Chapter 89 - Madness Of Trials: Stone Warrior Statues Cleared!

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Paragraph Comment Authors Note by God_Is_With_Me.

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“Leave it to me,” Vincent said as he appeared from behind her, and walked towards the army of 250 Gold statues with a ball of fire in each hand

“Burn.” He said, commanding the balls of fire to flow into a dense ocean of fire which swept towards the gold statues.

In an instant, the icy floor melts away, and the cold air heats up. The fire traveled across the field, enveloping everything it met like a tsunami.

Amelia watched this scene with a solemn face, but within her was a feeling of frustration.

Vincent noticed this sign, however, did not comment on it.

“I thought you weren't going to help.” She said, her frustration causing a bit of anger to leak into her words.

Vincent replied with a bright smile, “When did I say so?”

For a moment, His casual smile dazzles Amelia.

“W-with this, 10 minutes should be deducted.” She spluttered, changing the subject.

“I guess,” he replied as he glanced at the timer in the sky.

[16:45] It read.

Again, new statues appeared. They were platinum-colored statues and were 50 in number.

Immediately when they appeared, they locked onto Vincent's and Amelia's position and dashed towards them.

In a flash, Vincent and Amelia were surrounded with no escape. The statues then went in for the kill. However,

“[Thudra Possession: First Strike]”

From the lightning core within him, A bolt of lightning-sparked out and enveloped his body, filling him with familiar strength, speed, and power.

This was one of the benefits of having an elemental core. It allows for the user to simulate the conditions for specific skills in a situation where such conditions cannot be met.

For example, [Thundra Possession]. This is a skill that relies on the power of natural lightning generated from clouds/the earth. This is the condition that must be met and when not, [Thundra Possession] becomes unusable.

But, With the use of an elemental core tailored to that of the lightning element. It negates such necessity, and the skill can be used. Albeit, in a form that is weaker.

At a speed that made his figure blur, Vincent attacked.

Whoosh

The 50 statues were not able to react before they were cut into various pieces and were soon incapacitated.

With this, another 10 minutes deducts from the time.[5:00]

“Mmh.”

[You're too strong for this trial.]

'I guess, now that I have the combined strength of 4 giants, even the SSS-Rank beast I fought during the stampede would be easily dealt with.'

'The next set should be coming in now.'

As expected, Another set of statue warriors appeared.

They were black coloured statues and were 5 in number.

One held a sword, A silver blade mounted upon a shiny black grip and a gold ornament pommel.

One held an exquisite recurve bow, made out of fine shined white metal and a quiver of arrows at the back.

One held a pair of daggers, A curved light blue jagged blade mounted upon a carefully crafted silver quillion and a light blue handle.

One held a large war hammer, Two crystal blue hammerheads almost mimicking the shine of diamond are put in place together by a long, elegant, yet strong golden handle.

Furthermore, one held a long staff. It was a silver rod connected to two facing gold curved blades that held a colorless orb in between.

‘‘Weapons? The previous waves did not have that… However, they still look weak.’’ He mumbled.

[Quest Generated]

[Quest name: Defeat the Black statues without the use of any skill.

Description: The black statue set can be seen as the last set of warriors before this trial ends. Defeat them without the use of any skill or innate ability.

Reward: 1000 Akashic Points, Proceed to the next trial

Failure: Proceed to the next set, Possibility of Amelia Maeth suffering from a grave injury, Proceed to the next trial;]

‘Possible grave injury.’ He drawled upon the word as he read through the quest on the floating blue platform, ‘Will she die?’ He proceeded to ask.

[Grave injury without medical attention will lead to death.]

‘Sigh, that means I have to do this quest then because of the first quest.’

[Maybe]

‘Sigh.’ Vincent sighed again, his mind going to a past event.

[Flashback]

“Argh.”

“I feel heavy and everywhere is dark.”

“What happened?” Vincent asked himself, slowly recovering from the dizzy feeling that he felt.

First, his vision came back, then his balance.

He found himself right before the mural of Maeth and asked himself again, “Where am I?”

[Quest Generated.]

[Quest name: Survive the Inheritance Trial of the Maeth Clan with Amelia alive.

Description: You have found yourself in the inheritance trial of the great Maeth Clan, Successfully clear and survive the trials with Amelia Maeth still alive. Although the rewards of this trial are best suited to a Maeth, there could be something useful for a Cadmean and you within its glory.

Rewards: [Alchemy], [Elvin Iscisyelda True Root], Connection to the Maeth Clan, Favorability with Amelia Maeth Increased

Failure: Possible permanent loss of [Alchemy], Loss of [Elvin Iscisyelda], Death of Amelia Maeth, Loss of Maeth Clan connections.]

///// [FLashback End] /////

Vincent remembered the stressful quest and couldn’t help but feel exasperated, ‘It was a little difficult to act clueless to Amelia after that.’

‘Anyway, I accept the task’ he said to the system.

[Quest Accepted]

All of a sudden, Vincent draws out Firestorm and blocks a strike from the sword-wielding statue.

Clang!.

Sparks could be seen from this clash and the next and the next and the next.

Vincent and the sword-wielding statue engaged in a swordsmanship match, with the win leaning towards Vincent.

‘I was never this proficient with a sword like this before.’ He thought as he thrust the blade of his sword into a shoulder opening of the statue.

