Aldrich knew that he had to render four of the people from the other party unconscious so that the remaining would move on to the next stage.
Fin and Allen believed that Aldrich would go after the weakest in their group to reduce their numbers, but they were severely mistaken.
Years of struggle against the Dragons had made Aldrich realize that they always go for the prominent leader, as the small fries will whittle down with no one to command them.
Aldrich leapt towards Allen, catching him off guard as he landed a kick on his stomach, pushing him away.
"You-"Allen was enraged as he conjured flames and unleashed a barrage of projectiles towards Aldrich.
Aldrich effortlessly dodged the attacks and rushed towards Allen.
Aldrich tried to land a punch on Allen, only for him to dodge the punch. Allen fought back with a kick, hitting Aldrich in the face. Thinking he had scored a direct hit, Allen's grin faded as he realized the fireball had struck nothing but an illusion.
"How-"Before Allen could react, Aldrich appeared behind him, plunging a sphere of raw mana into Allen's back.
"ARGH" Allen screamed as the raw mana tore through his clothes, burning his flesh.
"BROTHER", Fin rushed towards his brother, only to be stopped by a barrage of lightning directed his way.
Mark summoned more lightning strikes, keeping the remaining group busy while Aldrich dealt with the strongest one.
Mark never had any friends. His father always resented him for not being strong enough, constantly beating him up whenever he didn't meet his father's expectations. All the maids and guards in his family always watched, never doing anything to save him from the torture.
Mark felt he would die while fighting the Goblin Shaman, but instead of fear, he felt calm.
"Will this torture be over if I die.", He had already accepted his fate when the fight was interrupted by one of his cousins.
"Aldrich?" Mark had always heard that Aldrich was a loser who couldn't fight, but what he saw was completely different.
Aldrich single-handedly defeated the Goblin, saving his life.
"It's the first time someone has helped me. I must repay him".
"Lightning Rain", Mark roared, as huge bolts of lightning tore through the ceiling, landing on the enemies, rendering them unconscious.
[ 7 participants remain]
[6 participants remain]
"He is good" Aldrich looked at Mark before focusing back on Allen, who had stood up, his eyes full of intense bloodlust.
Allen launched another spell, creating a dense smokescreen that obscured his movements. Aldrich swiftly navigated through the smokescreen, heading for Allen. Allen's sharp instincts kicked in, and he conjured a shield of flames around himself, anticipating an attack from any direction.
But Aldrich had anticipated this as well. With a forceful push of raw mana, he sent a shockwave through the ground, causing the arena beneath Allen to tremble. The flames flickered, and for a brief moment, Allen's shield wavered. It was all the opening Aldrich needed.
Swift as the wind, Aldrich emerged from the smokescreen, now obscured by his afterimages. His hands were charged with raw mana, and he unleashed a concentrated burst of energy that streaked toward Allen like a comet. In a desperate attempt to defend himself, Allen conjured a wall of flames, but the raw mana surged through, leaving a trail of scorched air.
Allen crashed into the wall, coughing a mouthful of blood.
Without waiting, Aldrich leapt for Fin, who was dealing with Mark's lightning attacks with his flame shield.
Aldrich landed a kick on Fin's head, plunging him into the ground.
Aldrich was about to head for the remaining two participants when a fiery aura exploded in the room.
"ILL KILL YOU", Allen conjured a huge whip out of flames, attacking Aldrich with it. Allen's eyes were red, flames bursting from within.
Aldrich dodged the giant flame whip as he rushed towards Allen, looking to finish the fight. But to Aldrich's surprise, Allen was smiling." Wha-", He looked back, that the whip had gone through Mark.
"Aldrich, leave this trial right now, or I will kill Mark", Allen said with a bloody smile.
"I don't care", Aldrich coldly said,
Allen plunged the whip deeper into Mark as Mark screamed, trying to escape the attack.
Mark had supported Aldrich very well, and Aldrich knew that Mark had a lot of potential which could be utilized; he looked at Mark, giving him a signal.
Mark summoned one last lightning bolt, its light blinding everyone present.
Aldrich reached for his pocket, taking out the Mana stone he had obtained from the machine back inside the maze.
"Hah, do you think this wi-"Allen was about to complete as he noticed a bright stone coming his way. Aldrich had overloaded the mana stone as it was about to explode.
Allen let go of the whip, but Mark lost consciousness due to the heavy damage.
[5 participants remain]
"This is going to hurt" Aldrich focused every inch of mana inside his body on his hands, creating a mini force field to protect him against the explosion.
BOOM
The mana stone exploded, and the entire Dungeon started to shake; the force field protected Aldrich, but others were heavily injured due to the explosion.
[ 4 participants remain ]
But the voice didn't stop.
[ 3 participants remain ]
[ 2 participants remain ]
[ 1 participant remains]
Everyone else except Aldrich was swept up in the explosion, as their heavily injured bodies were kicked out from the Dungeon.
[ Teleporting the survivors to the next stage ]
Meanwhile, deep inside the Dungeon, figure of a huge man could be seen, checking over all the stages. His eyes fell over the room with the huge explosion, noticing the sole survivor.
"Interesting. I am curious to see How will you survive the next Ordeal"