Richard's P.O.V

My consciousness flashed rapidly from the vivid world to black. I fought my hardest to stay on my feet during the Ogre's attack, but found myself struggling. My knees gave out, and I felt my earthen-encased arms grow weak as the force of the blow fully reached me.

I used all my mana to enhance my body. I tried to muster up more, even just a little would help, anything to get me out of this god-forsaken position, but it was useless. The more I tried, the more the fatigue caught up to me. My eyes eventually grew heavy, and I felt every muscle in my body give out, and everything went black.

It didn't take long for me to come to, though. Years of battle experience had molded me. I knew I couldn't just lie here. I had to move.

I forced my eyes open and looked around. The scenery hadn't changed much, so I couldn't have been out for long. The beast was still standing above me, looking as if it were searching for something.

I tried to get out of the crater left from its previous blow, but I couldn't move. I could only hope my party got away as I stared down the seemingly occupied beast.

Then, as if something had snapped, a torrent of wind collided with the beast, making it cock its head back from the blow. The beast let out a raging roar at the perpetrator; it was Walker.

His figure seemed to dance as he cast spell after spell, not giving the beast a chance for reprieve. Wind and ice alike barraged the beast, but it didn't seem to do much. Magic of this level wouldn't be able to kill it. It only managed to push it back a bit.

During this moment, Walker's dark figure seemed to turn to me, and he swooped down into the crater and swung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"I'm still alive, you know? No need to be so rough," I grunted as the pain surged through my body once more at the sudden jerks of movement.

"Being gentle is not an option right now," he said, jumping out of the crater and barely avoiding a strike from the Ogre. The crater we were just in had gotten deeper by at least twenty-five feet.

"Well, I guess you're right," I said nervously. Looking around, I could see it was only Walker and me, and I began to worry about the others. "Was it only you that came back? Are the others okay?"

"They should be here in a-" he began, but stopped. "Well, speak of the devil," he finished.

Following his gaze, I saw Chark charging out of the woods, already throwing a spear of earth. Hannah, Carrollton, and Lizzy followed after him, and even though they looked injured, they still sent an attack of their strongest spells.

Melian also made it to the scene, and Walker laid me down next to her.

"Heal him as best as you can," he said.

Melian nodded without saying a word as she watched Walker enter the battle.

Light glowed around Melian's hand, and I could already feel its warmth begin to heal me.

"You taking charge like that seemed to boost the morale of the others," she said as she focused on my wounds.

"It's a good feeling," I said, a small smile creeping onto my face. "To know that they have faith in me."

Melian nodded in agreement, her focus still on my wounds as she worked her healing magic. "It's a rare gift, to have people who trust and believe in you. You should cherish it."

"I will," I said, watching as the battle continued to rage on. "But for now, we need to focus on defeating this Ogre and getting out of here."

Melian nodded again. "Agreed. But for you, that means rest. Don't push yourself too hard. Your body needs time to recover."

I nodded, acknowledging her words. "I won't. I trust that the others will be able to handle things without me for now."

Stolen novel; please report.

As we watched the battle unfold, I couldn't help but feel grateful for the people around me. They had become more than just comrades in battle, they were like family. And I knew that, no matter what happened, we would always have each other's backs.

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Falyn Elway’s P.O.V

Our continuous spells pushed the beast back several feet. "Chark, throw a spear of earth!" I yelled. He did as I said, and at the same moment, I froze the beast's feet in place. The earthen spear pierced its face, and it tumbled back. "Lizzy, now!" At my call, Lizzy ran as fast as she could behind the beast and targeted the backside of its knee, causing it to lose its balance. "Carrollton and Hannah, fire!" They listened and aimed for its upper body as the giant ogre fell to the ground from Lizzy's sneak attack.

