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Chapter 133: Guardian (3)

Into the halls of the catacombs, the group steadily made their way through it as they stopped in front of a giant door. There, the party noted that the carvings of a statue with its sword facing down was on it.

"We're here," Reru stated in a cautious voice as he turned towards the group. "Beyond here is the statue of the guardian, Hukhtar."

"So we'll be facing the guardian now..." Shinto muttered to himself as he slightly glanced to the back of him, noting the path that they had taken to reach here, which was in a linear line. "...If the statue is behind here, then where's the den for the rat's?"

"Unlike us Sleras that live directly behind the door of the Warrior, Humatar is only accessible through the castle if we follow the path to our den," Reru explained. "in the case of the Farchu's side, the den is behind the Guardian's room."

"Ah..." Shinto nodded his head. "Then... Where is Sanke's room?"

"...he took the den of the Farchu and lived there," he stated. "I do not know where the King and his people live... But, the current person occupying that place is Sanke."

"...huh?" Shinto turned to Reru in a confused manner. "Sanke's behind here?"

"To be more specific, the Guardian is guarding the door that leads to Sanke."

"...and, with that, we're going directly into his territory?" Shinto asked in a bewildered voice.

"Eh?!" Frey cried out as she heard Shinto's vague words. "Say that again? We're going to Sanke?!"

"Sigh," Reru sighed. "Sanke won't touch us if we don't go knocking on his doors. After defeating the Guardian, we'll instantly leave."

"I find it hard to believe that he won't open the door and initiate a battle against us after we're exhausted..." Shinto tilted his head. "Then with the presence of the curse too... isn't this asking for a death wish?"

"Listen, human. You're thinking too far," he clicked his tongue. "Although Sanke is behind that door, it doesn't mean he's directly behind it. It's still a den originally for the Farchu, so the space is large."

"Ahem... Right," Shinto shook his head as he got himself together. With the words of 'Sanke' and 'behind the door' in the sentence, he had completely forgotten the fact that the room was originally a den, thus he had come to the conclusion that Sanke would have been directly behind the door, awaiting them. "I-In any case, back on the topic of the guardian... We'll be facing him off for thirty minutes right?"

"Yes," Reru nodded his head as turned to the front of the door. "If you're ready for an endurance battle, we'll be starting."

"..." Upon hearing the words of 'ready', Shinto subconsciously glanced over to his status window as he double-checked its details, along with the current status of his skills.

[ Player Profile ]

Player Name: Shinto

Level: 33

Rank: N/A

Class: Shadow Diviner (???-Unknown Rarity)

-Class Attribute-

...

-Titles-

...

-Stats-

HP: 810/810 | MP: 712/712 (+20)

Strength: 31 | Stamina: 52 (+4)

Intelligence: 86 (+21) | Agility: 78 (+8)

Shadow: 32 | Divinity: 21

Wisdom: 7

Stats Point: 120

...

"Hmm..." Looking at his current profile, he nodded as he silently added 20 points into Stamina while adding 30 into Intelligence. Thus, bringing his HP up to 1050 and MP to 976 in preparations for the upcoming endurance fight.

Although MP wasn't as important for him, he still needed to increase his damage output even by the slightest amount in order to aid his allies with combat during the times where his skills were on cooldown. Meanwhile, for health, it was always better to have a bigger pool of HP rather than a small one.

In consideration of Strength and Agility, those two stats weren't as pressing as of the moment. He didn't need to increase his weight limit to carry items, nor did he had to increase his evasive speed to avoid enemies.

"Alright... As for skill status..." Turning over to his 11 skills and 8 passives, excluding Sanke's Curse, he noted that most of his main class skills were nearly about to level up to two. Especially for his shadow skills, where he used them as frequent as possible. "...Shadow Fields and Mark of Umbra are at 81% and 89%... I reckon I can level them up after a few more fights."

While [ Shadow Fields ] and [ Mark of Umbra ] were of the higher end of nearing level two, [ Divinity Point ] and [ Hallowed Crest ] were at 74% and 72% respectively.

