The Fate of The Reincarnated

14. The Keeper of Trojan(Part 1)

The party's journey to eradicate goblins had brought them to the enchanting remains of Trojan. The external appearance of the ruins possessed a captivating golden hue, reminiscent of structures crafted by ancient pharaohs. Despite being one member short, Crosstails' trio was now bolstered by the inclusion of Finn.

"Do you hear that?" Leyla stepped into a puddle as she led the way.

"What?" Hiakam asked, priming his ears for any loud or sudden sounds.

Finn had told himself positive things about making new acquaintances and a new beginning as he followed the group. But all he sensed as he walked through puddles with the group was regret. "I'm hungry," he mused.

"So Finn, you say you're a Crest-Angel but what is your entire shtick— you know with you being an attacker and all." Leyla continued leading the way.

"Shtick, because my clans filled with sorcerers that's what you mean."

"Yeah, why are you an attacker when your genes and history clearly put you on the sorcerer path? I mean I'm not saying that you wouldn't be a good attacker, it's just that you're probably the first one I've seen."

Finn was put in a hard place, although he was given bits and pieces of information about his supposed clan from Emma that wasn't enough to have a full conversation regarding the subject, so he did what he'd do as a salesman getting yelled at by a customer. "Yeah..." He scratched the back of his head and laughed.

"What, are you interrogating the kid?" Hiakam stepped up putting his arm around Finn's shoulder. "Don't mind our party leader over there, she's a curious potato is all."

Finn smiled sheepishly as they walked through the passageway leading into the ruins, while walking he noticed his shoulder begin to hurt a little. He turned to see Hiakam who walked with his shoulder on him, he looked at Hiakam's gear. Nothing he had on him suggested that he was one of the burly type adventurers and his overall physique was rather normal for someone of his height. "He's gifted," Dusk stated.

Finn looked at Leyla who walked through the front occasionally stopping when she heard the flapping of wings, "Gifted?" He whispered and to his luck, no one heard him over the sound of their footsteps hitting the concrete.

"A gift is a slight abnormality that can happen when children with mana are born, normally mana flows through our body kind of the same way blood does. However, sometimes mana stays in one location for too long, the same way blood can be trapped in one area of the body for some time. That causes a gift." Dusk explained and that only further annoyed Finn.

"That was the worst explanation I've ever heard," Finn whispered and when Hiakam looked over at him, he laughed it off.

"I don't know his gift specifically but it's probably something to do with his muscle density in his left arm or maybe both arms being increased, you can ask him."

Although he didn't want to come off as rude since having someone's arm on your neck wasn't something to really talk about Finn could feel a pain on his neck as if he was lifted a weight with it. "Umm, Hiakam your arms are kinda heavy."

"Ah crap," Hiakam instantly withdrew his arm. "I'm sorry, I always forget."

"About what? If you don't mind you could tell me what your gift is."

"Hm? Oh, my mana basically compiled in my arms. Resulting in them getting stronger and heavier." He flexed his muscles to further prove his point. "As a kid, I really hated it since I couldn't frolic with girls a lot but as an adventurer, it helps with my technique."

"Wow," Finn mind-clapped when he saw how much muscle Hiakam had. "Wait? Where's Leia?" Finn turned back and so did the rest of the party.

"No way," Leyla looked at Hiakam, about to blame him for not noticing Leia's disappearance but Finn was there too. "How didn't you notice her disappearance? Fuck, how didn't I know her disappearance my class didn't notify me."

"Leia!" Hiakam shouted but a response was never heard almost as if struck by a hunch he turned to Leyla. "HUDDLE!" Instantly picking up on Hiakam's motive Leyla and Hiakam stood back to back of each other, putting Finn in the middle. He was a newer member of the group and they treated him like such although unconsciously.

"Check your stat pad notifications, did she reach out?" Hiakam asked and Leyla quickly glossed over her stat pad before shaking her head. "Stay alert. We aren't the only things here."

"What could it be? Could there be another type of beast lurking in these ruins?" Leyla asked, priming her eyes to see as far as they possibly could. "Finn, are you alright?"

To that question. There was no response either and once Leyla turned back neither Finn nor Hiakam were in the same room as her anymore. "Guys!" Again she glossed over her stat pad but quickly sighed when she saw nothing there. Were they transported to another location using magic? If so where was the caster? Questions ran through her mind at an outstanding pace, each of them being debunked as they came up. "Was it the Keeper?"

Leyla took a deep breath in and lowered her guard, inviting whatever it was to do the exact same to her. She even closed her eyes to further reassure it. "Breathe." She told herself, listening intently for the slightest sound and when she heard the flapping of wings she ran across the ruins deeper into the catacombs. Her last guess was right. "It's a golden back Keeper!"

She maneuvered through the ruins the same way she would an obstacle course, dodging rocks and vaulting over broken walls. She could hear the sound of the Keeper as it chased her, breaking through the objects she dodged with its large frame. "That's why we could hear the sound of your wings even from that distance, it wasn't an echo. You were using your ability to scour inside the ruins. The same ruins you can manipulate!"

The terrain of the ruins began changing, flipping itself over and closing itself off. Just like Leyla said, the Golden-back Keeper's ability revolved around the Trojan ruins. Its ability allowed it to become 'one' with the ruins in a literal sense, being able to manipulate its architectural structure at will. That was exactly how he took all of the members of her party. It merely sank them into a deeper layer of the ruins before they knew what happened.

The Keeper screeched as Leyla reached a dead-end, both beings looking at each other intently waiting for one to move. The Keeper swung its large fist at Leyla who swiftly dodged underneath it, she wasn't exactly sure how its ability worked but with it up here. It means she was safe from going under the ruins. [Class technique: Vanish]

The Keeper screeched once more, turning around and looking for its prey that seemed to vanish into mid-air and Leyla swiftly maneuvered across the room looking for an exit. Her thief class saved her once again. The Keeper stepped across the room swinging its arms around as if trying to hit Leyla, the room itself was dark but there was still enough visibility to suggest the Keeper could see. Leyla weighed up her options whilst simultaneously thinking about what the creature was doing. "Does it know I'm still here?" She thought and in an instant the floor swallowed her feet, cementing her into the ground. "Crap!"

The Keeper screeched again as it approached Leyla slowly, it knew that the ruins which felt like an extension of its body had trapped something it was just a matter of where exactly it was. "Shit shit shit!" Leyla used her daggers to stab at the ground, urgently trying to break the concrete before the Keeper got to where she was. But... what if she didn't actually need to free herself? "Ohhhh Keeper!" Leyla undid her earlier technique making herself visible to the large monster.

As soon as she made her move, the Keeper charged toward Leyla, attempting to remove her from the equation with its massive fist. Leyla, however, remained composed, biding her time for the perfect opportunity. As the fist drew nearer and nearer, she watched carefully. At the very last moment, as it grazed her skin, she activated her [Class technique: Switch], causing an instant swap in their positions.

"Now you see me, now you don't," Leyla taunted the Keeper, feeling the thrill of outsmarting her opponent. Taking advantage of the confusion, she swiftly headed towards an exit she had spotted earlier, her steps confident and determined.

The Keeper slammed at the ground desperately trying to figure out how it was suddenly put into his own trap but its prey was already long gone. It groaned as it smacked at the ground freeing itself before sinking into the ruins.