You are in the land of DOOR.
Defeat the guardians and change the land’s destiny.
Guardians? From what Dallion knew, a normal item could only have one guardian. This wasn’t a sphere item by any means, and yet there could be no mistake—rectangles never lied.
The reality that had formed around Dallion was an endless land of ruined buildings, only all the buildings were completely made of wood. They continued to the horizon forming massive castles as large as cliffs, pits as chasms and forests made of plants and beams.
Very sneaky, Dallion thought.
In order to pass the Order of the Suns’ trial, every new member had to defeat the guardians. However, that guaranteed that the trial would become more and more difficult for each following member. It was a very skill based approach to expect, ensuring that every new member was better than the last.
“Sense anything, Vih?” Dallion asked combat splitting to look around.
Not every wood domain has a dryad guardian, the armadil shield guardian said. But yeah, there are a few of them.
“Stronger than you?”
Definitely not, the guardian laughed. Though you couldn’t take me on without magic and music.
That was a good point. Not using his full set of abilities was going to be a bigger challenge than the fight itself.
Just combat skills, Dallion said to himself.
“Am I limited in terms of weapons?” has asked loudly. “I’d hate to fail because of a technicality.”
“Weapons are fine.” A dryad emerged on top of a nearby wooden tower. He was tall with broad shoulders and surprisingly old. Leaves of wood covered his entire body like scales, leaving only his face visible. “As long as there’s no magic in them.”
Dallion looked at the pair of wooden sickles on either side of the dryad’s waist. Considering his options, he summoned the Nox dagger and the thread splitter.
“These okay?”
“They have a bit of magic.” Another dryad appeared, this one was female with long hair falling down her back and shoulders. There wasn’t a single piece of armor covering her body, but hundreds and hundreds of vines. “But not enough to matter.”
“Whoever made this trial was very straightforward.” Dallion smiled. “He’s guard, you’re attack. That means there are two remaining.”
Two more dryads appeared a hundred feet away. Both were male: one bulky and muscular, another tall and athletic. They, too, had a pair of wooden sickles each, but confirmed Dallion’s suspicions to be correct.
Just as Dallion was about to ask when the trial would start, each of the dryads burst into instances.
Dallion immediately followed. Normally, two hundred instances would seem quite a lot. When facing a total of four hundred, though, there was a bit left to be desired.
The “attack” dryad charged first, the vines on her body shooting out in Dallion’s direction like spears.
“Vih—” Dallion summoned his armadil shield. “Extend.”
The metal shield emerged in front of him, growing to form a semi sphere blocking the torrent of vines. Dozens of strikes resounded as the vines twisted around the edges, aiming to strike at Dallion from behind.
MINOR STRIKE
Dealt damage is increased by 10%
Red rectangles filled the air as Dallion sliced off the vines using a three-sixty line strike. The affected dryad yelled out in pain, pulling back. The remaining three also changed the pattern of their attack. The “guard” dryad rushed in front of the attack one, while the “athletics” dryad broke off half a wooden building and threw it at Dallion.
They’re nothing much, the armadil shield said. Just don’t get hit and you’ll be fine.
Dallion couldn’t help but smile. Hundreds of instances were moving about attacking and defending in a variety of ways. In several of those instances, Dallion himself was wounded, though for the most part most of the damage never came to be.
The dryads had also picked up on his attack pattern. The instances in which they received damage also didn’t come to pass. Dallion could well have used his force splitting to ensure another wound or two, but that would have been pointless. All of his strikes were minor, and for whatever reason he couldn’t see any white rectangles associated with the door guardians. Whoever had created the realm had also used magic to shield them. It would likely be possible to see through the spell and get to the information, but that would require magic which would in turn fail the trial. If he wanted to pass through this, he would have to do it the old-fashioned way.
Line attack! Dallion thought, slashing through the air several times in immediate succession.
Mountains were split in two, their upper halves crumbling before his very eyes, but even that wasn’t enough to hit the guardians. Not to mention that the wooden leaves covering the “guard” dryad were capable of withstanding the blow.
Get back to the basics, dear boy, Adzorg said.
“What do you think I’m doing?” Dallion replied.
The intensity of the fight was too much for awakening markers to handle. He had made many attempts to complete a skill sequence, but the dryad guardians had prevented him from doing so at every turn. In fact, it was a far greater challenge for him to prevent them from achieving one.
It’s like fighting ants, Dallion thought, landing a point attack right in the “guard” dryad’s chest.
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MINOR STRIKE
Dealt damage is increased by 10%
Some very persistent ants.
In the past, a single strike from the Nox dagger was enough to destroy the weapons and armor of most opponents. In this case, everything destroyed tended to regrow back within moments.
“These are definitely a lot tougher than the guardians of the aura swords,” Dallion grumbled.
Of course they are, Vihrogon laughed. They are domain rulers.
“How do you get four domain rulers in the same item?”
The same way you do anyone else. You just let them in.
“Very funny.”
Dallion continued analyzing the fight in his mind. No matter what approach he took, things were always the same. “Attack” and “athletics” would attempt to attack him from close and distant range. “Guard” would do everything possible to offer them protection, and “acrobatics” would swoop in from time to time to assist them in evading anything that couldn’t be blocked. It didn’t always work, but they remained more successful than not, slowly sapping his stamina. Of course, the same could be said for the guardians themselves. They were using up just as much energy, if not more, yet with no specific indications there was no way to determine who would win that contest.
