What I saw could only be described in a world like this. If I told someone from the real world what I saw, then they wouldn’t believe me. A creature of moving sand formed two legs, a being appearing from pure dust. Then the torso materialized and attached arms, a grotesque face bearing ragged teeth.
Ruri and I rushed in front, weapons at the ready. “Yuanyuan!...”
“Shao K’ueilei…”
“What does that mean?”
“S… sand golem.” She repeated again in Wawaqi, her hands shaking. More of them came out from each of the temple’s adjacent buildings. Large gales flew around them in a flurry while they hissed a deafening pitch.
[System Announcement]
Lingual Cognizance UP
2515 >>> 2517
+2
The sand golems approached us in slow strides. Enough time to think. My hands trembled a bit, but I gripped my yedo sword harder. “Ruri, do you think we should go for one each?”
“As much as I would oppose that…” Ruri pulled three arrows from her quiver. Then she nocked one as water surrounded the tip. “I don’t know how many you can take, but remember how Sorah and I used to hunt?”
I nodded as the golem’s silhouettes loomed over me. “So I’ll be at the front and you take the sides. Yuanyuan, please support us.”
My confidence displayed in my grip tightened. I hoped that I was no longer the me who’d fought so poorly in Itogutshi. All the techniques Maîtresse taught me shouldn’t go to waste. I had to fight. To prove that I could rely on myself sometimes.
The golem swung its massive arm at me. Dust exploded as if a small sandstorm came in my direction. I had to think. I jumped back and dodged the attack. Sand particles entered my eyes. I could only see the eroded tiles of the temple.
Ruri shouted from my left. “What are you doing? Don’t let them gain even a slight edge over us!”
In a split second the golem’s arm dissolved in a flash of water. I rubbed my brows clear to Ruri nocking another arrow. She was using them imbued with water. The creature arched back as it started to rebuild itself once more. I ran towards it.
I extended a slash over the golem’s face. The blade bounced away. It never cut through. I thought about it just before I went in, on how a shortsword would fare against materialized dust. The golem regenerated its arm.
It swang down at me as I escaped through the opening beside it. If blades weren’t effective, what could I do? Ruri used her arrows with water to destroy its arm, so what elements could be used?
More arrows plunged into the monster’s body. They lodged into its torso as the sand began to solidify. I turned back around and slashed the torso. The blade parted the mud like butter as it ripped a cut through its back. I gasped in surprise, my arm stinging from overextending my reach.
“Kawari, don’t worry about me, I'll take these golems! There's more behind you!”
I followed Ruri’s words to spot humanoid insects appearing from the canyons’ trail. Bugs that stood a bit taller than me, armed with a shell they held as a shield. New monsters? We were already dealing with a few sand golems, but this…
“Got it.” I ignored the golem behind me and rushed towards the insect monsters. At first glance, it seemed they only wielded their shell as a weapon. Although when I neared, there were vicious snapping pincers on the heads of each of them. “Yuanyuan, could you help us out?”
No answer. I had no choice but to take them without support. My sword trailed behind and I threw my hands up for a downward cut at one of the bugs. They brought their shields up. Sure enough my blade ricocheted. I whirled around the creature and sliced it in the side of its neck. Yellow blood sprayed out violently while I mashed my blade as much as I could.
These monsters were guaranteed higher than my level, Level 0. Getting hit by one of their attacks would be debilitating. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t deal damage. Sure, my base attack stat would be low, but with the yedo shortsword Maîtresse gave me…
The bug shook in pain as I ripped it out of its neck. Then I slashed at it again. Again, and again. In a few seconds I had it on the floor whimpering. I stomped on its neck before plunging my blade into the head.
[System Announcement]
Killed Lv16 [Hashara Shielder]
Exp. UP
EP UP
+0 Exp.; Requires Level Cap UP
15/15 EP >>> 15/15 EP
+0; Max EP
[System Announcement]
Weapon Skill [Zhongji Ruidao]
Speed UP
EP UP
+5% Speed (30 second duration)
15/15 EP >>> 15/15 EP
+0; Max EP
Experience points? That didn’t really matter since I couldn’t even level up. The sword’s boost immediately took effect and my feet felt lighter. It was time to test out Zhongji Ruidao’s true ability. I raised the sword and gripped it with the intent of activating it. Ruri had taught me a while back in Waqwaq on how to activate a weapon.
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[System Announcement]
Weapon Skill [Zhongji Ruidao]
EP DOWN
15/15 EP >>> 10/15 EP
-5
The blade glowed white as I heard an energetic roar erupting from it. More Hashara Shielders came my way, but I swung horizontally. The energy built from the activation burst outward in a massive wave, shaking the ground and knocking me back.
An AoE burst simply vaporized the shell shields into cracks and left the monsters stunned. I got to my feet and slashed their necks.
[System Announcement]
Killed 2 Lv13 [Hashara Shielder]
Exp. UP
EP UP
+0 Exp.; Requires Level Cap UP
10/15 EP >>> 14/15 EP
+4
[System Announcement]
Weapon Skill [Zhongji Ruidao]
Speed UP
EP UP
+5% Speed (30 second duration)
14/15 EP >>> 15/15 EP
+1; Max EP
“What the…” I said to myself and wiped the sand off my hair. At this rate, I could spam activate Zhongji Ruidao and be done with everything. But I wasn’t too sure how we could deal with the sand golems. Ruri still fought them off on her own, and I wanted Yuanyuan and myself to help. “Yuanyuan! Please back up Ruri!”
