"Did you just say that…you want to take this trial?" Rebecca asked with a narrowed gaze as she felt as if maybe her ears were playing tricks on her. This was exactly what the others thought as well.
"Was I not loud enough, or does Warden Rebecca have difficulty understanding what I just said. Forgive me if my language is subpar. I only woke up a month ago," Asher said with a subtle sarcastic smile, making Rebecca's expression darken since he was clearly mocking her by making her look like an idiot.
Everyone felt some tension settling in the air, and one thing they had to admit was this royal consort knew no fear. They had already heard about how he talked back to Oberon during the celebration a month ago. However, they thought the source of his guts to be his ignorance.
Rebecca harrumphed as she stepped down the platform and walked towards Asher, "Hmph, this is not a child's training ground. This is a place where even the best among the best die. I asked the queen to send you here because I wanted to train you personally, not to let you take the trial. Even if you woke up only a month ago, shouldn't you have at least learned by now that this place isn't for the manaless? But no need to be disheartened. I will still teach you to the best of my ability and not make you feel helpless," Rebecca was glad this idiot was making a fool out of himself. She can now publicly humiliate him, and he can only blame himself.
And once she can get him alone, then it would be the last time he would dare to wag his tongue like this.
"I know what kind of place this tower is. I also saw the first trial taking place with my own eyes. And that is why I think it's too easy to pass the first trial. It's a pity the standards are too low. I thought our kingdom was supposed to only pick the best among the best. But clearly, that doesn't seem to be the case," Asher said as he scanned Rebecca's figure from top to bottom.
This lowly thing dares to look down on me?!...Rebecca's nostrils flared upon feeling his contemptuous gaze. She wasn't used to this at all and felt even more irked because of his towering height. She can't understand how he was not at all feeling intimidated by her superiority.
The other demons had their eyes twitch, hearing his words, 'You call this trial easy? Is he fucking nuts?'
Darren was the one who was even more pissed off since the crippled consort was clearly saying he was average even if he passed the trial.
He couldn't just sit still anymore and stepped forward as he said, "Your Highness seems confident enough to say that this trial is easy. So why don't you please enlighten us on how we should improve by taking this trial?" Darren knew Asher would back out, and that was exactly what he wanted…To make him eat his own words and lose face for spouting things he shouldn't have. It was just plain disrespectful.
"Fine, if that is the only way I can enlighten you people," Asher said with a casual shrug as he proceeded to walk towards the chamber, making Rebecca, Darren, and the other demons stare at him with stupefied looks.
Was he really being serious? Did he lose his mind again?
Merina stood in the corner as instructed though she was feeling quite anxious about this. Would he really succeed in what he said he would do?
"Hey! What do you think you are doing?" Rebecca came back to her senses as she rushed forward and blocked his way. She couldn't care less about his insignificant life, but if he were to kill himself in her presence, she would be the one who has to answer the queen.
"What? Young Lord Darren asked me so kindly, so how can I refuse?" Asher shrugged, making Darren feel a bit tense since he didn't want to get the blame put on his head if this idiot got killed in the chamber. He now regretted saying those words, and he couldn't even take back his words without losing face.
Seeing some kind of tension settling on the first floor, even people from the higher floors came down to see what was going on, especially since the useless consort was causing some trouble.
"This isn't a place to joke. No matter how much you insist, I can't let you enter the chamber unless you want to disobey the queen," Rebecca said with a scoff.
Asher looked down at her and slightly leaned forward as he said in a low voice, "Fine. I will sign with my words that I accept the full consequences of taking this trial and that no matter what happens, you will not be responsible for anything. Satisfied?"
Rebecca's brows furrowed upon hearing his words, and seeing his expression, it seemed like he was really serious. The first thought she had was he had really become an idiot again. But then she realized this was a golden opportunity. If this idiot was so keen on dying and even ready to take responsibility, why should she bother? Things couldn't have happened any better.
