It feels like getting hit hard in the head with a hammer. This wasn't an experience point event to easily level up.
An episode about gaining companions through love and friendship!
Wouldn't the development have been Lucia joining as a companion in gratitude for sparing her boyfriend Kevin? I started seeing the big picture I'd just missed right in front of me.
"...Not giving me time to reflect, huh."
I deflected the stiletto stabbing at my back with my saber.
What about Pione?
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She was collapsed like a marionette with cut strings.
She took the hit while I was converting Lucia into experience points and hadn't moved since.
'Pione. You did good.'
The guardian who destroyed her mocked me with a voice cold enough to freeze.
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"Excellent. You made it here by killing your companions."
"They weren't companions."
"To my eyes, you're all the same humans and companions."
"Ah, so that's why it was a team kill."
I could guess the strategy.
An episode where you cooperate with the level 21 grave robber companion to defeat the level 23 boss.
But I turned that companion into experience points!
'But I can't give up!'
With the resolve that one step back means overtime, I confronted her head-on.
Of course, my chances were slim because of the ruins' blessing. But I'd caught up a lot in levels from the start.
'I can see the future.'
I could see a future where I win, as small as a pinhole.
A pair of stilettos aimed for my right and left arms simultaneously from both sides.
'She's completely looking down on me.'
Because she can easily tear through my shield without even aiming for my vitals. The leisure that comes from being three levels higher.
If I see it and dodge, I'll be too late.
I dodge beforehand.
'No. I can't win like that.'
I attack beforehand!
I sliced the wrist of the guardian who'd closed the distance in one step, showing off her long legs.
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The guardian ended up throwing herself onto my saber blade that I'd swung early.
Her stilettos didn't even have a chance to aim for my arms.
'Next is— huh?'
Maybe because I got hit for taking it easy?
The startled guardian quickly backed away and asked.
"Are you really human?"
"Of course."
But not an ordinary human.
Ronan Marcus.
The protagonist of this game. And the man who'll put an oxygen respirator on this failed game!
"That's not a level humans can reach at your age."
"It's easy."
A level that ordinary office workers, not pro gamers, and even the elderly can reach.
"It's coincidence."
The guardian, who glared fiercely at my face, recovered her shield with the ruins' blessing and resumed her attack.
But no matter how many times she attacked, the result was the same. All her attacks were blocked, and my attacks dealt at least some damage.
"Still think it's coincidence?"
This game's combat system is simple.
Attributes that reflect damage, magic that controls nature, curses that interfere with actions, weapons that change form, superpowers that ignore science, swordsmanship that shoots things...
None of that fantasy stuff exists.
'Shields make the combat system even simpler.'
Thanks to shields that force close combat, I only need to worry about close combat. No need to worry about snipers attacking one-sidedly from afar.
When the factors to think about decrease, variables decrease too.
What if there are no variables at all?
"I don't have coincidences."
"A mere human...!"
"Watch carefully."
This is a predetermined future.
***
I can see the future I've completed.
In it, there was a clear future of me cutting the guardian's neck.
The result?
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'As expected... this is tough.'
The guardian's shield didn't decrease because of the ruins' blessing. Cutting her neck was meaningless.
I assessed the situation coolly.
'I can't win this.'
I can only win if my level goes up or the ruins' blessing disappears.
The guardian must be thinking the same thing.
"Human. I must acknowledge you now. You're skilled enough for even elves to recognize."
"..."
"But you were arrogant."
"Yeah."
I took the beginner dungeon too lightly.
The guardian, who crouched like a compressed spring, announced my death.
"This is the end."
"Not yet."
My defeat is certain. But I never learned from adults how to give up.
The guardian disappeared.
'Fast!'
So fast I lost her from my vision. But I already know the future she's drawing.
I threw my body rolling across the floor.
Whoosh—
Death instantly passed by my side.
The guardian, who failed in her surprise attack to stab my heart with her right stiletto, didn't stop.
Continuing her acceleration, she ran along the wall like it was flat ground, kicked off it, and charged at me once more.
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Too fast to dodge.
The stiletto grazed past my body. Even just grazing did considerable damage.
Of course, I didn't just take it either.
I cut her neck with my saber. But the damage wasn't satisfying.
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Because she recovered with the ruins' blessing. Trading one hit each definitely puts me at a loss.
'The next one's the last.'
I need to find a way to immediately stop the guardian running like an unstoppable wild horse.
If I can't?
I'll die just from her shoulder charging me.
'...I think I found it?'
The game company hasn't abandoned me.
The woman with the crown.
I ran at full speed toward her lying peacefully on the platform.
"Human...!"
The ruins' guardian roared.
"Was that the answer?"
She also manages the relics inside the ruins. There's no way she'd do something to damage the relics.
'Let's use her as a shield!'
I didn't have time to admire the crowned woman's appearance.
To use her as a shield, I first needed to remove the sword stuck like a stake in the center of her chest.
I grabbed the hilt with my empty left hand.
──────────────
Achievement: Item (Endymion)
Reward: Bound
Description: You obtained a sacred relic!
Rating: Reflect on yourself!
──────────────
I didn't have time to check the achievement.
Using the sword gripped in my left hand as an axis, I spun my whole body, adding inertia to my saber's tip.
'Fast as a charging cavalry...!'
For this moment only, I transcended levels.
I cut first before the quickly approaching guardian could stab my chest with her stiletto.
