Chapter 13: A Test of Judgment

Monster: UNNAMED (Intangible Life Drain Type)

There are few monster types that remain unnamed despite being previously identified. For these types, it has been established that giving them a name only serves to empower them. They are most commonly referred to as 'pests' or, better yet, dismissed as insignificant.

These monsters manifest as small, intangible glowing orbs, typically purple in color.

Rarely found alone, they typically gather in odd-numbered groups.

These monsters are easily shooed away but, if allowed to attach to another life form, they can pose a very serious threat.

Danger Level: F (B if allowed to attach to a life form)

-excerpt from Adventurer's Handbook

“What,” Zed began, coughing a little, “and I cannot emphasize this enough, the actual fuck was that?”

He staggered to his feet, ears ringing. The strange seal did its job, but it the shockwaves from the explosion still lifted them off their feet and into the wall behind them, the impact showering the pair in a century's worth of dust.

“Blast Jade,” Emi wheezed back. “Explosive jewel. Enchanted. And a talisman seal, of course.”

“Of course, of course,” Zed replied smoothly, as if what had just happened was the most natural thing in the world.

He paused for a few moments, staring blankly into the sealed-off tunnel and shaking the dust from his disheveled hair. Noxious black smoke swirled within. Emi, meanwhile, was sorting through the small pouch attached to her belt thoughtfully.

“Actually, you know what? No. I'm sorry, but I'm finding it a little hard to process all this as just another Tuesday,” he ranted.

“Twos-day?” the priestess tried out the new word, furrowing her brow.

He waved her off.

“The w–, ah, the place I come from has no magic. Can you even begin to parse that? None. Nada. Zilch. And here you are, pulling out something completely new and fantastical to me every five minutes. No preamble, no fanfare, nothing! And I'm supposed to, what, accept all this as normal? No questions asked? Bullshit!”

Hell, the only reason I've managed this well so far is because I used to live, eat, and breathe this magic shit. Unless you're a gamer or a fitness nut, there's no fucking way...

Zed allowed his head to fall back against the wall with a dull thunk, bringing down yet another shower of dust. He sighed.

“Look, don't get me wrong,” he said, looking back at her. “I'm not trying to be ungrateful, okay? This is just... it's a lot sometimes. What may be common sense to a child is practically otherworldly to me. I'm not asking you to hold my hand or anything, but having a frame of reference every once in a while would be beneficial for both of us.”

Emi finished sorting through the remaining slips and closed the pouch with deliberate precision, her ears drooping slightly. The moment was short-lived: she was suddenly on her feet, leaping over Zed's too-long legs and darting toward an unseen target. The smell hit his nose moments later.

That stench again!

Zed scrambled to his feet and tore after her. He turned the corner in time to see another reptilian slam into the wall in front of his face, a familiar blade sunk deep into its chest. The assailant roared in pain and indignation, acidic saliva flying from its fanged mouth. Its biceps bulged as it struggled ineffectively under the blade.

“Oh no. You can stay right there,” Emi purred dangerously before spinning away. “Wind Sheathe!”

A cyclonic wind spun up around the blade, thrumming into the hulking reptilian. Its slitted pupils grew wide as a thin line of blood opened up across its thigh. Then another. And another. Unseen blades opened up hundreds, no, thousands of cuts in the reptilian's flesh and armored scales.

Ribbons of blood-streaked flesh flew through the air and splattered against the walls as the reptilian was flayed alive, sliced to shreds by the sheer force of the attack. A second reptilian bellowed in its guttural tongue as its compatriot fell to the floor, now little more than a skeleton.

Zed took an instinctive step backward as Emi spun to face the second attacker.

She can sharpen air into blades?!

“Maggot,” Emi spat, baring her teeth. “Receive her judgment.”

She grasped the hilt of her sword and, with an elegant forward slash, liberated the reptilian's head from its body. The endless roar was cut off abruptly and she jerked the blade free. The body slumped to the floor as Zed looked on, a few shades paler than usual.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, sheathing her blade. Her voice was barely audible. “Come on. Only a little further now until your first trial.”

Zed nodded numbly. Together, they edged around the spreading black pools and made their way down the hallway.

