The Guardian's Grudge
The next day in the Hero's Trial, X began his assault in earnest.
"Are you really going to do that?"
"It's not like we have a better option."
Circe let out a sigh the moment she heard the plan. You could have called it a suicide charge and no one would have argued. Not something she wanted to recommend — but looking at the shameless composure on X's face, she decided to let it go.
"It'll work out somehow."
"If I die because of you, I'll resent you for the rest of my life."
"You worry too much. Python's Leap, if you please."
The two of them arrived at the Trial Guardian's chamber. Sure enough, the Guardian still stood in the same spot. It had recovered the treasure chest as well — the thing sat behind it once more.
"We've confirmed their positions. Let's begin."
"I'm ready too."
X took Python's Leap and activated Demonification. Demonic power coiled around his entire body once more.
Demonification
Demonic power surges through the body, amplifying physical stats and demonic skills.
By the time he'd adapted to that force he never quite got used to, no matter how often he called on it—
"I'm going!"
X wrapped himself in mana and cast Blink. He appeared in front of the treasure chest in an instant. The moment his hand touched it, the statue's eyes flared with a murderous light. The chest was still filthy-heavy, but with its contents gone, it was considerably lighter than before.
The time it took X to hoist the chest and the time it took the statue to ready its greatsword were about the same. No — the statue might have been a fraction faster. If not for Circe's ice spear detonating against its face, that is.
The exploding spear bloomed into a colossal flower of frost, locking the statue in place.
"Run! I'll keep covering you!"
Ice spears and a rain of skeleton arrows kept hammering the Guardian. Meanwhile, X slung the chest over his shoulder and sprinted. He knew the destination — all he had to do was run.
Blink with the chest: twice. Without it, maybe ten times? It eats more mana than I expected.
He didn't have Circe's vast reserves, nor her efficiency. He had to conserve. Ready to Blink at a moment's notice, he put distance between himself and the Guardian.
As he tore down the empty corridors of the labyrinth, massive footsteps closed in behind him, pounding the floor hard enough to shatter it.
Is it following?
He glanced back. And immediately regretted it.
GROOOOOOAR—!!!
The monstrous stone fiend twisted its entire body and charged after him at full tilt.
If that thing catches me, I'm not dying clean...!
Whether a mere mana construct could even feel emotion, he had no idea — but that thing was radiating pure, unfiltered rage. Murderous intent thick enough to taste, screaming that it would rip the thieving little rat who'd stolen its property into shreds.
Still, it's chasing me just like I planned.
Luring the Guardian had been the first step of the plan all along. Yesterday, while looting the chest, he'd discovered something: the Guardian tracked the treasure chest and nothing else. In the original novel, they'd smashed the Guardian first and only then claimed the chest — so this was new information even to X.
Another gap in Probability, I suppose.
Lucky, since it made this whole scheme possible. Of course, getting caught meant being turned into mincemeat, so it wasn't something to try lightly.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!
GROOOOOOAR—!!!
He rounded a bent corridor, vaulting over skeletons in his path. Behind him, the pursuing Guardian swept its massive stone greatsword through everything in the way, slaughtering them all.
CRRRRUNCH—!!
Watching ten skeletons shatter to dust in a single swing was enough to send a chill down his spine. Those skeleton soldiers were roughly 3-Star to 4-Star in combat power — and it meant absolutely nothing.
There it is...!
His destination came into view. A horde of hundreds of skeletons — a skeleton century, every bit as threatening as the Guardian itself.
Now, once more...!
He called on the demonic power again. The enhanced power of Falsehood, amplified by Demonification, blurred his presence to a smear. The century's scouts didn't notice him even as he closed to point-blank range. Something far worse was chasing him, after all.
That completed the second step of the plan.
Now kill each other!
GROOOOOOAR—!!!
The Guardian crushed, smashed, and slaughtered the century's soldiers blocking its path. As the stone greatsword reduced them to fragments, the entire horde stirred.
"KREEEEEEEEEK—!!"
The skeleton commander at the center of the formation threw its jaw open and shrieked through vocal cords that had no flesh. At its command, the soldiers charged the invading Guardian and attacked.
GROOOOAR—!!
The Guardian, for its part, carved through every soldier in its way with brutal efficiency. And so a ferocious battle between the two forces erupted.
Perfect! Now dump the chest and get out of here...!
The plan was simple. He'd never intended to fight a century that included skeleton elites. Taking down a force of over a hundred required comparable strength. To do it with acceptable losses, you'd need twice that — and gathering those numbers might mean starving to death first. At the very least, the century needed to be weaker than it was now.
So I pit them against the Guardian.
Use the chest to lead the Guardian into the century. The century attacks to eliminate the outsider; the Guardian fights to reclaim its treasure. And X scoops up whatever's left — the fisherman's profit.
I didn't expect Demonification to boost my abilities this much.
The Guardian's overwhelming presence meant the skeletons barely paid X any attention. All he had to do now was leave the chest in the middle of the century and run. Wait until the Guardian and the horde annihilated each other, and one major threat would be gone. That alone was a massive win.
X Blinked out of the formation immediately. The clash of polearms and the roar of magic erupted behind him; he ignored it and ran.
Whew. Made it.
The only real concern was if the Guardian proved strong enough to smash the entire century. What X wanted was for it to thin their numbers reasonably, then go down. That way he'd claim the remaining troops intact. After all this effort, a total wipeout would be a shame.
