be lying about the 'restrictions' but…

I didn't think he was smart enough to say these things just to throw me off.

"I'm getting serious now, primitive."

He pulled his blade to his waist and stood it up vertically.

This might be preparation for a skill.

Koong.

His blade strutted forward as he stepped off the floor.

A swing from a distance that would never reach me.

I'd experienced something like this on the third trial.

Koonphh!

The tip of his sword extended with a swift noise.

I twisted my torso in response, and it barely skimmed past my ribs.

Slash.

"Khmm."

A small moan slipped out with the injury.

「 Activating skill 'Accelerated Regeneration.' 」

The newly ranked-up skill got rid of the scratch instantly, but the aching pain still lingered.

'He was underestimating me for a reason.'

I scowled at his sword, which was back to its original strength.

There was a reason why the system evaluated him so highly.

"Watch carefully, twinkle toes. You'll die otherwise."

The black knight playfully presumed his stance again, as if he was playing a game.

"…"

Like a child stepping on one ant at a time.

That's exactly how he viewed me.

'Fucking bastard.'

This was what he did after walking into a stranger's trial?

I almost let my anger get the best of me, but I had to simmer it down.

Calmly, I had to think of what could rectify this situation…

Whoosh!

His blade swung at me again before I could finish that thought.

I was able to dodge it without being hit this time, but the swordsman was still confident.

"Oh, aren't you a speedy one? Not bad for a 5th floor challenger."

I couldn't afford to give him a snarky response.

I had to reveal a little more of my strength.

'I was saving instant acceleration as a last resort, but I can still use this.'

There was a reason why I didn't sell the assassin's cloak at the hunter's market.

「 Using the Assassin's Cloak(C)'s active ability. 」

「 Movement speed +15% 」

「 Activation time left – 00:00:59 」

This was the reason.

Koong.

The distance between us closed as I pushed off the floor.

Of course, the knight seemed to have expected this and didn't panic.

"Closing the distance… Do you think you'd stand a chance then?"

The sword in his hand followed a clean but destructive path.

Ssssp!

I was definitely ahead of him in terms of strength and speed, but his attacks were disproportionately fast.

The aura surrounding his sword was definitely not an ordinary skill.

'What the…!'

Voosh…!

The shield attached to my arm split in half and an extreme wave of pain jolted through it.

I pulled back when his sword was about halfway through my arm, before he could get to the bone.

Kwang!

As he saw me tripping backward, the knight continued to smirk.

"Oh no, it would have been less painful if the arm was cut off clean."

I ignored the offender and pushed down on the cut as hard as I could with my right arm.

The extreme agony made me want to scream out, but it soon soothed itself.

「 The skill 'Pain Resistance' is active now. 」

「 All forms of pain the user feels will be reduced by 15% 」

「 The skill 'Sustain Battle' is active now. 」

「 All restrictions on the user will be weakened. 」

The two skills grounded me from the pain.

I had to stay calm, especially at times like these.

After pushing the cut down for a bit, Accelerated Regeneration was already starting to reattach my arm.

Maybe what was considered 'life-threatening' became more lenient with the rank up.

I wasn't sure but I was regaining my cool after my injuries started to heal.

"Haha, you have some interesting skills."

As he made light of the situation, my head was clearer than ever.

I wasn't sure what skill he used, but the aura surrounding his sword was dangerous.

'…It must be a skill related to cutting force.'

The skill probably increased cutting force with mana reinforcement.

Those kinds of skills were pretty rare besides the weapon skills but…

I had heard that they exist.

Although there was never any information about the aura being this ominous.

'Whatever it is, it's not something I can deal with at my level.'

This was the result of me 'dealing' with it.

The shield I spent a fortune on was in two pieces and my arm was almost cut off.

'…I'm only alive because of the cloak.'

If I was any slower, my head would have been the one cut off.

'I guess there's no way around this.'

I wriggled my left arm back and forth and glared at the black knight.

His skills were definitely threatening.

'But as far as the stats go, I'm still a little ahead.'

Then there was only one way to kill this madman.

I moved my hands quickly to activate necromancy.

「 Permanently increasing your stats using the souls. 」

「 Strength increased by 2. 」

「 Agility increased by 3. 」

「 Stamina increased by 3. 」

「 Mana increased by 5. 」

「 Tenacity increased by 7. 」

The knight seemed to notice this change in my body and laughed it off.

"Physical strengthening, fun."

As though he knew I'd be powerless against him no matter what I did.

I checked the time left on the assassin's cloak and got ready to go in.

My left arm was basically healed and my stats were higher than ever.

'This is the best I can do…'

Only one thing left.

"Instant Acceleration."

Mana left my body and took the weight of my body along with it.

This was on another level from any of the other skills I'd used.

The knight also twitched, as if he knew something just changed.

"How does a damn primitive have so many skills…"

As he muttered to himself again, the knight got up on the tips of his feet.

Like a compressed spring, I exploded forward at a speed as I'd never seen before.

"…Fucking primitive!"

The black knight wrapped himself in a red shroud of energy.

I didn't know what exactly he did, but his movements also got faster.

Though that wasn't enough to catch up to me.

Not with all the bonuses from the cloak and skills.

The knight's blade passed me at a hair's length, and I stuck my foot out.

CHANG!

The sound of the foot and the armor clashing rang throughout the cave.

"…"

The knight caught himself right before stumbling to his knee.

I couldn't help but smile at the sign of his weakness.

He also seemed to have lost his playfulness.

'That means he's considering me a threat now.'

If I could take advantage of my speed again…

I wouldn't let him overpower me with whatever aura that was.

If I could manage that…

'I have a chance of winning.'

I could finally see the light.

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