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Chapter 17 - The budding monster in the second Trial
🕑 Added 2025-09-01 19:06:17 +0000 UTC“I don't think the issue with the [Gunner] class is that it's weak. It’s that your realm achievements are lower when you blast your way out of the lower Trials. By the time you’re in the fifth realm, you're not going to have a single Rare skill. What I’m going to do instead, is try to challenge the higher Sectors with guns before attempting the lower Trials.”
Leviath [Mage], realm 1 at the time.
*The viability and initial reported success of Leviath’s methodology has caused an influx of adventurers attempting a similar path. This was later called Sector Boosting and became fairly common in the golden generation. That was, of course, until the obvious flaws came to light.
The stab 'em as they enter technique was an oldie but a goodie. It happened much more often in the Settler generation, when the countries of Earth fought each other over Trial entrances. Ryan had come up with the idea while talking to Barry about dealing with Trial intrusions.
He had started running the moment he’d kicked Garbolt out of the Trial entrance. He wasn’t stupid. Whatever team that entered next would be prepared for another surprise attack. The best-case scenario was that another team wouldn’t enter. Either way, he’d have more time if whichever team came next would comb the Trial for surprise attacks.
Getting rid of extra spare capacity was just a bonus.
He slashed Zedart’s longsword at a golem made entirely of dirt. The blade shattered a manacore that was moving around the exterior. Five more golems on stubby legs were shambling towards him.
Trial Quest updated!
Publicly, you have not taken any sides in the war against the demon king. In reality, the scales have shifted towards the human kingdom for your contribution against the Skeleton Lord.
Taking whatever opportunities you could, you have stolen yourself into the Demon King’s reliquary.
Trial Completion Conditions:
???
Capacity 2/6
After the standardized First Trial, the Trials shifted vastly depending on what route you took. He had chosen the standard path, but results wise he might as well have taken the path of slaughter. Even if he hadn’t been the one to do it, everything had died in his First Trial. A distinction that the Trials apparently took into account.
It meant that he didn’t recognize the scenario of his Second Trial at all. A reliquary? He guessed that it was just a fancier name for a dungeon.
There were still some clues regarding the nature of the Trial, namely the weak golems that were charging up at him. It wasn’t a good sign they were weak at all. It meant the Trial was prepping him, for something much worse. Oh, and that this was a swarm trial.
A [Rogue] against a six scaled swarm Trial. Did the Witch Tyrant really expect him to succeed here?
Then, his screen updated.
Capacity 6/6
It had barely been two minutes. That was the timer for someone that had left the Second Trial to re-enter. Was there another team—the golems reached out towards him.
He jumped over the dirt golems. It could get dangerous if he was cornered, but he had no time to take it slow.
Then it dawned on him. “They had a mid potion!”
If Ryan had made a mistake, it was that he forgot Garbolt was rich. Something like a deep gut wound would have taken half a day to recover with a minor potion, Garbolt must have been carrying at least a mid tier potion with him.
Didn’t they know higher tier potions just hurt their achievement score? That was just irresponsible.
Uncaring of his own hypocrisy, he stared at a split in the path. There wasn’t even a chamber. The large hallway Ryan had been running through simply split into two smaller hallways. He didn’t bother trying to find clues and ran into the right one.
There were already rows of dirt golems blocking the way. He leaped over another cluster of dirt golems. In his haste, a dirt golem clipped him on the side. He frowned, then stopped and let another dirt golem punch him.
Turns out getting hit by slow dirt golems didn’t hurt much.
He had an idea.
–
Garbolt’s team were taking it methodically but not slowly. They moved in formation as they swept through the marbled hallway. He stopped as they came across a pile of dirt with cracked managlass.
“It’s too quiet. I don’t like this, dirt golems?”
The hallways were just the same marble as the entrance to the Trial. Their voices and footsteps echoed and gave them no chance to take the blacklister by surprise. Garbolt looked at the footprints.
“He fought one and then started to run, probably checked the Trial capacity.”
Rushing an unknown Trial dungeon was stupid, and there was a good chance the blacklister was going to trigger the traps for them. They still decided to speed up.
“Can’t let him activate the boss. We’re not fighting a Trial boss with another hostile. We’ll rush in and hope there’s a guardian or a trap difficult enough to stop him.”
