Chapter 78: Temple Knights

’That’s quite the path ahead...’

Part of Peace almost wished he had never gained the ability.

Not that knowing what was ahead was a particularly bad thing... In fact, it was quite the boon. He could see the end of the corridor. Where darkness had once been a wall he had to navigate around, he could now simply see through it.

The problem was how much it shook his resolve to see countless unaggroed Acolytes blankly staring toward him with their hollow eyes.

It wasn’t enough to make Peace slow down or contemplate his options, but it was certainly enough to give him a good spook.

Spooked or not, seeing them coming made killing them much easier. They were practically non-threats, as their stealth and surprise attacks had been the only things that made them dangerous in the first place.

Now, all Peace had to do was slow a little, point to where one was coming from, and Volkar would take care of it. Once the young Giant had taken his stance, the monsters couldn’t match his brute strength, despite strength being their only other advantage.

[You have slain Tier 9 C-Class, Defiled Light Acolyte]

[+2 EXP]

Well...

That and the advantage of sight Peace had now stolen from them.

As for the Resonance Peace was supposed to have earned...

He didn’t exactly know how to pretend he had it. That secret seemed doomed to come to light.

At the very least, he’d soon be able to showcase a leap in strength.

Peace pointed toward the left wall of darkness.

"There."

Sliding to a stop, Volkar set his stance and began swinging his axe horizontally through empty air.

"For honor!"

An Acolyte suddenly appeared at the edge of the axe’s path, its head cleanly severed.

[You have slain Tier 9 C-Class, Defiled Light Acolyte]

[+2 EXP]

[Your rank has increased!]

[Rank: E ? D]

[Your body is evolving...]

As Peace lifted his foot to resume walking, his body began to twitch.

’Geuh!’

"Huh? What’s the matter, Pariah?"

Trembling as he looked back toward Ralph, Peace whispered:

"N-n-nothing!"

"Nothing, eh?"

Yulis looked Peace up and down, his gaze settling on his nails in particular. The hooked nails were growing visibly longer.

"I don’t think ’nothing’ is happening..."

Stammering, Peace half-shouted:

"N-no r-really! I-I’m good!"

Seemingly uncaring, Yulis simply shrugged and said:

"If you say so."

The other three looked at him with varying degrees of suspicion and confusion, even Volkar, but all dropped it in record time.

Turning forward again, Peace cheered:

"L-let’s go!"

Staring at the back of Peace’s head, Maura shook her own.

"I think he’s lost it."

Ralph chuckled.

"That would mean he had it to begin with... I think Volkar’s piss must have washed away his sanity. He came all the way here with us, after all."

Looking down at his hands, Peace studied the minute changes, feeling the newfound strength welling up inside him. Then, he looked up and said:

"Friends stick together, right?"

Volkar smiled, although it lacked his usual effervescence. Still, he cheered:

"Of course!"

Peace didn’t cheer back. Instead, he pointed into the darkness and said:

"Another."

[You have slain Tier 9 C-Class, Defiled Light Acolyte]

With that, silence settled over the group once again. They had more serious problems to focus on.

’Status.’

???

Name: [Pax Garnier]

Tier: [9]

Rank: [D] - (EXP: 0/51)

Class: [Terror]

Traits: [???] [Devotion to Light]

Resonance: N/A

Item Level: 12

???

’Rank D... zero out of fifty-one.’

The EXP requirement hadn’t increased.

That was good news. It meant his earlier conclusion that he could rank up again — or rather, that he would have to — was looking increasingly likely.

The problem was finding enough different monsters to earn EXP from. The Light Temple certainly possessed enough variety, but if Peace continued avoiding the more dangerous threats, he risked exhausting what little EXP the weaker ones could offer.

They’d already killed nine Acolytes, and Peace had stopped receiving EXP from them.

And since they weren’t stopping to sift through the decayed flesh for Spirit Stones, there was nothing left to gain from killing them.

Discounting the chance of a Wisp, of course.

They continued down the corridor, eventually reaching its end.

[You have slain Tier 9 C-Class, Defiled Light Acolyte]

[You have slain Tier 9 C-Class, Defiled Light Acolyte]

[You have slain Tier 9 C-Class, Defiled Light Acolyte]

[You have slain Tier 9 C-Class, Defiled Light Acolyte]

Thankfully, there wasn’t a decision to be made. There was only a turn, not a crossroads.

