Two weeks, almost half a month, had passed since the test of Urasis had begun.
For most of that time, all the people in the cave had been trying to somehow complete their tests.
But it was not something that could be completed in such a short time. They still had two weeks to complete them or lose in the attempt.
Things had not been going well for Kalen since they had fallen to the bottom of the big hole because of the monster's ambush.
The group had managed to find a place to wash off the dark liquid and rest. After that, they wandered aimlessly through the tunnels.
The only indication that they were on the right path was the slope of the tunnels, which kept going up.
Climbing almost 500 meters through tunnels was not easy, it was extremely slow.
The group hiked at least 14 hours a day, using the rest of the time to rest.
"Do you like Mount Duran?" asked Oliver as they walked.
Kalen looked straight ahead and answered dryly.
"Nothing special, I went there once with my family, but it didn't seem to be a big deal"
"Hmmm" Oliver thought about Kalen's answer and rubbed his chin.
"What about the Hazz River?"
"Well... maybe I like it better than the previous ones. It has a quieter atmosphere and not many people usually visit it"
While Oliver and Kalen talked about what seemed to be touristy areas of Earth. Elisabeth and Talika followed them with bored looks.
With so much time on their hands, it was normal to be bored. Somehow Oliver and Kalen found a way to talk about so many things that there were practically occasions when they had to repeat the topic.
"Ohh, and the Island of Holy Paradise!"
Kalen tried to remember the place Oliver had told him about.
"Was that island famous for being the home of the Wind pillar?"
"Yes, exactly, I went there once with my parents and got to see the pillar up close... she was too beautiful!"
Kalen sighed at Oliver's comment and continued walking.
Like him, Elisabeth sighed and groaned.
"Is it only the physique that counts?"
Oliver looked back and answered seriously.
"It's not that... I was just admiring her beauty"
Elisabeth sighed again and dropped the subject.
Pillars were those people who had completed three trials of Urasis, which led to them holding the rank of Pillar.
With each increase in rank, the person became stronger and closer to perfection, so it was normal for Pillars to be beautiful and absurdly powerful compared to someone like them who were just challengers.
All this time, Talika had remained silent, glancing discreetly at Kalen. But at some point, she froze and looked in a certain direction.
Elisabeth, standing next to her, noticed, and stopped as well.
"Is something wrong?"
Hearing Elisabeth, Oliver and Kalen stopped and looked back, only to see Talika on the verge of tears and breathing heavily.
"T-they... They're killing them!"
None of them understood what Talika was referring to, but considering her ability, it had to be some creature nearby.
Kalen walked over to Talika and grabbed her shoulders before staring into her eyes, trying to calm her.
"Breathe and tell us what's wrong"
Talika shivered at his words and nodded slightly as she steadied her breathing.
"They... they're being attacked... slaughtered"
Kalen squeezed her shoulders gently.
"Who are they?"
Talika looked in one direction and whispered.
"The elementals..."
Kalen frowned, not understanding what Talika was referring to; it wasn't until Elisabeth spoke that Kalen's attention was drawn to her.
"Elementals? I didn't expect to find them in a place like this" she said curiously.
"Elementals? What are they?" Kalen asked rather confused.
Oliver looked at him questioningly.
"You don't know? they're... Hmmm, I don't know how to define them... they're like little beings that are attracted to large concentrations of pure energy"
Elisabeth nodded at Oliver's words and finished.
"They are quite common on Urasis... especially in areas of high magical density"
"Energy? Magic? What are you both talking about?"
Kalen was at a loss as to what he meant by things related to Urasis, as he had never been so curious about anything other than his work as an assassin, which took up most of his time.
"Where did you live, isolated on a hill?"
Elisabeth was also surprised how little Kalen knew about Urasis.
At that moment, Talika shouted, waking everyone up.
"Can we please save them?!"
Everyone was surprised to hear Talika, who was usually so quiet and shy, scream like that.
