〈 Episode 12 〉 Towards the Trial (2)

*

It wasn’t just one.

Three golems were rushing in at once.

“Damn.”

I had to run away.

But my legs wouldn’t move.

Just when I was about to use [Absolute Obedience].

“Stay still.”

Gwen called out and dashed forward.

“Gwen?”

I couldn’t think of a reason for Gwen to confront instead of fleeing. But as I looked closely, I saw a man being chased by the golems.

“Help me!”

Gwen passed by the man and stabbed her sword into the lead golem.

“That sense of justice.”

Meanwhile, the fleeing man looked more like a Pathfinder than a hero, judging by his ordinary clothes.

Boom

As Gwen pulled her sword out, the leading Ruin Golem fell.

Before the fallen Ruin Golem hit the ground, Gwen was already at the next golem.

The fiery red light pouring from her sword moved so fast it left an afterimage.

Quick and decisive. Thanks to her [Precocious] trait, Gwen’s combat style came from stunted growth during her teenage years.

The lack of strength relied on the penetration of the Relic Ignis, overcoming the rest with speed.

However, even this combat style had its limits.

Most notably, the penetration of the 3-star Relic Ignis would not work against certain foes.

As long as she could stab the core directly, it wouldn’t matter, but the golem seemed to have seen its comrade fall and wrapped its long arm around its core.

Because of that, Gwen too couldn’t take down the golem in one blow this time.

“It’s only a matter of time, though.”

Based on my experience of having trained Gwen at least 20 times, there was no way she would lose to a monster like this.

Boom!

The golem swung its remaining arm.

But Gwen easily dodged it, diving in instead and cutting at the golem’s heel with her sword.

The golem lost its balance momentarily. It was a good opportunity to attack, but Gwen didn’t let her guard down.

She twisted her body to evade an attack from another golem.

The series of movements were so swift, they were hard for me to follow with my own eyes.

Only intense red afterimages lingered, decorating the air like petals.

“So this is the Rose Knight…”

When I was a Player, I had thought the title “Rose Knight” was due to her pattern.

But seeing it firsthand, there was no doubt her swordsmanship evoked the imagery of roses.

“So this is Swordsmanship [S]?”

If that was the case, what level had the Gwen I trained reached to achieve S+? I could now understand why it took so long to reach S+.

And for her to reach SS… I couldn’t even imagine. Rarely, some had achieved SS, but still.

“Huff.”

After knocking down the other two golems in an instant, Gwen finally exhaled and pulled her sword from the golem.

The once fiery sword returned to its original color.

But she didn’t sheath it again.

Instead, she simply gestured towards the man who was quietly trying to sneak away.

“You there.”

The man froze as if turned to stone.

Gwen continued, pointing in the direction the man was headed.

“And you guys too. Show yourselves.”

Then, a group of men who had been invisible emerged from the place.

Among the revealed men, the largest one spoke.

“Your skills are truly impressive. Plus, your keen eye.”

He pointed at the man who had been chased by the golems.

“We really appreciate you saving our comrade. Well then…”

Just as they were about to withdraw.

“You guys aren’t Pathfinders.”

“What?”

“They’re thieves. Professional ones at that.”

At that, the man looked dumbfounded.

“What do you mean? Thieves?”

“A Pathfinder wouldn’t be wandering around in such shabby gear. You guys are more likely to be lurking around ambushing heroes or Pathfinders rather than exploring.”

“What! We are not thieves…!”

Gwen pointed at one of the men.

“Your Relic, for one. I know what that is.”

At that moment, the thieves made their judgment.

They knew they had been completely exposed.

“Run!”

“But we can’t let them go. It’s a hero’s duty to catch thieves and retrieve the relics.”

Gwen still hadn’t put her sword away.

She raised it and charged at the thieves.

But the thieves had apparently already prepared to flee.

They threw the dark bundles they were holding onto the ground.

Instantly, the dark particles clustered and scattered in all directions.

“Cough!”

In the sudden smoke, I drew the sword Gwen had lent me, my senses heightened.

Knowing how strong Gwen was, I figured they would run away immediately, but I couldn’t let my guard down either.

Then, through the smoke, I heard Gwen’s voice.

“I won’t let you go!”

I caught a glimpse of her red blade swinging.

And then the scream of a man echoed.

“Ahh!”

That was the last sound I heard.

As I remained on guard and waited for a while, the black smoke gradually dissipated, and my vision began to clear.

Sshhh

The heat radiating from Gwen’s blade evaporated the blood on its surface. She sheathed her now clean sword.

At her feet lay the corpse of one thief, heart pierced in one stroke, blood spilling on the ground.

“I wanted to ask something.”

