Chapter 27: First trial

Atherion looked toward the people still kneeling before him and waved one hand casually.

"Stand up, you won’t regret following me."

The remaining professionals quickly rose, though nobody looked particularly relaxed after watching a man lose his head for refusing the same offer.

Atherion turned toward the enormous lava sea stretching beyond the platform.

"Well, the first trial is already in front of us."

He pointed toward the red surface.

"The Sea of Eisodos, it should also be the easiest trial inside this legacy."

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, the lava began bubbling violently.

Something enormous moved beneath the surface before several explosions of molten rock erupted across the sea. Massive stone pillars rose one after another until hundreds of them formed an uneven path toward the distant platform on the opposite side.

A notification appeared above everyone.

[First Trial: Sea of Eisodos.]

[10:00 remaining.]

[Reach the opposite shore before the trial ends.]

Leon stared toward the pillars.

"That’s it?"

Several others seemed to have the same thought.

The pillars were separated by only a few metres and, for professionals capable of entering wilderness dungeons, jumping between them hardly qualified as a trial.

Then the stone behind them cracked.

Everyone turned as the rear portion of the platform suddenly collapsed into the lava, and the fractures continued spreading toward them without stopping.

Another announcement appeared.

[Safe zone is shrinking.]

The relaxed atmosphere vanished immediately.

Several people hurriedly looked toward Atherion, while members of his own team exchanged glances as though they had already expected something similar.

Atherion smiled. "Don’t worry it’s still quite simple."

His gaze moved toward the four surviving members of the team whose leader he had killed.

"Why don’t you lead us?"

Cold sweat appeared across several faces.

None of them believed the trial was as harmless as Atherion claimed anymore, but refusing him after what had just happened was hardly a better choice.

Atherion looked directly toward one of the younger men.

"Won’t you try?"

The boy swallowed before forcing a smile.

"Of course, young Master I’ll lead."

Leon watched him walk toward the edge and leaned slightly toward Karl.

"Is he foolish?"

Karl shook his head.

"He doesn’t have another choice, better to take the chance than wait here for certain death."

The boy gathered strength into his legs and jumped.

He landed safely upon the first pillar and nothing happened.

His shoulders relaxed slightly before he jumped again, then crossed another two pillars without encountering anything.

The confidence slowly returned to his face.

He turned toward everyone waiting behind him.

"It’s safe, Young Master! There’s nothing—"

The lava beside him exploded and a gigantic fish covered in red scales shot from beneath the surface and closed its jaws around the boy before anyone could react.

He disappeared inside its mouth.

The creature fell back into the lava with another violent splash, and within seconds the disturbed surface settled as though neither of them had ever existed.

Atherion clicked his tongue.

"What terrible luck."

He glanced toward the same team again.

"Why doesn’t someone else try?"

This time his eyes settled upon a young woman and her face immediately became pale.

"No..."

Atherion simply waited.

The girl’s lips trembled before her legs gave out beneath her, and a yellow puddle slowly spread across the stone as she collapsed.

She crawled toward Atherion and grabbed at the edge of his armour.

"Please, Young Master. I’ll do anything. Please don’t make me—"

Atherion kicked her across the face and several teeth scattered across the stone as she fell backwards and clutched her bleeding mouth.

"Tch, stay away from me you filthy bitch."

He looked down at her without any change in expression.

"Either do what I told you or there is no reason for you to remain here."

Leon clicked his tongue.

"What a monster."

He shifted forward slightly, but Karl caught his arm before he could move any farther.

"Don’t."

Leon looked toward him as Karl kept his voice low.

"We know almost nothing about this place, and the strongest group here belongs to him. Saving someone you don’t know sounds noble until you get everyone beside you killed for it."

Leon opened his mouth before looking toward the Fitzalan team.

After several seconds, he released a breath and stopped moving.

"Yeah, I know."

The girl slowly stood again and blood continued leaking between the fingers covering her mouth, but the fear inside her eyes had changed into something far more desperate.

She looked toward the lava and then toward Atherion.

Suddenly, she rushed at him.

The staff-wielding member of Atherion’s team raised his weapon and several stone spikes erupted beneath her feet, piercing straight through her body before she could cross half the distance.

The man lowered his staff while the corpse remained suspended above the stone.

"Stop playing around, Atherion we don’t have much time."

The staff user turned toward the remaining professionals and pointed toward the lava.

"There are two obvious dangers so far. The safe ground behind us keeps collapsing, while anything that disturbs the lava can attract the creatures beneath it."

He glanced toward the remaining time.

"We’ll lead, follow properly and don’t fall behind."

The Fitzalan team moved first, jumping onto the stone pillars without hesitation, while everyone else began following with considerably more care than the first boy had shown.

Karl stepped onto the first pillar and glanced toward the lava below.

Several dark shapes were already moving beneath the red surface.

The first attack came only seconds later.

Another red-scaled fish erupted beside the group, but Atherion drew his sword and cut once before it could reach anyone.

The creature split through the middle and fell back into the lava.

Karl’s eyes briefly moved toward its information.

Level 99.

Elite.

The next several creatures were nearly identical.

By the time they had crossed a dozen pillars, Karl had already understood one important restriction of the trial.

First Transition limit.

Almost every ordinary creature was Level 99 and Elite-ranked, while the larger shapes moving deeper beneath the lava occasionally reached miniboss strength.

