"—You told them about your Gift?"
When Luca got back to the shop and told him everything, Grun took the pipe out of his mouth.
"The Grafens' third boy and his two hangers-on."
"Yes. I couldn't explain how the Gatekeeper fights without telling them."
"...You, I swear."
Grun let out a long sigh. Then he stared at the ceiling for a while, and sighed again.
"Fine. It's not something you could've kept hidden forever. But pick who you tell. The only ones you tell are people you'd trust with your life."
"Yes, Boss."
"So. Are they?"
Luca thought about it. Viktor, who had stayed at the front to the very end so Karl could get away. Fritz, who had tried to speak up for Viktor.
"...Probably. I think they're all right."
"Probably, huh."
Grun snorted, and left it at that.
* * *
"More to the point, I've got something for you."
Grun reached into his back-basket and pulled something out.
It was a small hammer. The handle was short, and the head was flat on one side and pointed on the other.
"Picked it up on the fifth floor today. It's a camp smith's hammer, the kind expeditions bring along. Somebody must've dropped it on the way home."
"A camp smith?"
"On a long expedition, swords and shields break partway through. A camp smith's the craftsman who fixes them right there in the Labyrinth."
Grun set the hammer in Luca's hand.
"You're taking on the Gatekeeper tomorrow, aren't you. Don't know if it'll be any use."
Luca closed his hand around it.
◆ ◆ ◆
There's a crack in the rim of the shield.
It'll be needed again tomorrow. It has to be fixed tonight.
He sets the shield on a small anvil and puts the pointed end of the hammer to the tip of the crack.
Clink.
The same spot. Exactly the same spot, not a hair off.
Clink. Clink. Clink.
One blow won't move iron. Ten blows, twenty. Stack them up on a single point, and little by little, the iron starts to listen.
The crack closes.
"...Master, you're still up?"
"Almost done. Go on to bed."
One last blow. The rim of the shield is whole again.
He thinks he's put the hammer back in his tool bag. He doesn't notice it slip out through the mouth of the bag.
◆ ◆ ◆
Echo inherited: [Stacked Strike].
"It's a technique for hitting the same spot dozens of times without missing by a hair."
"Huh."
Grun brought an iron plate out from the back of the shop. A piece of an old breastplate. He set it on the workbench and jerked his chin at it.
"Go on."
Luca didn't use the hammer. He drew his dagger instead, the one Grun had passed down to him and he had resharpened, and struck the middle of the plate with the pommel.
Clink.
The same spot.
Clink. Clink. Clink.
His hand was aiming for the same point all on its own. No matter how many times he struck, it never strayed from that one point. Ten blows. Twenty. Little by little, the middle of the plate sank in.
On the thirtieth blow, with a small pock, a hole opened in the iron about the size of the tip of his little finger.
Grun held the plate up to the lamp and studied the hole in silence for a while.
"...If it does that to iron, I wonder what it'd do to stone scales."
"I was thinking the same thing."
* * *
That night, they held a strategy meeting in the shop's kitchen.
Luca, Celes, and Grun. On the table lay Luca's map of the tenth floor and a sheet of paper where he had written down the Gatekeeper's movements from the recall.
"The lizard eats rock, then breathes powder. It uses the breath to blind you and choke you, then it sweeps you with its tail."
"You'll get through the breath with [Hold Breath]. What about me?"
"Please stay back near the door, Celes. I don't think the breath will reach that far. And cover your mouth and nose with a wet cloth."
"And the tail?"
"I'll take it with [Stand Firm]."
Celes ran her finger down the paper.
"The real question is where we attack. You can only see the seam on its belly when it twists, right?"
"Right. So I'll go for its back."
Luca drew the lizard in the corner of the map. It was a bad drawing. Celes laughed a little.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"Stone scales should have a grain too. I'll use [Stone Reading] to find the point where the lines all meet, then hit it with [Stacked Strike] until I break a hole through. I'll get up on its back with [Grappling Hook]."
"And then I put my fireball into the hole."
"Yes."
Grun blew out a stream of pipe smoke.
"You'll be sitting up on its back. She'll roast you right along with it."
"I'll jump off the moment the hole opens. I have [Breakfall]."