I looked back to see her still not doing anything. Instead she watched on from the sidelines as Ruri defended from the golems in front. More of those shielded vermin would appear so I couldn’t afford to rush over. It would just create more problems. I lifted my sword, preparing to activate it again. If I could just hold the Hashara Shielders here and…
“Yuanyuan, stand.” Ruri talked with a slight worry in her voice. Sweat dripped down her face while she pulled another arrow from her quiver. “I can’t fight these monsters alone. And I don’t have infinite arrows.”
“No, I…” she responded and Ruri fired another water bullet at a golem. It fell to the ground while it slowly regenerated its body. Yuanyuan simply didn’t move. Even after all that happened in Xanton, I couldn’t pinpoint exactly why she acted this now.
It seemed Ruri figured out how to kill the sand golems by shooting them directly in the heart with water-imbued projectiles. However with every shot she grew tired with a huff and puff. “I’m low on EP…”
[System Announcement]
Killed 1 Lv15 [Hashara Shielder]
Exp. UP
EP UP
+0 Exp.; Requires Level Cap UP
10/15 EP >>> 14/15 EP
+4
[System Announcement]
Weapon Skill [Zhongji Ruidao]
Speed UP
EP UP
+5% Speed (30 second duration)
14/15 EP >>> 15/15 EP
+1; Max EP
I just finished clearing off the rest of the shield bugs and slipped away from the golem’s range back onto Ruri and Yuanyuan’s side. I had to support them since I knew Ruri would run out of steam, and Yuanyuan wasn’t coöperating.
By the time Ruri finally defeated the remaining golems, she’d already depleted her EP. We could only regain EP through defeating enemies and from equipment abilities at this point, so once used up she could no longer use her Water Arrow skill. I only wished that it would’ve been over, but an even bigger shadow loomed over us.
All of the sand golems’ remnants congregated into one center. Then even larger rocks ripped off some sides of the canyon, ruins of the temple, collapsing pillars and other debris clustered into a singularity.
Ruri grabbed hold of Yuanyuan, making her stand. “The golems are regrouping. I only mitigated them temporarily. Kawari—”
“The monster is blocking our only exit from the canyon.” I noticed more monsters coming behind the giant golem forming. After attempting to pray at this old shrine, why did we get attacked all of a sudden? “I still have EP left, so you guys run. I’ll follow.”
I should take the blame. So I hoisted Zhongji Ruidao up high as I prepared for another AoE attack.
“Kawari, you cannot take them by yourself. We can still fight.”
I turned behind to look at them. “By ‘we’, you mean only you. If that’s the case, Ruri, then let us create an opening for Yuanyuan to exit to the canyon. Then we’ll figure out things from there.”
“...” Ruri stared at the ground while she gently tugged on Yuanyuan’s hand. It seemed she knew the reality too. She placed her other hand on the Zhonese girl’s shoulder. “Alright. Kawari and I will stay. Yuanyuan, please run now. We’ll clear the way.”
“But…”
Then Ruri nocked her bow again before turning her back to the girl. “Run!”
My shortsword grew white while Ruri stretched her bowstring. We could see the colossal golem of rock and boulder, its mouth giving a grotesque roar. In my periphery, I saw Yuanyuan still standing there. I knew she was going through abandonment issues, but the least she could do was escape.
“Yuanyuan!... ”
“This isn’t right!” She finally yelled out her first words since this entire fight. Her eyes shut. “You two are criminals that are on the run… yet tell me to just go for my safety?”
I couldn’t believe her. Yuanyuan told me off about why I couldn’t trust her, then now inferred that she didn’t trust us too? “Criminals?... I don’t give a damn about being a criminal. Think how you want, we’ll put your safety first. Now go.”
“But you two are facing that giant gol—”
“Didn’t we tell you to run?!” I looked back at her, my face seething with some sort of annoyance.
Ruri raised her hand. “Woah, Kawari, calm down…”
“I won’t this time. Yuanyuan, sometimes a decision has to be made. You have to answer a question, our question. Trust or distrust, yes or no, hired or fired, go or stay, eventually you will have to make a choice,” I said in a harsh voice I wasn’t aware of hissing through my teeth, “If you wish to help us out, stay. If you are truly afraid now, then please escape.”
Letting Yuanyuan remain silent in the back, I whirled my head around. We wasted so much time and now the golem assembled itself into a beast of sedimentary rock. It towered over us and threw its arm forward. Ruri pushed me away as we barely avoided the attack, collapsing to the ground. Luckily I had a plan in mind. All that pent of frustration suddenly disappeared after rebuking Yuanyuan.
“Ruri… You take the left side, I take the right. I’ll distract the golem while you kill the monsters behind it to regain some of your EP. After that let’s focus our attacks on this rock bastard.”
As the dust cleared, I could see her nod her head. Then I saw someone’s hand reach out.
“May the mind be clear, like the moon in the sky. Energy surges forth like the radiant sun replenishing you—Qisu Xingyu.”
[System Announcement]
Skill Activation [Qisu Xingyu]
EP UP
DMG UP
15/15 EP >>> 15/15 EP
+0; Max EP
+5% DMG (3 minute duration)
Yuanyuan ran in between the two of us, panting and holding out her hand. From the look Ruri gave me she’d received the exact same buff I did. We could only look on in astonishment. For a moment her pinkish hair covered the Zhonese girl’s eyes. “I've… made a decision. I won’t let you two fight and die alone… Just like how my parents protected me.”
Then her head lifted with a new expression on her face. A determined resolve became etched onto her eyes with a glint. After seeing that, I never noticed my slight smile. My hands squeezed the weapon’s handle.