NOVEL NEXT Chapter 683
[All Conditions In Completing Trial 2 Met.]
[All Challengers Have Arrived.]
[Would You Like To Start The Third Trial?]
[YES] [NO]
This text immediately appears in my vision, but I seem to be in an empty black room.
However, it is shaped in a triangular fashion, with Ember and myself standing at its furthest side, facing the pointed end.
I press the [YES] option, and the room around me begins to mutate and change, just as it did before the first Trial.
The ceiling rises, and the walls expand, revealing three more triangular rooms, connecting them to form a circular outline of the actual outer walls of the black tower.
In its center, a shimmering silver pillar of light shoots up from the floor, no more than 500 meters wide, stretching high into the endless darkness above, where the ceiling seems to have no end.
Six dense True Cores reach my senses over the next few seconds, tens of kilometers away on separate sides of the massive room.
Elara, Beckman, and the Vermillion Family Demon are waiting at the back of their triangular sectors, with their soul bonded partners, all looking at the silver pillar in the center of the room.
More text, and the tower's ancient voice echoes in my inner ear.
[Trial 3: Soul]
[Calculating Necessary Difficulty...]
[Difficulty Calculated: Trial 3: Round 1 of 2 Shall Commence.]
[Round 1 of 2 Title: Negotiation.]
[Objective: Only One Bonded Pair Can Walk Through The Final Door, Be the Last One Standing.]
The silver pillar in the center of the room pulses, its barrier becoming more translucent, revealing a massive spiral staircase twisting upward high into the sky.
However, there is no entrance into the silver barrier, suggesting it is not part of this first round. It must be a result of the difficulty calculation...
My attention on the massive staircase is ripped away as a woman's angry voice echoes through the empty room toward me.
"What happened?! This is impossible! You're the brat Redgrave was meant to kill! I was waiting to have a good fight with that old man! Where's he hiding?"
My gaze shifts to her as her body erupts in white icy energy, growing to over 50 meters high, her serpent's sharp eyes fixed on me.
If this were before I entered the tower, I would be on full alert, immediately activating my greater form; but her True Core's strength is roughly equal to Redgrave's...
My own True Core is far more powerful than hers, and with the absurd amount of stats flowing through me, multiplying my strength even further, not even my Soul Sword reacts to her rage.
Her level jumps out at me at [Lv. 19,112], similar to the fire user, and her only skill is supreme-grade ice summoning.
By the way the ground is becoming covered in white ice as her greater form grows, I could have guessed as much.
Beckman, the man in nothing but a suit and glasses, riding on an armored horse, opens his system interface and replies to Elara's yells while glancing over at me.
"Impossible... Maybe Redgrave was late entering the tower. He must be—no—I cannot sense him in the outside world. This doesn't make sense...."
The man on his horse looks down at his status, trying to decipher this, while the 10-meter-tall Vermillion Family Demon watches us with an amused expression, and the black and purple dragon beside him gazes at the silver pillar, uninterested in human affairs.
Ember stares at the Demon, ready to fight, but recognizes that the Demon is not yet in battle mode.
Ember's using an advanced concealment technique, and my aura is hidden behind my purple barrier. Only the bare minimum of my True Core's aura leaks out, making us appear rather weak. Our true level of strength is completely unknown to all parties involved, but that doesn't stop Elara from yelling out loud and making assumptions.
"Redgrave must have entered late! The Tower either killed him for unrightful late entry, or he'll be spit out once the world is claimed. That must have been it—there's no way a weakling duo like them could have killed him!"
Beckman looks up from his status and makes a comment.
"They aren't much stronger than the day we scanned their city. It must be an error. We could kill both of them right now, with less than 0.1% odds of even getting a scratch on us. Redgrave wouldn't just disappear into thin air; the ancient text stated two parties could enter the same door and fight to the death inside if there was a lack of doors... something isn't adding up—"
Elara jumps forward, ice-stepping through the air with rising anger.
"What did you do? Our whole plan is ruined now! Hundreds of years of waiting, and some rogue child messes everything up! I'll kill you!"
Her icy serpent slithers along the floor behind her, creating jagged spears around its mouth, then releases them toward us as Elara raises her hand and summons a massive ball of white ice, tethered with extremely strong True Core threads.
She releases the ball of Icy Divine Energy, and it shoots toward us faster than the two are moving.
I glance at Ember, sigh, then point my blade at the attack that could obliterate an entire continent.
My Soul Sword flares up, sensing a challenge.
I activate my greater form as well, but keep it compacted, not growing very much in size, to only utilize its increased speed stats. This does send out a pulse of my actual power, and at the same time, my sword heats up with an intensity I've never felt before.
It has grown from [Lv. 0] to [Lv. 1] since the first Trial, and I haven't had the chance to use it yet.
The red blade morphs and bends as if alive, and I jump forward at the incoming ball of ice, swinging with everything I have, activating all of my buffs, along with my True Core's full strength.
The actual material of the red blade flickers on its edges, as though it's made of flames.
