A block of annoyance wasn’t something Dallion would have thought to be more than a metaphor. That was before he found himself staring at one. As far as emotions went, looking at the garden guardian with his music skill was the same as having it color blue all over.

Talk about intense feelings, Dallion thought.

You’d react the same way if someone starts breaking up your realm, Nil said.

The thought sent chills down Dallion’s spine. He was extremely fortunate that Nox had a positive attitude towards him. If the crackling had a mean streak, there would have been a lot of constant repairs required in his realm.

“How do you want to tackle it?” Vend asked.

Everyone stared at him.

“Isn’t that something you should decide?” Dallion dared to voice the obvious question. “Being the group leader and all?”

“How do you think we should tackle it?” Annoyance the size of an orange emerged within Vend.

“An attack on all sides is the obvious choice,” Gloria said, careful not to over-commit to anything. “We’ll see the limit of its perception and how it reacts to a multi attack.”

“Charge straight ahead to get its attention, while the rest of you flank it,” Veil added.

Nodding several times to each of the suggestions, Vend then turned to Dallion.

“Dal?”

“Use music to slow it down and disorientate it?” Dal asked hesitantly. “Just to see how it reacts to music?” And to see if it reacts at all. As it were, some guardians had a natural immunity to music manipulation. Colossuses weren’t supposed to be among that group, according to what Dallion had read in the ring library scrolls on guardians, but there was no telling whether this one wouldn’t end up being an exception of some sort.

“No,” Vend said, disappointed. “We charge at it and let it make the first move. After that we see.”

The idea wasn’t that bad. Since this was the first time the guardian had faced people—or so Dallion hoped—it had no base of reference. If the group charged at it without doing anything that approached an attack, that behavior would remain ingrained in the guardian’s mind for their next encounter. Even so, there was something unnerving about running toward a mountain knowing the plan of action was to let the mountain hit them.

“Stay close,” Gloria said. “If something happens I or Veil will grab you.”

“Just like the sandstorm dragon?” Dallion smiled. It had been a while since he had used his Darude war cry.

“Better I hope,” Gloria chuckled.

The distance between the group and the guardian halved, then halved again. The moment they passed the invisible threshold of its range, the colossus reacted. With a precise motion, it slammed several of the orbiting rocks towards Vend and the rest, as if it were participating in a tennis tournament. Green markers appeared around Vend, though not anyone else.

Someone’s invested a lot in mind, Dallion thought.

Not waiting for his own markers to appear, Dallion went to the side. He had hardly made a single step when Gloria grabbed him as she leaped away to safety. Moments later, the rock hit the ground, sending off sparks in all directions. Interestingly enough, neither the rock itself nor the smaller pebbles seemed damaged by the impact. Apparently, the guardian was gentle towards everything in its realm except for intruders.

“I’d have made it,” Dallion said as Gloria let him go. “Might have been a bit close, but I’d have made it.”

The glance she gave him said it all, expressing doubt and certain amounts of humor and affection. Meanwhile, a short distance away Veil was all aggression, continuing straight forward like an arrow. Several more rocks were flung in his direction, only to be ignored.

“Idiot,” Gloria whispered.

Lux, go help him, Dallion thought. Be ready to get out of there if things get tough.

The firebird appeared on his shoulder, then popped off like a rocket. The sudden appearance and disappearance made Gloria hop, then redden as she got flustered by her reaction. Clearly, she remained a noble at heart, even if to a small village.

“Join in,” Vend shouted as he went for the flank on the further side of the guardian. Taking the hint., Dallion and Gloria ran on forward as well.

It didn’t take long for the group to get in close proximity to the guardian. Having to deal with the annoyance that was Veil, had grabbed the colossus’ attention, allowing the rest to reach it without problem. Of course, that made him the target of the guardian’s first attack. Faster that anyone could imagine, the creature slammed its right fist on the ground, barely missing Veil by less than a foot.

It’s fast, Dallion thought.

Better get used to the idea that you’ll face a lot faster, Nil said. When it comes to area guardians, size and speed are usually connected. The bigger they are, the faster. From now on you’ll have to come up with strategies to compensate for that. Well, either that or books your body and reactions.

Looking at the guardian up close was even more intimidating. At first glance, there seemed to be no weak points or openings. The rocks that composed it fit so tightly that they were almost fused. Slicing through any with a normal weapon was next to impossible. However, this time Dallion’s increased perception let him see something else—air. Currents enveloped the colossus, in the same fashion that water had kept the well guardian back in Dherma. They were the ones that held the orbiting rocks in the air, creating what looked like a defense grid.

“I see the tendons,” Dallion shouted.

At least now he knew how to pass through the guardian’s outer defenses. Target markers appeared all over the colossus, indicating the creature’s weak spots, making it tempting for Dallion to shoot a bolt or two at them. However, he resisted. There would be time for that later. At present, they were only here to observe.

The guardian made another series of strikes aimed at squishing Veil. The first few were evaded easily, yet each following became more and more difficult. When it became obvious that Veil wouldn’t be able to keep it up, he made a counterattack, slashing at the giant hand with both swords. The attacks didn’t do any damage whatsoever.

Several air currents surrounded the hand like an invisible mesh of armor, deflecting any attacks. Even Hannah’s sword failed to cut through, having its trajectory changed so as to slide off. Unable to see them, Veil made several more attempts. For the most part they too were unsuccessful, although at one point Hannah’s blade managed to find an opening through the mesh, passing through and cutting a sizable chunk of rock from the guardian’s hand.

