Chương 20: Memories

In the hidden part of the wall, a dusty altar levitated in the air. It looked as if it had been abandoned for centuries. Whoever built the shrine tried their best to hide it. A trail of footsteps led to the altar. The footprints weren't shaped like regular shoes. Heavy armored boots had left those marks long ago. We're not the first visitors… Interacting with the altar revealed a new message.

/———————————————————————————\ You have discovered Special Challenge Room Description: When the first worlds formed, several shrines were scattered around the realms. Primordial classes had these altars into which they could pray or sacrifice to gain power. Pass the challenges to gain more power or to choose a different path altogether. In the next room, you can evolve your existing class or select a new one. Warning: Your choices are final and irreversible.

Failure in this challenge could mean your eternal imprisonment if the current challenge doesn't have a designated guardian. Do you wish to proceed? YES | NO \———————————————————————————/""Um… being trapped forever doesn't sound real good to be honest. Ash, what do you think?" The window remained open even after the finished. The raven spread its wings and flapped furiously, stirring up the dust. Eric coughed repeatedly while trying to cover himself.

Ash fired a tiny spark of energy into the dust, transforming it into a bunny. The rabbit hopped around the chamber.

"I'll take this as a yes. Thanks for cleaning everything up. Let's do this!" Ash landed on Eric's shoulder, and he pressed the glowing 'YES' button. The skeletal hands on the altar moved to the side, and the rose in the middle sprouted. After withering, its thorns grew larger, covering everything around and isolating the group. The twisting vines finally stopped moving. At their center, the thorns curled into a circular portal. Eric and Ash stood at its center.

Crimson petals exploded around the chamber and teleported them out of Purgatory. A water vortex engulfed everything, lifting the Death's apprentice high in the air. Moments later, Eric soared through a dark blue sky filled with drifting rose petals. Ash glided right beside its partner.

"What is this place? Grim mentioned nothing about plants, so this might be someone else's doing." His entire body relaxed while soaring through the rain of petals in the blue night. A lone mountain towered in the distance. Instead of the usual peak, it had a circular arena on top. The soft landing Eric had completed the eerie calm picture. His body gently slid to a stop as his feet touched the platform. Talk about a warm welcome.

The footsteps in the dust earlier made perfect sense the moment Eric saw a knight's armor abandoned near the arena. An ice-cold wind blew at the top of the mountain, freezing the rose petals it brought to the arena. Touching the ground, some of them broke into smaller pieces. The breastplate was dented at the heart. A small steel cube rested beside the corpse. Moving over to inspect, Eric noticed a skull near the steel harness.

"Guests! Guests! What a great surprise! Please excuse my appearance." The jaws of the skull clacked rapidly.

"For the first time in centuries, we have visitors! Long ago, I was the first one…" Unnatural enthusiasm flowed from the skull. It tried its best to contain the excitement. Ash flew over the arena and landed on the breastplate. Upon hearing the skull, it jumped on it and pecked several times.

"My beloved Ash! Where have you been all these years?" Eric pointed at his companion and the talking head.

"You know each other? So, I'm the only new hire…"

"Yes, my dear. Let me explain. I'm Vex, guardian of the Special Challenge Room. Long ago, I found this place while searching for more power. Unfortunately, I failed the challenge and my soul was bound here forever." Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The strong wind at the top of the mountain tossed the skull over the arena.

"As you can see, the breeze moves me around. That breastplate over there's mine." This is some advanced torture… Eric walked over to the talking skull and picked it up. He returned to the armor and crouched, shielding himself from the wind. Ash seemed to cope with the flowing air just fine.

"Can you help me solve the challenge?" Eric asked.

"That's what you're here for. Be warned, the path ahead is harder than it seems," Vex opened its jaw rhythmically and continued, "Place my skull on the steel cube. Protect it from intruders while I regain my power. At the end, you'll be granted a choice beyond your wildest dreams." Eric glanced at Ash, his companion gliding in the air with the currents.

"Sounds good enough. Anything else to know before starting?"

"My body decayed and my armor is empty. I'll have to feed it with life." Before starting the battle, Eric mentally checked through his resources. His essence was enough, and he had some items in his inventory if the situation got heated. Nothing was aching, and he was still fresh from the Elegy Vault earlier. The dread in his heart was overthrown by the excitement of the challenge.

"I'll move you over as requested. Any final thoughts?"

"Well… yes. When I'm able to move on my own…" The cube grew a metal sphere over the skull, cutting out all sound.

"No, wait!" Eric yelled. Soon enough, the wind rushing through the arena stopped completely. Ash landed on the ground, its feathers smooth and shiny. A giant movie theater screen showed up to the left of the circular arena. Focusing his attention on it, Eric read a system message he hadn't seen before. /——————————————\ Waves defeated: 0/2 Summoning complete: 0% \——————————————/ The ground flashed with fiery red text, marking the start of the first wave. Here we go!

