Chapter 66: Exploring the Temple (Patreon)

“I’m telling you the place is empty,” Hugo insisted

“That seems unlikely,” said Hemi as we climbed up the steps.

“The System wouldn’t put it here randomly,” I said. “Everything in this place is designed with a purpose in mind.”

“Well, if this floor’s purpose was to make me run out of health potions, then it did a good job,” said Elise.

“Hemi, how long until your power fully recovers?” I asked.

He frowned. “It’s hard to say exactly. Maybe an hour or two? The better question is what to use them for. I can float us back to the cavern on a barrier or I can heal injuries, but I can’t do both. At least not yet.”

I nodded. It always came down to not having enough power. It was something I could relate to. Climbing up the last of the steps, I could feel a weariness inside of me. The health potion that Elise had given me had healed my injuries, but it did not restore me to peak physical form like the blood healing did. I found myself hoping for a monster inside the temple that bleeds.

At the top of the stairs sat a large stone room with a single entrance. We stepped inside and looked around. Like Hugo had said, there wasn’t a lot to see.

“Told you so,” said Hugo.

It didn’t make sense. There had to be something here. Don’t places like this have hollowed out sections beneath the temple? I studied the floor until I noticed a small gap under a large flat stone. I dug my fingers under the gap and lifted it. Beneath it were a set of stairs leading down.

“You were saying?” I asked Hugo smugly.

The crow sniffed and looked away, not deigning to dignify me with a response.

With my sword in hand, I went first down the dark stairs, which led to a corridor that the others followed me through. The corridor was filled with holes of various sizes due to how it was built. It looked like it had been clumsily slapped together with rocks of various sizes.

Suddenly, something leapt out of one of the holes. Acting on instinct, I sliced it in two with my sword.

*DING!* You have slain [Nocturnis Coiled-Spring Snake (common)] Level 14 - Experience Points and Currency Acquired

*Beast identified* [Nocturnis Coiled-Spring Snake (common)] Level 14 – These snakes are blind and use aura sense to find and attack their prey. Often found in dark, cold places, these snakes have a unique musculature that allows them to curl their bodies tightly like a spring and then launch themselves at their victims. The current record for the furthest jump is believed to be seventeen feet. Boy, was that guy surprised when a snake suddenly flew across the room at him.

I was about to warn the others when there was a crash behind us. The stairs we’d come down had caved in along with half of the corridor. It would take days for the three of us to dig our way through that much rubble and as much as I liked having a higher vitality and constitution, I didn’t want to see if three days without water was possible. That goes doubly for the others who’d invested far fewer points into them. No, we were trapped in here unless we continued through the temple to find another way out.

More snakes emerged from both walls and there wasn’t enough room for me to fight them all by myself. Luckily, the others went into action.

Hugo flew and caught one snake in mid-air with his talons. The snakes had such a weak constitution that Hugo was then able to tear the thing apart. He did so with glee and then moved on to the next snake. Seeing him kill multiple of these things on his own was a relief. He was finally getting back into the fight and gaining some experience to level up with. If it wasn’t already abundantly clear that he was pleased with himself, the whooping and hollering each time he killed one made it obvious.

Hemi currently lacked the power to fully heal another or create a giant barrier large enough to carry all of us, but that didn’t mean he was powerless. He formed a round shield out of golden light around his left arm and then used it to shield bash the snakes and crush them against the wall.

Any snake that came at me was far too weak and slow for me to miss. Each one that attacked me was dispatched with a single sword stroke. I didn’t need to use one of my abilities, but it still felt incredibly gratifying in how clean and precise my cuts were. I was so enrapt by it that the next System message I received almost distracted me.

*DING!* [Sword Work Skill] has increased to Level 10

*Ding!* You have gained [Apprentice Swordmaster] – Congratulations, you’ve managed to forge the start of a mind body connection between you and your blade. This passive ability grants you greater focus and improves your natural reflexes and swordsmanship. Parries, feints, blocks, and a wider variety of attacks will now come more naturally to you.

I’d done it. I’d gained a new sword skill. Not only did I feel a greater sense of connection to my blade, but I now understood so much more about sword fighting than I had before. Another snake leapt at me and no longer did it take a conscious decision on how best to attack it. It was like muscle memory had kicked in and I instinctively knew exactly what to do. My sword swing was effortless, and the snake was dead at my feet a moment later. I was amazed at just how much better of a swordsman I’d become from one ability. It also wasn’t lost on me that I’d met the requirements necessary to request another meeting with the god Yakeshi. So far he’d given off a stern but fair teacher’s vibe and since he was also called The Heaven’s Blade, I wondered if he could teach me something useful about fighting with a sword.

When no more snakes came to greet me, I threw what points I’d gained into perception and constitution. I then watched the others, who were just about done as well.

“Magni furni!” Elise yelled.

A wave of heat blasted out of the end of her staff, burning the snakes that approached her to death. But she wasn’t done. Elise focused on the wall to her left and cooked any lingering snakes hiding within before doing the same to the other wall.

When we were certain no more snakes would emerge, I went into the menu and checked their stats. Hugo had leveled up three times and was now at level 14. Hemi had reached level 13 and Elise had gotten to level 17. She had killed the most snakes out of any of us, but due to her past level relative to the creatures, it made sense that she’d gotten the lightest boost. Meanwhile, Hugo had surged forward, which was a relief. The fact that I was outpacing him so quickly was starting to get concerning.

I didn’t say anything at first. All three of them had a faraway look in their eyes that told me they were looking at System messages and leveling up their stats. Then, one by one, they visibly brightened as they felt themselves grow in power. I made it a point not to check what Hugo’s stats looked right now for the same reason I didn’t ask about the others. They knew their Classes better than I did and since all of them had stepped up and fought bravely; I trusted them to figure out what worked best.

The corridor opened up to a ledge overlooking a massive space. There was a giant hole in the upper wall that revealed the stormy sky. It lit the room and showed some objects of interest down below. The ledge we were on sloped downwards and as we followed it to the bottom, we saw that there were four human statues stood frozen on pedestals. Each statue held a different weapon from a bo staff, a knife with chains, a bow, and finally twin swords. There were four circular markers that I’m guessing we had to stand on.

“Okay, so we all know those statues are coming to life, right?” I asked.

They all murmured in agreement and said they were ready for it.

I stood on one of the markers to see what would happen. The marker below my feet began to glow red, but nothing else happened.

“I think we’ve all got to step on them,” I said.

We were going to have to fight all four statues at once, which wasn’t ideal, but it seemed like the only way to progress.

Elise went right up to a statue first and tapped it with her staff. She then shook her head. “Nothing.”

I knew what she meant. No System message, which means we have no idea what level these things are. I just told myself that it can’t be any worse than the empowered ram outside.

The rest of the group each stood on a marker, even Hugo, whose tiny body was still enough to activate it. All four markers now glowed green and the statue with the bo staff came to life. I moved forward to fight it and immediately hit an invisible wall. I reached out and felt the wall surrounding me. I couldn’t move beyond the marker, which still glowed green. I looked and saw the others were facing the same problem, except for Hemi. His marker glowed white, and he was allowed to move freely outside of it.

The living statue nimbly hopped off of its pedestal and started twirling its staff. It moved slowly towards Hemi, who backed away uncertain of what to do.

This was worse than fighting all of them at once. Instead, each of us would have to fight one alone, and the floor had chosen our weakest fighter to face an undoubtedly higher leveled opponent for the first match.