Ajax felt multiple emotions: excitement because it could be a treasure, fear because it might be an ancient horror, and anxiety because they didn't know what lay ahead.
They gathered their courage and slowly walked forward. Soon enough, the trees slowly decreased in number and vanished. The place the knights were guarding appeared to be a coliseum, and around it the ruin of a city. They observed their surroundings carefully while making sure their movements were careful.
"The knights were protecting this place..? It doesn't make sense! This place doesn't have anything! " Ajax exclaimed.
Stella pondered for a few seconds before answering, "Let's go investigate this place further. Maybe it's a hidden treasure."
They advanced towards the Colosseum and checked it carefully. The Colosseum was made of smooth white stone that had withered over time. There were cracks on the walls and some runes etched on them, but due to weather conditions and the time that had passed, only a few of the runes made sense.
Ajax tried to recognize the runes, but to no avail. "Are these runes perhaps a more ancient language? They aren't recorded back at the academy.' Ajax couldn't help but be curious as he somehow felt very attracted to the runes, until he was interrupted by a system message.
[Congratulations! The host has fulfilled the conditions to unlock the system function [all seeing ].
[Updating... System successfully updated.]
Ajax was surprised by this sudden message. 'I have completed the conditions..? What are the conditions? Don't tell me it's being too stupid to know what's written on that wall...?' Ajax was confused when a voice suddenly rang inside his head.
[The conditions to unlock the function 'All seeing' are for the host to have an ancient bloodline and for the host to be exposed to a fragment of the old.]
Ajax was startled, and he took a defensive stance. He observed his surroundings, checking everything. But to his surprise, there wasn't anyone there.
"What the hell is happening? I must be tired.. yea, I must be. "Ajax thought he was hallucinating.
[The hosts is not hallucinating .The function 'all seeing' allows the system to unlock a guiding feature. This feature can answer your questions, but it has a limit. The limit of this function can be decreased as you increase in heritage rank.]
Ajax calmed down a little after hearing the explanation of the system. So this voice I'm hearing right now is the 'function' you are talking about?
[The host is correct.]
'I see... so can you answer some of my questions?'
[The host is correct.]
"Can you translate what's on the wall?"
[Translating... translating...]
[Due to the poor condition of the runes, the translation is not complete. Show results anyway?]
'Yes, show me'
[The system has optimised the translation]
[Transferring translation.]
Ajax soon felt like something cold touched his head and information about the runes appeared in his mind.
[First, there was nothing. From nothing a being came]
"This doesn't even make any sense!" Ajax was confused by the translation. If there was nothing, how could there be something?'
Ajax didn't dwell on the place for too long and left shortly. He found Stella, and they decided to check the middle of the Colosseum.
The center of the Colosseum was wide and spacious. But aside from that, there was nothing different about the place.
"This place seems normal to me," Ajax said.
"They couldn't be just protecting this Colosseum, right?" Stella asked herself.
While they were lost in their thoughts, a sudden earthquake occurred. Ajax and Stella were startled when suddenly the north wall of the Colosseum burst and a 3 meter tall metal giant came out. The giant had the same appearance as the giant he first saw, but this one was particularly smaller compared to the other one.
The giant immediately noticed them and its hands warped into a blade-like appearance. Ajax saw the aura of the metal giant, and he shivered.
"IT IS A NIGHTMARE ABOMINATION!" Ajax shouted at the top of his lungs.
Ajax and Stella immediately dashed towards the exit. However the metal giant, on the other hand, was not going to let them go so easily.The giant moved at great speed and appeared in front of them. Ajax and Stella were surprised by the speed of the Abomination.
The giant immediately sweeped its blade. Ajax and Stella saw this and barely dodged the attack. However, the giant wasn't done yet; it followed its attack with a punch. Ajax coated his arm and used it as a shield. He was thrown to the other side of the Colosseum, crashing into the withered walls. Ajax felt like his bones shattered at the impact of the punch.
Stella didn't waste any seconds and threw her halo, but the giant formed a shield, stopping the halo. Stella cursed and tried to distance herself, but the giant went on the offensive again and delivered multiple slashes towards Stella, forcing her to be on the defensive.
However, Stella summoned a halo shield, but she was still being pushed towards the wall by the impact of the giants' attacks.
Ajax stood up, ignoring the pain, and he coated his legs, dashing towards the giant. The giant saw this and its face opened. Ajax's instincts shouted danger, so he immediately dashed to the side. What the giant did next made both of them shiver. The steel giant fired a laser beam from its face, and it melted the spot Ajax was previously standing on.
Stella was startled, but she took this chance to throw a halo at the Giants' legs. The halo lodged itself deep in the metal giant's legs, grinding it. The giant focused on Stella again and tried to shake off the halo. However, it didn't work. The giant saw this and instead charged at Stella again.
Ajax sprinted again and threw his axe towards the behemoth. The axe pierced the giant's back, forcing it to stop its barrages of attack. This gave Stella a chance to push the giant back with her halo. The giant was forced to step back a few times because of the golden halo.
Ajax saw this and immediately lunged at the back of the giant. Using his axe as a handle, he threw himself up and used the momentum of his fall to deliver a blow to the giant's arm, severing it. The giant saw this and immediately slashed at Ajax, but before it could do that, Stella lodged another halo on its legs, making the giant kneel.
Ajax got up and started delivering blows to the giant. However, Ajax's attacks were too weak to do considerable damage to the behemoth. Ajax's plan wasn't to damage the giant with his swings but to apply as much corrosion to it as possible. The giant's face started opening again, indicating another beam attack.
Ajax and Stella weren't going to fall for it again and started to move. Ajax sprinted towards the giant and jumped at the head of the behemoth. His target was to make the giant fire his beam away. Ajax's plan worked because the giant was forced to fire away from them both.
Stella used this chance to retract her halo. While Ajax delivered blows to the giants' heads After getting her halo back, Stella fused them together, forming a halo thrice the size of her normal ones. She threw this halo at the giant at full force. The giant noticed quickly and used two of its arms as a shield. Unfortunately, the corrosion of Ajax's axe already took effect, weakening the shield considerably. The halo pierced it, amputating the Giants' hands in the process.
With the giants' hands gone, Ajax propelled himself up, coated his arm and, with his last strength, dealt a blow to the corroded part of the giants' head.
[Congratulations! You have successfully slain 'Nightmare (-)' rank 'Tirant sentry'.]