Chapter 380 - 380. Second trial
The new team found itself cornered.
Thirty dragons were still in front of them but they had already suffered heavy losses!
Almost all the cultivators in the second rank had died after the defenses were breached and even some of those in the third rank couldn't defend from the joint sound attacks of the dragons.
'This is the real difficulty of the trial. If you aren't fast enough in the killings, the number of dragons will be refilled while you will just continue to weaken… They are doomed.'
The team didn't manage to block that dragon's assault when it had twenty members, they couldn't do so after the recent losses.
The rank 3 cultivators tried to use their spells to defend, yet, since they had no one killing the dragons, they could only desperately watch as their reserves of "Breath" and mental energy were depleted.
In about twenty minutes, all the members of the just arrived team were killed and the dragons simply flew somewhere below the bridge.
"Weaklings should just leave this dimension to the powerful organizations, they don't have a chance anyway."
David spoke while shaking his head.
'Sometimes, weaklings simply don't have a choice.'
Noah thought in his mind.
He could relate to their situation, he had been a lone cultivator for most of his life after all.
'Yet, they were unprepared, they should have bought the necessary information at least.'
He immediately knew which had been their fatal weakness.
Knowledge was power, especially in a place where the trials could be studied.
'If the rank 2 cultivators were the ones attacking, maybe, they would have survived.'
Noah concluded.
The new team found its defenses breached too soon which gave enough time for the other dragons to arrive.
"We should rest too, the path in the labyrinth is quite annoying."
David spoke again and Noah nodded at his order, he cultivated for a few minutes before laying down to sleep.
The Dantian's opening technique didn't require for the bloody procedure to be executed even when someone had to refill its dantian, the procedure was needed only when someone wanted to raise its level.
Simply speaking, Noah could just create the usual vortex and move its center toward his dantian with his mental energy, it expended a bit of mental energy but it allowed him to refill his reserves without piercing his dantian.
Of course, he couldn't enlarge his dantian in that way, the procedure was needed to raise its level.
David's team rested for a half a day before resuming its exploration, everyone was at its peak form by then, there was no reason to waste more time.
David used the token obtained in the first trial to open the entrance of the labyrinth, a heavy pressure could be immediately felt as soon as the huge door of the structure opened.
Massive white walls filled the environment inside the structure, they radiated some sort of pressure that weighed on the mental spheres of the cultivators and prevented them from using their mental energy to inspect the area, they were forced to use their senses in that environment.
Noah's gaze went on the rank 2 mages in his group, they had paled a bit when the door opened but their mental spheres seemed sturdy enough to endure the pressure.
'David has chosen well.'
He nodded internally at that sight, David had given a lot of thoughts in the creation of his team.
David went in the vanguard position and signaled to the others to follow him, the labyrinth had been explored many times by then, it was almost completely mapped.
"We will follow the same route as last time to be sure that nothing unexpected happens."
David explained to Noah as they moved across the large passages of the labyrinth.
'The second trial can be slightly easier depending on where you gain access to it. Well, it should be quite easy considering our team.'
Noah had studied all the reports that his sect was able to provide, he knew exactly what to expect in the road to the eighth trail.
After many turns and a long march, David's team reached a large square where a black monolith stood at its center.
The monolith had many inscriptions on its surface and it also featured a small hole.
David turned to look at the members of his team and they all nodded when their gazes crossed.
Then, he inserted the token of the first trial in the hole, the white walls of the passages connected with the square sealed themselves and a huge figure materialized on top of the monolith.
Noah's eyes shone at that sight, he did his best to hide the greed that he felt toward that figure.
That was because the figure on top of the monolith belonged to a peak rank 4 Bone dragon, a creature of the darkness element!
'If only it was a real magical beast…'
Noah complained in his mind as he retreated to set up the battle formation with his team.
The Bone dragon was the same as the Sea dragons in the first trial, even if it was extremely lifelike, it was only a creation of the Inheritance ground.
'The Inheritance gave completely intact corpses as a reward, I wonder how many of them there will be at the end of the dimension.'
The Bone dragon wasn't suited to become a Blood companion due to the absence of blood but its corpse would be the perfect core material for the creation of new Demonic swords!
Noah couldn't help but wonder if the Inheritance ground had corpses of that creature stored somewhere, waiting to become the reward of some trial.
The battle began.
A peak rank 4 creature was extremely powerful, its power surpassed that of the thirty dragons in the first trial.
Yet, it was alone and it was against twenty rank 3 cultivators, adding the fact that the Bone dragon could only shoot piercing bone shards other than fight using its body, the battle quickly became one-sided.
It was enough for twelve cultivators to focus all their spells on restraining the beast while the other eight relentlessly launched attacks, little by little, the Bone dragon became exhausted and the cracks on its bones became too large for it to suppress them.
'It's good that it behaves like a living being, it would have been a problem if it had an endless reserve of energy.'
Noah thought when the Bone dragon crumbled on itself, the bones that made its body fell everywhere on the battlefield before vanishing in the air.
The passages linked to the square opened and the token inside the monolith shone as it returned to David's hands, the second trial had been easily passed!