The other demons wondered why the Floor Warden suddenly became silent. What did the crippled consort say to her?
Rebecca suddenly changed her tune as she said with a smile, "Since Your Highness insists so much, I can't refuse. Please…go ahead and mark your name in the history of this tower," She then snickered in her mind, '...as the first cripple to die in the Chamber of Hell."
Everybody was suddenly taken aback by the sudden change in Rebecca's decision. Only a minute ago, she was about to send him away, and now she was letting this go on? Was she really going to let the crippled consort kill himself?
Darren became even more worried as he stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, please. Don't do this. This trial can only be taken by those who trained for it and with the right strength. If you go in like this, you will…" Darren didn't want to get into trouble for telling a royal member he would die, but he was sure he conveyed his point to him.
Asher felt amused seeing how this poor young lord was sweating bullets because of his own words.
However, he suddenly had an idea and placed his hand on Darren's shoulder as he said, "I appreciate your advice but tell me one thing…How many summonings are there in this trial?"
"Of course, there are seven summonings," Darren answered while wondering why he was asking this.
"And to pass this trial, you only need to pass the 3rd summoning, right?"
"Yes, but—"
"So basically, to pass this trial, you only have to defeat half the number of the total spirits the chamber will summon. Don't you think the level of difficulty for passing is too low in that sense?" Asher asked with a slight tilt of his head.
Not only the other demons but Darren also had a baffled look since when he put it like that, it did seem like it wasn't that difficult to pass the trial.
But everyone knew how insanely difficult it gets after each summoning. He did think of getting to the 4th summoning, but he didn't want to risk it since he had already passed. He still had other floors to pass. As for the 5th summoning he knew there was no way anyone in their right mind would even dream of it.
He immediately explained to him, "It's been a few years since anybody passed the 4th summoning. As for the 5th summoning only a handful of them has passed in the last 50 years. It has been more than a century since anybody passed the sixth summoning other than Battlemaster Ceti, Prince Silvan and our queen, of course. The seventh is the most dangerous, and nobody has ever survived it in our history. So you should really think twice before you judge the difficulty of this trial."
Asher simply chuckled and looked at the Chamber of Hell as he asked, "Show me the list of rewards I could get by passing each summoning."
A fog blew across the glass as a list magically appeared on it,
[ 1st Summoning - None ]
[ 2nd Summoning - None ]
[ 3rd Summoning - 50 Life Crystals and access to Common Grade Demonic Arts and items ]
[ 4th Summoning - 100 Life Crystals and access to Rare Grade Demonic Arts and items ]
[ 5th Summoning - 250 Life Crystals and access to Epic Grade Demonic Arts and items ]
[ 6th Summoning - 500 Life Crystals and access to Legendary Grade Demonic Arts and items ]
[ 7th Summoning - All rewards from previous summonings + ??? ]
Everybody had no idea why he would look at those rewards as if he was confident of getting one of them. Still, they couldn't help but gulp seeing such enticing rewards. Even the rewards from the 3rd summoning were enough to give them a good start to their journey as a warrior.
"Not bad. So…here's one proposition from me for you," Asher said as he looked at Darren and continued, "If I pass this trial will you be willing to swear allegiance to me?"
"Ehh…" Darren was totally confused and wondered if he was joking.
"Just answer with a simple yes or no."
"Hmm, it doesn't make sense if I simply pass at the 3rd summoning since you did it too. So would you be willing if I passed the 6th summoning?" Asher asked before Darren could even say anything. But hearing the words '6th summoning', he was at a loss.
Darren didn't know why he was feeling so pressured to answer this. He was already worried that the queen would blame him for her consort's death, and in his anxiety, he just said, "Okay…okay…But this isn't—"
"Good. I will be back soon," Asher said with a subtle smile as he entered the Chamber of Hell.
"Wait!" Darren realized it was too late to stop him and had no idea what he was thinking. The Chamber of Hell was an ancient artifact, and once someone entered, nobody could bring out that person without the chamber willing it.
