Chapter 1008 – The Secret Of The Holy Land
The sound of explosions reverberated in the surroundings as spell after spell landed on the Dark Abomination that had been hunting them for the past three days.
Forced into a corner, they all ganged up on the Demon, who had somehow transformed into a berserked beast whose sole purpose was to kill any Demon that it saw in its sights.
In the end, those who had managed to survive from its onslaught numbered fifteen. It was at that moment when they realized that no matter where they ran, the dark abomination would just hunt them down, until none of them were left.
Out of necessity, they all banded together to make one last stand against their enemy, whose power exceeded theris by an incredible margin.
“Don’t stop and keep on bombarding it with ranged attacks!!” Adam ordered. “If any of you run, it will just hunt you down again and, by that time, you will be fighting it alone! Now is the only opportunity we have to kill it! If you want to live then fight!”
Adam summoned two Dark Whips in order to lash at the Abomination who had charged in his direction. The fiend also summoned its own Dark Dhip and clashed with Adam’s, but at the moment of impact, the Abomination’s Dark Whip sliced through Adam’s Dark Whips, just as easily as a hot knife cut through butter.
All the Demon candidates noticed that the monster they were fighting against also wielded Dark Magic, but its Dark Magic was different from theirs. For some reason, they felt that the fiend’s Dark Arts were purer, and higher in quality, making their own Dark Arts no match against it.
“Is this the true power of Dark Magic?” one of the candidates trembled as he summoned Dark Clones in order to grab hold of the fiend who was nearing their location.
Adam, and the other candidates, imitated his move because they understood that it would help delay the monster that was aiming to take their lives.
Each of them were able to summon two or three dark clones of themselves. These clones were only half as strong as their Masters, but in this kind of warfare, it was more than enough to gain a decent number advantage… or so they thought.
Adam, who was able to summon three clones of his own, bombarded the Dark Fiend with several Dark Bullets. These attacks managed to push back the Fiend, preventing it from advancing forward.
The other candidates also did the same. They were like a bunch of armed soldiers firing at a single target with a gatling gun. The Fiend was forced to use its hands to defend its body as the powerful bombardement rained on its body.
The ground under its feet was obliterated, creating a cloud of smoke that blocked their view. Even so, they didn’t stop firing spell after spell because they felt that if they stopped, the Dark Abomination would continue its deadly offensive.
Suddenly, three dark spears shout out of the smokescreen, hitting two of the candidates in the chest, making them collapse on the ground in disbelief. Not long after, they died with their eyes open.
The third spear almost took another life. Fortunately, the Demon that had been targeted by the fiend had higher awareness. At the last moment, he was able to turn his body to the side, making the dark spear graze his shoulder, leaving a minor injury.
One by one, the Demons stopped attacking as they panted for breath. They had used almost all of their mana, and were on the verge of mana deficiency.
They stared anxiously and waited for the smoke to clear up, to see if they managed to subdue the beast that had plagued them for the past three days.
When the cloud of smoke disappeared, the abomination lay on the ground with a dark spear embedded on its chest. This was the spear that Adam had thrown with all of its might, which had miraculously pierced through the fiend’s chest.
“I-Is it over?” a young lady whose clothes were in tatters asked. If this was an ordinary situation, she would definitely feel embarrassed about her current attire, because her clothes could no longer be called one.
However, due to the life and death battle they were waging against their enemy, she had no time to worry about embarrassment, and fought hard like everyone else.
No one dared to answer her question, because they were afraid that if they said yes, the fiend laying on the ground might stand up, cutting apart their last shred of hope.
Adam gritted his teeth as he moved closer to the creature that lay unmoving on the ground. When he was only a few meters away from their enemy, he summoned another dark spear, as he braced himself for the worst case scenario.
Meter by painful meter, Adam closed the distance, while the other Demons watched him with anxious expressions. When he was only three meters away from the fiend, Adam threw the dark spear in his hand, which pierced the Abomination’s lower half.
Everyone waited with bated breath to see if the monster was going to react to Adam’s attack, but it remained unmoving on the ground.
