“Done resting?” Bel asked, arms crossed.

“Just a few more minutes longer,” Dallion replied with a smile.

“Okay.” The girl gave him a concerned look. “Better increase your body first chance you get. It’s not healthy being so fragile.”

“Will do.” Fragile? It had only been ten minutes since the last attack had ended. And it wasn’t his body attribute that was low, it was his mind. The first chance he got, Dallion was going to increase that. Hopefully that would take care of his headaches.

Leaning against the cold cave wall, Dallion took a deep breath. Everyone had agreed to his plan, which was good—with luck there would be less chaos and general disorganization during the next battle. Dallion’s main concern, though, remained.

Waiting patiently for the pain to decrease to tolerable levels, he glanced at Vend. The would-be instructor had agreed to share a thing or two about the life of a guild elite—mostly the equivalent of war stories—though he had flat out refused any hints that would help in the trials to come. All that he said was that he expected the party to defeat this boss, but fail at the next one.

Don’t sugarcoat it, won’t you? Dallion thought.

“Things okay?” Arthurows asked as he leaned on the wall next to Dallion. “You don’t look too good.”

“I’m fine,” Dallion lied. “Not listening to the stories of an elite?”

“I’ve done this five times, remember? The stories get boring after the second time.”

“Yeah.”

“So, March picked you, eh?”

The question came as a surprise.

“Does the entire guild know?” Dallion let out a bitter laugh.

“By now the entire city knows. There’ve only been a handful that have caught her attention ever since she came here. It’s normal that people would be curious. As far as I know there’s only been one other she has trained personally in the guild. Then again, you can’t believe everything you hear. Maybe there were more, but things ended badly for them.”

The entire city knows? When Hannah had mentioned there were a few awakened at her inn to check him out, he thought she meant “a few” as in a dozen at most.

“Come on. You’re pulling my leg. There can’t be that many people interested in me.”

“Trust me on this.” Arthurows’ expression became deathly serious. “You’ve been a topic in discussion in several taverns I frequent, and that’s not even among people I know.”

Dallion turned pale. Back on Earth, he had dreamt about going viral on YouTube. Those dreams had never materialized, resulting in a long dead channel and three subscribers. A simple fight here and he had gotten more fame than he could imagine… no, not fame, infamy in the very literal sense. People hadn’t approached him because he was a level six awakened, they did so because they were curious why March had selected him. If it wasn’t for her, would people at the guild treated him so nicely? Would anyone? What if the whole reason he was getting so many requests at the inn wasn’t because of his skills or “performance” but because of that one random admission test with March?

“Hey, don’t feel bad.” Arthurows gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Lots of people would kill to get the chance you have. Just keep it cool and don’t blow it, okay?”

“Yeah…” Kill to get the chance never sounded good, even when it was just an expression. “I’ve rested.” He stood up. “Let’s go.”

Not a word was necessary to get the rest of the party to prepare. Being awakened, there was little that went on that they couldn’t hear. Anything spoken out loud might as well have been shouted throughout the entire tunnel. Just as Dallion had listened in on some of Vend’s stories, the others had overheard the conversation between him and Arthurows. That was a problem for another time. Right now, there was a guardian to deal with.

The cave continued for another few hundred feet, ending in a large cavernous chamber. A large bronze gate, the size of a building, was visible in the wall on the other side… right behind an enormous leopard creature snoozing on the ground.

LEVEL 1 GUARDIAN

Species: Light Thunder Leopard

Class: Lightning

Statistics: 100% HP

“What are the skills and weak spots?” Dallion asked Falkner in a whisper. “I can only see up to the stats.”

“I can’t see them either,” the youngster replied. “All I see is species, class, and statistics.”

Interesting. The white rectangle was different in sphere items as well. Of course, that meant that Dallion’s party was at a disadvantage. The only thing they could assume was that the guardian had the qualities of lightning—fast and zappy.

“Guess you were right about the speed,” Bel whispered.

“Do we charge it?” Cellano asked.

“Hold a moment.”

Dallion thought. Using all his senses, he couldn’t detect anything strange about the creature. The breathing was rhythmic, the pulse was slow, it was just like any big cat snoozing away most of its time. The temptation to launch a surprise ranged attack was enormous. If things would get more difficult from here on, why not take any advantage given?

“I’m charging it.” The large guy drew his weapon.

“Wait!” Dallion whispered. “That’s not the right way to go.”

“It’s there. It’s defenseless. If you’re scared stay here with Art.”

“All the other creatures charged us the moment we were in earshot. Why does the guardian behave differently?” Dallion glanced at the lightning leopard. It hadn’t moved an inch. “Stay in the tunnel,” he whispered to the rest. “Art, give me some defense. Everyone else, be ready if it charges.”

“You really think it’s a trap?” Cellano arched a brow.

“Three groups have failed so far. If the guardians were so easy, at least one of them would have made it to the end of level three.” Dallion drew his harpsisword.

Using his music skills could well initiate combat, so Dallion didn’t. Instead, he slowly took a few steps forward, walking past Arthurows.

