The team looked at the statues coming back to life speechlessly.

''Richard, Nadia? Anything different from the lizardmen from before? Don't let me be the only one in the dark about their info.'' Nick asked after seeing that his two teammates were keeping mum.

Name: Ancient Twin Temple Guards Level 15 Hp 685/685 (shared) Mp: 198/198

''Well they are tough as fuck, they do share health though.'' Nadia started off with the inspect result.

''I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not, but no point thinking about it.'' Richard stated and took a stance with his scythe.

The lizardmen twins shook off the stone exterior and turned their menacing gaze upon the intruders. After a brief observation, one of them spoke an unknown language to them.

''Sboon teg tker''

''What was that all about? Any ideas?'' Nick curiously tilted his head and shook off his useless ideas to communicate with them.

''Don't know, don't care. No common language so it would be best if we can just sweep em away.''

Channeling his mana into a globe of fire floating in front of him, Nick was prepared to bombard the guards as soon as fight broke out.

Finally the twin guards stopped observing the intruders and swiftly got into action.

Advancing as a tag team towards Nick, the lizardmen guards figured that the magician would be the easiest to dispose of.

With brutal charge, they jumped 4 meters into air for a leap attack to which Nick did what he did best: Flee.

''Way to go Nick, show them your special parkour style!'' Richard cheered on while silently calculating the leap destination for immediate retaliation with his scythe.

The lizard twins saw that their dual leap attack would miss because the cowardly human ran away without a second thought.

Not willing to risk getting attacked on landing, they took a set of vials from their still grime-covered armor and threw them in Nadia's direction.

''Careful! I think it might be poison, don't breathe it in.'' Nick yelled while stealing glances at the happenings behind him.

Taking distance from the unknown vials, Richard and Nadia circled towards Nick.

Carefully calculating the distance from the twin guards, Nick turned around feeling that he had a safe distance to attack without retaliation. He started to spew steady streams of fire at his opponents with his Blast burn.

Sensing the possible danger from the magician, the guards lunged at bewildering speed towards the trio.

Richard and Nadia blocked their advance by separating to the sides, flanking and clashing head to head with the temple guards.

Sparks flew out from Richards' scythe as he blocked the full strength blow from one of the guards.

For a moment Richard felt the difference in strength: He was severely outclassed in stats compared to the guard. The web between his thumb and forefinger started to bleed and he could feel directly that even blocking the strikes was going to hurt like hell.

''The lizards pack quite a punch. Don't let them hit you or it's going to be game over or hurts like hell at least.'' Richard offhandedly commented while taking reverse grip from his scythe.

''Mighty strike!'' Richard roared as he swung his scythes blunt edge like swinging a golf club.

Startled from the sensation of danger, the guard facing Richard tried to dodge on the side. Soon it did realize that it had been played.

Nick grasped the opportunity created by Richard and blasted the lizardman with his magic precisely.

The stream of fire lighted the guard ablaze, and in confusion it started to swing wildly as if putting out the fire by moving fast enough.

Nadia saw the situation where Richard had missed his shot and bravely shoved the other twin aside, lunged forward with her spear towards the blazing guard.

Skewering the twin guard from behind, she quickly used Inspect to see how much damage had been inflicted.

''Tsk. Only half of the hp bar left. Should have been instakill without the shared health pool?''

Nick cheered on from the backline while maintaining his spell.

''Way to go! That has to hurt! Keep going, you are doing fine!''

Briefly looking at the cheerful Nick, Richard yelled in frustration.

''Bro maybe you should get a cheerleader job that comes with nice miniskirt, you have clearly some potential there.''

Flabbergasted, Nick shut his mouth and focused only on his spell while keeping an eye out for possible extras.

Richard saw the pierced lizardman gasping for air. Now was his turn to show his hand as a farmer.

''Let us see how the new skills work, Cull''

Instinctively knowing how to use it, he swung the scythe sideways as if cutting down wheat.

Feeling the familiar feeling of mana focusing on his palms and enhancing the power of the scythe, he felt excited.

The pierced twin guards could feel an ominous threat to their life, but did not know who of their enemies was delivering the coup de grâce.

Health sharing was a powerful skill, but at this moment it worked against the twins.

Both could take mortal blows if they were careless and let the enemy inflict enough damage to one of them.

Richard's eyes narrowed as he swiped his Curtain-kun in a horizontal slash.

Feeling that the swing he did was different from Mighty Strike in many ways: He knew that his culling skill was packing quite a punch combined with scythe.

Cull (Skill) - Deal 200% weapon damage with high chance of deadly strike.

- Extremely effective vs plant type creatures

Recalling the description for the skill, he felt confident that it would be enough.

With force fully exerted starting from the lower body, he heard a familiar ding in his head as he attacked.

Strength increased +1 [ 28 → 29 ]

''Sweet'' Was the only thought that he had as the scythe cleaved the temple guards body in two leaving behind only the echo of whistling wind that came from the slash.

For a moment, the surroundings were quiet. Only splash and thud were heard.

The lizardman twins had disbelief reflecting from their beady little eyes, and soon their vision started to blur into darkness.

''Wow Richard I had no idea you were so strong!'' Nadia spoke with difficulty. She saw Richard slash through the armored guard with ease and deep down she felt a sense of rivalry.

Before Richard could reply to her, the duo saw Nick lightly jogging over.

''Dude that was amazing, was it your new job skill?'' Nick curiously looked at the triumphant party.

''Yep, it's called Cull. It does massive damage but the special effects are bit lacking.'' Richard replied.

''Wait what job do you have? Why did you not tell me before?'' Nadia sulked that she was the only one in the dark.

''Oh sorry sorry honey. Richard told me briefly when we were getting firewood and it just kind of slipped my mind.'' Nick explained while apologizing to his SO.

''Jerk.''

Seeing that the couple is back on their antics, Richard turned his attention to the twins.

''I think we should take our loot and continue to the temple. I don't want to be in this shitty swamp any more than I have to be.''

Reaching out to the sword, he inspected it.

Temple guardian's sword Rating: Uncommon [ Sword ] Damage: 30-37 Additional effects: Agility +3 Strength +2 Weight: 2.5 kg Durability: 197/200

Pretty nice, Richard thought in his head while turning his gaze on Nadia.

''Yo Nadia! Since you don't have a shield, how about dual wielding swords? That would be pretty badass.''

Hearing Richard's idea, her eyes glimmered with happiness.

''Don't mind if I do. It was about time I had my hands on some proper weapons.''

Nick grumbled from the side that he wants to have cool swords too, but accepted in his head that his position was without a question the most comfortable.

Looting the corpses, they found a few extra vials that the twins threw and potions. Everything else was useless starting from the armours.

''Wow, that paralyzing poison would sure done us in if we had stubbornly ran in.'' Nadia heaved a sigh of relief.

Done with the after battle rest and scavenging, the team entered the temple complex itself.

''Man, these structures sure are something. I can even feel fresh air coming in from somewhere.'' Nick commented offhandedly.

The rest kept quiet and observed carefully the insides of the temple.

Empty corridors with complex and beautiful art depicted on the walls.

Ancient hanging braziers with greenish flames flickering and wide corridors leading to the center of the temple created a creepy atmosphere amidst the group.

''Ladies and gents, I have a feeling that we are about to find the end boss soon. If my gaming experience is any good, it's something like lizardman shaman, priest or something like that.'' Richard told the group confidently.