Realizing what she had done, Talika stepped back and apologized.
"I'm sorry... it's just that I feel their pain all the time"
Kalen sighed and looked in the direction where Talika said those so-called elementals were in danger.
They may have gotten themselves into pointless trouble, but somehow Kalen felt he had wasted too much time and couldn't remain passive any longer.
"Well... lead the way"
Talika's eyes flashed and she nodded quickly before starting to walk through the tunnels.
The others followed, and Elisabeth approached Kalen.
"Are you sure about this?"
Kalen looked at Talika's back and nodded.
"Yes... besides, you should be interested as well. Don't you need to know what's going on here?"
Elisabeth was silent for a few seconds.
"Are you sure that this has something to do with what's going on in the cave?"
Elisabeth's third test had asked her to discover the strange happenings in the firefly cave, and so far, she had found nothing.
"Who knows... but it's better than nothing"
Elisabeth muttered to herself but said nothing more and continued walking.
After a few minutes Talika stopped and pointed ahead.
"There it is... there are the elementals"
Kalen looked into the cave, and from far away he could see a cluster of lights moving erratically in the cave dozens of meters in front of them.
"Those are the elementals?"
Elisabeth nodded.
"Yes... though I can't see what's attacking them"
Kalen sighed one last time.
"…Well, let's go"
The four of them began walking at a brisk pace towards the cave, and when they arrived, they could see what was threatening the elementals.
Several small bodies made of slime were slowly moving through the cave. They were like miniature versions of that monster, as they also had their characteristic tentacles that turned into sharp spikes that attacked the glowing orbs floating around the place.
The slime was not very large, but there were dozens of them.
Little by little, the slime tentacles pierced the elementals, who lost their glow the moment they were killed, and instead the slime seemed to grow in size each time they absorbed one of them.
Kalen stood still for a moment, not knowing what to do, until one of the slime that had just absorbed an elemental noticed him and moved one of its tentacles toward him.
The speed of the spike approaching him was nothing compared to the monster's tentacles, which were hard to follow with his own eyes.
Kalen moved his body to the side and caught the spike with his hands, squeezing it tightly and pulling it toward him.
Unable to stay on the ground, the slime flew toward Kalen, who raised his fist and struck its gelatinous body.
His fist went through the body of the slime, which began to melt on his arm and fell to the ground as a lifeless gelatinous paste.
Kalen noticed a small crystal that had fallen in front of him after he had finished with the slime, but he didn't have time to pick it up when two more slimes attacked him.
Kalen stepped back a few steps and waited for one of the barbs to come at him, deflecting it with his palm and trapping the other between his torso and arm.
Then he repeated the process, pulling the slime tentacle and finishing it off with a blow.
The slime was quite weak, but that wasn't the case when the dozens of slugs that targeted him simultaneously saw that they had killed two of his companions.
"Shit!"
Kalen backed up a few steps, but when he saw more than ten spikes coming towards him, he decided not to stay in the same place, but to move quickly to avoid the tentacles.
Being much smaller than the monster, the range of their tentacles was also smaller, which meant that the slime could retract their tentacles and attack faster than the monster.
As Kalen danced around the cave, dodging the tentacles without a gap to attack the slimes, the elementals were able to breathe thanks to the fact that he had drawn all the slimes' attention to himself.
Seeing how a strange human had temporarily saved them, the elementals were naturally grateful for his help. And they were also angry at the death of some of their own.
Most of the elementals in the cave were blue, while a few others were green.
The blue ones glowed slightly, and small but powerful jets of water came out of them, smashing into the slime.
The slime that was attacked by the elementals seemed to become slower than before, giving Kalen a chance to dodge them better and get close enough to end their existence.
With the dozens of blue elementals firing water jets incessantly, Kalen was able to gradually finish off the slimes, which dissolved into a puddle of gelatinous liquid before disappearing into the cracks in the ground.