Chapter 6: Guardian

Jess led me into the small stone building, and all it was was a staircase heading down into an underground crypt. It was a big square chamber, and the gamer instincts in my head tingled: boss fight.

“Looks like the treasury is through that big door.” Jess pointed. She started walking and I sighed. The actual second Jess stepped off the steps into the big square room, there was a loud creaking. One of the walls slid back and out walked a being I had no idea how to fight. I was hilariously under-leveled, and Jess couldn’t take this thing alone.

The boss was a figure just slightly bigger than a human could ever hope of being, and was clad entirely in black armor. It had a black longsword that shone with black crackling lightning. It also carried a diamond-shaped shield, which struck me as odd.

“I am the Guardian of this Crypt. You have stepped foot in my domain, and have sentenced yourselves to ****!” the armor-clad knight roared, and it charged. I tacked Jess to the floor as the longsword cut where she’d been standing seconds ago. The Guardian was incredibly fast. Jess rolled across the floor and I scrambled to my feet, lifting my sword in time to clash against the Guardian’s blade. Then he was across the room to attack Jess, who wielded a short-sword. I quickly realized this Guardian was way stronger than what we could take. I touched my signet ring, and prayed it had some other kind of power than disassembling skeletons.

Then, a thought occurred to me. What if the ring was anti-magical? The skeletons were products of necromancy, and maybe it had undone the spell? I sighed and clenched my fist tightly, and tried to activate the ring. The Guardian came at me, and I threw up my hands, sword unable to be lifted in time. The longsword dissipated and I saw with relief the ring was glowing. My relief quickly dissipated when the Guardian grabbed a knife that wasn’t made of magic and stabbed me in the shoulder. It kicked me to the floor and then zoomed off to fight Jess again, though I’d gotten rid of his deadly longsword, and he seemed a little slower and smaller, but not by much.

I gritted my teeth as my hand tried to stop the bleeding by pressing to my wound. I stumbled to my feet, and grabbed my sword, and braced it against my chest. The Guardian was zooming around the room, and I took a step to the left after watching his pattern and the Guardian zipped right through the blade, and came to a stop. His torso slid off his waist and the halved Guardian died.

>XP Gained!

>Leveled Up!

>New Skill Unlocked: Pyromancy Lvl. 1

I stumbled to Jess, who was leaning against the wall, eyes fluttering and her gorgeous blond hair matted with blood. I realized the Guardian had thrown her against the wall, and she’d hit her head.

I sighed and flopped down beside her, pressing my hand against my bleeding shoulder. I heard the door of the crypt, and footsteps coming down the steps. Through weary eyes, I saw a figure stride into the room fearlessly. He came forwards and knelt in front of me.

“Hello, traveler. I saw the destroyed skeletons and wondered if your party had been felled by the Guardian. But it looks like you handled him nicely. My name is Tarron. I am an elf from the nearby village. Our contact at the town you came from told us you were looking for us. You didn’t seem to be harmful, but now you bear Zahreem’s mark.” the brown-haired elf told me.

“Not by choice. He threatened me into swearing allegiance.” I rasped.

“I see. That does change things.” Tarron mused.

“Can you heal us?” I gasped as my shoulder gave a throb of pain.

“Yes.” Tarron said simply, and touched my shoulder. His skin, which was a light brown, glowed golden and my wound closed. I blinked, moving my shoulder experimentally. Then, Tarron touched Jess’s forehead and his skin glowed again and Jess’s head presumedly healed. Tarron looked at me.

“Which of you slayed the Guardian?” Tarron asked.

“I did.” I said.

“Impressive.” he smiled. He handed me a map.

“That will lead you to the Elvish village. I’m on official business for the Elvish princess, so I can’t quite escort you, apologies.” Tarron said, then left quickly. I sighed and stood up, then crouched in front of Jess, shaking her awake. She stirred.

“Sebastian. What happened?” Jess murmured.

“I killed the Guardian. Some elf dude showed up and gave us a map to the elvish village and healed our wounds.” I explained. Jess’ eyes widened.

“Are you serious?” she asked. I nodded and handed the map over. Then I stood and threw open the doors to the crypt’s treasury. Inside was a shelf with two chests on it. I came forwards and pushed both open. In the first chest was a simple wooden bow, and a quiver of shimmering arrows. I grabbed both, and equipped them. To my surprise, I saw the arrows had a deadly poison on them called Drake’s Blood.

I opened the second chest and found a silvery dagger I knew was elvish. It looked too much like the blade from the Hobbit to be anything else. I grabbed the dagger and equipped it.

>The dagger Eclipse has a powerful ability to slice through any manner of animal hide as easy as parchment, making it perfect for hunting.

“Cool.” I grinned.

“Sebastian!” Jess called. I emerged from the treasury and Jess smiled at my new equipment.

“Oh, do you want some of this?” I offered.

“No, no. You killed the Guardian, you should get the spoils.” Jess waved me off.

“Alright. Thanks.” I grinned. Jess was examining the map Tarron had given me. I offered a hand to the beautiful half-elf, and hauled her to her feet.

“C’mon. I know the way.” Jess smiled, touching my shoulder. I hurried after her.

I don’t know what this box is, or how I caused it to appear. Whoops.