23
"Time Slow!"
Xun Uchiha grabbed Little Bird and retreated to the side of the stone doorway like a bolt of lightning.
In an instant, a teeth-grating whistle erupted from deep within the hidden passage. Sharp arrows, iron spears, and javelins came hurtling out on a foul wind, followed by a dense shower of stones and tumbling iron balls filled with poison gas. Countless deadly weapons poured down, all plunging into the bottomless black abyss ahead.
Cold sweat streamed down Xun Uchiha's body. Still shaken, he glanced behind him-there, too, lay a sheer drop. One wrong move would leave him smashed to pieces.
Only after the last thunder of the traps had faded did Little Bird lower her voice and say, "We're here. The eight guardians are inside."
Xun Uchiha peered inside, and his pupils abruptly contracted.
Eight hulking figures stood in the dim stone chamber. Each was three and a half meters tall, covered in steel armor that gleamed with a cold, forbidding light. Their three-ton bodies radiated suffocating pressure. Cold, stern facial contours were carved into their mirror-smooth metal masks, and a piercing light shone in their eyes.
Each of the eight humanoid weapons carried a deadly armament: a long saber, a sharp sword, a heavy staff, a spear, a massive axe, twin hammers, a broadsword, and a longbow. They were not dormant but poised to attack-drawing a saber, raising a sword, chopping, smashing... Every muscle-like steel tendon was taut with strength, as though they might unleash a devastating strike at any moment. More unnerving still, despite a thousand years of wear, these steel beasts remained as pristine as new. A faint sheen flowed across their armor, as though they had just been cast in a furnace.
At the center of their circle stood a huge square stone