Cosmic Peak

"The trial domain's door is under the ground; follow me." The temple head said as he started walking deeper into the underground cave's tunnel.

The two Tengus returned to the surface while Aren followed the temple head.

After walking for five minutes through winding paths, they arrived in front of a large demonic gate; on the gate's left and right side were two demonic skulls spewing purple flames.

"Let me tell you a bit of the trial. All stages will be about killing multiple powerful foes, as this trial tests how powerful and ferocious you are. There are 12 stages with difficulty that correspond to your battle power, hence making it more difficult for you to pass.

"The surrounding scenery will change following each stage, but there won't be any changes to the landscape that would allow you to use it to your advantage. Instead, it will be the opposite, so don't think about relying on your surroundings. Use your own power and ability to win."

"Got it. Thanks for the heads up," Aren nodded towards the temple head.

The temple head then waved his hands towards the gate, causing them to open, revealing a sunny atmosphere with a grassy land.

Although surprised about how the field inside looked, Aren knew not to judge the book by its cover.

"Good luck."

Aren nodded as he walked towards the gates entering them.

Hearing a whooshing sound, Aren turned around only to see that the gate from which he came had disappeared.

Suddenly, a large golden bell with dark and red carvings materialized in the sky as it released a tolling sound.

The bell rang three times before a magisterial voice resounded from it.

[The trial will start after three seconds, prepare yourself]

The magisterial voice resembled that of an old man in his eighties, unhurried and calm.

Aren took out his chakram, hammer, and sword. His Armalist Cloak was always active ever since he got it, and with the addition of two new gears, he got 2 buffs as well.

-----

--->Weimbus: An energy barrier materializes around you after successfully attacking 10 consecutive times in a row without missing. (Energy Barrier: Durability [2000], Phy. Def [1000] Energy Def [1000]. Cooldown: 10 minutes)

--->Slinger: Your projectiles receive 10% air and atmospheric resistance, and movement speed increases by 5%

-----

Three seconds passed as Aren saw five Cryo Blood Vultures appearing out of a large portal in the sky while two Earth Demons who were over 2-meters tall and had spiky hands emerged from the grass around him.

*screeeeeeeeeee....*

*Grrrrr*

Aren didn't move from his place as he kept floating in the sky by manipulating his armor.

His chakram [Oberon], however, flew towards the five vultures while being buffed by two of his abilities; <Icy Enchant> and <Demonic Flame: Zarkhel>.

The chakram was releasing an icy aura while being covered in demonic flames.

*Swooooooosh...*

The chakram's speed was faster than vultures' as Aren manipulated it to cut the necks of all five vultures in rapid succession. He felt no resistance whatsoever as their heads were cut off; they had a negligible defense.

[Killed a Cryo Blood Vulture. 500 exp gained] x5

*Roar!!*

The two Earth Demons pointed their sharp pointy arms towards Aren before their spear-like hands literally separated and flew towards Aren like a rocket.

Aren, however, dodged them easily with minimum movement and pointed his right hand towards them before releasing five seeds of the <Demonic Grasp> skill.

*Shuaaaaaa...*

Following the seeds at high speed was the hammer [Destructo].

However, the two Earth Demons suddenly dived underground as if the ground was like water for them.

"Interesting...," Aren muttered as his attacks failed to connect. This caused the consecutive hits to count to reset as he could not connect ten attacks in a row.

Aren observed the ground below him with full focus as his eyes could not penetrate the ground to see the movements of those two Earth Demons.

*Swooosh...*

Suddenly, Aren heard something as his face showed a little frown and hurriedly dodged the incoming spear-arm.

He turned around but saw nothing except for a small hole, enough to fit the spear-arm that attacked him.

*Swoooooooosh....*

Aren heard the sound and dodged again as another spear-arm flew past him.

"They can directly release their spear-arm from the ground...I guess I have to make a large AOE attack," Aren muttered as he flew upward.

Two more spears came, but he dodged them even easier this time as he was floating in the sky a kilometer above the ground.

Aren manipulated his hammer and placed it on standby beside him while observing the ground with his Astral-X eyes.

"Their area of movement is not too wide. I think 300 mutant magic energy will be enough," Aren said to himself while thinking. He didn't want to waste his energy because who knows if the next stage had a time limit?

After a minute of observing, he decided to go with 350 mutant magic energy, and using that much energy, he activated the hammer's skill, <Impact Burst>.

*zooooooom....*

*BOOOOOOOOOOM...*

He didn't let the hammer fly at its full speed because then, it would break. However, even with half the speed, the damage from <Impact Burst> skill using 350 mutant energy was already insane.

[You have cleared Stage one. Stage two will start after ten minutes]

"Ten minutes? Enough to recover my spirit energy and mutant magic energy to full since I didn't consume that much," Aren muttered as he sat crossed-legged on his sword while being in the air.

Ten minutes passed, and Aren recovered all of his energy.

[Stage 2 will start in three seconds.]

Aren was ready with all of his gears.

After three seconds passed, a giant portal that was 10 meters tall appeared right below the large bell.

*ROARRRR...*

A 10-meter tall minotaur with a large double-ax in both hands came out of the portal.

"So this stage is the boss monster stage?" Aren muttered as a grin surfaced on his face, "seems easy enough."