Chapter 293: 293. Moon Cleric

The Green Moon’s light fell upon the temple, causing the structure to emanate a gentle glow. The very air flickered with green particles, creating the illusion of soft serenity. However, that was far from the case. The dryad responsible for the third region of the world stood a dozen feet from the entrance, patiently waiting. There were no weapons on him to be seen, no army of minions, just a long-sleeved monk-like outfit that flowed down, taking the color of the moon.

Meanwhile, the party of awakened kept approaching. They had gone past the second mountain peak, barely visible in the distance. Even from this distance, however, they weren’t out of its reach. Roots emerged from the ground, breaking through rock in their attempt to impale the invaders. With everyone combat splitting, there were instances in which the surprise attacks were successful, but in the chosen reality, none of them were even close to getting hurt. The only exception was Dallion, who had his pride bruised all over. Being carried wasn’t a dignified way to enter battle. Being impaled, though, was definitely worse.

Several of the emerging roots burst into pieces. Wooden fragments around like shrapnel, dealing minor damage to everything in close vicinity.

Anti personnel mines, Dallion thought.

Oh? The armadil shield asked.

It’s… never mind, it’s something similar to this, but different. Dallion still didn’t feel comfortable talking about Earth, except with Gen. There was no logical reason for that since the guardians and echoes he was linked to knew he’d come from another world. Old habits died hard, though.

Two line-strikes flew forward. March didn’t bother hiding that skill anymore, using it purely for a tactical advantage. The timing was perfect. Several layers of emerging roots were sliced as they emerged ahead. The slices continued on, directed at the temple. A few dozen feet from it a wall of vines appeared… along with the vine-whale.

Of course he could summon it, Dallion thought.

“Don’t worry,” Ezra said, carrying Dallion. “He’s out of tricks now. From here on it’ll be easy.”

“Hope so,” Dallion said.

It was all a numbers game now, just like during his trial. March and the party had revealed some of their skills, but in doing so had forced the guardian to do the same. By the look of things, this was the first time he had fought with his familiar, not to mention the echo attack and the vine mines.

Dallion tried to concentrate forward and get a glimpse of the enemy’s white rectangle. Even with his perception at twenty, it was impossible. Based on the previous guardians, some of the skills were obvious. The mines were a new touch, and so was the familiar, but was that everything? Somehow Dallion doubted it.

Three lines of roots emerged from the ground simultaneously like a fence. Failing to achieve anything, they then burst into a storm of wooden fragments, combined with the wind torrent of the vine-whale.

“Lux, repeat!” Dallion shouted as everyone summoned shields to protect themselves.

Taking the initiative, the firebird flew off March to the nearest tower shield, then disappeared with it without asking. Moments later, the shield—surrounded by blue flames—smashed into the whale familiar, before disappearing with it off in the sky.

March split into instances, one of them turning around to give Dallion an annoyed look.

“I guess some people never learn,” Dallion said.

Smooth, the shield sighed.

Shut up. Considering the situation, that was the only comment Dallion could think of. There was no point reminding him of the shame and ridicule he’d inevitably face once the fight was over. However, it was worth it.

“Always reckless,” Euryale shouted as she dashed past. “That’s what I love about you.”

Nothing but space separated the group from the temple. Taking advantage, the gorgon doubled her pace, moving ahead of everyone else. As an experienced scout, she was the most suitable to probe the dryad’s defenses, just in case he had another skill in his sleeve.

The borrowed flaming shield appeared in the sky once more. With a chirp, the firebird released it, then flashed back to March. The shield’s owner didn’t even let it hit the ground, unsummoning it on the spot. Shields were no longer needed for this part of the fight. Now it was an all-out attack.

Does use of the root skill exhaust him? Dallion asked.

As much as pulling a dartbow trigger exhausts you, the armadil shield replied. Maybe if you do it for a day, you’ll feel tired, but that’s about it.

The battle seemed to pause. No more roots appeared, nor attacks on either side. The guardian just waited for the Euryale and the rest to approach him. He took a calm step forward, then just as the gorgon drew near, he summoned his weapons. A pair of wooden sickles appeared, as large as crescent swords. That wasn’t the only thing special about them—the areas of them glowed in bright green.

Is that normal? Dallion asked.

Not for the last few thousand years, Nil said. Divine weapons. They are drawing power from the Green Moon. That’s why March wanted the attack to be at dawn.

Divine weapons was something that would have sounded awesome, except when one was on the receiving end. A normal weapon in the hands of an awakened was capable of all sorts of things. If this guardian had a divine weapon, then fighting it was going to be a lot more difficult than Dallion could imagine. It was a miracle that March had managed to defeat it so many times before without using all her skills.

The clash between Euryale and the guardian sounded like an airplane breaking the soundwave. All the inertia she had gathered in her approach vanished in a single instant, blocked by the sickles...

WORLD GUARDIAN - LUNA

Species: MOON DRYAD

Class: SHADOW

Stats: 100% HP

Familiar: Vine-Whale

Skills:

- Attack

- Guard

- Acrobatics

- Entangle

- Sever

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Weak Spots: joints

The dryad didn’t waste any time, going immediately on the offensive. Twisting in place, he made a three sixty arc strike, aimed at Euryale’s neck. The attack was fast, just as fast as Euryale’s block. With an equally impressive action, the gorgon grabbed hold of the blade. A faint smile appeared on the gorgon’s face. Sadly, it didn’t last long. Her gauntlet cracked.

