MINOR WOUND

Another rectangle appeared above the guardian. This was the seventh one so far and, by all accounts, it looked like March was winning. The rest of the party had finished mopping up the remaining minions and were now standing by ready to provide support to the captain if needed.

Dallion, of course, was still busy redirecting Lux from person to person to restore their health. Fortunately, there had been no deaths and with the exception of five cases, none of the party members had lost more than half their health. Euryale was one of those exceptions, very much unlike Vend, who had remained at a hundred percent the entire time.

“You’ve grown rusty,” the elite whispered to the gorgon, loud enough to be heard by all. “All that work with the overseer has dulled your skills.”

“I just don’t stay in the back lines as much as before,” Euryale replied, moving closer to Dallion.

The stone dryad spun in the air, creating three instances of itself, each of which attacked March with the pair of scimitars he was holding. March easily matched the instances, blocking each with ease, before proceeding with a counterattack as she attempted to pierce the dryad’s chest. So far, she had merely lost thirty percent of her health. The saddest part was that Dallion still was incapable of seeing the majority of the exchange. Reaching twenty, he never considered his level of perception low… that was until this battle. Now, he felt more determined than ever to reach fifty. Of course, that also made him think what else he would gain if he increased his other attributes to fifty. Leveling up never was easy, and neither was allocating the gains.

“They’ll be done in a few minutes,” Euryale said.

“You’ve been here before?” Dallion asked, surprised.

“No.” The gorgon laughed. “I can tell both of them are getting tired. There are a lot more mistakes now.”

That made sense. Dallion had started to see much more of the fight than at the beginning.

“That must be insane… they’ve been at it for several minutes already.”

Two more red rectangles appeared—one above each of the opponents, each a minor wound.

“Why do they only deal minor wounds?” Dallion asked.

“Why waste effort on more? When you’re that good you try to win with the least amount of effort. There’s no telling who’s watching. The good skills are kept for the unknowns.”

Fun, Dallion thought. So, this was the simplest guardian. From here on they’d only get stronger. Then again, there was a whole group of people to help. The reason they hadn’t done so was not to reveal their combined attacks.

“It’s just like the area job,” Dallion whispered. “Vend told me that a large part of area combat is scouting and learning the enemy’s pattern.”

“Pretty much. It’s different on this one, though. Here, losses are expensive. When you lose, you need to start from the beginning, and it looks like the guardians are pretty good at remembering things.”

MINOR WOUND

Both March and the dryad remained perfectly still. The captain’s sword had successfully managed to pierce the chest of her opponent. While not flashy, this had been the final blow of the battle. The guardian knew it. It looked down at the hand holding the sword that defeated it, then back at March’s face.

“Till next time,” it whispered before dissolving into nothing.

KAMEN has been defeated!

Continue on to fulfill the AURA SWORD’s destiny.

Am I the only one who can hear that? Dallion asked, seeing as no one else appeared to have reacted in any way.

Apparently so, dear boy. This is one mystery that we have yet to find an answer to.

Do you think it’s linked to the third gate?

Unlikely. You’ve been hearing guardians long before that. Probably one of your unique awakening talents. There have been cases of people acquiring weird talents upon awakening… and a few negatives. I know of one case where the awakened was incapable of repairing items.

What do you mean?

His mere presence caused the mending labyrinth to break to pieces.

Ouch. That must have been nasty.

“Any losses?” March asked, sheathing her sword.

Initially, Dallion thought she was referring to the party, but judging by everyone’s reaction, it turned out not to be the case.

“We’re all good,” Agnii replied. “There were a few scares, but nothing major. We’re good to go.”

“Get everything in the temple. We’ll rest there until everyone’s fully healed, then we move on. Dal.” She turned to him. “How long before that happens?”

“Err…” In turn Dallion glanced at Lux. “I’d say an hour at most.”

March frowned.

“Lux has never had to heal so many at once. I don’t want to overload him.”

“Okay. Let’s get in there.”

The moment the first person entered the hall of the temple, the entire roof changed color. No longer a dull temple of stone, it glowed with a faint white light, almost as if it were wrapped in a thin layer of plastic.

“Our confirmation,” a party member nearby told Dallion. “When we defeat a guardian, the temple roof lights up. Don’t be too impressed, it gets brighter further on.”

“Thanks,” Dallion replied. “What happens when we pass all ten?”

“Who knows?” The other laughed. “One day we’ll find out. Not this time, though. The goal is to reach the fifth one.”

Reach? Dallion thought. He had expected they were to defeat the guardian there. If that wasn’t the case, it meant that there was something blocking the path between the fourth and fifth temples. However, that was for another day. Right now, he felt he could use some rest.

The food rations were bland but nutritious. Just as Dallion had started eating, March took Eury, Vend, and Agnii further in the temple without explanation. Given their importance, Dallion assumed it was part of the planning process. Even so, he would have liked to know what was going on. Looking around, it didn’t seem like anyone cared much. Most had already lain on the ground, taking advantage of the pause to get some sleep. Clearly, they were all veterans who had been through this before.

