"Then! Let the trial of Sol begins!"
Immediately after the voice announced the start of the trial, the hollowed room Marcius was in faded from existence.
The grayish stones and high ceiling disappeared. In their place, black walls and brightly lit torches materialized.
The wooden totem was also gone. In its place was a human-shaped figure.
Marcius slowly walked towards the figure with caution. As he inched closer to the figure, he could see that it was a puppet made from unknown grayish material.
"For the test of strength, you will need to defeat the training dummies created by the authority of Sol. You will start with one dummy, but the number will slowly go up as you defeat them."
The voice stated.
'Sh*t. This trial is different from what I have read from the novel.'
Marcius thought worriedly.
From his memories, the heir of Aemilia clan remembered that the protagonist, Logan, had to defeat quite a few demon beasts of varying cultivation, to pass the test of strength.
And now Marcius had to fight, dummies? Was the totem looking down on him?
No, more importantly, was this going to be the norm in the future? Wouldn't he be able to rely on his knowledge for the times to come?
Or the totem just gave out different tests to different challengers?
'F**k it. Who cares? I just need to destroy the dummies. The easier it is, the better the chances of me getting what I want.'
Marcius thought as his right hand changed into a grabbing motion. The Obsidian Edge appeared within the grasp of his fingers.
The dummy also mirrored his actions, and a sword made out of the same material as the training dummy appeared in its hand.
'Humm… curious.'
Marcius rocketed forwards using Movement of Gaea. The dummy did the same, and moved with the swiftness rivaling Marcius.
'What?!'
Marcius was caught off guard by the speed of the dummy, but he continued on and met the training dummy at the middle.
The black colored sword and the gray colored sword clashed.
Marcius was once again surprised. He slashed his sword in a way that it would be difficult to parry or counter with normal defensive maneuvers, but the dummy met his sword nonetheless.
'Is it also using Movement of Gaea?!'
He dragged his sword along the surface of dummy's sword. Eventually, the guard of Obsidian Edge met the blade of the enemy.
Marcius prepared to put pressure on his hand, and use the sword guard to force the dummy's sword back. But the dummy adjusted his sword stance and let Marcius pass through entirely.
As Marcius was pushed forwards with his own momentum, he felt great danger coming from behind him.
He had to quickly jump up to avoid the incoming sword.
While Marcius was in the midair, the dummy adjusted its sword's direction again, and the sword managed to create a shallow cut on Marcius's leg.
Marcius backed away from the training dummy quickly.
He tried to feel his leg and found out that it was slowly bleeding.
'I misjudged the totem. It is not underestimating me. A dummy, which has the same strength but better in techniques than me? This is worse than demon beasts.'
"Huh, this is going to be difficult."
Marcius said with a bitter smile.
*** *** ***
It had been going on for a while now.
As Marcius had figured, the dummy did have all the capacities of him. It even had the same strength.
'Forget about more, even one training dummy is giving me a very difficult time.'
Especially, the training dummy's mastery of Movement of Gaea was terrifying. It also used the technique in a different way.
While Marcius used the flexibility of the technique to change his attacks very rapidly and confused the foe, the dummy used it in a different and highly efficient manner.
The dummy utilized Movement of Gaea to adjust its attacks in a terrifying way. If you were blocking a slash, it became a thrust. If you were evading a thrust, it became a slash.
It never wasted its movement and momentum. It never changed directions midair like Marcius did.
And that makes it more efficient and dangerous than Marcius's Movement of Gaea.
Because you knew the dummy was attacking, but you would never be able to guess the form of attack, and you would never be able to block or evade.
Marcius had multiple cuts all over his body. While they were not deadly, the small wounds were slowly bleeding him out.
'To defeat it, guess I will have to think and attack like it.'
Marcius also noticed something. In addition to Movement of Gaea, the dummy was also using Seven Circles Position and Red Serpent Slash.
The dummy's stance indicated that it was always aware of its immediate surrounding, which was a trait of Seven Circles Position. And it would frequently lash out with powerful Red Serpent Slash.
First, Marcius would have to take care of his wounds. They were slowly tiring him out.
Marcius tried to inflict some damages to the training dummy, so that he could have a break to heal his injuries.
But his speedy attacks were no use against the dummy, which had the same speed as Marcius in addition to Seven Circles Position technique.
'I don't want to try that out if I don't have to. But I guess I have no choice.'
Marcius took a sword draw stance, a typical prelude to Red Serpent Slash.
The dummy also mirrored Marcius's actions.
"You may have all my techniques and my strength. But let's see if you can keep up with this."
*** *** ***
Author Notes
Hello! MidnightMK here!
Finally! The trial is starting! It is Marcius's main goal of this entire expedition.
Please leave comments and feedbacks. I really appreciate it.
Please enjoy the chapter! And please vote if you do!