Tutorial Rewrite 47 (Patreon)
Content
āDerechoāā
The king starts saying something, but that pause is all I need and more, and in the single second that he took to say it, Iāve already bound across the hall and stabbed my entire hand into the supple throat of the level fifteen, and without a single pause in movement, I swirl around to aim for the level sixteen, but they have a moment to react, though not enough to foresee my crouch into the fetal position before rolling around to his back and leaping up, slashing his neck from behind.
<You have learned:
Sharp Claw Lv.2>
<Goblin (Lv.16)[BOSS] Defeated.>
<Goblin (Lv.15)[BOSS] Defeated.>
The third and last one readies his sword. Heās only a level higher than me. Negligible.
Heās the only remaining fighter, so thereās no need to fear wounds. Throwing caution to the winds, I leap at him and do the olā shishkebab manoeuvre, which predictably enough stuns him good enough for me to slip my fingers into the gaps beneath his helmet to tear out his arteries.
The exposed vessel bleeds thumping sprays of blood for a few seconds before he, too, falls.
<Goblin (Lv.18)[BOSS] Defeated.>
And now, there are only a few left. Man, Iāve gotten really effective, huh?
On the verge of humming, I do away with the kingās remaining subjects, and when I then take one final breath, the only smell remaining is of the king, and blood. I turn to him. His eyes are so wide. I didnāt know eyes could go that wide, but here we are. Hm, I wonder how I should best do this? There are still a few hours until the conference, so thereās no need for me to kill him straight away. If I instead use him as a punching bag of sorts to test out my skills, maybe even increase the level of TRT, then I could spend these hours productively.
At least, thatās what I think.
Well, no need to dilly-dally. Letās get right to it! I take a step towards the king.
<Chain.>
ā¦Hm?
I look back towards the entrance.
<Chain broken.>
ā¦Thereās a goblin there. Itās pointing at me. Did nobody teach it that itās rude to point?
I take a step towards it.
<Chain.>
Another step.
<Chain broken.>
Another.
<Chain.>
One more.
<Chain broken.>
Now Iām standing right in front of it. Itās very small, almost more so than most goblins. It points up at me, but its hand trembles.
<Chain.>
<Chain.>
<Chain.>
<Chain.>
<Chain.>
<Chain.>
<Chain.>
<Chain.>
I grab its wrist.
<Chain broken.>
I can feel the bones creak inside my grip. But itās weird, because I canāt smell it, and no pop-up is appearing above its head, so I canāt tell what level it is, which in turn means I wonāt know if it will give me a nice amount of exp. How weird. Itās very strange.
It points at me with the fingers of its left hand.
<Cold.>
<Cold.>
<Char.>
<Cold.>
<Crackle.>
<Cold.>
<Char.>
<Char.>
<Char.>
The gemstones adorning the rings on its left hand all explode into dust. Weird. Itās a lot of weird stuff.
I toss the goblin to the side, feeling the way its right wrist breaks as I do.
In that case, I might as well do away with the king right away. This all feels too strange. I turn to the king.
Appearing in front of him, I lay my hands around his neck and squeeze. His face slowly turns darker and darker, and then he stops moving, and then itās done. I canāt smell him anymore. I canāt smell anything in the city. Nothing at all.
<You have learned:
Choke Lv.6>
<Goblin (Lv.11) [BOSS] Defeated.>
<[Level Up]>
<You have reached Level 18.>
<Agility has increased by 3.
Strength has increased by 3.
Stamina has increased by 2.
Magic Power has increased by 1.
Disassemble has increased by 1.
Choke has increased by 1.
Eviscerate has increased by 1.
Stealth has increased by 1.
Sharp Claw has increased by 1.
Clutch has increased by 2.
Brain Damage Resistance has increased by 2.
Coma Resistance has increased by 1.>
Ahh, sweet status screens.
<You have cleared the third floor.>
<You have received 1 000
points for clearing the floor.
You have received an additional
1 000 points for being the first to clear
the floor.>
<For clearing the stage completely,
you will receive an additional reward.>
<There is a God that
Has taken interest in you.
You have received 500 points.>
<2 Gods have shown a positive response to you.
You have obtained 2 000 points.>
<18 Gods have shown a negative response to you.
18 000 points have been deducted.>
<A change has been made.>
<The Gods wish to grant you
A special skill instead of the
normal Stage Reward.>
<Will you accept?>
<Yes/No>
So far, thereās only been one correct answer to that one, so Iāll obviously have to go ahead and accept it.
āYes.ā I poke the yes button.
<The Gods have made a vote.
19 to 1
in favour of granting the skill.>
<The skill will be given.>
<You have learned:
[The Knowledge of Time Before Babylon (Lv.MAX)]>
ā¦The knowledge of what nowā
āY-, you really are a demon!ā
I freeze in place. Itās like my veins fill with liquid nitrogen. Slowly, shakingly, I turn around.
Simel is crying.
āI thoughtāI knew I was stupid, but I thought, maybe, just maybe, I donāt know, you were what you were made to be! But I was wrong!ā
I stare at him. But Iām also staring at the screen in front of me.
<The Gods have made a vote.
18 to 2
in favour of extending time
spent on Floor 3 of
the Hell Difficulty.>
<Time remaining:
00:04:58>
<[Enjoy your time!]>
Whatā¦ is this?...
This isnāt right. This isnāt how itās supposed to be. The stage ends when I beat the boss, it doesnāt just keep on goiā
āI-, I even protected you, you know? They wanted to execute you right away, put you on display like a freak animal, to show off this weird pale stub-eared demon, but I told them not to. I saidāI said, no, thereās more than that in there. I tried to explain, I went and I even said, if he wanted to kill me, it already wouldāve. But now I know better. Youāve taught me better. Right, demon? You didnāt kill me not because you didnāt want to, but because you wanted to savour the kill once it really mattered.ā Every word he speaks drips with venom.
The regal carpet beneath my feet sways.
That isnāt true. I didnāt kill you because it wouldnāt have been right. I couldnāt kill you becauseā¦
āI donāt even know what manner of creature youāre supposed to be, but I was a fool to think you sentient just because you had two legs and a face.ā My heart sinks through my chest and through the floor and into the core of the world. āYouāre a beast. Thatās all you are, and thatās all you ever were. I knew you couldnāt understand me, your feeble brain was too simple to, but I thought I could at least teach you a little. And yetā¦ And yetā¦!ā
My legs move beneath me. The world I walk on shifts and sways with every step I take, making me stumble drunkenly, my brain a feverish, fizzy nightmare, everything whirling and burning and turning like a summer tornado.
Iām standing close to him now again. It feels weird to look down at him. I shouldnāt be looking down at him. Itās wrong.
The perspective is wrong.
āIf I had known that this is what you were going to do, what you were going to become, I would have told Percht to kill you right there and then. Thatās all you deserve. Being put out of your misery.ā
<Time remaining:
00:00:13>
I squat down in front of him until weāre at the same exact height and our eyes are level with each other and then I give the biggest grin I can muster and I grab his shoulder with one hand and then I point to myself with the other, and I say, with a voice so drunk on joy it slurs, āLee Ho-Jae,ā and then I put my clawed and bloodied hand on his chest and say, āSimel,ā and then, finally, I put both of my thin spindly arms around him and I pull him into a tight embrace that puts us so close we might as well be one, and breathily, like a bird taking to song for the first time, I cry, āFriends!ā
<Time remaining:
00:00:00>