45. Runo's Dilemma

Looking at Orion, who seemed to be smiling even now, something clicked on Runo, and he let go of all his reservations.

Almost instantly, a heavy pressure descended upon Orion, causing his body to flinch a little.

But at that moment, a red, glowing layer of film surrounded Orion's whole body as he stood straight and looked at Runo with a smile.

The last two times Runo used his talent against him, Orion wasn't aware of his talent. Hence, he didn't know how to react, which resulted in him taking the beating.

But it couldn't be the same this time, for he finally understood Runo's talent had something to do with gravity after he used his talent on those giant bees outside the temple.

Therefore, he had come up with an idea to repel gravity itself. But that would require him to use repel on all his body, which he hadn't been able to do before his training.

However, it became a different matter altogether now that he had trained hard to attain that form of absolute defense in a mesmerizing display of glowing red covering his whole body.

Runo stared at Orion, standing tall, seemingly unaffected by his talent. However, instead of showing uneasiness and frowning, he smirked at him.

In that moment, the pressure intensified almost fourfold, and cracks began to appear on the floor beneath Orion, spreading out like a spider's web, with Orion at the center.

Meanwhile, all the people in the hall felt as if their weight seemed to have been increased by an extra ten or twenty kilograms all of a sudden, causing some of them to hunch back a little.

Runo increased the gravity to the point that even though the pressure concentrated on Orion the whole time, everyone else could also feel it in the hall. It was like a rippling effect spreading from Orion's repulsion of gravity.

However, the strange thing was that even with the increased gravity, Orion didn't even flinch. It was as if he were a giant boulder, standing steadily on the ground.

Looking at Runo's frowning face, Orion really wanted to beat him up to ease his anger, but remindful of the situation, he held back. But that didn't mean he would let him go like that.

"Is that it?" He asked in a playful tone. "Is that the difference between me and the first guardian?"

Runo could discern the playfulness in Orion's words, and his face turned black because of it.

"You're lucky we're in this temple right now," he said icily. "Otherwise, your situation wouldn't be any different from last time."

"Indeed," Orion smiled at him. "But we don't know who is lucky here."

After uttering those words, he paid no further attention to Runo and made his way toward the portal. Upon reaching it, without a moment's hesitation, he stepped into the blue portal and vanished from the hall.

Everyone in the hall had anticipated a battle would unfold between them, but seeing one of them leave just like that made them very disappointed.

Meanwhile, Runo clenched his fists tightly as he saw Orion ignore him. He didn't like when people ignored him, didn't heed his orders, and talked back to him.

Most importantly, if the person in question happened to be someone he had already taught a lesson to.

Thinking of that, he recalled a conversation he had with his father once.

"Runo, you are a good kid, and I have seen you donate supplies to the Zenithans behind my back many times. This speaks volumes about your kindness. But if there is one thing that will make you fall to the bottom, then that will be your pride. Every human should have pride, but once it gets into your head, there is no stopping it. And you, my child, have the most pride out of all your brothers and sisters."

"Father, what do you mean by pride getting into my head?"

"I have seen how you handle things. You treat everyone like they are your servants, which includes your friends too. You always order them around and expect them to heed your orders. But have you ever thought about what it would be like for them to be ordered around?"

"But father, I am your son, and they are just from normal families. They don't need such respect, and wouldn't it be an honor for them that I needed their assistance?"

"...It seems I failed as a father... Remember this, son: there will always be people out there who won't care about who you are, which family you belong to, or even whose son you are. They won't care about anything and will treat you as nothing but any other person walking down the streets. At that time, the pride you carry will become your worst obstacle in overcoming that situation, and that will be the beginning of your fall."

At that time, he didn't comprehend what his father meant and thought his father had been overly cautious about nothing. But now, in the situation he found himself in, he was starting to understand a little.

But that still didn't change how conflicted he felt about this. He had lived his whole life like that, like someone who always looked down on everything and everyone, and because of that very reason, he understood it would be very difficult to change his path.

Deep in thought about the situation, he headed back and leaned against a wall, pondering with his head down.

***

As Orion stepped into the portal, he found himself standing on a stage.

Looking around, he saw that the stage appeared to be made of square-shaped white marbles placed all around it, and at the other end of the stage stood a silhouette.

'That must be the first guardian.'

He saw a humanoid figure standing in the distance. But he couldn't determine the figure's gender as the guardian's body appeared to be fully covered in silver armour head to toe.

But Orion assumed the guardian to be a man, considering the sheer size and build of his body he could make out from the outside.

The guardian stood there with his sword stabbed into the ground, his hands resting on the hilt of the sword.

'It appears the battle will only start if I take the lead.'

He thought as he observed his surroundings, and a moment later, he surprisingly found out that this place stood in the middle of nowhere.

The stage where he stood appeared to be enclosed in a transparent dome-like structure, so he could easily see through everything around him in this place.

He could see stars scattered around the whole sky from where he stood. Their constant twinkling made Orion sighed in awe.

On Earth, he had rarely seen something so mesmerizing, but in this world, he had already witnessed such a sight two times, and he didn't even spend a week here.

'I have yet to even see the real world. This is only a dungeon.'

He felt excited just thinking about this new world.

'But first, I will have to kill the three guardians, starting with this one.'

Orion pointed at the guardian with a sword in his hand.

"Come."