Rubbles and debris filled their lungs. Wheezing a mouthful of dirt, Farem activated [Wings of the Avian Goddess] as he caught Aria with one arm and soared out of the hole.

But then he saw it. At the very top. The glint of a blade.

Winds gusted.

Farem’s eyes widened. There he was—the priest, diving down at him, one hand clutching the gilded knife. Sparks flew as the two clashed blades, face-to-face. Farem deflected the strike, his sword hand shaking as he drove the priest back. But the man didn’t even flinch. He reversed his grip in half a second and thrust his blade at Farem’s breastplate, the serpent pattern on the knife seemingly screeching in delight.

“[Sacrokinesis: Holy Force],” the priest uttered.

Shockwaves tore through Farem. The sky zipped past his eyes. Waves of light filled his vision, pushing him even further below. Farem looked up. The sunlight was a mere dot, outlining a slim silhouette of a robed figure. The priest stared down at them, his face unreadable. Not a speck of dirt was on his robe.

Falling. His mind whirled. Aria clung to him, her eyes white with fear as she shook him frantically, screaming into his ear. Farem couldn’t hear her pleas, but he could feel the shuddering of her fingers. Adrenaline shot through his veins. He pulled her closer, wrapped his wings around her body, and thrust one arm downward, as the hole became deeper and deeper.

“[Blessing of the Turtle Sage]!”

Green sparkles enveloped them whole, forming a massive turtle shell of protection. The winds shifted their path. And they knocked the wall with a boom, bouncing away into another wall. Bang. The impact echoed in their ears as they propelled into another wall. Boom again. As they were about to ricochet a fourth time, Aria had had enough. She placed one palm on the turtle shell and screamed:

“[Shadow Fortress]!”

Shadows braided themselves into a fortified square box around the turtle shell. Both Farem and Aria couldn’t see a thing, so they hugged each other tightly, prepared to brace for any impact.

The ground thundered.

***

Borius slumped on a large boulder, his head heavy and his hands numb. Finally, he could see again, freed from the blinding darkness. Wait… What was he doing? The last thing he remembered was the sensation of being snatched by monsters he couldn’t see. Surely, there was something else… Borius held his chin and racked his brain for answers…

Aha! He was aiding two low-ranking adventurers! But where were they? He stood up, wiped the dirt off his armour, and scanned the destroyed dungeon. “Whoa…” he murmured, wondering how the whole dungeon had been torn to pieces. But more importantly, his new friends were missing, and if the worst possibility became true, they could have been ambushed by monsters!

“Alright, let’s go! [Rock Detection]!”

Borius’s [Detection] was weaker than the average adventurer’s. It took him half of his life to learn it, and the other half to practice it. But no matter how hard he worked on it, all Borius’s [Detection] could do was investigate the quality of rock types. So over time, the skill evolved to [Rock Detection].

Borius whirled around the ruins, scanning every type of rock imaginable. Cobblestone. Basalt. Granite. This could take a while, but Borius didn’t mind. If he could discover a disturbance in the rock, like a tremor, that could be where his party members were.

Then, a tingling sensation struck his senses. Broken rock. Earthquake. Without wasting a second, Borius charged toward the quaking rock, Iron Greathammer clutched tight.

“Wait for me, friends!” he roared courageously. “I’m coming!”

When he arrived, the sensation had stopped. Borius spun around, but all that surrounded him were just broken rocks. Utterly confused, he looked at the ground and activated [Rock Detection]. It seemed the ground he was standing on top of was… hollow. There might be something underneath. Heaving a large breath of air, Borius began furiously digging with his massive mallet, smashing the earth apart to rescue his teammates.

His hunch was right; it only took Borius three swings before the earth revealed a deep hole. No doubt about it. His friends had fallen in there.

As he was about to jump in, Borius heard something funny. He stayed quiet and listened. It sounded like the angels themselves were serenading in his ears, their voices soft and nice. Borius yawned, his arms hanging lifelessly by his side. His knees collapsed as he dozed off, his body crumpling to the ground. His mind dreamed of the soothing heavenly choir.

“[Sacrokinesis: Blessed Lullaby].”

Flowing white robes materialized into thin air, shimmering dust dancing along the hem like tiny cherubs. Enveloped by the sun’s shining glow, the robed man descended like an angel, his facial visage hidden, yet one could mistake him for a saint. Adjusting his black brimmed hat, the faithful Father kneeled to meet a snoring Borius. His lips curled into a grin at the sight of his handiwork. He took out a small notebook and began writing. When all was done, he ripped that page out and placed it in Borius’s right hand. Then, the priest turned to the hole, smiling as he closed the notebook.

“The Light and the Dark, balanced yet forbidden…” he mused. “What a fascinating experiment.”

He stared at the sun through the black brims of his hat.

“Truly, I am blessed.”