Inside an empty space above the trials, Elton and the other two angels stayed floating, looking right at the trials and overseeing it from a distance.

"Hmm, it seems someone has triggered a special trial," the angel to her left said casually.

"Then that means we have officially entered the second stage of the trial," the second angel replied. "Who even got to the special trials first, is it one of the map users?"

"Yes," Elton replied. She looked at the maze from above, a certain cold look flashing through her eyes. "It's a special awakened to add, one I have to make sure dies this time," she said.

"Hmm, could it be the one you sent the son of Jotnar against? Normally we wait for stage three or four to release them," the first angel said.

"He is the one. Sadly, I can't make it seem like he is the target exactly, the trial will not allow that. This is the most I can do," she said, but then her smile widened.

"But now that he has entered right into the special trial, this is the opportunity I need to ensure that he is gone. The further he gets to go in the gods trial, the higher the risk of what is to come," Elton said.

"Oh, so it's that type of issue," the second angel said in realization.

"Exactly, the second trial will be where it ends. I'll make sure of it," she stated with full conviction.

"Do you need it to be this second trial because when the third trial starts, the watching phase starts?" the first angel asked.

"Yeah, because by the third trial, the survivors are the skilled ones, and only then will those Gods begin to watch. I can't allow them to see that I have failed to take him out for so long.

That would discredit me to a high extent, and I'm not willing to lose anything, not at this stage that I've come to. If I do, I'll be set back several tens of years," she spoke with conviction, clenching her fist.

[.....]

Looking at the darkness, the group swallowed their fear and walked inside. The darkness swallowed them one after the other, but the moment they stepped through, they walked out into a large room.

The dark stone walls were lined with torches, their flames dancing from left to right. The floor was made of dark marble, stretching as far as they could see. There was no end within sight yet.

Pillars stood all over the place, rising tall into the roof of the place, which was several meters high. But that wasn't the most intriguing part of the room. It was the statues, with two standing at either side of a pillar, and they weren't human at all.

Minotaur statues, each one about seven feet tall with a weapon in their hands, ranging from maces to swords to spears, and even what looked like magical staves in the hands of a few.

[Your trial has begun]

The system sent a message to all of them, and the next moment, the statues shifted.

Crack.

What followed was a loud crack, and then the cracks continued, until the cracks all over their bodies started increasing and stone bits began falling off, revealing the Minotaurs underneath, their red bloodshot eyes piercing right through the hearts of the group.

In less than ten seconds, the entire front row was completely out of their statues. They all turned to look at the group, their eyes blazing red, ready to destroy.

"All of them are close to the strength level of the Minotaur we fought before," Zero stated, and her quick analysis managed to put a good amount of worry in their hearts.

"Their number is far too great," Aiden said, gripping his sword tight.

[During Special Trial, all soul fragments gained are doubled and soul energy cost for skills are cut in half. Special drops exist, kill enough to get a few]

They all read the message as quickly as it appeared, and it gave them some level of relief, knowing that their soul energy would not be cut down extremely fast and they would gain more soul fragments.

That way, they would be able to fight longer and stand better chances at surviving this.

The battle was inevitable at this point. They needed to move ahead and get through this place.

"I'll provide as much cover as possible with my shadows," Aren said. He summoned every wraith and ant, creating their own army. He had the thought of summoning his bigger hitters, like Fang the lightning wolf, the snake, the millipede, or the Hydra, but he had this biting feeling that this was only the first part of this special trial and there would be more.

Regardless of the fact that the soul energy expenditure had been cut down, it still didn't mean that they could get reckless with their use.

With everything set, they gave each other knowing nods and bolted forward, Aren taking the lead, his shadows and the group behind.

"Let's take some soul fragments," he said, before leaping into the air, his gauntlet crackling with lightning as he came down.

First strike.

He slammed into the ground.

BOOOM!

An explosion of lightning rang out, shaking the floor and blasting three Minotaurs back.

'This is me versus them now, no party, no team. Everyone is going to have to stand for themselves right now. I'm sorry,' Aren thought as he rose to his feet, already scanning the area.

'Aren can't help me now, this is my fight. He has never been the person to step up for people, yet because of me, he has been forced to step up multiple times.

I can't stay a liability here. At the very least, I'll keep up close and show my use,' Aiden thought as he bolted into battle, sword clenched hard.

'It's me against them all now, my ice against the enemy. Aren has already done as much as he could ask of him, even going as far as having his shadows help.

I can't allow him to do more. If I do, then what use am I? I want to be able to stand with him and not only follow behind. I want to earn the right to be with him,' Kira thought as she unleashed a barrage of attacks.

"I want to help him."

Both of them thought at the same time, their eyes resolute.

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