Chapter 100: Keeper

Lying flat on his back, Peace stared toward the ceiling.

’Okay... C-Rank is still definitely weaker than A-Rank. Got it.’

They’d finally gotten on the move again and were now facing their first Temple Keeper.

Peace decided to strike while the iron was hot, ’get some momentum goin’ and all,’ wasting no time charging the zealot...

Only to be knocked flat on his back when his strike was merely blocked.

’Welp...’

Before bad could get worse, Peace somersaulted backward as Ralph and Dita rushed past him, one of the two hurling an insult in passing.

"Idiot."

That would be the ignoble knight Peace was beginning to suspect was a tsundere. Sure, Ralph had his principle of being unprincipled, but surely that had its limits. Peace was certainly testing them, yet the man seemed almost lenient toward him.

’Whatever.’

Shaking off his delusion, Peace refocused on the Temple Keeper, which was bringing its mace down on Ralph.

Ralph caught the blow with his shield, letting out a grating grunt.

Dita pressed forward, wielding a mace of her own, having sheathed her sword for now.

She slammed the flanged head into its plate-covered bicep, leaving a noticeable dent in its armor before leaping back as the Keeper dragged its mace across Ralph’s shield and swung toward her.

’My turn for real this time!’

Sensing an opening, Peace raced toward the spot Dita had just vacated, reaching it just as the Keeper’s attack hit nothing but air.

Knowing it wore chainmail beneath its armor, much like the Temple Knights, Peace knew slashing would do little, so he opted for a thrust.

Flipping his sword upward and throwing his entire weight behind it, he drove the blade toward its neck.

It tried to bring its shield across its body to block him, but its own arm was in the way.

It could do little but watch as the tip of Peace’s sword bit into the rattling chainmail, tearing open a small gap. The blade dug only slightly into its neck before stopping.

A thin trickle of black blood leaked onto the blade, sliding down its length.

’Damn! It’s not deep enough.’

Ralph, who’d been recovering after tanking the blow, sprang into action.

Circling around the Keeper, he performed an almost comedic hop, leaping up to slam his sword into the back of its head.

But despite how pitiful the attack looked, it worked.

The impact drove the Keeper toward Peace, forcing his sword deeper into its neck until a harrowing whisper of glory spilled into his mind.

[You have slain Tier 9 A-Class, Light Temple Keeper]

[+4 EXP]

’Phew...’

Although the fight had been relatively easy, with the Keeper hardly being the strongest A-Class, it was still nerve-wracking. One misstep could spell doom.

If that thing had managed to correct its stance, it might have landed a blow on Peace.

’No ifs, ands, or buts around here!’

Peace couldn’t allow such hypotheticals to be thrown around lest his name be slandered. What happened, happened. What didn’t happen, didn’t happen.

Pulling his sword from its neck, he watched as its armor vanished in a puff of smoke and its body collapsed to the floor.

’Disgusting.’

Yulis, who’d been waiting at the rear with his bow drawn, pointed at the Temple Keeper’s corpse while looking at Peace.

"So, uh... You gonna...?"

Flicking his sword to shake the black blood from its blade, Peace raised an eyebrow and met Yulis’ gaze.

"What?"

Peace studied that gaze. The increasingly worried, fearful, disgusted, horrified, yet somehow curious gaze of the Day Elf.

Then it dawned on him.

"Ew, no! I’m not eating that, freak! Why’d you even think I’d do that?!"

Reeling back, Yulis pointed at Peace.

"Don’t look at me as though I’m the weird one! You just spent the past ten minutes eating rocks!"

Peace’s eyes widened before he sighed and said:

"Rocks and... that are totally different."

Dita knelt by the corpse. Retrieving her sword from her bag, she drove it into the Keeper’s chest, cutting out its deflated, decayed heart.

"I really thought he was going to chow down on that too."

Stomping on the heart, sending black blood oozing across the cracked white stone floor, she collected the Spirit Stone left behind and placed it in her bag.

’Don’t speak as though I’m some morally bankrupt, disgusting cretin while you’re doing that!’

Peace shook his head.

"I don’t care if it makes me stronger. I’d never eat anything humanoid."

"Fair enough, Pariah. But... any and all strength matters. It might—" Ralph looked around at the four equally disgusted stares directed at him. "Ah, damn! Can’t a guy want to live? Jeez."

Peace’s lips parted.

"I get any means necessary... but really? Would you eat one of those?"

Ralph pointed at himself and tilted his head.

"Me? Of course not! Do I look like some sort of cannibalistic monster?"

Ralph kicked the dead Keeper, then trudged ahead. After only a few steps, he stopped at the edge of the lantern’s light and nearly shouted:

"Oh, come on! Stop looking at me like that and get to steppin’!"

Peace was in awe of both Ralph’s stupidity and his brazen disregard for anything resembling normalcy.

He took a deep breath as he stared at Ralph’s armored back.

’He’s strong... he’s strong. I need to stick with him if I want to live.’

Exhaling in exasperation, Peace followed after Ralph.

The others weren’t far behind.

Together, they marched into the darkness toward the next Temple Keeper blocking their path.

One by one, they carved a path.

[You have slain Tier 9 A-Class, Light Temple Keeper]

[+4 EXP]

[You have slain Tier 9 A-Class, Light Temple Keeper]

[+4 EXP]

Despite the Keepers being A-Class, each battle was almost easy. They never drew the attention of more than one at a time and suffered only minor injuries.

After all, the scariest part about the Light Temple in the game had been its poor visibility. Accidentally wandering into another Keeper’s patrol path mid-fight was incredibly common. As long as Peace kept a watchful eye, however, that danger was practically nonexistent.

The worst they’d suffered was a substantial loss to Ralph’s shield durability.

[You have slain Tier 9 A-Class, Light Temple Keeper]

[+4 EXP]

In any case, they’d made it through and reached their destination.