Dallion briskly turned around, shooting a bolt at the source of the voice. The bolt bounced off a massive iron breastplate and flew on to a different part of the room, where it pierced the wall like a pin.

The person wasn’t like anything Dallion had expected. For one thing, he wasn’t even certain one could call him a person. Rather, a full set of armor was standing there, looking at Dallion with its hollow helmet.

“Those are not to be used,” a hollow voice came from the inside of the armor. “You cannot put an end to the punishment.”

“Punishment?” Dallion paused.

The entity before him was an echo, he could tell that much—there was no rectangle above it—but not an echo he had seen before. It didn’t resemble a person, instead it was just air and steel. The thought of firing a bolt inside through the hollow opening beneath the helmet came to mind, though Dallion decided against it. This was one case in which he didn’t want to recklessly charge forward.

“You’re not the chief,” Dallion lowered his weapon.

“You aren’t either. Amusing that little Aspion would allow someone in his awakened room to help him. You don’t look like you have the skill to do so.”

“I’m not here to help him.” I’m also not that weak, you know. Wasn’t being a full awakened supposed to be a big deal?

“You’re not?” The suit of armor tilted its helmet. “Are you a child of his? Or a rival?”

“Nope, and nope.” Apparently, whoever created the guardian wasn’t particularly good at hereditary traits. “Someone who’s about to kick his ass.” Not the best phrase to drop, but suitable given everything else.

“An enemy.” The voice sounded amused, although it was difficult to tell since the armor completely lacked a face. “In that case, you’re welcome. I’m not allowed to help you against him, but I’ll make sure he doesn’t go beyond the imposed limitations.”

“Okay. What are his imposed limitations?”

“Awakening level restriction, skills use restriction, skills focus restriction, ability focus restriction, realm limitation,” the suit of armor enumerated. “That’s all I can tell you. You’re welcome to look around, just don’t touch anything that’s been restricted.” The suit of armor left the room.

Definitely an unexpected turn of events. To think that the person who had subdued an entire village with his echoes would in turn be limited by an even more powerful one. Yet, who had created it? As far as Dallion knew, suits of armor couldn’t be awakened. It had to be someone else.

Making sure that the echo wasn’t around, Dallion reached for one of the weapons on the village chief’s wall. Metal thorns emerged from the chains, piercing his hand.

LIGHT WOUND

Health Reduced by 10%

“Ouch!” Dallion quickly pulled his hand back. The echo wasn’t kidding. Ten percent just for touching a weapon he wasn’t supposed to? That was definitely one way to ensure that the limitation held. Good thing that the chains on the doors outside weren’t as harsh.

Unpleasant, but that didn’t excuse the chief. As the saying went, there always was a bigger asshole to deal with. Aspion’s arrogance had made him meddle with the wrong person, and this was the result. Although… the awakening level restriction sounded very much like what Havoc had gone through. The large man had mentioned that he used to be a higher level, but was reduced to a level three.

“Old man?” Dallion shouted. There was no response.

That was odd. Where could he be? Dallion looked at the doorway. One unchained door remained in the corridor. Taking a deep breath, he headed towards it.

One shot, Dallion said to himself. One shot was enough to win, then this awakened realm would be sealed and the chief wouldn’t cause problems for anyone anymore.

Carefully, Dallion took hold of the door’s handle, then opened it with one swift action. The moment he did, a green shield marker emerged in front of his face.

“Damn!” Dallion raised his buckler right in the nick of time. A loud cling followed as another buckler pushed him five steps back.

SHOCK ATTACK

Movement limited by 10% for two minutes

Attacks effectiveness reduced by 50% for two minutes

Seriously?! Dallion shot a series of bolts, while retreating back into the awakening room. Even in such circumstances, the old man kept on being a nuisance.

“You pest!” Aspion shouted. “I won’t let you ruin everything!”

MINOR WOUND

Health Reduced by 5%

MINOR WOUND

Health Reduced by 5%

The attacks were remarkably fierce, even in the tight space of the corridor. The effects of the shock attack had made Dallion’s actions sluggish. Despite the guard markers and his best efforts, defending himself was becoming more and more difficult. The only option was to move further and further back into the chief’s awakening room.

“You dare enter my awakening room?” Apsion shouted while pressing on with his attacks. “You shouldn’t have seen this! I’d only have sealed your power, but now I’ll—” he suddenly froze.

“Yes?” The armor appeared out of nowhere. “What would you do now, Aspion?”

Well played, echo, Dallion thought. Whoever had placed it in the chief’s awakening room must have hated him a lot to have their echo interfere in such a way. Dallion had just been given one last chance. It was up to him now to use it.

Closing his eyes for a second, Dallion went through the possible attack options. So many attack options, and so many of them useless. Direct attacks were risky—they would come with guard marker warnings allowing the chief to block or evade them easily. Even a ricochet would be risky… or maybe it wouldn’t be.

That’s it, Dallion opened his eyes.

“Watch out!” the boy shouted, then twisted around and shot at the armor’s helmet.

The suit of armor didn’t try to evade the bolt, remaining perfectly static as the projectile ricochet inside of it. The village chief’s eyes widened with surprise, astonished by what had just happened. However, his astonishment didn’t last long, for Dallion didn’t stop. While the dartbow remained fixed on the suit of armor, his body continued on, crashing into Aspion and shoving him right into a chained weapon. The old man’s entire body writhed in pain—the protection had done its thing.

“Darude,” Dallion whispered. Got you.