As James neared the end of the corridor of the dead, he encountered a group of 10 nightmares who rushed towards him as soon as they saw him while grunting like beasts deprived of all thoughts but one, which was the horrifying thought of devouring him whole.
James was up against twice the number of nightmares he was used to dealing with at a time. However, he didn't feel even a hint of anxiousness or fear. "It seems like a challenging situation, but there's nothing much to worry about. Due to the narrowness of the corridor, only five nightmares can attack me at a time. With haste, dealing with five nightmares simultaneously is easy peasy."
As the gap between him and the nightmares at the forefront of the group narrowed down to approximately 15 feet, James cast the Haste Spell upon himself.
[The Spell Haste has been used.]
[Your agility has been doubled for 15 seconds]
[Your agility has doubled to 25 points]
The next second, five nightmares lunged at him with the aim to rip him to shreds. James moved swiftly to dodge. With haste boosting his agility to 25 points, no matter how horrendously and fiercely the nightmares tried clawing or biting, they failed to even scratch his clothes, so how could they do him any harm?
Dodging wasn't the only thing James was doing. He was also counterattacking with each dodge.
He was fast enough to dodge their attacks, but the nightmares were too slow to dodge his strikes. As a result, they met their demise at his hands one after another.
It took 15 seconds since the activation of his haste spell before he killed all ten of them. The boost to his agility ended. His agility returned to 12.5 points while his haste spell entered a 30-second cooldown.
Grr! Grr!
Before he could loot the bodies, another ten nightmares appeared 60 feet away from James.
Looking at them, he didn't hesitate before turning around and making a run for it. Was he kidding? His haste spell was on a 30-second cooldown; he didn't dare confront the huge group of nightmares without it.
The nightmares looked at him retreating and scratched their heads in confusion. They were acting like zombies. Their acting never elicited such a fearful response from their targets unless they caught on to their act. Just what gave them away? They wondered.
Grrrrr!
One of them roared and rushed after James.
The others also gave chase as if they were afraid that if they arrived at dinner too late, they would not even find bones to gnaw on.
Thus, a weird scene unfolded in the Corridor of the Dead in the Land of Trials, with a young man dressed in a military-grade suit and a huge backpack on his back, running away from a horde of sinister-looking nightmares.
Around half a minute later, James suddenly stopped, turned around with a wide grin on his face, and rushed at the group of nightmares who were once again struck dizzy by his actions.
For the past half-minute, he had been running away from them as if his life depended on it, but now he was charging towards them. What had changed in that half-minute to cause such a drastic shift? With the little intelligence they possessed, coming to a concrete answer would leave their brains fried. They just gave up on thinking and acted based on instinct, homing in on James like bees to honey.
"My skill cooldown has ended. You are all done for!" James exclaimed as he cast [Haste]. The target of the spell was himself. His agility shot through the roof, jumping to 25 points for the next 15 seconds. He became so fast that he was like a blur in the rotting and melting eyes of the nightmares.
James relied on his impressive stats, battle sense, and the boost provided by his Haste spell to quickly mow through them in less than 16 seconds.
These were the last monsters of this trial. With them dead, there was nothing left that could pose a lethal danger to James in the Corridor of the Dead.
He looted the ten nightmares he just killed and the group he killed before but was unable to loot because of their intervention and ended up collecting 20 nuclei, which he absorbed on the spot!
[You have absorbed 5 Agility Nuclei]
[Agility +5]
[Your agility has increased to 17.5]
[You have absorbed 3 Strength Enhancing Nuclei]
[Strength +3]
[Your strength has increased to 15]
[You have absorbed 6 Energy Nuclei]
[Stamina +7]
[Your stamina has increased to 22]
[You have absorbed 5 Vitality Enhancing Nuclei]
[Vitality +5]
[Your vitality has increased to 15]
'Now all my stats are at least three times the average base stats of an Earthling. I am becoming more and more of a powerhouse. Experiencing what was said about the land of trials for myself is an entirely different feeling. While it is a sick and disgusting place where life is as cheap as grass, it's the only place where a person can rapidly grow and break through their limitations if they put in the effort and are lucky enough.'
James felt impressed with the surge in strength he had experienced since he came to the Land of Trials. But he didn't think too much about it... this was just the beginning. If he survived his Death Flag, he would grow a lot stronger than now.
He continued down the corridor.
Soon, he came across a dead end.
He met no danger along the way.
As soon as he encountered the dead end, a notification sounded.
[You have completed the trial 'Corridor of the Dead.' You have gained +50 trial points.]
It was followed up by a number of notifications that brought pleasant news with them:
[You have gained an additional +50 trial points as it has been detected that you soloed all the dangers of the 'Corridor of the Dead' trial.]
[It has been detected that you cleared the trial before the clear condition could be issued. You have gained +40 trial points.]
[You completed the 'Corridor of the Dead' trial within 3 hours. You have broken multiple records.
[You have broken a major record. You are the first among Earthlings to achieve this. You have gained +30 trial points.]
[You have broken a significant record. You are the 7th amongst the human race to complete the trial so quickly. You have gained +20 trial points.]
[You have broken a minor record. You are the 77th amongst all players to have cleared this trial so fast. You have gained +10 trial points.]
[Would you like to announce your achievements worldwide?]