As Alex lay wounded on the cold ground, Rina crouched beside him, her eyes filled with worry.
"Are you alright? Do you need help?" she asked, her voice trembling.
Alex slowly opened his heavy eyelids and looked at her.
"I... am... okay," he whispered.
Tears welled up in Rina’s eyes, her frustration spilling into her voice.
"Why are you doing this?" she cried. "You know we can’t win against those statues. You couldn’t even leave a scratch on them!"
She sobbed, her voice breaking as despair took hold.
"We can’t win..."
Alex looked at her and gave a faint smile, blood soaking his face. In a hoarse whisper, he said:
"If I believed I couldn’t win... and gave up because of it... I would’ve died a long ti ago."
As ti flew by, Alex healed himself and tried again. He failed—then tried again.
Again.
And again.
And again.
He kept trying.
Each ti, he learned a bloody lesson.
And each ti, Hati stood by his side—loyal, fierce, never once shirking away.
After countless defeats, one day...
Clang! Clang!
The sound of clashing weapons echoed through the ancient chamber.
Alex darted around the statue’s shoulders, shooting shadow daggers, thrusting his spear with fierce precision.
Hati mirrored him—biting, leaping, attacking the second statue like a wild beast.
Alex’s daggers flew—distracting the colossal guardian.
He jumped, spinning midair toward its neck.
With a cry, he activated Serpent Fang.
The erald spear vanished—only to reappear an instant later, right in front of the statue’s eye.
Boom!
The spear pierced straight through like a venomous fang.
The statue stumbled back.
Boom. Boom.
Its trident steadied it as it locked eyes with Alex—one eye now shattered, darkness swirling in the socket.
Alex grinned.
"Hati, retreat!" he shouted.
Both of them backed away—just as they had many tis before.
But this ti was different.
From the safe zone, Alex watched as the statues returned to their place.
But the shattered eye didn’t repair itself.
It stayed broken.
He collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath.
Then—he laughed. Loudly. Madly.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA! We did it! We actually hurt them! HAHAHAHA!"
Hati lay beside him, panting, tail thumping weakly.
The next day.
Alex and Hati tried again.
They lunged forward in perfect sync—like warriors who had drilled this maneuver a hundred tis.
The statue’s trident whooshed through the air, a blur of deadly precision.
Boom! Boom!
It struck the ground, carving deep scars into the stone floor.
Alex and Hati leapt onto the embedded trident, using it as a launchpad.
Their movents were fluid, practiced—almost graceful.
Midair, a wide grin split Alex’s face.
"Hati—one eye!" he shouted.
"Woof!" ca the barked reply.
Hati twisted mid-jump, claws outstretched toward the statue’s eye.
At the sa ti, Alex fired a volley of shadow daggers.
He landed on the giant’s shoulder as the trident moved to deflect the incoming daggers.
The perfect opening.
Alex’s spear slithered like a serpent from the statue’s neck toward its other eye.
But the statue was ready this ti.
It spun the trident handle with unnatural speed, intercepting the spear mid-flight.
Alex staggered slightly but caught his balance on the giant’s shoulder.
anwhile, Hati danced around the statue’s upper body, leaping like a blur.
The statue slid the trident’s butt end toward its own shoulder—trying to swat the nimble beast like a fly.
But Hati, sharp as ever, bounced onto the helt’s beak and lashed out with his paw—aid straight at the eye.
The statue noticed. It twisted, thrusting the trident toward him again—faster than Hati’s paw.
But Hati contorted in midair, his body curving unnaturally.
He stepped on the statue’s head and pushed off, soaring down toward the ground.
BOOM!
He landed just as the statue’s trident drove forward—piercing both of its own eyes.
For a mont, everything was still.
Then—
"Woof! Woof!" Hati barked, calling out.
Alex imdiately retreated to the safe zone.
There, he turned and saw it.
One of the statues was kneeling.
Its trident was embedded deep—ramd through both its eyes.
Alex dropped to the ground beside Hati and threw his arms around his neck, laughing like a madman.
"HAHAHAHA! We did it, buddy! We actually did it!"
After a short rest, Alex stood up, determination burning in his eyes.
"Let’s try and finish this one today."
"Woof," Hati replied, ready as ever.
They sprinted toward the one-eyed statue. This ti, it responded quicker—lunging forward with its trident aid directly at them.
Boom!
The weapon slamd into the ground like thunder.
