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[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
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Chapter 17: A Fleeting Revelation (5)
Gulp—
Adelia swallowed dryly.
The Sky Dragonbird looming across the night sky was overwhelming, just by its presence alone.
Her sword hand trembled—not from fear, but from the aftereffects of having just fought off a monster wave.
‘…And now I’m supposed to last ten minutes against that thing?’
Impossible.
Even at full strength, her odds would be slim.
In her current exhausted state? It was beyond unreasonable.
But Adelia didn’t voice her thoughts aloud.
Now that she had chosen to follow Sir Gaon’s teachings, all she could do was obey his commands without question.
‘I still don’t understand why a Divine Beast is attacking humans, but…’
Divine Beast.
They were the eyes of the Elders, watchers over this world.
Unless something truly catastrophic occurred, Divine Beasts were not supposed to interfere in human affairs.
That’s what she had been taught in her household since childhood.
Yet now, that teaching had been thoroughly invalidated—
The Sky Dragonbird was actively trying to kill her.
‘…At the very least, it’s clear that something is terribly wrong.’
Grit—
Adelia bit her lip.
A cold chill ran down her spine. Something was profoundly out of balance.
The threat of immediate death was one thing, but the Divine Beast’s abnormal behavior?
That pointed to a fundamental disruption in the world’s equilibrium.
‘Still…’
Adelia’s grip on her sword tightened.
‘…Even if I try to figure out why, nothing’s going to change.’
Suddenly, Gaon’s voice echoed in her mind—his very first teaching: “A strike born from inner turmoil is never clean. When you hold your sword, forget everything else—and focus only on that one moment.”
Ssshhh—
Recalling the advice of the Swordmaster, Adelia closed her eyes.
She inhaled deeply and emptied her mind.
“Hoo…”
Yes.
What mattered right now was realization.
So she cast aside all mental distractions.
All she needed to do now was focus—on the enemy right in front of her.
“…”
Step—
With eyes wide open, Adelia began to walk toward the Sky Dragonbird.
Though she approached an overwhelmingly powerful foe, her steps were unwavering.
“Sir Gaon.”
Her voice pierced through the storm.
Even with thunder crashing overhead, her words rang out clearly.
“Until now… all I’ve done is disappoint you.”
She remembered the time she first clashed with Sir Gaon—when fear had paralyzed her into inaction.
And the moment she nearly collapsed before Peterpan.
Those shameful memories flashed through her mind.
“To your eyes… I must have looked so pathetic.”
She had been disappointed in herself more than anyone.
But she finally understood.
It was her inability to overcome those crises that had kept her from breaking through the wall in front of her.
She wanted to change.
She wanted to surpass the limits that held her back.
And so—even as the Sky Dragonbird’s immense pressure bore down on her, Adelia did not stop.
“So this time… I’ll show you.”
Her eyes sharpened.
In the next instant, teal-colored aura began to engulf her body.
“I don’t know if this is courage or recklessness…”
SKREEEEEE!
The massive shadow of the Sky Dragonbird descended upon her.
She tightened her grip on the sword.
And in her now-clear eyes, only the image of the Sky Dragonbird remained—no hesitation, no fear.
“But even if I have to risk my life… I’ll prove that I deserve to be your student, Sir Gaon.”
Shiiing—!
Her teal-bladed sword let out a piercing cry.
Ten minutes against the Sky Dragonbird—
That was the trial Sir Gaon had set for her.
This time, she would pass that test.
* * *
Every RPG game makes leveling up progressively harder the higher you go.
That’s because the absolute amount of experience required increases.
But in Lost Elder, the gap was particularly steep.
The difference between level 90 and 91 was even greater than between 70 and 80.
SKREEEEEE—!
And now I was asking someone who was only level 77 to fight the Sky Dragonbird?
For ten full minutes?
It was a ludicrous demand.
Even if I was the one who gave the order—it was utterly reckless.
It was no different from sending an ant to fight an elephant.
‘However…’
【Lv. 78】
‘…If it’s Adelia, then maybe the story changes.’
Level 78.
Somehow, in the heat of battle against the Sky Dragonbird, Adelia had gained another level.
She had skirted death so many times that she broke through her limits.
‘I can literally see her evolving, second by second.’
At first, she had only narrowly dodged the beast’s attacks.
But with each passing moment, her movements grew more precise.
She even managed to seize brief windows for counterattack.
Breaking through the storms created by the Sky Dragonbird’s wings…
Deflecting lightning with her teal-bladed sword…
She was breathtaking.
Truly worthy of being called the most promising character in all of Loel.
BOOOM, KRAK-KRRAAANG!
I had long since exited the Sky Dragonbird’s attack radius.
Even with lightning raining down everywhere, it wasn’t hard to find a safe zone.
That’s because I knew everything about the Sky Dragonbird— its patterns, its weaknesses, its abilities.
Two hundred playthroughs had seen to that.
But I couldn’t act just yet.
All I could do… was wait for the cooldown on 【Ritardando: True】 to finish.
‘Not much longer now…’
KWA-BOOM!
Right then, the Sky Dragonbird’s tail smashed into Adelia.
She barely blocked it, but the blow sent her flying through the air before she slammed into the ground.
“G-Gh…!”
Like a punching bag, she staggered back up.
Gritting her teeth, she prepared to charge once again—
Or so she tried.
‘She’s reached her limit.’
Her movements had clearly slowed.
Her breathing was ragged.
Her sword hand was trembling without end.
Even the teal aura surrounding her was beginning to fade.
“…Ah.”
Thud—
As expected, Adelia collapsed before taking more than a few steps.
Her face, caked in blood and dirt, grimaced as she barely lifted her torso.
