World Online

Ganshin looked at everyone that had gathered here. Some of them were whispering to the ones who were already here, trying to understand what was happening.

But slowly, they seemed to understand what was happening here.

"We have all gathered together. So no one has any problem with us leaving immediately?" he asked.

"One second." Jake said as he ran to a corner of circular area that they were in.

It was the place where the ninth had fallen. On the ground, there were shards of the mysterious metal that made up his sword, as well as a broken sword.

Jake grabbed the sword and put it in his inventory before looking back at Ganshin.

"This does not have a trace of evil energy. It might be an artifact that traces back to the true gods." Jake said.

"Fine." Ganshin shook his head. Jake had the bigger share to the ninth's drops, seeing that he broke the barrier that allowed Ganshin to land the final blow.

With that out of the way, he nodded at everyone, and slowly, they formed a similar array to the one that they had when they were coming from Diffast.

Jake stood in the back, on the second line. There were only two lines, since the path that had been created, along with the path that they had to pass through after that, were all only two files wide.

So they walked.

The guardian beast practically handed them the solution to one of the biggest problems that they had faced in the first place: leaving the holy grounds.

The labyrinth was just as hard to get out of as it was to get into, and the path of saints was arduous and didn't necessitate faster travel, or a guaranteed path.

"As they were moving, Jake looked to his left. His partner was one of the few who had come with the tiger.

Jake nodded at the man who was clearly a swordsman.

"So were you able to finally clear the path of saints, or did it abruptly end?" Jake asked.

"We finished the path of saints, but before we could even enter the labyrinth, the guardian beast came and told us what had just happened. He told us that we had to get to the center as fast as we could, so we climbed onto his back." The man said.

"Yes. It is a pity that you guys weren't there when the final fight happened. If everyone was there, maybe we would have stood a chance." Jake said.

"I heard. To think that of all the people to lose their eyes, it had to be father Joseph. Such a pity." The swordsman shook his head, sighing.

"Did you all know him before this? I thought that this was a party that was put together because of the quest in hand, but it doesn't seem like that anymore." Jake asked.

"Of course we had been in adventures before. We are all the swords and shields of churches all over Gaia." The swordsman chuckled.

"You are perhaps the only one who is not truly affiliated with the church of light." He said.

​ "That explains it!" Jake said with realization.

By now, they were almost at the stone path that they had to go through. Everyone knew that this path had traps that would definitely trigger if they went through them right now.

"Priests. This is the time for you to use your skills for one last time. After this, we will handle this." Ganshin said.

"Do not worry too much, sword master. I know that you feel terrible because of the fall of Father Joseph, but taking too much into your own hands, that will not make you feel better. That will not compensate for anything, and it will only put you and all of us in danger." The oldest priest here, right after Father Joseph, softly said.

Ganshin looked straight at the priest that had just spoke.

"You are just too stubborn," the priest shook his head as he raised his hand. Without even opening his book, he brought his second hand to his chest, or rather, a pendant that was on his chest.

It was a cross that the priest wore as a necklace. Another artifact that priests had.

A golden light started emanating from the priest and the entire path was filled with this light in mere seconds.

The moment that the crumbling walls, the stone floor, and the patches of dried grass on the floor were hit with the golden light, they changed.

In the air, Jake could see a gray dust that was forming. This dust seemed to come from the path itself, like it was being expelled.

Soon enough, the entire path changed. A few more priests joined in, and eventually, the golden light was enough to change the entire path. It had a different look to it.

It looked like it was well maintained. The walls felt perfect, as if they were freshly paved.

"This looks so much like the illusion that I was shown in the path of saints." Jake mused.

"Could it be, that illusion that was shown, was it actually just a memory? A memory of what the holy grounds used to be?" Jake thought to himself.

That was indeed, how a holy ground was supposed to look like.

And this was very synonymous to that vision that he was privy to.

"Come. We have no time to waste. I can only temporarily hold back the evil energy before it tries to enter the path once again. And once it does, the traps will activate. We have to rush." The priest said.

Ganshin did not waste a single second. Neither did the other party members.

All of them started running.

The entire line started running through the path that was filled with traps that could destroy them the moment they went off.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

076205