Adam didn’t want to take any chances and summoned another spear, which he used to cut off the enemy’s head.
Suddenly, the head that was cut off turned into ashes. Not long after, its body slowly turned to ashes, until the fiend that had become their nightmare disappeared in front of their eyes.
“We did it!” one of the Demons shouted as he raised his hand! “We beat it!”
Some of the Demons sat on the ground in relief after their legs gave way under them. They had fought tooth and nail with the Dark Abomination, pushing themselves to the limit.
Even Adam sighed in relief as he glanced at his comrades who had fought alongside him. He had fought many life and death battles before, but he had to admit that this particular battle was the closest he came to actually dying.
While everyone was celebrating their victory, the Dark Wraith suddenly materialized above them. Their earlier shouts of victory, turned into cries of fear and despair.
‘This is it,’ Adam thought as he stared helplessly at the Dark Wraith, which had used its powerful presence to immobilize all of them. ‘I am gonna die now.’
It was not only Adam who felt this way. All of the Demons shared his thoughts, as tears streamed down the sides of their faces. They no longer had the will to fight, and even if they did, the end result would be the same.
The Dark Wraith was an existence that they couldn’t beat because its strength was at the Pseudo-Demigod Rank.
“All… of you… passed… the first test,” the Dark Wraith announced in a hoarse voice.
A few seconds later, all the survivors felt a burning sensation on their arms. Adam endured the pain and looked at his left arm, which was giving off a black smoke.
When the smoke disappeared, he saw a small, black, inverted, five-pointed star that looked like a tattoo on his shoulders. Adam was not the only one who received the mark. All of the survivors were branded with the black inverted star.
“I’ll… wait for your… return… in three days,” the Dark Wraith laughed. “Only those… who manage… to pass seven trials… will become… the heir… of darkness.
“Farewell… challengers. If… you are not… here… in four days… you… will… die.”
The Dark Wraith laughed once more before waving its hand. That was the last scene that Adam saw before his world was covered in darkness.
—–
Felix, who was inside his office, read the documents of the Ancient Ruins with a serious expression on his face. It had been three days since the first batch of candidates had entered the ruins.
He believed that with so many people taking part in the expedition, their chances of discovering the secrets of the Holy Land were quite high. Just as he was about to take a short break, a loud knock was heard on the door.
Felix frowned because he had given explicit orders that he didn’t want to be disturbed. Even so, he still decided to see what was happening just in case and called out to his subordinate who was waiting for his reply.
“Come in,” Felix ordered.
Just as soon as the door opened, Felix’s subordinate knelt on the ground and gave his report.
“Your Highness! The exploration party has returned! They are at the entrance of the Ruins, and are currently being tended to by the soldiers we stationed there,” the subordinate replied.
“Wonderful!” Felix replied as he stood up. “How many returned?”
“Thirteen.”
“Excuse me?”
The Demon raised his head and repeated his answer to his superior. “Thirteen, Your Highness, and they seemed to have suffered minor to serious injuries. All of them are unconscious right now, and are being carried to the infirmary.”
Felix frowned before nodding his head. He then left the room and headed straight to the infirmary.
He couldn’t believe that after sending over a hundred people inside the ruins, only thirteen managed to return alive.
‘Just what did they see inside the Holy Land?’ Felix thought. ‘No matter. I’ll find out as soon as one of them regains consciousness.’
This was a very important matter, and he needed to know the answers to his questions as soon as possible.
‘I hope that Adam is one of the survivors,’ Felix thought as he increased his pace. ‘After painstakingly making him my subordinate, the least he can do is survive and tell me everything that he saw inside the Holy Land.’
A smile appeared on Felix’s lips as he thought of a way to keep the treasures within the ruins to himself. Just like his father, he was also very ambitious. He didn’t care about the process. What he cared about were the results.
Even at the cost of many lives, Felix wouldn’t bat an eye as long as he benefited from it. Such were the ways of the Demon Realm.
Always had been, Always would be.
