Chapter 371: Myriad Helios Formation

"Come again? Go through your trials?" Argentum asked, wondering if he had misheard Helios's words. In response, Helios lightly nodded as he said, "Indeed. The condition that you need to fulfill is to undergo through my trials."

"Really, Helios?" Rosalia could not help but say in slight disappointment. "You really want someone like Argentum to go through your trials first before you offer your help? You weren't like this before."

"That was then, and this is now," Helios indifferently responded before continuing, "Of course, Argentum right here should consider the fact that this divine being here am already giving him the chance to enlist my help in the development of his lowly town as a blessing. If not for my kindness and magnanimity, I would have rejected the offer from the very start."

'Well, you were going to reject it until I started to compliment you,' Argentum thought to himself as he pondered as to how he could get more from Helios since enlisting the help of Helios in exchange for him undergoing through his trials seemed like a very bad deal. Fortunately, just as he was close to having an idea as to what he could say to sweeten the deal, Rosalia said to Helios as if she was reading Argentum's mind, "Helios, don't be like that. You know very well how disadvantageous the deal is for Argentum, right? If you don't add a reward or something else to sweeten up the deal, how would you expect him to do his best in your trials?"

Just as Helios was about to reject the offer, Rosalia's next words swayed him towards accepting the idea.

"Or would you like such a being to defile the trials you've painstakingly crafted and designed with a shoddy performance?"

"Never!" Helios vehemently said as he instantly came up with a reward that would make the deal better on Argentum's side. Of course, he took into consideration the fact that Argentum was his fan, saying, "Argentum. If you clear all of my trials, this divine being right here shall give you the power to request one thing from me. It could be power, it could be riches, anything you wish for, I shall fulfill."

At that instant, Argentum's motivation to clear the trials Helios would throw at him was raised to new heights as he responded, following Rosalia's level of flattery, "Oh, Tempest King! You are truly magnanimous and kind. This lowly being in front of you shall try to satisfy your various senses with the performance I shall give you!"

Well…more like he tried to.

Nevertheless, Helios was satisfied with what he heard from Argentum, though Rosalia could not help but slightly wince in pain from the cringe Argentum's response had. Of course, as someone who owned an inheritance, she only showed this for a split-second, returning to her normal expression not long after.

"Since you've given me your word of certainty, then I, Helios Gustav, shall not delay your trials further," Helios said as he snapped his fingers, prompting the room Argentum was in to madly rumble as the latter wondered what was happening. Though, it did not take long for this confusion to turn into speechlessness as the entire landscape surrounding Argentum had drastically changed.

From what was once an empty room, Argentum could now be seen in the center of what seemed to be a mini-replica of a large arena from the ancient times. On two sides, metallic-looking gates could be seen while the pillars that held up the whole arena were carved to show Helios's muscular figure. Not only that, but the seats on the arena seemed to be taken up by beings made out of wind, bearing the likeness of Helios himself.

On top of that, there was an area specifically made for him to sit, which was also adorned to the brim with his face or figure in one way or another. Hastily forming a seat for Rosalia to sit on, Helios then looked at the mini-arena with a look of pride as he asked her, "Don't you think this is fitting for someone trying to take my trials?"

"Don't you think you went a little bit too overboard?" Rosalia said in response, to which Helios let out a chuckle as pride could still be seen on his face. "You're quite mistaken, Rosalia. I, Helios Gustav, have created this arena in order to stimulate the blood circulating within the body of the one taking my trials. Not only that, but I would like them to commit my face, me, the great Helios Gustav, into their memory and remind them who the owner of the inheritance is."

"Okay then…" Rosalia perfunctorily said as she hastily redirected her focus towards Argentum, who was standing at the center of the arena with a hint of confusion.

Hearing the crowd of beings made out of wind simultaneously cheer on him and boo him out from the arena, Argentum could not help but wonder as to how skilled Helios was when it came to controlling the Wind element. From what he could see, Helios wasn't even breaking a sweat when creating these things out of thin air. Of course, he did not know if Felix and the others also had the ability, but since they're all owners of inheritances, it wouldn't be surprising if they did.

After admiring the exquisite craftsmanship of the arena for a bit more, Helios's voice resounded throughout the arena as the crowd went silent. "Heed my words, trial taker. You have entered the Heaven's Gust Inheritance in order to inherit my prowess over the Wind element. To do so, you must be deemed worthy by going through the three trials I have crafted to bring out the greatest qualities I look for in a successor."

Rumble…

Not long after Helios was finished talking, the ground surrounding Argentum started to tremble as signs of a magic circle started to appear on the ground he stood on. After that, this giant magic circle glowed a faint light green as multiple entities started to manifest around Argentum wearing what seemed to be a replica of cloth armor. Though, the thing that stood out the most from these entities was the fact that they all had…Helios's face on it.

With a smug smile on his face as he allowed the crowd to cheer wildly, Helios then said, "You are not being deceived by your eyes, trial taker. What is in front of you is indeed my likeness. 10,000 of them, to be more exact. The first trial you shall go through is called…the Myriad Helios Formation!"

Explaining the mechanics, he continued, "The goal of the Myriad Helios Formation is simple. All of these cope have around a quarter of the power of my actual defense. All you have to do is to do destroy all of them with one move in the most beautiful manner you could think of."

