“Jump on Vend!” Dallion leapt in the direction.

He had to be careful not to destroy the echo in the process, while also making sure to cover as much of his body as possible. Thankfully, a set of green markers appeared suggesting how to achieve that in optimal fashion. This single event brought Dallion to an unexpected realization, one that he had internally been avoiding—he was abysmally unprepared when it came to anything related to the awakened world. So many people had given him so many chances to learn, and all he had done was stubbornly push on in his own way, disregarding any advice. Succeed or fail, once this trial was over, he was going to change things. Of course, Dallion strongly wanted to succeed.

“Falkner, Cellano, fight them off!” Dallion shouted. “Everyone else, help me protect Vend!”

Thankfully, the echo was perfectly aware of what was going on, so curled up in a ball on the floor to accommodate their efforts.

Minor wound rectangles flashed about several of the party members as the shardflies swarmed through them. Similar to their name, the insects were like butterflies with wings of rock, and very sharp edges, as several people could attest.

“Nox, help out!” Dallion whispered. “Just don’t get killed.”

The moment he did, the crackling popped into existence. Silently it leapt to the side, then looked up at the fluttering stone insects. Like any cat, it paused a few moments before jumping up, claws extended. With one scratch, several shardlings broke down, falling to the floor like stones. Even better, as the embodiment of a “crack,” the puma cub didn’t even have to use its claws—everything it touched instantly got hurt.

While the crackling was doing its part to help, the rest of the party were busy fighting battles of their own. Relying on his massive spin attacks, Cellano slashed wave after wave, only to have more insects take their place. Falkner was attempting a more refined approach, piercing the creatures one by one at incredible speed.

Stones rained over Dallion like hail.

Those are their wings? Dallion wondered as shards fell in a few inches from his face. They were thin and sharp, like shards of slicked rock. Good for shaking, maybe even for weapons. If anyone learned to command a swarm of these “butterflies” that might prove quite lethal.

“Are you done with them?” Arthurows asked. He had piled onto Dallion, covering them both with a tower shield.

“Getting there,” Cellano replied.

It took several more minutes for all the pests to be eliminated. By the time it was all over, everyone in the group had lost between ten and twenty-five percent of their health. Fortunately, Vend had suffered no harm.

“All clear,” Bel said. Unlike the rest, she had moved away from the hotspot the moment the swarm had gathered, using her throwing knives to take out as many as she could from a distance. That had kept her health generally high. “You guys okay?”

“Vanish,” Dallion whispered. The crackling understood him, instantly disappearing from the scene.

“That’s a bit rude,” Arthurows laughed. “Give me a moment.” He moved off, allowing Dallion to stand up.

“Congratulations,” Vend said. “This is usually the part where most fail. Given you’ve passed this choke point, it’s almost certain you’ll clear the level.”

“Thanks,” Dallion mumbled. The fact that the echo hadn’t said they would pass the entire trial, had him worried. “Everyone okay with a few minutes rest?”

Dallion took a few steps away and examined his clothes. The armor had done a pretty good job protecting him. Eury had done quite an excellent job making it. When earned enough money, he would definitely buy something more. That was once he paid off his current debt.

It was good to note that all the damage inflicted on any item was instantly gone. That was the good thing about objects in the awakened realms—things never broke here. Even so, Dallion made a note to double check on that in his library. From now on, he had decided never to take things for granted.

“Good thing they didn’t merge,” Falkner said. “Would have been nasty, back then.”

“Yeah, would have.” Dallion nodded, still deep in thought. “Everything fine with you, Cellano?”

“I’ve faced worse.” The large one said, even as he was gasping for air. Swinging a sword for minutes non-stop was stressful, regardless of what level his body was. In contrast, Falkner seemed rested.

“You know, host trial’s I’ve been in before weren’t this intense,” Arthurows put his shield away in the nothingness. “Why the change?”

“Saying you’ve failed easier trials isn’t a confidence booster, Art.” Vend sighed. “Selection is set by the captains and the guild master. After we’re done, you can go ask them.”

“Did March make the decision?”

The air suddenly became tense. Everyone paused whatever they were doing, keeping their ears peeled for the answer.

“That’s not for me to say,” Vend replied after a while. “And you’d better focus on your present challenge, you still have a guardian to defeat.”

Without further explanations, the echo moved forward. Before Dallion could say the word, Bel and Falkner quickly joined in. Cellano followed shortly after.

“You okay?” Dallion asked.

“Yeah, all’s fine.” Arthurows smiled in a fashion that could be interpreted to mean anything. “Don’t worry about it. We’ve been going through this for so long that we’re just tired of one another.”

“Right.” Dallion didn’t believe that for a moment. However, there was a lot of truth in what Vend had said. They did still have a guardian to defeat, two even.

There were no surprises in the next fifteen minutes. Every now and again, a wave of tooth roaches would emerge, along with the occasional patch of shardflies. Now that the group knew what to expect, dispatching the enemy proved no issue.

It was interesting to note that the attack pattern was very different from the previous level. Instead of charging, the creatures here were more the sneaky type. If the key to the first level was quick reaction, here, perception was vital.

“The guardian chamber is up ahead,” Falkner said. “I can’t see what it is from here.”

“I don’t think you will.” Dallion said. “I think it’s on the ceiling.”

“You think it’s a shardfly?” Bel asked.

“No, but it’ll be something similar.”