MODERATE STRIKE

The guardian shouted in pain, then kicked Veil, sending him flying back.

TERMINAL WOUND

VEIL’s health has decreased by 100%

A red rectangle appeared, after which Veil disappeared from the realm.

So that’s what happens to an awakened who loses in a realm, Dallion thought.

That wasn’t the scary part, though. The fact that the guardian could do single hit kills, on the other hand, was.

“Don’t think about it,” Veil shouted. “Continue with what you’re doing.”

The elite threw two knives at the Guardian’s head. Each was specifically aimed to avoid what could be considered vital points. More impressive, each of the weapons managed to pass through the mesh of air, hitting their targets. The wounds were all minor, but having them occur at all suggested that Veil was doing some heavy-duty combat splitting.

No need to be so surprised, dear boy, Nil said, amused. Splitting is his specialty.

TERMINAL WOUND

GLORIA’s health has decreased by 100%

Another red rectangle appeared.

What? Dallion thought. From his current position, he couldn’t see what had happened. While starting the attack, he and Gloria had split up, attacking the guardian on both sides. Whatever she had attempted, though, clearly hadn’t worked out. That left only him and Veil in the battle.

Several more knives made their way to the guardian, hitting him in the shoulder. Enraged, the colossus took a step back. The rocks that floated around him dropped to the ground with a small, as the air currents filled in the gaps in its invisible armor.

If this were a video game, Dallion would say that the enemy had entered its second phase. The issue was that there no longer appeared to be any means of attacking. Veil must have discovered it as well, for he stopped with his attacks, moving back instead.

“It’s shielded itself,” Dallion shouted.

“I know. Think of a way to get crushed in a blaze of glory.”

Hardly the most encouraging thing to say, but Dallion knew what the man meant. It was time to experiment going through the air shield, or die trying.

Ready, Harp? Dallion looked at his harpsisword.

The weapon vibrated affirmatively.

Okay, then. Here we go.

Dallion dashed forward. With his lack of athletics there was no point in trying to attempt any fancy jumping, even if through training he had learned a few moves. The main goal was for him to find out whether he could cut his way through the defensive mesh.

Still occupied with Vend, the guardian didn’t pay attention to Dallion as he approached. At least that was one thing less for Dallion to worry about.

The closer Dallion got, the better he could see the composition of the mesh. Thousands of miniature air threats weaved together to create the equivalent of a chain mail. Each individual one was thinner than a human finger, yet the sheer number alone was enough to block anything that attempted to pass through.

Dallion summoned his dartbow and fired a bolt. The projectile smacked the mesh head-on. A number of strands got torn in the process, though not enough to let it pass. Instead, the bolt turned around and flew straight at Dallion.

Using his shield, Dallion easily deflected the attack, but the revelation was chilling. Not only could the guardian stop any projectile attack but also could redirect it anywhere afterwards.

Letting go of the dartbow, Dallion held the armadil shield in front of him and kept on running. The shield extended, providing a full semi-sphere of protection. Moments later, the impact took place.

It was less than an impact, rather it felt like running into a wall of jelly. Dallion slowed down, then stopped altogether.

“Contract!” Dallion shouted, then split into three instances.

As the shield returned to its normal state, Dallion performed three different attacks: a slash along the air threads, a slash perpendicular to them, then a piercing attack.

In all instances the harpsisword cut through the threads like butter. Also, in all instances, the same red rectangle appeared.

TERMINAL WOUND

Your health has decreased by 100%

Moments later Dallion was back in the real world. Looking at Veil and Gloria’s expression they were too happy with the results either. If anything, only Vend appeared amused.

“That’s what we call a trial run,” the elite explained. “Get used to them. You’ll be going through a lot of those when facing serious jobs. So, what did we learn?”

“That the thing cannot be attacked,” Veil grumbled. “Reaching it is easy, but fighting it is impossible.”

“That’s some information, at least.” Vend didn’t seem all that impressed.

“Its air shield can also attack,” Gloria added. “When I came in contact, there was a wave of simultaneous attacks. Each was minor, but with so many of them it could take us out in one go.”

Wave of attacks? Dallion hadn’t even noticed. It made sense, though. There was nothing to say that the air currents were restricted to one function. Like chainling tendrils, they could attack and defend. The good thing was that they could only deal damage in immediate proximity. As long as the attackers were a foot away, no harm would come to them.

“It’s not a shield,” Dallion said. “It’s a mesh of air currents. That’s what keeps the rocks in the air around it. When Vend hit it with his knives, the guardian filled in the gaps. From that point on, it’s pretty much impervious.” He hesitated for a moment. “It’s possible to cut through them, but not to pass. Also, ranged attacks won’t work.”

“That all?” Vend asked.

The trainees looked at each other. However, none of them said a word.

“Everything you said is right, but you missed the most obvious. The reason the guardian relies so much on defense is because it’s weak. All the attacks we did so far dropped its health to sixty percent.”

Sixty? Dallion hadn’t noticed that. Although he was busy focusing on other things.

“Determining the enemy’s strength is the key thing when scouting an enemy. Without that we might as well be going on a picnic.”

“I see.” Gloria looked down. Dallion could see she was ashamed by her mistake. Veil, on the other hand, didn’t seem affected in the least.

“So, what happens now?” Dallion asked.

“Now?” Vend smiled. “Now we rest a bit, then we enter the realm again. As I said, this is only the beginning.”