Beckman's eyes widen, as new information comes streaming into his consciousness when my blade fully activates and my greater form gives off more of my aura.
He yells out to Elara.
"Dodge! It's a trap- You cannot win this fight!"
When I swing it across my body, releasing a crescent of fire, it feels as though a part of my blade is unleashed in the attack.
A dense red crescent, as sharp as my sword and as strong as my True Core, slashes through the ball of ice with ease, sending its two halves outward toward Elara's advancing greater form.
At Beckman's word's she panics, and attempts to twist her body out of the way, but it's too late.
Her eyes widen as the living crescent of flames collides with her chest, tearing through the living Soul Armor that shields her body and effortlessly slicing through her flesh.
The Vermillion Family Demon's lips curl upward, and Beckman's eyes turn to horror as the fiery red slash shatters Elara's True Core, cleaving her body in half in a single motion.
The red fiery slash curves downward, slicing through the icy serpent's head and shattering its True Core, triggering mutual death.
As notifications ring in my ears, the red crescent of flames bursts into hundreds of tiny red droplets, curving back through the icy fog created in the explosion and rejoining my blade as though drawn by its own center of gravity, restoring its full form.
It feels like I could send out at least two or three of these high-powered strikes, and no matter where they hit, the mass of the Divine Soul Sword would always return.
As I land, the ice spears from the serpent whiz by me on all sides, and Ember doesn't even flinch as they explode against the wall behind us.
[Level Up] x1752
[Use Absorption]
Skill: Ice Summoning
Upgrade: Supreme
[YES][NO]
[Use Absorption]
MCP: 8,521,426,902,388,295
[YES][NO]
[Use Absorption]
Stat: Speed
Points: 10,240
[YES][NO]
My level surges to [Lv. 14,341] as I absorb all the MCP, stats, and skill upgrades I can from both the woman and the serpent in less than a second, continuing my forward momentum to stand over their corpses, letting all of the two True Core's power and abilities flood into mine.
The fragments of the black armor Elara was wearing all turn to yellow liquid as I press [Consume], and my sword digests it before the white mist clears.
I point my sword at the man on the horse, staring at me as he takes in the new numbers in front of his eyes.
"You said 0.1% chance I'd leave a scratch? I guess I'm pretty lucky, aren't I?"
The man doesn't get hot-headed like his two deceased partners, the fire and ice users. He simply pushes his glasses up and meets my gaze.
"This must mean you killed Redgrave too..."
I feel emotions of horror, anger, and even fear being heavily suppressed. The man can't believe the sight before his eyes, but acts as if it never even happened.
He pauses, thinking to himself, glancing down at his status, and then back up at me.
"You may have hidden your power and concealed that weapon of yours until now, but I assure you, this was not the correct decision to make. You have stripped us of all bargaining power; I am not your main concern. We are now at the whims of this Demon."
His gaze shifts to the far side of the room, and my eyes follow to the Demon, who has yet to move or speak. It watches us with an amused expression for a few seconds, then establishes a telepathic link with everyone in the room. Its gaze turns to Beckman first.
"I remember you, the only sensible human on this world... We made a pact when I first arrived, allowing you a small kingdom with 25% of the population if all humans conceded in the final trial."
Beckman stares forward.
"That is correct, and I intend to honor our pact. Will you?"
The Demon nods.
"Of course. I am of Noble Blood. A Demon of my standing always keeps its word. However, there is another challenger here; it seems your perfect foresight isn't what you claimed it to be."
The Demon and the remaining member of the big three both look my way.
Without a moment's hesitation, I yell back.
"Deal's off."
The Demon's grin grows even more, and it turns back to Beckman.
"I won't break my noble oath. I will only fight back if one of you makes the first move. If not, I shall wait for you to surrender this world and honor the pact."
The link is severed, and the Demon watches as I ready my blade, while the man frantically sifts through data on his status.
He shouts at me.
"Be reasonable. Let us talk this out. I can give you half of the resources at central, you have proven yourself strong enough to take the place of the other council members. We can rule what is left of humans together."
I narrow my gaze on him, raising my blade as it begins to flicker red again, yelling back.
"You send me an offer now? After both of your partners tried to kill me? After offering my kingdom of people to the Demons, and so many more lands all over the world; just so you can keep your power?"
Beckman continues scrolling through his status, and responds.
"You do not understand. You haven't seen what this Demon is capable of."
I shake my head.
"I don't care what he's capable of. Is this what hundreds of years at the pinnacle of our world's power turns a human into, or have you always been this way? I would die before letting 75% of the human race fall to a Demon intent on using us as slaves. Don't try to offer me any part of your deal. I haven't given up hope like you. Even if the chance is low, it's worth trying."
My inspect and appraisal skills scan his status, revealing a far higher level than both Elara and Redgrave, plus unique skills and buffs I've never seen before...
This only makes me more intrigued as he responds.
"Then I must kill you. My odds of survival are far higher challenging you than they are breaking the pact I made with this Demon."