Chapter 10 - Growth (3) (1/2)

Chapter 10: Growth (3)

I entered the third challenge as soon as the cooldown of the Assassin’s Cloak was up.

There was nothing more I could do to prepare.

In order to survive and return to Earth, I had to do this now.

「 Entering Tower of Trials floor 3. 」

「 Difficulty – Hard 」

「 The objective of the following trial is ‘battle.’ 」

「 We wish the challenger a satisfactory ending to their choice. 」

A wet atrium appeared as I stepped into the portal.

“…”

It was a seemingly normal-looking cave with small puddles of water.

A small hole in the ceiling let a glimmer of sunlight into the center of the cave.

「 The 3rd-floor trial is starting soon. 」

「 Trial success condition – Kill the sentinel of darkness」

「 Trial fail condition – Challenger’s death 」

「 Trial success reward – Elixir of Steel (C) 」

「 Trial fail penalty – Death 」

I looked around my surroundings after looking at the message.

I can’t even begin to imagine what a sentinel of darkness is.

There wasn’t anything with that name in the hunter association’s database.

Another thing—

‘I don’t see anything that could be called a sentinel of darkness.’

That meant…

‘It could be hiding.’

I held onto my shield tightly as I walked to the center of the cave.

I didn’t know where it would be coming out from.

My guard had to be up at all times.

Then—

「 The sentinel of darkness will spawn in 10 seconds. 」

“…?”

I stared blankly at the message.

‘I’ve seen this somewhere…’

I just remembered where I last saw the message.

‘The Tutorial Trial.’

It seemed like that was forever ago.

That meant the enemy hadn’t spawned yet.

That was more psychological pressure for me.

It would be one thing if it was hiding but…

Now it’d be spawning someplace totally random.

‘This is much more precarious.’

But there wasn’t much I could do about this situation…

I kept my guard up and waited patiently for 10 seconds.

「 The sentinel of darkness is spawning now. 」

A shriek pierced my eardrums as the message popped up.

Swaah!

The sound of air shredding approached from the left.

I twisted my body and put my shield up.

Crang…!

The shock paralyzed my arm even through the shield.

“Ugh!”

The attack was strong enough to lure out a groan from me.

I panicked for a second, but I got back into my stance.

Then—

「 Defeat the doppelganger, sentinel of darkness. 」

The sentinel of darkness that the system was talking about finally showed itself.

A dark shadowy figure wavered in the stream of sunlight.

Shhhhh…

It was similar to a person.

“…”

Like a black mass clumsily attempting to resemble a human.

And the shield and the sword in its hand…

‘Is it copying me…?’

The figure without eyes, nose, and a mouth creeped me out a little bit.

This was the first time I was up against something I had no information on.

‘That means no other hunter has faced this monster before.’

That alone made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Going up against an unknown enemy was a big handicap.

I lowered my body and hid it behind the shield.

I would be at a disadvantage if I made the first move.

But—

“…?”

The doppelganger also stood in place.

As if it was not a living being.

Is it an intelligent monster?

‘That’s not good.’

Most monsters act purely based on instinct, but monsters above C-rank start to gain intelligence.

“The second floor even had a magician…”

It really hit me that this was the hardest difficulty.

After each trial, I could feel myself inching towards death.

This must be what it’s like to walk on a tightrope.

“Krr, krrrrr.”

The doppelganger’s dark facial area opened up and revealed a mouth.

When its low pitched growl exposed the irregularly-placed fangs—

Whoosh!

The doppelganger’s right arm extended towards my face.

The ability to close off distance without moving a step was frightening.

I bent my torso backward in a hurry to have its arm graze over me.

Crrrrrrrrr—!

The arm scraped the walls of the cave and the crash echoed throughout the cave.

An absurd amount of strength.

“…”

For a second there, I gazed out into the void.

‘A battle… I have to kill that monster…?’

It wasn’t limited by range and was physically superior to me.

This was completely different from the second trial.

My strategy of isolating the stronger opponent wouldn’t work here.

One-on-one.

A one-on-one with no strategy involved.

My head filled with despair as I realized this was the only way to clear this trial.

But—

Whoosh…!

I didn’t get to revel in my feelings for too long before his arm shot at me again.

The attack was too strong for me to block with my shield.

I had to dodge this with a minimal amount of movement if I wanted to react to its next attack.

I had to shake off my doubt and hesitation.

I tilted my head to the side as I barely managed to dodge the attack.

Chaaack!

As the doppelganger’s dagger darted past my face.

Drip.

My cheeks burned as I felt my blood drip down.

I wiped the blood off my face and ran toward the monster.

‘I have to close the distance if I want any chance at winning…!’

At this rate, I’d tire out just trying to stay alive.

If I could close the distance, its shapeshifting wouldn’t be as useful.

But…

The doppelganger seemed to welcome the close combat.

I don’t know why it willingly gave up its advantage, but this was my chance.

Taking advantage of the distance, I took a jab at the doppelganger’s heart.

However, the doppelganger did not take this lightly.

Kunng!

“Krr, krrrr.”

It blocked my dagger using the shield in its left arm.

This must be why it allowed me to get so close.

But I expected this from a monster taking my form.

I didn’t hesitate to take another shot.

Whoosh…!

I made a wide swing, forcing the monster to take a step back.

I continued with a vertical slash.

Clang!

It blocked it again with the shield, but it didn’t matter.

The point of the attack wasn’t to get a hit in.

Bang!

I kicked the doppelganger’s leg while it was distracted by the dagger.