Gulp
Victor looked at the hundreds of portals that formed in the sky and completely surrounded them all. Then a new message appeared in front of all the Rankers, and they looked grim when they saw the message, which confused the ones that were not connected to the Tower. Victor was also connected to the Tower even though he was not a Ranker, thanks to his bloodline.
[ Trial has started ]
[ Survive 12 hours ]
Victor's eyebrows twitched and sweat dripped from his forehead as this simple message spoke volumes of the danger that was about to come.
"Shit."
"This message is really ominous."
"My sixth sense is telling me something really dangerous is going to happen."
"Hey, can someone tell me what's happening? I have not become a Ranker yet."
"Shut up, low-floor trash. Just know you will die soon."
"Tsk, you are calling me low-floor trash? Aren't you also trash like me now?"
"You..."
"Alright, enough. Disgusting nobles, soon the trial is going to start and we need to survive for six hours, do you understand shorty?"
"Damn, who are you calling shorty?"
"Really, that's what you care about?"
"I care about both... damn, what kind of trial requires us to survive and not win?"
Victor could hear all kinds of shouts and conversations happening near him, but his gaze never left the portals even for a moment.
Buzz
The portals buzzed loudly for a few seconds before hundreds of monsters started emerging from them, which made everyone's face go pale with fright.
The monsters looked extremely similar to bees, but the difference was they were as big as nine-year-old humans. They had large, sharp, spiky horns instead of hands and pitch-black, razor-sharp long stingers at the bottom.
Victor quickly used his Akasha Eyes to check what kind of monsters they were
[Titan Bees]
[Rank: D]
[Description: A common D-rank monster in the Tower which uses its stingers to poison prey by paralyzing it and then lands the final blow with the horns on its hands. Among D-class monsters, they are one of the most dangerous because they work in groups and can overwhelm a rank]
'Hmm, I should be able to kill them with my new skills along with the use of Akasha Eye,' Victor thought. When he saw the monsters were only D-rank, he breathed a sigh of relief — at least it wasn't above C-rank. If it had been C-rank he would have needed to be cautious, but D-rank he was confident he could handle and even kill them. Unlike Victor, who was calm, the others were completely panicked as their eyes widned as they could recozgnie the bees.
"Fuck, why is it the Titan Bees?" cursed someone when they recognized them. He knows how annoying these beasts can be if tye are in a group.
"Yeah, does the Records want us to become their opponents? Why did D-rank beasts have to show up, damn," another person cursed, staring at the bees with a grim look.
"Hey, wait — what did you say? D-rank? Damn… why did the system take our weapons? How does it expect us to face D-rank monsters without our former strength and weapons?" complained someone else.
"Yeah, I know some Rankers can fight enemies above their tier, but they mostly rely on equipment and rarely on skills," said another person.
"Hey, if someone protects me, I'll give them millions," said a noble with a flushed face, humiliation ripping through his pride. Seeing no one respond, he grew angrier. How could anyone accept his offer when they weren't sure they would come back unscathed? Some hesitated, then shook their heads — accepting would require total focus, and what good is money if they die trying.
The conversation died immediately as the monsters charged directly toward them, and everyone started hurling all types of attacks. Rankers began dying under the joint assault of the monsters, and with each passing minutes more and more corpses of Titan bees and humans started to pile up on the ground.
Victor saw a small group of five Titan Bees fly toward him, their stingers pointed directly at his chest. He quickly used Akasha Eye on them, which slowed their movements in his vision.
He gripped his sword tighter and was about to strike, but suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of mortal danger. Instinctively, he leapt to the other side.
"Ahh!" Victor's eyes widened as he saw the bees pierce through a group of men who had been right behind him.
'Damn, those bastards were going to sneak attack me!' Victor cursed inwardly, gritting his teeth as cold sweat dripped down his back. He had forgotten that for the sake of treasures, even family and friends would turn on each other. Pressured by the monsters, he had let down his guard against the others. Judging by their stance, they had indeed been about to stab him in the back in a sneak attack.
Hiss
Victor sucked in a cold breath as he saw the bees drive their stingers directly into the bodies of the men he had just dodged without any shred of mercy, the men who were about to stikre him were frozen in disbelief as they saw the stingers embedded into their bodies.
"Ugh…" all the men groaned in pain as poison seeped into their veins. Their faces turned purple as paralysis spread through their bodies, leaving them conscious but helpless. Despair filled their eyes as the massive horns of the bees descended. The Titan Bees wasted no time, retracting their stingers before shredding the men to pieces with their horns—then locking eyes with Victor.
"Moonlight Sword Art – First Form: Quick Slash."
Seeing one of the bees dash toward him, Victor activated his technique. His vision sharpened, focusing on the target in extreme detail as his sword became bathed in moonlight.
Click.
A sharp sound rang out before the two charging bees were cleaved clean in half. Not just them— even the other three hovering near the corpses of the men who had tried to ambush him were sliced apart in the same strike.