Stone ground against stone as the statues stepped forward.
Each movement echoed like distant thunder through the underground chamber.
Dust drifted from the ceiling.
Ten guardians.
Each one nearly three meters tall, carved from dense black stone. Their armor looked ancient, layered in geometric patterns that pulsed faintly with golden mana.
Their eyes burned with life.
Not constructs.
Not simple statues.
Something far more dangerous.
Zane rolled his shoulders and twirled his spear once.
"Well… good news."
Lily glanced at him.
"What good news?"
Zane grinned.
"They're slow."
The nearest guardian lifted its massive stone blade and took a step forward.
The floor trembled.
Then suddenly—
It vanished.
Zane's grin disappeared.
The guardian reappeared right in front of him, sword already swinging downward.
"OH—!"
CLANG!
Zael intercepted the strike instantly, his blade colliding with the stone weapon and sending sparks flying.
The force pushed both fighters back several steps.
Zane blinked.
"…Okay."
"Not slow."
The other nine guardians began moving.
Zael's voice was calm but sharp.
"Formation."
Lily and Zane moved without hesitation.
Zane slid left.
Lily moved right.
Zael stayed center.
The guardians advanced in a loose semicircle, clearly reacting to their positioning.
Lily raised her hand.
Silver-blue energy gathered around her fingers.
Space warped slightly around her palm.
"Let's test something."
She snapped her fingers.
The air twisted.
A thin spatial blade ripped forward, slicing across the chest of the nearest guardian.
The attack landed perfectly.
But the result made her frown.
The stone cracked—
Then instantly repaired itself.
Zane whistled.
"Regenerating enemies. Fantastic."
Another guardian charged.
Zane launched forward to meet it.
His spear ignited with crimson mana.
BOOM!
His strike hit the guardian's chest like a cannon blast.
The statue staggered backward several steps.
Cracks spread across its torso.
But again—
The stone rapidly began reforming.
Zane clicked his tongue.
"Yeah, they don't stay broken."
Zael was already studying the battlefield.
His eyes moved from the guardians—
To the glowing runes on their armor.
Then to the massive magic circle on the chamber floor.
Then to the pillars surrounding the room.
Something connected them.
The statues attacked again.
Two guardians rushed Zael simultaneously.
Their blades swung with terrifying speed.
CLANG!
CLANG!
Zael blocked both strikes, his feet sliding slightly across the stone floor from the force.
These constructs were powerful.
Each one likely rivaled a B-rank monster.
And there were ten.
Behind him, Lily suddenly shouted.
"Zael!"
He ducked instantly.
A massive stone axe whistled through the space where his head had been a moment earlier.
The guardian holding it roared silently and lifted the weapon again.
Zane leapt between them.
His spear flashed in a sweeping arc.
CRACK!
The guardian's arm shattered at the elbow.
Stone pieces exploded across the floor.
Zane grinned.
"Got one!"
But the broken arm floated upward.
Stone fragments reassembled themselves in midair.
Zane's grin slowly faded.
"…Okay, that's cheating."
Lily's eyes were moving rapidly now, analyzing the room.
"There's a power source."
Zael glanced toward her while deflecting another strike.
"Where?"
She pointed upward.
"Not the statues."
"The formation."
Zael followed her gaze.
The massive magic circle covering the chamber floor glowed brighter with every movement the guardians made.
Mana flowed through the lines like rivers of light.
And the pillars surrounding the chamber were acting as anchors.
Zane smashed another guardian backward with a powerful thrust.
"So what you're saying is—"
He jumped back as two blades slammed into the ground where he'd been standing.
"—we don't kill them."
Lily nodded.
"We break the formation."
Zael understood immediately.
"If the formation stops supplying mana…"
"They stop regenerating," Lily finished.
Another guardian lunged toward her.
Space twisted.
Lily vanished.
She reappeared ten meters away near one of the massive pillars.
Her eyes scanned the runes carved along its base.
"Found one of the anchors!"
A guardian immediately turned toward her.
Zael moved instantly.
His body blurred forward.
He intercepted the statue before it reached Lily, blade flashing like lightning.
CLANG!
The impact split the stone sword in half.
Zael drove a kick into the guardian's chest, launching it backward across the chamber floor.
"Zane."
Zane cracked his neck.
"Yeah?"
Zael pointed toward the opposite side of the chamber.
"There should be four anchors."
Zane grinned.
"Break the pillars."
"Got it."
He dashed away like a missile.
Two guardians chased him immediately.
Zane laughed while sprinting.
"Come on then, rock heads!"
Meanwhile Lily pressed her palm against the pillar.
Her spatial sense expanded outward.
Threads of mana flowed through the structure, connecting it to the central formation.
"Yes… there."
She lifted her hand.
Space folded.
Then compressed.
CRACK.
The base of the pillar shattered inward like it had been crushed by invisible hands.
The runes flickered.
Across the chamber, the magic circle dimmed slightly.
One of the guardians suddenly froze mid-attack.
Zane noticed instantly.
"Oh?"
He stabbed his spear through the statue's chest.
This time—
The cracks didn't heal immediately.
Zane's grin returned.
"Now we're talking."
Back near the center, Zael blocked another heavy strike.
He saw the change too.
"Lily."
"Keep breaking them."
Lily nodded.