Four black rifts tore open the air, and groups of minions entered. They had blue skin, black horns, and clawed feet. Their eyes glowed with predatory hunger. Ash's caw turned into a jagged, angry shriek. It opened its wings and plunged into the air below the arena. Eric summoned his dagger mid-step.

"I can take four of them. You distract the other half of the group," he yelled. His raven immediately knew how to distract the minions. It circled the group and shot out wisps of green energy. Five of the winged menaces followed it, leaving three for Eric. He repositioned on the arena and launched a spectral throw. The glowing blade killed two of the minions at once. A phantom hand seized the last one and smashed it into the ground.

Eric was accustomed to receiving the yellow experience orbs from battle, but they ignored him this time and flew over to the knight's armor. He watched as his companion soared through the group of minions chasing with anger in their eyes.

"Hey! Line them up and fly toward me! I'll throw you a signal," Eric shouted. Ash spun around the arena and veered away from the mountaintop. In the distance, the raven made a wide turn, and the group of chasing minions lined up in a straight line. Okay… you really are smart. For a first real battle, and with no practice, Ash moved as if they'd been fighting together for years. He had imagined what the result would be, before screaming the instructions.

The raven did the aerial acrobatics perfectly, dragging the minions into a perfect line exactly as Eric had pictured it. In the distance, the group of minions mindlessly followed the raven. Eric repositioned once more, facing the line of enemies. He charged a spectral throw and sprinted forward. Just before the edge of the arena, he stopped and released the projectile with a swing of his weapon. Ash rolled sideways through the air, dodging the incoming attack and surprising the minions.

The five minions flew straight into the spinning projectile and came apart mid-air.

"That was epic! You might replace me as an employee of the month." Ash gained some altitude and circled over Eric's head. It made a longer, controlled caw. The breastplate absorbed almost all the experience, restoring a part of its previous shine. It had a long way to go before reaching mint condition. Metal leggings popped into existence and clanked to the ground. More armor pieces took shape from the floating orbs until a full suit stood beside the breastplate.

/——————————————\ Waves defeated: 1/2 Summoning complete: 80% \——————————————/ The three black portals closed, and the ground changed the burning letters. It showed a timer with sixty seconds remaining. Eric observed the ground in disbelief.

"What the heck?" Worn-down barrels were fell all over the arena. Another information tooltip appeared on the ground below the timer text. /——————————————\ Time remaining: 60 seconds. Objects to destroy: 30 \——————————————/ The reaper acolyte stood still for a couple of seconds before transforming his weapon into a hammer. Time was short for him. Earlier in the basement, he smashed two barrels looking the same as the ones in the arena.

"I might need some help here," Eric said. Ash dove into the arena and shoved some barrels to the side. The wooden kegs tumbled down and disintegrated into yellow orbs. More than half of the objects remained. Eric swung wildly and smashed most of the barrels. He risked one glance at the timer.

"Twenty seconds left!" All the experience orbs fed into the breastplate on the ground. More parts of the armor materialized, and soon the whole battle gear was ready. It stood up, extending its hands into the air, as if looking for something. Is that… Vex's body? Slight mumbling could be heard from the metal sphere holding the talking skull. Its empty body bumped into the barrels, searching for its missing head. The walking armor caught a dusty barrel and tried placing it where its head should've been.

"Hey, bring that back!" Eric ran to the reanimated suit and wrestled with it to take off the barrel. In the meantime, Ash pushed more of the objects over the ledge of the arena, destroying them. It dashed around the dusty wooden casks until two of them remained. Vex's body resisted each of Eric's attempts to take off the barrel on its head. The armor clutched the barrel protectively like it had finally found its missing piece. The timer on the floor was still ticking.

"That's not your head!" Eric shouted.

"Give me the barrel!" He let go of the suit of armor, as Ash flew over and grabbed one of its metal legs. The raven tried to secure it in place. /—————————————\ Time remaining: 6 seconds. Objects to destroy: 1 \—————————————/ Eric panicked at the updated system message and crushed the barrel on the reanimated armor. In the process, he deformed the breastplate underneath.

"My beautiful head! My precious… huh? What happened?" Vex looked around, free from the steel cage. Eric moved over to it.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier your body would search for a head?"

"I didn't know what challenge you'd receive. They're different for everyone. Please, grant me freedom!" The skull pleaded wildly as Eric grabbed it and hurried to the armor. It was still wandering around the place. Placing Vex onto the hollow armor triggered a transformation in the realm. It flashed white, and the rain of rose petals disappeared. Stones cascaded down the slope of the mountain as the arena broke free and surfed the avalanche heading straight down.

Eric rode the improvised surfboard and crashed into a giant pond. The arena floated. Vex crawled from underneath the water, climbing up onto the stone raft.