The forbidden trail ground that Benny Beckerman had read about in some ancient texts and writings that he found on the mainland, was said to be a place filled with danger and death in every step. However, despite all the dangers, what made it so enticing for the others was the numerous treasures that it held.
It wouldn't be weird for a guild as powerful as theirs to get wiped out there, that is why he wanted the information from the demon noble who came back alive from it. However, even after mobilising the entire strength of his guild, he wasn't able to catch the demon who was stranded alone in their kingdom.
Although it annoyed him to no extent, he had no other choice but to give up for the time being and change his plans.
The Sea God's Trident guild monitored the area for a couple of days but after finding no clue about the demon, they left the place. The events and the fight that happened near the Aqualin city would become a piece of huge news that would spread like a wildfire across the whole kingdom.
People would come and see the traces of destruction, get some information from the locals about the battle before drawing their own conclusions and spreading it to the rest of the regions.
The demon noble that managed to invade their kingdom, became a hot topic that would be discussed by every single individual of this kingdom.
He was not only able to turn their capital upside down but was also able to outwit the Sea God's trident guild who pursued him to the distant western borders of the kingdom.
Amongst the many rumours floating about him, some even go as far as to say that he has a strong subordinate capable of defeating a powerful Ranker and an officer of the Adventurer's Association. Others say that he was powerful enough to contend with Davis Hall.
With the word of mouth, each rumour was exaggerated to the point where the whole truth seemed to have become obscured. Before long, the Demon Noble and his dungeon, would become a piece of gossip that the people of the kingdom of Ellesmere talk about every day.
N0 v el Next. CoM
Adventurers would head towards the city of Mountmend closest to the ghastly winding forest. Some seek to dive inside the dungeon for its riches while others have their own motives in mind. Nonetheless, the dungeon Laplace would no longer remain an obscured dungeon known only around the remote north western region.
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"Ugh" Simon groaned in pain, as he laid down on the ground completely exhausted. His eyes blankly started at the sky and his body remained motionless for a while. "Hahahahah" suddenly he burst into laughter and continued to laugh out loud like a madman for a good long while.
When his laughter stopped a strong malevolent and evil aura burst out of his body like a broken dam. Simon extended his hand towards the sky and swore "I'll fucking kill those guys".
It was truly a close call, had the teleportation not activated by then, he might have died by that last attack from the guild master of the Sea God's Trident.
The thunder dragon summoned by Benny Beckerman was powerful enough to kill him instantly. Advanced magic, after all, was the pinnacle of an element and in the hands of someone high levelled, they would show an unimaginable amount of power.
This venture to the capital, finally made him come to term with himself and at the same time resolved any attachment he had towards humans. The illusion he had been harbouring inside his heart, was finally gone and he finally saw himself for who he was.
Simon chuckled, seemingly at nothing.
"That peculiar ability of that sword seemed to have finally dissipated" Godwin's sword that carried a special ability to delay or slow down any healing or regenerative abilities when cut by it. Fortunately, now that some time had passed and he was far away from them, his [Super Regeneration] skill finally kicked in, swiftly healing his wounds.
Simon also took multiple Elixirs of healing to increase the healing rate before closing his eyes and resting for a while. His body was so exhausted that even making light movements seemed an impossibility at this moment.
When he opened his eyes again a couple of hours had already passed. All of the wounds on his body had mostly healed and he had recovered more than fifty percent of his strength. Simon would have liked to rest some more; however, he was in the forbidden trials where danger lurks everywhere. He couldn't just relax his guard completely and focus on healing.
Since that was the case, he decided to survey his surroundings. Currently, he was in the middle of a vast wilderness with hot winds blowing from time to time. The sun overhead was in full heat, raising the temperature quite high. As far as his eyes could see, he was surrounded by the same scene.
The scenery here was quite different from the ones he had explored so far, thus it didn't take him time to draw the conclusion that it was the fourth trial.
Simon strained his senses trying to detect any enemies or monsters nearby. However, there was no one around. Although there were no presences around him, it did not mean that he put his guard down, on the contrary, being unable to sense any presence, made him alert even more.
Picking a direction, Simon travelled for hours taking a few minutes of break every now and then. During these past few hours, he had discovered that finding your direction here was an impossibility.
Just like the first trial, skills such as [Mental Map] or any other navigational skills didn't work here. Added that with the same scenery all around, it would be a wonder if he didn't get lost.
The forbidden trial grounds was a place that he had difficulty clearing even while he had the help of Lucine at that time. Now though he was all alone here and without any way to get back. The return transit rocks only allows a person to teleport in and out of the forbidden trail once before crumbling.
That is to say, if Simon wanted to return, he would have to find another transit rock.
"Seems like there is no other choice but to clear this trial," he said making up his mind. Though it is true that the choice to return here was something he had made in a moment of desperation, in some corner of his heart he wanted to come here again.
The reason for that being none other than the growth he had in the past few days while he was here. The forbidden trail ground was no doubt dangerous, a place where he would have to risk his life at every turn but so was the world outside which at every point reminded him of how important it was to have strength.
Without power even if you were innocent, nobody would hear you nor would you have the right to decide your fate. Without sufficient strength, you would only be trampled down upon by others more powerful than you.
Simon was sick of it, he wanted to become powerful as soon as possible and thankfully, the trail was able to help him.
After a while of cluelessly walking around, he stumbled upon an area that had plants that looked like weird Cactuses growing around. The reason for him calling them weird was because they were purple in colour and other than having a body similar to a cactus, they had a flower bud on top.
Another thing he noticed was that the cactus was huge, probably more than five meters tall. Simon was about to nonchalantly approach the cactus but maybe because of his prudent nature or just out of habit, he used [Analysis] on the plant only to get a big surprise.
The cactus that he thought was a simple-looking plant, was in fact a type of monster called Carnivorous Desertvine. They lay in wait for the prey to approach closer to them before opening their huge mouth to gulp down the prey or strangle them with its body.
When Simon looked at the details provided by his analysis, he was very surprised when he saw that its level was around 407 having multitudes of skills. It was a good thing that he did not approach it carelessly and used his [analysis] beforehand or else he would have become prey for that Carnivorous Desertvine to munch on.
As Simon was examining its skills, he noticed that the Carnivorous Desertvine had [Water Magic Nullification] as one of its skills. This means that water magic was completely useless against it.
Simon deliberated whether to fight it or go around it but when he saw that there were more than hundreds of them spread evenly across the distance, he choose to take his chance and see if he can defeat them.
No matter what, he has to explore that area and avoiding them every time seemed like a pain in the ass, plus if they were going to attack him, it would be best to know about their attack patterns and whether he would be able to defeat them or not.
Making up his mind, Simon slowly approached closer to it. When he was about three meters near it, the plant suddenly awakened and the bud on its top swiftly spread open to reveal a bewitching yet deadly-looking flower.