That was fun. Hehe. Anyway, after getting rid of the minotaur, I come before another intersection. But the riddle is still same.

‘For those who do not wish for darkness should seek the light.

For if not all the efforts will be in vain.’

I still don’t get it. Anyway, I already decided to go with process of elimination. So, I will continue that. Next is south.

I walk forward and continues down that path. And no surprise, I get that same feeling ten minutes later and end up at the beginning.

And once again, I walk the walk.

And once again, I face the face.

This time it is a freaking buffalo. Looks just like one on Alex’s world. But twice as bigger. Buffalo. This is interesting.

But I will confirm my guess after killing it. Another uncanny thing is the similarity of it to the earth ones, well except the size. And I hope it will moo this time.

MOOOO

Yes. As soon as it saw me, it mooed. Haha. After that, it charges at me. You need something else. I think I will do it again.

So, I start to prepare my self-made Ras***gan. And wait for it. Hehe. But just as it was about two meters away from me, it suddenly lowers its horns and hits the ground. And as its horns hit the ground, ground starts to protrude like nails toward me.

With no other choice I hit the protrusion with my mana sphere and make it explode to protect my-self. Shit, that was close.

And just as I did that, the buffalo charges at me from behind all the dust and hits me squarely on my chest. I cough up a blood and get thrown backward.

I use my gears like a jet and cancel out the inertia from the collision and manage to land safely. Ooh, that broke at least four ribs. So, earth elemental, huh. This confirms my guess more.

The buffalo is looking at me. Looking at me, not glaring. Hmm, even the temperament is similar. Still, it suddenly raises its front legs and stomps on the ground.

And as it does that, tremor starts to spread out from where it stomped the ground. Shit, this buffalo can cause earth-shakes. That is one cool buffalo.

As the earth shakes, I start to lose my footing, but the buffalo is fine and starts to charge at me again.

“Hahahaha. Come on, then.”

I activate my full armor and wait for it to reach me. I always like 47 in Alex’s memories. For he was efficient and skillful assassin. But there as another assassin in his memories. Those in assassin’s creed. And the what I liked most about that is the hidden blades.

Concealed blades that can be discreetly extended and retracted into the assassin’s wrist. And after learning that I can manipulate my armor’s shape with mana, I decided to integrate that piece of efficient equipment to it.

And just as the buffalo enters my range, I expel my charged energy in my greaves and lunges at it. Even though it saw me lunging at it, it continues to charge at me.

I jam my hidden blade in between its horns. And since my hidden blade is made out of mana crystal, I can apply same technique with my mana katana and make its edge rotate and vibrate at high frequency.

After my hidden blade pierces its skull, I can feel it entering its brain. But that fails to kill the buffalo. So, I make my hidden blade extend deep into its brain.

It stops only after my blade pierced through its brain whole. It tumbles sideways and disintegrates into dust.

That was something else. Anyway, my first experiment with my hidden blade was an unqualified success. I can use it from now on.

After getting rid of the buffalo I walk forward and come before same scenery. Intersection, pillar and tablet. And the same riddle.

Now, let’s confirm my guess. According to cardinal directions: buffalo is totem animal for north. And element for north is earth.

North means behind. So, that means I need to go back. But will it work? I need to be sure since I’m going this way after guessing.

So, to make sure let’s take another look at the riddle.

‘For those who do not wish for darkness should seek the light.

For if not all the efforts will be in vain.’

Light, darkness. Hmm.

While pondering I walk around. As look to my feet and notice my shadow. Wait a minute. I saw no light source here. This place is bright. But there is no light source. Sun or some kind of light. So, how come my shadow is casting south.

Now, wait a minute. Seek the light. Leave the darkness. I guess it was north. When I turn north, my shadow stays behind me.

So, I head back and walk. Thirty minutes, nothing. I was right. Now, how many more riddles am I supposed to solve. This is getting boring already.

And after ten minutes same scenery. Intersection, pillar and the tablet.

‘There are tow sisters; one gives birth to the other,

And she in turn, gives birth to the first,

Who are the two sisters?’

Gemini. Alex saw this riddle before. I know it. And in wester astrology, east is associated with the constellation of Gemini. So, east it is.

I turn to east side and start walking. I know that I went toward the right direction when nothing happens after thirty minutes.

But from the looks of it, there is another riddle and another intersection ahead. This is really starting to piss me off.

………

“Shit!”

I have been walking for almost two hours and there is nothing changing. And this is getting tedious. I don’t know how long I have to walk for.

And just as I was thinking that, I see something ahead. A sphynx. I take it that this is the boss. Rather fitting. Sphynx sure loves riddles, right.

Creature with a head of a human and body of a lion. And almost five meters tall. It is just standing there. I walk toward it with caution. It just stands there. I come before it, it still stands motionless.

I try to pass by it, it suddenly moves and blocks my path.

“Riddle me this;

I never was.

Am always to be.

No one ever saw me, nor ever will.

And yet I am the confidence of all who live and breathe.

What am I?”

“Ooh. Seriously? Another riddle.”

I can’t be bothered. I just ignore it and tries to pass by it. It suddenly raises it’s paws and swipe at me. I activate my full armor and brace for impact.

THUMP.

I get hit and flies away. Even with my greaves decreasing my inertia, I hit the mountain wall and fall. That was bad.

I summon my mana katana and unleash my mana wave. It flies toward the sphynx and hits slashes it across its face but fails to wound.

It simply looks toward me and utters the same riddle again.

“Riddle me this;

I never was.

Am always to be.

No one ever saw me, nor ever will.

And yet I am the confidence of all who live and breathe.

What am I?”

“Shut up, already.”

As soon as I heard that, I start to prepare my fourth technique to its fullest. As moments pass, my dragon takes form and charges at the sphynx.

It hits the sphynx in the chest. But once again fails to wound it. While my mana dragon was grinding it with its rotation, I see some kind of transparent film protecting the sphynx from my dragon.

Shit. I think I need to solve the riddle to kill it. As long as I don’t solve it, that transparent film will keep protecting the sphynx.

“Order, you are Order.”

I say my first guess. Sphynx ignores it and sand suddenly materializes from who knows where around it and form into nails. Well, to me those are spear.

And those sand spears fly toward me. Wrong, I guess. I jump around and squat to dodge the spears. It walks toward me. I need to find the answer.

“Tomorrow, you are Tomorrow!”

As I say my second answer, I see the transparent film around it disappearing.

“Oh, bummer.”

Sphynx says. Now, it is different. As soon as I see that, I start to OD my fireball. And as soon as it turns black, I throw it toward the sphynx and run back.

My fireball explodes behind me and the impact from the explosion throws me forward. After five minutes my fireball runs out. And the sphynx is no longer there.