Chapter 341: The First Challenge (1/2)
“Moss, make sure you don’t hold back! Haha!”
“To whoever exits first, you better obediently lick this grandfather’s feet when the time comes!”
My intelligent, divinely skilled, and most handsome self originally had complete confidence but now… with the competition requiring all six of us to pass together... I do not have any confidence anymore.”
“Idiot! You are the biggest burden out of all of us!”
The six youths of the Holy Dawn Academy team were noisily bickering right before the gateway, as if they had fallen into internal strife.
The several referees couldn’t help but shake their heads.
No matter how they looked at it, these six youths didn’t seem to be part of the same team at all.
It seemed like they would have no chance at winning this competition. Especially since it depended on team efforts and not individual ones.
Yet these referees still felt a strange feeling of confidence in their hearts. Without a doubt, this team of rambunctious youths was the most frightening of the three competing. It was extremely difficult for the referees to predict just what their future would be like.
Watching Ayrin and the others disappear from his sight, the yellow crystal helmet wearing referee couldn’t help but turn towards Liszt and ask, “Mister Liszt, we heard that Lotner and the others of Abel Academy fought against Ayrin himself and were all defeated. Is this true?”
“Indeed.”
Liszt nonchalantly stretched his waist. A look of content appeared on his face, as if a load had finally disappeared from his shoulders and he could finally relax. ”If the competition had followed its original format and we had fought against Abel Academy atop the Arena of Fire and Blood, I predict that Ayrin alone would have been able defeat at least three of them in succession, if not more.”
“What?! You’re joking!”
All the referees let out exclamations of disbelief.
But as they saw the serious expressions on the faces of Liszt, Minlur, and the others, they realized that Liszt wasn’t joking at all.
……
The sound of feet hitting a metal floor echoed throughout as the youths made their way through the gateway.
After passing through the gateway, the temple-like buildings appeared before them. They were close like they had seemed from afar, but they were separated from each other by countless walls of bronze which were over twenty meters tall.
Ayrin and Rinloran had immediately attempted to scale these walls upon seeing them. It was clear that they wished to continue in as straight of a path as possible to rush towards the center designated area and reach it as quickly as possible.
But the moment Ayrin and Rinloran reached the top of the bronze wall, the scene before them changed.
The temples and walls disappeared and were replaced by patches of large marshes.
The top of the walls protruded outside of the Mirroring Refraction Barrier.
Moreover, a strange arcane energy had taken away their ability to discern their position.
Naturally, Ayrin and Rinloran quickly realized it was impossible to continue forward in this manner.
It was evident that the reason the Office of Special Affairs had chosen this location was because the barriers left behind forced them to travel on the ground and break through the defenses in order to advance forward through the district.
They could only move through the labyrinth created by the countless crisscrossing bronze walls of the district.
After running for more than ten minutes, Ayrin and the others finally came across an unlocked large bronze colored metal gate which was cracked slightly open.
A strange aura emanated from within the crack.
Above this metal gate was a pillar with a metal puppet about a meter in length attached to it.
The puppet had a pale silver face with feminine features and short golden hair which looked like blades.
“It feels like there are ghosts around! Perhaps we should go look elsewhere?” Stingham proposed as he felt a chill pervade his body and shivered.
“Idiot!” Rinloran icily cursed.
“You might as well just kneel down and lick this grandfather’s feet now,” Belo added. An impetuous expression emerged atop his face as he immediately extended his arm and began to open the gate.
“Even if we go and look elsewhere, won’t we still encounter a similar situation? So it is better for us to just move forward! No matter what powerful defense exists behind this gate, we will crush it together!” Ayrin shouted encouragingly as he waved his fist towards Stingham.
“Moss, even if you are trembling in fear right now, you will still fight right?” Chris asked.
Stingham was on the verge of tears as he cried out, “Chris, your face blindness has appeared again! I am Stingham!”
“I’m so sorry,” Chris apologized as her face flushed red. She hurriedly explained, “It’s because I’ve been in a group with Belo and Moss for so long… That’s why…”
Stingham went half mad as he shouted, “But if you have seen Moss every day, how could you possibly forget that he has red hair?!”
“Bang!”
Before Chris could respond again, Belo finally finished pushing open the heavy metal gate.
“This…?”
A long and narrow chamber appeared before them. Both sides of the chamber were completely sealed and a light incessantly flickered at the far end. Beside the walls were countless standing human figures which had been neatly organized into two straight rows.
All the figures were metal puppets about half a head shorter than Ayrin. Upon closer inspection, they realized that these figures faces looked exactly the same as the one they had seen atop the pillar outside.
Only this time, the golden hair was actually a mantle of metal blades!
As for their bodies, they were also a pale silver. Beautiful patterns had been carved into their bodies, making them seem as if they were wearing beautiful inscribed armors!