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'Keep going like this— damn!'
But this time things didn't flow as I expected.
The guardian pulled out her close-range stilettos while stretching her long legs straight forward.
An ordinary front kick.
But I'd trusted the future I saw too much. Too late to see and dodge.
Her right foot kicked my side.
My saber cut her thigh.
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We traded one hit each. But I completely lost my shield.
Without a shield?
"Gaaaah—!"
It hurts so much!
I thought my side was getting ripped off.
'No, did it actually get ripped off?!'
I can't forgive this.
I only thought about getting revenge on the guardian.
Kicks have large movements with many openings, and while the foot stays in the air, movement is restricted.
Now's my chance.
"I know."
"Of course you do!"
The guardian, who read my thoughts, used the ruins' blessing.
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Curses naturally came out.
But what's important is that she used the ruins' blessing in an unfavorable situation.
From now on it's a race against time. There's nowhere to retreat.
'No. That's exactly why I should retreat.'
So I'll kick too.
I pushed her lower abdomen with my left foot and quickly pulled back my body that had boldly pushed in.
"Please...!"
The tip of the stiletto she thrust with her left hand touched my abdomen.
Blood spurted out.
'...Am I alive? I'm alive!'
Rather than thinking it hurt, the thought of getting revenge dominated my brain.
Now it's my turn.
I sliced long from the neck to shoulder and chest down to the pelvis of the guardian who'd missed her chance at victory.
The ruins' blessing?
"There's still time...!"
"It's over!"
Another protagonist victory today!
As a finishing move, I satisfyingly thrust my saber's tip into her solar plexus.
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The saber broke.
"Huh?"
"What?"
The guardian, who looked at her solar plexus that remained fine despite being stabbed, couldn't hide her confusion.
Even I, who'd been certain of victory, screamed inside my mind this time.
'Are you kidding?! Is it a toy?!'
This saber is a keepsake from the protagonist's father. That's why I trusted it, but it broke as easily as a straw!
The guardian, who'd already regained her composure, seemed to be thinking of finishing me off like this.
'Not yet!'
It's still too early to return to the tutorial. There's a weapon to replace the saber.
Grab—
I grabbed the hilt of the sword stuck in the crowned woman's chest again. And pulled it out in one go.
What if it doesn't come out?
I don't think about after dying.
"No...!"
"Yes!"
The guardian screamed with an expression like she'd lost the whole world.
Thanks to that, I felt peaceful enough to briefly forget the pain in my side. Because it meant I was attacking correctly.
'The sword's a bit short. Is it a gladius?'
Gladius.
A double-edged sword with a blade longer than a dagger but shorter than a longsword.
Easy to handle, a practical weapon used by Roman gladiators and legionaries together with shields.
"How could a mere human...!"
"It's me."
The protagonist.
I calmly defended all the guardian's attacks with the gladius I'd just obtained.
It feels like being a pro gamer facing an amateur.
The reason?
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Our levels became equal.
The item I'd just obtained was so powerful I couldn't help but chuckle.
'This was the key to the strategy!'
I didn't need companions. I didn't need events.
The woman with the crown.
The answer was in the ruins' mural.
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The guardian, who lost more than half her shield in one hit, backed away quickly.
"Not attacking? I'm just getting started."
"..."
Her hostility was gradually decreasing. At least that's how it looked to me.
'What's her game?'
The guardian, who'd been staring intently at the gladius gripped in my right hand, collapsed to her knees with a thud.
"...What are you doing?"
"I surrender."
"Suddenly?"
"The spirit sword Endymion has chosen a new master. My role is complete. I'll return to my normal duties of guarding and maintaining the temple."
I couldn't understand the guardian's way of thinking.
"Weren't you attacking me to protect the temple?"
"If I'm destroyed, there will be no automaton to manage the temple."
"I see..."
So that's why she's surrendering.
"I've opened the warp. From now on you can freely enter and leave the temple."
"What's your name?"
"Guardian. I have no name to teach a filthy human."
The guardian, who stood up from her kneeling position, answered curtly.
"I understand perfectly. Guardian? If you want to protect the temple, obey me from now on. If you refuse, I'll graffiti that goddess statue."
I pointed at the goddess statue that looked like a 2D fantasy character.
"That's sacrilege!"
"So will you do it? Or not?"
"I was born from the hands of noble elves. But to a filthy human like you..."
"Should I start with the goddess's butt?"
"It's Ilina."
"That's your name?"
"Yes."
"Pretty name."
Ilina.
Really a good name.
I thought she wasn't teaching me because her name was weird or nonexistent.
"Don't misunderstand. I'm only submitting to you because I can't let humans damage this sacred place containing elven history. Consider it an honor."
"Looking forward to working with you."
"Are you listening to me?"
"You said it's an honor to meet me?"
"..."
I'm too tired. My side hurts too.
I lay down right there on the floor covered with soft sand.
"Ignore me. Don't worry about it."
"What will you do if I attack?"
"I trust you."
I trust this isn't a game where companions betray you as soon as they join.
"...Don't lie down carelessly in the temple. There's a bedroom for honored guests inside. I'll guide you."
"I'm fine."
"I'm not fine! Pull yourself together. You can't fall asleep already. Do you plan to humiliate me by making me move a filthy human? Human. Open your eyes right now. Human? Human...!"
I obtained a dishonest Unique.