The Dark Demon Lord - Chapter 84

Arnin and the bun haired girl made their ways towards one of the three special places in the battlefield. Although the bun haired girl knew of the three locations, she wasn’t sure how to get there from where she was currently located.

When Arnin found out, he began to search for other cultivators. He needed more information as to how he could find these places. He knew that the information the bun haired girl could provide him with was becoming more and more limited, but even then, she still had some use. He still needed someone to point out who each person was, and how strong they approximately were. She also needed to run into dangerous areas first in order for Arnin to decide if he would go as well or not.

The name ‘Demonic Joker’ had begun to spread widely, and some who were very smart began to notice the general direction he was heading towards. Others even heard the types of questions that Arnin would ask his victims before killing them.

“Cave Temple Zone!” This was the name of one of the special areas in the battlefield. Arnin was closest to this place, and so he decided to go towards this special zone first.

“The Demonic Joker is heading towards the Cave Temple Zone! We need to avoid running into him!” Some who were also heading towards the Cave Temple Zone began to doubt whether going would be a good idea. They did not want to run into the Demonic Joker and then get tortured to death.

“Why are you guys so scared? It’s just a single Demonic Joker. What can such a little bug do? If I meet that devilspawn, then watch what I do to him!” Some, however, were not scared. They wanted to run into Arnin in order to teach him a lesson that would cost him his life.

“Yeah, I truly want to fight someone like the Demonic Joker. I heard he is quite strong, hehe!” There were even some battle maniacs who wanted to fight Arnin to the death in order to get a thrill out of the battle.

Everywhere, people had different reaction to this news, however even though many people talked about Arnin, he was still considered less important than the truly major figures in the battlefield.

The truly strong had many paying attention to their every movements. Some people even stalked them from the shadows and kept watch on them, reporting what they saw to the majority. Whenever the strongest people made any movements, the news would spread like wildfire. Most, if not all of the cultivators on the battlefield would know about their every move.

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Back in the cave where the major figures of Thorn Academy gathered, all of them watched as many people made their way towards one of the three special places.

“Seems like Arnin finally learned about these places, and judging by the general direction he is heading towards, he should reach the Cave Temple Zone in about a day or so.” The cave was much larger than others thought. Rather than calling it a cave, it was better suited to be called a private dimension. It was in a pocket of space, and was one of the greatest treasures of Thorn Academy.

Fae, who continued to watch Arnin, told the other people in the cave. All of them also looked over and saw that Arnin was indeed heading towards the Cave Temple Zone.

“Who else is heading towards the Cave Temple Zone? Are there any top one hundred cultivators?” Fae asked the other people around her. She wasn’t worried about Arnin, rather she wanted to know who he would most likely face in the Cave Temple Zone.

She had never seen him fight with full power, but if he was pit against one of the strongest in the battlefield, then there was a high chance that he would be forced to fight with full strength. That was the one thing she was looking forward to.

“It seems like rank seventy Kani and rank fifty four Ararare are heading towards this zone.” One of the mysterious people replied.

The others also began to voice out the different people they saw head towards this zone. “Rank eighty nine, thirty one, fifty seven, ninety nine” Many ranks were called out.

When Fae heard them all, she couldn’t help but smile. “What about people in the top twenty?” These twenty people were the strongest so far, and she really wanted to make one of them fight Arnin.

“Most of them are heading towards the Elemental River Zone. While some of them are not heading to any of the Zones.” The person who spoke was the headmistress. She head been keeping a keen eye on the top twenty since they were the strongest, or the most talented. She had to make sure that she watched them and learned their specialties and skills in order to provide them with the best training if they survived.

“The Elemental River Zone? That place is always the first target of the most talented.” She grumbled as she spoke. ‘Arnin doesn’t even know which ones are the best and which ones are the worst.’ She was somewhat upset because she always felt Arnin was the most talented freak. If she didn’t feel that Arnin was talented, why would she risk so much to bring him over to her side?

The three zones significantly helped the cultivators of the battlefield, however there were differences between them all. The best zone was the Elemental River Zone. It was filled with the essence of variety of elements, so much so that if one drank some of the liquid, they would be able to completely fill their orb with the maximum amount of essence. An added bonus was that the essence was extremely pure. The only problem with the liquid was that there was a high chance of death by implosion if one drank the liquid without enough strength.

Not only was the river magnificent, it was also unique, as one could not lift any of the water out. The whole river was one body and the only way to drink the water was if you could find a way to isolate a drop or two. Other than that, one just needed to step into the liquid and begin absorbing the essence.

The place was fantastic for almost every single type of cultivator, however it would not be able to assist people who wanted to work with the more mysterious and rare types of essence, such as space, time and blood.

The next zone, which was the second best zone, was known as the Body Torture Pillar Zone. This zone didn’t help cultivators with their realm or essence, rather it helped improve their physical body. As the name suggested, the way it helped was comparable to torture. The Body Torture Pillar Zone would have been ranked as the best Zone if body cultivation was mainstream, but it was not. Very few people even cared about their body’s condition, and worked solely on their orb and essence.

Even though this was true, the Body Torture Pillar Zone was able to maintain its ranking as the second best because of another very astonishing tempering mechanism it had. After the torture was finished, the people who survived would have a more calm and collected disposition towards unexpected situations. This did not improve their comprehension, rather the torturous pain was so immense that it would be similar to a life and death experience, resulting in the cultivators being more calm during other dangerous situations.

