Chapter 41: The boss' daughter
Turning around towards the entrance from where I heard the grief-filled voice of the lady assumed to be the boss' daughter, I kicked off into a dash. We needed no conversation, and neither did I have the intention to make excuses—I was the sworn enemy who had murdered her own father! I didn't hope for understanding and forgiveness.
A righteous war? War is the trash that destroys the family and peace of others, and the Hero is the waste matter that beautifies it.
I didn't let go of the boss' daughter's distracted opening created by the shock of her family member's death; I took this chance to swing Holy Sword 2.
Shwing-!
But cut only air.
"Wha-?"
The Elf evaded my surprise attack with a movement like that of an invertebrate; her slender arms and legs swayed about in a refined manner. Her wasp waist, questionable as to whether it even had space to hold her internal organs, bent over like a marionette doll.
Negative pole against negative pole, positive pole against positive pole, like two same sides of a magnet, Holy Sword 2's blade and the Elf's skin didn't make contact and ever continued to brush past one another. We weren't shooting some action movie, but it was merely that my attack was failing to deal an effective blow to her; that's how swift, flexible and slender the boss' daughter was. And she would even counter-attack at times!
Clang! Clang!
The weapon being used by the boss' daughter was a rapier, one of the choice weapons favored by the delicate Elves due its light blade; however, it was my first time coming across an Elf who could maximize that characteristic like now.
One blow! Even though a single hit would decide it! It was so difficult to land that one strike.
"This… is strange…?"
Feeling a chill along my spine, I immediately viewed her Status.
▷Race: Chaos Elf
▷Level: 999+
▷Job: Knight(Loyalty→Fortitude↑)
▷Skills: Agility(SSS) Five Senses(SS) Charm(SS) Fortitude(SS) Swordsmanship(SS)…
▷Condition: Seal, Horror
A dry laugh escaped my lips the moment I saw it. Her Agility was SSS-rank? Could this woman have lived 24 hours, 365 days doing nothing but yoga? While it was called Agility, it didn't simply make your body faster; it also made your joints flexible.
Furthermore, the Elves who were born with stick-like figures were on the significantly flexible side even without Skills. Though it was a flaw that there were no place to grab onto either!
The boss' daughter took her racial characteristic to the utmost limit.
"Are you really a Hero?"
While I was taking a rough look at the rest of her Skills, she abruptly opened her mouth to ask me this. Not losing, I returned tit for tat.
"And what about you being like a jellyfish?"
Perhaps it was because she hadn't seen the sun for a long time, but this Elf's hair was white with a touch of silver, and her skin went beyond milky-white and was opalescent. And added to that the way her body swayed about… truthfully speaking, it was somewhat gross.
"Why is a Hero being hostile towards us?"
"Because I'm weaker?"
A conversation would only be established when either sides were equal, or when I was stronger. That was my survival strategy, and would remain so for the future to come as well.
"What nonsensical logic…"
"I don't hope to be understood."
Our battle dragged on long enough for us to be able to exchange words in-between. While the Elf's evasion technique was indeed first-rate, the biggest reason for this stalemate was that all my attacks against her were shallow. This was because I couldn't kill the boss' daughter.
Needless to say, I had killed the boss. The only 'event character' that could tell me of the world's truth was the Elf in front of my eyes—I couldn't let my efforts end in vain after coming this far.
Overpowering her, however, was extremely hard. I wanted to sever the Elf's four limbs and render her powerless, yet her movements akin to an invertebrate didn't allow my Holy Sword 2's sharp blade to make contact. As for her torso which was the largest target? I couldn't even muster the thought to cut and stab there, as I felt she would die from a fatal wound if I were to even slightly touch her. That being the case…
Purk-
I intentionally let myself be stabbed by the Elf's rapier. Although its thin blade became stuck in my body, my luck activated and it avoided all my important organs and muscles. In short, the damage was trifling.
In that state I gave a hard squeeze of my muscles. The density of my muscular fibre reinforced by the power of biology was on the extremely high side; I could hold even the sharpest of the finest swords, if only for a moment.
"Damn…!"
