This was the first time Dallion had seen a firebird. He knew of their existence, both from his current memories and those from his Earth life. In all instances, he imagined it to be a large bird with flames for feathers that scorched everything that came near. The creature that filled the chamber utterly shattered those preconceptions. More owl than eagle or peacock, the creature represented one plump yellowy-reddish flame composed of thousands of smaller ones. However, they weren’t so much feathers, but droplets of fire that kept pouring down. It was as if someone had lit up a wax figure and then given it life.

Green eyes, larger than Dallion’s buckler, stared at the intruders, glistening bright green.

Dallion saw Janna and Kallan’s markers move from flame to flame, attempting to find a weak spot, yet there were none.

Just great, Dallion thought. A creature that could barbecue them all, and it didn’t even have a weak spot. Right now, the idea of leaving the siblings to fight it seemed pretty good… although Dallion was starting to get worried whether they could handle it. Guild emblems ensured that a person couldn’t die, yet they did little to counter the pain.

COMBAT INITIATED

Janna squeezed the trigger of the crossbow. The bolts flew at their target, splintering moments before hitting the bird’s chest. The firebird exploded with a dull pop, engulfing a quarter of the chamber in flames, very much like a helium balloon set on fire. A wing of green markers emerged. Not expecting the blast, the siblings rushed back, hiding behind Kallan’s tower shield. Even Dallion felt the warm wave of air pass through him, causing him to take several steps back.

Was this what a real exploration mission was? No more simple guardians with limited powers, no more hints or easy victories, these creatures fought to win.

Kallan let go of his shield, leaving it to drop to the ground. While it had protected him from the initial expansion of the flame, it had become too hot to handle. Reaching out, he called another from Dallion’s back. Meanwhile, Janna readied her crossbow.

There was no trace of the fire owl. After the flame had burst, the only thing that remained were a few lingering flames on the floor, no larger than campfires. Before anyone could react, though, the flames trickled together, as if they were made of liquid, then erupted into a fiery fountain. Moments later, the giant burning owl was there again, fully restored.

That’s how a phoenix comes to life? Dallion wondered. He had always imagined the event to be far more epic. There was no denying that this method was much more terrifying.

Without hesitation, Janna aimed for the creature’s head and shot another volley of bolts. This time the guardian shielded its body with a wing of flame. Another explosion followed, far smaller than the previous one. Droplets of flame rained down on the floor like beads, then trickled to the owl, up its leg, as they reformed the wing.

Dallion’s mind raced through options, trying to figure out a way to fight such a beast. The closest thing he had fought to this was the slime back in the awakening shrine near Dherma village. That too had proved impervious to slashing and piercing attacks, although back then Dallion didn’t have the dartbow. If the logic held, the only way to defeat the firebird was to bash him with blunt weapons.

Looking at the white rectangle above the creature, not a single percent of health had decreased. In turn, Kallan had suffered another injury, reducing his health by another ten percent.

“Use a shield to attack it!” Dallion shouted.

His advice wasn’t requested, though clearly welcomed, for Kallan spun around and threw the smaller shield he held at the guardian. A dull thump was heard as the shield smacked the side of the firebird’s head, causing it to tilt slightly.

CRITICAL STRIKE!

Dealt damage was increased by 150%

A large chunk of the owl’s health was gone, along with its balance. Twenty percent with one strike was no joke, and everyone in the party knew it.

Not wasting a moment, Janna threw her crossbow on the floor and summoned her bucklers. The two large metal disks appeared in her hands and were immediately hurled at the firebird’s torso in an attempt to topple it over. A dull sound was heard, like a stick hitting a bag of flour and then… nothing. Both shields had passed through the fiery body, barely doing any damage at all.

It only worked on the head? Dallion wondered. That would make things considerably more difficult, especially since at present the only shield that was nearby, and potentially cool enough to handle, was the original tower shield.

“Now it’s my turn,” the guardian whispered. Or rather, Dallion thought he heard it whisper. Jenna and Kallan didn’t seen to have reacted at all, standing in their positions expectantly.

What’s wrong with them? Dallion wondered. Why aren’t they moving?

“Move back!” he shouted. “It’s about to—”

Before he could finish, the owl spread its wings. The flames that composed them splattered sideways like thrown liquid, increasing their size threefold until they covered a third of the chamber, stretching along the walls. At this point, the siblings dashed towards Dallion. A massive green wave wall covered them, indicating where the guardian would strike… and it did.

Both wings flapped closed like a huge flap, trapping everything between. A burst of flames rose to the area, then disappeared.

Both Janna and Kallan had lost thirty percent of their health, reducing them to half. Meanwhile, the sparks of fire that covered the floor had already started trickling towards the firebird once more to restore its wings.

“I’m joining in!” Dallion dropped as many of their items as he could, reaching for his harpsisword. Guild orders were one thing, but even a pack rat shouldn’t allow his party to be wiped out.

Taking a deep breath, he concentrated on the guardian. Every single flame flickered a shade of blue, mirroring the overall emotion of the creature—it was happy that there was someone to fight, but sad that they would soon go. Quite an interesting and complex emotion, and if this weren’t such a fierce battle, Dallion might have tried to offer a draw.

One note, he thought. Ten times.

His thumb played the string ten times in rapid succession. One after another, ten blue markers emerged on the string, following one behind the other like a train. Now came the difficult part—Dallion had to match each and every one of them at exactly the right time, or nothing would happen.

