"Oh, and how are you going to determine that?" Reign asked the man who smiled at him smugly before leaning back in his chair.
"I already have."
"You four are worthy of passing, these two, however, are not." The man said as he pointed at the two Tier IVs who were together with Reign and the others.
"And would you mind telling us why?" Reign asked with a calm expression as the others stared at the man with slight hostility.
"Strength, they don't possess enough of it, if you take them with you, they will undoubtedly die, you four have a chance of getting to the artifact without dying, even though the chances of all of you getting there are not large." The man said before he stood up.
"I know you are thinking that I'm doing this to divide you, to cause friction, but I am not, these two truly don't possess enough strength to even go against me, not to mention the others, I am merely doing you a favor here."
"So you're not going to kill them if we leave them here?" Reign asked as the man smirked at him.
"How about I show you that I'm not planning on doing anything bad?" The man asked Reign before suddenly placing his right hand on his chest. In an instant, he suddenly put power in his hand, causing it to go deep in his chest.
Blood immediately flowed out of the chest as the man took out his own heart and presented it to Reign and the others.
"See, even if I do this, I won't die, my heart will still beat outside my body, and that is thanks to the artifact and the powers it has bestowed on me."
"The guardian you have faced, as well as most of the others, had changed over the course of many years, they have become corrupted by power and wish to possess the power of the artifact for themselves."
"That is impossible, of course, merely a fool's dream." The man said as he sat down and placed his heart on the table.
"You see, we were created by the artifact, we are its guardians, and if the artifact wishes for our deaths, then we will die, as you have already seen."
Reign and the others nodded as they had already seen how the soul that had attacked them before died from the red flames that suddenly attacked it.
"The artifact doesn't care if we become too possessive, it doesn't care if we wish to take control over it, that is because it knows that we will never be able to achieve that."
"Betraying it, however, even if the person it was trying to join does possess the fragments of its master's soul, is unacceptable."
"Only when one gains the approval of the artifact and becomes its new master will we be able to serve them as well."
"But isn't what you are doing right now akin to betraying it?" Reign asked as the guardian smirked.
"No, I am merely doing my job."
"I have already finished with my 'trial' and deemed you four worthy to pass, if you wish to bring those four with you, however, then I will be forced to fight you, if you win, you can all pass, of course, but I highly recommend against doing so."
"Those two will not stay here, I will send them to the rest of your group, the ones that have been separated from you." Reign and the others suddenly stared at the man with hostile gazes as he sighed.
"They are fine, they won't be able to leave until you guys either take control of the artifact or die by trying to do so, however." The man suddenly waved his hand, causing light to appear in the underground cave they were in, which was quite smaller compared to the other areas they had visited till now.
Suddenly, they saw how one of the walls turned transparent, and through it, they were able to see Siggurd and the others fighting against several monsters. To their surprise, they were able to sense that the monsters were merely Tier I beings, but Siggurd and the others were unable to use mana, no, that was not true, they could use mana, albeit barely.
"The hidden areas of the dungeon are made to hold those that were deemed unsuitable for the artifact, mana is heavily suppressed there, so one can only use their fleshly body to fight against the monsters."
"Of course, your friends are fine, they are more than powerful enough to deal with such weak monsters, but if you don't hurry up, they might go further below, reaching areas where the monsters are equal to them, and without enough mana, plenty of them will die." The man said with a smile as Basred and the others suddenly stood up, their mana overflowing from their bodies as they stared at the guardian with the full intention of attacking him.
"Calm down, if they somehow manage to reach the bottom, which, between us, is highly unlikely, they will reach the artifact as well as it will deem them worthy enough at that point." Basred and the others still continued staring at the man who chuckled a bit before shrugging his shoulders.
"Hey, I'm not the one that creates the rules, I merely adhere to them, you see, this is not only a battle for your own survival that is taking place, but also a trial with a time limit."
"Even if your friends don't continue going below, more powerful monsters will slowly start appearing and attacking them, so you see, if those two stay here, they will be sent to them, and they can tell them what is going on."
"They can explain what's happening to them, making them realize that they have to place their trust in you and stay calm, not spending too much energy during their battles against the monsters."
Reign leaned back as he stared at the man with a calm expression.
Laura was standing, slightly angry at the guardian as several members of the group were people she was familiar with, she had fought alongside them plenty of times and considered some to be her friends.
She didn't want to see any of them die here.
"Alright, we will accept your offer, but you need to show us proof that you can really transport them over to them, as well as proof that that isn't an illusion that you have created."
"Of course, that is why I have taken out my heart." The man said as he suddenly grabbed his heart before squashing it.
His eyes suddenly turned gray as he slumped down on his chair, but the blood coming out of the heart did not stop flowing.
Soon enough, the entire table was covered in blood, and a small pool of blood was forming underneath Reign and the others.
The table started shaking, and in a couple of seconds, it suddenly moved.
It lifted itself up and stood straight as the blood that was on it stayed still. Suddenly, the guardian moved, the wound on his chest fully healed.
He merely touched the table, causing the blood to ripple before it turned solid.
He touched it once again, and the table was no longer there, nor was the blood there, instead, there was a portal in front of Reign and the others, and through the portal, they could see Siggurd and the others who were staring back at them.
"What is this?" Siggurd asked as he came to the portal.
"A portal, a one-way ticket to where your friends are, you can step through it and join them, but nobody from the other side will be able to come through and join you." The man said as he smiled at Reign and the others.
Siggurd and the rest were able to hear them perfectly from the other side, and upon hearing the guardian's words, Siggurd touched the portal, and it was just like what the man said, he couldn't pass.
It was as if he was touching a solid object, a window of sorts that allowed him to see Reign and the rest, but nothing else.
"You two only need to pass through the portal and you will join your friends, together, you should try to survive as long as possible until these four either manage to pass the trials the other guardians will give them or until they all die."
"You four should keep in mind what I said previously, don't take too long, or your friends might all die." The guardian said with a wide smile on his face as the two Tier IVs came forward, with Reign and the others right behind them.
The guardian was still smiling, waiting for them to go through the portal before allowing the four to continue through to the next layer, where another guardian would wait for them.
Suddenly, the guardian's face dropped as it was sent flying back, most of its bones broken as a powerful sonic wave hit him.
"See ya later." Reign said with a calm face as he and the others stepped through the portal together.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m