The entire area shook and rumbled as the ogre's body collided with the ground. Mana surged through me as I conjured a giant pillar of ice and aimed for its already gashed chest. As my attack flew toward it, the beast roared in a last-ditch effort and formed a ball of fire in front of its widened mouth, which grew by the millisecond and eventually became greater than the size of my attack in no time at all. Even after all our attacks, on top of its continuous bleeding injury, it could still manage this? So this is the power of a gold rank.

Our attacks collided instantly, causing a loud explosion and an overload of thick steam. I was blown back, but my mana-enhanced body protected me from continuous tumbling on the hard dirt ground. When I came to, it was oddly quiet. I got back on my feet and dusted myself off. Looking around, I saw Hannah and Carrollton doing the same.

"Did we kill it?" Carrollton asked as he limped toward us. "Where is everyone?"

"I don't know," Hannah responded. "We need to get moving."

"I agree," I said.

As soon as the words left my mouth, I heard footsteps behind us. They were barely audible, but despite that, I stopped in my tracks. My blood seemed to tingle almost unnaturally.

"What is it, Walker?" Hannah asked.

"Something is near," I said quietly.

The sound of the leaves moving grew louder, and we all turned in the direction of the noise. The tingling of my blood only grew, and soon the damn thing showed itself. It stepped out from the shadows. Its entire body was pitch black, seemingly made up of some sort of stone and lined with an emerald green glow. It was at least twenty feet tall and was holding a smooth stone staff, the staff matching the beast in size. Something I noticed about the staff, though, was the dark stain on its tip.

So this thing is what caused the ogre to run rampant.

Once it was aware of our presence, it stood still. Not even a slight twitch came from the thing.

"W-what is that thing?" Carrollton asked, his voice quivering. I could hear him taking a few steps back.

"It's a Guardian Golem. That's the only thing it can be," Hannah answered, her mouth agape. "I remember learning about them in school, but I never expected to see one because of how rare they are to come across."

Looking at the golem closer, it was easy to tell it wasn't hostile.

"By Guardian, does that mean it's protecting something?" I asked.

"Yes. They protect lost warp gates," she answered. "From the War of Dawn two hundred years ago, they were used as guardians of warp gates. That's about all I know. There's not much information on them, and they rarely ever came up in classes."

"So if these things are protecting warp gates, why haven't adventurers already taken them for their own use?” I asked. "It would make reaching Ara so much easier. Why just leave them be?"

"I've read that none of the existing races can control these warp gates," she said. "They are special and unique, to say the least. The chances of anyone coming across one is less than one percent. The fact that we have is still mind-boggling. I've been an adventurer for years and have never met nor heard of someone coming across one. Not even the most powerful of adventurers."

"I see," I said, observing the golem. It still stood completely still, and even though it had no face, it was obviously staring right at us.

"I don't think it's going to attack. We should just leave," Carrollton suggested.

"He's right. Let's just get back to the others," Hannah agreed.

I, on the other hand, stayed quiet. My blood still tingled, and my heart pounded the more I looked at the thing. I took a step forward, and to everyone's surprise, the golem did the same. We were now closer to each other, even though we were still at least thirty yards apart.

"What the hell are you doing, Walker?" Hannah called out, her voice getting anxious.

But I ignored her and took five more steps forward, and the golem did the same.

"Walker, seriously. There's no telling how powerful those things are if they've managed to survive for two hundred years," Hannah called out once more.

I heard her words, and she was right. I knew this wasn't smart, but everything in my being was telling me to move closer, so I did.

Eventually, I got so close to the golem that I held its stone staff up in a combat stance, but I didn't stop moving, and soon enough, it went to strike. Time seemed to slow. I didn't feel the need to pull out my dagger, enhance my body with mana, or cast a spell. I simply upped my bare hand to where he was aiming his stone staff. As soon as my hand made contact with the cold stone staff, the golem crumbled into multiple rocks and small pebbles, as if it never existed.

Looking at the sight, the tingle in my blood stopped, and everything felt so normal once more.