This forced it to leap backward to evade or suffer decapitation. However, The next moment it pounced right back with a sideways strike.

‘The fire and lightning planar giant does not have such experience with the sword.’

Vincent used his blade to swat away the statue's sword, leaving it defenseless.

‘This must be the experience of the Ice Giant.’ He realized.

However, His musing is interrupted when he feels his instincts warn him of danger approaching him, specifically towards his head.

Vincent decides to lean forward and headbutt the statue in front of him whilst also narrowly avoiding danger in the form of a metal flail that flew past his head.

His headbutt caused the first statue to be momentarily stunned, giving Vincent another opportunity which he could not take as his danger sense warned him of another attack but this time from behind.

He immediately spun his sword behind him.

Clang

Clang

'Almost forgot about the support.’ Vincent thought, glancing at the dragon dagger and wooden arrow on the floor.'

Rumble.

All of a sudden, the ground shot up from beneath him.

‘Shit! I have to jump.’

Vincent leaped into the sky to evade whatever caused that, but was met in the sky again by the metal flail.

He instinctively twisted his body unnaturally and swerved past the spiked ball of doom.

After that, he clasped onto the chain and swung the flail towards the statue with a sword.

However, out of the blue the ground caved in and the statue with a Warhammer jumped out in front of the flail and body blocked it. The spiked flail hit the statue and sent it and the one behind flying into the wall on the far end.

‘Sword, Bow, Dagger, War Hammer and Staff.’ He mused

‘Attacker, Ranged, Tank and…’

“Mage.”

A change in the presence of ether interrupted his train of thoughts, and without warning, it materialized beneath him in the form of a scribe/circle. When done, Vincent could feel a great burden placed upon him.

“Aargh!, I can't move,” He said, as he looked at the scribe.

When he looked up, the statues were before him, with the sword statue in front.

The sword statue rose his sword into the air and impassively stared at Vincent, for some reason this look irked him.

“Don't get cocky.” Vincent snarled, channeling his ether to burst out.

'[Thundra Possession: 3r~]”

Suddenly, the statues and the scribe dissipated into dust.

“Eh.”

Vincent realized something and looked up to the time.

"0:00:00."

"Oh!"

[Quest Failed.]

'…'

'System.'

[… Yes]

‘This was meant to teach me something, wasn’t it?.’

[Yes.]

Probably along the lines of me relying on my skills too much, Right?

[… Yes]

'… Next time, Just tell me.' He conveyed tiredly.

[… Understood.]

'Good'

Vincent unhurriedly got up from the ground, dusted off his shorts, and then approached Amelia who had recovered most of her stamina.

“Yo” He greeted but was met with the shocked face of Amelia

“What?” Vincent asked.

“I…”

Boom

Before she could speak, A wide ray of light fell before them and then dissipated to leave a gold door.

“We should be going.” Amelia suddenly said as she walked past him and headed through the door.

Vincent stared at her and how suspicious she acted, but then followed after, 'I wonder what she wanted to say.'

He did not know that he was too fast for her to perceive properly. A testament to his inability to properly gauge his strength, however, that may change soon.

///// Broscour Hills, Nighttime/////

The moon shone upon the side of the Broscour tallest hill, Illuminating a path before a determined hiker scaling this unnaturally steep hill

"To breathe in (cough) extremely thin air (Cough) is a completely different experience." Ama muttered to herself in between coughs.

She reached into her rucksack and took out a stamina potion which she proceeded to drink.

As she did, A refreshing feeling flowed through her body eliminating the light headedness and fatigue she felt..

Ama couldn't help but sigh in relief.

"I can feel my heart almost pounding out of my chest, Just like when I'm in my berserk state."

"At least, I don't feel too cold. I can thank the [Sun Augment] passive skill for that"

"By now most normal Migas would have felt the embrace of death, Some would have given up a few thousand feets back."

"However, I am not a normal Migas now, Am I."

Then she stopped hiking

"Nonetheless, even I have a limit." She said as she looked forward to the peak that's was ever so close.

"At least, now I know how far I can go without using my skills but this is enough."

Ama then brought out her hand and snaps her finger

Whoosh.

Upon doing so, The thin air gathered around her to form a pocket space of thicker air after a minute

With her breathing problem resolved, Amelia continued her hike through the night into the next day.

/////4 Hours Later////

"Arghh!"

Amelia grunted as she took her final step onto the summit.

"Huff"

"Huff"

"Huff"

"Huff"

She had done it. She reached the peak of Broscour, unknowingly being the first woman to do so.

"Yes!"

Ama could feel her body cry in pain for rest,Yet she did not give in because climbing the Broscour Hill was not her goal.

But what was on it?

And there it was.

"The Elvin Iscisyelda"

Elvin Iscisyelda, A tree whose bark was twisted upon itself upwards till it was 50 cm into the sky, there it spread out into multiple branches each carrying its set of illuminescent ghostly blue leaves.

But only on a single branch was what Ama needed was found, the fruit capable of increasing the bloodline of the Cadmean clan

"Finally." she said excitedly.

Ama sauntered carefully to it, she cut off the dark blue fruit with care and secured it within her bag.

"Finally it is done!" She rejoiced

No it wasn't.

Suddenly, Amelia was hit to the side unable to react she was thrown through the air and over the mountain peak,

"Ahhhhh!"