Godking Ascending The Heavens - 128 A Game of Chicken

[Present moment. The 11th night in the Monster Mausoleum.]

Van travelled smoothly over the landscape in the Underworld Labyrinth with the Palladium Wind Nymph Sandals on his feet. The wind beneath his feet was like a friendly spirit, giving him a nudge here or there to support him.

The terrain in the labyrinth varied widely due to the influences of powerful treasures or creatures in the area. This quickly varying environment was one way in which you could tell that the Monster Mausoleum was man-made or at least not completely natural.

Earlier, he had deducted that the various natural formations in the Underworld Labyrinth were constructed to look natural. Actually, they were designed to confuse those who enter them and prevent them from reaching the center of the labyrinth. This thought got Van’s blood boiling – he felt that there was definitely something important hidden at the center of the Underworld Labyrinth.

While Van was skimming over the surface of a swamp, he felt the air tremble. The hairs on the back of his neck instantly raised.

SNAP!

Shua!

Van darted away just in time to avoid being bitten by a gigantic 9th ranked Stone-Armored Crocodile with teeth the size of swords and a body that was at least 20 meters long and 5 meters wide.

Its jaws closing in on nothing but air, the Stone-Armored Crocodile receded into the muddle swamp water. Its dark beady eyes watching Van keenly.

Van glanced at his metallic sandals and felt thankful in his heart. Disaster had been narrowly missed – however, it seemed like the giant crocodilian demon beast was still watching him.

“So aggressive!” Van exclaimed. His heart rate was still elevated.

At that moment, he spotted a nest containing three large emerald green eggs in the middle of the swamp. The brown swamp water churned as the 9th ranked Stone-Armored Crocodile swam protectively around its nest. But where there was one parent, there would be another.

Van’s eyes rested for a moment longer on the three eggs in the nest.

[Such a vicious and powerful protector…]

The red-haired youth pursed his lips. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.

The beady dark eyes of the Stone-Armored Crocodile stared back at him.

Van smirked, “Maybe I’ll have a little rest here.”

In the entire Underworld Labyrinth, spread across the five battlefields, only Van was so carefree at this moment. Empowered by his high-level spiritual sense and incredible movement ability, he could freely travel over the landscape and do whatever he liked.

In stark contrast, other disciples were running around still battling stone-golems from the previous night’s monster horde or just plain evading them. They didn’t have the time to look around the Underworld Labyrinth and see what treasure caught their fancy. In fact, there was a disciple in the fourth battlefield who was already a popular figure in the Coliseum and was given the nickname ‘Road Runner.’ Why?

It wasn’t a glorious reason but simply because he was actually running away from the thirty golem-like monsters chasing after him. Obviously, this Road Runner fellow didn’t have the strength to deal with so many monsters at once so he decided to rely on his movement ability to evade being eliminated. It was actually a respectable achievement that he had lasted this long on only a 5th level of Qi Distillation cultivation.

It was the 11th night of the Monster Mausoleum and the vast majority of disciples simply couldn’t take it anymore. Run this way and there was a demon beast, run this way and there was an entrapment array, run upwards and there was an 8th ranked Sun-Mountain Lion, run downwards and there was a graveyard filled with evil spirits. To top it all off – at the end of each day, 10 golems at the 7th rank would start chasing after you! These stone golems had endless energy and strong defense. Their only weakness was a slightly slower speed than average due to their bulk – a 7th rank golem had a speed that was on par with an average 6th ranked monster.

Despite their slower speed, these golems never ran out of energy – but the participants did. Those at least in the 7th rank had an easier time as they had larger reserves of spiritual power, but even then, they would eventually run out. Once they ran out of spiritual power they would need to stop and meditate to recover, exposing them to the risk of getting attacked by the stone golems whereas cultivators of the Sea Establishment Realm would be able to run endlessly due to the ability to recover spiritual energy as they ran or flew.

It was the 11th night of the Monster Mausoleum and there were only around 20 cultivators left in all five battlefields combined.

