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The place looked like a graveyard. There were many swords buried till halfway, as if marking the grave of some warrior from the past. The swords were rusted, some even shattered in pieces. Like this place was telling some past, forgotten tale.
Raine was moving towards the base of the statue. But then he remembered that every statue had a powerful monster guarding it. Yeah, he remembered reading something like that. So he looked for one. Scanning the surroundings with his eyes and his spirit sense.
He didn't see anything. Nothing was around this place. No one. Not even those scavengers who were everywhere in this coral labyrinth.
So that just meant only one thing. They were avoiding this place. This place was dangerous enough for them to stay away. And those lots didn't have a sharp sense of danger.
That means whatever could scare them would be equally terrifying.
So Raine stopped. Wary to go near. But he wanted to. He wanted to stroll through this place. He wanted to feel a bit nostalgic walking through this place even though he didn't know this place existed a few moments ago.
So he climbed to a high coral. To observe this place carefully. He was hoping that some dumb monster would approach this place and he would see what kind of monster was guarding this place.
But no one came.
'Should I risk it? Should I move on? What do I do? This place doesn't look like a den of a powerful creature, but it is also so quiet that it feels dangerous, like something is maintaining the peace here.'
'If I move on, nothing will be lost, but nothing will be gained either.' And he was hoping to get something cool from the spell and whoever was guarding this place was guaranteed to give him something powerful.
It wasn't that he needed it, it's just that his chunnibyu or his inner child wanted to experience this kind of feeling. To possess something cool. Something that was given to him through fate or coincidence. Like in novels. Something like a Soulbound weapon?
"No, no more weapons!" He said hurriedly.
But he wouldn't mind even if he got one anyway. So he made up his mind. He would scout this place. From close. In his spirit form.
So he did. He sat cross-legged and entered his spirit form. He didn't need to lie down anymore. He had learnt how to not fall even while in spirit form. Just like when someone entered their soul sea. For protection he summoned and placed the Lizard's tail a bit away from his body.
Then he moved towards the statue. Carefully. No reaction. Everything was quiet. He was looking for any sign of a living monster. Nothing.
Until a sword came flying at his spirit body. He dodged it. But then more came. One, ten, hundred. All the swords in the graveyard rose in the air and attacked him at once.
He couldn't dodge. Not this many. He tried to run. Some swords pierced through him anyway. He shuddered.
But then, nothing. He didn't feel anything. No pain. Those swords passed harmlessly through his spirit form. It was the same as passing through a wall. Nothing dangerous to this form.
So he stopped his run. Turned back and observed the situation again. Now that he had an idea of what kind of creature was guarding this place, it didn't take him long to find it.
Among the many swords, scattered and buried all over the place, one emitted a faint energy. Energy of a spirit. Just like any other nightmare creature.
'So that sword is alive?'
It was a rusted rapier. Buried halfway through a grave. It looked old and fragile. Like it would break any second.
'So that's what is controlling the other swords? It should be of higher rank than what I usually face.'
'But why does it look so weak. Is that why I couldn't sense it before?' 'Looking at its condition, maybe it's about to reach its own grave.'
The swords were still flying at him. He didn't move. He just floated in the air. Observing what would happen next.
Something did change.
The amount of swords flying at him reduced. Then their speed decreased.
'So it's finally getting tired, hah. Good for me.'
He knew it was an intelligent creature. That was obvious because he knew about the high-class monsters that possessed the power to control others like minions.
'And despite its intelligence, it hadn't stopped after seeing these attacks not working on me and tired itself.'
'So that means it couldn't do anything else. It has no means to deal with me. And it hasn't sensed my physical body because it's a bit far from this place.'
He turned to look at his physical body. Nothing was around. He was safe.
He turned back towards the rapier, slowly floating towards it. He came closer until he was only one meter from reaching it.
The attacks stopped.
....
....
It's broken..... It's broken again.
The silence, the peace. The peace of this place is broken again.
But this time it's different. It's different than before.
This time there aren't noisy creatures wanting to make this place their own. This time there aren't humans who are running from monsters to look for a safe place.
No. This time, it's different. It's silent. Quiet. Like it should be.
But it won't allow it. It won't allow anyone to enter this place. Even if they are not noisy. Even if they don't have any presence.
So it attacked. It attacked with everything it had. Swords. Countless swords.
It could control them. Not as deadly as before. But it would be enough. Like always. It always worked. Even if it couldn't move itself. These minions would do the job for it.
But this time was different. Its attacks just passed through the invader. Not doing anything.
It tried harder, spending what essence it had left. Until nothing remained.
But it didn't give up. It would never.
If the normal swords couldn't damage the invader then it had to do this itself.
But then it remembered. It couldn't. Not in the condition it was in.
It's not that it was weak. It's not that it's on the verge of shattering.
These things won't stop it.
But the peace.
Its master was resting here peacefully. If it moved, that would disturb its master's long slumber.
No. It couldn't do that. It would never do that.
After everything its master had to go through, they deserved rest.
So it couldn't move.
But the invader was getting closer. He was moving towards its master's grave.
It couldn't let him. It won't let him.
So it finally moved. After being buried for thousands of years beside its master's sleeping place. It moved.
It launched itself towards the invader, gathering whatever energy it had left.
It attacked. The invader guarded his face with his hands.
It wouldn't matter. It would slice through his hands.
But when the attack connected. It felt something.
Like a connection was cut.
It couldn't feel anything else.
....
....
'Man, that was scary.' Raine thought.
He was confident that the sword couldn't attack him. So he moved closer to it.
It looked fragile. Like just moving would make it shatter into pieces.
And he planned to do exactly that.
Now that he was used to his aspect, he was able to influence the material world better than before.
It wasn't anything powerful. Just like a child's punch. Nothing strong.
But that was enough for this situation.
The sword looked weak. Like it was a fossil from some unknown era.
He was confident that he could break this sword even in this form.
So he gathered the energy in his hands. More dense than before. More refined.
But something unexpected happened. Just as he had gathered the energy in his hands, the sword moved with frightening speed and attacked him in one swift motion.
He wasn't expecting this. He wasn't ready for this. The sword was coming for his head.
He didn't know if the attack would cause him harm or not. He didn't have time to think this.
He did the only thing he was so used to doing. He covered his face with his hands. A boxing guard.
The strike connected. On his hands. Which were brimming with energy.
He felt a bit of pain. But it didn't increase. He waited for a moment to open his 'spirit' eyes again which got closed due to his fright.
What he saw shocked him. The sword was shattering.
Just by hitting his hands, it was destroyed.
Just like that.
He didn't do anything.
It hit him and that caused it to get shattered.
[You have slain an Awakened Tyrant]
[Your soul grows stronger]
He was shocked from this whole situation. But his shock only intensified when he heard the spell continue saying.
[You have received a Memory]
And more...
[You have received an Echo]
'Echo? Echo? Did it say Echo?'
He summoned his runes.
There wasn't any major changes. Quite a bit of his soul fragments were consumed through this long fight. But that wasn't important.
A name had appeared after the Echo section.
It read [Quiet Dancer].
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