Does any of this seem familiar? Dallion asked the inhabitants of his realm.

It fascinates me that you believe I would know, Nil replied in his sarcastic tone of voice. Maybe it was lost on you that world items are rare and unexplored?

And there aren’t any references in your library?

None, Gen joined in the conversation. I checked.

Of course, there wouldn’t be, the old echo said, the disapproving smile audible in his voice. What we have here is a mini paradox, dear boy. The only two places that would have written a detailed account are the Imperial Library and the Mage academy. And if they had any interest in doing so, they would never let it fall in the hands of a small guild in a backwater city.

Got you, Dallion grumbled. Still, it seemed terribly strange that there would be so little mentioned.

From what he could make out so far, the world likely followed the shape of the overall sword, which meant there would be an invisible line linking the first temple with the last. Of course, that line could be the size of Earth’s equator. The distance from the starting point to the first temple was relatively short—a few days of walking—though there were no guarantees the distance would remain the same. At this point, Dallion really regretted not taking a better look at the horizon beyond the temple.

Time passed slowly. After about fifteen minutes Lux returned to Dallion, chirping that his work was done; everyone in the party was now back to full health. After another five minutes, Eury appeared once more.

“Hey,” she said, making her way to Dallion.

“Hey. Done with your secret meeting?” he asked.

“Just a lot of boring talk about logistics. I’m to set out in an hour to start scouting. You’ll be here for half a day longer.”

“Half a day?”

“March doesn’t like travelling in daylight. Not starting the journey, at least.” The gorgon shrugged. “That’s why I couldn’t stay in a guild—too many rules that don’t make sense, and none of them invented by me.”

That was the best description of why people didn’t work in large organizations, if there ever was one. Gorgons seemed to love to be able to do what they wished, at least this particular gorgon.

“Want to explore the temple?” Eury asked.

Dallion hesitated.

“It’s fine. March has agreed to it.”

Dallion couldn’t sense any lie in that, not that it would have mattered.

“Sure,” he stood up, Lux still on his shoulder. “Let’s go.”

The basic temple layout was different from the starting one. While the main hall and altars were virtually identical, this one had multiple side sections connecting to doorways. Some were living sections, some were tunnels leading to what one would expect in a temple: cooking area, prayer hall, washing area. Some, though, were outright weird.

One corridor in particular seemed to be a description of some story in pictures chiseled along the walls. From what Dallion could make out it was a story of a Moon, or heroic character, bringing prosperity to a crowd of people. One thing of note was that the people weren’t human, instead they were dryads.

“What did you do back home?” the gorgon asked as the two walked along the corridor, Lux shedding light on their surroundings. “Home home.”

“Err…” Dallion thought about it. “Nothing,” he said after a while. “Absolutely nothing.”

Several more of Euryale’s snakes turned in his direction.

“I mean, I went to a place to study, but yeah. That’s about it. All my life, I’ve been doing pretty much nothing. Just learning and enjoying myself.”

Described in this fashion, it sounded like a really lazy, almost pointless existence. Here, Dallion had several jobs, not to mention he had dealings with organizations he’d be terrified of back home. He had gone through hundreds of battles, a few of them in the real world, a hunt that in a way equaled being drafted into the army, and now was on an expedition to find out what had happened to a lost civilization. The kicker was that for the most part that wasn’t even considered terribly special for this world. Well, maybe the world item was a bit out there, but everything else was normal.

“What about you?” Dallion asked. “You’re an heiress to the throne?” he laughed.

“It’s been centuries since nobility was considered special,” Eury replied, making Dallion feel a ball of ice form in his stomach. “Not like here. The only difference between a noble and an ordinary person is a few letters in front of the name.”

“You really are?” Dallion’s voice sounded slightly higher.

“It’s not a big deal,” the gorgon laughed. “Seriously. I live in a cheap peak that I had to share with a few dozen others. It’s barely bigger than the workshop I have here. The only difference is that I get more sky back home.”

“Okay.” A noble?

“The only pain is that my mother thought I should take on the family business. That’s what happens when your sisters can’t be bothered, and my brothers aren’t taken seriously. You can pretty much say that I was the only viable candidate.”

“That sounds… rough?” Dallion still hadn’t gone over the fact that Eury was actual nobility. Not that it should have mattered. For some reason, it did, though. Had he learned she was a noble here, he would have been impressed, but little more. Being noble in her world, though, created images from fantasy novels in his mind.

“Caged,” she replied. “Here, the cage is gone.”

Dallion’s throat felt dry. He had no idea what the gorgon had gone through in her world, but he could see the emotions inside her thanks to his music skills. While there was something she missed, she was also glad about something.

“What do you think this means?” Eury changed the subject, looking at the wall.

“Something about praising the Moon, probably,” Dallion replied. There were a few scribbles in a language that he wasn’t familiar with, but the shield had refused to translate them.

“Not that.” The gorgon pointed to the upper part of the wall, where a series of moons were seen in the sky. “If everyone is so adamant that there are seven moons, why are there eight carved up there?”