They started running. Their gear clunking away as they gave up on the methodical approach. The wide hallway split open into two, they went side by side, demanding a choice be taken.
“We take the right, looks like the dirt golems swarmed from the left and from the main to the right.”
Only a minute into the hallway, they saw the first golems. These dirt golems died pretty easily with a swing of his hammer… the only issue was that the hallway was barely wide enough for him to do a full swing.
They decided to go shoulder to shoulder, both [Warriors] smashed their shields down on the golems that were stacking up. The cluster of dirt golems was too dense. They piled on top of each other, punching downwards and breaking each other down. Was this a measure to block off the tunnel? More and more dirt golems were clambering from behind, making the pile reach the damned ceiling. When they cracked the mana cores the golems simply added to the pile.
Garbolt cursed.
“Even if we kill them we’re not going to be able to dig out of this. We have no idea how many golems are on the other side.”
“Realms damned swarm Trial. What do we do?”
Garbolt sighed. “We go back and hope the left path takes us to the boss.”
“Let’s hope the [Rogue] got pinned down from both sides and suffocated.” Chris said.
Somehow Garbolt doubted it.
–
In the right tunnel.
A hand burst out from the piled loose dirt. Ryan popped up from the ground gasping for breath.
He had found out that the dirt golems were only dense when the mana crystal was active. Ryan had buried himself in a fetal position while facing down to keep an air pocket.
The plan had been to burst out of the dirt like a zombie, then grab the [Rogue] with the gun. He remembered seeing it back at the Adventurer’s Guild from when Garbolt had made his case. He would’ve taken it and then started blasting the team from the middle. It had seemed like a good plan.
Until he almost suffocated to death.
It turns out that the dirt golems would relentlessly pile on top of him. Their weight and continued compacting of the dirt meant that he couldn’t break out again. By the time Ryan had realized his plan wouldn’t work, it was too late. He had honestly thought he was going to die.
Actually, where are the golems?
The golems were ignoring him and entering deeper into the dungeon. They didn’t seem to care about him at all anymore.
Compacted dirt completely blocked off the path he’d come from. Ryan had to climb the highly piled dirt to realize there had been a battle right before the place he’d been hiding.
He hadn’t even heard the battle because of the little golems punching on top of him.
He walked down the hallway, cautiously looking out for any visible traps. He sped up slightly as he heard the sound of battle ahead. A loud quake reverberated the ground he walked on.
The fighting and shouting were getting louder.
“Blasted swarm! I’ll block off the guardian. Kingsly, go help the others clear the swarm, I can deal with this, but not if it gets any bigger. Trevolt, keep a watch on the tunnels. The blacklister is probably dead, but I don’t want any surprises.”
A guardian that got tougher the more the dirt golems converged?
Then he understood his Trial. It was one that punished the cautious. Take too long clearing the dirt golems and the guardian would grow. If you ended up cautiously clearing one tunnel, you gave more time for the guardian to grow larger.
Rushing the tunnels was technically the right choice, but that sort of mentality was suicidal. Just because this Trial dungeon didn’t have any traps didn’t mean others wouldn’t.
Nasty.
Ryan started humming to the tune of ‘Dawn of the Adventurers’. He wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do. Zedart’s words rang in his head.
I would have to do this sooner or later. Sorry.
Ryan took a breath.
He stopped humming as he stepped closer into visibility. It was pretty easy. He was even excited. There was justification for his actions, the Witch Tyrant wanted this. The Manager wanted this. But most of all?
Ryan wanted to see if he could win.
He fingered the throwing knife strapped to his chest.
The team killer started running.
“He’s here!”
Trevolt, Ryan assumed, had noticed him immediately, the [Rogue] reacted well, quickly jumping over the golems to take aim at him.
Not you. Where’s the other one?
The [Warrior] and the other [Rogue] were fighting to stop the dirt golems from swarming towards the guardian. Ryan accelerated, not with a skill. He just hadn’t been sprinting at top speed.
The crossbow bolt Trevor had been aiming at him went wide. Garbolt’s voice called out.
“Switch targets, Kingsley deal with the guardian, I’ll deal with -”
Ryan sneered, those were stupid orders. Even Garbolt seemed to realize when he glanced back. Ryan was closer to his team than Garbolt was.
