However, no attack arrived.

Noah looked around in confusion. He could have sworn he had heard something move within the room.

“What is it?” Thraz asked.

There was no humour in his voice. His experience fighting alongside Noah told him that the young human wasn’t one to play around when it came to something serious.

More than that, the dragonborn trusted Noah enough that he had already brandished his axe in preparation for something happening.

“I thought I heard something,” Noah said, squinting his eyes as he inspected the room closer. “Like something small moving.”

Thraz looked around, using his keen senses evolved from the swamps, but even with his advanced eyesight, he couldn’t see anything.

It was only when Thraz moved a step to the side, Noah spotted something. Light from the moon peering over the dragonborns shoulder illuminated the room enough to spot the imperfections within.

The walls of the room were covered in a dark grey paint, but it had long peeled away, revealing the rough sandstone underneath.

However, the fact that Noah couldn’t spot the imperfections on the wall told Noah something about his dark vision. Although he could see in the dark, he wasn’t able to make out small details like he could with his regular vision.

It seemed that it was the limitation of a Rare class.

And that led him to another thought. Well, there goes the theory of someone looking after the place.

If someone was indeed looking after the plaque, then why wouldn’t they take the time to also care for the room it was within?

Shaking his head, Noah was about to turn around to leave the room for good when he spotted something on the ceiling. There was a crack.

Noah carefully approached the hole, standing right underneath it with his shield raised. Now that he was closer, he could actually see that the hole continued further up. Almost like a tunnel.

Thraz approached. “Should I smash it?”

“And risk collapsing a mountain worth of rock onto our heads? No thanks.”

Thraz pointed his axe to the ceiling. “But what if there is treasure inside, or better, a worthy opponent to defeat.”

Noah sighed, before saying, “alright, but we need to be careful. I’ll do it. You’re heavy handed.”

“That is correct. I am heavy handed,” Thraz said with pride, nudging his chin into the air.

Taking a couple steps back and brandishing his lance, Noah thrust it against the rock ceiling. As the lance tip struck, rubble fell directly onto the floor, revealing a small passageway that was roughly carved. Like someone had hand crafted it.

“You fucking idiot!”

Noah heard a scream come directly from where he had struck, but the moment he heard the strange, gruff voice, the door behind them groaned shut.

What the hell was going on?

Krall, standing next to it, flexed his muscles, and pushed against it. But the great door wouldn’t budge.

[Shadow Blinking] to the door in an instant, Noah joined his faithful companion. Gritting his teeth, he pushed against the door, but it was of no use. No matter how much strength Noah used, the door refused to deviate from its course.

To leave, or stay within the room?

Time slowed. Thraz was rushing toward him in an attempt to escape, but he was too slow. Gluttony on the other hand was too fast, with an order, his shadowed monsters could easily bypass Noah, and escape.

And since Krall and himself were already at the door, they could leave.

But Noah decided against that. Although he would guarantee his life, it wasn’t a life he wanted to live. He had worked so hard to gain strength to obtain freedom. The freedom required to make his own choices.

His choice was to stay and help Thraz.

Giving Krall a mental order, he gave up trying to stop the closing door, and stepped into the room. Noah did the same. And in an instant, they were swallowed by the darkness.

Thankfully, everyone in his party was able to see perfectly. Some more than others.

Gluttony because he was a creature of the shadows.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Krall because of his unique tremor sense.

Noah because of his Phantom Lancer Path.

Thraz seemed to have it the worst off. He only relied upon his lizard-like vision, but even that had its limitations. Within a pitch black room with absolutely no light source, he was almost on the verge of being blind. But all he had to see was an outline of his enemy to strike. For the warrior-bred dragonborn, that was enough.

Once again, just like the first time he had entered the peculiar room, Noah felt a chill shiver up his spine.

It was a sense of danger, and it was warning Noah. But it wasn’t coming from the ceiling.

It was radiating from the plaque. Not only that, but the golden tablet was trembling. Like the ground underneath it was moving. Or…

Noah frowned as the air surrounding the pillar swirled. Greenish-black mist billowed out of the lustrous plaque, then by the second, the once golden sheen turned rusty. Until the entirety was consumed by a disgusting copper. It oozed a dark red, viscous liquid; almost like a jelly consistency.

Then it cracked.

Suddenly, a ghostly being shot out of the plaque. Straight at Noah.

