Hollow Sentinel

(Please read the author's notes)

Licht turned off the lantern by sending it inside the inventory while his other hand moved to find a stable way to pull his body up.

He was cautious of the unstable sand or rock that could be present at the edges.

One mistake here, and he would turn into a bloody paste down there.

Finally finding a good foothold, Licht lifted his body. Trying to be as silent as he could, his feet finally touched real ground after hours of climbing.

Panting and dusting off all the dirt on his pants, his eyes finally landed on the mesmerizing view ahead.

There was a dim but twinkling light. His eyes slowly adjusted to the light, and then he saw it.

Some meters ahead of him, there lay a grand waterfall.

Its water ran down at unprecedented speeds.

Some of its droplets fell off the course and reflected light around it, which in turn gave rise to small rainbows.

They made the surrounding space more mesmerizing, sparkling around the nearby plants and trees.

Ripples kept happening in the small pond, but the waves never got violent.

'How is this place existing up here, without any sunlight at that,' Licht thought as he tried to find the source of all this light.

Looking at the place for some more time and deeming no danger ahead, he kicked the ground.

He was sprinting toward the small oasis he had found. But just as he was on the perimeter of the grassy field, something hit him hard.

"Ugh,"

No, it was quite the opposite. He had hit something hard.

There was an invisible barrier blocking the way to the oasis ahead.

The lush greenery inside it just extended to the barrier as it left the land afterward untouched.

Baren.

Groaning some more in his mind. Licht rubbed his head for a few moments.

He touched the barrier after his head stopped hurting, hoping to get a reaction from it.

Licht touched it in many ways.

But came back disappointed as the barrier didn't react.

Sighing, he found a big rock nearby and decided to sit beside it.

He took out the last batch of food he had now.

It contained several already-cooked jerkies.

'This can last me for a week even if I use spiritual energy many times over,'

'It was a good choice to make more of these, but still, I didn't think to replenish spiritual energy, I have to eat so much!'

'But do earthquakes happen here?' he thought, his eyes looking at the shaking ground.

'huh?'

But the water in his bottle wasn't shaking.

Just as he tried to inspect what the actual problem was, something threw him hard from the back.

'What the hell??'

He flew through the air at unprecedented speed. He tried to soften his landing.

Licht made a pike mid-air, and just as he was about to land, he got into a sliding position.

Sliding across the hard ground, he stopped himself by pushing a pike inside the ground.

The pike trembled under the force Licht was thrown by.

It wiggled for some second and then rebounded him back some meters ahead.

'Ah, I still sustained some injuries…What was the thing that had thrown me…'

'For fucks sake, I can't even food in peace these days….Wait'

"MY FOOD!" Licht shouted as his eyes darted far off into the distance.

The place he was eating moments before was now in ruins. The ground was cracked, and some rocks flew here and there.

Amidst the dust, the thick dust cloud, a towering figure could be seen. As the dust cleared, the figure finally came into view.

Amidst the dusty air, a sentinel stood tall and majestic, its stone form weathered by the relentless passage of time.

Its body was carved from granite, and its features were chiseled with remarkable precision, each line radiating a dark grey glow.

Cracks and crevices adorned its stony skin, adding to its dreadfulness.

Its mechanical body moved as its eyes glared in the direction of Licht, but for once, he wasn't scared.

He was angry, his rage-fueled more and more when he looked at the ground. Precisely at what remained of his food.

"Ahhh!" he screamed in frustration. This was his last batch of food, and now it was gone."

Enveloped in dust and scattered all around.

"What did my food ever do to you!" Licht pointed his finger in the Sentinel's direction.

All of a sudden, a system notification rang beside him.

››

[Sub Trial]: Path to the surface!

[Category]: Main (Not possible to reject)

[Difficulty]: Mortal

[Clear Conditions]: You are on the correct way to get to the surface and disable the barrier by killing Hollow Sentinel.

[Time Limit]: N/A

[Compensation]: Sentinel's Armour (Myth)

[Failure]: Elimination

››

Cold water poured over Licht's head as his mind calmed down after looking at the quest.

'Huh, why are they giving me a myth that is hard to obtain…'

'Don't tell me that thing is that difficult to kill!'

A cold chill ran over Licht's spine. He was getting goosebumps all over his body.

The thought was horrifying to him. After using butcherer's knife for days, he now knew these mystical artifacts were too overpowered.

Each of them could drastically increase someone's survival chances, indirectly or directly.

Gulping down saliva in his mouth. Licht increased his concentration to the utmost.

"I can't be careless,"

"Time to finally use it, I guess."

Burying the pike in his hand into the ground, Licht closed his eyes.

'I have enough time before it comes.'

All of a sudden, his hands started to become disfigured of sorts, and his internal muscles started to show.

Then a white material started flowing out of them. It enveloped his hands fully, forming a round drop-like shape.

Slowly the white spherical changed into bone gauntlets.

'Coming up here while using nails and pike wasn't a bad idea. I have gained some familiarity with my power.'

"Time to start the fight," Licht said while leaping in the direction of the Sentinel.