Sensing the rising temperature, the dwarves quickly summoned their level 145 familiars and used skills to buff each other.
Activating [Lightning Movement], lightning began crackling around Sora, sparks dancing around his body.
Feeling the intense pain of sustaining his Lava State and knowing he couldn’t fight this way for long, Sora immediately threw his hammer at a level 137 dwarf who was mounting a giant black panther while casting an unknown skill that made both of them glow.
’Are they about to fuse?’ Sora wondered.
Before the skill could take effect, the hammer struck the distracted dwarf in the face, crushing his skull completely and continuing its flight.
[You have eliminated a Fox: +1,000 points (2 lives left)]
The remaining dwarves froze in shock as the human warrior’s hammer struck with precision—only to see him appear behind their fallen ally, catch the hammer mid-flight, and throw it again.
The second dwarf tried to shield himself with his familiar, but the hammer tore through both master and beast, killing them instantly.
[You have eliminated a Fox : +1,000 points (2 lives left)]
Nearby, Netsu landed in front of the third dwarf and blasted him with a torrent of fire, incinerating him in moments.
[You have eliminated a fox : +1,000 points (2 lives left)]
Catching his hammer once more, Sora turned to face the final enemy. The Spirit, a player from one of the nine invading races, stood apart from the others. He had encountered a few Spirits on the 4th and 8th floors, but he wasn’t yet familiar with their unique powers.
The Spirit had a ghostly form that glowed, resembling a human but lacking limits to their body.
Deciding to end the fight quickly, Sora stopped observing his opponent and launched an attack, appearing in front of the Spirit as Netsu cut off its retreat. He swung his hammer directly at its face.
Just as the hammer was about to connect, Sora felt nothing—it was as if he’d swung through empty air. The Spirit, seemingly surprised by the human’s brutality, vanished instantly as the weapon passed harmlessly through its body.
Not expecting this turn of events, Sora checked his event map and saw a yellow dot darting away, slipping through the dome before disappearing entirely out of range.
Choosing to ignore the fleeing Spirit, Sora scanned the area for loot the dwarves might have dropped but found nothing.
Removing the dome, he activated [Mana Recycle], one of his newer class skills. Initially, it allowed him to recover a portion of the mana used in matter-creating spells like [Earth Dome]. Having evolved the skill, he now regained 80% of the [Condensed] mana used for matter creation and 30% of the overall mana spent.
This saved him considerable time, as [Condense] was a skill he still struggled to evolve fully. When condensing mana within the [Time Space], he would drain the space’s mana reserves faster than Kara could replenish them by absorbing mana from the outside world. As a result, the years he had spent training with her did not allow him to raise his proficiency in all skills.
He had learned from Kara that reaching the perfect level for a skill wasn’t truly the end—"perfect" skills still had room for growth. Though Sora hadn’t pushed any of his skills to their absolute peak, he had noticed the growth of [Amplify] and [Speed Surge] slowing down, hinting at a potential limit.
Sensing his soul weapon’s presence elsewhere, Sora turned to see it in the other Dark Elf’s hand.
The Dark Elf smirked. "You’re quite sturdy... Surviving Eldor’s somersault like that and even beating him up. I thought it was luck when you defeated my familiar in the last trial, but it seems there’s more to you."
Sora, unaccustomed to letting opponents talk during a fight, tried to strike the Dark Elf as soon as he began speaking—but was shocked to find he couldn’t move. Activating [Lightning Movement] in an attempt to break free, he received an unexpected notification:
[Your movement skill quality is too low to counter your current restriction]
Sora desperately activated every cleanse and skill he had, but nothing could release him from his enemy’s hold. A strange sensation spread through his chest.’He’s trying to destroy my heart!!’ He realized, discovering the battle inside his body. Feeling his control over his body slowly coming back, Sora pushed his Lava form to the limit.
His opponent frowned, and said, "A body forging supreme skill, it seems. Show me if you can resist this then."
As he sensed a force invading his head, Sora lost consciousness.
[You have died to a Chicken: -1,000 points (2 lives left)]
Reading the notification, Sora felt a wave of disbelief. Moments ago, he’d been confident, enjoying the challenges of the trial—only to be ambushed by two random players with insane powers. ’Combining strong power with their group buff, they are invincible.’ He thought, frustrated.
’You really can’t judge a book by its cover... Imprisoning those four players and surviving might have been luck. I thought I’d be fine as long as I avoided the level 150 elites, but even level 135+ players can be a threat if their skills are strong enough. Was that a supreme skill? I could feel him crushing trying to crush my lungs, heart. He failed doing that, but managed to cut off the blood flow to my brain and crush it just after...’
Reappearing on another part of the island, Sora fumed, hating himself for failing every time a stronger opponent showed up. ’It keeps happening! I wanted to move around alone, fight, and improve during the trial. But ever since I died to that witch, I hate the feeling of being killed and trampled on. Should I just avoid people, train for ten years, and come back invincible to escape this feeling forever?’
He shook his head, torn between choices.
Looking around, he found himself alone in a different area of the island. Deciding to stay on the ground this time to avoid detection from the air, he sprinted toward a rugged part of the landscape where ambushes would be harder to pull off. With a towering, half-buried stone hand rising a few hundred meters behind him, he wanted to summon Netsu again, his weapon in hand.
Just as he looked up, five figures zoomed past above him at lightning speed.
Noticing their red auras, Sora’s heart nearly stopped. ’Don’t tell me...’
The figures slowed, hovering mid-air as they turned in his direction, clearly intending to "greet" him.
Sora didn’t wait. He bolted in the opposite direction, his heart pounding as he sensed the overwhelming strength of the group behind him.
’I jinxed myself! No way am I getting spawn-killed!’ he cursed inwardly, his fear rising as he pushed himself to his absolute limit, fleeing with every ounce of speed he could muster while regretting his choice to go solo.
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