Don’t you have any imagination? Dallion wondered. It was almost as if they had a limiting echo in their heads. No, that was harsh. In many ways, the other members of the party were much better than Dallion. However, why was it so difficult for them to jump to simple conclusions? Either he was overthinking things, or they were brought up in an entirely different fashion.

“I might be wrong, but I think the levels are based on awakened attributes,” he explained. “Level one was all about speed and reflexes. This one seems to be all about perception.”

“That’s a stretch,” Arthurows laughed. “So, you’re saying that whatever we face will be difficult to spot?”

“Might be.”

“Or maybe it’s something that could target out weak spots?” Falkner suggested. “That involves perception too. Or maybe both?”

“Something precise and invisible,” Arthurows mused. “Sounds like fun. How do we deal with it?” He looked at Dallion.

Good question, Dallion thought. How would they deal with an invisible sniper? If this were a first-person shooter game, he would suggest finding the location of the sniper and flanking him. In this case…

“Falkner, what guardians do you know that could hang from the ceiling?” he asked.

“Err, there’s a lot of them.”

“Something that could make use of perception, so possibly ranged attacks.”

“Not sure about ranged, but scyllas are good at precise attacks, and they could hang from the ceiling.”

“Good. So, what’s a scylla?”

Several people of the group smirked. Dallion could almost hear “country bumpkin” based on their expressions alone.

“It’s…” Falkner began and stopped. “It’s difficult to explain. It’s like a large spider with spikes on its legs?”

“Like a blade spider?” Dallion asked. Of all the guardians he had fought so far, that was the closest example he could think of. Judging by the uncertain smile on Falkner’s face, he was way off.

“Yeah… a bit like that, just much larger, and prefers attacking from the ceiling. It likes to surprise people, though it’s not difficult to spot if you know where to look. I’ve never heard of a Scylla being a guardian of an item, though. Usually they are area guardians.”

“This isn’t an ordinary item,” Bel reminded. “Here everything goes.”

A spider, Dallion started thinking through the options. The tactics that had been used against the leopard would do no good here. A spider creature could fight off multiple attacks at once without a problem. Given the usual size of a guardian in this item, a direct attack was also unadvisable. Therefore, there was one remaining solution—shielded ranged attacks.

“I think I have something,” Dallion said. “What’s the scylla’s reach?”

“Depends on the Scylla.” Falkner thought for a few moments. “Ten feet? Maybe twenty?”

“Twenty feet. We’ll have to split up in groups. Two by two—one ranged, one guard. We attack the guardian from a distance. I’ve no idea how fast it would be, so we’ll have to keep moving all the time.”

“Two pairs,” Arthurows nodded. “Cel, how’re you at guarding?”

The other grunted, suggesting it wasn’t his strong point. That made things much more difficult. Dallion wasn’t a particularly good guard either, not with a buckler any way.

“Art, you go with Bel,” Dallion instructed. “I’ll be with Falkner. Cellano, you be you—attack anything you can.”

The pairing seemed to be good enough for most. Arthurows had nothing against teaming up with Bel, and as for Falkner, he had been doing everything possible to get on Dallion’s good side ever since they met. It was no mystery that he hoped that would get him somehow closer to March.

“What about Vend?” Bel asked. “Who’ll be protecting him?”

“As long as he remains in the tunnel, it shouldn’t be an issue. We’ve already killed everything along the way, and the guardian can’t leave the arena. Can it?”

“No,” Vend said. “Nothing will happen to me if I remain here. That’s why I said that you’ve passed this level. As long as you defeat the guardian, you’re good for the next level.” He went over and leaned against the nearest column. “One piece of advice. Just because I’m not with you, doesn’t mean I can’t see what’s going on. Keep that in mind.”

Did that mean there was a way for someone to see within an item without actually going? Most likely not. Such an ability was too big a game changer to remain secret. However, it did pose an interesting question. If a person could see a short distance off, could a guardian do the same?

“Everyone ready?” Dallion looked at the rest of his group. Silent nods followed. “Shields and ranged only,” he reminded the group. “Falkner and I go in running. The rest wait a bit and join us.”

Taking a deep breath, Dallion rushed into the guardian chamber. His hopes were that appearing first would distract the scylla enough so that the second group, along with Cellano, could attack from behind.

Several steps in the chamber, the plan changed. Falkner had been right: the guardian wasn’t difficult to spot, occupying almost an eighth of the ceiling. If Dallion imagined was going to face an overgrown spider, those thoughts were now gone.

LEVEL 2 GUARDIAN

Species: Shadow Scylla

Class: Shadow

Statistics: 100% HP

More silhouette than creature, the guardian looked like a cross between a chainsaw and an octopus. Large spikes emerged and disappeared from its tar-like surface, while eight massive legs held onto the ceiling. The closest thing Dallion had seen to a creature of this nature was the chainling, and from what he remembered from that encounter—normal ranged attacks didn’t work.

No melee attacks, and now no ranged, Dallion thought. Just to confirm, he fired a bolt at the silhouette’s head, it sank in. There was no other reaction, as if the creature hadn’t even noticed.

“Falkner,” Dallion whispered, hiding as much as he could behind his buckler. “When you read about this type of guardian, did it specify how to kill them?”

“Yep,” the boy whispered back. “You have to aim for the eyes.”

Aim for the eyes? That sounded reasonable. Only problem was that Dallion didn’t see any eyes, none at all.