“You sure about this?” Art asked

Dallion wasn’t, but smiled nonetheless. If he was wrong about this, it would hardly matter. Given the strength of the previous wave of enemies, a surprise attack wasn’t going to change much. Or would it?

“We’re ready,” Dallion said, gripping his harpsisword.

Nothing happened.

Dallion took a few steps further.

“Guardian, we’re ready for the trial.”

“Idiot,” someone whispered behind.

“Guardian!”

The leopard opened its eyes. Parts of the guardian’s body shifted from their present position into the air, like puzzled pieces moving from one shape to the next. In two blinks of the eye, the creature shifted from snoozing state to upright state.

So far, so good. “See?” Dallion said over his shoulder. “I was right.”

COMBAT INITIATED

“Uh, oh.”

Green footsteps covered the floor, encompassing the entire area around Dallion and the rest. The guardian was about to attack, and there was no telling which direction it would come from.

“Porcupine attack!” Dallion shouted. I want to use my music skills!

Blue streaks appeared all over the leopard, but they were very different from before. Emotions moved from one part of its body to the next, changing so fast that Dallion couldn’t spot the correct combination.

Four red lines appeared diagonally on Dallion’s body. His body moved on instinct, using the harpsisword to block the attack. To his surprise, a set of green sword-like markers appeared.

I could use weapons to block? Dallion wondered. The notion was so obvious, and yet he had hardly considered it up to this point. Somehow, it had never felt right until now.

Barely completing the sequence on time, Dallion was able to get the harpsisword in the correct position as a giant paw sent him flying backwards.

MINOR WOUND

Your health has decreased by 5%

Five percent through a block? That guardian definitely was something.

However, the attack was also the signal for the rest of the party to spring into action. When discussing the plan, a short while ago, Dallion had suspected that the guardian might be overwhelming, so the best option was to use the same tactics the amphibions had used on the party.

Bel and Falkner darted forward on either side of the leopard at full speed. Aiming at the guardian’s head, launched their projectiles, commencing a ranged pincer attack. Dallion could see the target markers flash all over the leopard. Surprised, the creature growled, slashing at Bel’s daggers. As it did, four bolts pierced its unprotected side, sending it into a roaring frenzy.

Cool, Dallion smiled right before he slammed on the ground, back first. It would have been nice if someone had cushioned his fall, yet there was no one to do so. Taking his cue from Falkner, Cellano charged forward with a yell.

“You okay, buddy?” Arthurows dragged Dallion by the shoulder and lifted him up to a sitting position.

“Worked on a chainling, worked here as well,” Dallion whispered with a grin.

“Say what?”

“Nothing.” Dallion stood up. He was still a bit shaky from the attack, but the harpsisword was in one piece… then again, there was no way it wouldn’t be. “Join in the fight for support. I’ll be with you in a bit.”

“Whatever you say.” Arthurows summoned his shield and went into the main chamber.

Is he only listening to me because he thinks March is watching over me? Dallion wondered. Either way, time for try two. He adjusted his weapon, then focused on the battle.

Bel, Falkner, and Cellano were doing a good job of attacking the guardian from multiple angles. When one became the focus of the leopard’s wrath, the other two attacked from the side. It was a pretty standard approach, which the guardian wasn’t expecting. Forced to face newbie guild members had clearly made it overconfident. Several minutes in and its health had already dropped to forty-one percent.

Now for the coup de grâce.

Dallion focused on the leopard’s torso. The pain in his temples spread to the rest of his head, yet he kept on staring. The blue hues slowed down to a crawl. For a few seconds, he could see the guardian’s heart beating with anger and excitement. Then, Dallion played the strings. It happened without looking. He could feel them calling out for him, guiding his fingers to the right place at the right time. A few notes appeared, then more, forming a melody.

The leopard turned his way. No longer attacking those surrounding it, the creature dropped its guard completely, heading towards Dallion. Confusion replaced fear, which then became calm.

“Go all out!” Arthurows shouted in the background, his voice drowned out by the music Dallion was playing.

For these few moments he felt as if there was a connection between the strings and the guardian; not only that, he felt he was the connection, causing the two to vibrate in sync through the use of his skills. Just a little bit longer and—

“Enough for now.” Vend took hold of his hand. The connection vanished.

Feeling like a fish out of water, Dallion looked around. He knew exactly where he was and what was going on, and yet it all seemed like a dream. It was as if a heavy blanket of confusion was placed on his head, pushing him down.

“I’ll take that for a while.” Vend took the harpsisword.

“Why?” Dallion asked, doing nothing to stop him.

“The fight is over. You’ve won this one.”

“Oh?” Dallion looked towards the lightning leopard.

The guardian was just as confused as he was looking at the people attacking him with annoyance, like a cat being sprinkled by water, but too lazy to move away. Its health had gone into single digit territory, and with all four members joining in, it was a matter of seconds before everything was over.

“I’ll keep this for a while, okay?” Vend stepped a few steps back.

“Okay.” Dallion turned back towards him. “But why?”

“So, you don’t fall on it when the pain strikes.”

A second later, a wave of pain sent Dallion writhing to the cave floor.