Chapter 27: A Mini Test

Chapter Twenty Seven

Orion was covered in cold sweat as the screams of the warriors reached his ears. Right before his eyes, their eyes exploded.

The kind of pain they must have experienced when that happened should have been completely insufferable, but they weren’t even able to feel the pain for long before their heads exploded next. Then, their remaining bodies exploded as well, their gore and flesh erased before they could even touch the ground or scatter around.

Orion sucked in a cold breath, still on his knees. Ten warriors were dead just like that.

Ten powerful warriors had met such a brutal end in the blink of an eye, and all of it was simply because they had looked into the eyes of this being. It was too much for Orion to stomach.

Just what kind of level must a being have reached to be capable of something like this? He wondered in his heart, his back already drenched in sweat.

And he wasn’t the only one who was scared. In fact, compared to most of the others, Orion was handling the pressure quite well.

Some of the warriors were completely drenched, almost as if they had jumped into a pool. But this was all caused by their sweat, not water.

Some warriors’ pants were already wet. They were so terrified that they had even peed themselves. They couldn’t be blamed.

If it were someone else standing in their shoes, they might have done even more than that. The sheer dread and terror filling their chests was simply too much.

It was so overwhelming that their thoughts were no longer normal anymore, twisting and turning sharply beneath the pressure. The being looked at the thirty humans before him.

A trace of anger flashed within his eyes.

"Humans again?"

His calm voice echoed through the palace.

"Don’t you know your kind is not worthy of stepping in here?"

His tone was calm, yet the faint trace of anger within it caused the dread and fear of the thirty warriors to shoot through the roof. But they weren’t the only ones terrified.

Something far deeper than their own lives was being threatened. Something connected to their very existence.

And right before the warriors’ eyes, their Systems suddenly flashed. On every System screen, a single word appeared.

[Danger.]

[Danger.]

[Danger.]

[Danger.]

[Danger.]

It kept repeating over and over again. Again.

And again. Until something happened that no one had ever seen before.

The System began to shake. At first, the trembling was subtle.

Then it became violent. The shaking became deafening as cracks suddenly appeared across the System screens.

Crack!

The cracks spread farther. And farther. Until, one after another...

The impossible happened.

Their Systems shattered. One after another, the Systems that had accompanied humanity throughout its long history shattered before their very eyes.

Orion’s gaze trembled as he stared at his own System. But what made his eyes tremble wasn’t merely the fact that his System had shattered.

It was the fact that, for the first time, he could feel something from the emotionless System. Emotion.

The System was showing emotion in its final moments before it shattered. And the emotion Orion sensed from it was...

Terror.

Orion felt his soul tremble in disbelief. The System.

The core of existence that granted humanity the ability to walk the path of ascension. The all-knowing, seemingly all-powerful System that had guided humanity for countless years...

Had shattered itself. Not because it had been attacked.

Not because someone had destroyed it. But because it had been overwhelmed by terror.

Terror so great that even the System itself seemed to want to flee from the being seated upon the throne. Orion’s breathing became heavier.

"Just how powerful is this being?"

He asked himself once more. He wanted to ask the question aloud, but it was as if the very concept of speech had been erased from all thirty remaining warriors.

No one could speak. No one dared to speak.

Old Dwaine slowly shook his head in resignation. He had come fully prepared to face an overwhelmingly powerful foe.

He had bought countless treasures and prepared many aces, believing that having so many trump cards would be overkill. But now...

Kneeling here with his System shattered and himself only one step away from death, he finally realized something. No amount of preparation would ever have been enough to face this being.

Not even close. This wasn’t a battle they could win.

It wasn’t even a battle they could fight. It was simply...

The end.

It is over. We shall all die now.

Sir Dwaine thought silently. He didn’t want to die.

Of course he didn’t. But the reality of the situation couldn’t have been any clearer.

The being sitting upon that throne possessed a level of power that terrified even the System itself. And that kind of power...

Was simply beyond anything Sir Dwaine had ever imagined. He could erase them without even thinking.

Unless the being decided to spare their lives, there was no way they would survive this. But regarding the fact that hundreds upon hundreds of people had entered this dungeon and yet none of them had ever returned, it meant that they had all been killed.

Sir Dwaine couldn’t see any reason for the being to spare them. Before him, they were lower than ants.

Sir Dwaine sighed, his head lowered as he waited for death. Perhaps if it were just another powerful enemy, he would have tried to fight back.

He would have tried to survive. But there was no surviving this.

Just no way of fighting that being and surviving it. Orion’s hands clenched tightly.

Every single cell in his body was telling him that he would die here. That there was no surviving this.

But he wouldn’t give in. He wouldn’t. He had already promised himself that he would survive.

As long as there was even the slightest chance of survival, he would hold onto it tightly. There was no way he would give up before even trying.

It had never been his way of doing things. Seated upon the white throne, the being looked at the humans before him.

His gaze remained calm and expressionless. Humans were one of the weakest races he knew.

And yet...

They were also one of the most persistent. Although they knew that fighting was useless, they didn’t show any signs of completely giving in to their fate.

That made him respect them a little. Alas, that was the only thing likable about them.

He had wanted to erase this set of humans immediately. But after seeing their expressions, he changed his mind.

A few of them had already given up hope. But most of them still had that face...

The face that clearly said they had not yet given up. So he decided to give them a mini test.

If they passed, then he would let them take the real trial. With that thought, his crimson-red eyes glowed slightly.

Immediately...

Screams escaped from the mouths of all the warriors kneeling on the ground. The screams were loud and guttural, like lambs being slaughtered.

Many of them grabbed their heads, their faces contorted in so much pain that anyone looking at them would feel both pity and dread. Orion and Dwaine were no exception.

They held their heads, screaming. The test he had decided to give these puny humans was simple.

Since the real trial was based on their will, he decided to test whether there were any truly strong-willed people among them. And to find that out in the most mundane way possible, he decided to let them experience ten thousand deaths.

It was a simple illusion trick formed by him in the blink of an eye. But its effects were no less than catastrophic.

If any of the humans managed to break through the illusion by themselves, then he would let them face the real trial. But alas...

The human mind was simply too weak and fragile. He doubted that any of them could survive.

Not long after he thought that, one of the warriors let out a dying scream. Then...

He collapsed. His eyes became vacant.

His mind had already been shattered. He wasn’t the only one.

Instead, he was merely the first. Following him, the warriors began to drop one after another.

Their eyes became vacant, as if their souls had already fled from their bodies. Well...

That was wrong. Their minds had been shattered.

Their souls had vanished beneath the unbearable strain of the thousands upon thousands of deaths they had been forced to experience. Almost all of them were gone.

The moment they collapsed, they were immediately erased. The being looked at the dwindling number of humans with an expressionless gaze.

He had already expected this. Human minds were too fragile.

Their wills were too weak. None of them would survive the test.

That was what he thought. But several minutes later...

His expressionless eyes suddenly shifted. They moved toward the old man who appeared to be only one step away from death.

Yet somehow...

He had managed to break free from the illusion of death.

"Interesting."

The being’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"This man has some strong will."

And not only that...

His bloodline seemed rather unique. It is pretty weak but unique.

"He passed the test."

But the one who truly shocked him wasn’t the old man. Instead, his gaze moved toward the second person remaining.

A young man with dark hair. Two daggers pierced through his ribs.

The pain should have been overwhelming. Yet...

He only smiled. Slowly, the redness brought about by the death illusion faded from Orion’s eyes.

In its place appeared a pair of clear grey eyes... Eyes that gleamed with a cold, unwavering light.