Whatever the snake’s poison was, it had an effect on metal as well. There was no hissing sound as the poison dug into the armadil shield, but for Dallion, it was as if he could hear the guardian screaming in agony. His music skills told him exactly how much pain the shield was in, and his forging skills let him see the invisible cracks seep in, spreading like deadly roots. In over a minute, they would eat their way through the entire form of the gear and then… the guardian would die.

“Lux, can you heal him and keep me in the air?”

The firebird spread its flame to cover the shield as well as Dallion. Its curing flames, however, had no effect on the poison.

“No!” Dallion shouted.

There had to be a way. If Dallion had been the one targeted, there was an even chance that he would be mostly fine in the real world. When it came to gears, though. Destroying one utterly here could well destroy it out there as well. At first there would be no change—the item would remain as it was; it could even have the same qualities as it always did, but that would be false. Without its guardian the item was nothing but a hollow shell. Then, one day, without warning, it would crumble to pieces, never to be restored again.

“Hang in there! I can fix this!” Dallion would enter the realm as many times as it took to defeat the poison, whatever its form was. He would—

The harpsisword vibrated in its sheath, its strength increasing until Dallion couldn’t ignore it any longer.

“What, Harp?” he summoned the weapon in his hand.

“Let him go.” The strings played on their own, forming words. “Drop him down.”

“No!” Dallion replied. He had no intention of abandoning the dryad. He had no intention of abandoning anyone.

“He wants you to let him go,” the melody said. “Right now. Straight down.”

A cocktail of emotions raged through Dallion, but looking at the harpsisword, he could see only one—truthfulness. It was strong and pure, filling the form of the weapon from tip to hilt. It was very likely that was what the shield wanted, but even so, Dallion didn’t have the strength to do it.

“I’ll find a way,” he said under his breath.

No sooner had he finished than Nox emerged in the air. With a precise action, he swiped at the straps that held the shield on Dallion’s arm. There was a slight sensation of pain. Three slight marks appeared on Dallion’s hand. The experience was so shocking that Dallion froze for a few seconds, watching the shield start its fall down towards the island snake below.

“Nox?” he asked, but the crackling had entered back into its realm.

Nox, what did you do?

As it fell, the armadil shield extended, turning into a sphere. In the past it had done so multiple times, protecting Dallion from all and any external threats. This time, though, the shield continued extending, creating a second layer over itself.

The island snake recoiled.

“Lux, up!” Dallion shouted.

Just as he suspected, another poison attack followed, although this time the target didn’t seem to be Dallion, but the shield itself. Brownish poison coated an entire side of the ball, corrupting the material as it did. In less than a second, it spread to the entire surface. It was like watching an object decay sped up a hundred times. But things didn’t end there. When the last spot of the shield’s surface became rusty brown, the sphere burst into rust. Both layers were scattered in the air, revealing a dryad.

“Shield?” Dallion blinked.

There was no doubt that he was looking at the guardian of the armadil shield, but this wasn’t the dryad he had seen on any of his visits. The casual nature of the dryad had disappeared, along with his weird outfits. It was a warrior in the air now, clad in an armor of living wood. Long wooden quarterstaffs were in each of his hands—an unusual weapon of choice from Dallion had seen in this world.

With a loud hiss, the snake moved back. It was almost as if it was scared of the dryad. Moments later, it became obvious why. As the dryad reached the water level, a small island emerged, providing a place to land. The island was minuscule compared to the ones before, but the fact that it had appeared at all dazzled the imagination.

Magic, Dallion thought. This wasn’t just awakening powers at work, this was pure magic like that of nymphs and furies. Dallion had no idea how it worked, but he could see the aggression contained in it. Up to now, the guardian’s behavior and appearance gave the impression he wasn’t more than a decorative item. Even knowing that he had participated in wars of the past, it was difficult picturing him in the heat of battle… until now.

“Sorry for the scare, Dal,” the dryad said, his words reaching Dallion despite the vast distance. “I’ll take over now. You just stay up there and be ready.”

“Ready for what?” Dallion asked, but the dryad had already charged forward.

It seemed as if the guardian was splitting the water, heading towards the snake as fast as an arrow.

The snake swirled, the end of its massive archipelago body, moving to meet the approaching attacker. Normally, such an attack was enough to defeat any opponent, especially one who wasn’t equipped with a slashing weapon.

A massive clash followed, shaking the entire realm. A forest of trees emerged from the sea, protecting the dryad from the snake’s tail. The monster didn’t give up, pulling its tail back for another attack. Midway, though, the tail refused to move. The crowns of the newly emerged trees had wrapped themselves round the island snake’s tail, entangling it in place. As much as the snake tried, it could not break free.

The dryad immediately took advantage, running along the branches with the ease of a squirrel. With one action, he merged the staffs together. The sharp blade of a halberd formed. Despite the distance Dallion was able to see it clearly—not a weapon summon, the wood itself transformed as if it were water.

The blade swung towards the snake’s tail. Before it could reach it, the realm’s guardian detached that part of its body and moved back, squirting concentrated poison from both its fangs. The island that was entangled, however, remained.

