It is a bright and sunny weekend. Seeing the warm sun on the horizon, Raine felt energetic and could not help but let out a delighted smile as he get out of bed. After doing his morning routine and eating breakfast which is composed of rye bread, eggs, and milk; Raine went out of the dormitory with light steps.
Outside the dormitory, Raine saw a female dark elf looking quite bored.
"Good morning!" Raine greeted with a smile as bright as sunshine.
Looking at the energetic boy; the dark elf, Tiana yawn a little and returned the greeting.
"You're always so energetic even though it's so early..." Tiana commented.
"And you're bad with mornings as always," Raine countered.
This type of banter is very normal for the two. After being together for more than a year; Raine and Tiana have become very comfortable and familiar with each other's presence to the point that they could throw jibes at each other without much restraint.
"So, where are we going today?" Tiana asked.
"To the blacksmith guild!" Raine answered.
"Again? You've been going there a lot lately," Tiana commented.
Raine simply shrugged his shoulder after hearing Tiana's comment. "It can't be helped. There's something I needed to do there. Besides, I'm a member of the guild so there's nothing strange if I go there often, right?" He replied.
"Is that so? Well If you say so..."
Tiana cocked her head to the side cutely as she looked straight into the Raine's eyes as if trying to get a glimpse at what on the boy's mind. Unfortunately for her, Raine remained unperturbed to her gaze which leaves the dark elf a little annoyed.
Seeing Tiana's probing gaze; Raine let out a soft chuckle and took one of the dark elf's hands as he walks out of the dormitory gate.
Soon the two are walking through town while following a winding road that leads to the blacksmith guild.
To save a bit of time, the duo made a sudden turn to a narrow alleyway between two tall buildings that serves as a shortcut to their destination. Since the aforementioned alleyway is not that wide, Tiana entered first as a safety precaution. This was the arrangement that the two had agreed beforehand.
Such an arrangement is necessary due to Raine's special circumstances. Of course, it's not like Raine have anything against such an arrangement. Even though Raine is lot more powerful than children his age, he still fails in comparison to real experts. He knew that he was inexperienced, and would most likely be killed by the Dark Church's assassins if left to his own device.
After Tiana entered the narrow alleyway; Raine quickly followed. But once he stepped outside the alleyway, Raine found himself in an unfamiliar place.
"Where is this?"
Raine grew alarmed and could not help himself from exclaiming loudly after finding himself in an unfamiliar place. Instead of finding himself near the blacksmith guild after exiting the alleyway, Raine found himself somewhere he didn't know. He quickly turned around only to see that the narrow alleyway he just exited from has completely vanished!
"Oh no, I've fallen into a trap!" Raine thought to himself after realizing his situation. "I hope Tiana's okay."
Seeing that his dark elf companion is not around, Raine cannot help but become anxious. Knowing that panicking won't help in the situation he was in, Raine forcefully calmed himself.
After calming himself, Raine studied the unfamiliar terrain and noticed that the surrounding was covered in grayish fog.
"What's with the fog? Could it be, magic? Yes, that has to be it..."
"The enemies should be hiding behind that thick fog... They're certainly careful despite facing a single kid."
Seeing that; whoever set the trap for him and Tiana were well-prepared, Raine could not help but let out a wry smile. He was hoping that the enemies would underestimate him thus giving him a chance to escape but from the looks of thing, it won't be happening.
Yes, escape...
“Why would I face opponents that were obviously more powerful and experienced than me? I’m not tired of living yet!”
Raine has absolutely no plan of facing his opponents head on. Even though he had fought against the mysterious masked man before; Raine knew that his current situation is very different from his current predicament. In other words; Raine could only fight for survival back then!
And since the opponents could set up such a complicated trap, then it's only given that they made enough preparations to deal with him. So then, why would he even attempt to fight given the disadvantages?
If he could run from them then that is what he is going to do!
