Chapter 174: Act 1: Blue Ocean Pavilion – Chapter 174: Crystal Guardian To The Knee

The Crystal Guardian lurched and swayed like a bumbling toddler; the large crystal protrusions on the knees of its first right leg and last left leg caved in from Oscar and Serena's coordinated blitz. It started with small cracks that spread and enlarged all across the crystals before they burst apart and fell to the white marble floor in pieces. Once the crystals shattered, the inflicted legs could no longer stand on its spiky feet and lagged behind the others.

Oscar retreated with a burst of wind in his trail, eyed Serena, currently moving up a pillar with her spell, and stomped his foot for another attack straight to its black spherical body. He clenched his fist and struck with the force of his 'Shattering Wave'; the waves of power could not ripple through the Crystal Guardian to inflict damage, but it was enough to induce the reaction.

"Got it!" Serena whipped around from pillar to pillar to dodge the wild attacks of the Crystal Guardian, appearing like an aerial silk dancer floating about in the air while hanging onto blue silk with red hair whipping around. Anyone who saw this would be amazed by her flexibility and graceful movements in the air, and even Oscar thought it was a wonderful scene. While dodging, Serena winked at Oscar, seeing his attention was on her. "The last right leg and the first left leg. They're the next ones!"

A fierce onslaught of twisting crystal fists came from the Crystal Guardian's lashing. The grand hall trembled from the weight of its mighty fists punching the floor, ceiling, and pillars. Any single hit from these would spell immense trouble for anyone.

However, its opponents were Oscar and Serena, two very fast and agile Exalts with several tricks up their sleeves. Serena continued her acrobatics with her 'Water Whip' and used the pillars to block some fists and go through the gaps. Oscar used his Prinstyct to see the movements of the Crystal Guardian, which were easier to grasp thanks to Serena diverting half of its arms.

"I'll take the last right leg! You handle the first left leg!" Oscar shouted and charged while riding his deer anima because he needed to turn off Adamasreis for a bit. The deer anima trampled with its blue hooves clad in Ein, weaving past the incoming fists.

'It can't move as well as before. As long as we take down another pair of legs, its mobility should be near gone.' Oscar saw the Crystal Guardian no longer skittering around as much as it did before. Whenever the Crystal Guardian moved, the damaged legs lagged behind it like a sack of potatoes, scraping against the floor.

The Crystal Guardian suddenly retracted its fists and let out a low hum. The ripples of its next move became clear in Oscar's Prinstyct. He forced his deer anima to stop and warned Serena, "Stop!"

Serena pulled on her water whip to force herself to stop; her face strained from the exertion. Oscar's warning had come in time as the fists rammed down like a rain of meteorites, a powerful deterrent, a wall of fists to stop Oscar and Serena. Serena was relieved as the fists had come down right by the tip of her nose.

"It's not stopping." Serena glanced at Oscar. "What shall we do?"

Oscar observed the Crystal Guardian that didn't let up its barrage of meteor punches. If it kept this up, they would have no chance of getting through with their current power. With nothing else to do, Oscar relaxed. "This is a great chance for us to recover. Focus on recovering as much Ein as possible until this wall of fists ends. If not, we can explore options once we're fully recovered."

Serena leaned on a pillar and wiped the sweat from her brow; dodging the overpowering fists were mentally draining and tiring. Her hands trembled from the constant use of 'Water Whip', and her legs were shaky. She calmed her breathing according to how Oscar taught her in the lava cavern and began restoring her Ein.

The grand hall quaked under the nonstop thunderous blows of the Crystal Guardian. But the two youths remained calm as their Ein grew.

…….

"So they reached this phase," Elder Dustin clicked his tongue, clearly dissatisfied with the current outlook of the trial. "Damn the limitations! Why does the Crystal Guardian need to exhibit such odd behavior that would only be a waste?"

Ava Jones was on a break from watching Oscar and Serena; her interest was currently on her niece, Mary Jones, who was steadily collecting points and making her way up. She could not help but roll her eyes at Elder Dustin's complaints and scoffed. "The Crystal Guardian is a well-made construct, but we limited it only to attack and move far below its usual capabilities. If not for those restrictions, it would be impossible for aspiring students to get through it; they'd be squashed flat in a fraction of a second. As for its current strange pattern, that's what you put in as a command in its artificial core."

Her eyes contained some contempt for Elder Dustin's complaints. She tapped the table, waiting for his response.

