Chapter 217: The Last Keeper

Arthur stood in front of the massive bronze doors, running his thumb over the edge of the smooth metal.

The hooded figures cast into the bronze were still sharply defined, keeping silent watch over the end of the corridor.

"Arthur. You know what’s in there?" Felix asked, shifting his grip on Aegis Bulwark and panning his lantern beam across the dark stone.

"The Keeper," Arthur said, checking the tension on Whisperwind’s string.

"Another construct?" Chloe asked.

"A preserved master of the sect," Arthur said. "He won’t be as fast as the training machines, but he’s an actual assassin. He also has a returning dagger. If you dodge or block the initial throw, watch your back on the return."

Emily tapped her gauntleted fists together. "So don’t let him throw it."

"If we can help it," Arthur agreed. "Don’t bunch up, and keep your firing lanes clear."

Felix nodded, moving to the center of the passage and planting his boots.

Arthur stepped up to the bronze doors, pressed his palms against the cold metal where the two slabs met, and pushed.

The ancient hinges swung inward without a sound.

The inner burial chamber was vast and still. The air smelled of dry spices and old ash. Four bronze braziers flared to life automatically as the doors opened, filling the room with pale, cold light.

Stone biers lined the walls, each holding a preserved figure wrapped in rotting gray linen. The center of the chamber was an open expanse of flagstones, and at the far end stood a raised obsidian altar.

Sitting in front of the altar was a tall figure wearing dark leather brigandine layered over mail. Its skin was gray and leathery, drawn tight over its cheekbones, but its eyes were open.

"Well," Emily said quietly. "He doesn’t look dead."

"He’s dead," Arthur said.

The Keeper’s head turned slowly, fixing its hollow gaze on the open doorway.

It stepped off the dais and walked toward them, its movements fluid and deliberate.

"Felix," Arthur said.

Felix advanced, his shield raised, taking the center line.

Arthur didn’t wait for the Keeper to close the distance. He drew a broadhead arrow, triggered Eagle Eye, and pulled the string back to his chin. The cold light of the braziers snapped into sharp focus.

Arthur aimed for the Keeper’s right knee and released the arrow.

The Keeper dropped its bracer across the arrow’s path, knocking the broadhead aside into the flagstones.

In the same fluid motion, the Keeper’s right hand whipped forward.

A matte-black dagger spun end-over-end through the air, aimed straight at Felix’s chest.

"Shield!" Arthur shouted.

Felix dug his heels in and brought Aegis Bulwark up. The dagger struck the shield hard enough to drive Felix backward. Its point bit into the steel faceplate, then tore free and blurred backward through the air.

It slammed into the Keeper’s waiting hand.

"He hits harder than the constructs!" Felix warned, re-setting his stance.

Emily broke left, sprinting around the edge of the floor to flank the guardian.

The Keeper tracked her. It threw the dagger again, this time aiming slightly ahead of Emily’s path.

Arthur fired a second arrow, trying to intercept the blade in mid-air. He missed. The black dagger streaked past Emily’s shoulder and struck one of the stone biers with a sharp crack, ricocheting slightly before tearing backward.

Emily closed the distance and threw a right hook aimed at the Keeper’s ribs.

The Guardian swayed back, avoiding the blow. Its empty right hand snapped out, catching Emily by the wrist, and used her momentum to pull her off balance.

"Emily, down!" Chloe shouted from the doorway.

Emily dropped to one knee just as the black dagger ripped through the air where her neck had been a second before. The blade slammed back into the Keeper’s grip.

Before the guardian could capitalize on Emily’s stumble, Felix charged.

He slammed the steel boss of Aegis Bulwark into the Keeper’s chest, throwing all his weight behind the bash.

The impact knocked the Keeper backward onto the flagstones.

Emily rolled back out of range, coming up in a crouch as Felix stepped up to keep his shield between the guardian and the rest of the party.

"Thanks," Emily breathed, glancing back at Chloe.

"Watch the return path," Chloe reminded her, her hands glowing with the soft green light of Minor Haste. She threw the buff over Emily and Felix.

The Keeper rolled smoothly to its feet.

