Chapter 48: Meeting the Guardian

He quickly activated the dragon scales around his other arm and reached for her sword.

*DING!*

He caught her sword in his palm, gripping it tightly.

’Ugh...’

A numbing pain spread through his arm as her ice elemental mana froze his dragon-scaled hand. The cold seeped through his dragon scales and into his arm, forcing him to quickly activate his fire energy to resist it.

*TSSSSSS!*

His entire hand caught fire as the fire and ice energies continued to clash, creating steam that spread in every direction.

Chris quickly swung his sword with his other hand toward Aelia, who now had her sword tightly held by him and was unable to pull it out of his grip.

She instantly released her hold and let go of her sword. Spinning backward in the air, she avoided his slash while kicking the hilt of her own sword with her leg. Just as his sword passed above her, she enveloped her hand in ice energy and struck the back of his palm.

*BOOM!*

Her leg struck the sword in his grip while her other attack hit the hand holding his own sword at the same time.

*Woosh!*

Both swords flew out of his hands and into the distance.

He completely ignored the pain in both of his palms, as what she had just done stunned him. Despite being in a disadvantageous position, she had managed to avoid his attack, disarm him completely, and make him release both swords he was holding.

He quickly came back to his senses and rushed forward, raising his fist and gathering fire energy around it to attack her as soon as she landed on her feet.

She raised her own fist, gathering ice energy around it, and struck at him at the same time.

*BOOM!*

Their fists collided, creating an explosive shockwave that sent dust flying in every direction.

Both of them were forced to take a few steps backward before managing to regain their balance.

Chris looked at his hand, which was still trembling from the impact, before looking back at her.

"You’re amazing!" He praised her from the bottom of his heart. He had never expected to meet anyone who could fight him like that while possessing a similar level of strength.

"You’re not bad yourself," she replied with a smile.

Similarly, she had never expected to fight anyone who could match her at a similar level. She had spent her entire life being the strongest in her generation, and nobody had ever been a match for her except for the older elves.

"Should we call it a draw?" he asked.

"No, you won." She shook her head. "I’m almost out of mana, and I know you still have plenty left to use. If we continued, I would have lost regardless."

Chris shook his head. "No, you’re clearly more skilled in combat than I am, while I only have greater endurance. I’ve also noticed that you held back a little during the first half of the fight and wasted quite a bit of mana because of it. If you had used your full strength from the beginning, the outcome might have been different."

She looked at him for a moment before smiling.

"You noticed? I should have known you would. Okay, then. Let’s call it a draw."

He nodded before storing his sword back in his storage ring.

Looking around, he noticed that everyone was staring at them with wide eyes and open mouths. Even Aelonen was standing there with his mouth hanging open, staring at them as if he had just witnessed the most shocking thing in his life.

"What?" Chris asked.

The others finally came out of their stupor and began clapping their hands.

Applause spread across the entire training field, and even Aelonen clapped his hands a few times with an awkward expression.

"Now that’s what I call a great show!"

Chris and Aelia turned toward the familiar voice, only to see the Sage standing on the other side of the training field, accompanied by several other elders of the elven tribe.

Seeing that the two had noticed them, the Sage and the elders approached the duo.

"That was the best spar I have ever seen between youngsters of your age! And I’ve seen a lot in my lifetime. After all, I’m very, very old!" the Sage said while tapping his staff against the ground.

The other elders also nodded beside him, agreeing with his statement.

"Thanks?" Chris and Aelia replied at the same time, feeling awkward. Chris wasn’t used to situations like this at all.

The Sage then turned toward the young elves who were watching the fight.

"Did you see that? That’s what real skill looks like, not your halfhearted sparring! You should all learn from this and strive to improve in the future!"

All the younger elves nodded and looked down at the ground in embarrassment.

"But Sage, isn’t it unfair to compare us with them? They’re clearly both monsters with talents far greater than ours. Big sister is an SSS-Rank Warrior, and I doubt that human is any weaker than her," Aelonen said from the side with a wry smile.

"Huh? Are you trying to lecture me about fairness, brat?" The Sage looked at Aelonen in annoyance.

"N-no, it’s not like that!" Aelonen shouted, startled.

"While it’s true that some of you may not be able to match their strength because of your lower talent, I wasn’t talking about their strength at all! I was complimenting their fighting skills and discipline, as well as their courage. They acted like real warriors should. With enough determination and persistence, you can all reach this level of skill one day, regardless of your talent!"

The Sage shouted at them while tapping his staff against the ground.

"And you, brat! Don’t let me hear you say such stupid things again! You’re blessed with enormous talent yourself. If you train hard enough, you can also reach the same heights they can!"

The younger elves around them widened their eyes at the Sage’s words. Then, their eyes flashed with determination.