It’s just a puzzle, Dallion told himself. While an entry trial was meant to get rid of the riff raff, it also had to be completable. Dallion knew he had the skills. With a few more skills, he would have won without question. Even now, it was the guardians on the defensive, not him. To win, he had to take them out one at a time.
“Vih.” Dallion unsummoned his daggers. “Get ready for something wild.”
Before there was time for a response, Dallion summoned the shield in his hand and threw it straight at the “guard” dryad. Bracing himself for the impact, the guardian took a defensive posture. A blow never followed.
“Cocoon,” Dallion said.
The shield extended, curving quickly into a ball that captured the “guard” guardian inside. No doubt he would try to escape his prison, but since attack wasn’t his primary skill, that would prove difficult.
Without wasting time, Dallion dashed in the direction of the “acrobatics” dryad. All two hundred of his instances flowed in that direction like a mighty river. By now the remaining guardians had figured out what the plan was and rushed to prevent Dallion from succeeding. Sadly, there was nothing they could do.
“Got you,” Dallion said, as he pressed the “acrobatics” dryad with a series of slashes and plunges.
MODERATE STRIKE
Dealt damage is increased by 150%
Red rectangles appeared one after the other. Two times out of three, the dryad managed to evade the attack, but that proved insufficient to change the outcome. Dallion ignored the corresponding attacks, focusing entirely on taking out the enemy. The dryad desperately tried to escape, but despite his attempts, ten instances of Dallion constantly moved with him, striking all the time.
MINOR WOUND
Your health has been reduced by 5%
A vine struck through Dallion’s shoulder. It would have been easy to avoid it by simply choosing one of dozens more instances. That would have erased the very achievement he had fought so hard for.
You have defeated the Door Guardian Esen.
Defeat the guardians and change the land’s destiny.
Several more attacks continued, then abruptly stopped as the two free dryads stepped back.
“Are you hanging on, Vih?” Dallion asked, fading all but ten of his instances.
You don’t think much of me, do you? The shield guardian sighed.
Suddenly, a terrible thought came to Dallion’s mind.
“Is the trial still ongoing?” he turned to the dryads.
He had been explicitly told only to use the four common combat skills. Did that extend to the shield’s abilities?
“No,” the “attack” dryad said.
That wasn’t the answer Dallion wanted to hear. Technically, it wasn’t too much of a loss. The whole matter with the Order of the Twelve Suns, no matter how interesting on a personal level, was getting him sidetracked. Failing would allow him to focus on what was really—
“You have passed the trial,” the dryad finished.
A blink of the eye later, Dallion was back in the small entry room, his hand on the massive door.
“Congratulations,” Unnie said. “That was the second fastest someone has passed the trial.”
“Second fastest?”
Apparently, he had completed the trial after all.
“Who was the fastest?”
“The second emperor,” came the reply. “Eight candidates managed to kill all the guardians though. And over half killed more than one.”
The comment was as sobering as an ice-cold shower. That meant that Dallion’s combat skills were average at most as far as the Order of the Sun was concerned. Not that it mattered. As one following the path of empathy, it was expected for him to be physically weaker. Still, he had hoped for something more.
“Please.” The guide invited him. “Open the door.”
Dallion did. A vast hall extended in front of him, containing several rows of large tables, and countless smaller ones. The only way he could describe it was a mix between a mess hall and a tavern… if they were located within a throne room chamber. Paintings and portraits decorated the walls, along with the occasional framed weapon. The scenes were similar to the ones in the entrance room, but with a lot more detail, also they contained a lot more recent examples. Dallion quickly recognized a younger version of Archduke Lanitol in one of the smaller portraits at the far end of the hall. The man who he had believed to be undefeatable not too long ago looked like a young rookie adventurer full of eagerness and hope.
“The common room,” the guide repeated. “Reserved for all who have mastered their common skills.”
There were a dozen people there at present, making the hall seem deserted. None of them paying Dallion any particular attention.
“It’s the largest room in the Order, as you might expect. You are free to come and go at any time. And feel free to discuss anything you wish here. Regardless of events outside of this room, whatever happens in the Order remains in the Order.”
That sounded suspiciously similar to an Earth saying Dallion knew.
“Where’s your spot?” Dallion looked at the woman. “Or don’t you have any?”
“There are no “spots” in the common room,” Unnie replied. “That’s reserved for the ‘Uncommon Room’ and beyond. In order to get there, all you have to do is pass through that door.” She pointed at a large metal door that glowed in an otherworldly shimmer. “Only this time you must only use your uncommon skills.”
Dallion walked directly to it.
From what he could tell, the door lacked a guardian. Placing his hand on the metal surface, he attempted to enter the realm, but reality didn’t change. It was as if the door didn’t exist.
“Where did you get the metal?” He moved his hand away.
“The founding members gathered it from otherworlders, then used their forging skills to construct this. The only way in is to forge a key that would unlock it.”
“Just that?” Dallion looked carefully at the door, but he could see no lock.
“Naturally, magic isn’t allowed.” The woman smiled. “Would you like to try?”
Good question, Dallion thought. Did he need to? Other than satisfying his own curiosity, was there a need to rush things? He had become a member of the Order of Twelve Suns and no doubt gained a lot of status. Potentially, he was in a better standing when it came to the emperor. Would going up the ranks grant him anything more?
“Maybe later,” he said after a while. “I have an audience with the emperor.” He turned around.
Nice try, he thought as he walked out of the building. This was nothing but another temptation to bend him to the emperor’s will and keep him in the city. Dallion still had a settlement to develop, not to mention prepare for a potential Azure attack. Above all, he needed to find a way to the emperor and get Adzorg out as soon as possible.