POV: Altair Oberon Lyrius

"Thirty-four!" I yelled loudly as I dug my fist right into the left eye of the dark red wyrm.

The large creature crashed into the hanging black pyramid which, on closer inspection, seemed to be made out of shaped metal blocks. It screamed out a cry of pain as it hit one of the sharp corners of the pyramid. To my dismay, this was the first time it had even gotten hurt. I saw a trickle of bright red blood sticking on the very tip of one of the pyramid's corners. As the dark red wyrm fell back into the lava I saw a far too tiny scratch on its back that already seemed to be healing.

'Told you, you're not beating that thing...' Ira said.

Shit...

I landed on another overhang as graceful as possible, nearly falling over.

"So... I guess we run, right?" I said as I watched out for the beast to reappear.

'That would be for the best since it still seems to think you're a fly or something...' Ira said.

"Ah yeah, because we all usually see something that throws us into multiple walls as a mere fly, daily thing really," I said mockingly as I watched some of the lava below me bubble up.

It then turned darker and all of a sudden a large pillar formed from lava shot up to the ceiling, wrapping around it was the wyrm, looking at me with hatred and anger in its eyes.

'Seems like the fly just turned into a threat...' Ira joked.

I sighed as I activated my warp magic mark and stepped over the edge of the overhang and reappeared right at the entrance to the pyramid using [Far Step]. Looking Over my shoulder I saw the dark red wyrm look around, confused by my sudden disappearance. I sighed.

"What a shame," I said as I turned to the entrance of the black metal pyramid. I stood before a black wall with some light blue glowing engravings on it, just like the rest of the pyramid. And there, embedded into it was a slab of a more silver metal.

"So, now how do I open this before that thing-" I looked back to the dark red wyrm "-finds me?" I asked myself as I stared at what I assumed to be the door.

'Hey, maybe the key is in its stomach,' Arva suggested.

"Wanna go and find out?" I asked, raising one eyebrow as I stroked my chin, on which I could feel a slight stubble.

Arva remained silent.

"Thought so," I said as I pressed my left palm against the metal slab.

I felt mana coursing through it and tickle my palm. Almost as if on instinct, I pushed some of my own mana into the slab of metal. It worked well, felt natural almost, as if the metal slab had become part of me for a short amount of time, similar to when I would conjure up thorns, they also felt like a natural extension of myself. As if using a newly discovered, but already trained, muscle I moved the metal slab into the only possible direction, downwards. I heard a metallic clink as the metal slab began descending into the ground, merging with it. Once it was fully even with the ground the only thing that made it apparent that there had been anything else here was the difference in colour. Taking a last look back at the draconic beast, which was still looking for me, not having realised where I was now, I stepped into the pyramid. As soon as I did I heard the same metallic clink again and saw the metal slab ascend from the ground and close off the entrance behind me.

I now found myself inside a square room with a ceiling that mimicked the shape of the pyramid tip. Right in the middle was a glass cube, connected to the ceiling with silver chains that, in turn, were connected to some strange machinery. And inside the cube of glass was a sort of pedestal, on top of it was a light blue orb that seemed to breathe, and around the middle of the pedestal, right in the cylindrical base of it was a hole, and inside that hole was an orb. An orb that was black in colour with some green spots on it, almost as if someone had emptied a bucket of green liquid right over it and let the liquid dry on it, creating more green spots towards the top of the orb. Currently, it was embedded in the pedestal's base.

"Uhh, looks like we found what we're looking for," I said as I swapped magic marks and activated my wood elven magic mark on my right arm and immediately used [Predator's Strength].

With my enhanced strength, I casually approached the glass cube, ignoring the rest of the room, drew back my fist and, as quickly as I could, hit the glass. It felt like my fist itself was cracking and falling apart instead of the glass. I was sure that if I had been a human my bones might have turned to shards similar to what normal glass would have turned into when I hit it.

"What the-," I said as I stared at my fist, shaking and filled with a pulsating pain.

POV: Rudolpho Alami

"Who are you?!" I asked, my voice as commanding as possible, pointing my mace at the figure concealed by a ragged brown cloak.

I got no answer.

Getting angrier I stepped forth, focusing more mana pressure on them... they weren't even bothered by it, standing there as if nothing was happening. Then they finally answered me, their voice strange, like that of a man and a woman combined, strangely vibrating.

"I'm no one important in particular," they said.

I got even angrier and moved myself right in front of them, holding my heavy mace right over their head.

"I asked: WHO ARE YOU?!"

The figure merely chuckled, pushing aside my mace as if it was a feather.

"I said: NO ONE IMPORTANT IN PARTICULAR!" the figure responded, also enhancing their voice. "Now if you wouldn't mind, I'm currently waiting for someone, and you're kind of annoying me while doing nothing," they said.

I couldn't believe it, didn't they know who I was? I might not have been the most famous member of the church, neither a saint nor one of the grand sorcerers or a famous rookie. But I was a high paladin, someone who has clashed with demon lords and even killed some of them.

"Do you know who I am?!" I asked loudly as I stared at where I believed their eyes to be.

For a solid minute, they merely looked at me or didn't look at me, I couldn't see their eyes.

"Rudolpho Alami, high paladin of the church of the seven, gains power from the recently ascended royal deity Gerakan, brother of Bernart Alami, son of Gasper Alami and Gutrud Alami, any more questions?" they asked.

I could hear the devious grin in their voice.

"W-Who are you?" I asked, my voice weak and filled with shock, as I nearly dropped my mace to the ground.