2769 Bamboo Golems I
“Thank you very much, lord Zaar; we wouldn’t have been standing here without you,” thanked the two Masters again before walking through the open door, which closed behind them a second later.
As they disappeared, all the energy seemed to be leaving me, and I stopped.
There were less than ten meters remaining in the lake, but I had no energy to take even a single step; I just wanted to close my eyes and sleep, and I nearly did that before waking up a few seconds later.
It would be a complete disaster if I fell into sleep. Forget losing the challenge; I might end up losing my life in the hands of the bastard who is cautiously following behind me, it would have easily passed by me, but fear in its heart had kept it back.
Though I have no doubt that if it is given a chance, it will hack me into pieces without a second thought, and sleeping would directly be handling that chance on the platter.
So, I forced myself to remain awake and moved through the water, which felt no less than solid metal. Taking a single step forced me to dig into my body and soul for every bit of strength and use every strand of willpower I had.
I took one step after another with each step, taking everything for me before finally, three and half hours later, I stepped out of the lake and felt like a mountain full of weight had been lifted out of my shoulders.
Thud!
I fell down on the marble steps as I completely got out of the lake; I was feeling the lightest I have ever felt before and also tired, very tired.
I remained on my spot for a few minutes before crawling up on the flat ground and started taking out things, and soon there was a formation around me, powered by four powerful defensive artifacts.
This is the seventh day, and I still have little more than twenty hours.
I want to take the rest. While I could continue with this tiredness with some small rest, I would rather sleep and let it all out because the next challenge could be dangerous, and if it turned out as tiring as this one, then I could forget to complete it.
“I will be sleeping now, you could attack if you want, but I will kill you if you do that.” “Let me sleep for eight hours, and I will leave without even glancing at you,” I said to Leopardman, who was still in the lake, and closed my eyes without waiting for its replies.
I was so tired that I fell into sleep without a second, and it was a deep sleep without dreams and nightmares.
‘Wake up,’
Exactly eight hours later, I was woken up by my clone, and the first thing I looked at after I opened my eyes was the Leopardman, who was in the same spot as earlier.
“I have waited as you have asked me too, now get the hell out of here,” It said, “I will soon, but first, let me eat something,” I replied with a smile and cleansed myself with a method to feel refreshed, which I do not have too, as I am already feeling quite refreshed.
I said and took out the freshly cooked meal box that my clone had cooked and began to eat while going over the changes that the lake had brought to me.
Back home, I have reached the limit; I have advanced as much as I could with the help of resources and the consuming the Grimms with the bloodline that I could not improve any more in any aspect, but in the past six days, I have.
Which would have been quite hard, near impossible, considering I have reached the limit, but here I have improved.
This place is heartless, merciless, and will throw one challenge after another without giving you a break or a way to get out before the four weeks, but if you survive here more than a month, you will automatically make advancement; the Master with no future will advance to Grandmaster and Grandmaster to High-Grandmaster.
It is very complicated when it comes to becoming a Grand Lord, but it is possible; some people always break into that boundary whenever this thing appears.
Since this thing appeared thousands of years ago, this is the first time we have sent so many Grand Lords here; till now, we have never sent more than thirty-five Grand Lords into this place, but there are nearly double, and many of them have quite a potential.
Like the members of Pyramid and people like Lady Yui and Lady Redhorn, who are among the precious few who have the core at Grand Lord, thus have the highest chances against that level.
The lake had purified my body and soul even further; I could see the shine of my soul become denser and even purer than before, which couldn’t help but put a smile on my face.
Soon, I finished the meal, and the empty box went back to my core; I got up and walked toward the door before stopping in front of it and looking back at the Grimm.
Click!
“Hope that you will not come against me again because next time me meet, I will kill you,” I said and pulled open the door and walked inside.
I did not have to say anything to the Grimm, but I had been uttered bored these past six days and done nothing other than take the most difficult walk on the lake. So, I wanted to have fun, and threatening the Grimm, who is already scared shitless of me, is fun.
I stepped into the darkness, and immediately white star came floating toward me and stuck on my wrist. Seeing the number on it, I couldn’t help but be surprised.
The score took me by surprise; it was much higher than I had thought, which I had not expected, considering I had taken more than six days to pass the challenge of seven. Though, the better than I had thought, it is not highest but not lowest either.
I am happy nonetheless; it became very useful later, and I will need quite a high score if I want to reach the place I want to go.
Step!
A second later, after the star-struck to my wrist, the darkness had disappeared, and I found myself in a large clearing of the beautiful bamboo forest, the bamboo around me moving slowly in a gentle wind, producing melodious sounds.
Just like the lake, a board appeared for a second, informing what type of challenge it would. The words were a little vague, but I understood the gist, which was to fight some opponents, and I had three days to defeat them.
Sup Sup Sup
Barely a second passed since the board had disappeared when the sound of air piercing rang out, and I saw wooden arrows with the end onyx crystal head coming at me with a speed that most absolute peak High-Grandmaster difficult to deal with.
‘This would be fun,’ I said, and a red saber appeared in my hand, and I moved it toward the arrows that were coming toward me from all three directions, all of them being aimed at my weak spots.