"Three more!"
But the guardians had realized something.
Three of them suddenly turned away from the fighters and rushed toward Lily's position.
Their stone bodies shook the entire chamber.
Zane whistled.
"Uh… they figured out the objective."
Zael's eyes sharpened.
"Then we stop them."
His aura surged.
Lightning crackled faintly along his blade.
Across the chamber floor—
The chamber shook as the guardians charged.
Three massive statues sprinted toward Lily, their stone bodies moving far faster than their size should allow.
Each step cracked the floor.
Lily's eyes narrowed.
"Of course they adapt."
She lifted her hand again.
Space bent around her body.
But before the guardians could reach her—
A red blur slammed into one of them.
BOOM!
Zane's spear struck the statue's ribs with explosive force, sending the three-meter construct skidding across the chamber floor.
"Hey! Hey! Hey!"
He planted his spear and grinned at them.
"You don't get to attack the mage."
Two guardians immediately turned toward him.
Perfect.
Zane spun the spear once.
"Yeah… that's more like it."
Behind him, Lily didn't waste a second.
She moved to the next pillar.
Ancient runes spiraled across its surface, glowing with the same golden mana feeding the guardians.
Her fingers brushed the stone.
Her spatial sense expanded again.
The flow of energy became visible in her mind.
Four anchors feeding the formation.
One destroyed.
Three remaining.
She focused.
Compressed space formed like an invisible vice around the base of the pillar.
"Break."
CRACK!
The stone pillar fractured violently.
Chunks collapsed inward.
Across the chamber—
The magic circle dimmed further.
Two guardians suddenly staggered mid-attack.
Their movements slowed.
Zane noticed immediately.
"Ha!"
He lunged forward.
His spear pierced through the weakened guardian's chest.
Stone cracked loudly across its torso.
This time the damage didn't repair.
The statue froze.
Then collapsed into a pile of lifeless rock.
Zane blinked.
"Oh."
Then he raised both hands.
"FIRST KILL!"
Another guardian slammed its fist toward his head.
Zane ducked.
"Still nine though!"
Meanwhile—
Zael was fighting three guardians alone near the center of the chamber.
Their attacks came like falling buildings.
Sword.
Axe.
Hammer.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
Zael's blade intercepted every strike, but the force pushed him backward across the glowing formation.
His eyes flicked briefly toward Lily.
Two pillars down.
Good.
But the guardians were adapting quickly.
One suddenly feinted high.
Another attacked low.
The third swung directly toward Zael's back.
A perfect trap.
Zael stepped forward instead of retreating.
Lightning surged through his body.
His blade flashed once.
FLASH!
Three strikes.
Three impacts.
For a split second—
Nothing moved.
Then the hammer guardian's weapon split cleanly in half.
The axe guardian's arm fell to the ground.
And the sword guardian's torso cracked across the middle.
The statues staggered.
But they didn't fall.
The formation still fed them mana.
Zael exhaled slowly.
"Two anchors remaining."
Across the chamber—
Lily had already moved to the third pillar.
But four guardians now stood between her and it.
Her brows furrowed.
"That's inconvenient."
One of them lunged.
She teleported sideways.
The stone blade crashed into the ground where she had been.
Another guardian swung from the opposite direction.
She twisted space again, reappearing several meters away.
But they were closing in.
Too fast.
Before the third strike could land—
A spear flew through the air like a missile.
BOOM!
It smashed into the guardian's head and knocked it sideways.
Zane landed beside Lily and cracked his neck.
"You break the pillars."
He held out his hand.
The spear vibrated.
Then flew back into his grip.
"I'll handle the welcoming committee."
Four guardians advanced toward him.
Zane smiled.
"Oh man."
"This is gonna hurt."
He launched forward.
His spear ignited with crimson mana.
The first thrust shattered a guardian's shoulder.
The second sweep cracked another across the face.
Stone exploded everywhere.
Behind him—
Lily pressed her palm against the third pillar.
Mana pulsed violently through it now.
The formation was reacting.
Trying to reinforce the last anchors.
Her eyes sharpened.
"Too late."
Space compressed harder than before.
Invisible pressure crushed the pillar's base from every direction.
For a moment—
The stone resisted.
Then—
BOOOOM!
The pillar collapsed.
Across the chamber—
The entire magic circle flickered violently.
Guardians froze mid-movement.
Cracks spread across their bodies.
Zane stepped back and blinked.
"…Oh."
Then one guardian collapsed completely.
Then another.
Within seconds—
Six of the statues crumbled into lifeless stone.
Only four remained.
But those four were different.
The runes across their armor suddenly blazed bright gold.
Zael's gaze sharpened.
"Final defense."
The remaining guardians merged together.
Stone shifted.
Armor fused.
Weapons combined.
Within seconds—
A single massive construct stood in the center of the chamber.
Five meters tall.
Four arms.
Two massive swords.
One hammer.
One spear.
Its eyes burned brighter than the others had.
Zane slowly looked up.
"…Yeah."
He rested his spear on his shoulder.
"Of course there's a boss."
Lily pointed toward the last pillar.
"One anchor left."
Zael stepped forward.
Lightning crackled across his blade.
"Then we end this."
The giant guardian raised all four weapons.
The chamber trembled as it took a step forward.
The real fight had just begun.