Chapter 151: The Second Trial

I looked around after the combination of spells we both casted. "Twenty three people. I see. Well, we managed to knock out like around two hundred or something? It's still a job well done."

"But it seems that these people remaining aren't ordinary. Looked at their feet." Zeta then pointed at one of them. "There's no frozen marks or a sign of their feet being cold. They completely blocked both of our spells."

"Don't dwell on it. We're here to get the Flower of Zaratria, not go in a fight with someone."

"Yeah... I know."

I took a look again at the whole arena and it seems that everyone is cleaning up their share of the hellhounds attacking them. "It seems that the first stage is finished."

Teral announced the results, "Good job everyone! It seems that our first trial of the day is now completed. I will now announce the top three for this round! Zeta garnering a points of 638 confirmed knockouts and kills on the hellhounds! What an amazing score! Mizuki 123 points! Finally, Gera with 68 points! And for the people who will be disqualifie- oh, wait! It seems that some of the higher ups has something to say." An unknown person whispered something into Teral's ears. "Ah! I see. Uhh, ladies and gentlemen, it seems that the rule that we have to disqualify someone if they don't get at least ten points will be waved for this match. It seems that Mr. Zeta here has eliminated most of the hellhounds so that's one of the reasons that most of our contenders didn't have the opportunity to eliminate anything. The disqualification for Zieglind with 0 points, Juiru with 7 points, Niel with 3 points and finally, Pors with 9 points will hereby be waived and will be allowed to move on to the next trial.

"Zero points… Me?" I was confused.

"Hmm…" Zeta then realized something. "Maybe because you just froze their feet and I'm the one that dealt the killing blow."

"Well that's an explanation."

Teral finally announced the next trial. "Let's get back to the action everybody!" Everytime he speaks, the crowd roars on his gigantic charisma. "Alright! It seems that everyone is having fun! Then the second trial continues!" Teral snapped his fingers and the entirety of the arena changed.

"The hell!? What's this!?" I couldn't help but be confused.

"This is considered the most exciting part of the trial isn't that right dear spectators!" The crowd shouted again in excitement. They stomped their feet and clapped their hands. "HAHAHA! The crowd's incredibly happy aren't they!? Then let's move along! The second trial commences… ALL! OUT! WAR!"

Two giant portals appeared from the sky and dropped countless monsters.

The crowd roared in excitement. I couldn't helped but be overwhelmed in this situation.

"Now!" Teral pointed up in the sky. "Look at your objectives! Your winning conditions are listed there." A blue system-like message appeared in the sky. "Your faction will need to achieve at least one of these three winning conditions. One, kill all monsters and render the contenders on that faction unable to fight. No killing! Two, capture the enemy base at the very peak of their castle. For capturing the enemy base, you must defeat the commander and wear the crown inside the castle. The commander will have a crown on the top their head and the crown will be resting on the very top sitting on the throne. And finally, number three, destroy the entire castle! But be careful, it's reinforced with protection magic. So good luck!"

We suddenly got teleported at the battlefield and I noticed that we have been split in half. "Hey, Zeta!" I shouted as if to look for him."

"Here!" He replied.

"Good. We're in the same team." I looked around and saw Mizuki here too. That Japanese guy.

The wide variety of monsters that on our side began to stomp the ground and shout. Several enchanters on the back are using music to enhance our physical abilities. Archers in the back readying their bow and arrows and the vanguards are ready to charge.

Silence filled the entire battlefield for one second… Then… The monsters shouted and rushed in at the enemy.

The mages behind us began to let out barrages of fireballs and lightning at the enemy. The supports in front of them began to restrict the movement of the enemy.

But everything our army did the opposing faction did the same. It seems that this battle is scripted and everything will be up to the contenders. We were split twelve to eleven. So the splitting is unbalanced but we'll work on it even though we're only eleven.

"Minimize Magic!" Zeta casted a debuff on himself. "Corrupting Spears!" Zeta's giant gate opened in the sky and hundreds of spears came flying down. But suddenly, it was blocked by a barrier. We thought it was a barrier made by the contenders from the other faction but it seems not.

Teral announced something, "Oh my! It seems that the royal guards are getting involved! Alright! We have to pause the trial for a bit!" Teral snapped his fingers and all the monsters suddenly stopped as if they're stuck in time.

Two royal guards approached Zeta. One of them spoke. "Dangerous attacks that are meant to kill are forbidden and we, the royal guards have deemed your skill Corrupting Spears to be dangerous. There seems to be poison in here too. You are now disqu-" the royal guard was suddenly cut off.

"What?" Zeta was confused. "That's just a paralyzing attack. There's nothing dangerous at that skill at all."

"Hmm…" One of the royal guard picked up the spear that Zeta summoned.

"You can test it out on one of the monsters here."

"No. We can't interfere in the trials other than protecting everyone." The royal guard stabbed his own arm using the spear that Zeta summoned. "Hmm…" He let go of the spear and dropped it on the ground. "It seems that it is a paralysis spell. I can't move my arm. The sharp side of the spear itself was also dull so I had to use a bit of my strength to pierce through my own skin. Fine. This skill is allowed." He signaled an okay sign at Teral.

Teral noticed it. "It seems that everything is in order! Alright! We will continue the fight!" Teral snapped his fingers again and all the monster moved like nothing happened. What is that power… It's so strong and mysterious.

But enough of that, I need to focus on the fight.

I was just sitting there at the back with the mages trying to observe the fight. Every other contestant was there in the middle showing off their explosive skills. But I'm not interested in that. I'm interested in Hidetaka Mizuki.

He charges in the front and I couldn't help but be amazed. "Holy crap."

He's not showing it but I can barely see it. While he's running, thousands of slashes are forming around his body in quick succession. Everything that gets near him gets sliced in half. Goblins, hellhounds, lizardmen, orcs, gnoll, imps and basically any monster in that huge army is getting one shotted by the barrier he put up on himself.

I didn't even notice it but he's in front of the gate's castle now. A straight line from the front of the enemy's army to the very end is empty. Every monster was scared of him. No one dared get near him.

He raised his katana in an overhead stance and swung it at the castle's gate. Even though all I could see was one slash, the door was torn into several pieces. He's definitely faster than me.

Suddenly, a system message popped up in front of me.

[Storm the Gates! Gains increased damage against monsters. This buffed is gained from the event, Land of Judgment.]

The monsters on our side of the field has now red auras on their eyes as if symbolizing that every one of us have a buff.

Mizuki rushed in the castle but moments later, he got blown away. A giant arm came out of the castle and crushed the walls. It then completely broke it revealing its true nature. A gigantic cyclops carrying a giant metal ball chained to both of its hands. It broke the chains of the gigantic wrecking ball on one of its hands and threw it like a shot put into our army.

"Barrier!" I casted. But the wrecking ball simply broke my barrier and crushed the hundreds of monsters under it. It seems that this won't be easy.

It put up its shoulder as a guard and began to run at our castle gates. It killed every monster by stomping on it or being rammed by the shoulder of the gigantic cyclops.

With its overwhelming power, it broke the formation of our army and destroyed our castle gates. A beam of red light appeared from our own castle blasting the cyclops back to the enemy's castle. A gigantic hand crushed the walls of our castle and broke it down completely revealing its true form.

I couldn't help but smile. "Well would you look at that, we also have a cyclops on our side."