Chapter 413
The massive door—its sense of weight was unparalleled by any other room's door. Its sturdy construction seemed to proclaim that it would permit no one to enter or leave.
Both the door and its frame were made of metal, and the security detail was so thick that guards were permanently stationed there.
That door was opened by a key permitted only to the archbishop.
"I wish you good fortune.""Thank you."
The key to open that door wasn't an ordinary key, but a magical one—a magic tool key specifically for this door.
That was because this was an extremely important place, not to be entered lightly.
As that door opened, the magical lighting devices installed inside simultaneously illuminated the dark path, lighting the way at my feet.
Without hesitation, I stepped inside. The door closed slowly but immediately behind me.
"...Well then, let's go."
My trial, now solitary, had just begun. If its contents matched my memory, it wouldn't be that difficult a trial.
While there were discrepancies in realism compared to my memory, the structure itself wasn't that different.First, descend a straight spiral staircase.
The staircase wasn't that deep.
After descending about three floors, I could see a stone gate ahead, illuminated by the lights, with a pedestal holding a crystal in front of it.
As I stepped onto that level, the pedestal glowed.
*'Challenger of the trial, touch this gemstone.'*
The voice coming from nowhere followed the exact flow I remembered.
I walked forward without hesitation, approached the pedestal, and gently touched the crystal.
*'Henceforth, your power shall be sealed. Thereby, the gate of this trial shall open.'*
The moment I touched it, a yellowish-green band of light shot through my body. The instant it enveloped me and flashed, an overwhelming sense of weakness assaulted my body.
This was a status reduction process. When undertaking this trial, one's stats are uniformly reduced to Class 3 level.
If one's level hasn't reached Class 4, they are rejected and forcibly teleported outside.If deemed qualified, this status reduction is applied.
*'The sealing of power is complete. Next, the sealing of skills. Choose three skills you will bring into this trial.'*
The highest difficulty trial restricts usable skills to three, in addition to the stat reduction to Class 3.
This restriction applied to both active and passive skills.All skills except the chosen three are sealed. Passive skills lose their effects, and active skills become unusable.
"Magic Edge, Aerial Step, and Shadow Cloak. Those three."*'Acknowledged.'*
I had already decided which skills to choose under these conditions.
Considering the trials to come, this was the most reasonable selection from my skill set.Skills like Neck Hunt or other damage-dealing skills were worth considering, but this trial hardly required forcing kills.
While some bosses must be defeated to proceed, most other trials involve avoiding combat-related depletion.
Then, a band of red light shot through my body, and I was struck by a vague sense of emptiness, as if some strength had been lost.
*'Sealing procedures complete. You are recognized as a challenger of the divine trial. You may proceed.'*
After that series of processes, the gate slowly opened.Beyond the gate was shrouded in a pale, misty haze.
Essentially, I had to enter a gate where I couldn't see ahead. Feeling no need to linger, I proceeded forward.
When passing through the gate, I felt a slight sensation of floating.
I knew what lay ahead, but I hoped for a lucky turn of events.
"Hmm, still the same crappy luck."
A raindrop pattered against my cheek, followed by wind whipping against my body, a flash of lightning, and the ensuing roar.No matter how you looked at it, I'd been thrown right into the middle of a storm.
Just moments ago, I was underground, but now I found myself transferred to a forest ravaged by a storm.
Yes, this was inside a dungeon known as the trial prepared by the gods.
The "alternative mountain route" I mentioned to Nell referred to this dungeon.
The simplest route was a three-floor dungeon.Moderate difficulty was five floors, standard was seven, somewhat difficult was ten, with varying difficulty levels. The highest difficulty I was attempting had a total of twenty floors.
"Well, it's better than fog, I guess."
Right from the start, the combination was a stormy forest where finding the exit to the next floor was troublesome.
"First, I should climb."
Even under a large tree in this storm, the wind made taking shelter from the rain impossible.My body was getting soaked in no time.
My body temperature would plummet quickly, but before that, I needed to check what the 'condition' for clearing this area was.Depending on this condition, my actions on this floor would change.
Climbing the slippery trunk with a weakened body should have been difficult, but even weakened, my body, which had obtained EXBP, easily gripped the trunk and began scaling it.
"At least it's not a rescue-type quest, that's a relief."
After climbing to a reasonable height, I activated Magic Edge to avoid being blown away by the wind, plunged my hand deep into the wood, and scanned the surroundings. There was no sign of a giant monster rampaging.
Rampaging equaled attacking something.There were rescue-type trials where you had to help whatever was being attacked, so if found, you had to go help immediately no matter what.
Knowing that, I climbed the tree to first dispel that anxiety.Completing a time-limited quest from the start in a harsh environment of bad weather plus a forest would be grueling.
"Next is finding a route upward from this forest... Well, well, which condition will it be?"
If it's a forest, there could be a pattern where the exit is simply hidden, or a line where you must fulfill some condition as part of a gimmick.