“Ugh! It got me!” Mystra spat blood out of her mouth as two 7th ranked golems overpowered her Macabre Dance, which made significant cracks in their rock-like bodies but not enough to kill them. She had already killed five of them but there was still five more.

BANG!

A golem swung its fist at her spiked ball-and-chain and it was ripped from her grasp.

“Fuck! If only I had a little more time…” Mystra closed her eyes.

For someone in the initial stages of the 7th rank she had truly done quite well to have lasted to the 11th night. Remember that only 20 out of the initial 200 disciples remained, that was only 10% of the initial participants.

A bright white glow enveloped Mystra’s body the instant the stone golem hit her.

When she opened her eyes again, she was spinning through a dark space. After a few minutes she emerged from the portal to the sight of Tutor Lumia and Elder J.

“Mystra,” Tutor Lumia acknowledged with a light nod, “You have conducted yourself impressively. With a final score of 241, you are in the low-upper ranks.”

From Tutor Lumia’s perspective, Mystra had only broken through to the 7th rank recently and her martial skills had yet to catch up. The rewards she could redeem with her 241 points was already quite good.

Mystra nodded her head but felt somewhat dissatisfied within. She could have done better if only she had more time! This was because she had managed to produce the rare movement skill, ‘Swallow’s Flight’ while travelling through the Underworld Labyrinth. It had only been two days since then – not nearly enough time to understand it fully – and then the monster hordes had became too strong for her to resist.

“How is Wang Hao doing?” Mystra asked with a wrinkle between her brows.

A small smile spread over Tutor Lumia’s lips, “Your Senior Brother has incredible fortitude and was able to unlock the Swordstorm Desert’s secret inheritance – the Solitary Sword Script. If he has the ability to comprehend it then his sword skills will become unrivalled in the Cedar Sect.”

Even Elder J’s usually bored expression seemed to have been replaced by a slightly livelier look, “It’s all very INTERESTING, isn’t it? If he can achieve the minor perfection realm of the Solitary Sword then he should put up a good fight against Yun Hai.”

Mystra’s eyes gleamed and her red hair flared up behind her in her excitement. Her Senior Brother was doing well, good, very good!

Suddenly, the image of another youth flashed across her mind. It was a red-haired youth with a steady expression.

Mystra’s expression showed that she felt a bit embarrassed, “And V-Van?”

Tutor Lumia and Elder J exchanged looks.

Mystra was astonished.

“You mean he has the highest score in the Cedar Sect!?” Her voice was so loud and piercing that some people sitting in the stands turned around to send her a disapproving glance.

“How is that possible?”

Tutor Lumia shook her head, “I have been watching him – he has great instinct and has been gaining points proactively throughout the waves of monsters. Not only has he killed every golem-monster sent after him, he has also taken control in previous rounds to kill additional monsters. While others are surviving, he is thriving and even hunting.”

Mystra’s gaze turned complicated. While she had admired Van for defending the Cedar Sect against Rhogar and then Viggo, in her heart she had always felt that the gap between her and Van was not that big. After all, he was also in the 7th rank of the Qi Distillation realm when they met.

Mystra sighed. She looked at the ball-and-chain weapon in her hand. This weapon was one that was handed down the female heirs down the generations and the Macabre Dance was a technique that only the most compatible and talented could learn.

[I need to work harder!]

The fifteen-year-old girl clenched her fists. Her straight back and fierce expression radiated a heroic aura.

Tutor Lumia smiled warmly, “Come, we have set up a camp for returned participants just outside the coliseum. You must be exhausted.”

Elder J snapped his fingers and a diminutive servant came forward to show Mystra the way to the camp.

The red-haired girl twisted her neck back and saw a familiar youth in the mirages high above. With glittering metallic sandals on his feet, he was smoothly whizzing over the landscape with a tranquil expression on his face. After a few minutes, she saw him enter an area with a giant Stone-Armored Crocodile and almost grew a few white hairs. Her heart leapt to her throat but fell back down when he escaped easily. However, he did not leave, opting to enter a death stare match with the hostile Stone-Armored Crocodile instead.

[What is he planning?]