The Cave Temple Zone was actually the worst of the three, but it was still very beneficial. This zone was a large battle arena type area, however it distributed rewards as well. If anything, this place would allow one to gain more power through external means. If one survived a battle, then the Cave Temple would give them a reward based on how well they did. However, the catch was that only one person could stay alive. There was no way for two people to exit the arena, unless they were much stronger than the defenses of the Cave Temple.

Arnin was headed towards this exact location. This bothered Fae a little because she wanted him to go to the best place, and gain the same amount of essence as the more talented cultivators. Alas, the problem lied in the fact that Arnin arrived late, and did not know anyone who knew the secrets behind the test.

Fae regretted not telling Arnin anything beforehand. She really wanted to Arnin to come out on top because if he turned out to be the most talented student, then she, as the person who brought him to the academy, would receive lots of recognition as well.

‘Let’s just hope that he can eventually head over to the Elemental River Zone.’ She thought as she continued to watch Arnin make his way towards the Cave Temple Zone.

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As Arnin and the bun haired girl made their way towards the Cave Temple Zone, they met many cultivators along the way. Some were killed by Arnin and used to increase his amount of essence. Other cultivators who noticed Arnin and knew that they couldn’t face him decided to run away as quickly as they could, however there were still many who were confident in themselves and continued towards the Cave Temple Zone without stopping.

Arnin didn’t attack every single person in his path. Only lone cultivators would be killed, while those in groups would be left alive. He still wanted to conserve his strength for future troubles, plus he wanted to wait until a good amount of people were gathered before commencing any sort of massacre.

After a few hours passed, and the three finally reached the Cave Temple Zone. Arnin looked around and saw hundreds of people gathering around a large hole inside of a mountain. This mountain was much taller than the one he was pushed off of, and even reached the so called ‘ceiling’ of the cave. In front of the large hole, there were three statues. All three statues were the same in height, but each one had a different design.

The first statue, which was on the left side of the hole depicted a woman holding onto a sword. Anger and a thirst for blood was magically shown on her frozen face. The long, snake like sword was pointed towards the second statue which stood on the right side of the Cave Temple entrance.

This second statue depicted a man with a large, brawny build. The man’s face was ferocious, but also looked somewhat heroic. The weapon he held in his two large hands was an enormous warhammer. This warhammer was lifted over his head, seeming to want to smash the woman’s statue.

Both statues were able to make a cultivator’s blood run cold because of how lifelike they looked. It was as if the fight was going on in front of them, and all of the bloodlust that the two statues exuded was suffocating them.

Arnin looked at the statues and saw the misty eyes of the other cultivators and couldn’t help but scoff. He was the great Demon Lord that could destroy the planet with just a gaze, why would such insignificant people affect him?

While everyone else was paying attention to the two fighting statues, Arnin turned his gaze towards the last statue. This one was a little different from the rest. It was placed inside the mountain, right on top of the Cave Temple entrance. The depiction was hard to see because of how the person or thing was covered by a shadowy robe.

The depicted being had his palms facing the two fighting statues. His left palm, which was faced the sword woman was releasing some sort of item. Arnin scrunched his eyes and looked closely, only to see that the item was the hilt of a sword.

“Is that hilt moving?” Arnin turned his head and noticed a young man also looking towards the statue in the middle. It seemed like this young man was more interested in the middle statue, rather than the two fighting ones that the rest of the group was paying attention to.

Arnin wasn’t too interested in the young man because he could tell that the latter had fallen for an illusion that the statues were creating. If one was too weak, or did not have a strong mind, they would easily fall for such illusions, and this young man was a prime example of just that.

‘This place is a little different from I imagined. Seems like it isn’t a place filled with essence like the Essence Tower.’ Arnin thought inwardly. He had assumed that the zones would be places where people could cultivate essence and increase their powers through that, but looking at the statues, Arnin could tell that what he originally thought was most likely not the case.

“Is that blade also moving?” The young man unconsciously spoke out once more. Arnin turned his head and looked at the right palm of the middle statue. There was a blade that pointed towards the man holding the warhammer.

‘There should be a meaning behind these statues, but what is it?’ Arnin began to think about what the statues meant. He knew that most things would have a meaning or purpose behind their creation, and these statues fell under that category.

‘All the information that I know so far is that the woman and the man seem to be fighting, and the middle statue is pointing at them with two different things. The woman gets the hilt, while the man gets the blade.’ Arnin pondered the meaning behind this, but it took him a few minutes to figure out some of the other small things.

‘This blade towards the man probably means that he is going to get attacked by a third party, and the hilt for the woman probably means she is going to get an ally? Or is it something else?’ Arnin wracked his brain, and although he was extremely smart there just wasn’t enough information. He could only come up with two other theories, which was incredible considering the lack of information Arnin had.

He could only sigh and wait until he walked into the Cave Temple. Unlike others, he wasn’t super curious about what the statues meant. He understood that the Cave Temple was probably about battle, and maybe even group battles judging by the middle statute, but he couldn’t figure out why such a thing would help others.

The whole battlefield was filled with fights, so the Cave Temple was really just another place to battle each other.

‘Whatever, I will only find out once I walk into the place.’ Arnin waved his hand and had the bun haired girl follow him in. Soon, others also began to follow, their faces filled with expectation and some excitement.

The third zone, Cave Temple Zone.