"...Every last piece of it, strung together out of things you picked up."
Grun laughed, half in disbelief. Then, all at once, his face went serious.
"One thing. Kill a Gatekeeper and a new one crawls out a few years later. That's why the way to beat each one gets handed down from way back. ...But as far as I know, this is the first time a Stone-Eater's been the Gatekeeper. Nobody knows how to kill it."
"Yes."
"When you fight something nobody knows, watch it close. With a scavenger's eyes."
* * *
At night, the training grounds were empty except for Viktor.
He stood alone in the moonlight, swinging a wooden sword.
Whff. Whff. Whff.
When Luca came closer, Viktor lowered it.
"You came."
"Yes. You said you had something to tell me about the Gatekeeper."
"...Three times," Viktor said, without any lead-in. "It breathed powder three times. Each time, it ate rock off the wall first. And after it ate the third time, it slowed down. You could see it. I think its stomach got heavy."
"After the third time."
"That's where we failed to finish it. Karl took the tail right after the third time."
Luca made a note of that in his head. The man with the helmet hadn't seen as far as the third breath.
"Thank you. That helps a lot."
"I don't need thanks."
Viktor looked up at the moon.
"...My father sent me a letter."
"A letter?"
"If I can't make Rank Eight within a month, I'm to come home. I have two older brothers. The eldest will inherit the school. The second serves with the knights in the capital. For me, there's no path worthy of the Grafen name except making a name for myself as a delver."
Viktor looked down at his own palm, as if remembering his chipped sword.
"Karl's leg will take half a month to heal. My sword has to be reforged. I won't make it within the month."
Luca stayed quiet.
"So I rushed. I went in without preparing, relying on nothing but my forms. Karl getting hurt is my fault."
Luca couldn't find anything to say. He thought of Dario's hands, back on the day of the mana measurement, when Dario had laughed at him. Hands that had swung a sword every day for a year. Viktor's hands had the same hard calluses, layer upon layer of them.
"If you can win, then go ahead and try."
Viktor looked straight at him.
"My forms didn't get through to that thing. ...I want to see whether your 'bit of everything' does."
"Yes."
"And one more thing."
Viktor hesitated, just slightly.
"On the day of the exam, you said that the techniques you picked up were all left behind by someone too. That they paid for them with their lives."
"Yes."
"...That man with the helmet. The technique he used to take that tail. When I saw it, I think I understood. A little."
That was all he said. Then he raised his wooden sword again, and the whff of it cutting the air rang across the night-time training grounds.
Luca bowed and left.
His stomach growled. He decided he'd eat five bowls tonight, for tomorrow's sake.
* * *
The Gatekeeper's chamber was round.
The ceiling was so high that he had to tip his head all the way back to see it. The walls were raw, jagged rock, gouged out in great chunks here and there. Something had been taking bites out of them. On the far side of the chamber stood a second stone door. That was the way to the eleventh floor.
And in the middle of the chamber was the thing itself.
It was huge. It would have made a gray bear look like a cub. From its head to the tip of its tail, it was as long as two houses standing side by side. It stood low, all four legs planted on the ground, watching them.
Its whole body was stone. Each and every scale was made of a different kind of rock. Gray, brown, black, white. Whatever rock it ate turned straight into scales.
"...The Stone-Eating Lizard," Celes said. Her voice shook, just a little.
Luca gripped the hilt of the dagger at his waist. Then he checked the rope on his back. The point of the hook was cold against his fingers.
"Celes. Please fall back near the door."
"All right. ...Luca."
"Yes?"
"You're allowed to let your stomach growl. Just for today."
"...Okay."
Celes covered her mouth with a wet cloth and backed away toward the door.
Luca stepped forward alone.
* * *
The lizard moved.
It lumbered over to the wall and bit into it.
Crunch-crunch-crunch. The sound of rock being ground between its teeth echoed through the whole chamber.
Here it comes.
It was just like in the recall. After it ate the rock, the breath came next.
Luca breathed in. Slowly, all the way down to the bottom of his stomach. Then he let a little out, and breathed in again. He let the strength drain out of his body. His heartbeat slowed.
[Hold Breath].
The lizard opened its mouth.
