Editor: Tide

Tutorial 17th floor (?) Part II

I finally came to my senses at the message and bowed my head.

When I avoided his gaze, I immediately broke out of my shock.

For the rest of the time, I diligently urged my hands to complete the magic team.

“Wow. So you’re ignoring me to finish that?”

I could feel the hairs on my arms rise. I wondered if it was possible. Possible for it to be so much like a human, and at the same time, a monster.

Even monsters didn’t go around like that.

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[The 17th-floor stage starts.]

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After a short period, the transparent wall disappeared. The mirage began to move as soon as the wall vanished.

Bang!

The mirage flew and crashed into me. I couldn’t even see the movement properly, but I knew what technique it was: Blink.

It was the technique that Hyung had used as his primary attack at that time. Blink was a way to cross a distance at a very high speed.

Of course, I had my defense ready. I had prepared an item that automatically created a mana barrier whenever there was a strong attack.

The mirage that hit the barrier, and not me, would get a shock.

I took a sword out of the inventory and swung it so as not to miss the opportunity.

The mirage’s neck had been very close, but the mirage still managed to escape the sword very narrowly.

My attack had missed, but I continued to take the initiative. It was possible to disorientate the mirage by continuing my attacks.

The difference in speed made it easier. The mirage generally held off on attacking as well.

However, he was not able to completely block all attacks. Little by little, the wounds on the mirage’s body increased one by one. The word victory flashed through my mind.

If only I could maintain this advantage without messing up.

Boom!

The mirage stomped on my foot.

For a split second, I had thought he was about to use Blink again and prepared myself. Instead of using Blink, the mirage made me take a half a step forward when I wanted to attack.

And instead of attacking, he stomped on my foot.

The barrier was not activated.

I swung the sword to strike back at the mirage, who had stomped on my foot, but he was too fast for me to block or change the course of my sword.

The mirage hit me on the chin with an uppercut.

Once again, a barrier was made. Bang! The mirage’s attack was blocked. However, my center of gravity shifted to the back. On top of that, the mirage pushed his body straight towards me, and my body fell back.

My ankle that had been stepped on broke and a resounding crack was heard. If I fell to the floor like this, I’d get forced into a mount position.

Death.

I had to escape.

I hurriedly shouted a trigger with my hand in the direction of the welcome face.

Boom!

An explosion occurred in my hand with the short trigger. My body shifted backward.

It was an evasion method that combined short distance teleportation with an explosion that ruined vision. Now was the time for the mirage to be distracted by the explosion in front of him.

I activated the pre-prepared magic circle. “Electric Field!”

Puck!

As soon as I muttered the words, I flew back because of a strong impact.

What just happened?

The mirage caught me off-guard by launching an attack on me and broke through the barrier before the Electric Field developed.

I could tell that my ribs were dislocated. I was struggling to breathe right now.

I grasped my chest and looked at the mirage.

Thank God.

The mirage had managed to get in an attack, but he couldn’t get out of the electric field. The mirage was bound by an electrical stream that paralyzed his whole body.

“You son of a b*tch… You’re gonna die when this is over. You’ll die right away!”

He repeatedly said that I would die, staring at me like a madman, even though an electric shock bound him.

His behaviour gave me goosebumps. Now, I doubted if he was really a person.

I felt a sharp pain in my chest, but I forced myself to stand up. I had to finish off the mirage before the electric field discharged.

Holding a knife in my still-intact right hand, I rushed to the mirage.

When I was about to strike the sword at his heart, the mirage moved.

He, who should not budge even a finger, held up his left hand to block the incoming blade’s stroke. The blade penetrated his palm, but not his heart.

I twisted the blade reflexively, slicing the mirage’s hand into half and aimed for his heart again.

The body of the mirage shook. He moved his upper body half a foot ahead—a very short distance.

He came near my neck, sinking his teeth into my flesh, taking a large bite, disrupting my concentration.

My vision went black. I heard a brief ringing in my ears, and soon, nothing was heard.

When my vision came back, I was lying on the floor, and the mirage was looking down at me. He was holding a piece of flesh in his mouth, that seemed to be a part of my neck.

My vision disappeared again after he spat it out.

* * *

“Hey, are you up?”

I heard a voice. I was not dead yet.

“Open your eyes if you are awake.”

I didn’t open my eyes. I needed to figure out what was going on.

“Ahhhhhh!”

I screamed instantly when I felt a sharp pain on the lower part of my body.

“It hurts, doesn’t it? Everyone who pretends to be dead screams when they get hit here.” The mirage, who was calmly talking, was sitting on top of me.

He was pressing down on a vital point near my pelvic bone with one hand and had a dagger pointed at my neck with his other hand.

“Save me, save me. Hyung…”

I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to die in vain here.

“Of course, I’ll save you. Why would I kill you, Hyung-jin? There’s so much I need to ask,” said the mirage.

Hope rose again at his words. Hyung at this time knew me, too. If he saw and recognized me, he wouldn’t kill me.

“Hyung. Hyung… let me explain. I can explain.” My voice shook. I could feel that I had been healed using something, be it Elixir or Potion.

It was hard to convince the mirage that this was a stage, but I had to do it.

This was the only option.

“Okay. Let’s start with the magic circle you used earlier.”

“No. Hyung, that doesn’t matter… Argh!”

“I decide what’s important, Hyung-jin.”

Eventually, I was able to start talking only after sharing all the magic I knew.

* * *

At first, the mirage didn’t believe me and doubted me. The mirage thought he was real and that he was challenging to the 17th floor.

Contrary to Kirikiri’s advice, he thought it strange that the difficulty level of the 17th floor was high, but he seemed to think this stage was better than a bland stage.

Besides, he had memories of the 16th floor, which was just before, so he couldn’t believe what I was saying anymore.

He thought it was a stage that featured an enemy who was close to him.

The clear goal was to get rid of the enemy at the last minute. I had to persuade him very carefully.

The words available for use were also limited. Under the system’s restrictions, I had to make him turn around, be suspicious of the situation, and infer the answer.

“Fake, huh?”

“I understand you suspect me because the whole floor is like a doppelganger. But if you listen calmly, you’ll know I’m right, Hyung.”

The mirage listened to my explanation for a long time, then asked again, “I’m a fake?”

I felt a strange feeling when I saw the mirage asking the same question again.

I ignored the strange feeling and continued the conversation.

“There’s a way out of here. You and I can go up. Using this ball, Hyung. Hyung?”

The mirage was looking at me with an indifferent expression similar to the one from before. But unlike before, when he acted as if my story was interesting, the mirage seemed to be angry at something.

“Hyung…”?

“Hyung-jin.”

“…Yes, Hyung.”

“I’m not a fake.”

I nodded unconsciously as I saw him speak.

“Right? I’m not a fake. I’m not fake. I’m not.” The mirage, who muttered quietly to himself, raised his hand which held the dagger.

A spark of light flashed at the tip of the dagger.

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[God of Hope smiles at you]

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Looking at the dagger that began to descend, I foresaw my death.

And on the other hand, I expected the message regarding the God of Hope, which had appeared at the last moment, to save me.

All kinds of thoughts flooded my mind in a split second, and the dagger fell without any hesitation.

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[God of Hope smiles at you]

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Tutorial 17th Floor (?) Part II > Finished

(Note from Imagine: F’s in chat for Hyung-Jin)

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