episode_0160

Chapter 160 – Ordeal

As I walked through the temple corridor, where everything had weathered away and only dust had thickly accumulated, I stopped before a wide-open cavern.

“As I said earlier, there are a total of three trials. The first one is up ahead.”

“What should I do?”

“You don’t need to worry about the first trial. Just defeat the knight that’s summoned in the center. There’s no need to hesitate since it’s not a living human.”

“I see. It’s amazing that even things like that are all written in the ancient texts.”

“Yes. Let’s go then!”

Before Isis could question the source of the information, I quickly led the way forward.

The cavern was a large prayer room.

The moment we entered the prayer room, with a thud, an iron door slammed down in the corridor we had just passed through.

Then a spirited voice began to resonate in my mind.

[Challengers! Welcome to the temple of I, Alahak, the God of War! I shall bestow three trials upon you. I will grant a reward to those who overcome all trials!]

A low hum echoed!

Immediately after, red divine power condensed in the center, then flashed for a moment, summoning a knight clad in full red armor.

Without a word, he immediately raised his sword and took a battle stance.

“Both of you, be careful. Its physical abilities are incredibly strong. Deborah, it would be best for you to fight defensively. Illusions won’t work well on it either.”

“Yes. I understand!”

“Good. Here it comes!”

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

At the signal, the knight charged forward with heavy yet swift footsteps.

Isis and I exchanged glances, then split to either side, attempting a pincer attack while distracting the enemy.

The spear and fist aimed for the knight’s openings.

In a flash, the knight, observing the attacks, blocked the spear with his sword and the fist with his own.

Boom!

The knight didn’t budge an inch.

Indeed, recognizing its immense strength, we retreated without overextending ourselves. The knight, as if unwilling to let us go, targeted Isis.

It had judged her to be the most dangerous.

However, unfortunately, it couldn’t achieve its objective. While we were fending off the attacks, Deborah’s magic, which she had finished casting, came flying in.

Boom-boom-boom!

Explosions erupted all over the knight’s body.

Perhaps for thorough support, the magic consisted of multiple small blasts instead of one large blow.

Thanks to this, while it didn’t deal damage, the impact caused its body to stiffen and its vision to be obscured, bringing our turn back.

‘Shall we go strong this time?’

One exchange was enough for reconnaissance.

Using Photonization, I instantly moved to its flank and bestowed upon it a Dragon-Piercing Heavenly Strike.

Boom!

Since I hadn’t used Incarnation, the power was halved compared to before, but its unique piercing force still cracked the knight’s armor.

Immediately after I pulled back, Isis’s spear, taking my place, inflicted a second blow on the crack.

Shatter!

The spear pierced the knight’s armor.

Its shoulder was pierced, and the grip on its sword loosened.

However, as if swinging a sword with one hand was enough, the knight rotated without a change in expression and swung its sword around to cut.

Swish!

The sharp edge narrowly grazed past me.

Though it felt no pain, it couldn’t be completely unaffected by its injury, as its movements became sluggish.

I exchanged glances with everyone.

‘Keep going like this.’

Isis and Deborah then nodded, as if understanding my thoughts.

Afterward, we repeatedly used similar tactics to accumulate damage on the knight, and before long, we were able to defeat it completely.

Thrust!

The spear pierced through its eye socket and protruded from the back of its head.

Even in that state, the knight twitched as if trying to counterattack, but soon slumped motionlessly.

As Isis pulled out the spear, the knight’s lifeless body, sprawled on the ground, soon disintegrated into a handful of divine power, starting from its feet, and vanished.

Clank!

At the same time, the path ahead opened.

Isis, catching her breath after retrieving the spear, looked at it and asked.

“That means we should go there, right?”

“Yes. There are a total of three trials. Let’s rest and then continue moving.”

“Okay. Let’s do that.”

We moved to the wall and sat down.

Once our stamina had recovered sufficiently, Isis asked about the second trial.

“The next trial? The next one is a group battle. Soldiers will be summoned from all directions, and we’ll have to break through their encirclement and defeat them all.”

“An encirclement sounds dangerous. Is there a plan?”

“Yes. This is where Deborah will need to shine.”

