The first ones to discover the heart were Yuren and Helia. Yuren quickly found the heart with her dragon sense. Her fist shattered the wall, and she pulled the heart out.
What was wriggling was far from a human heart. It looked more like a twisted thorny vine. Just as Yuren was about to deal with it, clenching her fist…
Suddenly, Helia, who was behind Yuren, lunged forward. Yuren was flustered by Helia’s unexpected movement. Helia swung her sword, slashing the ground.
Helya Style One Sword Advance Slash!
Where Helia’s sword struck, there was flesh. The squishy flesh seemed to react to Helia’s precise strike and quickly escaped the area. Soon, it regained its form.
The form of the flesh vanished, and before them stood a black armor. It resembled the armor of the kingdom, but it was much larger and heavier than what they had seen in the royal palace.
“Did you already find the heart?”
“This guy is…!!!”
“It must be the guardian protecting the heart.”
“As expected, it won’t go down easily.”
“Yuren, you find the next heart quickly.”
Helia stopped Yuren, who was about to deal with the armored guardian. She didn’t want to admit it, but Yuren was much better at locating hearts than herself. Perhaps it was the dragon’s sense.
Anyway, it would be better for Yuren to run around than her. Having come to that conclusion, Yuren nodded and moved forward.
The guardian that remained was staring at Helia. To him, this was honestly absurd. How dare such a young girl attempt to stand against him? He openly mocked her.
“Are you really going to face me alone?”
“Words are unnecessary.”
“What…?!”
Helia’s red eyes gleamed with ferocity. There was no longer any mercy in her gaze. At that moment, the guardian realized that his neck was rolling on the ground…
For Helia, this was child’s play. Even though she was young, it didn’t matter. She had to stand proudly beside her teacher one day.
So, she couldn’t afford to get caught up in such trivialities. This much should be dealt with easily. Meanwhile, as Helia dealt with the guardian, everyone discovered their hearts.
[Can you hear my voice?]
“Yes! I can hear you well!”
[That’s a relief.]
Naturally, they had to fight scattered, so preparations were necessary. Using an artifact prepared by Cluna, they could communicate with each other. Just like a walkie-talkie.
[It would be great to talk in a situation where we’re apart.]
And that was naturally Hans’s idea. With carrier pigeons and bonfires being the norm, Hans’s suggestion turned out to be a great idea, and with the cooperation of Ruby and Cluna, a communication device was created.
Of course, the communication distance was still quite limited, and since it was made with magic, there was a bit of noise, but still, it was sufficient for communication.
Ruby stopped her steps. She had discovered one of the seven hearts. Being a Dwarf, even though she didn’t do construction, the instincts imprinted in her blood allowed her to sense the oddity of the fortress.
Thanks to that, she was able to find the heart at almost the same speed as Yuren. But, naturally, guardians appeared to stop the heart’s destruction. Unlike Yuren, Ruby’s guardian turned out to be a monster.
“Helia said she dealt with her guardian, right?”
[Yes, that’s correct.]
“This is quite embarrassing.”
Helia had a guardian appear while Ruby faced nothing but skeletons. Ruby showed her annoyance through actions. The hammer she held started to glow with flames.
Finally, the fiery hammer swung by Ruby swept away every skeleton in front of her. Meanwhile, Cluna quickly calculated in her head after hearing that information.
‘There are seven hearts. The quality of enemies appearing for each heart is different.’
‘The guardian that appeared for Helia must be stronger than the monsters.’
‘Why did they allocate their strengths so unequally?’
‘There are two possibilities: lack of strength or the importance varies by heart.’
And probably the biggest possibility lies with the latter. Having made that judgment, Cluna quickly informed everyone of this. Thanks to that, the Royal Knights showed more efficient movements.
Everyone was putting in efforts.
Only for the commander, Hans.
*
‘Tell me the level of enemies might differ per heart? Please let me face weak enemies!!!’
However, as if they didn’t care about the thoughts of the members, Hans hoped for weak enemies to appear. Of course, he didn’t want his comrades to die or get hurt.
Hans had to conserve his Time Stop Ability as much as possible. Ideally, strong opponents would appear for Cluna and Yuren. They were at the top rank of the Royal Knights.
Honestly, Bayard could cover that level too. What worried him were Helia, Clara, and Ruby. These three, without their special abilities, possessed far greater power than Hans himself.
Thus, when Hans heard information from Cluna, what he hoped for most was encountering the weakest enemies. It seemed Ruby’s skeleton horde would be the weakest.
‘But where in the world is the heart?’
Other members had started finding hearts one by one. In comparison, Hans still hadn’t found any, and the reason was simple. He hadn’t ventured deep enough.
Right now, Ares’ Bridge looked far worse than expected. Flesh and entrails were substituting for walls, and the floor was a mess of tendons twisted together. Just looking at it was exhausting for Hans.
Thanks to that, he couldn’t explore deep like other members. In the end, Hans could only keep circling around the vicinity. But that didn’t mean he intended to stay like this indefinitely.
‘I’ll have to venture in and look for it eventually.’
There were seven hearts. With the numbers aligned perfectly, Hans could not afford to skip this. Luckily, the number of members who found hearts was still low, but later, he could be the only one without a heart.
‘Should I use Time Stop then? No, even so, due to the cooldown, I might not be able to take down all seven at once.’
Just then, the courtyard of the fortress, where Yuren initially arrived with the team, started to wiggle and revealed a massive form. Hans turned around in shock.
[You managed to find my location after all. Is it true that the commander of the Royal Knights is at another level?]
It resembled a giant toad. Its skin was brown, and it was oozing mud profusely. Yes, it was clearly the mud guardian*. Hans clicked his tongue and spoke.
“Don’t tell me you are the guardian of mud?”
[Indeed. That is the glorious name I received from him.]
“That ‘him’ would be referring to Blood Demon, right?”
[You dare speak that name so carelessly!!!]
The mud guardian’s rage struck the fortress. Upon hearing that tremor, Hans realized. This guy really was the mud guardian. He gritted his teeth. But why did it suddenly appear?
No one told him, but it didn’t take long for Hans to understand the reason. The mud guardian had been in the courtyard all this time. That meant the heart was in this courtyard.
Instead, by openly placing it in such an easy spot, it was hard to find, while the commander of the Royal Knights was meandering nearby. Naturally, from the standpoint of the mud guardian, it was bound to be a threat…
‘Shit, this is bad.’
[Commander has discovered the mud guardian!]
[Does he need support?!]
[No! Everyone hold your positions!]
[Right, don’t bother me unnecessarily.]
With the finishing touch, somehow knowing, Cluna announced that Hans had engaged in battle with the mud guardian, and even a hint of help was perfectly blocked by Helia’s instinct.
Of course, from Helia’s perspective, she judged that rather than moving unnecessarily, staying put would help Hans more. It was the right judgment, but it was a problem if Hans was in danger.
‘Shit!! Save me!!!’
Ignoring Hans’s desperate cries, the mud guardian, standing before him, attacked first. Gathering all its flesh, it lunged at Hans. Hans could do nothing but watch in a daze.
He could follow it with his eyes, but his body couldn’t keep up. To be honest, he thought that if his life was in danger, the Time Stop would activate on its own. But just then…
Whooooosh!!!
The Divine Sword lodged at Hans’s waist reacted. A pure white light began to fill the surrounding area from his sword. Hans blinked, not knowing what was happening.
And when Hans regained his senses…
Gulp…!!!
Before him stood the collapsing form of the mud guardian.
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