The creature snarled, leaping away from Gloria. Without the status information there was no telling how much health it had remaining, but the damage was obvious. The beast’s movements, although nearly as fast as before, were less precise, as if it had to think and guess where to go before it did.

“The left side!” Gloria shouted as she leapt off the ground, doing a wall run that would make most action heroes envious. “Shoot at its left side!”

On cue, red markers appeared in the relevant side of the creature—perfect targets for Dallion to take advantage of. Bolts filled the air, coming from both sides. This time every second one hit its mark. While most of Gloria's were deflected by the strands emerging from the creature’s morphing body, Dallion’s weren’t.

Just a little bit more. Dallion thought. As strong as the creature was, it wasn’t invulnerable. For a moment he caught a glimpse of his buckler. The small shield was less than a brief dash away. With a bit of effort, Dallion could run past the creature and grab it.

A new set of green markers appeared. Only one option was given this time—rushing to the spot where Gloria would land back on the floor and shield her from an expected attack. It was interesting that the skill still functioned despite Dallion not having his shield.

There were several pros and cons to the situation. If Dallion were to follow the markers, he’d likely be losing his supper to give Gloria a chance to defeat the beast. After all, her skills were better suited for this specific case, not to mention she’d had more practice with the dartbow. On the other hand, Dallion could reclaim his shield and then try to take on the creature on his own. This could potentially create some short-term tension between him and the girl, although a silver was nothing to laugh at, and who knows, maybe he’d even impress the rest of the group?

The decision merited a few seconds consideration, which Dallion did while rushing towards Gloria. Upon reaching her the only conclusion he’d come to was another question: why not both?

“Stay behind me!” Dallion grabbed her in a hug like embrace, then turned his back in the direction of the creature. There was no way his back could match the sturdiness of a buckler, but for all intents and purposes it would hopefully be enough to cushion one blow.

To Dallion’s surprise, Gloria also had a plan of her own. Initially, she moved in lockstep, allowing Dallion to position himself between her and the creature. At the same time, she also managed to take the dartbow out of his hand. Since he wasn’t going to use it either way, Dallion let her have it. Having two weapons was better than having one. The girl’s action didn’t end here, however. Instead of waiting patiently for the creature to slash Dallion out of his awakening state, she extended both arms forward on either side past him. Each hand held a dartbow, each dartbow was aimed at the creature’s head. Moments later four bolts flew forward.

MULTI ATTACK

Dealt Damage was increased by 400%

CRITICAL STRIKE

Dealt Damage was increased by 200%

Talk about damage. Dallion smiled. With so many multipliers there was no way the monster would last for much longer. In a worst-case scenario, Gloria would slowly bleed it out—running, jumping about, and firing the occasional bolt. A pity he wouldn’t see it happen.

GUARDIAN DEFEATED

I stand corrected, Dallion thought.

Next thing he knew, he was at the camp again. Him, Veil, and Gloria were all still holding the soldier’s arm who now was looking at them with an entirely different expression. He was obviously pleased with their victory, even more—he was impressed.

“I could have gotten him.” Veil pulled back his hand with a grumble. “Let me have another go. I’ll get it this time!”

“You only get one go in real life,” Kalis snapped. “You get bread for supper. Mess up next time and you get less.”

Veil let out a faux laugh, trying to appear that such things were beneath him. Dallion could clearly see the blond was furious at his defeat; it was written all over his face.

“You’ll get a silver.” The soldier said to Gloria, making her blush slightly. “Good speed, good approach, keep it up.”

The girl nodded.

“And you—” Kalis pointed at Dallion “—you get to eat your supper.”

“What?” Dallion blinked. The realization that he wouldn’t get a reward felt like a sharp slap on his face. “Why? I was alive when the creature was killed!” Standard team victory, yo! Any multiplayer game would agree. “Why don’t I get a silver?”

“Because you’re reckless and dumb as a brick in winter!”

Dallion raised a finger to say something, then suddenly stopped. A brick in winter? What did that even mean?

“You triggered your awakening,” the soldier said.

“Yeah? We all did.”

“No. You triggered your awakening and through that linked it to mine. Have you any idea how reckless that is? You’re not even fully awakened! You’ve no idea how to protect your awakening room, and yet you open the door for anyone to go inside! What if I had made my echo go in there? You might as well give back your pendant and save us all some time and agony.”

Dallion didn’t say a word. It had seemed a good idea when fighting the beast… in truth, it was the only idea he’d had. Looking back now, it wasn’t the best. Kalis was absolutely right—doing something without knowing the consequences was worse than doing nothing at all.

“Look.” The soldier put his hand on Dallion’s shoulder. “You got the right idea. As the only one with guard skills, creating opportunities for others is what you should do, but not to an expense of yourself. A guard who’s dead isn’t much of a guard.”

“I understand.”

“That’s good. Enjoy your food, then get some rest.”

Typical soldier behavior. It was obvious even to Veil that Kalis was somewhat proud of their achievement, yet he never voiced that sentiment. Instead, he turned around with a stern expression and started walking away.

“One question,” Dallion asked before Kalis got too far away. “How many killed the chainling echo on their first go?”

“Chainling?” The soldier looked over his shoulder. “That wasn’t a chainling. That was just a strand-lynx cub. A chainling is something it’s better to see just once, or even not at all.”