Death... and me

Fanso’s group received the message from Tilte, telling them that the negotiations had failed. Also, Tilte warned them that Rean was most likely still helping Erla and Min. However, Fanso found it hard to believe. Without being in the Void Tempering Realm, one shouldn’t be able to escape the seal. Nevertheless, he wouldn’t leave it up to chance. ‘There’s a problem, though. If Rean is helping them, how am I going to find Erla during the Thunderstorm Breakthrough test?’

Of course, that wasn’t the only issue. The Thunderstorm Breakthrough test was especially dangerous for aquatic demon beasts like them. Lightning Element itself was usually bad for most Demon Beasts to start with, let alone those vulnerable to it. They would have to try to keep themselves alive first.

Little did anyone notice, but one of the elders of the Silver Horn Sturgeon race left the hotel after he heard what Tilte said about the negotiation. He just wandered around as if waiting for something.

Time passed, and the next test arrived. As always, the manager gave a very small speech and allowed everyone to enter the Dimensional Realm. 

Rean, Erla, Min, and Habac once again appeared near each other and immediately took a look around. However, it was quite hard to see with all the black clouds surrounding them. If not for the Dimensional Realm allowing flight, they would have started falling already since there was no ground to speak of, just gravity pulling them down.

“Habac, does this place have some safer zones like the Deep Sea Monster Assault test?” Rean asked.

Habac shook his head, saying, “Not as far as I know. I can use Lighting and Fire, so I’m quite resistant to this environment. However, I couldn’t find anything that looked like a safe zone the last time I was here. However, there are always upsides. This was one of the tests that I succeeded on my own before.” Habac then shrugged his shoulders as he continued, “Then again, I failed the next test and went back to stage zero. Hahaha!”

Rean and the others were happy to hear that. “Then this isn’t that difficult, right?”

“Wrong!” Habac shook his head, explaining, “I passed the test because I was lucky enough to not be targeted by most of the lightning bolts. As the name implies, we need to break through the storm. That means we all have a finish line to reach. I don’t know if the lightning bolts will focus on us now that we’re a bigger group. The good part I mentioned is that I know the distance between the entrance and the finish line. If we use Rean’s Enhancement skill and our battle formation, I believe we can break through the storm in just five hours.”

Erla sighed in relief after hearing that. “That’s good. I’m very susceptible to Lighting Element. The lower the time I have to spend here, the better.”

“Alright, let’s get in formation. I’ll be using my Light and Divine Sense bending skill to make sure that no one can see us. The lightning storm will probably start once everyone is inside, so focus on the defense.”

Roan’s group wasn’t much different. “I have a good defensive skill, so I’ll keep it active during the entire journey.” Roan was talking about Reversive Arcs, which could indeed protect the group from all sides. “I’ll leave the movement up to you, so just pull me along.”

Krikei, Vrie, and Lita nodded in response. “Leave it to us.”

In Kentucky and Celis’ group, neither Celis nor Kentucky seemed to be concerned with this test, though. Celis was a Wood Element expert, which was obviously one of the best affinities to fight against lightning. His resistance against it was enormous. 

As for Kentucky, even though his affinities weren’t especially good against lightning, they weren’t bad either. For Kentucky, what mattered was his own body defense. Once he activated his blade feathers and hardened the scales under it, the lightning in this test would have a hard time breaking through.

Fanso’s group didn’t waste time either. The moment they appeared in the Thunderstorm Breakthrough Dimensional Realm, they separated and looked for Rean’s group. They still had some time before the test started, which meant no one could move ahead yet.

In fact, that’s why Rean used his Light and Divine Sense bending skill from the start. Rather than having to fight Fanso’s mob, he would definitely prefer to hide.

Suddenly, Rean smiled as he felt a Divine Sense touch his bending skill. ‘They really don’t know when to give up.’ The Divine Sense was too far away, so it wouldn’t break through the bending skill. All Rean had to do was guide his group out of the pursuers’ path, and that would do the trick. Well, the dark clouds everywhere didn’t help Fanso’s group either.

Sure enough, Rean passed by a few of Fanso’s group members. Not only that, but he also found other groups that had nothing to do with Fanso. Regardless, he avoided every single one of them until all the participants finally appeared in the Thunderstorm Breakthrough test.

*Kabrummmmmm!*

Immediately, the clouds of the Dimensional Realm seemed to come back to life. What was only dark before transformed into a sea of blue and purple lighting shining through the clouds. Each discharge seemed to make the entire Diemsnional Realm tremble.

“Let’s go!” Rean didn’t care, though.

‘Life Style, Firm Form, Enhancement!’

‘Death Style, First Defensive Form, Reversive Arcs!’

‘Sword Intent!’

As Rean took care of the defense, Erla, Min, and Habac concentrated on the movement. They had the support of Rean’s skill, so the three used the battle formation and their own Divine Energy to shoot into the distance. Obviously, Habac was the one guiding them.

*Kabrommmm!*

Immediately, bolts of blue and purple lightning started to fall against Rean’s Reversive Arcs.

‘Holy shit! The guys who created this test weren’t kidding!’ Rean was fully focused on his defense. But even with that, he felt that he could just barely resist the lightning. That was already considering he was using all his skills at once. ‘No wonder they say this is one of the places with the highest number of deaths. Can I even resist such a barrage for five hours?’