The second guardian was always more difficult than the first. According to Nil, this had to do with the realm’s destiny. Apparently, the closer a guardian was to that, the more skills the guardian had, and in the case of banished races—the more of their abilities they were allowed to use. Dallion still struggled with the overall logic, but even if it weren’t for the skills, he could see why the later guardians were always stronger: they had a much better idea of the invaders’ capabilities and avoided making previous mistakes. That was likely why March wanted to get this done in as few expeditions as possible—the greater the number of attempts, the more prepared the guardians became.

The shielded dryad didn’t bother wasting minions to probe the party, instead it had used them to create a perimeter, while it took on March one on one; and unlike before, the captain’s attacks weren’t as lethal.

Another cluster of roots shot out from the ground aimed at March. With a series of consecutive slashes, the woman chopped up the roots, then circled around using her guard skills. Her speed was so great that Dallion could only follow the markers that appeared after her actions.

This was the first time Dallion had seen her rely on skill bonuses. Even while jumping in the air, she followed a pattern, building up her advantage, until suddenly she disappeared, only to emerge a few feet from the guardian. The attack was so fast that Dallion couldn’t even see it. Unfortunately, the dryad proved to be faster, cocooning itself in a sphere of wood.

He knows your ability?! Dallion gasped mentally.

It’s a dryad ability, the armadil shield replied. There’s nothing that special about it. The only reason you find it special is because there aren’t any dryads in the real world.

If people knew what you’re capable of, they’d be rushing to buy dryad gear.

All of the imprisoned races have skills, and people are rushing to buy high level gear.

Attempting to pierce the guardian’s shield with a multi-attack, March then leapt back to a safe distance. Meanwhile, the battle between the pack of wolves and the rest of the party continued. The corridor that March had formed quickly was filled by blade-wolves, preventing anyone from following. Even Euryale was still unable to fight her way through.

Given the difference in skills, the guardian minions were certain to lose, even with their number advantage. That was not their purpose, though. Their real goal was to keep March and Dallion isolated and also take down as many party members as they could.

Following the captain’s instructions, Dallion kept an eye on the party’s health, as much as he could from this distance. He was only supposed to switch Lux’s priorities if someone’s health condition was critical. So far, despite the battle going on for several minutes, it was looking more like a slow grind on the part of both sides.

“You’ve improved since last time,” the dryad said, cracking its cocoon shield open. By now Dallion was already aware that March couldn’t understand it. The guardian probably knew it as well, but it kept talking. “But so have I.”

The dryad leapt back, then up in the air, spinning as it did. Roots and vines shot out of its hands and feet, flying in all directions, but that wasn’t all; wooden bucklers seemed to be attached to them as well.

“Look out!” Dallion shouted.

His warning had little effect—both March and the dryad moved faster than his lips could. By the time he had finished, several of the shields had extended in an attempt to imprison the woman within them. Thankfully, the attempt had failed. Instead, March had pierced the dryad’s arm, inflicting a moderate wound—the first that had been dealt in the battle so far. In contrast, March had suffered several minor hits, all taken care of by Lux.

This is really annoying, Dallion thought. He felt utterly powerless just standing there, aware that his level was too low to even help. If he tried, the most he’d achieve is create a momentary distraction at most.

There’s a time to watch and a time to fight, Nil said. The time to watch comes first.

At this stage I can’t even do that right, Dallion grumbled. With my perception, it’s like watching a pantomime.

At present, yes, but it’s a good learning experience for when you attempt your next level up.

Another clash followed. The guardian had summoned a pair of wooden sickles, using them to deflect March’s multi-attack. Seeing that she wouldn’t achieve anything this way, the captain unsummoned her sword, calling for two bladebows instead.

Dallion blinked. He had always found this type of weapon uniquely fascinating, but this paled in comparison to the surprise of seeing that the make was identical to the weapons Gloria had. While it was possible that both March and Aspian had bought them from someone in Nerosal—the general, potentially—there was the option that they were imperial military issue. The latter begged the question—was Aspian part of the military at some point?

The exchange of blows continued with each opponent attacking and deflecting simultaneously. For over half a minute, no one could make any progress. Both had the speed and skill to stop any attack, yet neither had enough to pierce through the other’s defense. Suddenly, there was a loud bang. The dryad’s left arm was torn off in a small explosion, along with a stack of red rectangles.

Before Dallion could even get a glimpse of them, the rectangles vanished, replaced by the standard blue one.

OREH has been defeated!

Continue on to fulfill the AURA SWORD’s destiny.

And just like that, the guardian and all its minions were gone. A faint light covered the temple roof, marking the official end of the battle. There should have been rejoicing, cheers, instead the relevant emotion that Dallion was able to see within March was of bitter disappointment.

Lux, start healing people, Dallion thought. Start with the least wounded.