Having noticed my intent, the boss' daughter let go of the rapier's hilt. She rapidly retreated backwards, and stretched out her hand towards another sword nearby which was decorating the wall of the room on a hanger. I had predicted that much, however; if using chopsticks was difficult, then you only had to eat using your hand.
Grab!
If it wasn't possible to cut the Elf with a blade due to her swiftness and flexibility, then I just had to roughly grab hold and restrain her to prevent escape.
"I finally caught you, wench!"
"Kyagh?!"
With both arms spread wide, I dragged the Elf's slim body into my embrace, and even locked the fingers of my hands so as to allow no chance of escape.
We tumbled across the ground, our flesh entangled.
But even in the midst of this the Elf's Agility(SSS) activated; her body, which I was certain to have captured, began to slip out of my grasp like a snake. Wasn't this a cheat at this point? It felt like trying to bare-handedly hold onto a loach smeared in sesame oil. I hurriedly moved my limbs and prevented her escape. But of course…
Smack-!
"Kuagh-?!"
The boss' daughter didn't simply take things lying down; she tightly clenched her child-like hand in an adorable manner and thrashed my face, and so hard did she strike that my nose started bleeding in one go—a strength unbecoming of that thin body of hers! This Elf's Level was even more monstrous than her Skills.
But I was no pushover in that regard either, on the side of Skills instead of Level!
I immediately took revenge.
Whump.
I rammed my knee into her lower belly.
"Urgh!"
The mouth of the boss' daughter opened, letting loose a short scream, but that wasn't enough to stop the movements of the 'Knight', whose body was overwhelmingly sturdier than that of the 'Deposed King' who was a spellcaster-type. The more I fought back, her resistance only grew more violent rather than weak. This being the case, I decided to conquer the most sensitive part of an Elf.
Tup, tup.
I grabbed hold of her pointy ears with both hands.
"Aueng~?!"
A bewitching moan came from the boss' daughter. To a human it would have been at the level of a finger-flick punishment, but to Elves their ears were tremendously meaningful and important sensory organs, to the extent that they would utterly lose their mind if exposed to stimulation. That's why this point was often made use of when torturing Elves.
"Surrender."
"Wuh, auh…"
"Huhu. I wonder how long you can last?"
I seated my behind on top of the collapsed Elf's narrow waist. No matter how strong she was, she was as good as finished as long as her ears were caught.
'Now! Go on and surrender already!'
"Euh, auh—Yah!"
It was in the midst of my swaggering that I received an unexpected blow.
"Kuagh?!"
'It's a bit strong this time?!'
Smack! Smack!
The Elf's dainty fists struck my face and underbelly. While I felt no pain thanks to endorphins, a terrifying impact hit my Treasure 1. To think this kind of weakness appeared due to closing the distance…!
► At A Loss: This is the scene of a crime no matter how anyone sees it? And of course the assailant is Student Kang Han Soo.
'Miss Trainee Teacher! How can there be something like that in a fight!'
Now I was mad too.
I suddenly shifted my hands from the Elf's ears to her cheeks, and after gripping her face in place so that she couldn't turn her head, butted her cool forehead.
Wham-!
A beautiful bone-echoing sound followed, and the limbs of the Elf that were struggling hard fell powerlessly limp.
Subjugation complete.
"Uhuhuhu!"
Laughter burst out of me.
Should I ask about the secret of the world? Or about Holy Sword 2 first? I felt it wouldn't be bad to proceed with that after finishing conversing with our bodies. I fell into happy ponderings.
"Hiik?! Y-you can't!"
The boss' daughter, who had recovered from the concussion in no time due to her high Level and Skills' recovery ability, trembled hard as she expressed her unwillingness. But she didn't resist as violent as she did before. Was it due to having touched her sensitive ears so much? Her face was deep red.
"Lady, what thought did you have in mind? Could it be…?"
"Th-that's not it!"
"Hehe. You're quite open unlike an Elf!"
"I, I only read about it in a boo… Uurh…"
The atmosphere surrounding us suddenly changed from one of killing to romance. Was this woman feeling attracted to the man who had murdered her own father? It was possible this was a high-level honey trap.
But it was right at that moment…
"Ahem!"
