When the gate opened itself, water started to enter the hallway and filled it to the ceiling.
Aldred had no problem breathing in the water, but the others had to use spells and treasures. Thankfully, his group had no shortages of useful treasures.
After countless scamming—cough, countless trading, Aldred had amassed enough treasures for any situation.
Some of the groups he met didn't have such luxury. They suffocated for a few minutes, and eventually died with their teammates couldn't do anything about it.
This was the danger and cruelty of this test. The reason why not everyone was willing to participate in this treasure hunting was due to the danger and the high amount of casualties.
Aldred couldn't even count how many people died on Mount Fargon, either freezing to death or being eaten by monsters.
Sophia waved her hands, creating an air bubble around their heads.
"Do we go in?" Sophia asked. She could speak now with the air bubble around her head
Before Aldred could reply, however, a bunch of water zombies rushed in.
"This reminds me of that time when the large wasp stung someone, they turned into a zombie," Aldred said.
"That's cool and all, but are we going to fight these zombies or run away from them?" Mareona asked.
Aldred sent out a couple of water razors at the zombies, but it only created a small cut on their bodies.
"Seems like water elemental spell will not work on them," Aldred said.
"Icy Spikes!"
A pleasant voice of a woman came from behind, and Aldred saw ten spikes of ice drift through the water at a high speed and struck at the zombies, piercing their heads. Not only that, when the spike hit the head, more ice spikes burst from the zombies, making sure that all of them were dead.
Aldred was watching all of this with his godly eyes, and he was fairly impressed with the quality of the mana, and the level of mastery over the spell.
He turned around and saw the woman slowly swimming to the front line, and Aldred raised an eyebrow when he saw her appearance.
Long silver hair, mesmerizing blue eyes, and her small petite body… if she was put on modern earth, she would be thought of as a celebrity.
Aldred wasn't impressed very much though, after all, he had nine beauties accompanying him all the time.
Still, having a lot of beauties didn't mean he wouldn't look at another one.
"Aldred, that girl has a better quality of mana than you," Stella said.
"So her spell is stronger than mine?"
"Yes."
"Do you think she can defeat me?"
"If you are stupid, she can, but you have fought a lot of enemies who are stronger than you before, so I have my confidence in you."
Aldred laughed. "So there's someone out there who can match me… interesting."
"Did you forget about Simond? Didn't he match you?" Stella asked.
"No. His strength relies on his sword. I don't know what kind of sword that is, but it constantly gave him power."
"But there are at least sixty zombies there. She only kills ten."
A crackling sound echoed in the water, and lightning blasted through thirteen zombies at once. Aldred looked at the culprit and noticed a man in a metallic, high-technology suit. The suit was thick and bulky with two glowing eyes, and blue energy lines running around its body. Lightning crackled around its hammer, and when the man swung the hammer, the lightning current did not spread and instead headed towards the zombies.
"Someone from Duria?" Aldred asked.
A Lizardfolk quickly charged through the water as if a bird was flying through the air, he stabbed his trident through three zombies at once, before rotating it, and blasted a powerful water cyclone, killing more than a dozen zombies.
"Another powerful contender." Aldred smiled. "This has become even more interesting."
"Are you bored of weak adventurers, Aldred?" Stella asked.
"Yeah. The only fun time I had was dueling against Simond," Aldred replied. "But I don't think I can ask them for a spar."
"They might spar with you if you ask politely," Stella said.
Aldred laughed at that and continued to watch the three powerful figures killing the zombies.
After all the zombies were killed, the power-armored man from Duria, the silver-haired girl ice mage, and the Lizardfolk with a trident looked at each other with wariness.
Aldred crossed his arms and smiled. This was typical. Anyone would be wary when they saw someone as powerful as them.
Not for Aldred. He simply thought it was interesting and even eager to have some fun with them.
The tension between the three increased, and that made the others back away.
Aldred looked around, trying to find their allies, but apparently, they came here by themselves.
"These people are brave," Aldred said. "I have never seen anyone enter a challenge site by themselves."
"They must be one of those hidden genii," Zafrina said. "These people don't want to be controlled by any major power or group, so they hide and increased their strength alone."
"They are young too," Stella said. "That young woman is 19 years old."
"Not as young as me," Aldred said.
"You are an anomaly." Stella giggled.
As the three figures stared at each other, the Lizardfolk spoke: "Why don't we work together? The three of us can pass this test easily."
"I agree," a manly voice came from the power armor.
The silver-haired girl coldly nodded.
"What about him?" The man in power armor pointed at Aldred. "He can join us. He is powerful enough."
The Lizardman glanced at him and nodded. "Would you like to join us?"
"Sure," Aldred said with a smile.
"Wait," the silver-haired girl said. "You cannot bring your friends with you."
"Are you underestimating my friends?" Aldred asked.
"I hate burdens."
Aldred laughed. "Guys, show them your moves."
Bartrem was the first to move forward and executed his sword art, slashing around, and sending out bloody arcs in every direction.
The soldiers then followed, doing the exact movement Bartrem was doing.
The Lizardman widened his eyes. "Impressive… all of them are at the level of Elite Gold Rank."
Elite Gold Rank is an informal qualification for powerful Gold Rankers. To be identified as an Elite, they must have the power to at least defeat two ordinary Gold Ranks at the same time.
The silver-haired girl squinted her eyes. It was obvious that she didn't like to be proven wrong.
At that moment, a heavy creaking sound came from the side, and they all turned their head toward another gate.
