Chapter 195: Besieged

Aurelius collided with the Paladin, using the silver sword in his hand to meet the Elite Relic wielded by his opponent.

Two lights flashed. One silver and one gold.

At the same time, Aurelius’ other hand stretched forward, casting a skill that slammed directly into the heavy armor.

Boom!

A deafening explosion echoed throughout the arena.

Much to Aurelius’ disappointment, however, the enemy Paladin did not die despite facing his attack head-on.

In fact, it didn’t even suffer any injuries.

The golden armor it wore had completely absorbed any damage, leaving its wearer entirely unharmed.

As he opened some distance between himself and the enemy, Aurelius couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

Sure enough, an enemy equipped with Relics and one without them were two completely different concepts.

Although the Paladin was indeed somewhat stronger than the Dusk Cat, the difference wasn’t so great that the Dusk Cat would perish instantly while the Paladin could withstand his attacks with ease.

Clearly, the difference between the two wasn’t simply in their strength, but, more importantly, in the treasures they possessed.

’It’s said that in ancient times, ferocious beasts roamed the land and served as the true rulers of Nova Roma. It was only later, after humans emerged and true civilization developed, that things began to change.’

’Seemingly blessed by the Gods, humans were not only smarter but also far more adaptable to this extraordinary world. Only a few years after their appearance, a man who would later be known as the Divine Forger created the first Relic using the corpse of a ferocious beast. Likewise, the Divine Refiner created the first Potion using their blood.’

’Since then, humanity has been almost unstoppable. Within a matter of decades, the once-mighty ferocious beasts had been wiped out, reduced to extraordinary materials and allowing humans to take their place on the main stage of the continent...’

Information he had read in one of the books from the Undead King’s inheritance subconsciously surfaced in Aurelius’ mind.

In the past, he hadn’t fully grasped the significance of this history.

Now, after comparing the two confrontations—one between him and the Dusk Cat, and the other between him and the Paladin—he had gained a deeper understanding of these words.

Clearly, Relics could make an enormous difference in battle.

Thankfully, even though countless thoughts were racing through his mind, Aurelius wasn’t distracted in the middle of the fight.

After opening some distance between himself and his opponent, he waved his hands, consuming the Spirit in his body to activate several of his abilities.

Soon, a large number of projectiles shot forward.

Fireballs. Radiant Lances. Sacred Flames.

Although the Paladin was powerful and possessed extraordinary defensive capabilities, there was little he could do against the relentless barrage.

After all, while Aurelius’ strength had been sealed, the fundamental nature of his skills remained unchanged.

They had indeed been weakened by the seal, but their power still far surpassed that of ordinary Rank 1 skills.

Before long, the Paladin was in a terrible state.

The hand holding its sword trembled, riddled with bloody injuries that revealed the bones beneath the skin and the muscles.

Its torso was in even worse condition.

The Elite armor it wore had been torn apart without it even realizing when the damage had accumulated. Through one of the gaps, a brilliant lance pierced its chest, striking the left side and penetrating its heart.

With a Paladin’s vitality, the opponent didn’t die instantly.

But a moment later, the Radiant Lance exploded into countless fragments of light under Aurelius’ control.

Struck by the aftermath, the Paladin’s body exploded along with it.

Soon, it transformed into illusory patterns and merged with the arena beneath its feet.

On the other side, Aurelius remained calm as he watched this gruesome scene.

He didn’t smile in celebration. Instead, he reached into his System Inventory and retrieved several Spirit-Recovering Potions.

After uncorking them, he let their contents flow down his throat.

Instantly, the rate at which he absorbed the surrounding Mana and converted it into Spirit through Arcanist’s Heart increased significantly.

The Spirit consumed while casting dozens of skills was quickly replenished.

Even so, Aurelius showed no happiness.

He knew that the battle was far from over.

Sure enough, an emotionless voice soon echoed throughout the arena.

"Challenger Aurelius Sol has defeated the second wave of opponents."

"Third wave of opponents starts!"

Another set of opponents emerged on the opposite side of the arena.

Perhaps to shatter Aurelius’ expectations, they weren’t Awakeners or monsters with Rare or Epic rank Templates or Classes.

In fact, there wasn’t just one opponent.

