"Let's split into teams of two and guard the hearthstone from different angles."

No one objected to Ray's proposal.

Three teams were created, each tasked with blocking the monsters that would come out of the three corridors connected to the hall.

"Here they come."

Ray's warning had only fallen when monsters surged out of the corridors in waves.

Faelar and Seliane faced spiders with the deadly red stingers of scorpions. Marcus and the Reptilia faced ogres. Ray and Lia faced a swarm of winged abominations with the bodies of locusts and beetles, but their faces were twisted mockeries of human visages.

"Human-faced insectoids," Lia sweated internally. "A swarm of them can even give a party of bronze rankers a run for their money."

"We can't let them through, so rid yourself of useless thoughts and prepare to fight!"

Lia felt motivated, hearing Ray's words.

"You are right."

A bow shimmered into existence in her hands. "There's no backing down now."

She gently tugged at its string. Countless radiant white threads appeared out of thin air, quickly fusing into a crescent moon that shot out with the speed of a thunderbolt tearing through the clouds.

It sliced through a human-faced insectoid in a flash. The wings of the insectoid, now cut in half, stopped beating. It dropped to the ground lifelessly.

The crescent moon kept spinning through the air, cutting down whatever came in its path, but a lot of human-faced insectoids died before it was finally smashed into pieces.

An insectoid commander glared at Lia with its many eyes venomously before letting out an ear-piercing screech, commanding the lesser human-faced insectoids to swoop down the air and overwhelm her with their numbers.

Finding herself becoming the target of the entire wave, Lia didn't let panic take over. She pulled her bow's string as far back as she could before setting it free. The string snapped back to its original taut position as several crescent moons shot out, each carrying a sharpness that could rival a blade's edge.

The lesser insectoids didn't stand a chance. They were sliced apart one after another as the crescent moons continued their flight toward the insectoid commander without slowing down.

Tink! Tink! Tink!

One by one, they smashed into it, barely denting its exoskeleton.

The insectoid commander shrieked furiously, detaching the spikes protruding from its exoskeleton before launching them at Lia with terrifying speed.

Her eyes widened. She had no time to dodge!

Just as her fear peaked, Ray appeared in front of her in a flash with an Azure blade in his hand. He swung it fiercely, his hand a blur, slashing out several times in an instant, shattering one spike after another until none were left to threaten their lives.

"Leave the strong one to me," Ray said without looking back. "Just focus on killing the rest."

Lia nodded, tugging on her bowstring again and again like she was playing a harp.

One crescent moon after another shot out. Human-faced insectoids started falling left and right.

The insectoid commander tried to intervene, but Ray blocked its path, making it develop an intense hatred for him. Its mandibles clicked violently, like a mental patient experiencing a breakdown. Its head reared back before snapping forward. A stream of corrosive green acid spewed out from its mouth.

"Suck attacks don't work against me," Ray smirked confidently.

He summoned a strong gust of Azure wind, blasting it away.

Enraged, the insectoid commander opened up swirling grey portals around itself. The portals spewed out lethal projectiles like a pair of blazing gatling guns. The projectile screamed through the air with the force of a storm of bullets as they came crashing down toward Ray.

Ray didn't even flinch. A thick barrier of Azure winds spun to life before him. Although translucent, it was harder than steel and sharper than any blade. The projectiles summoned by the insectoid commander bounced off it like toys, pissing it off even further.

Since nothing was working against Ray, it decided to go all out.

It screeched loudly, its body trembling like a belly dancer. Then its carapace flared open, and a swarm of razor-thin, vibrating soundwaves blasted out.

Ray dispelled the Azure barrier as a torrent of flames blasted out of his mouth. The fire warped the air, scorching it so fiercely that the vibrating soundwaves collapsed and dissipated before they could even reach him. The inferno threatened to engulf the insectoid commander whole.

The insectoid commander flapped its wings rapidly, maneuvering its body like a jet being flown by an experienced pilot, dodging out of the flames' path.