BODY SEVERED

VERMILION will no longer be able to make use of his TAIL SECTIONS 5 and 6.

A third of the snake’s health disappeared, just like that. From the sky, Dallion could only watch in awe and amazement. Had the shield had that power all along? If so, why was he only using it now?

The dryad thrust backwards, avoiding the poison as it sprinkled all over the detached islands. The stench of rot and acid filled the air, rising to the heavens. Now it was the snake’s turn to attack, which it did, by creating an air slice that split the sea. Thankfully, the dryad managed to avoid it. Unfortunately, that allowed the snake to move back to the body segments held by the thicket of trees.

BODY REATTACHED

VERMILION will once more be able to make use of his TAIL SECTIONS 5 and 6.

“It can reattach itself?” Dallion gasped. Clearly, the battle was going to be more difficult than he thought. Then again, it was going much better than a minute ago, when he feared that the shield would be corroded out of existence, and he himself sentenced to a slow ejection.

The battle continued to grow in intensity. Water, venom, rock, and wood appeared and dispersed in wild fury. Several times, the shield forced the snake to detach parts of its body only to have them reattach later on.

Music, Dallion thought.

Even if it wasn’t much, if he could give a slight advantage to the dryad, maybe the battle would tilt in his favor. How to do it, though? The safe way was to waken the snake… though against something this large that would turn out next to impossible. A few attempts quickly showed that even when combining the harpsisword with his singing, Dallion couldn’t afflict any change within the snake.

At this point, there was one single alternative: to buff the dryad. Strength didn’t seem to be an issue, and neither was speed. If anything, it was the snake that was lacking in this aspect. Confidence didn’t seem a problem either. Still, there was one thing that the dryad lacked—mobility, or more specifically, flight.

Can I grant flight with music? Dallion wondered. That sounded more in the realm of magic. Making the dryad lighter could achieve that possibly, but there was a much better solution, one that Dallion had observed for thousands of hours back on Earth.

Playing a chord, he focused on the trees the shield constantly summoned. Seeing that their frequency was the same regardless of how many there were, Dallion synched up, then did the exact thing that Nil had shown him during the very first music lesson: if you sync with something forcefully and force it to freeze, it remains static for a second. Such an approach wouldn’t work on powerful creatures or strong opponents, but it would work on pieces of wood…

“Shield!” Dallion shouted, while still playing. “Run on the branches!”

That was the worst possible hint one could give—it conveyed no useful information and became more confusing the more someone thought about it. Thankfully, the dryad had spent enough time with Dallion to get accustomed to his logic.

A new forest emerged from the water, flying towards the snake. As before, the realm guardian covered it with poison, then tore out the trees with one swing of its massive tail. Unlike all the previous times, though, the dryad was counting on that. Instead of summoning a new set of trees, he continued running forward. A few seconds later, the tree fragments in the air burst into hundreds of smaller pieces, no larger than the size of a person’s foot. At precisely that moment, they all froze still in the air.

Dallion couldn’t keep the smile off his face. The plan had worked.

Taking advantage, the dryad jumped in the air, pushing himself from one to the next. For that single second, each piece of wood had become a piece of immovable platform, allowing him to achieve an effect similar to flight. Watching him, Dallion could barely keep up. The shield guardian’s speed had increased ten times at least, making his movement similar to that of a firebird.

The snake had no idea what was going on. Its eyes moved wildly, trying to focus on its enemy, but the massive body took a while to follow. The dryad’s speed had gone beyond the snake’s perception level, or Dallion’s for that matter, making the creature have to find only afterimages.

Incredible, Dallion thought.

This was like watching an anime, only it was the real thing. The dryad’s level had to be way out there. It was undoubtedly beyond twenty, likely beyond forty at least, or maybe even more.

Could I reach such a level? Dallion wondered.

“Dal,” the dryad’s voice reached him. “Get ready. I’m giving you this one.”

“Giving me what?” Dallion asked on instinct.

The answer followed immediately. Pushing himself off a piece of wood, the dryad flew towards the snake’s head. It was large as an island, with fangs the size of cliffs. The dryad’s weapon changed again, transforming into a spear. For a fraction of a second, a targeting marker appeared just beneath the monster’s jaw.

BODY SEVERED

VERMILION will no longer be able to make use of his TAIL SECTIONS 1, 2,3,4, 5 and 6.

A giant red rectangle appeared as a massive tree shattered the connection between the head and the other islands that composed the snake. At this point, the guardian was virtually helpless. All it could do was shoot venom as before, but there was no chance for the creature to reattach its body. A new thicket of trees sprouted from the sea, keeping the island in the air, growing in such a fashion as to push the snake’s upper jaw further up to the point it couldn’t bite or use its poison effectively.

Now, Dallion thought.

“Lux, get me there!” Dallion shouted as he let go of the harpsisword. Given the size and the creature, it was going to take something different to cut through the brille attached to the eyes. “Get ready, Nox!”

This was going to be it.