He was entertaining that leisurely thought when—
...Did the fighting already stop?
The clash of weapons had gone quiet. He hadn't run far enough for the sound to fade. Which meant the battle was over — or had stalled. Circe and the soldiers would be on their way. Checking the situation wouldn't hurt.
Just a quick look...
He turned to walk back toward the century — and in that instant, the hair on his neck stood on end. Crisis. The instincts Roxwell had beaten into him screamed to dodge, and X threw himself into a sideways roll.
Something slammed into the spot where he'd been standing.
A colossal stone greatsword buries itself in the floor.
"Ghk...!"
An impact so massive the floor cracked in every direction. Dirt and stone fragments sprayed across his entire body. It felt like he'd been hit by a Claymore mine; his vision swam.
...A stone greatsword?
He clung to consciousness and looked. A colossal stone blade was buried in the floor. And its owner had no business being here.
GROOOOAR—!!
"No — why are you here...?"
The greatsword ripped free. The dust cleared. Standing before him was the malevolent stone statue that had been chasing him: the Trial Guardian.
"Oh, you son of a—"
He Blinked before the blade could come down again. The spot he'd occupied was pulverized a second time. X drew his sword in a flash and assessed.
Why did it come here? Wasn't it supposed to only track the chest? Was there some condition I didn't know about?
The Guardian's body was badly damaged. It had clearly taken a beating from the century. But its raw power was intact — it swung the stone greatsword with savage force. And then X saw its face, and understood why it was here.
It's going to kill me before it goes after the chest...!
Rage incarnate. Those murderous eyes burned with a single, ferocious will: it would not tolerate the thieving rat who'd stolen its treasure twice. As long as X was alive, he'd steal it again. So it had run all this way to kill him, once and for all.
"This is seriously unfair...!"
Meeting Circe like this was too dangerous. X spun around and ran — this time toward the century. Without the chest, his body was light, but with nowhere left to retreat, the genuine threat of death dried out his mouth.
If I just get them fighting each other again, I'll be fine...!
Reaching the century didn't take long. They were still cleaning up the wreckage of their battle with the Guardian. Their numbers looked down by about twenty percent. The treasure chest still sat in the center. The skeleton soldiers couldn't have cared less about it.
They did, however, look at the man who'd just barged in again.
"...You've got to be kidding me."
"KREEEEEEEEEEK—!!"
This time they'd spotted him. The skeleton commander jabbed a bony finger at X and shrieked. It had figured out that he was the cause of this entire mess. Soldiers, elites, and officers all snapped into combat stance, weapons trained on him. And at the same time, the enraged Guardian closed in from behind, stone greatsword clenched tight.
He'd gone to all that trouble to make the century and the Guardian fight each other — and now he was the common enemy of both. His luck stat was zero, sure, but this was taking it too far.
X let out a long sigh and muttered,
"Fine. At this point, what the hell."
X poured divine power into the Dragon Sword and manifested four Golden Form Swords — radiant golden variants of the White Light Sword, forged from divine energy. He'd already confirmed last night how effective divine power was against skeleton soldiers.
Golden Form Sword × 4
Radiant golden phantom blades of divine power, projected at vital points.
"Come on, you bags of bones. I'll send you back to your graves."
There was no way out anyway. The plan hadn't wrapped up cleanly, but that was fine. All he had to do was hold until Circe and the soldiers arrived. If he fought with everything he had, he could survive the Guardian and the century both.
That was the thought — and his first move was Blink.
The skeletons locked onto his new position. Then one of the officers let out a shriek as its entire body split with golden light and exploded. A divine-power aura blade had run it through.
If I can just cripple the chain of command...!
From the start, the officers had been his targets. Take them out, reclaim the soldiers. The commotion drew every soldier's attention, and those nearby immediately swung their swords at him. He parried in a hurry, and for the blades and arrows he couldn't knock aside, he formed a shield of divine power. Then he glanced past the soldiers.
"I'm not the only one you have to deal with."
GROOOOOOAR—!!!
The Guardian bellowed in fury. The fact that X had vanished from its sight yet again had apparently snapped the last of its restraint — it charged blindly, no thought, no calculation. Soldiers in its path were trampled into powder. Those who resisted were crushed to paste by the swinging stone greatsword.
Whenever the Guardian got close, X Blinked again, targeting a distant officer and cutting it down. The Guardian thundered after him, trampling soldiers, slaughtering as it went. Absolute chaos.
If I can keep this melee going, I can make it work...!
Just as X had predicted, the skeleton commander couldn't make a fast decision. Hunt the man picking off its officers — or deal with the Guardian massacring its troops?
"KREEEK—!!"
It chose the former. The surviving elites charged X. Elites, all right — their movements were far faster and sharper than the rank-and-file. Even at a glance, their combat power was on another level.
Four elites. One mage, two swordsmen, one spearman.
A nasty combination to face alone. And the Guardian was still coming in hot. No time to deal with the elites at leisure.
But he'd bought enough time.
From the darkness in the distance, a volley of arrows and a spray of freezing magic came flying. They weren't aimed at X — they slammed into the century, and soldiers dropped like puppets with cut strings.
"X! What are you doing over there?! Why haven't you gotten out?!"
Circe's support, right on cue. She was gasping for breath — she'd sensed something was wrong and come running. Her instincts really were terrifying.
Now only one thing remained.
"Circe. Since we're already here — let's wipe them out."
X wore a crooked smile.