“Don’t let them form a group behind us!” Dallion shouted, shooting at the creatures flying towards them.

The last wave of amphibions had turned out far more imaginative than the ones before. Initially seventy in number, they had quickly merged into two monstrous entities blocking the tunnel entirely. In itself that was not too bad—it gave Falkner and Cellano a chance to take out one each. What made things more difficult, or “interesting” as Veil would say, was the fact that each of the amphibion mountains hurled smaller entities of themselves at the group, like buckshot.

“Easy for you to say!” Bel grumbled, throwing knife after knife. “Takes you only one bolt to kill one. Takes me three knives!”

Falkner also proved not to be the best support. At the sight of the large entities, he had rushed forward, only to freeze halfway there when they had started hurling creatures at him. It was only thanks to Arthurows’ quick reaction and massive shield that the youngster had been saved. That left Cellano, who was forced to take the role of both the group’s front tank and main attacker. Meanwhile, creatures were grouping at the party’s rear.

“Protect Vend!” Dallion shouted. “Falkner, Art, we need you at the back!”

If this were a game, Dallion would have rage quit on the spot. The chaos had been so devastating that even the enemy creatures had paused for a few seconds out of pity. That was the typical result of overconfidence—acting on one’s own accord without realizing how outclassed they really were.

No wonder so many guild newbies failed their first selection. Coming from the city, they probably were rich in theoretical knowledge, but lacking even the most basic combat intuition. Dallion was the complete opposite—mostly self taught, thought acquired experience through battle. At present that gave Dallion a huge advantage ahead of the rest… provided they didn’t all die in the item’s first level.

“Falkner!” Dallion shouted again. He so much wanted to yell at the boy, but knew that would be counterproductive. As furious as he was right now, he had to take the smart approach. “You got this! Get back and protect Vend. That’s the most important job right now!”

Come on, kid, snap out of it!

“Cellano! Use your guard skills to reach a time freeze, then use the bonus to land a good multi attack! Art, provide cover for Falkner, then help with deafening the back of the group. Bel, switch to melee combat. As long as they don’t hit anyone, don’t bother with the fliers!”

Worst tactical advice ever, Dallion wanted to scream. Truth was he himself wasn’t particularly good at that. Sadly, he was so much better than anyone else present that he was forced to rely on his half-baked ideas if there was even a chance of survival. His only hope was that each of the members was so good individually, that as long as they got out of their shock-freeze they would take care of everything as they had done with all the waves before.

“Any idea how many we’ve killed?” Dallion asked.

“Seven, maybe ten,” Bel shouted back.

Dallion gritted his teeth. These were not the numbers he was hoping for. That meant that in a best-case scenario, there were over fifty enemies left.

“Falkner!” Dallion shot another flying enemy.

Thankfully, this time the boy reacted. Raising up from the ground, he dashed towards the back of the group, dartbow in hand. Getting some free space, Cellano started slowly retreating, still slashing what he could.

Good, Dallion thought. This is good.

All that was needed now was—

“They’re grouping behind us!” Bel shouted. “It’s another big one! What must I do?”

Crap! “Focus on the one behind! That’ll give us some time.”

If at this point the two monsters in front charged forward, there was nothing to stop them. Vend, and the entire party, would be squished like a waffle between two anvils.

“Art, come here and cover me for a bit!” If there was a time for a gamble, it was now.

“You sure about this?” The other asked.

“Just come here!”

“If you say so.” Arthurows did a backwards dash, stopping in front of Dallion. “What’s the plan?”

“Make sure nothing hits me.” Dallion threw his dartbow on the ground and took his harpsisword. He would so much have liked another few days to polish his skills, but this would have to do. Taking a deep breath, Dallion looked at the enemies. Blue markers appeared all over the large blue creatures in the distance. It wasn’t one creature Dallion was looking at, but a whole cluster of them surrounded by one giant wrapper of flesh. Blue smudges moved about like grapes.

Three hues were dominant, which suggested three strings. Holding his breath, Dallion played the strings in question. Blue markers emerged along with the sounds, starting their inevitable journey to the tip of the sword. Dallion felt sweat form on his forehead as he concentrated.

One fast, two slow, he thought. The instant the fast marker reached the tip, he played the string again. If there was a point of failure, it was going to be now. Fortunately for him, the string didn’t stop vibrating. A new marker emerged in the place of the old.

Thank goodness! Dallion smiled, then played the remaining two vibrating strings with his left thumb and index finger. The two giant monsters froze in place. Struck by fear, they remained motionless, no longer throwing creatures through the tunnel. A new set of lighter hues appeared—confusion, sadness, calm. If he had enough skill, Dallion could potentially force them to surrender, or at least break down into smaller amphibions. Right now, he didn’t dare experiment, following with the same melody he played before.

A sharp tone filled the air, followed by two more. There was a moment of confusion among the party. Dallion’s team-members had no idea what was going on, and he was too focused on what he was doing to tell them. Thankfully, primal instincts soon took over.

Cellano was the first to charge. Taking advantage of the enemy’s pause. He rushed to the nearest and performed a series of slashing arcs all over its body. The creature stirred, gurgled, then abruptly shrunk to a third of its original size. Cellano didn’t stop slashing.

At that point, Dallion saw Falkner from the corner of his eye, drawing his own melee weapon. That could only mean that the enemies behind the group had also been affected by the music, giving the boy an opportunity to strike as well.

