Aegis Sentinel Ring (4)

Now, what did I do after throwing these two monsters? I quickly dismissed the Swordhammerbat and ran towards the gap between the trees. All my techniques were deactivated, and I relied on my physical strength with a bit of remaining Arkium.

At that moment, while the female Sentinel Strider was still airborne, the male, also thrown into the air, looked angry, I guess? He directed his mouth upwards and opened it wide, almost splitting it apart.

'Is this a shockwave blast of air? Is he trying to land quickly?'

My Arkium was already heavily drained, and I was a bit out of breath.

*BOOM!*

The sound of the male's wind shockwave echoed as he landed. Bad news? Yes! Bad news. He would immediately rush at me, shrieking his Territorial Roar.

And I could no longer fight him. Now, what I was doing was another dangerous gamble. I entered the gap between the trees, the nest of this Sentinel Strider pair. The male, having landed, shot towards me at incredible speed, ready to slash me with his three tails.

But just as he was right in front of me and his blades were about to touch me, I turned around, and his Territorial Roar stopped. His three blades avoided my body, and he leapt to the side to avoid crashing into me.

And why did he do that? I was holding his egg and using it as a shield. Yes. I was holding his precious child hostage.

I emerged from the gap between the trees and saw the male hesitate to attack me. At that moment, the female also charged towards me, ready to shoot her blade projectiles. But when she realized what I was holding, her three tails aimed downwards, shooting the projectiles into the ground.

'My gamble... worked, right?'

I walked slowly towards the back of the temple. I also kept repositioning the egg to the side of my body that the Sentinel Strider pair would target.

"Easy... easy! You don't want to hurt your child, right?" I said with a grin.

Both Sentinel Striders growled at me and walked towards me cautiously and slowly. Then I saw the male move his tail suspiciously. I immediately activated Quantumorph Artisan, forming clawed gauntlets and directing them towards the egg.

"Don't make any suspicious moves, or..." I spoke calmly while stroking the egg with my claw.

*CREEECHH*

This time, the female moved suddenly towards me, but it didn't seem like she intended to attack. It was as if she was saying, "DON'T!" Yeah, I thought so. Don't blame me, even though I'm a veteran, I can't speak animal language, okay?

I immediately looked at the female with a threatening gaze, making a quick movement with my clawed hand towards the egg. Thanks to that, she backed off and walked beside her 'husband.'

"I won't hurt your child, okay? I just want to go over there." I said, pointing to my chest and then towards the temple.

The male growled, producing a rhythmic clicking sound.

I walked backward, making the egg float using Short-Range Telekinesis so that both my hands were around the egg in a threatening position.

After reaching the back of the temple, walking backward and being followed slowly by the two Sentinel Striders without them threatening me, I squatted and glanced at the ancient inscription with the carving of a shielded human underneath it.

I touched it again with my right hand while my left hand still maintained a threatening gesture towards the egg. My gaze was only focused on the two Sentinel Striders.

I automatically recalled the sequence of 13 ancient letters in my head. But nothing happened.

(Detecting foreign energy from the structure...)

'Foreign?'

(...)

(Comparing Mana, Arkium, and foreign energy completed. Result...foreign energy feels like mana, but older.)

'What the heck? Mana? Older? Ancient Mana Energy?'

(No data.)

'Forget that for now. There's danger in front of me. And the teleportation isn't active!'

As I thought that in my mind, my head was suddenly flooded with brief information. It was information on using soul power.

'Did you detect newly added information, Anetta?'

(No, Master.)

I was silent upon hearing Anetta's answer. Strange. I ignored it for now. It wasn't important right now. What mattered was getting into the temple first. But why didn't Anetta detect this information? Who sent it? Is it dangerous?

'Who cares! I need to get in and rest for a bit. Besides needing to get the Aegis Sentinel ring, I need rest. I'm exhausted!'

I followed the information's guidance to channel soul power into the shielded human carving while sending the memory of the ancient letter sequence.

'Protect my soul, Anetta.'

(Understood, Master.)

At that moment, I felt a gentle feedback of another soul power and the foreign energy Anetta mentioned. I could sense that this feedback wasn't threatening me.

Then my vision blurred, and the last thing I saw was the two Sentinel Striders in front of me panicking.

'Did I teleport successfully? Why are those two monsters panicking? Did their egg fall from my Short-Range Telekinesis because I teleported?'

...

I felt a bit dizzy after my vision blurred. It seemed to be a teleportation effect.

'I've often done FTL Jumps when I was a mercenary with my own ship. But I'm dizzy when teleporting?' I thought as I stood up, massaging my forehead.