She tried to push herself up, but her legs simply wouldn’t respond.
SKREEEEEE—!
The Sky Dragonbird let out a cry, gathering energy for a final blow.
Adelia clenched her teeth and muttered to herself like a spell.
“It’s not… It’s not over yet…”
Step—
I walked forward.
Startled out of her trance, Adelia lifted her head.
And then, she watched me silently as I passed by her side.
The howling storm should have drowned out everything— but somehow, my footsteps rang clear across the battlefield.
“I… I—!”
“That’s enough.”
I cut her off.
“You held out well. The full ten minutes.”
“……!”
Adelia’s eyes went wide.
“Th-Then…!”
Her lips trembled.
Her chest heaved, as if an overwhelming emotion had just rushed up from deep within.
“Then… I’ve earned the right…?”
“You’ve already proven yourself. From the very first day we met.”
I remembered the moment we first crossed paths: “I can lose an arm. I can lose a leg. As long as I gain insight and take the next step forward… I’m ready to give everything.”
A line I had never once heard, not in 200 full playthroughs of Loel.
And precisely because of that…
Her words had reached me all the more deeply.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
【Ritardando: True】
(Ready to use)
━━━━━━━━━━━━
“You said losing an arm would be fine.”
Step—
I walked toward the Sky Dragonbird.
It simply stared at me, dumbfounded.
Which made sense.
How absurd must it seem, watching a mere Level 1 human approach it without a hint of fear?
It should have been busy finishing off Adelia, not wasting attention on someone like me. I was barely worth noticing.
“You also said losing a leg would be fine.”
More importantly, the Sky Dragonbird had a particular behavioral trait.
It wouldn’t attack lesser beings—unless they invaded its domain first.
…And Level 1 was more than enough to be considered such a lesser being.
In other words, as long as I stayed within the “safe range” I knew about, I could approach the Sky Dragonbird without being attacked.
“I’ve seen your resolve.”
Step—
As I moved closer, I gripped the hilt of the Featherblade tightly.
Thick blue veins began to rise along my scrawny forearm.
Even with only 2 Strength, it was enough—because all I needed to do was lift a sword lighter than a feather.
Ding—!
〔Available for Use〕
…The once-grayed-out 12-Star skill now shimmered again with radiant, prismatic light.
“This will be the third time.”
Barba the Human Butcher.
Peterpan, the kidnapper of Dungard.
And now, the Sky Dragonbird.
Adelia was about to witness me use 【Soul of the Swordmaster】 for the third time.
“Watch closely.”
Up until now, she hadn’t had the leisure to truly observe it.
But if she poured all of her focus into this one attack,
Then, with her exceptional talent, she would surely grasp something profound just from seeing it.
“Engrave it into your eyes.”
…And really, those words were as much for me as for her.
I myself had seen the 【Soul of the Swordmaster】 used many times—not merely watched, but experienced it.
As I’ve mentioned before, Loel has a unique leveling system.
Growth in this world comes through realization—earned through repetition, training, and real combat.
Just like in the real world.
Then why hadn’t I grown at all?
I had invested 179,312,341 points into pushing my 【Sword】 talent to its absolute limit.
I had experienced the Swordmaster’s strike twice.
And yet, I hadn’t achieved a single bit of growth.
The reason was simple.
Because for a player to take a certain action, the proper foundation must first be in place.
I had thought the same thing when customizing this concept-play character.
To wield heavy weapons, you need Strength or Stamina.
To use magic, you need Mana or Insight.
As I’ve said many times, there’s a reason top-ranked players always build hexagonal stats.
In the world of Loel, even the highest innate talent was useless if your other stats couldn’t support it.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
Strength: 2
Agility: 1
Stamina: 2
Mana: 1
Insight: 1
…
━━━━━━━━━━━━
Just look at my own case.
With only 2 Strength and Stamina, I couldn’t wield anything but the Featherblade.
With just 1 Mana, I could only use 【Soul of the Swordmaster】 for 0.01 seconds.
And with only 1 Insight, I couldn’t even consciously process the sword technique I unleashed in that brief instant.
It all came down to lacking the foundational stats.
But—
What if there was a way to temporarily make up for those missing stats?
What if I could stretch out that 0.01-second “instant” into something longer?
And if…
Even with an Insight stat of just 1…
If I could witness every detail of a 12-Star Myth-tier skill while it was active—
Then maybe, just maybe…
Ding—!
〔Authority Skill: 【Ritardando: True】 has been activated.〕
As soon as I stepped past the safe zone and entered the Sky Dragonbird’s attack range,
I opened my eyes wide—
and immediately activated 【Ritardando】.
Tick—
Tick—!
Tick—!
Tick—!
Clock ticks echoed all around me.
A bolt of blue lightning split the sky.
But it could no longer be called a flash.
The beam of light that once vanished in the blink of an eye, was now descending toward me slowly. So very slowly.
Shhhhhh—
The raindrops had frozen in midair.
Like someone had scattered crystal marbles into the sky, each transparent droplet reflected the world upside down.
The storm whipped up by the Sky Dragonbird’s wings now moved in slow, deliberate swirls.
Shattered stones floated in the air, their jagged edges clearly visible down to the tiniest crack.
A sluggish heartbeat echoed in my ears.
Thump.
And after a long, drawn-out pause—
Thump.
KRRRRRRRRAAAACK—!
The Sky Dragonbird’s lightning had almost reached me.
Even in this stretched-out time, its movement was unbelievably fast.
But not too fast.
I could still react—if I stayed calm and timed it perfectly.
And so, just as the lightning neared the distance between us…
〔MP 1/1〕
Tiiiiiing—!
〔MP 0/1〕
…That was when everything about the “Sword” finally came into my view.
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[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
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