However, down the next corridor, Peace spotted a branching passage along the left wall, leading deeper into the temple.

Beyond that, he saw another spawning zone. One filled with monsters just as stereotypical as the goblins outside.

Slimes.

Perhaps the third weakest monster, but definitely one of the most annoying given their current situation.

As the little blobs squished and squirmed, they left behind a sticky trail much like a snail’s. Anyone unfortunate enough to step in one would find themselves nearly immobilized, leaving them easy prey for an Acolyte or whatever else lurked nearby.

And the other monsters knew it. Plenty had gathered around the zone, waiting for something to get trapped.

Still...

The slimes themselves were free EXP.

’Tch...’

But they were free EXP Peace didn’t have the time to collect.

He led the party to the turn before the spawning zone, dispatching a few Acolytes along the way, before turning down the side corridor and heading deeper into the temple.

But after only a few steps, Peace ground to a halt.

’I don’t know whether this is good or terrible luck.’

At the far, far end of the hallway, he spotted stairs leading down. Stairs that he’d thought would take hours to find.

But in their path was a spawning zone. One filled with Tier 9 A-Class monsters. The strongest monsters that spawned on the temple’s middle floor, Temple Knights.

They were tall, just a little shorter than Volkar. They wielded longswords and shields and were covered in chainmail, with tabards bearing the image of a bleeding sun. They roamed the corridors in groups of three to six.

The ’alive’ version of the B-Class Skeleton Knights.

Ralph and the others looked at Peace, studying his troubled expression. None seemed able to figure out why he’d stopped.

’I see a way around...’

Near the stairs, another corridor joined the one ahead, offering a possible route around the spawning zone.

Sighing, Peace turned to face Ralph and the others. Pressing a finger to his lips, he whispered:

"I think I earned a Trait from the Wisp. I can see through the darkness."

Ralph whispered back:

"That much was obvious... what about it?"

’At least act surprised! Geez! Don’t you know how rare such a thing is?!’

"..." Peace glanced over his shoulder. "I see the stairs to the lower floors."

His expression unmoving, Ralph asked:

"The catch?"

Peace hung his head.

"Temple Knights."

Ralph shivered, then looked up and sighed.

"Fuck."

Peace watched as the knights patrolled the halls, disappearing into side corridors before andother patrol reappeared moments later.

"There is a way around, I think. I can see a separate path leading there."

Spinning on his heels, Ralph said:

"Alright, let’s get a move on."

Yulis reached out and grabbed Ralph by the collar of his armor.

"No."

"Huh? Don’t you—"

Cutting Ralph off, Yulis said:

"I know. However, what’s the point of running when we’re bound to face even stronger creatures below? If we can’t take them on, then what’s the point in trying?"

Ralph opened his mouth to say something, probably along the lines of there not being a point in trying at all, but shut himself up.

’Some Tier 8 Diver... sheesh.’

Peace scoffed.

"I’m starting to see another reason you survived so long."

Ralph smirked.

"You say that like it’s an insult. The brave die first... it’s how we ended up here, is it not?"

Peace raised an eyebrow and pointed a thumb at Volkar, who was staring vacantly into the shadows, waiting for his next fight.

"How did you get this one to respect you so much?"

"Just shut up and focus."

’Huh...?’

Peace glanced at Yulis, but he simply shrugged. Maura, on the other hand, seemed to know, though she clearly had no intention of sharing.

’Alright, that’s enough curiosity.’

Questions like that were getting them nowhere. What they needed was a battle plan.

And who better to devise one than the man who’d claimed the Resonance of the skeletal counterparts of the freaks before them?

It was about time for the coward to take the reins again.

Peace began relaying what he saw, noting the number of patrols and how many knights were in each.

Ralph hadn’t exactly accepted the task, but he certainly understood what Peace was getting at.

And it seemed he’d begrudgingly re-accepted his leader role.

Ralph rubbed his chin

"Sixteen patrols total you say? With one being a sixer?"

"Correct."

"How close are they to one another?"

Peace watched two groups pass through the same intersection, separated by barely a minute.

’Not enough time...’

"About a minute."

Ralph clicked his tongue.

"Damn."