Eight Gargoyles

Zeke and Scarlet headed to the castle. The large iron gate that blocked their entrance was still locked. "Well here goes nothing." Zeke said as he pulled back his arm and prepared to punch the gate. With his first hit the gate bent. Hitting the cold unyielding steel hurt his hand, but due to his increased level he was not seriously injured.

[You know who could take care of that gate in a jiffy?] Alpha said.

[I am going to ignore you now.] Zeke replied.

Zeke pulled his arm back and prepared for another punch. Again, the gate bent, this time to the point of nearly breaking. "One more hit and it should open." He said as he prepared another punch. As the blow landed the doors to the gate flung open, the lock broke and fell to the ground. The inner courtyard beyond the gate had a cobblestone path with stone gargoyles lining it. There were a total of eight between the door of the castle and the gate's entrance.

"Scarlet, do you think those are real monsters?" Zeke asked.

"Honestly that last monster shouldn't have been here, so I don't know." She replied. "We should be careful just in case."

"Agreed." Zeke said as he took a step onto the cobblestone path. He waited to see if anything was going to happen with the gargoyles. After a minute he was satisfied they were just statues. [I should scan them just in case.] He thought to himself. "Scan." He said while looking at one of the gargoyles.

[Gargoyle Race: Gargoyle, Level 150 Skills: Stone nap, Enhanced recovery, Dark immunity, Fire resistance, Lightning immunity in stone form. Experience: 20,000]

"Shit they are real." Zeke said, motioning for Scarlet to stay back. "There are eight of them and they are level 150."

"Level 150?!" Scarlet yelled. "How are we going to get past them?!"

"Very quietly." Zeke said.

"The walkway may be trapped." Zeke said. He inched his way over to the grass along the wall. "We should try to move around the wall and hope for a back entrance."

"Great idea." Scarlet said, doing the same as Zeke, moving along the wall.

Sara followed suit. "This one does not understand." Sara said. "Why do we not engage the gargoyles to level up? Is the goal to become stronger or not?"

"We need to fight weaker monsters first." Zeke explained. "We can't just jump into the deep end; we need to learn to swim."

[I swear this android gets so many hero candidates killed.] Alpha said. [I wonder if it is part of her program or if they just really missed the mark on her intellect.]

Zeke did not respond to Alpha.

[Oh, I see.] Alpha said. [Just going to ignore me like that. Well, that is fine. I am sure you will regret it soon.]

Slowly the trio crept to the back of the castle, moving meticulously along the outer wall. As they snuck, they discovered a side entrance to one of the castle's towers. Zeke pointed the door out. "I think we are far enough away from the gargoyles to use that door over there."

Scarlet and Sara nodded in agreement and the trio walked as quietly as they could across the yard of the castle. Zeke reached for the door handle and gave it a tug. The door did not move. It was locked.

"The door looks like it's made of wood." Scarlet said. "Let me cast a spell on it to burn it. IF you punch the door, it might make too much noise and awaken those gargoyles."

Zeke stood out of the way of the magic and nodded to give Scarlet the go ahead.

Scarlet acknowledged the go ahead with a nod. She then reached her hand out and began to cast her spell. "Mana Art: Ignite." She said softly. A small orb of fire left her hand and floated slowly to the door. When it collided with the old dry wood the door instantly burst into flame.

[Oh, so pretty and so dumb.] Alpha said. [Hang on, I am going to go get my popcorn for this!]

[Wait, what are you talking about? Why did you call her dumb?] Zeke replied. [Also, what is popcorn?]

[You are ignoring me, remember?] Alpha laughed. [Wait, you don't have popcorn either?! The future is a horrible place.]

[I am sorry I ignored you.] Zeke replied. [Now please tell me what you meant by Scarlet being dumb.]

[Ah, since you asked so nicely.] Alpha replied. [Tell you what I will write it down in my journal and you can come read it.]

[Just tell me!] Zeke replied angrily.

Zeke waited and got no response.

In the distance Scarlet and Zeke could hear loud cracking of stone, followed by deep and horrifying roars that shook them to their core. "The gargoyles!" Zeke said. "They woke up!"

"Shit!" Scarlet replied. "What are we going to do?!"

They both looked at the burning door. The wood was old and thick, it was taking a while to burn. "Stand back!" Zeke said as he pulled his arm back and prepared to punch the burning door. He let out a mighty blow that shattered the weakened door into pieces. "Run inside!" Zeke shouted, as the cinders hit the ground.

The undeniable sound of massive wings flapping in the sky could be heard getting closer. The trio rushed to get inside the castle's tower. They ducked to either side of the door and braced against the wall in an attempt to hide from the beasts now after them.

One of the monsters landed at the shattered door. They could hear it breathing; it was so close to them. It picked up a few pieces of wood but did not attempt to enter the castle. It just sat there waiting and looking to see if anything was hiding in the hall.

Satisfied no one was there the beast took flight, leaving Zeke and the others behind. After the beast left Zeke and Scarlet both gave a deep sigh of relief.

"Now let's go find that treasure." Zeke said. "We should climb the tower and make our way deeper into the castle."