The other [Rogue]’s eyes went wide in fear as he saw the smiling hooded [Rogue] charge at him. This [Rogue] was the least confident in the group, the weak link. The one with the gun.
Kingsley ignored the dirt golems and shifted in position to stand in front. Ryan tried to do a tight circle around the [Warrior] but the shield came down—too fast.
[Speed Slam]
Ryan used [Instant Dodge]. One moment he was running forwards, next he flew backwards. Now the [Warrior] was out of position and still being carried forward by his skill’s momentum. The [Rogue] he was targeting raised a gun—and a throwing knife pierced his hand. The gun tumbling to the ground.
Ryan side-stepped the [Warrior] and dove towards the gun. His soulsword up front.
His blade pierced the [Rogue]’s gut as Ryan picked up the pistol and barrel-rolled away.
Success!
He kept low, keeping the dirt golems close to not let Trevolt get a good aim at him. Ryan didn’t trust himself to parry a high-speed projectile like Zedart could. Ryan yelled cheerfully.
“Better go save your [Rogue]! It’s only a gut wound!”
Ryan retreated to the tunnels, keeping an eye on Trevor. He stared into the opposing [Rogue]’s eyes, daring him to shoot. Trevolt hesitated, but went sprinting towards his ally instead.
He breathed a sigh of relief as he re-entered the tunnels.
Ryan laughed, the thrill of a well-executed plan rushing through his veins. He didn’t want to kill the other team, hell, he kinda liked Garbolt’s attitude. He’d figured out a way to force them out of the Trial without killing them and was proud of it.
I’m just better than Zedart, that's all.
Garbolt’s team was regrouping, keeping an eye on him and ignoring the guardian. They looked lost and unable to figure out their next move. He almost pitied them. Ryan had already figured out how to defeat the guardian.
He took a sneak peek at the Storm Bears.
They were a mess. Garbolt was desperately fending off the guardian as Trevolt looked over their other [Rogue].
“How’s Chris doing?” Garbolt yelled.
“He’s going to need to use the mid potion if we want him in the fight.” Trevolt shouted back. The [Rogue] glanced at the guy Ryan had gutted then kept his gaze locked in on him.
Kingsley desperately swiped at the incoming golems, but the encirclement they had was broken and it was pretty much futile. The free golems rushed towards the guardian. Their mass adding to its bulk, its attacks becoming quicker and more lethal with every additional golem that piled on.
Garbolt grunted as he blocked another groundshaking blow from the guardian.
Ryan laughed. “If you all want to leave, I won’t stop you. Just use the other hallway and exit the Trial.”
“Like we’d trust the words of a team killer!” Kingsley yelled back.
“I could have killed him, you know? Stabbed him in the heart. I could have killed your team leader too. But I kicked him out of the Trial instead. But I didn’t because I like you guys, now fuck off before I change my mind.”
Ryan could see the calculation in Garbolt’s expression. The [Warrior]-leader of Storm Bears gritted his teeth as he took another blow from the guardian. With a grievously injured member, a guardian too strong to tank and a team killer lurking in the background. They really had no choice.
Ryan stepped back into the tunnel to give them some ease of mind. He heard Garbolt’s words echo through.
“Trevolt, carry Chris to the other hallway, Kingsley, you delay the guardian.”
The leader of the Storm Bears sprinted to the entrance of the tunnel Ryan had gone down. His shield was up and facing him. The shield didn’t cover Garbolt’s entire body, Ryan could very easily shoot the man down, but that wasn’t the point. The leader was making sure Ryan couldn’t interfere with his team’s retreat. He’d probably stand there even if he was riddled in bullets.
Now this was a real adventurer. Ryan grinned.
“I wish I’d joined your team instead.”
“That makes one of us, blacklister.”
That was that. The rest of the Storm Bears rushed through the other side as Garbolt stayed by the entrance for a few more seconds. Then he hurried to join his team.
Once Ryan was satisfied that the other team had gone far down the other tunnel he took a step forward. The guardian kneeled in the center of the chamber, gathering the rest of the golems into its body. When they got close, their dirt seemed to lose consistency and just piled into the guardian.