With a chirp, the firebird poof off of March and to Euryale who was still quite a distance away. Strictly speaking, there were several other party members that had suffered less damage than her, but the familiar knew its owner too well to make another choice.

“That was quite the battle,” Dallion said, rushing towards March. “So that’s how you use a dartbow?”

The moment he asked, the captain unsummoned her weapons.

“Get Vend to set up camp inside the temple,” she said in a cold voice. “Tell him to hurry. It might rain.”

Then, without any further explanations, March walked away. Dallion had seen this type of response enough on Earth to know that something hadn’t gone according to plan.

What went wrong? Dallion asked in his realm.

She used a new attack, the armadil shield replied. She saw she couldn’t win using a blade, so she resorted to a ranged weapon.

Is that a bad thing? She still won and there were no losses among the party.

It’s not a matter of winning, dear boy, Nil jumped in. She showed part of her hand. Now all other present and future guardians know about it. This is the difference between an ordinary mercenary and an explorer. With common and sphere items, all you need to do is win. Endurance and stamina conservation are key there—find the most effective method and use it as you move on. With areas and large items, it’s different. Information is the key here. The resources you have are fixed. The better you know the opponent’s capabilities, the easier they are to defeat. And the guardians have the advantage.

This reminded Dallion of his trial against the general. Back at the time, he thought that it was nothing more than a way to teach him haggling. In fact, it was much more; the skills were aimed to teach him not to be reckless with the information he showed in battle. In each battle he was to bid with his skills. The ones he used he couldn’t use in future because they were no longer a surprise. In the fight just now, March had resorted to using an ace. At the moment, it didn’t mean a huge deal, she likely had a lot of other secret moves up her sleeve, but this was only the beginning. Two temples were cleared, eight remained, six of which were completely unknown. Not to mention that it was going to take at least five more explorations for the party to reach the end. That meant the party would have to face roughly thirty more guardians in total.

That was the reason the expedition was taking so long. All this time, March had been systematically removing rust, decay, and cracks while also learning the guardians’ capabilities. Thinking about it, that was also the reason Eury was invited. As an experienced scout, she knew what her main goal was—not so much to explore the area, but to learn as many of the abilities of the locals so that the rest of the party was prepared. The reason she used her skills freely was because this would likely be her only expedition. It didn’t matter how much the guardians learned about her, since March wasn’t going to use her moving forward.

Am I just a temp? Dallion asked.

That’s a difficult question to answer, Nil sighed. I fear you might well be. March will likely keep you for a few more expeditions, until the end of the festival, at least, but have no illusions, you won’t be involved long after that. At most, you might get invited during the final expedition. Healing is as good as magic and it could be useful.

Figures… Dallion didn’t feel happy about this in the least.

It takes a lot of planning and preparation to clear a large sphere item. Months, sometimes years. If it were any easier, no one would hire guilds to do it, and we certainly wouldn’t have gotten our hands on a world item. There’s even a distinct possibility that we might never fulfil the sword’s destiny. Don’t worry, though, the guild has plenty of high-level sphere items. The one you’ve already seen still needs clearing. We’re at level seventeen of twenty, so it’s very likely you’ll see that destiny fulfilled.

The echo kept on talking, but Dallion’s mind was elsewhere. He felt a sudden void inside, draining all the joy. The realization that he was only invited to act as a changeable filter hurt a lot. That was the reason they had pushed him so hard to prepare and develop skills. Even before he had obtained the firebird as a familiar, March had seen his potential and wanted him for the expedition. That was the entire reason for the new Icepicker selection trials—a test to determine and prepare temps so that the item could be fully fulfilled.

It was never about me joining the expedition, was it? Dallion asked. The Star just wanted to be the one here. With me out of the way he would have made sure to be invited.

That’s one possibility, Nil admitted reluctantly.

That’s why you have a problem with March, isn’t it? You don’t approve of the way she uses people.

There’s that, though not only. The way she does things tends to be focused more on getting results, which isn’t to say she doesn’t value people. She just sees them more as—

Tools?

I was about to say soldiers. You must remember that’s a notion drilled into the members of the imperial army during decades of training. Everyone is just a cog in a large machine. Good commanders are those who can make best use of those cogs. Also, as much as I dislike saying this, you have to look at the bigger picture. True, you won’t be able to be involved with this expedition for long, but it’s not like you’ll be kicked out from March’s team. Take Ezra, for example. He’s only just returned here after spending years on other expeditions.

That was true. There would be other expeditions in other items. Dallion was going to see lots of interesting things and face new enemies. Still, it wasn’t going to be the same. The guild only had one world item.

The first expeditions are always the hardest, Nil said. The worst you can do, however, is to beat yourself down because of it. If your performance here gets too bad, it’s pretty much guaranteed that this will be your only expedition here. So, chin up and get the best of it. You’ve already gotten a chance that many others won’t. Don’t throw it away.