Something like an exaggerated dry cough of a man sounded from behind us. The voice was, for some reason, familiar to me. I furtively turned only my head to check the man's voice—and was stunned.
"Impossible! You clearly should have died…!"
The boss was standing behind me with an extremely troubled face. It was my first time experiencing a bizarre turn of events where a boss, whom I killed for certain and even gained EXP from, came back to life, and that was because EXP equaled power—you would only die again if you revived in a weakened state—yet this boss had come back. The traces of the cuts and stabs I inflicted on him remained here and there on his clothes like scars, but the flesh underneath was intact. Then how about his Status?
▷Race: Grand Elf
▷Level: 999+
▷Job: Shaman(Blessing=Elementalism↑)
▷Skills: Elementalist(SSS) Archery(SS) Oblivion(SS) Blessing(SS) Perseverance(SS)…
▷Condition: Seal
Madness!
The boss had grown stronger as his Job changed. He had also recovered from the wrecked state he was put in by my surprise attack, and that his race had changed from 'Chaos' to 'Grand' was another large surprise.
The boss began to speak first, wearing an all-knowing expression.
"O Hero, no one will die within this underground prison. One will come to life automatically as time passes."
"This is an underground prison?"
"Indeed. Here is a hell of uninterrupted suffering where rest is not permitted. The ancestors of my kin living above this place imprisoned my daughter and I here. While we may be father and daughter, it has truly been a difficult period of endurance. If I did not prefer big ones… Ahem! Anyhow, O Hero! Will you not agree to talk now?"
The boss' unchanging attitude moved my heart. I couldn't confirm right away whether it was all deception, but the revived boss hadn't targeted my back even while his own daughter was under attack. This at least was a certain truth. He was different from my 1st Playthrough companions.
"… Well, fine."
I happened to have many questions in mind as it was. In particular, I wanted to know about Black-Box.
▷Type: Skill
▷Name: ■■(+)
▷Rank: D(+)
▷C: □□□ □□□□□
▷D: Will never become confused. (+)
▷E: Cannot ever be destroyed. (+)
▷F: Will never forget. (+)
It was dangerous to put your entire wealth into an uncertain investment, and the same went for this Black-Box. Although it was in the middle of developing well on its own, I was curious whether it could be used as a lethal knife against the teaching staff and grader.
I slowly drew away from the boss' daughter, whom I had barely overpowered. I had gone around in a very large circle indeed, and it was all because of this darned Elf father and daughter.
► Ludicrous: Student Kang Han Soo. If you think about it, whose fault was it all? Things would have turned out well and good had you entered from the front door normally I tell you…
I casually turned a deaf ear to the lecturing of Miss Trainee Teacher, puffed up triumphantly, and dragged over a chair that was nearby to sit on.
"Boss. Sum up only the key points so as to be easily understood, please."
I was ready to listen to the truth.
"O Hero, my name is…"
"Boss K. We're both busy people, you and I, so let's cut the self-introduction, quickly exchange only the beneficial information and part ways."
Boss K heaved a sigh before replying.
"I have lived a time of eternity as the 3rd Elf King, but it is truly my first time seeing a Hero so impatient as you are."
"And you got a problem with that?"
"If it is a problem…"
Rumble—
The entire palace began to shake.
Boss K looked up at the ceiling as he continued in a murmuring voice.
"… None, O Hero of this generation. Consideration and patience was only natural in our time, but it appears the times have changed."
I could also feel the vibrations coming from above, a sudden event breaking out that would delay smooth progressing. My brows knitted into a frown despite myself.
"Boss K, has an intruder come?"
"Indeed, O Hero. They have noticed that the seal upon this underground prison keeping my daughter and I locked up has become undone."
"Don't use pronouns."
These barbarians didn't know the basics of explaining.
"Pro-… what?"
"I'm saying properly tell me who they are."
Having finally understood, Boss K replied in a voice of resentment.
"O Hero of this generation, I do not know how they are called in this era. But this is what we called them…"
He uttered their name with contempt injected into his tone.
"Angels."
What was mentioned was the name of the obscure race, which I did not manage to run into even in the adventures during my 1st Playthrough which had lasted the longest.