Chapter 178 - First Extra Trial, Underground Hell

When Cecil woke up, he found himself inside a nearly pitch black environment.

"W-what the hell?"

There was very little illumination around. Only small, phosphorescent bugs and flowers lit up the surroundings.

"Tsk..."

Cecil conjured a small mana bolt on his palms and was able to illuminate his surroundings.

"No wonder the ground felt wet..."

Cecil was standing in the midst of what appeared to be a marsh.

He noticed that he was inside what appeared to be a deluge of trees that were towering him in a dome.

There were 8 gaps inside this tree dome. Cecil sent a mana bolt into one of the gaps and it kept on flying far, far away.

"The heck?"

He did the same for the other 7 gaps and determined that they were like long pathways that lead to wherever it was that's at the end.

Cecil was caught in a dilemma...which path should he choose? No matter what path he looked at, they were all the same. Even when he activated his Mana Eyes he could see no difference.

"What am I—"

[Welcome Challenger, to the Underground Hell.]

"...Underground hell?"

[In this trial you will be required to survive. Survive for as long as you can. Only an hour will have passed in the outside world once you have cleared this Trial regardless of how long you take!]

"Survive?"

[Now, let the trial commence!]

At the administrator's last words, monster cries began to emerge from all 8 gaps of the tree dome.

"Oh man...you have got to be kidding me!"

Cecil immediately flashed towards the center of the tree dome and he sent one mana bolt into every gap.

"SHIT!"

The mana bolts illuminated the pathways beyond the gaps and he finally noticed the source of the screeching and roaring that was coming closer to the dome.

Cecil paled a little seeing the creepy and disgusting scene. It was a large group of vines, roots, and tentacles that had eyes on the ends.

Cecil panicked and quickly unsheathed his Sword.

"DAMMIT!"

He quickly activated Mana Burst in a hurry and sent an Ascending Blade into one of the gaps. The blade beam disintegrated the vines and tentacles, but there were still 7 other gaps that had those things charging right at him!

Cecil spun around and sent more Ascending Blades at the gaps, just as the last of the tentacles were about to reach the dome, Cecil tossed his sword into the air and sent a Flash Cannon, immediately clearing the tentacles.

He caught his sword and was about to heave a sigh of relief, but his mana sense immediately picked up on something.

"NO WAY!!!"

To his dismay, the tentacles that he had destroyed...was only a small part of whatever it was that's attacking him.

He hadn't wiped out the tentacles, but had only destroyed a portion of it and the rest kept on slithering and charging at the dome. He continued sending his long ranged skills at the gaps, but there was no end to the monster tentacles.

"I'll only get exhausted if this keeps up!"

If he stayed like this then he'll be overwhelmed sooner or later once he's run out of mana. Cecil kept pulling in the ambient mana into his body to supplement his recovery, but his output far out matched his recovery.

Cecil sent a final Flash Cannon into one of the gaps and charged out into it.

"I can only go and destroy the source of these tentacles!"

Cecil pushed his mana and accelerated his speed. He slashed all the tentacles in his path and sent mana bolts or Flash Cannons ahead of him.

He was able to breathe a little and he couldn't help but notice, that to the left and right of him sprouted large intertwining trees that served as a wall.

"It really is a path! Whatever is at the end of this path had better wash its neck for me!" Cecil grinned and he upped his speed.

SCCCREEEECCCHHHH

A loud screech began to sound out behind him.

"Oh shit!"

Cecil had almost forgotten about the tentacles and vines from the other pathways. Since he was no longer inside the dome, then of course those things would come and pursue him!

"Well, at least it's better than being attacked from 8 different directions!"

Now he was attacked from only 2 directions, in front and behind him. Cecil alternated in sending a skill to the front of him and to the back.

He kept this up for what he felt was like an hour before he arrived at a clearing.

"It's the end!"

Cecil concentrated and sent a dense Flash Cannon into the pathway behind him, obliterating the tentacles that were chasing after him. He kept channeling the Flash Cannon for 2-3 seconds before stopping.

He quickly turned his attention back to the source of the tentacles from this pathway.

