Chapter 182 - 167 The Dark Willow and the Bright Flowers
In the gloomy, ancient passageway, a trialist was beheaded, his head severed and rolling far along the ground, his cut neck spraying blood vividly in the eerie blood mist, shocking everyone.
Just a moment before he was alive, yet in the next, he had been decapitated, all of it happening so suddenly that people could hardly react.
Right beside the now-fallen trialist, a tall stone soldier moved, its ten-foot-long spear swung in a slashing motion, fresh blood still clinging to its tip, confirming it as the killer.
That the stone soldier could move petrified all the onlooking trialists, an occurrence none had anticipated.
Several princes and princesses’ complexions changed, initially indifferent to the Thirteenth Prince’s words, but now his warnings seemed prescient.
Then, on both sides of the corridor, more tall stone soldiers began to animate, as if coming to life, their spears clanging as they were drawn and swung at the crowd simultaneously.
Many trialists were afflicted in an instant, but while none were killed, the stone soldiers, each possessing immense strength, swept groups of trialists away with their irrefutable spear thrusts, causing bodies to tremble on the verge of splitting and mouths to expel blood.
Just this encounter alone hit at least half of the trialists, each one’s body convulsing chaotically, a deeply uncomfortable experience. However, without hesitation, they began to fight back, swords clashing against spears with a resonant clangor.
But their attacks on the stone soldiers were utterly ineffective, failing to genuinely damage any of them, leaving only superficial marks.
In contrast, these stone soldiers were formidable; their shields and long spears used in tandem managed to blast many trialists backward, making them spew blood.
A Top 100 Trial Participant charged forward, his heavy hammer clashing against a stone spear with sparks flying, yet not overpowering the stone soldier, equally matched.