Chapter 144: The Trial of the Underwater Temple
"I indeed have a Magic stone with me…but I am not giving it for free" The high priest's smile grew wide.
"Are you joking with me, old man ?! Want me to give you an early retirement ?" Yami became pissed as the more time they wasted, unseen danger might approach them.
"Don't be disrespectful Yami!" Charlotte hit Yami with her elbow.
"Please tell us how to get the Magic Stone," Charlotte said politely.
"Hehe~You all have to undergo the trail of the temple of Leviathan." the priest said while her wife returned after showing Julian the throne of Atlante.
All the Black Bulls members except for Gordon assembled around the Yami to listen to the details.
Gordon left the temple and wandered into the City to learn about their culture. Since he was bad at communication, he was trying to talk to people more to cure his problem.
"To access the treasures of Watasumi, all outsiders must undergo the trail of Leviathan temple. " Priest's wife said.
"We shall transport you all to a maze just below this temple at different areas.
Your objectives shall be to pass through all the traps and defeat all our people spread across the trial and reach the last chamber.
If any of you manage to reach before the one-hour mark, we shall give you the magic stone and blessing of Leviathan. "
Asta immediately became excited after hearing about the details while Finral didn't like where it was going.
"Fine! We will go through his trail" Yami said.
"Give us an hour to prepare, you all can rest here for a while," the priest said as he disappeared using spatial magic.
The priest's wife approached Noelle and asked to follow her. Since it was an unknown area, Asta decided to follow her.
Leaving the temple, the three of them entered a big house with a lot of pictures and sculptures on display.
"This house has the records of people who had completed the Trail of the Leviathan temple"
Noelle's eyes wandered across the pictures and stopped at one picture as her body froze.
"So I was correct….you are a spitting image of her.
Acier Silva, your mother was the last person from the outside to complete the trial. "
Priest's wife moved the painting and took out a silver-colored pendant from its back and put it around Noelle's neck.
"This belonged to your mother.
She asked for it to be delivered to one of her children if any of them reached this place."
Noelle touched the pendent and felt a strange sense of security as if she was in a warm embrace.
Asta saw Noelle's change in emotions and decided not to say anything.
"Why was my mother here?"Noelle asked.
"Your mother was cursed when you were still in her womb.
The curse had no cure and would eventually take her life in a few months."
"B-But I was told that my mother died while giving birth to me..."Noelle muttered.
It felt like her world was shattering.
"Aceir Silva was an exceptionally strong woman, mere childbirth cannot kill her.
You were most probably lied to keep you from danger since the one to curse her was someone who could even defeat your mother.
She came to his temple to get Leviathan's blessing so that her daughter is safe from the curse and seems like she was successful since you are standing here healthy.
Acier was truly a kind woman."
The more she heard about her mother, the more emotional Noelle became as tears dropped from her eyes.
It was the first time in years since she was hearing about her mother as everyone in Silva house since to have completely stopped talking about her mother.
Asta decided to step in and hug Noelle from the back to console her.
Noelle didn't lash out and stayed in Asta's embrace for a while.
'Even though you were suffering so much, you still cared for Mother….. .'
"Who was the one to curse my mother?" Noelle asked.
"I can't tell you, child…my lips are sealed by a promise…..promise to your mother.
Don't throw your life away for revenge.
But if you wish to know about it, ask Julian.
Only he can tell you about it without facing the consequences since he is a Ragnvindr"
***********
After some time everyone in the Black Bulls and Charlotte was ready for the trail.
The priest's wife drew some inscriptions in the air as multiple screens made of water appeared all over the city showing people live footage of the trial.
"Now then, let's start !"
The old man clapped his hands and everyone disappeared from that place and found themselves in different unfamiliar places.
"What is the meaning of this huh?! " Yami asked finding himself in a big room with Yami, Charlotte, the priest, and his wife.
In front of them was a large screen showing every Black Bull member participating along with a table full of food and alcohol.
"Fufu you are too strong for the trail so it won't be fun anymore.
Don't worry I have plenty of food and alcohol to watch the show.
" If you think that you can bribe me with food and drinks ….." they looked at each other for a few seconds.
"Then you are god dam right !! " said Yami laughing making Charlotte facepalm.
********
As the trial began every Black Bull member found themselves in a different type of environment.
Some in rocky areas and some in the forest.
On further investigation, they found that everything was an illusion.
It was pretty funny to see them crashing into walls thinking that it was the area ahead.
As they went a little far Asta, Luck, Magna, and Gauche met with their first opponents and immediately went to battle.
Their opponents were armed fishermen similar to the ones who surrounded them when they first came here.
Finral was the unluckiest as he was teleported to the trap room and activated a deadly trap with every step he took.
Finral met his first opponent in the next chamber but instead of fighting, he created a portal to the next chamber and began running at full speed.
" OI FINRAL STOP RUNNING OR I WILL KILL YOU !! " Yami's voice reverberated around him which sent a chill down his spine.
Charmy was sent where there were a lot of exotic fish.
She couldn't control her hunger anymore and began cooking those fish forgetting about the trial.
As she was eating she heard a melody, she stopped eating and decided to finish the fight quickly and continue eating.
A Fisherman dressed similarly to the soldiers approached Charmy while still playing a melody as Charmly summoned her sheep for combat which never happened because Charmy fell on her back and immediately fell asleep being influenced by the fishermen's magic.
