The Mirror Widow landed on the floor. Unable to gain an advantage in the air, the crystal beetle had resorted to true and tried methods—using brute strength against a significantly smaller enemy. Opening its wing cases, it attacked Kallan with both wings, aiming to slice the shield and its owner to ribbons.

As Dallion had proved, shields were little match to the wing’s destructive force. A few seconds and Kallan’s tower shield was gone. Unwilling to flee, the boy quickly summoned a second shield as the first one broke down, and used it to defend himself. The effect was the same. The wings sliced through the new shield like thread through butter. Even so, Kallan held on. Reaching out, he called for yet another shield.

The attempt at survival seemed almost pathetic. It was obvious to all that no armor would save him. All that it managed to do was enrage the guardian further. Using his music vision, Dallion could see the pulsating blue anger grow. If the creature had planned to let Kallan off with an arm missing, now it wanted to slice him up from head to toe.

Tough, Dallion thought, still feeling unnaturally light-headed. Sadly, there was little he could do to help. Without his left arm, he couldn’t make use of his harpsisword and freeze the creature. At some point he would have to learn to use the skills with one hand, especially if losing limbs was so common.

Suddenly, a weak spot marker appeared on the back of the guardian. Half a dozen more followed, then a dozen more still. Time seemed to freeze.

Clever, Dallion smiled, regaining his composure. That was the reason Kallan had kept going through shields like handkerchiefs. While he was keeping the guardian busy, his sister was aiming at the weak spots with a crossbow, and Dallion planned to join in as well.

His hand moved up, targeting a spot just at the base of the wing. Dallion then squeezed the trigger. Simultaneously, the entire back of the guardian exploded as a storm of bolts struck their target. Stacks of red rectangles appeared with wounds ranging from minor to mild. Unfortunately, each only took a few percent of health. Even after that entire attack, the Mirror Widow was above half health. The good news was that its flying capacity had been destroyed.

Technically, the rectangle read that the penalty would last for five minutes, but given how fast combat was going, five minutes might well be a thousand years. In that amount of time, Dallion’s party would have either defeated the guardian or been completely wiped out.

Emitting a grating clicking noise, the beetle stopped its attack on Kallan, pulling away so as to defend itself. The shell-like will cases closed up, covering the weak spots and what was left of the wings. From here on, it wasn’t going to be as easy as before. The question was, what to do now.

“Nox, are you up for another go?” Dallion asked.

No surprise the crackling mewed from his awakening room.

“It’s not going to be an easy one, buddy. You might get hurt.” Dallion knew precious little about familiars in this world. However, he had seen that Nox could appear and disappear at a moment’s notice. At least in that sense he didn’t have to worry about the cub getting seriously hurt. Was he up for this, though?

In order to achieve what he was planning, Dallion would have to find a way to the guardian’s wing casings, then have Nox make a crack in one of them. It was certain that the cat wouldn’t be able to break the wing like it had the protective membrane, however, maybe it could chip the armor just enough for Dallion, or someone else, to finish the job.

I knew I should have paid more attention in biology class, Dallion thought. Back on Earth he had disliked the class so much that he wasn’t even sure whether there was a lesson in beetles or not. Come to think of it, that was the only class Dallion had serious trouble with, and he didn’t even know why.

“Go for the legs!” Jenna shouted, while shooting another set of bolts at the guardian.

Dallion wasn’t sure whether she was addressing him or her brother, so he fired a bolt at the creature’s leg just the same. Moments later, Kallan slashed at the beetle’s front legs with a massive broadsword. The weapon hit its target, then suddenly stopped in place. Despite the loud sound that filled the chamber, not even a single crack was visible on the Mirror Widow’s leg. Dallion’s bolt didn’t fare much better, bouncing off its respecting target without effect.

“No luck!” Kallan made a side jump, then ran on the chamber wall, away from the guardian.

Maybe it was all the martial art movies he had watched on Earth, or maybe he had become too used to the awakened realms, but the wall run didn’t impress him overly. All he could think about when looking at it was slight envy that he hadn’t learned to do that. From what it seemed, there were no bad awakened skills, it was all on how they were used. Even those considered common skills allowed incredible feats, and the best part was—the more a person had, the more combinations there were.

With one brisk action, the guardian turned around, aiming to attack Janna. The girl was expecting that and shot the next set of bolts right at its head.

CRITICAL WOUND!

Dealt Damage is increased by 200%

A red rectangle appeared. Sadly, despite the hit, the creature’s health only decreased by ten more percent, leaving it at forty-four.

Before Janna could shoot again, the beetle attacked with its mandibles, forcing her to let go of the crossbow and leap away to safety.

So, the eyes are a weak spot too, Dallion thought. Maybe it was better to go for the head? A moment’s thought quickly made him give up on the idea. The “armor” there seemed much thicker than on the wing cases. Also, it was a guarantee that the guardian would see him coming. For this to have a chance, he had to target the wings. The only problem was to get the creature still for any length of time.

“Can you keep it distracted?” Dallion threw his dartbow away. “Just five seconds.”

“Are you planning something reckless?”

“Nah, nothing that grand.” Dallion smiled. “Just a repeat of what we did before. Unless you have better ideas?”

There was a brief moment of silence, but Dallion knew that he had already won the argument. The siblings had some reservations, but they also wanted to clear the level. After all, a job was a job, and sometimes one had to take risks. In this case, someone was going to be Dallion.

