Chapter 99 End Of Trial
"It\'s exhausting," Maximus sighed as he rested.
Although he seemed to be only playing the piano and assisting in the battle, it was really tiring.
He was like a grand maestro guiding all their movements and tunes; without mana, he could only use his bare soul power.
"You\'re still amazing, husband," Luna said, her eyes shining.
"Hmm."
Maximus then looked at the undead crystal core.
"This can be used to replenish the soul or strengthen the body," Maximus concluded as he felt the energy within.
"It\'s a pity, we can\'t use it too much." He added
"Anyway, it\'ll be gone after we get out of the trial," Luna said.
Although the undead crystal core functions like a magic crystal, it\'s impure; taking too much without restraint will turn one into an undead.
"Then let\'s rest and strengthen ourselves first," Maximus said as he hugged Luna to sleep.
...
20 days later...
[10,000/10,000 Undead
7/10 Undead Elite
0/1 Undead King]
"Only 3 undead elite and 1 Undead king," Luna said, panting in exhaustion.
"Don\'t worry, although I didn\'t advance through tier 1, the replenishment of the undead crystal core should be enough," Maximus lazily said as he sat across the dilapidated piano.
"Let me rest first, then attract some undead elites," Luna said.
...
A few hours later...
Maximus was playing the piano while Luna fought fiercely with the Undead.
Thump*
Luna, like a perpetual machine, didn\'t feel tired because of the melody.
The Undead Elite, on the other hand, was like a trapped beast that couldn\'t get close to Luna.
Tick*
Just as the Undead claw was about to tear Luna to pieces, a high-pitched melody was like a sting, making the Undead pause.
Luna, seeing the opportunity, brandished her machete as she beheaded the undead.
Just as they were about to celebrate, Maximus noticed through the system that an Undead King and 3 Undead Elites coming their way.
"Damn!"
"It looks like it found us," Maximus cursed worriedly.
"The undead king should have a bit of intelligence," Luna muttered while recovering her strength.
While they were still away, Maximus hurriedly absorbed the undead crystal cores that he had prepared.
After a few minutes, the undead came in front of them.
"Ready..."
Maximus raised his hands, begin overloading his soul, making the world seem to slow down.
Ting*
A high-pitched sound seemed to light up the world, momentarily stopping everything.
Tong*
With the following pitch, Luna, who was originally tired, seemed to be endowed with unlimited power.
"GO!"
Maximus commenced the play.
These tier 1 and 2 undead were resistant to sound attacks, so he could barely affect them.
With a jerk, Luna lunged toward the undead like a fearless machine.
Thump*
Thud*
Before they could react, a sound came making their movements pause for a moment.
Maximus began to play a rapid tune of at least a hundred keys a second, making his hands almost invisible.
This rapid beat of keys, though inaudible to human ears, seemed like the most beautiful melody Luna had ever heard.
"Husband, you\'re truly amazing!"
This was Luna\'s last thought as she felt herself being consumed by the melody, every part of her cell operating like a machine.
"Witness the grand Symphony of Killing," Maximus thought.
As Luna, three elites, and an Undead king came face to face.
Luna acted like a precise machine, slashing at the Undead king.
The Undead king instinctively dodged, but in doing so, it was hindered by the Undead elite beside him.
Luna\'s machete sliced through the undead arm like a tomato, avoiding the Undead king\'s bones and hard muscles.
This enraged the Undead King, but an annoying melody from hell was like a lullaby forcibly calming it down.
Although the melody had almost no effect on the undead king, its subordinates were like marionettes at this moment, helping this despicable woman besiege it.
After a few more clashes, another arm of the undead king was cut off.
As for the Undead elites, they were already dismembered by the zombie king himself, as Maximus used them as shields and distractions.
Luna, on the other hand, was glowing red due to overload performing inhuman movements.
"Let\'s finish this play..." Maximus thought.
He, who was conducting this play, looked like a monster with his veins popping out all over his body, his eyes like those of a demon, pure red due to blood.
Thud*
Like a signal of death, Luna was like a nimble assassin who circled the undead king, attacking all its blind spots.
A moment of carelessness, like a powerless puppet, was all it took for the undead king to be killed.
As it tried hard to find the nimble Luna, it followed Maximus\' rhythm, causing it to trip on its own.
Slash*
Before it completely fell, Luna took the chance to slash its neck multiple times.
After severing the head of the Undead King, Luna fell into a coma as the redness in her body began to recede.