" One down, " the fisherman said in a female voice said before leaving for a different chamber.
*******
Boom!
Asta's sword hit a fisherman sending them flying and crashing to the wall. Asta's instincts kicked in as he ducked down to dodge a water slash.
" The power to nullify magic .. you must be Asta right " a new voice entered Asta's ears.
He removed his mask and looked towards Asta.
" I am Kiato, Kahano's bother.
I shall be your next opponent " Mana enveloped his sword and he began swinging his bade in a pattern that looked like he was dancing.
' Why the hell he is dancing? ' Asta thought to himself.
" You see Asta although I am allowed to go to the city near the shore, I am not allowed to go deep into the kingdom till I prove myself.
My grandpa, the high chief said that I would be free to go if I perform well in this trial.
So for my dream, I will defeat you. "
He rotated his blades and water slashes filled the entire cave. Asta swung the demon slayer sword and canceled his attacks.
" Come " Asta shouted in excitement.
Kiato smiled and engaged Asta in a close combat fight.
Although Asta could defend all his attacks he found that he was unable to get a solid hit on him.
He noticed that Kiato' was using solid blades and instead of applying mana on them, he was applying them on his limbs so even if Asta touched his sword the power didn't decrease.
Moreover, his swordsmanship was impressive, with the constant rhythmic movement he set a motion leaving very few holes in his defense.
" What happened, Asta? Why aren't you fighting back? "
Kiato kept on increasing his speed with blades of water forming around him at regular intervals.
After fighting for some more minutes Asta concluded ' This guy is purely fighting on flexibility and his set combos. If I stop one of his attacks he takes a few seconds to execute the next combo. The best situation in this is to fight him with his own technique '.
" Sorry for waiting " Asta's green eyes shined as he took out the demon dweller sword.
He closed his eyes as a layer of anti-magic coated his fist turning it black.
Asta began his onslaught on Kitao countering his every move and dodging his movement with his superior flexibility.
A training freak like Asta does everything to make his body move faster and better so his flexibility and physical strength was on another level than Kitao's.
Keeping Julian's training in mind, Asta first assessed the level of power Kiato can display before showing his full power.
Kiato was shocked by the new development.
Until now he sent Asta to the defensive and was confident in defeating him but the situation took a complete turn for him.
Asta was countering his every move as if he could anticipate his every move. Every time their sword clashed he felt his hands getting numb, he was getting pushed back.
If this continues he would lose his advantage.
'I can't lose her !"
Kiato calmed his mind and increased his speed adding new combos to his attacks.
**********
As the trial continued, Noelle came face to face with Kahono.
"I have a dream to become an idol and I can't move forward if I don't go into the world…
For my dream, I must defeat you"
Kahono began by using her lullaby to put Noelle to sleep like Charmy but [ sea dragon's lair ] emerged surrounding Noelle.
After hearing about her mother's true reason for death, a fire had awoken inside Noelle to become strong…..strong enough to defect what took her mother from her.
Seeing her strategy not working Kahano went to the offensive.
[ Song magic: Hyper voice ] A loud chaotic voice hit the defensive shell destroying half of it.
Noelle aimed her wand toward Kahono and shot high-speed water bullets toward her.
Noelle created a smaller version of [ sea dragon's lair ] to defend against her hyper voice but her ears started to hurt because of the high-pitched sound waves.
In this situation, Noelle took a gamble and compressed the water shield around her head. Around the tenth try, she was able to create a miniature sea dragon' lair around her head and stop the sound waves from affecting her.
She increased the power of her offensive spells forcing Kahono to go on the defensive.
******
" Ne~ Magna, I sense a strong presence ahead. I wonder who will he choose to fight . " said Luck who was walking beside Magna with hands behind his head in a leisurely manner.
Coincidentally after defeating their first enemies, Luck and Magna found themselves in the same chamber and decided to work together.
' This guy never gets tired of fighting 'thought Magna smiling.
After getting past some illusions and traps they finally came across the strongest presence in the temple.
The man looked at them and said " I apologize for what my father, the high priest has put you people through.
If you are wondering whom will I choose to fight, why don't you both attack me together? I have to hold my position as the guardian of the temple after all . "said the man creating a big water hammer.
Hearing this Luck and Magna put on a crazy smile.
" Bring it on !! " both of them shouted as they got pumped up for another battle.
But as they were about to start the battle the wall on their side exploded and the man crashed into the opposite wall.
From the broken debris emerged a giant man who looked like a mixture of a beast and a human.
Behind him were a few more people dressed in cloaks of the eye of the midnight sun.
Before they could react, Luck and Magna found themselves hit with an attack that almost made them lose consciousness.
" Looks like you are having fun ….let me join the fun too " a voice rang into the magic knight's ears which was followed by the energy of intense blood lust which covered the entire trail space.
Vetto from the Eye of the Midnight Sun was here.
He had a tall, muscular beast-like body and mana that surpassed even the captains.
Magna almost suffocated while Luck was not so good either from the intense killing intent Vetto was releasing.
This was different from the Mana pressure.
The weaker members of the trial drooped to the floor the trail screaming as under the effect of blood lust they saw themselves dying in horrifying ways.
"You people go search for the stone while I have some fun with them " grinned Vetto.
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