“I need to reach its back,” Dallion said. “Can you pin it down for that long?”

“Pin it?” Janna grinned. “Yeah, I think I can do that.” She reached out in the air and grabbed her crossbow.

“Five seconds,” Kallan said. “Not one more.”

Dallion nodded. And to think I had problems with hairpin guardians before, he thought. Things had become much wilder since then. Beating a sphere item guardian was unlike anything in the past. However, that didn’t matter. Win or lose, he was going to gain experience—not the skills points provided in games, but actual knowledge of how to react. Just watching the siblings had taught him a lot, just as had facing the two guardians of the item.

“Now!” Kallan shouted and sped towards the guardian head on.

A split-second later Janna did the same, rushing along the wall, then up, so as to target the guardian from above.

In his mind, Dallion could see the attack unfold—Kallan was going to take a swing at the Mirror Widow’s head, while his sister would try to pin it in place. Even if she couldn’t do much damage, the weight of the attack would make it difficult for the guardian to move for a bit. Of course, that made Dallion’s job all the more difficult. Then again, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

“Darude!” Dallion shouted, and rushed forward.

The Guardian reacted as expected, choosing to face Kallan first. While it could sense the others’ attacks, it was only its head that it perceived to be in serious danger.

Metal hit mandible, filling the air with a sound similar to a bell’s ring. From this moment, the countdown was on.

Four.

Janna leapt off the walls and shot at the guardian from above. Bolts flew down, splitting into fragments like a deadly rain.

Three.

Dallion gritted his teeth, running as fast as his body would allow him. Nox had already appeared on his shoulder, ready to leap onto the guardian’s wing case the moment they got close.

Two.

The rain of bolts hit their target, pushing the crystal beetle towards the floor. One injured Kallan, reducing his health by ten. Thankfully, the armor and body level were high enough to prevent further damage.

One.

Dallion drew his harpsisword. He was two steps from the guardian, making his way through the crystal dust caused by Janna’s attack. That proved to be enough for Nox, who jumped off his shoulder and right on the beetle’s wing case.

One.

The crackling clawed a thin line on the crystal surface, little more than a scratch on glass. It was impressive how it managed to do damage where massive weapons couldn’t. It too had grown a lot from the little cubling Dallion had found at the top of the well realm’s mountain.

Zero.

Thanks, Nox, Dallion thought as the crackling disappeared, returning into his awakening room. Now it was all up to Dallion.

I want to attack.

A series of red lines appeared. Holding his breath, he swung at the crack with as much strength as his single arm would allow him. A loud crack resonated throughout the chamber. The harpsisword’s blade hit the crack straight center.

Dallion felt as if time stretched to infinity. As he looked at the point of impact, nothing seemed to happen. Had he failed? For what seemed like minutes he stared on, pondering the question, as memories of past fights ran through his brain. Then the crack began to grow. Like a tear in nylon, it extended on and on and on, until the entire wing case fell off, revealing the weakened area beneath.

Nice! Dallion couldn’t contain his joy. “

“Janna, he’s all yours!” Dallion shouted. “Just—”

FATAL WOUND!

Your health has been decreased by 75%

Huh? Dallion blinked. Where had that come from? A split second later, he saw it—the wing that had sliced through him. Just because Janna had managed to damage them to the point that the guardian couldn’t fly, didn’t mean they couldn’t be used for attack.

Well, that was dumb. Dallion wanted to laugh. All that planning and he had forgotten something so obvious. No matter, next time he’d know. Next time, things would be different. Next time…

The chamber disappeared, as Dallion was spit out of the item’s realm and back into the Icepicker’s guildhall. His immediate reaction was to jump up from the bed. That proved to be a mistake. Unable to control its momentum, his body moved up, then back down on the floor with a plop.

“Argh!” Dallion managed to groan, his face to the floor. This definitely wasn’t the way he expected his first exploration mission to end. Not only had he failed to win the prize, but had also ended up in a humiliating position on the floor. There was no way anyone would let this go.

“Nice move,” Kallan said in a snarky voice from above. This was exactly what Dallion had dreaded. “Show it again next time. I’ll bring friends to watch.”

“Ha, ha, Very funny.” Dallion pushed himself up. His first reaction was to look at his left arm, just to make sure it was there. To his relief, it was.

“Good trick with the wing,” Janna said. “Pity it didn’t work out.”

“Oh, well.” Dallion brushed the dirt off his shirt. “You win some, you lose some. I guess we still get paid for two levels?”

“We actually cleared the third level,” Janna added with a confident smile. “Full artifact fulfillment. It was rather neat. I hadn’t seen one like that before.”

Drat! Dallion cursed. “Well, at least you get to get the full reward.”

“What are you talking about?” Kallan crossed his arms. “This is a group job. Don’t you know anything?”

“Apparently not.” As much as Dallion tried to keep a calm facade, on the inside, he was dancing.

“As long as the job gets done, all of us get paid. We even get to buy out the item, if we want.”

Dallion looked at it. No question, the item had changed, becoming a sort of sparkly vase-like device. All metal elements were gone, replaced by mother-of-pearl and crystal. In any other circumstances Dallion would have been beyond curious about it, but right now he wanted to stay as far away as possible from the thing.

“Cool.” Dallion took his harpsisword from the side of the bed and cautiously went towards the door. “Maybe some other time, though. And now we get paid?” He turned to Kallan.

“No.” The boy smiled. “Now we eat. We get paid after.”