Fighting the colossus with a dartbow and buckler turned out more difficult than Dallion thought. The more he tried to increase the distance, the more the guardian shortened it, moving as fast as Dallion himself. For every shot that hit the guardian, three were deflected, for every four that hit only one dealt actual damage.

Why didn’t your ears remain big? Dallion grumbled internally as he followed the markers to avoid yet another attack. To make things even more tense, the guardian—deliberately or not—would perform multiple attacks, always breaking Dallion’s sequence.

Minutes in, the boy decided to resort to the good old methods of dealing with colossuses—a buckler to the head. Initially, Dallion thought that the guardian would block this as well, but to his surprise the shield hit the stone head with a loud resounding clang.

Surprise Attack

Dealt damage increased by 50%

Opponent’s options to react are limited

There was no way that could pass as a surprise attack, but Dallion had no intention of arguing. Taking advantage of the colossus momentary daze, he rushed along the defense markers. Good thing too, for just as he finished the first set, the guardian began its next attack.

“Too late,” Dallion whispered. The advantage gained from the first attack easily helped him avoid the next, allowing him to complete another full defense set, then another, and another.

By the fourth, pressure had started to creep in. Thanks to his body improvement, though, Dallion was nowhere near exhaustion. Already he could “teleport” a significant distance away, even put himself in a good enough position to shoot at the colossus’ ear. However, he decided to push on. The evasion sequence was much more complicated than before, following a pattern that Dallion hadn’t seen before.

Step, step, jump, whirl, bend, twist left…

Colossus arms struck left and right, each missing by inches. A moment of hesitation appeared in Dallion’s mind, quickly ignored as he gritted his teeth to match the final green footprints. The moment he did, time completely froze.

ESCAPE TRIGGERED

If you wish to escape combat, smash the window

“There’s an escape option?” Dallion gasped.

That changed everything! It pretty much meant that he could leave a battle unharmed and didn’t even have to rely on a pendant. The guard skills were unimaginably good! If people knew about this, they would probably not choose anything else.

Of course, being able to take advantage of this option required that a person had a reaction level to match the marker sequence, and the body to withstand the exhaustion. All in all, it wasn’t an obvious cheat.

Dallion looked around. Green footsteps continued to cover the floor. By his speculation, the moment he took a step anywhere the offer would end, and he’d return to his battle. However, given that there wasn’t a timer anywhere on the rectangle, Dallion could also remain still for a while to catch his breath and rest.

Weak spot ears, Dallion thought, doing his best to look over his shoulder at the guardian. Given the standard time freeze that his guard skills provided, it was possible for him to jump into position. However, before he did, a question came to mind. What bonuses did ranged attack streaks get? When he was with a sword, things were simple: he had to follow the red markers and would eventually get a multi-attack. Since he’d been using the dartbow, though, nothing of the sort had happened. There was the laser sight marker, and that was it. Possibly he needed to increase his level more to be able to make use of that, which meant he had to get rid of the level cap.

“Here goes,” Dallion whispered.

Twisting his body in a hundred and eighty jump, he jumped from green marker to green marker until he was a few feet away from the guardian. From this angle the colossus ear was perfectly visible, it also had a faint red marker on it.

The weak spot! Dallion thought.

The reason he hadn’t seen any markers was because he couldn’t see the weak spots. That also explained why Gloria was so good at hitting the training guardian back in the hunting party. With her perception, she could easily see all the weak spots and maybe more.

Taking advantage of the time freeze, Dallion aimed. When the two red dots aligned, transforming into bright orange, he squeezed the trigger.

CRITICAL STRIKE

Dealt damage was increased by 150%

Barely had the rectangle appeared when Dallion shot a second bolt. To his surprise, that hit as well. It was almost like with the sand dragon. Two more critical hits followed before the guardian managed to jump back.

After each successful shot, a momentary time freeze occurred. It was different from the guard skill freeze that Dallion had experienced; this one was far shorter—fractions of a second, doubling in speed—and only seemed to affect the target.

TRIAL GUARDIAN

Species: GRAND COLOSSUS

Class: GRANITE

Statistics: 17% HP

Skills:

Quad arm attack Earth shaker Stone cutter

Weak Spots: Ears

Seventeen percent remaining. A few more good shots and Dallion would be the clear victor. Given the new combo, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion. There was nothing the guardian could do but prolong the inevitable. The combo that Dallion had uncovered was as lethal as the colossus in its original realm.

“Want us to stop here?” Dallion asked. “There’s no point in going on. You can’t win.”

The colossus frowned, although didn’t move from its position. That was good. At least Dallion wasn’t going to face a sudden charge again.

“I know you can give up,” Dallion continued. “I know that I’m not sure what the difference is, but it’ll still get me to advance.”

There was no reaction.

“I really have no problem repeating my attack. I just thought that a surrender would better.”

The features on the colossus’ face soften slightly. The guardian lowered its arms, then started slowly walking towards Dallion in a relaxed fashion. If this were anywhere else, Dallion would probably have performed his combo attack and finished it. Since this remained an awakening shrine trial, though, he decided to take the chance.

Step by step the colossus approached until it stood in front of Dallion. At this distance one could appreciate how formidable it actually was: seven feet of solid granite with four arms and the speed of a cheetah. Two of the colossus’ hands moved up, covering its ears completely.

Dallion swallowed. Had he tipped his hand?

Another of the guardian’s hands extended forward.

You want me to shake on it? Dallion wondered. Sure, why not? If he had decided to trust the creature, he might as well go all the way.

With next to no hesitation, Dallion shook the hand, or did as much as humanly possible—it was a piece of stone, after all.

“Thanks.” The boy smiled.

No sooner had he done so that the guardian disappeared.

The SHRINE Guardian has admitted defeat.

Do you accept his surrender?

“Yes,” Dallion said.

You have impressed the SHRINE guardian with your behavior!

The Colossus has granted you a future boon.