Walking around the place, Eighteen found the door that led to the Sacred Sword. It was a gigantic door with inscriptions on it. It said: 'what gives meaning to everything.'
The door didn't move, regardless of the force applied to it. It was obvious that the chosen one had to understand the riddle in order to pass through.
Beside it was a drawing of a person, dressed in ceremonial clothing and a frightening mask covering their face. In the drawing, the man was pointing in a certain direction.
For just a moment, Dezoito hesitated.
Then he took a deep breath and followed the direction indicated.
This part of the cave was not on the map, so she didn't know where she was going. The path had no branches.
After walking for a while, she found a wider space. However, upon looking more closely, she noticed something. Eighteen had already been here before, a few minutes ago. The girl was back at the door that wouldn't open.
"This is a joke, right?"
She rounded in circles.
— Miss me?
A voice whispered in her ear. The feeling that seized her before returned. It was the being that encountered her at the entrance of the cave.
Turning back, a tall, skeletal-looking being with a smile on its face was squatted down, watching.
With black skin, like that of a tree and roots sticking out of his feet, he was clearly a monster he knew from his research. A tree demon.
It was a lesser demon, but that didn't mean it wasn't dangerous. In reality, it is deadly. Living among graves and damp places, it used its appearance to mimic a tree, deceiving travelers into getting lost, feeding on their feelings of anguish until they died.
A cruel being that enjoyed seeing people suffer and was there with the purpose of not allowing the next chosen one to reach the Sacred Weapon.
In the past, many chosen ones were killed by lesser demons while still children, which is why there was careful work to keep them secret until their time came.
Without time to think, the girl drew her sword and delivered a powerful strike. The wide sword was very heavy, but the warrior had practiced her whole life, so she was able to move it easily. Despite that, the sword was not so effective. Even though she was skilled and strong, demons have resistance to non-magical weapon strikes. And that was her case. Without a magical item, there wasn't much she could do against him. Even so, she continued to strike at him.
Blam
With a movement of his arm, the demon threw the girl against the wall as if she were nothing.
The sword had lodged itself in what appeared to be the demon's shoulder, but it wouldn't be enough to defeat him.
"You strong, little thing! Scratch me with a sword? Amazing!"
He pulled the sword from his shoulder, where a bit of dark liquid dripped down. Then he threw the sword in the direction of the girl. The sword lodged itself in the wall, just a few centimeters from her head. The demon was deliberately taunting her.
"Come on, little thing. Show what you can do."
Despite all her training, Eighteen had never been in real combat before. Taking a hit during a fight was far more painful than she had thought. It was different from being struck by a priestess or receiving a punch to the stomach. Her legs began to tremble much more than before, and her hands sweated incessantly. Her vision blurred, and she couldn't breathe normally.
"Calm down. Fuuu. You can get through this."
She slapped her own face a few times, trying to calm herself to think. Even so, Eighteen couldn't believe the difference in strength between them. It was an unfair difference. Nevertheless, the young woman still believed that she could win somehow.
(This monster must have some weakness .) she thought.
Taking her sword, the chosen one began to attack the demon again, who did not dodge the attacks. He waited for the girl's movement and counterattacked.
Over and over again. She struggled to evade the various attacks from the demon, especially since her vision was obscured by the lack of light. Her lantern had broken during the first attack she suffered.
But then, the inevitable happened. Blam.
The sword struck again and the demon was able to land a clean hit
The strength of this one was greater than the previous ones, destroying the armor that the girl was wearing.
She was thrown many meters away, crossing the door.
Inside the shining chamber by a large beam of light coming from the ceiling, there was a rusty sword embedded on a stone altar. The girl had no doubt about what it was.