Our gazes turned to Deborah.

She had been quietly resting alone and was slightly flustered by the sudden attention.

“…Me?”

“Yes. When the soldiers are first summoned, you’ll need to obscure their vision with area-of-effect magic. In that gap, the two of us will charge in.”

The enemies appearing in the trials are all created by divine authority, so illusions don’t work well, but physically obscuring their vision is a different story.

Deborah remained silent, seemingly convinced by my explanation.

“And I’ll go around to the rear, so you, my lady, take the front and protect Deborah.”

“Okay. Leave it to me.”

After defining our roles, we waited for our stamina to recover before standing up.

How long had it been since we left the prayer room and walked through the long corridor again? Finally, we arrived at another cavern.

“Deborah. Are you ready?”

“Yes! I think I can obscure their vision for about 5 seconds.”

“That’s enough. We’re going in!”

The moment we stepped into the cavern.

A deep hum echoed!

Again, the path we had taken was blocked, and countless troops were summoned from all directions with divine power.

I immediately shouted.

“Deborah!”

“Leave it to me!”

Receiving the signal, Deborah cast the magic she had prepared beforehand.

A purple cloud formed from her hand spread throughout the entire cavern in an instant, distorting and blocking the soldiers’ vision.

The archers who had been aiming their bows hesitated, and the shield bearers, who had been firmly blocking the front, looked around confusedly.

By then, I had already taken the rear.

‘Arrogant bastards!’

A fresh surge of hatred flared towards them.

How flustered I was when I first encountered this trial in the game. No one knows the miserable feeling of barely passing it after depleting my cherished trump card items.

Of course, I was grinning after seeing the rewards I received upon clearing all trials, but…

Anyway, the important thing is that I felt absolutely awful then.

Shatter!

I mercilessly ravaged the rear ranks.

Flexibly evading the shield bearers and spearmen converging on the sound, I persistently targeted the mages and archers with hit-and-run tactics.

Boom-boom-boom!

And on the opposite side, Isis pushed back the front ranks, which had revealed openings.

Ultimately, they were unable to do anything, floundering and in disarray.

Eventually, after the promised 5 seconds passed, and by the time they barely managed to regroup their front lines, 90 percent of their rear ranks had already been annihilated.

After that, it was easy.

All we had to do was protect Deborah, whose mana was depleted, and gradually reduce their numbers.

After 30 minutes had passed, we were able to pass the second trial.

“Are either of you hurt?”

“No.”

“I’m perfectly fine too.”

“That’s good. Then let’s rest for a longer time. The next one is the last. It’s about time for lunch anyway, so let’s eat.”

We headed to a corner and, while eating the packed lunches we had bought beforehand, discussed the last trial.

“The last one is a solo battle.”

“A solo battle?”

“Yes. You’ll be transferred to a certain place and then engage in combat. The enemy is a clone perfectly identical to yourself.”

“A clone perfectly identical to me? Then how do we win?”

Isis had a worried expression.

This was because if they possessed perfectly identical power, victory couldn’t be guaranteed. It conveyed that she didn’t even want to imagine any one of us dying.

“So, I’ve thought of a method. It’s this.”

I pulled out two glass bottles from my pocket.

One contained an ominous blue liquid, and the other a thick, viscous white liquid.

“What are those? They look like potions.”

“They are as you see. It’s just that their effects differ from ordinary potions.”

“What kind of effects?”

I pointed to the bottle containing the blue liquid.

“This is an anti-mana potion. If you drink it, it becomes difficult to use mana.”

“Mana? But then we can’t fight.”

“Yes. That’s why we have this.”

What I pointed to this time was the thick, viscous white liquid.

Seeing it, Isis’s face flushed, and she showed a hesitant expression.

“That… looks a bit strange.”

“Well, I understand it’s unpleasant. But you need this to nullify the anti-mana potion’s effects.”

As you might expect, this is my semen.

It’s not that I particularly want to make them drink my semen, but there’s no alternative if not this.

In the trials, everything about the challenger is copied.

Not only stats and abilities but even items are identical, making them incredibly troublesome to deal with.

But even with divine authority, there was something it couldn’t copy!

That is, unique items.