There were two. And both were very familiar to him.

A Level 20 Dusk Cat.

A Level 20 Paladin.

Standing calmly beside one another, the pair could easily have been mistaken for a Beast Tamer and their monster companion.

When the Dusk Cat disappeared into the shadows while the Paladin charged forward recklessly, seemingly attempting to distract Aurelius from tracking its partner’s movements, that impression became even stronger.

Aurelius secretly rolled his eyes.

This was much more troublesome than dealing with a single powerful opponent.

Nevertheless, he showed no fear. He was confident in his own abilities.

With his strength, combat experience, and the preparations he had made beforehand, he was certain that few opponents of the same Level could defeat him.

With that thought, he calmly raised the silver sword in his hand.

Then, he charged forward to meet the Paladin, slashing down with all his strength.

"Kill!" A bloodthirsty voice soon resounded throughout the arena.

--

Time slowly passed.

Aurelius didn’t know whether he was still affected by the Underworld or whether the repeated assaults of his opponents had awakened something lurking within him.

At that moment, his state of mind was bizarre.

A bloody light flashed through his azure eyes as he repeatedly raised his sword, chopping one of the Dusk Cats surrounding him into two.

Although the enemy was killed, letting out a shrill cry and bursting into a cloud of blood, the battle was far from over.

Soon, two more Dusk Cats emerged from the shadows, taking the fallen one’s place and launching similarly deadly attacks.

At the same time, three Paladins tightly surrounded Aurelius from every direction, wielding their enormous swords as though they were shields and blocking his path.

Aurelius did not retreat.

At the cost of sustaining a minor injury, he endured one of the Dusk Cats’ attacks while killing several of its companions.

With the last monster falling dead, he immediately shifted his attention to the Paladins.

"Kill! Kill!"

"Die! Die!"

Crash!

Bang!

The Paladins soon met the same fate as their monster companions.

To say that Aurelius remained unharmed, however, would have been a lie.

He leaned down, taking several deep breaths while consuming the Potions he had just taken out.

To be honest, he had never expected the first Trial in the tower to be so difficult.

Following the third wave, the number of opponents no longer increased by just one.

Instead, four enemies appeared in the fourth wave: two Dusk Cats and two Paladins.

By the fifth wave, their numbers had doubled again, becoming four Dusk Cats and four Paladins.

Then eight of each. Sixteen of each.

By now, Aurelius had lost track of exactly how many opponents he was fighting.

Under normal circumstances, dealing with so many enemies wouldn’t have been particularly difficult, even if they were individually powerful.

Unfortunately, both the arena and the Trial itself severely limited his options.

The arena was too small for a battle on such a scale. There was nowhere to run, forcing Aurelius to constantly dodge and fight at close range.

Likewise, the waves of opponents arrived continuously, leaving him no time to recover from the previous battles.

As a result, Aurelius had to carefully manage his consumption, using as little Spirit and physical strength as possible to deal with each enemy.

Sometimes, even trading a minor injury for the sake of conserving his strength was worthwhile.

Sure enough, this time was no different than the waves before this.

With the death of the last Paladin, the now-hateful, emotionless voice rang out once more.

"Challenger Aurelius Sol has defeated the ninth wave of opponents."

"Final wave of opponents starts!"

Final wave!

Aurelius’ eyes immediately lit up upon hearing these words.

Yet before he could truly feel any happiness, the opponents came into view.

Immediately, his eyes widened.

The army of enemies he was expecting was nowhere to be seen.

Both the Dusk Cats and the Paladins had vanished.

Only a single figure stood on the opposite side of the arena.

Someone Aurelius knew all too well.

[Level 20 Aurelius Sol (Mythical)]

Looking at what appeared to be an exact replica of himself, Aurelius’ expression turned ugly.

When he saw the other Aurelius take out an azure trident, don a mysterious cape, and slowly summon a Divine Phantom behind his back, his reaction was even worse.

He nearly cursed aloud.

Damn it!

The Trial Tower was cheating!

What did it mean to make him fight himself?

And while he was already injured, no less!

Unfortunately, the second "Aurelius" didn’t seem to care about this obvious unfairness.

As he began casting Ocean’s Wrath, he stared directly at his original self and erected an Arcane Tower.