"Judging from the mana in the air, I must have stumbled upon a formation. As for what type of formation it is... I am not certain."
Tsk!
Clicking his tongue, Raine could feel an incoming headache. Due to his short time as a student at the Royal Academy, Raine haven't been taught anything relating to magic formations.
"Well, it’s not like I could blame the teachers for it. After all, no one would even think that a boy of eleven needed protection against magic formations."
Magic formations are an advance field of magic that requires thorough mastery of the basics of magic. Without months, or even years of study and research, it would be difficult to set up a proper formation.
"Not to mention the preparation and money require to set up such a large scale formation such as this one...
Minutes passed with nothing happening but Raine dare not to let go of his guard. He knew that something could happen once he let his guard down.
"Are those people being held by something?" Raine thought inwardly. "That's right, Tiana!"
Raine could only think of one reason while no one has attacked him yet and that's because they're being occupied by his dark elf bodyguard!
"As expected of a professional with years of experience in this field, I'm not her match at all!"
Relieved that his bodyguard was doing an admirable job in keeping him safe; Raine felt a lot better.
"I can't just wait here and do nothing. Even though Tiana is really strong, she is just a single person..."
Taking several deep breaths to calm himself, Raine started concentrating. Moments later, he entered a mysterious state of extreme concentration. His eyes crystal clear and expression calm, Raine begin studying the formation in great details.
"Concealment... And an isolation formation? I see... So I was being concealed and isolated. And that grayish fog must be there to conceal mine, and that of the enemy's presence from Tiana and from other people."
"I need to find the core..."
Even though Raine is a complete beginner when it comes to formations, it doesn't mean that his completely clueless regarding the subject. At the very least, he is aware that all formations have cores that keeps them running. Destroy said cores and the formations would stop functioning.
While Raine is trying to find the core; Tiana is facing off against four highly skilled opponents.
Weapons clashing sounds
Flashes flies as Tiana and the assassins face off in a battle to death.
Using her two daggers, Tiana was able to fend off the deadly attacks from her mysterious opponents. Despite being obviously outnumbered, Tiana was able to hold her own without being disadvantaged.
Nonetheless, her opponents are no pushover either. Using hidden weapons and even magic, the assassins mercilessly attacked the wary dark elf.
Of course, Tiana would not let her opponents dictate the tone of the battle. To counter her opponents’ attacks, Tiana uses her incredible speed to attack the nearby assassins.
Unfortunately, she was outnumbered. Every time she attacked someone, the remaining assassins would also retaliate with their own attacks--forcing her to cancel her attack so as to dodge the deadly attacks coming her way.
"How annoying!" Tiana curses inwardly.
After being separated from Raine, Tiana found herself besieged by four highly skilled assassins after exiting the narrow alleyway.
Fortunately, Tiana is no stranger to ambushes due to her experiences in the field as a member of the kingdom's most mysterious group. If not for her past experiences, she would have been killed by the sudden surprise attack.
"Still, I must dispose of them as fast as possible. Since I was caught in a trap, it also means that Raine was caught as well."
"Please hold on and stay alive!"
Tiana prayed to the deity her tribe believes in for the boy's safety as she increased the ferocity of her attacks. Since they're inside a mysterious formation with unknown function; Tiana knew that she would be put in a disadvantaged the longer she stayed inside said formation.
A shadowy aura resembling smoke suffused her while increasing both her power and speed.
Skill Release: Shadow Burst.
No longer trying to hide her true power, Tiana finally uses one of her strongest ability. In a pop of black smoke, Tiana suddenly disappeared in front of the assassins--startling them greatly.
Eyes widened in shock, the assassins became alarmed as they quickly scanned their surroundings. A moment later, a grunt full of pain could be heard.
Gah!
Before the assassins could even find their target, one of their own was already put out of commission!
Terrifying!
"Quickly, gather together!" One of the assassins ordered.
As if of one mind, the remaining assassins ran towards the other in order to regroup.
