Allen pushed himself to his feet and looked up. The entrance wall loomed over him. It was a massive flat slab of polished white marble nearly ten stories tall and just as wide. It ended at the top where domed roof sections lined in sparkling golden tile began.

Allen followed the roof with his eyes as he spun around, looking past the four arches that connected to thick columns on each side. The roof faded away, obscured by the bright light shining from behind the gate at the end of the hall. It was silhouetted, but Allen knew the gate itself was made of gold as well.

Allen came back to his senses when Ty screamed out in pain. He looked over to find the Defender on his back with Amelia knelt by his side. Both his legs were torn apart below the knee, leaving nothing but strings of flesh. The armor on his right side was caved in, as was his shoulder. His right arm was crushed beyond recognition and his face was covered in blood.

Ty’s whole body spasmed when Amelia moved from his legs to his shoulder. He tried to sit up, but his armor slipped on the pool of blood underneath him. Instead, he groaned and clenched his teeth as he slowly fell back again.

Camila and Christopher were both in much better shape, though Camila still had many gaping wounds across her back and right side. The two just sat and watched Ty while Lucas remained curled into a ball on the floor near the slaves.

Amelia was covered in blood herself, and some of it was definitely hers, yet she was unburdened by the pain. Her face was rock solid while she worked to stop Ty’s bleeding.

Allen knelt down beside the Healer and waved to get her attention. The girl glanced over at him with her hands still stuck between two plates of armor on Ty’s shoulder.

“How does this look?” Allen asked while pointing to the shard of wood in his chest. He was already feeling loopy, which wasn’t a good sign. Dead Calm had been active since he had gotten out of the magicarriage, though it hadn’t come close to full charge. Still, the skill’s effects would certainly be missed.

Amelia sputtered once before a confused look stuck her face. She reached to her neck and Allen watched her feel out a shard of wood the size of a finger stuck through her throat.

“Oh, didn’t see that,” Allen thought. He was about to ask something else when Amelia held up five fingers before going back to healing Ty.

“Five out of ten?” Allen asked, grinning. He furrowed his brow when she shook her head in response. “Five minutes to live?”

Amelia nodded and Allen smirked.

“Do you want help with that?” he asked, tentatively reaching a hand towards the Healer. Amelia simply stretched out her neck out, allowing Allen to grab the piece of wood. He held it tightly and began to pull.

His expression twisted when the piece of wood didn’t slide out like he had expected. Amelia shot him a glare from the corner of her eye and made a jerking motion with her chin.

“Okay, damn,” Allen said, chuckling. He adjusted his grip and placed his free hand on the side of the girl’s head. He took a deep breath and yanked as hard as he could. The shard tore its way out, taking bits of flesh with it. The gaping whole in Amelia’s throat gushed blood for a second before stopping, though she hadn’t reacted at all.

Allen watched as the wound closed over the course of a minute as Amelia simultaneously shut off the bleeding throughout Ty’s half-destroyed body. He also noticed his own limbs going numb and his vision darkening, but his injuries weren’t nearly as bad as Ty’s.

“Camila, help me get this plate armor off,” Amelia began, her voice hoarse and distorted.

A thread of miasma connected itself to Amelia a second later. Allen looked over and met Christopher’s gaze. “I am out of mana,” he said, clutching a bleeding wound on his head. “But I can still give her what I regenerate.”

Camila cursed as she pried Ty’s shoulder plate off. The Defender likewise cried out and shook in pain.

“I can’t heal his arm,” Amelia said. “It’s too far gone; we’ll have to remove it. Help me get his chest plate off first. The right side of his chest cavity has collapsed.”

Camila nodded, quickly moving to rip the straps on Ty’s armor apart with brute strength. She helped slowly lift the chest plate away from Ty while Amelia pushed her hands into Ty’s chest to reset his entire ribcage.

“Can’t you numb him!” Camila shouted over the Defender’s screaming.

“I already have! Hold him down!” Amelia shouted back, her hands still inside Ty’s chest. Bones cracked back into place over the course of a few seconds before she finally pulled them out again.

Ty let his head hit the floor, his whole body still shaking. “Done?” he asked between breaths.

“Impressive that he’s still conscious,” Allen thought. “Not to mention alive in the first place.”

“For now,” Amelia replied. “I have to heal Allen, then I’m going to amputate that arm,” she said, gesturing at the Defenders limp right arm lying motionless and purple beside him. It was bent at five different angles and appeared totally empty of blood.

“Um, Camila, I need you to pull the stake out of Allen,” the Healer said. “Allen, lay on your back.”

Hesitantly, Allen did as he was told and laid down on his back. He could feel the other end the wooden shard poking out just below his shoulder bone. He instinctually kept his shoulder off the ground until Amelia knelt down on top of him, her knee on his stomach and her arm pushing down on his shoulder.

He groaned as the sharp tip of the shard was pushed up against the floor. Then Camila appeared on his other side and grabbed it with both hands. Allen had expected a count down or something, but the woman just tore it out immediately.

