Four more ambush attacks occurred on the way to the temple, each one weaker than the last. Initially, Dallion took that as a sign that the guardian was weakening, but as Euryale explained, it was the opposite—the guardian felt there was nothing else it could learn, so had stopped wasting time.

Soon enough, the structure of the temple was visible. It was quite different from the temple they had entered from. The building was roughly the same size, but its roof wasn’t triangular, but rather square.

It’s all about metaphors, Dallion thought. His awakened sight allowed him to see this temple not as a building, but as a part of the sword—a layer of blade that connected the tip to the rest of the weapon. Ten temples—ten pieces of the sword, ten fragments of a world created in an object. Thinking about it made the vastness around Dallion shrink, causing him to wonder whether other worlds weren’t the same. What if Earth was nothing but more than a realm within a spec of dust in the real world?

March stopped. Moments later, so did everyone else. For several seconds Dallion stood still, wondering what was about to happen, when markers appeared. It wasn’t just one or two as he was used to, there were hundreds of them of all various shapes and colors—defense, attack, acrobatics, and whatnot. This wasn’t the first time that Dallion had experienced party linking, but never before had he seen so many at once. The experience almost made him lose balance.

“Pile everything in one spot,” March said. “Agnii and all that remain guard. Vend’s the left flank leader. Eury’s the right. Dal’s with me.”

This should be interesting, Nil said.

“Is it a good idea to leave a hunter in charge?” Vend asked. Despite his calm exterior, it was obvious he wasn’t happy with the arrangement.

“On this one, yes,” March replied. It seemed that she didn’t even look back, but looking closely, Dallion had managed to see it split into two instances, one of which turned around and whispered something to Vend.

That was definitely high-level stuff—using combat splitting for communication.

“I’ll need one more,” Angii said in a calm fashion. “Even two. The stuff is no use if it gets kicked about too much.”

“Four stay with Agnii,” March ordered. “Gear up.”

Weapons, shields, and pieces of armor appeared. When Dallion summoned his harpsisword, March shook her head.

“You won’t be fighting,” she said just loud enough so he could hear. “You’ll be telling your firebird who to heal.”

Dallion felt a bitter taste in his mouth. A healer! He had been delegated to the party healer. While he knew the importance of the role, everyone playing MMOs did, he was of the firm belief that was a job better done by someone else. Healers didn’t receive any glory or praise, all they got was a lot of yells and grudges from tanks and berserkers who changed head on in the hopes that the healers would keep them alive no matter what.

“Lux isn’t that fast,” Dallion quickly said. “I meant he’s fast getting from place to place, but his healing—"

“You’ll do fine.” March cut him short. “When the guardian appears, remain where you are. Others will keep you safe.”

“Ready crossbows!” Vend shouted behind.

Crossbows? Dallion wondered. From what he had seen, ranged weapons weren’t considered effective.

Large group combat tactics, Nil said. Crossbows aren’t for damage, they are for directing the target to areas which the attackers want it to be.

That sounded logical. Dallion would have been all over this, if the online games he played had such a concept. There it was more about moving about to limit the enemy’s movement. Affecting it with shooting didn’t exist due to coding limitations within the game. The realms were different, combining the best of virtual and real. In the future, Dallion was going to keep that in mind.

“Go,” March said the word. The moment she did, half of the group dashed forward. All of them were fast, some faster than Dallion could follow. Like a swarm of killer bees, then rushed past March towards the temple. At first, Dallion thought they were going to breach the temple. However, it soon turned out that they didn’t have to.

About a hundred feet from the building, the ground burst, revealing the form of the first world guardian.

WORLD GUARDIAN - KAMEN

Species: PETRIFIED DRYAD

Class: SHADOW

Stats: 100% HP

Skills:

- Attack

- Guard

- Athletics

- Entangle

Weak Spots: joints

It had been a while since Dallion had fought a Dryad. Other than the shield, he had rarely seen one lately. In fact, other than the shield, he had mostly seen dryads on his way to Nerosal. Back then, he thought they were just common guardians, similar to slimes. Now, he knew better.

The three party members with crossbows went into position first, shooting an array of bolts at what seemed to be an empty space. Explosions followed, filling the air with dust, and an alarmingly large number of red rectangles. Before the dust could clear, Dallion saw them—minions, dozens of them. Appearing out of nowhere, the jackalears surrounded the guardian, as if in an attempt to protect him. Side by side, they looked like monsters protecting a child, however, Dallion knew far too well that size could be deceiving. The guardian probably knew it as well, for it smiled.

Staring right in Dallion’s direction, it made a gesture for him to approach.

Is that a challenge? Dallion asked.

Yes, dear boy, it most definitely is.

He’s challenging me?

This was beyond belief. Had the Green Moon’s boon had such an effect on him? It was difficult to believe. More than that, it was impossible to believe—being singled out like that. Back on Earth, Dallion would have said that this was what legends were made of. However, Dallion had also grown enough to know that he had no chance of winning against an opponent like that. Even so, he was willing to try, even if it cost him—

Of course not, Nil laughed. He’s challenging March.