It was massive, and wasn’t entirely composed of dirt. The guardian had huge rectangular stones for each limb, with dirt filling in the gaps to make a vaguely humanoid body. Countless manacores roiled around in the sea of dirt. It stood up as the last golem fused into it. It turned to him then took one crashing step towards the tunnels. Towards him.
Wait, what happened if it reached the tunnels? Would it completely block off the tunnels?
He had no idea if that was even a possibility, and he couldn’t risk it. If the boss just sat in front of the tunnels, there'd be no chance at digging through.
He’d wanted to stay in the tunnels until he was certain Garbolt’s team had left, that thought left his mind as he ran into the stone golem’s chamber. Ryan kept a wide distance from the guardian as he looked at the gate on the other side.
A stone gate, the entrance to the real boss of the Trial. The stone was the same as the limbs the guardian were made of.
He ran around the giant guardian and towards the gate. The guardian turned around and took one large crashing step. Its steps were significantly slower than previously, that was a good thing. The longer it took, the further away Garbolt’s team would be when he tried out his plan.
Ryan circled around until he had his back to the gate.
The guardian took a few enormous steps towards him, Ryan just waiting patiently. The giant golem raised its arm, the giant stone and dirt arm lifted high. It came crashing down.
Wait, that's not slow.
[Instant Dodge]
He barely got out of the way as the fist slammed into the gate behind him. The entire dungeon trembled as he looked back with wide eyes. The gate was cracked but still remained strong.
He had made two mistakes.
First, the guardian’s attacks were significantly faster than before. At its max velocity, it was faster than Zedart’s swings.
The second mistake was not realizing how loud the impact on the gate was. He really hoped Garbolt was too far to feel the vibrations.
He didn’t risk putting the gate behind him again, especially with [Instant Dodge] on cooldown. Ryan had to figure out the timing and do it safely. He stepped up.
The golem pulled its arm back just as he entered its range. Then he stepped back.
The stone guardian took one crashing step forward and slammed its fist towards him. Ryan dove forward as the fist slammed down behind him.
He had almost died again. Ryan was sweating now, it turned out the guardian could take a huge step and coordinate—
It didn’t stop there, in an unbelievable feat of golem fluidity, it moved its other arm, slamming down as Ryan dove again, this time through its legs. Another ground-shaking quake rumbling throughout the dungeon.
The boss had a one-two combo move. It was still fairly uncoordinated, but Manager’s damned was it dangerous.
A child with a big sword? No, a child swinging two big hammers.
"Okay," he let out a shaking breath, he could do this.
Ryan maneuvered back to the position with the gate at his back. He jumped forward and in between the legs as the golem threw its limb forward.
He looked behind to see that the guardian had hit the ground instead of the gate.
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
He couldn’t run too quickly, or the golem would adjust its aim. He’d have to dodge with impeccable timing. Ryan wasn’t risking that from a standstill position without his skill.
But wait, he didn’t need to be in a standstill did he?
In all of Ryan’s excitement in solving the Trial’s dungeon, he’d completely forgotten about his intruders.
--
Garbolt turned around at the sound of the dungeon trembling.
“He can’t be trying to solo a six-scaled dungeon.” Kingsley said.
A brief argument. They used the rest of the moderate healing potion to heal up Chris. Then the Storm Bears started stalking back towards the guardian room.
They had prepped for an ambush or a trick, but what they saw was something else.
A giant guardian danced with a hooded [Rogue]. The blacklister flitted in and out of range, leading a death waltz. The golem stomped forward and the blacklister took a teasing step back. Everything was in position for the blacklister’s next step. He started sprinting parallel across the wall, the speed and tempo perfectly controlled as he dipped in range of the golem, right next to the gate. He slowed down, just a little, just so that the golem could keep up.
THUD.
The gate cracked further, chunks falling off as a massive hairline fracture split down the middle. One more hit and it’d go down completely.
Garbolt had originally thought the blacklister was desperate, looking for an alternate Trial exit or an escape during a Trial break. What if that wasn’t the case?
What if he didn’t shoot at us because using a firearm would hurt his achievement score?
What if everything from the very start had been cold, hard calculation? From killing the talented Zedart to defeating the best team in the first realm, their team? This was not the actions of a desperate [Rogue] that didn’t know what he was doing. This was a madman trying to snowball into a monster.
“We need to put him down now.”