Arthur moved to the right, keeping his distance and looking for an opening. With his upgraded Eagle Eye, he caught the tiny, precise twitch of the Keeper’s wrist before each throw. He was beginning to recognize the timing, though that didn’t make the weapon any easier to stop.

The Keeper feinted a throw at Felix, drawing his shield up, then pivoted and hurled the dagger down the right flank toward Arthur and Chloe.

Arthur had to abandon his draw and throw himself sideways. The blade streaked past his shoulder, forced Chloe to duck against the wall, and blurred instantly back to the Keeper’s hand.

Using the distraction, the Guardian closed the distance on Felix. Its left hand drew a shorter, curved blade from its belt, initiating a blistering series of strikes against the rim of Aegis Bulwark to keep the vanguard pinned.

Arthur recovered his footing and moved aggressively up the right flank to close the distance. He needed an opening, and the Keeper wasn’t giving them one.

Arthur drew on Whisperwind and triggered Mirage Shot.

The false arrow whistled toward the Keeper’s face. The guardian moved his head just enough to avoid it, keeping his curved blade occupied with Felix.

Arthur moved farther along the right flank. Felix caught another slash on his shield, giving Arthur a clear shot at the Keeper’s right thigh.

Arthur drew a fresh arrow and released.

The broadhead slammed into the Keeper’s right thigh, punching through the hardened leather armor.

The Guardian staggered, its leg buckling slightly.

"Now!" Arthur yelled.

Emily blurred forward, her Minor Haste buff carrying her across the floor. She drove her brass-knuckled fist straight into the Guardian’s right shoulder, aiming for the joint.

The impact popped the shoulder with a sickening crunch of dry bone and tearing sinew.

The Keeper’s right arm dropped limply to its side, the black throwing dagger slipping from its fingers and clattering onto the flagstones.

The Keeper shifted its footing and drove its curved blade toward Emily’s throat.

Emily leaned back just in time. The tip sliced across the leather at her collar.

The Keeper swept its blade across Emily and Felix, forcing them back long enough to retreat toward the altar. It backed against the raised obsidian block, keeping both of them in front of it.

Felix advanced with his shield raised. Arthur moved up along the chamber wall, close enough now to reach the shadows around the altar.

Arthur slung Whisperwind over his shoulder. The Keeper waited beside the altar, its curved blade ready.

Arthur triggered Shadow Step.

He reformed out of the shadow cast by the obsidian altar, appearing directly on the Keeper’s blind side.

The Guardian reacted instantly, spinning to bring the curved blade around in a desperate, reverse-grip slash.

Arthur slipped inside the slash with Silent Knife Technique. He intercepted the Keeper’s knife arm with his braced left forearm, knocking the slash past his shoulder. Pain shot through his recovering wrist, but he drove the Necrotic Dagger beneath the Keeper’s jaw.

Black necrotic mana flared as the point severed the Guardian’s spine.

The Keeper froze. The cold light in its eyes flickered, then died.

Arthur ripped the dagger free, stepping back as the corpse collapsed onto the stone floor.

[Guardian Defeated] [EXP Awarded]

[Level Up!] [Arthur Vance: Level 37 → Level 38] [Attribute Points Acquired: 2]

Arthur let out a long, ragged breath, staring down at the dead Guardian as the blue system notification faded from his vision.

The chamber went quiet.

"Is everyone okay?" Chloe asked, hurrying across the flagstones.

"Fine," Felix said, inspecting the fresh gouges across the faceplate of Aegis Bulwark. "Though Brunhilda is going to kill me."

Emily walked over and picked up the black throwing dagger from the floor. She tested the weight, then tossed it to Arthur. "Looks like you got an upgrade."

Arthur caught the dagger by the hilt. A faint magical vibration still ran through the black steel.

"Still enchanted," he said, handing it back to Emily. "We’ll figure out who gets it later."

Arthur turned his attention to the altar.

Resting on a velvet cushion in the center of the polished obsidian block was a palm-sized slab of dark gray slate. Carved into the surface of the stone was a single, intricate rune that seemed to absorb the light around it.

The Assassin Extension Rune.

Arthur walked up the three shallow steps to the dais, his pulse hammering in his throat.

He reached out and picked it up.