CHAPTER 248: TRIAL

Night came, Riven got ready, dressed in light armour, his sword at his side, healing potions and everything. He took out the book and placed it on the bed, looking at it with a blank expression.

He still recalled the first day that the book had come into his life. He took a sharp and deep breath.

"You seem nervous about this one," Twilight said.

"Yeah, I am," he responded.

"Why? You have done many before," she said.

"Yes, but something about this one makes me feel worried," he said in response.

When midnight came, the book started flipping through pages, one after the other. It kept happening until finally Silva blacked out.

When he opened his eyes, he was inside the similar blood-filled room, and the Iron Maiden was there. But before he could get out a word, everything around him changed and he was transported into a battlefield.

The air burned, every breath felt like fire entering his lungs. He shook his head, trying to get himself together, but he couldn’t. Everything was hazy.

’What’s this place?’ he wondered. He looked up, and then he saw shadows in the distance headed his way, creatures unlike anything he had ever seen before.

"Are we meant to fight those?" he asked.

"My sister refused to speak this time, so I do not know, but I’m guessing yes," Twilight said.

"Why do you think your sister refused to speak?" he asked.

"I have no idea, but if I were to guess, things are getting serious," Twilight said.

When those creatures saw Riven, they lunged forward, their eyes glowing red as they moved. The first one got to Riven, a thin long humanoid form. It attacked, moving like a piece of rubber.

Riven parried the attacks, sparks flew. Gritting his teeth, he slashed forward, his blade cutting through the body of the creature, ripping it apart.

It burst into black particles and all that was left on the ground was a red crystal. The moment Riven laid eyes on that crystal, he could tell that they were exactly the same crystals as the ones that he got from those special monsters in the dungeon.

His eyes widened. It didn’t take long for him to put two and two together, and with Twilight there, she also helped him deduce.

"Those creatures from the dungeons," she said.

"Yeah," he responded and looked up. "It seems the trial is trying to show me something about them," Riven said.

Then he spotted something in the far distance, a light shining, red and bright. It was calling out to him from there.

"Whatever answers we need, that light has it," he said and lunged forward. His blue flames burned brighter, he slashed through the creatures with criminal precision.

But after killing close to twenty, he was getting exhausted, his breathing was heavy, the burning air worsened it, and the deeper he went, the more toxic the air became. Even his eyes were watering.

He took sharp deep breaths, each one hurting him heavily. Yet despite how many he had killed, the light still seemed far, and the monsters still seemed to be hundreds if not thousands.

Suddenly, a door opened behind him. He turned around and looked at the door. It showed his room in the estate, and the book on the bed.

He could walk through it and he would be back. To his room and free to rest. The door called to him, one step and he would be home free.

"So that’s the plan huh? Rest or the truth, your sister is really savage," Riven said.

"I’m beginning to think she has no control of these trials in fact," Twilight said.

Riven looked away from the door. He gritted his teeth and started walking ahead. Another monster came, this one stronger than the last. It lunged at Riven, he blocked with a flame wall and then shot forward, stabbing through the head of the monster and killing it.

Another rushed at him, he cut through it the same as before, but as he looked up, he could still see hundreds more ahead. And despite the fact that he was giving his all to ensure that he reserved energy and fought, there was no way his energy could take him all the way.

He turned again, and the door was right there. He focused back, ignoring the door, he kept pushing.

After fifty monsters had dropped to the ground, Riven was sweating, his entire body screamed for him to stop, but he ignored them, his eyes locked forward. He summoned the hellhound.

As it came out, it rushed at the monsters, ripping through them one at a time. Riven could finally catch his breath, but he knew that if he wasted more time, he would not reach his goal. The hellhound still took energy from him, so he had to move fast.

He got on his feet. "Twilight, remember when you helped me fight? I need that," he said.

"But it will drain your energy more," she replied.

"It’s not like we have much of a choice now, do we?" he asked.

"Fine, get ready," she said. "I’ll make you cut everything."

In that moment, everything seemed to go slower. Riven got on his feet and moved faster, every slash was precision, like he was dancing. He took long, fierce breaths and ignored the burning feel they left. He was in the zone as Twilight helped control his body.

Alongside the hellhound, one after the other, the monsters fell as they felt they were getting closer to the goal. But all this lasted only for a while.

When he returned back to his normal self, he took a breath and coughed blood. His lungs couldn’t take it anymore, he lacked the mana to keep the hellhound out in this condition.

He struggled for a few more steps, walking farther and farther, killing a few more monsters until finally, with bloodshot eyes, he collapsed to his knees.

Again, he sensed the door. He turned to look at it, right there was his room, freedom from the pain that he was feeling. It beckoned.