Gwen lifted the spear that the man had clutched. It was plain and unadorned, but the faint glow around it told me it was a Relic.

“At least we salvaged a Relic, so that’s a relief.”

She glanced around, then deeply plunged the spear into a spot where it was hard to see. She began a moment of silence.

In the brief time she bowed her head, I could only watch from behind.

After a short moment of silence, she spoke to me.

“Let’s go.”

“Sure.”

I began to walk after Gwen.

I knew about the spear without even asking.

Gwen’s acquaintance wasn’t just Ludmilla who we met earlier. Among them, some were strong like Gwen and Ludmilla, while others were weak enough to be caught by thieves.

That spear stuck in the corner was, in a way, his gravestone.

“Kid, you look curious.”

It wouldn’t be a lie to say I had no questions at all.

It seemed Gwen caught on to my curiosity, so I decided to ask without hesitation.

“You said we have a duty to recover the relics from the thieves earlier. Is it alright to leave the spear like that?”

“The spear counts as lost.”

Is that so?

“As long as you keep quiet, there won’t be any problem.”

Having seen the bloody scene earlier, I wasn’t in the mood to chatter.

But I still had one more question.

“You knew the fleeing person was a thief from the moment you saw them, right?”

“Yeah.”

“In that case, wasn’t it unnecessary to fight against the golems?”

Back then, Gwen hadn’t seen her old comrade’s spear. So she could have ignored the thief being chased by the golems and just passed by. But she didn’t.

“You were frozen. Anyone could see that you were in no position to escape.”

“Ah…”

That was true.

Of course, if I used Absolute Obedience, I could have moved, but from her perspective, I probably looked completely paralyzed.

The reason she fought the golems wasn’t to protect the thief. Rather, it was to protect me from behind.

“She’s thoroughly meticulous.”

I couldn’t help but admire her.

*

“Finally, have we arrived?”

After quite a while wandering through the ruins, we finally reached a place that looked like the entrance to the Trial. It was a considerable distance down the underground passage.

“This certainly seems to be the place for the Trial.”

An enormous hemispherical space unfolded underground.

In the center, a vast lake spread out, surrounded by thick fog.

One thing was certain: this place was different from the ones we had seen before.

“I can breathe easier now.”

It felt like there was a little barrier surrounding this space.

I had no way of knowing if a barrier truly existed.

“Hmm…”

Meanwhile, Gwen was focused on the lake, ignoring the scenery around. The lake appeared too deep to gauge at a glance.

“It looks like normal water, doesn’t it?”

Kneeling by the lakeshore, Gwen cupped her hands to take a drink from the lake.

The water appeared crystal clear, like that from a purifier, without any impurities. Other than that, there was nothing particularly special about it.

She poured the water back into the lake.

“By the way, do you know how we’re supposed to engage in this Trial?”

I shook my head.

“I don’t know about that either.”

I thought Gwen would probably have some knowledge since she was the one leading, but apparently not.

Or perhaps one would just naturally learn about it upon arriving at the Trial location.

But at least there were no signs indicating the latter.

‘Please don’t tell me we came all this way just to have to turn back because we don’t know how to engage in the Trial.’

As I worried, Gwen said.

“If that’s the case, then there’s no choice. Don’t look this way.”

She suddenly took off her hero’s cape and stored it in her inventory.

Then, she started removing her top as well. I watched in a daze for a moment before hastily turning my head away.

“Uh, Gwen? What are you doing…?”

“I’m going into the water. Honestly, I’m nervous about it. But this is the only way I’ve heard of.”

In the quiet space, only the sound of Gwen undressing echoed.

After a moment, a small splash was heard.

Splash, splash.

‘She’s really going into the water?’

Despite the guilt, I wanted to catch a glimpse of her entering the lake.

Just in case I might have to follow her in too.

But when I turned my head back, Gwen had already disappeared.

Only the fog hovered over the lake.

‘When did she vanish?’

After waiting for a while, she still didn’t reappear.

With Gwen having walked into the lake and not returning, it seemed that was indeed how to engage in the Trial.

‘Then I have no choice but to enter as well.’

Resolving myself, I removed the robe Gwen had lent me and stored it in my inventory.

Since she wasn’t watching, I felt fine using my inventory this way.

The rest of my clothes wouldn’t matter even if they got wet, so I planned to keep them on.

‘Well then, let’s go!’

I stepped first with my left foot into the lake.

I felt the solid lake bottom.

So I took comfort in that until I placed my right foot in.

The ground suddenly disappeared.

‘Huh?’

In an instant, my vision became submerged in water.

The next moment, an unbelievable sight unfolded before my eyes.

*