Before Alex and Hati could leap onto it, the statue withdrew the trident with a swift jerk.
Reacting instantly, Alex stepped on Hati’s back mid-run and launched himself into the air. He landed on the statue’s shoulder in a practiced motion.
From its blind side, he activated Serpent’s Fang.
The erald spear vanished—then reappeared in front of the statue’s remaining eye like it had teleported.
On the ground, the statue had been focused entirely on Hati, who darted around its feet like a phantom. It didn’t see the spear coming.
Boom!
The strike landed—clean and brutal.
The statue froze.
Then—
BOOM.
RUMBLE.
The chamber began to quake violently.
"Retreat!" Alex shouted.
Both he and Hati sprinted to the safe zone just in ti.
The ground trembled. White-stone graves lined with shimring lightning patterns cracked open.
From them, new statues erged, similar but—each more nacing than before.
They bore yellow glowing eyes and held golden tridents, their auras even heavier than the ones before.
anwhile, the broken statue dissolved into the ground like liquid. The cracks in the chamber sealed. The battlefield repaired itself—like the fight had never even happened.
With a final rumble, the graves closed and the lightning dimd.
Alex collapsed onto the golden floor, despair etched into every line of his face. He stared up at the ceiling and shouted to the unseen entity playing this cruel ga:
"WHAT!?"
Tears slipped from his eyes as he lay back, broken in spirit.
One by one, his companions gathered around him.
A mont ago, there had been hope—his hope.
Now, it was gone. Crushed under the weight of the impossible.
They sat near Alex, silent, their eyes hollow as they stared at the unreachable golden door.
Alex lay flat on the cold floor, eyes fixed on the ceiling above.
What the hell is going on here? Will this go on forever?
Even after I defeated them... new ones ca. Then what’s the point of all this? What is the aning of our struggle?
From deep within his core, a voice echoed in his mind:
"Don’t give up. Never give up."
Suddenly, Kaelan stood. His glowing blue eyes burned with fury.
"Ffffuck this!" he scread to the heavens. "I can’t take it anymore! I’m not going to give whoever’s watching the satisfaction!"
He charged forward. From his back, a blazing fire phoenix erupted—its glowing red eyes filled with rage. It let out a silent cry and soared toward the statues like a falling cot.
Boom. Boom.
Kaelan’s roars filled the chamber. Flas engulfed both of his arms as fire phoenixes erged from his fists.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The phoenixes swooped like flaming teors—sharp, savage, furious.
Boom! Boom! Rumble!
Attack after attack rained down.
Kaelan lost himself in the assault, unaware of anything around him. The ground beneath his flas turned red-hot, resembling molten lava.
And yet—
The statues didn’t move.
Not an inch.
Everyone stared—wide-eyed and slack-jawed.
The statues remained rooted in place, motionless, silent. Their glowing yellow eyes dimd.
Rina was the first to speak, her voice trembling with disbelief:
"They’re not attacking..."
Then, joy blood in her eyes as she repeated louder and louder:
"They’re not attacking! They’re not attacking! THEY’RE NOT ATTACKING!"
She collapsed to her knees, tears flowing freely.
The others slowly ca to their senses. Smiles cracked through their exhausted faces, tears welling in their eyes.
Alex cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted:
"Kaelan! They’re not attacking!"
Kaelan, mid-scream, froze.
He turned, confused, and saw his companions smiling through tears.
He tilted his head, then glanced back at the statues—still unmoving.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" he shouted at them.
"ATTACK ! DON’T SCREW WITH ! ATTACK !!"
Laughter broke out behind him.
Kaelan muttered irritably, "Fuck... I really ca prepared to die and you guys decide to stop."
He trudged back toward his friends, grumbling. "What now?"
ika stepped forward, smiling softly. "Let’s cross the door before they change their minds."
They all nodded, quickly gathering their strength and moving toward the golden door—Kaelan trailing behind, still cursing under his breath. No one responded. They all understood his frustration. They’d all faced the sa crushing hopelessness.
But now... they had a chance to live.
They approached the golden door cautiously, still on edge. Just before they reached it—
The door opened on its own.
They flinched, bracing for another trap—another trial.
But instead, they stepped into a new chamber.
Everything—walls, floor, ceiling—was made of polished gold, gleaming in the soft light.
And at the far end of the room stood a single, small, wooden door—oddly brown, smooth, and out of place in a world of tal and fla.
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