It had been 1 day since the trial began, and every member of the Drakewind family was present outside the Dungeon, hoping their supported candidate would win the trial.
As the first stage ended, the children's battered and bloody bodies were teleported outside the Dungeon.
There were looks of dismay, happiness, and sadness at the candidates kicked out.
The Family head urgently summoned the healers to take care of the children.
"There are still four children left before the first stage ends", Erik thought, hoping Aldrich would be safe inside the trial.
Suddenly, one of the soldiers rushed towards the Family head, reporting the situation,
"Head, there has been a problem.",
Erik rushed out of his room, tightening his heart. "Please, no", His son was the only reason for him to live.
Erik rushed towards the trial to notice that 7 candidates had been kicked out instead of four, and Aldrich was absent.
Erik saw the heavily injured bodies of the candidates as he urgently called the healers.
Martin rushed to the trial's location to find his sons heavily injured.
"Who did this to you, son? "Martin knew that Allen was a peak 1-star warrior, and not many candidates could deal this damage to him.
"A-Aldrich", Allen spoke as he coughed some blood.
Martin looked at Erik with intense killing intent but backed off, knowing he was not powerful enough to deal with him.
"Pathetic", a voice came from the corner. It was Mark's father, looking at the bloody figure of his son before leaving.
Erik was anxious to know about his son's situation.
"Head, Aldrich entered the second stage", Mark meekly spoke, still feeling the pain from his injuries.
"What exactly happened?", It was the first time fewer candidates would be going to the next stage.
Mark slowly told Erik what all happened, about how Aldrich saved his life and how Allen and Fin tried to kill them. He said Aldrich had to blow up a mana stone, kicking everyone out of the Dungeon.
Looking at Erik's worried face, Mark felt a little jealous, for his own father had left him without even having another look at him.
"He will be okay, head" Mark smiled briefly before returning to rest.
"I hope so" Erik clenched the pendant in his neck.
Meanwhile, inside the trial, Aldrich exited the gate, entering the next level. All his wounds had been healed, and he noticed no one else followed him through the gate.
"It's only me",
Aldrich looked at his surroundings to discover he was in a forest. He had a sword lying next to him. He picked up the sword, swinging it around.
[The first team to reach 1000 points wins
Your team (Team D): 0
Opponent team (Team C): 150
]
[Points on killing F rank: 1, E rank:20, D rank:50 …. ]
"Fuck", Aldrich grunted. He was at a considerable disadvantage. He was by himself, whereas the opposition team had four.
"Looks like they started sometime before me as well."
Aldrich considered his options," I could defeat several low-ranked monsters or-" Aldrich touched the ground, sending waves of mana through the ground.
"Not here, no, no, not there as well", Aldrich suddenly felt as if his mana wave was furiously destroyed, "Found it",
"High-rank monsters like to mark their territories and don't like anyone prying in their area" Aldrich rushed towards the area where his mana was destroyed.
"I could just destroy the other team as well", but Aldrich knew his aim was to grow stronger than his previous self. He had to defeat foes stronger than him.
"Plus, what is an A-rank beast doing inside the Dungeon, which is meant for 1-star warriors. Something is fishy",
"Looks like he caught on", the man inside the temple curiously said, "Sadly, he has no way of defeating the founder's pup." he lay back on his throne, watching the young man head towards the A rank monster.
Aldrich hopped from tree to tree, speeding towards the monster, "Would the past I have thought of defeating an A-rank monster without even creating a star" he grinned.
Aldrich knew he had no strength to defeat the A-rank monster, but when had he ever cared about that.
Humans never had enough strength to injure a dragon, yet he could kill hundreds.
Aldrich looked at the A-rank monster. A giant wolf was alerted by Aldrich's entry into its territory.
"Plus, according to those bastards, I am not even completely a human", Aldrich gave a devilish smile as he leapt towards the wolf.