I watched in an equal mix of awe and apprehension as the work of art came to life. The sound of stone grinding against stone filled the room. A deep, guttural noise that weighed heavily on me. Fragments of stone fell to the ground and rolled into the pit as the statue started moving.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, is this what got my orb?! I tried calming down and thinking rationally. That can’t be it. Whatever got my orb was faster than I could react; this thing is just waking up. Or maybe I triggered a different version?

Warily, I examined the other statues that lined the wall. For now, they seemed inoperable. It was possible they were exactly what they appeared to be and were just ordinary statues. After all, the sole statue moving had certain characteristics that made it stand out from the rest.

Just in case, I widened the orbit of my remaining orbs, ensuring that even if I was in the middle of a fight, I wouldn’t be caught off guard if they woke up. With that contingency in place, I gave the stirring statue all my attention.

It lifted its arms, the thick claymore blade sliding out of the ground. A pair of crimson sparks ignited in the visor, darting all over the room in a fraction of a second before locking onto me. A chill reverberated through my body at the soulless gaze that bore into me.

The statue took an unsteady step forward, and further sounds of stone tearing away were audible as the statue pulled itself from where it’s been tethered to the wall. Over the course of however many years the statues had remained in isolation, they had become part of the foundation of the room itself. The wall and ground clung to them, keeping their feet glued down and their movements locked and janky. However, these were all momentary hindrances.

The statue tore its feet off the ground and, in one fell swoop, vaulted across the pit. It was something I wouldn’t have dared in a thousand years to do, being in such close proximity with the black hole of death, but the statue without emotions could.

It landed on the other side—my side—with a heavy thud. The statue’s immense weight left imprints from its landing on the ground, revealed when it took another step forward. I grimaced. The statue must weigh over a tonne of pure granite and rock-hard materials, and it was still able to walk with relative ease. What kind of force would be contained within a swing of its sword?

The statue lifted its claymore blade over its helmet and brought it down. I dodged to the side and threw my inhibitions to the wind, gathering my Magic Points to cast [Fire Glyph].

A stream of fire washed over the knight, bathing him in golden flames and obscuring him from my sight completely. I sustained the Skill for as long as possible, not letting up the barrage of blistering heat and death.

A razor-thin edge protruded from the blazing tornado and swung for me. I rolled just barely out of reach, but too late, I realized it hadn't been aimed for me. The sword slashed through the glyph, shattering it into a thousand pieces, which faded to ash. The onslaught of fire petered out gradually without a medium to stabilize and shoot my mana from.

The statue walked out of the raging bonfire, tendrils of fire and smoke trailing from its body. With the burning background behind it and the steam coming off its sword, it resembled a demon from the old folk tales the elders used to warn the children about. A creature that felt no pain and would not stop until its quest had met its conclusion.

The statue rushed forward in a startling display of agility, the sudden movement extinguishing the remains of fire on its armor. Activating [Weapon Generation], I summoned a sword just in time to clash with the statue’s blade.

I say clash, but in reality, the statue’s sword went through mine like it wasn’t even there. The momentum of the swing carried the blade until it nicked the ground, inches away from me. Before I knew it, the statue had its blade in position to strike me again. I generated another sword to parry, but it penetrated my blade with ease again, splattering slime everywhere.

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Disengaging and backing away, I attempted to swerve around the statue and flee to the tunnel. I successfully zoomed under the legs and was home free for the tunnel when the statue suddenly whirled around and slammed a palm to the ground. The world upended itself and I was floating in midair for a split second, free from the effects of gravity. Then the effect faded, and I hit the ground. Glancing up, I discovered the statue had taken the time to return to its station blocking the tunnel.

Annoying, but it’d given me some precious insight into the mechanics of the statue. It could have taken the time where I was floating to stab me and be done with it, but instead, it had gone to prevent me from leaving. If the statue was an extension of the System, then that made sense. The System didn’t want me dead just yet. But if the statue was its own separate entity, then its agenda was clearly centered less on slaying the intruders and more on keeping people from leaving. And exempting the tunnel, there was only one place to go.

I chanced a look at the pit and the statue leapt forward, aiming to skewer me in one move. I frantically composed another sword, shifting sideways so it would take the blunt of the damage.

The statue’s sword pierced through mine and ended up embedded in a column. I tried using the time to attempt another escape, but the statue was quick to react, breaking its sword out of the column and slashing it in a downward arc. I stuttered to a stop, dealing with the fact that the ground had just become dangerously unsteady and being fully aware of how close I was to the pit.

The statue somersaulted over me and cut off my route. Creating another sword, I exchanged blows with the statue, replacing my blades every time they were shattered.

During our brief exchange, I saw my Magic Points drop with every second. It got to the point where I considered breaking off and testing [Fire Glyph] again, but several things stopped me from doing this.

The constant breaking and replacing of my swords wasn’t a complete waste of energy. Every time the statue broke through my weapons, it lost much of the momentum and force that made its swings so devastating. Tendrils of slime remained attached to the sword as it passed through as well, further slowing the statue’s attacks. It may be a minuscule amount, but I was gaining ground. I simply had to keep on generating weapons and sticking more of myself onto the sword as it passed; once I had enough, I planned on disarming the warrior. [Fire Glyph] was intended for after that stage.

I was having doubts I could hold out for that long, however. The statue wielded far superior swordsmanship, bridging together a complex web of parries, jabs, swings, and moves I didn’t even know the names of. I felt like I was getting pushed into a trap, and I couldn’t even find out where the trap would be sprung. The statue was the puppet master, and I was the puppet. With every strike, it dictated my movements to block it.

Reason demanded that the statue be sluggish after years of atrophy and eroding away in this room. The statue forced reason into the back seat and locked it away.

It was becoming more fluid in its motions as time passed with clouds of dust that clogged its joints being dislodged. My efforts were becoming less of a threat and more of an inconvenience, a nuisance at best. My chances of winning were slim, but giving up halfway was going to be the deciding factor in this duel.

I feinted to the left and rolled to the right. The statue fell for it, lunging to where it thought I was going before readjusting, spinning in an instant and stabbing its sword at me. I diverted the strike with a shield I formed at the last second. The sword cut clean through it and nicked my side, white-hot pain splicing my senses at the same time.

I hid a grin behind the grimace. A little hurt was a small price to pay for what I had gained. The shield required more slime composition to pull off, but that was the same as having more mass to trap the statue in. I dissolved the shield form, letting a large portion of my body drape over the sword. This surge of slime, combined with the various strands I’d been piling on over the course of our fight, was the final straw. The sword sunk into my body, lodged firmly within.

This was a risky game of timing, something the statue had proven it held the upper hand in. All the statue needed to go to grab a win was simply cut through my bonds and cleave me in half. With the sword trapped inside of me, there was no conceivable way for me to dodge. However, I relied on my instinct that told me the statue was reluctant to kill me.

I won this gambit. Even with the clear opening, the statue didn’t take it, resorting to attempting to pull its weapon out. I molded myself over the blade and tightened my grip. The time was now. Gathering every Strength Point I could muster, I pulled on the blade.

The statue lurched forward, and the sword wriggled in its grasp, the fingers beginning to unravel open by open. I began to get light-headed with euphoria, already starting to celebrate, when the statue suddenly tightened its grip and widened its stance, planting its feet into the ground. In a second, the situation had gone from pulling a mildly heavy statue to trying to move a tonne of pure stone. I snapped to a standstill, all the progress I’d made coming to a halt with me. Then, slowly, I moved forward.