Chapter 294: The Graveyard Is Full, Bombing His Way to the Fifteenth Floor! [2]

Each bomb represented several tombstones that could no longer be recovered, but it also gave Zich a reserve of destructive power that did not depend upon an active summon remaining on the battlefield.

He examined the completed Spirit Bombs, memorized their approximate strength, and nodded in satisfaction.

After leaving the Graveyard, Zich stood and stepped through the teleportation gate leading to the Tenth Floor.

Almost at that exact moment, the monument outside changed.

[First Place: Zich Grave, Tenth Floor.]

[Ninth Floor Trial Evaluation: SSS.]

On the Tenth Floor, Zich found himself facing the Level 29 Spirit-Sealing Warlord.

An oppressive field spread from the Warlord’s armored body the moment the trial began. Iron and the other summons flickered unsteadily as the force interfered with the contracts connecting them to Zich, preventing him from maintaining their active manifestations.

Zich immediately recalled them rather than allowing the suppression to damage their spiritual foundations.

The Spirit-Sealing Warlord’s power could suppress active summons, but it did not seal the Graveyard itself or prevent Zich from retrieving prepared consumables stored within it.

The Warlord raised its weapon and attacked.

Just before the blade descended, Zich reached into the Graveyard, retrieved a Spirit Bomb, and closed his fingers around its cold surface. Shadow Blink carried him out of the attack’s path, and the Warlord’s weapon smashed into the ground he had occupied a fraction of a second earlier.

Boom!

Shattered stone sprayed across the trial space.

Zich reappeared behind the Warlord, twisted at the waist, and threw the Spirit Bomb toward the back of its legs.

BOOOM!

Black-blue soul energy erupted violently.

The Warlord charged out of the explosion, only for Zich to retrieve a second Spirit Bomb while retreating. He waited until the armored enemy committed to another forward attack, activated Shadow Blink, and crossed past its flank before dropping the bomb beside the foot bearing most of its weight.

The second explosion destroyed its balance.

Before the Warlord could rise fully, Zich retrieved a third Spirit Bomb, carried it through another Shadow Blink, and planted it beside a crack torn open in its armor. He released the sphere, moved beyond the immediate blast radius, and detonated it.

Booooooomm!

A Compressed soul energy swallowed the Level 29 Warlord.

When the light faded, broken pieces of armor struck the ground one after another before dissolving.

The trials on the Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Floors presented different obstacles, but Zich approached each one with the same disciplined efficiency.

On the Eleventh Floor, he used Iron and the Silverback Ape Grunt to compress a group of fast-moving enemies against a stone boundary, then threw a Spirit Bomb into the space from which they could no longer scatter.

On the Twelfth Floor, the four Undead Skeleton Soldiers separated to draw attacks away from Slimy while Zich crossed the battlefield with Shadow Blink, carried a Spirit Bomb past the enemy’s defensive line, and placed it against the structure sustaining the trial’s final barrier.

On the Thirteenth Floor, he preserved his remaining bombs until Iron’s Black Cleave exposed the enemy’s core. Zich then retrieved one, slipped through the opening created by the summons, and threw it directly into the damaged cavity before blinking away.

Outside, the recorder continued marking every change while the crowd followed the advancement at the top.

[First Place: Zich Grave, Eleventh Floor.]

[First Place: Zich Grave, Twelfth Floor.]

[First Place: Zich Grave, Thirteenth Floor.]

By the time Zich entered the Fourteenth Floor, the initial shouting had diminished. People still reacted whenever his number changed, but an uneasy concentration had replaced the earlier disbelief and at lost of words.

Inside, the Fourteenth Floor forced Zich to advance across broken platforms suspended above a dark abyss.

Iron secured the nearest platform, the Silverback Ape Grunt intercepted enemies attempting to knock the Undead Skeleton Soldiers from the narrow path, and Slimy stretched Silk Barriers between separated sections of stone, creating temporary routes whenever the original platforms collapsed.

Zich kept the final Spirit Bomb he intended to use within reach but did not release it immediately.

Only when the enemies converged upon the last stable platform did he retrieve it, carry it through Shadow Blink, and drop it among them before blinking onto the path Slimy had secured.

The explosion illuminated the abyss from above.

A moment later, the final obstruction vanished and the next teleportation gate formed.

The dark-gold lettering on the monument changed before the previous discussions could regain their volume.

[First Place: Zich Grave, Fourteenth Floor.]

Then the number moved again.

[First Place: Zich Grave, Fifteenth Floor.]

This time, the reaction could not be restrained.

Voices surged across the plaza as recorders confirmed the change and newly arriving observers pressed forward to see the name occupying first place. Fifteen floors represented more than a brief early lead. Even those who insisted that the later trials were vastly more dangerous could no longer dismiss the speed with which Zich had reached this threshold.

Meanwhile, inside the independent trial space no outsider could see, Zich stepped through the teleportation gate and calmly set foot on the Fifteenth Floor.

The Fifteenth Floor was a vast black space, there were no hordes of magical beasts and no maze of intersecting roads. There was only an enormous figure completely encased in heavy armor, standing silently before the portal leading to the next floor.

[Trial Objective: Defeat the Guardian.]

The moment the notification disappeared, the Guardian abruptly raised its head.

Crimson light shone through the gaps in its armor and locked onto Zich before its massive body charged forward with speed utterly inconsistent with its size.

Boom!

The ground shattered wherever it passed.

A command traveled through the summoning contract, and Iron was the first to meet it, raising its bone greatsword horizontally before colliding head-on with the Guardian.

The Silverback Ape Grunt cut in from the side, its thick arms slamming into the Guardian’s waist, while the four Undead Skeleton Soldiers separated and closed in from multiple angles.

The collision drove Iron backward, its bone greatsword carving a trench through the ground.

The Silverback Ape Grunt’s attack similarly failed to shake the Guardian’s thick armor. One Undead Skeleton Soldier struck behind its knee, another obstructed the path of its next step, and the remaining two harassed the gaps along its flanks, but none possessed enough strength to hold the enormous enemy in place.

"This one is tough." Zich Muttered.

Several Spirit Bombs were still remaining inside the Graveyard.

He quickly retrieve one, and the black-blue sphere appeared in his palm.