"With that, the first trial now begins!"

"Wooooo!!!"

As the crowd of beings made out of wind cheered loudly at the moment Helios signaled the first trial's beginning, Argentum could not help but scratch his head as he wondered how he was going to take all of them out at once. Soon after, he looked at Helios and asked, "I would like to ask the great Tempest King if I'm only limited to the Wind element or if I could any element I wish?"

"Since you're not taking the trial to inherit something from me, this divine being shall be magnanimous enough to allow you to use any element you see fit," Helios said with a hint of nonchalance, slightly curious as to how Argentum was going to destroy 10,000 copies of himself at once.

'Fortunately, I'm not limited by elements,' Argentum thought to himself as he pondered over what attacks he had in his arsenal that would allow him to wipe all 10,000 copies of Helios off this arena. Of course, the thought of creating skills with his four Sage's Magic skills came to mind, though he decided to do a test with a skill he had already created before.

Raising one of his hands up in the air as a swirl of blue light soon appeared on top of it, he then swung it downwards as he shouted, "[Eighty-One Meteors of Frozen Grandeur]!"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Out of thin air, multiple meteors of ice started to rain down from the ceiling of the room, crashing onto the Helios clones that surrounded Argentum. With each meteor, around 50 or so of those clones would disappear, only to be reformed not long after as not all of them were destroyed in one go. Seeing that, Argentum went silent for a bit as he thought to himself, 'So, my current damage would allow me to wipe out 50 clones with one attack. Is it because the clones have strong defense or is it because I'm weak?'

'Oh well. I'll surmount the gap using buffs and domains anyway,' he soon thought as he decided to create a few True Element skills with his Sage's Magic skills. Though, all of them only ended up destroying about half or three-quarters of the amount one meteor from the [Eighty-One Meteors of Frozen Grandeur] could destroy. Well, that was also because the skill was a Blessed Element skill unlike the ones he had crafted.

"If only I had a skill that was strong enough to wipe out more copies," Argentum muttered to himself, only to recall that he did have a skill that could do such a thing. Well, he wasn't sure if it would have the ability to do so, but from the element it used, he knew that it would definitely deal more damage compared to the skill he used before.

"[Lesser Origin Magic: Truth]," Argentum soon murmured as he raised his hand up in the air, allowing the information regarding the spell contained within the skill to enter his mind as a white magic circle soon appeared on top of it.

One layer…two layers…three layers…

A total of five layers of magic circles appeared on top of Argentum's raised hand, giving off a feeling that it was controlling something far beyond the world they were in, prompting Rosalia and Helios to look at Argentum in earnest.

"Is this the Lesser Origin element Felix and the others were talking about?" Rosalia could not help but mutter to herself. As for Helios, he only commented with a hint of indifference, "How interesting."

Eventually, the five layers gave off the feeling that they were as one, allowing Argentum to swing it down as he soon shouted, "[First Summoning: Mjolnir's Awakening]!"

Whoosh!

Bang!

Just like how the meteors formed out of thin air, a large hammer made out of white light soon descended from the ceiling before crashing down at high speeds, destroying quite a lot of the copies in the process. With his Origin Sense, Argentum found out that he was able to destroy about 350 or so copies with that attack alone.

Although it was far from enough to destroy 10,000 copies in one go, Argentum had a feeling that he would be able to surmount this gap through his buffs and domains alone.

With that, he started casting all of the buffs and domains he knew.

"[Niflheim Horizon]."

"[Field of Muspelheim]."

"[Garden of Alfheim]."

"…"

"…"

"[Aqua Imperium Universalis]."

Since the domain skills took up most of his MP, he cast those skills first, covering the ground in the colors red, blue, and green. Soon after, his body would also gain these colors as the aura surrounding him became more and more condensed, giving off the feeling that he was actually a wolf in sheep's clothing.

At this point, both Helios and Rosalia were at a loss for words as both of them did not expect Argentum to have the ability to boost his power to this level. Of course, Argentum knew that he wouldn't be able to keep up this state for long as the domains were close to disappearing. With that, he quickly raised his hand up in the air as five layers of magic circles soon appeared on top of it once more.

Feeling that the magic circles had become as one yet again, Argentum then jumped off the ground with all his might before swinging his hand downward.

"[First Summoning: Mjolnir's Awakening]!"

Whoosh!

…

Bang!

Just like before, a hammer made out of white light descended from the ceiling of the room they were in. Though, unlike before, the destructiveness of this hammer was raised to 11 as the various buffs Argentum applied onto himself increased the power of the hammer while the domains under the copies weakened their resistance towards the hammer itself.

With such a combo, at the very moment the hammer touched the ground, it was as if a massive bomb had been triggered as all 10,000 copies disappeared from the arena. Not only that, even the walls of the arena weren't spared as it was blasted into smithereens.

Of course, Helios hastily fixed the walls amidst the surprise he got from Argentum's move. Though, his surprise had come to a full stop as Argentum landed on the ground as all of the buffs and domains he had cast disappeared one by one.

With a light chuckle, Argentum looked in Helios's direction and asked, "Did I clear the first trial?"