A white storm burst out. Powder: fine stone dust from the rock it had chewed up. In an instant, everything in front of him went white.
Luca already had his eyes shut. He didn't breathe in, so his throat didn't burn. Inside the dust, [Sense Presence] told him where the lizard was.
And then he felt the tail drawing back.
Feet apart. Knees bent. Hips low, like roots sinking into the ground. He turned the shield on his left arm toward where the tail would come.
[Stand Firm].
The impact hit.
The shield groaned. From his arm to his shoulder, from his shoulder to his hips, from his hips to his legs, the weight ran down and out into the ground. His feet skidded. One step's worth. Two.
But he didn't fall.
The dust began to clear. Right in front of him, the lizard had its head cocked. The tiny creature it had swept with its tail was still standing. That seemed to puzzle it.
That's one.
* * *
"—Become searing heat, and pierce my foe!"
Celes's voice rang out from near the door. A fireball the size of a man's head slammed into the lizard's flank.
The flames burst. But the stone scales were only scorched a little on the surface. The lizard didn't even flinch.
"...Figures. It's no good," Celes said, frustration plain in her voice.
They had known that would happen. That was why they had a plan.
Luca looked at the lizard's back.
[Stone Reading].
Lines ran through every one of its scales. Each scale was a different kind of rock, so on each one the grain ran a different way. But one row, the row along its spine, looked different.
There.
The middle of its back. The seam between the scales lined up along the spine. A place where different kinds of rock had been forced together. The lines crashed into each other there and gathered at a single point.
It was the place where the stone most wanted to break.
* * *
The lizard charged at Luca.
It wasn't fast. But it was heavy. The ground shook.
Luca shifted sideways by the width of a sheet of paper. [Hairbreadth]. The lizard's head went right past him, its stone scales sliding by in front of his eyes.
He unslung the rope from his back and swung the hook.
[Grappling Hook].
The hook flew and bit into a gap between the scales on the lizard's back with a solid clack.
Got it—
He gripped the rope and planted a foot on the lizard's flank. It was the same as climbing down the wall of the shaft. Feel for a jutting scale with your foot, then haul yourself up the rope.
In that instant, the lizard wrenched its whole body around.
"Whoa!"
He was flung around, rope and all. The hook tore loose. He went flying through the air.
Curl up. Tuck the chin.
[Breakfall].
He landed on his shoulder, rolled twice, three times, and stopped. It didn't hurt. He was back on his feet at once.
"Luca!"
"I'm fine!"
The lizard was biting into the wall again.
Crunch-crunch-crunch.
Here comes the second one.
Breathe in. Slowly, all the way down to the bottom of his stomach. The white storm. Eyes shut. The feel of the tail. Feet apart, roots down.
Impact.
This time, he only skidded one step.
That's two.
* * *
The dust cleared. Luca threw the hook again.
This time he jumped onto its back before the lizard could twist. [Iron Legs]: one kick off its flank, and he was up. The stone scales were rough and knobbly, so there was no shortage of footholds.
The lizard thrashed. Luca clung to the rope. Every time it nearly threw him off, he clamped his legs tight around the scales.
The seam along the spine. There it was, right in front of him.
Luca drew his dagger. The one Grun had passed down to him, the one he had resharpened. He didn't use the point. He set the pommel against the single point on the seam.
Clink.
The lizard flinched.
Clink. Clink.
The same spot. Exactly the same spot, not a hair off.
[Stacked Strike].
The lizard tried to swing its head around toward him. But neither its head nor its legs could reach the middle of its own back. Its tail rose instead, trying to sweep him off.
Luca wrapped the rope around his arm and flattened himself. The tail skimmed past just over his head.
Clink. Clink. Clink.
Ten.
A line as thin as a hair ran across the stone seam.
It's going to crack. Just a little more—
Then the lizard went completely still.
Luca looked up. The lizard had stretched out its neck and was biting into the wall.
Crunch-crunch-crunch. Crunch-crunch-crunch.
Longer than before. It was eating a lot.
The third time.
Viktor's words came back to him. After it eats the third time, it slows down. You can see it.
And then the third breath would come.
Up on its back, Luca breathed in. Slowly, all the way down to the bottom of his stomach.
The lizard's jaws opened wide.