Eyes widening, he activated [Beastly Aegis] as the ghost approached him in a hazy blur. Noah braced for impact, legs tensed ready for the strike, but his heart dropped when the ghost bypassed his shield.

In an instant, the monster's transparent hand solidified. Sickly black tipped nails sliced against his chest-piece. The resulting impact flung him backwards, striking the wall with a thud.

Noah wheezed, gulping in a breath as the air in his lungs escaped.

Krall moved in front of Noah in an instant, and so did Gluttony as he lowered his body somewhat.

Nodding, Noah jumped onto his back, and readied himself for another round of attack.

Thraz also moved, approaching Noah quickly as they held their backs against the wall.

They faced the ghostly being as it stood with its back turned, gazing at the plaque.

“What is it?” Thraz asked with an impatient tone. He thwacked the axe in his hands, itching for a fight.

“A ghost, I think,” Noah replied. “Be careful, it can bypass defence, and I don’t think we can physically damage it.”

“What? We can’t hit it? Then it’s invincible!”

“Not completely.” Noah frowned.

His mind replayed the moment he was struck. Although it happened in a flash, he clearly noticed that the ghost’s hand turned from a translucent colour, to a black.

If that was the case, then at the moment of attack, the ghost was forced to turn its body to a physical state.

Although Noah couldn’t be sure of the knowledge he had gained, he had to trust it. After all, there was no other way.

“The moment it attacks, attack it in the same instance,” Noah warned the dragonborn as he prepared his lance.

If he wanted to defeat the ghost, then he had to time his attack to perfection.

The dragonborn seemed to take his advice in stride as his slitted eyes contracted, focusing on the target that was still just standing like a statue.

However, after five minutes, Noah’s nerves were a wreck. Not only because it was a type of enemy he had never faced before, but it was the unknown that weighed against his shoulders. Noah didn’t know what abilities the ghost had, or why it was stuck in the plaque.

Taking a breath, he looked up at the crack in the ceiling. It was simply too small for Noah to escape from, let alone the massive Krall, or Thraz.

Then he looked at the door. Since it closed on its own, then there must be a way to open it. Maybe a lever, or a pulley system?

But no matter where Noah searched, he couldn’t find it. His vision rested on the ghost. The door only closed when it appeared, but a question entered his mind.

Why isn’t it attacking?

Noah guessed that it held some emotional attachment to the broken tablet, but Noah wasn’t a sentimental person. The ghost had attacked them, so it was now an enemy. If he wanted to live, he had to kill it.

Realising the situation he was in, there was no way to escape. So he decided it was better to make the first move.

Of course, he already knew that his attack wouldn’t do anything, so he targeted the ceiling.

I hope this doesn’t kill us.

Noah grit his teeth, and fired his lance at the ceiling. This time, he placed more strength into the strike. It blasted the remains of the ceiling, shattering it completely.

He heard a hiss coming from the tunnel, but he was in no position to care what he had hit.

Like a landfall, the ceiling collapsed. A mass of rubble fell, sending thick dust billowing around the room. Noah resisted the urge to cough as he retained his focus ahead of him.

The rubble had completely swallowed the monument, and in turn, the plaque whole. Along with the ghost, they had vanished under the pile of rock.

But peace only lasted for mere moments. A shrieking cry pierced Noah’s ears as a formless figure approached him at high speed.

In a second, the ghost was in front of Noah; the one responsible for the desecration of the golden plaque.

Now!

Noah snapped his lance forward, but his heart dropped. He was too early. The vicious point of his weapon disappeared within the ghosts chest, and then black formed around its hand.

Tensing the muscles in his body, he expected a strike to land on either Gluttony, or himself.

But thankfully he had a trained warrior from birth by his side. Thraz’s reaction time was nothing short of spectacular as he cleaved his massive axe through the air, straight through the ghosts hand.

This time, it was a direct hit.

The blackened hand was sliced off without much effort as the ghost retreated with a wailing screech.

It was only now that Noah got a good look at the ghost's face. It was clearly human, or, at least it was a long time ago. She had deep wrinkles under her lifeless, greyed eyes. But despite that, they were red around the edges; as if she had been crying for a long time.

Her long translucent hair turned black as it cascaded over her dainty shoulders.

Then, her short claw-like fingernails grew longer, and longer, until there were as long as blade. She moved her fingers, claws clanging against each other as if they weren’t made from bone, but metal.

She screeched once more, but this time it was filled with wrath.

The ghost wanted blood.