"That should buy me some time...now let's cut you down, you disgusting freak!"

Cecil shouted and dashed towards the monster.

It was a...Elf? At least, that's what Cecil thought it was. The 'elf' didn't have legs and the lower half of its body was composed of roots, vines, and tentacles. The roots and tentacles were connected to the ground, so Cecil determined that the monstrosity was stationary.

The upper part was that of a voluptuous female elf...it was also n.a.k.e.d so its b.r.e.a.s.ts were flailing around in the air.

"Goddamn this lewd monster!"

Cecil couldn't even keep his eyes on the monster. It was a little too stimulating for the young boy. Ever since Lucia and Serilla began kissing out of nowhere, he became more conscious of the opposite s.e.x.

If it was before, the n.a.k.e.d monster wouldn't have fazed him at all and he would have immediately dashed in to engage the thing in combat.

"Whatever...this thing's the cause of all my problems, so why don't you just DIE FOR ME!!!"

Cecil dashed towards the monster and the thing sent its tentacles at him. Cecil flashed and dodged each tentacle as he quickly made his way to the monster.

He would have used Blink, but the skill used up too much mana. Since Cecil was able to find the source of the tentacles that were attacking him, he was now sure that there were 7 other tentacle elf monsters apart from the one in front of him.

He had to conserve his mana in order to take down every single one of them.

Cecil rushed forwards, dodging and cutting down the tentacles in his path. When he got close enough, he flashed right in front of the monster.

The monster widened its eyes and was about to scream, but Cecil immediately waved his sword and cut its head off.

Cecil landed and he was just about to turn around, but then he quickly flickered away. Sharp tentacles and spikes bombarded his previous spot.

"What?"

The monster elf wasn't dead yet despite Cecil cutting off its head. The monster's body turned towards Cecil and tentacles began to sprout from the stump of its neck. The tentacles shot out from the neck and it quickly reached its severed head.

The tentacles brought the head over to the body and the head reattached itself onto the neck.

"...Ew..." Cecil grimaced. He gagged looking at the disgusting visual.

Despite the situation being serious, Cecil still had the time to joke around like this.

"Ugh...if cutting your head off isn't enough... how about I—" Cecil activated his Mana Sight and noticed a part of the monster's body emanating a large amount of mana. He smiled and flashed forwards.

The monster was just about to laugh at the boy for his futility, but she suddenly noticed that Cecil had disappeared from his spot and reappeared just in front of her body.

"—Pierce your core?"

SCHLICK

Cecil didn't use Blink, but his empowered version of the Shukuchi combat skill. It wasn't as instantaneous as Blink, but considering that he was still pretty close to the elf monster's body, it was enough to arrive right in front of it with a similar speed.

"GOOORAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

With its core stabbed the monster began to wail in anguish and it began rotting from its head down.

When the monster had fully rotted away, Cecil brought his sword up and noticed the thing that he had pierced.

"It's a wooden...slab?"

Cecil's sword hadn't pierced the slab, but the mucous-like membrane that surrounded it. As Cecil pulled his sword out of the membrane, it began to corrode away and what was left was the wooden slab that emanated a large amount of mana.

Cecil was just about to leave and head for the other pathways, but then he decided to take the slab.

"I don't want that thing to regenerate again! Better take this along with me!"

Cecil stuffed the thing into his White Spatial Ring and made his way back to the tree dome.

He blasted through the path and into the tree dome and went down another pathway. Just like he thought, at the end of the pathway he encountered another similar looking tentacle elf monster. It was female just like before.

Cecil already found the best way to destroy the monster so he quickly activated his Mana Sight and pinpointed its core.

He quickly pierced it and the monster similarly rotted away just like with the first one. And like the first one, the nucleus had a similar wooden slab surrounded by a membrane. It was a little different than the one already in his possession, but he still took it with him.

Cecil repeated the process of going down the paths and killing the monsters another 6 times before the administrator's voice echoed in his mind.

[An Extraordinary Achievement! Destroyed 8 Corrupted Dark Wood Elves!]

[Final Hidden Phase of the Trial has begun! Please destroy the Dark Wood Elf King and put him to rest!]