The Guardian’s broadsword slammed into the stone.
A wave of blood-red killing intent tore across the ancient masonry like an expanding blade.
“Get down!” Daniel screamed.
Everyone dropped.
The shockwave roared inches above their heads before slamming into the archway behind them.
BOOM!
The entire bridge shuddered violently.
Massive chunks of stone broke off the edge, plunging into the crimson river hundreds of feet below.
Nobody celebrated surviving.
The sheer air pressure of the attack left their ears ringing, but their focus didn’t break.
Phase one had proven brute force was useless.
Now, under Daniel’s direction, they fought like a coordinated unit.
“Godwin, hold its blade!
Tunde, ready!” Daniel shouted, blue haze flickering in his eyes.
Godwin charged first.
Silver-white Aether flared brilliant across his Hero Sword as he met the Guardian’s guard.
Clang!
The impact nearly drove Godwin to his knees, but he held the lock for a single critical second.
“Now!” Tunde stepped up, extending both hands with a grimace.
BOOM!
An invisible blast of heavy kinetic force hit the black armor full on.
It wasn’t enough to throw the ancient warrior back, but its center of gravity tilted just half an inch.
That half-inch was everything.
Victoria didn’t throw a massive wave of fire this time.
She focused her remaining energy into a thin, searing orange beam, heating the steel joint on the Guardian’s right shoulder until it glowed red.
Ella immediately followed, mist spilling from her lips as she blasted deep frost-blue cold directly onto the red-hot joint.
Crack…
Crack!
Thermal shock shattered the dark metal, rendering the shoulder plate brittle.
Kemi’s razor threads flashed forward like whip-cracks.
Shhhk!
Her glowing lines struck the brittle joint, tearing away a chunk of black steel and exposing a raw gap beneath the armor.
“Godwin!” Daniel roared.
Godwin twisted his blade, driving the point straight into the gap.
Clang!
Sparks erupted.
The Guardian’s boot scraped backward against the stone—one full, solid step.
Silence hung in the air for a fraction of a second.
“We…” Godwin panted, his hands trembling, “…we made it move!” Hope flared across their faces, but Daniel’s vision picked up something far worse.
He looked at Emma, who was pressing her hands against Victor’s shoulder.
The white light was dim, closing his wound at an agonizingly slow pace as sweat drenched her forehead.
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Don’t get confident!
Our Aether reserves are dropping—every skill we use is draining us.
If this keeps going, we’ll run out of energy long before that Guardian falls!” At the rear flank, the ordinary undead pressed relentlessly against the choke point.
They crawled over the broken stone railings and pulled themselves up over the bridge edges.
Ayomide swung his rusted iron blade.
Crack!
Another head rolled away, but a sharp vibration traveled up his arm.
He raised the weapon—a massive chunk of iron had chipped off the edge, leaving only half the blade intact.
Just a little more, he thought, wiping sweat from his forehead.
Abeg, don’t break now.
A corpse lunged toward his shoulder.
Bang!
Adesewa’s fist smashed straight through its throat, the force sending the body crashing into two others behind it.
Ayomide caught his breath.
“Thanks.” Adesewa glanced at him for a split second.
Her dark eyelashes fluttered slightly before she turned back to the horde without saying a word, her blood-stained fists raised.
Behind them, Zara wasn’t trembling anymore.
Her ears twitched, filtering the bloody chaos into distinct directions.
“Three behind!” she shouted rapidly.
“Right!
Above!” Ayomide ducked the leap from above, pivoting to drive his chipped blade through the throat of the corpse on the right, while Adesewa crushed the three behind them.
Zara’s calls were fast, precise, and confident.
For the first time, she wasn’t just surviving—she was controlling the space around them.
Further left, Success stared at two approaching corpses.
She swallowed hard, extending both shaking hands.
“…Manifest!” The dark threads of her Authority latched onto both targets.
The corpses jerked violently, stopped, and turned back to tear into the horde behind them.
Success stumbled slightly from the sudden Aether drain, but her eyes held a steady fire.
Up front, the Guardian remained standing after taking that single step back.
Its crimson eyes flickered beneath the broken visor.
It didn’t roar.
It didn’t express anger.
It simply lowered its body half an inch, placing both hands on its massive broadsword.
Daniel’s pupils shrank.
“…Move!
EVERYBODY MOVE!” The Guardian vanished.
BOOM!
It reappeared ten meters ahead, a crimson slash tearing straight through the center of the stone bridge.
CRACK!
The spiderweb fractures connected all at once.
A massive section of the bridge gave way with a deafening roar.
Tons of ancient stone plummeted into the red river far below, dragging dozens of screaming undead into the abyss.
A wide, gaping chasm now split the bridge down the middle.
Only a narrow, two-meter strip of intact stone along the outer wall remained connected to the far side.
Ayomide and Adesewa fell back toward the main group as the chasm cut off the rear horde.
“This bridge is done,” Ayomide said, his voice flat as he looked at the narrow ledge.
“We can’t stay on this side.” Miss Grace looked toward the far end.
“The narrow path is still holding!
Run to the other side—now!” Godwin gritted his teeth, looking at the figure standing directly at the mouth of that narrow ledge.
“…What about him?” The Guardian stood at the end of the narrow path.
It slowly lifted its broadsword from the cracked stone, entirely unfazed by their combined tactics, blocking their only escape route.
Maxwell clenched his fists, faint sparks dying on his knuckles.
“Tch…” Victor swallowed hard.
“How do we even kill this thing?” Daniel stared at the narrow stone ledge, then at the Guardian waiting silently at the end of it.
His mind raced frantically against the ticking clock.
No room to go around it.
No strength left to overpower it.
How…
are we supposed to cross?