Unfortunately for them, Tiana's not done yet. Since she already used her skill release, Tiana must make full use of her skill as she appears behind the nearest assassin.
Argh!
Once again, another assassin fall before the might of Tiana's Shadow Burst skill!
Tiana stared intently at the two remaining assassins without any emotions showing on her beautiful but cold face. And on the two assassins’ sides, they too stared at the female dark elf without showing much emotion even though two of their members had been killed. the two assassins remained extremely cold and composed at the face of death. This showed that the two assassins possessed strong mental fortitude.
"Tsk... The Dark Church sure paid a big price this time around. To think that they would send assassins of this level just to assassinate a child. I'm very worried... Even though Raine is very strong for his age, there's only a small chance that he would win if faced with opponents of this level. I know that his hiding a lot of secrets but I wonder if it's enough to save his life..."
"No point thinking of useless thing... I could only hurry and hope that he would remain safe until I get to him. But it won't be easy..."
Tiana's sharp eyes examine the two remaining assassins for a weakness that could be exploited. Although she manages to kill two of the assassins, she didn't do it with ease. The only reason she was able to pull it off is by taking advantage of their confusion when she used Shadow Burst to disappear in front of them. Her sudden disappearance causes temporary shock and confusion on her opponents which she took full advantage of to kill two of the assassins. But such a chance won't appear so easily again.
Although her release skill is very powerful, it also depends largely on her speed and stealth. If used against unsuspecting opponents, it would show devastating result. But against opponents who are constantly on guards; the skill's effect is reduced by at least 70%!
Yes, Shadow Burst is an extremely strong skill when used in the right situations. But at the same time, the skill's weakness is also very glaring. Once the element of surprise is gone, the skill's effectiveness plummets greatly.
"It seemed that I shouldn't use Shadow Burst anymore... Even if I manage to kill one of them using it, the chance of dying at the other assassin's hands is very high. I guess, I could only look for another way, or wait for a chance to kill both of them together..."
With taut nerves, Tiana and the assassins stared at each other warily while waiting for the other side to make the first action. Unexpectedly, the inaction of the two sides forced the situation into a stalemate.
Raine walks carefully inside the fog. Upon entering a state of extreme concentration, he felt a strange distortion in a certain direction within the fog. With a grim face, he heads towards the direction his instinct is telling him. Although unsure if that strange distortion has something to do with the formation's core; for the trapped Raine, it was better than doing nothing.
"At the very least, I've found a clue..."
Having made the decision to seek out the distortion, Raine's tense body relaxed a little.
As he gets nearer the target, Raine felt that the strange distortion was getting stronger. Raine knew that he's almost upon his target. But whether the strange distortion represents hope or despair, everything is up to fate.
Not long after, Raine finally stopped walking. Looking up, he saw an especially thick fog and a long stone bridge in front of him. Seeing this, Raine knew that he finally arrived at his destination.
"It should be here... But why is there a bridge here?"
Raine looked at the long and wide bridge in front of him with a frown. If his guess is correct, then getting to the formation core would be very difficult.
Even though the target is just passed the stone bridge, Raine didn't let his guard down. Since there's a possibility that this place contained the core of the formation; Raine didn't believed that the core would be unguarded.
"I got a feeling that the moment I stepped forward, something dangerous would appear..."
Judging from his experience when playing RPG video games in his past life; A guardian of sort would certainly appear once he crossed the demarcation line.
"This setting is so cliché that I couldn't even laugh it off," Raine thought wryly.
Since there's a good possibility that he would be attacked the moment he stepped forward, Raine wasn't in a hurry. Although very concerned of his friend's safety, Raine didn't hurry, and instead used the small time given to him to prepare and calm his heart.
Inhale... Exhale...
Taking several deep breaths, Raine finally calmed his furiously beating heart.
"I'm ready!"
Having confirmed his determination, Raine finally took the final step. The moment his right foot landed on the bridge's floor; a strange magic formation quickly appeared on the stone floor of him.
