Having donned his gear, Fangsheng said to Lewan, "Let's go. We're leaving the west and heading for the Yalan Empire." Lewan nodded, packed the remaining equipment left behind by Wang Ming into a cloth bag, and took the lead to guide the way.
"Whoosh!" A sound cut through the air. Fangsheng instinctively tackled Lewan to the ground, then scanned his surroundings with sharp vigilance, searching for the enemy's trace.
He quickly spotted the threat: a skeleton wielding a bow, its bones still clinging to shreds of flesh and muscle.
Griping his longsword tightly, Fangsheng sprang to his feet and charged swiftly toward the skeleton, closing the distance between them in a flash.
"Goddess of Radiance, hear my prayer, and grant my hero sacred power!" As the words faded, Fangsheng saw his longsword begin to gleam with a golden light.
Is this the power of faith?
"Goddess of Radiance, hear my prayer, and grant my hero extraordinary speed!"
Fangsheng took a step forward and immediately felt his speed surge.
Seeing the skeleton still notching an arrow to draw its bow, Fangsheng swung his sword. The skeleton's jade-white skull shot straight up into the air, then spun and landed right in front of Fangsheng.
Fangsheng then thrust his sword straight through the skull, and only after making sure it was thoroughly pierced did he turn back toward Lewan with peace of mind. Walking over to her side and looking at the Scripture she held in her hands, he asked curiously, "Is this the power of prayer?"
"Yes, that was a blessing." Lewan put the Scripture away.
The two of them walked and talked along the way.
"So, you've stepped into the realm of the extraordinary? What other magic can you use?"
"I suppose you could call it extraordinary, probably first-tier extraordinary. I don't know any magic; as a Witch, I only learned various blessings and recovery prayers."
Hearing this, Fangsheng found it somewhat hard to believe. "How do you guys handle fights?" he asked.
Lewan thought back carefully, then looked earnestly at Fangsheng and said, "We rely on you guys."
"……"
"Don't worry, once we get back to the Church, I'll go learn some magic. Oh, and that sword strike you just did was so clean! Truly cool!"
"No need for formal titles. That sword strike is just a habit of the Nameless; as the Nameless, the only thing I still remember is how to fight."
***
After dealing with yet another wave of Magical Beasts, the two exhausted companions sat down against a large tree. Forcing herself up, Lewan knelt in front of Fangsheng, placed her right hand on his shoulder, and used a prayer to heal his wounds while complaining powerlessly, "Why are there so many Magical Beasts in this place?!"
"Magical Beasts aren't so bad. Their intelligence isn't very high, and the two of us make a good team so they're easy enough to handle. What I'm really worried about running into is humans," Fangsheng said calmly.
Hearing this, Lewan nodded in agreement. She had heard plenty of Guardians recount in interviews time and again that one must always be on guard against humans.
Still, I'm so lucky, Lewan murmured to herself as she looked at Fangsheng.
Fangsheng looked around and saw that the sky was growing dark, so he made up his mind. "Let's make a fire and rest here for the night, and resume our journey tomorrow." With that, he went off to gather firewood.
"I'll go with you."
The two of them picked up quite a bit of firewood. When Fangsheng realized they didn't have any flint, he sighed with a helpless expression, "Looks like we have to use the oldest method!"
With that, he began trying to make fire by drilling wood.
Drilling wood to make fire was truly no easy task. After Fangsheng busied himself for nearly ten minutes until his hands were practically rubbed raw, he finally managed to get a fire going.
Listening to the crackling sound of the burning firewood, Lewan praised, "Brother Fang, you're amazing!"
قال Fangsheng: "Alright, alright, hurry up and eat something to rest. I'll take the first half of the night, and you can take the second half. How does that sound?"
"Okay. Oh, here, Brother Fang, this is your ration. It's just rations for now, but tomorrow I'll treat Brother Fang to a big feast."
"Given the circumstances, having anything to eat at all is already pretty good."
Just as the two of them were chatting and resting, a rustling sound suddenly came from the darkness. Following his intuition's warning, Fangsheng hurriedly stood up, his body tensing as he gripped his longsword tightly. He then shouted angrily toward the source of the noise, "Who's there! Come out!"
Lewan quickly scrambled to her feet beside him, swallowed the ration in her mouth, and stared with a serious little face at the spot Fangsheng was watching.
After a few seconds of silence with no movement, Fangsheng nodded to Lewan, and Lewan began to pray: "Goddess of Radiance..."
At that moment, a voice came from the dark: "I'm coming out, pl... please don't use magic." A youth with delicate features emerged from the darkness and tried to approach the two of them.
Seeing this, Fangsheng's eyes turned sharp, and he barked angrily, "Stop right there!" To be honest, he was feeling entirely insecure; the frantic warnings from his intuition signaled that this person was not to be trifled with, and while his wounds were healed, his stamina hadn't recovered yet!
But now was not the time to show weakness. Thinking this, Fangsheng glared fixedly at the youth, looking ready to strike at any moment!
The youth seemed startled, freezing in his tracks as he hurriedly explained, "I just saw the firelight here and came over. I didn't step out before because I was scared of you guys!"
Fangsheng's heart was filled with distrust toward the youth. After all, this was the Land of Chaos, a place where local customs were simple to the extreme! Besides, for a youth to be wandering around alone at night—anyone with half a brain knew it wasn't a simple matter.
"Since you've seen it, get out of here right now!" Fangsheng said without a trace of politeness!
Seeing this, the youth bit his lip, looking somewhat reluctant, but when Fangsheng took a step forward and pointed his straight sword right at him, he ultimately chose to leave.
Confirming that the youth had left, the two of them let out a sigh of relief. Lewan leaned a bit closer to Fangsheng, as if seeking a sense of security.
Through his gauntlet, Fangsheng ruffled Lewan's head. "Go to sleep already, get some good rest."
Lewan swatted Fangsheng's hand away and pouted, "Brother Fang, stop messing up my hair! It's all messy now!"
***
In the middle of the night, Fangsheng added some wood to the fire, straightened Lewan's head, and looked up at the twinkling stars in the sky.
"Mmm~ A big feast, so delicious..."
Hearing Lewan's sleepy mutterings, Fangsheng chuckled softly.
Reflecting on his experiences today, Fangsheng still felt it all seemed a bit surreal. Just this morning he was an ordinary college student, and by this afternoon he had donned armor and set off with a blind girl to guard the world.
Guarding the world—bearing a responsibility so immense was truly nerve-wracking.
This world was different from his past life; it had passages connecting it to other realms, and those who crossed through the portals to other worlds were called Guardians. Once a Guardian died in another world, this world would fall into turmoil, and monsters would pour through the world's Star Gate passages to invade reality.
Once the Star Gate calmed down, it would select a new person to enter and teleport itself directly into the Guardian's home.
Thinking of this, Fangsheng couldn't help but remember what he looked like when he first learned about all this—that utterly shocked expression...
"Mmm~" Lewan let out a soft groan and murmured sleepily, "Brother Fang, I've had enough sleep. You rest now."
Seeing the drowsy look on the girl's face, Fangsheng was amused. He gently pinched Lewan's little cheek, and amidst her soft protests, leaned back against the tree to rest.
***
Sunlight spilled across Fangsheng's face. Frowning, he opened his eyes.
Seeing that Fangsheng was awake, Lewan stood up, patted the dust off herself, and said with overflowing energy, "Brother Fang, let's go! Hurry up and hit the road, I want to go eat that big feast!"
With a helpless smile, Fangsheng followed behind Lewan as they resumed their journey.
Before long, after a morning of walking, the two of them finally caught sight of a town.