"No monster-like presences in the vicinity. So, it's not a pattern with wandering monsters but one where they appear via gimmick. In that case, with this stormy field pattern..."
Looking around, I searched for familiar scenery and distinctive features that might be part of a gimmick, scanning thoroughly.
"Good, a western start. If it's around the third difficulty level, that's more than acceptable."
Now that I understood this floor's strategy, I began moving through the trees like a monkey without descending to the ground.
Why such a bother? Because when moving in this storm, humans naturally pass under trees while seeking shelter from the rain.
"Ah, found one."
Then, naturally, tree branches would cover their heads.It wouldn't be strange for monsters to be placed targeting that.
I moved deliberately through the trees and knocked it down to the ground with a flying kick.
*'Gugya!?'*
It was a Spireon, a monster with a chameleon-like appearance, using protective coloration to blend into the green leaves.About the size of a medium dog, its tongue was sharp like a spear, capable of rapid thrusts. This monster ambushed from the trees, making it extremely troublesome.
"First one down."
And if you didn't defeat a certain number of these monsters within a time limit, the key monster to proceed to the next floor wouldn't appear.
"Next is..."
Fortunately, the Spireon itself was only a Class 2 monster, not that strong.Although weakened, there was no way I'd lose to it now. The troublesome part was finding them, but knowing the trick made that easy too.
Spireons didn't move in packs but preferred having companions nearby.If there was one, about three more were lurking in the vicinity.
"Take this!"
After securing safety above, I delivered a powerful Yakuza Kick to the next likely tree.
"Here, come on out."
Shaken vigorously by the force of a Class 3 strength enhanced by EXBP, something fell from the tree.Towards that something, I swung the dagger protected by Magic Edge and cleanly sliced its neck.
"Second one."
Once you knew the monster type, it was easy.By judging the trees, you could tell exactly where they were hiding.
"Next is there!!"
Yakuza Kick after Yakuza Kick, I kicked tree after tree, stabbing the falling Spireons with my dagger in a simple routine.
Fortunately, my accuracy rate for trees containing Spireons was one hundred percent.
"Though the drops are stingy."
They shouldn't underestimate the observational skills I honed to efficiently tackle this system.Despite that accuracy rate, the number of drop items from Spireons wasn't great.Magic stones dropped occasionally, but the Spireon's Hyoid Bone I wanted for the later boss fight wasn't appearing.
With equipment restricted, I wanted to secure as many usable drop items for throwing weapons as possible.Self-sufficiency was the default in this trial dungeon.
Occasionally, using Aerial Step to finish off falling Spireons, I performed the feat of continuously finishing off Spireons hiding in trees from their falling point to increase the count, but drop items were scarce.
"Eight... Well, if I conserve, it might work out?"
Only magic stones kept accumulating in my pocket, but the crucial items weren't dropping. Just as I thought that while defeating the next Spireon, a change occurred.
"Oh, the storm intensified."
The storm's force, which had been at a constant level, increased.That signified that a gimmick had activated, and the boss had appeared.
Simultaneously, the Spireons lurking around all descended from the trees at once and began running.Not just one or two—Spireon after Spireon descended from the trees and began running in a specific direction.
When I first tackled this, I thought this was their action to join up with the boss monster and chased the Spireons, but that was incorrect.
"The boss is over there."
On the contrary, this was their action to escape from something.So, running in the opposite direction of the Spireons, I heard a dragging, slurping sound, along with a gnawing noise.
The sound of something being crunched.
What appeared from there was a monster with a huge, hippo-like mouth.
"Its mouth is still huge."
The Forest Eater.Contrary to its hippo-like appearance, it was an omnivorous, ferocious monster.Its body was covered in scales, and its eyes showed no attempt to hide hostility.Its body was larger than an elephant, and while not aware of my presence, it was solely focused on devouring trees.
A Class 4 boss monster.Normally, not an opponent for a solo Class 3 with starter gear.
"But that big mouth is its weakness."
However, exploiting that weakness made it significantly weaker.
Before it noticed me, I dashed, closed in to dagger range from its blind spot, and ran the Magic Edge blade along the joint at the base of the Forest Eater's wide-open jaw.
I felt the sensation of cutting something, and the massive jawbone, unable to support its own weight any longer, easily lost balance and detached.
The mouth, which should have been a formidable weapon, was indeed solid and powerful.
But if you could get to its side even once and sever the muscles around its jaw, that huge mouth instantly became a burden.Boss monsters Class 5 and below often had such gimmicky weaknesses, making them manageable even with starter gear.
"Now, now, I'll cut the other muscle too, so stay still, okay?"
The Forest Eater, finally noticing me as I walked unsteadily, seemed to want to shout *'Coward!'* but with its jaw barely functional, it couldn't even manage that.
On top of that, its body balance had changed, making proper movement difficult.
I showed no mercy to such a boss; it was promptly sacrificed for time-saving purposes.