As she said that, he suddenly rolled on the ground away from where he was sitting. A spear slammed down onto the spot he was just in. Leo looked up and saw that the guardian he was facing had already formed and was ready to fight him.
"I thought I had a second like last time," he explained his thought process while quickly summoning a new set of Obsidian Blades.
His life would have been a lot easier if he could use magic, but something seemed to suppress it. If he got rid of the suppression, he would be able to breeze through the tests like they were nothing.
As he was complaining about the suppression, the spear came swinging at him again. He jumped up while taking a better look at his opponent.
It looked like the exact same guardian that he had just faced, but a couple of inches shorter. It also seemed a little stronger and faster. This meant he could try to employ the same tactics he had used before, but it would definitely be a harder and longer process.
As his opponent brought the spear back to its body, preparing for its next attack. He quickly rushed toward it with the three Shadow Blades he was able to form. This time, he was planning on keeping the aura consumption even lower, since he already had experience fighting the guardian before.
The first blade swung at it but was deflected by its wrist shield. Once it was deflected, it bounced a few inches away but it still lingered in the area because of Leo's control. He was prepared for this and immediately sent the other two blades at it from different directions.
The guard quickly moved its spear with its right arm and its left arm with the wrist shield to block the incoming attacks. When they started moving, he sent the third blade that was still hovering there to quickly pierce through the aura.
With both of its arms being used to block the first two blades, the third blade went through without any hindrance. It stabbed into the armor, hoping to break through, but it only barely broke it and grazed the silhouette.
Leo frowned, realizing that the armor of the guardian was also a lot stronger than before, but at least he was able to damage it. Now that the first cut was made, it would give him a little advantage.
He recalled the blade immediately after it made the cut. In his previous fight, he learned that it was pointless to keep the blade lodged inside the body, so he would rather just use it to recreate the same attack.
He summoned the blades back to him and took a few steps back, judging how his opponent would react to the damage he caused. Unlike a normal person that would change their attacks and mindset once they got injured, the guardian was inanimate and didn't care at all.
It charged toward him again, even after its chest was grazed. That was what made it a harder opponent than normal humans - it disregarded the possibility of death. It made his fight harder because he would always have to be more careful than it.
The entire sequence repeated itself again in the same way as before, and the blade lodged itself deeper than before. However, this time the guardian had expected this. While the blade was stuck in its chest, it swung the spear at him while he was in its reach.
He saw the spear coming for him and instinctively formed a Shadow Barrier. The spear broke the barrier, losing most of its energy, and hit him in his left arm. The blow knocked him to the side, almost breaking his arm.
Quickly getting up, he summoned an extra blade. The previous one had been disintegrated by the guardian. He made the mistake of expecting it to act like a brainless machine. Now that it was learning from his attacks, he needed to change his strategy each time he attacked it.
The problem was that most of the damage he dealt was to the chest. If he changed the location, then it wouldn't help him as much and would lengthen the time he would need to fight it. As he was thinking heavily, the guardian rushed toward him.
"Shadow Trail."
He quickly dodged the incoming spear and then jumped into the air. He evaded an incoming punch by the guardian and grabbed its arm while in the air. Using it as support, he landed on the ground and then swung himself over it using it as an anchor.
After that, he dug all three of his blades into the back of the guardian. It quickly turned around to attack him, only to find out that he had disappeared again. In the time it had taken to turn around, Leo had gone around it in the other direction and got to its back.
He slammed his palm which was filled with aura into one of the lodged blades, pushing it into the back. The blade completely came out of the other side of the guardian, stopping it in its tracks.
Taking a few steps back, he watched the guardian unravel back into blood. After his opponent was defeated, he sighed and got back onto the ground.
"Now I need some rest," he said with a breath of relief.
"Actually, you need to change your course. It's okay if you want one of the best treasures, but maybe try to get a smaller one first. It might help you a little and you can use that in the next few steps forward," she said.
He shook his head resolutely. "That sounds like a good idea, but I can do it. I was just conserving my energy which was the only reason why I had such a hard time. This is already my 6th tile. I only have four more to go and I will be there. I can easily do it," he said.
It was true. Even though he had crossed more than half the path, he had only used a fourth of his aura. Unfortunately for him, he only had half of his full capacity left. After he used most of the aura he had to alter the compass, he couldn't completely recover all his aura.
The pills would have helped, but Nefrati took away most of that aura. So he couldn't really get back to his full strength before entering the temple.
As he was sitting down, he massaged his arm. His left arm took a very heavy blow from the spear, almost breaking it. He was happy the damage wasn't too severe, but he had to circulate a little aura to it to let it recover.
He stayed in his position for the next hour, just circulating the aura in that area. If he tried to proceed without taking care of the injury first, it would be inviting trouble. Not only would he be disadvantaged, but if anything hit his arm it would break.
After an hour, he felt that his arm was back to normal. He got up and took a look at the next tile.
