“That is the trial on the 100th floor, just like Father said.”
Christina stood in a palace above the clouds. It was as if the gods had built it. The pillars supporting the sky were hundreds of meters high. In front of her was a flight of stairs that led to an unknown place. Each flight of stairs was several meters high.
She had followed Watson to the underground city’s 100th floor. She touched the World Transformation Mirror in the middle of the palace and entered that place.
She knew some things about the trial’s final floor from her father, so she did not panic. The last level would clone the challenger and choose the environment based on their personal conditions. The World Transformation Mirror would usually select a place the person would be most uncomfortable.
For example, if a person were afraid of water, then the World Transformation Mirror would select a place by the water. If that person were fearful of some animal, the World Transformation Mirror would fill the scene with that kind of creature.
As the 100th level of the maze’s trial, the challenger must defeat themselves and overcome their internal weakness. That was the trial’s challenge.
“What is my weakness?” Christina asked herself.
It must be her pride. Due to the enormous pressure caused by excessive confidence, the setting where she found herself was like a stairway that kept ascending like a temple.
“Lady Christina, where is this?”
“Everyone says that there are countless treasures piled up in the underground city, but I only saw a mirror inside. I am very disappointed. I didn’t expect that the mirror was a door that led to other places. This is the real 100th level of the maze! Look at how majestic that temple is; there must be a lot of treasures inside.”
While Christina was thinking, a faint sound of conversation could be heard behind her. It was the 200 elite members who had followed her into the World Transformation Mirror.
Christina turned her head and glared at her subordinates—her stare was unflinching.
The World Transformation Mirror possessed a unique characteristic. When two people touched the mirror simultaneously, they would be transported to the same location. That was also the trick her father had revealed to her. She would feel pressured if she had to do it by herself, but she would not have to worry so much about it if she had other people with her.
“By the way, didn’t Master Antonio’s disciple get here first before us? Where’s he? Is he at a higher level? Then we have to hurry up. Don’t let him get the treasure first.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. The trial on the 100th floor is divided according to the time whoever touched it. Since he touched the mirror before us, he would be teleported to another place in the world,” Christina explained.
“Oh, I see. Lady Swordmistress, let’s hurry up and start exploring! It’s so high up; it might take us days to climb the staircase.”
Some of the adventurer team members could not wait to hurry up.
Christina did not say anything. She just looked at the top of the staircase silently. Suddenly, she saw a fluctuation in the clouds before a woman walked out of them. Her long yellow and long robe fluttered in the wind. A longsword hung at her waist. It was particularly eye-catching, and she had an aura that could cut through the sky.
After the woman emerged, the mist behind her fluttered again before another two hundred people appeared, the same number of people Christina had brought with her.
“What’s going on? Why is there another Lady Swordmistress?” A member of the adventurer team stared into the distance, then looked at the Lady Swordmistress in front of him and rubbed his eyes.
“It’s not just Lady Swordmistress. I can see myself! What kind of magic is this? Or are we hallucinating?” another member asked in surprise.
“Everyone, pick up your weapons and get ready for battle! Those aren’t phantoms, but clones created by the World Transformation Mirror based on each of us. We might get killed by them if we aren’t careful.”
Christina commanded her subordinates, who were a little lax. Then, she drew the weapon from her waist and assumed a combat stance.
They would need a team effort instead of an individual battle to pass the 100th level. Christina knew that she was not as good as her father or Watson, but she was good at her job as a commander.
“Let’s have a showdown.”
….
“It’s so cold. Where is this place?”
Annie hugged her shoulders. Even though she had become a gold-tier mage, she still felt traces of coldness invading her body. Fortunately, the inextinguishable holy fire leather armor on her body could help her to eliminate the cold.
“That is the border, where the Dragonspine Snow Mountain used to be.”
Nightingale stood on a snowfield; she looked somewhat absent-minded.
She did not expect to be teleported to that place after entering the 100th floor of the maze. She raised her head and looked into the distance; she could see a majestic and endless mountain peak. That was where Mount Creation was located.
“This is the border? Really? How come I’ve never heard of such a huge mountain peak at the border? That peak is surrounded by something green. Is that a tree?”
Clyde and Arthur also saw Mount Creation; they seemed skeptical. The scene in front of them was a little too shocking for them.
“That mountain is called Mount Creation. Young Master Watson created it! I’ll explain it to you when I have the chance. The most important thing right now is to eliminate the enemy in front of us.”
She could see their clones approaching the exact location from the far north. They also heard wolf howls throughout the area when the clones emerged.
Roar!
Silver-moon demonic wolves emerged from the snow, revealing their huge bodies. A 100-meter-long Moon-eating Sky Wolf led the pack—it had wise eyes, but one of its ears was missing.
Nightingale’s eyes twitched when faced with her clon and those silver-moon demonic wolves. Those silver-moon demonic wolves, particularly the leading Moon-eating Sky Wolf, were identical to those Watson had killed in the Dragonspine Snow Mountain. She had not killed the Moon-eating Sky Wolf to avenge her parents. Perhaps it was God’s will; she would once again face the old enemy that had troubled her for more than a decade.
….
Meanwhile, at Watson’s location.
Dark clouds suddenly covered the already gloomy sky. Fist-sized hailstones fell along with silvery-white lightning snakes—it filled the air with white fog. The magma under the crater had frozen into a layer of frost, and the rolling black fog rose.
It was just as the World Transformation Mirror had described—that was the world’s border. The weather was unpredictable. A moment ago, the air was filled with a scorching aura, and then, dense water elements had replaced the high temperature.
The fight between Watson and the clone had shifted from a battle of laws to combat of water-elemental spells.
“Peak platinum-tier spell, Absolute Zero.”
“Peak platinum-tier spell, Silvermoon of Endless Reincarnation.”
“Platinum-tier spell—”
The sky erupted with silver-white moons with endless attractive forces. Wherever the moonlight shone, it would condense into solid ice. The ground seemed to have returned to the ice age, and long corridors of ice hung in the sky. If someone were lucky enough to watch from the sidelines, he would undoubtedly be taken aback and stunned by the scenario unfolding in front of him.
“As expected of my clone, what a troublesome opponent!”
Watson stood at the end of a long ice tunnel and performed a runic incantation. With one hand, he cast Absolute Zero, and with the other, the Silvermoon of Endless Reincarnation. His adversary had used the same spells. Hundreds of ice passageways more than ten meters wide collided in the air, hurling ice fragments into the air.
Watson had been engaged in combat with his clone for the better part of half an hour. At first, he could only match his clone’s skills, but he eventually gained the upper hand. After all, he had trained on Mount Creation with Antonio and Sylvan. As long as he continued to outperform himself and gain new insights throughout the conflict, the clone would not be able to keep up with him.
Watson gained more insights in that half an hour than he did in the two years he spent on Mount Creation. Just as he was about to win the challenge, the clone switched to a different battle style. No matter what magic he used, the clone would always do the same action, completely canceling it out and bringing the duel back to a stalemate.