Allen’s vision instantly tunneled as his back arched. He opened his mouth to scream but nothing came out. Whether that was due to his silence training or something else was impossible to think about. He struggled to stay conscious through the pain. Then, just as everything was about to go black, Allen forced himself to move. He looked up and found himself grabbing Amelia by the forearm, his grip tight enough to have broken the bone.

The Healer was looking down at him with a blank face while Camila’s mouth was hanging open. It took a moment for Allen’s mind to catch up with him, he let go of Amelia, noticing the worst of the pain was gone. The healer caught her arm as it folded under its own weight.

“Sorry,” Allen managed.

Amelia hummed. “No, I didn’t have time to use Numbing,” she began, glaring up at Camila. “You stayed awake though. That’s impressive… for an outsider,” she continued, cracking a small smile.

Allen groaned, but Amelia was still healing his injuries, so he didn’t move. She had a skill to quickly stop bleeding and she was able to use it on him and Camila at the same time, patching them up enough that they both wouldn’t bleed out.

Christopher spoke up right when Allen was able to stand again. “Hey, we have company,” the professor said, nervousness clear on his voice. He pointed down the corridor towards the golden light and regal gate at the end, drawing Allen’s attention.

The whole group, including Ty and Lucas, all watched as six massive male figures carrying golden staves stepped out from the gaps between the columns. All six were identical and easily stood five stories tall, reaching halfway to the roof. They were faceless, hairless, and their fully nude bodies rippled with muscle despite being made of solid white marble, though there was nothing indecent to see, just smooth stone.

They all watched as the figures mechanically spun on their heels before marching down the hall in two lines. One might expect their every step to be like an earthquake, yet the figures made neither the slightest sound nor vibration while they walked.

Everyone remained breathlessly silent as the figures approached, flanking the group and the slaves on either side. They simultaneously spun to face inward before placing their left hands over their right breasts and inclining their heads slightly, freezing a moment later.

“Relax, their just greeters, they’re harmless,” Allen said glancing at one of the giant figures with a small smile.

Name: Faceless One

Golem – Defender – Level 400

“A word of advice though,” Allen continued, “Don’t attack anything. These guys are the rock bottom of what the Wandering Gate has to offer.”

The others surely heard him, yet nobody said anything in response. “Hey, that was a good pun wasn’t it?”

While the group looked up at the motionless golems, the hall had grown completely silent. That is, except for the clacking sound of footsteps echoing through the space. Allen was apparently the first to notice, given his indifference to the Faceless Ones.

He looked down the hall to find a normal sized woman walking towards them at a casual pace. Similar to the larger golems, she was also made of white marble, though it was glossier and the patterns in the stone itself swirled like smoke. Her perfect supermodel figure had just the right amount of fullness, and also similar to the Faceless Ones, she was entirely nude, though still modest where it mattered. Her feet were shaped like platform heels, except there were no actual heels, forcing her onto the balls of her feet and causing her hips to sway almost mesmerizingly while she walked. Her face was covered by a mask of gold while six stone horns sprouted from her forehead and curled back over her locks of shoulder length flowing hair. The hair was impressionist, in a way. There weren’t any individual strands, just full locks of solid yet loosely flowing marble.

Name: Gatekeeper Maráuh

Primordial Soul Golem – Monk – Level 950

Allen’s face was perfectly neutral as the Gatekeeper approached. Rather, it was Camila and Amelia who had their jaws hanging open, and it probably wasn’t because of the golem’s level.

The woman stopped nearly ten meters from the group and spread her arms out by her sides, inclining her head. “Welcome, travelers…” she began, her voice smooth and regal, “to the Wandering Gate.”

Allen casually walked up to the golem as she continued speaking. “Your adventure begins once you have stepped past the gilded gates. I will guide you as far as I can, but the real journey must be—”

“Hey Mar, why does he have you on gate duty? That’s so boring,” Allen asked, knowingly drawing dumbfounded expressions from the others. “Heh, this shit is what I live for.”

Maráuh trailed off and silently stared back at Allen for a few seconds from behind her mask. Then that golden mask suddenly liquified, flowing up to her head and forming a circlet between her horns. Her face revealed behind the mask was so stunningly beautiful that it could only have been crafted by the gods, or one very meticulous dungeon. Her soft lips pulled her sharp features into a bright smile, her face literally glowing. Though, contrastingly, her eyes were glassy and blacker than the void, like pits of darkness taking up the space in her eye sockets.

“Jerr!?” the golem shouted, almost squealing as she bounced in place. “You’re back! You look different somehow so I didn’t recognize you. What happened?” she said, her demeaner completely changed.

Suddenly she reached out and pulled Allen into a rather forceful hug, burying is face in her chest. She was extraordinarily soft despite being made of stone. Her strength was beyond crushing though.

“You’ll have to tell us everything over tea!” the Gatekeeper announced quite loudly.

Allen luxuriated for a few moments before answering. “Yeah.”