Holding his breath, he played again.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!

The firebird froze. Dallion had no time to rejoice, however. No sooner had he finished one series than the next one began. It was like playing a solo—a very boring solo—without the option of stopping. With his concentration and stamina he could probably manage another two sequences or three, but after that he’d be useless.

“Are you okay?” he shouted, unable even to look in the sibling’s direction. “I’ll hold him as long as possible. Try bashing him in the meantime!”

He kept on playing. The flames were vibrating in tandem with the strings. Thankfully, the siblings were in a condition to take advantage of the chance Dallion had offered.

Kallan reacted first, rushing to get the tower shield and wave it through the owl’s legs. The obligatory thud was heard, at which another the guardian’s health decreased by another ten percent. And yet again, there was no critical strike.

Janna joined in, striking with the flat of one of her rather large blades. Despite her energy and enthusiasm, each strike only reduced the firebird's health by one percent. At this rate, Dallion would break the sequence long before they had depleted the guardian’s health.

Why did it work so well the first time? He wondered. Kallan had simply hit him in the head and a fifth of the health was gone. Now, even when Jenna struck the same area, the effect was minimal.

Dallion’s fingers started to hurt. It began with a slight stinging, but quickly grew to the point that he felt they were burning. Another few seconds and he would have to stop. Gritting his teeth, he put in all his strength, trying to ignore the pain, but it did little good.

Why couldn’t he figure this out? It was something simple, he just felt it! Almost as if it were on the tip of his tongue. Just a tiny bit more of concentration and he would—

A note was played out of rhythm. The music instantly stopped, and with it the hold Dallion had on the creature. The joy coming from the guardian changed to amusement. Its eyes gleamed victorious, as it spread its wings again.

That’s it! Dallion thought as it suddenly hit him.

“The eyes!” he shouted. “It’s the eyes! They aren’t of flame!”

That explained why the firebird had shielded itself with its wing during the second attack—it was afraid of getting hit in the weak spot. That’s why the shield hitting it on the side of the head had dealt more damage than everything else combined.

A single ranged marker appeared on the owl’s eye. Then Kallan squeezed the trigger of the crossbow.

This was the moment of truth. The guardian had realized what they were planning to do. Knowing that simply closing his eyes wouldn’t help against that many projectiles, he hurried to slap his wings shut—to protect himself and possibly scorch the siblings in the process.

Everything was moving so fast that even with his mind at nine Dallion could hardly follow.

The flaming wings moved closer, attempting to close around the bolts with the speed of moving fire. The bolts, however, proved to be stronger. As they hit the creature’s head, a series of thumping sounds filled the air, yet among them there was one more—the sound of metal hitting stone, followed by a loud shattering of glass.

FATAL HIT!

Dealt damage was increased by 500%

Dallion covered his eyes with his elbow, bracing for the explosion that was to follow. Janna and Kallan also curled up on the floor, ready for the worst. Luckily for them, no blast followed. The flames that composed the firebird suddenly turned to smoke, evaporating towards the ceiling. It wasn’t only the wings that had vanished; it was the entire guardian itself, disappearing like a blown-out candle. And to confirm their victory, the entire chamber lit up.

KALEIDERVISTO Level 1 has been cleared!

Continue on to fulfill the KALEIDERVISTO’s destiny.

The familiar rectangle appeared.

We’re alive, Dallion thought. Engaged so much in the fight, he really thought he was going to die. As he slowly calmed down, though, he remembered that this was nothing more than a level in a sphere item. There was no dying here, just a shameful restart of the level exploration. Now the only thing he had to do was to convince his heart of the same.

“I’ve never seen one of those before,” Kallan said, nowhere as relived. To him, this remained just a job. “We’ll have to tell dad about it.”

“Yeah.” Janna nodded.

Shields and weapons were scattered all over the chamber like discarded towels. A few of them remained scorching hot after their contact with the firebird.

“Shields are still hot,” the girl noted.

“This shouldn’t have happened. They’re supposed to return to normal once the guardian vanishes.” Kallan summoned his tower shield. The moment it appeared in his hands, he quickly let it go again. “We’ll have to stay here a while,” he said rubbing the palm of his hand in his shirt.

“I’m fine with that,” Dallion managed to say. “I just need a few minutes’ rest.”

“You need more than that.” Janna pointed at his hand—the tips of his fingers were raw and bloody. “You pushed yourself too hard.”

“It worked, though.” Dallion forced a smile. “Not sure I’ll be able to pull it off for the next one.”

“We’ll take care of it.” Kallan quickly added. “We’ve already gone through a fire guardian. It’s unlikely there will be another.”

“Are you sure? There were two shadow guardians in the dagger.”

“It’s rarely happened.” The boy shrugged, changing his stance. “If there are two fire guardians in three levels, it’ll be really weird.” The certainty was gone from his voice.

To be honest, Dallion wanted Kallan to be right. Facing another guardian like this, even after they had an idea regarding the weak spot, would be too much.

“Anyway, let’s just get our reward—” Dallion stood up “—and think it over afterwards.”

“Reward?” Janna blinked. “What reward?”

“The leveling up?”

“There’s no leveling up. This isn’t a training dagger. It’s an item, and items only increase skills when fully improved.”

Dallion felt a chill down his spine. Still unwilling to believe it, he looked at the blue rectangle once more. There was no denying it—the rectangle didn’t say anything about choosing a focus, nothing at all…