"Well, boys. It's killing time." Aldred smiled.
The adventurers were excited and nervous all at the same time as they brandished their weapons.
"Oh, what would not be necessary," Aldred said. "I will take care of it all."
He looked at the giant dice in the sky and realized there was numbers, indicating how many participants were left in this test.
Currently, there were 49,828 people left. Aldred wasn't surprised that in a few hours more than 50% of the treasure hunters were killed.
It seemed like the test was much more challenging than before. After all, only 1% of the total participants were allowed to pass.
Some of the treasure hunters realized this and vowed to leave this place when they passed the test.
1% was too small of an odd for them to consider.
"What do you mean you will take care of it all?" a man asked Aldred.
"It's exactly what it meant."
Suddenly, three more Aldred appeared, standing side by side, surprising the treasure hunters.
And then portals opened up as thousands of golems marched in like a soldiers. Then, undeads of vicious monsters stepped out from the shadow, looking dangerous and deathly.
Xer Xai burrowed out of the ground with a bang. Her mountain-like size made the treasure hunters stared at her in awe.
Standing on her back was Aldred's most powerful undead: Milet, Nicky, Crook, Brook, Bella, Will, Teethless, Juragan, Bruce, Brath, Breth, and Broth.
"Go and kill everyone you see," Aldred ordered.
They bowed and flashed away.
Aldred then calmly looked at the giant dice in the sky.
The numbers went from 49,828 to 38,250 in less than a minute, and it kept going down endlessly.
32,310
26,440
21,540
The treasure hunters were in shock. How could the numbers go down that fast?
"What a powerful army. Did you see the undead and the golems earlier? Let me tell you they are the most powerful one I have ever seen in my life. At least, no Gold Ranks in the world could defeat them."
"And don't forget their numbers. If my eyes are correct, there should be more than 100,000 golems.
"But there were only around 175 undeads though."
"Don't underestimate those undead. I am sure each one of them could take down at least 200 to 400 golems by themselves. And did you see that large creature?"
"I know. That thing is a Xer Xai that comes from Aringuerao."
"The creatures that turned an entire province into desert?"
"Yeah, that one."
"How the fuck did this man turned something like that into an undead. I heard the weakest of them is a Platinum Rank."
"I don't know. Perhaps he obtained it during one of the challenge."
"That is possible. But if he had this much power, he could just kill all of us at once. Why did he recruit us first before he began his massacre?"
"How would I know? All I have to say is we should be thankful that he did not kill us."
They were indeed thankful after they saw his power. They hadn't seen his combat capability yet, but the fact that he commanded such a large, powerful army already earned him their respect and fear.
Now, they saw Aldred in a completely different light. Those who had an idea of stabbing him from the back wiped their sweat and let out a breath of relief that they hadn't done such a stupid thing yet.
After a few minutes, the numbers of participants came down to 4,000.
Aldred frowned. "The army encountered a problem. Stella, bring us there."
Stella hit the air with her magic staff, and a powerful star magic blasted the space, creating a portal.
They all stepped in, and arrived on a mountain, overlooking two thousand men and women fighting against the undead and golems.
They were led by a man knight in white armor with a powerful shield and sword, cutting every golems and undead he could see.
"Don't let them break our formation!" the knight shouted.
Artillery golems constantly raining them down with explosions along with the gunner golems who endlessly attacked them with fire bullets.
But a team of mages managed to block all the projectile attacks with their barrier.
Aldred looked to the side and noticed his 3 clones, and Xer Xai had not make a move yet. His most strongest undead, Milet and the others, were also not making a move.
Aldred had appointed them as the leaders of the undead, so he trusted their judgment. But because he also connected to them in spiritual level, he understood that they were testing ways to break the enemy's formation as practice.
Aldred had sent the undead and the golems to the dungeon in his divine dimension numerous times to practice.
And whenever they found a particular worthy enemies, they would try to break the enemies' formation without involving directly. This was to make the army stronger as a whole, and so they won't have to rely on them too much.
"How long do you think they will last?" Mary asked.
"Six hours?" Mareona replied.
"I don't they think they can last that long," Mary said.
A Phantom Claw zipped through their line of defense. All the attacks went past its ethereal body as if it wasn't there in the first place. This was Phantom Claw's main ability.
It entered the formation and pounced on the mages, devouring them whole with a single chomp.
The barrier weakened.
"Do not panic!" the white knight shouted again as he beheaded the Phantom Claw.
The head regenerated, but this time the knight shone in bright white light and killed the Phantom Claw.
Aldred had to wait 24 hours before he could summon the killed undead again.
10 Bajaragons dove down, pressure their entire weight on the barrier.
A mage gritted his teeth. "We can't hold on much longer!"
"Just hold on as long as you can!"
The Bajaragons opened their maw and a spinning vortex of flame shot out of their mouth, drilling through the barrier and engulfing the mages.
The barrier shattered, then all hell break loose.
Fighter golems went in with their swords and slammed against the enemies' shield.
The warriors gritted their teeth in so much pain as their arms turned weak.
A few seconds later, they could not hold the shield high enough, and their heads were off with a single slash.
Aldred looked up to the sky, and the numbers went down from 4,000 to 2,000.
"Only 2,000 left," an adventurer said. "If my guess is correct, they probably made a group just like us."
"Search them!"
The army scattered again trying to find the group.
The treasure hunters that Aldred recruited looked down at the battlefield where they saw dead bodies and burn marks everywhere. Broken armors, cut off limbs, and spilled blood were the only thing they could see.
Such savagery! The golems and the undead had no slightest hesitation when they killed.
The scene carved fear in their heart.
"So what do we do now?" Mary asked.
"We wait." Aldred smiled. "Bartrem, prepare the grill for us."
***
The sound of gunfire rang in the forest, and a man screamed.
The man was in his early twenties and wore a tattered robe. He was in the middle of the forest, hiding in the bushes.
"Fuck, who brings an entire army of golems to this place!"