"It's finally here!"
Seeing the magic formation, Raine quickly took a fighting stance. Before long, a huge creature made out of stones and fog appeared menacingly before him.
"So that's the guardian!" Raine inwardly exclaimed as he silently studies the creature in front of him.
The guardian's body is made of floating stones that formed a head, a torso and two arms. It has no facial features and lower body and looked like stones stacked up together to form a somewhat humanoid upper body. A rotating grayish fog, similar to the surrounding fog, formed a long strip that covered the humanoid-like upper body. Carved on its stone body are runes that give off a green glow.
"It looks like a golem but despite being made of stones and fog, it could actually float. How truly magical... Certainly something one would expect from a fantasy world."
Raine's expression glows the moment he set his eyes on the guardian. As a person who hails from a world without magic; the guardian's magical appearance made his fantasy-loving heart itch.
"No, no... I shouldn't be distracted just because the guardian looks so fantasy-like and magical. Instead I should be thinking how I could bypass the guardian and get to the other side of the bridge..."
Raine stared intently at the golem-like guardian as he moves around it. His goal is not to defeat the guardian but to bypass it and get to the formation core. Since the guardian was put there to protect the core, it could only mean that it's not weak. With Raine's current level, he has no confidence that he could best it using head-on confrontation.
"I should first test its reaction speed. If it’s slower than me then I might be able to bypass it!"
Lowering his center of gravity, and making his mana revolves, Raine sprinted to the side of the guardian by strongly pushing his legs and feet at the ground.
Swoosh!
Like a gust of wind, Raine reached the guardian's side in mere seconds. But the moment he was about to bypass the guardian, its entire body rotates like a tornado while its long stone arms stretched so wide that it covers both sides of the bridge!
Seeing this, Raine could only forcefully halt his advance and desperately dodges the guardian's whip like arms as it thrashes wildly--sending debris and dust flying.
Before Raine realized it, he already came back near his starting position. Only after seeing Raine back off did the guarding stopped rotating.
"Unbelievable! To think that it has such trick. Also, if it keeps attacking, wouldn’t the bridge be eventually destroyed?"
“Oh wait, it doesn’t have to worry about that since its duty is to prevent anyone from going to the other side!”
Raine felt a headache incoming due to the high difficulty of his current task. At the same time, he could not help but marvel at the Guardian's attacking and defensive method. Using his rotating stone body and stretching arms, it could both attack and defend at the same time!
"That guardian's almost a cheat!"
Despite being made of stones, the guardian has surprisingly fast reaction. Although it's not as fast as Raine speed-wise; it does possessed a method that could cover its biggest weakness. Also, even though the stone bridge was quite wide; the stone guardian's arms could easily cover both sides thus making going around it impossible.
"At the rate things are going, it would be very difficult for me to bypass the guardian. ...Should I use awakening? No! It's too early to use that. Besides, it's just a guardian. The people sent to assassinate me should be more troublesome."
Raine decided against using his strongest ability since he's just facing a guardian left to protect the formation core. Compared to the real enemy; a guardian should be easier to handle.
"Even though I say easy, that's just in comparison to the real threat. With my current level, I wouldn't be able to win unless I use awakening. But using awakening put a lot of strain to my body so I should only use it when really necessary..."
"I should try again. Also there's no need to force it. I refused to believe that the guardian have no other weakness. I just need to be patient and wait for my chance!"
Moving to his right side, Raine approaches the guardian again. But this time, instead of sprinting near his starting position, he would shorten the distance and then use his fastest speed to bypass the guardian.
While Raine slowly approaches the guardian; the stone guardian is also observing the guardian with its feature-less head. It spread its stone arms widely--ready to strike the moment Raine reach its striking point.
Having measured the distance between him and the guardian, Raine lowered his center of gravity and sprinted towards the guardian!
The moment Raine sprinted, the guardian also quickly rotated and its outstretched arms made of stones whipped the around wildly!
