Whoosh!
The Blue Dragon Crescent Blade thrust in with a bone-chilling sound of splitting air, grazing an inch from my neck. Twisting my head to avoid it, I swung my sword strongly sideways.
Thwack!
A blue protective energy flickered, absorbing the impact of the sword strike.
Strong. As expected of an illusion of a warrior with the title of master. Though weakened to match user levels, its attacks were terrifying.
The attacks aren't fast. If Melissa, I, and Elenoa are masters who prioritize speed, this warrior emphasizes weight. Each attack is linear and concise. But at the same time, heavy.
Flash!
The crescent blade raised above his head and came down as if to split me with tremendous force. Clang! I can block this. But some attacks came thrusting in with unbearable power.
Typically, that thrust of the crescent blade filled with blue mana. That can't be faced head-on. Either dodge or resist.
Scraaape!
With the sound of the crescent blade scraping the floor, it came up strongly from below. Clang! Once, Clang! Twice. A 2-hit attack, swinging upwards while rotating the body. My body shook violently but didn't lift off. This too can be blocked.
The normal patterns are about this much.
But the problem was the strange area attacks that came between patterns.
Thud!
The moment the shaft of the crescent blade in the warrior's hand strongly struck the ground.
Woong!
Blue concentric circles generated from there spread rapidly across the entire battle area.
This attack appearing between normal patterns. Obviously, it can't be blocked as seen. It should be avoided using invincibility skills, but.
Crackle.
"Ugh."
I frowned.
Even though I clearly resisted through invincibility, the blue mana that grazed past me didn't completely disappear and stuck to my body.
[Blue Dragon Sword Energy 1 Stack (29 seconds)]
[Take 1000 damage per second]
The residual sword energy inflicts continuous damage.
This. It's similar in nature to Crow's 'Punishment'. It's a pattern that checks invincibility. Unlike Crow, it didn't ignore the system, but it gave a debuff by sticking to the body as if bypassing the system.
But it's strange. Crow's 'Punishment' clearly had a tremendous range, but there were holes to avoid.
But this pattern, Blue Dragon Sword Energy, covers the entire battle area.
The debuff enters even if you resist.
There's no hole to avoid.
Really?
Is there really no hole to avoid?
Woong!
Once again, concentric circles of Blue Dragon Sword Energy burst out centered on the warrior's crescent blade shaft.
I faced it and thought quickly.
This world, no, this game.
Battles basically proceed based on the X-axis.
But rarely, there are battles where you need to use the Y-axis too.
The most recent experience was the battle with Elf Guards in the Elf Forest. At that time, the Elf Guards led by Palman attacked us from above the trees.
The wave of Blue Dragon Sword Energy sweeps from the floor up to around the waist.
If so, it's too simple.
Other users couldn't avoid it because they thought of it as an X-axis based game battle.
In an actual fight, when sword energy comes to the waist?
Either duck your head or.
Tap!
Jump.
Below my floating body, I could see the fierce wave of Blue Dragon Sword Energy passing by.
I smiled seeing that.
"This is it."
And, with my body still in the air, I swung my sword down strongly towards the warrior's crown.
Whoosh!
Even knowing how to break the Blue Dragon Sword Energy, the battle with the ancient warrior didn't end easily.
Woong, woong, woong!
The warrior's form gripping the crescent blade blurred, and soon began moving rapidly in all directions. Three concentric circles generated from the warrior's feet all over the battle area swept across the entire field.
Tap, tap, tap tap!
I too quickly floated in the air, darting between the concentric circles. I became a grasshopper. Leaping off the ground incessantly, I chased the warrior darting around everywhere and sprayed sword energy.
An untimely chase unfolded in the Tomb of Swords.
I thought the warrior with the crescent blade was the type to stubbornly charge in with his body, but he came with more tricky battle methods than expected.
Tap.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!
For a moment, the crescent blade rotated strongly above the head of the warrior who stopped moving.
"Ugh!"
My light body was swept forward by the gale caused by that crescent blade. In that moment when I lost balance.
Whoosh!
Blue sword wind generated centered on the warrior spread out covering all directions.
Tap.
Jump, then backward evasion. And, in an instant, the warrior's body grew larger in my sight.
Charge pattern.
Clang!
I blocked the warrior's charge with his crescent blade raised by raising my sword.
Swish.
A powerful pattern, and simultaneously a huge opening appeared.
