Chapter 6: Valiant Subject's Ward

[Maestus, the King’s Right Hand channels the dwindling remnants of his will into you]

[You have received Enchanted Equipment ×1]

While willing to see past the glowing tablet, Incarnate ^8001 finally managed to see who had given him short reprieve just now.

It was the skeleton of one of the figures adorned in the fading golden armour and cape. It held his arm tight while kneeling on the ground which was quickly smacked by a wave of sand.

The skeleton showed no further signs of motion, however.

It seemed as dead and lifeless as before, however, as Incarnate ^8001 watched, partially blinded, the armour it wore dissipated into spots of purple light that faded rapidly. Strangely, the armour sets of the other fallen soldiers also vanished.

‘What just happened?! Will... equipment...!’ the Hollow Demonling attempted to rationalise everything that just happened as quickly as he could. ‘Equipment! It says I received equipment!’

“Oh, so he was that persistent! A part of his Far Ji too...” the voice of the statue came again, a slice of surprise in it, and Incarnate ^8001 dreaded that his mind had been read again.

No matter.

What had just happened spurred a spark through him!

He couldn’t give up yet!

He’d been granted equipment, Enchanted Equipment, whatever that meant. Focusing hard on the glowing tablet, the Incarnate looked at the bottom string of text to see...

===

SeiJo (Equipment) :

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[Valiant Subject’s Ward | Grade Potent]

+5 STR, +2 AGI

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Enchantment I : Wards away harmful supernatural influences around the user.

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Enchantment II : 1 in 7 chance of reflecting physical damage back to enemies.

-

===

The moment Incarnate ^8001 locked his sight on the name of his new piece of equipment, the details of its prowess were shown.

‘That’s...!’ the Hollow Demonling thought quickly, but seeing as he didn’t have enough time to think leisurely, he willed for this piece Enchantment Equipment, whatever it was, to come.

It was supposed to manifest somehow, right? The rules of this magical place should be as absurd as that!

And indeed they were.

In an instant, something appeared in Incarnate ^8001’s hand. He gripped it tight by a strap that wound around his hand, and one that slung around his arm.

It was a large, bronze kite shield with sharp edges that glinted silver. It was devoid of any added intricacies besides its unnatural shine and polish, but as the Incarnate held it, he felt his flesh grow taut because of the five whole units of strength and the two in agility the shield gave!

For a moment, he felt like he could burst, but his beating hearts stubbornly coerced the rest of his body to toughen up with heated, rushing blood!

“Raaaaar!” the Incarnate found himself crying out senselessly, as though performing a war cry without comprehensible words. Without thought, and guided only by instinct, he pushed against the falling swathes of sand with his shield, and to his surprise, much of them, as they reached close to him, were pushed away!

The moment he was given room, the Incarnate leapt up with all his might, shockingly soaring over three meters to escape much of the unnaturally bending torrent of sand.

But the ditch was large, and he had only managed to cover a third of its height.

Thinking quickly, the Incarnate begrudgingly stepped over the bodies of the skeletons that showed from the sand, using them as footholds for his rise!

“Fool! Indulge in your boldness any longer and your death with be much more painful than it needs to be!” the statue called from Incarnate ^8001’s left, for he was fleeing in a different direction.

The bones he stepped on broke under his bare feet, puncturing his skin, but he didn’t stop. When he felt a sturdier frame under his feet, he leapt again and reached the edge of the sandy pit which began to recede further in order to drop him back into its clutch, but not before the Hollow Demonling scrambled past its edge and ran with all his might!

His newfound speed and strength supported a brand of fleeing he would have never been capable of in his past life.

“Coward! Come and die among your brethren in service! There is nothing for you out there!” called the statue, but the Incarnate didn’t look back.

There was no way he would stay close to that thing, let alone fight it.

What good would it do?

He ripped away his blindfold and looked ahead.

He had been right.

Past the statue, there was more to this place.

A different view rather than the endless sand that plagued this area.

To get there, however, the Incarnate needed to outrun the quickly vanishing foothold of sand that revealed itself to have buried more people than he had thought!

‘I can make it! I can make it!’ he thought as he focused on the end of the insurmountable sea of golden grains.

Yes, there was something that ended its reign.

It was a massive, dark object, like a rock cutting through the desert.

He could make it.

It might also not be safe, but it was his only hope.

The sand begged to differ with his hopeful opinion, though.

It dipped, almost making him slip. It was impossible to outrun it.

Thinking quickly about the Enchantments...

‘It wards away supernatural influences...’ the Incarnate thought before extending the hand with which he held his shield behind him.

He stumbled as the caving of the sand caught up to him, but with his shield exacting its powers behind his back, he found, to his joy, that the sand’s collapse just barely trailed behind him!

Indeed, it worked, just as it had within the pit!

The sand was moving oddly after all, clearly influenced by the statue, and his shield, the Valiant Subject’s Ward worked against that influence, if only slightly!

Eventually, the Incarnate made a last high leap and fell on the dark patch of rock!

Falling with a crisp slap, the Incarnate took rapid breaths before turning behind him.

Right before the rugged edge of the dark brown rock, the sand sank down, and thankfully did not spill over the rock to follow the Incarnate who had already propped his shield up.

He hesitantly took a step forward without daring to raise his vision too high, lest he catch a glimpse of the statue again and pay for it.

Thankfully, there was no boisterous voice mocking him now. Perhaps the statue was too far to exact its influence.

Unfortunately, even the sight he limited himself to wasn’t pleasing to look at.

Just below the rock he was standing on, a whitish hue dominated everything the Incarnate could see. The golden scape was gone, replaced by a field of skeletons, some whole and some torn to bits. The former had their hands raised, angled in the direction the Incarnate ^8001 had just come from.

This same harrowing scene was present to the Incarnate’s right and to his left. There was no end to these skeletons. There had to be millions of them, if not more. This rock alone stood against them, cutting a path into the sea of remains.

As he turned behind him, he found that the rock continued for a fairly far distance, before widening, widening further and feeding somewhere he couldn’t see.

‘Should I have just gone around?’ the Incarnate thought, his hearts now settling a little.

He still had his doubts about his earlier choice.

But at that moment, the glowing tablet appeared before his sight again.

[You have successfully evaded the Fifth Omen of the Amalgam Sand Fiend!]

[Your actions are being judged...]

[You have been awarded 10 Incarnation Points for an outstanding performance!]

“What?!” the Incarnate exclaimed.