Using his incredible eye sights and natural instinct, Raine avoided the wildly whipping arms with great difficulty. Even though he avoided being hit, Raine still failed to bypass the guardian's impenetrable defenses!
Before long, Raine was again forced back.
Panting heavily, Raine observed the stone guardian and saw it lowering its arms once he's out of reach. Using several seconds to recover his breath, Raine thought of a problem:
Why is the guardian not moving from its position whenever it attacks? Could the solution possibly lie there?
"Right, that should be the case."
After realizing something, Raine once again walked towards the guardian. And just like last time, the guardian widely stretched its stone arms the moment Raine reached a certain distance from it.
Despite reaching another starting point for his sprint, Raine simply stopped their and observed the guardian.
"Just as I expected. Despite me being this close; the guardian's not attacking at all. It seemed that I'm still not within his attacking range... Also, the formation core should be inside the fog just behind it."
Considering how the guardian was not moving from its current position; Raine deduced that the formation core should be just behind the guardian. Armed with this information, Raine quickly sprinted towards the guardian who similarly rotated and attacked the boy with its outstretched stone limbs.
Once again, Raine was put in a difficult position but this time there's no panic in his eyes. Having faced-off with the guardian several times already; Raine, slowly but surely was able to get use to the guardian's wild attacks.
From his previous experience, Raine only needed to reach a certain distance to escape the guardian's range of attack!
Yes, Raine finally figured out the guardian's biggest strength and weakness: It's attack range!
The guardian possessed incredibly wide attacking range. It's one of its strength but at the same time the guardian's biggest weakness. The moment Raine escaped the guardian's attack range, it would need to move from its position in order to attack him again. But judging from the material that made up its body, the guardian won't be able to match Raine's moving speed!
With extreme concentration, Raine skillfully dodges the guardian's attacks while slowly moving behind it. As long as Raine survived the final hurdle, he would be able to destroy the core!
"Now!"
Raine watches the incoming stone arms barreling towards him with extreme concentration and calmness. With skillful maneuvering, Raine somersaulted away from the guardian's a attack range.
As Raine expected, the moment he was out of the guardian's attacking range; the stone guardian stopped its attacks.
Not waiting for the guardian to move towards him, Raine sprinted towards the thick, grayish fog. But the moment he was about to enter the thick fog, Raine senses extreme danger!
Without thinking, Raine quickly dived and dodges to his left side and covered his head!
Weennngggg!!!! BOOOMMMMM!!!
A powerful and extremely hot beam of light almost hits Raine and exploded not far away from the boy's position. If not for his quick reaction, Raine would have undoubtedly died from the attack!
"What was that!" Raine exclaimed in horror.
Quickly turning around, Raine saw the guardian charging up. Again, without thinking Raine dived to his right!
Weennngggg!!!! BOOOMMMMM!!!
A white beam of light containing incredible destructive power and heat vaporizes the area near where Raine was previously huddled.
S%@&!
Raine could not help spew out vulgarities without meaning to--unexpectedly, the guardian have another ace in its sleeves!
"This must be a joke! Since when did this world turn into science fiction? Firing super-heated beams? How am I supposed to beat that?" Raine screamed and complained inwardly at the absurdity of the situation.
Even though it takes at least a second for the beam to charge, that's still not enough time to ran towards the other side of the bridge. After all, the bridge is at least 100 meters.
"Should I run? If I make a mistake, the super-heated beam would sure bore a hole in my body!"
"...No, I could only run. With my speed, I should be able to ran towards the other side of the bridge in 4 to 5 seconds. Even though the guardian would fire beams at me, I should be able to dodge it if I predict the beam's trajectory ahead of time... Fortunately, the beams' trajectory is very straightforward. Yes, it's a very risky maneuver but it's my best chance!"
Having made a decision, Raine unhesitatingly sprinted towards the other side without looking back!
To be continued...
