Alas, just as Virus was about to attack and annihilate the enemy, the ancient sound warned him, “Stay your hand! No one is permitted to engage in battle on this sacred ground. Keep your grudges for when you are out of this place or you shall be expelled outside at once!”
Listening to it, Virus clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction while Ra heaved a sigh of relief as all fear left him. Hellarose was also gritting her teeth so hard that it was a miracle they weren’t breaking apart.
Subsequently, the archaic being elaborated everything to the newcomers until they were also put in the loop.
“Hmm, out of the original eleven, seven trial takers survived this time around which is honestly higher than I had expected initially. Well, whatever, you shall begin!” As if it was mumbling to itself, the archaic sound uttered a few words before announcing the commencement of the trial.
Immediately, Ra, the cloaked people, Hadelia, and the academician stormed toward the stairs as they initiated their trial.
“Shall we go as well?” Meanwhile, reaching out with his hand, Virus garnered Hellarose’s attention who had been drowning in hatred glaring at Ra’s rushing back.
Virus’ stretched-out arm swiftly brought Hellarose out of her enraged state to a more normal one as she extended her hand as well, trying to grab it.
However, just as she was about to get it, Virus withdrew his palm and said, “Let’s go. Forget about your hostility for now. It appears like even the slightest bit of distraction can impact your final results since determination is involved. So, focus! Focus hard.”
“Hmph, I know.” Feeling mad about how she had been made a fool of, Hellarose dashed forward as she entered the trial of the staircase as well.
‘Good thing she’s back to normal.’ Virus thought grinning while looking at her figure dashing through the stairs.
Afterward, seeing everyone was gone, Virus also took one step after another as he launched into it.
The instant he took his first step onto the stairs, Virus sensed a negligible burn at the back of his palm, thus, sticking out his hand, he examined to see if anything unusual was happening to the mark of the Invisible Ancient Fortress World.
And indeed, he could see an extremely meager amount of smoke gradually leaving the mark.
‘So that means the maximum level of height one can ascend to is as far as this mark can last, in case the bearer of the mark has enough willpower and determination to last that far that is.’ With that, Virus finally understood exactly how important the distinction degree of the mark was.
As a matter of fact, that had been indeed one of the first few sentences the archaic voice had blabbered about in the first floor, notifying him that ‘the final prize and rewards will be calculated according to how distinct, bold, and colorful one’s mark of Invisible Ancient Fortress World becomes’.
‘Good thing I broke lots of records on the earlier trials.’ Each time Virus had broken a record due to overachieving like in the trial of the fallen skin of the Emissary Flesh or on the first floor where he went against the smokey beasts several levels stronger than him, the final smoke reward he received were multiplied by several times the usual amount.
And now, he was finally seeing the outcome of all the hard work and effort he had experienced on the way here.
After that, no longer bothering himself with the mark, Virus took one step after another as he climbed the stairs at a moderate pace.
For a while, he didn’t feel any different than usual. But that was only until he started feeling a slight degree of unexplainable pressure that appeared to be weighing down on him in a way he quite could not describe.
‘Maybe it’s a pressure that directly affects the soul and precisely targets the willpower.’ This was a theory he was coming up with randomly without much pondering. A theory that could be either be correct or incorrect.
As the ongoing trial proceeded, slowly but surely, on some of the trial takers’ foreheads beads of sweat began to gather. It looked like they were feeling the influence of the pressure now.
The person with the worst condition amongst the trial takers so far was in fact Hadelia who was currently gritting her teeth as she persisted through one step after another.
Apparently, her mark was also about to flicker out any second now.
The people who were the most casual yet while treading ahead of everyone else, however, were the two cloaked people whose countenances were not visible.
Truthfully, other than Virus, the group that had performed the best were those two who had gathered a lot of smokes as they had pushed through the trials one after another without any of them being even injured.
That difference became even more obvious when one compared it to the other groups.
Amongst the academicians, only one had remained alive.
Between the two barbarians, Ra was the sole survivor who had barely escaped the claw of death that was called Virus.
And when it came to the group of the monstrous beasts as well, thanks to Virus, Hadelia alone was going to leave the Invisible Ancient Fortress World.
Last but not least, even the veiled lady’s party had one person less since the supposed death bringer of the Invisible Fortress, Virus, had beheaded her as well.
While the representatives continued with the two cloaked people at the front and the academician at their tail, Virus was currently at the very back as he gazed upon the panting figure of Hadelia who had yet to give up.
‘It was good to see you again, Hadelia.’ Briefly remembering his first visit to the Cultivation Earth, a strange feeling of nostalgia began to overwhelm Virus.
He felt as if those were the simple days when his single worry was to steal some fruit from the sect’s treasury before getting the hell out of there.