For Karl’s group, the Levels themselves were manageable.

The number of enemies was becoming the problem.

More fish began erupting as the groups moved farther across the sea, forcing everyone to fight while balancing upon increasingly narrow pillars.

Atherion barely slowed down, his sword moved only whenever something entered his path, yet almost every creature struck by it died immediately.

Karl watched him for a few moments.

SSS-rank talent, most likely.

Atherion was clearly holding back, and the other four Fitzalan members were not struggling much either.

The same could not be said for everyone else.

The team that had already lost its leader and two members now consisted of only two terrified professionals, both carrying several wounds before they even reached the halfway point.

The final team was doing better, but their formation had already become much tighter as the attacks increased.

Then slowly new creatures appeared a long armed monkey like demons and few other things.

Leon blocked one with his axe.

"What the hell happened to the fish?"

"Apparently they got friends," Mira replied.

The stone platform they had started upon had already disappeared completely behind them.

Ahead, the situation was becoming worse.

Dozens of monsters had climbed onto the next section of pillars, filling the path with red fish, black-furred demons and several much larger creatures waiting between them.

The staff user from the Fitzalan team stopped.

He raised his weapon and stone spikes erupted across three pillars ahead and tore through the creatures crowding them, throwing several others back into the lava.

He looked over his shoulder.

"Full burst from here."

Another section of the path was already filling with enemies.

"Fight and run, anyone left behind is no longer our responsibility."

Mira rolled one dagger between her fingers.

"You two slowpokes better keep up."

Leon grinned as Qi spread across both of his legs.

"You should worry about yourself."

Karl smiled and raised one hand.

Death Energy gathered beside him before a massive undead horse emerged from his summon space.

Black armour covered most of its body while dark flames flickered around its hooves, the remnants of a boss Karl had killed inside a Level 99 Insane dungeon several days earlier.

He had kept it specifically as a mount, still couldn’t find a decent flying one.

Several people looked toward the horse in surprise, including two members of Atherion’s team.

Karl mounted without explaining.

"Let’s go."

Mira disappeared first as shadow Domain spread beneath her before she began moving through every available shadow ahead, vanishing from one pillar and appearing upon another.

Leon launched himself forward at almost the same moment.

Qi exploded beneath his feet as he jumped across two pillars and brought his axe down upon the first monster blocking his path.

Karl followed directly behind them.

The undead horse accelerated before leaping across the first gap, its hooves striking the stone only long enough to launch toward the next pillar.

A red fish erupted from the side but Karl raised the Death Stick.

Hellfire.

Dark flames struck the creature across the head and sent it falling back into the lava while the horse continued forward without slowing.

The Fitzalan team moved almost as quickly.

Atherion remained at the front while his teammates cleared whatever appeared beside him, their formation barely changing even when several larger creatures attacked together.

The remaining groups gradually fell behind.

Karl stopped checking them.

For the next several minutes, there was barely enough time between attacks to do anything except move.

Mira continued jumping through shadows while Leon forced his way across the pillars with raw speed, and Karl’s undead mount simply crushed smaller enemies whenever there was no room to avoid them.

The far platform finally came within reach.

Mira arrived first from Karl’s group, appearing from Atherion’s shadow only seconds after the Fitzalan team reached safety.

Leon landed shortly afterward, Karl’s horse cleared the final gap and landed beside them.

Leon looked toward Mira.

"You cheated."

"Keep telling yourself that."

Karl turned toward the path behind them.

The two survivors from the broken team reached the platform next, both nearly collapsing once their feet touched solid ground.

The final team arrived shortly afterward with only four members remaining.

Atherion looked across them and scoffed.

"Weaklings."

The timer reached zero and every stone pillar behind them collapsed simultaneously, disappearing into the lava as the entire Sea of Eisodos became quiet again.

Atherion had barely turned around when space above the platform distorted.

Pop.

The familiar brown furball appeared.

It floated happily above them before spreading its tiny arms.

"Congratulations, pioneers!"

Its eyes moved across the survivors.

"Oh?"

The creature looked genuinely surprised.

"Quite a few of you crossed. Tch, that makes things much more exciting."

Everyone remained silent while it spun once in the air.

"Well then, your next—"

"Wait!"

One of the four surviving members from the final team stepped forward.

The furball stopped and the man pointed toward Atherion.

"You control this place, don’t you? Then save us! They’re going against the rules and using their strength to oppress everyone else."

Atherion’s expression became colder.

The man hurriedly continued.

"Don’t you want the competition for the legacy to be fair? There won’t be any entertainment if one family controls everything!"

The furball stared at him and then it sighed.

"You are quite right."

Hope immediately appeared across the man’s face.

"I do want entertainment."

The furball extended one tiny hand and the man suddenly froze.

His feet slowly lifted from the ground as though something invisible had wrapped around his entire body.

The creature’s smile disappeared.

"But I hate being interrupted."

Its fingers closed slightly.

"And I hate being called a dungeon monster even more."

Pop.

The man’s body burst apart and blood splashed across the platform.

Everyone remained silent while the furball rubbed its tiny hands together and returned to its cheerful expression.

"So..."

It looked around happily.

"Where were we?"

The furball raised one finger.

"Ah, yes. Your next trial will be..."