Allen's group returned to Heavy User Island after they reached the second level of the gate.
They could have gone to the Dragon God's Village, but Haku would have caused a commotion.
Instead they spent the night in Peromus' mansion. Early the next morning they gathered in the dining hall.
(Haku keeps looking through the windows.)
Haku knew Kurena was inside, so he kept staring through the windows. Luckily the elves had built a sturdy building with spirit magic and it endured that pressure.
"Are you even listening, Allen? I'll turn to jerky if I have to stay in that place!"
Rosalina had been complaining about the heat there.
Fiona looked at Peromus, wondering what was going on, but he did not know either and just continued watching and listening silently.
"Hmm, you're right, we need to find a way around that. I'll ask Kasagoma if he can make a fire resistant hood maybe."
"Are you serious? How do you want us to go back there!"
Rosalina was baffled that Allen continued thinking of a way to get through that rain of lava.
Cecile just sighed, wanting Rosalina to just give up trying to argue with Allen.
"So what are you thinking now? Not even Hawk can get too far there."
"I know."
(That area causes damage during traversal.)
Allen had stayed in the gate for a while longer after sending everyone else back.
Just being there caused damage. He tried pairing a Bird A and B like in the first level, but their Strength vanished before long. The closer they got to the ground the more damage they took.
Sometimes the raining lava would hit them and turn them to ash too.
There were many volcanoes on the ground, as well as structures covered in flames, making it impossible to tell if they were buildings or just rock formations. The area was also as big as a continent. It was clearly a dungeon made by the God of Space and Time.
It was impossible to use the same method as the first level.
＊＊＊
Three days passed since then.
Today they were going to try beating the gate's second level.
Allen had been looking at his Grimoire's logs since the morning.
'Growth Skill has reached Level 9.'
(Oh, it went up right before leaving. Let's try using it on Denka.)
He had finished breakfast, but the girls were still absent as they prepared themselves.
Meanwhile he decided to use Growth Level 9 on his Insect H summon.
He focused his mana and tried to activate the Skill, but his Mana was not spent.
(Oh, the Skill won't activate.)
Allen checked his Grimoire.
'You don't have enough Sacred Bead Points to raise the summon's Growth to Rank S.'
Growth Level 8 used Magic Stones and Mana, but Level 9 used Sacred Bead Points.
Makris produced 3 Sacred Beads each month. That had been going on for 2 months, and he had still not gotten enough for all his allies.
They were not just useful for the rear guard, but also for the frontliners, so he could not use them willfully. But he did not have a single Sacred Bead Point to test Growth either.
(I really want to test it, maybe I should get some points to conquer the gate though.)
"Sorry for being late."
Cecile was the last one to arrive, just like always. Allen put off testing Growth for later.
"Alright, let's go to the Gate of Claw then."
"Okay!"
Merle answered energetically. 8 of them were going to the gate now:
-Allen, Kurena, Sophie, Cecile, Luck, Kiel, Merle, Haku
Getting Haku to become stronger was a priority, so it was best to limit the party to 8 members.
Limiting the party to 8 gave them 80% of the experience.
The two mermen were weak to the next area, so they were switched for Kiel and Merle.
'This is the Gate of the Claw. Do you wish to challenge the second level, Unbound who wishes to open the Gate of Judgement?'
The drawing on the gate spoke to Haku.
'I want to!!'
Haku replied with a loud voice and everyone was transported.
"It still feels somewhat hot here."
"Yes, but at least it's better than before."
They were all wearing transparent hoods, except Allen and Haku. Kasagoma had gotten them from Prostia, and they had fire resistance.
'Huh? You didn't give up then? Wait, what's that you're wearing?'
Megadeth came to see them. He did not seem to even feel the heat there, just like the Spirit God Rosen and Spirit King Fabre.
They all headed out of that room through the corridor.
"So far so good, but we'll need Sophie's help if we go out there."
It was a harsh environment even with their new hoods out there.
"I know, help me water spirit."
"Sure thing, Sophie."
The water spirit replied with a soft voice.
Sophie was wearing two Sacred Beads to raise her Mana, but it was quickly being depleted.
Sophie spent all her Mana on the water spirit, who created large clouds which began to rain violently.
The water quickly evaporated when it reached the ground, but as it went on the temperature slowly began to go down.
"It's looking good so far, keep going."
Sophie took potions to regenerate Mana and expanded the area they could traverse, turning the ground to black rock from lava.
'Woaahhhhh!! So this is the Gate of Trial!! It's my first time here!!'
The cube floating in front of Merle began to speak. That was Digragni.
(He's excited because this is a form of dungeon as well.)