"That's because the damned higher-ups wanted me to put that in for this exam!" Elder Dustin clenched his remaining teeth at Ava Jones's attitude. "There's gotta be mechanisms for the students to figure out and overcome. Putting crystals as weak points on its joints? No competent person would think of such an idiotic design."

Elder Dustin frowned. The Crystal Guardian was his prized creation that could fight against Knight Exalts, but it was severely limited in this trial. As its creator, he could not stand to witness it being held back to such a pathetic state.

"Again, what kind of school would we be if we pitted its full power against students? Be grateful they didn't ask for the hard exterior shell to be removed. Oscar would probably reduce your precious artificial core to dust." Ava Jones smirked. "I do have to hand it to them. Oscar and Serena move quite well and are on perfect timing. They're already quite in sync with each other."

Suddenly, someone opened the door, interrupting their conversation.

Ava Jones and Elder Dustin stared with a powerful glint in their eyes at the sudden intruder. To suddenly barge into the control room of the Inner Hall Promotion Exan unannounced was disrespectful and against proper protocol. However, their eyes shifted to surprise and fear when they saw who came to join them in their room.

It was an elderly man with a long beard and long white hair. His eyes were closed, but anyone still felt they couldn't hide anything from their sight. He was dressed in elder robes and placed his hands behind his back as he slowly walked inside.

"Great Elder Robert!" Ava Jones sprang out of her seat and bowed with sweat covering her face.

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"Great Elder Robert!" Elder Dustin did the same; his old wrinkled fingers trembled on the floor.

Robert chuckled heartily like an old grandpa. He held out his hand. "There's no need to be so nervous. I have come here to watch the festivities myself."

"You wish to see the proceedings?" Ava Jones lifted her head with her mouth agape. She never thought the Great Elder would come here personally.

As the Great Elder, Robert Levitt was responsible for the procedures of enrollment, promotion, and other student details. The Record Hall was also under his thrall, but he delegated the responsibility to her uncle, Austell Jones. He was also an eccentric who sometimes would see the freshly enrolled students, but she had never heard of him watching the Inner Hall promotions.

"Hmm. I heard something about some grievances against our decisions?" Robert's eyes remained closed but a pressure emanated from their shut lids.

Elder Dustin felt sweat covering his back and hurriedly bowed. "I dare not go against or badmouth the decisions of the Pavilion, especially yours, Great Elder."

"Ho ho ho. I was merely joking. No need to take it so seriously." Robert sat down and turned to Oscar and Serena's image. "I'll be staying here for a while."

"Yes…." Ava Jones and Elder Dustin lost their previous attitude and became meek sheep before Robert.

'Draven's disciple. It's been a while since I saw you.' Robert frowned a bit. 'That crazed bastard wouldn't stop bombarding me with letters saying I should see you pass the exam with a mocking tone. I wonder what gives him this confidence. Show me.' He was annoyed with Draven, but he couldn't help but wonder what Draven had taught Oscar.

…….

"It's stopped." Oscar took up his buckler and rode with his deer anima. "The time is now!"

Serena pulled herself forward with 'Water Whip'.

The Crystal Guardian's arms stopped moving and went rigid as if they had turned to stone. It tried to move away from Oscar and Serena, but they were hot on its tail.

"Take this!" Serena shouted. A tremendous amount of water collected on her axes and released as a crashing wave on her target.

Oscar had his 'Steel Drill' stabbed into his crystal.

Both shattered, and the Crystal Guardian dropped in height, barely about to hand on with its two remaining legs.

However, Oscar and Serena were not finished. They immediately coordinated and moved to assault the last pair of legs in the middle. Serena rode the tides of her 'Tidal Surge' and used 'Tidal Edge' on her axes to finish the last crystal.

At the same time, Oscar used his buckler to wrap around the last leg and pulled himself toward it. His 'Steel Drill' was still good for one more use.

The last pair of legs went limp. The Crystal Guardian fell to the floor with a loud thud. It tried to move, but it was stuck where it was.

Oscar and Serena were delighted and retreated to catch a breather. But their eyes trembled as the Crystal Guardian let out a loud burst of Ein.

All of its arms extended out longer than it was able to before. The arms and hands also shifted as the plates moved and extended. They were now twice as thick and large.

The ominous hands of the Crystal Guardian grabbed and wrapped around the thick pillar. The hands appeared like the divine palms of heaven, coming to smite the arrogant mortals.

The Crystal Guardian still has many tricks up its sleeves.

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