"Huh..."
Maximus also nearly fainted, but with sheer will, he held on; after all, it was still dangerous.
After a struggle, he carried Luna\'s body through their hideout and fell asleep.
...
In the 100,000th step:
Maximus opened his eyes peacefully, getting used to the time difference in the trial.
After all, it\'s almost the same as using the Life points.
After they killed the Undead king, the hidden mission was to kill as many undead as possible in three years.
Maximus took this time to train Luna and bond with her.
"Hey, Maximus..." Lilith said softly.
She noticed that something seemed wrong with Maximus in the past couple of minutes.
"What?" Maximus looked at Lilith, thinking of how to tease her.
"Th-that-" Lilith didn\'t finish her thought as Maximus pinched her cheeks again.
"Oh," Lilith was embarrassed and didn\'t bother anymore.
...
After helping Luna finish her trial, the others followed suit.
In Erica\'s trial, the mission was to escape waves of beast tides.
Maximus only assisted a little, hoping to train Erica\'s independent thinking.
With Erica\'s ingenuity, she easily passed the trial.
Although not as perfectly as the previous two, as long as she could pass, it was good enough.
...
In Hazel\'s trial, the mission was to survive on an island that is being attacked by beasts periodically, like an island-building trial.
In this trial, Maximus didn\'t even show up, as he only assisted Hazel, making her seem like a child of destiny.
For example, Hazel lacked a special treasure for defense, but after walking for a while, like a protagonist, she could pick it up as easily as a stone on the road.
This trial was like the illusion trial giving bad luck versus Maximus giving good luck.
Hazel barely passed, with Maximus sending her treasures to survive.
...
Livia\'s trial was also a survival island, but with 999 other participants killing each other.
Initially, half could pass this trial, but the fewer people there were, the more blessings one would receive.
Livia was very timid, so she dug an underground base and placed traps everywhere.
Livia\'s activity traces were everywhere, and she was constantly being attacked.
If it were not for Maximus hiding and helping erase the traces so that only one or two would find out, Livia would have long been eliminated.
The trial ended 100 days later with 150 participants remaining.
...
Angeline\'s trial was also a group trial, with 1,000 participants in place.
As more and more people took the 1,000th-step trial, it seemed like the mode became competition-type.
Maximus could only hide behind the scenes, as although the system could hide his presence from the recording, the people taking the trial were exempted.
The trial was a race toward the top of the floating islands.
The first 300 to reach the top would pass the trial.
On the way, there were countless beasts and traps that would slow them down.
As he was hidden, Maximus could only assist Angeline by destroying the beasts and traps that she could encounter.
As for the others behind her, she could only fight them by hand.
The trial was difficult, and Angeline nearly died during the chase.
If it were not for Maximus placing traps in the places that Angeline walked through, it would have been over.
...
Next was Rose\'s trial, with 1,000 people killing each other as in Livia\'s trial.
Rose was stubborn, she came to know that competition trials had almost no punishment for failure.
The veteran people on the 999th step were waiting for this mode to start.
After all, even if they lost, they could still take the trial 10 years later without a problem.
Knowing that there was no real danger, Rose fought others like crazy.
This reckless action left Rose in a coma and on the verge of dying multiple times.
Maximus could only assist by using the subtle sound of leaves to distract and make the opponents think that they had already killed Rose.
All the people in the trial had similar strengths, so Maximus did it quickly without arousing suspicion.
After all, those truly talented had already passed through the 1,000th trial.
The ones left behind are those mediocre in strength.
After Rose woke up from her coma, she was puzzled as to how she was still alive.
onethNeless, after a bit of healing, she continued to fight.
Maximus could only sigh and do his best.
Finally, Rose passed the trial, while being in a coma, losing her arms, and bleeding all over her body.
...
The last to take the trial was Irine.
The trial this time was between two factions: devil and hunter.
There were 100 devils and 900 hunters, shuffled among them.
The hunter\'s goal was to wipe out the devils, while the devil\'s goal was to kill at least 10 hunters.
Irene was a devil, but with her strength, she had no way of killing 10 hunters without being discovered.
Of course, with Maximus as her cheat, everything is possible.
Irene\'s profession is herbalist.
With Maximus throwing different rare herbs at random.
Irene created a poisonous concoction that almost killed a hundred people, including both hunter and devil.
This action, however, exposed her and got her killed.
Fortunately, Irene had already completed the mission, so she passed.