Chapter 36: 36. Rules

The captain of the pirates grinned in response to Agnar's words.

"Humph, you people failed because your strength was only at the bronze rank while mine is at the iron rank. So I think it will be easy for me to kill the third guardian."

He let out his aura for everyone to witness, but at that moment, he noticed that the aura didn't seem as powerful as before, and upon carefully assessing his strength, he realized that it had been confined to the bronze rank in the temple.

At that moment, Agnar smiled with embarrassment.

"Hehe, it seems I forgot to tell you that your strength here is limited to bronze rank, no matter how powerful you are outside this temple."

The captain of the pirates flared at his words.

"Damn, you should have said this earlier, but you think this can stop me from fighting the guardians? No, it won't."

In his anger, he didn't hesitate as he advanced toward the portal. But before he could take another step, someone materialized in front of him, wielding a sword.

It was Feran, the ancient-looking guy, who blocked his path.

"What's the meaning of this?"

The captain inquired, his mood worsening as Feran blocked him.

Feran regarded him kindly, and a smile graced his serene face.

"I didn't mean anything. As for why I stopped you, it's because we don't want to lose our chances of leaving this temple so early."

Orion, who had been observing the entire scene, suddenly interjected.

"You can still leave without your body?"

Feran turned to Orion upon hearing him, sighing at his question.

"We leave this place, as in, our souls will be free from the shackles binding us to this temple and can rest in peace."

Orion grimaced at his words. He hadn't anticipated that this was what he meant when he said they could leave this place.

'That means failing to complete the task would mean death one way or another.'

However, he had one more thing he wanted to be sure about. Thinking of that, he again turned to Feran.

"Are there any rules for the task? Can we all leave this place if even one of us completes the task, or do we have to do it individually?"

Everyone in Orion's group shared the same question, so they all turned their attention to Feran, awaiting his response.

Even the captain of the pirates appeared to be acknowledging that he had acted hastily. Realizing that failure, or worse, death, could result from his impulsive actions, he understood that there would be no remedy for regrets later. With this in mind, he decided not to engage the guardian until he had fully grasped the rules.

Feran smiled, seeing that he didn't have to take action regarding the man with the tattoo of an elephant's teeth on his face.

"Agnar, explain the rules to them."

He allowed Agnar to explain the rules as he moved to the side and sheathed his sword.

Agnar nodded to Feran, then tapped the ground with his staff. Soon, the ground around him began to deform and undulate like water before gradually reshaping itself into a circular arena. Within the arena, three statues stood at a distance from each other.

Pointing at the arena, Agnar explained the rules.

"After you enter through the portal, you will immediately meet with the first guardian, and after you kill it, you won't meet the second guardian right away but will be transported back here."

He then turned around and pointed at the far side of the hall.

"You see that circular structure over there?"

Orion turned around and saw a large circular gate-like structure constructed of rock, with red tree vines entwined around it.

Observing everyone's attention focused on the inactive portal, Agnar proceeded with his explanation.

"That's also a portal, but it isn't activated yet. It will be activated if one of you kills the first guardian; then only that person can use that portal; others won't be able to use it."

"So where does it lead to?"

Orion inquired, puzzled. He was aware that they couldn't leave this place until they had defeated the third guardian, so he wondered where this portal would lead them.

Agnar then gestured towards the circular arena he had constructed.

"Look at the space between each guardian; there is a square-shaped box area. When you enter that portal, you will be transported to this area. As for what this area is, I can tell you that it's heaven for those who want to have their attribute reach the max stats, as this area is full of bronze-rank monsters. By going through this portal, you will have a high chance of defeating the second guardian."

Orion put a hand on his chin as he mused.

'That's good. With that portal, I can at least increase my stats for all attributes to around 30 or 40 points, or maybe I can max them all depending on the time I will be spending in that area.'

Considering the time, he intended to inquire about it, but before he could, someone else voiced the question on his behalf.

"So, how much time will we have in those areas?"

Orion noticed that it was Runo who had just posed the question.

Agnar sighed as he heard that question.

"Before I tell you about how much time you will be spending in that area, let me tell you about something more important."

Everyone's ears perked up at his words.

"You will each get three chances to defeat a guardian, and if you fail on your third chance, then you will be welcomed by us."

The expressions on everyone's faces turned grave. They hadn't anticipated that there would be a limit on the number of attempts they could make against the guardians. This significantly raised the difficulty to a whole new level.

'Curse the seven generations of whoever made this stupid temple.'

Orion cursed inwardly as he thought about the difficulty of clearing this temple. According to Agnar and the others, the third guardian was already immensely powerful, and now this frustrating rule further diminished their already slim chances to the lowest level possible.

"And you will only get about an hour between each guardian in the leveling area."

"Only an hour??!!"

Orion exclaimed in frustration. He had planned to raise all of his attributes to a high level while inside that area, but with only an hour's time limit, he could only increase one attribute, and even then, it wouldn't reach a satisfactory level.

While others were also taken aback by the time limit, it was manageable for them. Most of them had already reached their limits in their respective attributes, while others only needed a few more points.