Lowering my posture towards the momentarily stiffened warrior's body.
Flash, flash, flash!
Flash Slash. Second, third.
My sword, using cooldown reset twice in succession, cut through the warrior's body three times.
The warrior's body. Three sword wounds engraved on the neck, chest, and waist.
Woong!
That body emitted a strong blue light and disappeared, turning into a mass of light.
Fortunately, after the head fell off, it didn't glare at me with just the head remaining.
That would have been really scary.
I glanced back at the mass of light that was the 'Ancient Master' and headed to the 10th floor.
[Tomb of Swords 10th Floor]
Zing.
The now familiar scan system, the light of the top floor swept over me once.
The method of obtaining user information on the top floor of solo dungeons and preparing the final boss of the matching class.
I heard that on the top floor, normal users fought swordsman against swordsman, fighter against fighter. But my avatar information seems somewhat different. 'That guy' always appeared.
Woong.
Light gathered in the center and.
"Long time..."
My hand that was about to greet happily stopped.
Oh, it's a bit taller.
The form of blue ponytail hair visible through the mass of light.
Not a short person like me, but a tall woman.
I let out a groan.
"Ungh..."
This is unexpected.
A comrade from the hero party in the past.
A sister who cherishes me and my swordsmanship teacher.
It's Sister Melissa.
I sat down in front of that illusion. I fell into thought for a while in that state.
Am I not glad?
Actually, I was incredibly glad. I wanted to burst into tears and fall into her embrace right away. If it was before meeting Elaine, I would surely have done so.
But what's in front of my eyes now is not the real Melissa.
Her illusion.
What she left behind for future generations.
Thanks to Elaine, I've achieved enough mental growth now to calmly fall into thought even in front of a comrade's illusion.
Will other users fight Melissa on the top floor too? Since I'm the only one who's reached the top floor yet, we can't know. But Melissa with her prime power would be an opponent absolutely impossible to overcome with current user levels.
Ancient hero? Of course, a vicious opponent that crushes with sheer difference in level.
Master Melissa? She's not much inferior in level compared to ancient heroes, just lacking the holy sword that can deal great damage to demonic beings.
Rather, in terms of swordsmanship alone, even more so.
Stand up.
I got to my feet.
Swoosh.
And drew my sword.
"Between us, words aren't necessary, right?"
Even if the current Melissa doesn't recognize me, even if she's just an illusion.
We can have a conversation.
As long as we have each other's swords.
Flash!
Melissa who became a blue flash of light, and I who became a silver flash of light.
The two clashed on the top floor of the Tomb of Swords.
We began our 'conversation'.
[Level ???]
[Ancient Swordsman ■■■■■■■]
[HP ??? / ???]
Clang clang clang! Clang!
Blue trajectories dizzily filling my vision. A sword dance drawn before my eyes.
Melissa's sword is beautiful. Fast and concise, it moves only for its purpose.
It blocks the opponent's attack, cuts the opponent's body, and pierces the opponent's weak point. A weapon moving with a clear purpose is beautiful.
Clang! Clang clang!
I block Melissa's sword strongly digging into my waist with my sword raised diagonally and deflect it in a circle. The sword swung down in that state rotates with the illusion's whole body and digs into the opposite waist. I block by turning my sword to the opposite side and break out in a cold sweat.
And I smiled.
It's enjoyable.
In a way, a life-or-death battle, a conversation through swords. Her sword is familiar. But that's why it's more difficult.
Woong!
Blue sword energy swirled around Melissa's sword. A sword with a clear purpose to cut my body was swung.
Was it like this before too? She didn't contain killing intent, but I think she swung her sword fiercely enough to definitely cut off a part of my body. Even while cherishing me so much, she was merciless in sparring. Did she trust Saintess Elena's excellent healing ability? Of course, my body was never actually cut in sparring with Melissa.
If so, it's no different now.
Even if she, who is just an illusion, doesn't recognize me, even if I can't fall into her embrace.
Clang! Slash slash slash!
I swung my sword strongly to deflect and widened the distance from her. In an instant, strong slashes and blue sword energy bursts poured in aiming for my entire body. I too swung starlight towards the center of the fierce sword energy.
Boom boom boom boom!
Slashes and slashes, sword energy and sword energy clashing in mid-air.
Though in the midst of a breathless battle, a smile was playing on my lips.
I'm enjoying this.
I hope Sister Melissa is enjoying it too.