"Wait, you're saying that all 3500 rocks are spiritual rocks?" Mareona asked.
The old lady nodded.
"Wow, Aldred. How did you do it?"
"I have good pair of eyes." He smiled.
"So what do we do now?" Bartrem asked.
"The reason I told you to collect these rocks is to prepare you for the next stage. It might be your last challenge, but whether or not that's true, I don't know for sure the test will be harder than anything you have ever seen."
"What effect do these rocks have?" Aldred asked.
"It will empower you just like that golden hot bath. The more spiritual rocks you have, the more powerful the effect will be."
Everyone gasped when they heard that. The golden hot bath made them far stronger than they truly were. Some people even got their strength doubled because of that.
The old lady snapped her fingers, and all the spiritual rocks were crushed into green energy. This energy then shot to their owners ' body, and inserted themselves to every cell.
Aldred felt pain all over. He gritted his teeth and noticed that Mira and the others were also in pain.
[Magic art mastery increased by 300%]
[Sword art mastery increased by 300%]
[All attributes increased by 50%]
A bright blue light then came from above, washing over Aldred's group.
"Good luck, treasure hunters."
Aldred looked at the old lady before the world was filled with blue light, and then Aldred appeared on a gigantic stage.
He looked around making sure Mira and the others were there.
Ivette had already woken as well. Her feet wobbled, about to fall. Aldred caught her quickly.
"Are you okay?" Aldred asked.
Ivette blushed and nodded. "I am fine."
"What happened that time? How did you block Xer Xai's claw?"
"I don't know," Ivette said. "I cannot explain where that power came from. I just felt an urge to protect Mira, and my body moved by itself."
Mira approached her. "Ivette, try to channel your energy to your sword."
Ivette pulled out her sword, and held it with both hands. She closed her eyes and channeled her energy into the sword. "Like this?"
The sword shined with a thick golden light.
Ivette was amazed by her own power. "It's not this powerful before."
Aldred had actually add her into the party system already. So maybe it was because of that.
"Congratulations, Ivette."
"Eh? For what?"
Mira smiled. "You are now a hero candidate."
"What?" Ivette was shocked. "I am a hero candidate?"
Mira nodded. "I will be your guide along the way."
Ivette was about to ask some questions, but a voice interrupted her.
"Welcome to your final stage."
Aldred turned around and looked at the sky. There was a woman floating in the air. She wore a very revealing white and golden robe. Her wavy, long deep shaded taupe hair fluttered in the non-existents breeze.
Some sort of broken golden disc floated behind her back, and she held a majestic golden staff in her left hand.
"My name is Stella Altum. I am the guardian of this place and shall be your final examiner of Mount Fargon."
Aldred stared at her. He still couldn't believe how revealing her clothes were. Her legs and thigh were bare for him to see, and her special parts were only covered by a thin line of golden armor, while her the cover for her boobs were only for the nipples.
Such a weird fashion style. He loved it. But it was slightly weird.
"What do we have to do?" Aldred asked.
Stella sternly stared at the boy. "I will give you your rewards after you have completed the challenge. It will require you to use your brain, wit, and tactics. My test is very straigthforward."
"Survive for 5 months."
"Five months of what?"
"This." She raised her staff, and the light core shone bright before hundreds of Phantom Claws appeared on the stage.
"Fuck! At arms!" Aldred summoned his undead.
Bartrem and the soldiers raised their weapons and shield before forming a defensive formation.
The Phantom Claws roared and charged towards them.
"Attack!" Bartrem shouted.
The soldiers charged forward with the snow apes infantry. The snow wolves rounded the formation and attacked from the side. Aldred ran along with the infantry. He pointed his fingers and sent out storms of fire bullets at the monsters.
With his increased strength and mastery, his fire bullets were more than powerful to blast the Phantom Claws to pieces.
The Bajaragon belched out a large flame out of his mouth, burning dozens of monsters at once.