The Sage observed their expressions and nodded in satisfaction. This was exactly what he had wanted to achieve. He wanted to motivate them to strive for greater heights.

Chris watched this development in amazement. He couldn’t help but praise the Sage in his heart. With just a few words, he had managed to turn their despair into determination.

The Sage then turned toward Chris with a smile on his face.

"Follow me. The Guardian is waiting for you."

Aelia widened her eyes.

"The Guardian is already awake?"

"Naturally. It’s one thing for you to request the Guardian to meet Chris, but it’s another thing entirely for the Guardian to be willing to meet him at all," the Sage replied. "We had to first inquire with the Guardian."

Aelia nodded in understanding.

"Okay, lead the way," Chris said.

He didn’t have a clue what they were talking about, but he was willing to follow along and meet this Guardian. If that was what Aelia wanted him to do, he believed it was in his best interest to do so.

The Sage nodded and started leading the way, followed by the other elders, while Chris and Aelia walked behind them.

Soon after, they reached the center of the elven territory, where the Sacred Tree of Ael’Zoria stood.

This time, however, they didn’t enter through the entrance to the meeting room. Instead, they ascended the pathway along the tree trunk until they reached a greater height and approached a large door built into the trunk.

The Sage approached the door and raised his staff before opening his mouth.

"Doras-eth a’cosg, awch’eth va gala’ir d’gwaed’ae ríog."

Chris didn’t understand a word the Sage said, but he had a feeling that he was speaking in the Ancient Elven language Aelia had mentioned before.

Strange symbols started glowing on the door, enveloping it in light.

"Agor’eth, a’sylae an’presen met’eth va’senor."

*Crack!*

The door trembled and creaked before slowly beginning to open.

The Sage turned toward Chris.

"You may enter."

"What about the rest of you?" Chris asked.

"The Guardian agreed to meet you, not the rest of us." The Sage shook his head.

Chris nodded before looking at the door for a moment. He couldn’t see anything inside aside from the light seeping through the opening.

Without thinking further, he approached the door and stepped inside.

...

On the other side of the door, Chris marveled at the sight in front of him.

A large opening had been carved into the tree trunk, similar to the meeting room on the lower level.

However, this room looked completely different. Carvings covered the walls all around him, depicting images of war, and Chris immediately felt that he had seen something similar before.

He remembered the carvings on the walls of the cave in the dungeon that he had discovered by chance, where he had received a strange technique that allowed him to resist demons.

In that cave, he had seen similar carvings on the walls.

But something else caught his attention, and once he noticed it, his eyes widened in shock.

In the center of the room lay a beast that looked like a fox, only countless times bigger. The creature was larger than a house and had nine tails.

The fur of the fox was snow-white with hints of blue at the ends, making her look almost mythical.

As Chris stared at the beast, she raised her head and observed him before speaking.

"Aen Va’esse deireadh, aep Hen Ichaer, Aeron’vaer."

The voice sounded feminine, but something about it was strange. Chris felt as though he were hearing the voice directly inside his head, similar to when he communicated with Azreon over long distances.

The voice echoed in his mind for a moment, but he couldn’t understand a single word.

"I don’t understand," he replied, shaking his head.

"I know, but it doesn’t matter. Welcome, Aeron’vaer," the fox replied, this time speaking in a language he could understand.

"Aeron’vaer? What is that?" he asked, feeling confused.

"You don’t need to know the details, but think of it as your ancient name," the fox replied.

"Ehm... okay? And who are you?" he asked, scratching his head.

"I’m the Guardian of Ael’Zoria. My real name isn’t important. For now, you can call me Aura."

"That’s a nice name." Chris nodded.

"You bear a demon mark, Aeron’vaer," Aura suddenly said.

"You know?" he replied, intrigued.

"I can feel the demon energy inside of you."

"Do you know how I can get rid of it?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Please, tell me. I’m sure those masked figures will continue to chase me if I don’t do something about it," Chris pleaded.

"I can tell you, but I will need something in return."

"Need something from me? What could I possibly help you with?" He was confused. He was just a young man at the moment. What could such a powerful beast possibly want from him?

Aura shook her head.

"You just need to agree. I promise it won’t be anything too difficult for you."

"Okay, then. I agree." He nodded. He desperately needed to remove the demon mark if he wanted to continue with his travels.

Aura nodded in satisfaction.

"Tell me now. How can I remove it?" he urged.

"The answer is already within you. Besides the demon energy, I can also sense another kind of energy inside your body. You should know by now that this energy is perfectly suited to dealing with demonic energy."

"Huh? How do I do that?"

"Just use your other energy to purify your body, and the demon mark will disappear."

Chris was stunned.

Was it really that simple?