HAND SEVERED

EURYALE will no longer be able to make use of her LEFT HAND.

Gauntlet and hand dissolved as the sickle sliced through it like butter. The gorgon didn’t budge. Her snakes move about, making sure that no one was looking at her face, after which she opened her eyes. However, the dryad merely looked back.

“Sorry,” it said. “You’re not strong enough to petrify the world.”

The second sickle split the air, aiming for the gorgon’s forehead. This time, Euryale didn’t block, choosing to jump back instead. Her face-eyes closed instantly, as she continued leaping backwards. Crossbow bolts filled the air, aiding Euryale to increase the distance from the guardian. However, none of them exploded. Faster than the eye could see, the dryad sliced them into pieces, letting them fall onto the ground. It was as if the weapon had stolen their momentum completely.

“Defensive ring,” March ordered, breaking off from the party. It was clear to everyone that she wanted to take the guardian alone.

“Time to run on your own, kid,” Ezra said, letting go of Dallion.

The sudden change forced Dallion to run clumsily, trying to keep his balance. Markers appeared, indicating where and how he was supposed to step in order to do that. Even given the present circumstances, the sequence proved to be easy, letting him handle the situation like a pro.

Why does it feel that no matter what I do, I remain weak? Dallion asked as he watched the rest of the party move to form a circle around March and the guardian.

Because of the contrast of your surroundings, Nil replied. If you want to feel powerful, you can go back to leasing packrats. None of them can match you. In fact, didn’t you tell me that to be your experience when you applied for the free tournament? So far, you’ve outclassed your opponents by so much that you’ve had only a few battles in total?

Looking back, there was no denying the fact. Back when Dallion was in Dherma village, he used to think that level five was the pinnacle of strength. At the time, he had even challenged the village chief at that level. How naïve. Dallion cringed at the thought. Even with the village chief’s punishment, it was pure luck that he had managed to win during that battle.

It took Dallion close to a minute to reach the barrier of people. Each of them held a tower shield, their eyes glued to March and her opponent. The interesting thing was that neither of the parties had initiated an attack.

Dallion’s first reaction was to go join Eury. The gorgon was also intent to jump in if needed, although she was missing a hand. Interestingly enough, there was no sign of Vend anywhere.

“How serious is it?” Dallion whispered.

“Just an inconvenience,” Eury replied. “I didn’t lose any health, just got this.” She raised her injured hand.

“Lux will fix it once the fight is over.”

“That doesn’t make it any less humiliating.” Anger bubbled within her, even if she managed to hide it on the surface. “After all this time hunting, you’d think I’d know better.”

It’s not her fault, the armadil shield said. People don’t get to fight a lot of Moon Clerics in this age.

Moon Clerics? Dallion asked.

The closest thing you got now is the Order of the Seven Moons. I can’t be sure, though. The general didn’t deal with them much.

Cold chills went down Dallion’s spine. He knew exactly how strong those were. That meant that March was stronger, possibly stronger than even Dame Vesuvia, who had led the hunt against the chainling. But if that was the case, could that mean that March was a noble?

“Why isn’t anyone attacking?” Dallion asked.

“No one wants to tip their hand,” Eury replied. “The guardian will, though.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Dawn’s approaching. He’ll be at a disadvantage, then. He knows that, but is still waiting till the last moment.”

No, it’s not that, Dallion thought.

Somehow he could feel that despite everything, the guardian didn’t want to fight. He had used his familiar and his echoes to attack—specifically to target Dallion himself—but there remained a sense of reluctance within the dryad… pragmatic pacifism, one might say. Recently, after receiving the Moon’s boon, Dallion had had a conversation with Nil on the topic. The topic of discussion had been whether someone could be strong without actually fighting. At that Nil had asked one question that had illustrated the point perfectly: could someone who has never fought become the greatest warrior? The same could be said for the guardian—his skills had to have come from somewhere, even if he was reluctant to use them.

“You can hear me, can’t you?” a voice said from behind.

Dallion briskly turned around, the harpsisword appearing in his arm.

“Dal?” Eury asked. “What’s wrong?”

There was nothing to be seen, just rocks as far as the eye could see. Or wasn’t there?

Music, Dallion thought, concentrating harder. The faint emotional outlines of a humanoid figure became visible, hidden deep beneath the rocks. An echo!

“Dal?” the gorgon repeated.

“I heard something,” Dallion said. He knew that telling a lie in his state would be caught straight out, so he chose to remain in half-truths territory.

“Nice save,” the echo said. Its voice and fashion of speaking reminded Dallion of the armadil shield. “How long have you been able to hear guardians? Always?”

Carefully not to attract attention, Dallion shook his head.

“You don’t have the attribute. And yet…” The echo shifted position, moving beneath Dallion’s feet. “The ability to understand guardians and star spawn familiars. I don’t know what you are, but you’re not supposed to exist.”

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