Will, his undead phantom claw, was much stronger as well. He slashed at his own kin with far greater speed and sharpness.
Ivette rushed forward, enveloped by a divine light all over her body. Her snow-white pony tail hair shook up and down as she cut down the monsters in front of her. She was quick and agile, sharp and precise.
Bella and Sophia weren't staying idle. They raised their staff and casted spells after spells to support the soldiers.
After killing all the Phantom Claws, they thought the fight was over, until more monsters appeared by the edge of the stage. Hundreds of Bajaragon appeared in the sky, sending out hellish flames towards their way.
Gargant Eagles flew through the air with incredible speed, creating wind turbulence, and sonic boom all over the sky. Gigantic centipedes crawled from below the stage.
Snow wolves, and snow apes appeared and charged at them.
Maverick and his subordinates rushed like an assassin. Their feet fluttered on the floor, blurry. Even though they hadn't shown their might very much, their power was not to be underestimated.
The blood on all the creature's body burst from inside. Spikes made out of blood stabbed out of their skin, stabbing their internal organs along the way.
It was their secret group skill--Blood Bath.
Every creature that they passed died with these spikes coming out of their body.
The monsters kept on coming. Minutes turned into hours. Hours turned into days, and days turned into months.
After months of endless fighting, the soldiers and even Aldred started to get exhausted. Their lips cracked and dry. Their stomach rumbled with hunger.
Aldred had long pulled out all the supplies from his divine dimension. He drank a mouthful of water from a water bottle, and then crushed hard bread with his mouth.
They did not have time to cook a good meal.
With a bread in his mouth, Aldred raised his hands. "Fire Combustion!"
All the monsters in front of him were engulfed by flames. But the wave of monsters never ends. More came from the sky, the ground, and the surface.
"Blood cloning." Two other Aldred appeared beside him and rushed forward.
The transaction had ended long ago, so it was fine that Aldred summoned his clones back. Not that he cares about other groups in this situation.
He punched out to every directions, sending flame fist, fire balls, flame javelins, fire bullets, and flame jets.
The numbers of monsters were so numerous that it put his undead army to shame. He replaced all of his random undead with Bajaragon and Phantom Claws. Now he had a whole army of them to help fighting the monsters.
Bartrem and the soldiers never stopped fighting. Stabbing, slashing, kicking, and punching. They used all they had to survive.
One month.
That was the time left. They just had to survive for that long.
Days turned into weeks, and their limbs felt heavy. They wanted to fal down and rest, but they must not.
On the last day.
Many fell to exhaustion. They did not give up. Rather, their body could not handle it and shut down by itself. Unconscious. Some soldiers fight off their own body. Telling it to stand and fight.
As Aldred killed one monster after another, he felt his demonic blood tingled inside of him. Suddenly, he was morphed into his adult state. Horns grew out of his forehead.
"Crazed Form!" Aldred shouted out of his own will. It was like being controlled by something within him.
His undead burst with powerful aura, and their appearance was akin to a demon straight out of hell. Their bodies exuded deep-red mist, and their attributes tripled.
For the next 10 minutes, Aldred and his undead were like a god of slaughter. He rushed forward to the monsters and swiped with his claws.
Everything twenty meters ahead of him were cut into pieces. He slashed left and right, cutting down everything in his path. His 55 Bajaragon undead belched a powerful flames.
Seeing that the situation was under control, Bartrem, Mira, Mareona, Sophia, Ivette, and everyone else fell to the floor.
Bartrem wanted to push himself off the ground, but Aldred stopped him.
"Let me handle this. All of you have done enough."
Aldred massacred the monsters.
His undead burst into red mist and disappeared. His chest went up and down, as he held both knees for support.
He could barely breathe.
"Is it over?" Aldred asked Stella who was still floating in the sky.
"Yes, except one."
Aldred took a deep breath and readied his weapon. "Let it come to me."
"I am sure you have met her already. Xer Xai, come out."