Must keep going, Dallion said to himself, successfully playing the sequence a third time. Every few seconds he could gain for his team went a long way to clearing the level. When the markers began to move for the fourth time, though, Dallion lost his concentration. His fingers pulled the strings way too early, breaking the trance of the enemies. The music suddenly ended.

“Damn it!” Dallion said. His temples were pulsing as if his head was about to explode. That was the greatest shortcoming of the music skill so far—the only way he had achieved several successful streaks was through extreme concentration. Combining that with the pressure of the situation and he felt as if he’d spend an all-nighter reading on a computer screen.

“Good one, Dal.” Arthurows tapped him on the shoulder. “Chill for a bit. I got you from here.”

“Thanks.” Dallion closed his eyes. In his current state, he could only rely on the others. Fear and the memory of the chaos that had ensued minutes ago quickly made him open them back up again.

Vend was still alive, which was always a plus, as were the rest of the party. The enemies, however, were on the verge of being eradicated. With the creatures behind the group killed, Falkner and Bel had joined Cellano in fighting off what remained of the force in front. The two mountains—now reduced to five small amphibions, which were then killed off by knives and swords.

“We got them!” Falkner shouted, exuberant at their success. “We got them!” he rushed to Dallion.

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you.” Dallion smiled. It felt nice being a team leader. “Is everyone okay?”

Everyone looked at each other.

“I think I’m down five percent,” Arthurows said in a manner that suggested that he likely was more. “Took some hits when I was guarding you guys.”

“I’m good,” Cellano said in a deep voice.

Before the rest could join in with a comment or two, clapping echoed throughout the tunnel.

“Well done.” The echo of Vend approached. “You’ve passed the first hurdle. I’d like to say you did well, but let’s just say that you did well enough. From here on the real challenge begins.”

The comment made Dallion feel dizzy. That meant that the first guardian would be stronger than what they had faced now. The only ray of hope was that the guardian was one creature, so maybe there would be less panicky chaos and more slashing and shooting.

“Can you tell us how many groups have reached this far?” Dallion asked.

“No, but I can tell you that three groups have failed so far.” Vend leaned against the wall.

Three groups… not as much as Dallion had feared. Strictly speaking, he was unsure whether to be happy about it or not. Knowing that only three had failed meant that the trial couldn’t be that difficult. Then again, if Dallion’s party was to fail, it would mean that his group was incredibly weak in comparison to most others.

“Wow, talk about tough.” Arthurows shook his head. “The guild’s really pulled all the stops on this test.”

“What do you mean?” Dallion asked.

“Trials are given in order. When Estezol came to us he’d already passed through the three groups before.”

That meant that all groups so far had failed? “Are you sure? Maybe they followed a different order this time?”

“Nope, it’s always like this. The only reason our echo knows is because its owner knows in the real world, and that’s only possible because Estezol likely told him before starting the test for our group. After we’re done, he’ll move onto the next.”

That was right. Dallion had already spent a month as an awakened, and yet he still had trouble thinking like one. Regardless of the length of each group’s trial, win or lose, in the real world only a moment would have passed. At this very instant, Estezol was probably standing in the room, his tray at the ready. When everyone removed their fingers from the test dagger, he’d pick it up and move to the next test room.

One had to admit awakened tests were very efficient in terms of time, even if it took a while to wrap one’s mind around it.

“Wait, how can he tell whether they had failed or not?” Dallion asked. “Maybe all of them have succeeded?”

“The dagger,” Vend said. “With each completed level the dagger reacts. Complete all, and the entire item changes. Even a world-bound would know that.”

“Ah. Right. Thank you for the explanation, sir.” Dallion looked at the instructor, then at the rest of the group. Except for Arthurows, the rest were ready to continue on. “Err, maybe we should rest a bit?” Dallion suggested. “Next up is the guardian. We’ve no idea what to expect, so maybe we should take a few minutes and come up with a strategy?”

Deathly silence filled the cave.

I’m surrounded by newbies! Dallion wanted to scream.

“Also, I could really use some rest,” he added.

Now that he had unequivocally shown that he was the weakest of the bunch, the rest gladly sat on the ground near him. This couldn’t be normal. Or could it? If guilds had to go through all this each time with all new members, no wonder the captains never chose a newbie to mentor.

“I don’t suppose you can tell us what the guardian is, sir?” Dallion asked with hope.

“It’s something stronger than anything you’ve fought so far,” Vend replied with slight annoyance.

So much for that.

“What do you think it is?” Falkner quickly asked Dallion.

“I have no idea. I suspect, though, that it will be very fast.”

All eyes focused on him.

“Why?”

“Because all enemies so far have been slow.” Granted, so far, they had only faced one type of enemy. “Think about it. Until now, the dagger has tried to drown us with numbers. It tried standard waves, giant monsters, ranged attacks, but none of them were particularly fast. If I were making the trial, I’d definitely put us against something with great speed to take advantage of our lack of coordination.” He paused for a few moments. “Or something invisible.”

“You think we’ll face something invisible?” Bel asked.

“It’s a possibility.” I’m making things up as I go, here! “The important thing is that we’re prepared. As long as we have a solid plan, nothing could stop us.”

Normally Dallion would laugh if anyone had come to him with such a cliche. However, there was one major difference—Dallion’s advice had helped the group quite a bit, not to mention his music skills were the only reason they hadn’t failed. Despite his shortcomings, he had gained their trust, and from his mouth even cliches sounded wise.

“Okay, listen up.” Dallion smiled. “This is what we’ll do.”