Indeed, there's no denying it. In my memory as Edward, he only ever traveled using a teleportation gate once. That was when he came to Sciendufer to enter Sveitmann Academy.

And secondly, well, this isn't my own body. I myself am very tired now after fighting that annoying A-rank Sentinel Strider.

When the dizziness subsided, I opened my eyes, and my vision cleared. Cleared because of the lush greenery everywhere I looked.

'A beautiful view. But where am I? I remember the secret room of this temple wasn't like this. It's more like I was teleported to another place.' I thought as I stood up.

As far as the eye could see, I could only see grassy fields with a beautiful clear blue sky. The gentle breeze made me feel comfortable. I was a bit suspicious. Was this due to the foreign energy earlier? If I used another way to enter the temple's secret room, would I be sent here?

As I pondered all the possibilities, I looked at my body. I was tattered and had blood scratches everywhere. All of this was the result of fighting the Sentinel Strider. I wanted to heal my wounds immediately, but my Arkium was almost depleted.

Then I realized something as I checked my body. I saw a round object lying on the ground. It was the egg. The egg I used as a hostage.

"No wonder they looked panicked the last time I saw them." I muttered while squatting.

What should I do with this egg? Cook it? Or take care of it?

'Hmmmmm...' I pondered for a long time.

Then...

'Well, think about it later.' I shrugged and intended to store the egg in my storage ring.

The storage ring couldn't store living creatures. So, if the egg could still be put into the storage ring, it meant the embryo inside hadn't formed 'life.' And if an egg that hadn't formed 'life' was stored in the storage ring, the egg wouldn't develop.

'If I decide to take care of it, I'll have to visit the Beast Tamer guild later and ask.'

I felt a bit guilty separating this child from its parents. But its parents were deadly monsters. There's no guarantee I'd be safe after returning this egg.

Besides, there's another thing. I'm in a place I don't know. This is entirely different from my game knowledge. I ignored the minor details and walked across the refreshing grassy field.

I walked leisurely for about 30 minutes and stopped for a reason. There was someone else here.

That person was lying on the green grass, eyes closed. I approached a bit and could see the details of that person. He was a man. An old man, to be precise.

'This is getting weirder, right?' I thought.

Should I ask him where I am?

"Hmmm hmmm. So you're the one who caught the temple's will's attention?"

Before I could ask, the old man lying there asked something in a raspy voice, still with his eyes closed. I remained silent, observing the old man.

"Besides daring to fight the guardian with a significant power gap, you also didn't kill them. Well, although you did kill a few of their lower kind." The old man said while getting up from his sleep.

'He knows I entered the forest. And the Sentinel Striders are guardians? I kind of suspected it, but I thought they were just powerful monsters roaming around the temple.' I thought.

"Excuse me, but who are you, old man?" I asked in a casual tone.

But instead of answering me, the old man disappeared from my sight. I couldn't sense his presence at all.

"Hmm hmmm. Your soul is very interesting, boy. You're not from here." The old man's voice was heard again.

The old man's voice came from behind me, so I turned around. And I could see his body floating upside down.

'He knows?' I thought.

"What do you mean, old man?" I asked casually.

But he disappeared again, and there were two hands on my shoulders, massaging them.

"Hmm hmmm. And this foreign energy... clearly not from this world either. It's not like the lost ancient mana. This is really new energy. But why does it feel similar to mana? Somehow I feel like your energy does originate from here even though it doesn't?" The old man rambled on and on.

I just gave a blank expression without turning to look at the old man massaging my shoulders from behind. He stopped massaging my shoulders and reappeared in front of me. This time he was standing. His height was only up to my shoulders.

I refrained from speaking about the old man's identity. Clearly, he wasn't ordinary and was a powerful entity. Would using Player's Eye show any information? I doubted it. Player's Eye wasn't that all-powerful. This trait only showed detailed information if I associated long enough with the target. But it should at least show the name, right?

- - -

[????]

Note: Player's Eye cannot display information on this entity.

- - -

'Useless trait,' I thought.

At that moment, the old man in front of me smiled while stroking his long beard. He then floated closer to me.

"Are you even daring to peek at me, young man?"

The old man spoke in a casual and friendly tone but exuded a suffocating killing aura.

'Well, I guess peeking at someone without permission is weird, right? And… peeking at an old man… ugh, if I use that phrase, it sounds really weird.' I thought, resignedly, while withstanding the old man's killing aura.

"I'm sorry?" I could only smile resignedly.