Though it survived, disbelief was written clearly in its grotesque human-like face. Its strongest move had been nullified as if it were nothing. It wasn't facing an opponent it could deal with.

It changed direction, flying toward the hole it had crawled out from.

"Want to run away?" Ray scoffed. "As if I'd let ya."

He lifted his hand and, with a flick of his finger, sent a razor-sharp gust of Azure wind straight through it.

For a heartbeat, the insectoid commander kept running as if it couldn't register its death. Then its body split into two equal halves, collapsing lifelessly on the polished floor.

By then, Lia had already taken care of the rest of the swarm. Her bow dissolved into motes of light as the last human-faced insectoid fell, sliced apart by her crescent moons.

"Good job," Ray praised.

Lia felt giddy, but she didn't show it on her face. However, the tips of her ears turned red, giving her away.

Together, they returned to stand guard before the hearthstone, watching the other two teams fight. If they failed at their tasks or needed help, Ray and Lia had every intention of interfering.

The Reptilia and Marcus were holding their own against the ogres.

Marcus had fused with a spirit that made him look rather devilish but improved his physical capability to the level of a physical type intermediate stage demonic creature specializing in strength and agility. His twin blades struck out with blinding speed, slicing and dicing the ogres into pieces as he danced between them, weaving through their attacks while cutting them down.

The Reptilia's fighting style was far different than Marcus.

He didn't weave through attacks or dodge elegantly. His body, covered in scales, endured blow after blow that would've crushed a normal man. Each time an ogre's club smashed into him, sparks flew as if wood had struck steel. His thick tail whipped out like a battering ram, sweeping legs out from under the massive brutes. When they fell, his claws flashed, sharp as hooked blades, tearing through their flesh and spilling their blood and entrails across the polished floor.

'His fighting style is freaking beautiful,' Ray thought as watching it fight reminded him of his favourite arcade game. A game that was known for its brutality and cinematic depictions of fatalities.

"The elves aren't faring well against their enemies," Lia said.

"I can see that," Ray replied.

Faelar and Seliane weren't weak. They were strong, just like every other bronze ranker here. It was simply a case of a bad matchup.

Not every strike of Faelar's elegant and swift swordsmanship could pierce through the thick carapace of the scorpion-tailed spiders. The few that did were quickly deflected by their deadly tails.

Seliane's innate power allowed her to create magic missiles, but the spiders' erratic, unpredictable movements made it difficult for her to land lethal shots.

Step by step, they were being forced back. At this rate, they wouldn't be able to hold on much longer before the spiders completely overwhelmed them.

"Guys, we are being overwhelmed!" Faelar shouted.

Seliane glanced in Ray and Lia's direction. "Since you've finished your battle, please lend us a hand!"

Ray summoned Muri and told it to help them out.

Muri followed his command without hesitation, conjuring dozens of metallic threads and focusing intently to sharpen them into armor-piercing needles. Then, with a flick, Muri released them all at once, sending the storm of needles streaking toward the Scorpion-Tailed Spiders.

Too focused on hounding the elves, the spiders didn't see the barrage descending upon them until it was too late. Their armored shells were punctured clean through as the needles stabbed into their hearts and brains.

One after another, the Scorpion-Tailed Spiders crashed lifelessly onto the polished floor.

Marcus and the Reptilia had also finished their battle by then.

"Is it over?" Ray wondered, just before an announcement rang out. But it wasn't the one he or the others were expecting.

♦️ All opponents have been eliminated. You have successfully defended the hearthstone from the First Wave of monsters.

♦️ Prepare yourselves. The second and final wave of monsters will come for the hearthstone soon.

"So we've only completed half of the trial," Ray uttered.

"I have a feeling the second part is going to be tougher than the first one," Lia said.

Faelar wiped the sweat from his brow. "The first one was challenging enough. The next part might be more than we can handle."

"Don't think like that. If we give in before it even starts, we'll already have lost." Seliane said to Faelar before monsters starting pouring out of the corridors again.

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