Right. Dallion felt embarrassed. Of course, the guardian would want to face March—the one who had defeated it all these expeditions. Soon there was going to be a duel between experts, as one would say. Before that could happen, though, the scene had to be cleared.

Fourteen party members continued forward, only to be met by two dozen of the dryad’s minions. The markers went berserk. Dallion’s mind wasn’t of the level to follow them all, so he saw sporadic clusters appear and disappear, as if he were playing a high-spec game on a low performance computer. Red rectangles were everywhere, making it difficult to follow what was going on.

“Can you cope?” March asked, her eyes still on the guardian.

Heal him, Lux, Dallion thought, looking at the first person he saw with a health total of eighty percent. The firebird instantly flew in that direction, perching on the person in question.

“I’ll try to,” Dallion replied.

The answer seemed to be good enough for the captain, since she nodded. However, Dallion also knew that if he were to do his job well, he’d need more than he was currently offering. Focusing, he created five more instances of himself, each following a different part of the battle. The information was overwhelming, making what little markers there were disappear completely. Dallion didn’t need them, though. All he needed was to pay attention to the red rectangles.

The awakened with the crossbows kept shooting, concentrating their fire on different parts of the combat zone. None of them targeted the guardian directly, focusing on its minions. The dryad, though, had no plans of being cooperative.

A line of cracks appeared on the ground, moving from the guardian towards March. Before it could reach her, the captain leapt forward. Drawing her sword, she hit the ground with so much force that a crater emerged. Rock, dirt, and root parts filled the air.

Root embracing, the aramdil shield told Dallion. A form of entangling. Most tend to use it.

I know. Dallion had already had the pleasure of seeing the skill used. Did you?

Not since I was a child, the shield chuckled. It’s more showing than practical. Still, there are those who specialize in it.

Lux, quickly move to him! Dallion ordered as another string of roots emerge from the ground, dealing a critical wound to someone. The firebird waited a moment longer, so it could heal its previous target, then popped onto the new person.

This was definitely going to be more difficult than Dallion thought. As Vend had said during the Stone Garden job, guardians had the tendency to learn and react to their attackers. The party had gone through this guardian Moons know how many times. It was all too natural that it would pick up a few new tricks.

A new wave of jackalear minions appeared in the sky, falling onto the battlefield like bombs. Dallion could see through his music skills that the party had been caught by surprise, and this caused to react, moving to second gear. Attacks that Dallion hadn’t seen in any of the scrolls in the ring library played out in front of him, as the party members pushed away their attackers. In most cases, they didn’t get a single wound. In others, though…

Lux, move to that one! Dallion pointed, even if he didn’t have to.

The new target had lost a quarter health in a single hit. Also, that target happened to be Eury.

Every fiber in Dallion’s body wanted him to rush towards the gorgon in an attempt to help. One of his instances actually did, though it didn’t survive more than a few dozen feet. Two minions charged him from both sides, squishing him like a bug with no effort. This was the point at which March joined the fight.

There were no instances in her fight, no echoes, just her walking forward in a calm and collected fashion. The petrified dryad did the complete opposite, launching several more roots in her direction. This time they didn’t go beneath the ground, darting forward like spears at March’s chest. All of them were cut up into slivers before they could touch the captain.

She’s not bad, the shield told Dallion. Pity she’s not your type.

There were so many things wrong in that Dallion didn’t know where to start. Still, he asked the obvious question.

What’s her type?

She’s someone who only respects strength. She’s only interested in those she’s running towards and, no offense, you have a long way to go until you reach her level.

With one of his instances, Dallion saw another party member’s health drop to twenty percent. There was a moment of hesitation—should Dallion let Eury get healed to full or tell Lux to help out the one with the least health. At twenty percent there was a good chance that another strong hit would knock the person out of the item. Then again, if he messed up so early in the expedition, Dallion wouldn’t be helping anyone.

Lux, shift again, Dallion thought.

The decision proved to be the right one. Almost at the same instant, the general attacks from the guardian suddenly stopped. Set on his undefeated foe, the dryad ran forward. There was a single instant in which Dallion couldn’t see neither the dryad nor March. A blink of the eye later, Dallion witnessed the most impressive clash of powers he had ever seen.

There was no soundwave, no blast or internal power to push everyone surrounding them back. And yet everyone who was an awakened could watch in awe as blows were exchanged.

This is how high-levels fight, Dallion thought.

Rather upper-mid, Nil corrected, not sounding too impressed. March is good, I give you that. However, not as good as many would like to believe. There are plenty of fighters that are better than her. That said, she’ll do for this.

The speed at which march and the dryad were fighting was such that Dallion felt like he was watching keyframes of an animation. One moment they were in one position, the next things were completely different.

When will I be able to do that?

With luck, a few years after you pass your next gate, the echo replied. If not, a few decades. It’s different with everyone. Of course, that depends mostly on how successful you are at leveling up.

In order to reach greatness, one must already be great, Dallion thought.

In a way. However, the most important thing is to survive long enough to fulfill your potential. After all, you must be strong enough to fulfill your own destiny.