"Right, It looks like I'm ready," Shinto turned to Reru as he answered. From behind him, Ethaniel and Frey seemed to have already checked their statuses and are prepared as well.

"Good, there's no turning back then," Reru answered as his slime sword protruded out from his body. In the next moment, the sword slammed forward towards the door as he shook greatly. "We're going in now."

As the blade of Reru's collided with the giant door, it slightly opened as Reru soon barged in. From his side, Rustly stared blankly.

"...did you have to use force to break open it? We can just use the way we usually open the door at our place..." he mumbled out.

"Jiggling for the sake of opening a door? That's embarrassing," Reru scoffed, soon disappearing into the room.

"Ugh..." Rustly groaned as he and the group followed behind Reru.

...

Stepping quietly into the dark room of the Guardian, Shinto with his night vision, hurriedly glanced around the areaNoting a giant entity, that seemed to be on its knees in front of them.

The moment his eyes laid on the being, the room slightly shook as torches at the end of the walls lit up a bright red. Following that, the entity up front faintly moved as its eyes lit in a gleam of red, quickly staring down at the party.

"...intruders...they who have awoken me..." A voice filled with a tone of sadness rang throughout the room. Upon hearing such words, the rest of the party soon turned in its direction.

"T-This is?" Frey uttered out in a tone of fear as she was greeted by the sight of a giant statue, five times her size staring down at her. With its worn down armour and blades, flashing red eyes and a seemingly unbecoming aurathis was the Guardian of the Farchu, Hukhta.

"Humans. Get ready," Reru stated.

[ The Lone Guardian of 'Farchu', Hukhta has awoken! ]

[ The guardian stares down at you. ]

"...intruders..." The guardian uttered out. "Is there...even...a need to defend anymore?"

[ At the sight of you, the guardian solemnly glanced away as he refuses to unleash his status. ]

[ The judgement of good and evil has deemed this being 'Neutral'! ]

"...?" Shinto confusingly glanced at his notifications as he soon turned to the guardian.

"...huh?" Kon muttered out. "W-What's going on?"

"...intruders," The statue, Hukhta repeated to himself. "No...should I say...humans?" he continued mumbling as his body sat down onto the floor. "I am the guardian Hukhta...The one who has been tasked to defend this place..."

"What is this?" Reru clicked his tongue. "Why is the guardian... so defeated?"

"...tasked to defend this place..." he repeated to himself once again. "That was a task a long time ago...and I have failed," he placed his blade down in helplessness. "Humans...I ask you this. What brings you to this forsaken being known as a failure?"

"...I'm confused," Frey tilted her head. "So...no fight?"

"..." The group and the statue stared at one another as silence protruded out within the room. However, the still room soon broke as Shinto spoke out. "We've come here... To defeat you."

"...to defeat me...huh..." The guardian sighed. "You do not need to bother. I am as defeated as one can get. In fact... My life is soon to burn like my brother."

[ The status of the guardian has been unleashed! ]

[ The status is dim and defeated. ]

[ When in the presence of Hukhta, agility is gradually decreased by 1% for every 10 seconds until 40% whilst outgoing healing is decreased by 50%. ]

[ You have completely resisted against such status. ]

"...your life is soon going to burn?" Shinto questioned.

"My life force. I have lost all purpose in this world from my original master," he uttered out. "With his death, I was tasked to protect this place. But that too I have failed."

The broken knight stood up from the ground as he walked towards the gate that was behind him. "Now that 'he', or... my current master has strayed afar into the deep darkness of sin, I wish to relay my message while I still can."

"...a message while you still can?" Ethaniel raised his brow, still holding onto his sword in the case of a sudden attack.

"Sanke's magic has stopped flowing in this room temporarily... Thus," The statue turned around to the party, with lifeless eyes and an expression of serenity. "It is a simple request. End me while I still am the 'Guardian Hukhta'."