Aldred raised his hands and snapped his fingers. "Fire Combustion!"
Suddenly, all the monsters around him were burned and turned to ash. Some of the monsters were strong enough to hold against his flames, but his wives quickly killed them off.
And then there was one stubborn monster in the shape of a mantis. Sensing the powerful presence of Aldred, it lunged in blinding speed, but luckily Aldred already activated his godly eyes, so for him, the three-meters tall mantis moved in slow motion.
Despite this, he had struggled a bit to match its speed.
"Crazy bastard," Aldred commented. "My dexterity is more than double, but this mantis can match my speed?"
The more he thought about it, the crazier it got. The treasure hunting test would get harder and harder as he went on, but he already struggled in the first stage.
"Time to go into avatar mode!"
Aldred clasped his hand, and a small bump appeared on the floor, making the mantis stumble on it, and lost its balance.
Aldred smiled and threw an arc of water razor at it. The mantis reacted quickly, slashing the water, and making it ineffective.
It did this while it was falling to the floor, its movement speed was too crazy.
Aldred did not give up though, he punched a bunch of times, sending a quick barrage of air punches.
The large mantis stabbed the ground and used it as leverage to move its body, dodging all the attacks coming at Aldred.
Its vicious mouth was right in front of Aldred's face, but the most dangerous weapon came from the side.
Two sharp, spiky forelegs came swinging at him left and right. If he was hit, there was a chance that he would be sliced in half or suffer significant damage.
But Aldred wasn't about to let that happen. He shapeshifted into a Phantom Claw and activated the 'intangibility' skill.
The mantis' forelegs went through him before Aldred morphed back into his adult form and spun, creating a circular arc of crimson light that cut through the mantis' body.
The mantis fell, and Aldred stepped on its eyes. "Ughh… I hate bugs."
[12+ Dexterity]
"Are you not going to eat that?" Mary said. "You can transform into the beast that you eat, right?"
"I don't need it. It doesn't have any valuable skills except for its speed."
"But anything can help."
"I don't want to eat bugs."
"Don't be a scaredy cat and eat it," Mary said.
Aldred accepted his fate and tried to ignore his disgust as he ripped a chunk of the monster, and bit it.
[You can now shapeshift into Speedy Mantis]
"Yuck!" He spat the mantis meat.
Mary giggled.
Fighting against monsters was always a huge risk for anyone in this world. This was because monsters were generally faster and stronger than humans or any other sentient race counterpart.
Out of all the sentient races, humans were known to be the weakest in speed, strength, and flight, and are always at a disadvantage in harsh environments. But those weaknesses were usually filled with their wit and intellect.
In fact, humans were so powerful that they could even afford to have conflict among themselves.
Montcresia, Ceraisian, and Duria were super nations, and all of them were nations of humans.
The only difference these nations have was their cultures.
Suddenly, Aldred saw a scroll laying beside the mantis' body.
"What is this?" Aldred picked up the scroll.
[Would you like to learn 'Mantis Martial Art'?]
"Ohh… it's a skill book. This one looks weak though."
"What is it?" Mareona asked.
"It's a skill book about martial arts, but it's not of good quality."
"Maybe we will find something better soon."
"Yeah, I hope so. I am going to keep it. Who knows we can sell or trade it for something." Aldred threw the scroll into his divine dimension and immediately forgot about it.
He then looked at all the people in the hallway. Other than his group, there were a bunch of other groups as well.
"I am guessing none of you entered this place through the ocean?"
They all shook their heads.
Aldred then looked at Nali, the leader of the first group he met.
"Where is your friend? I am pretty sure her name is Bilane?"
Nali shook his head.
Stella approached Aldred and whispered to his ear, telling him what happened.
"He did what?" Aldred looked at the man again. He couldn't believe he would meet someone this cruel.
If Aldred remembered correctly, Bilane was Nali's childhood friend.
But this wasn't Aldred's problem, however. He wouldn't avenge Bilane, but he wouldn't treat Nali kindly either.
Meanwhile, Sophia had been glaring at Nali the whole time when Stella told her about the event.
She hated men that used women however they liked. Although Sophia only met Bilane for less than a day, she felt related to her when she asked for advice.
She didn't expect her to die so soon and by the hand of Nali of all people.
Mira was also enraged as well. Betrayal was such a sinful thing. It was one of the most forbidden acts in the bible, and those who betray their friends or lovers will always be isolated in Montcresia.
Aldred coughed a bunch of times. "Let's continue."
Everyone agreed with him. All of them saw how powerful Aldred was. Killing dozens of monsters with a flick of his finger… only a fool would not agree with him in this situation.
After walking for a few hours, they arrived in front of a massive gate. The gate had dark-blue color with intricate shapes all over it.
One particular shape took Aldred's attention. It was a creature with large eyes, and people worshiped it. The creature looked like a giant eyeball with a tail. And behind this creature were smaller eyeballs.
"What do you think of these pictures, Stella?" Aldred asked.
Stella squinted her eyes and caressed the image with her tan-skin hand. "I have never seen them before."
"Since you have never seen them before, these creatures must be hidden or new."
"The continent never uses the same creature for the test," Stella replied.
"That explains it. This lets new treasure hunters won't have the advantage of past information."
"In some sense, yes," Stella replied.
The gate creaked. Dust and dirt fell off its surface, and then a small gap appeared on the gate before it made a heavy creaking sound and opened itself.