He was 5000 years old, and this was his first time in this place.
Only his voice was audible, but his excitement was palpable.
Allen felt like this might inspire his future dungeons.
[List of ages]
-Merus: 100'000 years *
-Spirit King Fabre: 8000
-Dragon King Matildora: 8000
-Spirit God Rosen: 5000
-Dungeon Master Digragni: 5000
*Merus had been killed as the First Angel before becoming a summon.
"Is everything ready Merle?"
"The surveying device is mounted as ordered."
Merle had the device Larappa made ready, and entered Tam-Tam with it.
She looked happy to be there, as the heat did not reach inside the golem.
Larappa had built a device that improved on devices used to measure large areas like cities.
This dungeon was outside the range of devices used to map continents. The new device could measure relative distances though, so they would not get lost inside the gate.
It was also equipped with fire resistant features and 3 Magic Cores to extend its range.
A display appeared in front of Merle showing her the device's properties.
'What are you doing now?'
Megadeth asked Allen.
"I'm just using the tools I obtained to get through this level."
He gave a quick explanation.
(I'm glad Larappa took some time to help us.)
Merle kept her eyes on the display showing the mapping device and flew around the cold area.
"Ohh! We're filling the map! This will work!!"
'YES, WE ARE FILLING THE MAP!'
Tam-Tam reacted to Merle's voice. Tam-Tam had grown a lot in just a few days.
The mapping device was working perfectly.
BOOOOOOOM
Then a nearby volcano erupted, sending a shockwave out and shooting molten rocks.
"Makris, use Freeze Cannon! Cecile use ice magic too!!"
'Understooood! Freeze Cannon!!'
Ice Cannon turned the volcano into a frozen mountain.
"Blizzard!!"
Soon after that Cecile was done chanting, her magic stopping the rain of lava.
Allen used his summons' blessing to fly together with Merle.
They would map the area together, until they found the location that led to the next level.
Crack crack
(Hm? Oh, it's resisting Freeze Cannon, even though a Demon Great General was obliterated.)
The volcano that had been frozen over was melting again, turning back to a volcano.
"Makris, keep freezing the nearby volcanoes, don't let them erupt."
There were countless volcanoes on the ground.
'Understood!'
"Sophie and Cecile also focus on cooling down everything, and Kiel, you heal everyone."
The summons and Tam-Tam constantly took damage outside, so Kiel had to heal them.
"Yeah, I can tell you need it."
Kiel was shocked by the environment there as he continued using his healing magic.
'Graaaawrrrr!!!'
Soon after Fire Dragons and eagles started attacking. Everyone other than Sophie, Merle and Makris focused on taking them down.
(The Fire Eagles only give a tenth of the experience of dragons, I hope more dragons come.)
The monsters there had gone from Rank C to Rank B, but they still were no foe against Allen.
"Hm? What's that?"
Kiel noticed an amber glint amongst the black cold lava, which activated his greed sensor.
Everyone went there and found a softball sized object encrusted on the ground.
The center looked like a dragon's eye.
"Wait, could this be…"
Allen picked it up and stashed it in his Inventory.
'You've stored a Dragon Eye Rock.'
The Grimoire showed the name of the item he just stored.
"So what was it?! Was it something good?!!"
(Don't get so close, Kiel.)
Kiel loved money, so he felt like it belonged to him as he had found it.
"A Dragon Eye Rock. It's used for Alchemy on orichalcum and other things."
"Ohh!!"
Allen summoned a Bird E summon and activated its Awakened Skill [Clairvoyance].
He saw many other shiny spots in the cold lava.
(I see, there's items and treasure inside the gates too. I guess the other Dragon Eye Rocks were picked up by dragonkin that tried conquering the gate before.)
That item could be used to greatly strengthen orichalcum, mythril, and other metals.
Megadeth mentioned a large group had attempted conquering the gate in the past, so they had likely picked up many Dragon Eye Rocks, but with use they had diminished in number.
That had happened many years ago, which was why none were being sold now.
"Okiyos, go pick up the Dragon Eye Rocks. Don't get close to areas that are still hot though."
'Okay, heeheehee.'
Allen summoned Wraith A summons who could float above ground to pick them up.
There were also chunks of Hihiirokane and Adamantite which could be used to craft equipment.
The Gates of Trials were not just a challenge, but also housed treasure.
This would greatly empower the party and Allen's Army.
Ten days passed after that, and they finally found a large rock with an opening in the map.
They went inside and found a glowing symbol on the ground.
'Incredible. This is the first time someone got this far in such a short time and with no losses.'
Megadeth sounded impressed with Allen.
They had finally cleared the second level of the Gate of Claw.