In the case of special items that cannot be mass-produced, copying is impossible.

For example, the phoenix egg I absorbed or my semen, which only I can produce, fell into this category.

In other words, the two of them had no choice but to consume my semen.

As I was steeped in a sense of immorality, Deborah’s magic message reached my ear.

-Ruan. I’m just asking in case, but is that semen?

Looking at her, her brow was deeply furrowed.

Curious how she came to that conclusion, I asked for the reason.

-Why do you think that?

-Well, Ruan’s abilities are all in that direction. It clearly looks like semen, doesn’t it? I think the Madam also thought of semen when she first saw it.

-My lady too?

-Yes. She’s old enough, so it’s not strange for her to know.

She certainly has a point.

Since she had given oral sex on the snowy mountain and even received semen orally, Isis must have remembered that time upon seeing semen.

Imagining that, I unexpectedly got aroused.

As I indulged in my fantasies and remained silent, Deborah urged me again.

-Ruan. So, it is semen, right?

-Uh, yeah. That’s right. It’s semen.

-Really semen? You’re going to make us drink that? And to your own kin?

Deborah’s face was now completely distorted.

At her contemptuous gaze, as if she were looking at the scum of the earth, I quickly scrambled for an excuse.

-Hey. Do you think I want to make you drink this? There’s no other way!

-You’re not lying?

-I swear to the heavens, it’s true. Anyway, that’s how it is, so just drink it quietly.

-Ugh… Seriously, couldn’t you at least change the color?

Perhaps finally realizing I was serious, Deborah shuddered at the thought of having to drink the semen.

It hurt a little.

‘You can drink a friend’s semen, can’t you?’

Of course, I don’t drink my friends’ semen. If someone told me to, I’d be willing to kill them on the spot.

That’s why I don’t intend to drink my own semen either.

‘Because there’s no need to.’

Patting my chest with satisfaction, I explained the plan to Isis, who was now looking at me curiously.

“Anyway, that’s why you drink the anti-mana potion before starting the trial, and then drink this white potion after it begins. Then the clone won’t be able to use mana, but we will. We can win easily.”

“I see…. Okay. Shall we go now?”

Our stamina had already recovered long ago.

Since our stomachs were full, it was better to go without further delay.

“Yes. Let’s go. It’s not far from here.”

After a quick tidying up, we resumed our journey. And not long after, we stood before the cavern.

“It’s right up ahead. Let’s drink the anti-mana potion then.”

I immediately gulped down the anti-mana potion.

I had already ascertained through experiments that it could be purified with the Flame of Purity.

Seeing my confident demeanor, Isis and Deborah also began to drink the potion.

Soon, a change occurred in our bodies.

“Oh!”

“Ah!”

“This is…”

Not only from me, but the subtle traces of mana that had been felt in everyone’s bodies completely vanished.

Isis examined her body.

“It’s really hard to control mana now. Mana feels like a lump of rock. Where did you buy this?”

“That’s a secret. Oh, by the way, let’s leave all items here except for our weapons. There’s no benefit to having them.”

“Here?”

“Yes. We’ll be coming back anyway, so it doesn’t matter, right?”

My subspace pouch was filled with all sorts of items. To minimize variables, it was best not to take anything at all.

The two nodded, seemingly convinced.

We placed all the items we had on the ground as much as possible.

Thus, with only our weapons and bare bodies, we stood before the cavern.

“See you in a bit then. Also, remember that the anti-mana potion lasts for 10 minutes.”

“Okay. Be careful.”

“Ruan. Don’t get hurt.”

“Of course. I’m going in first!”

I confidently took a step forward.

Whoosh!

And simultaneously, my vision seemed to flip once, then the next moment I arrived in a similar but unfamiliar space.

[This is the final trial! A true warrior grows through bloody battles! Triumph in your fight against yourself!]

The God of War spouted nonsense, announcing the start of the trial.

Along with that, red divine power gathered in the center of the cavern in a human form, and then a clone perfectly identical to me appeared.

Just as I was about to use Incarnation.

“I’ll rape you.”

“What?”

“I said I’d rape you, you motherfucker!”

The clone used ‘Rape Declaration’ and charged at me with the speed of light.