Armaros and Fanah entered the newly revealed tunnel and walked through it, his torch lighting the way forward as they walked, the small tunnel becoming more spacious, giving them more space to walk as they made their way through the place.
Fanah kept her sword out and ready while he also had his sword in his right hand, both of them were ready to fight if necessary and also run away as well. However, throughout the whole walk, they weren't attacked or ambushed, but it only made them more tense, as they thought that they would get attacked in the near future.
They kept on walking before they saw an opening from which light was coming as they briefly exchanged glances before they walked towards it and passed into the next area, and they were briefly blinded by the light before it cleared from their eyes and they were able to see the room.
Their eyes widened when they saw the entire place was made with stone, not natural stone of course, but instead stone that was carved and put in place deliberately, and there was a certain style to it as well, which cleared pointed it to being the work of a civilization.
Which one, they have no idea, but there were symbols and a style to it that gave credit to the idea of it, but the problem was that they had no idea about its origin. He had learned about the architecture of the various cultures from his clan library, and yet he had not seen any imagery or mention about the kind of style that he is seeing here, which definitely confused him.
It also put him on guard as he looked around the place, the place was quite spacious and it was a hall, and at the four corners of the place, there were giant statues of dragons all looking at the middle of the room, and the place was lit by artificial lights from the ceiling.
There were also two dragon statues at the opposite end of the hall from them, and in between the statue is a giant crystal which took the immediately attention of the two as they looked at each other.
"There is a lot of dragon imagery here." Armaros said as he looked around.
"Not that surprising since the legend did talk about a dragon. Maybe that crystal has the dragon treasure." Fanah said to him as they looked at the crystal.
"And then the trial?" Armaros asked as he looked around, ready for any sort of traps to suddenly spring on them.
"Well, I have no idea on what the trial is going to be so we should be ready to fight. Considering the fact that it's related to dragons, fighting is most likely the outcome." Fanah said to him as he nodded at her words.
They waited for a bit, and then the crystal started to shine and the eyes of the two statues beside it also glowed which caught the attention of the two as they got ready with their weapons.
And in front of their eyes, a fierce dragon appeared from the light of the crystal, slightly bigger than a two storeyed house, blue scales, four legged and with two wings on its back as well, looking as deadly as a creature of its status should be.
And the two felt the power and pressure coming from the dragon, which set of their instincts which signalled to them that they were in danger and that the opponent in front of them is a dangerous one. They immediately assume battle stances as their bodies were ready to fight as they glared at the dragon.
But they just stared at each other, which confused the two of them as they had expected the dragon to attack them immediately, after all, dragons are creatures of strength and they would show their dominance by beating the creatures in front of them, and yet it has no done that yet and was instead staring at them.
"Do you have any idea why it is just staring at us?" Armaros asked her as she had seen more combat than him and has more experience.
"I don't know. Perhaps it's gauging our strength, but since this is a treasure from the dragons, we must defeat it." Fanah said to him as she glared at the creature.
As a member of the church, and a follower of the Gods, dragons are seen as the enemy by her and the rest who practice her faith. As the beings attack humans and other living organisms and kill them, as a show of force and dominance, and the usual order is to subjugate them, and so she glared at the thing in front of her.
She had fought a dragon, once, though it was smaller than the one in front of them, it was still formidable, but thanks to her equipment and the magic she holds, she was able to defeat, to an extent, which had allowed her to rise up in the ranks of the Church.
But now she is much stronger than she was back then, and even with the fact that she has lost her right arm, she is still more skilled and powerful than before, and she was more than ready to fight it.
"I'll be attacking it now." Fanah said to her master as he glanced at her and nodded.
Fanah roared as she charged at the beast, her blade ready to slay the conjured enemy as she was more than ready to sever it's head and clear the trial to obtain the treasure that was said to have been buried in here.
But the dragon roared back and the wind was kicked up from the sheer force of the roar as the place trembled from it and the wind crashed into their bodies as they had to squint their eyes due to that.
'Holy shit, that's a strong roar.' Armaros thought to himself as he felt the power behind the roar.
But Fanah wasn't deterred by it as she used her mana to strengthen herself and rushed towards it as her sword was ready to strike, with mana enhancing the blade as well. But the dragon wasn't idle as well, as closed its mouth for a second and flames immediately appeared from inside its mouth, before it belched out a sea of flames right at her.
Fanah's eyes widened when she saw the flame and the heat from it was very great as well, even higher than the one she had fought in the past, and to protect herself, she slashed right in front of her with a wind magic enhanced attack, causing a wind blade to shoot from her sword.
The force of the attack manages to cause the flames to part as it advanced as she charged forwards to take care of the dragon.
"Fanah retreat!" Armaros shouted at her which caused her to be surprised and be confused at his order.
Only for the scaled tail of the dragon to suddenly appear from her right and through the flames and slam into her side as she gasped. She was launched off the ground and into the air, screaming through the air and slamming right into the wall as she gasped and cried out in pain from it.
And a second later she coughed out blood as she fell on the floor as she vomited more blood as she gasped as she held her right side, as her body had gone into a shock due to the sudden pain and damage that she got.
Armaros was immediately at her side, and even though he was prepared to defend himself, the dragon made no move to attack her or him, and instead kept on observing them, which further raised his confusion.
'What the hell is up with this trial?' Armaros thought to himself as he looked at the dragon.
He reached her and kneeled in front of her as he looked at her would as her skin had ruptured from the would and blood pooled on the floor as she gasped out and vomited more blood. He immediately started to use healing magic on her as she felt his mana wash over her and heal her wounds.
He kept on glancing at the dragon, but it didn't move from its place and just kept on watching, which just confused him more before he focused on healing her fully. After he was mostly done, he made her vomit the rest of the blood in her throat as she gasped as she looked at him.
"M-Master." Fanah called out to him with little strength.
"The hit shattered your right rib, and the other bones on your right side, but I managed to heal them." Armaros said to her as she nodded.
"Tha-Thank you. That dragon was much stronger than I had thought, perhaps only a Sentinel will be able to defeat it." Fanah said to him as she looked at him.
She knew that the dragon wasn't an ordinary dragon, as she is a pretty powerful warrior as well, and yet she was taken down like this just from one attack by the dragon, her armor is also ruined from the hit as well, which jush showed that the dragon was very powerful.
She had taken hits from the Ogre and had managed to stand back up, and yet one single attack from the dragon's tail was more than enough to take care of her, which is not something that she had anticipated to happen. Her durability is much better than most other warriors of their kingdom, and yet she was taken down despite having such strength. This only cemented the fact that the dragon was at a higher level than even here.
"I can see that." Armaros said to her with a nod.
He helped her stand up as the two look at the dragon as it kept on staring at them, and the two humans stared back, Fanah with anger and hate clear in her eyes as she glared at it while her master has a contemplative look on his face.
'Just what is the objective of this trial?' Armaros thought to himself as he looked at their enemy.
A/N: Alright, a new chapter. I have been dealing with real life problems and some mental problems so I wasnt in the correct state to do much, my mind is a bit calm now, so I hope that it will be better as well. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.