Hell of an apology.

“This is it,” she announced, a few turns later.

They stood before a rather unassuming-looking solid wood door at the end of the corridor.

“This? You're sure?”

“You sound surprised,” she replied, a small smile playing on her lips.

“It just seems so, I don't know, ordinary?” Zed took a step forward and ran a hand over the wood. It seemed oddly smooth and unblemished compared to everything else they had encountered up to this point. “Maybe not.”

“Maybe not, indeed,” Emi said, joining him at the door. “Place your hand on the door next to mine and start channeling your mana.”

“Like this?”

“Hmm,” she nodded. “Blessed Edall, most revered goddess below, hear our request. Grant your humble disciples access so that they may endure your trials and prove themselves worthy of your attention!”

As if responding to her prayer, an unseen force activated, whirring and ticking away on the other side of the door. After a few short moments, they heard a small click, and the door opened slowly inward.

“The Order doesn't do anything halfway, do they?” Zed marveled.

“No? Why do you ask?”

Of course not. Still, it is pretty impressive.

He shook his head, stepping cautiously into the room. How was it even possible to have so many rooms of this size below ground anyway? The room was curiously absent of furnishings; it was instead filled with marble statues on a raised wooden platform. Quite a lot of statues, actually. They came in a variety of shapes and sizes: male and female, young and old, fit and fat, and everything in between.

For a goddess of justice, I would have expected blindfolds and scales. Not... whatever this is.

Zed was vaguely aware of another insignificant click as the door locked behind them. He didn't need to ask if it was Emi's doing; something told him the door would remain locked until he completed his first trial… whatever it was.

“So, what's my goal, here? And does bad shit happen if I take a closer look at these?” he asked, jerking his thumb at the closest grouping of statues.

“'Bad shit'? Wait –” Her eyes widened as she suddenly threw her arm out, forcing Zed back toward the locked door. “It's already begun.”

A gargantuan, solid black cube materialized in the center of the platform, at least thirty meters on each side. The statues shuddered to life with its appearance, marbling alight with a mystical blue glow. These weren't simple statues, they were golems! The golems turned as one toward center stage, their slablike faces fixated on the strange cube.

The golems then suddenly launched into an exaggerated free-for-all, pushing and shoving their way toward the strange black cube. Most swung heavy limbs like clubs, while others wielded oddly lifelike weaponry.

The pair looked on as the first of the golems reached the cube. One entered the cube and disappeared, shortly followed by another. One male and one female. Zed was unable to catch any other details amid the chaos.

It's... not solid?

WHAM.

A third golem reached the cube, slamming into it face first. It staggered backward from the impact, its shoulder deeply cracked. The face crumbled away and the golem fell. The mysterious object, however, remained unaffected.

...It is very solid. I don't understand?

The rush was over nearly as suddenly as it began; the remaining golems stopped stock still, seeing that no others were able to access the cube. Dejected, the outcasts retreated to the edges of the platform then ground to a halt as the strange blue glow that animated them dimmed, then winked out.

A fine, silvery script flowed onto the surface of the cube. The letters shimmered attractively; Zed felt compelled to approach the object and decipher the message. What did it say?

An eye for an eye, blood for blood.

Right this wrong, and carry out the sentence.

I await your Judgment.

The script flashed brightly, then vanished along with the cube in a puff of smoke. All that remained were the first two golems that had disappeared into the cube, both frozen in a seemingly eternal conflict. Almost immediately, Zed was distracted by a fresh notification:

Divine Quest Received:

(!) Final Judgment

Objective: Solve the first trial room in the Ebonblade Catacombs. (Solo)

Reward: Receive the divine goddess Edall's blessing.

Divine quest?! That's new. I mean, of course I'm going to complete it. It's not like I really have a choice in the matter.

The male raised a dagger overhead, his other hand reaching out, demanding. The female cowered under the male, one hand pinned underneath her body. The other hand was stretched outward. Coins shone brightly in her marbled palm.

“What was the question again? 'Does bad shit happen if I take a closer look at these?'”, Emi called out from behind. “Well, Zed, I would suggest you study these – 'statues', as you called them – very closely; they are your first trial.”